3011 —לכל יהודי יש מצוה מיוחדת שהיא שער רוחני שלו

B"H, 9 MarCheshvan, 5715.

Brooklyn.

Greetings and blessing!

...It is explained in our Torah, and especially in the teachings of Chassidus, that every Jew has a particular mitzvah and matter in which he must be "most careful," as the Talmud words it; see Iggeres HaKodesh of the Alter Rebbe, section 7. This mitzvah and matter serves as a gate through which all his matters of Torah and mitzvos ascend from below to above, and through which all the matters and influences he and all his household need are drawn from above to below. This matter and mitzvah need not be one of those that may be called the most stringent, as is proven from the Talmud there, that he was "most careful about tzitzis," although that is not an obligation on the person, etc., etc., see there in the Talmud. And the Alter Rebbe explains in Iggeres HaKodesh that the choice of each one's mitzvah is not on a level of reason and comprehensible knowledge, but above the level of knowledge, for thus it arose in His thought, may He be blessed, and its likeness below is literally the level of a lot. It is self-understood that to determine the matter belonging to a given man, in most cases one sees how Divine Providence conducts itself with him and sets his field of work in a particular mitzvah and matter, which is proof that this very matter is his gate and path from below to above and from above to below, as said above.

It is also understood that the opposing side, or in more specific terms the yetzer hara, knows and senses that it is precisely in this matter and mitzvah that this man must be most careful, for they serve as support for all his matters of Torah and mitzvos, as well as for his success in life, even materially; for the yetzer hara opposes this too, as our Sages say that he is the accuser. So his chief effort with this man is precisely in this matter and this mitzvah, to the point that he is ready to give up this man's meticulousness in the other matters of Torah and mitzvos, provided that he succeeds in his war against this matter and mitzvah. It is also understood that if the man fears Heaven, the yetzer hara cannot come and reveal himself as he is, for then he would not listen to him and would not even enter into discussion with him. But he is not deterred, and the way lies open before him, as in the saying of the Rebbe (the father of my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe), that the yetzer hara at times dresses himself "in the garb of a perfectly righteous man, humble and of fine character" (see Hayom Yom, 23 Sivan 5703). And G‑d "has bared His holy arm" (Yeshayahu 52:10) in the revelation of the teachings of Chassidus, which has exposed the wiles of the yetzer hara in this too, so that a person may understand where these words come from and where they lead, and beware of them even more than he would beware of open evil. This is like what is said in the commentary of the students of Rabbeinu Yonah at the beginning of the first chapter of Berachos: a sin offering costs a small coin and a suspensive guilt offering two selaim, because with a sin offering one knows clearly that a sin is involved, so the regret too is wholehearted, and an offering worth a small coin suffices; whereas with the suspensive guilt offering, even after the regret and the bringing of the offering, the yetzer hara calms him, saying that surely he ate permitted fat and not forbidden fat, so that all is in order, and therefore he must bring an offering many times as costly.

Publisher's notes

It is explained in our Torah (מבואר בתורתנו): See also above, letter 2990.

As in the saying (וכפתגם): See also above, vol. 9, letter 2887, and the references in the notes there; below, 3200, 3295.