In the previous Epistle, written to console the chassidic brotherhood after the passing of the saintly R. Mendele Vitebsker, the Alter Rebbe quotes from the Zohar to the effect that a tzaddik is even more accessible in this world after his passing than while he was still alive. Moreover, after his passing his chassidim continue […]

אמנם נודע מזהר הקדוש והאריז״ל, סוד הקרבנות שעל גבי המזבח Now,12 the mystical principle of the sacrifices offered on the altar is known from the sacred Zohar13 and from R. Isaac Luria,14 of blessed memory: הן בחינת העלאת מיין נוקבין, מנפש הבהמית שבנוגה They are an instance of the elevation of mayin nukvin (lit., “feminine […]

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The Alter Rebbe will now explain how this relates to the passing of a tzaddik, for this likewise draws down a degree of illumination that utterly transcends the world, transforming its darkness into light and bringing about atonement for the sins of the generation. והנה מודעת זאת, דאבא יונק ממזל השמיני Now, it is known22 […]

The focus of the present letter is the distinctive value of studying the halachot, the laws of the Torah. The Sages deem these laws to be the “crown of Torah,” because the Supernal Will is most fully revealed within the laws of the Oral Torah, inasmuch as they clearly spell out G‑d‘s will with regard […]

והנה כמו שבנשמת האדם יש בה כח התענוג שמתענגת ממה שיש לה ענג ממנו כמו מהשכלת שכל חדש וכה”ג Now, in the soul of man there is a faculty for pleasure: [the soul] takes pleasure in what it finds pleasurable,31as in the conception of a new insight, or the like. ובחי’ חיצוניות ואחוריים של כח […]

The Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain that in addition to this function of mitzvot as garments for the soul, they also serve to unite the sublime spiritual level of Keter, with the physical objects with which the commandments are performed. As such, they resemble pillars that connect the highest part of a house […]

וז”ש בזוה”ק פ’ פקודי (דרכ”ט ע”ב) דאינון עובדין טבין דעביד בר נש משכי מנהורא דזיווא עילאה לבושא כו’ וחמי כו’ בנועם ה’ וכו’ This is the meaning of the statement in the sacred Zohar, Parshat Pekudei (p. 229b), that “the good deeds (i.e., the mitzvot) which man does, elicit a garment from the light of […]

The Alter Rebbe now focuses on the distinctive quality inherent in the halachot of the Oral Torah. It is these halachot that reveal the Supernal Will, by defining what it actually requires of us in the performance of the mitzvot, in order thereby to draw down this lofty level of Divinity. והנה מודעת זאת כי […]

This is a reasoned message of encouragement in which the Alter Rebbe urges his chassidim not to reduce their fixed annual commitment to charity for the Holy Land, even though their circumstances may have altered. He reminds them once again (as above in Epistle XXI), that what counts is not only the total of one’s […]