Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 3

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, we’re back to chapter—

00:01 Speaker 2 No, it’s—

00:01 Speaker 1 Section 3, the third Igeres Hakodesh. It’s right here. Good evening.

00:13 Speaker 2 There’s more—

00:18 Speaker 1 Yes, last week we thought we’d learn two together. In the end we only learned one, so... 3, 3, Igeres Hakodesh 3. This is the letter—after the two opening letters, 1 and 2, which are more general, the Alter Rebbe’s sons began placing here the main content of Igeres Hakodesh: letters dealing with tzedakah. This is the first one. If I’m not mistaken, of the—we said there are about two hundred letters of the Alter Rebbe. Most were printed in the book Igros Kodesh of the Alter Rebbe. From those, the Alter Rebbe’s sons chose just thirty-two and included them here in Igeres Hakodesh, and they included another four letters in the final section. Of those thirty-two letters, the special ones they selected, eighteen deal with the virtue of tzedakah. It’s really remarkable: every letter explains a different aspect of tzedakah, a different virtue. Each letter has something else. And in one of the letters—I think it’s letter 18—the Rebbe notes that we should examine what each letter adds to the one before it. We’ll try to see that. There aren’t explanations from the Rebbe on this. We’re starting the first letter: “He donned tzedakah like armor, and a helmet of salvation upon His head.” Our Sages expounded on this verse. First of all, the verse is speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu donned tzedakah like armor, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. That’s how the prophet Isaiah describes Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And the Alter Rebbe takes—

02:10 Speaker 2 Wasn’t it Isaiah? I mean, what about Ezekiel?

02:14 Speaker 1 Isaiah. Did I say Ezekiel? Okay, that’s typical of me. The Alter Rebbe takes this verse, which our Sages discussed in reference to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Since our soul is a G-dly soul, an actual part of G-d above, everything that applies to Him applies to us as well. Where do we find, in ourselves, this idea of “He donned tzedakah like armor, and a helmet of salvation upon His head”? The Alter Rebbe explains it based on our Sages’ exposition: Just as each plate joins with the others to form a large suit of armor, so too, each coin given to tzedakah joins the others to make a large sum. It really needs explaining. What does our Sages’ analogy add to what’s stated explicitly? Don’t we know that if you take lots and lots of any one thing, it adds up to something big? What were our Sages trying to say here? And why use an analogy at all? When do you bring an analogy? When you’ve tried explaining something over and over and people still don’t understand, you say, “Oh, I’ll give you an analogy; then you’ll understand.” What were our Sages saying? On the face of it, lots of coins given to tzedakah eventually add up to a lot of tzedakah. Do you need an analogy for that? So the Alter Rebbe explains what this means, what lies within this teaching of our Sages. The meaning is that armor is made of plates covering openings, and the plates protect against arrows entering through the openings. The same is true of the act of tzedakah. In other words, the main point of our Sages’ analogy isn’t to tell us that lots of small things combine into one big thing, as it might seem at first glance. Rather, our Sages wanted to compare tzedakah to armor because tzedakah resembles armor. What is armor like? It has lots of plates—yes, a mesh with plates over it. Because armor looks like that, and tzedakah has the same structure, tzedakah has an aspect of greatness. And to explain this: what does it mean that tzedakah

04:34 Speaker 1 has openings and plates, and therefore has an aspect of greatness? What’s the explanation? The explanation is that tzedakah is greater than all the mitzvos. This teaching of our Sages alludes to tzedakah being greater than the other mitzvos. To understand why tzedakah really is greater than all the other mitzvos, and how that’s alluded to in the idea of armor, we first have to understand what all the mitzvos are and what their virtue is. Then we’ll understand what’s special about the mitzvah of tzedakah.

05:18 Speaker 4 Does anyone want coffee?

05:21 Speaker 1 Then we’ll be able to understand what’s special about the mitzvah of tzedakah. Let me explain. What are all the mitzvos, from which garments are made for the soul? That’s what all the mitzvos have in common. Have we spoken before about how mitzvos become garments for the soul? I don’t remember. It’s mentioned in many places and in many contexts. Just to give the general idea, so it’s clear what we’re talking about: it’s explained that after 120 years, a Jew ascends—the soul ascends—to Gan Eden, and there it delights in the light of Hashem. Since the light of Hashem, the infinite light that shines in Gan Eden, is beyond the soul’s capacities, the soul cannot absorb it. Even when the soul ascends to Gan Eden, it is still finite. It is a created being, while the infinite light is infinite, and infinity cannot be revealed to something finite. So the soul needs some sort of garment, a covering, something that will, so to speak, filter the light and enable it to receive the infinite light. Just as a person cannot go outside without clothing, so the soul cannot receive the external, encompassing infinite light without a garment. And the garments are made from the mitzvos. This is mentioned in a number of places—that’s the general idea. So the mitzvos become garments for the soul. And what are those garments made from? Why do the mitzvos wrap the soul in a kind of garment? What does it mean? A garment is something that surrounds a person, right? That is, the mitzvos bring about a certain G-dly radiance that encompasses the soul, surrounding it like a garment. Where do these garments come from? They are drawn from the light of the blessed Ein Sof, from the level of sovev kol almin. The soul itself, by contrast, has its source in the light of memalei kol almin. After all, the soul involves intellect and emotion. It enters the body and is invested within it. The whole idea of the soul is inwardness, while the mitzvos are something encompassing. A person doesn’t eat the mitzvos; they don’t

