וְזֶה כְּלָל גָּדוֹל בַּעֲבוֹדַת ה׳ לַבֵּינוֹנִים:

This, then, is a primary principle pertaining to the beinoni 's service of God: The fundamental principle noted here refers to the first of the two types of divine service mentioned in the previous chapter: the perfect service. The second fundamental principle, that which applies to the imperfect service of the beinoni, is addressed later in this chapter. These two paths of divine service are indeed fundamental to the beinoni's journey, and the author of the Tanya will expand on them at length throughout the rest of the book.

הָעִיקָּר הוּא לִמְשׁוֹל וְלִשְׁלוֹט עַל הַטֶּבַע שֶׁבֶּחָלָל הַשְּׂמָאלִי

The main thing is for the beinoni to rule and govern the natural inclinations that abide in the left chamber of his heart As explained above, the abode of the animal soul is the left chamber of the heart. In view of this, the author of the Tanya here is referring to gaining dominion over the attributes and faculties of the animal soul. These are not necessarily evil in and of themselves. Rather, they are inherent in the individual's nature, akin to biological functions.

עַל יְדֵי אוֹר ה׳ הַמֵּאִיר לַנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֱלֹהִית שֶׁבַּמּוֹחַ, וְלִשְׁלוֹט עַל הַלֵּב כְּשֶׁמִּתְבּוֹנֵן בְּמוֹחוֹ בִּגְדוּלַּת אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא, לְהוֹלִיד מִבִּינָתוֹ רוּחַ דַּעַת וְיִרְאַת ה' בְּמוֹחוֹ,

through God's light, which illuminates the divine soul abiding in the brain and thereby enables him to govern the heart. This occurs when he contemplates in his mind the greatness of Ein Sof , blessed be He, in order to generate a spirit of knowledge and fear of God in his mind through his faculty of understanding. In the most general terms, the beinoni's task is to rule over his natural inclinations, his primal desires, through meditation on the greatness of Ein Sof. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the proper and complete service of God that is appropriate for a beinoni should evolve from an internal fervor encompassing his whole being, not merely from the lowest, subliminal levels, from the latent, unconscious love embedded within every Jew. It should include a full awareness and rich emotional experience, and it should inform his everyday activities. This is of prime importance, because when a person does something while fully engaging his psyche, harnessing his consciousness and emotions, he relates entirely to whatever he does. This is the "perfect service" of the beinoni, which entails "generating a spirit of knowledge and fear of God" through active, focused concentration and effort. When there is something lacking in his service of God, that missing element, whether awareness or feeling, is liable to belong to a realm other than that which is holy.

לִהְיוֹת "סוּר מֵרָע״ דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא וּדְרַבָּנָן, וַאֲפִילּוּ אִיסּוּר קַל שֶׁל דִּבְרֵיהֶם חַס וְשָׁלוֹם,

This will lead him to avoid evil with regard to both biblically and rabbinically mandated prohibitions and even a minor prohibition mandated by the Sages, God forbid. For a person's service of God to be optimal, there must be a full complement of awareness and feeling. For this reason, the author of the Tanya offers a "primary principle" pertaining to divine service, the path that is recommended for the beinoni from the very outset. This principle states that it is incumbent on a person to achieve a continually growing emotional awareness that gives rise to the love and awe of God. This, in turn, leads him to "turn away from evil" and avoid transgression. The measure of the beinoni's efforts, the more he works and toils, determines the boundaries of his holy existence, until the beinoni rejects anything that conflicts with it, which constitutes first and foremost anything prohibited by the Torah. Yet this applies not only to the Torah's strict prohibitions, where the very thought of violating them is instinctively repellent, but also to the detailed and more easily disregarded prohibitions instituted by the Sages.

וְאַהֲבַת ה׳ בְּלִבּוֹ בֶּחָלָל הַיְּמָנִי בַּחֲשִׁיקָה וַחֲפִיצָה לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ בְּקִיּוּם הַמִּצְוֹת דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא וּדְרַבָּנָן, וְתַלְמוּד תּוֹרָה שֶׁכְּנֶגֶד כּוּלָּן.

Meditating on God's greatness also evokes feelings of love for God in the right chamber of his heart, with a yearning and desire to cleave to Him by fulfilling the commandments, both biblically and rabbinically mandated, and by engaging in Torah study, which is equivalent to them all. When a heartfelt desire to fulfill the mitzvot is evoked in one's soul, he pursues all precepts, both those he may consider important and those he views as unimportant, those mandated by the Torah and those mandated by the Sages, to the best of his ability and with fervor. The author of the Tanya goes on to highlight one particular mitzva, the study of Torah, which he points out is "equivalent to them all." The obligation to study Torah has no limits; every individual is required to invest maximal time in this pursuit every day of his life. In this sense, one's Torah study is equivalent to them all, because at every moment, even when he has no other mitzva to perform, he must nevertheless engage in Torah study. Someone who fulfills this commandment properly not only fulfills all the mitzvot; he does nothing else.

