נוֹדָע דִּבְאִתְעֲרוּתָא דִּלְתַתָּא

It is known that in response to an awakening from below, An awakening refers to the inception of a movement or illumination. In the higher world, the movement is a descent from above to below, and in the lower world, it entails an ascent from below to above. When an action or illumination originates down below, it ascends, and when it originates from on high, it descends. Generally speaking, a human being initiates an awakening from below, and God initiates an awakening from above. These two are interwoven and one brings about the other. Together, they constitute the movement of life in man and in the world. Though the author of the Tanya discusses these concepts elsewhere, here they are presented somewhat differently. He is not speaking about two sources of a person's actions in the world, but about an action and its reward: the person's action below and its reward from above. This reward is not presented as a lever that propels a person from one act of service to another, as in "the reward of a mitzva is a mitzva," but is presented as an entity in itself.

שֶׁהָאָדָם מְעוֹרֵר בְּלִבּוֹ

when a person evokes in his heart The awakening from below begins with the arousal of a person's heart. The act of giving charity, which is what the author of the Tanya is talking about here, begins within the soul, where the person's feelings and desires are impacted to feel compassion for another person in need.

מִדַּת הַחֶסֶד וְרַחֲמָנוּת עַל כָּל הַצְּרִיכִים לְרַחֲמִים, אִתְעֲרוּתָא דִּלְעֵילָא לְעוֹרֵר עָלָיו רַחֲמִים רַבִּים מִמְּקוֹר הָרַחֲמִים,

the attribute of kindness and compassion for all those who are in need of compassion, there is a consequent awakening from above that elicits abundant compassion for him from the source of compassion, Even while a person's awakening from below is confined to his heart and has not yet actualized as deed, even when it has only evoked feelings of kindness and compassion on those who are in need, feelings that have not yet been translated into acts of charity, an awakening from above is initiated. The awakening from above reflects the awakening from below both in terms of the type of awakening entailed and in terms of the person whose awakening from below has prompted the awakening from above, the person who has now become a vehicle to receive from above. Therefore, even if a person is only spurred to have compassion on someone else without any further effort, he elicits God's compassion from above.

לְהַשְׁפִּיעַ לוֹ הַפֵּירוֹת בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְהַקֶּרֶן לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא.

bestowing on him the fruits of his actions in this world while the principal reward remains for the World to Come. The abundant compassion from above, from the source of compassion, manifests itself in two ways: as the "principal" and as "fruits." These are concepts from the field of finance. The principal is the value of a property, and the fruits are the profits that it generates, like the fruits of a tree, without the property itself being diminished. Similarly, the divine flow of abundant compassion has these two characteristics of the principal and the fruits. The bestowal of the "fruits," which does not cause any diminution of the principal (the source of divine light), is merely an illumination that enters a receptacle. This flow is therefore associated with our finite and lowly world, which serves as this receptacle. The principal, on the other hand, is not merely an illumination, but an expression of the essence of the One who bestows abundance and vitality. This flow is not limited by the receptacle of the recipient at all. Therefore, it relates to the World to Come, which is not subject to such limitations.

פֵּירוּשׁ, הַ׳פֵּירוֹת׳ הִיא הַשְׁפָּעָה הַנִּשְׁפַּעַת מִמְּקוֹר הָרַחֲמִים וְחַיֵּי הַחַיִּים בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְנִמְשֶׁכֶת לְמַטָּה מַטָּה בִּבְחִינַת הִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלוּת הָעוֹלָמוֹת מִלְמַעְלָה לְמַטָּה כו׳,

This means that the "fruits" refers to the divine sustenance that flows from the source of compassion and the infinite source of life, blessed be He, and is drawn down to the bottommost reaches through the downward progression of the worlds, from top to bottom, and so on, Although the flow of sustenance that is termed the "fruits" is merely an illumination of the principal, an illumination that diminishes the principal, it is drawn all the way down from the loftiest plane. The phrase "downward progression of the worlds" indicates the realm where the divine light, and not divinity itself, gives those worlds life. It indicates the nature of the connection between the worlds, which is a connection of one world devolving into another, like links in a chain, with the top of a lower link inserted into the bottom of a higher link. The lower link receives and apprehends all it can possibly contain. There is a relationship between the links: The higher world is the cause of the lower world, and the lower world necessarily can apprehend that cause. Therefore, the higher world, although loftier, is not entirely separate from the lower world.

עַד שֶׁמִּתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה הַגַּשְׁמִי,

until it becomes enclothed within this physical world, This physical reality is the lowest world in the entire progression of worlds. It is precisely the illumination that is drawn from the highest plane, from the most supernal source of compassion, that reaches the bottommost reaches, the very depths of physicality.

בִּבְנֵי חַיֵּי וּמְזוֹנֵי כו'.

in one's children, life, and livelihood, and so forth. Children, life, and livelihood encapsulate the totality of a person's concerns in this physical world. "Children" refers to a person's children, to their birth and growth. "Life" refers to a person's life span, health, and well-being. "Livelihood" refers to a person's income and sustenance. Every tangible resource in this world fits into one of these three categories. These resources, which each person receives in accordance with his needs and situation, are only the "fruits" of the principal. They do not express anything of the mitzva's intrinsic nature, nor do they constitute the actual reward for performing the mitzva, which is an expression of God's will.

וְהַקֶּרֶן הוּא כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹד" (תהלים קיט, צו).

The "principal" relates to the verse "Your commandments are exceedingly wide" (Ps. 119:96). The principal constitutes the essence of the divine vitality that no vessel or world can contain. Only one thing is sufficiently large and broad enough to receive it, and that is a mitzva itself. As the verse states, "Your commandments are exceedingly wide." The term me'od, "exceedingly," implies something infinite.

וַהֲוָה לֵיהּ לְמֵימַר "מִצְוֹתֶיךָ", לְשׁוֹן רַבִּים (וְגַם לְשׁוֹן ״רְחָבָה״ אֵינוֹ מוּבָן).

The verse should have said, mitzvotekha , in the plural, rather than mitzvatekha, which literally means "Your commandment," in the singular. (Moreover, the term reḥava , wide, is incomprehensible.) Since the verse is presumably referring to all 613 commandments, why does it speak of a single commandment? Also, how does the word "wide," a concept taken from the physical world, apply to a mitzva? In addition, why specifically employ this term, as opposed to "long" or "high"?

