"In[771] the year 5585 (1825), on Shabbos Parshas Seitzei, 13th Elul, the Mitteler Rebbe spoke about the day on which a tzaddik is born, and specifically about the day on which an individual with a comprehensive soul is born. He spoke of the festive meal which celebrates the occasion in the Lower Garden of Eden and in the Higher Garden of Eden. This spiritual repast consists of the sublime bliss which [souls] derive from the radiance of the Divine Presence, when they behold and apprehend the essence of G-dliness. All the souls present take leave of the soul of the tzaddik which is about to descend to the world, and offer it their blessings for success - in realizing the ultimate purpose of its descent into a body.

"The nature of the festive seudas mitzvah which is held in the Lower and Higher Gan Eden in honor of a comprehensive soul is quite different to that which is held in honor of the soul of an ordinary righteous person. Once the Heavenly Court has decreed that a particular comprehensive soul must descend to the world at a certain time and be born to specific parents, then some time before the body of the prospective infant is formed, the Court assigns this soul a particular chamber, and there it heads a heavenly academy. There, as it awaits its downward mission, this soul expounds the Torah to the souls of the righteous. With the approach of the time appointed for the soul to set out on its descent, the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu leads all the comprehensive souls who now foregather for the festive occasion. They give the embarking soul their blessings for success in its mission for the public welfare, and promise to aid it in its endeavors.

"The day destined for the birth of a tzaddik, (and, even more so, for the birth of a tzaddik with a comprehensive soul,) is thus a Yom-Tov that is celebrated in all the supernal worlds. It is an auspicious time, a time at which the Holy One, blessed be He, rejoices exceedingly, so to speak. And all those who participate in the farewell celebration derive spiritual nourishment from the celestial table, from the festive banquet which is held in the higher spheres, in the Higher and in the Lower Garden of Eden."

   

Notes:

771. (Back to text) Sefer HaSichos 5703, p. 90 and p. 186 ff.