Likkutei Torah · Parshas Shelach · Maamar 9
והיה לכם לציצית וראיתם אותו וזכרתם וגו׳ למען תזכרו וגו׳
“And it shall be to you as tzitzis, and you shall see it and remember” (Numbers 15:39)
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The big idea
Tzitzis are only threads drawn from a garment: the love and awe of the heart, the white and the techeles, issue from the encompassing garment made of the mitzvos of action, which is rooted in G‑d’s own supernal garment. Seeing the threads should remind a person how great the whole garment of the mitzvos is.
The maamar in brief
The maamar asks why the tzitzis passage speaks of remembering twice, and how one mitzvah recalls all the mitzvos. Tzitzis means gazing and radiance: the revelation of G‑dliness must descend from the mind, which like water is cold and heavy, to the point of the heart, whose fire alone transforms a person, as love (the white) or fear (the techeles). The bride’s reply in Song of Songs 5:3 names two preparations for G‑d’s call “Open to me”: “soiling the feet,” a humbling reckoning of one’s sins, and “putting on the robe,” the garments of the mitzvos. Moshe longed for the mitzvos of action because all mitzvos are tzedakah, a garment whose countless threads, the details of the law, add up to a “great sum” that reaches the level of sovev; in G‑d’s works the lowest is rooted highest. Love and awe cannot exist without this garment, as tzitzis need a garment. The Torah taught before birth leaves an impression that strengthens free choice. The two rememberings correspond to the techeles, the prohibitions, and the white, the positive mitzvos.
Outline
- Two questions, and tzitzis as radianceWhy does the tzitzis passage speak of two rememberings, and how does tzitzis recall all the mitzvos? Tzitzis comes from “peering through the lattices,” a radiance: the shining of the G‑dliness that fills and encompasses all worlds, before which all is as nothing.¶1
- From the mind to the heart: the white and the techelesAwareness of G‑d must reach the point of the heart: the brain, rooted in cold, heavy water, cannot change the vital soul, and only the heart’s fire refines it. That fire is love, the white of the tzitzis, drawn from Binah, and fear, the techeles, drawn from Abba; fear only “before the eyes” is not yet fear of G‑d. Tzitzis is feminine and metzitz masculine, because G‑d bestows the light and Israel receives it through the “lattices” of a broken heart.¶2–6
- “I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?”The bride’s reply to “Open to me” names two preparations for G‑d’s light in the heart. The first, “soiling the feet,” is to be one of the “masters of the reckoning,” keeping one’s past sins always before one’s eyes even after teshuvah.¶7
- “How shall I put it on?”: the garment of the mitzvosMoshe prayed 515 times to enter the Land for the sake of the mitzvos of action. All the mitzvos are tzedakah, and tzedakah is a garment: as threads join into a garment, the details of the law join into a “great sum,” an encompassing light that the Arizal places in Arich Anpin, the level of sovev.¶8–10
- The lowest is rooted highestIn creation man, the highest, is sustained by the mineral, the lowest, for “last in deed, first in thought”; since G‑d is without end, His works have no fixed beginning or end. So the physical mitzvos, summed up in tzedakah, are garments of “glory” that envelop a person on every side.¶11–13
- Love and awe hang from the garmentThe mitzvos and the laws are makifim, while love and awe are “the Torah of man,” revealed within. Just as tzitzis cannot exist without a garment, love and awe cannot exist without first doing all the mitzvos and gathering one’s study of Mishnah and Talmud into the soul.¶14–15
- The Torah taught before birthThe unborn child is taught the whole Torah, a makif that gives it the light of love and awe, and then made to forget, so that its service will be by free choice. The impression that remains is why it can say “draw me,” having already been “brought into his chambers”; and the forgetting is why it is hard to put on the garments of Torah and mitzvos again.¶16–18
- The two rememberingsSeeing the tzitzis, love and awe, recalls the garment of the mitzvos of action, “the mitzvos of Havayah,” which are G‑d’s own. The techeles recalls the prohibitions and a constant humility, never “I have already washed my feet”; the white recalls the positive mitzvos, through which love and awe rise into the encompassing light.¶19
- Summary: the garment and its threadsThe mitzvos make an encompassing garment for the soul, rooted in G‑d’s white tallis. If four strands carry the love and awe of all Israel, the whole garment is holier beyond measure; Torah study and the laws belong to it too. The tallis is holier than its tzitzis, but its holiness is too great to rest in the physical cloth, so in law only kosher tzitzis are holy.¶20–23
Key concepts
- Tzitzisציצית
- From “peering through the lattices”: a radiance of G‑dliness received by Israel. Its threads stand for the love and awe of the heart, which issue from the garment of the mitzvos as strands from a cloth.
- Techeles and whiteתכלת ולבן
- The two colors of the tzitzis: the white is love, fiery and rising, drawn from Binah; the techeles is fear, the blue light that clings to the wick, drawn from Abba. They also correspond to the two rememberings: the white to the positive mitzvos, the techeles to the prohibitions.
- Encompassing garment (makif)לבוש מקיף
- The mitzvos of action and the details of the law, physical deeds that surround the soul rather than entering it. Rooted in G‑d’s own supernal garment, they are higher than the love and awe that issue from them.
- “The Torah of man”תורת האדם
- Love and awe, which are revealed within a person and become part of his self, unlike the mitzvos, which remain “the mitzvos of Havayah,” G‑d’s own.
- The great sumחשבון גדול
- As coins add up to a great sum of charity, the countless details of the law join into one garment whose total reaches the level of sovev, which the Arizal places in Arich Anpin.
- Masters of the reckoningמארי דחושבנא
- Those who take account of all their failings. For the Alter Rebbe this is “soiling the feet”: keeping one’s sins before one’s eyes even after teshuvah, as a preparation for G‑d’s light.
- Impression (reshimu)רשימו
- What remains of the Torah taught before birth after it is forgotten. It gives the soul in the body the strength to choose good and to be drawn after G‑d.
Two questions, and tzitzis as radiance ¶1
“And it shall be to you as tzitzis, and you shall see it and remember,” etc.; “so that you remember,” etc. To understand the matter of these two rememberings: why [both]?
The maamar opens with the passage of tzitzis (Numbers 15:39–40), which speaks of remembering twice: “you shall see it and remember all the mitzvos of Havayah,” and then “so that you remember and do all My mitzvos.” The first question is why the Torah needs two separate rememberings.
גם להבין איך יהיה מצות ציצית מורה על זכירת כל המצות. הנה ציצית מלשון הסתכלות כמו מציץ מן החרכים4 שהוא ענין זיו והארה
Also to understand how the mitzvah of tzitzis can point to the remembering of all the mitzvos. Now, ציצית (tzitzis) comes from the language of gazing, as in “peering through the lattices,” which denotes radiance and illumination;
The second question is how one mitzvah, tzitzis, can bring all the mitzvos to mind. The answer begins with the word itself: ציצית is related to מציץ, “peering” (Song of Songs 2:9), and the root also means shining forth, so tzitzis speaks of a radiance or illumination.
דהיינו שיאיר ויתגלה בחינת גילוי אלהותו ית׳ שממלא כל עלמין וסובב כל עלמין וכולא קמיה כלא5 חשיב בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ6 מתחת אין עוד
that is, that there shine and be revealed the level of the revelation of His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, who fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), before whom all is accounted as nothing, “in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else,”
What shines is the revelation of G‑dliness, which both fills each world from within (memalei) and transcends all worlds (sovev), and before which everything is as nothing. The verse “in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is none else” (Deuteronomy 4:39) says that nothing exists apart from Him.
כי נשגב שמו לבדו הודו על ארץ ושמים7 וגו׳. הודו הוא זיו והארה ממנו כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א.
“for His Name alone is exalted; His splendor is over earth and heaven,” etc. “His splendor” is a radiance and illumination from Him, etc., as is explained elsewhere.
Psalms 148:13 says that His Name alone is exalted, while only “His splendor” (hodo) reaches earth and heaven. The Alter Rebbe reads “splendor” as a radiance that issues from Him rather than His essence; this is the kind of illumination that tzitzis signifies.
The opening asks two questions about the tzitzis passage, why there are two rememberings and how tzitzis recalls all the mitzvos, and defines tzitzis as a “gazing” or radiance: the shining of the G‑dliness that both fills and transcends the worlds.
The Zohar’s phrase “all before Him is accounted as nothing” (Zohar 1:11b) comes in its account of the true fear of Heaven: fearing G‑d because He is great and rules all worlds, which anticipates the maamar’s theme of awe. The Arizal’s Pri Etz Chaim (Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 3), to which the maamar later refers, likewise derives tzitzis from gazing, “peering through the lattices.”
Marei mekomos
- 1והי׳ לכם לציצית · ראה ביאור על מאמר זה (נוסף להביאור דלהלן מד, ב) בס׳ מאמרי אדה״ז-פרשיות ע׳ תרמג. ראה להלן ברשימת הכתבי-יד שמאמר זה הוא מתקופת ליאזני.
- 2והי׳ לכם לציצית . . למען תזכרו · Numbers 15:39
- 3למען תזכרו · Numbers 15:40
- 4מציץ מן החרכים · Song of Songs 2:9
- 5וכולא קמי׳ כלא · Zohar I, 11b
- 6בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ · Deuteronomy 4:39
- 7כי נשגב שמו לבדו הודו על ארץ ושמים · Psalms 148:13
From the mind to the heart: the white and the techeles ¶2–6
2והנה ענין בחינת גילוי זה פי׳ גילוי מציאותו ולא מהותו ח״ו צריך שיתגלה בלב האדם דוקא כמאמר רז״ל הלב רואה1 כו׳
Now, this revelation, meaning the revelation of His existence and not of His essence, G‑d forbid, must be revealed specifically in a person’s heart, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The heart sees,” etc.,
The revelation meant here is of G‑d’s existence, the awareness that He is, not a grasp of His essence, which no creature can attain. Such awareness must reach the heart, and the Sages’ saying “the heart sees” shows that the heart, too, has a kind of sight.
The source is the Midrash on Ecclesiastes 1:16, “I spoke with my heart,” which lists the heart’s faculties: it sees, hears, speaks and more. The eyes stand for the intellect, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, as the wise are called “the eyes of the congregation”; but the intellect’s seeing alone is not enough.