וְיָתֵר עַל כֵּן, צָרִיךְ לֵידַע כְּלָל גָּדוֹל בָּעֲבוֹדָה לַבֵּינוֹנִים, שֶׁגַּם אִם אֵין יַד שִׂכְלוֹ וְרוּחַ בִּינָתוֹ מַשֶּׂגֶת לְהוֹלִיד אַהֲבַת ה' בְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ

Moreover, one must know another primary principle pertaining to the divine service of the beinoni : Even if his mind and spirit of understanding are incapable of generating a conscious love for God in his heart As discussed in the previous chapter, the divine service appropriate for the beinoni, his "perfect service," is predicated on his ability to evoke emotion through rational thought, by consciously directing his mind to something specific and thereby become emotionally connected to it. The assumption here is that everyone is capable of ruling over his thoughts. Yet even if one is also able to direct his thoughts toward something specific, which is not a simple thing in itself and requires much focus and practice, there is no guarantee of an emotional response. The beinoni must traverse a bridge – not at all self-evident – from intellectual comprehension to the realm of feelings. When a person is incapable of making this transition, mental acuity and an understanding of God's greatness are insufficient alone to engender a love of God in one's heart. Chabad literature offers accounts of individuals who, after years and sometimes decades of striving and working on themselves achieved such an in-depth comprehension. They posit that this is possible even for an ordinary Jew if he has a burning desire to achieve it and he works ceaselessly and energetically over the course of years. But this is totally dependent on single-minded striving, intense motivation, and mental preparations that go beyond most people's capacities.

שֶׁיִּהְיֶה לִבּוֹ בּוֹעֵר כְּרִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ וְחָפֵץ בַּחֲפִיצָה וַחֲשִׁיקָה וּתְשׁוּקָה מוּרְגֶּשֶׁת בַּלֵּב לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ,

to the extent that his heart burns like sparks of fire and desires to cleave to God with palpable feelings of desire, yearning, and longing in the heart, The difference between desire and yearning pertains not to content but rather to emotional charge. Desire is one's inner longing, not the act of choosing the best in a given situation but the internally endorsed expression of one's will – what the individual truly wants. Yearning is not only a desire for something but also the sense that something is missing. The heart burns for that which it lacks. Everyone desires to eat, but one does not always yearn to do so. When hunger enters the picture, so does yearning, and when one is famished, one actually feels the yearning in his heart, the "palpable feelings of desire, yearning, and longing in the heart." The same dynamic applies when a person is starved for holiness: He yearns to cleave to God.

רַק הָאַהֲבָה מְסוּתֶּרֶת בְּמוֹחוֹ וְתַעֲלוּמוֹת לִבּוֹ

he possesses instead the love concealed in his mind and the hidden recesses of his heart. Every insight we have of the Divine evokes, to some degree or another, love or fear of God, yet it does not always awaken a powerful emotional feeling to the extent that it is accompanied by "palpable feelings of desire, yearning, and longing in the heart." It may be that the love or fear is manifest only in the mind and intellect, so that one may acknowledge the emotion without actually feeling it. In that event, the love is not manifest in the heart. Rather, it is confined to the mind and creates a conscious inclination toward the Divine. This should not be confused with the latent love that every Jew harbors in his heart. That love is not a product of the intellect but rather is the natural love that every Jew inherits, as will be explained below.

הַגָּהָה: וְהַסִּיבָּה לָזֶה הִיא מִפְּנֵי הֱיוֹת הַמּוֹחִין שֶׁלּוֹ וְנֶפֶשׁ רוּחַ וּנְשָׁמָה שֶׁלּוֹ מִבְּחִינַת עִיבּוּר וְהֶעְלֵם תּוֹךְ הַתְּבוּנָה וְלֹא מִבְּחִינַת לֵידָה וְהִתְגַּלּוּת, כַּיָּדוּעַ לְיוֹדְעֵי חֵ"ן.

