🔥Daily Tanya Iggeret HaKodesh Epistle 15 Part 2: Why Avraham Called Himself “Dust and Ashes” – Understanding the Gap Between Human Love and Divine Chesed

The Alter Rebbe now begins to explain an essential principle for understanding the sefirot.

At first glance, one might think that the love of Hashem experienced by great tzaddikim is simply a smaller version of the Divine attribute of love above. This section comes to reject that assumption.

 

1. The Question

The Alter Rebbe quotes something he heard from the Maggid regarding Avraham’s statement:

“ואנכי עפר ואפר“

“I am dust and ashes.”

Why would Avraham say this?

After all, Avraham was the embodiment of love and kindness.

His soul was a merkavah (vehicle) for the Divine attribute of Chesed.

He possessed extraordinary love of Hashem.

So why describe himself as “dust and ashes”?

 

2. The Mistaken Assumption

One might think:

The love that existed within Avraham’s soul is the same type of love as the Divine attribute of Chesed in Atzilut.

The only difference would be quantity:

• Above = infinitely greater.
• Below = much smaller.

But fundamentally the same thing.

The Alter Rebbe says this is incorrect.

 

3. The Mashal of Ashes

Avraham’s statement is explained through the example of a tree that is burned.

After burning, only ashes remain.

Now consider:

• The ashes come from the tree.
• The ashes are the actual substance that remains from the tree.

Yet nobody would compare a pile of ashes to a living tree.

The tree had:

• Height
• Width
• Beauty
• Strength
• Fruit

None of that remains visible in the ash.

 

4. Why Ashes Are So Different

The Alter Rebbe explains according to the old four-element model:

The tree contained:

• Fire
• Air
• Water
• Earth

When burned:

• The fire, air, and water components disappear.
• Only the earthly element remains as ash.

The ash is therefore the same underlying substance, yet it bears almost no resemblance to the original tree.

 

5. Avraham’s Point

This is exactly what Avraham meant.

His love of Hashem was indeed rooted in the supernal Chesed of Atzilut.

However, after that Divine Chesed descended:

• Through many worlds,
• Through many contractions (tzimtzumim),
• Into a human soul,
• And then into a physical body,

the resulting love experienced by Avraham is no longer comparable to the original Divine Chesed.

The relationship is like:

Ashes compared to a living tree.

6. The Main Lesson About the Sefirot

This is the Alter Rebbe’s real goal.

When Kabbalah speaks about:

• Chochmah
• Binah
• Chesed
• Gevurah

we should not imagine that the human versions are merely smaller forms of the Divine versions.

The gap is incomparably greater.

Even Avraham’s love, which was the highest possible human love, was only related to the Divine Chesed above in the way that ashes relate to the tree from which they came.

 

Key Takeaway

The Alter Rebbe uses Avraham’s declaration, “I am dust and ashes,” to teach that the spiritual qualities experienced by human beings are not simply reduced versions of the Divine attributes above. Although they originate from the same source, after descending through countless levels they become so transformed that the comparison is like that of ashes to a living tree. This helps explain how we can use human traits as a mashal for the sefirot while recognizing the infinite distance between them and their Divine source.