Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 8

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, this letter too, Epistle 8, isn’t particularly long or particularly difficult. It has a message, as all the epistles do, and as everything in the Alter Rebbe’s approach does. Every chapter has a point the Rebbe wants us to understand—something he wants to convey here—but it isn’t especially hard to understand.

00:25 Speaker 2 These are easy epistles.

00:27 Speaker 1 What are the difficult, long epistles? We don’t have that many epistles in Igeres Hakodesh. Later there’s an epistle—

00:34 Speaker 2 Epistle 5 was long.

00:34 Speaker 1 Epistle 5 was long. Later there’s 15, 20, 25, 26. There are a few more, but most of them really are...

00:46 Speaker 2 That’s the idea of an epistle, isn’t it? Not a whole lesson.

00:50 Speaker 1 Yes. The Alter Rebbe wrote these letters mainly to encourage people to give tzedakah. All right, let’s look inside. “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout”—we say that in davening. And the Alter Rebbe raises a question. He doesn’t state it outright, but that’s the point: What does it mean to sow tzedakah? Tzedakah isn’t something you sow. Why use the language of sowing for tzedakah? The language of sowing that we use in davening about the mitzvah of tzedakah comes from a verse. The verse says, “Sow for yourselves tzedakah”—I’ll finish the verse—“and reap according to kindness.” So the Alter Rebbe says that the Sages took this expression, sowing tzedakah, directly from the verse. Let’s look at what the verse says, and then we’ll understand the idea of sowing too—what “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout” means. And this will be understood... Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came into being.

02:04 Speaker 2 Amen. He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to sprout. Good.

02:13 Speaker 1 I was really counting on this coffee today.

02:15 Speaker 2 Oh, yeah?

02:16 Speaker 1 So the opening of the epistle is that we want to understand how the language of sowing applies to tzedakah. You sow seeds; you sow kernels. What does it mean to sow tzedakah? It will be understood, says the Alter Rebbe, from what our Sages said: “Rabbi Eliezer would give a coin to a poor person and then pray.” What does “and then pray” mean? What does it—

02:52 Speaker 2 Redemption, rescue.

02:54 Speaker 1 What do the words “and then pray” mean? Translate them into plain Hebrew.

02:59 Speaker 2 He prays. That’s the lesson today.

03:01 Speaker 1 “Then” means afterward.

03:05 Speaker 2 “Pray” means he prays.

03:06 Speaker 1 “Pray” means he prays. And afterward he would pray. Every morning he would give tzedakah to a poor person and then pray. That is the first basis for our practice of giving tzedakah before davening: it says that Rabbi Eliezer would give a coin to a poor person and then pray. And where did Rabbi Eliezer get this practice? The Gemara says that when he was asked where he got it from, he said, “There is a verse: ‘Through tzedakah I shall behold Your face.’” When does a Jew go to behold the face of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? When do we meet Hakadosh Boruch Hu? During davening. So since it says, “Through tzedakah I shall behold Your face,” before I behold Your face, before I daven, I give tzedakah. He learned it from the verse. What does it mean that during davening we see the face of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? It means that the revelation of His G-dliness in a person’s thoughts and concentration during davening, each according to his own capacity, comes as tzedakah and as Hashem’s kindness “from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him.” The point the Alter Rebbe is making here is that when a Jew davens as he should, Hashem’s innermost dimension—“Your face”—is revealed to him. We’ve spoken several times about the words “Your face, Hashem, I seek.” We want the innermost dimension of G-dliness to be revealed to us. So what does “Through tzedakah I shall behold Your face” mean? That during davening, the innermost dimension of G-dliness can be revealed to a Jew. Of course, that requires the work of davening and contemplation, but it happens specifically when one first gives tzedakah. In other words, if he doesn’t give tzedakah before davening, all his contemplative work won’t help. So we need to understand what it is about tzedakah that brings this about. What special effect, what special quality does tzedakah have

05:33 Speaker 1 that when I give it before davening, Hashem’s innermost dimension is revealed to me? What is this? Here is what he says: The light of Hashem, the blessed Ein Sof—His innermost dimension—shines above. Where is it ordinarily revealed? Only in the higher worlds. There it is revealed with an intense radiance, so powerfully that all the higher worlds are truly nullified. Why are they nullified? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu reveals Himself to them. To such an extent that “everything before Him is considered as nothing.” More precisely, it isn’t that they feel themselves to be nothing; the overwhelming revelation causes them to stop feeling themselves altogether. In their own experience, their separate existence is nullified, until they become incorporated into His light. And what are those worlds where Hashem’s innermost dimension is revealed, causing them to be nullified to Him? They are the heavenly chambers, with the angels and souls within them, described in the holy Zohar by name and by place, in the order of davening established for us by the Men of the Great Assembly. The Men of the Great Assembly established our davening, and the holy Zohar explains where its words allude to the chambers, souls, angels, and wondrous things in the higher worlds. That is where Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed—His innermost dimension, His face, G-dliness itself, the light of the Ein Sof. That is where He is revealed, in the higher worlds. “And from there, the light, which is good, shines into this lowly world.” How does that make sense? The light of the Ein Sof is ordinarily revealed to those who are nullified to Him. Who can be nullified to Him? The angels, the heavenly chambers, the souls in those worlds. They are refined and can become nullified, and therefore He can be revealed to them. So how do we explain Hashem’s light suddenly being revealed down here? Where? “Upon those who fear Hashem and contemplate His name.” Fine, a person fears Heaven and contemplates His name. He thinks about Hakadosh Boruch Hu,

