אִגֶּרֶת הַקֹּדֶשׁ פּוֹתְחִין בִּבְרָכָה, נִכְתְּבָה עֲשָׂרָה שָׁנִים קוֹדֶם כְּתִיבַת אִגֶּרֶת קָטֹנְתִּי.

The epistle beginning Pos’chin bivrachah,1 in Tanya — Iggeres HaKodesh, was written ten years before the epistle beginning Katonti.2

To Fill In the Background

When the Tanya first appeared in 5557 (1796), it included only two parts: Part One was entitled both Likkutei Amarim (“A Compilation of Teachings”) and Sefer shel Beinonim (“The Book of the Intermediates”); Part Two was entitled Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah (“The Gate to [the Understanding of] G‑d’s Unity and the Faith”). In 1806, Iggeres HaTeshuvah (“The Epistle on Repentance”) was added. As the Rebbe Rayatz writes,3 the collection of pastoral letters entitled Iggeres HaKodesh was added much later, in 5574 (1814), soon after the Mitteler Rebbe assumed leadership of the chassidic community. The same is true of Kuntreis Acharon (“Later Booklet on Several Chapters”).

Many of the 32 letters that comprise Iggeres HaKodesh expound mystical teachings. Others encourage chassidim to intensify their endeavors in Torah study, meditative prayer, and brotherly love, and to extend themselves in support of their poverty-stricken brethren, especially those in the Holy Land. These letters, selected from many written by the Alter Rebbe,4 were not arranged in chronological order, but broadly according to subject.