כי להיות נגעה עד בחי׳ נקודת לבו ממש שיהיה בבחי׳ הלב רואה ומרגיש ומתפעל בהרגשתו דהיינו התפעלות הפחד בלבו או התפעלות כרשפי אש מיסוד האש שבלבו
it reaches the level of the very point of his heart, so that he is at the level of “the heart sees,” and feels, and is stirred by what it feels: that is, a stirring of fear in his heart, or a stirring like “flashes of fire” from the element of fire in his heart.
The awareness must travel down to the innermost point of the heart, so that the heart itself sees, feels and is moved. That movement takes one of two forms: a stirring of fear, or a fiery love, “flashes of fire,” coming from the heart’s element of fire.
כי להיות המוח עיקרו מיסוד המים והלחות5 שהוא קר בטבע ואינו פועל בנפשו שום השתנות ויש בו כבידות כידוע שהמים יורדים6 ממקום גבוה למקום נמוך,
For since the brain is fundamentally of the element of water and moisture, which is cold by nature, it effects no change in his soul, and there is heaviness in it, as is known that water descends from a high place to a low place.
Here begins the reason the intellect alone cannot change a person: the brain is rooted in the element of water, which is cold and heavy. As Tanya, chapter 3, says, citing Etz Chaim, the source of water and moisture is the brain, while the element of fire is in the heart; and water by nature flows down from high to low.
כך ראיית עיני השכל שבנפשו האלהית אינו פועל בנפשו החיונית שום התפעלות שיתפעל להשתנות טבעו ומהותו באשר הוא שם ולשנות את טעמו אל ההיפך לגמרי
So too the seeing of the eyes of the intellect in his G‑dly soul does not bring about in his vital soul any stirring, such that it would be stirred to change its nature and essence where it stands and to change its taste to the complete opposite;
In the same way, understanding G‑dliness with the G‑dly soul’s “eyes of the intellect” does not by itself transform the vital soul, the soul that animates the body. It does not make that soul change its nature or reverse its “taste,” its inclinations and preferences, to the opposite.
רק הוא כדקאי קאי בבחי׳ כבדות ועצלות במקום נמוך שהיה בו כ״א ע״י שיתלהב ויתלהט בנפשו עד
rather, it stays as it stood, in a state of heaviness and sluggishness, in the low place where it was; except through his being kindled and set ablaze in his soul until
Left to the intellect, the vital soul stays where it was, heavy and sluggish in its low place. The only exception is when the person becomes kindled and ablaze in his soul.
כי נגע עד נקודת לבו ששם הוא יסוד האש העולה למעלה כרשפי אש ושלהבת7 י״ה כשלהבת העולה מאליה ליפרד מן הפתילה בלי השקט ומנוחה, וכל השתנות הוא ע״י האש דוקא
it reaches the point of his heart, where the element of fire is, which rises upward like “flashes of fire, a flame of Yah,” like a flame that rises of itself to part from the wick, without quiet or rest. And all change comes specifically through fire,
The point of the heart is the seat of the element of fire, and fire rises upward of its own accord, like the “flame of Yah” of Song of Songs 8:6 and like a flame that leaps up as if to leave its wick. Therefore real change in a person’s nature comes only through fire.
as in “a crucible for silver and a furnace for gold,” until “the dross has been removed from the silver,” etc. [And see what is written on this subject in the discourse beginning “And I shall be sanctified among the children of Israel,”
Proverbs compares G‑d’s testing of hearts to the crucible and the furnace, and speaks of removing dross from silver: fire separates the impurity from the metal. The bracket that opens here begins a series of references to other discourses on this theme, starting with the one on “And I shall be sanctified among the children of Israel.”
Awareness of G‑d must descend from the mind to the heart, because the intellect, rooted in cold, heavy water, cannot transform the vital soul; only the heart’s fire, as love or as fear, refines and changes it.
Tanya, chapter 3, likewise places the element of fire in the heart and the source of water and moisture in the brain, identifying that water with Chochmah. Kehot locates the Midrash in Koheles Rabbah, chapter 1, section 38, on Ecclesiastes 1:16; its list of the heart’s faculties opens with “the heart sees.”
Marei mekomos
- 1הלב רואה · Kohelet Rabbah 1:16
- 2בקהלת רבה דפ״ז ע״א · והוא פ״א סי׳ ל״ח [א, טז]. [כ].
- 3
- 4נק׳ חכמים עיני העדה · Taanit 24a
- 5המוח עיקרו מיסוד המים והלחות · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 3:11
- 6שהמים יורדים · Taanit 7a
- 7כרשפי אש שלהבת י-ה · Song of Songs 8:6
- 8מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב · Proverbs 17:3
- 9הגו סיגים מכסף · שם כה, ד.
- 10הגו סיגים מכסף · Proverbs 25:4
- 11ונקדשתי בתוך · Leviticus 22:32
- 12כי נשגב שמו לבדו · Psalms 148:13
3ובד״ה במדבר סיני באהל מועד1 כי תבאו אל הארץ גבי ונפש כי תקרב2 ובד״ה ויושט המלך לאסתר3 את שרביט הזהב].
and in the discourse beginning “In the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting”; “When you come into the land,” concerning “And when a soul offers”; and in the discourse beginning “And the king extended to Esther the golden scepter.”]
The bracket closes with further references: the discourse on “In the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting” (Numbers 1:1), a discussion of “When you come into the land” in connection with “And when a soul offers” (Leviticus 2:1), and the Torah Ohr discourse on “And the king extended to Esther the golden scepter.” That Torah Ohr discourse speaks of the love hidden in the inner point of every Jew’s heart, which not everyone brings out into the open.
והארה זו שמתלהט ומתלהב בלב האדם הוא ענין בחי׳ תכלת ולבן שבציצית כי בחינת לבן מורה על האהבה כרשפי אש4 כשלהבת מתלהב בלב האדם.
And this illumination, which blazes and flames in a person’s heart, is the matter of the techeles (blue) and the white in the tzitzis. For the white indicates the love like “flashes of fire,” like a flame blazing in a person’s heart.
The illumination that ignites the heart is what the two colors of the tzitzis stand for. The white represents love, the heart’s fiery love described as “flashes of fire.”
After closing the bracket of references, the Alter Rebbe identifies the heart’s fiery illumination with the two colors of the tzitzis, beginning with the white, which is love.
The Torah Ohr discourse on Esther reads her name as hester, concealment: the love that lies hidden as a “point within the sanctuary” in every Jew’s heart, which will be revealed fully in the days of Mashiach. It is the same “point of the heart” that the maamar says G‑dliness must reach.
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2ונפש כי תקרב · Leviticus 2:1
- 3ובד״ה ויושט המלך לאסתר · תו״א צד, א.
- 4האהבה כרשפי אש · Song of Songs 8:6
4והתכלת מורה על הפחד שבלבו [והיינו כמ״ש בפע״ח שער הציצית פ״ד דלבן נמשך ממוח בינה ותכלת מאבא,1 ונודע דבינה היא מקור האהבה כרשפי אש וחכמה
And the techeles indicates the fear in his heart. [This is as is written in Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 4, that the white is drawn from the mind of Binah and the techeles from Abba. And it is known that Binah is the source of the love like “flashes of fire,” and Chochmah
The techeles, the sky-blue thread, stands for the fear in the heart. The bracket gives the Arizal’s source: in Pri Etz Chaim the white is drawn from Binah and the techeles from Abba, the configuration of Chochmah, and Binah is known as the source of the fiery love.
הוא בחי׳ יראה עילאה ואבא יסד ברתא23 היא בחינת יראה תתאה וכמ״ש במ״א ע״פ בחכמה יסד ארץ כונן שמים בתבונה4 ועמ״ש מזה בביאור ע״פ שימני כחותם].5
is the level of the higher awe; and “Abba founded the daughter,” who is the level of the lower awe; as is explained elsewhere on the verse “With wisdom He founded the earth; He established the heavens with understanding.” And see what is written on this in the explanation on the verse “Set me as a seal.”]
Chochmah corresponds to the higher awe (yirah ila’ah), and “the daughter,” Malchus, whom Abba founded, corresponds to the lower awe (yirah tata’ah). This is how the Tikkunei Zohar reads Proverbs 3:19, “With wisdom He founded the earth”: wisdom, Abba, founded the “earth,” the daughter; so the techeles, drawn from Abba, carries the quality of awe.
The techeles represents fear, and the Arizal’s teaching that the white comes from Binah and the techeles from Abba grounds the pairing: Binah is the source of love, and Chochmah and its “daughter” Malchus are the sources of the higher and lower awe.
In the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 21, 61b), “With wisdom He founded the earth” is read as “Chochmah, which is Abba, founded the daughter, who is the earth.” In the Arizal’s own account (Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 4) the tzitzis of techeles come from the Chochmah of Imma, which is the Binah of Abba, and the tzitzis of white from the Binah of Imma.
Marei mekomos
- 1דלבן נמשך ממוח בינה ותכלת מאבא · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Fringes 4:7
- 2ואבא יסד ברתא · Zohar III, 248a
- 3ואבא יסד ברתא · Tikkunei Zohar 61b:4–5
- 4
- 5שימני כחותם · Song of Songs 8:6
5וזהו שכתוב אין פחד אלקים לנגד עיניו1 כי כל זמן שהוא עדיין בחי׳ לנגד עיניו שהוא בחי׳ ראיית השכל בלבד אין לו פחד אלהים
And this is what is written: “There is no fear of G‑d before his eyes.” For as long as it is still at the level of “before his eyes,” which is the level of the intellect’s seeing alone, he has no fear of G‑d.
Psalms 36:2 says of the wicked, “There is no fear of G‑d before his eyes.” The Alter Rebbe reads it inwardly: as long as fear stays “before his eyes,” in the intellect’s seeing alone, it is not yet true fear of G‑d.
כי פחד הוא בלב דוקא שתפול עליו אימה ופחד בהתגלות הלב כ י הפחד מושרש ג״כ ביסוד האש שבלב כמו גוון התכלת שבאש ואור הנר התחתון שבפתילה ממש כנודע.
For fear is specifically in the heart, that terror and fear fall upon him in the revelation of the heart. For fear, too, is rooted in the element of fire in the heart, like the blue hue in a fire and the lower light of a candle, right on the wick, as is known.
