“A soul is formed in the womb of supernal spiritual realms, where it acquires its distinct identity and mission.
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- בס״ד
“A soul is formed in the womb of supernal spiritual realms, where it acquires its distinct identity and mission.
“The foundation of [Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s] psychological system is based on the doctrine of the ‘two souls’ …conceived as the sources of all human activity, and of the conscious and unconscious forces behind them.
“It is Tanya that…gives us the insight to understand and overcome the struggles we deal with on a day-to-day basis.
“The tav is made up of three lines [which]… represent Torah study (thought), prayer (speech), and the performance of good deeds (action).
“The three lines of the shin may be interpreted as three general dimensions of a human being: Kesser (will and pleasure), the intellect, and the emotions.
“The reish, at times poor and at times wicked, has the ability to do teshuvah. It can awake from its slumber and repent. The reish can truly be transformed into the rosh: the head of the Jewish people.
“We all have the ability to transform the irrational to the superrational, thus directing our thought, our speech, and our action solely toward G‑d and holiness.
“The straight tzaddik represents the baal teshuvah, one who has worked to improve his connection to G-d and returned to his essential holy nature.
“The letter pei actually means ‘mouth’—peh. A mouth is something we use to speak, and…speech has tremendous power.
“According to the AriZal, the ayin is a vav contained in a nun.
The nun represents humility. The vav signifies Torah, which descends from Heaven to earth in its inherent design of a hook or a chute.
Vav also has the gematria of six. This represents the Six Orders of the Mishnah, the Oral Law.
Only an individual who is unassuming, who has the humility of the nun, is fit to acquire the higher level of the vav, the ‘crown of Torah.'”
