The pursuit inside Yeshayahu's words
Rebbe Nachman reads the circle into Yeshayahu's prophecy:
וּפְדוּיֵי ה׳ יְשֻׁבוּן וּבָאוּ צִיּוֹן בְּרִנָּה וְשִׂמְחַת עוֹלָם עַל־רֹאשָׁם שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה יַשִּׂיגוּ וְנָסוּ יָגוֹן וַאֲנָחָֽה׃
Those redeemed by Hashem shall return and come to Zion with song, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They shall attain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee. (Yeshayahu 35:10)
The plain reading describes joy attained and sorrow departing. Rebbe Nachman also hears a pursuit: the sasson and simcha overtake and seize the fleeing yagon and anachah, bringing them into the simcha. The sorrow wants to remain outside; the joy reaches it and draws it in.
This is why the teaching speaks so forcefully about bringing in what resists. The aim is an inner transformation, in which the sorrow itself acquires a place within kedushah. It is a demanding avodah, and the language of the mashal should not become a demand that another person display happiness or submit to physical pressure.
From leaving Egypt to receiving the Torah
Hilchos Pesach 2 gives a further picture through chametz and matzah. At the Exodus, Israel had to leave in haste. The opposing force had been subdued for the moment, but the work was not yet complete. In this explanation, matzah belongs to simcha, while chametz pictures the sorrow that could still disturb it.
At that stage, the work is to keep the chametz out. Pesach has strict boundaries, and a person should not pretend that he has already reached the ability to transform everything. There are times when he needs to move away from what pulls him down and protect the good he can do.
Then come the days of Sefirah and Shavuos. The Torah commands a different offering:
מִמּוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם תָּבִיאּוּ ׀ לֶחֶם תְּנוּפָה שְׁתַּיִם שְׁנֵי עֶשְׂרֹנִים סֹלֶת תִּהְיֶינָה חָמֵץ תֵּאָפֶינָה בִּכּוּרִים לַֽה׳׃
From your dwelling places you shall bring two loaves as a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked leavened, as first fruits to Hashem. (Vayikra 23:17)
The shtei halechem are specifically chametz. Reb Noson sees in this the fuller simcha of Matan Torah, able to bring into kedushah what had earlier needed to be kept away. The earlier flight and the later inclusion are two stages in the avodah.
The korban todah gives another example:
עַל־חַלֹּת לֶחֶם חָמֵץ יַקְרִיב קׇרְבָּנוֹ עַל־זֶבַח תּוֹדַת שְׁלָמָֽיו׃
With loaves of leavened bread he shall bring his offering, together with his thanksgiving peace offering. (Vayikra 7:13)
The todah includes both chametz and matzah. Reb Noson connects this with the future completeness of thanksgiving, when the yagon and anachah have entered the simcha. His discussion uses the Midrashic teaching that the thanksgiving offering remains when other offerings cease. We are following its spiritual image of complete gratitude; it does not change the halachos of chametz on Pesach.
Asking the opponent for a brachah
Yaakov's struggle with the angel gives a final picture:
וַיֹּאמֶר שַׁלְּחֵנִי כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא אֲשַֽׁלֵּחֲךָ כִּי אִם־בֵּרַכְתָּֽנִי׃
He said, “Let me go, for dawn has risen.” Yaakov said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Bereishis 32:27)
The rav reads Yaakov and Esav as figures of simcha and atzvus. Esav's outlook is bound up with death and the loss of a future; Yaakov brings joy even into the feet, recalling the earlier teaching about the heel and dancing. In the struggle with Esav's angel, Yaakov has overcome the opponent, who now wants to leave. The rav hears sorrow trying to flee from joy. Yaakov insists on a brachah. The application here sees a completeness beyond winning and watching the opposing force disappear: the opponent itself is made to acknowledge and bless the kedushah it had resisted. The rav sees this as Yaakov reaching the fuller level associated with Yisrael. He also joins the account of Yaakov left alone, in Bereishis 32:25, with the future exaltation of Hashem alone in Yeshayahu 2:11. These are his stated associations; the exact additional Likutey Halachos passage behind them remains unresolved.
The same pattern is applied to the possessions taken from Egypt:
וּבְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל עָשׂוּ כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה וַֽיִּשְׁאֲלוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם כְּלֵי־כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב וּשְׂמָלֹֽת׃
The children of Israel did according to Moshe's word. They asked the Egyptians for vessels of silver, vessels of gold and clothing. (Shemos 12:35)
A lower stage needs distance from Egypt's influence. A further stage can use what came from Egypt in avodas Hashem. Its silver and gold can contribute to the Mishkan. Even the sheep that the Egyptians worshipped becomes the korban Pesach. The rav sharpens the clothing question through the tradition that Israel preserved its distinctive clothing in Egypt. Why, then, take Egyptian garments when leaving? His answer distinguishes two stages: first maintaining distance from Egypt's influence, then taking material that can be turned toward kedushah. The clothing tradition's exact early text remains to be checked; it is not being introduced as a verified Bavli quotation.
This does not make every influence safe to bring in. The Pesach and Shavuos distinction itself shows why the stage matters. Sometimes the right movement is to leave, and sometimes the further work is to transform what can now be brought into kedushah.