Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 6

00:00 Speaker 1 Good evening. We’re up to Igeres Hakodesh 6. This is another quality of tzedakah that we haven’t discussed yet. The Alter Rebbe hasn’t discussed it yet either; it’s a new idea. He begins the letter with a verse from Mishlei: “One who sows tzedakah earns a reward of truth.” We’re generally used to reading it as “a true reward.” That’s simply a mistake. The verse says “a reward of truth,” with two segols in the word for “reward.” The commentators there ask what that means. What is this word, and what does truth have to do with it? Rashi explains it as something like a dam that holds back a river or the sea. What does “a reward of truth” mean, then? That when someone gives tzedakah, the abundance given to him gathers around him, stays with him, and doesn’t go elsewhere. Something like that. Other commentators explain that the word does mean “reward.” But what is meant by the reward? That it is true. In other words, when someone gives tzedakah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him a true reward. We already know what truth means: something eternal, something that lasts forever. So that’s how the commentators explain it: the person who gives tzedakah receives a lasting, eternal, true reward. The Alter Rebbe begins Igeres Hakodesh: “One who sows tzedakah earns a reward of truth. Meaning...” We already know that whenever the Alter Rebbe writes “meaning,” there’s a rule of sorts: he has an interpretation different from that of the other commentators. The Alter Rebbe explains: “Meaning that the reward for sowing tzedakah is the attribute of truth.” On the one hand, then, he explains it like those commentators who say that the word means “reward”: someone who gives tzedakah receives a reward of truth. But unlike the commentators—who say that he receives a reward and that reward is true—

02:21 Speaker 1 the Alter Rebbe says that it’s not that he receives a reward that is true. The reward he receives is truth. Truth is given to him as his reward. What does it mean to give someone truth as a reward? And how can truth even be a reward? So he brings proof from a verse that such a thing is possible. The proof he brings is from the last verse of the Book of Michah, which says, “You will give truth to Yaakov.” But we could ask the same question about that verse. When you look at what the commentators say about “You will give truth to Yaakov,” they explain it exactly as they explain “One who sows tzedakah earns a reward of truth.” They say that “You will give truth to Yaakov” means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will fulfill His promise to Yaakov—not that He will give Yaakov truth. So it’s exactly the same interpretation. Why bring me as proof a verse that seems to support the opposite view? The Alter Rebbe therefore needs to bring proof that “You will give truth to Yaakov” can indeed be understood according to the plain meaning of the words: that Yaakov is given truth. And then our verse, “One who sows tzedakah earns a reward of truth,” can also mean that truth itself is given as a reward for tzedakah.

03:55 Speaker 2 Do you know what truth is?

03:57 Speaker 1 We’ll see in a moment. The whole letter discusses what this truth is that we receive through tzedakah. But first, let’s follow the Alter Rebbe’s reasoning at the beginning of the letter. Where is the proof that the verse in Michah can mean that truth is something given to Yaakov? “It is praise of Hakadosh Boruch Hu with which the prophet praises Him,” as it says in the holy Zohar. The holy Zohar does explain “You will give truth to Yaakov” as the Alter Rebbe does: Hakadosh Boruch Hu has thirteen attributes of mercy, and He gives the attribute of truth to Yaakov. That is how the Zohar explains it. So according to the Zohar, “You will give truth to Yaakov” means that Yaakov is given truth. From this we understand that truth can be given as a reward. And when is it given? We’re working backward now. When is a Jew given truth as a reward? When he gives tzedakah. So all that remains is to clarify what this truth is that is given to Yaakov and that we receive through tzedakah. And we need to understand: “Does Yaakov not have truth?” G-d forbid that Hakadosh Boruch Hu should need to give it to him from above. Yaakov’s attribute is truth. What does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs to give him truth as a reward? “But behold...” At this point, the Alter Rebbe leaves the subject of reward and truth and explains the attribute of Yaakov Avinu. Through that, everything will become clear. “But it is known that Yaakov’s attribute is the attribute of compassion.” We all know that Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov correspond to chesed, gevurah, and tiferes. And tiferes is compassion, right? Why tiferes? What is the connection between tiferes and compassion? Does anyone know?

