ביאור ע״פ אני לדודי

This maamar is the “explanation” (biur) of the preceding discourse on “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine, who shepherds among the roses” (Song of Songs 6:3), whose opening words have the initials of Elul. According to the Kehot note, manuscript 1101 has a heading over this maamar in holy handwriting: “An explanation of ‘He who shepherds among the roses.’”

The Talmud (Kiddushin 40b) records that the Sages debated whether study or action is greater, and decided that study is greater because it brings to action. The Alter Rebbe will show that each opinion is true in its own way, and that the final ruling joins the two.

Practical mitzvos are done with physical things that belong to nogah, the realm in which good and evil are mixed, and doing a mitzvah with them is a birur: it separates out the good and raises it to holiness. Eating shows the mixture: the same act can be the gluttony of “a glutton and a drunkard” (Deuteronomy 21:20) or a mitzvah, like eating the meat of holy offerings.

The Shabbos meal is another example of eating that is a mitzvah. Refinement is needed because of the shattering of the vessels, which took place in the Name Sag (numerical value 63); the Alter Rebbe alludes to it with the verse “All of it has turned back (sag)” (Psalms 53:4), where sag means turning away.

What shattered and fell became the Name Ban (52), the root of independent, physical existence (yesh), until the physical world came about. It is refined through the Name Mah (45), the level of bittul: mah means “what?”, the self-effacement of one who regards himself as nothing.

Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, the created worlds, are still “before the tikkun (rectification)”: the realm where fallen sparks await refinement. Atzilus is “after the tikkun,” already wholly in bittul, as the Tikkunei Zohar says of it, “He and His life-forces are one.”

The order of prayer shows this: its first part, up to Baruch She’amar, corresponds to the World of Asiyah, and prayer is also a refinement, because the Talmud counts even moving one’s lips as an act. So it is the created worlds that need rectification.

Hence the soul needs no rectification for itself, since it comes from Atzilus, which is already rectified; even a soul that belongs to the lower worlds comes from the Atzilus within them. This follows the view that vessels of Atzilus are vested in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, so that an element of Atzilus is present even there.

This explains the view that action is greater: after the refinement, the raised-up Ban will stand higher than Mah, which refined it. “A woman of valor is the crown of her husband” (Proverbs 12:4) expresses this: the receiving side becomes a crown above the giving side.

From another point of view study is greater, for study is Mah, the refining power itself: it explains how a mitzvah must be done, what makes a sukkah or an esrog valid. That is the meaning of “In Chochmah they are refined”: wisdom sorts and refines.

In Kabbalistic terms action is greater, because the mitzvos come from Keser, the Crown, a word related to koteres, the crown-shaped capital that sits atop a pillar. Keser is the Divine will, which is above Chochmah, and Chochmah is the Torah.

Keser, like a crown, surrounds from above as a makif, while Chochmah enters within. Yet in one respect Chochmah is superior: only the outer aspect of Keser comes down, while Chochmah comes down in its inner essence; this is explained at length in the explanation on “Go forth and see” (Song of Songs 3:11).

The final ruling, “study is greater, for it brings to action,” is now explained: Chochmah is still “lights and vessels,” an inner light within its vessel, and Keser is above it. Nevertheless the very existence of the mitzvos as Keser and encompassing light depends on the Torah.

For it is the Torah that draws the Infinite Light down into the deed, so that the physical performance of a mitzvah carries Keser. The Alter Rebbe refers to the end of his explanation on “I shall be sanctified among the children of Israel” (Leviticus 22:32) and to his explanation on “Who has counted… the fourth part of Israel” (Numbers 23:10).

Two verses seem to clash. “The heavens and the earth I fill” (Jeremiah 23:24) says “I”: G‑d’s very being and essence, as when a person says “I” of himself.

“The whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3) speaks only of His glory, which the Aramaic Targum renders “the radiance of His glory”: a radiance, not His essence. The answer is that “I fill” refers to the mitzvos, which come from sovev kol almin, the light that encompasses all worlds, from Keser and makif.

Before an encompassing light every place is alike, which is why the first verse names heaven and earth together; the bracket refers to the end of the discourse “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless” in Parshas Eikev. “His glory” filling the earth refers to the Torah, which “comes forth from Chochmah”: an inner light, a radiance that enters each thing in its own measure.

