Video is also available – click to open The mitzvot requiring action were a major theme in Essay IV. There the Alter Rebbe explained how their observance extricates and elevates the sparks of holiness that originated in the World of Tohu and that are embedded in this material world, and thereby causes G‑dliness to descend […]

Video is also available – click to open כי התפשטות חכמה עילאה היא בחינת אין סוף, המלובש בה בפועל ממש   For the extension of the Supreme Wisdom that is vested in the laws of Torah is infinite, since the Infinite is actually clothed in it.   וכל פרט הלכה הוא שער נמשך מחכמה עילאה […]

Video is also available – click to open The last two Essays explained how the observance of the commandments seeks out the exiled sparks hidden in this world and thereby suffuses it with G‑dliness. They also pointed out that the same is true of the study of their laws. The present Essay goes one step […]

Video is also available – click to open אך מה שהיה משתבח בתהלת התורה במעלתה זו, ואמר: זמירות היו לי כו׳, נענש על זה   However, for extolling the Torah with this quality, saying,13 “[Your statutes] were songs for me,” he was punished.   ואמר לו הקב״ה: זמירות קרית להו   G‑d reproved him:14 “You […]

Video is also available – click to open Being of absolutely no account relative to G‑d, all the worlds effect no change in Him.   והלכך גם לפנימיות התורה אין לשבחה כלל בתהלת חיות כל העולמות, מאחר דלא ממש חשיבי   Hence, the internal aspect of the Torah too (which is wholly united with G‑d) […]

Video is also available – click to open Tzedakah, as we shall presently appreciate, sensitizes the Jew who practises it so that the superrational degree of Chochmah in his Neshamah is able to light up the innermost recesses of his heart.   As mentioned in the introduction to Kuntres Acharon, the Rebbe observes that this […]

Video is also available – click to open ואותיות איתן משמשות לעתיד   The letters that spell the [Hebrew] word eitan [each] indicate the future tense.   At a deeper level, this term thus hints at future revelation: in the Time to Come there will be a revelation of the spiritual degree called eitan.   […]

Video is also available – click to open Since we are speaking here of Supernal Mercy, there must first be a sufficiently vigorous “arousal from below” that will cause it to descend to this lowly world. The required arousal initiated from below must therefore spring from the palpable realities of this lowly world. In plain […]

Video is also available – click to open Word had evidently reached the Alter Rebbe that the chassidim of a certain synagogue did not permit a worshiper who would pray at length to lead the services, because some individual there was pressed for time. In this letter of admonition, the Alter Rebbe writes that it […]

Video is also available – click to open כי על אהבה המסותרת בלב כל ישראל בתולדתם וטבעם, לא שייך ציווי כלל   For regarding the love latent in the heart of all Israel by birth and nature, there can be no command at all, for it already exists.   Rather, the command is that this […]