Continuing Chapter 17 the Alter Rebbe shares with us the manner in which the Beinoni can come to love God in the sense that through his intellect, he draws into his heart the excitement to actually perform the Mitzvot.
However, the Rasha (the evil person) does not receive the gift from God that allows him to take what is in his mind and bring it to his heart in order to perform the Mitzvot. This is a punishment for him (because in essence as the Gemara says, “a person is lead upon the path he chooses to go.”)
As a result, the Rasha who wants to come to love God after all and to perform His Mitzvot will be required to break himself – to feel a sincere remorse within himself and a sincere regret for having gone against the Mitzvot of the Torah. When he does so, this breaking that he goes through actually destroys the evil within him allowing for an opening so that he can again begin to serve God correctly.
All this pertains to the secret of the exile of the Shechinah. This is that when a Jew sins, he literally brings the Shechinah (the Divine Presence) with him in the sin that he does, bringing the Shechinah into exile – a place it is not accustomed nor desires to be.
He must then return the Shechinah back to her righful place. This is the concept of Teshuvah which is the concept of returning the letter Hei of God’s Name back to its rightful place. When we sin, we break the Name of God and the letter Hei is broken off – splitting God’s Name. When we do TeshuvaH – we return the “H” back to its rightful place. There is a lower level of Teshuvah – returning the lower Hei and a higher Teshuvah where we return the higher Hei back to their respective places.
Chapter 18 then begins a deeper thought concerning the concept that the Torah is very close to our mouths and hearts to do it. And this is the point that even for those who cannot find the mans to stimulate themselves intellectually to love God – that there is yet another way. It is a way that is VERY close to us. This is so because this is a part of a hidden love that rests within ourselves. It is a gift and an inheritance that we receive from our forefathers.
Tune in to the lesson to hear more about it!
