From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 12, 3 of 3
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:29:23 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 12   3/3
 
>>> Continued from previous message
 
The term "service" (avodah),  however, applies only to what a  man does
with immense exertion, contrary to his soul's  inclination, [Indeed, it
is his very  disinclination for  a particular task  that works  against
him, and necessitates such  exertion.] but he overrules his  nature and
will, out of  deference to  the Supreme Will;  exhausting himself,  for
example,  in Torah  and  prayer, "to  the extent  of  pressing out  the
soul....(31)"  [Since  the soul  is not  naturally  inclined to  such a
situation, a great deal of toil and effort is required.]
 
In our case, too, with regard to the commandment of giving charity, [to
"serve" entails] giving far more than [would be prompted by] the nature
of  one's compassion  and  will.  As  our  Sages,  of  blessed  memory,
commented (32)  on the verse,  (33) "Give, you shall  give": "...even a
hundred times."
 
This, then, is the  meaning of the verse, "And the act of charity shall
be  [peace]" - that  even with the  kind of charity which  is called an
"act" and  not "service,  [this] arousal  from below will  nevertheless
elicit an arousal from above.
 
One  arouses a  manifestation of  the [infinite]  Ein Sof-light  with a
great illumination and an intense diffusion, and peace is brought about
"in  [G-d's] high  places,"  between Michael  and  Gabriel, Chesed  and
Gevurah, and also within the terrestial retinue [- the lower worlds].
 
In this  lowly world, however, there will be no manifestation of [this]
peace, and of the refinement and separation of the evil  from the good,
until the ultimate time, when evil  will cease to exist, but not during
the  time of the  exile, as explained  above, except  in the microcosm,
i.e.,  in man,  at every "time  of finding,"  meaning prayer,  as it is
written, "Through  tzedek will I behold Your countenance," as discussed
above. 
 
Even so, after prayer it is possible that the evil will easily reawaken
and  become intermingled  with  the good  as  one  walks about  in  the
darkness of this world.
 
However,  as to the charity [which is practiced with self-imposed toil]
at  the level of avodah  ("service"), since it  is exceedingly precious
and lofty,  far more so  than the tzedakah  one practices out  of one's
natural inclination,  because [in  the former  case] one  overrules his
nature  and bodily will out of deference  to the Supreme Will, and "the
sitra  achra is  subjugated," and  then  "the glory  of  the Holy  One,
blessed be  He, rises [and becomes  manifest in all the  worlds]," (34)
"like the superiority of light over (lit., "out of") darkness," (35) as
is known, - [The excellence of light is most  appreciated when darkness
itself is  transformed into light.] in  such a case, [by  virtue of the
exertion involved in this superior  form of tzedakah,] the evil  can no
longer reawaken so easily of itself, unless, heaven forfend, one rouses
it and draws it upon himself.
 
This, then, is  the meaning of  "quietness and surety forever"  - [that
the reward for the service of charity is eternal quietness and surety.]
 
Hashket  ("quietness")  is related  to [the  root of  the verb  in] the
phrase,  (36) "he rests (shoket) on  his dregs," meaning that the dregs
are completely separated from the wine and sink all the way down, while
the wine above is wholly pure and clear.
 
Similarly  with  the  service  of  charity:  the  dregs  represent  the
admixture  of evil  in one's  soul, which  is gradually  extricated and
separated until it  falls netherwards to  its root and source  - [below
all  the worlds,] as it  is written, (37) "And  You will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea."  (38)
 
FOOTNOTES
 
1.   Yeshayahu 32:17.
2.   See Devarim Rabbah 5:12; Tanchuma, Vayigash 6.
3.   Iyov 25:2.
4.   Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Vayikra 11:1.
5.   Note  of the  Rebbe  Shlita: Significantly,  [these  are the  very
     blessings requested  in the final benediction  of Shemoneh Esreh,]
     the  one beginning  with the  words, Sim  Shalom  (Siddur Tehillat
     HaShem, p. 60). 6. Yeshayahu 57:15.
7.   Bava Batra 9b.
8.   Cf. Zechariah 13:2.
9.   Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Sanhedrin  99b. See Likkutei Torah,
     Mattot, s.v. Heichaltzu.
10.  Kohelet 8:9. See also Epistle 25 below, et al.
11.  Bereishit 25:23.
12.  Tanchuma, Pekudei 3; Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 69 (pp. 100b-101a). 
13.  Tehillim 92:10.
14.  See above, Tanya, Part I, beginning of ch. 37.
15.  Yeshayahu 11:9.
16.  Ibid. 40:5.
17.  Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Commentaries on Tehillim 32:6. 
18.  Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 25, at length.
19.  Bava Batra 10a.
20.  Tehillim 17:15.
21.  Mishlei 17:3.
22.  Note of the Rebbe Shlita: For  these are spiritual gold and silver
     (Torah Or, beginning of Parshat Vayeishev, et al.). 23. Yevamot
     79a; see Tanya, Part I, end of ch. 1.
24.  Tehillim 103:11.
25.  Note of the Rebbe Shlita: *II, 95a.*
26.  Bereishit 2:7.
27.  Morning  Blessings (Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 6); cf. Berachot
     60b. 
28.  Cited above (Part I, ch. 2) in the name of the Zohar. 
29.  The clause that follows  paraphrases a statement in  the morning
     prayers (Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 44).
30.  Eichah 3:23.
31.  Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 1. 
32.  Note of the  Rebbe Shlita: Sifri, Devarim 15:10; commentary  of
     Rashi there.
33.  Devarim, loc. cit.
34.  Zohar II, 128b.
35.  Kohelet 2:13.
36.  Yirmeyahu 48:11.
37.  Michah 7:19.
38.  Note  of the Rebbe Shlita: In Or  HaTorah of the Tzemach Tzedek on
     this  verse  (Michah 7:19),  the author refers  the reader to  the
     Shelah  on  Parshat  Vayishlach   (p.  295b).  That  reference  is
     instructive here too. --- 
 
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