Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 4

00:00 Speaker 1 Give me that, thank you. No, that’s not right, not at all.

00:03 Speaker 2 No.

00:03 Speaker 1 All right, then.

00:04 Speaker 2 She isn’t a graduate of Beis Chana Seminary.

00:05 Speaker 8 We’ll begin.

00:07 Speaker 2 A graduate of Beis Chana.

00:08 Speaker 8 Is there no one here who started a bus today? Then we can—

00:10 Speaker 1 [unclear]. Let’s mention Chana bas Miriam, bas Shira, for deliverance and salvation, and Ilana bas, uh...

00:17 Speaker 8 Firuza.

00:18 Speaker 1 Firuza, Firuza, please. Ilana, much good health.

00:21 Speaker 8 Amen.

00:21 Speaker 1 And also Mazal bas Tali.

00:23 Speaker 8 Amen.

00:23 Speaker 1 And Shani bas Natan, and for a new baby in the family.

00:28 Speaker 8 Today we’ll study Igeres Hakodesh, letter 4. We said that the first two letters of Igeres Hakodesh were a kind of introduction. The first was “She girds her loins with strength,” where we discussed how the Oral Torah strengthens emunah. The foundation—that is, there is emunah. Emunah comes through studying Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. But to strengthen emunah, you need the Oral Torah. That was there. Then, uh, what was in Igeres Hakodesh 2? Uh, the letter from Petersburg. That was the one. Uh, you need humility, bittul. After that came the letters of Igeres Hakodesh about tzedakah. In the first letter about tzedakah, which we studied last time, we learned that tzedakah is like armor. What does “like armor” mean? Tzedakah makes openings in the garment that constricts the light of Ein Sof, so that when a person gives tzedakah, the light of Ein Sof itself descends directly into the physical reality of this world and gives the person happiness, honor, livelihood, health, sons, children—all the good things that, uh, cannot be revealed in the higher worlds and will only be revealed in the future. So when a person gives tzedakah, they receive its fruits right here in this world, here and now. And we said: if that letter of Igeres Hakodesh describes such a wonderful quality of tzedakah, what could be greater? Yet there are eighteen letters about tzedakah, and each adds another quality. Today we’ll study the second point: The Jewish people are redeemed only through tzedakah.

02:17 Speaker 2 Uh.

02:19 Speaker 8 As it says, “And her captives through tzedakah.” “Her captives” refers to those who were held captive among the nations, and in the future Hakadosh Boruch Hu will redeem the Jewish people and bring us back. And...

02:35 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:35 Speaker 8 And about this, the verse says that for Hakadosh Boruch Hu to bring us back—to bring the Jews back to Eretz Yisroel, to redeem us from exile—it comes about through tzedakah. That is the plain meaning of the verse. And of course, the Rebbe wants to explain how this applies to each person’s individual service of Hashem. In other words, redemption from one’s personal exile comes through tzedakah. So he begins like this: It is written, in a verse, “Tzedek shall lead him onward.” But it should have said “shall go.” What’s the difference between “shall go” and “shall lead onward”? “Shall go” means that it goes, right? So...

03:22 Speaker 2 “Shall lead onward” also means that it goes.

03:24 Speaker 8 Yes, but if I want to say—now a person is walking, right? His tzedek goes before him, right? If I want to say “goes” in the future tense—

03:33 Speaker 2 “Shall go.”

03:34 Speaker 8 “Shall go.” In the past tense, “went.” What does “shall lead onward” mean?

03:38 Speaker 2 “Shall walk about”?

03:38 Speaker 8 No.

03:39 Speaker 2 No.

03:39 Speaker 8 “Shall lead onward” is a causative verb. It isn’t that he walks; he makes someone else walk. He leads them along. A mother helps her child walk, right?

03:48 Speaker 2 Accompanies him.

03:49 Speaker 8 Teaches him to walk.

03:51 Speaker 2 [unclear].

03:54 Speaker 8 Now, that’s called a causative verb, I think—is that right? I’m not much of a grammar expert, but I think that’s what it’s called. In any case, that’s what the Alter Rebbe asks: Why does it say, “Tzedek shall lead him onward”? A person gives tzedakah, so we say his tzedek will go before him. It should say, “Tzedek shall go before him.” Why “shall lead onward”? Whom does this tzedek lead? But the explanation is based on the verse, “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face.’” That’s a verse we say during Elul. It fits right now.

04:27 Speaker 2 Certainly.

04:28 Speaker 8 And the Alter Rebbe says there is a particular interpretation. We already know from previous times—we’ve seen several times—that whenever the Rebbe cites a verse and offers an interpretation, it means there is some difficulty with the plain meaning of the verse, and the Alter Rebbe wants to give an inner interpretation that resolves it. Remember? We’ve already brought several examples like this. So what’s the difficulty with this verse? The verse says, “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face’; Your face, Hashem, I will seek.” Right? What does it mean? How does Rashi explain the plain meaning of the verse in Tehillim? He says, “On Your behalf my heart says”—as Your messenger. In other words, my heart tells me, as Your messenger, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to seek Your face. “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face.’” My heart tells me on Your behalf to seek Your face. What does the second half of the verse say? “Your face, Hashem, I will seek.” My heart tells me, and I do it. Yes. The problem with that straightforward understanding is that the word “Hashem” in the second half of the verse is unnecessary. “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face’; Your face I will seek.” Why mention Him again here? We know it’s speaking about Hashem. Why does it say “Hashem” again? Who else could it mean? It’s needless repetition. So the Rebbe explains that there is another interpretation, according to the inner meaning. Here’s what he says. The Alter Rebbe explains that the two halves of the verse are not a request and its result, as it were, but two different matters. “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face’” means the innermost part of the heart. That is, in the first part, what is the heart seeking? The heart is not seeking the innermost aspect of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but its own innermost aspect. “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My inner face’”—the heart seeks its own inner dimension. So you can already hear that the heart has an inner dimension. Seemingly, what

06:48 Speaker 8 does it mean that the heart has an inner dimension? There’s a heart. Does it love Hashem, or does it love the things of this world? What does “inner” and “outer” mean when it comes to the heart?

06:58 Speaker 2 A certain level?

06:59 Speaker 8 What?

07:00 Speaker 2 A certain level?

07:01 Speaker 8 Ah, yes, and more than that. You could even say more than that. For within the flame of the divine element of fire in the heart—or, in another wording found in versions of Igeres Hakodesh: these were copied, and there were several versions, so the Alter Rebbe’s sons included the other wording here too—within the flame of the divine element of fire in the heart, there are two aspects. There’s no difference in content; it’s the same thing.

07:34 Speaker 2 Not now; that was complicated.

07:38 Speaker 8 Yes, what it means is that...

07:41 Speaker 2 Ah, “in the heart” and “in the flame.”