Gloss: The reason that this is so is that his intellect and his nefesh , ruaḥ , and neshama stem from the state of gestation and concealment within the supernal faculty of understanding and not from the state of birth and revelation, as known to those initiated in the esoteric wisdom of Kabbala. In this note, the author of the Tanya explains why someone's intellect might not lead to a revelation in his heart. The problem, he says, is not a lack of intellectual capacity or insufficient contemplation. Rather, this is a far more basic issue relating to the entire soul, one's nefesh, ruaḥ, and neshama. It could be said that there are two stages in the development of emotions: pregnancy and birth. Pregnancy is the stage of concealment and internal development, while birth is revelation and outward manifestation. For some, the soul is in a state of birth, so that their intellectual and emotional faculties are outwardly manifest. When their intellect is aroused, a wave of activity is automatically unleashed in their heart as well. In those whose souls are in a state of pregnancy, whose faculties are not revealed, their souls function on a hidden, less sentient level. When the mind is in a state of gestation, of pregnancy, thoughts operate in creative mode. As long as this thought process ensues, no finalization is reached. No complete picture drawn from the mind's perceptions can be realized, nor will those perceptions evoke overt emotions. All this depends on how well the soul in general, and not only its intellectual component, has developed. The more extensive its development, the greater the integration between a person's intellectual aspects and his emotions and actions. The less evolved the soul is, the wider the gap between the person's apprehension and the sensitivities and experiences that he manifests.

דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁהַלֵּב מֵבִין בְּרוּחַ חָכְמָה וּבִינָה שֶׁבְּמוֹחוֹ גְּדוּלַּת אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא דְּכוֹלָא קַמֵּיהּ כְּלָא חֲשִׁיב מַמָּשׁ. אֲשֶׁר עַל כֵּן יָאֲתָה לוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ שֶׁתִּכְלֶה אֵלָיו נֶפֶשׁ כָּל חַי לִידָּבֵק וּלְהִכָּלֵל בְּאוֹרוֹ.

This means the heart comprehends, with the spirit of wisdom and understanding in the brain, the greatness of Ein Sof , blessed be He, namely, that everything before Him is literally considered as nothingness, and it therefore befits God that the soul of every living being should pine for Him in order to cleave to Him and become subsumed in His light. Though the heart does not feel the yearning to cleave to God on an emotional plane, but rather it remains within its recesses, in its unborn state in the faculty of understanding, a person can intellectually understand something of God's greatness, that in relation to Him everything is as nothing. Although he can speak about this and teach it to others, he isn't actually experiencing it on a tangible level. He understands, but does not feel, that "behold, the Lord stood over him." Nevertheless, though his heart may be unmoved, his mind resolves that "the soul of every living being should pine for Him in order to cleave [to Him] and become subsumed in His light." He comprehends that in the face of God's greatness, everything is nothingness, and so it is fitting to fear and love God to the point that the soul is completely nullified and subsumed in its cleaving to God.

וְגַם נַפְשׁוֹ וְרוּחוֹ אֲשֶׁר בְּקִרְבּוֹ – כָּךְ יָאֲתָה לָהֶן לִהְיוֹת כָּלוֹת אֵלָיו בַּחֲשִׁיקָה וַחֲפִיצָה לָצֵאת מִנַּרְתֵּקָן, הוּא הַגּוּף, לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ.

It is also fitting for his nefesh and ruaḥ within him to pine for God with a yearning and desire to leave their casing, namely, the body, in order to cleave to Him. Though this individual cannot attain a love and awe that is actually felt in his heart, he can create a mental visualization of a certain feeling. This is not a direct feeling of the experience itself, the yearning to soar beyond boundaries, the longing that God will "draw me; after You we will run" (Song 1:4), but a sort of surrogate experience. He understands that this is the appropriate relationship. He cannot feel it, but he knows that this is how he should feel: to desire and yearn with his whole being to overcome the encasement of his heart and cleave to Him.

רַק שֶׁבְּעַל כָּרְחָן חָיוֹת הֵנָּה בְּתוֹךְ הַגּוּף וּצְרוּרוֹת בּוֹ כְּאַלְמְנוּת חַיּוּת.

However, they, the nefesh and ruaḥ, are compelled to live in the body and are bound to it like widows of a living man. The soul is trapped in the body and cannot leave, like an abandoned wife who cannot remarry as long as her husband is alive and missing and, because he has forsaken her, cannot rejoin him.

וְלֵית מַחֲשָׁבָה דִּילְהוֹן תְּפִיסָא בֵּיהּ כְּלָל

Their thoughts cannot grasp Him at all, While clothed in a body, no thought of the nefesh and ruaḥ can apprehend God. The soul dwells within the body. It acts, thinks, and feels within the confines of the body and cannot have any direct perception beyond the physical. The starting point of its thoughts depends on the body, and for this reason, it is difficult, indeed nearly impossible, for the soul to grasp abstractions. Here and there one can find people who are able to free themselves of the body partially, but the basic limitation exists at all levels, including the highest, even for someone like Moses, to whom God said, "Man shall not see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20). In essence, we have no direct inner perception of God, neither in thought nor on the emotional, experiential plane. One knows how it should be, that "it is fitting…to pine [for God] with a yearning and desire," but he does not feel this directly or palpably. True attachment to God is beyond any wisdom or experience. Wanting it is not enough. Human souls possess neither the wisdom nor the emotional-experiential faculty to cleave to Him.

