Daily Tanya

One proper prayer, or even a compilation of different prayers that add up to one prayer with proper intent, elevates all the other prayers of that year. With regard to Torah study, by contrast, even if one later studies with proper intent, this does not elevate his previous study; actual repentance is required. Until such time, one’s Torah study is in exile within the kelipah which spawned his ulterior motive.

The things of this world, whose source is the sefirah of malchut (which is the nukva of za) must be elevated to their source in holiness. This can be accomplished only through mitzvot whose fulfillment requires actions performed with the material components of the world. This alone makes possible the supernal union which reveals Divinity within this world.

The Alter Rebbe’s Chasidim had organized the collection of charity for the Holy Land faithfully and efficiently, with a lively gabbai tzedakah appointed in each town or congregation to rouse his brethren to action. The Alter Rebbe, therefore, extends his blessings both to the donors and to the gabbaim, explaining meanwhile in mystical terms why generosity is at its best when it is spontaneously aroused by one’s own spiritual endeavors.When one serves G-d with love and fear through the spiritual toil of the soul, he will not have fulfilled his obligation to perform the accompanying mitzvah unless these spiritual emotions find simultaneous expression in actual deeds or words. However, when it comes to the separate task of elevating one’s Torah study and performance of the commandments, this is accomplished specifically by means of positive thoughts, which include one’s devout intent (kavanah) and one’s love and awe of G-d.

The drawing down of Divine vitality from the Shechinah into the created worlds parallels the emanation of the spirit of life from the heart and its diffusion throughout the entire body.

This is a reasoned message of encouragement in which the Alter Rebbe urges his Chasidim not to reduce their fixed annual commitment to charity for the Holy Land, even though their circumstances may have altered. He reminds them once again (as above in Epistle 21) that what counts is not only the total of one’s contributions over a particular period but also the multiplicity of benevolent action. The potent repercussions of this oft-repeated activity resound all the way up to the World of Atzilut where they impregnate the sefirah of malchut—the mother, so to speak, of all created worlds.

The Alter Rebbe now focuses on the distinctive quality inherent in the halachot of the Oral Torah. It is these halachot that reveal the supernal will by defining what it actually requires of us in the performance of the mitzvot in order thereby to draw down this lofty level of Divinity.

The Alter Rebbe explains there that the illumination from the supernal will that shines within the devotion that accompanies an action is likened to a “soul,” relative to the illumination that shines in the action itself, which is likened to a “body” or garment for the soul. The difference is thus only in the degree of contraction or emanation of this radiance.From the above, it is clear that even the garments for the soul that are created from the devotion and feeling that accompany Torah and prayer also result only from the radiance of the supernal will, which is the supernal keter.

The Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain that in addition to this function of mitzvot as garments for the soul, they also serve to unite the sublime spiritual level of keter, with the physical objects with which the commandments are performed. As such, they resemble pillars that connect the highest part of a house with the lowest.

The Alter Rebbe explains, the supernal will as expressed in the mitzvot derives from an even higher level of Divinity than does the chochmah (“wisdom”) of the Torah. Indeed, it is this Divine Will that furnishes the “garments” which enable the soul to absorb the Divine radiance that is manifest in the Garden of Eden.

Here, the Alter Rebbe explains how the passing of a tzaddik “effects salvations in the midst of the earth,” atoning even for intentional sins.

Here, the Alter Rebbe explains how the passing of a tzaddik “effects salvations in the midst of the earth,” atoning even for intentional sins.

The Alter Rebbe speaks of those who benefit from the gifts that a tzaddik continues to bequeath after his passing, from his ruach that remained in the Lower Garden of Eden. He adds that the extent of the spiritual bequest received by each Chasid varies “according to the level of his bond and closeness to [the tzaddik], during his lifetime and after his passing, out of an abounding love.”

After the tzaddik’s passing, his power and his faith, his awe, and his love are not limited by his bodily vessel and by the physical world in general but are in the Garden of Eden, which is to be found in this world as well.

The Alter Rebbe will now explain in what sense it may truly be said that the departed tzaddik left his surviving disciples something of his own life.

The Alter Rebbe wrote this letter of condolence to his Chasidim in 1788 after the passing of his colleague and mentor, the saintly R. Mendele of Vitebsk (or Horodok), who had settled in the Holy Land in 1777. It concludes by rousing them to the mitzvah of tzedakah in general and particularly of maintaining the family of R. Mendel.

At the moment, until Mashiach arrives, the dominant influence in this material world is kelipat nogah, the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” After his arrival, however, this dominion will cease, and man’s Divine service will be directed not to extracting the sparks of holiness hidden in the material world but to bringing about ever higher supernal unions, as explained above.

