From: murray@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (murray kahl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 15, Part 6 of 7
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:56:20 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida


 
Subj: Tanya Epistle 15      6/7
 
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There is another aspect of the greatness of G-d from [the
contemplation of] which derives yirah ilaah ["the superior level
of fear"], in which one is awed out of bashfulness.
 
There is also an aspect [of G-d's greatness] from [the contemplation
of] which derives ahavah rabbah ["the great love"], and still another
aspect [of G-d's greatness], from [the contemplation of] which derives
ahavah zutta ["the lesser love". All these levels of ahavah and yirah
are internal emotive attributes that are fathered by ChaBaD.]
 
The same applies to the external attributes, i.e., Chesed and so on;
[they, too, emanate from ChaBaD.]
 
Now, the faculty of Daat must be vested within all these [emotive
attributes], for it represents the bond with which the soul is bound
and embedded in this apprehension as it apprehends some aspect of
G-d's greatness, from which one of these attributes is born within it.
 
[Once the soul has apprehended some aspect of G-d's greatness it must
bind itself to this comprehension through the faculty of Daat.]
 
For by a momentary removal of Daat from this apprehension, the emotion
born of it is also withdrawn from its [prior] state of manifestation
in the soul [back] into concealment [within the soul], to exist there
in potentia but not in actuality.
 
[It is the faculty of Daat - a prolonged and constant involvement in
the subject being contemplated - that reveals and actualizes the
emotive experience of love or fear.]
 
That is why the term Daat is applied to coition, (65) for it signifies
a bond [that results in issue, just as out of Daat are born the
emotions.]
 
This is the faculty of Daat Tachton, the lower level of Daat, which
extends into the attributes and vests itself in them to animate and
sustain them.
 
There is also a faculty of Daat Elyon, a superior level of Daat,
through which the source of the intellect that apprehends the
profundity of a concept is bound and connected [to it] - like a point
or a flash of lightning that flashes over one's mind - so that [the
concept] will extend downward.
 
The profundity of the apprehended concept will thereby come to be
understood with extensive clarification, in length and breadth,
this stage being the function of the faculty of Binah, which is known
as rechovot hanahar [lit., "the expanses of the river"], as will be
explained in its place. (66)
 
[The faculty of Daat Elyon unifies Chochmah with Binah. For Chochmah
is the intuitive flash of illumination that would vanish as quickly as
it appeared, if it were not anchored by Daat in the comprehension of
Binah, whereby this seminal point assumes length and breadth.
 
Chochmah is thus likened to a wellspring whose waters issue forth drop
by drop, while Binah is likened to a broad and deep river. It is the
function of Daat Elyon to draw the wellsprings of Chochmah into the
river of Binah.
 
The function of Daat Tachton, by contrast, is that of binding the
intellective faculties of ChaBaD with their resultant emotions, so
that one's intellectual activity will illuminate them, and provide
them with vitality and continuity.
 
In summary, this discourse demonstrates how all the ten faculties of
the divine soul engage in an ongoing relationship with their G-dly
source. Indeed, to recall the Alter Rebbe's opening lines, an
understanding of this dynamic within oneself, enables one to
experience the truth of the verse, "From my flesh shall I behold G-d,"
and to gain some measure of understanding of the Supernal Sefirot.]
 
FOOTNOTES
 
1. Introduction II to Tikkunei Zohar, reproduced in Siddur Tehillat
   HaShem, pp. 125-6.
2. Part I, beginning of ch. 8.
3. Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar, p. 3b; Etz Chayim, Shaar 47, ch. 2
   et al.; and see Epistle 20, below.
4. Yechezkel 1:26.
5. See Tanya, Part I, ch. 3.
6. P. 156b.
7. Discourse entitled Lo Tashbit.
8. Mishlei 1:6.
9. Kohelet 9:9.
10. Cf. Yeshayahu 12:5.
11. Iyov 19:26.
12. Berachot 10a.
13. Tehillim 103:1.
14. Quoted above - in Part I, beginning of ch. 2, and in Part III
    (Iggeret HaTeshuvah), ch. 4 - in the name of the Zohar.
15. Bereishit 2:7.
16. This connection is hinted at in the phrase, (HaChochma Techaye)
    (Kohelet 7:12).
17. For this connection, cf. the phrase, Nismat Sha-kai Tovinem
    (Iyov 32:8).
18. See Etz Chayim, Shaar 47, ch. 2.
19. Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 6.
20. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Bereishit Rabbah 47:8, et al.; explained
    in Tanya, Part I, chs. 18, 23, et al.
21. Bereishit 18:27.
22. Rambam, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, beginning of ch. 4.
23. Cf. Kohelet 3:20.
24. Bereishit 2:9.
25. An alternative reading, which does not appear in the ms. versions:
   "It is known, in a general way,..."
26. The Alter Rebbe first deals with the seven middot, or emotive
    attributes, and towards the end of this letter proceeds to explain
    the three intellective attributes which give birth to them. (See
    the passage below that begins, "Having dealt with the middot...")
27. In place of Klall ("altogether"), an alternative reading has
    Kol Ikar, which is a more emphatic phrase.
28. The word Lashon, which appears in the Hebrew text before Rachmanut
    ("compassion"), is left untranslated for, as the Rebbe Shlita
    notes, it is evidently a superfluous interpolation.
29. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: This is a departure from the usual
    explanation - that Chesed extends its benevolence even to an
    individual whom the attribute of compassion would disqualify
    (despite his need), or to an individual whom one should not pity.
30. The corresponding Hebrew phrase, whose singular form is apparently
    anomalous, is rendered in the plural in one of the early editions
    of this letter (Lemberg, 1860).
31. An alternative reading, which does not appear in the ms. versions,
    interpolates the word Bo after Me-uravim; the meaning of the
    sentence is virtually unaffected.
32. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: This is [the function of the attributes
    of] Malchut and Yesod, as will soon be explained.
33. Mishlei 25:11.
34. Berachot 61a.
35. Zohar III, 296a.
36. Cf. Tanya, Part I, ch. 2.
37. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: As above, conclusion of Shaar HaYichud
    VehaEmunah, quoting Chagigah 12b.
38. Brackets are in the original text.
39. The Hebrew root of Netzach comprises three meanings - to prevail,
    to be enduring, to be victorious.
40. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: As noted in the Introduction of R.
    Avraham Shu"b, the [previously] printed letters of Iggeret
    HaKodesh were compared to copyists' manuscripts (and not to the
    Alter Rebbe's original letters).
41. Brackets are in the original text.
42. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Though it is possible to understand the
    acronym Peh Alef Peh as meaning Peh el Peh ("mouth to mouth") -
    i.e., without an intermediary; cf. Ibn Ezra on Parshat Behaalotcha
    12:8), the phrase Panin el Panim ("face to face") describes a
    higher level [of communication, and is therefore the preferred
    rendition], for here the Alter Rebbe is speaking of the highest
    qualities of Yesod, to the degree that the father `desires
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