כִּי אִם כַּאֲשֶׁר תְּפִיסָא וּמִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹתֶיהָ, כִּמְשַׁל הַמְחַבֵּק אֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ הַנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

except when they grasp and are clothed within the Torah and its commandments, analogous to one who embraces the king, as described above (chap. 4). It is impossible to embrace God Himself, nor can we cleave to Him. He is a consuming fire; no man can see Him and live. Yet because He has clothed Himself in the Torah and commandments in our world, when a person studies Torah and performs commandments, he, in effect, embraces God. True, the garments are so numerous and opaque that any sense of intimacy is ruled out. But one can nevertheless know: At that moment, he is embracing God.

וְאִי לָזֹאת, יָאֲתָה לָהֶן לְחַבְּקוֹ בְּכָל לֵב וָנֶפֶשׁ וּמְאֹד,

As such, it befits them to embrace God with all their heart, soul, and might. In this way, one fulfills the verse "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deut. 6:5). What is this embrace that enables one to attach and unite himself with God so completely?

דְּהַיְינוּ קִיּוּם הַתַּרְיַ״ג מִצְוֹת בְּמַעֲשֶׂה וּבְדִבּוּר וּבְמַחֲשָׁבָה, שֶׁהִיא הַשָּׂגַת וִידִיעַת הַתּוֹרָה, כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

This means fulfilling the 613 commandments in action and speech, as well as in thought, which refers to the apprehension and knowledge of the Torah, as stated above (chap. 4). When one fulfills the commandments of the Torah, he is able to embrace God. This entails performing the mitzvot with one's actions, speech, and thoughts. Though one could never apprehend God with his limited intellect, he can grasp God through the study of His Torah.

הִנֵּה, כְּשֶׁמַּעֲמִיק בְּעִנְיָן זֶה בְּתַעֲלוּמוֹת תְּבוּנוֹת לִבּוֹ וּמוֹחוֹ, וּפִיו וְלִבּוֹ שָׁוִין, שֶׁמְּקַיֵּים כֵּן בְּפִיו כְּפִי אֲשֶׁר נִגְמַר בִּתְבוּנַת לִבּוֹ וּמוֹחוֹ,

When one deeply ponders this matter in the hidden recesses of his heart's and mind's understanding, and his mouth and heart are in consonance in that he fulfills with his mouth in accordance with the conclusion he reached based on the understanding of his heart and mind, In order for one's thinking to be substantive, a casual review is insufficient. One must seek ever greater clarity and depth in seeking to understand the matter at hand. He must unite with the subjects he studies "in the hidden recesses of his heart's and mind's understanding" and not merely pay lip service.

דְּהַיְינוּ לִהְיוֹת בְּתוֹרַת ה׳ חֶפְצוֹ וְיֶהְגֶּה בָּהּ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה בְּפִיו, וְכֵן הַיָּדַיִם וּשְׁאָר אֵבָרִים מְקַיְּימִים הַמִּצְוֹת כְּפִי מַה שֶּׁנִּגְמַר בִּתְבוּנַת לִבּוֹ וּמוֹחוֹ,

namely, that his desire is God's Torah that he studies day and night using his mouth by speaking words of Torah, while his hands and other limbs likewise fulfill the commandments in accordance with the conclusion he reached based on the understanding of his heart and mind, One must be prepared to shift from thoughts and feelings to word and deed. In the abstract, serving God could make good sense, but light-years can separate that notion from what one actually does. One may also connect those thoughts to himself and his experience, but he needs to take his internal experiences to heart and resolve to make them real by carrying out his resolve in speech and action.

הֲרֵי תְּבוּנָה זוֹ מִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּמַעֲשֵׂה דִּבּוּר וּמַחֲשֶׁבֶת הַתּוֹרָה וּמִצְוֹתֶיהָ לִהְיוֹת לָהֶם בְּחִינַת מוֹחִין וְחַיּוּת, וְגַדְפִין לְפָרְחָא לְעֵילָּא כְּאִלּוּ עָסַק בָּהֶם בִּדְחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ מַמָּשׁ אֲשֶׁר בְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ

then this understanding is clothed in the actions, speech, and thoughts of the Torah and its commandments. This understanding then serves as an intellectual impetus and life force for them, providing them with wings with which to soar upward, as if the beinoni engaged in the Torah and its commandments with actual fear and love that manifest themselves in his heart This mode of understanding awakens the soul. True, it is not a breathtaking flame that ascends by itself, without intermediaries, but it is an awakening in the sense that it impels and enlivens one's activities. It provides wings, so to speak, to the person's actions, speech, and thoughts, as the Tikkunei Zohar (25b) states, "Torah without awe and love of God does not rise on high," and as the author of the Tanya will explain, love and awe are the two wings that elevate Torah study and the commandments. When one performs a mitzva with authentic feelings of love and awe of God, the love and awe lift the action from this limited physical world to the spiritual sphere where that love and awe are revealed, each according to the spiritual landscape he inhabits.