Real fear lives in the heart, where dread actually falls upon a person and is felt. Fear, too, is rooted in the heart’s fire, like the bluish light at the bottom of a candle flame that clings to the wick, which is why it is represented by the blue techeles.
From Psalms 36:2 the Alter Rebbe shows that fear known only by the mind is not yet fear of G‑d: true fear is felt in the heart and is rooted, like love, in the heart’s fire, as the blue light at the base of a flame.
Love and fear are thus both forms of the heart’s fire: love is the flame that leaps upward as if to part from the wick, and fear is the blue light that clings to the wick itself. This sets up the pairing of the white and the techeles in the tzitzis.
Marei mekomos
- 1אין פחד אלקים לנגד עיניו · Psalms 36:2
6והנה ציצית לשון נקבה1 כי כנסת ישראל מקבלת הארה זו מלמעלה מבחי׳ סובב כל עלמין כמ״ש מציץ מן החרכים2 מציץ לשון מפעיל ולשון זכר
Now, ציצית (tzitzis) is a feminine form, because the Congregation of Israel (Knesses Yisrael) receives this illumination from above, from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), as it is written, “peering through the lattices”: מציץ (peering) is a causative form and a masculine form,
The word ציצית has a feminine form, because it names the illumination as it is received: the Congregation of Israel receives this light from above, from the transcendent level of sovev. By contrast, מציץ in “peering through the lattices” is a masculine, causative form, describing the one who gives the light.
המשפיע שהקב״ה מפעיל ומשפיע הארה זו בכנס״י להיות להם בחינת הארה זו בהתגלות הלב בחי׳ הלב רואה ומרגיש ומתפעל בתגבורת יסוד האש אלהי שבנפש האלקית
that of the one who bestows: the Holy One, blessed be He, brings about and bestows this illumination upon the Congregation of Israel, so that they have this illumination in the revelation of the heart, the level of “the heart sees,” and feels and is stirred, through the strengthening of the G‑dly element of fire in the G‑dly soul.
The giver is the Holy One, blessed be He, who brings this illumination about and bestows it on Israel, so that it becomes revealed in their hearts. The result is that the heart “sees,” feels and is moved, as the G‑dly fire within the G‑dly soul grows strong.
והיינו ע״י חרכים וחלונות שהוא ענין לב נשבר רוח נשברה3 וכמאמר פתחי לי4 וגו׳ וכמ״ש במ״א [ועמ״ש בד״ה ועשית ציץ5 זהב טהור6 כו׳
And this is through “lattices” and windows, which is the matter of a broken heart and a broken spirit, and as in the saying “Open to me,” etc., and as is explained elsewhere. [And see what is written in the discourse beginning “And you shall make a plate (tzitz) of pure gold,” etc.,
The light enters through “lattices” and windows, narrow openings, which the Alter Rebbe identifies with a broken heart and a broken spirit (Psalms 51:19), as in G‑d’s plea “Open to me” (Song of Songs 5:2). A new bracket of references begins with the discourse on the tzitz, the High Priest’s golden headplate.
מלשון מציץ מן החרכים והוא אור האהבה רבה הבאה מלמעלה שהיא בחי׳ אהרן זקן אהרן7 כו׳
from the language of “peering through the lattices,” and it is the light of the great love (ahavah rabbah) that comes from above, which is the level of Aharon, “the beard of Aharon,” etc.
That discourse derives tzitz, like tzitzis, from “peering through the lattices,” a radiance of light, and identifies it with the great love (ahavah rabbah) that comes from above. This love belongs to Aharon the High Priest and is pictured as “the beard of Aharon” on which the anointing oil runs down (Psalms 133:2).
ע״ש, ועמ״ש בביאור ע״פ ויקח קרח89 בענין זקן אהרן שהוא ענין א׳ עם חוטי הציצית, ועיין בפע״ח שער הציצית פ״ג, ועמ״ש מענין אה״ר דאהרן ע״פ בהעלותך את הנרות1011 וע״פ ועשית בגדי קדש12 לאהרן13 כו׳ ע״ש.
See there. And see what is written in the explanation on the verse “And Korach took,” concerning “the beard of Aharon,” that it is one matter with the threads of the tzitzis. And see Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 3. And see what is written on the great love of Aharon on the verse “When you raise up the lamps,” and on the verse “And you shall make holy garments for Aharon,” etc. See there.
More references follow: an explanation on Korach that treats Aharon’s beard as one matter with the threads of the tzitzis, the Arizal on tzitzis in Pri Etz Chaim, and discourses on Aharon’s lighting of the lamps and on his holy garments. What they share is Aharon as the channel of the great love from above.
ולפמש״כ דבחי׳ אה״ר דאהרן זהו ענין חוטי הציצית א״כ יובן דבחינת בגדי קדש דאהרן שהם הלבושים הנעשים ממעשה המצות כמש״ש זהו עצמו ענין הרמוז בהטלית וכדלקמן]:14
And according to what is written, that the great love of Aharon is the matter of the threads of the tzitzis, it will then be understood that the holy garments of Aharon, which are the garments made from the performance of the mitzvos, as is written there, are themselves what is alluded to in the tallis, as [will be explained] below.]
If Aharon’s great love corresponds to the threads of the tzitzis, then Aharon’s holy garments, which the Torah Ohr discourse explains as garments made from the mitzvos a person performs, correspond to the tallis itself. This anticipates the maamar’s central point, developed below: the garment of the mitzvos is the source from which the threads of love and awe issue.
The paragraph explains why ציצית is feminine and מציץ masculine: G‑d gives the illumination and Israel receives it, through the “lattices” of a broken heart. A bracket links this to Aharon’s great love, whose “beard” parallels the tzitzis threads, and to his garments, which parallel the tallis.
The Arizal (Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 3) explains that ציץ is masculine because it is a lock of hair drawn from Arich Anpin to Z’eir Anpin, the male, while ציצית is feminine because it extends from Z’eir Anpin to the Nukva. He also links tzitzis to hair (“by a lock of my head”), which helps explain why the threads parallel Aharon’s beard.
Marei mekomos
- 1ציצית לשון נקבה · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Fringes 3:5–6
- 2מציץ מן החרכים · Song of Songs 2:9
- 3לב נשבר רוח נשברה · Psalms 51:19
- 4פתחי לי · Song of Songs 5:2
- 5בד״ה ועשית ציץ · ראה תו״א פג, א.
- 6ועשית ציץ זהב טהור · Exodus 28:36
- 7זקן אהרן · Psalms 133:2
- 8בביאור ע״פ ויקח קרח · ראה לקמן נב, א.
- 9ויקח קרח · Numbers 16:1
- 10ע״פ בהעלותך את הנרות · ראה לעיל ל, א ואילך.
- 11בהעלותך את הנרות · Numbers 8:2
- 12וע״פ ועשית בגדי קדש · תו״א פב, א.
- 13ועשית בגדי קדש לאהרן · Exodus 28:2
- 14
“I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?” ¶7
7ב וזהו פשטתי את כתנתי1 איככה אלבשנה רחצתי את רגלי איככה אטנפם. שהוא מענה כללות ישראל על מאמר פתחי לי2 שאמר הקב״ה
2. And this is [the meaning of] “I have taken off my robe; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?” This is the answer of Israel as a whole to the call “Open to me” that the Holy One, blessed be He, said.
Section 2 turns to the bride’s reply in Song of Songs 5:3. When the beloved knocks and says “Open to me” (5:2), she answers that she has already taken off her robe and washed her feet; the Alter Rebbe reads this as the reply of Israel as a whole to G‑d’s call.
כי להיות אור ה׳ מאיר ומתגלה בגילוי הלב של אדם להיות כמאמר פתחי לי, צריך להקדים לזה ב׳ בחינות אלו בחי׳ אלבשנה ובחינת אטנפם, ופי׳ וענין
For in order that the light of G‑d shine and be revealed in the revelation of a person’s heart, as in the saying “Open to me,” these two levels must come before it: the level of “shall I put it on” and the level of “shall I soil them.” And the explanation and meaning of
For G‑d’s light to be revealed in a person’s heart, as “Open to me” asks, two preparations are needed, hinted at in the bride’s two words: “shall I put it on” and “shall I soil them.” The second is explained first.
בחי׳ אטנפם הוא להיות ממארי דחושבנא3 לחשוב כל מחשבה דיבור ומעשה אשר לא טובים מיום היותו ואפי׳ חטאת נעורים כי לא די במה שכבר התחרט על עונותיו
the level of “shall I soil them” is to be one of the “masters of the reckoning,” to reckon every thought, word and deed that were not good since the day he came to be, even the sins of youth. For it is not enough that he has already regretted his sins.
“Soiling the feet” means being one of the “masters of the reckoning,” the Zohar’s term for those who take stock of their deeds, and reviewing every thought, word and deed of one’s life that was not good, even the sins of youth. Regret already felt in the past is not sufficient.
לכן כתיב רחצתי את רגלי פי׳ שכבר עשיתי תשובה איככה אטנפם איככה אוכל לבזות את עצמי ולטנפם
That is why it is written, “I have washed my feet,” meaning, I have already done teshuvah (return); “how shall I soil them?”: how can I disgrace myself and soil them,
“I have washed my feet” stands for teshuvah already done, and “how shall I soil them?” for the reluctance to reopen past sins and so demean oneself. This is the natural objection of someone who has already repented.
דהיינו להזכירם עוד עלי לפי שקשה עלי הדבר, ורגלי הוא ענין קיום והעמדה של נפש האלהית רק צריך שיהיה תמיד לנגד עיניו4 כל הימים ויהיה נבזה בעיניו נמאס.5
that is, recall them against myself again, because the thing is hard for me. And “my feet” is the matter of the standing and upholding of the G‑dly soul. But it must always be before his eyes, all the days, and he must be “despised in his own eyes, loathsome.”
Recalling one’s sins again is painful, and the “feet” stand for what keeps the G‑dly soul standing firm, which such memories seem to threaten. Yet a person must keep them always before his eyes and be lowly in his own eyes, “despised… loathsome” (Psalms 15:4).
