From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Chitas for AV 8
Date: 20 Aug 92 12:49:17 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

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Daily dose of Tanya. - CHITAS for: Av 8 (regular year) Av 12 in  a leap
year 
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               From  SHIURIM  B'SEFER  HATANYA     by  Rabbi  Wineberg.
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But what causes  the descent to  this physical world  of the light  and
abundance from [a source as lofty as] the Ten  Sefirot [of the World of
Atzilut], which are referred to as the Body?
 
It is  the above-mentioned union [of  the Holy One, blessed  be He, and
His  Shechinah  - [the  infinite  degree  of  radiation permeating  the
Sefirot and the subsequent worlds - and this union is  brought about by
the performance of  the mitzvot;] for it is an additional radiation and
effluence from the light of  the Ein Sof, the Supreme Emanator  [of the
Ten Sefirot], in a measure exceeding the radiation and effluence at the
beginning  of  the emanation  in the  World  of Atzilut  and subsequent
evolution...
 
[Inasmuch as the additional measure of infinite radiation and effluence
far transcends Atzilut - so much so, that in comparison to it the World
of  Atzilut and  our  grossly corporeal  World  of Asiyah  are  equally
distant - it enables the radiation of Atzilut to find its way into this
world.]
 
And  the additional radiation and effluence is first bestowed upon [the
Sefirah of  Chochmah, which is] the  first of the Ten  Sefirot. This is
the  meaning of  [the  above-quoted  phrase],  ..."  and  a  helmet  of
salvation  (Yeshuah) upon  his head."  For Yeshuah  shares a  root with
Vayisha, [which is the verb in the phrase, (18)] "And G-d turned toward
Abel and his gift."
 
[The  word Yeshuah thus  means -  turninrd  - and  (by exion)
"drawinghis  ades to the  drng down of the  t andbundance of  tshin-ayin  
nen, th "three  hundreseventy
lights" spoken of in the hoohar. (19)
 
[This light h loftie than the Ten Soilut: The letterhin, whoe numerical 
value  is 300, alludes the  three intellectuculties of ChaBaD insofar as 
they exist at the spiritual level termed
"hundreds"; the  letter ayin, whose numerical value is 70, hints at the
seven emotive attributes, each of which incorporates ten elements. This
lofty illumination - the "helmet of salvation" - is drawn down upon the
"head",  i.e., the beginning,  of the Ten  Sefirot.] As  it is written,
(20) "May  G-d make His Face (i.e., His inner  being) shine upon you" -
[upon His people in this lowly world.]
 
[It  is also  written]: (21)  "May He  make His  Face [i.e.,  His inner
being] shine with  us forever."  [That which ensures  that this  Divine
light be] "with us," is the practice of charitable deeds.
 
And  this is  the meaning  of the  phrase, (22)  "He who  sows tzedakot
[`charities']  brings  forth  yeshuot  (`salvations')"   ;  [i.e.,  the
distribution of charity results  in the salvation brought about  by the
light of the above-mentioned shin-ayin nehorin.]
 
So (23) may G-d  make His Face shine upon you,  and (24) "your tzedakah
shall endure  forever." [That which is  revealed now as a  result of an
act of  tzedakah is merely  the "fruit"; the  essence of the  reward is
revealed  only at the Time to  Come, at the time of  the Revival of the
Dead - and  until that time  it remains concealed.  Only then will  the
light of sovev  kol almin truly permeate and  clothe itself within this
world, as explained below in Epistle 32. May your horn [i.e., power] be
exalted by the salvation (yeshuah) of the One (25) "Who causes the horn
of salvation  to sprout" -  by a sprouting  of the tzedakah  [which G-d
does for His people],  from the "helmet of salvation"  mentioned above,
as (26) is the wish of one who seeks Him.
 
Footnotes
 
18.  Bereishit 4:4. 
19.  See Zohar I, 4b; III, 133b; et passim. 
20.  Bamidbar 6:25. 
21.  Tehillim 67:2. 
22.  Liturgy, Morning Prayers. 
23.  Here  begins the Alter Rebbe's  request to those  who received the
     letter those who were to give  the charity. (Note of the Rebbe
     Shlita).  In the original, the  recipients of the  letter are here
     addressed in  the polite  third person  of classical  Hebrew "upon
     them," "their tzedakah," and so forth. 
24.  Cf. Tehillim 112:3. 
25.  Cf. Liturgy, weekday Shemoneh Esreh. 
26.  Cf. Eichah 3:25.
 
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