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In the previous chapter the Alter Rebbe explained that there are two broad categories in the love of G‑d, ahavah rabbah and ahavat olam. Ahavah rabbah cannot be attained by man unaided. It is granted as a gift from above when an individual merits it; reflection alone on G‑d’s greatness can in no way engender […]

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אהבה רבה וגדולה מזו, והיא מסותרת גם כן בכל נפש מישראל בירושה מאבותינו, היא מה שכתוב ברעיא מהימנא: כברא דאשתדל בתר אבוי ואימיה, דרחים לון יתיר מגרמיה ונפשיה ורוחיה כו׳ A greater and more intense love than this (i.e., than the love which results from realizing that G‑d is one’s true soul and life), a […]

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ואף אם נדמה לו לכאורה שהוא כח דמיוני Even if it appears to him at first sight that this is an illusion, and that in truth he does not possess this love for G‑d, and thinking that he does is nothing less than deluding himself as to his true spiritual status, לא יחוש, מאחר שהוא […]

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והנה ב׳ בחינות אהבות אלו The said two categories of love — that of “My soul…,” the love a Jew feels for G‑d upon realizing that He is his true life, and that which is “Like a son…,” loving G‑d as one’s true father — אף שהן ירושה לנו מאבותינו, וכמו טבע בנפשותינו, וכן היראה […]