07:42 Speaker 8 “In the flame.” Here it says “in the flame,” and here it says “in the heart.” There’s no difference in content. The meaning is the same. We learned chapter 3 of Tanya. Good evening. And what does chapter 3 of Tanya say? Just as the animal soul has four elements, the divine soul also has four elements: the element of fire, the element of air, the element of water, and the element of earth. So it says there that the element of fire is found in the heart. What does it mean that the element of fire is in the heart? Fire is enthusiasm and arousal. So that element—the fire, the love and arousal toward Hashem in the divine soul—is in the heart. It’s called a flame, like a flame that blazes with a desire to cleave to G-dliness. That is the divine element of fire in the heart. He says it has different aspects. In other words, the love of Hashem in the heart is, generally speaking, a flame, a blazing fire. It burns and surges with feeling. It is the divine element of fire, and it is in the heart. It has two aspects: the outer dimension and the inner dimension. What is the difference between the outer and inner dimensions of the heart? Let me first say that here the Rebbe discusses this subject in just a few short lines—four, five, eight lines. And in Chassidus, this is one of the... There are major topics in Chassidus. What is the topic? In Parshas Ki Seitzei, which we read just last week, right at the beginning of the Alter Rebbe’s Likkutei Torah there is a maamar, “When you go out to war against your enemies.” He explains there: What war is it talking about? The verse is speaking of a battle of souls. And when a person goes out to war—the wording is “When you go out to war, you are immediately above your enemies.” What does “above your enemies” mean? There’s an enemy, and you’re fighting him. How are you above him before you’ve even begun? He explains that every—every Jewish soul has a kind of extra weapon that the enemy doesn’t have: the inner dimension of the heart. And there, in that same maamar, he explains

10:07 Speaker 8 At very great length, in many, many words, with lots of parables and lots of examples, he explains the concept of the innermost heart. After the Alter Rebbe delivered that maamar—the one printed there—a few days later he gave an explanation of it. And on that explanation, on those two maamarim, there are maamarim by the Tzemach Tzedek: two or three summaries, glosses, and maamarim that the Tzemach Tzedek heard from the Alter Rebbe and repeated. Those maamarim are also there. Then there are maamarim by the Mitteler Rebbe, who was also present on that occasion, and he too has maamarim on it, and so on through the generations, right up to our generation. But this point is explained there—the matter of “a beautiful woman,” a “woman of beautiful appearance,” tzelem, two aspects of tzelem; “in Our image, after Our likeness,” image and likeness. So very, very many concepts. Everything, everything, everything is explained in connection with this idea of the innermost heart. Because, really, it is something a little hard to grasp. Here the Rebbe gives the central point in a few lines. Let’s get back to where we were. Up to this point, then, the Rebbe has said that to understand the issue—the question about the plain meaning of the verse, “On Your behalf my heart says, ‘Seek My face’; Your face, Hashem, I seek”—we need to understand what “face” means, what the innermost heart is. Within the element of Divine fire in the heart, there are two aspects: the outer and the inner. The outer aspect of the heart is the fervor aroused through understanding and awareness of the greatness of Hashem, the blessed Infinite One. Simple. The outer aspect of the heart? These are short, easy, straightforward chapters, but the Alter Rebbe takes us from one idea to another. You have to keep the map in mind. What are we talking about? The outer aspect of the heart is when a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness and comes to feel love of Hashem. We’ve discussed this countless times: contemplating

12:43 Speaker 8 His greatness and, from that understanding, bringing forth a powerful love like flames of fire, and so on, as we’ve discussed at length many times. That is the outer aspect of the heart. So then what is the innermost heart? We’re talking about love. If we’re speaking of the heart as the element of flame—what was the wording here? “The flame of the element of Divine fire in the heart”—then we’re talking about love of Hashem. So what kind of love of Hashem can there be that does not come from contemplation? Any love of Hashem that comes from contemplation is called the outer aspect of the heart. In other words, there is another kind of love of Hashem that does not come from contemplating Hashem’s greatness.

13:35 Speaker 9 The hidden love.

13:36 Speaker 8 We’ve already mentioned that.

13:38 Speaker 9 Another one.

13:39 Speaker 8 No, no, no. We’ve spoken about that same hidden love, but here that term, “hidden love,” isn’t really used. Still, yes, it’s the same point. The innermost heart is the point within the heart, the depth of the heart, which is far, far above awareness and understanding. And since it is above awareness and understanding, a person cannot bring it about by contemplating Hashem’s greatness in his heart. How can he bring it about through contemplation if it’s—how can he produce it through awareness if it is above awareness? Awareness cannot produce something that is above it. The son cannot give birth to the mother. As it says, “From the depths I called to You, Hashem”—from the depth of the heart. There are two levels of depth in the heart. “Depths” is plural. There is one depth that is revealed through contemplation—love of Hashem—and there is another depth, a depth within that depth, which cannot be revealed through contemplation. Contemplation is beneath it, so how could it reach there? And the Rebbe explains in parentheses what this means, to give us some idea, some sense, of how something can be felt in the heart that is not of the heart—something that is not only above the heart, but also above the intellect. What are we talking about? What is this? So he explains it in parentheses with an analogy. In ordinary worldly matters, sometimes there is something so very important that a person’s whole life depends on it, something that touches the innermost point of his heart and beyond, and sometimes causes him to act and speak without any thought at all. You sometimes see this happen to a person over all kinds of things. It might be about money. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a threat to his life. It could be that he lost a large sum of money, or

16:05 Speaker 8 someone tricked him, cheated him, or upset him—or it could even be something joyful. Sometimes you see a person completely beside himself. You don’t recognize him. You know situations like that, right? Sometimes it happens to a person himself, too. Sometimes a person simply loses control; something touches him so deeply that he just can’t control himself. A day or two later, or a few hours later, he’s ashamed of himself. He can’t understand how he got into that state. How could he think that way? How could he behave that way? “That wasn’t me. That was someone else.” Right? That’s called... Now, where does this appear? When such a feeling is revealed, where does it appear? In the heart. Right? Where did it come from? Not from the intellect, from contemplation. A person thinks, “This is good and that isn’t good; this is how things should be.” How much feeling can thought produce? So he might get angry. But a person will never completely lose control through contemplation, through thought. Thought gives rise to emotion—but what kind of emotion? A limited emotion, one contained within a vessel. Thought gave birth to it, so it cannot be greater than what produced it. But sometimes something like this emerges in a person. I don’t know—perhaps for many years he had no child and suddenly... I don’t know. A person can be completely beside himself over something that is not intellectual at all. It doesn’t come from contemplation. Something happened that moved his very essence; his whole being was stirred. It appears in the heart, but it does not come from the heart. All right? And the Alter Rebbe says—and I’m continuing here—that just as there is such a thing in worldly, physical matters, so too there is in the service of the heart. Where did we see this? We saw it when we learned Part One, chapter 19, where it spoke about the soul... There it spoke about putting a person up against the wall, right? They want to force him to worship idols. Now, not everyone who is forced to worship idols will give up his life. But when someone is put in that position and is actually willing to give up his life, why does he do it? From the standpoint of reason, he should keep his head down and say yes. Then he can go on observing mitzvos for many long, good years. So he committed a minor transgression under duress. Nothing happened. Right? But the Divine soul refuses. Why does it refuse? What does it care? It would only stand to gain. Is the point clear? Why does it do this? Because for the Divine soul, idol worship is like being shot and killed is for the animal soul. The animal soul fears physical death. The Divine soul fears spiritual death. It cannot sever itself from G-dliness. It simply cannot. Just as a person, because of his animal soul, will not jump into a fire even if you promise him who knows what—mountains of riches—he won’t do it. He cannot do it. The Divine soul cannot deny G-dliness. It cannot. That is the opposite of its very nature. That is its whole life; that is what it is. Right? To the Divine soul, it is clear that being cut off from G-dliness is a thousand times worse than dying physically. It will not do it. So if the Divine soul is revealed, it will not do it; if it is not revealed, that response does not emerge. Right? So just as, in physical life, something can touch a person to the very core of his heart, there is likewise something like this in the spiritual life of the Divine soul: the point where it and G-dliness are one.

