Returning to the earlier discussion: It is now clear why in future time the righteous (and “Your people are all righteous”) will be lauded as holy: they will all have revealed to them that Divine radiance that is “holy” in the sense that it transcends apprehension. Moreover, they will become so unified with this revelation that the term “holy” will apply to them as well.
אך אי אפשר להגיע למדרגה זו, עד שיהא בגן עדן תחלה
But it is impossible to attain this level of being able to absorb the transcendent light of Sovev Kol Almin, until one has first been in Gan Eden,
להשיג בחינת חכמה עילאה כו׳ אפשר צריך להיות: כל חד כפום שיעורא דיליה
to apprehend a degree of the Supernal Chochmah,39 each40 according to his measure.
For, as explained earlier, the lesser Divine light that radiates in Gan Eden is received by each soul according to its own particular degree.
וטל תורה מחייהו
(The Rebbe adds here that the soul will then rise at the time of the Resurrection of the Dead through the “dew of the Torah,” for, as our Sages teach,41 “[Whoever engages in the study of the Torah,]) the dew of Torah revives him [at the time of the Resurrection].”
The verse upon which our Sages base this teaching reads:42 “Your dead shall be resurrected…; those who lie in the dust shall awaken and sing joyful praises; for the Dew of Lights shall be your dew….” It is thus clear that the revival effected by “the dew of the Torah” refers to the Resurrection of the Dead.
והקיצות, היא תשיחך גו׳, ודי למבין
(The Rebbe adds: Thereafter,)43 “When you will awaken, it (i.e., the Torah) will cause you to speak…,” and this promise, as expounded in Avot,44 refers to the time of the World to Come. This will suffice for the discerning.
In order to attain the level of Sovev Kol Almin at the time of the Resurrection, the soul must first be in Gan Eden and apprehend Supernal Chochmah according to its particular degree and level. For though in Gan Eden the soul apprehends no higher than the lesser, permeating Divine light called Memaleh Kol Almin, its perception is nevertheless augmented by the light of Keter which also illumines it. The soul indeed apprehends the latter enlightenment only to the extent of yediat hametziut (lit., “a knowledge of its existence”; i.e., by the “encompassing” perception known as makkif), rather than with the penetrating revelation of hassagat hamahut (lit., “an understanding of its essence”).45 Nevertheless, this added illumination enables the soul at the time of the Resurrection to comprehend the essence of the revelation of Sovev Kol Almin.
Since, as stated above, the soul in Gan Eden apprehends indwelling lights, its experience of Gan Eden consists of the revelation of the Torah within the soul, so to speak, for the Torah is likened to “food” (as in the verse,46 “for Your Torah is within my inward parts”) — i.e., something that affects one from within, as explained at length above, in Part I, ch. 5. However, Gan Eden is also illumined by a glimmering of the radiation that results from the performance of mitzvot, and these act as “garments” and “encompassing lights” for the soul in Gan Eden, as mentioned in the above letter.
At the time of the World to Come, at the time of the Resurrection, the superior light of Sovev Kol Almin will be revealed chiefly as a result of one’s present performance of mitzvot. This comes about through and together with the “dew of Torah” that “revives him” and “causes [him] to speak.”
The Alter Rebbe now returns to the above-quoted verse, “Your commandment is very wide.” Having earlier explained that “Your commandment” (in the singular) refers to G‑d’s own commandment, viz., tzedakah, he now goes on to explain the words, “is very wide”: the mitzvah of tzedakah is a vessel so capacious that it can contain the revelation of G‑d’s infinite light at the time of the Resurrection.
וזהו: רחבה מצותך מאד
And this is the meaning of [the verse], “And your commandment is very wide.”
היא מצות הצדקה, שהיא כלי ושטח רחב מאד, להתלבש בה הארת אור אין סוף ברוך הוא
This refers to the precept of charity, which is a vessel of great volume, in which the radiation from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light may be invested,
וכמו שכתוב: לבושו צדקה
(47as it is written,48 “His garment is tzedakah”).