08:12 Speaker 1 thinks and reflects on Hashem’s greatness. Fine, but he is a soul in a body, and his body—like the body of every one of us—conceals the soul. No matter how much a person thinks and reflects on Hashem’s greatness, how could this happen? How is it possible for Hashem’s light, which shines and is revealed in the higher worlds and chambers, among the souls above, to suddenly be revealed to me while I daven? How could such a thing be? I may think about it and want it to be revealed, but what I want seems impossible. How can it happen? Those who fear Hashem and contemplate His name want to serve Him through the service of the heart—that is davening. Maybe these are just stories we’re being told, and it really can’t happen. It could be like what you tell a little child who keeps saying, “I want it, I want it.” Well, practice wanting it. You want it, but it isn’t possible. So what if you want it? You want it, and I won’t give it to you. I can’t give it to you.

09:20 Speaker 3 Until he realizes you’ll give in and give it to him after all.

09:22 Speaker 1 Huh?

09:22 Speaker 3 Until he realizes you’ll give in and give it to him after all.

09:24 Speaker 1 Yes, but... all right, that’s something you can give. There are things you can’t give. He wants...

09:33 Speaker 3 Give me an example of something you can’t give.

09:38 Speaker 1 There’s a project I’ve been working on for a while now. Maybe I told you about it once. A group of us are developing some software. Two or three weeks ago, I decided it was moving too slowly. I have to sit down and learn programming. I have to help out, put my hand to it, so things will start moving. So I looked at some university course outlines from around here. How can I do it? I want to, but I don’t have a year right now to put everything aside and spend three, four, five hours a day studying. I want to. I want to, but I can’t. So what if you want to? How can the light of the blessed Ein Sof be revealed to a soul in a body? The Alter Rebbe says this really isn’t his own idea or invention. There’s a verse: “Hashem, my G-d, will illuminate my darkness.” True, I’m in a dark body, as he’ll say later in this chapter. Just a moment.

10:44 Speaker 3 What? What are you doing? What a mixture. What did you do? That’s a mixture. I’m staying with... Yes.

11:05 Speaker 1 Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought the soul down into a physical body called mishcha dechivya, “the serpent’s skin.” The body comes from...

11:14 Speaker 3 What?

11:14 Speaker 1 What?

11:16 Speaker 3 Mishcha dechivya.

11:16 Speaker 1 Yes, and the Alter Rebbe repeats this several times in Tanya, in Igeres Hakodesh, and a little later in this epistle too. It’s unpleasant, but that’s the reality. The body... What does “serpent” mean? It means the primordial serpent, right?

11:32 Speaker 3 He was the one who caused the sin.

11:33 Speaker 1 He was the one who caused the sin, and we still suffer from his descendants to this day. That’s true, but the serpent here means the side of the sitra achra, the side of the kelipos. Our body comes from the kelipos. The fact that our body wants to be warm and comfortable and have tasty food doesn’t come from holiness; it comes from the sitra achra. And our desires for this world conceal and cover over the G-dly feeling, preventing it from being revealed within us. So yes, there is a soul, but the soul is covered by the body, and that is called darkness. When there is darkness, there is no light. When something covers the light, the light cannot be revealed. So what does this mean? It’s very nice that you want this, that you contemplate and are among those who “think of His name.” You really are one of those who think of His name. But how can you want something that seems impossible? The Alter Rebbe says: Yes, there is such a thing. There is a verse: “And Hashem, my G-d, will illuminate my darkness.” There is a reality in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu illuminates a Jew’s darkness, right here below, as a soul in a body, during davening. “The descent of this illumination below, into this world, is called Hashem’s kindness.” That already gives us a little understanding. In other words, our question was: How can “Your face, Hashem”—Hashem’s inner presence, Hashem’s light—be revealed to me down here during davening, so that I feel G-dliness? What is revealed to you? Hashem’s kindness. Kindness is a revelation that is like water: it descends from above to below, from a high place to a low place. The nature of kindness is to descend. It is above; you are below. So it descends and is revealed. “The descent of this illumination below, into this world, is called Hashem’s kindness, which is likened to water descending from a high place to a low place,” and so on. So based on this... At first glance, that could be a good explanation. Ah, how can it be

13:44 Speaker 1 that Hashem’s kindness, the G-dly light, is revealed to those who fear Hashem and think of His name? Because its nature is to descend and be revealed, like water. Leave water alone, and it flows downward. Kindness has the same quality. True, it is lofty and spiritual, but it can descend all the way to a place of darkness, to the physical body, and be revealed here too. If you just want it and daven, it will be revealed. The Alter Rebbe says: That isn’t enough. Why? First of all, the verse from which Rabbi Elazar learned to give tzedakah to a poor person and then daven tells us that if you don’t give tzedakah, the kindness doesn’t descend on its own. That’s what it says. But according to this explanation, why do you need tzedakah? If Hashem’s light has the nature of kindness, and its nature is to descend and be revealed, why do you need tzedakah? That’s its nature. It’s like water. You don’t have to do anything to it... You don’t have to give tzedakah for water to flow from above to below. It flows. Yes. So what is the point of tzedakah after all? He begins to explain it now. “Now, it is known that above there is also the attribute of severity and contraction.” Above, in G-dliness, there is not only kindness; there is also severity and contraction. And what do severity and contraction do? They contract and conceal His blessed light so that it will not be revealed to those below. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. We learned this in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, where it is discussed at great length. In chapter 4 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, he explains that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the beings, there is the attribute of greatness and the attribute of severity. Do you remember that?