אֶלָּא ״מִצְוָתְךָ״ דַּיְיקָא הִיא מִצְוַת הַצְּדָקָה, שֶׁהִיא מִצְוַת ה' מַמָּשׁ, מַה שֶּׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בִּכְבוֹדוֹ וּבְעַצְמוֹעוֹשֶׂה תָּמִיד לְהַחֲיוֹת הָעוֹלָמוֹת,

Rather, the term "Your commandment" is precise because God's commandment, that which the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself in His glory constantly performs to sustain the worlds, it refers to the mitzva of charity, which is literally God gives life to all the worlds as an act of charity. The mitzva of charity is unconditional giving. It is giving that is not limited by the recipient's merit or by what he will give back in return. This is the type of giving performed by God, who is infinite and besides whom there is no other. In relation to God, all the worlds are as nothing and without value. Nothing obligates Him to give. All of existence and life exist solely due to His infinite charity and kindness. Moreover, the author of the Tanya adds, God gives "constantly" because the life and existence of the world must be constantly renewed at every moment in order for reality to continue to exist.

וְיַעֲשֶׂה לֶעָתִיד בְּיֶתֶר שְׂאֵת וְעֹז,

and He will do so in the future with greater magnitude and greater power, At the time of the resurrection of the dead, there will be a mighty and powerful revelation of the divine life force in the worlds. At present, there is only sufficient life force to maintain the worlds as they are. Should that vitality increase, the worlds would be subsumed within the revelation of the Divine. But in the future, when the world, and man in particular, will be able to contain a greater magnitude of life force, there will be an immensely powerful revelation.

וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ ה' לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה כו'" (בראשית יח, יט).

as it is written, "And they will observe the way of the Lord, to perform charity and justice…" (Gen. 18:19). Charity is "the way of the Lord" – the path on which God Himself sets forth from the supernal hidden place of His might and pours forth lifegiving sustenance and is revealed in the world. This path opens up through the mitzvot in general, and through the mitzva of charity in particular. In light of this, the verse "They will observe the way of the Lord" means that when a person performs the mitzvot, and when he gives charity in particular, he keeps and maintains the channel through which the flow and revelation of the Divine may pour forth. Moreover, they prepare and build the powerful and mighty channel through which God will one day be revealed.

כְּמוֹ דֶּרֶךְ שֶׁהוֹלְכִים בָּהּ מֵעִיר לְעִיר עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל, כָּךְ הַצְּדָקָה הִיא בְּחִינַת גִּילּוּי וְהֶאָרַת אוֹר אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא,

Metaphorically speaking, like a road on which people travel from one city to another, so too charity is the revelation and illumination of the light of Ein Sof , blessed be he, which encompasses all worlds so that it may shine and manifest itself even as far as this world In order to travel from one place to another, there is a road that one must take. Likewise, in the spiritual realm, there are stages and the manner in which something is brought about. Charity makes it possible for the infinite divine light, a light that encompasses all worlds, to shine on this world and be revealed in it. It is therefore "the way of God" – the way in which the unlimited encompassing light of Ein Sof is drawn into this finite world. The entire world and its creations are literally nothingness in relation to the light of Ein Sof. But charity can leap over boundaries, so that it vivifies even the one who has nothing to give in return, whether that is a creation, a person, or the lowly world. Charity alone can cross that gap, can bind the light that encompasses all worlds with the light that fills all worlds. Charity makes it clear that the road from above to below consists of giving and revealing. But that is not enough, because that which is below must be capable of receiving. How can the infinite light of Ein Sof be received and revealed in a world that is finite?

בְּאִתְעֲרוּתָא דִּלְתַתָּא בְּתוֹרַת צְדָקָה וְחֶסֶד חִנָּם,

through an awakening from below that evokes God's charity and undeserved kindness, The author of the Tanya now returns to the statement he made at the beginning of the letter: that the giving that comes from the source of compassion in order to pour forth the "fruits" and "principal" flows forth as a result of an awakening from below. Only when a person arouses the trait of kindness and compassion in his heart, when he extends himself and breaks through his own boundaries and gives charitably and kindly to someone in need, can he receive the illumination of Ein Sof in the manner of charity and undeserved kindness from above.

לֶעָתִיד, בִּתְחִיַּית הַמֵּתִים בְּיֶתֶר שְׂאֵת וְיֶתֶר עָז לְאֵין קֵץ מִבְּחִינַת גִּילּוּי (הֶאָרָה) [הַהֶאָרָה] בְּגַן עֵדֶן הַתַּחְתּוֹן וְהָעֶלְיוֹן.

in the future, at the time of the resurrection of the dead, with infinitely greater magnitude and greater power than the illumination in the lower and higher Garden of Eden. The powerfully intense illumination of Ein Sof will occur only in the future. The present time is in essence a time of action, of performing the commandments, whereas the time to receive reward through the revelation of the Divine for the deeds that were performed is in the future. The present is not the proper time for such a revelation. On the contrary, proper deeds can be performed to perfection only out of concealment. Only when we do not appreciate a deed's greatness and significance can we perform it with pure intentions. In the future time of revelation, then, there will be no more mitzvah performance. In this context, the term "future" generally has two meanings: the future of an individual and the future of the world. The future of an individual refers to the stage that follows physical life in this world, when the body expires and the soul ascends to the Garden of Eden. Once the soul is no longer in the body, it is not limited by the body's boundaries, and it can receive illumination and revelation beyond that which it could have received while in the body. Yet this revelation still remains intrinsically limited. While the Garden of Eden is in a loftier realm than our world of Asiya, while it exists in the worlds of Yetzira (as the lower Garden of Eden) and Beria (as the higher Garden of Eden), these worlds are not infinite, and neither is the revelation that these worlds can contain. The infinite revelation that the epistle speaks of here will occur only in the future of the entire world, at the time of the resurrection of the dead. The existence of every soul in the Garden of Eden is intrinsically no different from its previous existence in this world. That which is revealed in the Garden of Eden is essentially that which exists in this world, except that in this world we cannot see it because of external limitations such as the physical body. The statement made in a number of texts that in the Garden of Eden the righteous rise from level to level, from the lower level of the Garden of Eden to the higher level of the Garden of Eden and onward, refers to the attainment of an increasingly profound and refined revelation. In contrast to life after death, there is the time of the resurrection of the dead. Although it is apparently a return of a sort to the existence of this world, of the soul in the body, it will be an entirely different existence, a different world, where that which could not be revealed in the present world will be revealed in the next world, the world of the resurrection.

שֶׁהֲרֵי כָּל נִשְׁמוֹת הַצַּדִּיקִים וְהַתַּנָּאִים וְהַנְּבִיאִים, שֶׁהֵם עַתָּה בְּגַן עֵדֶן הָעֶלְיוֹן בְּרוּם הַמַּעֲלוֹת, יִתְלַבְּשׁוּ בְּגוּפוֹתֵיהֶם לֶעָתִיד וְיָקוּמוּ בִּזְמַן הַתְּחִיָּיה לֵיהָנוֹת מִזִּיו הַשְּׁכִינָה.

