437 —הבנת סדר המדע, היודע, והידוע בתניא

B"H, 20 Teves, 5709.

Haraha"ch vavac"h iy"a nu"m etc. Rabbi Betzalel Wilshansky.

Shalom u'Vrachah!

a) Your letter from the 3rd of Teves was received, and enclosed is a kuntres for the 24th of Teves, a letter from my father-in-law the Rebbe shlita, and a letter from Machane Yisrael. Since this is relevant to every soul, you will surely work on it in a way appropriate for the public.

b) Regarding acceptance for Mr. Hammer—I will look into it after Shabbos Kodesh.

c) Surely you will bring before the assembled group, as you wrote in your letter, to Harav G. shlita (Rabbi Binyamin Gorodetzky), and he will immediately inform here.

d) You mention in the letter from my father-in-law the Rebbe shlita (regarding "mada yodea yadu'a"—knowledge, knower, known), but you do not clarify what difficulty you had with this. When you inform me I will write what seems correct to me. As for what is implied there—that knowledge is essence—the intention in my opinion: "the world of intellect," its essence and being is intellect; that is, intellect before it takes any form at all. Therefore it exists at least in concealment and permeates every aspect of that world—even its lowest level—this is well known. And as is known: even though essence does not divide itself up, it is present in every part of something—even its lowest aspect. As illustrated by the example often brought that oil is found everywhere within an olive. And when essence relates to something else it does so only with respect to the essence within those things to which it relates. The crowns are interconnected with each other. This too is the connection between knowledge specifically and essence.

I am not writing more about this because as above it is not clear to me what issue you are referring to—what exactly bothers here—and I await clarification.

On behalf of the entire committee,
Rabbi Menachem Schneerson

I have again seen that you also ask about the content of the answer in that aforementioned letter. In brief: The order from above downward is "mada yodea yadu'a" (knowledge, knower, known)—as written in that letter—and see Pardes referenced in my notes there: this corresponds to Chochmah-Binah-Daas (Chabad). In Tanya chapter 2 the novelty taught there is: a) That there is an additional soul within Bnei Yisrael; b) That it was drawn down below from His wisdom—therefore it begins with "He is knowledge," which is simple (uncompounded), marking the beginning of drawing down; then comes "He is knower"—the soul—which is novel and marks completion of drawing down.

In chapter 4 simplicity refers to Torah's existence; its novelty lies in Torah's superiority over nefesh-ruach-neshamah (Naran)—that Torah unites with knowledge itself; therefore it begins with "He is knower," which is simple—the beginning of unity—and concludes with "He is knowledge," which marks novelty and completion of unity. According to this Tanya chapters 23 and end of chapter 48 are also resolved. See well chapter 42 part II chapters 7 and 9 with my glosses.

Summary

The Rebbe explains how Tanya's order of 'knowledge, knower, known' reflects deep spiritual truths about intellect's essence and its manifestation within both soul and Torah study. Understanding these distinctions helps illuminate our connection to G‑dliness through learning.