אשר יאיר לעתיד בבחינת בלי גבול ותכלית
In the future this [light] will radiate without limit or end,
בחסד חנם באתערותא דלתתא זו, הנקראת דרך ה׳
with a gratuitous [Divine] kindness elicited by this arousal from below — by the kindness and tzedakah initiated by man — which is called “the path of G‑d.”
As mentioned above, even when this Divine revelation is granted in response to an arousal from below it is still considered “gratuitous kindness,” for it is granted out of all proportion to man’s actions; man’s tzedakah is no more than a vessel which enables him to receive the benevolence of this Divine revelation.
וזהו לשון מאד, שהוא בלי גבול ותכלית
And this is the meaning of the term “very [wide],” signifying limitlessness and endlessness: tzedakah acts as an infinitely wide vessel for receiving an infinite degree of G‑d-liness.
אבל: לכל תכלה ראיתי קץ
However, at the beginning of the verse quoted above,49 [it is written,] “To every tichlah (lit., “conclusion”) I have seen an end.”
תכלה היא מלשון כלות הנפש שבגן עדן
The word tichlah is related to the term kalot hanefesh, the intense yearning — to the point of expiry — of the soul in Gan Eden,
שהיא בבחינת קץ ותכלית וצמצום, כנ״ל
for it (i.e., the Divine light that is yearned for in Gan Eden) does have an end and a limit, and undergoes contraction, as mentioned above: this is the radiation of the finite light called Memaleh Kol Almin.
Likkutei Levi Yitzchak, authored by the father of the Rebbe, explains how “end”, “limit” and “contraction” respectively refer to three kinds of illumination that radiate within Gan Eden. It also explains why the verse chooses to use the word “end” rather than “limit” or “contraction.”
ולכל תכלה
As to the term “to every [kind of] tichlah,” when the verse is alluding only to the yearning of souls in Gan Eden,
הוא לפי שיש כמה וכמה מעלות ומדרגות גן עדן, זה למעלה מזה, עד רום המעלות
this is used because there are numerous levels and rungs of Gan Eden, one higher than the other, to the topmost of levels.
כמו שכתוב בלקוטי הש״ס מהאריז״ל, בפירוש מאמר רז״ל: תלמידי חכמים אין להם מנוחה כו׳
As is written in Likkutei HaShas by R. Isaac Luria, of blessed memory, in explanation of the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory,50 “Torah scholars have no rest [in this world nor in the next],”
שעולים תמיד ממדרגה למדרגה בהשגת התורה, שאין לה סוף כו׳
because they are constantly rising from level to level in [their] grasp of the Torah, which has no end… —
עד אחר התחיה, שיהיה להם מנוחה כו׳
until after the Resurrection, when they will have rest…, for that time will be51 “a day which is entirely Shabbat, and rest.”
At that time there will be revealed a radiance from G‑d’s Essence that utterly transcends levels; elevation from level to level will thus be not only impossible but also unnecessary. At that time mortal souls will finally find repose, as they delight in the radiance of G‑d’s Essence.
Note of the Rebbe: “This verse is cited here, for this is one of the differences between the time of the Resurrection and Gan Eden. As to the former, `Your people are all righteous,’ whereas Gan Eden is not merited by all (see Torah Or, Parshat Yitro 73b; Likkutei Torah; and elsewhere).”
Although the Alter Rebbe says below that “it is impossible to attain this level until one has first been in Gan Eden,” which would seem to presuppose that all Jews will merit Gan Eden as well, the Rebbe notes that when the Alter Rebbe writes above that “Your people are all righteous” he means only that “they will all rise at the Resurrection, which will embrace everyone from Moshe Rabbeinu and the Patriarchs and so on, to the water-drawers. And it is self-evident that there will be enormous distinctions between their respective revelations at that time, each according to his measure (in Gan Eden), and so on.”