That is because all the souls of the righteous, the tanna'im , and the prophets, who are currently in the higher level of the Garden of Eden, in the most elevated heights, will in the future be clothed in their bodies and will rise at the time of the resurrection to enjoy the radiance of the Divine Presence. The proof for this is that the revelation and reward at the time of the resurrection of the dead will be loftier than that of the Garden of Eden. Not only those who are alive in this world but also the souls in the Garden of Eden, including souls on its highest level, will experience the resurrection. The resurrection will pertain to various types of souls, such as the souls of the righteous, the tanna'im, and the prophets, whose service and level in this world were very high. Their spiritual level and service in this world resulted in a corresponding level of revelation in the Garden of Eden. In the future resurrection, they will be clothed once again in their bodies and rise to enjoy the radiance of God's presence. The level of revelation at the time of the resurrection of the dead that they will experience will be even higher than that of all of the levels of the Garden of Eden.

לְפִי שֶׁהַהֶאָרָה וְהַגִּילּוּי שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן הִיא בְּחִינַת ‘מְמַלֵּא כָּל עָלְמִין׳,

This is because the illumination and revelation of the Garden of Eden is that which fills all worlds, The principal difference between the divine revelation in the Garden of Eden and the revelation at the time of the resurrection of the dead is that the revelation in the Garden of Eden involves only the light that fills all worlds, whereas the revelation at the time of the resurrection involves the light that encompasses all worlds.

שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת הִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלוּת מִמַּדְרֵגָה לְמַדְרֵגָה עַל יְדֵי צִמְצוּמִים עֲצוּמִים.

which descends in a chain of progression from one level to another by means of immense constrictions. The light that fills all worlds in the Garden of Eden descends progressively through the worlds from level to level as a result of immense constrictions. At its essence it is the divine light that originates in Ein Sof, powerful and immeasurably vast beyond anything that the worlds can contain or apprehend. In order for this light to fill the worlds, to enter into their parameters and limitations, it must undergo many powerful constrictions. This entails constrictions not only in the passage from Ein Sof, which is beyond all the worlds, to the worlds, but from one world to the next, from the high spiritual worlds, which are almost transparent to Ein Sof, to the physical world of action, where the Divine is totally concealed. There are many levels, and each one almost entirely conceals and constricts the one above it. The descent of the divine light from one world to another is described as "a descent in a chain of progression from one level to another by means of immense constrictions."

וּכְמַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז"ל (מנחות כט, ב): בְּיוּ"ד נִבְרָא עוֹלָם הַבָּא.

This is in keeping with our Rabbis' statement "The World to Come was created with the letter yod " (Menaḥot 29b). Our Sages' reference to the World to Come that was created with the letter yod refers to the Garden of Eden, where the light of Ein Sof is so constricted that if there is any greater constriction there would be no light at all. This constriction, then, is compared to the letter yod, which is no more than a point. The letters are God's tool of creation, just as letters are our means of speech. Just as the letters that we speak create meaning and messages, so do the letters of divine speech create the existence of the worlds and their meaning. As described at length in Sha'ar HaYiḥud VeHa'emunah, there are foundational letters that set the parameters for the world. These are then divided into many letters and combinations of letters that create the minutiae of creations in the worlds. One of the descriptions of these foundational letters is the Sages' statement that the World to Come was created with the letter yod. The letter yod signifies constriction, in keeping with the form of the letter yod, which is essentially a point. The point, unlike the other letters, which have length and breadth, connotes maximal constriction. If the World to Come was created with the letter yod, this means that the World to Come was created with maximal constriction. The World to Come is the world in which the divine light is revealed to us, yet due to the limitations of creation, this revelation constitutes the greatest constriction possible of that infinite light. The human soul does not have the capacity to handle anything more.

וְהִיא בְּחִינַת חָכְמָה עִילָּאָה,

This is the level of supernal wisdom, The letter yod represents the sefira of Ḥokhma. Like the yod, it is a sefira without dimensions, without area, without a vessel. Ḥokhma is spoken of as a point, a spark, a pulse, a flash of light that intrinsically cannot be grasped and defined. Before the illumination of Ḥokhma is absorbed into the sefirot below it, it cannot be grasped, neither by the intellect nor by experience. It is only a beginning, the initiation of the process of progressive descent and revelation.

הַנִּקְרֵאת 'עֵדֶן הָעֶלְיוֹן',

which is called "supernal Eden," According to hasidic teachings, "Eden," "garden," and "river" are not one and the same realm but rather represent different levels and stages of revelation. As the verse states, "A river emerged from Eden to water the garden" (Gen. 2:10). "Eden" is the point of Ḥokhma. The "river" alludes to the point of Ḥokhma being drawn forth and expanded, to Bina, which broadens and spreads out from the point of Ḥokhma and even splits into various paths and ways. The "garden" is Malkhut, the place of revelation. At any rate, the starting point, the kernel from which the revelation of the Garden of Eden on all levels begins, is the point of Ḥokhma, which is called "supernal Eden."

הַמִּשְׁתַּלְשֶׁלֶת וּמִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּכָל הָעוֹלָמוֹת,

which is progressively clothed in all the worlds, Ḥokhma is the transfer point between Ein Sof and the worlds; it transmits the light of Ein Sof to the worlds. Since Ein Sof is the sole source of life and existence, Ḥokhma is not only the initial point of the progressive descent of that light, but it exists and is clothed in every point in the worlds as the source of their existence and life force.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "כּוּלָּם בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ כו'" (תהלים קד, כד), וְ"הַחָכְמָה תְּחַיֶּה כו'" (קהלת ז, יב).

as it is written, "With wisdom You have made them all…" (Ps. 104:24), and "Wisdom grants life to its possessors…" (Eccles. 7:12). The beginning of everything, which comes from above, which exists and gives life to every world and every entity down to the lowest level, is the point of Ḥokhma. The two verses quoted here express two ways of viewing Ḥokhma: one from above and one from below. "With wisdom You have made them all" is the perspective from above, from Ein Sof. In relation to Ein Sof, Ḥokhma is compared to an action. Analogously, the faculty of action is the lowest faculty, in comparison to willpower, thoughts, or speech. The life force that a person's actions receives from his soul is extremely diminished and constricted, almost negligent when compared to the soul itself. So too Ḥokhma, as viewed from above, is like a constricted action in comparison to the levels that exist beyond Ḥokhma. The second verse, "Wisdom grants life to its possessors," expresses the view from below. In relation to the worlds below, Ḥokhma is the supernal source that gives life to everything.

וּבְגַן עֵדֶן הִיא בִּבְחִינַת גִּילּוּי הַהַשָּׂגָה

In the Garden of Eden, this wisdom is manifestly comprehensible Ḥokhma exists in everything, but in the Garden of Eden, it becomes comprehensible. The Garden of Eden is not necessarily a different place. At most, it is merely a spiritual plane. That is to say, it is a place where the soul exists like a scout in his outpost, seeing and comprehending everything that it could not see before.

