[Having stated that love and fear of G-d elevate one's Torah and mitzvot on high, the Alter Rebbe continues]:

This explains clearly why fear and love are figuratively called "wings", as it is written: [10] "And with two wings he flies," [alluding to the two middot of love and fear].

( [11] As Rabbi Chayim Vital, of blessed memory, stated in Shaar HaYichudim, chapter 11:) For wings are for a bird what arms are for a man; [just as it is written, "Chesed (corresponding to love) is the right arm, and Gevurah (fear) the left arm," similarly, the "wings" represent these two middot].

It is also explained in Tikkunei Zohar, that those who engage in Torah and mitzvot out of fear and love are called "children"; otherwise [i.e., if their Torah and mitzvot lack the fear and love of G-d], they are called "fledgelings" who cannot fly. *

* NOTE

[In this note, the Alter Rebbe elaborates on the correspondence of "wings" to fear and love. He quotes Tikkunei Zohar, where the subject is treated extensively].

In Tikkun 45 it is written that [the figure of] a bird represents the archangel Metatron.

His head is the letter yud of the Divine Name (yud-kei-vav-kei), the yud representing Chochmah; his body is the vav, the six middot; and his two wings are the two letters hei and hei, representing Binah and Malchut, respectively.

This corresponds to the World of Yetzirah, which is called Metatron. [Thus, applying the various elements of the figure to their corresponding aspects in Yetzirah, we obtain]:

[12] Vav, the "body" of Metatron, represents the "body" of the laws in the Mishnah (since Mishnah is at the level of Yetzirah, as will soon be explained), for the "body" of the laws, i.e., the actual rulings determining what is permitted or forbidden, who is guilty or innocent, and the like, are related to the middot, which are represented by the letter vav.

His head represents intelligence - the level of ChaBaD, which are, in terms of the Mishnah, the inner depth of the laws, their esoteric meaning and their reasons.

The two "wings" denoting flight, namely fear and love, represent [respectively]: the higher hei, which is an allusion prevalent in the literature of the Kabbalah to love; and the lower hei, alluding to "lower-level fear," namely "the yoke of the Heavenly Kingdom," and the dread of G-d similar to the dread of a king.

Such fear is external and revealed, and is therefore alluded to by the lowest level (i.e., letter) of the Divine Name.

"Higher-level fear," however, meaning "awe consisting of shame before G-d's greatness," is of those "hidden matters belonging to G-d, our L-rd."

It is on the level of Supernal Wisdom, alluded to by the yud of the Four-letter Divine Name, blessed be He, as is written in Ra'aya Mehemna.

END OF NOTE

   

Notes:

10. (Back to text) Yeshayahu 6:2.

11. (Back to text) Parentheses are in the original text.

12. (Back to text) The Rebbe Shlita notes that there seems to be a typographical error - vav bet vav instead of vav aleph vav (spelling out the Hebrew letter vav). Accordingly, many of the difficulties in this note are resolved. Additionally, the text that follows is more clearly understood: "Vav represents the `body' of the laws in the Mishnah"; and thereafter, "his head...," and so on.