There are two kinds of makif, encompassing light. The “returning” makif is particular, shaped to what it surrounds; the “direct” makif is general, surrounding the whole from head to foot alike.

The returning makif is the light of the mitzvos: it first enters the vessel, but because the vessel cannot hold all of it, the excess turns back outward and surrounds the vessel. Since it comes out of the vessel’s own measure, it remains particular.

Hair illustrates this: in Kabbalah hair is the surplus of the light of the brain, more than the head can contain, which grows outward. Hairs are a kind of garment, and the mitzvos are known as garments of the soul.

The general makif is a light so great that it cannot enter the vessel at all. This is the joy of a mitzvah: joy is such an encompassing light, beyond the details of the act.

Joy is the same from head to foot: it takes hold of the whole person alike and does not divide according to each limb or faculty.

A garment, by contrast, is shaped to each limb; the general makif is not. The bracket refers to the discussion of the joy of a mitzvah on “Binding his foal to the vine” (Genesis 49:11) in Torah Ohr, and to the explanation on “Go forth and see” mentioned earlier.

“Today, to do them” (Deuteronomy 7:11), which the Sages read as “today to do them, and tomorrow to receive their reward,” teaches that the makif rests in this world, through deeds, though here it is hidden. The bracket begins a reference to the Alter Rebbe’s explanation on “Command the children of Israel… My offering, My bread” (Numbers 28:2).

Through the deeds of the mitzvos one draws an encompassing light from Keser Elyon, the Supernal Crown. In the World to Come, by contrast, what one receives is revealed light.

Revealed light can be received only step by step, so there the soul must rise from level to level, and first pass through Gehinnom. This is why souls descend into this world: the descent is for the sake of an ascent.

That ascent comes through birurim, refinements that bring everything into bittul, by drawing down the inner light of the Torah and the encompassing lights of the mitzvos. The whole span of life, “the days of our years… seventy years” (Psalms 90:10), was given only for this.

The soul itself needs nothing for its own sake: no rectification, no drawing down of light, not even prayer. This repeats what was said above, that the soul comes from Atzilus, which is already rectified.

The Talmud (Pesachim 8a) compares the righteous before the Shechinah to a candle before a torch, whose light vanishes of itself: the soul is already wholly nullified before G‑d. And “a son is his father’s leg”: the soul is an extension of its Source, as a son is of his father.

The soul descends to transform the “intellectual soul” within the animal soul, the animal soul’s own power of reason, through the inner lights of the Torah and the encompassing lights of the mitzvos. The bracket begins a reference to the explanation on “When you go out to war” (Deuteronomy 21:10).

That explanation reads “and Havayah your G‑d will deliver him into your hand” as Torah and mitzvos, through which alone the refinement of the animal soul is completed. A further reference is to the discourse on “Moshe would speak” (Exodus 19:19), on “For Havayah your G‑d is a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24).

Section 2 turns to one who has sinned and blemished what his mitzvos drew down: the ordinary drawing is no longer enough, and he must do teshuvah to draw from above and repair the lack. “From the depths I have called You, Havayah” (Psalms 130:1): the Name Havayah stands for all of Atzilus, its yud being Chochmah and its other letters the levels below.

“I have called You” is read as calling G‑d down: drawing a new Havayah, new lights into the vessels. This is needed because the lights already drawn into the vessels were blemished by the sin.

The new lights must come “from the depths”: from the ten “depths” opened in the Ten Days of Teshuvah, which reach the “depth of darkness.” That is the hidden level of “He made darkness His hiding place” (Psalms 18:12), a light so concealed that it appears as darkness.

“Return us to You” (Lamentations 5:21) means to the very source of all. As Etz Chaim describes it, the Infinite One withdrew His light (tzimtzum), leaving an empty space, and then drew a single line (kav) into it, from which all the circles, the encompassing lights, are drawn.

The very beginning of that line, the Malchus of Adam Kadmon, is “the depth of all,” the source of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and teshuvah reaches there. That is why baalei teshuvah stand where even the perfectly righteous cannot (Berakhot 34b), and the Zohar says they draw near “with greater force”: to G‑d Himself, “to You” in the full sense.

