13th day of Tishrei

This pastoral letter was written by the Alter Rebbe to rouse those of his followers who had pledged an annual contribution to Kollel Chabad. This fund supported their fellow Chasidim who had settled in the Land of Israel, where they now studied Torah and engaged in Divine service. The Alter Rebbe here urges that instead of waiting until the end of the year, his followers should give part of the promised sum weekly or at least monthly. For apart from the quality of alacrity, the eager promptness that ought to be displayed during the performance of mitzvot in general and the mitzvah of tzedakah (“charity”) in particular, there is an additional quality involved, as will soon be explained.

The Alter Rebbe begins this epistle by greeting his fellow Jews as “lovers of G‑d’s Name.”1 This appellation especially suits those helping their brethren who serve G‑d in the Holy Land. For upon this land “G‑d’s gaze is fixed constantly,”2 and this verse uses G‑d’s ineffable Name Havayah, indicating that the Land is directly illuminated and animated by the sublime level of Divinity indicated by that singular and unique Name.

It would seem that in these last few lines, the Alter Rebbe means to add the following: Not only are the amounts that were always given in previous years to be given henceforth on a weekly or monthly basis, but additional amounts are to be divided likewise.

How, then, can this be considered such a great test for Abraham when G‑d Himself commanded him to offer his son?

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, explains in a discourse dated the 12th of Tammuz 570916 that the Divine service of penitents should involve affecting others as well. Now, the challenge of the akedah required that Abraham, the epitome of love and kindness, reverse his essential nature, in which the attribute of chesed predominated, and act with all the severity of the attribute of gevurah. (Hence, G‑d answers, “I now know that you fear G‑d.”17) In this diametrical reversal, Abraham resembled a penitent. And, like a penitent, he sought to share with others his delight at fulfilling G‑d’s will.

The reason given until this point for dividing one’s annual pledges into weekly or at least monthly payments was the quality of alacrity in performing a mitzvah. The Alter Rebbe now adds two further reasons for not deferring frequent payments to one consolidated contribution at the end of the year: (a) every single act of tzedakah refines the soul of the donor; (b) every single act of tzedakah brings about a supernal union in the sefirot and partzufim.24

As explained above, in Iggeret Hakodesh, Epistle 12, the “act of charity” (maaseh hatzedakah) remains staidly within the conventional limits set by one’s natural inclination. In the case of the “service of charity” (avodat hatzedakah), by contrast, the individual serves G‑d by toiling, refining himself, and excelling himself until he is able to be charitable in a manner that leaps above and beyond his custom and nature.

The Alter Rebbe now teaches that even if the amount one gives is not out of the ordinary, nevertheless, if it is given with great frequency, this too qualifies as Divine service—

The Alter Rebbe is referring here not to one’s annual pledge but to the actual giving of the numerous increments, which add up to its total amount—

On this Mishnah, Maimonides explains that though a one-time donation of (say) a thousand27 gulden is truly praiseworthy, the trait of benevolence does not thereby become embedded within the donor’s psyche to the same extent as it would if he would give these same thousand coins one at a time.

In his Notes and Emendations at the conclusion of [the Hebrew edition of] the Tanya, the Rebbe refers the reader to the following two verses: In Proverbs 10:16 we find, פְּעוּלַּת צַדִּיק לְחַיִּים—“The effect of a tzaddik is for life,” and in Proverbs 11:19 we find, כֵּן צְדָקָה לְחַיִּים—“So is tzedakah for life.” Accordingly, the Rebbe notes that the Alter Rebbe’s citation of the three words פְּעוּלַּת צְדָקָה לְחַיִּים (“the effect of tzedakah is for life”) as part of “an explicit verse” is problematic.

Seemingly, this difficulty could be resolved by interpreting thus: Since “the effect of a tzaddik” is tzedakah (in the spirit of the verse, “G‑d is a ‘tzaddik’: He loves acts of tzedakah”28), the verse which states that “the effect of a tzaddik is for life” in fact seeks to imply that “the effect of a tzaddik—viz., tzedakah—is for life.”