15:43 Speaker 4 Severity, yes.

15:44 Speaker 1 Hmm?

15:45 Speaker 4 Severity, yes.

15:46 Speaker 1 Creation, the creation of the world, takes place through the name Havayah. The name Havayah brings created beings into existence from nothing. Ah, but if the name Havayah brings them into existence, they should be nullified in their source and root, not feel themselves to be independent entities.

16:04 Speaker 4 The name Elokim, which contracts.

16:05 Speaker 1 There is the name Elokim, which conceals. In other words, what does the name Elokim accomplish? It conceals the G-dly light from created beings, and therefore they feel themselves to be independent entities. Yes. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to be King over worlds. To be a king, a person... Just as a person cannot be king over his own children, only over people who are his subjects, Hakadosh Boruch Hu had to create a certain distance, so to speak. So the name Elokim conceals the G-dly light so that it is not revealed to created beings. What exactly that means and how it is explained isn’t our concern right now. And because they don’t feel Him, they have a sense of their own existence, and so His desire can be fulfilled: Hakadosh Boruch Hu can be King. But if the name Elokim conceals, contracts and hides the G-dly light so it will not be revealed, what does it matter that the light is kindness and its nature is to reveal itself? Something is stopping it from being revealed.

17:14 Speaker 4 Like a dam holding back water.

17:17 Speaker 1 Yes. Is the question clear? So it’s true that, by its nature, the G-dly light should be revealed to anyone who wants it. But there is the name Elokim, which obscures, covers and conceals it, preventing it from being revealed. The Alter Rebbe says: “But it all depends on an awakening from below.” If a person acts with kindness—what does that mean? That he does acts of kindness, giving life and kindness, and so on—he arouses the same response above. As our Sages said, “With the measure a person measures, he is measured.” So if a person gives kindness to the poor before davening, we might say: Now he will be treated measure for measure. Just as he gives kindness to the poor, he will be treated with kindness, and the kindness, the G-dly light, “Your face, Hashem, I seek,” will be revealed to him.

18:20 Speaker 4 That’s what we did.

18:22 Speaker 1 That could be a nice solution, but the Alter Rebbe says it doesn’t work. This is already the second stage. Right? The first stage was: How is it possible for this to be revealed at all? Yes, it can be revealed; there is a verse. Then he says: Not only can it be revealed, it can be revealed on its own, because that is its very nature. Wait—how can it be revealed on its own? Isn’t there something blocking it? There is something blocking it, but there is also measure for measure. Fine, that was our answer up to this point. But the Alter Rebbe says, in line fourteen: “Yet, at first glance, to give him a revelation of G-dliness is not within the measure.” It isn’t measure for measure. Why? Because measure for measure would be “only to grant him the life of the World to Come in return for his granting the life of this world.” When a person gives tzedakah, what does he give? The life of this world. What should he be given in return?

19:25 Speaker 4 The World to Come.

19:25 Speaker 1 The life of the World to Come. What is he actually given?

19:28 Speaker 4 A revelation of G-dliness.

19:29 Speaker 1 A revelation of G-dliness. What’s the difference?

19:34 Speaker 4 A greater reward.

19:36 Speaker 1 Hmm?

19:37 Speaker 4 A bigger reward.

19:39 Speaker 1 Yes. What’s the difference between a revelation of G-dliness and the life of the World to Come?

19:43 Speaker 4 That’s more or less the same thing, isn’t it?

19:45 Speaker 1 Hmm?

19:45 Speaker 4 If you define the life of the World to Come as Moshiach, then it’s as though he received it.

19:49 Speaker 1 Or the life of the World to Come is Gan Eden.

19:51 Speaker 4 Gan Eden. That’s a different matter.

19:54 Speaker 1 Yes.

19:55 Speaker 4 We’re... I’m not talking about Moshiach. I’ll come back to that point now. As we get into it, he’s supposed to receive Gan Eden. Why is he suddenly receiving something here in this world? Even if he will also receive something in the World to Come.

20:08 Speaker 1 Let’s see what the Alter Rebbe says.

20:13 Speaker 4 Yes.

20:13 Speaker 1 “But not to grant him the life of the illumination of Hashem’s actual infinite light, which will illuminate and brighten his darkness in this service of the heart, which is davening.” What does “the life of Hashem’s actual infinite light” mean? That G-dliness is revealed to a person during davening. What is revealed? The level and degree of teshuvah ila’ah, higher teshuvah, is revealed to him, as is known. Do you remember what we discussed about higher teshuvah in Igeres Hateshuvah? What’s the difference between lower teshuvah and higher teshuvah? It’s not...