The soul receives this extra power of teshuvah through the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy that shine from Rosh Chodesh Elul. Of those forty days Moshe said, “And I stood on the mountain like the first days” (Deuteronomy 10:10), when he went up to receive the second Tablets.

“The first days” are “days of old” (yemei kedem), higher than the “days of the world” (yemei olam): in the Idra the days of old are the attributes of Atik, while the days of the world are those of Z’eir Anpin. The days of old come from the “depth of darkness,” the Malchus of Adam Kadmon.

The Idra of Naso says that the tikkunim of Atik “are called days of old,” while those found in Z’eir Anpin are called “days of the world,” and on 138b it pairs “ancient years” with the days of old. The printed text gives the first folio as “134, ד׳”; the Kehot note reads it as 134b and quotes the passage there. The Alter Rebbe also refers to his explanation on “But He was not willing” (Deuteronomy 23:6) in Parshas Ki Seitzei.

A further reference is to his explanation on “And He called to Moshe” (Leviticus 1:1), on “He made darkness His hiding place.” From that depth come encompassing lights, and so the verse says “His desire is upon me (alai)” (Song of Songs 7:11), not “toward me (elai).”

“Upon me” means from above: an encompassing light that rests over the person. The bracket refers to the explanation of the Kohen Gadol’s white garments on Yom Kippur (on Leviticus 16:30), and to the Idra, which reads the verse: what brought about “I am my Beloved’s”? “His desire is upon me.”

The Zohar on Lech Lecha reads the verse in the opposite order: first “I am my Beloved’s,” preparing a place for Him, and only afterwards “His desire is upon me.” The Idra Zuta implies the same reading.

The two readings fit two kinds of Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. In Elul the attributes come first from above and awaken a person’s own arousal from below, so “His desire is upon me” brings about “I am my Beloved’s.” The printed “ג״ג” here is a misprint for “י״ג,” thirteen.

In the Ten Days of Teshuvah and on Yom Kippur the attributes bring pardon and forgiveness through teshuvah, so the person’s “I am my Beloved’s” comes first, and through it “His desire is upon me.” The two levels are discussed further in the discourse on “And I will make your pinnacles of rubies (kadkod)” (Isaiah 54:12).

“He who shepherds among the roses” alludes to the Zohar’s rose with thirteen petals: the thirteen attributes in Micah (Micah 7:18–20), which are rooted in Atik. They are higher than the thirteen attributes Moshe said (Exodus 34:6–7), which, as the Idra explains, Moshe drew down into Z’eir Anpin.

Moshe’s attributes serve the life of this world: after the Golden Calf G‑d said, “And now, leave Me alone” (Exodus 32:10), and Moshe needed them to save the people. When they were revealed he “bowed to the ground and prostrated himself” (Exodus 34:8), and prostration is a drawing of the light downward.

Micah’s attributes are those of Arich Anpin, and they serve the life of souls, a G‑dly life, not merely physical life. The Alter Rebbe brings proof from the Idra.

The Idra distinguishes an inner Chesed, of Atik, from an outer Chesed called chesed olam, which belongs to Z’eir Anpin, as in “the world (olam) shall be built with Chesed” (Psalms 89:3). The word olam ties this outer kindness to the sustaining of the world.

The Chesed of Atik, the Idra concludes, refers not to the life of the body but to the life of the soul. The Alter Rebbe adds a reference to the Zohar on Beha’aloscha (152a), which speaks of the Torah’s garment, body and soul, and of the soul of the soul, Atika Kadisha.

A ro’eh is a shepherd who feeds and sustains his flock. All year G‑d feeds Israel with “grass”: “I will give grass in your field for your cattle” (Deuteronomy 11:15) and “grass for the service of man” (Psalms 104:14), a lower, mediated nourishment.

This “grass” is the love and awe Israel receive through the angels, as in the blessing Yotzer Or before the Shema, where the angels, “all beloved,” praise G‑d. Hearing of the angels’ love and awe stirs love and awe in the person.

