Video Audio Text Part (ii) The Epistle that follows, beginning “The Letters that are Revealed,” is one of the Epistles that was appended to the edition of Tanya published in Vilna in the year 5660 (1900), these additions being noted by R. Asher of Nikolayev in his introductory declaration there.55 This relevance of this Epistle […]

Video Audio Text Epistle 20 The present Epistle deals with a subject that has not been touched upon in the Tanya until now. Though it is one of the most profound and abstract principles of Chassidut, it has a practical application. It will be recalled that the introduction to Epistle 18 pointed out the benefits […]

Video Audio Text איהו וחיוהי חד “He3 and His life-giving emanations (chayohi) are one; I.e., the “lights” (orot) of the Sefirot, which (like souls) animate the “vessels” (kelim) of the Sefirot, are not merely connected to G‑d: they are actually one with Him. איהו וגרמוהי חד בהון He and His causations (garmohi; lit., “organs”) are […]

Video Audio Text ויש מאין נקרא בריאה בלשון הקדש The coming about of substantiality ex nihilo (yesh me’ayin) is in the Holy Tongue called beriah (“creation”). As the Ramban points out in his commentary to the Torah,26 beriah is the only term in the Holy Tongue for absolutely innovative creation, creation ex nihilo. In any […]

Video Audio Text והגם שהיש הנברא הוא גם כן כלא חשיב קמיה And although created substance is also as naught before Him, for everything, including the created yesh, is as naught before Him — דהיינו: שבטל במציאות לגבי הכח והאור השופע בו that is, it is essentially non-existent (Insertion by the Rebbe: “not only in […]

Video Audio Text Having explained in general terms why the creation of a substantial yesh from spirituality can only come about in a manner of ex nihilo (and not in a manner of ilah and alul), the Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain that the first stage of the created yesh is the kelim […]

Video Audio Text וקרוב לומר שגם האלפים ורבבות עלמין דיתבא בגולגלתא דאריך אנפין וזעיר אנפין It is reasonable to assume that also35 the thousands and myriads of worlds that are in the Gulgalta of Arich Anpin and Z’eir Anpin (abbreviated in the original Hebrew text as א״א and ז״א, respectively), as stated in the Kabbalah,36 […]

Video Audio Text As we have seen, the objective creation of the yesh takes place through the investment of the [infinite] Ein Sof-light in the kelim of all Ten Sefirot of Atzilut. However, as the Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain, the subjective yeshut of created beings — their self-perception as entities distinct and […]

Video Audio Text וזה שכתוב: נעוץ תחילתן בסופן And this is the meaning of the statement in Sefer Yetzirah41 regarding the Ten Sefirot, “Their beginning is wedged in their end.” In the scheme of the Sefirot, the very beginning (signifying a level that transcends even the “head”) is to be found in the culmination of […]

Video Audio Text  ובזה יובן היות המצוות במלכות, ה׳ של שם הוי׳ It will now be understood — in terms of the Sefirot and the corresponding letters of the Divine Name — why the mitzvot are in Malchut, the [latter] hei of the Four-Letter Name of G‑d, והתורה בזעיר אנפין, וא״ו של שם הוי׳ […]