Likkutei Amarim Chapter 8 · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 All right, we’ve reached chapter 8. This is the last chapter explaining the animal soul. At the beginning we had three chapters in which the Alter Rebbe taught about the G-dly soul, and now three chapters about the animal soul. Actually, the explanation was already completed in the previous chapter, after he discussed what the animal soul is and what its garments are. Chapter 8 begins, “Furthermore”—meaning there’s another point. We’re still talking about the animal soul; we’ve already discussed it in general. There’s one particular point that the Alter Rebbe separates from the other aspects of the animal soul and devotes an entire chapter to. What is this “furthermore”? Furthermore, regarding forbidden foods. In the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe explained that everything in this world is sitra achra, all of it is kelipos. There is no holiness in this world. But there are two levels within kelipah, within sitra achra. There’s an intermediate level: kelipas nogah stands between holiness and the kelipos. So these aren’t actually forbidden things; they’re all the permitted things in the world—animals that may be eaten, plants that may be eaten, and other things in the world that are permitted, with no prohibition attached to them. All of that is kelipas nogah. And there are forbidden things that come from the three impure kelipos. He explained the difference between them there. One is more impure and the other less impure. How does that difference show itself? What difference does it make whether something is more or less impure? Impure is impure, end of story. So in chapter 7, the previous chapter, he explained at length that although permitted things are kelipah, they can be used for holiness. When a person uses permitted things for holiness, they cease to be impure, leave their impurity behind, and rise into holiness. That applies to all permitted things, even though they themselves are kelipah. Kelipas nogah is kelipah, it’s sitra achra. It isn’t part of holiness, but it’s a kind of kelipah

02:22 Speaker 1 that can rise into holiness. When? When a person uses it for the sake of Heaven. More than that: even if a person takes something permitted and uses it for something forbidden—he takes something that is, in itself, permitted. He takes water and uses it, I don’t know, for idol worship. He sprinkles it in some Christian rite or whatever. He takes a permitted thing and uses it for a forbidden purpose. Although by his action he has now taken that permitted thing and brought it down into the impure kelipos, so that it is now entirely forbidden, part of the three impure kelipos in every respect, nevertheless, if the person does teshuvah, he can bring that very thing he brought down into the kelipos back up into holiness. Forbidden things, on the other hand—nothing helps. When a person takes something forbidden, even if he uses it for the sake of Heaven, it doesn’t help. It is already forbidden, bound to the kelipos. It cannot be raised into holiness. That was his explanation of the difference between kelipas nogah and the impure kelipos. Here in chapter 8 the Alter Rebbe adds, “Furthermore, regarding forbidden foods.” In other words, there are all sorts of forbidden things in the world, not only forbidden foods. There are many things that are forbidden. But forbidden foods have a particular severity that other forbidden things do not have. What is so particularly severe about forbidden foods? He begins to explain: “This is why they are called ‘forbidden’: Even if someone ate forbidden food unknowingly, for the sake of Heaven, in order to serve Hashem with the strength gained from that food, and he actually did so, studying and praying with the strength gained from that food, the vitality within it”—within that forbidden food—“does not rise and become clothed in the words of Torah and prayer as permitted food does.” So how is this different from what we learned earlier? What did we discuss about forbidden food in the previous chapter?

04:35 Speaker 1 When a person eats something forbidden knowing it’s forbidden, he’s committing a transgression. So when a person deliberately commits a transgression, it’s obvious that the thing is forbidden and bound to the impure kelipos. The Alter Rebbe asks, “What happens if a person ate forbidden food without knowing it was forbidden? He didn’t know it was forbidden. He bought something with kosher certification. How is it his fault if the rabbi didn’t check it properly and it really had, I don’t know, some worm in it or something, and it actually was forbidden? He didn’t know. He ate it; he relied on the rabbi. He intended to eat something kosher.”

05:14 Speaker 2 It was completely beyond his control.

05:15 Speaker 1 Huh?

05:15 Speaker 2 Beyond his control.

05:16 Speaker 1 Yes, completely beyond his control. He didn’t know. And more than that: not only did he eat it without knowing it was forbidden, but he intended—he’s someone who regularly eats for the sake of Heaven, and as he ate, he thought and intended to pray and study Torah with the strength gained from this food. He didn’t just intend to; afterward he actually prayed. He actually studied Torah and understood what he studied. So where did the vitality for that come from? He understood a Torah teaching, and he prayed. Where did the vitality for that understanding come from? From the forbidden food, right? So why shouldn’t it rise into holiness? Ultimately, he understood Torah; he became united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. How? Through eating that forbidden food. Right?