From the note by the Rebbe, however, it is apparent that this interpretation is unsatisfactory, for surely, “an explicit verse” should be explicit without resort to interpretation.

The sefirah of malchut in the World of Atzilut is known as the “Land of Life” because (relative to the more “heavenly” levels) it is the lowest level within that World. It is known as the “Land of Life” because it provides life to all the created beings of the three lower Worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah.

The effect of tzedakah, then, is to draw down life-giving Divine energy into the recipient (or “feminine”) attribute called malchut of Atzilut. The source of this life (the “Fountainhead of Life”) is called za, which is the last level within the worlds that are Ein Sof, or infinite. The name za is an acronym for z’eyr anpin, i.e., the bracket of six masculine middot, or emotive attributes of Atzilut. (This yichud of masculine and feminine middot is the “supernal union” spoken of below.)

The word אַתָּה (“You”) alludes to the sefirah of malchut (the source of G‑d’s creative speech) in the World of Atzilut, for its spelling indicates all the letters from alef to tav, from the first letter of the alphabet to the last, while its letter hey, numerically equivalent to five, alludes to the five organs of verbal articulation, the source of the letters.30

Accompanying them in all their wanderings throughout this last and lowest exile of ours, the Shechinah has thereby been humbled down to the lowest depths. At a time like this, acts of tzedakah can reinvigorate it with the infinite life that they elicit from the Fountainhead of Life, the Ein Sof.

The quoted phrase describing the poor is advisedly borrowed from the Kabbalists’ description of the Shechinah as the sefirah (viz., malchut of Atzilut) which “has nothing at all of its own but what is given to it by others,”34 i.e., by the higher sefirot. The similar phrase quoted above thus highlights the fact that mortal man’s charitable initiative in reviving the spirits of his poor neighbor does not merely echo or parallel the “charity” with which the Ein Sof revives the humbled Shechinah: it quite literally activates it.

Tzedakah, then, draws down life from the Fountainhead of Life to the sefirah of malchut of Atzilut, which is also known as the Land of Life—

Every act of tzedakah draws Kudsha Brich Hu and Ein Sof downward to His Shechinah, down into the lowest levels of this world.

These words allude as well to the supreme unification that is thereby effected in the worlds above.

Appendix to Epistle 21

The Tzemach Tzedek42 asks the following question: Why do our Sages find it necessary to point out that “Each and every coin [that a Jew gives for charity] adds up to a large sum,”43 when in point of fact, whenever a Jew gives even a single coin for charity, he is performing a mitzvah commanded in the Torah?

Thus, for example, “R. Elazar would give a coin to a poor man and then pray, for it is written,44 ‘Through tzedek will I behold Your Countenance’”45—and tzedek (“righteousness”) is closely related to tzedakah (“charity”). The giving of a single coin thus constitutes a mitzvah worthy of reward, for if “G‑d does not withhold the reward of any creature, even for words fitly spoken,”46 He surely rewards the fulfillment of a fully fledged commandment ordained by the Torah. This applies especially to the mitzvah of tzedakah, which is “equivalent to all the other mitzvot.”47 Thus, too, Maimonides writes that this commandment should be observed even more scrupulously than all other positive commandments.48 Moreover, “Israel will be redeemed [from exile] only by virtue of their acts of charity.”49 Indeed, G‑d Himself praises Abraham for his charitable conduct,50 which he also taught to his children after him.

Considering, then, the sublime status of every single act of tzedakah, why do the Sages find it necessary to stress that all the individual coins contributed accumulate to total a large sum?

This would suggest, the Tzemach Tzedek goes on to say, that though the reward for one large contribution is greater, our Sages seek here to reassure us that even modest increments add up and become equally worthy of this superior reward.

On the other hand, the very need for this reassurance would lead one to believe that giving one lump sum is superior to making smaller, periodic payments. It will be recalled, however, that Maimonides demurs, noting that “everything is [judged] according to the multiplicity of action” (as opposed to the stature of the deed) so that a generous, one-time donation of (say) a hundred gulden is less praiseworthy than a hundred instances of giving one coin at a time.