לְכָל חַד לְפוּם שִׁיעוּרָא דִּילֵיהּ.

to each person according to his capacity. The insight gained in the Garden of Eden is not the same for everyone. Every person's experience in the Garden of Eden is in a manner and on a level unique to him. This is also the case in a physical place: Each person experiences it in a manner unique to him. Even more, if the Garden of Eden is a state of revelation, that revelation exists for each person in accordance with his capacity to perceive it, in accordance with his attributes, ability, background, circumstances, and so forth. In light of this, there is not a single Garden of Eden, but each person has his own personal Garden of Eden, which he attains in accordance with his ability and situation at that time, ascending one level after another.

כַּנּוֹדָע שֶׁעוֹנֶג הַנְּשָׁמוֹת בְּגַן עֵדֶן הוּא מֵהַשָּׂגַת סוֹדוֹת הַתּוֹרָה,

As is known, the pleasure of the souls in the Garden of Eden stems from the apprehension of the secrets of the Torah, The delight and pleasure that is experienced in the Garden of Eden is the delight of apprehension. The soul's capacity for delight may be on a very high level, on the level of Keter, which is higher than the intellectual apprehension with which the Garden of Eden is associated. But it is manifest through the apprehension and senses of the internal faculties of the soul. Delight in itself encompasses the soul. It is a mystical secret that does not reveal itself, but rather is revealed when this secret is apprehended, when a person understands something, when he acquires it intellectually and experientially. Then he experiences the delight that was concealed within it. Every time a person attains a secret that was hidden from him, he uncovers the delight that was hidden there, which constitutes a higher level of the Garden of Eden.

שֶׁעָסַק בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה בַּנִּגְלֶה,

which comes from the revealed aspect of the Torah that one studied in this world, How does a person attain the revelation of the secrets in the Garden of Eden? After all, it is explained that on all levels of the Garden of Eden, a person does not learn or understand anything new. He only apprehends on higher levels that which he had already understood before. But a person can attain that initial understanding of the Torah only in this world through his study of its revealed aspects. Even if a person studies the hidden aspects of the Torah, he does not have an actual idea of what he is studying. He recites the words and thinks about abstract concepts and relates them to each other, but he does not actually know what it all means. The only way a person can attain actual insight into divine matters is when they are clothed in matters of this world, in the revealed part of the Torah: trading a cow for a donkey, making fringes out of wool, and so on. Only when a person is in this world, when the soul is in the body living and experiencing this reality, can he grasp the divine intellect and will that are clothed in it. A person in this world knows exactly what a donkey and cow are, and when the Torah speaks about trading one for the other, he knows exactly what it is speaking about. This apprehension in this reality only involves revealed matters, the infrastructures of this world that express the divine wisdom. It is not an apprehension of the deeper, internal aspects of things, of the Divine that is concealed within them. Such an apprehension cannot exist in a reality of action. It is impossible to both act and feel. A person who acts does not feel, and a person who feels cannot act. This also applies to the relationship between the life of this world and the life of the Garden of Eden. In this world, in which a person acts, where he studies and understands how to perform the mitzvot, he does not sense or understand the greatness and holiness of those actions. In the Garden of Eden, on the other hand, where he senses the greatness of the mitzvot he performed, he can no longer act. The only way a person can have an actual understanding and sense of the secrets of the Torah, then, is when he will be in the Garden of Eden. Then he will understand the secrets of the revealed parts of the Torah that he understood in this world. Only then will concrete understanding that came from the revealed aspects of Torah be connected to the divine secrets it contains and to the concealed delight that is now manifest.

כִּדְאִיתָא בַּזּוֹהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ פָּרָשַׁת שְׁלַח (חלק ג קסג, א), וּבַגְּמָרָא (בבא מציעא פו, א) בָּעוּבְדָּא דְּרַבָּה בַּר נַחְמָנִי.

as stated in the holy Zohar , Parashat Shelaḥ (1:163a), and in the Talmud (Bava Metzia 86a) with regard to the incident involving Rabba bar Naḥmani. The Zohar describes souls studying Torah in the Garden of Eden, while the Talmud tells of a dispute in the heavenly yeshiva, in the Garden of Eden. The dispute concerned the laws involving the identification of tzara'at, an affliction commonly translated as leprosy. If a person has a white spot on his skin in which a white hair subsequently grows, it is determined that he is afflicted with tzara'at, whereas if the white hair preceded the white spot, it is determined that he does not have tzara'at. But what if the matter is uncertain? What if it is not clear which came first, the spot or the hair? In that case, in the heavenly yeshiva God stated that it is not tzara'at, but the sages there disagreed and said that it is. The Talmud concludes that the heavenly yeshiva declared that the dispute would be decided by Rabba bar Naḥmani. This episode indicates that the Torah is studied and understood in the Garden of Eden and that the topics studied there are the same as those studied in this world. Yet there Torah study is not the same as Torah study below. In Heaven, there is no body, no tzara'at of the body, no practical halakha, and no deeds. As stated in several hasidic teachings, it appears that the study there concerns the lofty, spiritual aspect of these matters. Every Torah matter devolves from the loftiest heights through all the worlds, until it reaches our low world. In each world, it has a reality and meaning congruent with the vessels and concepts of that world. The loftier the world, the loftier, more abstract, and more expansive the Torah study. But ultimately, when a decision must be reached, not only to experience these matters and understand them better, but to determine the practical halakha, to choose between dissenting opinions, one must descend to our world. One must ask Rabba bar Naḥmani, who is still living in this world and studying the revealed Torah and who therefore comprehends the tangibility of these matters, because they are relevant to him. Revelation in the Garden of Eden is indeed revelation, but that revelation does not involve the matters themselves, only their manifestations, the light that fills all worlds: the constricted illumination that is grasped and revealed in the vessels and parameters of the worlds.

אֲבָל גִּילּוּי הַהֶאָרָה שֶׁבִּתְחִיַּית הַמֵּתִים יִהְיֶה מִבְּחִינַת 'סוֹבֵב כָּל עָלְמִין',

But the revelation of the light at the time of the resurrection of the dead will be on the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, The revelation at the time of the resurrection of the dead will be a divine light that transcends and encompasses all the worlds. The revelation of this light cannot exist in this world or in any world but only in the other reality that will exist at the time of the resurrection of the dead.

