Video is also available – click to open In the previous chapter the Alter Rebbe explained why our Sages compare the performance of a mitzvah to a body, and one’s kavanah in performing the mitzvah to a soul. He stated that kavanah can be classified into two categories, analogous to the two classes of creatures […]
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Chapter 39 – Part 2
Video is also available – click to open At this point the Alter Rebbe qualifies his earlier statement: Only those tzaddikim whose souls are on the level of Neshamah (i.e., the highest of the three soul-levels — Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah) abide in Beriah. Neshamah represents Mochin deGadlut — a “superior intellectual grasp” of G‑dliness; […]
Chapter 39 – Part 3
Video is also available – click to open In fact, the soul’s reward in the Garden of Eden, described before as the pleasure of “basking in the radiance of the Shechinah,” is actually the radiance of the Torah and mitzvot that the person observed while in this physical world, which have ascended to the supernal […]
Chapter 39 – Part 4
Video is also available – click to open Having discussed the various “abodes” of souls — three Worlds in which the souls receive a reward commensurate with the level of their divine service during their life on earth — the Alter Rebbe now returns to the theme begun in ch. 38. There he noted that […]
Chapter 39 – Part 5
Video is also available – click to open וכשעוסק שלא לשמה ממש, לשום איזו פניה לכבוד עצמו However, when one engages in divine service explicitly not lishmah but for an ulterior motive of self-glorification, כגון להיות תלמיד חכם וכהאי גוונא as, for example, in order to become a scholar, and the like, אזי אותה פניה, […]
Chapter 40 – Part 1
Video is also available – click to open In ch. 39 the Alter Rebbe explained that the ascent of one’s Torah and mitzvot is commensurate with the level of kavanah that one invests in study and performance. If one’s kavanah stems from love and fear of G‑d created by one’s understanding of His greatness, his […]
Chapter 40 – Part 2
Video is also available – click to open No text reading in this class
Chapter 40 – Part 3
Video is also available – click to open ואף דאורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא כולא חד, שהוא ורצונו אחד Although the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are altogether one, for He and His Will are one, and the Torah represents His Will, nevertheless the Torah will not ascend on high without kavanah. The […]
Chapter 40 – Part 4
Video is also available – click to open Having stated that love and fear of G‑d elevate one’s Torah and mitzvot on high, the Alter Rebbe continues: ובזה יובן היטב הא דדחילו ורחימו נקראים גדפין, דרך משל, כדכתיב: ובשתים יעופף This explains clearly why fear and love are figuratively called “wings”, as it is written:10 […]
