Daily Tanya Monday 7th Iyar Chapter 45 Part 1: Arousing love through mercy

Chapter 45: Arousing love through compassion

7th Iyar/(LY) 3rd Iyar

1.      Arousing love through mercy:

·         The attribute of Yaakov Avinu: Another conventional path for a person to achieve studying Torah and performing Mitzvos Lishma is through attaining the attribute of Yaakov Avinu, peace unto him. What is the attribute of Yaakov? Mercy.

·         This is accomplished as follows: Prior [to learning Torah and performing Mitzvos] one arouses in his mind a great mercy and pity before G-d on the spark of G-dliness which enlivens one’s soul which descended from its source in the life of life, the Infinite Ein Sof, as explained next.

2.      The distance of the spark of G-dliness from its source:

·         From the infinite G-d: The Ein Sof fills all worlds, and encompasses all worlds, and everything is like naught before Him. This is where the spark of G-dliness descended from and entered into a serpent’s skin [i.e. the body] which is very distanced from the king’s countenance to the uttermost distance.

·         To the lowest of evil: This physical world is the utmost lowest point filled with the coarse Kelipos, and it is to here that the spark of G-dliness descended.

3.      The meditation that arouses the mercy:

·         The distance caused due to sin: Aside for the general contemplation of the descent and distance which the G-dly spark has had to endure, one can especially arouse Divine mercy after contemplating the added distance and descent that is caused through sin.

·         Contemplating one’s sins: When one reminds himself of all of his bad actions, speech and thoughts from the day he was [born until now, he is able to arouse a much greater pity for the spark of G-dliness, as he has added salt to the injury].

·         Binding the Divine presence like a captive: On this it states that the king is bound in cord, in the cords of one’s mind. [Meaning, that one’s bad actions, speech and thoughts literally tie and bind the spark of the Shechinah in the impurity of those thoughts and actions.]

·         A rope of inheritance: The reason that one’s bad actions, speech and thoughts have this effect on G-dliness is because Yaakov is considered the rope of our inheritance, [meaning that every Jew’s soul is likened to the end of a rope whose top part is in heaven] and like the parable of one pulling a rope [in which when one pulls the bottom of the rope the upper part likewise is pulled down with it, so too when a Jew sins he pulls down the G-dliness with him into impurity].

·         Arousing mercy on the exile of the Divine presence: This is the mystical meaning behind the exile of the Shechinah. On this the verse^[1] states “Return to Hashem and have mercy upon Him”, that one is to arouse a great mercy towards the name of Hashem Who dwells within us, as the verse^[2] states “Who dwells with them amongst their impurity.”