Tehillim 118 — How to “Whiten” Trouble
— “Min hameitzar karati Yah, anani vamerchav Yah” — (Out of distress I called to G-d).
The Kavanot book “Etz Chaim” (16:85) explains that the word “metzar” מצר (severe distress) and the word “tzemer”צמר (wool) contain the very same letters.
The word “tzemer,” meaning wool — corresponds to the concept of “the rectification of the beard” (a Kabbalistic term), when the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (also known as the Thirteen “Rectifications of the Beard”) are awakened on a person’s behalf. They contain all mercy and goodness, and everything is transformed into merits. This is like the red wool thread on Yom Kippur, which, when it turned white, testified to the forgiveness of sins for the entire year.
(Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, “Likutei Halachot”)