(Here the Tzemach Tzedek quotes the entire text of our above letter of the Alter Rebbe, with all its explanations on both the revealed and the esoteric planes of the Torah, to demonstrate the superiority of piecemeal giving.) Does this not conflict with the attitude that leads the Sages to go as far as seeking a proof text to reassure us that many individual coins may be considered to be as valuable as one large sum?

The Tzemach Tzedek goes on to ask another question. The Gemara and the halachic codifiers determine that the mitzvah of tzedakah is properly fulfilled only if one gives a certain minimum—not less than a tenth of one’s earnings. Accordingly, if one made numerous charitable contributions, then even though on each such occasion he effected a supernal union and drew down supreme life to this world, he nevertheless did not perform the mitzvah (in its most complete form) unless he tithed. Conversely, if he gave a tenth or a fifth of his earnings at one time and thereby brought about a supernal union only once, he nevertheless fulfilled the mitzvah properly. How can this be? Why should he be deemed to have fulfilled his obligation better than his friend, whose repeated charitable activity (though totalling less than a tithe) recharged this world with renewed spiritual energy on so many occasions?

In order to resolve this, the Tzemach Tzedek introduces two themes which he expounds at length but which will be mentioned here only briefly.

(a) In one of the Kabbalistic schemes (אי"ק בכ"ר) by which the letters of the Holy Tongue may be arranged, the alphabet is divided into sets of three letters each. In the first set, the first letter is alef (numerically equivalent to one), the second letter is yud (numerically equivalent to ten), and the third letter is kuf (numerically equivalent to one hundred). The three letters of the second set are beit (two), kaf (twenty), and resh (two hundred). The alphabet goes on in this vein.

These numbers allude to different degrees of Divine effluence that may be drawn down to this world. The degree of spirituality that is alluded to by the letter yud is ten times greater than that alluded to by the letter alef; the degree of spirituality alluded to by the letter kuf is ten times greater than the degree of spirituality alluded to by the letter yud; and so on to one thousand and ten thousand.

In terms of the sefirot, single digits denote the emotive attributes (the Divine middot), double digits denote the intellective attributes (the Divine mochin), and hundreds designate the level of Divinity that transcends Divine intellect while thousands and tens of thousands respectively denote the levels of Divinity known as ratzon (“the Divine Will”) and Taanug (“Delight”). In terms of the levels of the soul within an individual Jew, the five classes of numbers correspond to the five soul-levels called (in ascending order) nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah.

Using this numerical scheme of the Hebrew letters, the Tzemach Tzedek explains that by giving tzedakah in a single-digit amount, one is only able to illuminate this lowly world with the level of spirituality that is alluded to by a single-digit number while when one gives a double-digit amount, one draws down an illumination that is alluded to by double-digit numbers. And so on, when one gives in the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands: the larger the amount, that much greater is the commensurate spirituality that is drawn down.

(b) The second theme introduced by the Tzemach Tzedek explains how tzedek (צדק—“righteousness”), which derives from the sefirah of malchut, is transformed into tzedakah (צדקה—“charity”) by the addition of the letter hey and thereby elevated. The added letter hey, numerically equivalent to five, represents the five degrees of supernal kindness (ה' חסדים).

To revert now to the two manners of giving tzedakah described above: At first glance, one is tempted to say that they are entirely different, each possessing a quality that the other lacks. For on one hand, a person who gives away a hundred gold coins at a time draws down a flow of Divine illumination from the lofty level of “one hundred” while his friend who gives only a few coins at a time brings down the Divine effluence from no higher than the single-digit level of holiness.

Nevertheless, though the latter and lesser illumination is indeed elicited on each such occasion, even a hundred such occasions are outshone by the brilliant light that derives from a higher level. For relative to higher degrees of holiness, all lower degrees are considered as naught. (Thus, for example, speaking of the hierarchies of angels, it is written that the “horns of the Chayot Hakodesh” are superior to all the inferior levels of angels.)

