Chapter Nine

[The Alter Rebbe explained at the conclusion of the previous chapter that through teshuvah ila'ah, the higher level of repentance, the soul is totally cleansed and purified.

It then ascends and cleaves to G-d with the same degree of unity that it enjoyed before it descended into the body.

Furthermore, the Alter Rebbe quoted the Zohar to the effect that teshuvah ila'ah involves studying Torah with awe and love of G-d.

In the fourth chapter, however, he explained that teshuvah ila'ah involves reinstating the higher letter hei of the Tetragrammaton.

What possible connection does this have with studying Torah out of love and fear of G-d, when these two spiritual emotions are related to the letter vav?

In order to resolve this seeming anomaly, the Alter Rebbe will now explain that the love and fear discussed in the present chapter are generated intellectually: they result from meditation upon G-d's greatness, and are thus the offspring of Binah.

It is specifically this kind of love and fear that unites the heh and the vav - the intellect with the resulting emotions].

The explanation of this subject - [which levels of love and fear are related to the upper hei] - is as discussed frequently in the Zohar and Tikunnim, that Binah is the higher level of teshuvah, [1] "the mother crouching over the chicks...."

[I.e., Binah is the mother of her offspring - the love and fear of G-d.]

One ought to meditate profoundly and with concentration on the greatness of G-d, and through his comprehension arouse a sense of intellectual awe and love on rational grounds.

This love is that of the verse, [2] "To love the L-rd your G-d.... because He is your life...." - [a love based on a reason].

He will not be content with the endowed, latent love alone....

[This is concealed in the heart of every Jew and needs but to be revealed; such a worshipper, though, creates instead a love of G-d through his own intellectual endeavor].

So too with fear and terror of G-d, or shame.... as is known.

[This is a deeper form of awe in which one feels abashed in G-d's presence, hence fearing to rebel against Him by sinning.

When one's spiritual emotions of love and fear are born in the mind, then]: this is termed "the mother crouching over the chicks...."

[Binah has given birth and hovers over her offspring - the love and fear of G-d.]

Ahavah, the love of G-d, is primarily the cleaving of spirit to Spirit, [3] as the verse expresses it, [4] "He kisses me with the kisses of his mouth...."

[A physical kiss unites the inner breath or spirit of two individuals.

Similarly, the internal aspects of the soul and G-dliness are united through the "breath" or speech of Torah, through good deeds, and more specifically through the concentrated study of Torah, as explained in Part I, Chapter 45].

With regard to this [cleaving of spirit to Spirit] the verse says [5] [that "you shall love the L-rd your G-d....] with all your soul," which means that [the love is to be so intense that] all aspects of the soul - intellect and emotions, and their garbs of thought, speech and deed - are to cleave to G-d.

This means that man's emotive faculties are to be bound up with His [6] - "As He is merciful [so should you be merciful]..."

[Thus when a person acts kindly out of the attribute of compassion, for example. this emotive faculty of his is bound up with G-d's].

So, too, man's intellect adheres to G-d's intellect and wisdom; this refers to the concentrated study of Torah, for [7] "the Torah issues from Wisdom."

So, too, is man's thought [to be united] with G-d's, and his speech [is to be unified with] [8] "the word of G-d, which is the Halachah," as in the passages [which speak of the Torah]: [9] "I have placed My word in your mouth," and [10] "My words that I have placed in your mouth."

Man's deeds [shall likewise be united with His deeds] through works of charity, to revive the spirit of the crestfallen.

[Acting thus unites man with His Maker, for He too provides life and "revives the spirit" of created beings", as the verse states [11] "For six days G-d wrought....," as is explained elsewhere.

[The expression used concerning G-d's activity during the Six Days of Creation - a verb expressing action and doing - indicates that the Divine powers had to descend even to the nethermost level of mere action, in order to create and vitalize the inconsequential beings of creation].

This is the cleaving of spirit to Spirit - the ultimate attachment and union that result from love....

[Ultimate union with G-d through Torah study is attained only when it is the result of love. Thus, while it is true that when one studies Torah simply out of one's acceptance of the Yoke of Heaven he also achieves a measure of the cleaving of spirit of Spirit, this cannot compare to the degree of attachment that is attained when the same study is motivated by a love of G-d.

Hence, since teshuvah ila'ah is a manifestation of the soul's ultimate attachment with G-d, it follows that "Teshuva ila'ah means engaging in the study of Torah in awe and love of the Holy One, blessed be He," as the Zohar teaches].

Since the violation of the covenant through wasteful emission, to say nothing of incestuous relations, or other unions prohibited by the Torah or the Sages [12] (for [13] "the words [i.e. the prohibitions] of the Sages are more grave [than even the words [i.e., the prohibitions] of the Torah]"), causes a blemish in the mind, therefore his rectification is secured by engaging in the study of the Torah, which derives from Wisdom.

[This explains why it was stated in Chapter 4 that only teshuvah ila'ah - "engaging in the study of the Torah in awe and love of the Holy One, blessed be He" - is effective in remedying this sin."

We threfore find in Tana devei Eliyahu: [14] " A man commits a sin and is liable to death before Al-mighty [for the above-mentioned sin carries with it the punishment of death by Divine agency]; what shall he do and live?

If he was accustomed to studying one page [of Written Law], let him study two; if he was accustomed to studying one chapter [of the Oral Law], let his study two chapters...."

[Why is sin punishable by death by Divine agency, such as the sin of wasteful emission, rectifiable by and increase in Torah study?]

This resembles a rope that is severed and then reknotted: the site of the knot is twofold and fourfold thicker [than the rest of the rope].

So it is with the "rope of [G-d's] heritage," [with the soul's bond with its Source.

If this relationship was severed by sin, then repentance must reknot the cord doubly and fourfold. And this is accomplished through the study of the Torah].

Thus Scripture states, [15] "Through kindness and truth is sin forgiven .....," and [16] "there is no truth but Torah...."

[Thus it is through the study of Torah that sin is forgiven].

Similarly, [on the statement in Scripture [17] that "the sin of the house of Eli will not be atoned by sacrifices and offerings," the Gemara comments]: "By sacrifices and offerings will it not be atoned, but it will be atoned through the study of Torah and through good deeds," as explained at the end of the first chapter [18] of Rosh HaShanah.

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) Devarim 22:6.

2. (Back to text) Ibid. 30:20.

3. (Back to text) Note of the Rebbe Shlita: "There are many differences between the way in which the `cleaving of spirit to Spirit' is explained here, and earlier on in chapter 49 [of Part I]."

4. (Back to text) Shir HaShirim 1:2.

5. (Back to text) Devarim 6:5.

6. (Back to text) Yerushalmi, Peah 1:1, et al.

7. (Back to text) Zohar I, 85a.

8. (Back to text) Shabbat 138b.

9. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 51:16.

10. (Back to text) Ibid. 59:12.

11. (Back to text) Shmot 20:11.

12. (Back to text) Parentheses are in the original text.

13. (Back to text) Cf. Sanhedrin 88b.

14. (Back to text) Cf. Vayikra Rabbah, beginning. of chapter 25.

15. (Back to text) Mishlei 16:6.

16. (Back to text) Cf. Berachot 5b.

17. (Back to text) I Shmuel 3:4.

18. (Back to text) In his glosses on Tanya, the Rebbe Shlita notes that the Alter Rebbe's reference to "the end of the first chapter" is somewhat problematic, for this statement appears four pages before the end of that chapter, on page 18a.