Chapter 2
This is the meaning of the saying of our Sages (Brachos 26b), “The daily prayers were instituted by our Forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov.”
On a simple level, this means that Avraham prayed in the morning, establishing the Shachris morning prayer; Yitzchok prayed in the afternoon, establishing the Minchah afternoon prayer; and Yaakov prayed in the evening, establishing the Maariv evening prayer.
The Alter Rebbe will interpret this on a deeper level:
Meaning: the “Forefathers” represent the three attributes of Hashem in Atzilus, known as Chesed-Kindness, Gevura-Severity, and Tiferes-Beautiful Blending of opposite traits, from which are derived our love and fear of Hashem, and mercy for our Divine soul, which is trapped in physicality. These three holy emotions are embodied in Avraham, who embodied love of Hashem, Yitzchak, who embodied fear of Hashem, and Yaakov, who embodied arousing mercy on our Divine soul.
Thus, the meaning of saying that “Our ‘Forefathers’ instituted the prayers” is that every prayer consists of three types of verses corresponding to the three Forefathers; Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov.
Meaning, that there are verses describing Hashem’s Kindness to us, which help us produce a feeling of love for Hashem when reciting Shema, which corresponds to “Avraham, who loved Me [Hashem]” (Yeshaya 41:8). These verses help to reveal the love for Hashem hidden in the Divine soul, which is expressed in a manner of running in yearning to connect to Hashem.
Through this awakening of love for Hashem, this leads afterward to the fulfillment of the verse, “And these words of the Torah that I [Hashem] command you today, should be on your heart, and you shall speak of them...” (Devarim 6:6-7)
When someone loves Hashem, he will express that love in connecting to Him by studying Torah.
Even though, in the second passage of the Shema, (entitled “Vehaya Im Shamoa”) it is written, “And you will gather in your grain” (ibid. verse 14), This implies that even after experiencing love for Hashem in Shema, he will still be involved in material occupations, like farming. So, if the love of Hashem can only be expressed in learning Torah and fulfilling Mitzvos, how can we say that he truly loves Hashem? Seemingly, after experiencing true love of Hashem, he should have no interest in any material pursuits?
Nonetheless, one is still expressing his love for Hashem, despite his material occupation, since he “has made his Torah study of primary importance and his mundane work of secondary importance.” (See Brachos 35b) Since he is passionate about his Torah study and deep down this is what he is thinking about all day, the fact that he must be involved in material matters for many hours a day doesn’t take away his love for Hashem.
This idea is also expressed in the verse, “For a man is like a [fruit-bearing] tree of the field.” (Bamidbar 20:19) Meaning that just like a tree that grows from the ground, whose primary purpose is the fruit it produces, even though it also has thorns and leaves and a trunk, but its primary purpose is just for its fruits. So too, with regard to a person, whose primary purpose is his “fruit,” meaning his Torah and Mitzvos. As our Sages say (Sotah 46a), “What are a person’s main ‘fruits?’ His Mitzvos.” This is the idea of “establishing one’s Torah study as primary.” He must view the remainder of his bodily needs as being like “leaves” compared to the “fruit.”
In other words, establishing whether something is primary or secondary is not dependent on quantity, but on quality. Most of the tree is its trunk and roots and the leaves. The fruits are very small compared to the rest of the tree. Nonetheless, the entire importance of a fruit-bearing tree is the fruit it produces. So too, a person who truly appreciates the value of Torah and Mitzvos will view them as being of primary importance, even though the majority of his day he is involved in material matters.
This entire change of perspective comes from one’s love of Hashem, which corresponds to the aspect of Avraham.
Similarly, Yitzchok corresponds to the Gevurah-Severity of Hashem, which produces a fear of Hashem in a person’s soul, which is the aspect of “the fear of Hashem of Yitzchok.” (See Bereishis 31:42) When someone sees how Hashem uses severity to punish the wicked, this inspires one’s fear of Hashem. The verses in prayer describing how Hashem uses His might to punish the wicked help a person reveal his soul’s aspect of “Yitzchok,” the innate fear of Hashem.
The aspect of Yaakov corresponds to “awakening mercy from Hashem on his Divine soul.”
The Connection Between Tiferes and Mercy
The maamar mentioned previously that Chesed-Kindness corresponds to Avraham and love of Hashem; Gevurah-Severity corresponds to Yitzchok and fear of Hashem; and Tiferes-Beautiful Blending of opposites corresponds to Yaakov and the service of awakening mercy on one’s soul. The connection between Hashem’s Kindness and His Severity, and our corresponding love and fear of Him is understandable, since we are reflecting the type of attribute Hashem is showing. However, what is the connection between Tiferes-Beautiful Blending of opposites and awakening mercy on one’s soul?
This refers to one whose heart is hard as a stone, and despite contemplating Hashem’s Kindness, as described above, he does not experience a love of Hashem when reciting Shema. This is due to his strong connection to the vanities of this world that cause him to feel his ego as though he is separate from Hashem, causing his heart to be as hard as a stone. Then, the only advice for this person is to awaken great mercy on his Divine soul that is trapped in the coarse materialism of his animal soul. This is the meaning of the verse, “Yaakov who has redeemed Avraham” (Yeshaya 29:22), as will be further explained in the maamar.
This is accomplished through the verses in prayer that request Hashem’s mercy, such as, “Exalted King, in your great mercies have mercy on us,” and “Our Father, Merciful Father, have mercy on us, and place in our heart understanding to know and discern, perceive, learn, teach, practice, and fulfill all of the teachings of Your Torah with love...so that we will not be embarrassed or ashamed forever.” (The Blessings before the Shema)
The Nature of Mercy
Mercy itself is a blend/combination of kindness and severity. Pure kindness is the desire to give to all, even those who are totally undeserving. Severity demands that only those completely worthy receive kindness. Mercy balances these two and asks that anyone who will truly benefit from kindness should receive it, excluding only those who take kindness to use it for something bad, but including those who are not truly worthy, but would still benefit from the kindness. This aspect of mercy is called “beauty,” since the combination of opposite attributes is “beautiful,” just as a combination of many colors makes a garment or painting more beautiful.
