From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 10, 1 of 3
Date: 23 Aug 92 02:06:16 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 10      1/3
 
Epistle Ten
 
After greetings of  life and peace, (1) may my  opening words rouse (2)
"the ear that  hears the  life-giving admonition" that  the Living  G-d
admonished  through His prophet, (3) saying: (4) "The kindnesses of G-d
have surely not ended...."
 
[Surprisingly, the Hebrew verb used here  is tamnu (in the first person
plural), which would make the phrase mean, "we have not been brought to
an end." If the verse sought  to say that (a) the kindnesses "have  not
ended," rather than (b)  "because of G-d's kindnesses we  have not been
brought to an end,"  it should surely have used  the verb tamu (in  the
third person plural), as the Alter Rebbe goes on to point out.]
 
Now, it should really have said ki lo tamu, as in  the phrase, (5) "For
your kindnesses have not ended...."  [The Alter Rebbe answers that  our
verse indeed  implies two ideas: (a) the kindnesses have not ended; (b)
we  stand in need of  Chasdei  Hashem (G-d's kindnesses), Ki lo tamnu -
because   we  are   not  perfect"   or   "complete".  (In   the  second
interpretation,  tamnu means  "we  are not  tamim,"  as shall  soon  be
explained.)]
 
This [anomaly]  will be understood in  the light of a  statement in the
sacred Zohar: (6) "There are [two]  different types of Chesed: there is
Chesed olam..., [literally, "a worldlike  Chesed," a degree of kindness
which  is limited by temporal bounds,] and  there is a superior form of
kindness, i.e., rav Chesed ["boundless kindness"]....
 
[Since  it  is   man's  spiritual  service   that  draws  down   Divine
beneficence, the  Alter Rebbe  now goes  on to  explain what  manner of
service elicits  a  downflow of  the "Chesed  of the  world," and  what
manner of service draws down the boundless degree of rav Chesed.]
 
Now, it is well known  that the Torah is called oz  ["strength"], [Thus
on the  verse, (7) "G-d grants  strength to His people,"  the Gemara in
Tractate  Zevachim (8)  comments, "`Strength'  alludes to  the Torah."]
which is an expression of Gevurah.
 
[Literally, Gevurah means  "might", but more specifically,  as the name
of  one of the Sefirot,  it signifies (in  contradistinction to Chesed)
the withholding of beneficence, as regulated by the Divine attribute of
stern justice.]
 
As our Sages, of blessed memory, taught: (9) "The 613 commandments were
declared unto Moses at Sinai from the Mouth of the Gevurah." [I.e., the
613 commandments  were uttered by G-d  as He manifested Himself  in the
attribute of Gevurah, for  which reason He Himself is here  referred to
by the name of this attribute.]
 
It is likewise written: (10) "From His right  Hand a Torah of fire [was
given]  unto  them";  [i.e., it  was  written  in  fire,  which  is  an
expression of the attribute of Gevurah.] This means:
 
[The  Alter Rebbe here introduces an  explanation which anticipates the
following  question: Since the Torah  of G-d was  given "from His right
Hand," which always  connotes kindness and benevolence (and indeed, the
Torah has  been called -- Torat  Chesed -- "a Torah  of kindness"), how
then  can the above-quoted  verse proceed to  say that the  Torah is an
expression of fire and Gevurah?]
 
The source and root of the Torah is solely "G-d's kindnesses," that are
referred  to (12) as "the right side."  That is: The elicitation of His
Divinity, and of a radiation from  the [infinite] Ein Sof-light, to the
upper and lower worlds, [is  effected] by man who draws down  the light
upon himself by the fulfillment of the 248 positive commandments, which
are (13)  "the 248 organs of the King";  i.e., they are the 248 vessels
and garments for the  radiation from the [infinite] Ein  Sof-light that
is vested in them.
 
