Epistle Twelve

"And [the reward for] the act of tzedakah will be peace, and [the reward for] the service of tzedakah [will be] quietness and surety forever." [1]

[Some commentaries explain that "act" (Ma-aseh) and "service" (Avoda) are one and the same; the verse merely reiterates the same theme in different words. Targum Yonatan, however, writes that "act" and "service" indicate two different forms of charity: the reward for the "act" of tzedakah is peace; the reward for the "service" of tzedakah is eternal quietness and surety.]

The difference between [the] "act" and "service" of tzedakah, and the difference between [the rewards of] "peace" and "quietness and surety," will be understood by what our Sages, of blessed memory, said [2] on the verse, [3] "He makes peace in His high places" : "Michael is the prince of water and Gabriel is the prince of fire, yet they do not extinguish one another."

[Though water seeks to quench fire and fire endeavors to vaporize water, and "Michael is the prince of water and Gabriel is the prince of fire," nevertheless they do not extinguish one another.]

This means to say, [not that Michael's substance derives from the spiritual element of water and Gabriel's substance derives from the spiritual element of fire, but] that Michael is the prince of Chesed ["kindness"], which is called "water", because it descends from a high place to a low place.

[In spiritual terms] this [descent] means: the bestowal and diffusion of the [Divine] life-force from the higher to the lower worlds.

Fire, whose nature is to soar aloft, represents spiritually the thrust of Gevurah ["severity"], and the upward withdrawal of the flow of life-force, in order not to bestow [it] except by way of an intense and immense contraction.

Now these attributes are in conflict, [Chesed representing unlimited effusion, and Gevurah representing limitation and contraction,] but only when they are in their pristine state as attributes.

[Inasmuch as the attributes are inherently limited (and indeed the very word middah means "measure"), each of them is confined to its innate characteristics, Chesed to expansiveness, Gevurah to withdrawal.]

   

Notes:

1. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 32:17.

2. (Back to text) See Devarim Rabbah 5:12; Tanchuma, Vayigash 6.

3. (Back to text) Iyov 25:2.