ההשראה בעשרה – הארה עצומה מלמעלה בלי גבול | הרב מנחם מיידנצ'יק, כ"א תשרי | אגרות הקודש סימן כ"ג

Today is the 21st of Tishrei; we continue in the Tanya, Igeret HaKodesh, page 136. Yesterday we discussed the concept of ten who study Torah together , where the holiness, as they say, rests among them. On the other hand, there is the matter of receiving a reward, where even one person sitting and studying Torah is also an important thing. But there is a difference between someone who studies alone and someone who studies in what is called " a ten"—a lesson with a quorum of ten.

Yes. So today we will talk about the " fixing of the reward," for the fixing of the reward is how Hashem illuminates the soul, to enable us to draw from the light of His Torah, which is truly a garment. The Holy One, blessed be He, wraps Himself and is clothed in the Torah; so through this garment, the Holy One, blessed be He, illuminates the soul of the Jew who seeks Hashem. And this seeking can be through the service of prayer before Torah study or in the Torah itself, yes, as the Alter Rebbe said in the Tanya, Part One, Chapter 37, regarding reading the Torah .

A person who reads the Torah is like a son calling to his father, yes, to come to him and be with him together. This is the power of the Torah, and that is why the Torah is called "light, " as it is said, "His light as a garment," which is based on the Torah —it rests upon the Torah, for the Torah is a garment. And the soul possesses limitation and finitude in all its faculties. That is to say, the soul has both quantity and quality, and all the faculties of the soul are limited because the soul must be clothed within a body.

So it is not possible. If it were not limited, it would not be able to be clothed in the body, right? And the faculties must also be clothed within the soul, therefore it is limited. Let us see the wording of the Alter Rebbe: And therefore, the light of Hashem that illuminates it is also limited within the soul, constricted and clothed within it.

And therefore, it moves the heart to seek Hashem during prayer and the like, they are moved, yes, because in Him their heart shall rejoice and exult in open joy, in much rejoicing and singing, and their soul shall delight in the pleasantness of Hashem. A person feels delight when they study Torah. A person who prays reaches a state of spiritual elevation. A person who has never experienced prayer does not understand what spiritual elevation is.

A person who has not studied Torah does not understand what spiritual elevation actually is. Yes, and His light in revelation from His garment, which is the Torah, and it has already gone forth—it is a light that emerges from the garment of the Torah like a lightning bolt to the soul. And this is the fixed reward of Torah that is established always in the clothed soul. There is a fixed reward that a person receives for studying Torah for their soul.

Not only in the World to Come does a person receive the true reward. That is only in the World to Come. For it is written that in this world, the reward is not truly given. It is nothing compared to the World to Come.

But also when the soul is in the body, it is fixed with the reward of Torah. Right? This is a reward and a limited light that can be grasped by a soul that is clothed in a body. Therefore, they say that when one person sits and studies Torah, the Holy One, blessed be He, assigns him a reward.

But the inspiration, the indwelling of the Shechinah—as they say that where there are ten, the Shechinah dwells— when there are ten Jews, the Shechinah dwells; a tremendous radiance from the light of Hashem that illuminates the faculties of the limited soul. It is a much higher light, without limit or end , and it cannot be clothed in a finite soul, but rather it encompasses it from above, from its head to its feet, it encompasses it. As our Sages said: The Divine Presence dwells among ten; wherever ten are gathered, the Divine Presence rests upon them from above. As it is written: "Let the pleasantness of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us ," meaning the pleasantness of God that appears in our handiwork.

What is the work of our hands? Engaging in Torah and Mitzvot. The Torah and the Holy One , Blessed be He, are one; when a person learns Torah, they connect to the Holy One, Blessed be He, who prepares and rests upon us—excuse me. He prepares and rests upon us from above, as He is without limit or end, and cannot be contained within our souls and intellects—that is the encompassing light—and therefore our intellects cannot grasp the pleasantness and sweetness of the Lord's pleasantness and the radiance of the Divine Presence .

What we do grasp is the matter of the reward of a single individual, but that light of ten—that is what is called incomparable. Yes, we do not grasp with our intellect the pleasantness, sweetness, and radiance of the Divine Presence, without limit or end, which is prepared and rests upon us through the work of our hands in Torah. When a person learns Torah and performs Mitzvot in public—there is a concept of what is called performing Mitzvot in public, what is called a minyan. Also regarding Mitzvot, and also saying Psalms in public.

Now, the widespread custom—there is a great concept in saying Psalms in a minyan, or every Shabbat Mevarchim, as we do in Chabad, to say Psalms, the entire Book of Psalms, so we make a minyan. There is tremendous power in a minyan—a minyan in a synagogue, a minyan in a Torah class—yes, specifically in public. And about this, our Sages say: There is no reward for a Mitzvah in this world. Our Sages say that the reward for a Mitzvah in this world—it doesn't exist; what does this mean?

What, is there no reward? Rather, the intention is toward the unlimited light of revelation that comes through Mitzvot, because our bodies cannot contain that light. That same light that we activate through Torah study and the fulfillment of Mitzvot, we cannot contain it. Therefore, it says there is no reward, as it were, in this world.

Everything is just a hint. Yes? Because this world is limited and the light is without limit. Because it is impossible for the world to grasp it.

Except by the soul departing from the body; only when you depart. What happened at the Giving of the Torah? They had such a great light. Their souls departed.

That is to say, such a great light can only be received when the body is transcended; yes, the soul transcends the body. Therefore, even so, for the soul to grasp it by way of grace—it is the grace of the Holy One, Blessed be He, that gives the soul the strength to grasp this revelation, as it is written: "To You, O Lord, belongs kindness, for You reward each man according to his deeds. " Or as our Sages say, that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gives strength

to the righteous to receive their reward in the time to come, because it is an unlimited reward. Which is not the case for angels; they do not have the power to receive this revelation, as I heard from my teachers, what the Admur HaZaken says (he heard it from the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid of Mezeritch): If one angel were present among ten, even if they were not speaking words of Torah, an unlimited and endless light of the Divine Presence resting upon them would fall upon

it, until it would be completely nullified from existence.

Even if Jews are not studying Torah, the very fact that Jews are sitting together, ten Jews, the angel cannot stand in their presence, why? Because of the nullification and the fear of the holiness that rests upon them. They don't feel it, but they have the inspiration. The angel feels it and cannot approach even though they are not engaged in Torah.

So certainly, one who is engaged in Torah has such a tremendous merit, one who engages in Torah in a minyan, strong and blessed.