06:15 Speaker 2 That forbidden thing has no way of entering holiness.

06:17 Speaker 5 How did he become united with—?

06:20 Speaker 1 What does it mean to become united with holiness? The moment a person understands Torah—as we learned in chapter 5 of Tanya, through Torah study a person becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a wondrous union, the like of which, or anything approaching it, cannot be found in the physical world: they are truly joined and united from every side and angle. He studied Torah, he understood it, and he became united with Hashem’s wisdom. With what strength did he become united with Hashem’s wisdom? With the strength of the forbidden food. So he is united with Hashem’s wisdom through that strength—why, then, doesn’t the food’s vitality rise into holiness? What’s the difference? Yes.

06:59 Speaker 5 So those are two separate discussions.

07:03 Speaker 1 That is exactly the question the Alter Rebbe raises here at the beginning of the chapter. What’s the difference? Why is forbidden food called “forbidden” even when he ate it unknowingly, for the sake of Heaven, and actually carried out his intention? Why is it still called forbidden? At first glance—

07:28 Speaker 5 Because there’s no way to raise that thing into holiness.

07:30 Speaker 1 Why? That’s what we’re asking. Why?

07:36 Speaker 5 Because of the impure kelipos, because of the impure kelipos.

07:39 Speaker 1 Why?

07:39 Speaker 5 That’s what he explained to me. [unclear]

07:42 Speaker 1 At first glance, according to our straightforward understanding, what’s the difference? In practice, to put it in our own words, he used that vitality for holiness and connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why do we say it doesn’t rise into holiness? All right? So what answer does he give? “Because it is bound in the hands of the sitra achra, of the three impure kelipos.” Well, what have you answered? What was the question, and what was the answer? How do I know it’s forbidden? You already told me that in the previous chapter. What have you added here?

08:16 Speaker 5 That I can say it even in a case like this.

08:18 Speaker 1 But I already learned that earlier. You don’t need to tell me that again now. What does he mean here by “furthermore”? What is there here that we haven’t learned yet? There’s a wonderful depth to this. Let’s put it this way. We’ll understand it through an analogy: a light and a vessel. Take intellect and the brain, for example. The brain is a vessel for the light of intellect, right? Intellect becomes clothed in the brain. Something changes in the physical brain when a person understands and exerts himself; the intellect develops, the brain develops. So the brain is a vessel for the light of intellect. Now, when a person has understood something and wants to convey it to someone overseas, but he has no phone, he writes it down. His intellect is now clothed in his hand, right? The hand that writes. Is the intellect clothed in the hand the way it is clothed in the brain? No. Why not? The hand is not a vessel for intellect. But it writes, doesn’t it? The intellect merely passes through the hand; it doesn’t become clothed in it. When a person writes down an idea, the hand doesn’t undergo any change. The intellect doesn’t connect with it.

09:49 Speaker 6 But it writes what the intellect—

09:50 Speaker 1 It writes it down. The intellect passes through it.

09:53 Speaker 5 The hand itself can’t even read what it writes.

09:56 Speaker 6 So it writes what’s here. You write something—

09:59 Speaker 1 Yes, but the intellect doesn’t connect with the hand. That same hand can write other things, and it can also pick grapefruits or measure a dress in a shop. It remains the same. As far as the hand is concerned, there’s no difference between one and the other. The hand isn’t a vessel for intellect; it doesn’t connect with it. Being a vessel means that the light becomes clothed in it, connects with it. Right? The hand is not a vessel for intellect. Intellect can pass through it; the hand can express it to some extent. But intellect does not become clothed in it. Are all the things of this world, all its physical things, vessels for intellect?

10:45 Speaker 5 No.

10:46 Speaker 1 A table. A person uses a table to write Torah teachings or to study Torah on it. Is the table a vessel for Torah teachings?

10:54 Speaker 5 Yes.

10:55 Speaker 1 A vessel?

10:56 Speaker 5 No, no.