07:43 Speaker 1 become one with him. They surround him. So the mitzvos draw down upon a person the encompassing light, the light of sovev kol almin, which is higher than the light that is the soul’s source. As the meaning of memalei kol almin and sovev kol almin is explained in Likkutei Amarim; see there. If you remember, this is discussed mainly in Tanya, chapter 48—memalei kol almin and sovev kol almin. There, the Alter Rebbe speaks about love that is “as water reflects a face, so one person’s heart reflects another’s.” Remember those four long chapters that discuss it? A person contemplates what an immense kindness Hakadosh Boruch Hu did for us: we were lying in the refuse, and He raised us up, cleaned us, and gave us the Torah and mitzvos. You remember that, right? That’s the context there. What is the greatness of Hashem that a person must contemplate to awaken within himself love for the King? He must contemplate that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is memalei kol almin and sovev kol almin. Then, in chapter 48, the Alter Rebbe explains what memalei and sovev mean. We’ve discussed this several times—many times—what memalei and sovev mean. And from that light which is sovev kol almin, meaning the infinite light that transcends the worlds, garments are made for the soul. These garments come about through an awakening from below: fulfilling Hashem’s mitzvah and the blessed Supreme Will. So every time a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, no matter which mitzvah, it draws down another garment for the soul. That garment enables it to receive and delight more and more in Gan Eden, without end. Now the Alter Rebbe adds that the primary flow drawn down from the light of the blessed Ein Sof is not a garment for the soul, but a garment and light that encompass the ten sefiros of the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, which descend from one level to the next and from one degree to the next, and so on, and are called memalei kol almin. So what we thought until now

10:20 Speaker 1 The mitzvos draw down garments for the soul, enabling the soul to receive the Divine light in Gan Eden. But the Alter Rebbe says that is not the main point. The garments are not the main point here; that is not the main purpose of the mitzvos. The main point of the mitzvos and the garments is the additional light they bring into the spiritual worlds. There is the Divine light that... that is present in the worlds, that brings the worlds into being and gives them life. When a person performs a mitzvah, he draws the unlimited Ein Sof light into that Divine light, which is enclothed within the worlds and limited. That is what the mitzvos do: they draw down a garment not only for the soul, but also for the sefiros. Meaning, the light of the blessed Ein Sof is enclothed and shines within the entire chain of the ten sefiros of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. It emanates the ten sefiros of Atzilus, which extend into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah through an immense tzimtzum described in Eitz Chaim, and is called the inner light. So there are two dimensions: there is the encompassing Ein Sof light, which encompasses all worlds, and it emanates and gives life to the limited light that gives life to the worlds. That is the usual order. In the usual order, the Ein Sof light is not revealed within the worlds. In the usual order. Why isn’t the Ein Sof light revealed within the worlds?

12:12 Speaker 5 It can—

12:13 Speaker 1 Because it cannot be revealed. Where there is infinity, there is no limitation. Where there is limitation, infinity cannot be revealed. So the usual order is that the Ein Sof light emanates the sefiros, the inner light.

12:27 Speaker 5 What’s the difference between the Alter Rebbe saying “ten sefiros” one way and “ten sefiros” the other way?

12:32 Speaker 1 I don’t know. I don’t know. I didn’t notice that.

12:36 Speaker 5 What does “emanate” mean?

12:44 Speaker 1 It isn’t relevant to this chapter, but we’ll try to say it in a word. Um, maybe it is somewhat relevant to what we’ll say in another couple of lines. Um, we’re used to saying that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. “In the beginning, G-d created” the heavens and the earth. Why do we call the worlds creations, created beings? Because “created” means that something was brought into being here from nothing. Previously it did not exist; now it does. “Created” means that the created being has no source, no root. To create something from nothing means taking zero and making something out of it. It isn’t that Hakadosh Boruch Hu took a part of Himself, so to speak, and made created beings from it. No. That would already be called a chain of descent: something descended from Him until... until created beings came into existence. Right? There is nothing in G-dliness... You could... I always give an example of this from the spiritual and the physical. There is an abstract concept called, um, “one who exchanges a cow for a donkey.” It’s a halachic concept. Right? However much you analyze it, explain it and expand on it, it will produce neither a cow nor a donkey. It won’t help; it will always remain in the realm of the intellect. Why? Because there is no point within the spiritual that you can develop into, or draw from it, something physical. There is nothing there that resembles it. Right? So the physical cannot come about from the spiritual through a process of descent, development, extension or illumination. Right? The sun can shine light, but something utterly unlike its source cannot come about that way. Right? So that is what it means that all created beings were created from nothing. You cannot say that the ten sefiros of Atzilus were created by Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They are G-dliness; they are not created beings. Right? So... so regarding the ten sefiros of Atzilus, it says... No, the Rebbe’s wording is not merely that you cannot say they were created; it is forbidden, G-d forbid, to say they were created. Right? To say that the ten

15:30 Speaker 1 sefiros of Atzilus are not G-dliness. They are G-dliness. Right? So the word used there is “emanated.” Now, the precise meaning of “emanated”—we won’t explain that now. In any case, the difference between emanation and creation is that a creation is an entity with no source within its own order of existence, while emanation is what we call the revelation of something previously concealed. In short.

16:00 Speaker 5 Is it something like delegating authority?

