Daily Tanya

The Alter Rebbe goes on to explain that “fruits in this world” refers not only to physical blessings but also to the insights and spiritual delights of Gan Eden (lit., “the Garden of Eden”), for even Gan Eden is termed “this world” in relation to the World to Come at the time of the Revival of the Dead.

There is an aspect of tzedakah that also affects the past, [and the Rebbe adds:] “causing one to give to an even greater degree than what he keeps for himself, since this is” to secure the rectification and atonement of his past sins.

When fathers and mothers are crying out for bread for their little ones, and for firewood and clothing to protect them from the cold, this surely takes precedence over the valid but nonessential needs of one’s own family.

This “lower soul” naturally inclines to “lower” (i.e., corporeal) matters so that even its intellect goes only as far as understanding the composition, and so on, of mundane things. For although the kelipah, which is the source of this soul, is kelipat nogah, a kelipah whose darkness is relieved by a ray of good, nevertheless, it is wholly bound up with mundanity.

The father’s fear and dread are thus the internal aspect of his gevurah, the attribute that completely or partially withholds the flow of instruction.The remaining emotive attributes are all offshoots of love and fear (as explained in Part I, ch. 3, above), and accordingly, they too possess internal and external aspects.Having dealt with the middot, the seven emotive attributes of the soul, the Alter Rebbe now proceeds to discuss the intellective attributes which give birth to them.

Our soul, in G-d's image, possesses 10 attributes, including 6 emotional attributes. The seventh, Malchus, is not included in this count. These emanate from G-d's six traits. Because the attribute of chesed is unlimited, it desires to benefit even someone who lacks nothing. The attribute of rachamim, by contrast, being also compounded of gevurah, will not seek to diffuse indiscriminately. At the same time, rachamim pleads the cause of any individual who is in a pitiable state, however unworthy he may be.

Unlike speech, which utilizes only the external aspect of the speaker’s breath, blowing emits the innermost breath. Thus, when Scripture states that “He blew into his nostrils a soul of life,” it means to indicate that the soul derives from the innermost aspects of G-dliness, as explained in Iggeret Hateshuvah, ch. 4.

Since the life-giving light that issues from supreme chochmah is infinite, it follows that whatever the intensity of the light drawn down in the previous year, it is still possible that a greater degree of light be drawn down in the new year.

the term “eyes” alludes to the Divine attribute of chochmah, or kodesh ha’elyon, which irradiates the Land of Israel constantly, from the beginning of the year to its end.

The excellence of light is most appreciated when darkness itself is transformed into light.

The excellence of light is most appreciated when darkness itself is transformed into light.

Since the soul emanates from the inward aspect of the Divine attributes, it is infused with them as well so that the attribute of kindness dominates the soul even as it finds itself within the body.

The Alter Rebbe will now go on to explain the effect of the “act” of tzedakah upon the individual benefactor himself, in terms of his battle with the evil of his animal soul.The animal soul may be refined, and the good within it separated and elevated from its evil, in one of two ways:

By way of analogy: The intense enmity of two high officials dissolves, in the presence of their sovereign, into friendship. It is because of their joint nullification before the king that this unity comes about. So, too, the defined bounds of the various attributes dissipate in the face of the limitless revelation of the infinite light.

Some commentaries explain that “act” (מַעֲשֵׂה) and “service” (עֲבוֹדָה) are one and the same; the verse merely reiterates the same theme in different words. Targum Yonatan, however, writes that “act” and “service” indicate two different forms of charity: the reward for the “act” of tzedakah is peace; the reward for the “service” of tzedakah is eternal quietness and surety.

The Alter Rebbe begins this letter in the singular, indicating that every single individual can attain the level of divine service that he/she does not desire physical pleasures. For it requires only an absolute faith in G-d, and this lies hidden within every Jew; let him but unveil this faith, and he will be able to live by it.

When a Jew echoes G-d’s boundless kindness and compassion, his actions are thus termed “G-d’s acts of kindness.”

