Soulwords

Day 207: Positive Commandment 108, 101

Day 206: Positive Commandment 108

Chapter 51 of Tanya takes us back to the discussion of the power of action that came up in Chapter 35 where mitzvos were compared to oil which fuels the flame of G-dly revelation. To better understand this, we ask a question: What does it mean that the Divine Presence rested in the Holy of Holies when we know that there is no place devoid of Hashem?

Day 205: Positive Commandment 108

Day 204: Positive Commandment 113

Day 203: Positive Commandment 113

Day 202: Positive Commandment 107, 113

Day 201: Positive Commandment 107

Previously we explained that although the mayim rabim (worries about making a living) are from a lofty spiritual source, the soul is from an even higher source, ie the Essence of G-d. However, we also said that the purpose of the descent into embodiment was so that the soul can have an even greater ascent. But how can it ascend higher if it is already coming from the highest level?

Day 200: Positive Commandment 107

Day 199: Positive Commandment 107

Concluding the theme of love and awe of Hashem begun in Ch. 41, a new type of love is introduced here in Ch. 50 that is in a whole different category from all previously discussed forms of love.

Day 198: Positive Commandment 107

Day 197: Positive Commandment 107

Day 196: Positive Commandment 107

Day 195: Positive Commandment 107

Avraham our father was one person against the world. And yet he also became a great leader and ambassador to people of all nations. This is the Jewish paradox. And the reason why some of us may be feeling very alone.

Day 194: Negative Commandment 107; Positive Commandment 107

The soul descends from a place of spiritual perfection and is plunged into the harrowing conditions of embodiment. All of this is actually a descent for the sake of a subsequent ascent. The soul in heaven is a "tzadik" but the embobied soul can become a "baal teshuvah," an incomparably greater level in closeness with Hashem.

Day 193: Negative Commandment 106; Positive Commandment 87