20:51 Speaker 4 Higher teshuvah is what tzaddikim do.

20:53 Speaker 1 Teshuvah... No, tzaddikim don’t need to do higher teshuvah.

20:56 Speaker 4 No, it’s the second level, where there’s warmth, where it’s much more...

21:00 Speaker 1 Every one of us who comes to keep mitzvos, to draw closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to serve Hashem, to learn Torah and to daven has two general approaches to... Good evening.

21:21 Speaker 4 You saw that the last one was unusual.

21:25 Speaker 1 Without getting into all the details or the very long and deep explanation there, in terms of how we feel as human beings, in plain language, there are two ways we approach fulfilling Hashem’s will. I’m not talking about people who do things by rote, because that’s how they were brought up. I’m talking about someone who acts thoughtfully, because he genuinely wants to fulfill Hashem’s will. Usually, we do things because we know we have to. I believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and I know this is the right thing to do, even though I don’t understand exactly why we do every mitzvah—and we certainly don’t understand all its details. But I know this is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, and I have kabbolas ol. So I have to do it, and I do it. I have to daven, so I daven. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said it has to be with a congregation, so it will be with a congregation. You need a minyan, you need this, you need to say Kaddish. Fine, that’s what you have to do. You do what’s required. And there’s a different way of relating to it, which each of us also experiences from time to time: I do it because it’s good for me. It’s good for me. I seek it out. I feel at home there.

22:58 Speaker 4 Isn’t that close to doing it for an ulterior motive?

23:01 Speaker 1 No, not doing it for some benefit.

23:04 Speaker 4 For the pleasure of it, to feel good.

23:06 Speaker 1 No, no, no.

23:07 Speaker 4 You do it because...

23:07 Speaker 1 There’s a big difference between doing something to receive a reward—knowing that if I put on tefillin now, I’ll get Gan Eden—and putting on tefillin so I’ll feel good. Certainly not so that I’ll feel good. No, I’m not talking about that; we’re not talking about wicked people. I mean someone who feels that this is where his responsibility lies, where he belongs. Chanukah is coming, say, and all he can think about is the menorahs, the vehicles, the mivtzoim. It does him good. He seeks it out. No one is breathing down his neck. Chanukah comes, and what does he do? Does he open the Shulchan Aruch to find out what time the candles have to be lit, looking for what he has to do and when? That isn’t his approach. It’s not about what he has to do, but about where he himself belongs. In Chassidus, these are called a servant and a son. A servant fulfills his master’s will because his master said so—because he is the master and I am the servant. A son fulfills his father’s will because he loves his father, and more than that...

24:16 Speaker 1 Let’s put it the other way around: he takes responsibility for it, as they say. It’s his. He doesn’t do it because he was told to. He doesn’t do it because he has to, but because he feels it belongs to him. And more than that, because he loves Him. This is the concept of teshuvah ila’ah. Teshuvah ila’ah means that a person feels at one with G-dliness. G-dliness is good for him. As explained there in Tanya, teshuvah ila’ah as it is meant to be comes after teshuvah tata’ah, with all the explanations and contemplation that precede it. Then the movement of teshuvah ila’ah is that a person simply loathes all worldly matters, with his whole life and all his feelings directed toward seeking G-dliness. You can often see this in young men who open Chabad Houses. You just see it in them. He lives it, he talks about it; giving classes and organizing mivtzoim—that’s his life. Try talking to him about other things, and you can see they simply don’t interest him. That’s teshuvah ila’ah. And of teshuvah ila’ah, our Sages said, on line twenty-one, that it is far, far higher than all the life of the World to Come. It’s not just a little higher, as was said earlier. It’s something else entirely. The life of the World to Come is a radiance of G-dliness. Teshuvah ila’ah is the essence of G-dliness, G-dliness itself. When a Jew davens, he can reach that—actually, it isn’t just that he can reach it; it’s something that happens to everyone. He simply feels that “closeness to G-d is good for me,” and more than that, that it’s his life. He simply delights in it. And that is higher than all the life of the World to Come. As our Sages said: “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds is better

26:33 Speaker 1 than all the life of the World to Come.” One moment for a Jew, one hour—yes, one turn toward Hashem, one time in davening, which is an aspect of teshuvah, an aspect of teshuvah ila’ah. A Jew davens once and feels a sense of belonging, of closeness, of G-dliness in his davening. That moment is worth more than all the life of the World to Come. That means more than all the Gan Eden of all the tzaddikim throughout all the generations.

27:02 Speaker 5 All together, or higher than each one?

27:03 Speaker 1 All together.

27:08 Speaker 5 And that’s one small moment, say, in the middle of davening, or...?

27:11 Speaker 1 Yes. “One hour of teshuvah”—that’s what our Sages said. Why? Because all the life of the World to Come, everything there from its lowest level to its highest, is only a radiance.

27:26 Speaker 5 But it also says that one hour of spiritual pleasure in the World to Come is better...

27:29 Speaker 1 Hmm?

