Video is also available – click to open In the previous letter the Alter Rebbe explained how the Torah study of a group of at least ten, or a mitzvah performed by them collectively, brings about the indwelling of the Shechinah. He spoke of how even those who engage in the avodah of prayer sometimes […]
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Epistle 24 – Part 2
Video is also available – click to open ועל כן קבעו חז״ל בתפלה: כאלו עומד לפני המלך For this reason our Sages, of blessed memory, ordained that with prayer one should [conduct himself]14 “as if he is standing before the king.” Now if he is standing before the King of kings, why do our Sages […]
Epistle 25 – Part 1
Video is also available – click to open 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 […]
Epistle 25 – Part 2
Video is also available – click to open 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 […]
Epistle 25 – Part 3
Video is also available – click to open 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 […]
Epistle 25 – Part 4
Video is also available – click to open 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 […]
Epistle 25 – Part 5
Video is also available – click to open 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 […]
Epistle 25 – Part 6
Video is also available – click to open The Alter Rebbe now returns to the theme of the Divine spark in exile: ונקרא גם כן בשם גלות השכינה This [sustenance of idolaters through the Divine spark] is also called “the exile of the Shechinah.” מאחר שחיות זה, אשר בבחינת גלות בתוכם For this life-force, which […]
Epistle 25 – Part 7
Video is also available – click to open אך שלמדרגה זו, צריך התעוררות רבה ועצומה However, for such a level one needs a great and intense arousal. ועצה היעוצה להתעוררות זו, היא מענין זה עצמו And the counsel suggested to attain such an arousal, derives from this very subject. כשישים אל לבו ויתבונן ענין ירידת […]
Epistle 26 – Part 1
Video is also available – click to open The letters that comprise Iggeret HaKodesh were written over many years and assembled in their present order by the sons of the Alter Rebbe after his passing, as they explain in their introduction (“Approbation”) to Tanya (Vol. I, p. 19ff., in the present series). It is clear […]
