Author's Prologue

A correspondent wrote regarding a student who had reviewed a chasidic discourse mentioning the Rabbinical dictum, 1 Israel arose in thought first. The reviewer had explained that the souls of Israel are considered pre-existent [i.e., primary] and cannot be described as created. The correspondent wonders whether the student understood the subject matter properly. Most probably, he thinks, the reviewer was mistaken since the term pre-existent should refer to none but G-d. Parenthetically, he also quotes Tanya [ch. 2] "[souls are] actually a part of G-d," maintaining that this is difficult to conceive. He concludes with the suggestion that perhaps it would be preferable not to discuss such abstract subjects at all, for they give ground to the allegation that chasidim are irreverent. Besides, he remarks, mortals can never really understand these matters.

In summary, he feels that 1) the reviewer no doubt erred, since only G-d can be called pre-existent, 2) public discussion of such topics exposes chasidim to criticisms of irreverence, and 3) mortals are incapable of clearly understanding such subjects.