אגרת הקודש

THIRTY-TWO. May the L–rd bless their substance, and may the work of their hand be acceptable,1Par. Deuteronomy 33:11. that they may be accepted before the L–rd at all times.2Par. Exodus 28:38. So may the L–rd give and do so yet further to encourage them among the valiant.3Par. Amos 2:16. And he who is noble should ever persist by noble things,4Par. Isaiah 32:8. to be great in causing others to do5See below, note 10. in every city and congregation,6Lit., minyan; see above, Epistle 1, note 55. and it will be accounted to him for righteousness (tzedakah).7Par. Psalms 106:31.

And of one who does (himself) it is said,8Psalms 112:9. “His tzedakah omedet (stands) forever”; omedet, in feminine gender, because he receives9The feminine is the recipient aspect, while the masculine is the emanating aspect; cf. above, Epistle 4, note 46, and Epistle 15, note 9. the arousal of his pure heart from the one who is “greater—who causes others to do.”10He who causes others to do is greater than the doer.—Bava Batra 9a. See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 249:5, and Turei Zahav, ad loc. Nevertheless, it stands forever.

This means: All the acts of charity and kindness the Israelites perform in this world out of the generosity of their pure hearts are alive and subsist in this physical world until the time of the resurrection. Then there will be a time of manifestation of Divinity and of the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, from the rank of sovev kol almin,11Encompassing (transcending) all worlds. See above, Epistle 3, note 12. in this world, and as explained at length in the letter of last year.12See above, Epistle 17.

But there needs to be a vessel and an abode wherein the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, can vest itself, just as the body is (a vessel) to the soul, metaphorically speaking. Thus it is written:13Jeremiah 23:29. “Is not My word like fire”; just as fire does not radiate in this world except when it is attached to, and vests itself in the wick…, as explained elsewhere.14See Likkutei Amarim, Part I, chs. 35, 52, and 53 (in comment. on Zohar III:187a).

The body and the vessel for His light, blessed be He, is the attribute of kindness and the generosity of the heart to give and effuse vitality to one who has nothing (of his own). Thus it is stated in the Tikkunim:15Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction 17a. “And many bodies You have prepared for them, and in this preparation they are called: chesed—the right arm,” and the whole body is included in the right side. And thus said the composer: “His garment is tzedakah.”16The composer of the liturgical hymn You are our G–d (Machzor, Shacharit for Rosh Hashanah and for Yom Kippur).

This is the meaning of what our Sages, of blessed memory, said:17Sukkah 49b; cf. ref. cited above, Epistle 30, note 15. “Charity is recompensed only according to the kindness in it, as it is written:18Hosea 10:12. ‘Sow to yourselves for tzedakah, reap according to the kindness.’” For the harvest is the manifestation of the seed hidden in the soil. It is likewise with the charity and kindness the Israelites perform in the time of the exile: it is hidden and concealed until the time of the resurrection when the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, will vest itself and radiate in this physical world. And (when) He is one with His causations, i.e., the aspects of the kelim of the ten sefirot of Atzilut,19Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction 3b; see above, beg. of Epistle 20. thus a fortiori and a minori ad majus, (He is one) with the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, which encompasses all worlds from exceedingly higher than the sphere of Atzilut.

That is why (charity) is referred to as tzedakah, a feminine gender [“his tzedakah omedet forever”]. For it receives a radiation from the light of the En Sof that encompasses all worlds, which vests itself in it in this physical world at the time of the resurrection.

“Tzedek shall go before him,”20Psalms 85:14. however, is a masculine gender. It is the attribute of kindness that is aroused in the heart of man of itself, through the arousal of the love of G–d when reading the Shema—to cleave to Him21Deuteronomy 11:22 (ibid., 30:22). and to surrender his soul at echad;22I.e., to be in a mode of readiness for self-sacrifice for the sanctification of G–d’s Name, when uttering the word echad (the L–rd is One—Deuteronomy 6:4). See the writings of the Arizal dealing with devotions (Shaar Hakavanot; Pri Etz Chaim, etc.) s.v. Keriat Shema; cf. Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction 10b; Bach on Tur Orach Chaim 61 (s.v. Veyikra’enah). See also Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5a, and cf. above, Epistle 28, note 38. and “with all your wealth”23“And you shall love the L–rd with all your wealth”; Deuteronomy 6:5.—in the literal sense….24See Berachot 54a and 61b.

And the arousal from below [“As waters (reflect) the face to face, so is the heart of—the Supernal—man…”25Proverbs 27:19; see above, Epistle 1, note 26. (The “Supernal Man”—see Ezekiel 1:26.)] elicits an arousal from above,26Set above, Epistle 4, note 45. i.e., an effulgence of the light of the En Sof, blessed is He, that encompasses all worlds, to the nethermost in this physical world, in a state of manifestation, at the time of the resurrection, as explained at length in last year’s letter.27See above, note 12.

And this is the meaning of “yehalech before Him.”28Above, note 20. For (tzedek) leads29Yehalech is an active form of the causative stem of the verb הלך; see above, Epistle 4. and elicits the Supernal Countenance (panim) from higher than Atzilut to the world of Asiyah.30See above, end of Epistle 4; cf. also end of Epistle 30. But now is a time to be brief, and may He not restrain from them all the good.31In Hebrew this sentence is a play on rhyming words. Be beneficient, O L–rd, to the good, and to those who are upright in their heart,32Psalms 125:4. as is the wish of he who seeks it.33Par. Lamentations 3.25.