From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 11, 2 of 3
Date: 27 Aug 92 19:18:57 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya - Epistle 11    2/3
 
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For the  ayin which is G-d's  Chochmah is the source  of life, goodness
and  delight. It is  the Eden that  transcends the World  to Come, [The
World to Come - the Garden of Eden -  is the most sublime form of bliss
experienced by the soul in apprehending G-dliness. This level, lofty as
it may  be, is  however but  a garden, a  stage once  removed from  the
spiritual delights  which flow to  it from  the source which  is called
Eden.   It  is this  level  of  Divinity that  constantly  creates  and
vitalizes  all  living   beings.]  except  that,  because  it   is  not
apprehensible, one imagines that he is suffering, or afflicted.
 
In truth, however, (15)  "No evil descends from above,"  and everything
is good, though it is not apprehended [as such] because  of its immense
and abundant goodness, [at a level which is inconceivable to man.]
 
The  life-force of all things, even those  that we perceive as evil, as
found  within its source  is truly good.  In fact,  it is such  a lofty
manner of good that it remains  faithful to its source, and as  such is
not apprehensible to  man as good.  In this it  differs from the  other
form  of good  that is  able to  descend to  so low  a level  that even
mortals can perceive its goodness.
 
This higher  form of  goodness, because  it retains  its status  at the
outset of its revelation,  is clothed in this world  in a garb of  pain
and evil, inasmuch as its goodness has yet to be revealed to man. 
 
This  may be  more  fully  understood in  light  of the  Alter  Rebbe's
explanation (16)  of the verse, (17)  "Happy is the man  whom You, G-d,
chasten."   (In  the original  of this  verse in  the Holy  Tongue, the
Divine  Name is spelled with yud and  hei, which are also the first two
letters of the Four-Letter Divine Name.) The Alter Rebbe explains there
that suffering stems from the revelation of these first two letters "in
the  hidden  world"  (i.e.,  on  a  plane  which  is  hidden  from  our
understanding), before the  revelation of the  latter two letters  (vav
and hei) descends into  the "revealed world." Thus, suffering  as found
within its source is truly good. 
 
In this spirit, the Alter Rebbe explains (18) the conduct of Nachum Ish
Gamzu, whose response to  all occurrences was the  remark, (19) Gam  zu
letovah  "This, too, is for the good."  This remark not only meant that
an event that seemed to be  evil would eventually evolve into good, but
that the event itself, by virtue of its source, was good in its present
form as  well; its inherent  goodness would be  revealed at some  later
date.]
 
And this is  the essence (20) of  the faith for which  man was created:
(21) to believe  that (22) "There is no place void of Him" - [i.e., G-d
is everywhere] and  (23) "In the light of  the King's countenance there
is life."
 
[When one  encounters the King face to face,  he is granted life. If in
this temporal world a man sentenced to death should encounter his king,
his sentence  may be commuted and he is granted life, for "In the light
of the king's countenance t gladnese in Hihat  G-d is found everyw  ith 
joy, for whatever  predicament he
finds himself in, G-d is there too. And wherever G-d  is present, there
is "strength and gladness." ] because He is but good all the time.
 
Therefore, first of all, (25) man ought to be happy and joyous at every
time  (26) and  hour, and  truly live  by his  faith (27)  in  G-d, Who
animates him and acts kindly towards him at every moment. (28)
 
But  he  who  is grieved  and  laments  demonstrates  (29)  that he  is
undergoing  some hardship and suffering, and lacks some goodness; he is
[heaven forfend] like a heretic, who denies G-d's omnipresence.
 
[For if  he would truly believe,  he would realize (as  above) that "In
the light of  the King's countenance there is life,"  and "Strength and
joy are in His place," so that he indeed lacks nothing.]
 
This is why the  Sages of Truth, the Kabbalists,  strongly rejected the
trait of sadness, [for it contradicts a Jew's true faith that "There is
no place devoid of Him."]
 
The truly faithful,  however, is  not perturbed (30)  by any  suffering
whatever, and with  respect to all mundane matters,  "yes" and "no" are
all the same to him, in true equality.
 
But he to whom they are not the same, demonstrates (31) that he  is one
of  the eirev rav, who act but for themselves; (32) he loves himself to
the extent that (33) he removes  himself from under the hand [i.e., the
authority] of G-d, and lives the life of the gentiles, -- [all] because
of his self-love.
 
This is why he desires the "life of the flesh," (34) and "children  and
sustenance," for that is his good.
 
[Indeed,] it  would have been better  for him had he  not been created.
For the main purpose of man's creation in this world is  to test him by
these trials and  physical tribulations,  to ascertain what  is in  his
heart: (35) whether his heart will turn towards  other gods, namely the
passions  of the  body which evolve  from the  sitra achra,  and desire
these, [Since the  kelipot and sitra achra, the forces  of evil and un-
holiness,  are termed "other gods," the passions that they generate are
likewise termed  "other gods."] or  whether his  desire and wish  is to
live the true life which evolves from the living G-d. (36)
 
One must believe that he really lives it, i.e., the true life, and that
all his needs, and everything  related to himself, truly evolve  in all
their details not from the sitra achra, for (37)  "By G-d are the steps
of man made firm," (38) and (39)  "While there is [yet] no word [on  my
tongue, You,  G-d, know  it all]."   [Thus, G-d is  aware of  all man's
thoughts,  words  and deeds,  even before  man  thinks, speaks  or does
them.] Accordingly, everything  is absolutely good,  except that it  is
not apprehended as such by man.
 
When  one  believes  this truly,  everything  becomes  good  even on  a
revealed level.  For by such a  faith, in which one  believes that what
manifestly seems to  be evil in fact receives  its entire vitality from
the Supreme Good, i.e., from G-d's Chochmah which is not apprehensible,
and  which is the Eden that transcends the World to Come (40) - by this
faith  the  imagined  evil is  truly  absorbed  and  sublimated in  the
concealed Supreme Good, so  that the good becomes palpably  revealed to
the physical eye. 
 
FOOTNOTES
 
1. Daniel 9:22.
2. Cf. Iyov 38:19.
3. Cf. Mishlei 14:30.
4. Avot 2:4.
5. Cf. Moed Katan 28a.
6. Avot 4:22.
7. Note of  the Rebbe Shlita:In  the words  of the  adage, "A constant
   delight is no delight."
8. Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 84.
9. I Divrei HaYamim 29:14.
10. Tehillim 111:10; Mishlei 4:7.
11. See footnote 25, below.
12. Note  of the Rebbe Shlita:As  above in Shaar  HaYichud Veha Emunah,
    ch.2. 13. Loc. cit.
14. Morning prayers; Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 44.
15. Cf. Bereishit Rabbah 51:3.
16. In ch. 26 of Part I, above.
17. Tehillim 94:12.
18. Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 62a.
19. Taanit 21a.
20. Note of the Rebbe Shlita:Cf. Raaya Mehemna, Zohar II, 25a; the
    beginning of the [Mishneh Torah of the] Rambam; and above, p. 83b
    [i.e., Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 7].
21. Note of the Rebbe Shlita :From this phrase one may understand that
    from here on the Alter Rebbe adds a vital emphasis regarding the 
    conclusion drawn from the above contemplation: (a) it should affect
    one at every moment and hour, and (b) one should truly live with it.
22. Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57.
23. Mishlei 16:15.
24. I Divrei HaYamim 16:27.
25. Note  of the Rebbe Shlita: For, as explained above, we are speaking
    of
 
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