Opening section 2, the Alter Rebbe reads the bride’s reply in Song of Songs 5:3 as the two preparations needed for G‑d’s light to enter the heart, and explains the first, “soiling the feet”: a constant, humbling reckoning of one’s past sins, even after teshuvah.
The Zohar (3:178a) describes the “masters of the reckoning” as those who, each night before sleep, take account of the day’s deeds, repent of them and ask for mercy. The broken heart of the previous paragraph is the “lattice” through which G‑d’s light enters; this reckoning is one of the two ways the heart is prepared to open to Him.
Marei mekomos
- 1פשטתי את כתנתי · Song of Songs 5:3
- 2פתחי לי · Song of Songs 5:2
- 3להיות ממארי דחושבנא · Zohar III, 178a
- 4תמיד לנגד עיניו · Psalms 51:5
- 5נבזה בעיניו נמאס · Psalms 15:4
“How shall I put it on?”: the garment of the mitzvos ¶8–10
8ובחינת אלבשנה יובן בהקדים מאמר רז״ל תקט״ו תפלות כמנין ואתחנן12 התחנן משה שיכנס לארץ3 מפני הרבה מצות מעשיות שנצטוו ישראל ואי אפשר לקיימן כ״א בארץ ישראל,
And the level of “shall I put it on” will be understood by first introducing the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that with five hundred and fifteen prayers, the numerical value of ואתחנן (“And I entreated”), Moshe entreated to enter the land, because of the many mitzvos of action that Israel were commanded which can be fulfilled only in the Land of Israel.
The second preparation, “shall I put it on,” concerns the garments of the mitzvos, and it is introduced with a Midrash: Moshe offered 515 prayers to enter the Land, the numerical value of ואתחנן (6+1+400+8+50+50). He longed to enter because of the many mitzvos of action that can be performed only there.
כי המצות מעשיות שנוהגין בחוץ לארץ אינם אלא בערך חלק חמישית מרמ״ח מצות וארבע הידות אינו נוהג כ״א בארץ ישראל דוקא ורובן בזמן שבהמ״ק קיים כמו קרבנות ודומיהן.
For the mitzvos of action that apply outside the Land are only about one fifth of the 248 mitzvos, and four parts do not apply except in the Land of Israel specifically, and most of them [only] when the Holy Temple stands, such as the offerings and the like.
Outside the Land only about a fifth of the 248 positive mitzvos apply in practice; the other four fifths depend on the Land of Israel, and most of those on the Holy Temple, such as the offerings. Moshe’s longing was thus for the full range of mitzvos in deed.
The explanation of “shall I put it on” begins with the Midrash of Moshe’s 515 prayers to enter the Land, which he sought for the sake of the many mitzvos of action that can be fulfilled only there.
Marei mekomos
- 1תקט״ו תפלות כמנין ואתחנן · Devarim Rabbah 11:6
- 2ואתחנן · Deuteronomy 3:23
- 3ואתחנן התחנן משה שיכנס לארץ · Devarim Rabbah 11:10
And to understand why Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, wanted specifically to fulfill mitzvos of action: but, behold, it is written, “And it shall be righteousness (tzedakah) for us
Why did Moshe care so much specifically about mitzvos of action, rather than about love and awe? The answer begins with Deuteronomy 6:25, which calls the keeping of the mitzvos tzedakah, a word meaning both righteousness and charity.
כי נשמור לעשות את כל המצוה וגו׳ כי כל המצות נקראים בשם צדקה כי כמו שצדקה היא בחי׳ לבוש כמאמר לבושו צדקה.2
if we take care to do the whole commandment,” etc. For all the mitzvos are called by the name tzedakah. For just as tzedakah is the level of a garment, as in the saying “His garment is tzedakah,”
Since the verse calls the whole commandment tzedakah, all the mitzvos share the character of tzedakah. And tzedakah is a garment, as the liturgy of the Days of Awe says of G‑d, “His garment is tzedakah.”
וכמאמר רז״ל (פ״ק דב״ב)3 על פסוק4 וכבגד עדים כל צדקותינו5 מה בגד זה כל נימא ונימא מצטרפת לבגד גדול אף צדקה כל פרוטה ופרוטה6 מצטרפת לחשבון גדול.
and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (in the first chapter of Bava Basra) on the verse “And all our righteous deeds are like a soiled garment”: just as with this garment, each and every thread joins into a large garment, so too with tzedakah, each and every coin joins into a great sum;
The Talmud (Bava Basra 9b) learns from Isaiah 64:5, which compares our righteous deeds to a garment, that just as single threads join to form a whole garment, single coins of charity add up to a great sum (cheshbon gadol). Small acts accumulate into something vast.
כך כל המצות הם בחינות7 לבושין וכל נימא ונימא הם פרטי הלכות כהררים התלוין בשערה89 מצטרפין לחשבון גדול שהוא בחינת מקיף וסובב כל עלמין [ועמ״ש מענין חשבון גדול בביאור ע״פ וספרתם לכם.1011
so too all the mitzvos are garments, and each and every thread is the details of the laws, which are “like mountains suspended by a hair,” joining into a great sum, which is the level of the encompassing (makif) and the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin). [And see what is written on the matter of the “great sum” in the explanation on the verse “And you shall count for yourselves,”
So too every mitzvah is a garment woven of countless threads, the fine details of the law, which the Mishnah calls “mountains suspended by a hair” because many laws hang on few verses. Together they form a “great sum” that is an encompassing light (makif), reaching up to sovev kol almin, the light that transcends all worlds; a bracket now cites the explanation on “And you shall count for yourselves.”
Moshe’s longing for mitzvos of action is explained: all the mitzvos are tzedakah, and tzedakah is a garment whose countless threads, the details of the law, add up to a “great sum,” an encompassing light that reaches the transcendent level of sovev.
The Talmud’s image speaks of charity; the Alter Rebbe extends it to every mitzvah, so that each fine point of the law is a single thread and the whole of a person’s practice becomes one garment. Likkutei Torah, Emor, makes a related point: since all the mitzvos are called tzedakah, it is through the mitzvos of action that the light is drawn down to the level of Tzaddik, Yesod.
Marei mekomos
- 1אך הנה כתיב · ראה לעיל אמור לד, ב ובמ״מ לשם.
- 2לבושו צדקה · פיוט דימים נוראים.
- 3וכמארז״ל (פ״ק דב״ב) · ט, ב.
- 4על פסוק · ישעי׳ (סד, ה). [כ].
- 5וכבגד עדים כל צדקותינו · Isaiah 64:5
- 6
- 7כך כל המצות הם בחינות לבושים · ראה ג״כ ע״ח שד״מ, פ״ג.
- 8פרטי הלכות כהררים התלוין בשערה · חגיגה פ״א (י, א).
- 9כהררים התלוין בשערה · Chagigah 10a:5
- 10בביאור ע״פ וספרתם לכם · לעיל פ׳ במדבר יא, ד.
- 11וצדקה תהי׳ לנו · Deuteronomy 6:25
and see Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Arich Anpin, end of chapter 5, that the “great sum” is above, in Arich Anpin, the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), and “His greatness is unfathomable,” etc.;
The bracket continues with the Arizal: in Etz Chaim (the gate of Arich Anpin, end of chapter 5) the “great sum” belongs above, to Arich Anpin, the configuration of Keser, the level of sovev. The verse “His greatness is unfathomable” (Psalms 145:3) suits a sum too great to be grasped.
ועמ״ש במ״א ע״פ ואתה מרבבות קדש3 וע״פ הזהר פ׳ חיי שרה דקכ״ג א׳ גבי מאה שנה כו׳ עד ברזא דמאה ברכאן דכל יומא].4
and see what is written elsewhere on the verse “And He came from the myriads of holiness,” and on the Zohar, Parshas Chayei Sarah, page 123a, concerning “a hundred years,” etc., up to “in the mystery of the hundred blessings of every day.”]
Two more references follow: a discourse on “And He came from the myriads of holiness” (Deuteronomy 33:2), and a passage of the Zohar on Chayei Sarah. There the Zohar reads Sarah’s “hundred years” as all-inclusive, “in the mystery of the hundred blessings of every day.”
A bracketed note grounds the “great sum” in Kabbalah: in the Arizal’s Etz Chaim it belongs to Arich Anpin, the level of sovev, and the Zohar’s “hundred blessings of every day” is another expression of an all-inclusive sum.
In Etz Chaim the reckonings of Arich Anpin are counted in thousands, those of Abba and Imma in hundreds, and those of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva in tens and units: the larger the number, the higher the level. The “great sum” of the details of the mitzvos thus reaches the level of Keser, above the intellect.
Marei mekomos
- 1דחשבון גדול היינו למעלה בא״א · Sefer Etz Chaim 13:5
- 2ולגדולתו אין חקר · Psalms 145:3
- 3ואתה מרבבות קדש · Deuteronomy 33:2
- 4גבי מאה שנה כו׳ עד ברזא דמאה ברכאן דכל יומא · Zohar, Chayei Sara 5:23–6:28
The lowest is rooted highest ¶11–13
11והנה כתיב מבלי אשר לא ימצא1 האדם את המעשה אשר עשה האלהים מראש ועד סוף פי׳ שכך היתה כוונת הבריאה שלא ידע האדם ענין המעשה שבעולם מהו בחינת ראש ומהו בחינת סוף.
Now, it is written, “without man being able to find out the work that G‑d has made from beginning to end.” That is: such was the intent of creation, that man should not know, of the work that is in the world, what is the level of beginning and what is the level of end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that man cannot find out G‑d’s work “from beginning to end.” The Alter Rebbe reads this as the design of creation: in the world one cannot tell which is the “beginning,” the higher, and which the “end,” the lower.
כמ״ש מזה ע״פ והיה מספר בני ישראל23 שהרי במדרגת ומעלת הבריאה שהיא דומם צומח חי מדבר הרי האדם שהוא המדבר הוא במעלה ומדרגה גבוה ועולה על כולנה.
As is explained on this on the verse “And the number of the children of Israel shall be”: for in the rank and gradation of creation, which is mineral, vegetable, animal and speaking [being], man, who is the speaking [being], is of a high rank and level, surpassing them all.
The point is explained in the discourse on “And the number of the children of Israel shall be” (Hosea 2:1). Creation has four ranks, mineral, vegetable, animal and speaking, and man, the speaking being, stands above them all.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 introduces the idea that in creation the “beginning” and the “end” cannot be told apart; the paragraph starts from the obvious order, in which man stands highest.
