Tanya/ Iggeres Ha’Kodesh - The Holy Epistle, Epistle 15, Class 8
__________
This “lower soul” naturally inclines to “lower” (i.e., corporeal) matters so that even its intellect goes only as far as understanding the composition, and so on, of mundane things. For although the kelipah, which is the source of this soul, is kelipat nogah, a kelipah whose darkness is relieved by a ray of good, nevertheless, it is wholly bound up with mundanity.
But in true fact, with regard to [the sefirot in] the higher, Divine soul, which is a “part of G‑d above,”50
אַךְ בֶּאֱמֶת לַאֲמִיתּוֹ, בַּנֶּפֶשׁ הָעֶלְיוֹנָה הָאֱלֹהִית, שֶׁהִיא "חֵלֶק אֱלוֹהַּ מִמַּעַל",
all the internal and external attributes are [directed] to G‑d alone: the Divine soul is concerned with spiritual things alone so that both its (internal) love and (external) chesed are concentrated purely on G‑dliness.
כָּל הַמִּדּוֹת, פְּנִימִיּוֹת וְחִיצוֹנִיּוֹת, הֵן לַה' לְבַדּוֹ.
For because of one’s love of G‑d and because of one’s great desire to cleave unto Him,
כִּי מֵחֲמַת אַהֲבַת ה' וּמֵרוֹב חֶפְצוֹ לְדָבְקָה בוֹ,
he desires with all his being [to practice] chesed in order to cleave to His attributes.
הוּא חָפֵץ חֶסֶד כְּדֵי לִידָּבֵק בְּמִדּוֹתָיו,
This accords with the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory, on the verse, “And to cleave unto Him”51: “Cleave unto His attributes.”52
כְּמַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ־זִכְרוֹנָם־לִבְרָכָה עַל פָּסוּק "וּלְדָבְקָה בוֹ": "הִדָּבֵק בְּמִדּוֹתָיו".
Just as G‑d is compassionate, so should mortal man be compassionate; just as G‑d has an innate desire to practice kindness, so should a person’s inner desire to practice kindness be motivated by a desire to cleave to G‑d.
As to the attribute of chesed, then, both its internal aspect (love) and its external aspect (kindness) are directed purely to G‑dly things.
It is likewise with the attribute of gevurah, whose internal aspect is fear; it, too, is experienced only for G-dly causes:
וְכֵן בְּמִדַּת הַגְּבוּרָה –
for example, to punish and chastise the wicked with the punishments of the Torah,
לְהִפָּרַע מִן הָרְשָׁעִים וּלְעָנְשָׁם בְּעוֹנְשֵׁי הַתּוֹרָה,
and also to prevail over one’s [evil] inclination and to sanctify himself in that which is permitted to him,53
וְכֵן, לְהִתְגַּבֵּר עַל יִצְרוֹ וּלְקַדֵּשׁ אֶת עַצְמוֹ בַּמּוּתָּר לוֹ,
and to put up a fence and a hedge around the Torah,54
וְלַעֲשׂוֹת גָּדֵר וּסְיָיג לַתּוֹרָה,
because of the dread and fear of G‑d, lest he might come to sin, heaven forfend.
מִפְּנֵי פַּחַד ה' וְיִרְאָתוֹ, פֶּן יָבֹא לִידֵי חֵטְא חַס וְשָׁלוֹם.
In order to ensure that he will not come to sin, a person may thus choose to sanctify himself and refrain from “one hundred portals of the permissible so as not to transgress in one portal of the prohibited.”55
To summarize the above conclusions regarding the first two of the seven middot, or spiritual emotions: Not only is a man’s attribute of chesed directed to G‑dly matters, but so, too, is his attribute of gevurah—both in its internal aspect, viz., the fear of G‑d, and in its external manifestations in his rigorous observance of the Torah and its mitzvot.
tefillin
וְכֵן לְפָאֵר אֶת ה' וְתוֹרָתוֹ בְּכָל מִינֵי פְּאֵר,
and to cleave to His praises [by praising G‑d] with all the faculties of his soul:
וּלְדָבְקָה בִּשְׁבָחָיו בְּכָל בְּחִינוֹת נַפְשׁוֹ,
that is, by intellectual and thoughtful meditation on the greatness of G-d, which blossoms into the singing of His praises,
דְּהַיְינוּ בְּהִתְבּוֹנְנוּת שִׂכְלוֹ וּמַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ,
and likewise, when he speaks, his praises are not empty words but grow out of his preparatory meditation.
גַּם בְּדִיבּוּרוֹ.
“[Praising G‑d] with all the faculties of his soul” thus means that the worshipper utilizes his intellect and emotions as well as all three “garments” of his soul (i.e., the soul’s media of self-expression), viz., thought, speech, and action (for speech constitutes mini-action56). Alternatively, “[praising G‑d] with all the faculties of his soul” may mean: all those aspects of the soul that relate to praise, i.e., intellect, thought, and speech.
______
50. See Tanya, Part I, beginning of ch. 2.
52. Sifrei (sec. 49) on the above verse; Sotah 14a.
53. Cf. Yevamot 20a.
54. Cf. Avot 1:1.
55. Reishit Chochmah, Shaar Hakedushah, ch. 15, et al.
56. Sanhedrin 65a.
57. Cf. Isaiah 6:3.