[בַּחֲפִיצָה וַחֲשִׁיקָה וּתְשׁוּקָה מוּרְגֶּשֶׁת בְּלִבּוֹ וְנַפְשׁוֹ הַצְּמֵאָה לַה׳ מִפְּנֵי רִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ אַהֲבָתוֹ שֶׁבְּלִבּוֹ כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל],

(with palpable feelings of desire, longing, and yearning in his heart and soul that thirst for God on account of the love for Him in his heart that is as fierce as sparks of fire, as mentioned above), Although this individual does not attain love and awe on the emotional plane, he nevertheless acquires a conceptual love and awe as an abstract intellectual experience. This is not a fierce emotion but rather the sense and awareness, albeit ill defined and halfway between genuine love and pure intellectual reckoning, that it is necessary to love God. But because his intention is actual implementation, it is far from abstract and irrelevant. His thinking is a reality that becomes a part of his life, an awareness that serving God with love and awe is fitting. As a result, that feeling, that cognizance, finds expression in his actions and speech, with alacrity and attention to detail as though his love of God were fully manifest in his heart. The beinoni's architecture limits him from having direct and complete experience of the Divine. Yet even with his reduced abilities, his achievements need not be inferior to those of the tzaddik. It is easier for the tzaddik, to be sure, and avenues and methods are open to him that are forever unattainable to a beinoni. But by virtue of his service and his endless effort, the beinoni brings about a spiritual tour de force that would normally be beyond the scope of his own soul's attachment to God and equal to that of a tzaddik. Perhaps the beinoni's constructs are not those of the classic tzaddik, but they too possess beauty and holiness, although of a different nature. The unique virtue of the beinoni's service lies in his very limitations, that despite them, he serves God. For this reason, the beinoni must not invest himself in matters that do not present a challenge. He must not rely on habit or routine. He must arouse his heart's and mind's understanding at all times, pondering deeply all matters related to his divine service. Even when he cannot perceive them directly, he can ponder them in the "hidden recesses of his heart's understanding" on a level parallel to that which the tzaddik is able to attain.

הוֹאִיל וּתְבוּנָה זוֹ שֶׁבְּמוֹחוֹ וְתַעֲלוּמוֹת לִבּוֹ הִיא הַמְבִיאָתוֹ לַעֲסוֹק בָּהֶם, וְלוּלֵי שֶׁהָיָה מִתְבּוֹנֵן בִּתְבוּנָה זוֹ לֹא הָיָה עוֹסֵק בָּהֶם כְּלָל, אֶלָּא בְּצָרְכֵי גוּפוֹ לְבַד

since this understanding in his mind and the hidden recesses of his heart is precisely that which prompts him to engage in the Torah and its commandments. If he had not contemplated God's greatness with his faculty of understanding, he would never have engaged in them at all, but would have been occupied solely with his bodily needs. When a person studies Torah and fulfills the commandments, he does so because he has love and awe of God. He simply wouldn't do it otherwise. Although his actions may not light up the sky with a powerful display of emotion, and the love and awe may lack spiritual clarity, the fact that he is engaged in Torah and commandments indicates beyond a doubt that they are present and active within him.

[וְגַם אִם הוּא מַתְמִיד בְּלִמּוּדוֹ בְּטִבְעוֹ,

(Even if by nature he is diligent in his studies, The author of the Tanya notes that his words apply not only to a beinoni who serves God but even to a beinoni "who does not serve Him." As the previous chapter described, someone apathetic yet intellectually inclined, comfortably ensconced in a Jewish lifestyle and studying Torah, who neither knows nor wishes to know anything else, may from time to time imagine himself to be perfect – a tzaddik. The author of the Tanya explained that not only is such a person not a tzaddik at all, but he is not even one who serves God.

