Mayan Yisroel Daily Tanya

101

Tanya 21 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 7a

Aug 11, 2026

7:40

Hashem is called the Holy One Blessed Be He. Two words. Two opposites. And they contain everything.Holy means removed. Completely beyond reach. No access whatsoever.Blessed means drawn down. Present. Here.Hashem is everywhere and yet you cannot see Him. You have no idea what G-d truly is. All you have access to is a ray of His light. And even that ray contracts itself again and again, limiting itself through powerful contractions, until all that reaches you and me is just a sliver.He is right in front of you. And completely hidden. At the same time. Always.

102

20 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh

Aug 11, 2026

12:17

Feeling compassion for the G-dly spark inside you is a beautiful start. But feeling alone changes nothing.Compassion only becomes real the moment it moves you to action. When you give tzedaka purely out of compassion, even to someone you have no obligation to support, you awaken that same middah above. You arouse Hashem's compassion to come all the way down into this world, to places it could not reach before.That is what the posuk means. Zorea tzedaka, you plant tzedaka like a seed. And what grows from it? The gifts of love and fear of Hashem sprouting into your life from above.Feeling is the beginning. Tzedaka is what makes it grow.

103

Tanya 19 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 6a

Aug 10, 2026

11:44

The reward for tzedaka is truth. The connection between truth and compassion will be explained, but first the Alter Rebbe tells us how to arouse that compassion.You meditate on this.Hashem is unlimited. Infinite. Above everything that exists. And yet He took that boundless G-dliness and buried it inside a small, dark body. A body with taavos. A body that can become coarse and lowly and far from anything holy.And inside that body, a spark of G-d is burning.When you sit with that contrast long enough, compassion breaks open on its own. Not for the body. For the spark trapped inside it. That is the legacy of Yaakov Avinu. And that is what arouses the deepest tzedaka.

104

Tanya 18 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5f

Aug 3, 2026

10:20

Now we can answer the question we started with. What does it mean to make the name of Hashem?Torah learning brings Hashem's intellect into ideas. That is the Yud. Real, but it stays in the mind.Tzedaka takes it all the way down. From the Yud to the lower Hey, the breath of life, into this physical world itself. The name of Hashem goes from theory into action.This physical world becomes G-dly. That is what it means to make the name of Hashem. Not just thinking about Him. Making Him real down here.That is what tzedaka does. It completes the name.

105

Tanya 17 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5e

Jul 29, 2026

10:58

When Hashem created the world there was no one yet to awaken Him. So He created it Himself through chesed. That is what the posuk means. The word בהבראם, when they were created, has the same letters as באברהם, with Avraham. Just like Avraham was always looking to do kindness, so too Hashem created the world looking to do kindness.But that was the first time around. There was no human being yet to awaken Hashem's will to give.Now there is. And the way to awaken Hashem is to do the same thing He did. Torah learning brings Hashem down, but not into the physical world. To bring Hashem into the actual physical world, that is done through tzedaka.

106

Tanya 16 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5d

Jul 29, 2026

13:51

Every creation in the world is formed from the twenty two letters of the aleph beis. Those letters can combine in infinite ways to produce infinite creations. And the upper spiritual worlds receive those letters fully. They understand what they are made of. They perceive the G-dliness inside them.This world is different.This world only receives the breath behind the letters. The Hey. Just the bare breath of life. Not the letter itself. Not the understanding of what it is or where it comes from.It is like hearing someone breathe but never hearing the word they are saying.That is what it means that this world was created with a Hey. The upper worlds know exactly what they are made of. This world just receives the breath and exists, with no idea of the G-dliness sustaining it every single moment.

107

Tanya 15 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5c

Jul 28, 2026

10:54

In the name of Hashem, Yud Key Vav Key, there are two Heys. And they are not separate. They flow from one another.The upper Hey is Binah, the expansion of understanding. The lower Hey is the breath of life, the source of all creation and speech.But that breath does not stand on its own. It originates from the upper Hey. The lower Hey is born from the understanding of the upper one.So when we say Hashem created the world with the lower Hey, that is only part of the picture. Because the lower Hey itself comes from the upper Hey. At their root they are one and the same.

