From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 9, 1 of 2
Date: 23 Aug 92 02:02:35 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 9     1/2
 
Epistle Nine
 
[Like the preceding Epistle,  the present one too centers on  the theme
of tzedakah.
 
If  it is  to  be  performed  properly,  tzedakah  ought  to  be  given
unstintingly,  and not only after all one's  own needs and desires have
been  satisfied. Ideally,  it  should  be given  in  the  spirit of  an
aphorism that was current among  the chassidim of the Alter Rebbe:  (1)
"Inside my slice of bread there is your share too; G-d is providing for
you through me."
 
A man should thus feel  obligated to share with others and  provide for
their needs to the very same degree  that he provides for his own  wife
and children. Performing tzedakah  in this manner can only  be achieved
when  one distributes  one's earnings  in an  utterly selfless  manner,
doing so entirely for G-d's sake. Then, even when one  provides for his
own family's needs he  will do so because they are Jewish souls who are
part of  G-d Above, (2) and  as such he bears  a responsibility towards
them.
 
When one acts in this way, he will realize that all needy folk are also
Jewish souls and part of G-d  Above; he must therefore concern  himself
with their  needs as well.  Though the  Torah rules that  providing for
one's own wife  and children  takes precedence over  providing for  the
needs of others, the essential sense of obligation remains the same.]
 
My beloved ones, (3) my  brethren and friends, who are unto me  like my
soul:
 
[The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe explains in one of his talks, that when
the Alter Rebbe  seeks to imbue  his followers with  the love of  their
fellow  Jews  he  addresses  them  as  "my  beloved  friends,"  for  by
befriending a fellow  Jew one becomes a  "beloved friend" of  the Alter
Rebbe.
 
Accordingly,  it  may  be  said  that  by  heeding  the  Alter  Rebbe's
instructions  with  regard to  tzedakah one  becomes  one of  the Alter
Rebbe's "beloved brethren."]
 
I come  [herewith] as one who  reminds and awakens those  who sleep the
slumber of "vanities  of vanities,"  [Physical things at  any time  are
deemed  hevel:  being  airy  and   insubstantial,  they  have  no  true
existence. When they serve no loftier purpose than themselves, they may
be given the  double epithet used above - havlei  havalim, (4) airy and
foolish trivialities.] 
 
And  to open the eyes of the blind.  [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 Parshat  Behar. (5)  The "blindness" caused  by the  body
must be healed, so that the soul may once again behold the truth.]
 
(6)  Let them look and  see to it that all  their striving, longing and
aiming, in (7) everything  on which the  life of their spirit  depends,
(8)  should  be bound  up in  (9) "the  [Divine]  Source of  the living
waters," the (10) "Fountainhead  of all life," throughout all  the days
of their lives, with respect (11) to the soul as well as to the flesh.
 
[Not only during prayer or Torah study or while performing mitzvot is a
Jew to be bound to  G-d, but even while going about his mundane affairs
he should be attached to Him as well.]
 
I.e., in all mundane matters and in  the means by which one earns one's
livelihood, one  should not be  like those who do  everything for their
own sake, [acting only  out of their  desire to satisfy themselves  and
their families, rather than for G-d's sake.]
 
Let not  the House of  Israel be like all  the gentiles, (12)  who (13)
feed,  provide for and  esteem their wives and  children out of [self-]
love.  [I.e.,  since one  loves  himself he  also  loves  his wife  and
children, who are a part of him. Rather, his love should be holy in its
selflessness.]
 
For  it is  written: (14)  "Who is  like Your  people Israel,  a unique
nation on earth?"  This means that even in  mundane ["earthly"] matters
they will not,  heaven forfend,  separate (15) [them]  from G-d's  true
Unity,  [The concept of the Unity of  G-d signifies that apart from Him
nothing truly  exists.] to bear  false witness,  heaven forfend,  while
reciting  the  Shema  every  evening  and  morning  with  closed  eyes,
[saying,] (16)  "G-d is  One"  - in  the four  directions,  and in  the
heavens above  and on earth below, (17)  [thus attesting to G-d's Unity
even in the mundane realm,] while as the eyes of the  blind are opened,
[and here  the Alter  Rebbe addresses those  whose eyes are  blinded by
corporeal matters:]
 
"Can you close  your eyes upon Him, as if He  is no more?" (18) (heaven
forfend). [This means  to say  that immediately upon  opening his  eyes
after reciting the Shema,  such a person  can view the  world as if  it
were a self- sufficient entity, separate and distinct from its Creator;
accordingly,  moreover, he  conducts his  affairs in  a selfish  manner
rather than for the sake of heaven.]
 
Rather, this  [approach] shall  be befitting  us  - that  (19) all  our
involvement  with mundane affairs should be [conducted] not for its own
sake, but in  order to animate souls, [i.e., to  provide sustenance for
fellow Jews, whose souls are veritably, so  to speak,] portions of G-d,
and to supply what they lack, out of gratuitous kindness.
 
In this way  we make the form  [the soul] resemble  Him Who formed  it,
viz.,  "G-d  [Who]  is One";  for  (20)  "the  Chesed  of  G-d  endures
throughout the day," [i.e., at all times -  a (21) true Chesed, without
thought of reward,] that animates  the universe and all that fills  it,
at every single moment.
 
[In  imitation of  G-d, Who  thus dispenses  kindness and  animates all
created beings, man  too should  act kindly toward  others and  sustain
those  in  need.  Indeed, this  should  be  his  ultimate purpose  when
engaging in his  work or in commerce: to be  able to provide sustenance
for the souls of his fellow Jews.
 
According to the above,  however, one should provide  for the needs  of
others  to the very  same degree that  he provides for  his own family.
Why,  then, should the  needs of one's own  family take precedence over
the needs of others? The Alter Rebbe answers this by saying:]
 
It is  only that according to the Torah (22)  a man's wife and children
take precedence over all others, [The Alter Rebbe wrote this Epistle in
connection with the  tzaddikim, R.   Mendele Vitebsker  and R.  Avraham
Kalisker, as well as their colleagues and disciples, who at the time of
writing had already left the diaspora and were living in the Holy Land.
The  Alter  Rebbe  therefore  goes on  to  say:]  except  (23) for  the
tzaddikim of the generation,  who take precedence over  one*s children;
moreover, the tzaddikim in the Land  of Israel take precedence over the
tzaddikim in  the diaspora, apart from the fact that they did not leave
anyone  in the diaspora comparable to themselves. This will suffice for
the discerning.
 
Therefore,  my beloved ones, my  brethren: Direct your  hearts to these
words which are expressed very briefly, ( (24) and face to face, please
G-d,  I will speak  of them at length)  - how in  these times, when the
approaching footsteps  of Mashiach  are  close upon  us, the  principal
service of G-d is the service of charity.
 
As our  Sages, of blessed memory,  said: (25) "Israel will  be redeemed
only through charity."
 
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