27:30 Speaker 5 It also says that one hour of spiritual pleasure in the World to Come is better...

27:32 Speaker 1 Yes, certainly. We don’t feel this, or we don’t feel all of it. We feel only a little of it. But when a Jew delights in G-dliness here, he unites with the essence of G-dliness. Hashem’s kindness—His face, the inner aspect of G-dliness—descends to him and is revealed in his soul here, while he is in a physical body in this world. And he does feel something of it. There’s a saying in Hayom Yom. I don’t remember the exact wording from beginning to end, but it says that the soul descends—the Rebbe did say that the soul descends into this world for seventy or seventy-six years.

28:10 Speaker 5 In order to do...

28:12 Speaker 1 No, that’s not the one I meant. There’s another saying...

28:16 Speaker 5 Then everyone dies.

28:18 Speaker 1 No, perhaps I’ve got the wording wrong. A Jew is capable, in this world, in davening, of reaching a state of delighting in Hashem. So why put it off? The Alter Rebbe asks: Why put it off? What does that mean? Who is the Alter Rebbe speaking to there? Hayom Yom is a calendar, Or Zarua, for Chabad chassidim. Our Rebbe wrote it for our generation. What does it mean to delight in Hashem? That G-dliness is what gives him pleasure. This isn’t about the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim. It’s about us. So clearly the Rebbe didn’t mean that a Jew davening today would feel the same delight that there will be in the future, after the resurrection of the dead. That’s not what it means. But the essence of what is revealed within us when we unite with G-dliness during davening through teshuvah ila’ah is the very inner essence of G-dliness. And that is far, far higher than all the life of the World to Come. So what does tzedakah have to do with it? That’s the question. That’s what the Rebbe is asking. No.

29:39 Speaker 5 Thank you very much for letting us hear this, when we could have been here for half... Thank you very much. Good Shabbos. Good Shabbos. Have a good trip. What does this have to do with habit? Yossi, please—did you follow? Why tzedakah specifically here, in connection with this?

30:03 Speaker 1 We said: what was the point with which this whole section began?

30:06 Speaker 5 Tzedakah.

30:07 Speaker 1 What was the argument, the explanation for giving tzedakah before davening? Because it’s measure for measure.

30:17 Speaker 5 At the time.

30:17 Speaker 1 Because there are obstacles and hindrances, a Divine Name of Elokim that conceals, something is needed to break through that barrier. So, measure for measure, you give tzedakah in this world, and tzedakah will be given to you from Above: there will be a revelation for you. But that isn’t measure for measure. Measure for measure would be for a radiance to be revealed to a person. You give of your life in this world, and you’re given the World to Come. Why would you be given the essence of G-dliness? How does tzedakah bring about a revelation of the essence of G-dliness to a person? If it said that in return for giving tzedakah a person would feel something of Gan Eden, fine. But that’s not what it says. It says that the essence of G-dliness, the inner aspect of Hashem, is revealed to him. What does that have to do with tzedakah? Seemingly, it isn’t measure for measure. All right?

31:08 Speaker 5 But you’re being told that it really isn’t measure for measure.

31:09 Speaker 1 So it really isn’t measure for measure. Correct. We’re on lines twenty-one and twenty-two. “As our Sages said, ‘One hour of teshuvah and good deeds is better,’ etc.” As explained elsewhere at length, the World to Come is only a glow and a radiance, etc. But here we’re talking about the essence of G-dliness. “The matter is”—so what is the explanation? Here we are. What’s the secret of it? After all those introductions, what is it about tzedakah that causes the essence of G-dliness to be revealed to a Jew during davening? “The matter can be understood by way of analogy. When seeds are sown or a kernel is planted, the ear of grain that grows from the seed, and the tree and its fruit that grow from the kernel, are not at all the substance and essence of the seed or kernel.” Right? When an ear of grain grows, it isn’t made up of a kernel that got bigger. It isn’t shaped like a kernel or anything like one. It’s something entirely different.

32:13 Speaker 5 It contains kernels.

32:13 Speaker 1 Hmm?

32:14 Speaker 5 It contains kernels.

32:17 Speaker 1 There is—we’ll see in a moment, yes—there are many kernels there. Before, there was one kernel, and now there are many kernels, but the whole ear of grain and the leaves are something else. All the more so when we’re talking about the seed of a tree that you plant: a trunk, leaves, branches, and fruit grow from it. That—that’s not a seed anymore. Right? You sow one thing, and something else grows. That’s the essence of sowing. Right? “For the ear of grain that grows from the seed, and a tree and its fruits that grow from a seed, are not at all the same in nature and essence as the seed. For the seed’s own substance is consumed and decays in the earth, and it is the power of growth in the earth itself that produces and grows the ear of grain and the tree and its fruits.” So now we also understand why the tree has a different nature. There’s no reason it has to have the same nature as the seed, because it isn’t the seed that grows the tree at all. The power of growth grows it.

33:39 Speaker 5 So what was it doing there?

33:40 Speaker 1 Huh?

33:40 Speaker 5 So what was it doing there?