108

Tanya 14 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5b

Jul 28, 2026

5:41

The world was created with a Hey. But what does that mean?Every one of the twenty two letters of the aleph beis has at its core a breath of life. That breath is the Hey. It is the source of all speech. And from that single breath every letter expands, every word forms, every creation comes into being.The Hey is not just a letter. It is the breath behind everything that exists.

109

Tanya 13 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 5a

Jul 27, 2026

12:05

When a person gives tzedaka he makes a name for Hashem. That is what David Hamelech did.But what does it mean to make a name for Hashem?The name is Yud Hey. The Yud is the kav of chochmah, that first tiny point of perception of Hashem. And the Hey is the expression of it, the expansion of that point into something fuller. The Hey is built entirely on the Yud.Everything begins with that first flash. That tiny glimpse of who Hashem is. From that point everything expands. In the coming days we will continue to unpack how this connects to tzedaka.

110

Tanya 12 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 4d

Jul 27, 2026

7:33

Tzedaka releases the pnimiyus from captivity. But that is just the beginning.Once the pnimiyus is ignited it does not stay in one place. It spreads through everything. You begin to walk in the ways of Hashem in all areas of your life. The innermost core has been awakened and it expresses itself outward into everything you do.The neshamah that was buried in the klipa is now directed toward Hashem. And once it is pointed there, everything follows.That is the full power of tzedaka. It does not just free one thing. It sets everything in motion.

111

Tanya 11 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 4c

Jul 27, 2026

9:34

When a person makes money they pour their soul into it. Their energy, their time, their deepest self. And that is exactly where the pnimiyus gets trapped. Captured inside the money. Held there by the klipa.And then you give tzedaka.In that moment you are not just giving away money. You are taking the pnimiyus that was buried inside it and handing it directly to Hashem. The pintele Yid that was held captive is suddenly released.Tzedaka is not a donation. It is a redemption.

112

Tanya 10 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 4b

Jul 27, 2026

13:51

Every person has two layers. There is who you truly are deep down, your real inner self. And then there is everything on the surface, the wants and desires of this world covering it over.Underneath all of that, every Jew has a yearning for Hashem. It is always there. But it is buried.The posuk says circumcise the foreskin of your heart. In other words, peel back the layers.The first layer is the obvious desires. The ones you know about. Those you can work on yourself.The second layer is much harder. The subtle ones. The ego. The attachments you don't even realize you have. You cannot remove those alone. That is something only Hashem can do for you.And when Hashem peels back that final layer, something opens up. The yearning that was always inside you breaks through. You feel Hashem. That is what the deepest davening can be.But getting there requires asking Hashem to do the part you cannot do yourself.

113

Tanya Tisha B'Av - Igeres Hakodesh 4a

Jul 22, 2026

7:52

Every heart has two parts. The external and the internal.The external is reached through meditation. You contemplate Hashem, you understand, and love and awe follow. That is the external heart.But beneath that is something deeper. The internal heart. The core of who you truly are. It sits above meditation. You cannot think your way there.And that core goes into exile.Tzedaka is what brings it back. When you give tzedaka you draw out that innermost core and reveal it. That is what tzedaka is really doing. Not just helping someone. Unlocking the deepest part of yourself.

114

Tanya 8 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 3b

Jul 22, 2026

6:09

What happens when you give tzedaka? The posuk tells us: וְכוֹבַע יְשׁוּעָה בְּרֹאשׁוֹ, a helmet of salvation upon his head.When you do the mitzvah of tzedaka, Hashem places that helmet upon His own head. The Divine light enters through Hashem's intellect and from there draws all the way down into this world.The physical world actually changes. You become a conduit for the Divine light. Not in the next world. Right here, right now.That is the power of tzedaka.

115

Tanya 7 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 3a

Jul 22, 2026

16:32

Every mitzvah you do becomes a garment in the next world. Those garments give you access to the encompassing light, to Hashem as He transcends this world.But tzedaka doesn't wait for the next world.With tzedaka you feel it here. That is because the garment has gaps in it. Through those gaps the divine light breaks through into this world. You see the person you helped. You feel what you did. The gap opens up right in front of you.But the gap needs to be covered so the tzedaka flows directly to the right place. And that covering is humility.Garments with gaps. Light breaking through. Humility to direct it exactly where it needs to go.

