From: murray@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (murray kahl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 15, part 5 of 7
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:54:20 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida


 
Subj: Tanya Epistle 15      5/7
 
>>> Continued from previous message
 
For because of one's love of G-d and because of one's great desire
to cleave unto Him, he desires [with all his being to practice]
Chesed, in order to cleave to His attributes.
 
This accords with the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory,
on the verse, (50) "And to cleave unto Him": "Cleave unto His
attributes." (51)
 
[Just as G-d is compassionate so should mortal man be compassionate;
just as G-d has an innate desire to practice kindness, so should a
person's inner desire to practice kindness be motivated by a desire to
cleave to G-d.
 
As to the attribute of Chesed, then, both its internal aspect (love)
and its external aspect (kindness) are directly purely to G-dly
things.]
 
It is likewise with the attribute of Gevurah, [whose internal
aspect is fear; it, too, is experienced only for G-dly causes:] for
example, to punish and chastise the wicked with the punishments of
the Torah; and also, to prevail over one's [evil] inclination and to
(52) "Sanctify himself in that which is permitted to him," and to
(53) put up a fence and a hedge around the Torah, because of the dread
and fear of G-d, lest he might come to sin, heaven forfend.
 
[In order to ensure that he will not come to sin, a person may thus
choose to sanctify himself and refrain from (54) "one hundred portals
of the permissible, so as not to transgress in one portal of the
prohibited."
 
To summarize the above conclusions regarding the first two of the
seven middot, or spiritual emotions: Not only is a man's attribute of
Chesed directed to G-dly matters, but so too is his attribute of
Gevurah - both in its internal aspect, viz., the fear of G-d, and in
its external manifestations in his rigorous observance of the Torah
and its mitzvot.]
 
Likewise, [by exercising the attribute of Tiferet (lit., "beauty"),
a man seeks] to glorify G-d and His Torah in all ways possible, [such
as by possessing a beautiful sefer Torah, beautiful tefillin and the
like,] and to cleave to His praises [by praising G-d] with all the
faculties of his soul: that is, by intellectual and thoughtful
meditation [on the greatness of G-d, which blossoms into the singing
of His praises;] and likewise when he speaks, [his praises are not
empty words, but grow out of his preparatory meditation.
 
"Praising G-d with all the faculties of his soul" thus means that the
worshiper utilizes his intellect and emotions as well as all three
"garments" of his soul (i.e., the soul's media of self-expression),
viz., thought, speech and action (for speech constitutes (55) "mini -
action"). Alternatively, "praising G-d with all the faculties of his
soul" may mean: all those aspects of the soul that relate to praise,
i.e., intellect, thought and speech.]
 
Likewise, [by exercising the attribute of Netzach, a man seeks] to
prevail triumphantly against anything that would restrain [him] from
the service of G-d and from cleaving unto Him, and against anything
that would restrain [the state of revelation in which] (56) the entire
earth is filled with the glory of G-d, like the wars for G-d fought
by King David, peace to him, [which derived from his attribute of
Netzach.]
 
Likewise, [by exercising the attribute of Hod,] (57) [which implies
self-abnegation, and acknowledging the transcendence of that which
defies his mortal understanding, a man seeks] to prostrate himself and
to [self-effacingly] praise G-d Who animates and creates everything,
and before Whom everything is essentially non-existent and esteemed as
truly nothing and null.
 
Though we cannot apprehend just how everything is truly as null
before Him, nevertheless, we acknowledge and genuinely concede that
in absolute truth such is the case.
 
[From the very depths of his soul the Jew acknowledges that G-d's
"Supernal Daat" and knowledge that everything is essentially non-
existent before Him is true, and that the mortal understanding of
our "inferior Daat" - that creation does indeed exist, except that
it is nullified to Him - results from the limited compass of our
earthbound perspective. (58) This acknowledgement results from the
self-abnegation expressed by the attribute of Hod.]
 
This [attribute] also includes the expression of gratitude to G-d for
all the favors that He has bestowed upon us, so that [we] should not
be ungrateful, G-d forbid.
 
This [attribute of Hod] also includes the offering of thanks to G-d
for all His praiseworthy [deeds], and His attributes and His workings
in the emanation and creation of the upper and lower worlds, for they
are praiseworthy to no end, (59) and are becoming and befitting Him,
blessed and exalted be He.
 
The term [Hod is here to be understood] as in the phrase, (60) Hod
vehadar ["majesty and splendor"]. And likewise [engaged in one's
divine service is] the attribute of [Yesod - lit., "foundation"],
as in the phrase], (61) "The tzaddik is the foundation of the world."
 
[In the above analogy, it was by means of the attribute of Yesod that
the father communicated with his son and disciple through bonds of
desire and pleasure. So, too, in the realm of divine service, the
attribute of Yesod involves cleaving to G-d with intense desire and
pleasure,] so that one's soul is bound up with G-d, the Fountain-head
of Life, cleaving to Him with an attachment and a desire, out of a
wondrous love and delight, [all of which are expressions of the
attribute of Yesod.]
 
And as for the [divine soul's] attribute of Malchut, [the worshiper
seeks thereby] to accept upon himself the yoke of G-d's sovereignty
and of His service, like the service of any servant to his master,
i.e., out of awe and fear.
 
[Up to this point the Alter Rebbe has explained how the seven middot
exist within the Jew's G-dly soul. These emotive attributes are
activated by the three intellective faculties - the Sefirot of ChaBaD
(Chochmah, Binah and Daat), which are now to be explained.]
 
Now, the source and root of all the attributes are in the ChaBaD.
That is: Chochmah is the source of the intellect which apprehends G-d
and His wisdom, His greatness, and the holy attributes wherewith He
conducts and animates all the higher and lower worlds;
 
Binah is the contemplation of this apprehension [of G-d's greatness
and His holy attributes] in the length, breadth, and depth of one's
understanding, in order (62) "to understand [or deduce] one matter out
of another, (63) and from this apprehension to beget its offspring,
which are the attributes of love and awe,
 
[The "length" of a particular concept - in this case, the greatness of
the Creator - entails drawing it down from its lofty abstraction (by
way of a parable, for example) to a level of intelligibility. The
"breadth" of the concept refers to the multitudinous components and
ramifications that await one's mastery. Its "depth" refers to the
challenge of plumbing its seemingly limitless profundity.
 
The thinker's understanding of the greatness of G-d gives birth to
emotions - a love and a fear of Him.] And the other attributes born in
the divine soul which contemplates and meditates upon G-d's greatness,
as to how (64) "His greatness is unfathomable."
 
One aspect of G-d's greatness is such that the divine soul, when
contemplating it, is overwhelmed by a fear and dread. This is yirah
tataah ["the lower level of fear"], which is an aspect of Malchut.
>>> Continued to next message
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