The Likkutei Torah discourse on Hosea 2:1 cites the same verse of Ecclesiastes to teach that man is a small world: G‑d placed the world in man’s heart, and when a person rectifies the four elements within himself, the world that depends on him is rectified.
Marei mekomos
- 1מבלי אשר לא ימצא · Ecclesiastes 3:11
- 2ע״פ והי׳ מספר בני ישראל · לעיל פ׳ במדבר ה, א ואילך.
- 3והיה מספר בני ישראל · Hosea 2:1
12והרי אנו רואים בחוש שהאדם צריך להחיות את גופו ממיני מאכל הבעל חי ואפי׳ מבחי׳ צומח ודומם
Yet we see plainly that man needs to sustain his body with kinds of food from the animal, and even from the level of the vegetable and the mineral,
Yet experience shows a reverse dependence: man must sustain his body with animal food, and even with plants and minerals.
כמו מלח כי המאכל אין צריך להאדם והאדם צריך לו וגם אד רבה שהדומם שהוא עפר
such as salt. For the food does not need the man; the man needs it. And moreover, on the contrary: the mineral, which is earth,
Salt is a mineral, the lowest rank, yet man needs it; the food does not need man, but man needs the food. More than that, the mineral, earth itself, is the source that sustains him.
behold, “the earth, out of it comes bread,” and all kinds of plants, to sustain man; for “last in deed, first in thought.”
“The earth, out of it comes bread” (Job 28:5): the lowest rank produces the bread and plants that keep the highest alive. This shows the principle “last in deed, first in thought,” from the hymn Lecha Dodi: what comes last and lowest in execution was first and highest in the Creator’s intent.
The order of creation is not simple: man, the highest, depends on the vegetable and the mineral, the lowest, because what is last in deed was first in thought.
This prepares the point that follows: the mitzvos of action, performed with physical things at the level of the “mineral,” reach higher than the love and awe of the heart, since the lowest in execution is rooted highest.
Marei mekomos
- 1ארץ ממנה יצא לחם · Job 28:5
- 2סוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה · פיוט לכה דודי.
And this is [the meaning of] “their beginning is wedged in their end and their end in their beginning”: because just as He, may He be blessed, is the Infinite One (Ein Sof), so His actions have no level of an end.
This explains the Sefer Yetzirah’s saying that the Sefiros’ “beginning is wedged in their end and their end in their beginning.” G‑d is Ein Sof, literally “without end,” and His works likewise have no true end, so no level is simply the last.
כי בכל בחינה ובחינה שיתכן לומר בחי׳ סוף יתכן לומר ג״כ בחי׳ ראש לפי שבאמת אין להם בחינת ראש
For at every single level at which one could speak of an end, one could also speak of a beginning, because in truth they have no level of a beginning
Whatever is an “end” from one point of view is a “beginning” from another, because in truth G‑d’s actions have no fixed beginning.
ולא בחינת סוף ויש להם כל בחי׳ ראש ובחינת סוף. (ועמ״ש מזה בד״ה אתם נצבים).3
and no level of an end, and they have every level of beginning and of end. (And see what is written on this in the discourse beginning “You are standing.”)
They have neither a fixed beginning nor a fixed end, and so every level is both a beginning and an end. The text refers to the discourse on “You are standing” (Deuteronomy 29:9) for more.
וכך הוא הענין בבחינת לבושין שהם מצות מעשיות הנ״ל וכללותן הוא מעשה הצדקה לפי שהוא נותן מיגיעו ועמלו אשר עמל בכל כחות גופו שלכן נק׳ מצוה סתם וכמ״ש במ״א.
And so it is with the garments, which are the mitzvos of action mentioned above; and their general totality is the deed of tzedakah, because he gives from his effort and his toil, with which he toiled with all the powers of his body. That is why it is called simply “the mitzvah,” as is explained elsewhere.
The same holds for the garments, the mitzvos of action: though lowest, they are bound to the highest. Their general and collective expression is tzedakah, charity, because a person gives what he earned with the toil of his whole body, which is why the Jerusalem Talmud calls charity simply “the mitzvah.”
הנה כתיב והלך לפניך צדקך כבוד4 ה׳ יאספך כבוד הוא בחינת לבוש כמאמר רבי יוחנן קרא למאני מכבדותא5 [ועמ״ש סד״ה זאת חנוכת המזבח6 מענין כבוד שהוא בחי׳ מקיף כו׳ ע״ש].
Now, it is written, “Your tzedakah shall go before you; the glory of Havayah shall gather you in.” “Glory” (kavod) is the level of a garment, as in the saying, “Rabbi Yochanan called his clothes ‘my honorers.’” [And see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “This is the dedication of the altar,” on kavod being the level of the encompassing (makif), etc. See there.]
Isaiah 58:8 links tzedakah with G‑d’s “glory” (kavod), which gathers a person in, and kavod means a garment, as Rabbi Yochanan called his clothes “my honorers.” The bracket refers to the end of the discourse on the dedication of the altar, which explains kavod as an encompassing light (makif).
יאספך הוא ענין אסיפה וכניסה לתוכו להקיפו מכל צדדיו ולהיות לו למחסה ולמסתור כבגד ששומרו מן הצינה וכדכתיב ה׳ שומרך ה׳ צלך שהמצות מעשיות להיותם בחי׳ דומם בחי׳ עשיה גשמיות.78
“Shall gather you in” means gathering in and bringing within, to surround him on all sides and to be for him a shelter and a covert, like a garment that guards him from the cold, and as it is written, “Havayah is your guardian, Havayah is your shade.” For the mitzvos of action, since they are at the level of the mineral, the level of physical action,
“Shall gather you in” means enveloping a person on every side and sheltering him, as a garment shelters from the cold, as in “Havayah is your shade” (Psalms 121:5). The reason, completed in the next paragraph, is that the mitzvos of action are physical deeds at the level of the “mineral.”
Because G‑d is infinite, beginning and end in His works are interchangeable; so the physical mitzvos, whose general expression is tzedakah, are garments of “glory” that envelop the soul on all sides like an encompassing light.
Tanya, chapter 37, to which Kehot points, explains why tzedakah is called simply “the mitzvah” in the Jerusalem Talmud: it is the chief of the mitzvos of action and surpasses them all, since in no other mitzvah is the vital soul invested so fully. The Likkutei Torah discourse on the dedication of the altar explains kavod as an added illumination in the manner of a makif, needed before a new union can be drawn down.
Marei mekomos
- 1נעוץ תחלתן בסופן · ס״י פ״א, מ״ז.
- 2נעוץ תחלתן בסופן וסופן בתחלתן · Sefer Yetzirah 1:7
- 3אתם נצבים · Deuteronomy 29:9
- 4והלך לפניך צדקך כבוד ה׳ יאספך · Isaiah 58:8
- 5ר״י קרא למאני מכבדותא · Bava Kamma 91b:11
- 6סד״ה זאת חנוכת המזבח · לעיל פ׳ נשא כט, ב.
- 7נק׳ בשם מצוה סתם · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 37:19
- 8ה׳ שומרך ה׳ צלך · Psalms 121:5
Love and awe hang from the garment ¶14–15
14וכן כל פרטי הלכות שבש״ס להיותם גשמיים בערך יראת ה׳ ואהבתו לזאת הם בחי׳ מקיפין ואהבה ויראה הם בחינת תורת האדם דהיינו שהם מורים ומתגלים בפנימיותו ומהותו כמ״ש וזאת תורת האדם כו׳.1
and likewise all the details of the laws in the Shas (the Talmud), since they are physical in relation to the awe of G‑d and the love of Him, are therefore the level of encompassing lights (makifim). And love and awe are the level of “the Torah of man,” meaning that they teach and are revealed in his inner dimension (pnimiyus) and essence, as it is written, “And this is the Torah of man,” etc.
The details of the law in the Talmud are likewise physical compared with the love and awe of G‑d, and so they too are encompassing lights (makifim), which surround a person rather than entering him. Love and awe, by contrast, are “the Torah of man” (2 Samuel 7:19): they teach and are felt within a person’s inner being.
This sets the maamar’s central contrast: the mitzvos and the laws, being physical, are makifim, encompassing garments, while love and awe are inward, “the Torah of man,” revealed in a person’s inner being.
The word מורים, “they teach,” explains why love and awe are called Torah: the word Torah means teaching, and love and awe instruct and show themselves within the person. This is why the maamar later calls the tzitzis threads, which stand for love and awe, “the Torah of man.”
Marei mekomos
- 1וזאת תורהת האדם · II Samuel 7:19
15ואין זאת אלא יראה1 כנודע [מענין בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקדש2 עיין בזהר ר״פ אחרי דף נ״ז ע״ב ועיין בזהר פ׳ בא דל״ז ע״ב ור״פ חקת]
And “this” (zos) is nothing but awe, as is known [from the matter of “With this shall Aharon come into the Sanctuary”; see the Zohar at the beginning of Parshas Acharei, page 57b, and see the Zohar, Parshas Bo, page 37b, and the beginning of Parshas Chukas],
The “this” (zos) in “With this shall Aharon come into the Sanctuary” (Leviticus 16:3) is understood as awe, so awe is that with which one enters holiness. The text refers to passages of the Zohar on Acharei, Bo and Chukas for this.
שהיא בחינת התכלת שבציצית להיות פחד ה׳ נקבע בלב האדם וכשם שאי אפשר להיות ציצית בלי בגד כך אי אפשר להיות אהבה ויראה בלי הקדמת עשיית כל המצות שהם בחי׳ מקיפין ולבושין כנ״ל.
which is the level of the techeles (blue) in the tzitzis: that the fear of G‑d be fixed in a person’s heart. And just as there cannot be tzitzis without a garment, so there cannot be love and awe without first doing all the mitzvos, which are the level of encompassing lights (makifim) and garments, as mentioned above.
This awe is the techeles of the tzitzis, the fear of G‑d fixed in the heart. Just as tzitzis must hang from a garment, love and awe cannot exist without first doing all the mitzvos, the encompassing garments.