116

6 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 2

Jul 20, 2026

10:01

The Alter Rebbe writes this letter after being released from prison in Petersburg. When Hashem does kindness to a person, there are two ways to respond. You can become arrogant. Or you can become more humble, because you realize: I am not worthy of this.The Alter Rebbe says that is the true response to Hashem's kindness. Humility.And therefore do not become arrogant over the Jews who put us in prison in the first place. On the contrary. That humility toward them may be exactly what leads them to do teshuvah.

117

5 Menachem Av - Igeres Hakodesh 1b

Jul 20, 2026

7:13

Davening is the foundation of Jewish life. So who leads the minyan matters.The Alter Rebbe is explicit. During the week, the chazan must be someone who is not rushing off to business. Someone who has time to daven properly and bring the whole minyan with him. On Shabbos and Yom Tov, even a businessman can lead, because he has the time then.And this was not just a guideline. If the Alter Rebbe saw someone who could lead but wasn't, that person was pushed away from coming to him. That is how seriously he took it.Everyone needs to daven. And the one leading needs to show them how.

118

Tanya 4 Menachem Av - Chapter 2 - Igeres Hakodesh 1a

Jul 16, 2026

8:04

How do you strengthen the loins, the emunah? Through the study of halacha, which is the heart of Torah shebe'al peh. When you learn halacha you know what Hashem wants in every situation. That knowledge of what Hashem wants is what strengthens the emunah. Not the intellectual understanding. The knowing.And how do you strengthen the intellect and the emotions? Through tefillah. When you pour your heart out to Hashem.Halacha builds the emunah. Tefillah builds the intellect and emotions. That is how the whole body gets strong.

119

Tanya 3 Menachem Av - Chapter 1 - Igeres Hakodesh

Jul 16, 2026

10:19

How fortunate is every community that finishes Shas together.The posuk says she girds her loins with might. What are the loins? They hold up the entire body and lead it to where it needs to go.The loins are emunah. And emunah is strengthened through the study of Torah shebe'al peh. That is what girds the loins with might.And when the loins are strong, everything stands. The head, the intellect, the understanding of how incredible Hashem is. And that leads into the emotions, into love and awe.Emunah holds it all up. Torah shebe'al peh is how you build it.

120

Tanya 2 Menachem Av - Chapter 12 - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 15, 2026

8:24

How do you find joy when you are suffering?Because the suffering is actually doing something tremendous for you. A small amount of suffering in this world saves you from a huge amount in the next world.How do we know small things here have that kind of impact? Because when shade moves one tefach in this world, it is because the sun moved thousands of miles up above. That is the relationship between this world and the next. Small things here are equivalent to massive things there.And so too suffering. A little pain here wipes out enormous pain there.That is why you can find joy even inside the suffering.

121

Tanya 1 Menachem Av - Chapter 11c - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 15, 2026

5:24

If teshuvah must be done with joy, how do we understand what David Hamelech says: my transgression is always before me? How can you be joyful if your avera is constantly in front of you?The answer is in the word itself. Negdi does not mean in front of me. It means at a distance. The avera stays in the back of my mind, not consuming me, not dragging me down.And far from blocking the joy, it actually enhances it. Because remembering the avera keeps you from becoming arrogant. You accept whatever Hashem brings. You understand that everything He does is to cleanse you.The avera in the back of your mind keeps you humble. And humility is what allows the joy to be real.

122

Tanya 29 Tammuz - Chapter 11b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 14, 2026

9:55

If a human being is obligated to forgive, how much more so Hashem. But there is a difference. A human being gets frustrated after being asked too many times. Hashem forgives every single time. Every day. Every avera. Every Yom Kippur. Always.But what about someone who relies on teshuvah at the moment of doing the avera? The Gemara says that does not work. But that is only if he is actively relying on it in that moment. If he was not relying on it at the time, Hashem forgives him completely.And even if he was relying on it at the time, if he decides to do teshuvah anyway, Hashem forgives him. Always. No matter what.That is the bracha we make. Hashem redeems me. Not maybe. Not conditionally. Hashem forgives consistently, without limit, without frustration, without end.