06:00 Speaker 3 When kindness comes from a higher level, that’s...

06:03 Speaker 1 Tiferes has to do with beauty. Splendor, right? When do you call something beautiful? When it has several colors. If it’s plain, it might be dignified, but it isn’t beautiful. Beautiful means it has folds and patterns and... right? In Kabbalah, beauty involves a combination of opposites: white and red, chesed and gevurah. Tiferes includes both. What does that have to do with compassion? How does compassion include chesed and gevurah? When a person has compassion for someone, on the one hand he wants to give to them. That’s chesed, right? Is Ayala with us?

07:00 Speaker 3 I was daydreaming.

07:01 Speaker 1 I thought you drifted off for a moment. Yes. I’ll go over it again. What is the connection between compassion and tiferes? Tiferes is two colors, red and white, joined together. Beauty is when there are two colors. Those two colors, red and white, are chesed and gevurah. Where do we see chesed and gevurah mixed together in compassion? On the one hand, a person feels compassion for someone else and wants to give to them. Giving is chesed. On the other hand, you don’t feel compassion for just anyone. If someone has more than I do, why would I feel sorry for him? Right? Compassion is limited chesed. So on one hand there’s chesed, and on the other there’s a limitation. The inner feeling of compassion isn’t chesed; it isn’t chesed at all. Nor is it gevurah at all, but it has something of both. On one hand, it’s an attribute in its own right; on the other, it includes both. So Avraham Avinu embodied chesed, Yitzchak embodied gevurah, and Yaakov embodied compassion, tiferes. What does it mean for us to serve Hashem through compassion? How do I serve Hashem through love, through chesed? By loving Hashem. How does a person serve Hashem through gevurah? Through fear of Hashem. We’ve learned many times how a person can awaken love and fear within himself, so I know how to serve Hashem through love and fear. How can I serve Hashem through compassion? What does it mean to serve Hashem through compassion? Serving Hashem through compassion comes from awakening great compassion in one’s heart for the spark of G-dliness in one’s soul. A person has compassion for his own soul. Have you ever heard of serving Hashem

09:02 Speaker 1 like that? Huh? There was such a thing once.

09:07 Speaker 4 Yes. In Tanya.

09:08 Speaker 1 In Tanya too, right, in chapter 45. There he discusses exactly the same idea: the spark of G-dliness in a person’s soul is far from the light of Hashem’s countenance as the person walks in the darkness of the world’s vanities. He reflects on that spark, on his poor soul—on how his G-dly soul is walking in the darkness of the world’s vanities—and he has compassion for his soul, for the spark of his soul. This compassion comes from understanding and awareness of Hashem’s greatness. Why? Because only when a person grasps how lofty the spark of G-dliness in his soul, which gives him life, really is, and how far it has fallen, will he have compassion for it. If a person doesn’t know, isn’t aware of the soul’s descent from a lofty height into a deep pit, why would he feel compassion for it? So he reflects on this through an awareness of Hashem’s greatness. What is Hashem’s greatness? He contemplates how even the higher worlds, rising endlessly upward, are considered as nothing before Him. That’s where the contemplation begins: even the loftiest worlds are considered... What are the loftiest worlds we know of?

10:26 Speaker 4 Atzilus.

10:26 Speaker 1 Atzilus is... yes. But before that, I think I once told you about a book called Sippurim Nora’im. Have I told you about that book?

10:40 Speaker 4 I saw it once, but I couldn’t quite figure out what exactly the stories in it were about.

10:45 Speaker 1 Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word all things came into being.

10:49 Speaker 4 Is it Stories for the Days of Awe, or Awe-Inspiring Stories? I didn’t know either. It looks like an interesting book.

