The eighteenth "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Tuesday, 7 Teves, 5703.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vayigash, third aliyah, with Rashi's commentary.
Tehillim, for the 7th of the month, from chapter 39 through chapter 43 inclusive.
Tanya, we are in the final portion of chapter 6, from the words "velachein nikra" until the end of chapter 6, which concludes with the words "sof perek vav."
Before us is a short teaching of several lines, whose source lies in points that the Rebbe heard from his father-in-law, the Rebbe Rayatz, in the summer of 5695, as the Rebbe recorded in his diary. The Rebbe wrote down all sorts of things he had heard from the Rebbe Rayatz, and among these things he heard these lines.
Before we read, let us preface with what is known regarding the sequence of punishments that the soul and body undergo after one hundred and twenty. The punishments are not, God forbid, a matter of revenge, but rather they are an order of purification and cleansing — to remove the kelipot and the evil that have become attached to the body or the soul; for the body and soul must be entirely pure and clean after one hundred and twenty. And it is understood that this depends greatly on the person himself — how many kelipot have become attached to his body and soul during his life — and accordingly will be the process of cleansing that he will need to undergo.
Two of the punishments mentioned are also cited in Tanya in chapter 7: there is a concept called "chibut hakever," and there is a concept called "kaf hakela." In brief, the general difference between them is: "chibut hakever" is a term for the purification and cleansing that the body undergoes, and "kaf hakela" is the purification and cleansing that the soul undergoes.
Let us begin by explaining the terms, starting with the first — "chibut hakever." The word "chibut" derives from the root meaning to beat, as one beats garments with a beater to knock out the dust, as was once the custom. There is a verse in the Torah, in Parashat Teitzei, regarding the gathering of olives from the tree: "When you beat your olive tree, do not go over the boughs after you," where "lachbot" means to strike (and likewise regarding the aravot, where the siddur states "we beat it," lachbot meaning to strike). And "hakever" — after the body enters the grave. At this stage there is a concept called "chibut hakever": angels beat and strike the body, and the purpose of this is to separate from the body the kelipot that have clung to it, just as one beats a garment to remove the dust from it. This is chibut hakever, whose concern is the body.
And from what is this kelipah created in the body, that it must be beaten? As is explained in Tanya: when a person eats food, it becomes blood and flesh of his flesh; and if he ate the food for the sake of desire, kelipot become attached to the cells of his body. If it was forbidden food — certainly it becomes the three impure kelipot; and if he ate for the sake of desire, even if it was permitted food, this too becomes the three kelipot. And Tanya says that even when a person does teshuvah, an impression remains in the body, and this impression must be extracted — this extraction is accomplished through the action of the angels after the person departs from the world, and it is called "chibut hakever": to remove from the body the kelipot that became attached to it.
And what is "kaf hakela"? This is the cleansing of the soul, not the body. In this world, a person derived pleasure from all sorts of matters, thoughts, and desires that brought him soul-pleasure, and all sorts of unwholesome matters and kelipot became attached to his soul. Therefore his soul, too, must be cleansed, and all the pleasures it had in those unwholesome matters—at the time it took delight in them in this world—must be extracted from it. This cleansing of the soul is called "kaf hakela."
The concept of "kaf hakela" appears, for example, in the Book of Shmuel, in the verse: "And the soul of your enemies He will sling out from within the hollow of the sling." What is kaf hakela? It is a kind of cup at the end of a stick, into which one places a stone or any object one wishes to throw; one grasps the stick and throws — like a slingshot in common parlance. And what is the matter here? It is written in the sefarim, in a vivid image, that the angels stand from one end of the world to the other and hurl the soul from one to the next, like something thrown by a sling.
And what is the idea behind this "throwing," and its meaning? There are discussions and lengthy explanations of this in Chassidus — the Rebbe explained it in the year 5716. The point is that after the neshamah ascends to Gan Eden it already attains the perceptions of holiness and Elokus that are in Gan Eden; and then it is thrown back to the pleasure it had in this world, and this causes it tremendous pain — it is in Gan Eden and suddenly it is thrown into the pleasures of this world, and it senses in them enormous foolishness. This tremendous pain uproots the pleasure it had in the past during its days in the world, and then it is thrown back to Gan Eden. And how many times must this back-and-forth be done? Until all the pleasures it had are completely uprooted. And there are different levels in this, in accordance with the pleasure one had, as is explained in the seforim.
In the teaching we are about to read, the Rebbe cites what he heard from the Rebbe Rayatz: there are things a person can do during his lifetime — actions that bring about the cleansing of the body or the refinement of the soul while he is still alive — and through this he spares the body and the soul those punishments that come after a hundred and twenty years, and he is spared chibut hakever or kaf hakela. How does one do this? Let us read the wording of the saying.
The teaching states: "The measure for being spared the ordeal of chibut hakever is that for a sixth of the day one should utter the letters of Torah — Tehillim and the like." What is the measure, what is it that one must do in order to be spared chibut hakever? "A sixth of the day" — the day consists of twenty-four hours, and a sixth of it is four hours. That is to say, when a person utters with his mouth the letters of Torah — Tehillim, Mishnayos, Tanya and the like — for at least four hours of the day, this cleanses his body and spares him from chibut hakever.
It is written in the works of the Baal Shem Tov that a person who is buried on Friday afternoon after midday merits to be spared from chibbut hakever — the Holy One, blessed be He, grants him this, for it is a time when one is spared from it. But a person cannot plan this, and therefore the counsel here is that he should recite the letters of the Torah four hours each day.
"And to merit the refinement of the soul, to be spared from kaf ha-kela." One may take note that specifically regarding kaf ha-kela the expression "the refinement of the soul" is used, whereas regarding chibut ha-kever it is not — and this is understandable in light of what we explained, that chibut ha-kever pertains to the body while kaf ha-kela pertains to the soul. Therefore, concerning kaf ha-kela it says "to merit the refinement of the soul": for if a person's soul is refined, he is thereby spared from kaf ha-kela.
This practice resembles what we discussed regarding "being spared from chibut ha-kever," but in a slightly different form. In chibut ha-kever it was said that one should recite letters for four hours; here the wording is different — through reviewing all day long, according to one's ability. [In the original, in the Rebbe's journal, there is an additional word here — "as much as one has free time" — and here the word "free time" was omitted.] The wording is: "through reviewing all day long — as much as one is able — Mishnayot, Tanya, Tehillim by heart."
It is not explained here why specifically "by heart," but seemingly, when a person recites only the "letters," not by heart and without comprehension, it is primarily the body that recites; whereas when he recites "by heart," there is also a participation of the soul, since he must remember it by heart — it is not merely uttering words, but the soul and its faculties are partners in the matter. Therefore, when one reviews by heart to the best of his ability during the course of the day, this effects a refinement of the soul; whereas when he recites the letters themselves, not by heart — the very utterance of the words effects a refinement of the body. And thus both matters are resolved.
Let us continue with what we discussed — that the sayings correspond to the progression through the books of the Rambam. In the previous sayings we spoke about Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, the first ones in the Rambam's Sefer HaMada; and now we advance to the next set of laws — Hilchot Deot. There the Rambam speaks about the illnesses of the soul and how to heal it: just as there are illnesses of the body, so too are there illnesses of the soul and bad character traits, and he offers various counsels for how a person may cleanse his soul. And this is precisely the same theme written here — how a person is to work on refining his soul and to merit the things he needs to merit. And up to here is the daily lesson.