Interdependence and brotherly love among Jews strike far deeper than the visible interpersonal plane. Indeed, if they are lacking, the pain is felt by the Shechinah itself, the Divine Presence. For the Divine Presence is the heart of the Jewish people, who themselves constitute the organs. A deep-seated organic disorder that affects the circulatory system, affects the entire body, including even the heart itself.
נודע בשערים
The previous Epistle opened with the phrase, “It is well known…,” because it cited a widely-known statement from the Talmud. Here, however, the Alter Rebbe opens with a more esoteric quotation from the Zohar, which is well known only in more scholarly circles, among those who sit at the city gates, for this was where judges and scholars traditionally used to congregate.
מה שכתוב בתיקונים, דשכינתא איהי מרעא בגלותא, כביכול
is the statement in the Tikkunim2 that the “Shechinah is ailing in the exile,” as it were.
פירוש, על דרך משל: כמו חולי הגוף, המבדיל בין קדש וכו׳
This [anthropomorphism] draws a comparison with a physical ailment, distinguishing, [of course,] between the holy [and the mundane];3 i.e., bearing in mind the utter disparity between a physical ailment and the state metaphorically described as an “ailment” of the Shechinah.
שסיבת החולי והבריאות היא התפשטות והילוך החיות מהלב אל כל האברים
The cause of illness or health lies in the distribution and flow of the life-force from the heart to all the organs,
המלובשת בדם הנפש היוצא מהלב אל כל האברים
[this life-force] being vested in the blood of life which flows from the heart to all the organs;
וסובב סובב הולך הרוח חיים והדם
and the spirit of life and the blood4 circulates all around
תוך תוך כל האברים, על ידי הגידים המובלעים בהם
into all the limbs, through the veins5 that are embedded in them,
וחוזר אל הלב
and returns to the heart.
ואם סיבוב והילוך הרוח חיים הלז הוא כהלכתו תמידי, כסדרו המסודר לו מחיי החיים, ברוך הוא
Now, if the circulation and flow of this spirit of life is always as it should be, in its proper order as arranged for it by the Fountainhead of Life,
אזי האדם בריא בתכלית
then the individual is perfectly healthy.
כי כל האברים מקושרים יחד, ומקבלים חיותם הראוי להם מהלב, על ידי סיבוב הלז
For all the limbs are bound together and receive their appropriate vitality from the heart through this circulation.
אך אם יש איזה קלקול באיזהו מקומן, המונע ומעכב או ממעט סיבוב והילוך הדם עם הרוח חיים המלובש בו
But should there be any disorder in any place, restraining, hindering or reducing the circulation and flow of the blood with the spirit of life vested in it,
אזי נפסק או מתמעט הקשר הלז, המקשר כל האברים אל הלב על ידי סיבוב הלז
then this bond — which connects all the limbs with the heart by means of this circulation — is severed (which would extinguish life), or diminished,
ואזי נופל האדם למשכב וחולי, ה׳ ישמרנו
in which case the individual will fall ill and sick (May G‑d protect us!).
The interconnection of all the organs with the heart, thus also impacts on the heart itself.
וככה ממש, על דרך משל, הנה כל נשמות ישראל נקראים בחינת אברי דשכינתא
Precisely so, metaphorically speaking, all the souls of Israel are regarded as the organs of the Shechinah,6
הנקראת בשם לב, כמו שכתוב: צור לבבי, וכמו שכתוב: ושכנתי בתוכם
which is called the “heart”, as it is written,7 “The Rock, My Heart”;8 and as it is written,9 “And I will dwell within them.”
פירוש
The meaning (of this comparison between the Shechinah and the heart that supplies all the organs with blood) is:
כי לשון שכינה הוא, שאור הוי׳ שוכן בעולמות בריאה יצירה עשיה, להחיותם
The10 term Shechinah, deriving as it does from the verb לשכון (“to rest” or “to dwell”), denotes that the light of G‑d abides in the Worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, in order to endow them with life.
והמשכת חיות זה היא על ידי התלבשות תחלה בנשמות ישראל
This life-force is drawn forth by means of a prior investment in the souls of Israel.
לפי שכל הנבראים, אין ערוך להם אל הבורא יתברך
[This is so] because none of the created beings stand in any comparable relation to the Creator;
דכולא קמיה כלא ממש חשיבין
for11 “all that are before Him are esteemed as truly naught.”
ואי אפשר להם לקבל חיות מאורו ושפעו יתברך
Thus it is impossible for them to receive life-force from His light and effluence,
להיות נבראים מאין ליש, וחיים וקיימים
to become created beings ex nihilo into substantiality, and to be living and subsisting,
כי אם על ידי הנשמות
except by means of the souls.
The Divine light is first drawn down into the Jewish souls, and thereafter into the rest of creation.
The blessings which we recite follow the same order: “…our G‑d, King of the universe.” It is by His first becoming “our G‑d,” whereby the Divine life-force flows into the Jewish people, that He then becomes “King of the universe.”
שעלו במחשבה
[For it is the Jewish souls] that rose in His thought, i.e., their source is in His thought,
וקדמו לבריאת עולמות, שעל ידי בחינת הדבור
and thus preceded the creation of the worlds, which came about through [Divine] Speech.
Mortal thought is internal and personal, inasmuch as it serves the individual himself, whereas speech is external, its purpose being to communicate with others. So, too, Jewish souls derive from the internal aspect of G‑dliness, while the rest of creation derives from the external aspect. And in order that the Divine life-force be drawn down into the worlds, which represent an external level of creation, it must first be drawn into Jewish souls, the internal level of creation.
כמאמר רז״ל: במי נמלך הקב״ה וכו׳
Thus our Sages, of blessed memory, said:12 “With whom did the Holy One, blessed be He, take counsel [concerning the creation of the worlds? — With Jewish souls],”
כנודע במקום אחר
as is known from elsewhere.
Jewish souls are thus so superior to the created worlds that G‑d took counsel with them about the very creation of the worlds.
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