Daily Tanya

Concerning the statement that “this is also the meaning of what Asaph said, under Divine inspiration…,” the Rebbe remarks that the Alter Rebbe is not in the habit of naming the individual who authored a specific verse, nor is he in the habit of remarking that it was first uttered under Divine inspiration. An exception was made here, the Rebbe explains, because Asaph is addressing himself to the problem of “a wicked man who prospers” and ‘‘a righteous man who suffers.” Asaph is also speaking either about himself or, at least, about those Jews who lived in his time, for in the same chapter, he explicitly says, “…until I came to the Holy Temple.” I.e., he is referring to a time when the Temple is standing. Now at that time, corporeality did not conceal G-dliness to the same degree as it does now. This being so, how do Asaph’s words apply to our times? The Alter Rebbe answers this by saying that in this verse, Asaph was not talking about himself and his generation but about the Jewish community in times of exile. Though he was no prophet (as Rashi states in Megillah 14a), he was nevertheless able to speak of the future, for he spoke under Divine inspiration. Daniel likewise foresaw and foretold many future episodes, even though (as Rashi mentions in his commentary to Daniel) he too was no prophet. In the next footnote, the Rebbe will offer evidence that in the verse, “And I am foolish…,” Asaph speaks of the Jews in time of exile.

Psalms 73:22-23.

The Rebbe notes that with the words “This means,” the Alter Rebbe is saying that unlike the previous verses which speak of Asaph’s own time, this verse refers to the Jewish community in exile. Proof that this is indeed so lies in the fact that after saying, “And I am foolish and know not,” he goes on to say, “I was as a beast before You.” If Asaph is speaking of himself, his final words are superfluous. We must therefore say that he is speaking of the time of exile, when the veil of corporeality is so palpable that “even when I am with You”—even in the midst of performing a mitzvah, at which time a Jew is at one with G-d—still, “I am as a beast,” unable to feel this union with G-d. This also explains why the Alter Rebbe quotes the beginning of the verse (“And I am foolish and know not”), when he mainly addresses himself to the latter part of the verse. He does so because the opening words prove that the phrase, “I was as a beast before You,” speaks of the Jewish people in times of exile.

Psalms 139:12.

The Rebbe explains that with the Alter Rebbe’s statement—“Accordingly, one will be able to understand…”—a number of very problematic issues are resolved. Firstly: How is it possible that an illiterate person be subject to the same severe punishment as a tzaddik for transgressing the prohibition of work on the Shabbat or that of leavened bread on Passover? The punishment results from the individual’s desecration of the sanctity which pervades the Shabbat and Festivals; however, this sanctity does not rest upon the illiterate person. Why, then, should he be so severely punished? Even if we posit that the illiterate person, too, possesses some miniscule measure of the sanctity of the Shabbat and Festivals, we must still understand why the same measure of punishment “equally applies to all.” Reason dictates that the illiterate’s punishment should be much less severe than that of the tzaddik inasmuch as he harbors but an echo of the sanctity enjoyed by the tzaddik. According to what the Alter Rebbe has just now explained, the matter becomes entirely understandable. For within the soul of the illiterate person there radiates the light of the sanctity of those holy days in the same measure as within the soul of a tzaddik. The only difference between the two is that the tzaddik feels this sanctity while the illiterate person does not. The Rebbe adds that this explanation also helps us understand why the Alter Rebbe cited evidence specifically from transgressing the prohibitions of the Shabbat and Festivals. These prohibitions, says the Rebbe, are not intrinsic to the acts themselves, for doing these selfsame things on any other day is not prohibited at all. Rather, these are prohibitions which apply to the individual: he is not permitted to perform such labor on the Shabbat. This being so, we must surely say that the light of Shabbat illumines the soul of an illiterate person just as it does that of a tzaddik. Were we not to say so, then the question of why the punishment is the same for both would be all the greater. For the punishment is not for the inherent wrong of the act itself, but for the person’s performance of this act on the Shabbat. If the illiterate person’s soul is not illumined to the same degree as the tzaddik’s, it is unthinkable that the punishment should be the same.

Parentheses are in the original text.

Psalms 104:24.