Day 28 of the Omer

בְּמִנְחָה אוֹמְרִים תַּחֲנוּן.

[On the eve of Pesach Sheni,] Tachanun is recited in the Afternoon Service.1

רַבֵּנוּ הַזָּקֵן — בְּאוֹתָם הַשָּׁנִים שֶׁהָיָה אוֹמֵר מַאֲמָרִים קְצָרִים — אָמַר: דַּע מַה לְמַעְלָה מִמָּךְ, דַּע כִּי כָל מַה שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְמַעְלָה בַּפַּרְצוּפִים וּסְפִירוֹת הָעֶלְיוֹנוֹת, הַכֹּל הוּא מִמָּךְ, שֶׁתָּלוּי בַּעֲבוֹדַת הָאָדָם.

In the years during which the Alter Rebbe delivered short maamarim, he once taught: “The phrase,2 ‘Know what is above you,’ can be interpreted as meaning, ‘Know that what is Above, in the sublime partzufim and Sefiros, is from you’3 — it is dependent upon man’s Divine service.”4

A Pearl to Cherish

On the verse,5 “G‑d is your shadow, at your right hand,” the Baal Shem Tov commented:6 A shadow follows the movements of one’s limbs. Similarly, every action that we perform spirals upward to the spiritual realms, generating intense light (or, Heaven forbid, the opposite) in those realms.

The effects of our conduct are not confined to the spiritual worlds. Rather, the energies aroused above are then drawn down into this world, modifying the future.