Episode notes
The Alter Rebbe’s Chasidim had organized the collection of charity for the Holy Land faithfully and efficiently, with a lively gabbai tzedakah appointed in each town or congregation to rouse his brethren to action. The Alter Rebbe, therefore, extends his blessings both to the donors and to the gabbaim, explaining meanwhile in mystical terms why generosity is at its best when it is spontaneously aroused by one’s own spiritual endeavors.
When one serves G-d with love and fear through the spiritual toil of the soul, he will not have fulfilled his obligation to perform the accompanying mitzvah unless these spiritual emotions find simultaneous expression in actual deeds or words. However, when it comes to the separate task of elevating one’s Torah study and performance of the commandments, this is accomplished specific ...
... Read more