18:20 Speaker 8 When we studied Part One, chapter 19, we spoke about a person being put up against the wall. Right? They want to force him to worship idols. Now, not everyone who is forced to worship idols will give up his life. But when a person is put in that situation and is actually prepared to give up his life, why does he do it? From a rational standpoint, he should put his head down and say yes. Afterward, he’ll be able to go on observing mitzvos for many long years. So he committed a minor transgression under duress. Nothing happened. Right? But the G-dly soul won’t agree. Why not? What does it care? It would only stand to gain. Do you see the point? Why does it do this? Because to the G-dly soul, idol worship is like being shot and killed is to the animal soul. The animal soul fears physical death; the G-dly soul fears spiritual death. It cannot sever itself from G-dliness. It simply can’t. Just as a person won’t jump into a fire, even if you promise him all sorts of things—mountains of riches—he won’t do it. He can’t. The G-dly soul cannot deny G-dliness. It can’t. That goes against its very essence. That’s its whole life; that’s what it is. Right? To the G-dly soul, it’s clear that being cut off from G-dliness is a thousand times worse than dying physically. It won’t do it. So if the G-dly soul comes to the fore, it won’t do it; if it doesn’t come to the fore, that won’t be apparent. Right? So just as in the physical realm there’s something that touches a person to the very core of his heart, in the spiritual realm, too, the G-dly soul has something like that: the point at which it and G-dliness are one.

20:44 Speaker 8 So just as there is one in worldly matters, the Alter Rebbe says, so it is in the service of the heart. That is because the innermost point of the heart is above the level of awareness that extends into and becomes invested in the emotions born of chochmah, binah and daas, as is known. Rather, that inner point of the heart is a ray of supernal chochmah, which is above binah and daas. And within that innermost heart, the actual light of Hashem is invested and concealed, as it says: “Hashem founded the earth with wisdom.” And if it is in chochmah, then it is above binah. We’ve said—we’ve discussed several times already—that the light of the Infinite can be revealed only in chochmah and not in... Right? Did we discuss that or didn’t we?

21:25 Speaker 10 We did discuss how Hashem

21:30 Speaker 8 I remember we even emphasized this, but let’s go over it again. It’s a short, important, fundamental point, because in countless places in Chassidus it says that the Infinite Light is revealed in Chochmah, and then there’s a little asterisk, and down in the notes it says: See Tanya, the note in chapter 35. The note in Tanya, chapter 35. What does it say there? There are ten faculties of the soul, ten sefiros: Chochmah, Binah, Daas, and so on. What is Chessed about? Giving. Binah is understanding. Each one has its own function—but what is Chochmah? Chochmah is not understanding. What is Chochmah?

22:16 Speaker 10 Grasping the point.

22:18 Speaker 8 Chochmah isn’t grasping. It doesn’t grasp anything. Chochmah is not about grasping. Chochmah is bittul: it doesn’t feel itself. And because it doesn’t feel itself, it’s a vessel able to receive—a vessel that is empty. If it’s a vessel, if it’s empty, then the Infinite Light can dwell within it. Yes? All right? And the difference, by the way, between Chochmah and Malchus: Malchus nullifies itself. It feels itself, but how does it feel? It nullifies itself. Chochmah is true bittul. It really doesn’t feel itself as an entity. Because it doesn’t feel itself as an entity, it’s a vessel for the Infinite Light. Because it’s nothing, the light that cannot be comprehended can be revealed. So that’s what he’s saying here. The same point again. Where can the innermost point of the heart be revealed—the Infinite Light, the spark of G-dliness, whatever you call it? Concealed love, great love. Whatever name you give it. Where can it be revealed? Only in the soul’s Chochmah. That’s where it can be revealed, and therefore no contemplation a person engages in can touch it, because contemplation means we’ve already come down to a lower level. We’ve already limited it, given it a form. I understand it this way; someone else understands it differently. You can argue with me. He understands it differently than I do. This fits; that doesn’t fit. In Chochmah there are no such things. It doesn’t understand or feel or anything. It doesn’t exist as an entity at all. Yes? All right? So because the innermost heart is revealed only in Chochmah, Daas and contemplation can’t bring it out, can’t reveal it. Only through the illumination of Chochmah, which is above Binah, and within which... Hashem’s light itself is enclothed and concealed, as it is written, “Hashem

24:10 Speaker 8 founded the earth with Chochmah,” and this is the spark of G-dliness in every Jewish soul. So that spark of G-dliness, which we once called the yechidah of the soul, once called the Infinite Light, and once called—I don’t know what other names we gave it. Where is it? It’s there. It’s in the heart of every Jew. I should point something out here. An aside. Let’s open a parenthesis for a moment, because this is important. There was a parenthesis a few lines earlier, from line nine to line thirteen. Right?

24:59 Speaker 11 He explained it to me right away.

25:01 Speaker 8 Yes, inside the parentheses he explained what that inner point is. Right? Where does the explanation actually end? Only here, on line nineteen, after the word “Jewish soul.” That’s where he finishes explaining. Where do the parentheses end? On line thirteen. Yes, the closing parenthesis. So the Rebbe notes that this is apparently a mistake. In other words, the closing parenthesis should be moved here, and then, after the words “Jewish soul,” “And the reason not every person...” is really a continuation of what came before the parentheses on line nine.

25:35 Speaker 11 That brings into focus what we’re discussing here.

25:38 Speaker 8 All right, that’s a bit of an aside. The Rebbe has many notes like this on Tanya. No, really quite a few. By the way, all the Rebbe’s notes are printed in Tanya. At the end there’s a list of corrections and the Rebbe’s notes; all these things are written there.

25:53 Speaker 11 Now, in the newer printings and in the American Tanya, they mark the corrections from that list.

25:58 Speaker 8 In the text itself?

26:00 Speaker 11 They correct the Tanya right here.

26:03 Speaker 8 What, what, what? These Americans have no limits.

26:08 Speaker 11 Why don’t they just print it corrected already?

26:12 Speaker 8 Ah, let’s open another parenthesis. We’ll tell this story again. It really is a story we’ve told several times already. Tanya wasn’t written all at once. Tanya developed gradually. The Alter Rebbe himself taught it, wrote it, and spoke about it several times. We won’t go through the whole process now; the entire process isn’t precisely known either. It went on for close to thirty years—twenty, certainly twenty-five years. Only when the Alter Rebbe was forced to print it because there were forgeries did he print it. But as long as the Alter Rebbe was teaching it, and writing it and distributing it in booklets that were copied by hand, there were changes every time—changes, changes, changes. Once it was printed, there was a first edition. Right afterward, two years later, there was a second edition, with far-reaching changes from the first to the second. Then, in the third edition, he introduced more changes. In the eighth edition, chapters and sections were added that hadn’t appeared in the original at all. And so Tanya continued to develop more and more over 103 years, from the first edition until 5666. In almost every edition there were many changes, and all those changes are listed at the end; they’re also recorded in the notes at the end of Tanya.

27:43 Speaker 11 Wait, when was the Alter Rebbe in Shklov?