33:41 Speaker 1 We’ll see in a moment. But this explains why its nature really isn’t the same. It’s something else. Except that this power—and this addresses her question—“the power of growth does not bring its power out into the open, from potential into actuality, except through the seeds, which decay in the earth. All their power is absorbed into the power of growth in the earth, and they unite and become one.” Elsewhere it’s explained in more detail that when the seed becomes nullified to the earth, its spiritual power unites with the spiritual power of growth. There’s a whole explanation of it.

34:29 Speaker 5 Yes, it’s because it becomes nullified and rises a level—from inanimate to growing.

34:32 Speaker 1 “It becomes incorporated into its source and root, and through this, the power of growth brings its power into actuality.” So the one that actually grows the tree and the ear of grain isn’t the seed; it’s the power of growth. But when does it do that? When there’s a seed that caused it to—awakened it. “And it imparts vitality to grow an ear of grain resembling the seed.” Why that particular kind of ear? Because it was... because it was awakened. Since what awakened it to act was a wheat seed, it was awakened to grow something of the same kind as what awakened it. But what does the growing? Not the seed—the power of growth. “And in vastly greater quantity in a single ear. And even more so, many fruits on a single tree.” With a tree it’s much more than with an ear of grain, because with the ear it’s only a greater quantity, whereas with a tree, “the nature and essence of the fruits are vastly superior to the nature and essence of the planted seed.” Yes, with wheat, as you yourselves said earlier, before there was a kernel, and now there are kernels too. Before there was one; now there are thirty, fifty, I don’t know. There are more—a lot more. But with fruit, it’s not just more in quantity; the quality is different too. Its nature is completely different. “And likewise,” as with trees, something similar happens with produce of the earth grown from little seeds, like zucchini and the like. There too, a small seed grows into a plant with fruits whose nature is completely different. Not like kernels of wheat or rice, where the same thing grows. And ultimately, all of it—both grain and the... fruit of trees—is because the principal source and root of the fruits’ vitality flows from the power of growth in the earth. That power of growth in the earth contains the vitality of all fruits. The seeds sown in the earth are only a kind of isarusa d’lesata, called the “raising of mayin nukvin” in the writings of the Arizal. What?

37:06 Speaker 6 The last page. Wow.

37:08 Speaker 7 There are lots of sections in this letter. All the letters have lots of sections.

37:11 Speaker 1 What?

37:12 Speaker 7 I mean, it has lots of sections. Like, um, sort of, um...

37:17 Speaker 1 Not all of them, but yes, there are many like that.

37:21 Speaker 7 In [unclear], it’s divided up much more by angels.

37:25 Speaker 1 Ah, maybe. I don’t know; I’ve never looked at that. Could be. In Tanya, the division is more by chapters, according to each chapter’s subject, so the chapters themselves aren’t divided up so much. They hardly have any sections.

37:40 Speaker 7 Though it does have three sections.

37:42 Speaker 1 There are quite a few details, a few sections, but in the letters it’s more pronounced. Almost every paragraph, every subject within a letter. Right. Okay, so that’s clear. We’ve understood the analogy. Yes, so how does the application fit? Where do we see this in tzedakah—this idea of sowing? What did he explain, essentially, about what sowing means? You sow one thing and something else grows. Right, that’s basically what he explained. Where do we see it in tzedakah? In just the same way, by analogy, all the acts of tzedakah that Jews do are also sown. They rise upward as an elevation of mayin nukvin. To where? What is the earth in which the tzedakah Jews do is sown? In the root of their souls above. The root of the souls of the Jewish people above is called Knesses Yisroel, and Ima Tata’ah in the language of the Zohar, and Shechinah in the language of the Gemara. I don’t know why the Alter Rebbe brings all these names here, but let’s go over them briefly. Why is Malchus of Atzilus called Knesses Yisroel? Because it gathers in the lights of Yisroel. Who is Yisroel?

39:14 Speaker 7 The Jewish people.

39:16 Speaker 1 Yisroel is Yaakov. In Kabbalah, Yisroel is Ze’er Anpin, the middos of Atzilus. So the middos—the lights of the middos of Atzilus—shine into Malchus. Malchus has nothing of its own. All the lights it has, it receives from the middos of Atzilus. And the middos are called Yisroel, so it’s called Knesses Yisroel because it gathers within itself the lights called Yisroel.

39:43 Speaker 7 Knesses Yisroel too, or the Jewish people? The Jewish people.

39:46 Speaker 1 Wait. Knesses Yisroel is the root of Jewish souls. Now, from above downward, from below upward. So it’s called that because it receives the lights from above downward. It’s called Knesses Yisroel because it’s the root of Jewish souls: it gathers within itself the souls of all Jews. It’s also called Ima Tata’ah, because there are concepts in Kabbalah of Ima Ila’ah and Ima Tata’ah. Ima Ila’ah is Binah. Binah and Malchus. Yes. Binah is called “mother” because what does Binah give birth to? Binah gives birth to the middos. And why is Malchus called “mother”? Because what does it give birth to? The worlds, the created beings. Yes. And there’s also a connection between the way Binah gives birth and the way Malchus gives birth. They have this in common: they give birth, bringing what is within out into the open through those vessels. Both operate through letters. It’s just that Binah gives birth through the letters of thought, while Malchus gives birth through the letters of speech. We’ve spoken about this a few times, but they’re the same letters. Okay, that’s not our subject right now. So Malchus... We’re mentioning the names. I thought it would be worth, worth understanding them a little. Not understanding—mentioning. We’ve spoken about this already. We’ve mentioned all these things more than once. Is this the first time they’re being called that? Oh, yes? We’ve never spoken about it? I don’t remember... But this is only the second lesson, I’d say. Uh-huh. Ah. Shechinah in the language of the Gemara. And Shechinah in the language of the Gemara—Shechinah, because it’s the light that dwells in and is enclothed within the worlds. Whereas the light above— We did mention this name as well in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah: the G-dly light above Malchus does not dwell within the worlds. It is above the worlds; it cannot dwell below. In any case, Knesses Yisroel, the root of Jewish souls, is the earth in which, when a person gives tzedakah, the—the act,