שֶׁאֵינָהּ בִּבְחִינַת צִמְצוּם וְשִׁיעוּר וּגְבוּל אֶלָּא בְּלִי גְּבוּל וְתַכְלִית,

which is not characterized by constriction, measure, and limit, but is unlimited and infinite, The illumination that will be revealed in the future will be loftier than all parameters and boundaries. It will come from the light that encompasses all worlds, prior to the constrictions that generated the parameters of the worlds. This means that this will be a totally different category of revelation that is nothing like what we know and comprehend in today's reality. Indeed, in our world, it is hard to fathom how there can be such a revelation. We do not even have a metaphor for it. Nevertheless, it is possible to think of it as roughly analogous to the soul's comprehension of itself, not of the functions of the soul or the faculties of the soul, but the essence of the soul. Such a revelation is not in keeping with what we presently know and understand, the knowledge of that which is outside ourselves, which must be clothed in the parameters of our comprehension. Instead, it will be roughly analogous to our comprehension and knowledge of ourselves.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר בְּלִקּוּטֵי אֲמָרִים פֶּרֶק מ"ח בֵּיאוּר עִנְיַן 'סוֹבֵב כָּל עָלְמִין', שֶׁאֵינוֹ כְּמַשְׁמָעוֹ כְּמוֹ עִיגּוּל חַס וְשָׁלוֹם, אֶלָּא שֶׁאֵינוֹ בִּבְחִינַת הִתְלַבְּשׁוּת וכו', וְעַיֵּן שָׁם הֵיטֵב.

as explained in Likkutei Amarim , chapter 48, with regard to the meaning of the concept of the light that encompasses all worlds, that this is not in accordance with its plain meaning, that the worlds are like a sphere, God forbid. Rather, it means that this light cannot be enclothed in the apprehension of a person's thoughts and intellectual understanding, and so on. See there in depth. Likkutei Amarim discusses the problem of misinterpreting the concept of the light that encompasses all worlds, which results from thinking of that light in terms of physical phenomena. One might think that it is a sort of physical entity that encircles from the outside and not from within (an error that may be supported by images of spheres that exist in some kabbalistic works). But a person who thinks only in such terms can by no means understand the spiritual concept of the light that encompasses all worlds. The author of the Tanya goes on to explain the concepts of the light that encompasses all worlds and the light that fills all worlds in terms we can understand: The light that fills all worlds refers to that which is clothed within our receptacles and faculties of the soul, whereas the light that encompasses all worlds refers to that which is not clothed in them because it is beyond their ability to classify it, beyond any classification at all. But unlike the physical understanding of something that encompasses, this does not mean that the encompassing light does not exist within the worlds but rather only without. That we do not see or sense the encompassing light does not mean that it is not present. On the contrary, the encompassing light is everywhere, and within every entity it is even more significant than the reality of the light that fills all worlds. The light that fills all worlds relates to particular characteristics, to parameters that one must contemplate in order to recognize and identify them. But the light that encompasses all worlds constitutes the essential existence of a thing. This light does not exist as a constricted light that can be comprehended, but it exists within the essence of entities, as something in itself. Yet at present, our intellect cannot grasp this light. It will only be able to do so in the future, with the resurrection of the dead, when there will be an intrinsic revelation of the soul in the body, as well as an intrinsic revelation of the light of Ein Sof, the light that encompasses all worlds.

וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז"ל (ברכות יז, א): "וְעַטְרוֹתֵיהֶם בְּרָאשֵׁיהֶם וְנֶהֱנִין כו׳". 'עֲטָרָה' הִיא בְּחִינַת מַקִּיף וְסוֹבֵב, וְנִקְרָא 'כֶּתֶר' מִלְּשׁוֹן כּוֹתֶרֶת.

This is the meaning of the Rabbis' statement regarding the World to Come: "The righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence" (Berakhot 17a). A crown is something that encompasses and surrounds, and it is called a keter in the same sense as a koteret , the capital on top of a pillar. The Sages' description of the righteous sitting with their crowns on their heads, enjoying the splendor of the Divine Presence, will occur in the future world, after the resurrection of the dead. A crown rests on top of the head, an analogy to the light that exists above and beyond the limited light that is revealed and clothed within the head. It is for this reason that the first sefira is called Keter, Crown, implying that it encompasses and encircles. Just as the crown on a person's head is not one of his limbs and is not counted among his limbs, so too the sefira of Keter is separate from the other sefirot. Unlike Keter, the other sefirot are like vessels that contain the faculties of the intellect and the emotive attributes.

וְהוּא בְּחִינַת מְמוּצָּע הַמְחַבֵּר הֶאָרַת הַמַּאֲצִיל אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהַנֶּאֱצָלִים.

The crown is the intermediary that connects the light of the Emanator, Ein Sof, blessed be He, to the emanated beings, Keter is always an intermediary between worlds. For instance, Keter of the world of Beria is also Malkhut of Atzilut. Beyond the worlds, Keter is the intermediary between the Emanator and the emanated, between God Himself and the highest world, the world of Atzilut. Every intermediary mediates between two sides. Keter too signifies two sides: above and below, that which relates to the Emanator and that which relates to the emanated. Keter is, on the one hand, that which encompasses and is separate from the other sefirot. In that sense, it relates to the Emanator. On the other hand, it is defined as something that encompasses and surrounds the specific sefirot of a particular soul, of a particular person, as indicated by the term "their crowns." In that way, it relates to emanated beings. If Keter is the intermediary that connects the light of Ein Sof to creation, one could say that the light that is revealed though Keter stems from the essence of the Divine. It is not the constricted light manifest in His thought, speech, and deeds, nor even in His wisdom or understanding. This illumination cannot be clothed in any one of the soul's faculties, great though they may be. It can be contained only in the essence of a person's soul or in the unique expressions of the essence of his soul, such as pleasure and will.

וְלֶעָתִיד יָאִיר וְיִתְגַּלֶּה בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה לְכָל הַצַּדִּיקִים שֶׁיָּקוּמוּ בַּתְּחִיָּיה (״וְעַמֵּךְ כּוּלָּם צַדִּיקִים כו׳״ [ישעיה ס, כא]).

and in the future, that light will shine and be revealed in this world for all the righteous who will rise with the resurrection (and not only the righteous but every Jew, as it is written, "And your people, they are all righteous; they will inherit the land forever" [Isa. 60:21]) In the future, at the time of the resurrection, the revelation will be different. First, it will occur in this world and not in a spiritual world such as the Garden of Eden. It will occur in the place of the resurrection, where the souls will be restored to bodies. Furthermore, it will affect all souls of Israel, who will be resurrected. That is because not only the uniquely righteous will rise, but all Jews of all generations. With the total rectification and culmination of the world, all divine souls will return in a rectified state to the bodies in which they had existed, in which they had studied Torah and performed mitzvot in this world, and they will have achieved the loftiest level they could attain, so that the divine revelation will be manifest equally to all. This is in contrast to the divine revelation that manifests in the Garden of Eden, which affects each individual differently, congruent with his deeds, comprehension, and way of life in this world. In the future, upon the resurrection of the dead, the divine revelation will be the same for everyone, and each individual will apprehend the divine essence in his particular state of perfection.

