From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 4, 2 of 3
Date: 21 Aug 92 15:45:37 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton


 
 
Tanya Epistle 4, part 2 of 3   2/319 
 
Continued from previous message 
 
With respect to the "foreskin" of the  heart, [which the Torah commands
us similarly  to  circumcise,] there  are like-wise  coarse and  subtle
desires, [corresponding to the two grades of skin.]  [These two  grades
of  worldly desire respectively require] milah and periah, and (20) "if
one performed  milah [circumcision] without periah  [uncovering], it is
as if he had not circumcised,"  [Just as this is the law with regard to
actual  circumcision, so too  is it true when  it comes to circumcising
the desires of the heart:  if a person removes only his  coarse desires
and does not proceed to remove the subtler ones as well, it is as if he
had not circumcised  his heart at all,] because, after  all is said and
done, the innermost point of the heart is still covered by a garment of
thin sack-cloth [of kelipah]; it is in a state of  exile and captivity.
[And there  it  will  remain  - until  the  individual  redeems  it  by
performing  a spiritual  periah, and  removing his  subtler desires  as
well.]   Now,  concerning the  excision of  the  foreskin itself  it is
written: "And you -  [yourselves] - shall excise  the foreskin of  your
heart."  [Each and  every  Jew  is able  to  remove  this himself,  for
repentance  tears  down the  veil with  which  his desires  obscure the
innermost point of his heart.]  But the removal of the thin membrane is
a difficult  matter for man, and of  this it is written  (21) that with
the coming of Mashiach, "The L-rd your G-d will circumcise your heart",
to  love the L-rd your  G-d with all your heart  and all your soul, for
the sake  of your life,"   because  G-d alone is  literally your  whole
life.  [In this state, the individual's love of G-d will not be  a mere
manifestation of his  soul, but a love that  constitutes his very life.
And just  as a person does not regard his life as being something apart
from himself, so too will this love not be sensed as a distinct entity,
but as an intrinsic component of himself.]  That is why this love,ed 
above,  and transcends th Therefore, too,
Mashiach will come when  Israel in general are (22)  "caught unawares."
[His  coming]  is the  manifestation of  thchinah  [of the entire 
community of Israel] from exile and captivity
forever more.   [Just as each individual's Divine  spark - his personal
Shechinah, so  to speak - is redeemed from captivity through means that
transcend reason  and Daat,  in such  a manner  too will the  universal
Shechinah, and with it the entire House of Israel, be  redeemed.  Thus,
the  ultimate circumcision of  the heart, and in  its wake the ultimate
manifestation of the love of G-d, will take place when  Mashiach comes.
Nevertheless,  it  is  possible even  now  to  liberate one's  personal
Shechinah  -  one's  Divine spark  -   at least  on a  temporary basis,
during  the time of prayer.  This the Alter Rebbe now  goes on to say.]
Similarly, every  particular spark  of the  Shechinah, inherent in  the
soul of  every individual Jew,  emerges for the  moment from  exile and
captivity  during that (23) "momentary  life which is  prayer" - during
the  service  of his  heart,  from the  depth  of his  heart,  from the
innermost point which becomes divested of the [concealing] "foreskin" -
and soars upwards to cleave to Him with a fierce passion, in the spirit
of  the phrase, "for the sake of  your life," for the individual senses
that G-dliness  is his entire  life.  And  [in] this, too  -   [in this
momentary  deliverance of the innermost  point of the  heart during the
service of prayer]  -   a man may  be considered  to be in  a state  of
hessech  daat, ["unaware"  or "absentminded",  so to  speak,] for  this
state, [the state  in which the Divine  spark within man, his  personal
Shechinah, is momentarily revealed,] transcends the Daat of man and his
meditation on  the greatness  of G-d.   Rather,  it is  a kind  of gift
granted  by  G-d  from  heaven  from  the  radiation  of  the  Supernal
Countenance, as it is written, (24) "May G-d make His countenance shine
upon  you,"  and as  it  is  written, "And  the  L-rd,  your G-d,  will
circumcise [i.e., remove the insensitivity of [your heart]" -  and this

is a state which exists even now on a temporary basis.]  But it is well
known that an  arousal from above comes only in  response to an arousal
from below,  [A man's soul is stimulated from above only in response to
the spiritual service that he initiates here below. Even an effusion of
Divine benevolence that  comes exclusively from above,  and can neither
be  brought into  being  nor drawn  down by  man's service  alone, also
awaits a previous arousal from below,] as an elevation of mayin nukvin;
[i.e., by  an arousal of the  "feminine waters" by  which the recipient
elicits  the mayin de-churin - the downward flow ("masculine waters") -
emanating from the Giver.]  As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: (25)
"No drop [of rain] descends from above [without two corresponding drops
first  ascending  from  below]."  A  man  must  therefore  perform  the
beginning of  this milah by  himself, to remove  the "foreskin" of  the
heart  and  the  coarse  and  thin husks  which  clothe  and  cover its
innermost point,  this [innermost  point being]  a love  of G-d  in the
spirit of the phrase, "for the sake of your life"  -[ i.e., a love that
springs from an awareness that G-dliness is the person's entire life] -
[this love  of G-d being]  in exile  among the desires  of this  world.
These  [physical desires] likewise exist  in the spirit  of the phrase,
"for the sake of  your life," in [that aspect of the universe which is]
the opposing counterpart  [to holiness],  as mentioned above.   [It  is
thus possible for an individual to be so dedicated to  his passions and
desires that they are his entire life. For just as this state exists in
holiness,  it  also  has  its counterpart  in  the  opposite direction,
whereby  one is immersed in desires to  the innermost core of his heart
and being.]   And this [removal of the spiritual  foreskin] is achieved
by giving charity to G-d  from one's money, which is his  vitality, [It
has been  noted earlier, in Part I, ch.  37, that since money enables a
man  to purchase  life's  essentials,  parting  with  it  in  favor  of
charitable  ends  is equated  to giving  his  "very vitality"  to G-d,]
especially  with a person whose income is  limited and who is very hard
pressed  at the time, for - [when he gives]- he gives of his very life.
This is especially so  if he supports himself by the toil of his hands.
For  it is impossible  that in his  work he did not  often involve "the
innermost point of the heart," the depth of his heart, as is the way of
the world when people are  occupied with business and the like.   Thus,
now that he disburses the fruits of his toil unstintingly, [despite his
circumstances,] and gives unto G-d with joy  and with a gladsome heart,
he thereby redeems his soul  from the pit. (26)  That  is, [he redeems]
the innermost point  of his  heart which was  in a  state of exile  and
captivity within the  coarse or thin kelipah.  For  thus it is written:
(27)  "Guard your heart with the greatest vigilance" [lit., "Guard your
heart from every mishmar"],  "mishmar" meaning a prison. [The  verse is
thus exhorting us to "guard our hearts from being imprisoned and exiled
in  kelipot  and  desires."]    Thus,  through  present  charity,  [the
innermost  point of the heart] is now  redeemed from the forces of evil
[in which it had been imprisoned.]  This also explains the term periah,
which   suggests  (28)  periat  chov  ["removing  a  debt"],  for  [the
individual in question] had become indebted and subjected to the forces
of  evil that  had ruled  within him  over the  innermost point  of his
heart.  Through this we can understand the meaning of [the above-quoted
phrase], "and her [former spiritual] captives (29) [shall be  redeemed]
through  tzedakah."  
 
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