42:00 Speaker 1 The spiritual aspect of the act of tzedakah is sown in the supernal land. Uh, “and it includes all the attributes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and is united with—” And the Shechinah includes all the attributes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and is utterly united with them. Here, too, the Rebbe alludes in half a line to a lengthy subject we learned in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, chapter 7. I’ll mention it briefly. At the beginning of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, from chapters 1 through 6, the Alter Rebbe speaks at great length about how utterly created beings are nullified to the word of Hashem. Do you remember that? Yes? Like sunlight within the sun: it is nullified within its source and origin and has no existence of its own. We discussed this with analogies, examples, and explanations. The Alter Rebbe raised questions about it and gave many explanations. So in chapters 1 through 6, he explains how created beings are nullified in their very existence and have no existence relative to their source and origin; they are utterly nullified, included within their source and origin. Then, in chapter 7, he says: Yes, but the source and origin of created beings—the word of Hashem—would seem to have an existence of its own. Fine, you’ve explained at great length that created beings are nullified to their source and origin. But their source and origin itself has an existence. That is Malchus; that is speech. When a person speaks, his speech is part of him, but it has already gone outward. Right? So what was the point of the whole lengthy explanation in chapters 1 through 6 that they are nullified to their source, if their source itself has an existence of its own? What have we accomplished? Then, once again, Hashem is not one and His name is not one. There is Him, and there is His speech. Right? To answer that, he explains that Malchus itself is united with G-dliness, through the lower unity and the higher unity. That’s chapter 7. And there he explains what it means for Malchus to be united with its source

44:29 Speaker 1 and origin. Unity is not nullification. With nullification, you have one thing that is nullified relative to another. You have emotions that are nullified relative to intellect. The emotions are emotions, and intellect is intellect—two different things. The emotions flow from intellect, are born from intellect, and are nullified to intellect. But whatever the case, ultimately the emotions are

45:01 Speaker 8 emotions.

45:01 Speaker 1 Emotions are emotions, and intellect is intellect. Two different things.

45:04 Speaker 8 But with unity, it’s actually—

45:05 Speaker 1 Unity is not two things; it’s one thing. So there he explains that Malchus of Atzilus is not nullified to G-dliness. You can say of created beings that they are nullified to G-dliness. But to say, G-d forbid, that Malchus is nullified to G-dliness? It itself is G-dliness. It is united with G-dliness. Right? So he says that when a Jew gives tzedakah, it rises upward and is sown where? In Malchus, in the word of Hashem. And the word of Hashem itself is united with G-dliness, with G-dliness itself. And if it is united with G-dliness itself, what does that arouse? It arouses Hashem’s kindness to descend and be revealed in the person’s soul as it is down here. So that’s the analogy’s meaning. Tzedakah is like sowing: you sow a seed, and something entirely different grows. Why? Because it arouses a power that isn’t at all on the same level as the seed—the essential, spiritual power of growth. The seed is physical. There’s no comparison between them, yet it arouses that power. Why? Because it is of its essence, and so on. The same is true of tzedakah. It’s true that the G-dly light that shines in a person’s soul, and in the souls of those who fear Hashem and contemplate His name, is utterly beyond the person. It is also utterly beyond the tzedakah itself. But since tzedakah is like a seed sown in the supernal land, in the source of Jewish souls, and the source of Jewish souls is united with G-dliness, it arouses G-dliness to descend and be revealed in that person’s soul. Let’s look at it inside.

46:56 Speaker 8 Which line?

46:58 Speaker 1 On line... line four. “It includes all the attributes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and is united with them.” It isn’t merely joined to them or nullified to them. It is utterly united with the attributes, the first of which is the attribute of kindness. “And through this elevation”—which elevation? When he gives tzedakah and it rises upward, and so on—“Hashem’s actual kindness is aroused.” The greatness of Hashem, the name Havayah. As we’ve seen here and elsewhere, this means that His light is revealed, descending and shining below upon Jewish souls with a great and powerful revelation during davening, at least—at least during davening.

47:31 Speaker 8 All the lines after that.