As it is written, “Six years you shall sow your field”: these are the six orders of the Mishnah; “and six years you shall prune your vineyard”: these are the six orders of Talmud; “and you shall gather in its produce,”
Leviticus 25:3 is read as the order of Torah study: the six years of sowing are the six orders of the Mishnah, and the six years of pruning the vineyard are the six orders of the Talmud. “And you shall gather in its produce” comes after both.
דהיינו שתאסוף ותלקוט אותם בנפשך כמארז״ל ותלמודו בידו5 ואז עי״ז תוכל ג״כ שתהיה כבוד ה׳ יאספך וגו׳ [ועמ״ש מענין זה בפ׳ בהר ע״פ כי תבאו אל הארץ6 כו׳]:
that is, that you gather and collect them into your soul, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “and his learning in his hand.” And then, through this, you will also be able [to bring about] “the glory of Havayah shall gather you in,” etc. [And see what is written on this in Parshas Behar, on the verse “When you come into the land,” etc.]
Gathering the produce means collecting one’s learning into one’s soul, as the Sages speak of one who arrives in the World to Come “with his learning in his hand” (Pesachim 50a). Then he merits “the glory of Havayah shall gather you in”: the garment made of his Torah and mitzvos envelops him.
Awe, the techeles, can hang only from the garment of the mitzvos, so study and practice must come first; when a person gathers his learning into his soul, G‑d’s “glory” gathers him in.
The Zohar on Parshas Bo speaks of “the crown that is called zos,” a feminine crown through which G‑d’s judgments are carried out, as in “With this (be-zos) you shall know that I am Havayah.” This links zos with awe, the response to G‑d’s judgment and sovereignty.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואין זאת אלא יראה · Zohar, Bo 5:111–120
- 2בזאת יבא אהרן אל הקדש · Leviticus 16:3
- 3שש שנים תזרע שדך · Leviticus 25:3
- 4שש . . משנה · כנ״ל בהר (מ, ד). [כ].
- 5ותלמודו בידו · Pesachim 50a:7–8
- 6בפ׳ בהר ע״פ כי תבואו אל הארץ · לעיל מ, ב ואילך.
The Torah taught before birth ¶16–18
16ג ובזה יובן מאמר רז״ל שהתינוק בבטן אמו מלמדין אותו1 כל התורה כולה ואח״כ משכחין ממנו2 כיון שהגיע זמנו להולד בא מלאך וסטרו על פיו [ועמ״ש ג״כ מזה בד״ה שחורה אני ונאוה].34
3. And with this will be understood the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory, that the infant in his mother’s womb is taught the entire Torah, and afterwards he is made to forget it: once his time to be born arrives, an angel comes and strikes him on his mouth. [And see also what is written on this in the discourse beginning “I am black and comely.”]
Section 3 takes up the Talmud’s teaching (Niddah 30b) that the unborn child is taught the whole Torah, and that when it is about to be born an angel strikes it on the mouth and it forgets everything. The text refers to the discourse on “I am black and comely” (Song of Songs 1:5) for more.
Section 3 introduces the Talmud’s account of the Torah taught before birth and then forgotten, which the following paragraphs explain in light of the garments of Torah and mitzvos.
The Likkutei Torah discourse on “I am black and comely” describes the souls before they descend into the body and the animal soul as “the daughters of Jerusalem,” still included in their Source in complete self-nullification within the Infinite Light.
Marei mekomos
- 1שהתינוק בבטן אמו מלמדין אותו · Niddah 30b:21–22
- 2ואח״כ משכחין ממנו · וע׳ לעיל סו״פ מצורע [כה, ב] ברישא ליגרס אינש. [כ]. ראה אוה״ת שה״ש עב. ועוד. ובארוכה בלקו״ש ח״ה ע׳ 13 ואילך.
- 3בד״ה שחורה אני ונאוה · Song of Songs 6:3
- 4שחורה אני ונאוה · Song of Songs 1:5
17ולהבין למה מלמדין אותו ואח״כ משכחין ממנו אלא לפי שצריך להאיר בו אור ה׳ כדי שיהיה יראתו על
And to understand why he is taught and afterwards made to forget: it is because the light of G‑d must shine in him, so that “His awe be upon
Why teach the unborn child only to make him forget? Because the light of G‑d must shine into the soul, so that awe of Him will be “upon his face.”
פניו ואהבת ה׳ ופחדו בלבו לפיכך מלמדין אותו כל התורה כולה שהיא בחי׳ המקיפים וממנו יאיר לו אור ה׳ וכח אהבה ויראה.
his face,” and the love of G‑d and the fear of Him in his heart. Therefore he is taught the entire Torah, which is the level of the encompassing lights (makifim), and from it the light of G‑d and the power of love and awe will shine for him.
That light is meant to bring the love and fear of G‑d into his heart. So the child is taught the entire Torah, which is an encompassing light (makif), and from it come to him the light of G‑d and the power to love and to fear Him.
The Torah taught before birth is a makif, an encompassing light, whose purpose is to give the soul the light of G‑d and the power of love and awe.
The forgetting does not undo the learning: as the next paragraph explains, an impression (reshimu) remains, and it gives the soul, once it is in the body, the strength to choose good and to turn darkness into light.
And afterwards he is made to forget, so that this be the service of man: to choose the good. And as in the saying “Open to me,” etc.
The forgetting is deliberate: it makes a person’s service a matter of free choice, choosing good through his own effort. This is the sense of G‑d’s call “Open to me”: the opening must come from the person.
אך הארת התורה שהאירה הארה גדולה ועצומה בנשמתו בטרם שנתלבשה לגמרי בגוף החומר היא הנותנת כח ועוז שמאיר בה אור התורה אחר שנתלבשה בגוף החומרי שתוכל להפכו מחשוכא לנהורא כו׳
But the illumination of the Torah, which shone a great and mighty illumination in his soul before it was entirely enclothed in the material body, is what gives strength and might, so that the light of the Torah shines in it [the soul] after it has been enclothed in the material body, so that it can turn it [the body] from darkness to light, etc.,
Yet the great light of the Torah that shone in the soul before it fully entered the body is what gives it strength later. Because of it, the light of the Torah can shine in the soul even within the material body, so that the soul can turn the body from darkness to light.
ע״י הארת אור האהבה ויראה המאירים מהתורה כי הרשימו נשאר מהארה הנ״ל שיאיר לו אור האהוי״ר מתוך הרשימו שנשאר אחר השכחה.
through the illumination of the light of love and awe that shine from the Torah. For the impression (reshimu) remains from the illumination mentioned above, so that the light of love and awe will shine for him from within the impression that remains after the forgetting.
This happens through the love and awe that shine from the Torah. Although the learning was forgotten, an impression (reshimu) of that earlier illumination remains, and from it the light of love and awe shines again.
(וזהו משכני אחריך נרוצה2 הביאני המלך חדריו דמשכני לשון להבא והביאני לשון עבר והל״ל תביאני.
(And this is [the meaning of] “Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers”: for “draw me” is a term for the future, and “has brought me” is a term for the past, and it should have said “will bring me.”
A parenthesis interprets Song of Songs 1:4. “Draw me, we will run after you” looks to the future, while “the king has brought me into his chambers” speaks of the past, though one would expect “will bring me.”
אלא הפי׳ כי חדר ר״ת3 חסד דין רחמים וזהו ובדעת חדרים ימלאו4 כי הדעת הוא המחבר וממשיך התפשטות המוחין בהמדות. והדעת והמדות האלו מהם נמשך הלכות התורה כשר ופסול כו׳ כמ״ש בסש״ב בהקדמה.
But the explanation is that חדר (chamber) is the initials of Chesed, Din, Rachamim (kindness, judgment, compassion). And this is “And with Daas (knowledge) the chambers are filled,” for Daas is what connects and draws the extension of the intellect (mochin) into the emotive attributes (middos). And from this Daas and these middos are drawn the laws of the Torah, fit and unfit, etc., as is written in Sefer Shel Beinonim (Tanya), in the introduction.
A first explanation: the “chambers” are the emotive attributes, since חדר (cheder, chamber) is an acronym of Chesed, Din, Rachamim, and Daas fills them (Proverbs 24:4) by joining the intellect to the emotions. From Daas and the emotive attributes come the Torah’s laws of fit and unfit, as the text says the introduction to the Tanya explains.
וגם כי התורה היא מפתחות הפנימיות56 וזהו ענין חדריו היינו בתי גואי וזהו הביאני לשון עבר דהיינו כשהנשמה היתה למעלה טרם ירידתה בגוף שמלמדין אותה כל התורה כולה והן הן חדריו
And also, the Torah is “the inner keys,” and this is the meaning of “his chambers,” namely “the inner rooms.” And this is why “has brought me” is a term for the past: that is, when the soul was above, before its descent into the body, when they teach it the entire Torah; and these are indeed “his chambers.”
A second explanation: the Torah is “the inner keys,” as the Talmud calls it, so “his chambers” are the inner rooms. The past tense “has brought me” refers to the time before birth, when the soul was above and was taught the entire Torah: those are the chambers into which it was brought.
ולכן עי״ז גם אח״כ כשנתלבשה בגוף החומרי. עכ״ז משכני ע״י שכבר הביאני כו׳ ונשאר רשימו כו׳ ועמ״ש עוד מענין אחריך נרוצה בד״ה אדם כי יקריב מכם).7
And therefore, through this, also afterwards, when it has been enclothed in the material body, even so “draw me,” because “he has already brought me,” etc., and an impression remains, etc. And see what is written further on “we will run after you” in the discourse beginning “When a man of you brings an offering.”)
Therefore, even after the soul is in the body, it can say “draw me,” because “he has already brought me”: the impression of that learning remains and draws it after G‑d. The parenthesis closes by referring to the discourse on “When a man of you brings an offering” for more on “we will run after you.”
וזהו פשטתי את כתנתי איככה אלבשנה פי׳ מאחר שנשכח ממני התורה ע״י המלאך שסטרו על פיו א״כ קשה עלי הדבר להלביש עלי עוד בחינת התורה והמצות שהם בחינת לבושין כנ״ל.
And this is [the meaning of] “I have taken off my robe; how shall I put it on?”: meaning, since the Torah was made forgotten from me by the angel who “struck him on his mouth”, it is then hard for me to clothe myself again in the Torah and the mitzvos, which are garments, as mentioned above.