123

Tanya 28 Tammuz - Chapter 11a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 13, 2026

8:48

There is a level where teshuvah tataa and teshuvah ila'ah happen simultaneously. You are crying and rejoicing at the same time.How is that possible? Because you are absolutely confident that Hashem forgives you the moment you ask. There is no question. That is why after we ask for forgiveness we say Hashem redeems me. The forgiveness is immediate.The only reason we don't feel it is because we go and do the avera again. But Hashem's forgiveness itself never waits.And this is why a person must forgive someone who asks him for forgiveness. If a human being is obligated to forgive, certainly Hashem does.So you cry over what you did. And at the same time you rejoice, because Hashem is forgiving you right now. Both at once. That is the highest level.

124

Tanya 27 Tammuz - Chapter 10b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 13, 2026

8:05

You cannot jump to the higher level. You have to earn your way there.Teshuvah ila'ah is the destination. But before davening, before Shabbos, before any higher state, you first do teshuvah tataa. You sit with what you have done. You feel compassion for your soul. You go through it honestly.Only then do you enter the higher level. Davening becomes teshuvah ila'ah. Shabbos becomes teshuvah ila'ah. The higher state opens up because the lower one was done first.And all of it done with joy. Not guilt. Not heaviness. Joy.That is the order. That is the path.

125

Tanya 26 Tammuz - Chapter 10 - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 13, 2026

7:55

There is a level where learning Torah and doing mitzvos is not just observance. You are literally becoming one with divine energy.But you don't just arrive there. You work your way through. You do the inner work first. You go through the levels. And then you go and do mitzvos, and something becomes clear. This is what binds you to Hashem. This is what makes you one with Him.And you get to a place where all day long, every moment, you can say: I bind myself to You. I am becoming one with You.That is the destination of teshuvah ila'ah.

126

Tanya 25 Tammuz - Chapter 9 - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 9, 2026

12:25

What does it look like when a person is truly one with Hashem? Every thought is what Hashem wants you to think. Every word is what Hashem wants you to say. Every action is what Hashem wants you to do. No ego. Just pure love.That is teshuvah ila'ah.And it also atones. Because the avera was committed through the mind, through the intellect. And the way to undo it is by learning Torah at the deepest level, until you are completely submerged in Hashem, completely extracted from the sitra achra.Teshuvah ila'ah doesn't just return you to where you were. It takes you higher.

127

Tanya 24 Tammuz - Chapter 8b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 8, 2026

7:33

Teshuvah tataa is extracting yourself from the avera. That is the lower level. But there is a higher level.Teshuvah ila'ah is when your soul returns to its original source. To where it was before it was ever blown into the body. Absolute purification. Not just disconnecting from the avera. Reconnecting to the root.And how do you get there? You learn Torah. When your mind is completely submerged in Torah, in Hashem's wisdom, something happens. The Torah you are learning and you become one. And through that, you and Hashem become one.That is the highest level of return.

128

Tanya 23 Tammuz - Chapter 8a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 8, 2026

8:48

Real teshuvah doesn't end with regret. It ends with yearning.When you feel genuine compassion for your soul, when you feel the pain of being disconnected from Hashem, something shifts. The regret turns into a deep desire to be reconnected. To feel Hashem's desire flowing into you again.And at that point the avera loses its grip. Because averos envelope you. They wrap around you and hold you in place. But this yearning breaks through all of it.You extract yourself completely. You become bound to Hashem. The little pintele Yud of Yud Key Vav Key. Your design and Hashem's design become one.

129

Tanya 22 Tammuz - Chapter 7c - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 7, 2026

10:00

Kares is a total cutoff from Hashem. But you don't need one big avera to get there.Every small avera chisels away. A little piece here, a little piece there. Things that seem trivial. Things that barely register. But they add up. And at the end of the day, all those little averas can cut you off from Hashem just as completely.Teshuvah is the realization that I don't want to be cut off from Hashem. Not just with the big things. Even with the small ones.

130

Tanya 21 Tammuz - Chapter 7b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 7, 2026

7:46

A contrite heart doesn't just happen. You have to get there.The core is subjugation of the heart. Look at what you have done. Understand how the avera harmed the Shechina. Feel it, because the Shechina lives inside you.When a person does an avera he detaches from the Shechina. Not as punishment. Just consequence. A rasha is called dead while alive because his life force comes from a dead place.The contrite heart says: I don't want to live like that.