47:32 Speaker 1 “For although His greatness is beyond all measure, and everything before Him is considered as nothing.” True, but where you find His greatness, there you find His humility, like water that flows downward, and so on. He, on His own part, can descend. Ah, is something concealing it? So a person gives tzedakah. How can tzedakah help? Because tzedakah is sown above. And this is what the verse means: “Light shines in the darkness for the upright.” Why? How can light shine for the upright in the darkness? Even if they are upright, it’s still darkness. How does it shine for them? “Gracious, compassionate, and righteous.” And when a person is gracious, compassionate, and righteous—He loves acts of tzedakah—he causes the light of Hashem to shine upon his soul, clothed in his body, which lies in the darkness of the serpent’s skin. This is called “salvation,” because darkness is transformed into light. When he turns his darkness into light, the darkness of his ego into light, then Hakadosh Boruch Hu turns his darkness into light. That is “He causes salvations to grow.” That’s why it is called “He sows acts of tzedakah and causes salvations to grow.” Salvations grow within a person during davening. This isn’t something that simply descends or is revealed; it specifically grows, because it is on an entirely different level. “For this salvation grows from it—from the sowing of tzedakah sown in the supernal land, the ‘desirable land,’ which is the Shechinah and Knesses Yisroel. It is called this because it clothes itself in the lower realms to give them life.” Now it’s a little clearer why the Alter Rebbe used both names, Knesses Yisroel and Shechinah. Knesses Yisroel, because it is the source and origin of Jewish souls; and Shechinah, because through it the G-dly light descends and dwells in the soul below, as it is written, “Your kingship is the kingship of all worlds.” And in general, whenever a person gives tzedakah before davening—as Rabbi Elazar said, “Through tzedek I will behold Your face.” He would give a coin to a poor person and then daven. First give a coin to a poor person, and afterward daven. Why? Because that, specifically, will cause it to grow for you. This is true

49:42 Speaker 1 always, everywhere and at all times, but especially—

49:46 Speaker 9 Not just before Shacharis.

49:49 Speaker 10 When is the right moment to give tzedakah?

49:51 Speaker 9 Any moment.

49:52 Speaker 10 Not at—

49:54 Speaker 1 In the writings of the Arizal, z"l, it says to give tzedakah before Boruch She’amar. And among people who aren’t Chabad, it’s customary to give. Many people have the custom of giving tzedakah when they say, “And wealth and honor come from You.”

50:15 Speaker 9 You touched on the Rambam and Vayevarech David.

50:18 Speaker 1 What, what, what did I say? What did I say?

50:21 Speaker 9 Before Boruch... No, no, but that’s Chabad.

50:25 Speaker 10 No, the Rebbe.

50:26 Speaker 9 The Rebbe, at Vayevarech David.

50:29 Speaker 1 Sorry, I don’t know. I don’t know what I said. That was a slip of the tongue. It says in the writings of the Arizal, z"l, Vayevarech David. Did I say something else?

50:35 Speaker 9 You said before Boruch.

50:37 Speaker 1 Then I made a mistake. The writings of the Arizal, z"l, say Vayevarech David, not Boruch She’amar. Strike that from the record. And the custom developed to give not right at the beginning of Vayevarech David, but a few lines later, when you reach “And wealth comes from You.” That’s where I want the revelation of G-dliness. Now, that isn’t a joke. There are people who really think you should give there because, because... In any case, there are. People asked the Rebbe about this. There are several letters on the subject. People asked the Rebbe; there are several letters on it. So the Rebbe says that...

51:10 Speaker 10 That’s what they do in school before they daven.

51:12 Speaker 9 So they do it informally.

51:13 Speaker 1 Because it’s guidance from the Rebbe. Why? The Rebbe says: Are you going to start walking back and forth in the middle of davening? It distracts whoever is distracted, distracts you, distracts others. Give beforehand. That’s the Rebbe’s general guidance. In any case, it’s advice from the Rebbe. I don’t know if it’s actually an instruction, but—

51:32 Speaker 9 Both.

51:32 Speaker 1 Yes. In any case, we were talking here about giving tzedakah before davening in general.

51:39 Speaker 10 So what did we decide?

51:40 Speaker 9 Ah, already at Vayevarech David.

51:42 Speaker 1 What? About giving here? No, the Rebbe says to give before davening.

51:47 Speaker 10 And to add more at Vayevarech David, then.

51:51 Speaker 1 You can add more. The Rebbe isn’t going to tell you not to give tzedakah.

51:57 Speaker 9 You want to give before davening? You want to give at Vayevarech David? Then give more there too.

52:04 Speaker 1 And, in particular—more particularly still—“when one sows in the lower Holy Land, which corresponds to it,” to Malchus, to the very land of life, “then the seed is absorbed immediately into the supernal land, without any obstruction or delay whatsoever.” When a Jew gives tzedakah to support poor people in the Holy Land, in Eretz Yisroel, since Eretz Yisroel corresponds to the supernal Eretz Yisroel, which is the source of Jewish souls, the tzedakah given here is absorbed above immediately. Consequently, G-dliness is revealed in his soul with even greater strength and intensity. That is why the Alter Rebbe says that even someone outside Eretz Yisroel should give tzedakah before davening to the poor of Eretz Yisroel. “For nothing at all intervenes or separates between the lands of life,” because it is the gateway to heaven. Eretz Yisroel is the gateway to heaven. That is not the case outside Eretz Yisroel, and the wise will understand.