וְזֶה שֶׁאָמְרוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז"ל (בבא בתרא עה, ב) : ״עֲתִידִים צַדִּיקִים שֶׁיֹּאמְרוּ לִפְנֵיהֶם קָדוֹשׁ״.

That is the meaning of the Rabbis' statement " In the future, the righteous will have the name Holy recited before them by the angels" (Bava Batra 75b), At the time of the resurrection, the stature of a soul in a body will be loftier than that of any other being. The angels, as the agents of creation who express the way the creation relates to God and praises Him, will relate to the souls in their bodies as holy.

כִּי קָדוֹשׁ הוּא בְּחִינַת מוּבְדָּל,

because holy signifies separate, That which is holy is not only lofty, but it is so lofty that one cannot have a relationship with it. All one can say is that it is separate and beyond all that one could comprehend and express. The word "holy" thus expresses the praise of God Himself. Moreover, the angels will declare "holy" before the souls that are restored to their bodies, because these souls are loftier than the angels and separate from them, just as the Divine is loftier than the angels and all created beings.

שֶׁאֵינוֹ בְּגֶדֶר הַשָּׂגָה וְדַעַת,

meaning that holiness is not within the realm of apprehension and knowledge, Something that can be comprehended and known is not separate. Intellectual apprehension, comprehending with wisdom and knowledge, is in the parameter of apprehension of light within a vessel: apprehension of reality within our limitations and parameters and a comprehension of the relationships between cause and effect, giver and recipient, and so forth. That which is holy and separate, on the other hand, is not within the parameters of apprehension and knowledge.

כִּי הוּא לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה מִבְּחִינַת הַחָכְמָה וְדַעַת שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן,

since it is above and beyond the wisdom and knowledge that can be attained in the Garden of Eden, Apprehension in the Garden of Eden is apprehension with wisdom and knowledge, which is the apprehension of the light that fills all worlds. Just as supernal wisdom is the beginning of the penetration of this inner light into the worlds, wisdom enables the apprehension of this inner light within the soul, an apprehension that the soul attains in the Garden of Eden. There it comprehends everything that is related to the light that fills all worlds in accordance with its capacity to apprehend it, but nothing beyond that.

כִּי "הַחָכְמָה מֵאַיִן תִּמָּצֵא" כְּתִיב (איוב כח, יב).

as the verse states, "But wisdom, where will it be found?" (Job 28:12). This verse can also be interpreted as saying that Ḥokhma comes from ayin, or nothingness, the hidden source of Ḥokhma. Ḥokhma is "found" from ayin, not as a logical result of a completed process but as something that appears suddenly, not out of any rationale but out of the nothingness. Ḥokhma is the beginning of the light's descent to this world. Above Ḥokhma is the hidden nothingness that has no cause.

הוּא בְּחִינַת כֶּתֶר עֶלְיוֹן הַנִּקְרָא 'אַיִן' בַּזּוֹהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ.

This refers to supernal Keter , which is called ayin , nothingness, in the holy Zohar . This ayin, this nothingness, that is beyond comprehension, is Keter. It is called nothingness, not because it is nonexistent, but because it is separate and cannot be apprehended and grasped by wisdom and the faculties of the soul. Yet Ḥokhma is "found from ayin." Ḥokhma and what we can comprehend of it come from there, from the nothingness of Keter. In view of this, although Keter is hidden and separate from the soul's ability to apprehend it, it is nevertheless the source that pours forth the light and life force into the soul. The soul comprehends, though subconsciously and not with its conscious senses and faculties, that there is something hidden beyond its comprehension that is the source of what it comprehends with its wisdom and knowledge.

וְהַשְׁפָּעָתוֹ וְהֶאָרָתוֹ בִּבְחִינַת גִּילּוּי הוּא דַּוְקָא כְּשֶׁהַנְּשָׁמָה תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּגוּף זַךְ וְצַח אַחַר הַתְּחִיָּיה,

The sustenance and light that flows through Keter will be manifest in a revealed form specifically when the soul will be clothed in a pure, refined body after the resurrection, In the present, a person apprehends the Divine with the spiritual faculties of his soul, with his cognitive and emotive attributes. One cannot apprehend that which is beyond his intellect and his capacity for wisdom, the light of Keter, which encompasses all worlds. Yet what is stated here seems paradoxical, that only when the soul returns to the physical body will it comprehend that which is beyond even the soul's spiritual faculties. But this is not really a paradox, as the author of the Tanya will explain below, but a deeper understanding of the body and materiality. Notice that the author does not refer solely to the body but rather emphasizes that the body is "pure and refined," and it will happen "after the resurrection." At present, the body is coarse and impure. It only conceals and does not reveal the divine light at all. But after the resurrection, the fundamental reality of this world will change, and then the body, and the physical world as a whole, will be "pure and refined" to an extent that is hard for us to even imagine. There will be such an essential transformation that it is precisely what conceals the divine light in the present that will reveal it. What is presently impossible – the revelation of the encompassing light of Ein Sof – will be the new reality.

כִּי נָעוּץ תְּחִלָּתָן בְּסוֹפָן (ספר יצירה פרק א משנה ז) דַּוְקָא,

because "their beginning is embedded in their end" (Sefer Yetzira 1:7), specifically, We must still understand why the revelation of the encompassing light, a light whose existence preceded the beginning of the worlds, requires the soul to be contained in the body. Therefore, the author of the Tanya adds that "their beginning is embedded in their end" and not at the midway point. The beginning of everything, that which preceded all the worlds – which is Keter, that which encompasses all worlds – is connected to the end of all worlds, to the end of the present physical reality. In the language of Kabbala, this is the connection between Keter and Malkhut. In terms of the soul, it is the connection between supernal will and deed. Everything that occurs within a person begins in his abstract will, which has not yet clothed itself in any specific form; it cannot be explained and has no defined image. The will expresses itself through deed, which is the culmination of everything that occurs in the soul. The deed is always the end, the outcome, the reality that manifests at the culmination of everything. Of course, this is not invariably the case in man. Not everything willed by a person reaches its culmination in a deed. There are impairments and errors and unrealized desires that prevent the deed from being carried out. There are deeds that do not express a person's initial will but evince a corruption that occurred on the way, resulting in a debased love or fear, delusions of a particular aspect of reality and other such distorted outcomes. But for God, for whom everything in potential is also actual, for whom there is no "other" interpolating between His will and His deed, "their beginning is embedded in their end."

