We are in chapter 4. In the previous lesson we studied its opening lines and stopped at the words "מלובשים בתרי\"ג מצוות התורה, ובפרטות" ("clothed in the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, and in detail"). Let us briefly review what we learned and then continue.
Review: the garments of the soul
In chapter 4 the Alter Rebbe opens a new subject: the garments of the soul. A garment is something a person can put on and take off; it beautifies him and gives him the ability to go out into the world and act. The soul, too, has garments, and they are thought, speech and action. Through them a Jew can connect himself to the Holy One and to every one of His wishes:
Through action - he fulfills all the mitzvos that are performed in deed.
Through speech - he studies the explanation of the 613 mitzvos.
Through thought - he grasps all that it is possible for him to grasp in every part of the Torah.
From here the Alter Rebbe continues: "הרי כללות תרי\"ג איברי נפשו מלובשים בתרי\"ג מצוות התורה" ("the totality of the 613 limbs of his soul are clothed in the 613 mitzvos of the Torah"). (Seemingly, according to what is brought in a certain place, the text should read "הרי בכללות," "in general.") In a general sense, when a person uses all his garments to their fullest, his entire soul is completely bound up with the 613 mitzvos. Yet there are mitzvos he simply cannot perform, such as the mitzvos of the kohanim, as we mentioned in the previous lesson. That is why, regarding action, he does not stress the number 613, but writes instead "all the mitzvos that are performed in deed."
"And in detail": which power of the soul is clothed in each garment
There are three garments, thought, speech and action, and together they connect the whole soul to the Holy One; but each garment corresponds to a particular part of the soul. The soul, as we learned in chapter 3, includes both intellect and emotion. When the Alter Rebbe comes to specify which part of the soul is clothed in which garment, he writes: "בחינת חכמה בינה ודעת שבנפשו" ("the faculties of chochmah, binah and daas of his soul"). These are the higher part of the soul, the mochin, a person's intellect, and they are clothed in the garment of thought, not in the garment of speech or the garment of action.
And with what is the garment of thought occupied? As was stated in the preceding lines, and as he repeats here, through it a person grasps all that he is able to grasp in the pardes of Torah: pshat, remez, drush and sod. The mochin are a matter of hisbonenus, of contemplation and depth, and therefore they are bound up specifically with the garment of thought. A person's emotions, by contrast, are clothed in speech and in action, as we will see in the coming lines.
"According to his capacity to grasp and the root of his soul Above"
The Alter Rebbe adds that this comprehension is "כפי יכולת השגתו ושורש נפשו למעלה" ("according to his capacity to grasp and the root of his soul Above"). One might have understood these as two separate conditions: as much as the person is able to grasp, or as much as the root of his soul Above allows him. But from his words in Torah Or, in the maamarim on Megillas Esther, where he explains the matter at greater length, it emerges that the one teaches us about the other: if a person wishes to know what the root of his soul is, let him look at his capacity to comprehend.
At the same time, in one of his letters the Rebbe writes that it is not a person's business to go searching for the root of his soul. His business is to be immersed in Torah study, to sit and toil and invest as much as he can. Only in passing should he know that his capacity to comprehend flows from the root of his soul.
This is why the Alter Rebbe writes there in Torah Or that there are souls incapable of more than "one chapter in the morning and one chapter in the evening," and there are souls capable of a great deal more. When a person is not capable of more, when he does not grasp it, does not absorb it, is not connected to it, or his time simply does not allow for more, this means that what he learns is enough for him. That is, the root of his soul Above is such that this modest comprehension fills the maximum of what he is connected to and what he needs. Conversely, a person who is capable of, and connected to, deeper study, the root of his soul Above belongs to deep study, and he is therefore obligated to learn on a deeper level.
In any case, every Jew must clothe the garment of thought of his nefesh haElokis in the pardes of Torah, according to his connection to Torah and according to his ability.
In summary: we reviewed the garments of the soul, thought, speech and action, through which a Jew connects to the will of the Creator in all its details, and we learned that in a general sense the 613 limbs of the soul are clothed in the 613 mitzvos of the Torah. And in detail: the mochin, chochmah, binah and daas, are clothed in the garment of thought, in the comprehension of the pardes of Torah, according to a person's capacity to grasp and according to the root of his soul Above, each of which teaches us about the other.
In the next portion we will take up the garments of speech and action, and see which powers of the soul are clothed in them.