ולכן סידרו בקריאת שמע שעל המטה, לקבל עליו ד׳ מיתות בית דין וכו׳
For this reason it was ordained that in the course of Keriat Shema at the bedside33 one should accept the four executions of the court, and so on.
This acceptance is recited even by those who have never committed capital sins, because many other sins blemish the soul to the same degree as do those which are punishable by any of the four executions administered by the court.
מלבד שעל פי הסוד כל הפוגם באות יו״ד של שם הוי׳ כאילו נתחייב סקילה
Besides, according to Sod, the mystical dimension of the Torah, causing a defect in the yud of the Tetragrammaton is like incurring lapidation;
והפוגם באות ה״א כאילו נתחייב שריפה
causing a defect in the hei is like incurring burning;
ובאות וי״ו כאילו נתחייב הרג
[causing a defect] in the vav is like incurring the sword;
ובאות ה״א אחרונה כאילו נתחייב חנק
and [causing a defect in] the latter hei is like incurring strangulation.
והמבטל קריאת שמע פוגם באות יו״ד, ותפילין באות ה״א
Neglecting the Shema impairs the yud, and tefillin the hei,
וציצית באות וי״ו ותפלה באות ה״א וכו׳
tzitzit the vav, and prayer the latter hei, and so on.
We thus see that according to the Kabbalah the soul can be blemished through other sins just as by a capital sin. Undertaking the “four executions” clears the soul of these blemishes.
ומזה יוכל המשכיל ללמוד לשאר עונות וחטאים
From this a thinking man can infer for other sins and transgressions (The Rebbe adds: “…which one of the letters of the Tetragrammaton they are related to, and thus, to which manner of execution”),
וביטול תורה כנגד כולן
and for [the sin of] neglecting the study of the Torah, which is equivalent to them all.
All the above lends the thinking person a contrite heart, as he grows aware of the blemish caused even by his supposedly lesser sins.
This contrition is the second preparatory step along the “true and direct” path to the lower level of repentance. For contrition crushes the kelipot and sitra achra and enables a man to repent truthfully, earnestly regretting his past misdeeds and firmly resolving to better his future ways.
Footnotes
1.Note of the Rebbe: “As in Part I, end of ch. 13.”
2.Mishlei 12:19.
3.Avodah Zarah 17a.
4.Note of the Rebbe: “Likkutei Torah, Nasso 23a, and references there.”
5.Note of the Rebbe: “An expression of the Talmud in Chagigah 5b. The word ‘roof’ is omitted in the text of Rashi in the Talmud, but is to be found in the text of Rashi in Ein Yaakov.”
6.Yeshayahu 55:7.
7.Note of the Rebbe: “Shir HaShirim 7:6; see Tzemach Tzedek, ad loc. This requires further clarification.”
8.Note of the Rebbe: “Addenda to Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun Vav.”
9.Note of the Rebbe: “Concerning all the above see [Tanya,] Part I, ch. 45, and the notes referring to it by the Tzemach Tzedek on Eichah, p. 22 (in Or HaTorah on Nach, Vol. II, p. 1053), concerning the variations, etc.”
10.Note of the Rebbe: “Ch. 18.”
11.Yirmeyahu 49:16; Ovadiah 1:4.
12.Note of the Rebbe: “Vayikra 5a.”
13.Tehillim 51:19.
14.Note of the Rebbe: “This, too, is implied in the Zohar.”
15.Note of the Rebbe: “Conclusion of Yerushalmi, Berachot; quoted as well in [Tanya,] Part I, ch. 1.”
16.Tehillim 109:22.
17.Note of the Rebbe: “At a pinch this phrase could be said to mean an actual hour, like the preparatory period before prayer.”
18.Berachot 18b.
19.Parentheses are in the original text.
20.Tehillim 115:17.
21.Note of the Rebbe: “For this is so utterly forbidden that our Sages have said, ‘One should not go…’ (Berachot 18a).”
22.Note of the Rebbe: “The proof of the Ran is well known (and it appears as an actual point of law in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Orach Chayim 328:16) — that the repeated transgression of a prohibition of the Torah involving a quantity that is less than the minimal punishable amount, is more serious than transgressing a prohibition that incurs death by lapidation! (Incidentally, this serves to prove (cf. below) that a multitude of seemingly lesser sins can ‘darken as much…, and even more.’)”
23.Yeshayahu 44:22.
24.Parentheses are in the original text.
25.Note of the Rebbe: “This phrase would appear to be superfluous. Possibly it relates to two details in the analogue: the lower hei (Malchut, earth); the divine soul (‘with its inhabitants’).”
26.Note of the Rebbe: “Ketubbot 68a.”
27.Devarim 15:9.
28.Note of the Rebbe: “Until here, as in the Gemara, loc. cit., and Sanhedrin 111b.”
29.Note of the Rebbe: “Arachin 15b.”
30.Zohar II, 182b; Rambam, Hilchot De‘ot 2:3.
31.Cf. Sotah 4b.
32.Introduction to Eichah Rabbah, beg. of Sec. 2; Yerushalmi, Chagigah 1:7.
33.Note of the Rebbe: “Even though it is not the function of Iggeret HaTeshuvah to explain the prayers, this comment is relevant here because one of the themes of the bedside Keriat Shema is stocktaking and teshuvah. (See also Part I, end of ch. 7.)”