16:03 Speaker 1 Yes. Yes. It’s from the same word, as it says regarding Moshe: “And He took of the spirit and placed it upon the seventy elders.” So what has he explained up to this point? That in the order of creation, the Ein Sof light cannot be revealed in the worlds, and the worlds cannot contain it. Therefore, where there is limitation, there is no infinity; where there is infinity, there is no limitation. But through the performance of mitzvos—this is the simple explanation; it isn’t precise, as we’ll see shortly—the encompassing light mentioned above is drawn down and shines within the ten sefiros of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, uniting with the inner light. This is called the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, as explained elsewhere. We studied this at great length in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. The Alter Rebbe devoted twelve chapters there to this point. Um, there is a sicha of the Rebbe in which the Rebbe explains the two fundamental points on which the entire concept of faith in Hashem’s unity rests. To believe that Hashem is one, we need to understand and believe two things that contradict each other at first glance—and at second glance, too, sometimes even at fifth glance. Two contradictory things that are very, very hard to understand together. On the one hand, to say that before Hashem created the worlds and after He created the worlds there is only One, that there is nothing besides Him, we have to say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is united with the created beings. The created beings are united with Him. Because they are one with Him, it follows that there is nothing besides Him, right? That is what it says in chapter 1 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. Later it is also explained that the word of Hashem is enclothed within the created beings, bringing them into being and giving them life. Because it brings them into being and gives them life, they have no existence without it. One of the examples given for this—and we’ve discussed it, given a bit of an example several times—is a person standing in front of a mirror. A person standing in front of a mirror—

18:49 Speaker 1 We can say that the image in the mirror has an existence. It exists because a person is standing here, and that is why there is an image there. If he weren’t standing here, it wouldn’t be there, right? So yes, I see an image there, but its entire existence depends on the person standing here. And even while it exists, its existence is utterly nullified. There are several more analogies for this. We won’t go on at length, because that is not the subject of this chapter, not the subject of this chapter. There are several more analogies, each of which explains a different point, a different angle. But Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah explains much, much more than that: not only are created beings nullified because the light gives them life, but even while the light gives them life, it is as though they are still there, nullified within their source and root.

19:45 Speaker 5 Like sunlight within the sun.

19:46 Speaker 1 Like sunlight within the sun, yes, before it, um, before it has even emerged. Now, since we say that the word of Hashem gives life to created beings and brings them into being, it follows that there is nothing besides Him. He is the sole reality; they have no existence. But that creates a problem for us. Why does it create a problem? Because if Hakadosh Boruch Hu speaks in order to make them, if He occupies Himself with creating them, then He relates to them; He, um, wants them to exist. He says “light”; He says, “Let there be a sun.” He says it; He occupies Himself with it. If He occupies Himself with them, that means He gives them significance. So, okay, they have no independent existence, but they do have significance. There is still something else here, another subject we can talk about. So we say: No, no. There is something much deeper. That very word of Hashem that gives life to the created beings and brings them into being is itself included within G-dliness. It is itself G-dliness. It is united with G-dliness. There is nothing besides Him. From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective, nothing has been created. He did not create anything, He did not make anything, He did not bring anything into being. How, how does the verse put it? “He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and they were created.” He did not create them. There is “In the beginning, G-d created,” and there is, um, “He commanded, and they were created”—created of themselves. One of the analogies given for this... It’s like a teacher explaining, um, trying to explain something to his students. Um, the students don’t understand. So he gives another explanation, and another explanation. Finally he gives them an analogy, and they grasp the analogy. Now, through the analogy, some of the students also grasp something of what the teacher is trying to explain, at least. And other students grasp it but remain with the analogy alone. They don’t understand the

22:11 Speaker 1 The point, right? Now, from the perspective of the teacher giving the analogy, he doesn’t see the analogy at all. He sees only the idea it conveys. So we’re talking about the same... From which perspective are we looking? From the perspective of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, of the Infinite—there are no created beings. “Everything before Him is considered as nothing.” That same word of Hashem we spoke about, which is so great and so significant, and is the force that acts upon and animates all created beings, is itself nothing. It has no independent existence; it is included in G-dliness and is itself considered as nothing. So since the word of Hashem itself is considered as nothing, clearly the created beings it brings into existence are all the more so considered as nothing. They have no significance at all, right? So they have no... Not only do they have no independent existence, they don’t even have any significance. So what’s the problem, then? Say, okay, now I understand why, “You are He before the world was created; You are He after the world was created.” Before the world was created, You alone existed. And now, after You created the world, not only do its beings have no independent existence, they have no significance either. Right? So this is a much better analogy than the first one, a much better explanation than the first. Why do we need the first explanation? Because according to the second explanation, the Creator has no connection with creation. There’s a disconnect, a separation. There’s the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees the world, and there’s the way created beings see the world. From their perspective, they don’t sense Him at all. They live, exist, breathe, go about their lives—and He takes no notice of us. Fine, but we exist. From the perspective of created beings, they are a reality, a completely separate reality now. Not only

24:18 Speaker 1 do they have significance; they also have an existence—and what an existence! So we establish the analogy. Now, how do the two fit together? After all, you can’t say both that Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the beings and involves Himself with them, so that we can say they have no independent existence, and that He doesn’t create them or involve Himself with them because—because—we want them not to exist and not to be... That doesn’t work, both things together. Right? Is that clear? This is a Jew’s task in the world. Before every mitzvah he performs, he says, “For the sake of uniting Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah.” That is what he means: to unite them, from the word for Hashem’s oneness, so that Hashem will be one in heaven and on earth. To unite Kudsha Brich Hu—Hakadosh Boruch Hu, that aspect of the encompassing, transcendent light, from whose perspective nothing exists, ever existed, or ever will exist—with the created beings; to join them so that this light shines within the created beings as they actually are, as they perceive themselves. The two must come together. And in this itself there are two ways. Both ways are expressed physically, without any analogies about how it appears in our lives: they are expressed physically in the Holy of Holies. Two things happened in the Holy of Holies. The matter of “the Ark’s place did not take up space.” From the perspective of the Holy of Holies, did the Ark have a place? From the perspective of the Holy of Holies, was there a reality of space, or was there no reality of space?

