Gate of Unity & Faith: Chapter 3—Reality is Like a Sunbeam

Through teshuvah, even those far from holiness can reveal their inner connection to G‑d, elevating the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. We study Chapters 7-8 and conclude the maamar.

In this part of the maamar, the Rebbe explains how the "king in the field" analogy does not depict an "arousal from Above" inasmuch as it only reveals that which the people had inside of them all along—namely, a desire to be close to the king. Furthermore, the response of the people causes an elevation in the king himself. We study Chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7.

The Rebbe gives a novel interpretation of the reason for the king's smile in the Alter Rebbe's famous parable of the King in the Field. Chapters 4 and 5.

The twenty-two letters are building blocks that through re-arrangements and substitutions, diminish the original power of the creative energy so that different creating beings can emerge. This diminishing effect may be likened to the sun's light reflected by the moon.

In this maamar, the Rebbe revisits the Alter Rebbe's famous maamar Ani L'Dodi which employs the metaphor of the king in the field to explain the uniqueness of Elul. We begin by contrasting Elul with the High Holidays, describing them as an arousal from below and an arousal from Above, respectively.

The Ten Utterances of creation are only rightly called such from the subjective perspective of the created beings.

In this class we conclude the maamar with the study of chapters 8 and 9. We learn how there are two levels of redemption that each of us must go through and how these correspond to the redemption in macrocosm through Moshiach.

Using the metaphor of the sun and its rays, we come to better understand the nature of Hashem's attributes in relation to His essence. Just as the sun’s rays are relatively non-existent when compared to the sun itself, so too are the Divine attributes one with Hashem's essence.

The possibility for forgetting Torah derives from a viewpoint that perceives a separation between transcendent and the immanent Divine energies. This is also the root of the debacle of the worship of the Golden Calf.

The Essence of G-d cannot be described by even the loftiest attributes, so why do we speak of Hashem as "wise" or "compassionate" etc? In this chapter, the Alter Rebbe gives us context for understanding the proper usage of these terms.