ובזה יובן מה שהפליגו רז״ל במאד מאד במעלת הצדקה, ואמרו ששקולה כנגד כל המצות In light of the above, where it was explained that the advantage of the “active” mitzvot lies in their elevating effect on the body and vital soul, we can understand why our Sages so greatly extolled the virtue of charity,8 declaring […]

ואף על פי כן אמרו רז״ל: לא המדרש עיקר אלא המעשה Nevertheless, notwithstanding the superior level of unity with G‑dliness attained only by Torah, our Sages have said:11 “The essential thing is not study, but deed.” והיום לעשותם כתיב, ומבטלין תלמוד תורה לקיום מצוה מעשיית, כשאי אפשר לעשותה על ידי אחרים It is also written:12 […]

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 perform them, and […]

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 in both. ולבושים […]

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 הזה, וממנה ועל […]

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 contains “more” of […]

In the previous chapter the Alter Rebbe explained why our Sages compare the performance of a mitzvah to a body, and one’s kavanah in performing the mitzvah to a soul. He stated that kavanah can be classified into two categories, analogous to the two classes of creatures which possess a soul — animals and man. […]

At this point the Alter Rebbe qualifies his earlier statement: Only those tzaddikim whose souls are on the level of Neshamah (i.e., the highest of the three soul-levels — Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah) abide in Beriah. Neshamah represents Mochin deGadlut — a “superior intellectual grasp” of G‑dliness; those on the level of Neshamah understand G‑dliness […]

In fact, the soul’s reward in the Garden of Eden, described before as the pleasure of “basking in the radiance of the Shechinah,” is actually the radiance of the Torah and mitzvot that the person observed while in this physical world, which have ascended to the supernal Sefirot. In the Alter Rebbe’s words: והנה כל […]

Having discussed the various “abodes” of souls — three Worlds in which the souls receive a reward commensurate with the level of their divine service during their life on earth — the Alter Rebbe now returns to the theme begun in ch. 38. There he noted that kavanah in mitzvot (which is the “soul” of […]