www.JewisheSchool.org

This is the meaning of the statement in the sacred Zohar, Parshat Pekudei (p. 229b), that "the good deeds [i.e., the mitzvot] which man does, elicit a garment from the light of the Supernal Splendor... [i.e., from the level of Keter], and they behold ... the `pleasantness of G-d...,"' [and also, as the Zohar concludes, they experience the "pleasurable thirst" (i.e., the pnimiyut of Keter)].

Though there [the Zohar] speaks of the Lower Garden of Eden, where the garments derive from the truly practical commandments, [so that they result not from the Supernal Will, as above, but from the merit of physical action], while in the Upper Garden of Eden the garments derive from the love and devotion of the heart with respect to Torah and prayer, as stated in the Zohar ad loc. (p. 210).

[The Zohar states that once the soul possesses, while in the Lower Garden of Eden, the garments of the mitzvot that derive from physical actions, it then rises to the upper Garden of Eden] .

However, this devotion [from whence these garments derive] refers to the devotion of one's occupation with Torah for its own sake, out of one's love for G-d.

The commandment to study Torah also belongs to the class of practical commandments, for [44] "the movement of one's lips [in speech] is regarded as an act," and [50] "meditation does not count as speech"; thus one does not discharge his duty by meditation alone. [51]

The same applies to prayer [52]; [here, too, one must actually articulate the words.

[Since both Torah study and prayer require action, even the garments that are created by devout Torah and prayer are considered to be derived from the tangible and active aspect of mitzvot; they, too, are garments that derive from the light of Keter].

And certainly so, considering that the superiority of devotion (kavanah) over speech and action [inasmuch as devotion can create garments for the soul in the Upper Garden of Eden] is not due to its own merits..., [as in the loving service of G-d], but because of the radiation from the Supernal Will..., as explained at length in Likkutei Amarim, Part I, ch. 38; see there.

[When a mitzvah is performed, the radiation of the Supernal Will is more manifest in its more spiritual aspect - in its devout and loving intent - than in its tangible and physical aspect.

The Alter Rebbe explains there that the illumination from the Supernal Will that shines within the devotion that accompanies an action, is likened to a "soul", relative to the illumination that shines in the action itself, which is likened to a "body" or garment for the soul.

The difference is thus only in the degree of contraction or emanation of this radiation.

From the above it is clear that even the garments for the soul that are created from the devotion and feeling that accompany Torah and prayer, also result only from the radiation of the Supernal Will, which is the Supernal Keter.

   

Notes:

44. (Back to text) Sanhedrin 65a.

50. (Back to text) Berachot 20b.

51. (Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch, Hilchot Talmud Torah 2:12; see also Eruvin 54b.

52. (Back to text) The Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch 62:3 and 185:3.