Since all of creation is of no account in the eyes of G-d, anything received from His hand is not deserved but a gratuitous gift, as, indeed, is the very fact that mortal endeavors are able to draw down Divine light.At any rate, boundless tzedakah and kindness draw down the degree of Divine radiance that transcends all worlds.

Surprisingly, the Hebrew verb used here is tamnu (in the first person plural), which would make the phrase mean, “we have not been brought to an end.” If the verse sought to say that the kindnesses “have not ended,” rather than “because of G-d’s kindnesses, we have not been brought to an end,” it should surely have used the verb tamu (in the third person plural), as the Alter Rebbe goes on to point out.

The Mishnah states in Peah: “The study of the Torah is equivalent to them all,”25 i.e., to all the mitzvot previously enumerated in the Mishnah, and these include gemilut chassadim, the performance of acts of lovingkindness,

When the soul finds itself within the body and allows itself to be led by it, it resembles a sighted person whose eyes are bound and who, intelligent though he may be, is then led about like an imbecile. If the soul, a part of G-d Above, descends within a body but cannot restrict it from fulfilling its desires, it is considered to be blinded by the body, as the Tzemach Tzedek writes in Or Hatorah at the conclusion of Parashat Behar.6 The “blindness” caused by the body must be healed so that the soul may once again behold the truth.

Just as in the analogy, planting a seed will unveil the earth’s vegetative power, so, too, the Jew’s act of charity will elicit the Divine attribute of chesed, since this act serves as the mayin nukvin to its spiritual counterpart Above,

The disposition of a particular degree of G-dly illumination to a specific soul through the performance of a select command is wholly dependent upon a consideration that transcends logic: it is a “lot” determined from Above.

At this point, the Alter Rebbe resumes the thought begun earlier, where it was pointed out that Jacob referred to G-d as “E-l, G-d of Israel,” for the soul of Jacob (otherwise known as Israel) was illumined with all the aspects of the Divine radiance, just as was the soul of Adam.

G-d’s Being is indeed utterly uncompounded so that there cannot possibly be any division into “parts.” Nevertheless, with regard to the radiance that descends below, (whose main purpose is that it permeate the Jewish soul,) the concept of “parts” does apply.

After one has acquired a love and fear of G-d as a result of his own contemplation, he is then granted from Above a heightened measure of love and fear.

Abraham epitomizes chesed, the attribute of kindness; Isaac epitomizes gevurah, the attribute of severity; the predominant attribute of Jacob is tiferet, or rachamim, compassion. The inward aspect of the soul’s Divine service when motivated by chesed is—the love of G-d; the inward aspect of the soul’s Divine service when motivated by gevurah is—the awe of G-d; so, too, Divine service when motivated by compassion has its distinctive inward aspect:

Good deeds draw down Divine influence from the yud of the Divine Name, from the level of chochmah, to the final hey of the Name, the level of malchut. In this way, then, good deeds bring together and “make” the Name of G-d and draw it downward in its entirety.

We learned above that the Zohar teaches: “Who makes the Holy Name every day? He who gives charity to the poor.” The relevance of this answer, however, remained obscure. Now, therefore, equipped with the foregoing insights, we revert to the question with which this epistle opened: How does giving tzedakah to the poor “make a Name” for G-d?

The radiance emanating from the “form” of the letters—a radiance that emanates from G-d’s attributes, wisdom, and will—is merely found בְּתוֹכוֹ, within the internality of the Divine utterance that creates and vitalizes this world; it is not manifest. That which serves as the source of the creation and vitality of this world is the externality or “body” of the letters, the “breath” of Divine speech.

The Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain that the letters of speech are composed of “matter” and “form” the “body” and “soul” (or: the external and internal aspects) of the letters. While the “form” of the letters does indeed derive from chochmah, the “matter” of the letters of speech merely derives from the heart.

