Room number two hundred twenty-four in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Friday, 6 Tammuz 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Chukat, Shishi, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, on the 6th of the month, one recites from chapter 35 through chapter 38 inclusive.
Tanya, on this day we conclude chapter 10 in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. The lesson begins on page 174, with the words "al derech mashal," until the conclusion of the chapter with the words "midot klal."
The daily saying is from a letter written by the Previous Rebbe on 29 Tishrei 5698. The letter was a response to a Jew who had difficulty in Chassidus: he saw two maamarim of the Alter Rebbe in "Likkutei Torah," and both discuss the manner in which the mitzvos illuminate within the soul of a Jew. The mitzvos contain a power called "koach makif" (encompassing power) and a power called "koach pnimi" (internal power). In one place it is written that the revelation of the mitzvos within the soul of the Jew is by means of Torah study, and in another maamar it is written that within the mitzvos themselves is the power to reveal within the Jew their essence. Regarding this the questioner asked that there is a contradiction here between the two maamarim.
The Rebbe Rayatz gives him a lengthy overview of the entire concept of ohr makif and ohr penimi in Torah and mitzvos. He explains that the reason chassidus sometimes offers one explanation and sometimes another is because there are several levels in the matter. In general terms, he explains that both in Torah and in mitzvos there is an ohr penimi and an ohr makif. However, with regard to what has been revealed to us, the Torah is called "chochmah," His blessed wisdom, and the mitzvos are called "His blessed will." It is known that the difference between chochmah and ratzon is that chochmah is an inner power and ratzon is an encompassing power. But in truth, the Torah too contains the encompassing power, which is ratzon, and the mitzvos too contain the chochmah, which is an inner power; both of them contain everything. Nowadays, in the Torah the aspect of chochmah is revealed and in the mitzvos the aspect of ratzon, and in the time to come there will be revealed in the Torah too the aspect of ratzon and in the mitzvos too the aspect of taam (reason) — as alluded to in the words "taamei Torah" and "taamei mitzvos" that will be revealed in the time to come.
After this, the Rebbe Rayatz explains, in the soul of man, what is "or penimi" and what is "or makif." "Or penimi" is avodah that is with taste and reason and in an orderly fashion; each power has the limb through which it acts, in a contracted and measured way — this is called "or penimi." Whereas "or makif" is when a person has a general arousal and inspiration, a sort of excitement in avodas Hashem — this is a 'makif' power.
The Rebbe Rayatz adds that even within a person there are levels in the encompassing power, which are termed in Chassidus "makif hakarov" (the near encompassing) and "makif harachok" (the far encompassing). This is comparable to the arousal that exists throughout the entire year, which is called "makif hakarov" — an arousal that can be immediately drawn down into one's daily routine; and there is the arousal of Rosh Hashanah and of Tishrei, which is called "makif harachok" — an extremely powerful arousal, which, until it descends into a person's daily routine, is a task in and of itself.
After all this lengthy discussion, he says that this is essentially what distinguishes between mitzvot and Torah, and at the conclusion of the letter he brings the example that is the daily saying. He concludes and says that based on this we will understand the difference between mitzvot and Torah:
"The mitzvos are drawn down through the makif that is within the mitzvos themselves" — that is to say, since the mitzvos contain an ohr makif, what will reveal within a person's soul the makif light of the mitzvos? The mitzvos themselves have the ability to reveal it. And among the mitzvos there is a unique mitzvah that possesses the power that, when one performs it, it brings about that the rest of the mitzvos one fulfills will shine within the person.
And regarding this he brings an example: "The mitzvah of tzedakah, for instance, is an all-encompassing mitzvah, for all the mitzvot are called by the name tzedakah." It contains the general power of the mitzvot, that is, the encompassing light of the mitzvot, and therefore this mitzvah has the unique quality of effecting that when one fulfills a mitzvah, the encompassing light of the mitzvah will shine forth—the arousal that is within the mitzvah.
"And for this reason [=and on account of this] it is very proper to give a coin to tzedakah before every mitzvah, for this draws down the encompassing [light] into the internal." Since tzedakah is called a general mitzvah, there is great virtue in giving tzedakah, and then to fulfill the mitzvah. And why does this cause the encompassing light of the mitzvah to shine? Through the power of tzedakah. In other words, the mitzvah assists mitzvos — the mitzvah of tzedakah assists in making the light of the mitzvos shine, which is the drawing down of the encompassing [light] into the internal. When one gives tzedakah and afterward fulfills the mitzvah, this causes the encompassing light of the mitzvah, its wondrous power, the soul-arousal within it, to shine and be felt by the person. This is called drawing down the encompassing light into the internal.
This matter applies to all the mitzvot, "and nonetheless it is the encompassing light that is close"; "the encompassing light that is close" means that the arousal of all the mitzvot is an arousal that is easier to draw down into a person's feeling, for in a mitzvah, as we said, the encompassing power within it is revealed to us — that the mitzvah is [G-d's] will. And since from the outset the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed the encompassing light within the mitzvot, it is easier to draw down the encompassing light also into the internal [dimension] — through the mitzvah of tzedakah.
"whereas the Torah is the distant makkif and its effect is loftier" — unlike the Torah. As mentioned above, the Torah too has an encompassing light (or makkif), but the encompassing light of the Torah has not yet been revealed to us, and it will be revealed in the time to come. In the Torah, that which has been revealed to us is the inner light (or penimi), the chochmah. Therefore the drawing down of the Torah's encompassing light is not as simple as in the case of the mitzvot; the Torah is in the category of the "distant makkif," whose effect is loftier. The distant makkif has, on the one hand, a kind of deficiency, in that it is not felt because it is very distant; and on the other hand, when it does take effect, its advantage is that its effect is immense — like the arousal of the Yamim Nora'im, which is far more powerful than the arousal of an ordinary day during the course of the year. It emerges that the Torah has a far greater advantage than the mitzvot.
This is essentially what the saying explains here — the general difference between mitzvot and Torah. And to summarize the matter: the revelation of the mitzvot in a person's soul is easier to draw down, and generally, through the special power of tzedakah one accomplishes drawing this down in all the mitzvot. Torah, however, being a loftier makif, is much harder to work upon and to draw down; but once it does take effect, its effect is exceedingly powerful.
To conclude, the allusion in this saying to the progression in the "Yad HaChazakah" of the Rambam. We now begin a new sefer in the Rambam, called "Sefer Kinyan." The first halachos are the halachos of selling, in which are explained all the rules for how a person can sell, what is considered a kinyan, and how one transfers ownership. One of the rules is that one can only transfer ownership of something that actually exists in the world, something tangible and existing; but one cannot transfer to someone something that does not yet exist in the world — except in the case of tzedakah.
Regarding tzedakah, if a person obligates himself to give even for something that does not yet exist in the world, the poor have already acquired it, even though it does not exist in the world. That is to say, this great encompassing [light] has already been grasped, and the tzedakah brings it down into actual existence in the world. The Rambam explains that there are Geonim who disagree with him, but he does not accept their opinion; the law of tzedakah is that a person is obligated to fulfill that which he utters from his mouth, and therefore his commitment certainly takes effect, such that he will need to fulfill it in actuality.
For example, a person who says regarding the future fruits that will grow on a tree that they should go to the poor — even though the fruits do not yet exist in the world, he is obligated to fulfill his words and actualize the matter, for in tzedakah a person is obligated to fulfill. There is, then, a genuine connection here to the idea that the power of tzedakah is great, and therefore it can bring down even something encompassing and distant that has not come into the world, drawing it down into the world and transforming it into an actual thing that must be fulfilled.