27:46 Speaker 8 Shklov, yes, certainly—that was the first edition. And what happened in 5666 that made them suddenly stop? That’s it, no more changes. After all, there were more corrections and more things discovered over the years, right up to this very day. There are other things like this. What happened in 5666? It was a few years after the Rebbe Rashab founded the Chabad yeshivah, Tomchei Temimim, and the students didn’t have anything to eat. The yeshivah had no money. So the Frierdiker Rebbe, who was managing the yeshivah, made a suggestion to the Rebbe. The Rebbe Rashab was the nasi, the leader of the generation, and the Frierdiker Rebbe, his son, managed the yeshivah. The Frierdiker Rebbe suggested to the Rebbe Rashab: Let’s print Tanya, sell it, and there will be money for the yeshivah. They gave the job of preparing the new edition for print to a Jew named Reb Asher of Nikolayev, a shochet and bodek, a chossid who was among the great chassidim of the Rebbe Rashab. And that’s what they did. That was fine. A few more years passed. Remember, in 5666 our Rebbe was four years old. The Rebbe was born in 5662. A few more years passed, the Rebbe grew up and began asking questions: Why does it say this? Why does it say that? If there’s a correction, why don’t they correct it? The Rebbe would take all his questions to the Frierdiker Rebbe. When the Rebbe went to the Frierdiker Rebbe with one of those questions, he asked him: Why did Reb Asher print it this way and not that way? The Frierdiker Rebbe’s answer was: “You can rely on Reb Asher.” That was the answer. The Rebbe heard it. When the Frierdiker Rebbe says you can rely on Reb Asher, that settles it. The Frierdiker Rebbe said you can rely on Reb Asher. That’s it. At that point Tanya’s text was fixed. From the moment the Rebbe heard that statement from the Frierdiker Rebbe, the Rebbe wouldn’t allow a comma in Tanya to be moved—not a comma. Even though

30:06 Speaker 8 the Rebbe himself had many, many corrections. The Rebbe didn’t put any of them into the text. Everything was in notes: look at this page, at this sheet; perhaps it should be this way here, perhaps this should be changed. But nothing is changed in the text itself. That was the story. All right, we’ve closed the parenthesis. Can we continue?

30:25 Speaker 12 Yes. We can go on.

30:27 Speaker 8 So we’re on—

30:29 Speaker 12 Line nineteen.

30:31 Speaker 8 Line nineteen. So we’ve finished the parentheses. We understand, in general, what the innermost heart is, and the difference between the outer and inner dimensions of the heart. He says this: Since the innermost heart—as we understood from inside the parentheses—is found in the heart of every Jew, why isn’t it found in me? I, too, would like to live my whole life with such an innermost heart, with a burning fire and G-dliness. If I have it in my heart, why don’t I feel it? “And the reason not every person merits this level of service of the heart from the depths of the heart, in its inner dimension”—instead, only when he contemplates Hashem’s greatness and makes an effort and toils does an outer love arise within him. Why isn’t the inner love revealed? “It is because this aspect in him is in a state of exile and captivity.” This begins to address what was written at the start, “and her captives through tzedakah.”

31:33 Speaker 12 Not tzedakah.

31:33 Speaker 8 What is this exile and captivity? It is the actual exile of the Shechinah, because it is the spark of G-dliness in his soul. What did we say? That the Shechinah, the G-dliness, is the divine soul within him. And if the Shechinah, his spark of G-dliness, is now in exile within the animal soul, then the Shechinah is in exile. Why is it in exile? Who put it there? What? Ah, not exactly. And the cause of the exile is, as our Sages said, “When they went into exile in Babylonia, the Shechinah went with them.” Why is there an exile? Because he gets himself caught up in worldly matters. That is why his Shechinah, his divine soul, is in exile. In other words, because he has clothed the innermost point of his heart in the opposite side. Nobody put him in exile. He put himself there. That is, in filthy garments—filthy means dirty—of worldly matters and the desires of this world, which is called Babylonia. This is the foreskin that covers the covenant and the innermost point of the heart. So what is this... How does this exile of the divine soul, of the innermost point, of the inner heart, come about? By a person clothing himself in the filthy garments of worldly matters. So among, uh, women, I don’t really know what women talk about. Let’s say, children... births. I don’t know... Right? Dresses, I don’t know what. Clothes. Men talk about cars and so on. When a person talks, thinks, talks, is absorbed in it, he doesn’t notice. He feels good about it. When you talk with friends, people enjoy it. Sometimes people sit all night talking. They simply, simply enjoy talking. What do they talk about? Ask him to sum it up: What did we talk about all night? He himself doesn’t know what he talked about, but he was absorbed in it. It occupied him, it, it... He didn’t even feel that he

34:11 Speaker 8 enjoyed it. When a person talks about things close to his heart, things that interest him as a man, as a woman, with his friends—worldly matters, matters of this world. What’s needed, what about money, what about politics? I don’t know; it doesn’t matter what. The things of this world draw him in so strongly, he gets so deeply involved. He doesn’t feel at all that he’s there. He doesn’t even feel that he’s enjoying it. It’s, it’s, it’s where he himself is. So the Rebbe says: If a person puts himself, the innermost point of his heart, there in this world, how can it reveal itself now? With his own hands, his own mouth, and his own thoughts, he has simply taken the innermost point of his heart and put it into exile. Consequently, there is now a foreskin covering the covenant and the innermost point of the heart. About this it says, “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” There is a foreskin; it needs to be cut away. How do you cut away a foreskin? With a knife. But circumcision has two stages: milah, um, milah and priah. You’re familiar with them, right? And he says there is a thick foreskin and a thin membrane. The Rebbe says that just as this is true physically, it is also true spiritually. Yes, the foreskin of the heart also has a thick and a thin layer. What’s the difference between them? Coarse desires and subtle desires. That’s why a person needs both milah and priah. And if he performs milah but not priah, he has gotten rid of the coarse desires but not the subtle ones; it is as though he had not been circumcised. Because, after all, the innermost point of the heart is still covered by a garment of sackcloth, in a state of exile and captivity. What difference does it make whether a thick garment or a thin garment covers it? It’s covered, covered, and cannot be revealed. So how, uh, how do we do this? First, before we get to how, what can we do and what can’t we do? Here. Regarding the actual circumcision of the foreskin—that is,

36:43 Speaker 8 the thick foreskin, the coarse desires, when a person is completely, as we say, like an ox, like an animal, immersed in the desires of this world—about this it is written, “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart.” This is your work; do it yourselves. You see, there’s, uh... People always give the example of an orange or some other citrus fruit: it has a thick peel, which is very easy to remove. Dealing with the thin layer is another story. But with the thick peel, the coarse desires, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “I’m leaving that to you.” That is your work. You yourselves. But removing the thin membrane is difficult for a person, and about this it says, concerning the coming of Moshiach, “Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart.” So there is “You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart,” and there is “Hashem your G-d will circumcise.” When does “you shall circumcise” apply? To what you can do. What can you do? Deal with coarse desires. Don’t immerse yourself in them; pay attention to yourself. Uh, you also have, you know, things... Not everyone has such strong desires. Well, I don’t need to explain what coarse desires are and what subtle desires are, right? With coarse desires, restrain yourself; get a hold of yourself. With subtle desires, a person cannot purify his own heart. That’s how he is; he can’t do it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will do that. When will He do it? When Moshiach comes. How does that help me? Will Moshiach come now? It is written that when Moshiach comes, “Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart, etc., to love Hashem your G-d with all your heart and all your soul, for the sake of your life.” That means that when Moshiach comes, what will he do? He will actually remove the... thin membrane, the thin foreskin that only needs priah, and then the innermost point deep within my heart, within the heart of every Jew, will truly be revealed, along with all the powerful names we called it earlier, and then there will be

38:50 Speaker 8 cleaving to G-dliness. And what will happen then? It will be as the verse says, there in Parshas Nitzavim: “To love Hashem”—sorry—“Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart, etc.,” and there, “and the heart of your descendants, to love Hashem your G-d.” So Hakadosh Boruch Hu will circumcise the heart. Which circumcision is this referring to? The thin layer. Why will He do it? For what purpose? The verse says explicitly: “To love Hashem your G-d.” Once He removes the thin foreskin, the thin membrane, the inner heart will be revealed and we will love Hashem. That is the purpose of the circumcision Hashem will perform. And how will we love Him? “With all your heart and all your soul.” Why? It’s clear: because the innermost point of the heart is revealed. What does the verse add? “For the sake of your life.” What does “for the sake of your life” mean?