The words of Torah in general, and particularly the halachic “word of G-d,” are thus exiled within the kelipot that conceal them. Accordingly, a scholar who brings to light a teaching long hidden in the Torah or who resolves a problematic query and thereby clearly articulates a particular law releases the pertinent spark of the Shechinah from the kelipot.

As the laws become vested within lower realms, they can become subject to a measure of concealment. Likewise, as the sefirah of malchut of Atzilut becomes vested in lower Worlds, it too is subject to this state of concealment. It is then called the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil because it is vested within kelipat nogah. This vestiture takes place for the sake of one of the ultimate spiritual tasks of man—beirurim, i.e., sifting and refining the physicality of this world, in order to elevate the Divine sparks from the evil which encumbers them.

The Alter Rebbe will now point out that a careful reading of the passage from Raaya Mehemna reveals that it is not the laws themselves nor the study of them that are termed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Rather, this term is applied to the actual food or other things which are prohibited or permitted and which derive their life-force from kelipat nogah—for this is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as will soon be explained.

The study of issur and hetter does not supersede the obligation to pray at fixed times, even though the prayers were arranged according to the secrets of the Zohar and the supernal unions, whereas the fact is that for those individuals whose only occupation is the study of Torah, the study of issur and hetter does indeed take precedence over the mitzvah of prayer.

After the previous letter discussed how the Shechinah can sometimes be vested in exile, the present letter explains that this state of exile brings the Torah, too, to a state of concealment, as kelipot obscure its radiance. It is the task of the Jew to remove this concealment by toiling in the study of the Torah.

The Alter Rebbe upholds that all things are sourced in the Shechina. However, untderstanding that this may be arguable contends that it "is impossible to explain this clearly in writing, only orally to an ear that hears [and understands], to uniquely qualified individuals ..."

Since everything is in G-d’s hands, there is no reason to become angry. However, with regard to matters involving the “fear of heaven,” anger does have a place.

Being that our souls are sourced in the innermost being of Hashem, the particular execution of the Mitzvot is paramount. A Mitzvah requiring speech, must then therefore be fulfilled through speech because it then connects to the supernal level of speech.

Since the entire dynamic of the holy “side” of the universe has its counterpart in the “other side,” the sitra achara, the abovementioned ten sefirot of holiness (and likewise the ten corresponding faculties of the G-dly soul) each have their unholy counterpart:

Although the light of Hashem passes through many levels, there is never any essential change to the Shechina.

The word Shechinah (שְׁכִינָה) derives from the root שֹׁכֵן—“to dwell.” The titles of “mother” and “queen” relate to their functions of caring for the lives of their children and subjects, respectively.Now, if the creation of all things derives from the Shechinah, from the revelation of Divine power, how do we account for those things that derive from kelipot, entities that “oppose” G-dliness and holiness?

The “soul” and spiritual life-force is the “word of G-d,” the potent Divine speech that continuously creates all beings, i.e., the Shechinah.

This letter comments on a discourse (in Tzavaat Harivash, sec. 120 in the Kehot edition) in which the Baal Shem Tov explains that though all things emanate from G-d through His attributes of love and awe, these attributes can find themselves in a state of exile.

The Alter Rebbe continues to emphasize the greatness and intense holiness present during prayers, and thus, the severity of idle talk during prayers. To express his sincere distaste and opposition to such behavior, The Alter Rebbe issues a Halachic ex-communication upon people who transgress this rule.

In the present letter, the Alter Rebbe goes on to condemn those who during prayer services engage in mundane conversation—not only on idle matters but even on matters that are necessary for their livelihood. Such conversation at any other time would of course be permitted. During prayer services, however, it demonstrates that the speaker has no desire to behold the G-dliness that is revealed specifically during that time.

Strictly speaking, our Sages applied the verse “and those who forsake G-d shall be consumed” only to a person whose leaving bars the congregational recital of a davar shebikedushah, a text involving the sanctification of G-d’s Name, which cannot be done without a quorum of ten. By contrast, though the quality of Torah study is enhanced by a quorum of ten, this is not a prerequisite condition.

Just as the Shechinah hovers over all Jews in an encompassing manner even when they are not studying Torah, so, too, even with regard to the indwelling of the Shechinah that is brought about by congregational Torah study: this illumination of the soul, being infinite, must be primarily transcendent.

Being fixed within the soul constantly, this reward is received by the soul not only in the World to Come—when the soul is enabled to apprehend rewards that are not to be obtained in this world28—but in this world as well. And since this kind of reward consists of a finite degree of illumination, it can be received by the soul even as the soul finds itself within the body.This is why it is written that a reward awaits even one individual who studies Torah.

