The Alter Rebbe explained in the previous chapter that every Jew has the ability to attain yirah tata‘ah, the lower level of fear of G‑d. This enables him to perform all the positive commandments and refrain from transgressing all the negative commandments. In the present chapter the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain the two […]

אך היראה עילאה, ירא בשת However, as for yirah ila‘ah, a fear stemming from a sense of shame before G‑d’s greatness, Fear of G‑d stemming from a sense of shame is similar to the shame and total sense of abnegation a person feels when he is in the presence of a truly outstanding tzaddik.3 His […]

The Alter Rebbe now explains that there are also two general levels in the love of God. The higher level is called ahavah rabbah (“great love”). It is a gift from above, granted to an individual after he has attained the level of yirah ila‘ah. This love is so lofty that one cannot hope to […]

אך אהבת עולם היא הבאה מהתבונה ודעת בגדולת ה׳, אין סוף ברוך הוא, הממלא כל עלמין וסובב כל עלמין Ahavat olam, however, the second and lower level of love, is that which comes from the understanding and knowledge of the greatness of G‑d, the blessed Ein Sof, Who fills all worlds, animating them with a […]

והנה בחינת אהבה זו, פעמים שקודמת ליראה, כפי בחינת הדעת המולידה, כנודע שהדעת כולל חסדים וגבורות, שהם אהבה ויראה This [latter] category of love sometimes precedes fear, according to the quality of the Daat which fathers it, as is known. (17For Daat incorporates both Chassadim and Gevurot, which are love and fear; Chessed is love […]

In the previous chapter the Alter Rebbe explained that there are two broad categories in the love of G‑d, ahavah rabbah and ahavat olam. Ahavah rabbah cannot be attained by man unaided. It is granted as a gift from above when an individual merits it; reflection alone on G‑d’s greatness can in no way engender […]

אהבה רבה וגדולה מזו, והיא מסותרת גם כן בכל נפש מישראל בירושה מאבותינו, היא מה שכתוב ברעיא מהימנא: כברא דאשתדל בתר אבוי ואימיה, דרחים לון יתיר מגרמיה ונפשיה ורוחיה כו׳ A greater and more intense love than this (i.e., than the love which results from realizing that G‑d is one’s true soul and life), a […]

ואף אם נדמה לו לכאורה שהוא כח דמיוני Even if it appears to him at first sight that this is an illusion, and that in truth he does not possess this love for G‑d, and thinking that he does is nothing less than deluding himself as to his true spiritual status, לא יחוש, מאחר שהוא […]

והנה ב׳ בחינות אהבות אלו The said two categories of love — that of “My soul…,” the love a Jew feels for G‑d upon realizing that He is his true life, and that which is “Like a son…,” loving G‑d as one’s true father — אף שהן ירושה לנו מאבותינו, וכמו טבע בנפשותינו, וכן היראה […]

In the previous chapters the Alter Rebbe explained how a Jew can perform Torah and mitzvot “with his heart” — with a love and fear of G‑d. When a Jew is motivated by love and by a desire to cleave to the Almighty, his Torah and mitzvot will then surely be lishmah, i.e., with the […]