297. He said to him, Surely it is so and I heard it. But, HE ASKS, Does whoever fasts on Shabbat create a lack on Shabbat or not? If you say he does not, still the meals of Faith were made void and his punishment is great, since the joy of Shabbat fails in him.
298. He said to him, I heard this. Attention is paid to this from above MORE THAN to all the people in the world, because that day supplies joy above and below. It is joy above any other joy, joy that contains the whole Faith in it. Even the evil in Gehenom rest on that day. Yet that man has neither joy nor rest, he is at variance with the higher and lower beings. Everyone inquires after him what happens that so and so abides in sorrow.
299. When Atika Kadisha appears on that day, ON SHABBAT, yet that man abides in sorrow, his prayer rises and stands before Him. Then all verdicts he was sentenced to are torn up. Even if the King's courthouse agreed upon it, against him everything is torn up, for when Atika Kadisha is revealed, every kind of freedom and joy abides because he is revealed in the feast of joy of the King, ZEIR ANPIN.
300. Hence we learned that his verdict of seventy years is torn up. What are the seventy years? HE ANSWERS, IT MEANS that though all seventy Sfirot of the King, WHICH ARE CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD, YESOD AND MALCHUT THAT CONTAIN EACH TEN SFIROT, in which He was seen, agreed upon it, everything is torn up. For Atika Kadisha takes that man, THAT IS, PROTECTS HIM. This refers to the case of rousing him through a dream on Shabbat night, THAT IS, IF HE AFFLICTS HIMSELF WITH FASTING ON ACCOUNT OF A BAD DREAM, BUT NOT FOR A DIFFERENT KIND OF FAST.
301. THIS IS LIKENED to a king who made a joyful feast for his son and decreed that everybody would be joyful. On that joyful day everyone was glad except one man who was sad, bound by fetters. The king came to the feast and saw everybody glad as he decreed. He lifted his eyes and saw that man in fetters. He said, the whole world rejoices in my son's joy, yet this man is fettered. He immediately gave a command and he was liberated and released from his chains.
302. It is the same with one who fasts on Shabbat. Everybody is glad yet he is in sorrow, bound by chains. When Atika Kadisha is revealed on that day and this man is bound by fetters, even if the seventy years agreed upon him that we mentioned, THAT IS, THE SEVEN SFIROT OF ZEIR ANPIN, everything is torn up and Judgment does not rest on him. On another day, THAT IS, IF HE FASTS ON A WEEKDAY, there is permission to tear up HIS VERDICT on that day, and all the more so on Shabbat.
303. Every day has a SPECIAL power RESTING ON IT. Whoever fasts on account of a bad dream the same day HE DREAMT IT, his punishment is torn up before that day passes, but not that of seventy years' standing as on Shabbat, because ONE SHOULD FAST on the very day and on no other day, for no day has an authority over another day. Whatever happens during a certain day, he can act on that day AND REPEAL THE PUNISHMENT. Whatever did not happen on that day he cannot act OR REPEAL THE PUNISHMENT. Hence one must not delay THE FAST from one day to another. For that reason we learned, "everything upon its day" (Vayikra 23:37), and not anything of its day on another day.
304. Come and see, Not in vain was he roused by means of a BAD dream, BUT in order to beg for mercy on himself. Woe to that man who is not aroused, nor informed in a dream, because he is called evil. Hence, "nor shall evil dwell with You" (Tehilim 5:5), and, "HE THAT HAS IT SHALL ABIDE SATISFIED; he shall not be visited with evil" (Mishlei 19:23), "he shall not be visited" BY A BAD DREAM because he is bad.
305. Rabbi Yosi said, It is written, "nor pursuing your own business, nor speaking of vain matters" (Yeshayah 58:13). What is "speaking of vain matters?" EVEN SPEAKING ABOUT WHAT ONE NEEDS PERTAINS TO "YOUR OWN BUSINESS." But, HE ANSWERS, IT MEANS until that speech is pronounced and spoken, THAT IS, THE COMMAND TO SPEAK WORDS OF TORAH. Surely this is the meaning of this, which is derived from, "nor speaking of vain matters." Happy are Yisrael in this world and in the World to Come. Of them it is written, "For he said, 'Surely they are My people, children that will not lie.' So He was their deliverer" (Yeshayah 63:8).