Daily Tanya Thursday 10th Elul Igeres Hakodesh 12: The Power of Charity: “Maaseh” vs. “Avodah

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🌟 The Power of Charity: “Maaseh” vs. “Avodah”

  • Charity is often called maaseh (an act), implying it’s natural and habitual.
  • But when charity is done with effort—avodah—it elevates the soul and reveals intense Divine light.

🔥 Awakening Above Through Effort Below

  • Even habitual charity triggers a spiritual awakening (Itaruta d’L’tata), drawing down Divine energy.
  • However, when one gives beyond their nature, it causes a far greater revelation of Or Ein Sof (Infinite Light).

🕊️ Peace in the Heavens and Within

  • Acts of charity create peace in the higher realms and among the spiritual forces below.
  • This peace isn’t fully revealed in our physical world until the final redemption.

🙏 The Role of Prayer vs. Charity

  • Prayer allows temporary separation of good from evil within the soul.
  • But after prayer, evil can easily reawaken—unless one engages in avodah of charity, which purifies the soul more permanently.

🍷 The Metaphor of Wine and Sediment

  • Just as sediment settles and separates from wine, charity done with effort separates evil from the soul.
  • The soul becomes refined and clear, like pure wine, through repeated acts of selfless giving.

🌊 Casting Away Sin

  • Through this purification, sins are cast into the depths—“You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
  • This reflects the soul’s journey toward clarity and Divine alignment.

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.

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