Daily Tanya

However, after the creation of man “to work it…,”53 his lifelong task being to draw down to this world a flow of Divine energy by means of an “arousal from below,” i.e., by means of his own spiritual labors,

every arousal from Above, to arouse the attribute of supreme kindness, depends on an arousal from below,

through the acts of charity and kindness54 that Jews perform in this world.

That is why our Sages, of blessed memory, have said: “Whoever says that he has nothing but Torah,”55 and thus no kindly deeds, “does not have even Torah;

rather, one ought to engage in Torah and in the performance of acts of lovingkindness.”

For though the “Torah derives from chochmah,”56 and “the world subsists by virtue of the Torah”57 and “those who discourse in it,”58

because by speaking of the Torah subjects they elicit illuminations and effusions59 from supreme chochmah, the source of the Torah, into the plane of the letters of speech with which the world was created,

as our Sages, of blessed memory, said with regard to Torah scholars, “Do not read banayich (‘Your children’) but bonayich (‘Your builders’),”60 for they build the world through their study of the Torah—

nevertheless, this flow of chochmah to the letters of speech is a great descent.

To accomplish this, it is necessary to arouse supernal chesed which, like water, is drawn down from a high place to a low place

by means of an arousal from below, through acts of charity and kindness here below,

whereby one diffuses life and kindness “to revive the spirit of the humble and downcast.”61

This is the meaning of the verse, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom…, but in this, let him glory [in understanding and knowing Me,”62 but in such a manner that it brings about the fulfillment of the phrase that follows]: “for I am G-d, Who acts with kindness….”63

For it is chesed, the kindly conduct of man here below, that results in the fulfillment of the verse, “I am G-d, Who acts with kindness,” i.e., with the chesed of Asiyah, and that causes the vitality of chochmah to issue downward into the letters of speech, the source of all created beings.

In the absence of this [kindly conduct], [the Torah Study] that such a person undertakes is called “His wisdom” alone: it remains in heaven as an untapped resource in which that wise man cannot glory,

and there is no downward flow of life from it, G-d forbid.

The above enables one to understand the statement of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, of blessed memory, that there are two kinds of souls among Jews:

the souls of Torah scholars, who engage in the study of the Torah all their lives,64

and the souls of those who perform the commandments, occupying themselves with charitable and kindly deeds.

Now surely scholars, too, need to occupy themselves with acts of kindness;

as our Sages, of blessed memory, taught, [“Whoever says that he has nothing but Torah,” and thus no kindly deeds,] “does not have even Torah.”

However, as regards Torah scholars, whose study of the Torah is their principal occupation and most of their time is spent in it, with only a minor part of their time spent on the performance of kindly deeds,

the effect of their arousal from below, to arouse supernal chesed,

to call forth and bring downward the [infinite] Ein Sof-light vested in supernal chochmah, the source of G-d’s Torah which is in their mouths,

extends only to the realm of the souls that are in Beriah, through their occupation with Gemara,

and extends to the angels that are in the World of Yetzirah, through their occupation with Mishnah.

For the animation of souls and angels derives from the combinations of the letters of speech, i.e., the Oral Torah; as it is written in Patach Eliyahu, “[The sefirah of] malchut [corresponds to] the mouth, which we call the Oral Torah.”65

The source of the letters, however, is in supernal chochmah, as mentioned above.

However, in order to call forth and bring downward an illumination and vitality from the level of the supreme breath, the “lower hey,” to this lowly world,

which entails a greater and extreme contraction,

the arousal from below by the Torah scholars, who for only a small part of their time engage in charitable and kindly deeds, is not sufficient.66

[This is effected] only through an arousal by those who perform the commandments, who are occupied with deeds of charity and kindness for the major part of their life

(67as explained in Likkutei Amarim, Part I, ch. 34).

That is why [people who are mainly occupied with such mitzvot] are called68 “the supporters of [the] Torah [itself],” and not only of those who study the Torah, for by their activities, they draw down the light of the Torah from its root and source so that it will illuminate this physical world below.

These [people] represent the levels of netzach and hod, which are analogous to69 “the two thighs” which enable a man to stand upon the ground; the function of the sefirot of netzach and hod is similar,

because they cause the light of the Torah to issue downward to the World of Asiyah.

Now it is clear70 why charity is referred to as an “act,”

as in the verse, “And the act of charity will be peace,”71

for the effect of charity is to elicit the light of G-d down to the World of Asiyah.

This is the meaning of the subtle phraseology of the holy Zohar: “He who makes the Holy Name,” expressly saying “who makes,”

for by an arousal from below, through charity and mortal chesed, one arouses the supernal chesed—

to elicit the [infinite] Ein Sof-light from supernal chochmah, the yud of the Divine Name,

to the hey of the Name, to the “speech” and “breath” of G-d’s blessed mouth,

in order to draw down [Divine light] to the World of Asiyah.

And, analogously speaking, though infinitely incomparable: a human being speaks only to others

(72and not when he is alone),

and then when speaking to them, he contracts his intellect and thought.

The intelligent will understand.