This also explains the bride’s first objection, “I have taken off my robe; how shall I put it on?” Since the angel made the soul forget the Torah, it finds it hard to put on again the garments of Torah and mitzvos.
The forgetting at birth leaves room for free choice, while the impression of the Torah that remains gives the soul the strength to choose; Song of Songs 1:4 is read in this light, and the bride’s “how shall I put it on?” becomes the soul’s reluctance to put on again the garments of Torah and mitzvos.
Likkutei Torah, Balak, explains the “chambers” as vessels whose general expression is three, Chesed, Din and Rachamim, the initials of חדר, and says they are filled with light through Daas, which is prayer; that is why the middle blessings of the Amidah begin with the blessing for knowledge.
Marei mekomos
- 1פתחי לי · Song of Songs 5:2
- 2משכני אחריך נרוצה · Song of Songs 1:4
- 3חדר ר״ת · ראה מא״א אות ח, ס״ז ביאיר נתיב. ראה גם לקמן פ׳ בלק עא, ב.
- 4ובדעת חדרים ימלאו · Proverbs 24:4
- 5התורה היא מפתחות הפנימיות · Shabbat 31a:6
- 6התורה היא מפתחות הפנימיות · Shabbat 31b:1
- 7בד״ה אדם כי יקריב מכם · לעיל פ׳ ויקרא ב, ד.
The two rememberings ¶19
19וזהו וראיתם אותו וזכרתם את כל מצות הוי׳ פי׳ מה שתראו בחינת ציצית שהוא בחינת הארת אהבה ויראה שהם בחי׳ תכלת ולבן שבציצית והן הם תורת האדם היוצאין בנימין ושערות מבחי׳ מקיף ולבוש
And this is [the meaning of] “And you shall see it and remember all the mitzvos of Havayah”: that is, what you will see, the level of tzitzis, which is the level of the illumination of love and awe, which are the techeles (blue) and the white in the tzitzis, and they are “the Torah of man,” which issue as strands and hairs from the level of the encompassing (makif) and the garment,
Now the verse “and you shall see it and remember all the mitzvos of Havayah” is explained. What one sees, the tzitzis, is the illumination of love and awe, the techeles and the white, which are “the Torah of man”; they issue like strands and hairs from the garment, the encompassing light.
שהוא בחינת מצות מעשיות שהם הנקראים מצות ה׳ לפי שאין נעשין עצמיות האדם כמו אהבה ויראה וגם הם מצות ה׳ ממש שהקב״ה מניח תפילין ומצלי.12
which is the level of the mitzvos of action. These are the ones called “the mitzvos of Havayah,” because they do not become the person’s own essence as love and awe do; and they are also literally the mitzvos of Havayah, for the Holy One, blessed be He, puts on tefillin and prays.
That garment is the mitzvos of action, which the verse calls “the mitzvos of Havayah” because, unlike love and awe, they do not become part of a person’s own self. They are also G‑d’s own mitzvos in the literal sense, for the Talmud says that the Holy One, blessed be He, puts on tefillin and prays.
וזהו ענין אשר קדשנו במצותיו כי הם מצות שלו ממש. משא״כ יראה לא שייך גבי הקב״ה לכך כתיב וזאת תורת האדם3 וגו׳
And this is the meaning of “who has sanctified us with His mitzvos”: for they are literally His own mitzvos. Whereas awe does not apply to the Holy One, blessed be He; that is why it is written, “And this is the Torah of man,” etc.
Hence the blessing “who has sanctified us with His mitzvos”: they are His own mitzvos. Awe, however, cannot apply to G‑d, and so love and awe are called “the Torah of man.”
(עמ״ש סד״ה צאינה וראינה45 בפי׳ וממדבר מתנה6 בחינת מדבר הוא כמ״ש ולא ישב אדם שם7 שהוא למעלה מבחינת אדם משם שרש התורה ומשם נמשכה ונתלבשה בבחינת אדם.
(See what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “Go forth and see,” on the explanation of “And from the wilderness, Mattanah (a gift)”: the level of the wilderness is, as it is written, “where no man dwelt,” which is above the level of man; from there is the root of the Torah, and from there it was drawn down and enclothed in the level of man.
A parenthesis cites the end of the discourse on “Go forth and see” (Song of Songs 3:11), on “And from the wilderness, Mattanah” (Numbers 21:18). The wilderness, “where no man dwelt” (Jeremiah 2:6), stands for a level above “man”; there is the root of the Torah, from which it was drawn down and clothed in the level of “man.”
וזהו ענין וזאת תורת האדם כו׳, ולפמש״כ משמע דפי׳ וזאת תורת האדם היינו מה שנמשך ונתלבש בחב״ד דמל׳ דאצילות כו׳ ועיין בזח״א עמוד קכ״ו8 מענין וזאת תורת האדם).
And this is the meaning of “And this is the Torah of man,” etc. And according to what is written [there], it implies that the meaning of “And this is the Torah of man” is what is drawn down and enclothed in the Chochmah, Binah and Daas of the Malchus of Atzilus, etc. And see the Zohar, Part I, column 126, on “And this is the Torah of man.”)
This is why it is called “the Torah of man”: the Torah as it is drawn down and clothed in the Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Malchus of Atzilus. Kehot notes that the Zohar “column 126” cited here probably refers to the large-format Cremona edition.
וענין הזכירות הם ב׳ בחינות כנגד תכלת וכנגד לבן כנגד תכלת יזכור על מצות לא תעשה (שהיראה היא מקור לשמירת מל״ת כו׳ ועמ״ש מזה ע״פ שימני כחותם)9
And the matter of the rememberings: they are two levels, corresponding to the techeles and corresponding to the white. Corresponding to the techeles, he is to remember the prohibitive commandments (for awe is the source of keeping the prohibitive commandments, etc.; and see what is written on this on the verse “Set me as a seal”):
Now the two rememberings of the opening question are explained: they correspond to the techeles and the white. The techeles, awe, corresponds to the prohibitive commandments, because awe is what makes a person guard against transgression.
ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם10 ואחרי עיניכם אשר אתם זונים פי׳ תמיד תהיו אתם אצליכם בבחינת זונים
“And you shall not wander after your heart and after your eyes, as you go astray”: meaning, you should always be, in your own estimation, in the state of “going astray,”
The verse continues with a prohibition, “do not wander after your heart and after your eyes.” The Alter Rebbe reads “as you go astray” as a standing instruction: always regard yourself as one who goes astray.
ולא תאמרו רחצתי את רגלי11 כבר כו׳ וכמארז״ל ואפילו כל העולם כולו12 אומרים לך צדיק אתה היה בעיניך כרשע כו׳
and do not say, “I have already washed my feet,” etc., and as our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Even if the whole world tells you, ‘You are righteous,’ be in your own eyes like a wicked person,” etc.
This is the opposite of the bride’s “I have already washed my feet,” the complacency of one who considers himself clean. As the oath the Talmud says a soul is made to swear before birth puts it: even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, be in your own eyes like a wicked person.
וכנגד לבן יזכור על מצות עשה ועשיתם את כל מצותי והייתם קדושים13 פי׳ שגם בחי׳ האהבה והיראה שבכם יתעלו בעילוי עד שתהיינה ג״כ נכללות באור המקיף בחינת קדש העליון:
And corresponding to the white, he is to remember the positive commandments: “and you shall do all My mitzvos, and be holy”: meaning, that also the love and the awe within you will be raised ever higher, until they too are included in the encompassing light (or makif), the level of the supernal holiness.
The white, love, corresponds to the positive commandments, the second remembering: “and you shall do all My mitzvos, and be holy.” Through doing them, even one’s love and awe are raised until they too are included in the encompassing light, the supernal holiness.
The verse’s two rememberings are explained: seeing the tzitzis, the “threads” of love and awe, recalls the garment of the mitzvos from which they issue; the techeles recalls the prohibitions and constant humility, and the white the positive mitzvos, through which love and awe rise into the encompassing light.
The Likkutei Torah discourse on “Go forth and see” explains that the Torah, in its emergence into revelation, is “man,” but its root is the “wilderness,” far above the level of man, from which it is drawn down as a crown upon the head. That is why the Torah is called “the Torah of man” only as it is clothed in the level of man.
Marei mekomos
- 1הקב״ה מניח תפלין ומצלי · Berakhot 6a:17–18
- 2ומצלי · Berakhot 7a
- 3וזאת תורת האדם · II Samuel 7:19
- 4סד״ה צאינה וראינה · לקמן שה״ש כב, א.
- 5צאינה וראינה · Song of Songs 3:11
- 6וממדבר מתנה · Numbers 21:18
- 7ולא ישב אדם שם · Jeremiah 2:6
- 8בזח״א עמוד קכ״ו · כנראה הכוונה לזהר גדול דפוס קרימונא.
- 9שימני כחותם · Song of Songs 8:6
- 10ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם · Numbers 15:39
- 11רחצתי את רגלי · Song of Songs 5:3
- 12ואפי׳ כל העולם כולו · Niddah 30b:25
- 13ועשיתם את כל מצותי והייתם קדושים · Numbers 15:40
Summary: the garment and its threads ¶20–23
20קיצור הענין1 כי כוונת הכתוב להזהיר את האדם ולהיות לזכרון תמיד לעיניו גודל מעלת קדושת מצות מעשיות שמהם נעשה לבוש מקיף לנשמתו ושרשו ומקורו מאור מקיף ולבוש עליון שעליו נאמר עוטה אור כשלמה23 ולבושיה כתלג חיור.4
A summary of the matter: the intent of the verse is to caution a person, and to be a constant reminder before his eyes, of the great loftiness of the holiness of the mitzvos of action, from which an encompassing garment is made for his soul, whose root and source is from the encompassing light and the supernal garment of which it is said, “He wraps Himself in light as with a garment,” and “His garment is white as snow.”
A summary: the verse aims to keep before a person’s eyes how holy the mitzvos of action are, for they make an encompassing garment for his soul. That garment is rooted in G‑d’s own supernal garment, of which it says “He wraps Himself in light as with a garment” (Psalms 104:2) and “His garment is white as snow” (Daniel 7:9).