In the letter that follows, the Alter Rebbe urges Chasidim to devote the daily interval between Minchah and Maariv to the group study of Ein Yaakov and to the laws in the Shulchan Aruch that have frequent and practical application. He introduces this appeal by explaining how sublime is the Divine Presence that dwells within Jews when they study Torah publicly. Indeed, only in the World to Come can this lofty level of Divinity be manifestly received as a reward—except when it abides over Jews and within Jews when, in this world, they study Torah together.

The Alter Rebbe is quick to insist that his listeners’ love for the “life of the body” is no doubt motivated by a spiritual purpose. Nevertheless, they become so enmeshed in this love that they soon come to love the “life of the body” for its own sake as well. This latter love upsets the natural order to the point that it drives people to seek advice on material matters.

The reason given until this point for dividing one’s annual pledges into weekly or at least monthly payments was the quality of alacrity in performing a mitzvah. The Alter Rebbe now adds two further reasons for not deferring frequent payments to one consolidated contribution at the end of the year: (a) every single act of tzedakah refines the soul of the donor; (b) every single act of tzedakah brings about a supernal union in the sefirot and partzufim.

The Alter Rebbe begins this epistle by greeting his fellow Jews as “lovers of G-d’s Name.”1 This appellation especially suits those helping their brethren who serve G-d in the Holy Land. For upon this land “G-d’s gaze is fixed constantly,”2 and this verse uses G-d’s ineffable Name Havayah, indicating that the Land is directly illuminated and animated by the sublime level of Divinity indicated by that singular and unique Name.

Not only is the capacity for growth an instance of yesh me’ayin and a result of G-d’s infinitude: the same is true of its constant recurrence.

it is specifically at the lowliest level of creation that the “rebounding light” manifests the essence of the original illumination with superior intensity.

Malchut of Atzilut as well as the union of za and nukva of Atzilut creates the souls and angels of the World of Beriah, creatures which are created in a manner of yesh.

Insofar as Torah and the mitzvot are rooted in keter, then, the mitzvot are on a higher plane than Torah; Torah is rooted in “concealed chochmah,” the level of mochin in keter, while the mitzvot are rooted in gulgalta, the encompassing level of keter that transcends mochin.

The sefirah of malchut creates beings that sense themselves to be separate from G-dliness, for only over them is it possible for malchut to reign—so that these distinct and separate created beings should, by dint of their own spiritual service, nullify themselves to G-d’s will.

Angels and souls of Atzilut that have already emerged and become separated from the kelim cannot possibly act as conduits for the creation of yesh from ayin, inasmuch as they themselves are not actual Divinity.

The epistle that follows, beginning “The letters that are revealed,” is one of the epistles that was appended to the edition of the Tanya published in Vilna in the year 5660 (1900), these additions being noted by R. Asher of Nikolayev in his introductory declaration there.53This relevance of this epistle to the previous one may be found in the following parallel: The previous epistle explains how only the netzach-hod-yesod-malchut (i.e., the lower sefirot) of the Emanator extend to the recipient. The conclusion of the present epistle likewise explains54 that only the hindmost aspect and externality of the netzach-hod-yesod of the higher realm enter the lower one.

The Alter Rebbe had previously said that (a) Moses’ prophetic comprehension of the sefirah of chochmah consisted merely of the achorayim (the hindmost aspect) of chochmah. He then went on to say that (b) the source of the Torah in chochmah is the same, for it too transcends reason. The Alter Rebbe is now saying that (c) even the chochmah vested in the 613 commandments is referred to as no more than the achorayim of chochmah.

Seeing something grasps its essence; comprehension merely grasps its externality.

In order to “enable” the Ein Sof-light, by definition infinite, to create worlds, which are finite, an intermediary is needed—to bridge the chasm between infinity and finitude. This intermediary, Torah,1 is alluded to in our opening verse, “He enwraps [Himself with] light as [with] a garment….”2

Having spoken until now of the higher category in the love of G-d called ahavah betaanugim, the Alter Rebbe now proceeds to consider the lesser love, ahavah zuta.

In the present letter, the Alter Rebbe elaborates upon two general categories in the love of G-d. The first category of love is granted man only as a gift from Above: he cannot attain it by dint of his own service. This pleasurable experience of Divinity is termed3 ahavah betaanugim (“a love which experiences delights”) and is a foretaste of the World to Come, wherein the soul basks in the rays of the Shechinah. The second category of love for G-d—longing and thirsting for Him—can be attained through man’s service and meditation.