From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 12, 1 of 3
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:23:46 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 12  1/3
 
Epistle Twelve
 
"And  [the reward  for] the  act of  tzedakah will  be peace,  and [the
reward  for] the  service of  tzedakah [will  be] quietness  and surety
forever." (1)
 
[Some commentaries  explain that "act" (Ma-aseh)  and "service" (Avoda)
are one and  the same; the  verse merely reiterates  the same theme  in
different  words.  Targum  Yonatan,  however,  writes  that  "act"  and
"service" indicate two different  forms of charity: the reward  for the
"act" of tzedakah is peace; the reward for the "service" of tzedakah is
eternal quietness and surety.]
 
The difference between [the]  "act" and "service" of tzedakah,  and the
difference between [the rewards of] "peace" and "quietness and surety,"
will be  understood by what our  Sages, of blessed memory,  said (2) on
the verse, (3)  "He makes peace in His  high places" : "Michael  is the
prince  of water and  Gabriel is the  prince of  fire, yet they  do not
extinguish one another."
 
[Though  water  seeks to  quench fire  and  fire endeavors  to vaporize
water, and "Michael is the prince of water and Gabriel is the prince of
fire," nevertheless they do not extinguish one another.]
 
This  means  to say,  [not that  Michael's  substance derives  from the
spiritual element of  water and  Gabriel's substance  derives from  the
spiritual element of fire,  but] that Michael  is the prince of  Chesed
["kindness"],  which is called "water", because it descends from a high
place to a low place.
 
[In spiritual terms] this [descent]  means: the bestowal and  diffusion
of the [Divine] life-force from the higher to the lower worlds. 
 
Fire,  whose nature is to soar aloft, represents spiritually the thrust
of Gevurah ["severity"], and the upward withdrawal of the flow of life-
force, in order  not to bestow  [it] except  by way of  an intense  and
immense contraction.
 
Now these  attributes are  in conflict, [Chesed  representing unlimited
effusion,  and Gevurah  representing limitation  and contraction,]  but
only when they are in their pristine state as attributes.
 
[Inasmuch as the attributes are inherently limited (and indeed the very
worly  One, lessed be  He, makes peace  between them, [so  that
they should not oppose one another,]  through a revelation - so that an
immense  illumination and an  intense effusion from  the [infinite] Ein
Sof-light is revealed within them.
 
For like His Name [viz., Ein Sof - "the Infinite One"), so is He.
 
He is not, Heaven forfend, on the [measured] plane of an attribute, but
transcends   exceedingly,  ad   infinitum,  even   the  rank   of  [the
intellectual  faculties  of]   ChaBaD,  which  is  the  source  of  the
attributes, [and surely He transcends the attributes themselves
A  [when   G-d's  infinite  light   is  revealed  within   the
attributes,] the opposing attributes of Michael and Gabriel (Chesed and
Gevurah) are absorbed in their  source and root, and they  become truly
unified, and  are nullified in His  light, which radiates to  them in a
manifest way. 
 
[Once  their  individuality is  nullified, they  no longer  oppose each
other.  By way  of analogy:  The intense enmity  of two  high officials
dissolves, in the presence  of their sovereign, into friendship.  It is
because  of their joint nullification  before the king  that this unity
comes  about. So,  too, the  defined bounds  of the  various attributes
dissipate  in  the face  of the  limitless  revelation of  the infinite
light.]
 
The Gevurot  are thereby tempered  and mellowed [lit.,  "sweetened"] in
the  Chassadim,  [and are  transformed into  good  and kindness,]  by a
mediary,  the determining  factor [between  Chesed and  Gevurah,] which
leans towards Chesed, i.e., the attribute of Rachamim ("mercy").
 
[When Chesed does not insist (so  to speak) on an unlimited  revelation
of kindness  (but is satisfied  to reveal  the G-dly illumination  in a
finite manner),  and Gevurah insists only on  witholding the revelation
from those  who are unworthy  of receiving it  (but does not  insist on
blocking the revelation  altogether, even  from the worthy  - then  the
mediating  attribute of  mercy, which  leans toward  kindness, declares
that while a  particular recipient  may not be  strictly worthy of  the
kindness to be shown , he is at least worthy of being granted it out of
compassion.]
 
This  [attribute  of  Rachamim]  is called  Tiferet  ("beauty")  in the
terminology of  the Kabbalists (lit., the scholars  of truth"), because
it is  made up of the two colors white  and red, which allude to Chesed
and  Gevurah, respectively.    [Rachamim is  therefore called  Tiferet,
because there is beauty in the harmony of diverse colors.]
 
The Divine Name Havayah [the Tetragrammaton], as it appears unqualified
throughout the Torah,  therefore indicates the attribute of Tiferet, as
is stated in the sacred Zohar. (4) 
 
[Each of the Divine Names indicates one of the Supernal Attributes: the
Name E-l,  for example, indicates Chesed; Elokim indicates Gevurah; and
any unqualified appearance of the ultimate Divine Name - Havayah, which
is  known as  Shem  HaEtzem ("the  Essential Name")  -  alludes to  the
attribute of Tiferet. Why is this the case?]
 
For  here, [in Tiferet,] the  [infinite] Ein Sof-light becomes manifest
in  an  immense  illumination,  surpassing that  of  the  other  Divine
attributes.
 
[This,  then, is the  meaning of  the above  quotation, that  "He makes
peace  in  His high  places": The  revelation  of G-d's  infinite light
"makes peace" between  Michael and  Gabriel, who  represent Chesed  and
Gevurah.]
 
Now, the arousal from above, that elicits a manifestation of this great
illumination and immense diffusion from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light in
order  to  bring about  the above-mentioned  peace,  is effected  by an
arousal from below   -  by the act  of charity, and  by the  benevolent
bestowal by one  man to  another of "life,  graciousness, kindness  and
compassion" (5) to him who  has nothing of his own, thereby  "to revive
the spirit  of the lowly, [and  to revive the heart  of the downcast]."
(6) 
 
[When one gives  tzedakah to a pauper  (7) "while raising  his spirits"
with  a few warm  and supportive words,  so that  he is given  not only
"life" but "graciousness, kindness and  compassion" as well, then  this
arousal  from below results in an  arousal from above. This releases an
intense illumination  of the infinite  Ein Sof-light into  the Supernal
Attributes,  thereby  making  peace  between them,  and  tempering  and
sweetening the Gevurot in the Chassadim.
 
The Alter Rebbe  will now go on to  explain the effect of the  "act" of
tzedakah upon the individual benefactor himself, in terms of his battle
with the evil of his animal soul.
 
The animal  soul may be refined,  and the good within  it separated and
elevated from its evil, in one of two ways: 
 
One possible direction  of attack  is "from below  to above"  (milmatah
lemaalah), whereby each attribute  of the divine soul does  battle with
its counterpart in  the animal soul, seeking to refine  and elevate it.
For example: the divine soul's love  for G-d seeks to purify the animal
soul's  attribute of Chesed with its fleshly desires; the divine soul's
fear of G-d seeks to  refine the animal soul's evil kinds  of fear; and
so on. 
 
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