Thursday 20 Adar I 5703
Chumash: Ki Tissa, Chamishi with Rashi.
Tehillim: 97-103.
Tanya: Even in the (p. 137)...transgression, and so on. (p. 137).
Avoda (translated as "Service" and "striving") is not the striving that Avoda (service) itself be true; [1] rather, truth itself is an Avoda, that the "fingernails" be true. [2]
Why does that surprise you? He saw the attribute of Truth," the Talmud declares,[3] "and he prostrated himself."
Notes:
Not deceptive or illusory, that it be penetrating rather than superficial, enduring rather than transitory.
The "fingernails" are part of man but virtually lifeless. Truth is necessary not only in the "vital" elements of man, his thoughts, emotions, relations with others, etc. but even in the all-but-redundant, the furthest extremities.
Sanhedrin 111a. When G-d showed Moshe his Thirteen Attributes of Mercy - Sh'mot 34:6 - Moshe fell on his face, as told in verse 8. The Talmud asks which of the Attributes impressed Moshe so, and answers, the Attribute of Truth. See Supplementary Footnotes in the printed version, p. 125.