From: murray@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (murray kahl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 1, 1 of 4
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:23:20 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida

Subj: Tanya-Epistle 1       1/4
Epistle One
 
[In their Approbation to Tanya, (1) the author' sons write that the
discourses and open letters together entitled Iggeret HaKo-desh (2)
("The Holy Epistle"), as well as the further discourses entitled
Kuntres Acharon ("Later Pamphlet"), were all "recorded personally by
[the Alter Rebbe's] own holy hand in his own saintly expression...
These discourses are [collectively] entitled Iggeret HaKodesh, being
mostly epistles sent by his holy eminence to teach the people of G-d
the way by which they should walk and the deed which they should do."
 
Accordingly, the author's learned sons saw fit to publish them
together with the preceding sections of the Tanya.
                               *     *     *
The first epistle opens with a reference to the chassidic custom (a
custom that thrives to this day) of apportioning the tractates of the
Talmud for study among the members of each congregation or community,
so that the entire work is completed in the course of a year. The
conclusion of the year's study and the reallocation of tractates are
traditionally celebrated on Yud-Tes Kislev, the anniversary of the
Alter Rebbe's liberation from imprisonment and capital sentence in
Leningrad in 1798.
 
The Rebbe Shlita has noted on a number of occasions that the
collective completion of the Talmud by a number of individuals is
considered as if each one of the group had completed the entire Talmud
himself. He explains that this is similar to the law with regard to
performing a prohibited labor on Shabbat: If doing the labor requires
the efforts of two individuals, each of them is considered to have
performed the entire labor. (3) So, too, since the various individuals
partake in the collective study of the Talmud for they cannot complete
it single-handed in the course of a year, it is considered as if each
one of them had studied the entire Talmud.
 
                               *     *     *
To return to the central theme of this opening epistle. The Alter
Rebbe explains here that the study of the laws set out in the Oral
Torah elevates a Jew's soul and assists him in his spiritual service -
of meditating upon G-d's greatness, and arousing within himself a love
and awe of Him.
 
On the circumstances of its composition, the previous Lubavitcher
Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of blessed memory, has
conveyed to us the following: (4) "During a Simchat Beit HaShoevah
gathering in the year 5648 (1887), my revered father related that the
epistle opening with `We begin with a benediction' was written by the
Alter Rebbe in three stages in three different years.
 
"The first stage: When the Alter Rebbe decided to make the journey to
study at the feet of the Maggid of Mezritch, he presented his
disciples with a `note of arousal.' It opened with `We begin with a
benediction,' and concluded, `And these [faculties] are the arms and
the body of the soul.'
 
"The second stage was when the Alter Rebbe returned from Mezritch,
having had revealed to him by the Maggid - at the behest of his
mentor, the Baal Shem Tov, and with the blessing of his mentor,
Achiyah HaShiloni - his spiritual identity, the purpose of his holy
soul's descent into this world, and the great responsibility and
danger that his mission entailed.  At that time the Alter Rebbe wrote
the second part of this epistle, beginning with `But what gives the
power,' and concluding, `To the extent of pressing out the soul...'
 
"Speaking to his son, the Mitteler Rebbe, and to his grandson, the
Tzemach Tzedek, the Alter Rebbe once described his inner feelings
during the first few years after his mentor, the Maggid of Mezritch,
had revealed to him the message of the Baal Shem Tov [regarding his
soul's mission].
 
"These were the Alter Rebbe's words: `The simple faith that we, the
disciples of the Maggid, had in him, and our self-sacrificing devotion
to him, provided us with the potent strength to obey all his
directives with extreme precision, with inner and essential self-
sacrifice. In the course of several years, when my young married
students settled in various towns and villages, I added three
paragraphs to this epistle - from `And now' until `there is no
goodness but Torah.' This I did in view of the burden placed upon me
by my master, the Maggid, and in order to be able to realize, with G-
d's help, the inner intent of my soul's descent into this world.'"]
 
[The above was a preface. "We begin with a benediction..." is
transaltion of the actual text.]
 
We begin with a benediction, to bless and to give thanks to G-d, for
He is good. (5)  My soul has heard and been revived by good tidings -
and "good" signifies Torah,  [as our Sages state in Tractate Avot. (6)
More specifically, it signifies (7)]  G-d's Torah [which] is a perfect
whole," [for it is the Torah in this state that the same verse
describes as "reviving the soul."]
 
[The above remarks] refer to the completion of the whole (8) Talmud,
(9) in its entirety, (10) in most towns and congregations of Anash,
[the men of our (chassidic) brother-hood.]
 
[So much for] gratitude in respect of past accomplishments. And [now,]
a request for the future: May G-d thus continue from year to year to
grant added strength to your hearts among the mighty, (11) with the
might of the Torah, [I.e., may G-d increase that which He has
previously granted - His increase being even greater than the original
blessing (12) - so that the hearts of those who study Torah be
strengthened to such a degree that they will be considered mighty even
among the mighty, with their strength deriving from the Torah.] and
make known to mankind the might of the Oral Torah (13) and its power
which is great.
 
[The might (Gevurah) of Torah relates specifically to the Oral Law.
For with regard to the source of the Torah in the Supernal Sefirot,
the Written Torah derives from the Sefirah of Chochmah, which is
aligned with the "right side" of the universe - the attribute of
Chesed, kindness and benevolence; the Oral Torah derives from the
Sefirah of Binah, (14) which is aligned with the "left side" of the
universe - the attribute of Gevurah, stern judgment and severity. (15)
(This relationship between Binah and Gevurah is alluded to in the
verse, (16) "I am Binah, Gevurah is mine.")]
 
[On the strength that the Oral Law gives the soul of a Jew,] King
Solomon, peace be to him, explained: (17) `She girds her loins with
strength...'
 
[The "woman of valor" lauded by King Solomon at the opening of the
relevant chapter is an allegorical allusion to Knesset Yisrael - the
Congregation of Israel, which comprises all Jewish souls. In the verse
quoted, she "girds her loins with strength." "Strength" refers to the
Torah, (18) as in the teaching, (19) "There is no strength other than
the Torah." Thus, the Torah strengthens the loins of the soul, just as
a warrior girds his loins to gather maximal strength. But what is
meant by "girding the loins of the soul"?]  The loins are the
underframe that supports the whole body, including the head that is
positioned over them; it is they that lead and bring [the body] to its
desired destination. And just as it is with the corporeality of the
body, so it is with the spirituality of the Divine soul. [Just as the
loins support the corporeal body and head, so do the soul's loins
support and lead the `body' and `head' of the soul to its desired
spiritual destination.]
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