39:47 Speaker 13 For the sake of Hashem.

39:49 Speaker 8 Huh?

39:49 Speaker 13 It says, for the sake of... for the sake of Hashem.

39:51 Speaker 8 It says “for the sake of your life.”

39:52 Speaker 13 Doesn’t “for the sake of your life” mean for the sake of Hashem?

39:55 Speaker 8 Ah, wait, wait.

39:57 Speaker 13 Ah.

39:57 Speaker 8 That’s true. But we need to understand...

40:02 Speaker 13 [unclear].

40:02 Speaker 8 What you’re saying is true, but we need to understand what, what, what it says—what “for the sake of your life” means. It’s the same point we explained earlier, that... Maybe we can explain it this way. There are, there are, uh... two kinds of feeling a person can have in general. There is a feeling that a person feels. He feels himself feeling it. Right? Now, earlier—now I’m happy, now I love, now I’m excited. He is aware of himself... Yes. But there is a feeling that a person doesn’t feel himself feeling. As we said earlier, he’s so absorbed in the pleasure, in a pleasant conversation, right? He can talk for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours without feeling the time pass. He doesn’t even feel that he’s enjoying it. He, he is so at one with the pleasure, with the love, with the feeling. He is so at one with it that he, he, he doesn’t feel that he loves, he doesn’t feel that he’s enjoying it. Afterward he says, “Wow, that was so much fun,” even though he doesn’t remember anything that happened. Yes? Is that clear? So which feeling is loftier? More inward? Clearly, if I feel myself feeling, then there are two things here: there is me, and there is what I feel. But if he is so absorbed in something that he doesn’t feel it at all, then he is truly at one with it. That is called an unfelt love. An unfelt feeling. Right? What does “for the sake of your life” mean? That when the innermost point of the heart is revealed, love of Hashem will be like life itself. What does “like life” mean? A person doesn’t feel that he is alive. It is what matters most to him, what he needs most, what his whole, whole being revolves around. Right?

42:14 Speaker 14 There’s an expression—

42:18 Speaker 8 That is the greatest desire, and that’s why we don’t feel it. Nobody feels or thinks, “I want to live.” It’s something we don’t feel. When do we start to feel it? When we feel that something is lacking, that something in life is missing—when, G-d forbid, there is some obstacle or difficulty involving children, health, or livelihood. Then I begin to feel... life. But as long as life flows along, I don’t feel it.

42:45 Speaker 14 That you feel life flowing along.

42:46 Speaker 8 Yes. So when Hashem removes the thin foreskin, the innermost point of the heart will be revealed. What does that mean? That my love for Hashem will be “for the sake of your life”—that I won’t feel myself as a separate existence, won’t feel that I love Hashem. I’ll be united with G-dliness completely. And he explains what “for the sake of your life” means: Hashem alone is truly your entire life. Right now, even when love for Hashem awakens in me, it isn’t my life. I have my life, and I love Him. But when He removes the foreskin of the heart, love for Hashem will become the very essence of my life. I won’t have anything else. That will be my life. Because this love is such a deeply inward point, deep, deep, deep within the heart—and this is called the yechidah of the soul and the innermost point of the heart—it will be revealed only when Moshiach comes and removes the foreskin of the heart. And that point is above the level of understanding. That’s why it says Moshiach comes when the Jewish people’s attention is elsewhere: Moshiach comes to reveal this point, and this point is beyond understanding. It isn’t something understanding can reach. It is a revelation of the innermost point of the Jewish people as a whole, and the release of the Shechinah as a whole from exile and captivity forever and ever. Fine, but how does that help me? Moshiach will come, Hashem will help, things will be good. How does that help me now? To this the Alter Rebbe says: Now that we’ve understood the point—that the element of fire in the heart has two aspects, outer and inner; that a person can awaken the outer aspect of the heart through love, while the inner aspect is in exile because of my actions, because of my behavior, because I put it into exile; and that this deeply inward point will be revealed only in the time to come—what practical relevance does all this have for us now? Likewise, every individual spark

45:09 Speaker 8 of the Shechinah. What is that individual spark? It is the spark in the soul of every Jew that we spoke about at the beginning. It leaves exile and captivity for a time, during “the life of the moment”—which refers to prayer. Every day, when the time for prayer arrives, particularly the morning prayer, Shacharis, of course, each and every Jew can experience a revelation of King Moshiach. What does a revelation of King Moshiach mean? In the complete future Geulah, the yechidah of the collective soul is revealed. What happens at the time of prayer? In each person, the yechidah of the soul, the innermost point of the heart, is revealed—or can be revealed. As we’ve said before, it’s an opportune time and so on; it can be revealed in every person, so that he becomes united with G-dliness in such a way that it is his life, that he has no other life. It’s not that he loves—And that’s the point of the Amidah prayer. What is the Amidah prayer? At first, in Pesukei Dezimrah and in Shema, we talk about how much good Hakadosh Boruch Hu does, how He gives life to the world and brings it into being. And then, “Who forms light and creates darkness,” and creates the angels, and they are all filled with awe. That is a movement of enthusiasm. Then we reach the Amidah prayer. The Amidah is bittul, self-nullification. A person becomes united with Hashem with such complete bittul that he cannot move. Fine, but I don’t feel that. Why don’t I feel it? Because the yechidah of my soul hasn’t been revealed. Why hasn’t it been revealed in me? It’s supposed to be revealed in each and every one of us during daily prayer. This is a book for the beinoni. It’s always a book for the beinoni. A beinoni is every Jew. Every Jew who isn’t a tzaddik is a beinoni. A rasha is only someone who commits transgressions. None of us goes around desecrating Shabbos or eating non-kosher food, and... no, we’re all Jewish

47:35 Speaker 8 beinonim. The Rebbe says that each and every one of us—men, women, and even children—should have the yechidah of the soul, the innermost point of the heart, revealed during daily prayer. Why doesn’t it happen? Let’s see. The time when it should emerge is when it leaves exile and captivity for a time, during “the life of the moment”—prayer. The Rebbe adds here, as we discussed: “for a time”—what does that mean? Its permanent, eternal revelation will be in the time to come, but a temporary, individual revelation can occur every day for each person, during prayer. The service of the heart, from the depths of the heart, at the level of its innermost point, is redeemed from the foreskin and rises upward to cleave to Him with an intense longing, “for the sake of your life.” So that very same thing, that same feeling, exactly what will happen in the time to come with the arrival of Moshiach, can and should be revealed in each of us every day during prayer. That same experience of “for the sake of your life.” And it, too, comes when a person’s attention is elsewhere. Just as in the time to come it won’t depend on a person’s own efforts—Hakadosh Boruch Hu will remove the foreskin of our hearts—so too, that same point revealed in a person every day during prayer comes when his attention is elsewhere. It doesn’t come through understanding and contemplation, because the aspect being revealed is beyond a person’s understanding and his contemplation of Hashem’s greatness. And since it is beyond understanding, understanding cannot produce it. Rather, it is a gift given by Hashem from heaven, from the radiance of His innermost presence on high. As it is written, “May Hashem shine His face upon you.” “His face” refers to inwardness. During prayer, Hakadosh Boruch Hu shines His face, illuminates that inwardness, and grants and reveals that innermost point of the heart in each person. And as it is written, “Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart”—a verse that, in general, speaks about the time to come. The Alter

49:49 Speaker 8 Rebbe says: Yes, this also happens to you every day during prayer. So what is everything we’ve read here meant to explain?