26:01 Speaker 6 No, because it—

26:03 Speaker 1 It was twenty cubits. It had west and east, north and south, and height. Of course it did.

26:10 Speaker 6 Ah, okay.

26:12 Speaker 1 Yes. Within it there was a place, an unlimited point of infinity, and that unlimited point was revealed. Whoever entered the Holy of Holies saw it, and it was revealed there. But what was felt in the Holy of Holies? What was felt was the reality of space. They saw that there was such a thing as something that took up no space, but they only saw it. They couldn’t feel or understand it. When a person entered, what he felt and saw was space. Right? That’s from the perspective of the—of the Holy of Holies. From the perspective of the Ark’s own place, what was felt there, in the Ark itself?

26:53 Speaker 6 That...

26:54 Speaker 1 In the Ark itself, on the one hand, it too had a place. After all, it was two and a half cubits high; it too had a place, right? But with the Ark there was no matter of north, south, east, or west. It had no size. When they actually measured it, it had no size, no sides. It didn’t take up space. In other words, when it comes to space, there are two ways for the unlimited and the limited to come together. One possibility is that the unlimited shines within the limited and is felt within the limited. But what remains primary? The world remains primary. And there is another reality, where what is felt is the point of infinity. Yet what do you see when you look? Yes, there’s an Ark here, two and a half cubits. But these two points, these two ideas, besides being expressed physically, are also explained in Chassidus in terms of how they appear in each person’s avodah. We gave an example then: natural conduct and G-dly conduct. Right? It’s a question of where space is felt more strongly and where G-dliness is felt more strongly. Or in serving Hashem: there is the avodah during davening and the avodah of Torah study and performing mitzvos after davening. So there are two aspects, two ways of uniting Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah through a person’s performance of a mitzvah. What is a mitzvah? On the one hand, we perform it at a particular time and place, using physical, limited things. But what is its source, and what does it draw down? It brings the unlimited light into the worlds, joins it to them and unites it with them, so that it will be revealed here. Okay? And every mitzvah does this. It isn’t specific to the mitzvah of tzedakah. So what’s the summary of everything the Alter Rebbe has said up to this point? Up to now, he has finished explaining the virtue of all mitzvos: their virtue is that they reveal

29:16 Speaker 1 the light of Ein Sof in the world. They unite Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah, so that the unlimited G-dly light can be revealed within the limited, in a way that people can feel it, that it is manifest. That is what mitzvos accomplish. Now he moves on to discuss what is special about tzedakah if this is the virtue of all mitzvos. What more is there? “And from a glimmer of a glimmer of the aforementioned encompassing light, through a great tzimtzum, a garment is formed for the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah of a person in the lower and upper Gan Eden, enabling them to delight in and attain some perception and illumination of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, as explained elsewhere.” Sorry, here he finishes discussing the—this is the second place where he discusses the—finishes discussing the virtue of mitzvos. Yes. So when a person performs a mitzvah, first of all it brings about the joining, the unification of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah in the higher worlds. And from a glimmer of a glimmer of that union, a garment descends for the soul, enabling it to receive the G-dly light in Gan Eden, so that it can feel it itself. “And this is what our Sages said...” Ah, sorry, there was something else I wanted. Where is it here? All right, we’ll leave that comment. We’ll look at it later. “This is what our Sages said: ‘There is no reward for a mitzvah in this world.’” The reward for mitzvos cannot be received in this world, only in Gan Eden. Why? “Because in this physical world, which is finite and subject to a very great and immense tzimtzum, no illumination of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, can be enclothed except through the ten sefiros, which are called ‘the body’ in the holy Zohar.” That is why our Sages said that the reward for mitzvos cannot be received in this world: the reward for mitzvos is an illumination of the light of Ein Sof. Where can the light of Ein Sof be revealed? Only in the world of Atzilus. And even there, only after a Jew has performed a mitzvah and drawn down and brought about the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. But here, in this world, it

31:55 Speaker 1 cannot happen. There it can be revealed; here it cannot. And why can it be revealed there? Because “the ten sefiros are called ‘the body’ in the holy Zohar”—the ten sefiros of the world of Atzilus. Why can the G-dly light be revealed there, when it cannot be revealed in this world? Because the ten sefiros are called the body. As it says in the holy Zohar, chessed is called “the right arm,” and so on. What does this analogy mean? Why did our Sages in the Zohar compare the ten sefiros to a body, to the human body? “For just as the physical body is utterly incomparable to the soul, so too the ten sefiros of Atzilus are utterly incomparable to the Supreme Emanator, blessed be He.” Now, this isn’t a great novelty. It appears often in Chassidus, but it’s a point that can shake you when you contemplate it. We’re used to thinking that as soon as a person gives it a little thought, he understands that spirituality and physicality are incomparable. The soul and the body are incomparable. Right? The body is “from dust you came,” while the soul is eternal, spiritual, and alive. The body is inanimate. Right? There is no comparison between soul and body. And when we think about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, what do we usually think? The soul is spiritual, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is even more so. What does “even more” mean? We have no picture or conception of it. Right? More. What does the Alter Rebbe say? That G-dliness in relation to spirituality—

33:53 Speaker 7 is like spirituality in relation to the soul.

