Video Audio Text In the beginning, as the Midrash teaches,1 G‑d “created worlds and destroyed them.” The Kabbalah explains that this refers to spiritual worlds, Supernal Sefirot (“emanations”), that first existed in one state of being and then in another. The Sefirot in the former state of being — called the World of Tohu (lit., […]

Video Audio Text והעלאת מין נוקבין במוחו ולבו של אדם, היא בחינת רשפי אש בלי גבול The “elevation of mayin nukvin” in the mind and heart of man is [the love of G‑d] in a state of boundless flames of fire, and being boundless it relates to the infinite light; ונקרא מאדך it is described […]

Video Audio Text והנה במקום אחר כתב שרמ״ח מצות עשה הן בה׳ חסדים Now, in one source13 it is written14 that the 248 positive commandments are [rooted] in the Five Attributes of Kindness of Za of Atzilut, for every positive command serves as a vessel to receive an expression of the kindly attributes and a […]

Video Audio Text ומקור המוחין הוא לבנונית כו׳ The source of the [Divine] Intellect is the Lavnunit [of Keter], הוא הענג וחפץ העליון להמשיך אור למטה, לרמ״ח אברין דז״א which is the supreme delight and desire to draw the light below into the 248 organs of Za, for relative to Keter, Za is deemed “below”. […]

Video Audio Text 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 […]

Video Audio Text 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 […]

Video Audio Text 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 […]

Video Audio Text 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 […]

Video Audio Text 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 […]

Video Audio Text אך להבין איך האתרוג, שהוא מרפ״ח שלא נבררו עדיין But let us understand how an etrog, which derives from the 288 sparks that have not yet been purified, Since this physical fruit derives its life-force from kelipat nogah, it contains some element of the 288 sparks of Tohu which have not yet […]