The following is a copy of an email I wrote to certain friends. It is published here and also at this web address, where it can be download, if desired, more easily.

Tanya on Being Born From Above (email)

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​B"H​

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​Mahx Note: [But] what if the person who would give charity is a slave,

and what they would give is not theirs to give? The Messianic Judaism of

the present time has not yet come to the place of entering into the Land

by faith without, (in the words of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), the need for

firing one shot. If the death of Mashiach was a prayer of Jerusalem and

all Israel’s forgiveness, and that prayer was heard, of which Hashem has

given assurance to all people everywhere, in that he raised Yehoshua

from the dead, then why do we still insist on carrying a gun in our hearts

before we will enter into the Land?

​

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Tanya for ​

Wednesday, 27 Adar, 5778 - ​

March 14, 2018

The advantage of the "active" mitzvot lies in their elevating effect on the

body and​

vital soul]. We can understand why our Sages so greatly extolled the​

virtue of charity, [8] declaring it equal to all the other mitzvot​

together.​

​

In all of the Talmud Yerushalmi charity is called simply "The​

Commandment," for such was the idiomatic expression commonly used to​

refer to charity: "The Commandment," because charity is the core of​

all the mitzvot of action and surpasses them all.​

​

For the purpose of all these mitzvot is only to elevate one's animal​

soul to G-d, since it is this vital soul that performs them and​

clothes itself in them, so as to be absorbed into the blessed Ein​

Sof-light clothed in them.​

​

Now, you will find no other mitzvah in which the vital soul is clothed​

to the same extent as in the mitzvah of charity.​

​

For in all other mitzvot only one faculty of the vital soul is clothed​

[e.g., the faculty of action in the hand donning Tefillin or holding​

an etrog]; and even this one faculty is clothed in the mitzvah] only​

while the mitzvah is being performed.​

​

In the case of charity, however, which one gives from [the proceeds​

of] the toil of his hands, surely all the strength of his vital soul​

is clothed in [i.e., applied to] the effort of his labor, or in any​

other occupation by which he earned this money [which he now​

distributes for charity].​

​

Thus when he gives to charity this money [to which he applied all the​

strength of his vital soul], his entire vital soul ascends to G-d.​

​

[Hence the superiority of charity over other mitzvot.​

But this seems to imply that if one does not invest all his strength​

into earning his livelihood, his charity lacks this quality; to which​

the Alter Rebbe rejoins]:​

​

Even he who does not earn his livelihood from his labors,​

nevertheless, since he could have purchased with this money [that he​

gave for charity, sustenance for] the life of his vital soul, he is​

actually giving his soul's life to G-d [in the form of charity.​

​

Thus, charity comprises and therefore elevates more energy of the​

vital soul than any other mitzvah].​

​

This is why our Sages have said [9] that charity hastens the Messianic​

redemption:​

​

For with one act of charity one elevates a great deal of the vital​

soul; more of its faculties and powers, in fact, than he might elevate​

through many other active mitzvot [combined].​

​

[As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the Messianic Era is a result​

of our efforts in purifying and elevating the vital soul;​

​

Charity, which effects this elevation in such great measure, thus​

hastens the redemption.​

​

We see, at any rate, that charity is superior to all other mitzvot,​

including Torah study. But here one may object]:​

​

Notes:​

8. Bava Batra 9a.​

9. Ibid. 10a.​

​

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End of text - Tanya for 27 Adar​

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Leiluy uL'Zeicher Nishmas​

HaRav Dovid Ben Binyomin Winsbacher​

Rav of Adas Yisroel, Strasbourg France​

​

Liluy Nishmas ​

Reb Eliezer Tzvi Zeev ben Reb Mordechai Shachne A"H Zirkind

Tanya on Being Born From Above

Max Carl Kirk - March 14, 2018

March 17, 2018

A friend has asked me in response to this email on The Tanya on being born from Above:

Max, could you tell me a little more about this expression, [without] "the need for firing one shot"?..

As you may be interested in this, I will also share with you my answer to him:

This is a quote from Rebbe Nachman. Paraphrased: When Mashiach comes, All-Israel will enter the Land without the need for firing one shot.

