Epistle Twenty-Six

[The letters that comprise Iggeret HaKodesh were written over many years and assembled in their present order by the sons of the Alter Rebbe after his passing, as they explain in their introduction ("Approbation") to Tanya (Vol. I, p. 19ff., in the present series).

It is clear from internal evidence, as the Rebbe Shlita notes, that they were not arranged chronologically.

Epistle XX, for example, was written just before the Alter Rebbe's passing in the year 5573 (1812), while Epistle XXVII was written after the passing of R. Mendel of Horodok, about the year 5549 (1789).

Instead, the Rebbe Shlita suggests, one can sometimes seek thematic connections to explain the sequence of letters.

The present letter, for example, manifests the following connection with Epistle XXV, the preceding one:

After the previous letter discussed how the Shechinah can sometimes be vested in kelipot, the present letter explains that this state of exile brings the Torah, too, to a state of concealment, as kelipot obscure its radiance. It is the task of the Jew to remove this concealment by toiling in the study of the Torah.

The above form of divine service in Torah study supplements another form - separating good from evil, the permitted from the prohibited, and the kasher from the pasul.

For the Torah, too, is vested within good and evil, and it is the task of the Jew studying Torah to separate and purify the positive element from each of these dual compounds, and to elevate it to the holy "side" of the universe.

Accordingly, the Alter Rebbe begins the present letter by explaining a statement of Ra'aya Mehemna in the Zohar, which can give the mistaken impression that the revealed portion of Torah stems from the Tree of Good and Evil, while the esoteric portion of Torah, which in the main will be revealed in the Time to Come (with the arrival of Mashiach), derives from the Tree of Life.[1]

The Alter Rebbe explains how this is truly not so, for the entire Torah is called the Tree of Life.

The intent of Ra'aya Mehemna is that the revealed portion of Torah descended and was vested within good and evil, and hence speaks of kasher and pasul, permitted and prohibited, and the like.

With the study of Torah, a Jew separates the good from the evil, and elevates it.]

On the verse, [2] "And the wise shall shine like the radiance of the firmament," Ra'aya Mehemna on Parshat Nasso [3] comments:

"With this work of yours, [i.e., of R. Shimon bar Yochai], which is the Book of the Zohar [lit., `the Book of Radiance'] from the radiance of Imma Ila'ah, which is teshuvah, - with those [who study this work] no trial is needed.

[Imma Ila'ah (lit., "the Supernal Mother") is another name for the Sefirah of Binah in the World of Atzilut. This Sefirah relates to teshuvah ila'ah, the higher level of repentance, as explained at the end of ch. 8 of Iggeret HaTeshuvah, [4] quoting the Zohar and Tikkunim.

The Zohar previously states that at the time of the final Redemption the Jewish people will be put to the test; those who belong to the "good side" of the universe will withstand it, while those who belong to the "side of evil" will not.

As it is written, [5] "Many will be refined and bleached and chastened, but the wicked will act wickedly; none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand."

The Zohar then states (as above) that those who study the Tree of Life, the Zohar, which is "from the side of Binah" (lit., "understanding", alluding to the perception of the mystical essence of the Torah), will not be put to the test.]

Because eventually the Jewish people will taste of the Tree of Life, which is this Book of the Zohar, they will go out of exile with it, in mercy.

For them shall be fulfilled the verse, [6] `G-d alone will lead them, and there is no strange god with Him.'

[In seeking their Redemption they will not have to resort to the favors of the gentile nations, whose patron angels are known as "strange gods." Rather, G-d Himself will lead them out of exile and redeem them.]

And the Tree of [Knowledge of] Good and Evil, i.e., prohibition and permission, impurity and purity, will no longer dominate Israel.

For their sustenance will derive only from the side of the Tree of Life, where there is no problematic query, which emanates from the side of evil, and no contro-versy, which emanates from the spirit of impurity; as it is written, [7] `And the spirit of impurity I shall remove from the earth.'

Thus, the Torah scholars will not be sustained by illiterate people, but from the side of the good, who eat that which is pure, kosher and permitted; nor [will they be sustained] by the mixed multitude, who eat that which is impure, ritually unfit, and prohibited."

[The Zohar continues]: "While the Tree of Good and Evil dominates [the world],... these Sages, who are likened to the Sabbaths and festivals, [8] have nothing except what is given to them by those who are called `unsanctified ones,' just like the Sabbath day, which only has what has been prepared for it on a weekday.

However, when the Tree of Life will dominate, the Tree of Good and Evil will be suppressed, and the illiterate people will only have what the Torah scholars give them.

They will be subjugated to them, as if they did not exist in the world.

Accordingly, the prohibited and the permitted, the impure and the pure, will not be removed from the illiterate people.

As regards them, there will be no difference between the era of exile and the days of Mashiach, except for [the Jewish people's release from] servitude to the nations. [9]

For they will not have tasted of the Tree of Life, and will require the Mishnayot [which set out the laws] of prohibition and permission, impurity and purity."

Here ends the quotation from Ra'aya Mehemna.

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) These Kabbalistic terms are borrowed from Bereishit 2:9.

2. (Back to text) Daniel 12:3.

3. (Back to text) Zohar III, 124b.

4. (Back to text) Vol. III, p. 1089, in the present work.

5. (Back to text) Daniel 12:10.

6. (Back to text) Devarim 32:12.

7. (Back to text) Zechariah 13:2.

8. (Back to text) Zohar III, 29a, b.

9. (Back to text) Cf. Berachot 34b.