Likewise, “There are those who earn their World [to Come] in a single hour.”51 One hour of repentance as earnest and intense as the repentance experienced by R. Elazar ben Durdaya surpasses the lifelong Divine service of a veritable tzaddik, with all his daily love and awe of G‑d. For the sheer power and drive of such repentance reaches up and draws down spiritual energy from a far superior source.

We might therefore be tempted to conclude that one can accomplish more by giving tzedakah in one lump sum, because of its qualitative superiority, than in many increments. Besides, since by giving less than a tithe in many increments one has not fully discharged his obligation, it would appear that there is something lacking in the total sum that he was to give.

How, then, are we to understand the Alter Rebbe’s teaching, based on Maimonides, that giving a hundred single coins on a hundred occasions is superior and more worthy of reward than giving them all at once?

The Tzemach Tzedek resolves this in the light of the above-quoted teaching of our Sages that “each and every coin [that a Jew gives for charity] adds up to a large sum.”43 I.e., his one hundred individual gifts of one coin all accumulate together when he gives the hundredth coin. His cumulative giving can thus draw down spiritual energy from a “triple-digit” source, just as if he had given away all his coins at once. With his modest but steady giving, this unspectacular donor has succeeded in earning both the quantity of the repeated deed (by effecting an oft-repeated supernal union) and the quality of the one-time deed (by drawing down illumination from a superior source).

This, concludes the Tzemach Tzedek, is a wondrous and unique characteristic of the mitzvah of tzedakah. The earlier hundred-time or thousand-time gifts do not dissipate; rather, as they accumulate, they are compounded with the later gifts until they ultimately produce one powerful hundredfold or thousandfold mitzvah.

In this light, the Arizal interprets the verse, וצדקתו עומדת לעד—“and his righteousness (or charity) endures forever”52: The spiritual impression (the “letter”) that is inscribed in the supernal worlds by the mitzvah of tzedakah outlasts the “letters” inscribed by the performance of any other mitzvah.

In summary: The quantitative and qualitative benefits of giving tzedakah in many increments thus enable one to appreciate the teaching of Rambam afresh.

The Tzemach Tzedek now proceeds to consider the above-quoted ruling of the author of Levushei Serad.53

Though the Tzemach Tzedek quotes this sage with regard to practice, he himself goes only as far as to say that the last coin in the series grants its giver the merit and the reward of having given the entire amount all at once. The Levushei Serad goes further: On every single occasion that one gives a coin (from the total of a hundred coins that he had decided to give), it is considered as if he had given that total all at once. He argues as follows: This individual had in fact wanted to give the whole amount but divided it into increments only because he sought to gratify his Maker. Hence, whenever he gives part of it, it is as if he had given the sum of one hundred, one hundred times!

The difference in their opinions could well be understood as follows.

The Tzemach Tzedek discusses the effects of tzedakah in terms of the resultant supernal union, and this is accomplished only through one’s actual deed, not through his intent; in point of fact, the larger amount was given only once. The Levushei Serad, by contrast, speaks in terms of the resultant Divine gratification, and this is accomplished through one’s intent as well. Hence, since the donor’s intent as he gives each coin is ultimately to give the entire amount, it follows that the delight he causes his Maker results from each of his smaller gifts as well.

However, as mentioned earlier,53 the Rebbe understands the above letter of the Alter Rebbe as follows: Since the Alter Rebbe discusses the “multiplicity of action” as a continuation of the theme of alacrity, it is obvious that when he recommends that charity be given weekly or monthly, he means thereby to hasten the giving and not delay it. The quality of alacrity obviously outweighs even that of giving in increments if the latter policy will delay one’s donation. Surely, the hungry recipient or the charitable organization needs to be helped without delay.

The policy of giving in small increments can thus be followed only in a situation such as that which the Levushei Serad posits: If one has a large amount to give on a given day, he should not give the entire amount at once but rather should give it a little at a time. In this way, he has given the entire amount by the end of the day but has also managed in the course of the day to practice charity many times over.

This will of course be workable only when one’s contributions are not going directly to a poor person on the same day. And, as the Rebbe pointed out above, this was the case with the periodic collections for the Kollel Chabad fund which occasioned Epistle 21.