50:00 Speaker 15 We didn’t understand.

50:02 Speaker 8 The Alter Rebbe says this: I know that every day you experience love for Hashem as an outpouring of the soul. We’re not talking about someone who doesn’t experience it, but about someone who does. And the Alter Rebbe says: Don’t think this is the result of your own work. The enthusiastic love that comes from contemplation—you produced that. But when you later reach a genuine outpouring of the soul during the Amidah, that isn’t something you produced. You received it as a gift from Above. Now that we understand how things should be, how they would normally be for each of us, the question naturally arises: Why isn’t it like that for me? But it is known that an awakening from Above comes specifically through an awakening from below. That is, although everyone receives this level as a gift, a gift is given only to someone you love. Right? That’s how it works in the physical world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives you a gift, so you must give Hakadosh Boruch Hu reason to love you and give you that gift. There is work you do yourself, and there is work through which you simply bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu pleasure, and therefore He gives you a gift. Those are two entirely different things. What is that awakening from below? It takes the form of raising mayin nukvin. As our Sages said, “No drop descends from Above unless two drops rise to meet it from below.” For one drop of rain to descend from Above, two drops must rise from the earth below. That’s what the Gemara says. Just as it is in the physical world, so it is in the spiritual world. For Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give you this love for Hashem, to reveal the innermost point of the heart within you, you have to want it. If you don’t want it, it won’t come. It depends on your wanting it. So how do I show Hakadosh Boruch Hu that I want it? A person must first perform this circumcision himself—the part that he can do. How do I

52:26 Speaker 8 show Hakadosh Boruch Hu? I’ll do what I can do. You can remove the thick foreskin, and that is the work you should do. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will see that you want it, that you’re making an effort, and then He’ll do His part. No problem. It takes no effort on His part.

52:39 Speaker 3 To see that there’s a partner.

52:41 Speaker 8 Yes, to see that there’s a partner, exactly. To remove the foreskin of the heart—the coarse and subtle kelipos that clothe and cover the innermost point of the heart, which is love of Hashem, the aspect of “for He is your life,” held in exile by the desires of this world. As we discussed earlier, those desires, too, are experienced as “your life”—one opposite the other. So what do I want? I want love of Hashem, “for He is your life,” to be revealed within me. How do I do that? I show Hakadosh Boruch Hu that the things that are my life right now—I don’t want them. Take them for Yourself. How? By giving charity to Hashem from one’s money. We learned in chapter 37 that money represents a person’s life-force. A person works—why does he go to work? For money. And what does he do with the money? He buys food and whatever else he needs. So when a person goes to work, he makes an effort. If he doesn’t, he won’t get paid; he’ll be fired. Right? While he’s working, he tries hard, he invests himself, he’s completely involved. His life-force is in the work. So when he receives money in return, what’s in that money? All the life-force and effort he put in throughout the month. And why did he make that effort? For the things of this world. So in the paycheck he receives at the end of the month—or the proceeds of his business, whatever he does—in the money he has in the bank, or in whatever virtual form it takes, is all the life-force he invested in material things. Now, if he takes that money, which contains all his material life-force, and gives it to charity, what has he done? He

55:02 Speaker 8 has taken all that life-force invested in material things and given it to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s written in chapter 37; he alludes to it here in a word. Especially someone whose livelihood is limited and who is under great financial strain—“tova,” very much. It says “tova tova”: he is under very, very great strain. If he gives from what he needs to live, then when he gives charity, he is giving from his very life. It’s no longer from his surplus. He doesn’t have enough, and he gives anyway. Every penny he gives matters.

55:44 Speaker 3 You feel that it’s coming from your very flesh, too.

55:46 Speaker 8 You feel it in your flesh. Yes, and the harder it is to give the charity, the more of his life-force invested in this world goes into the money he gives. Especially if he earns his living through his own labor, for he cannot have avoided investing the innermost point of his heart in his work many times, from the depths of his heart, as people ordinarily do in their business dealings and the like. And now, when he distributes the fruits of his labor and gives to Hashem with joy and a glad heart, he thereby redeems his soul from the pit. In other words, that innermost point of the heart which he gave to worldly matters—he now takes it, snatches it back from the sitra achra, and gives it to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is, he takes the innermost point of his heart, which had been in exile and captivity within the kelipah, whether coarse or subtle. As it says, “Guard your heart more than anything you guard.” The word “mishmar,” “guard,” also means a prison: they put him in confinement, in prison. Now he is redeemed from the external forces through this charity. So that’s the advice. A person doesn’t understand: “I contemplated, I tried, I even felt a little love and was moved. I did fall short, but I didn’t reach the point of pouring out my soul. It didn’t happen. Why not?” You didn’t give charity. You didn’t give enough charity. Giving charity brings the innermost heart out of exile.

57:26 Speaker 4 Are we talking here about giving charity before davening, as it were—

57:29 Speaker 8 No.

57:29 Speaker 4 Could we talk about this whole matter of—

57:31 Speaker 8 What?

57:32 Speaker 4 That example from this week about [unclear]—some people miss that too. It really is in parentheses, as I said, with [unclear].

57:40 Speaker 8 But that, that—

57:40 Speaker 4 It’s written that way—

57:42 Speaker 5 In parentheses.

57:43 Speaker 4 In parentheses. I see it—

57:45 Speaker 8 But it really isn’t, isn’t, isn’t—

57:48 Speaker 4 Connected.

57:49 Speaker 8 Connected.

57:52 Speaker 4 No, I know.

57:52 Speaker 8 Maybe we’ll come back to it at the end, im yirtzeh Hashem.

57:56 Speaker 5 [unclear]

58:00 Speaker 4 No, it’s just that giving charity before davening is itself a practice—

58:04 Speaker 8 Yes, that’s part of it, part of the matter, but—

58:06 Speaker 5 The charity here isn’t necessarily before davening. The charity that frees the captive is what enables the davening—

58:11 Speaker 4 Before—

58:13 Speaker 8 And it’s also the wording “periah.” We speak of periah in circumcision—milah and periah—and of repaying a debt, perias chov, with coins. So the Alter Rebbe is saying it’s precisely the same idea. Through charity, he repays the debt to the external forces; he takes the soul out of the kelipos, and that removes the foreskin. The debt is one he incurred, becoming beholden to the external forces when he invested the innermost point of his heart in the things of this world. That is why they gained control over that innermost point. This is “and her captives through charity.” Up to this point, the Alter Rebbe has explained “and her captives through charity.” What does it mean? The heart has an outer dimension and an inner dimension. A person can control the outer dimension of his heart, provided he doesn’t have timtum halev or timtum hamoach—obstructions of the heart or mind—which we learned elsewhere how to deal with. But generally, with the outer dimension of the heart, a person contemplates, and naturally, if he thinks about something good, he develops a desire for it. If he contemplates that G-dliness is good, that G-dliness is his life and the life of the entire world, then he wants it; the feeling is aroused. But the inner dimension of the heart is beyond a person’s power, because it is the essence of the soul. It is the yechidah level of the soul, beyond understanding and knowledge; understanding and knowledge cannot draw it down. How is it revealed? During davening. Why? Because the time of davening is an opportune time. Why is it sometimes not revealed? Because I’ve invested my heart in the things of this world. How do I get it out of there? Take those worldly things and give them to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So far, do we understand why it says, “and her captives through charity”? Why do we free the captive—the G-dly soul—from captivity through charity? So, in any—

1:00:12 Speaker 4 Does that happen only when you consciously intend, “Now I’m taking worldly things and giving charity,” or does it happen through the act of giving charity itself?

