Tanya: Chapter 52 – Part 4 – video

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Tanya: Chapter 52 – Part 3 – audio
Tanya: Chapter 52 – Part 4 – audio

ובהתלבשות מלכות דאצילות במלכות דבריאה, מתלבשת בהיכל קדשי קדשים דיצירה, שהוא חב״ד דיצירה

By virtue of the clothing of Malchut of Atzilut in Malchut of Beriah9 it then clothes itself in the shrine of the Holy of Holies of Yetzirah, this being the ChaBaD of Yetzirah — the Chochmah, Binah and Daat of Yetzirah. It is in this manner that the Shechinah of Malchut of Atzilut ultimately comes to reside in the World of Yetzirah.

ובהתלבשותן במלכות דיצירה, נוצרו הרוחות

When later on the latter (Malchut of Atzilut, together with the Sefirot in which it is enclothed — in Malchut of Beriah and in ChaBaD of Yetzirah) are clothed in Malchut of Yetzirah, the souls which are called Ruchot are created,

For the three levels of souls, Nefesh, Ruach (singular of Ruchot) and Neshamah, correspond to the three lower Worlds: Nefesh originates in Asiyah, Ruach in Yetzirah and Neshamah in Beriah. With regard to Neshamot, the Alter Rebbe has said previously that they are created from Malchut of Beriah. In now discussing the level of Malchut of Yetzirah, he writes that souls of the level of Ruach are created,

והמלאכים שביצירה

and the angels which are of the World of Yetzirah.

וגם משם היא המשנה שלפנינו, שהיא הלכות פסוקות הנמשכות גם כן מחב״ד של אין סוף ברוך הוא

From there too, from Malchut of Yetzirah, comes the Mishnah that we possess, which comprises the legal decisions that are likewise derived from ChaBaD of the blessed Ein Sof.10

Not only the Gemara within the Talmud, but the Mishnah too, derives from the “intelligence” of the Ein Sof. Even though it was stated earlier that the Mishnah derives from middot, yet since within the Mishnah there is concealed the rationale of the laws, they, too, emanate from the ChaBaD of Ein Sof.

רק שבחינת חב״ד, שהם טעמי ההלכות, הם מלובשים וגנוזים בגופי ההלכות, ולא בבחינת גילוי

Only that the categories of ChaBaD, that is, the reasons and interpretations of the halachot, are clothed and hidden within the laws themselves and are not in a revealed form,

In the Gemara the reasons for the laws are revealed, whereas in the Mishnah all that is revealed is the actual law itself, not the reasons underlying it.

וגופי ההלכות, שהן בבחינת גילוי, הן הן הארת מדותיו של אין סוף ברוך הוא בבחינת גילוי

while the elements of the halachot, which are in a revealed form in the Mishnah, are the very reflection of the middot of the blessed Ein Sof in their revealed form.

As mentioned earlier, the actual halachic decision that something is permissible derives from the divine attribute of kindness, and that something is prohibited derives from the attribute of severity.

כמו שכתוב לעיל בשם התיקונים, דשית ספירן מקננין ביצירה, שהן דרך כלל שני קוין, ימין ושמאל

Thus, it has been explained above in the name of the Tikkunim, that six Sefirot nest in Yetzirah. They the six Sefirot or middot comprise, in general, two extensions — right and left, right representing kindness, and left, severity,

להקל מסטרא דחסד, דהיינו: להתיר, שיוכל לעלות אל ה׳

acting with forbearance deriving from the aspect of kindness, which results in adjudicating leniently, that is to say, to permit [a thing] to ascend to G‑d,

For only that which is permitted to a Jew can ascend to G‑d. Thus, when a ruling is lenient and the object in question is permitted for use, it enables the individual, through utilizing it in the performance of a mitzvah, to cause it to ascend to G‑d. This, of course, is an act of kindness.

או להחמיר כו׳

or acting in a stringent manner, and so on, declaring the object to be forbidden for use, and thereby precluding its elevation to holiness. This is an act of severity. These two traits, kindness and severity, represent the two general directions of the emotive attributes as they exist Above, and from which the halachot of the Mishnah derive.

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