Rebbe Nachman’s statement that through Mashiach Israel would enter the Land without the need for firing one shot brings us immediately again to the story of Israel and the ten spies. This is really the pivotal story for the Book of Hebrews and the reason the book was written. “Today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts as in the wilderness."

We are reminded by Rebbe Nachman’s statement that Hashem’s covenanted promise to Abraham was that He would not only Himself bring Israel out of captivity but, in the same way, would also Himself bring them into the Land. After the sin of the golden calf they lost confidence that God would by Himself bring them into the Land. Their assurance depended on Hashem’s answer to Moshe’s prayer for Israel, that Hashem would forgive them and go with them Himself, by virtue of His Divine Presence, the Shechinah, and thus take them Himself personally into the Land.

This corresponds to to the need for faith in the prayer of Yehoshua for the forgiveness of Israel. At the time of Moshe’s prayer, because of their sin with the golden calf and, perhaps because of the wavering of their faith when under attack by Amalek, Israel did not fully believe that God would bring them into the Land, overcoming by Himself the Canaanites with the same majesty and power as He had overcome, by Himself, Pharaoh and his armies. They believed that they would have to take up the sword themselves, (or in today's language, take up their guns), and hope, at best, for Hashem’s assistance.

Only when Hashem brings Israel into the Land Himself, “without the firing of one shot”, that is to say, with the same majesty and power that He brought Israel out of the slavery of Egypt will His word be magnified in all the earth. Only then will the knowledge of Hashem cover all the earth as the waters cover the seas.

Had they not lost their confidence in Hashem’s covenanted word to Abraham that He would Himself bring Israel not only out of Egypt but into the Land He had promised to Abraham and his offspring, they would have never estimated that the Canaanite giants were too great for them to defeat by their own swords. For they would have had confidence that they would have no need for their swords.

For, according to His word, Hashem would chase them back by a plague of hornets, and they would leave the Land as a pristine inheritance for the Israelites of their own accord. Had they believed fully in Hashem’s answer to Moshe’s prayer, they would have never believed the false testimony of the spies.

This is the meaning of, “I will make with them a new, which is to say renewed, covenant”, and the words, “which covenant they broke”. It was broken and remained broken in so much that due to their sin they would not believe to enter the Land by faith. Due to their unbelief they prevented Hashem from demonstrating the fulfillment of His word to Abraham, that He, and He alone, by His sovereign mercy, had freed him and his offspring from Adam’s curse and from the land of bondage and had given him and his offspring the Land of blessing and eternal life. That Land cannot be taken by the sword or by the gun, for it is the eternal Land of Israel, the Land of Hashem’s testimony, which is His answer to Adam’s sin, which redeems the world. And now it remains for the fulfillment of that covenant to be demonstrated.

For, after they had wandered for forty years in the wilderness and all who believed the spies had died, Joshua brought Israel through the waters of the Jordan river, that the sign of resurrection out of immersion in the waters of judgment, of redemption from Egypt, might be sealed upon them once again. And then they entered the Land by the sword. Accordingly, Yehoshua said, “All who have come before me have taken the kingdom by force.” And for this reason Yochanan (John) the Immerser came immersing all of Jerusalem and Judah in the Jordan, saying to them, “Repent, for the kingdom of Hashem is at hand.” For the time of the prayer of Mashiach was come, when Mashiach, in unison with Moshe would pray for Israel, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”.

And now there remains no way to occupy all the Land of Israel except by doing so by faith alone, without swords or guns, except by standing before Pharaoh and the whole world and declaring in the authority of the word of Hashem, “Leave my people alone! For Hashem will destroy those who are destroying the Land!” There remains now no other way to inherit that Land than to believe in the answered prayer of Moshe with a perfect heart, for Mashiach himself has prayed Moshe’s prayer together with him, even with the prayer of his own lifeblood. And this is the sacrifice of our charity in obedience to Hashem, that we should take from our own, deny our doubt, and believe in his covenant and His answer to the prayer of His righteous ones. In this will be our love and our life, the regeneration of our souls, our hearts, our minds and all our strength.