The blessing continues “and the Ofanim,” the angels of the Divine chariot. The Zohar explains “grass for the service of man” as these Ofanim and Chayos, which are prepared for man’s service of G‑d in offerings and prayer.

Through the angels a person also receives a stirring of love and awe, the rectification of the holiness above. The part of the person that receives it is the animal soul.

The G‑dly soul needs no such rectification, for in each world the soul stands higher than the angels of that world.

The soul comes from the inner dimension of each world, the angels from its outer dimension. The animal soul, however, comes from the inner dimension of the Ofanim, while the dregs of the Ofanim give rise only to an outer flow.

The animal soul must also agree to serve G‑d, and that is drawn from its own root, the Ofanim and Chayos, because harsh forces (dinim) are “sweetened” only at their root, a principle stated in Pri Etz Chaim. This is explained in the discourse on “When you go out” (Deuteronomy 21:10).

Because the animal soul is rooted in the Ofanim and Chayos, the Men of the Great Assembly placed the angels’ praise, “And the Ofanim and the holy Chayos,” in the blessing Yotzer Or, before the Shema. The angels’ love and awe prepare the animal soul to join in the Shema.

“Hear, O Israel” is addressed to the G‑dly soul. The Mishnah (Berakhot 9:5) reads “with all your heart” as “with both your inclinations,” and the Alter Rebbe reads “with all your soul” as including even the animal soul.

This comes through “And I will give grass in your field” (Deuteronomy 11:15): the “field” is the Zohar’s “field of holy apples,” and the grass in it is “for your cattle,” the animal soul. Its eating and being satisfied is likened to “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey” (Song of Songs 5:1); this is how G‑d nourishes all year round.

From Rosh Chodesh Elul a higher nourishment begins: “He who shepherds among the roses,” the thirteen petals, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. The bracket compares this to the discourse on “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless” (Deuteronomy 8:10) in Parshas Eikev.

That discourse reads “Not by bread alone does man live” (Deuteronomy 8:3): ordinary bread, “bread from the earth,” like the “grass,” is the food of the animal soul.

“By everything that comes forth from the mouth of Havayah” is “bread from heaven,” the manna, which comes from the “crystalline dew” in Mocha Stima’ah, the hidden brain of Arich Anpin.

That dew is the source of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, as the discourse on “And He fed you the manna” explains. The difference between ordinary bread and the manna is the difference between the year-round “I will give grass” and Elul’s “He who shepherds among the roses.”

The Zohar on Yisro identifies “that which comes forth from the mouth of Havayah” with the sound of the shofar, on which “everything depends.”

The shofar reveals the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and it also draws down the “building” of Malchus, which is called “the mouth of Havayah.”

So the shofar is the source of “the mouth of Havayah,” that is, of Malchus. The forty days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur, the day the second Tablets were given (Bava Basra 121a), hold all 613 mitzvos as one and repair every lack and blemish by drawing inner and encompassing lights anew.

The Zohar on Shemos reads “among the roses (shoshanim)” as “among those who study (sheshonim) Torah.” Through the Torah the general, direct makif is drawn, which surrounds everything equally.

Simchas Torah gathers the joy of the whole year’s Torah and mitzvos into one day, which holds the entire year. Though the Torah is an inner light, this general makif is drawn through it.

This is the meaning of “Torah study is greater, for it brings to action”: the Torah, an inner light, brings down even the encompassing light. The Infinite One Himself is not drawn down at all; after the tzimtzum there is a break, an empty space.

Only the kav, the thin line of light, enters after the tzimtzum; it is an inner light, and from it all the encompassing lights come. An encompassing light can never become an inner light.

The rule works the other way: the inner light of a higher level becomes the encompassing light of a lower one, so all the makifim come from the kav, an inner light. The bracket refers to the end of the discourse on “And Moshe assembled” (Exodus 35:1) and to the discourse on “Sarai your wife” (Genesis 17:15).

The closing bracket gathers further references: the discourse on “And G‑d spoke” (Exodus 20:1), on the Ten Commandments; the one on “On the eighth day, an assembly” (Numbers 29:35), on “study is greater, for it brings to action”; and the discussion of why the blessing for the land in the Grace after Meals mentions the Torah, for through it the flow of “dew” and “manna” reaches that blessing.