וְ״סוֹף מַעֲשֶׂה בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה תְּחִלָּה״ כו' (‘לכה דודי׳) כַּנּוֹדָע.

and "last in deed, first in thought…" (Lekha Dodi liturgy), as is known. This phrase, "last in deed, first in thought," is not just another way of saying "their beginning is embedded in their end." In a sense, it is the other side of the coin. On the one hand, the beginning is embedded in the end. On the other hand, the end is connected to the beginning. Not only is the beginning expressed and revealed in the end, but the end of the deed is intrinsically most fitting for revealing the beginning more than all the points in the middle. This means that although the physical deed of a mitzva is coarse and conceals spirituality, which constitutes a revelation of the Divine, it is precisely the physical deed that expresses divinity that is loftier than spirituality. The spiritual worlds reveal the divine light within them, the divine light that gives them life, but they do not reveal the divine light itself, which transcends them and does not pass through them. On the other hand, it is in the material world of action, in which the divine light that gives it light and life is also concealed and where the reality above it cannot be revealed in it because the distance between them is too great, that the light of Ein Sof itself may be revealed – the light that exists above and beyond all these distances, that can leap across the unfathomably infinite distance and bring the physical world into existence.

אַךְ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַגִּיעַ לְמַדְרֵגָה זוֹ עַד שֶׁיְּהֵא בְּגַן עֵדֶן תְּחִלָּה

Yet it is impossible to attain this level without first having been in the Garden of Eden It is impossible to reach the level that will be attained at the time of the resurrection, when the encompassing light will be revealed, without first having been in the Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden is not only a waiting room in which souls pass the time until the resurrection of the dead. The Garden of Eden also prepares the soul for the ultimate, genuine, infinite revelation that is to come. Every revelation requires preparation, because the nature of revelation is to be received in vessels. Even if the light can flow forth from above, the vessels below must be prepared prior to the revelation to be able to contain it. Just as life in this world constitutes preparation for the revelation in the Garden of Eden, so too the Garden of Eden constitutes preparation for the revelation that will exist at the time of the resurrection. In the Garden of Eden, the soul rises without any barriers presented by the body. It apprehends more and more, rising level by level. It apprehends everything that can be apprehended with the light that fills all worlds, until it is capable of apprehending that which cannot be apprehended: the light that encompasses all worlds. The ultimate knowledge associated with the light that fills all worlds is the knowledge of the existence of the light that encompasses all worlds, the knowledge of the vessels that prepare and prime a person to know the thing itself, that which is revealed in the light that encompasses all worlds.

לְהַשִּׂיג בְּחִינַת חָכְמָה עִילָּאָה (כו') [אֶפְשָׁר צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר: כָּל חַד] כְּפוּם שִׁיעוּרָא דִּילֵיהּ.

so that one may attain supernal wisdom (and so on) [perhaps the text is supposed to state "each individual"] according to his capacity. Supernal Ḥokhma is the inception of the divine revelation, just as it is the inception of every process in the soul, and its apprehension is the ultimate purpose and essence of what a person can comprehend. Apparently, the parenthetical insertion "and so on," which seemingly has no meaning, should have said "each individual," meaning each person in accordance with his capacity. The revelation of supernal Ḥokhma in the Garden of Eden and the revelation of the light that fills all worlds in general is adapted to each person in keeping with his capacity, with his vessels' ability to contain it. This is the character of the light that fills all worlds: It fills and enters the vessels, and therefore its revelation and attainment are in keeping with each person's vessels that it fills, in keeping with the root of his soul and with the clarity of his intellect, his knowledge, and so on.

וּלְאַחֲרֵי כָּל זֶה יָקוּם בִּתְחִיַּית הַמֵּתִים עַל יְדֵי טַל תּוֹרָה, כְּמַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז״ל:

After all this, he will rise at the resurrection of the dead by means of the dew of Torah, in accord with our Rabbis' statement This phrase appears to be missing from the published text of the epistle. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson, adds it at this point in the epistle, which shifts from discussing apprehension of the Divine in the Garden of Eden to apprehension of the Divine upon the resurrection of the dead.

״וְטַל תּוֹרָה מְחַיֵּיהוּ״.

"The dew of Torah will revive him." Here the author of the Tanya adds a new layer to the discussion. The supernal Ḥokhma that is revealed on all levels in all the worlds constitutes the Torah. Its revelation in the worlds comes about through Torah study, both in this world and in the Garden of Eden. Moreover, "whoever engages in the dew of the Torah, the dew of Torah will revive him." Studying Torah in this world and in the Garden of Eden is not only a preparation for the resurrection of the dead, but it itself revives the dead. The concept of the "dew of Torah" can also be explained in a different manner. Dew, like rain, flows down from above. But unlike rain, dew does not cease, because it does not depend on the deeds of those below. In this sense, dew is the flow and illumination of the light that encompasses all worlds, which does not flow forth in accordance with the level of the recipient. From its perspective, physicality and spirituality, the body and the soul, heaven and earth, are all one. That illumination, which unites the opposing entities of body and soul, is what revives the dead. Yet an aspect of this dew that will revive the dead in the future exists even now in the Torah. The Talmud recounts that when the Jewish people heard the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, their souls left their bodies, and God revived them with the dew that will revive the dead. The giving of the Torah, and the Torah in general, thus possesses these two facets. On the one hand, it contains a revelation of the divine light that the soul cannot bear in its current state in this world, because the soul would expire and leave the body to be subsumed in the light. On the other hand, the Torah allows the body to hold on to the soul to receive the revelation without expiring.

״וַהֲקִיצוֹתָ הִיא תְשִׂיחֶךָ כו'" (משלי ו, כב), וְדַי לַמֵּבִין.

Then, "when you awaken, it will be your conversation…" (Prov. 6:22). This is sufficient elaboration for one who understands the esoteric wisdom. The author of the Tanya adds that after the resurrection of the dead, "when you awaken" in a soul and purified body, the Torah "will be your conversation." A person's life force will stem from the Torah he studied in this world and in the Garden of Eden. Not only will the Torah raise the dead, but it will revive them, giving them their life force and sustenance through the light that encompasses all worlds. After this analysis of the reward of a mitzva, the fruits of one's deeds in this world and the principal reward that remains for the World to Come, which is ultimately charity from God, the author of the Tanya returns to the topic with which he began: the mitzva of charity that a person performs. The charity that God performs is "the way of the Lord," the way in which God pours forth the infinite divine light and light force. The mitzva of charity that a person performs is the vessel in the world that can contain that light.

וְזֶהוּ "רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹד" (תהלים קיט, צו) הִיא מִצְוַת הַצְּדָקָה,

This is the meaning of "Your commandments are exceedingly wide" (Ps. 119:96), that it refers to the mitzva of charity The epistle began with two questions regarding this verse: Why is the word mitzvatekha, literally "Your commandment," in the singular, and why is it described as "exceedingly wide"? The author of the Tanya addressed the first question at the beginning of the epistle, explaining that the verse refers specifically to the mitzva of charity. He now goes on to address the second question.