10:58 Speaker 1 It’s a fascinating book. The Frierdiker Rebbe gave it to the Rebbe as a gift before the wedding and instructed him to know the stories in it thoroughly. A book of stories. It was written by Reb Yaakov Kadaner, I think that was his name. He was a chossid of the Alter Rebbe and heard stories from the Alter Rebbe himself that the Alter Rebbe had heard from the Maggid and the Baal Shem Tov. So this is considered the authoritative book of stories about the Baal Shem Tov.

11:37 Speaker 4 Stories that are particularly unusual?

11:38 Speaker 1 It’s the authoritative book of stories about the Baal Shem Tov. That’s the book. There are stories in it that, he says, the Alter Rebbe himself told him—several stories about the Alter Rebbe’s childhood, about the Baal Shem Tov’s childhood, and more. Later in the book there are also stories about the Maggid, the Alter Rebbe, and a few stories about chassidim. And the stories there—it isn’t called Sippurim Nora’im, “Awe-Inspiring Stories,” for nothing. A great many of them are so frightening that I’ve truly never seen them quoted in any children’s book.

12:11 Speaker 4 What do you mean?

12:12 Speaker 1 You have to read the book. It’s written in very old Hebrew, a little difficult to read, but Kehot publishes it. It’s a thin booklet, a fascinating booklet, simply fascinating. The book of stor—

12:27 Speaker 4 I wanted to answer you. The question is whether it’s actually printed that way in...

12:32 Speaker 1 Well, yes.

12:33 Speaker 4 I think it’s much more—

12:33 Speaker 1 You can buy it from Kehot tomorrow. You can make a phone call and have it tomorrow. Yes, no problem at all. So why did I mention the book? Because there, Reb Yaakov Kadaner, the author, writes in the introduction why he composed it: people don’t know what Gan Eden is. He begins to explain and describe Gan Eden. The description he gives—I certainly can’t reproduce it, especially since I last read it a few years ago—but it gives you a sense of what Gan Eden is, how utterly beyond us and exalted it is. He puts it into words; he paints a picture. And then he says: this is Gan Eden of the World of Asiyah. That’s here, close to us. So when we speak about the World of Yetzirah, the World of Beriah, Atzilus, and higher and higher and higher, and contemplate Hashem’s greatness—that all the worlds, even the very highest, are truly as nothing, counted as nothing at all. For all the abundance and vitality of even the higher worlds comes only from a ray and a reflection. A ray and a reflection of what? Of one letter of His blessed name. Which letter?

13:53 Speaker 4 Yud.

13:54 Speaker 1 Hm?

13:54 Speaker 4 Yud.

13:55 Speaker 1 The higher worlds are from the yud, and our world, as we learned in the previous Igeres—

13:59 Speaker 4 Hei.

13:59 Speaker 1 From the hei. As the saying goes: “The World to Come was created with a yud,” and so on. Now, in this ray and reflection—which is an extension, just the extension of the vitality. An extension of what? Not an extension of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, but of His name. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s name is itself only a reflection. A person’s name is not connected to the person himself, to his essence. Two people can have completely different personalities and the same name. A name is only a reflection; it isn’t the person himself. And what gives life to all the worlds, even the very highest, is only an extension from one letter of the name. So when we speak of the ray and reflection that is only an extension of the vitality from His blessed name, which gives life to the higher and lower worlds, there is a difference there between higher and lower: this world was created with a hei, and the other world with a yud, and so on. The same applies to all the differences in the details of each world. Not only are there differences between the higher and lower worlds; the details within each individual world, too, all depend on the different combinations of letters. And likewise the differences in time—past, present, and future—and everything that happens as times change. Think about what you’ve been through just since this morning. Right? Each person can think about what they’ve seen and heard within their own four cubits in the past hour. All the changes, transformations, and variations in all the worlds—what are they? Only changes in combinations and permutations, all from a ray of the name, from one letter. Everything comes from the changing combinations of letters, through which vitality is drawn from His blessed attributes, as explained in Likkutei Amarim, part two, chapter 11. We learned that. But of His blessed essence and being it is written, “I, Hashem, have not changed.” There are no changes in Him, nor does the progression from the loftiest heights down to the very lowest level bring about any change in Him. What does it mean that the progression brings about

