וכל שכן באור אין סוף ברוך הוא, דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה באורו והתפשטות החיות ממנו יתברך   This is all the more true with regard to the [infinite] Ein Sof-light, for no thought can apprehend Him in His radiance or the diffusion of the life-force issuing from Him.   כי אם במציאותו, שהוא שמחיה את […]

מה שאין כן בכוונתו   This is not the case concerning one’s intention while performing the mitzvah of the etrog.   אינו משיג ותופס, אף היודע הסוד, אלא מציאותה ולא מהותה   Here, even if he is familiar with the mystical [Kabbalistic and chassidic] meanings involved, he does not grasp and hold on to the […]

מה שאין כן בכוונתו   This is not the case concerning one’s intention while performing the mitzvah of the etrog.   אינו משיג ותופס, אף היודע הסוד, אלא מציאותה ולא מהותה   Here, even if he is familiar with the mystical [Kabbalistic and chassidic] meanings involved, he does not grasp and hold on to the […]

  ומביאה ללב שלם כו׳   Moreover, this leads to a “whole heart,” for the latter verse concludes, “and serve Him with a whole heart”; i.e., a knowledge of G‑d leads one to serve Him with one’s entire being.   As explained in Likkutei Torah, in the discourse beginning VeLo Tashbit, this refers to serving […]

ועוד זאת   In addition:   The Alter Rebbe will now state that beyond the above-discussed superior quality of mitzvot requiring action (as well as the study of their laws), they are also essentially superior to the source of the soul, by virtue of their source.   Thus, the love and awe experienced by the […]

ועוד זאת   In addition:   The Alter Rebbe will now state that beyond the above-discussed superior quality of mitzvot requiring action (as well as the study of their laws), they are also essentially superior to the source of the soul, by virtue of their source.   Thus, the love and awe experienced by the […]

ובר מן כל דין   Besides all the above,53 i.e., all the above-mentioned ways in which the action-related mitzvot are superior to intellectually-aroused love and fear, there is yet another superior quality to the practical mitzvot:   אפילו בנשמה דאצילות, אף שהיא מכלים דאצילות   Even in the case of a soul of Atzilut, though […]