[Each  of the  commandments  serves as  a receptor  or vehicle  for the
particular  Divine illumination  that vests itself  within it,  just as
each  organ of  the body  is  a vehicle  or receptor  for a  particular
faculty of the soul - the eye for the power of sight , the ear for  the
power of hearing, and so on.]
 
(  (14) And, as is  known, from this light awe  and love are drawn down
upon  [a person  as  he performs]  each  command.) [The  Torah  and its
commandments  are thus  a  downflow of  G-dliness,  springing from  His
attribute of kindness.]
 
However,  this downflow was first vested in G-d's attribute of Gevurah,
which  is referred  to  as "fire",  and  which reflects  a  contraction
[tzimtzum] of the light  and life-force that issue from  the [infinite]
Ein Sof-light, thus enabling  it to become vested in the performance of
the  commandments, practically  all of  which involve  material things,
such as tzitzit [which are made of wool], tefillin [made of leather and
parchment], sacrifices [offered from  animals, plants and minerals] and
charity [that involves money or other material objects].
 
Even commandments that involve a man's spirit, such as awe and love [of
G-d],  are also of  limited measure, (15)  and by no  means of infinite
extent.
 
For not even for  a moment could man sustain in his  heart so intense a
love  of G-d  as is  without end  and limitation,  and still  remain in
existence in  his body. [Indeed, so  intense a love would  surely cause
the soul to take flight.]
 
So it was taught by our Sages, of blessed memory, (16) that at the time
of the Giving of the Torah, when G-d's Divinity, and the [infinite] Ein
Sof- light,  were manifested  [to the  Jews at  Sinai] at  the [direct]
level of revealed speech, "their souls took flight" from their bodies.
 
[At that time G-d restored their souls with the dew that He will use to
revive  the  dead in  the  time  to come.  We  see,  however, that  the
illumination in itself was so intense that their souls could not remain
within their  bodies for  even one  moment.   Since the  love presently
experienced by  a soul  within a  body does  not cause  it to  flee, it
follows that this love is inherently limited. This also applies  to the
awe and love which  are experienced as a result of the Divinity that is
revealed in the mitzvot, as mentioned earlier. This is the case because
the flow of  G-dliness which descends through the Torah  and its finite
commandments is restrained by the attribute of Gevurah.
 
We can now understand the two stages implied in the above-quoted verse:
Initially,  the Torah indeed proceeds  "from His right  Hand," from the
boundless kindness  of  the  attribute  of  Chesed -  but  it  is  then
communicated  to us  "from the  Mouth of  the Gevurah"  as "a  Torah of
fire,"  as a law  which is delimited and  restricted through the Divine
attribute of Gevurah, so that it will be able to find expression in the
finitude of the mitzvot.]
 
Now, because the  commandments were given to us by  being vested in the
attribute   of  Gevurah  and   by  the  contraction   of  the  [Divine]
radiation...,  most commandments  have  a delimited  measure. (17)  For
instance, the length  of the tzitzit must be twelve  times the width of
the   thumb;  (18)   the   tefillin  -   two   fingerbreadths  by   two
fingerbreadths, [according to the  opinion of the Geonim quoted  in the
Alter Rebbe'  Shulchan Aruch, (19)]  and necessarily  square; (20)  the
lulav - four handbreadths;  (21) the sukkah - seven  handbreadths; (22)
the shofar - one handbreadth; (23) and the mikveh - forty se'ahs. (24)
 
The sacrifices, too,  have a delimited measure as regards  age, as, for
instance, "sheep  of one year  old," (25) and  "rams of two  years old,
(26) and oxen.... (27)
 
The same applies to the act of charity and  to the practice of kindness
with one's money; even though that is one of the pillars upon which the
world stands,  (28) as  it  is written:  (29) "The  world  is built  by
Chesed," nevertheless, it has a set measure of preferably one fifth [of
one's income],  (30) [if one desires to  perform the commandment in the
best possible  manner,] and of  one tenth for  an average measure  (31)
....
 
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