אַף עַל פִּי כֵן, אוֹהֵב אֶת גּוּפוֹ יוֹתֵר בְּטִבְעוֹ].

nevertheless he naturally loves his body more.) Though at first glance his service of God does not stem from love and awe but rather from habit, were it not for those two attributes, he would solely be occupied with his physical needs. A person's base nature, that of his animal soul, is to first and foremost forge an inextricable bond with his body. That is his first love. If he did not possess a latent capacity to love and fear God, his physical needs and desires would take center stage. Even if he is intellectual by nature and relishes Torah study, he still must decide what, which way, and how much to learn. These choices are rooted in his service, commensurate with the measure of love and awe he possesses. Though in his present state he cannot reach the zenith of divine service, these qualities elevate him beyond the level of plain existence, propelling him toward the plane of holiness.

וְְזֶה רָמְזוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ זַ״ל בְּאָמְרָם: "מַחֲשָׁבָה טוֹבָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מְצָרְפָהּ לְמַעֲשֶׂה״ (קידושין מ, א). וַהֲוָה לֵיהּ לְמֵימַר: מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ עֲשָׂאָהּ.

Our Rabbis alluded to this in their statement "The Holy One, blessed be He, links a good thought to an action" (Kiddushin 40a). The Talmud should have said, "The verse ascribes him credit as if he had actually performed it." Most commentaries explain that this talmudic statement indicates that although a good thought might not be actualized, God will nevertheless consider it as done. As the Talmud continues, "Rav Asi said: Even if a person intended to perform a mitzva but due to circumstances beyond his control he did not perform it, the verse ascribes him credit as if he performed the mitzva." This explanation, however, is wanting. If that were the case, the original statement would have said, "The verse ascribes him credit as if he had actually performed it." Since the Talmud specifically chose instead the expression "links a good thought to an action," there must be another dimension of understanding to the statement.

אֶלָּא הָעִנְיָן כִּי דְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ שֶׁבְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ הֵם הַמִּתְלַבְּשִׁים

Rather, the explanation of the matter lies in the fact that the fear and

בְּמַעֲשֵׂה הַמִּצְוֹת לְהַחֲיוֹתָם לְפָרְחָא לְעֵילָּא.

love that are manifest in his heart are those that clothe themselves in the performance of the commandments, imbuing them with vitality with which to soar upward. As mentioned, the author of the Tanya distinguishes between love and fear that are manifest in the heart as live emotions and love and fear that are concealed within the heart, when there is only the conceptual awareness and knowledge that these feelings are appropriate. When love and fear are felt intensely, when they are "manifest in the heart," then they are embodied in the performance of the mitzvot and propel them upward. As the author of the Tanya will explain, love and fear are the commandments' wings. Though not an integral part of the commandment, they lift it from the domain of worldly action to its highest levels. But why, specifically, do commandments take wing through their combination with the feelings of the heart? Why does the intent bound up with the emotion join together with action, whereas the intent in thought is insufficient on its own?

כִּי הַלֵּב הוּא גַּם כֵּן חוֹמְרִי כִּשְׁאָר אֵבָרִים שֶׁהֵם כְּלֵי הַמַּעֲשֶׂה,

This is because the heart is also corporeal like the other organs, which are the implements of action. There is no fundamental difference between the heart and the other parts of the body. The heart, like the brain, is no less material than the hand or foot. The only distinction to be made between what a hand does, what the heart feels, or what the brain thinks is that one activity is carried out by a particular set of muscles, whereas the other is a function of cells of another type.

אֶלָּא שֶׁהוּא פְּנִימִי וְחַיּוּת לָהֶם,

Yet the difference is that it is more internal and functions as the source of their vitality. The essential difference between the heart and the rest of the body lies in the function of the body's physical components, not in their composition. The heart acts as an engine, activating the other parts of the body. The feelings of the heart, its wishes and desires, are not only functions unique to it alone but are also the driving forces that energize the other limbs. The heart is an internal power plant that powers and enlivens from within the rest of the body's functions. In this sense, the heart is different from the brain, which is also composed of tissue. The heart is the abode of the animal or vital soul, which powers the body's actions from within. By contrast, the mind, whose abode is the brain, as well as the cognitive love and fear residing in thought, is not necessarily attached to the body or this physical world. Although physical, it acts in a manner that transcends the body's limbs rather than working internally as emotions do.

וְלָכֵן יָכוֹל לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ בָּהֶם לִהְיוֹת לָהֶם גַּדְפִין לְהַעֲלוֹתָם.

Therefore, the heart can clothe itself in the performance of the mitzvot, functioning as wings for them to elevate them. Emotional experience is almost physical. Though unlike a movement that one does with his hand or foot, it is physical in that it depends on the body's chemistry. In a sense, emotional experience is a joint effort between the soul and the body, without which there would be no experience. In different terms, experience is essentially a cocktail combining conscious spiritual processes with glandular secretions and neurophysiological responses. These functions are part of a person's material existence, but directed toward the love and fear of God, they take on a meaning of their own. The emotions that are revealed in the heart, then, are at the interface between the physical and the spiritual, and for this reason, they can interact with physical commandments, becoming their wings and lifting them to a higher reality.

