Today's Tanya Lesson Nissan 7, 5771 · April 11, 2011 Likutei Amarim, middle of Chapter 40 Listen Online MP3 Download Having stated that love and fear of G‑d elevate one’s Torah and mitzvot on high, the Alter Rebbe continues: ובזה יובן היטב הא דדחילו ורחימו נקראים גדפין, דרך משל, כדכתיב: ובשתים יעופף This explains clearly why fear and love are figuratively called “wings”, as it is written:1 “And with two wings he flies,” alluding to the two middot of love and fear. וכמו שכתב הרב חיים ויטל ז״ל בשער היחודים פרק י״א שהכנפיים בעוף הן זרועות האדם כו׳ (2As Rabbi Chayim Vital, of blessed memory, stated in Shaar HaYichudim, ch. 11:) For wings are for a bird what arms are for a man; just as it is written, “Chesed (corresponding to love) is the right arm, and Gevurah (fear) the left arm,” similarly, the “wings” represent these two middot. ובתיקונים פירש שהעוסקים בתורה ומצות בדחילו ורחימו נקראים בנים It is also explained in Tikkunei Zohar, that those who engage in Torah and mitzvot out of fear and love are called “children”; ואם לאו, נקראים אפרוחים דלא יכלין לפרחא otherwise (i.e., if their Torah and mitzvot lack the fear and love of G‑d), they are called “fledgelings” who cannot fly.* *NOTE In this note, the Alter Rebbe elaborates on the correspondence of “wings” to fear and love. He quotes Tikkunei Zohar, where the subject is treated extensively. ובתיקון מ״ה דעופא הוא מט״ט In Tikkun 45 it is written that [the figure of] a bird represents the archangel Metatron. רישא דיליה י' וגופא וא"ו ותרין גדפין ה' ה' כו' His head is the letter yud of the Divine Name (yud-hei-vav-hei), the yud representing Chochmah; his body is the vav, the six middot; and his two wings are the two letters hei and hei, representing Binah and Malchut, respectively. והיינו עולם היצירה שנקרא מט"ט This corresponds to the World of Yetzirah, which is called Metatron. Thus, applying the various elements of the figure to their corresponding aspects in Yetzirah, we obtain: ובו3 הן גופי הלכות שבמשנה Vav, the “body” of Metatron, represents the “body” of the laws in the Mishnah (since Mishnah is at the level of Yetzirah, as will soon be explained), for the “body” of the laws, i.e., the actual rulings determining what is permitted or forbidden, who is guilty or innocent, and the like, are related to the middot, which are represented by the letter vav. ורישא דיליה הן המוחין ובחי' חב"ד שהן פנימיות ההלכות וסודן וטעמיהן His head represents intelligence — the level of ChaBaD, which are, in terms of the Mishnah, the inner depth of the laws, their esoteric meaning and their reasons. ותרין גדפין דחילו ורחימו הן ה' עילאה שהיא רחימו The two “wings” denoting flight, namely fear and love, represent [respectively]: the higher hei, which is an allusion prevalent in the literature of the Kabbalah to love; וה' תתאה היא יראה תתאה עול מלכות שמים ופחד ה' כפחד המלך ד"מ and the lower hei, alluding to “lower-level fear,” namely “the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom,” and the dread of G‑d similar to the dread of a king. שהיא יראה חיצונית ונגלית Such fear is external and revealed, and is therefore alluded to by the lowest level (i.e., letter) of the Divine Name. משא"כ יראה עילאה ירא בושת היא מהנסתרות לה' אלקינו “Higher-level fear,” however, meaning “awe consisting of shame before G‑d’s greatness,” is of those “hidden matters belonging to G‑d, our L‑rd. והיא בחכמה עילאה יו"ד של שם הוי"ה ב"ה כמ"ש בר"מ It is on the level of Supernal Wisdom, alluded to by the yud of the Four-letter Divine Name, blessed be He, as is written in Ra‘aya Mehemna. END OF NOTE FOOTNOTES 1. Yeshayahu 6:2. 2. Parentheses are in the original text. 3. The Rebbe notes that there seems to be a typographical error - ובו instead ואו (spelling out the Hebrew letter vav). Accordingly, many of the difficulties in this note are resolved. Additionally, the text that follows is more clearly understood: “Vav represents the ‘body’ of the laws in the Mishnah”; and thereafter, “his head...,” and so on.