16:11 Speaker 1 no change in Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Just as He is present in the higher realms, so He is present, absolutely equally, in the lower realms, as explained in Likkutei Amarim, part one, chapter 51. The same applies to changes in time: just as He alone was one and unique before the Six Days of Creation, so He is now, after creation. That is because everything is truly as nothing in relation to His essence and being. All the worlds, with all their permutations, changes, combinations, times, places, qualities, and levels, are like a single letter of a person’s speech—or even of his thought—in relation to the entirety of his thinking soul and its essence, by way of analogy. And that analogy is only to make the idea intelligible: all the worlds are like one letter compared to Him. Why is it only to make the idea intelligible? Because in truth there is no comparison, as explained elsewhere in Likkutei Amarim, part two, chapter 9. When we say that all the worlds are as nothing compared to Him, like one letter of speech compared to the essence of the soul, the soul’s essence does, after all, have some connection to letters. It’s a relationship beyond comparison, but there is some connection. His essence and being, however, bear no relation to the worlds—not even that kind of relationship. And he continues with the contemplation. We contemplate Hashem’s greatness in order to feel compassion, to awaken compassion for the soul. Right? So we contemplate what Hashem’s greatness means: that all the worlds, even the highest, and all their changes and combinations, are as nothing compared to Him. This is what we say in davening: “The King, exalted alone since then.” What does “exalted alone since then” mean? Just as He alone existed before creation, so now He is exalted and raised above the days of the world. Meaning that He is infinitely above the dimension of time called “the days of the world.” Just as He is above the dimension of space, He is also above the dimension of time. That is because the vitality of all the days of the world—

18:28 Speaker 1 What are “the days of the world”? That refers to the dimension of time. Earlier we said He is above the vitality of the worlds, meaning the dimension of space. He is also above the vitality of the days of the world, the dimension of time. For the vitality of all the days of the world comes only from the aspect of “King,” and “King,” again, is only a name, and so on, as explained elsewhere. And so, after each of us contemplates at length and in depth the immense greatness, exaltedness, and transcendence of the blessed Ein Sof, we reach this conclusion: there is very, very great compassion to be felt for the spark dwelling in the dark, gloomy body, the “skin of the snake.” After all, my soul is literally a part of G-d above, an actual spark of G-dliness. And that Creator, the infinite essence and being—something of Him has descended to be clothed in my body, which is called the skin of the snake. My body is capable of becoming impure, even if in practice I haven’t become impure and haven’t committed any sins. A person can sin; the possibility is there. So the very fact that this spark of G-dliness is forced to live in a body that can commit sins, a body to which sin is even relevant, is itself a terrible descent for the spark. And beyond that, it can become sullied by all the desires, may Hashem protect us. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not protect that spark and give it counsel and strength to fight the body and its desires and overcome them, it could not overcome the body. That is why we go on to say, “Master of our strength,” and “Shield of our salvation,” and so on. So we say: “The King, exalted alone since then; the Rock of our stronghold; Master of our strength; Shield of our salvation.” Right? That is precisely the contemplation. “The King, exalted alone since then” is contemplation of Hashem’s greatness. “The Rock of our stronghold; Master of our strength” means that He gives us the strength to fight the body. “Shield of our salvation” means that He saves us from becoming sullied by desires. So what, in essence, has he explained from the beginning of the Igeres up to this point?