10:57 Speaker 1 No. He uses the table to study. The table itself doesn’t change at all. Right? The same applies to plants—and not only inanimate things, but plants and animals too. None of these things—animals, plants, or inanimate objects—are vessels for the intellect. Right? If they aren’t vessels for the human intellect, can they be vessels for Hakadosh Boruch Hu? All the more so, they cannot. If they cannot be vessels for human intellect, they certainly cannot be vessels for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right? What does it mean that something permitted can be elevated to holiness? How can a physical thing, through some action I do with it now, become connected with G-dliness? What does “connected with G-dliness” mean? It isn’t a vessel for G-dliness. It isn’t a vessel for emotion or intellect. So it’s a vessel for G-dliness? How can there be such a thing as a physical object, something permitted, that is elevated to holiness? Being elevated to holiness means that it actually becomes united with holiness. How can a physical thing, something from this world, become united with holiness? How can such a thing be possible at all? Right. In other words, the question isn’t why forbidden things cannot be elevated to holiness. The question is how permitted things can be elevated to holiness. That’s the question. And the Alter Rebbe answers that forbidden things are bound to the kelipos. They simply remain as they are. And permitted things—yes, by the nature of the world, even permitted things cannot be elevated to holiness. At Matan Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did something extraordinary, something new: through His unlimited power, He can make even something that is not a vessel into a vessel. Hakadosh Boruch Hu established that all permitted things are vessels for holiness. He has the power to do that. So what Hakadosh Boruch Hu established as a vessel can

13:07 Speaker 1 be elevated to holiness. But whatever Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not take out of that category, whatever He left as it was created, cannot be elevated to holiness. That is what the Alter Rebbe says: “Because they are bound in the hands of the sitra achra, of the three impure kelipos.” They are bound in the hands of the kelipos. Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not take them out of the category of the kelipos, so there is no reason at all why they should be able to be elevated to holiness.

13:34 Speaker 7 That’s why, in chapter 6 too, when the Alter Rebbe speaks about this, he takes only the pure things. And...

13:42 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came to be.

13:49 Speaker 7 Amen. So go back for a moment to... You asked how permitted things can become connected, can be elevated to holiness. So what’s the explanation?

13:57 Speaker 1 There is no explanation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, through His unlimited power, can do the impossible. He did something that could not happen. By the nature of a physical thing, it cannot happen. Hakadosh Boruch Hu can do anything; He made it possible. You don’t ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu questions. How did He do it? I don’t know how He did it. Just as I don’t know how He created me with two eyes. I don’t know how He made it have that nature, and I don’t know how He made this possible—He did it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the entire physical world, and He made an exception for permitted things, enabling them to be elevated. What He did not make an exception for remains forbidden and bound in the hands of the kelipos. So it won’t help if a person uses it for a holy purpose, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not give it that capacity, and it cannot become connected. And the Alter Rebbe says even more than that: even if that food is forbidden only by rabbinic law. It isn’t forbidden by the Torah; it is forbidden only by the words of the Sages.

14:59 Speaker 7 Bread baked by a non-Jew?

14:59 Speaker 1 Hmm?

15:00 Speaker 7 Bread baked by a non-Jew.

15:00 Speaker 1 Bread baked by a non-Jew, milk from a non-Jew. Do you know what milk from a non-Jew means?

15:05 Speaker 7 A non-Jew.

15:07 Speaker 1 Yes. What does “milk from a non-Jew” mean?

15:08 Speaker 7 A cow milked abroad.

15:10 Speaker 1 Hmm?

15:10 Speaker 7 A cow milked in another country.

15:12 Speaker 1 No.

15:13 Speaker 7 Oh, no?

15:14 Speaker 1 Milk that a non-Jew milked.

15:16 Speaker 7 Without a Jew watching.

15:16 Speaker 1 A Jew has to supervise the...

15:19 Speaker 7 Oh.

15:20 Speaker 1 The non-Jew milking the cow, to make sure no non-kosher milk gets mixed in—from a horse, or from other animals whose milk non-Jews drink. The Sages were concerned that if we buy milk from a non-Jew who has various animals at home, not all of them kosher, he won’t want their milk to go to waste and will mix it in. So they decreed that any milk a non-Jew milked without a Jew watching is forbidden. All the milk from non-Jews sold in stores is forbidden by rabbinic law. The kosher certification—

16:04 Speaker 7 Milk from a non-Jew.

16:05 Speaker 1 Milk from a non-Jew with Chief Rabbinate kosher certification. There are circumstances where they certify it after the fact, here and there. It’s forbidden by rabbinic law. What?

16:12 Speaker 7 Not as milk, not as a carton of milk, but, say, as milk chocolate. Even milk chocolate.