אַךְ הַדְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ שֶׁבִּתְבוּנוֹת מוֹחוֹ וְתַעֲלוּמוֹת לִבּוֹ הַנִּזְכָּרִים לְעֵיל, גָּבְהוּ דַּרְכֵיהֶם לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה מִבְּחִינַת הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. וְאִי

However, the aforementioned fear and love in his mind's understanding and the hidden recesses of his heart are far beyond the level of action. Consequently, it is impossible

אֶפְשָׁר לָהֶם לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ בִּבְחִינַת מַעֲשֵׂה הַמִּצְוֹת לִהְיוֹת לָהֶם בְּחִינַת מוֹחִין וְחַיּוּת לְהַעֲלוֹתָן לְפָרְחָא לְעֵילָּא,

for them to clothe themselves in the performance of the mitzvot, thereby serving as intellectual impetus and vitality, to elevate them and causing them to soar upward, The love and fear that exist within the sphere of one's intellect are only a preface to the heart's emotions. By virtue of their connection with the inner thoughts of the soul itself, both internal and transcendent, they are not related to the implements of action or physical existence. In light of this, this cognitive love and fear cannot be embodied by the performance of mitzvot in order to elevate the actions on high, as opposed to the emotional experience that is manifest in the heart. The love and fear that are manifest in the heart as clear emotions are not wholly spiritual but rather an admixture involving the body and its mechanisms. Consequently, when someone loves God, and this love becomes revealed in his heart as a true personal experience, when he feels the same passion for closeness to God that he has for the things of this world, then this love lends wings to his mitzva so that it may soar above the material world. This is in contrast to the primal emotions of love and fear implanted in the inner recesses of the heart and the intellect of the mind. These hitherto subconscious emotions possess a wholly spiritual orientation, resulting in a tenuous and abstract relationship with the person's self, the part of his being that functions in the physical body and interacts with the material world. They are like a spiritual force that merely encompasses one's manifest faculties, existing in a general, conceptual sense but not experienced by the physical faculties that animate the body.

אִם לֹא שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּ מְצָרְפָן וּמְחַבְּרָן לִבְחִינַת הַמַּעֲשֶׂה. וְהֵן נִקְרָאוֹת בְּשֵׁם "מַחֲשָׁבָה טוֹבָה״ כִּי אֵינָן דְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ מַמָּשׁ בְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ כִּי אִם בִּתְבוּנַת מוֹחוֹ וְתַעֲלוּמוֹת לִבּוֹ כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

if not for the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, links and joins them to the element of action. These are referred to as a "good thought " because they are not fear and love that are actually revealed in the heart, but rather in his mind's understanding and the hidden recesses of his heart, as stated above. As the author of the Tanya quoted above, "The Holy One, blessed be He, links a good thought to an action." The "good thought" is the love and awe of God that exists within the mind alone, the notion that "yes, this is worthwhile. " But because the thought is unconnected to any action one might do, but rather each is a discrete entity, God unites thought with deed, integrating them on an inner and essential level. Some mitzvot already have wings. Others need to be outfitted with them by God, who takes the inherently distant love and awe – the wings – and joins them to action.

הַגָּהָה: וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּזּוֹהַר וְעֵץ חַיִּים, דִּתְבוּנָה אוֹתִיּוֹת בֵּ״ן וּבַ״ת, שֶׁהֵן דְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ.

Gloss: As it is written in the Zohar and Etz Ḥayyim , the Hebrew word for understanding, tevuna , is comprised of the letters that spell the words ben and bat , son and daughter, which are fear and love. The Hebrew word ben, son, represents love, and bat, daughter, indicates awe, and their letters appear in the word tevuna, understanding, which is the mother. Tevuna therefore encompasses the roots of love and awe, although not in their revealed form. It contains their letters alone, but not their actual combination of letters. The potential, the possibility, is there, to build the words and the revealed thoughts and emotions.

וְלִפְעָמִים הַתְּבוּנָה יוֹרֶדֶת לִהְיוֹת מוֹחִין בְּנוּקְבָּא דִּזְעֵיר אַנְפִּין, שֶׁהֵן אוֹתִיּוֹת הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוֹת.