21:03 Speaker 1 He asked what it means—what is that “truth” given as a reward to someone who gives tzedakah? So he began explaining the attribute of compassion, what it means to work on compassion. Working on compassion means contemplating Hashem’s greatness, and then awakening compassion in your heart for the G-dliness that descended to become enclothed in your soul, while you now put it into desires or, G-d forbid, even into sins. And even without that, the very fact that it enters my body and gives me life is already enough to have compassion for it. So that is the work of compassion. We still haven’t explained what this has to do with truth, right? This is the work of Yaakov, the work of compassion. What does that work mean? “Now, it is known”—meaning everyone knows—“that there are two kinds of fear and love.” There are two kinds of fear and love. We’ve spoken about this many times. The first are fear and love born of understanding and awareness of Hashem’s greatness, and of the things that lead to love and fear of Hashem. That is the first kind: a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness until a longing to draw close to Him awakens in him—love of Hashem—or a fear and awe of His greatness, leading him to refrain from sin. Love and fear. That is one kind. “And the latter,” the second kind of love and fear, “come afterward from Above as a gift, as explained elsewhere concerning the verse, ‘I give your priesthood as a service of gift.’” So there is the work of love and fear, where a person can awaken love and fear within himself, and there is a love and fear that come from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They are not his own; rather, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives them to him as a gift. When does Hakadosh Boruch Hu give this gift? To whom does He give it?

23:27 Speaker 1 “And certainly there is no comparison at all between the former, which are products of the created intellect, and the latter,” the latter love and fear, “which come from the Creator, blessed be His Name.” That is something altogether different. Clearly, if a person has love and fear that arose through his own contemplation—love and fear of Hashem—they cannot be compared at all to the love and fear Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him as a gift, by His own power. That is something altogether different. “And therefore the latter—”

23:55 Speaker 5 When does Hakadosh Boruch Hu give this love and fear? It’s as though—

23:58 Speaker 1 He only said they come afterward. When a person makes an effort in love and fear—

24:05 Speaker 5 “And therefore—”

24:05 Speaker 1 He doesn’t write afterward how they come afterward. “Afterward.” First of all, there is a condition: you have to toil. Then we’ll see what happens next. But before a person toils in ordinary love and fear, there is nothing to talk about. First you have to show that you are a vessel, that you are willing. Now he is speaking about that higher love and fear. And because they are beyond any comparison with the love and fear a person awakens within himself through his contemplation, “therefore it is they that are called ‘truth.’” So what is truth? The reward of truth. Truth means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives a person the real truth—His own truth. The truth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is love and fear that are not the person’s own. They are the love and fear of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When a person merits that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him His love and fear, which are called truth, that person is already something else. He no longer appears as he did before. He already takes on the appearance of a tzaddik. I imagine that most of you, at least, don’t remember when we learned chapter 13 in the first part. There he discussed and defined the avodah of a beinoni—what a beinoni is like. In general, he says there that there are three levels of beinoni. There is a beinoni like most of us. During davening, love and fear might even awaken in his heart, but after davening he has to guard himself carefully all day. Thoughts and imaginings keep coming to him, and he has to fight himself. If he doesn’t fight, he might fall. That is an ordinary beinoni. There is another beinoni—there are infinitely many levels, of course—but there is a beinoni on a

26:10 Speaker 1 higher level. A beinoni on a higher level is someone who simply learns Torah all day. He learns Torah, davens, performs mitzvos. All day long, he has taken himself firmly in hand, set the whole world aside, and stays with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Since he is learning Torah all day, davening all day, occupied with mitzvos all day, he has no stray thoughts. It isn’t because he has no yetzer hara. He certainly does. But he is constantly occupied—physically, mentally, and emotionally. He keeps himself occupied with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, holding himself firmly in check all the time. So he says Tehillim, and he has a yetzer hara inside—he feels it keenly—but the yetzer hara can’t do anything. It isn’t given a chance. He doesn’t let it get a foot in the door. He is immersed in this all the time. A beinoni. He has a yetzer hara. In general, a beinoni is someone who has a yetzer hara, but it does not find expression. There is a person like that. Why doesn’t it find expression? It doesn’t find expression in action, but it enters his thoughts and tries to make him fall. So there is a battle. Then there is someone who learns, davens, and gives tzedakah all day; he simply gives the yetzer hara no chance to get in. So the yetzer hara does not find expression in him, but he does have one. That is the second level, and of course it is much higher. Not many people can keep themselves occupied with Torah and mitzvos all day without a break, twenty-four seven. That is a level. There is an

27:48 Speaker 1 even higher level. There is a level of beinoni who, even when he is involved in mundane matters—conducting business or whatever else he is doing—still keeps himself as though he were davening.