33:54 Speaker 1 It’s like the relationship of spirituality to physicality, and even more so. The ten sefiros of Atzilus, which aren’t even called spiritual anymore—they’re called G-dliness—are themselves considered like a body, like physicality, in relation to the Infinite Light. Why? Because even Chochmah... Where do we get this from? How do we know? Because even the supernal Chochmah, the first of the ten sefiros—that is, the highest level among them—is considered like physical action in relation to the Infinite One, blessed be He, as explained in Likkutei Amarim. It is considered like physical action, as it says in Likkutei Amarim. Up to here. Now comes something remarkable. From everything we’ve learned so far, it’s clear that the Infinite Light cannot be revealed in this world. Right? But our Sages said otherwise, and we see it: anyone who tries it sees and feels that when a person gives tzedakah, he receives a reward. Our Sages say this explicitly in many places: wealth, honor, children, health, a livelihood. Give tzedakah and you’ll have everything. The Rebbe repeats this countless times at farbrengens. So what does it mean that through tzedakah, the Infinite Light suddenly does have an effect here in the world? What happened? With all the other mitzvos, all this discussion of additional lights, the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah, and the Infinite Light—it all takes place in Atzilus. Not here... A person puts on tefillin here, or does any other mitzvah. He doesn’t, doesn’t, doesn’t feel anything. Tzedakah, unlike every other mitzvah without exception, affects the physicality of this world. How? That’s what he explains. And therefore, since we see, and our Sages tell us, that the act of tzedakah does have an effect in this world—that tzedakah and acts of kindness are deeds whose fruits a person enjoys in this world—how does that work? Because acts of tzedakah make openings, so to speak, in the upper garment that surrounds the body: the vessels of the ten sefiros. And this

36:27 Speaker 1 is the point our Sages wanted to emphasize, to tell us of tzedakah’s great virtue in being compared to armor. It’s not because armor has many, many scales that together make up something large. That’s not the point. Tzedakah creates a garment with holes in it. It isn’t like the garment created by the other mitzvos. The garment created by the other mitzvos allows the Infinite Light to be revealed in the higher worlds. The garment that tzedakah creates has holes, and the Infinite Light can penetrate lower and lower and lower, and become enclothed in the physicality of this world.

37:05 Speaker 8 Wow.

37:09 Speaker 1 To shine through them and bestow light and abundance from Chesed, the right arm—long life in this physical world—and wealth and honor from the left arm. When a Jew fulfills the mitzvah of tzedakah, the Infinite Light itself descends all the way to him, into the physical circumstances of his own personal life, and changes them for the better. That happens only with the mitzvah of tzedakah. It doesn’t happen with any other mitzvah.

37:46 Speaker 8 That’s a new insight, because people always talk about the armor and leave it at that.

37:50 Speaker 1 That’s the new insight of this Igeres Hakodesh.

37:53 Speaker 8 Wow, that’s beautiful.

37:53 Speaker 1 I’ve said several times that with this Igeres Hakodesh... With all the letters in Igeres Hakodesh, when you read them on the surface, they’re very beautiful. But when you grasp what the Alter Rebbe wants to say here, every letter leaves you beside yourself.

38:05 Speaker 8 Wow.

38:05 Speaker 1 Even though these seem like very simple ideas. “And likewise with Tiferes, and splendor and majesty and joy.” What are we missing here? We spoke about Chesed.

38:21 Speaker 8 Netzach.

38:23 Speaker 1 Huh? Where is N... Why Netzach? Let’s read footnote twelve below, a note by the Rebbe shlita. “Seemingly, he omitted Netzach.” And what does “etc.” mean? He already mentioned splendor, majesty and joy. What is the “etc.”? What else is there? The Rebbe says: “Apparently this is based on the Zohar, volume two”—we’ll skip the parentheses—where the Zohar says that splendor, majesty and joy are Netzach, Hod and Yesod. And after the square brackets: “Perhaps one can say that ‘etc.’ refers to Malchus.” So splendor, majesty and joy are Netzach, Hod and Yesod, and “etc.” is Malchus. Now it all fits. Ah.

39:25 Speaker 8 Netzach, Hod and Yesod.

39:27 Speaker 1 Netzach, Hod and Yesod. Ah, so why does he use these names rather than the usual names? There’s the passage in square brackets, and based on what it says there in the Tzemach Tzedek, which he cited in the parentheses we discussed earlier, we can also explain what he wrote: “Even though they are from Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes, and not Netzach, Hod and Yesod.” In other words, in a footnote of a line and a half, the Rebbe ties up all the—every loose end. Open Or HaTorah there to see exactly what the Tzemach Tzedek explains, but here the Rebbe has tied up all the—anyway, as we said, this is one of the Rebbe’s gems. It isn’t really part of the substance of the discussion. The point is clear. So, then, acts of mitzvos are compared to armor because it has holes. But armor, we said, has holes over scales—sorry, scales over holes. Where are the scales? We’ve been talking about holes. Huh? And you want to spell it out. Until now we’ve said that the act of tzedakah makes a garment, but tzedakah’s garment is like a net. So they should have said that tzedakah makes—how do you say it?—a garment like a net. “He wore a helmet of salvation.” Why “he wore armor”? What’s going on here? What? Where are the scales? Where did they disappear to? He explains: “But in order that the external forces above not draw sustenance from the light and abundance as it descends, level by level, all the way down to this physical world.” Here’s how it works. It says that the Infinite Light is a surrounding light. The Infinite Light is a light that doesn’t become enclothed, right? A surrounding light. The surrounding light blinds the eyes of the external forces. The external forces, the kelipos, have no Daas. One of the differences between the kelipos and holiness is that Daas belongs to the order of Taharos. Daas pertains to holiness; it’s the middle line. This is brought in many places. The kelipos don’t have Daas, at least not generally. They have Chochmah, Chochmah

