Tanya/Iggeres Ha’Kodesh – The Holy Epistle, Epistle 11, Class 4

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One must believe that he really lives it, i.e., the true life,

וְיַאֲמִין שֶׁבֶּאֱמֶת הוּא חַי בָּהֶם,

and that all his needs, and everything related to himself, truly evolve in all their details not from the sitra achara,

וְכָל צְרָכָיו וְכָל עִנְיָנָיו מִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלִים בֶּאֱמֶת בִּפְרָטֵי פְּרָטִיּוּתֵיהֶם שֶׁלֹּא מִ”סִּטְרָא אָחֳרָא”,

for³⁷ “By G‑d are the steps of man made firm,”³⁸

כִּי “מֵה’ מִצְעֲדֵי גֶבֶר כּוֹנָנוּ”

and “While there is [yet] no word [on my tongue, You, G‑d, know it all].”³⁹

וְ”אֵין מִלָּה כוּ’”

Thus, G‑d is aware of all man’s thoughts, words, and deeds, even before man thinks, speaks, or does them.

Accordingly, everything is absolutely good, except that it is not apprehended as such by man.

וְאִם כֵּן, הַכֹּל טוֹב בְּתַכְלִית רַק שֶׁאֵינוֹ מוּשָּׂג.

When one believes this truly, everything becomes good, even on a revealed level.

וּבֶאֱמוּנָה זוֹ בֶּאֱמֶת, נַעֲשֶׂה הַכֹּל טוֹב גַּם בְּגָלוּי,

For by such a faith, in which one believes that what manifestly seems to be evil,

שֶׁבֶּאֱמוּנָה זוֹ שֶׁמַּאֲמִין שֶׁהָרַע הַנִּדְמֶה בְּגָלוּי,

in fact receives its entire vitality from the supreme good,

כָּל חַיּוּתוֹ הוּא מִ”טּוֹב” הָעֶלְיוֹן,

(i.e., from G‑d’s chochmah, which is not apprehensible,

שֶׁהִיא חָכְמָתוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ שֶׁאֵינָהּ מוּשֶּׂגֶת,

and which is the Eden that transcends the World to Come⁴⁰)—

וְהִיא הָ”עֵדֶן” שֶׁלְּמַעְלָה מֵעוֹלָם־הַבָּא,

by this faith, the imagined evil is truly absorbed and sublimated in the concealed supreme good so that the good becomes palpably revealed to the physical eye.

הֲרֵי בֶּאֱמוּנָה זוֹ נִכְלָל וּמִתְעַלֶּה בֶּאֱמֶת הָרַע הַמְדוּמֶּה בַּ”טּוֹב” הָעֶלְיוֹן הַגָּנוּז:

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FOOTNOTES

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37.  Psalms 37:23.

38. Note by the Rebbe: “The choice of this particular verse here might appear problematic when numerous verses about Divine Providence appear in Scripture before this one. [Its relevance to our context] becomes clear, however, in light of a comment of our Sages specifically on this verse (Chullin, end of 7b): [‘A man does not (even have something trivial happen to him, such as)] bruise [his finger, without its having been decreed from Above’]. “Here too, then, we observe the extreme precision of the Alter Rebbe’s writing, even with regard to words that might seem to be mere stylistic embellishments.”

39.  Psalms 139:4.

40.  Note by the Rebbe: “Cf. the teaching of our Sages in Berachot 34b.”