Iggeres Ha’Teshuvah Chapter 7, Class 2

Tanya/ Iggeres Ha’Teshuvah – The Epistle on Repentance, Chapter 7, Class 2

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We thus find [in that prayer], “The crown of our head is fallen; woe to us, for we have sinned”10i.e., sin causes the soul’s Source (“the crown of our head”) to topple into the depths of the kelipot and sitra achara.

וְזֶהוּ שֶׁכָּתוּב שָׁם: “נָפְלָה עֲטֶרֶת רֹאשֵׁינוּ, אוֹי נָא לָנוּ כִּי חָטָאנוּ”.

Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, is called the “humiliated King” in Pirkei Heichalot,11 as R. Moshe Cordovero wrote,

וְלָכֵן נִקְרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ־בָּרוּךְ־הוּא “מֶלֶךְ עָלוּב” בְּפִרְקֵי הֵיכָלוֹת, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתַב הָרַמַ”ק זִכְרוֹנוֹ לִבְרָכָה,

for there is no humiliation deeper than this, than the ignominy of exile within the realm of the kelipot.

כִּי אֵין לְךָ עֶלְבּוֹן גָּדוֹל מִזֶּה,

Especially when a thoughtful person meditates on the greatness of the Infinite One, Who permeates all worlds and encompasses all worlds, for G-d provides vitality to created beings both in a manner which “permeates” each recipient according to its individual capacity as well as in a manner that transcends and “encompasses” them,

וּבִפְרָט כַּאֲשֶׁר יִתְבּוֹנֵן הַמַּשְׂכִּיל בִּגְדוּלַּת אֵין־סוֹף בָּרוּךְ־הוּא, מְמַלֵּא כָּל עָלְמִין וְסוֹבֵב כָּל עָלְמִין,

each person [meditating upon G‑d’s greatness] according to the range of his intellect and understanding,

כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד לְפִי שִׁיעוּר שִׂכְלוֹ וַהֲבָנָתוֹ,

he will be extremely grieved over this.

יִתְמַרְמֵר עַל זֶה מְאֹד מְאֹד.

The richer one’s perception of G‑d’s majesty, the more intense will be his feeling of compassion for his own soul and for its Source, the bound and humiliated King.

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FOOTNOTES

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10. Lamentations 5:16.

11. Note by the Rebbe: “Ch. 18.”

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