41:28 Speaker 1 and Binah. They have right and left. They don’t have Daas. You know, Tohu is about intensity: it’s either this way or that way, with no middle ground. So the surrounding light blinds the eyes of the external forces. Because where there is the light of Daas, it reaches all the way to Kesser. The power of Daas reaches—it’s the middle line—it reaches all the way to the Infinite, to Kesser. Where there is Daas, there is a surrounding light. Where there is a surrounding light, there is Daas. They have nothing like that. They can’t bear it. An external force can’t bear something balanced. It needs either this or that. It can’t take the middle path. The surrounding light nullifies, blinds the eyes of the external forces. That’s the language of Kabbalah; it’s brought in many places. So as long as the surrounding light, the Infinite Light, shines in the higher worlds, the external forces cannot draw sustenance from it, because it’s a surrounding light and it blinds them. But when the garment of tzedakah creates holes in the upper garment, and the G-dly light begins to descend lower and lower and lower and lower, it becomes contracted. Its essential nature remains the same, but its intensity is reduced. And once it’s contracted—as we’ve discussed several times—because of the contractions and the Gevuros, the external forces can draw sustenance from it. We don’t want the external forces drawing sustenance from the Infinite Light that comes to us, to holiness. That’s why there are scales over the holes. What are these scales? Here: Since the external forces above must be prevented from drawing sustenance from the light and abundance when it descends, level by level, all the way to this physical world, when they could draw sustenance from it; and also, below, in order to protect a person, to guard him and save him from anything harmful, physically or spiritually. It could be that the very fact that he gives tzedakah and draws down the G-dly light would itself cause the external forces to draw sustenance from it and harm him. So he needs protection. “Therefore, that same surrounding light shines again and closes the opening, so to speak.”

43:44 Speaker 1 As in the analogy, armor is not just a mesh; it is scales over a mesh. It is the very same garment, the same garment of tzedakah, the same mitzvah of tzedakah, that both creates openings through which the G-dly light can descend and illuminate physical life in this world, and also covers those openings, so that what needs to pass through can pass through, and what should not pass through cannot. For it is an aspect of the Infinite Light that encompasses all worlds, as explained above, and it subdues the external forces so they cannot draw sustenance. This is what our Sages meant when they said, “It joins together into a great sum.” “Great” does not mean a large amount. It means great in the sense of greatness—specifically “great.” When do we call Hakadosh Boruch Hu great? “Great is Hashem and exceedingly praised”: without end, limit, or boundary. In other words, acts of tzedakah join together into a “great sum” because through them the aspect of “great,” the aspect of the Infinite Light, is revealed down here. So that concludes—the Alter Rebbe has finished explaining the first half of the verse here. We can go over that: “He donned tzedakah like armor.” Right? Tzedakah is called a garment, like armor. But the verse continues: “And a helmet of salvation upon His head.” Tzedakah is not only like armor; it is also like a helmet of salvation. What does a helmet of salvation mean? But what causes the light and abundance to descend from the ten sefiros, which are called the “body,” into this physical world? It is the union mentioned above. We discussed this earlier, right? What brings the radiance of the Infinite Light down here is the union brought about by the mitzvah. This adds radiance and an influx from the Infinite Light of the Supreme Emanator, blessed be He, beyond the radiance and influx present at the beginning of emanation and the unfolding of the worlds, and so on. There is the radiance of the contracted light, the light that fills all worlds, with which Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. Through tzedakah, additional light from higher up is drawn into it. Who

46:15 Speaker 1 draws down that additional light? The union brought about by the mitzvah of tzedakah. And the additional radiance and influx first reaches the beginning of the ten sefiros. That is “and a helmet of salvation upon His head.” In other words, above its head, above the beginning of the unfolding of the worlds, there is a helmet, and that helmet is called a helmet of salvation. And what draws down, brings down, that helmet of salvation? The same mitzvah of tzedakah. What does “helmet of salvation” mean? The word for “salvation,” yeshuah, is related to “And Hashem turned toward Hevel and his offering.” So here it has the sense of turning toward someone. Right? Hashem turned toward Hevel. Through every mitzvah, then, a “turning” takes place: Hakadosh Boruch Hu turns toward the person. This is the descent of the light and influx of the 370 lights mentioned in the holy Zohar. So yeshuah has a double meaning; it means two things. The helmet is a helmet of salvation, of Hakadosh Boruch Hu turning toward the person. What is it that turns toward him? What is the name of that level, of that G-dliness, that turns toward a person through the mitzvah of tzedakah? It is this aspect of yeshuah, the 375 lights. Yes. The 370 lights mentioned in the holy Zohar are what are drawn down through the mitzvah of tzedakah. Although we spoke about this, I’ll mention it again. Sometimes the Zohar, and Kabbalah in general, says “370 lights,” and sometimes it says “375 lights.” It is exactly the same thing. Those are two numerical values for the same thing. The details are not important right now. The point is this: let’s start with the human soul, which is a little closer to us. You all know that the human soul has a part that is clothed in the body and a part called makif, an encompassing faculty. Right? The part clothed in the body is what we call nefesh, ruach, and neshamah: a person’s feelings and intellect, what

