108 Intermediate: ch. 38 p. 1

Video Audio Text In the previous chapters the Alter Rebbe discussed the distinctive merit of mitzvot performed by speech and action, for by means of them the vitalizing soul is elevated to holiness. The mitzvot have this ability for they are performed with the power of the vitalizing soul that vivifies the physical limbs that […]

109 Intermediate: ch. 38 p. 2

Video Audio Text ואף שבשניהם אור אחד שוה בבחינת הסתר פנים True, in terms of the “concealment of Countenance” i.e., the degree to which the “Countenance,” the inner aspect of the divine life-force, is concealed, the light i.e., the divine creative life-force is the same in both [body and soul] — it is concealed equally […]

110 Intermediate: ch. 38 p. 3

Video Audio Text The Alter Rebbe now distinguishes between permitted and forbidden objects. The former receive their life-force directly through kelipat nogah; for the latter to receive the G‑dly life-force clothed in kelipat nogah, it must first descend still further, to be veiled in the three completely impure kelipot. דהיינו כל דברים המותרים והטהורים שבעולם […]

111 Intermediate: ch. 38 p. 4

Video Audio Text ואף שבשתיהן, במצוה ובכוונתה, מלובש רצון אחד, פשוט בתכלית הפשיטות בלי שום שינוי וריבוי, חס ושלום, ומיוחד במהותו ועצמותו יתברך בתכלית היחוד True, although both the actual mitzvah and its kavanah contain the same [Supernal] Will, which is perfectly simple, i.e., changeless and indivisible so that it cannot be said that kavanah […]