131

Tanya 20 Tammuz - Chapter 7a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 7, 2026

10:01

**Tanya 20 Tammuz - Chapter 7a - Igeres Hateshuva**To truly do teshuvah, to genuinely return the hey back to Hashem, two things need to happen.The first is to have compassion for your soul. Look at where the soul comes from. It descends from the highest level. And then ask yourself: what have I done through my actions? What has become of this soul?The second is to think about the sitra achra that is now blocking you from Hashem. To feel genuinely contrite and remorseful for allowing that blockage to happen.These two things together break through whatever is separating you from Hashem. They open the path back. That is real teshuvah. Not a formula. A feeling that cracks you open and turns you back.

132

Tanya 19 Tammuz - Chapter 6b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 6, 2026

8:03

A Jew is connected to Hashem like a rope. Pull in one direction and you receive your life force from Hashem directly. Pull in the other direction and you are now drawing from the sitra achra. It is not a punishment. It is simply a consequence. That is what you are nourishing yourself from.And because the world lives off a Jew, when a Jew pulls toward sitra achra, the Shechina is forced into exile. The klipa is very excited. It is getting Hashem's G-dliness pulled toward it.But the moment you do teshuvah, you pull the rope back. The Shechina returns. The avera caused the Shechina to go into exile. Your teshuvah brings the Shechina back home.It was never about retribution. It was always about connection.

133

Tanya 18 Tammuz - Chapter 6a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 6, 2026

9:22

When the Beis Hamikdash stood, a Jew received his life force directly from Hashem. No medium. No filter. Direct. And because of that, an avera would cut him off immediately. That is why kares meant you died.In exile it is different. The life force no longer comes directly. It flows through a medium, through the natural world. And because of that, even a sinner can still receive life force. It looks like the world is just running naturally.But here is the choice every Jew faces. You can get your life force from kedushah, from Hashem directly. And then you are sensitive to it, and an avera cuts you off. Or you can get your life force from the klipa, and you can live, but you are living off klipa.The life is still there either way. The question is where it is coming from.

134

Tanya 17 Tammuz - Chapter 5 - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 2, 2026

12:00

Everything in the world originates from Hashem's speech. But a Jew originates from Hashem's pnimius, His innermost. Hashem blows life into a Jew directly from inside Himself.Think of it as a rope connecting a Jew to his source of life. Nothing can sever that connection except an avera. Because an avera is against the desire of Hashem, it blocks the life force from flowing through.Every avera cuts another strand of that rope. It detaches you from your own source. And kares, being cut off, is when that connection is severed completely.This is the real problem with avera. It doesn't just break a rule. It cuts you off from your own G-dliness. From your own source of life.

135

Tanya 16 Tammuz - Chapter 4d - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 1, 2026

6:11

Just as Hashem expresses Himself through the ten Sefiros, so too a Jew.When you learn about Hashem, your chochmah is the Yud. You expand it into understanding, into Binah, that is the first Hey. The feelings that come down from that understanding are the Vav, the six emotions. And then the final Hey.Yud Key Vav Key is upon you. When you expand G-dliness into yourself through intellect, emotions, thought, speech, and action, you are literally expressing the name of Hashem. The Yud, the Hey, the Vav, and the Hey, alive inside you.

136

Tanya 15 Tammuz - Chapter 4c - Igeres Hateshuva

Jul 1, 2026

10:35

כי חלק ה' עמו -Yud Kay Vav Kay is a part of His people. The Yud represents Chochmah. The first Hey represents Binah. The Vav represents the six emotions. And the final Hey represents Malchus. The ten Sefiros of Hashem embodied in His name.And when Hashem blew the soul into the body, He blew from Yud Key Vav Key itself. The soul of a Jew is the name of Hashem expressed in the world.

137

Tanya 14 Tammuz - Chapter 4b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 29, 2026

8:54

Hashem spoke the world into existence. Speech is external. That's how everything was created, the mountains, the oceans, the angels.But not the Jewish soul.A Jew is a chelek Eloka mima'al, a part of Hashem Himself. Not created through speech. Blown in. And when you blow, it comes from deep inside you, from your essence.That is where the Jewish soul comes from. Not external like speech. From the inside of Hashem Himself.

