Epistle 13

14^th Elul

📜 Opening – “How Abundant is Your Goodness”

King David speaks of G-d’s attribute of goodness and kindness. Sometimes this goodness is hidden (especially in souls rooted in the “left” side – the G-d-fearing, like the school of Shammai), yet it is still vast and great, equal to the revealed kindness of the “right” side.
Both forms are boundless and without measure.

🌗 Hidden Good vs. Revealed Good

• Hidden Good – “Which You have hidden for those who fear You”: exists as a surrounding spiritual light, not fully integrated into the person, but shining into mind and heart at special times to inspire action.
• Revealed Good – “Which You have worked for those who take refuge in You”: open kindness, spread “before the eyes of people,” without any concealment.

🕊 Why “for those who fear You” and not “in those who fear You”

The hidden good is not clothed within the body’s faculties but remains above, influencing from a higher level when needed.

💎 Abundant Good for Israel

Both the hidden and revealed good are infinite relative to the soul in a body.
The request: that G-d act toward Israel with “abundant kindness” – supreme kindness without limit or end.

⚖️ Two Types of Kindness

• Kindness of the World – limited, with an opposing attribute of judgment that can restrict it.
• Supreme Kindness (“Abundant Kindness”) – unlimited, with no opposing judgment, flowing endlessly from the level of Sovev Kol Almin (“encompassing all worlds”) and Keter Elyon (“the supernal crown”).

🛡 Divine Protection

Verses like “You hide them in the shelter of Your presence” and “You conceal them in a sukkah” express this protective, transcendent kindness.

💌 Closing Appeal

The author (Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi) expresses a heartfelt wish to awaken this hidden good in the hearts of his followers, bringing it from concealment to revelation, so they act generously “with a full and open hand” toward G-d’s service.
He signs as “one who loves their souls and seeks their peace with heart and willing spirit.”