Sometimes the tevuna descends to serve as the intellect for the feminine aspect of Zeir Anpin , which are the letters comprising the Torah and commandments. The element of tevuna that is hidden within the "hidden recesses of the heart" has no inherent link to the physical action of mitzva performance, which in kabbalistic terms is the feminine aspect of Zeir Anpin, corresponding to the sefira of Malkhut. On occasion they come together, since a person would not perform a particular action were it not for the thought telling him, "Yes, this is something you should do!" Such a thought, with its causal rather than experiential relationship to deed, is the "good thought" that God attaches to an action to provide it with wings and raise it to higher worlds.

וְהַמַּשְׂכִּיל יָבִין.

The intelligent person will understand. This note, like most others in the book, hints at related subjects that, though not requisite for an understanding of the immediate topic, are worthwhile for experienced students of Kabbala and Hasidism to pursue.

אַךְ צֵירוּף זֶה מְצָרֵף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כְּדֵי לְהַעֲלוֹת מַעֲשֵׂה הַמִּצְוֹת וְעֵסֶק הַתּוֹרָה הַנַּעֲשִׂים עַל יְדֵי מַחֲשָׁבָה טוֹבָה הַנִּזְכֶּרֶת לְעֵיל עַד עוֹלַם הַבְּרִיאָה, מְקוֹם עֲלִיַּית הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוֹת הַנַּעֲשִׂים עַל יְדֵי דְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ שִׂכְלִיִּים אֲשֶׁר בְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ מַמָּשׁ.

However, the Holy One, blessed be He, links the mind's understanding to deed in order to elevate the act of performing the commandments and Torah study, which are accomplished with the aforementioned "good thought," to the world of Beria . This world is the place to which the Torah study and commandments ascend when performed with cognitive fear and love that are actually manifest in his heart. To which destination do the wings of love and awe carry Torah study and mitzvot? All reality exists within a system of four worlds at successive levels of holiness: Atzilut (Emanation), Beria (Creation), Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Action). The place where we perform the commandments is the world of Asiya – more precisely, that of physical action. The next, higher level is the world of Yetzira, also called the world of angels, which is the dimension of emotions within the realm of holiness. The pure reality of angels consists of feeling alone, of love, awe, or other emotions. In contrast to man, who is a collage of infinite components, the angel is a being of single focus with a singular unadulterated and powerful emotion. For instance, every angel of the camp of Michael represents a particular aspect of love, whereas the angels in the camp of Gabriel express specific aspects of awe. Above them is Beria, the world of consciousness and the domain of the seraphim, beings of pure perception far removed from the complexity of human existence. This is the realm to which the mitzvot ascend. A mitzva is an act performed in the physical realm of Asiya. By giving charity, for example, we transfer money or an item from one place to another. The mitzva of lulav, performed on the festival of Sukkot, entails taking palm branches, binding them together, and shaking them back and forth. Other than rearranging objects in a physical world, we do not appear to be doing much. In truth, as long as the higher soul levels are uninvolved, there is no impact beyond the material world; the action remains below in the physical world of Asiya. Yet when a spiritual element is infused in the act, when it is accompanied by Heaven-directed feeling and cognizance, the mitzva assumes significance and rises to a higher level. When one's performance of mitzvot is fully experienced by the soul, when love and awe are more than intellectualizations and a full awareness awakens real emotions, this fusion of intellect and feeling elevate the mitzva to the world of Beria, the world of consciousness and pure perception. When it comes to cognitive fear and love, there is a fusion of emotion and intellect, so that the fear and love can raise the mitzva act. For this reason, even a "good thought" alone, which is unable to connect to deed without God's uniting force, elevates the mitzva to the world of Beria. Since the two, thought and deed, have been linked, the mitzva act can rise to the world of consciousness.

אֲבָל בְּלָאו הָכִי נַמִּי עוֹלִים לְעוֹלַם הַיְּצִירָה עַל יְדֵי דְּחִילוּ וּרְחִימוּ טִבְעִיִּים הַמְסוּתָּרִים בְּלֵב כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּתוֹלְדוֹתָם,

But even were they not united with a good thought, they would also ascend to the world of Yetzira by means of the natural, innate fear and love that are latent in the heart of every Jew, Even when a mitzva is not performed perfectly with love and awe, and even when it is not united with a "good thought," still it does not remain in the physical world. Since the Jewish soul contains an innate love and fear of God, this act can be raised to a higher world. Yet this latent love and fear of God do not radiate with consciousness; they are not cognitive, like the good thought that accompanied the less than perfect mitzva, and the emotional experience is only subliminal. Consequently, they elevate the mitzva act to Yetzira, the realm of emotions.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר לְקַמָּן בַּאֲרִיכוּת.

as will be explained below at length. The author of the Tanya will go on to explain how every Jew possesses this latent awe and love, no matter his spiritual level, and how they have the power to elevate deeds beyond this physical world. This chapter described the