16:19 Speaker 1 It says so on the package, yes.

16:21 Speaker 7 People eat powdered milk.

16:22 Speaker 1 They eat milk.

16:23 Speaker 7 Yes. Either they use powdered milk in it, or actual milk in...

16:29 Speaker 1 So I’ll start reading. There are some who, um, I don’t know. There are many like that. Judging by the quantities sold in stores, apparently most Jews, at least in the Holy Land, aren’t careful about this.

16:43 Speaker 7 Even religious people, but not... But the ultra-Orthodox—no, no, [unclear]. Religious people.

16:49 Speaker 1 Still...

16:50 Speaker 7 If the Chief Rabbinate certifies it, then we eat it. But the ultra-Orthodox don’t.

16:55 Speaker 1 But it says “milk from a non-Jew” on it.

16:57 Speaker 7 Yes, it says so in the ingredients.

16:58 Speaker 1 The law requires them to write it. Why do people treat this lightly? Why aren’t they careful about it? These are transgressions a person tramples underfoot: it isn’t forbidden by Torah law; the Sages forbade it. The Sages forbade it—so why does a person treat it lightly? People say, “The Sages forbade it, but it doesn’t apply today. Today all milk is produced on organized dairy farms, so nothing gets mixed in anyway. There’s supervision and this and that. So what’s the problem with milk from a non-Jew? I’m one hundred percent sure nothing else will get mixed in. I have no problem with it. When the Sages forbade it, the circumstances back then made it a problem. Today they don’t.” People find all kinds of leniencies for themselves, reasons why it’s all right, why it isn’t so bad, so they can be lenient.

17:42 Speaker 7 So they can... I remember that in kindergarten they would buy Kinder Eggs—a religious kindergarten, right? Religious families. Oh, if a child doesn’t get a Kinder Egg, it’s the end of the world.

17:53 Speaker 1 Does it say “milk from a non-Jew” on it?

17:54 Speaker 7 Yes, yes.

17:57 Speaker 1 Most dairy products—most, most dairy products—say “powdered milk from a non-Jew” on them. Only if it has certification from the Badatz of the Eidah Hachareidis or something like that... Otherwise, any certification—Chasam Sofer certification, Petach Tikvah certification, this certification, that certification, all those certifications, I don’t know, nearly all the certifications, nearly all of them, permit milk from a non-Jew. Only Rabbi Landau’s certification, maybe the Eidah Hachareidis? I don’t know. I think that’s it. With any other certification, you’ll find it. Why milk? Why? Because it’s not such a big deal. Why isn’t it a big deal? It’s forbidden by the words of the Sages, not by Torah law. The Alter Rebbe says that our Sages said: “The words of the Sages are more stringent than the words of the Torah.” If the Sages forbade milk from a non-Jew, then it is more stringent than a Torah prohibition. Now, this itself needs to be understood. First of all, why does the Alter Rebbe mention this here? Second, if you want to say that foods forbidden by rabbinic law are serious, then say they are no less serious than Torah prohibitions. Why say they are more stringent than the words of the Torah? What does that add to our understanding? It doesn’t seem to add anything. And why does the Alter Rebbe need to say it at all? The point itself is also hard to understand. What does it mean that something the Sages forbade is more stringent than something the Torah forbade? The Torah says it is forbidden. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says it is forbidden. It belongs to the three impure kelipos. Why is it forbidden? Now we know. Why is it forbidden? Because it’s a worm. Why is it forbidden? Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives it its life-force from the three impure kelipos, so it is forbidden. Milk comes from kelipas nogah, right? So what if the Sages said it is forbidden? I know it comes from kelipas nogah, so it doesn’t

19:48 Speaker 1 come from the impure kelipos. Why is it more stringent than the words of the Torah, hmm?

19:53 Speaker 7 Like the Rebbe’s Kiddush during the day?

19:55 Speaker 1 What?

19:55 Speaker 7 Like the Rebbe’s Kiddush during the day?

