ועוד יש לכל נפש אלקית שלשה לבושיםIn addition [to its ten faculties — discussed in ch. 3], every divine soul (nefesh elokit) possesses three garments.

In addition [to its ten faculties — discussed in ch. 3], every divine soul (nefesh elokit) possesses three garments.

Until now it has been explained that the divine soul has three garments in which it clothes itself: the thought, speech and action of Torah and the commandments. The Alter Rebbe now goes on to state that, unlike physical garments, which are less important than their wearer, the garments of the divine soul are even […]

Now these three “garments” deriving from the Torah and its commandments, though they are called [merely] “garments” of the Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah,

ואף דהקדוש ברוך הוא נקרא אין סוף, ולגדולתו אין חקר, ולית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כללAlthough the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Ein Sof (“Infinite”), and 5 “His greatness

ואף דהקדוש ברוך הוא נקרא אין סוף, ולגדולתו אין חקר, ולית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כללAlthough the Holy One, blessed be He, is called Ein Sof (“Infinite”), and 5 “His greatness

At the conclusion of the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe depicted the study of Torah as a royal embrace: When one studies Torah, his intellect “embraces” and encompasses the Divine Will and wisdom — and thus he “embraces” the King of kings Himself, since “He and His

A further explanation, to more fully elucidate the expression “tefissa” (“grasp”), in the words of Elijah, “No thought can grasp You”:

וזאת מעלה יתירה גדולה ונפלאה לאין קץ, אשר במצות ידיעת התורה והשגתהThis is the distinctive, infinitely great and wonderful superiority of the mitzvah of knowing and comprehending Torahעל כל המצות

In the previous chapters the Alter Rebbe discussed the divine soul; its ten faculties — three intellectual and seven emotional — and its three garments by which it expresses itself, namely, the thought, speech and action of Torah and the mitzvot.