48:55 Speaker 1 a person understands and feels. And then there are the soul’s encompassing faculties, called will and pleasure. Will and pleasure. These are called the levels of chayah and yechidah in the soul, right? What are those levels of chayah and yechidah? Chayah is the encompassing faculty closer to the person: will. Will has no particular place where it becomes manifest—where it is clothed. There are two sides to this. On the one hand, you could seemingly say that will is everywhere. On the other hand, you would have to say that it is nowhere. Let’s explain it this way. A teacher explained something to a student, and the student did not understand. He didn’t understand. He didn’t understand anything. Can we say that the teacher’s explanation is present in the student? He didn’t understand it. He heard it. He can repeat the words. But did he understand? The teacher’s explanation is not there, right? Now, can the power of sight be revealed in a foot? You cannot see with your foot, right? Is that because the power of sight is not there, or simply because the foot is not an eye and therefore cannot see? Is the power of sight present in the foot or not?

50:38 Speaker 9 It isn’t.

50:38 Speaker 1 Hmm? It isn’t, right. Why isn’t it?

50:42 Speaker 9 Because it doesn’t have the faculties needed for it to be there.

50:44 Speaker 1 If it doesn’t have the faculties, then the power isn’t there. Yes. It is exactly the same with the teacher’s understanding and the student: the student isn’t a vessel for the teacher’s understanding. It’s not just that the teacher’s understanding reached him but the student didn’t receive it, or that it isn’t revealed. No, it isn’t there. Right? In other words, the vessel draws down the light that is revealed within it. If something is a vessel, the light is revealed. If it is not a vessel, the light is not revealed. Is that clear? Now let’s go one step further. What would we say about will? When a person wants to move his foot, is his will revealed there? Is the will clothed in the foot? Is the foot a vessel for the will, or not?

51:32 Speaker 9 No.

51:32 Speaker 1 Hmm? It isn’t. The foot doesn’t feel the will. It doesn’t know the person wants something. And the will doesn’t even know there is a foot. Right? Let’s think about that for a moment.

51:46 Speaker 9 Exactly. But that relates only to the intellect, because the intellect gives it that.

51:50 Speaker 1 The intellect, yes. I mean, we have to understand exactly what that means, because you can no more think with your foot than you can will with your foot. So, excuse me, what is happening here? If the foot is not a vessel for the will, then we should have said that the will is not there. So how does it move the foot? You can ask exactly the same question about the intellect. Is the will present in the intellect? Just as the foot is not a vessel for the will, neither is the intellect a vessel for the will. And yet, a person goes where he wishes to go. In other words, will is a faculty that, on the one hand, has no vessel in which it is clothed. It cannot be revealed within a person. But on the other hand, it certainly acts—and how! It moves everything. Right? This is called an encompassing faculty. That is precisely the definition of an encompassing faculty.

52:54 Speaker 10 It is G-dly.

52:54 Speaker 1 It is—what?

52:55 Speaker 10 A G-dly definition.

52:56 Speaker 1 What, will?

52:57 Speaker 10 Yes.

52:57 Speaker 1 No, we are talking about the soul’s will, a person’s will. It is part of the soul, part of me myself. We haven’t reached the corresponding idea yet. We are discussing this in order to understand the 375 lights. It’s just an interesting point, so I’m spending a little time on it. It isn’t really so central to the content of the chapter. So will is called makif, encompassing. “Encompassing” means that, on the one hand, it is so elevated that the vessel is not a vessel for it. On the other hand, it does act upon the vessel, because it is an encompassing faculty, a close encompassing faculty. What is the yechidah of the soul? The essence of the soul? The yechidah of the soul is—you cannot even say that the body is not a vessel for it. It isn’t there. It isn’t present at all. Yechidah is the point of why I want what I want, and what I want. That point of why I want something—a person cannot explain it; he himself does not know why he wants something, why he takes pleasure in one thing and not another. A person cannot explain it even to himself. The essence of the soul is an essence. It is something that is not revealed even in will. Is that more or less clear in broad terms? Now we say this: just as it is with a person, so it is in the spiritual realm. There is G-dly light that is clothed in the worlds: the ten sefiros, which give life to all the worlds, and so on. And there is G-dly light that is not clothed in them, but encompasses them—the light that encompasses all worlds. Within that encompassing light itself there are two levels. In the language of Kabbalah, the light that encompasses all worlds is called keser, and we say that it has two

54:46 Speaker 1 aspects: the external aspect of keser and the inner aspect of keser. The external aspect of keser is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to create the worlds. He only wanted to create the worlds. He had not yet created them; He had not done anything, only willed it. There is no direct connection, right? It is only encompassing. What is the inner aspect of keser?

55:08 Speaker 10 I didn’t understand.

55:09 Speaker 1 Hmm?

55:10 Speaker 10 I didn’t understand.