1:00:22 Speaker 8 First, I don’t know when it has a greater effect and when it has less of an effect. I assume that, as it says—as we discussed in chapters 39–40 of Tanya—anything a person does with intention is something entirely different from doing it without intention. He spoke there of a body without a soul: if a person does something without intention, it’s like a body without a soul. Obviously, doing it with intention is altogether different. And besides, this isn’t written here, but my own thought is that if a person doesn’t contemplate this, he won’t give. If he doesn’t contemplate the tremendous virtue of charity—what we discussed last week, what we’ve discussed this week, and what we’ll discuss in the coming weeks, a different aspect each week—if he doesn’t think about it, he won’t give. He may give a tenth, he may give a fifth, but how will he give it? He’ll set up a standing bank transfer; he knows how to calculate the amount, and it gets deducted automatically. He doesn’t even realize he’s giving charity. Apparently, that’s not what we’re talking about. If he needs to redeem his soul, his soul has to do something. His soul has to make an effort. We spoke last week about a person who gives during the day—say he makes a rule for himself: “I won’t finish the day until I’ve given charity thirty times.” Thirty times. A penny each time. Altogether, that’s much, much, much, much less than a standing transfer of fifty shekels a month. But it refines the soul. It takes him out of the kelipos, because here his soul is involved. Each time, he puts his hand into his pocket again. Each time, it’s hard all over again. Each time, something moves

1:02:16 Speaker 8 inside; something is happening within. It isn’t automatic. Yes, it doesn’t say that explicitly, but apparently—that’s how it seems to me—we’re talking here about serving Hashem. Work is work. Things don’t just fall from the sky. There’s no free lunch.

1:02:36 Speaker 4 No, but how do you actually put that into practice? Does it mean that now I’m taking everything that—

1:02:41 Speaker 8 All right, let’s move on. Up to here was the introduction. What was the introduction? We understood how to redeem the inner dimension of the heart from... That’s the meaning of “and her captives through charity.” What does that have to do with everything we asked at the beginning? Do you remember what we asked at the very beginning?

1:02:56 Speaker 4 “Righteousness before Him.”

1:02:57 Speaker 8 What does “righteousness shall go before him” mean? You weren’t here, right? He asked at the beginning: the verse says, “Righteousness shall go before him.” What does “shall go” mean here? If we say someone walks, then in the future he will walk, and in the past he walked. But this word means “shall cause to walk.” As we said, a woman helps her child take steps; she teaches him to walk. Here, it means causing someone else to walk. So what does “righteousness” mean? How does righteousness cause someone to walk? Whom does it cause to walk? What is the plain meaning? To understand that, we needed to understand the meaning of the “value of tzedakah.” We’ve understood that. Now we come back to “Righteousness shall go before him.”

1:03:44 Speaker 4 Let’s go over how it connects again.

1:03:48 Speaker 8 He closes the circle.

1:03:49 Speaker 4 Because he connects the two?

1:03:51 Speaker 8 Yes. Actually, this is true in general of maamarim of Chassidus, not just here. It’s true of almost every maamar. At the beginning, a question is asked. Then, to understand the question, an idea is explained that often seems completely unrelated, and afterward—

1:04:09 Speaker 4 They connect it all together.

1:04:10 Speaker 8 It depends. There are two ways this can work. Sometimes the question at the beginning is just a launching pad. In other words, the Rebbe really wants to explain a particular idea, so he takes hold of a verse and takes off. Then you see how, starting from that verse, he goes here and there, in all sorts of directions. In fact, a great many maamarim that the Rebbe delivered, or that were written down, were published without the opening and conclusion, because the opening and conclusion are not part of the maamar itself; they are just an explanation of the verse. There are many maamarim with no opening, where only the maamar itself is printed. And there are maamarim like this one, where it’s exactly the opposite: the whole explanation in the middle is there for the sake of the central point. It’s a kind of introduction that brings us to that point. Because here, the Igeres Hakodesh you’re talking about discusses the virtue of tzedakah. It’s a letter the Alter Rebbe wrote to those connected with him, encouraging them to give tzedakah for Eretz Yisroel. So after explaining the whole subject, he now gets to the main point.

1:05:15 Speaker 6 Is all the tzedakah the Alter Rebbe writes about meant for Eretz Yisroel?

1:05:19 Speaker 8 I don’t know about every instance, but certainly the overwhelming majority. And that is “Righteousness shall go before him.” Now we understand what “shall cause to walk” means: whom does his tzedakah cause to walk, whom does it lead? “Righteousness shall go before him.” The word “before him” is related to “inwardness.” In other words, it refers to the innermost part of the heart. And “shall cause to walk” means that tzedakah leads the innermost part of the heart toward Hashem. Then “he shall set his footsteps on the way of Hashem,” as it says, “And you shall walk in His ways.” By the way, the Rebbe notes: why does it say “his footsteps”? The usual word would be “steps.” A person walks, takes steps. Why this particular word? It’s an unusual word. So the Rebbe connects it with what is written about Shimshon: “The spirit of Hashem began to stir him in the camp of Dan, between Tzorah and Eshtaol.” You certainly know the verse. What does “stir him” mean there? Rashi writes there, citing our Sages, that the Shechinah rang before him like a bell. In other words, our Sages interpret that word as related to a bell. Yes, with Shimshon. So the Rebbe explains that “set his footsteps on the way” here likewise evokes a bell. What is a bell? It has a body and a clapper inside it. Just as a point of general interest—an aside—among our Sages, in the writings of the halachic authorities and in sefarim, some commentators explain that the “bell” is the outer part and the “clapper” is the inner part, while others explain it the other way around: the “bell” is the inner part and the “clapper” is the outer part.