28:08 Speaker 5 In the matters of someone davening.

28:10 Speaker 1 What?

28:10 Speaker 5 You mean the state of someone davening?

28:12 Speaker 1 What’s that?

28:13 Speaker 5 The state of someone davening.

28:14 Speaker 1 Ah, yes—as though... “He appears to himself like a beinoni who davens all day.” Yes. He remembers that he davened in the morning. When he davened that morning, he was on an elevated level; he had love and fear. And he keeps his mind fixed on the love and fear he had during davening, all the time, without disconnecting from it. Right? A beinoni like that—try telling him apart from a tzaddik. How would you?

28:41 Speaker 5 That was Rabba’s mistake, in fact.

28:43 Speaker 1 That was Rabba’s mistake. How could he? How? Not only could others not tell the difference; he himself could not tell the difference between himself and a tzaddik. He has love and fear of Hashem all day long—real love, a love of delight, without a break. Does he have a yetzer hara? He is a beinoni, he doesn’t... Right? Does he still have a yetzer hara? Yes. But because he keeps himself immersed in that state all the time, the yetzer hara does not find expression in him even for a moment. That does not mean he doesn’t have one; he does. The moment he stops, it will return. Rabba said this about himself—that was his mistake. Right? He told himself, “All I am is a beinoni. Why do I never have any thoughts like that? Because I keep myself in hand all the time.” That came from his humility, but this is already a point where a person can make a mistake. So what does “You give truth to Yaakov” mean? “You give truth to Yaakov” means a Jew to whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu has given His own truth. G-dliness has been revealed in his soul. He feels Hakadosh Boruch Hu and loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu—not because he understands that there is G-dliness. He truly loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu because he lives with G-dliness. To reach such a state—to sense and feel G-dliness, to see G-dliness with your own eyes—you have to receive it as a gift, not through your own efforts. Through his own efforts, a person can awaken longing within himself, fiery passion, and love and fear on very high levels. But he cannot make himself feel it. Either it is given to him or it isn’t. It comes from Above. That is called truth. So let’s read line twelve: “And therefore this love and fear are the ones called ‘truth,’”

30:30 Speaker 1 For the seal of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is truth. He is the ultimate truth, and all the truth found in created beings is as nothing before Him”—it counts for nothing compared with His truth. “But what is the path by which a person can attain Hashem’s truth?” How can a person receive such a gif—such a gift? “It is by arousing great compassion before Hashem for the spark in his soul. This is the attribute of Yaakov, which runs from one end to the other.” We said that when a person contemplates the greatness of Hashem, what can he arouse in his heart? Love and awe, right? But what kind of love and awe are born from the intellect? If he wants to receive love and awe from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the way is through compassion. “For the attribute of Yaakov runs from one end to the other.” You see that phrase, “from one end to the other”—where does the verse say that something runs from one end to the other? What is it referring to, do you remember?

31:36 Speaker 5 The Mishkan.

31:37 Speaker 1 Right, the Mishkan.

31:39 Speaker 5 The middle bar.