55:11 Speaker 1 The innermost dimension of Kesser is Atik. It is removed. It has no connection to the creation of the worlds—not even in the sense of “He commanded and they were created.” It has no connection. It is separate, removed. And within the innermost dimension of Kesser itself, they say there are also two general levels, so to speak: the middos of the innermost dimension of Kesser, and its first three faculties, its Chabad. These are the 370 lights. The 370 can be understood as three and seven, or as three hundred and seventy: the seventy allude to the middos as they exist within the innermost dimension of Kesser, the level of Atik, and the three hundred are the Chabad of the innermost dimension of Kesser—the “unknowable head.” And of this they say that when a person fulfills the mitzvah of tzedakah, what does he accomplish? Not only “He donned righteousness like armor,” but he also draws down “a helmet of salvation upon His head.” He draws down the innermost dimension of Atik, which will only be revealed in the future. As it is written, “May Hashem shine His face upon you.” Through the mitzvah of tzedakah, what does Hakadosh Boruch Hu illuminate for a person? His face. What does “His face” mean? It refers to His innermost dimension. And what is that? The 370 lights mentioned in the holy Zohar—the level of Atik, the innermost dimension of Kesser. This comes about through acts of tzedakah. That is the meaning of the words, “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout.” When a person sows the mitzvah of tzedakah, he causes salvation—the innermost dimension of Kesser—to sprout. Why is this called sowing and sprouting? Because with sowing and sprouting, too, by way of analogy, in the physical world—as far as a physical analogy can take us—the growth is out of all proportion, right? You plant a tiny seed from a tree, and over decades it grows into a tree that produces an endless supply of fruit and branches, more and more each year, all from a seed that weighs practically nothing. That is how “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout.” And so may Hashem shine His face

57:52 Speaker 1 upon them. “Their tzedakah endures forever, and their horn will be raised through the salvation of the One who causes the horn of salvation to sprout.” So the Alter Rebbe blesses every Jew who gives tzedakah that Hashem should shine His face upon them, and that “their tzedakah endures forever.” Why does he emphasize that their tzedakah endures forever? Everything we have explained until now is that through tzedakah, the light of Ein Sof is drawn down and shines in this world. But what exactly are we talking about? We haven’t emphasized that. So what are we talking about? When a person gives tzedakah, he “enjoys its fruits in this world, while the principal remains for the World to Come.” What are the fruits, and what is the principal? Think of a business transaction. You know what I mean?

58:41 Speaker 11 No, that thing itself is already... and the principal is something else?

58:46 Speaker 1 The principal—when someone gives a friend a loan to do business, which he has to repay, they agree: “In a year, you’ll pay back the loan.” Right? The loan was a hundred shekels or a thousand shekels, and then the other person does business with it and earns two hundred thousand shekels from that thousand. Right? So all of those two hundred thousand shekels are the fruits. But the principal, the original amount, remains. That is what he has to pay back. Now, on the one hand, the fruits look like a large amount in physical terms, but what is the reality? The reality is that the principal is the main thing. Without the principal, there is nothing. Right. And the reason the principal is the main thing is that it is the essence of the thing itself. So when a person gives tzedakah, all he enjoys in this world are the fruits. He does not receive the essence. The principal remains for him; it is assured. Here you receive the fruits, but you should know that this is still nothing compared to it. You will receive the principal in the World to Come. That is what “their tzedakah endures forever” means—for the future. And “their horn”—when will their horn be raised? When will the principal be raised? When will a person receive the principal? “Through the salvation of the One who causes the horn of salvation to sprout.” When Moshiach comes. Moshiach causes the horn of salvation to sprout. That horn, that essence of salvation—what is the principal? We said it is the essence. The horn of salvation is the essence of salvation, the essence of the innermost dimension of Atik. So Moshiach will bring it forth for everyone, giving each person the essence of the innermost dimension of Atik. How? Through the tzedakah he gives now. [unclear] The more tzedakah a person gives in this world, the more he will receive. I don’t know how one can receive it, how it can be divided into portions, but he will receive more. Now, I need to point out

1:01:09 Speaker 1 that what I’m about to say is not written here. It’s a feeling—my feeling. Maybe not only mine, but it’s a feeling. It isn’t written, but it sounds very... Nowadays it’s very common to give tzedakah through standing bank orders. A person knows: I have a salary. Most people don’t have a business; they have some kind of salary. He knows that each month he needs to set aside a certain amount. So he divides it up—he knows he needs to set aside two thousand shekels a month, so he gives fifteen hundred through standing orders and leaves himself another five hundred shekels to give as tzedakah. Then he knows he has it all arranged. That is an excellent practice, and that is how it should be. But you need to know—you need to feel something here. In everything Chazal discussed, and in what this chapter discusses, when a person gives tzedakah, the main thing here is the act of giving. That means he needs to give. After all, what are we talking about? We are talking about a person giving tzedakah: when he gives, when he fulfills the mitzvah through giving, he brings about the union. What union? How is a supernal union brought about? When a person works on himself, using his own energies, his feelings and his intellect, that brings about the supernal union. But if the bank gives tzedakah and the person isn’t even aware of it, that probably also brings about some kind of union, but I don’t know if it... That is why Chazal emphasized—and the Rebbe emphasizes it, and the Rambam too, among others—that one should give tzedakah a great many times. As for giving a large amount, he can do that through standing orders. No problem; excellent. But he needs to give many times. A person should make sure he has small coins in his pocket and give tzedakah throughout the day. You leave the house, come into the house, go into the kitchen to prepare food,

1:03:08 Speaker 1 get into the car, get out of the car, go into a store. Just keep coins in your pocket and give again and again throughout the day—twenty times a day, thirty times a day, fifty times a day. It’s terribly hard. Terribly hard. Even if each time you give a ten-agorot coin, fifty times a day comes to five shekels for the whole day. That is much, much harder than giving an amount fifty times as large through a standing order. But that is called giving tzedakah. That is called giving all the time.

1:03:41 Speaker 3 Wow.