Spiritual life-force finds its way down into this world in so concealed a manner that all we know of it is the mere fact of its existence (yediat hametziut). In Gan Eden, by contrast, the spiritual life-force issues forth in such a manner that its very essence is apprehended (hasagat hamahut),

The Alter Rebbe wrote this letter, like most of the letters that comprise Iggeret Hakodesh, in connection with the charitable fund of Kollel Chabad in the Land of Israel.

A man’s soul is stimulated from above only in response to the spiritual service that he initiates here below. Even an effusion of Divine benevolence that comes exclusively from above, and can neither be brought into being nor drawn down by man’s service alone, also awaits a previous arousal from below,

Inasmuch as the additional measure of infinite radiance and effluence far transcends Atzilut so much so that in comparison to it, the World of Atzilut and our grossly corporeal World of Asiyah are equally distant; it enables the radiation of Atzilut to find its way into this world.

The Alter Rebbe now anticipates a question: What is gained by this analogy? Surely it is just as obvious that “all the individual coins [given to charity] add up to a great amount” as it is that “all the individual scales add up to form a large coat of mail.”

The kindness that G-d showed Abraham motivated him to attain the ultimate degree of humility that this statement expresses. Just as in the heavenly realms, “the right arm of Divine chesed” causes recipients of the chesed to lose their independent identity in the identity of the Bestower of lovingkindness, so, too, does it affect mortals upon whom it is bestowed, making them likewise humble and self-effacing.

Torah may indeed be said to be the revelation of G-d’s Will, a level that transcends His wisdom, notwithstanding the fact that “Torah proceeds from chochmah,”41 i.e., from Divine wisdom.

The Alter Rebbe explains here that the study of the laws set out in the Oral Torah elevates the soul of the Jew and assists him in his spiritual service of meditating upon G-d’s greatness and arousing within himself a love and awe of Him.

In this, the concluding chapter of Iggeret Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe explains why afflictions cause the penitent joy.

One should always retain an awareness of his having sinned—but “at a distance,” i.e., at the back of his mind.

Just as in former times, atonement was secured by the regular altar offerings, nowadays, too, our prayers and repentance bring about forgiveness.

Difficulties notwithstanding, it is possible for the heart to simultaneously harbor two opposite emotions—the anguished soul of teshuvah tataah and the joy that immediately precedes and accompanies prayer.

Torah study thus accomplishes much more than what man could attain on his own.Similarly, every act of lovingkindness draws down Divine benevolence. Meditating in this fashion gives birth to a love for G-d, which is translated into the study of the Torah and the performance of mitzvot.

The Alter Rebbe will now explain that the love and fear discussed in the present chapter are generated intellectually: they result from meditation upon G-d’s greatness and are thus the offspring of binah. It is specifically this kind of love and fear that unites the hey with the vav—the intellect with the resulting emotions.

When one arouses the supreme mercies of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, which emanate from the level of the supreme will that transcends the letters of the Tetragrammaton, he is then able to rectify the letters and redirect their flow into his soul.

The Alter Rebbe now goes on to say that even sins which do not carry so harsh a penalty may still have the same effect.

Q: How is the heart to be broken and humbled?A: It is achieved through being a “master of accounting” with all the profundity of one’s mind.

Since the soul is rooted in the Tetragrammaton, its degradation—brought about by sin—correspondingly causes the flow of holiness that emanates from the Tetragrammaton to descend into the chambers of the kelipot and sitra achara. Hence, not only the soul, but its Source too, is to be pitied.

In this, the sixth chapter, the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain that this applied only during the time when the Divine Presence dwelt among Israel, for then, each Jew’s spiritual sustenance reached him only from the “side” of holiness—from the Four-Letter Name of the Infinite One.In times of exile, however, when the Divine Presence too is (so to speak) in exile, even the life-force of holiness can be drawn down through a garb of kelipah. It is therefore then possible that even individuals guilty of sins punishable by excision and death by Divine agency continue to receive their vitality, even though their spiritual lifeline to the Tetragrammaton has been severed. This explains why during the era of exile, even those guilty of the abovementioned sins can live long lives. Parenthetically, this also provides them with the opportunity to repent and rectify their past misdeeds.