This letter comments on a discourse (in Tzavaat HaRivash, sec. 120 in the Kehot editions) in which the Baal Shem Tov explains that though all things emanate from G‑d through His attributes of love and awe, these attributes can find themselves in a state of exile. The Baal Shem Tov goes on to say that […]

להבין אמרי בינה “To comprehend the words of understanding,” i.e., the words of Torah,2 מה שכתוב בספר הנקרא צוואת ריב״ש stated in the book called Tzavaat Rivash3 (“The Testament of the Baal Shem Tov),” הגם שבאמת אינה צוואתו כלל, ולא ציוה כלל לפני פטירתו though in fact it is not at all4 his will or […]

והרבה שלוחים למקום and9 “G‑d has many agents” through whom He can act. Hence, even if the offending party had chosen otherwise, the incident would have befallen the victim in any case. This discussion recalls the teaching of the Mechilta cited by Rashi on the verse,10 והאלקים אנה לידו — “and G‑d caused it to […]

אף שטבע זה במים, הוא גם כן נברא ומחודש יש מאין even though this characteristic of water — to flow downward — is also created and innovated ex nihilo. As the Rebbe explains, not only the water itself, but also its characteristic of fluidity, was created ex nihilo. Thus, when the wind caused the water […]

והנה נודע ליודעי חכמה נסתרה Now it is known to those familiar with the “Hidden Wisdom”23 (i.e., the Kabbalah) כי דבר ה׳ נקרא בשם שכינה בלשון חז״ל, ואימא תתאה ומטרוניתא בלשון הזהר that the “word of G‑d” is referred to as the Shechinah, in the terminology of the [Talmudic and Midrashic] Sages, of blessed memory, […]