138

Tanya 13 Tammuz - Chapter 4a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 29, 2026

7:02

There are two levels of teshuvah. Teshuvah tataa and teshuvah ila'ah. The word teshuvah תשוב -ה means to return the hey. In the name of Hashem, Yud Key Vav Key, there are two heys. Teshuvah tataa means returning the lower hey. Teshuvah ila'ah means returning the upper hey.But to understand this deeper, the Alter Rebbe first asks a striking question.Back in the times of the Torah, if someone transgressed certain averos, they were put to death. Fifty or sixty lashes depending on the transgression, and they died. Why did that happen then?And why don't people die from lashes nowadays?Understanding this question is the key to understanding what teshuvah truly is at its deepest level.

139

Tanya 12 Tammuz - Chapter 3c - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 29, 2026

9:43

We said fasting is difficult in our generations. But still, a person should fast at least once in his life.Fast on the short winter days. Add the extra ones in half days. And for the additional fasts you cannot do, give a lot of tzedaka. Even if it costs more than you can imagine. Even beyond twenty percent.Because think about how much a person spends to cure his body. He does not ask questions. He does not set limits. He just spends whatever it takes.The soul deserves at least that much. This is the cure for the soul. Spend the money.

140

Tanya 11 Tammuz - Chapter 3b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 29, 2026

5:35

Fasting is only meant for someone who is healthy and strong. But in our generations, fasting will hurt your health. And if you hurt your body, you are committing another avera. Especially if you learn Torah — you won't be able to learn, and that itself is a loss.So the Alter Rebbe gives a different path. Redeem your fast with tzedaka. Give amounts of chai. And the wealthier you are, the more you give.This is not a compromise. This is the solution. Tzedaka in lieu of fasting.

141

Tanya 10 Tammuz - Chapter 3a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 25, 2026

5:29

Every avera has a specific number of fasts attached to it. Zera levatala for example requires eighty four fasts.Did it ten times? That's ten times eighty four. Twenty times? Twenty times eighty four. The number keeps climbing.So the sages asked: where does it stop? The ruling is three. No matter how many times you repeated the avera, you do that number of fasts times three. That's the maximum. That's the ceiling.Every avera has its own count. Multiply by three and you're done.

142

Tanya 9 Tammuz - Chapter 2 - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 25, 2026

10:01

We already established that teshuvah doesn't require fasting. So why did the sages fast so much, even for small infractions?Because fasting is like a korban. An offering to Hashem.When you bring a korban, you become desirable before Hashem again. The fasting does the same thing. You are offering your blood and your fat, the very things you lose through not eating, as a sacrifice.It doesn't make the teshuvah. But it makes the teshuvah more real. It enhances it, deepens it, completes it.That's why the sages would fast many fasts even for minor transgressions. Not because it was required. Because they wanted their return to Hashem to be as complete as possible.

143

Tanya 8 Tammuz - Chapter 1b - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 24, 2026

7:23

Fasting. Crying. Suffering. We think that's teshuvah. The Alter Rebbe says: that's not teshuvah.Biblically, the mitzvah of teshuvah is one thing. A firm, genuine resolution never to go back to the avera. To turn to Hashem with all your heart and soul. That's it. That is teshuvah.Fasting is not part of teshuvah itself. Suffering accompanies certain transgressions to make the teshuvah complete. But it is not the teshuvah. It just hastens the process, in case the teshuvah was not done properly.Strip everything away and this is what remains. Teshuvah means returning to Hashem. That's the whole thing.

144

Tanya 7 Tammuz - Chapter 1a - Igeres Hateshuva

Jun 24, 2026

9:06

Most people think teshuvah is about guilt. The Alter Rebbe teaches something completely different. Teshuvah is a return. A soul finding its way back to where it always belonged.The Alter Rebbe teaches three distinctions.If you transgressed a positive commandment, as soon as you do teshuvah, you are forgiven.If you transgressed a negative commandment, teshuvah alone is not enough. You need Yom Kippur as well. Not because the negative commandment is worse. Actually the Alter Rebbe says a positive commandment wins over a negative one. The reason you need Yom Kippur is simply because teshuvah alone cannot complete the process on its own.And if you transgressed the most severe transgressions, you need teshuvah, Yom Kippur, and suffering.Three levels. One destination. Coming home to Hashem.