1:07:34 Speaker 6 Really, the bell is what makes the sound, and the clapper—

1:07:36 Speaker 8 In our usage, in modern Hebrew, it’s unambiguous, but in the language of our Sages it isn’t so clear. There is a lot of discussion about it. In any case, what is the point of a bell? There is the body that produces the sound, and a little piece that strikes it, inside or outside. There are different opinions about that too. In any case, the bell receives something from the clapper. The bell itself doesn’t make a sound. Where does its sound come from? It receives it from the clapper. Right. That is how Shimshon received an illumination of the Shechinah. And the same applies here: what does it mean to “set his footsteps on the way”? When does the clapper inside a person begin to ring within him? When he gives tzedakah. “He shall set his footsteps on the way.” As it says, “And you shall walk in His ways,” and “You shall follow Hashem your G-d.” There is a way in which a person follows Hashem—“You shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen”—and that is observing the mitzvos without love and awe. But when he davens, fulfills the service of the heart, and so on, and gives tzedakah, then he truly walks. He sets his footsteps on the way: his innermost self begins to ring, to stir within him. This affects all his performance of mitzvos, and Torah study, which is equal to them all. All his mitzvos and Torah study ascend to Hashem through the innermost part of his heart to a far greater degree than they ascend to Hashem through the outer part of the heart. Even when a person serves Hashem only through the outer part of the heart—as it says there in chapters 39 and 40 of Tanya, and as we learned in chapter 4 in much greater detail—when he performs mitzvos with feeling, his mitzvos, the physical and spiritual aspects, his G-dly soul, animal soul and vegetative soul, all ascend higher and higher. We explained here how they ascend and what that means in practice. So although—

1:09:53 Speaker 8 Although through the outer part of the heart, too, the whole person is elevated and refined, it is beyond comparison to what happens when the innermost part of his heart is revealed. That is a complete union with Hashem. Why? Because it is his very life. It is a far greater ascent to Hashem than the ascent brought about by the outer part of the heart—that is, by love and awe born of understanding and knowledge alone, without an illumination of the Divine countenance from above, but rather in a state where that countenance is concealed. For the Divine countenance above shines below only in response to an awakening from below. And what is that awakening from below? The act of tzedakah, which is called “peace.” Peace connects things. In general, peace means joining two opposites: previously they were in conflict, and now they are joined. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of peace. There is peace that joins right and left, fire and water, kindness and severity; and there is peace that joins above and below. The act of tzedakah, called “peace” here, joins above and below: it brings the essential point of the soul, the yechidah of the soul, the innermost part of the heart’s innermost part, to shine within his physical heart down here. This is the meaning of the verse, “He redeemed my soul in peace.” Why doesn’t it say, “He redeemed me in peace”? I was in exile, I was captive, and I was redeemed in peace. The precise wording is “He redeemed my soul in peace”—specifically my soul. Through tzedakah, a person’s soul, the essence of his soul, is redeemed. This is also why tzedakah is called “peace”: it brings peace between the Jewish people and their Father in Heaven, uniting them. As our Sages say, this is accomplished by redeeming their souls, which are truly a part of Hashem, from the forces of the outside. And here comes the punch line, the purpose of the entire letter: “And especially tzedakah for Eretz Yisroel.” We have the privilege of living in Eretz Yisroel, so we don’t have to send funds through emissaries to give tzedakah in faraway places. Everyone who gives tzedakah—and the tzedakah being discussed here is especially tzedakah in the literal sense. Nowadays, we include under tzedakah—

1:12:20 Speaker 8 Under what we call tzedakah, all sorts of activities connected with the mitzvah campaigns and other important, holy activities. One should give tzedakah for those things too. But we mustn’t forget that the primary meaning of tzedakah is sustaining a poor person’s life. In plain terms, today that means Colel Chabad in the most literal sense. Let’s call it by name. That Colel Chabad—

1:12:49 Speaker 7 Of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness.

1:12:50 Speaker 8 The Rabbi Meir Baal Haness charity fund. That is the very fund the Alter Rebbe established, and it continues to operate to this day according to the same instructions and rules the Alter Rebbe laid down. The nasi of this fund is the Rebbe of each generation. Our Rebbe is still the nasi of the fund, and it is still operating. And there is an instruction from the Rebbe that every home should have a Rabbi Meir Baal Haness tzedakah box—that is, a Colel Chabad box.

1:13:22 Speaker 7 Candles.

1:13:22 Speaker 8 What?

1:13:22 Speaker 7 Beis Rom—

1:13:22 Speaker 8 Beis Rom before lighting candles. In other words, you might have two hundred tzedakah boxes at home, but there should be a Rabbi Meir Baal Haness box in every home. Whether it’s to give before preparing food—

1:13:32 Speaker 7 They have a very nice initiative there.

1:13:36 Speaker 8 There are, there are many people who are particular about this. After all, at least one Rabbi Meir charity box has to be permanently fixed to the wall. It should be in the kitchen. So some people are particular that this specific box should be the one. It’s the box from the Rebbe’s instruction—that it should be your tzedakah, that it should be truly Hashem’s tzedakah. Why is tzedakah for the Land of Israel specifically called truly Hashem’s tzedakah? As it says, “The eyes of Hashem your G-d are always upon it.” When a person gives tzedakah to the poor of the Land of Israel, that is the tzedakah Hashem gives. It isn’t just something for... It is, it is the tzedakah that Hashem Himself gives. “My eyes and My heart will be there all the days, and it has stood by us to redeem our lives from the counsel of those who seek to turn our steps aside.” The Alter Rebbe uses that same idea again: “And it will stand by us forever, to place our souls in true life.” So there is also life at the outer level of the heart, which is life too, and holiness too. But true life is when the innermost point of the heart is revealed. “From the Life of life, to shine-- to shine in the light of life, as Hashem shines His face upon us forever. Amen, may it be His will.”

1:14:56 Speaker 7 Amen.

1:14:56 Speaker 8 So what, really, is the difference between the... What did this letter add that the previous letter didn’t give us? The first letter spoke about how, when a person gives tzedakah, he makes... “He put on...” Ah, what was the wording there?

1:15:16 Speaker 7 Armor.

1:15:16 Speaker 8 “He put on tzedakah like armor.”

1:15:19 Speaker 7 Yes.

1:15:19 Speaker 8 “And a helmet of salvation on his head.” That’s the verse, right?

1:15:22 Speaker 7 Yes.

1:15:22 Speaker 8 That tzedakah is like armor. What, what does “like armor” mean? So he explained there that armor is like-- it’s scales over openings. If you want to make a garment, don’t make holes in it. You want-- decide. Do you want a net or do you want holes? No. It specifically has to have both openings and scales covering them. You ask: Why? Why does tzedakah have to be a garment like that, rather than an ordinary garment? So he explains there that an ordinary garment, an ordinary covering, is what all the mitzvos are. Tzedakah specifically is a garment that looks like armor. Why? Because all the mitzvos make-- draw down-- clothe a person in garments through which the infinite light can be revealed to him. Where will it be revealed? In the World to Come. How would it be revealed here? Light in a limited world. Where will it be revealed here? They provide garments through which, in Gan Eden, in the World to Come, in the future, he will be able to receive the light. But what does that have to do with here? Tzedakah is something else. Tzedakah is a garment with openings.

1:16:29 Speaker 7 He continues.

1:16:29 Speaker 8 When a person gives tzedakah, he makes openings in the upper garment that constricts and conceals, and the infinite light of Hashem descends lower and lower and brings about for that person children, health, livelihood, happiness, honor—all the good things a person could dream of. Directly from the infinite light. This is-- how did our Sages put it? Things whose fruits a person enjoys in this world. With no other mitzvah does he enjoy its fruits in this world. Why? Because the-- because the mitzvos are a garment, a garment that the light cannot penetrate. In the World to Come. With tzedakah, he enjoys its fruits because the infinite light descends through it. So why is it covered with scales? So that the external forces cannot benefit from it, so that it reaches only good things and doesn’t reach places it shouldn’t. That’s the explanation there. So in the previous letter of Igeres Hakodesh, the main point was that tzedakah brings a person material blessings, while here he explains that tzedakah reveals the... the innermost point of the heart. So these are just two qualities of tzedakah. We have eighteen letters. That means we have another sixteen ideas: in each of these coming letters, the Alter Rebbe adds another layer, and another layer, and another layer. Each one is simply an entire subject in its own right, completely different, showing what tzedakah brings.