שֶׁהִיא כְּלִי וְשֶׁטַח רָחָב מְאֹד לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ בָּהּ הֶאָרַת אוֹר אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא (וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "לְבוּשׁוֹ צְדָקָה" [מפיוט לימים נוראים]),

which is an exceedingly wide vessel and space to contain the illumination of the light of Ein Sof , blessed be He (as it is written, "His garment is charity" [from the High Holidays liturgy]), God's own garment is the mitzva of charity. This is because only charity can be a garment broad enough for Him. Moreover, the word me'od, translated here as "exceedingly," connotes that which is infinite, without boundaries. Charity is likewise without parameters. At its essence, charity is given without terms or conditions, and it is not limited by anything that one might receive for it in exchange.

אֲשֶׁר יָאִיר לֶעָתִיד, בִּבְחִינַת בְּלִי גְּבוּל וְתַכְלִית בְּחֶסֶד חִנָּם

which will shine in the future, limitlessly and infinitely, with unconditional kindness In the future, at the time of the resurrection of the dead, God's illumination and granting of reward will be on the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, transcending every boundary and limitation. It will constitute unconditional kindness, charity that demands nothing in return, because the worlds have nothing equal to it that could repay what is bestowed.

בְּאִתְעֲרוּתָא דִּלְתַתָּא זוֹ,

elicited by this awakening from below, which is called "the way of the Lord." The awakening from below is the mitzva of charity that a person performs here below, which is by its nature gratuitous kindness: giving to someone without boundary, without conditions. It is called "the way of the Lord" because it is analogous to the way God gives: also without boundary and limitation and with gratuitous kindness. Since it is analogous to the way God performs the mitzva of charity, it elicits an awakening from above, where God Himself actually performs the mitzva of charity, bringing the divine, infinite light down into the world, passing from one place, from the light that encompasses all worlds. to another place, to manifesting as the light that fills all worlds.

וְזֶהוּ לְשׁוֹן "מְאֹד"

This is the meaning of the term me'od , "exceedingly," that it is without bounds or limitations. The Hebrew word me'od always connotes a lack of limitation. The mitzva of charity is thus "exceedingly wide," without limitation. This is in contrast to the soul's apprehension of the Torah and knowledge of the Divine, which is necessarily limited.

אֲבָל "לְכָל תִּכְלָה רָאִיתִי קֵץ" (תהלים קיט, צז), "תִּכְלָה" הִיא מִלְּשׁוֹן כְּלוֹת הַנֶּפֶשׁ שֶׁבְּגַן עֵדֶן, שֶׁהִיא בִּבְחִינַת קֵץ וְתַכְלִית וְצִמְצוּם כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

But "I see an end [tikhla ] to all great things" (Ps. 119:96). Tikhla connotes the pining of the soul in the Garden of Eden, which is an end, culmination, and constriction, as stated above. These words, "I see an end to all great things," are the beginning of the verse that the author of the Tanya quoted above: "Your commandments are exceedingly wide." In the Garden of Eden, the soul attains an apprehension of the light that fills all worlds. With that attainment, it reaches a state called "kelot hanefesh," the pining of the soul. In this state, the soul reaches the limit of its ability to contain and sustain something, at which point it "expires" (the word kelot also connotes expiration): It ceases to exist in the same form and confines in which it existed until that point. The soul reaches this state of expiration only when it attains an awareness that enters and fills its vessels and parameters so that they cannot contain any more. Precisely when that which it apprehends is constricted within the vessels and faculties of the soul, when it reaches the perimeter of its boundaries, the soul can no longer contain it and it reaches this state. In the Garden of Eden, where apprehension in itself has no external boundaries, the soul constantly experiences such a state.

וּ"לְכָל תִּכְלָה", הוּא לְפִי שֶׁיֵּשׁ כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה מַעֲלוֹת וּמַדְרֵגוֹת גַּן עֵדֶן, זֶה לְמַעְלָה מִזֶּה עַד רוּם הַמַּעֲלוֹת,

The phrase "an end to all things" is used because there are numerous ranks and levels of the Garden of Eden, one higher than the next, to the loftiest heights, The words "I see an end to all things" can also imply "I have seen many types and levels of'ends,'" indicating that there are a number of types and levels of expiration. Every degree of apprehension, every level of the Garden of Eden, has its own level of the "pining of the soul," of the soul's pining so much for the Divine that it feels as if it will expire. What happens to a soul after it reaches a state of expiration in the Garden of Eden? It rises to a higher level in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, the soul attains and apprehends more and more, as much as that level permits and as much as it is capable of receiving at that level, as much as the vessels with which it arrived in the Garden of Eden can contain, until those vessels are completely full. Then, when it reaches the state of expiration, it rises to a higher level in the Garden of Eden. In this way, it continues to rise from one state of expiration to another, from one Garden of Eden to another, higher and higher.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתַב בְּלִקּוּטֵי הַשַּׁ"ס מֵהָאֲרִיזַ"ל, בְּפֵירוּשׁ מַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז"ל: תַּלְמִידֵי חֲכָמִים אֵין לָהֶם מְנוּחָה כו' (ברכות סד, א), שֶׁעוֹלִים תָּמִיד מִמַּדְרֵגָה לְמַדְרֵגָה בְּהַשָּׂגַת הַתּוֹרָה שֶׁאֵין לָהּ סוֹף כו',

as it is written in Likkutei HaShas by the Arizal, in explanation of our Rabbis' statement "Torah scholars have no rest..." (Berakhot 64a), that these scholars are constantly ascending from one level to the next in their apprehension of the Torah, which has no limit, and so on, Torah scholars who studied Torah in this world continue to study Torah in the Garden of Eden. There, where there are no boundaries to understanding, they attain more and apprehend more until they completely fill their vessels and reach a state of expiration. Then they rise to a higher level of the Garden of Eden, where they attain greater insight into the aggregate of a higher level of concepts. Since the Torah has no end, so too their ascent from level to level continues without rest, without end.

עַד אַחַר הַתְּחִיָּיה שֶׁיִהְיֶה לָהֶם מְנוּחָה כו'.

until after the resurrection, when they will have rest, and so on. As the soul ascends from level to level, its vessels receive and contain the light that fills all worlds; on each level, there is always more light for it to attain. But after the resurrection, when revelation will come from the light that encompasses all worlds, there will be no more ascents and levels, because the revelation of the encompassing light will be the light of Ein Sof that transcends all levels, where everything, large and small, is equal. The one who has no rest in the Garden of Eden sees that there is always something more to attain, that he is still lacking and he yearns to fulfill that lack, to rise ever higher and attain another level of enlightenment. He cannot rest because there is always farther to reach. But the revelation after the resurrection will incorporate all levels. That revelation will not enter the levels and souls, but rather everything will enter it. Everything will be within it. Then all of creation will experience the rest for eternity, which constitutes the Divine Presence enveloping everything and being present in everything. This is the infinite pleasure that requires nothing else because everything is already here, now, present and felt.