145

Tanya 3 Tammuz Chapter 11a - Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna

Jun 24, 2026

9:05

Everything that exists was always inside Hashem. The whole world, every creation, every moment - none of it came from outside Him. It expressed itself, came out, and became reality. But really, it never left.Think about your own emotions. When a feeling is still inside you, unexpressed, it's hidden. It only becomes revealed when you think about it or speak it out. The emotion was always there. Expression just brought it out.It's the same with Hashem. There is the hidden will and the revealed will. Everything was concealed inside Him. Then it expressed itself and came out as creation.The world, everything you see - it's Hashem expressing what was always already there. From His perspective, nothing ever left.

146

Tanya 2 Tammuz Chapter 10b - Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna

Jun 24, 2026

4:34

Every day of creation is a different Sefira. A different expression of Hashem.The first day is the Sefira of Chesed. And that's exactly why light was created on that day. When Hashem operates through Chesed, through pure kindness, the result is light.But pure Chesed alone can't be received by the world. It's too much. So it gets tempered with Gevura, with severity, so the world can actually take it in.The second day is Gevura. That's why you have the separation of heavens and earth. But even that is blended with Chesed, so the world can receive it.Every single day of creation is Hashem expressing Himself through a different Sefira. A different channel. A different face of the same unlimited source.

147

Tanya 1 Tammuz Chapter 10a - Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna

Jun 22, 2026

8:40

Hashem is unlimited. So how do we even talk about Him? The Kabbalists gave us a way in.They call the Sefiros lights. And the key is what happens to light when it's still inside the sun. It has no separate existence. It's not its own thing. It's completely and totally the sun.The moment light leaves the sun, it becomes something you can point to, something distinct. But inside the sun — there's only sun.That's what each Sefira is. Not a separate entity. Not a quality Hashem has. Completely nullified. No existence of its own. Totally absorbed.And this is how Hashem created the world. From His perspective, there is only G-dliness.

148

Tanya 30 Sivan Chapter 9c - Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna

Jun 22, 2026

8:59

Hashem limits Himself down into the ten Sefiros. And once He does that, you can say He is unlimitedly wise, unlimitedly generous, unlimitedly brilliant. But that's not what He actually is.What He actually is - is unlimited. Not unlimited in any particular quality. Just unlimited. No frame. No category. No limitation whatsoever.The Sefiros are the gift He gave us. A way to grasp something that is fundamentally ungraspable.And the deepest point: Hashem and His Sefiros are one. He is not behind them, separate, looking down. He is them. Fully. That's why this is called the secret of Emunah.

149

Tanya 29 Sivan Chapter 9b - Shaar hayichud vehaemuna

Jun 21, 2026

7:32

We say that to Hashem, chochmah and action are the same level. But the Alter Rebbe is pointing to something deeper: that's not a description of Hashem's greatness. It's an admission of our limits.Every word we use — intellect, infinite, beyond — is borrowed from our world. And Hashem is so far above any framework we have, that even saying "He's unlimited" doesn't get there. You're still using a category. You're still measuring.The only honest position is: we can't say anything. We can only point.

150

Tanya 28 Sivan - Chapter 9a, Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmuna

Jun 21, 2026

5:39

For us, chochmah is the beginning of greatness.Everything else flows from it.From chochmah come intellect, emotion, thought, speech, and action.And each level is infinitely lower than the one before it.Action is insignificant compared to speech.Speech is insignificant compared to thought.Thought is insignificant compared to emotion.Emotion is insignificant compared to intellect.So for a human being, wisdom is the highest level we can imagine.But for Hashem, chochmah is not the highest level.It is the lowest.Hashem is infinitely beyond wisdom itself.To Him, chochmah and asiyah, wisdom and action, are equally insignificant.The distance between intellect and action exists only for created beings.But Hashem transcends them both.Where creation begins to speak about greatness, that is where Hashem's lowest level begins.What we consider the highest expression of perfection is, in relation to Hashem, only the very bottom rung.

Mayan Yisroel Daily Tanya

Mayan Yisroel Daily Tanya

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