כמאמר רז״ל שהקב״ה מתעטף בטלית לבנה56 כו׳ שהוא מקור ושרש כל המצות שמהם נעשה לבוש לנשמת אדם הנקרא חלוקא דרבנן.7
As our Sages, of blessed memory, said, that the Holy One, blessed be He, wraps Himself in a white tallis, etc., which is the source and root of all the mitzvos, from which a garment is made for a person’s soul, called “the robe of the Sages” (chaluka d’rabbanan).
The Sages describe the Holy One, blessed be He, as wrapping Himself in a white tallis, and this supernal garment is the source of all the mitzvos. From the mitzvos a garment is made for a person’s soul, called chaluka d’rabbanan, “the robe of the Sages.”
The summary states the verse’s aim: to make a person constantly aware of the holiness of the mitzvos of action, which form his soul’s encompassing garment, rooted in G‑d’s own “white tallis,” the supernal garment of light.
Kehot notes that this summary also appears in a manuscript volume of the Alter Rebbe’s discourses (Buch 1064), that no manuscript has glosses of the Tzemach Tzedek here, and that its style shows it to be the Alter Rebbe’s own. The Arizal (Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar HaTzitzis, chapter 3) brings the Midrash of the white tallis as the mystery of the tallis, the encompassing light of Z’eir Anpin.
Marei mekomos
- 1קיצור הענין · קיצור זה נמצא גם בבוך 1064, שהוא מאמרי אדה״ז, בכל הכת״י אין הגהות מהצ״צ, וכן נראה מהסגנון שזה הוא מכ״ק אדה״ז ולא מכ״ק הצ״צ.
- 2עוטה אור כשלמה · Psalms 104:2
- 3עוטה אור כשלמה · Bereshit Rabbah 3:4
- 4ולבושי׳ כתלג חיור · Daniel 7:9
- 5שהקב״ה מתעטף בטלית לבנה · Rosh Hashanah 17b
- 6שהקב״ה מתעטף בטלית לבנה · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Fringes 3:3
- 7חלוקא דרבנן · Bava Batra 57b:9
21והנה גדולת ומעלת לבוש זה וקדושתו יזכור האדם בראיית הציצית שהם רק ד׳ נימין נמשכין מהארת לבוש זה ומן ד׳ נימין אלו
Now, the greatness and loftiness of this garment, and its holiness, a person will remember by seeing the tzitzis, which are only four strands drawn from the illumination of this garment; and from these four strands,
A person recalls the greatness of that garment by looking at the tzitzis, which are only four strands drawn from it.
שהם ב׳ חוטי תכלת1 וב׳ חוטי לבן נמשכה הארת דחילו ורחימו לחב״ד של כנסת ישראל שהם כל הנשמות שבישראל והוא נקרא תורת האדם וגו׳.
which are two threads of techeles and two threads of white, there is drawn the illumination of awe and love (dechilu urechimu) into the Chochmah, Binah and Daas of the Congregation of Israel, which is all the souls in Israel; and this is called “the Torah of man,” etc.
From these four strands, two of techeles and two of white, flows the illumination of awe and love into the intellect of the Congregation of Israel, all the souls of Israel, and this is “the Torah of man.” Kehot points to the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, at the beginning of section 11, on the threads.
Seeing the tzitzis reminds a person of the greatness of the garment, since these few strands alone carry love and awe to all the souls of Israel.
Marei mekomos
- 1ד׳ נימין . . ב׳ חוטי תכלת · טושו״ע או״ח ריש סי״א.
22וא״כ אם מהארת ד׳ נימין לבד נמשכה הארה גדולה כזו דחילו ורחימו של כל נשמות ישראל שמעולם.
And if so, if from the illumination of four strands alone there is drawn so great an illumination, the awe and love of all the souls of Israel that ever were,
The argument moves from small to great. Four strands alone carry so great an illumination: the awe and love of every Jewish soul that has ever lived.
א״כ מה עצמה וגדלה מאד מאד מעלת קדושת הלבוש כולה בכבודה ובעצמה הנעשה מקיום המצות מעשיות.
then how exceedingly mighty and great is the loftiness of the holiness of the whole garment, in its glory and its very self, which is made from fulfilling the mitzvos of action!
Then the holiness of the whole garment, made from fulfilling the mitzvos of action, must be immeasurably greater. This answers the maamar’s questions: it is why Moshe longed for the mitzvos of action, and why the tzitzis remind a person of all the mitzvos.
An argument from small to great: if the tzitzis, mere strands of the garment, carry the love and awe of all Israel, the garment itself, made of the mitzvos of action, is holier beyond measure.
23וכן תלמוד תורה בפיו דעקימת שפתים הוה מעשה.12 וגם הענין בהלכות כולם הן בדברים גשמיים שלכן הן הם גופי תורה3 גופי דייקא.
And so too the study of Torah with one’s mouth, for “moving the lips is an act.” And also, the matter of the laws is that they are all about physical things; that is why they are “the bodies of the Torah,” “bodies” precisely.
Torah study spoken aloud also counts as a deed, since the Talmud rules that moving the lips is an act. And all the laws concern physical things, which is why they are called “the bodies of the Torah,” the word “bodies” being precise.
כמ״ש האריז״ל שקדושת הטלית45 גדלה מעלתה במאד מאד על קדושת הציצית שהם רק נימין הנמשכין מהטלית רק שמפני גודל מעלת קדושתה אינה יכולה להתלבש בטלית הגשמי ממש כמו בציצית
As the Arizal, of blessed memory, wrote, that the holiness of the tallis is exceedingly greater in its loftiness than the holiness of the tzitzis, which are only strands drawn from the tallis; only, because of the great loftiness of its holiness, it cannot be enclothed in the actual physical tallis as [it is] in the tzitzis.
The Arizal teaches that the tallis is far holier than its tzitzis, which are only strands drawn from it. But its holiness is so great that it cannot clothe itself in the physical tallis as it does in the tzitzis.
And therefore the physical tallis has no holiness at all, and it is permitted to use it for mundane things, which is not so with kosher tzitzis.
That is why the physical tallis has no holiness in law and may be used for mundane purposes, while kosher tzitzis may not. The greater light remains hidden and encompassing, while the lesser one is revealed.
Torah study and the laws also belong to the physical garment; and the Arizal’s teaching that the tallis is holier than the tzitzis, though its holiness is too great to rest in the physical cloth, explains why the law gives the tallis no holiness while kosher tzitzis have it.
In Pri Etz Chaim the tallis is the great encompassing light of Z’eir Anpin, whose holiness we have no power to grasp, while the tzitzis allow some grasp of it. The Shulchan Aruch rules that tzitzis threads, as long as they are attached to the tallis, may not be used for anything, because that would show disrespect for the mitzvah.
Marei mekomos
- 1דעקימת שפתים הוה מעשה · Sanhedrin 65a:10–12
- 2דעקימת שפתים הוה מעשה · Bava Metzia 90b:13–14
- 3הן הם גופי תורה · Shabbat 32a:9–10
- 4כמ״ש האריז״ל שקדושת הטלית · ראה פע״ח שער הציצית פ״ג.
- 5שקדושת הטלית · Pri Etz Chaim, Gate of Fringes 3:3
- 6אין בטלית הגשמי שום קדושה כלל ומותר להשתמש בה · Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 21:1
- 7אין בטלית הגשמי שום קדושה . . משא״כ בציצית כשרים · טושו״ע או״ח רסכ״א. ראה בארוכה בלקו״ש-לג ע׳ 96 הערה 17.
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Two things are asked of a person. First, not to rest content with understanding G‑d with the mind, but to let that awareness reach the point of the heart and kindle love and fear; as a preparation, he keeps a humbling reckoning of his failings even after teshuvah, regarding himself always as one who strays rather than one whose feet are already washed. Second, to cherish every mitzvah of action and every detail of the law, and to study Mishnah and Talmud and gather them into his soul, because these physical deeds weave the garment from which all his love and awe are drawn. Each time he sees the tzitzis, he should remember how great that whole garment is.
Questions for discussion
- Why, according to the maamar, can understanding G‑d with the mind not change a person’s nature by itself, and what do the images of water and fire add?
- How does the maamar explain the two rememberings of the tzitzis passage, and how does each relate to the techeles and the white?
- In what sense are the mitzvos of action higher than love and awe, if love and awe are inward and the mitzvos are only a garment?
- What purpose does the Torah taught before birth serve if it is forgotten, and how does the maamar read “Draw me, we will run after you; the king has brought me into his chambers”?
- Why does the physical tallis have no holiness in law while kosher tzitzis do, and what does this teach about a holiness too great to be revealed?
Key terms in this maamar
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- Divine light that enters each world and gives it life according to its measure. ×1
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- Divine light too great to enter the worlds; it 'surrounds' them and affects them from beyond. ×3
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight. ×2
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- Developing and grasping an insight in detail. ×2
- Daas (knowledge)דעת
- Deep connection to an idea, bridging intellect and emotion. ×3
- The G‑dly soulנפש האלקית
- The soul that is 'a part of G‑d above'. ×1
- The Holy One, blessed be Heקב״ה
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning to G‑d; not only repentance. ×1
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence.
- The general and collective expression (klalus)כללות
- That which encompasses the particulars as one: their general and collective expression (the klal, as against the prat). Never “sum”, “sum total”, “totality” or “general principle”, as if the particulars were added up (וכללותן היא מצות הצדקה is “their general and collective expression is the mitzvah of charity”). Render by sense: “their general and collective expression”, “that which encompasses them all”, “X in general”, “X as a whole”. Keep התכללות as “inclusion” / “inter-inclusion”. ×1
- Love and aweאהבה ויראה
- The two 'wings' of divine service. ×6
- The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
- The innermost core of a level. ×1
- The reshimu (impression)רשימו
- The trace left after the tzimtzum. ×3
- Chesed (kindness)חסד
- Expansive giving. ×1
- The intellect (mochin)מוחין
- Chochmah, Binah and Daas as a whole. ×1
- The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
- Love, awe, compassion and the rest. ×2
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- Kingship: the level through which G‑d's word creates and rules the worlds.
- The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
- The highest world, still one with G‑d. ×1
- Yesod (foundation)יסוד
- The channel that connects and transmits. ×5
- The World of Beriah (Creation)בריאה
- The first world of separate existence. ×2
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×2
- The World of Asiyah (Action)עשיה
- The lowest world, including our physical one. ×1