22. Is ‘Love of G d’ a hereditary attribute among Jews?
The book of Tanya (Ch. 18) explains that every Jew has a hidden love for G d that he received as an inheritance from the patriarchs, and that the spiritual root of this love in the soul is in the spiritual soul power of ‘Chochma’ (translated as ‘knowledge’, but explained as the initial flash of insight).
The level of Chochma in the soul manifests the source of intelligence and understanding, as opposed to the spiritual soul power of ‘Binah’, which is the power to understand and perceive. Chochma actually is the expression of a place that is beyond the parameters of intelligence and logic. The word ‘Chochma’ is composed of the two Hebrew words ‘Koach’ and ‘Ma’. Koach means power (in this context, it is potential as yet not perceived or apprehended), and when we attempt to identify it, we ask ‘Ma’ – Ma means ‘what’. What is it actually? The word ‘What’ also expresses the attribute of nullification and modesty, as Moses said “VeNachnu Ma” – we are nothing. Indeed at the level of Chochma there is the power of nullification to the Supernal Will, even if the intelligence does not yet understand completely, it becomes nullified to the infinite Will of the Creator.
Since the hidden love of every Jew has its roots at the level of Chochma, it exists in all Jews, regardless of whether the intelligence is currently being used for contemplation of or apprehension of the greatness of the Creator or not. Even someone who never studied these subjects in his life has the capability of nullifying himself to the Creator, and it comes to the fore under different circumstances, especially when there is a test of his belief in G d