From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 7, 3 of 3
Date: 23 Aug 92 01:55:28 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 7       3/3
 
>>> Continued from previous message
 
[This means  that the  performance of  this commandment  kindled within
this  man a  particularly luminous  revelation, and  it was  this G-dly
light that inspired his  scrupulous performance. In the spirit  of this
teaching, and in view of  the fact that the  three root letters of  the
word Zahir  (translated above as  "careful") also mean  "luminous", the
above-quoted question has  been understood [by  the Mitteler Rebbe]  as
follows:  (29) "As a  result of which commandment  was your father most
luminous?"]
 
Likewise, not all the generations (30) are the same. [Not only do souls
differ: generations differ as well.  There have been generations  whose
primary  spiritual   challenge  was  the  study  of   Torah;  in  other
generations it was charity; (31) and so on. The reason for this is that
the  souls of  those  generations were  especially  illuminated by  the
performance of those specific commandments.]
 
For just as with the organs  of man, each organ has its  particular and
distinctive  function, the  eye to see  and the  ear to  hear, so, too,
through each commandment - [the commandments being known as the "Organs
of  the King" (32)] - there radiates a particular and distinctive light
from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light.
 
And although every  Jewish soul needs  to be  reincarnated in order  to
fulfill  all 613 commandments, [How, then, can  we say that a soul that
descends  to  this  world in  a  given period  will  receive  its G-dly
illumination  as  an  individualized  bequest,   thereby  necessitating
particular  scrupulousness  in  specific  commands?]  this  [heightened
attention focused  on a particular  commandment] is necessary  only for
the sake  of  an additional  measure of  vigilance and  zeal, [a  zeal]
doubly and exceedingly elevated and powerful, far surpassing one's zeal
in [the fulfillment of] the other commandments.
 
Hence  the  word "most"  used by  the  above-quoted individual  when he
asked,  "With what [commandment] was [your  father] most careful?" [For
scrupulous observance indeed applies  to all commandments: the question
was only, which command earned his keenest attention.]
 
Now, the superiority of  this individual light [that is  bestowed] upon
individual souls through the performance of a particular commandment is
not in the category of apprehensible reason, but transcends it.
 
For  thus it arose in G-d's thought,  so to speak - [that certain souls
be  granted   additional  illumination   through  the  performance   of
particular commandments.] And its model below is truly the concept of a
"lot".
 
[For the fact  that one person  wins a  "lot" while others  do not,  is
likewise not in the category of apprehensible reason. Rather, so has it
been deemed from  Above; as the verse indicates, (33)  "The lot is cast
into the lap,  and from G-d is  its disposition."   This, then, is  the
meaning of "how pleasant is our lot."
 
The  disposition  of a  particular degree  of  G-dly illumination  to a
specific soul through  the performance  of a select  command is  wholly
dependent upon a  consideration that  transcends logic: it  is a  "lot"
determined from Above.
 
Footnotes
 
1. Siddur Tehillat HaShem, p. 17.
2. Tehillim 16:5-6.
3. The Rebbe Shlita  here refers the reader to  Tanya, Part I, ch.  18,
   which states that "the blessed Ein Sof is garbed in the faculty of 
   wisdom in the human soul, of whatever sort of a Jew he may be, 
   ...[and this faculty of Chochmah] is beyond any graspable knowledge
   or intelligence.
   [I.e., G-d apportions His light to various individuals in a
   superrational manner - by lot, so to speak.]
4. Commenting on the term "common", the Rebbe Shlita notes:  "So far, 
   I have found the above-quoted expression ("He has no part...") in 
   one place only (in Midrash Tanchuma,  end of Parshat Tazria). In  
   many places, by contrast, we find, "You have no part [in the G-d 
   of Israel]," (as in Bereishit Rabbah  2:4, with further references  
   indicated there, and as quoted in  Torah Or, beginning of  p. 30a). 
   We likewise find, "They have no part [in the G-d of Israel]" 
   (Berachot 63b). [Why, then, does the Alter Rebbe quote the less 
   frequent form?] It is quite possible that [with a statement as 
   drastic as this] the Alter Rebbe did not want [to address the 
   reader in] the second person nor [apply it to others in] the
   plural form - a reluctance that may readily be appreciated.
5. Bereishit 33:20.
6. Yirmeyahu 23:24.
7. Yeshayahu 6:3.
8. Likkutei Amarim, Part I, ch. 42.
9. Tehillim 148:13.
10. Zohar III, 127b ff.
11. Shir HaShirim 6:8.
12. Cf. Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:9.
13. See Bereishit Rabbah 40:2.
14. Hoshea 2:1.
15. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: The conclusion of this quotation is drawn
    from another verse [viz., Bereishit 16:10].
16. Bava Metzia 84a, et al.
17. Zohar III, 111b, et al.
18. Bamidbar 19:14.
19. Yechezkel 1:26.
20. See Zohar I, 71b ff.
21. Ruth 4:7.
22. Zohar III, 81b.
23. Tehillim 118:27.
24. [In the Hebrew original, this phrase reads Yishre Lev. On this the
    Rebbe Shlita comments:]  For the word Yisrael comprises the words
    Yashar E-l. [In this phrase, the first two letters of Yashar are each
    vocalized with a kamatz. As explained in Likkutei Torah, Parshat
    Shlach, p.40c, these two words imply that G-d's power finds direct
    expression in the souls of those described as Yishre Lev]
25. Cf. Bereishit 49:3.
26. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: Cf. Epistle 24, below.
27. Bamidbar 15:16.
28. Shabbat 118b.
29. Sefer HaToldot Admur HaEmtza i, p. 25; Sefer HaSichot 5702, p. 21;
    Sefer HaMaamarim 5701, p. 240.
30. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: It would seem  that this [variation 
    with the different generations] is already included in the 
    differences of "period and time" discussed above. It would be worth
    examining the manuscripts  of Iggeret  HaKodesh; possibly the above  
    text should read, "the commandments."
31. Note of the Rebbe Shlita: See Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistles 5 and 9.
32. Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 30.
33. Mishlei 16:33.
 
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