31:40 Speaker 1 The middle bar. There were five bars there, right? In the Mishkan, on each side of the Mishkan, there were upright boards of acacia wood, and... they were joined together so they wouldn’t fall this way and that. How were they joined? On the outer side, each board had rings. They would insert bars through the rings to connect all the boards together. So there were two bars at the top and two at the bottom, because it was very long. But there was one more bar that ran from one end to the other, along the entire length. And not merely from one end to the other: the other four bars were held by rings on the outside, while the middle bar, first of all, was in the middle, halfway up, and it wasn’t on the outside. Instead, a hole ran through the boards, and the bar passed from one end to the other inside them, deep inside, joining everything into one piece from within. And that is the attribute of Yaakov, which connects one end to the other. Yaakov’s attribute is compassion, and compassion is Tiferes, the middle line. The middle line rises to the secret of the Infinite. So only through the middle line, through compassion, can one grasp the uppermost end—the Essence and Being of the Infinite, blessed be He, the truth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—and bring it down to me, into my intellect and feelings. What is the path by which a person can attain Hashem’s truth? It is by arousing great compassion before Hashem for the spark in his soul. This is the attribute of Yaakov, which runs from one end to the other—that is, from the loftiest heights down to the very lowest level—to draw Hashem’s truth into this lowly, dark world. As he said earlier, into this dark and dim body of mine. And as it is written—what is this dark world?—“Though I sit in darkness, Hashem is a light for me.” Even when the spark of G-dliness sits within the darkness, within

34:00 Speaker 1 my dark body, as our Sages called it, Hashem is a light for me here too. How? Through the attribute of Yaakov. And this is the meaning of “For His kindness has prevailed over us”: Hashem’s kindness, Hashem’s truth, reaches high and descends all the way to us. It can overcome the darkness of the world and shine within me too. But the arousal of great compassion before Hashem must also be genuine. To arouse Hashem’s truth, my own arousal has to be genuine. I must truly have compassion for the spark of G-dliness. How can I arouse the attribute of truth if, for me, it’s just an act? I need to feel genuine compassion. And beyond that, even when it is genuine for him—okay, I’ve managed to arouse it, and I really do have compassion for the spark of G-dliness. I’ve reached that point. Still, how can his truth, the truth of a created being, arouse the supernal compassion and Hashem’s truth? What is the connection? The answer is the attribute of tzedakah. Tzedakah is compassion for one who has nothing of his own, nothing with which to sustain himself. It is compassion that revives the spirit of the lowly, and so on. And an arousal from below brings about an arousal from above. So even when a person has already labored in the service of love and awe and labored to develop compassion, still, for this to happen—for his truth to be able to arouse Hashem’s truth—he needs to give tzedakah. Because when he actually gives and shows compassion for another person, compassion is shown to him. Through an arousal from below comes an arousal from above: Hashem awakens those who sleep and rouses those who slumber. Who are these sleepers and slumberers whom Hashem awakens through the arousal from below? They are the great compassion and supernal kindnesses that are hidden. Because they are hidden, they are called “slumbering”—as if they are not active. They emerge from concealment into revelation and shine with great radiance, illuminating the world with the light of life, Hashem’s truth. This is why the language of sowing is used for tzedakah—yes, “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout.”

36:36 Speaker 1 There is another entire Igeres Hakodesh with that as its heading. We’ll get to it, but it’s the same idea, very similar to what is said here: when a person sows tzedakah, or takes a few coins and gives them to someone who has nothing, moved by compassion, that arouses the supernal compassion, Hashem’s truth, causing the supernal truth, Hashem’s truth, to sprout. And this applies to all tzedakah, but especially to the tzedakah and true kindness performed for the Holy Land—may it be established and rebuilt speedily in our days, amen—in fulfillment of the verse, “Truth shall sprout from the earth.” When a Jew sustains the physical Holy Land, he also gives life to the supernal Holy Land, to Malchus of Atzilus. Just as he gives life down here, he draws down life above as well. By sowing tzedakah in it, and the kindness and great compassion gathered into it—into Malchus of the Land of Israel below—they also arouse the hidden and concealed supernal kindnesses within Knesses Yisroel above, as it is written, “which You have stored away... for those who fear You,” to establish it and raise it up. And this is what is meant by “Through tzedakah you shall be established.” So we had one Igeres Hakodesh that spoke about the virtue of tzedakah: it protects us from harmful things. Then we said that tzedakah also brings us all the material abundance in the world. Then there was another Igeres Hakodesh that said tzedakah also redeems our soul from exile. And here it adds that tzedakah also gives a person—reveals within a person—Hashem’s truth, the supernal love and awe that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him when he has compassion for another person and gives tzedakah.