From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 6, 1 of 3
Date: 23 Aug 92 01:46:54 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 6   1/3
 
Epistle Six
 
"He who sows tzedakah has a  `reward' of truth" (Proverbs 11). (1) This
means that the attribute of truth is the [G-d-given]  reward for sowing
tzedakah.
 
[The  term "this means" is  generally used to  forestall an alternative
interpretation. Here, too, by  this term the Alter Rebbe  stresses that
we  are to understand  the Hebrew word  secher to  mean "reward" rather
than  its being understood to mean "closing off and restraining" (water
or  whatever, in order to concentrate it). The latter interpretation is
that of  Rashi; a parallel term  is the word Va-yisochru  in the verse,
(2) "And the wellsprings of the deep were sealed."
 
Furthermore,  even the Targum and other commentaries who do read secher
to  mean "payment  of a  reward," can  be understood  to mean  that the
individual  who  sows  charity   receives  a  true  reward,   i.e.,  an
everlasting reward, rather than a reward that consists of truth.
 
The  Alter  Rebbe therefore  specifies:  "This means"  that  the reward
granted from above for sowing tzedakah is - the attribute of truth.]
 
It is  also written,  (3) "You  give truth  unto  Jacob," [which  would
appear to  indicate once again that  the attribute of truth  is granted
from Above. According to the commentaries of Rashi and Targum, however,
this  verse does not describe a  state of affairs. Rather, it petitions
that G-d  give truth  ("Give truth unto  Jacob"), that  He fulfill  for
Jacob's children the truthful promises that He had made to Jacob. Hence
this verse does not prove that the attribute of truth is a gift granted
from Above.  The Alter  Rebbe therefore  goes on  to specify  that this
verse is to be understood  in the same light as the verse quoted at the
outset of this epistle, as follows:]
 
And  [here] the  prophet [Micah]  speaks the  praises of the  Holy One,
blessed be He, as is written in the holy Zohar. (4)  [i.e., rather than
petitioning  G-d, this verse extols  Him for fulfilling  his promise of
granting the  attribute of truth to  Jacob.] This means that  it is the
Holy One, blessed be He, Who gives the attribute of truth unto Jacob.
 
Now  this needs  to be  understood: Does  Jacob have  no  truth, heaven
forfend, until the Holy One, blessed be He, gives it to him from above?
However,  it is  well known  (5)  that the  attribute of  Jacob is  the
attribute of compassion.
 
[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:]  And the  service of  G-d through
compassion  derives from  the arousal,  in a  man's heart,  of profound
compassion for the Divine spark in his soul, which is  distant from the
light  of  G-d's  Countenance whenever  [the  man]  goes  about in  the
darkness of the vanities of the world.
 
[When a  man finds  himself straying  forlorn in  a state  of spiritual
darkness, he can thus awaken within himself a feeling of compassion for
the  soul-spark within him that he  himself has banished from the light
of its Divine Source.]  This arousal of compassion itself  derives from
[and is proportionate to  a man's] understanding and deep  cognition of
the greatness of G-d:  he reflects upon] how  even the most  infinitely
sublime worlds are considered as truly naught before Him.
 
For all their [G-d-given] bounty and vitality derives from a mere gleam
or reflection of a single letter of His blessed Name, as it is written,
(6) "The World to Come was created  [merely] by the letter yud [of  the
Divine  Name."  The spiritual worlds, all  of which are included in the
term "World  to Come,"  were thus  all created by  means of  the single
letter yud of the Divine Name.]
 
Now it  is in this radiation  and reflection, which is  an extension of
the  life-giving  energy [that  flows]  from  [G-d's] blessed  Name  to
animate the  higher and lower beings,  that there is a  distinction and
difference with respect to higher and lower beings, so that "this world
was created  through the  letter  hei," and  so on,  [while the  higher
worlds  were  created  through the  letter  yud.  As  explained in  the
previous epistle, this lowly corporeal world receives its vitality only
from the "matter" or "body" of the letters of Supernal speech, which in
turn derives from the letter hei of the Divine Name. The higher worlds,
however,  receive their  vitality from  the "form"  or "soul"  of these
letters,  and this derives from  the level of  Chochmah, represented by
the yud of the Divine Name. However, these different modes in which the
life-giving  influence of the Divine Name is  diffused to the upper and
lower  worlds respectively, relate only to the radiation and reflection
of the Divine Name; they do not relate to G-d's Essence.
 
(Moreover, any name is a  mere reflection of the essence of  the entity
named.  A person's  name, for  example, is  not his essence:  it merely
reflects it; it is  merely a means of  relating to another person.   In
the same way, the Divine Name is merely a reflection of the essence  of
the Divine.)
 
Until  now  the  Alter  Rebbe  has  spoken  in  general  terms  of  the
differences between the higher and lower worlds.]
 
Also,  all the variety  of details within  each world  is determined by
differences in the combinations of the letters [through which they were
created.] So,  too, the distinctions between the temporal dimensions of
past, present and  future, and all the variety of events throughout the
changing times, -  all of these, too, are determined  by differences in
the combinations of the letters.
 
For [these combinations of letters] are the conduits of the life-giving
force that proceeds from attributes of [G-d] Blessed be His Name, ( (7)
as explained in Likkutei Amarim, Part II, ch. 11).
 
All the above-mentioned differences are to be found only in the flow of
vitality which emanates  from G-d's attributes and  which then descends
through the letters of His creative speech.
 
But as for His  blessed Being and Essence, it is written:  (8) "I, G-d,
have not changed"  [as a result of  creation - neither (a)  in terms of
changes  in the  progression  from  the  uppermost  of  levels  to  the
nethermost, for just as He is  present in the higher worlds, so [is  He
present] in precisely  the same  measure in the  nether worlds,  [since
from His  perspective there is  absolutely no difference  between them:
all are  equally distant from Him, "for no thought can apprehend Him at
all, even in  the higher worlds,"]  ( (7) as  is explained in  Likkutei
Amarim, Part  I, ch. 51), [The  higher and lower worlds  differ only in
relation to the stream of life-giving energy that flows forth from Him:
this vitality is more revealed in the higher worlds than in the lower.]
nor (b)  in terms  of temporal  changes [is  there any  difference from
G-d*s perspective]; for  just as He was  alone, one and unique,  before
the Six Days of Creation, so He is now after Creation.
 
[But  how can G-d's absolute unity remain unaltered, despite the advent
of  a whole  created  universe?]  This  is  so  because  everything  is
absolutely as nothing and naught in  relation to His being and essence,
just as a single letter of a man's speech, or even  of his thought, [is
of  absolutely  no consequence]  in relation  to  the entire  being and
essence of the rational soul,  [i.e., this is true not only of a letter
of speech but  also of thought, even though the soul-garment of thought
is more abstract and subtle than speech and is thus closer to the soul.
 
It is the intellect of  the rational soul that causes the  emergence of
the emotions;  this, in  turn, leads to  thought and  speech. Thus,  in
comparison to the  essence of  the soul itself,  which transcends  even
intellect by  far,  one letter  of  speech or  even  of thought  is  of
absolutely  no  consequence.  However,  the  above  analogy  is  merely
offered:] metaphorically  speaking, to appease  the ear,  [in order  to
give finite mortals some  inkling of the insignificance of  creation in
the eyes of the Creator, while in fact, as it is written, (9) "There is
no comparison unto You."
 
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