19:58 Speaker 1 No, there’s a safeguard there. So there really is an explanation like that there too. Do you understand the question? As a Jew who has studied Chassidus and Kabbalah and knows these matters in depth, I know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu said it’s permitted. Fine, the Sages wanted to keep me away from a transgression, so they said it’s forbidden. Why is that more severe than Torah law? The bottom line is that it’s permitted; it isn’t connected to the kelipos. Is the question clear? The Sages didn’t say it for no reason, because... The Sages said it to keep a person away from transgression. They wanted to keep me away. Fine, but why say that the thing itself is more severe? “It’s connected to the three kelipos.” “It’s connected to the kelipos; it isn’t connected to the kelipos,” you’re saying. Why is it more severe? “Because people might come to be lenient about it, so it needs special force.” Hmm? “Because people might come to be lenient about it...” All right, so they want to give it force so that I’ll stay farther away from it. But why say the thing itself is more severe? What do the words “the words of the Sages are more severe” mean? In other words, what the Sages forbade is more severe, more impure, more forbidden than what the Torah forbade. Why? It’s forbidden only so that I’ll stay away from transgression. Why is it more severe than Torah law? What happened here? What’s going on here? Okay, so the explanation is that the Alter Rebbe didn’t say this for nothing. Clearly, the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us something here. In general, the Torah has three layers: book, author, and story. Have you heard that before? We read in the Torah scroll the story that the author wrote. The author is Hakadosh Boruch Hu—Moshe, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes. The book is the book, and the story is what the Torah commands, the content of what it says. So there are three levels in the Torah: the content, the story, the

22:05 Speaker 1 book itself, and above that, the source of the story—the author who wrote the story. Where does the prohibition of forbidden foods come from? From the words of the Torah, from the story, from what the Torah tells us, right? Why are the Sages’ teachings called “the words of the authors”? Why were the Sages called authors? Because they added things, no? Did they write the Torah? No, they give interpretations.

22:44 Speaker 8 These decrees, they’re...

22:46 Speaker 1 Interpretations, no? Hmm? Interpretations of the Torah. Then they should have been called interpreters.

22:53 Speaker 8 But they added the decrees, didn’t they?

22:55 Speaker 1 Then let’s call them decree-makers. Why “authors”? The Sages rose in their understanding and their cleaving to Hakadosh Boruch Hu until they reached the level of the author, above the book. From the perspective of the story, of the Torah as it descended to us through Moshe Rabbeinu at Mount Sinai, through the chain of descent, this is permitted. But from the perspective of the author, as it is above, the Sages saw that above, beyond the book, it is forbidden at its source and root. When the Sages said that milk milked by a non-Jew without a non-Jew seeing it, for example—without a Jew seeing it; without a Jew seeing the non-Jew milk it—is forbidden, it wasn’t that they invented... It wasn’t merely that, on the plain level, they made a decree. No. They saw how Hakadosh Boruch Hu views it from above the level of the book, and that is why they were called authors. That is why what the Sages say is more severe than Torah law: Torah law reflects the Torah as it descended below, while the Sages’ decrees stem from the root of the Torah as it is above. Consequently, the force of the prohibition is no less. In our case, that means milk milked by a non-Jew without Jewish supervision is no less forbidden than something forbidden by the Torah; rather, it is connected to the three kelipos even more than Torah prohibitions are. It continues: “Even if it is prohibited only by rabbinic law, for the words of the Sages are more severe than the words of the Torah,” and so on. So up to this point, in the first lines, the Alter Rebbe has explained the particular severity of forbidden foods: they are connected to the kelipos. Why are they connected to the kelipos? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not give them the possibility of being elevated to holiness. This includes—and all the more so—things forbidden only by rabbinic law. So even if he didn’t know, and his intention was solely for the sake of Heaven, it is still forbidden. That is, it is still connected to the kelipos and cannot be elevated to holiness. Incidentally, there’s a story about this involving the Alter

25:26 Speaker 1 Rebbe. We’re making progress today.

25:30 Speaker 9 All right.

25:31 Speaker 1 There’s a story about the Alter Rebbe that illustrates this very well, and it’s told here in this context. One of the chassidim came to the Alter Rebbe and complained that his son-in-law had begun having doubts about faith. The Alter Rebbe leaned back in deep concentration for a moment and then told him, “You should know that your son-in-law inadvertently consumed milk milked by a non-Jew without Jewish supervision, with an intention for the sake of Heaven.” That’s what he’s saying here.

26:04 Speaker 9 What?

26:04 Speaker 1 Without knowing. Your son-in-law consumed that milk. He didn’t know, and he consumed it for the sake of Heaven. Because he consumed something like that, it defiled his soul, and that is why he has doubts about faith. The Alter Rebbe gave him a way to rectify it, and it helped. So we see plainly from this story that a person consumed something forbidden only by rabbinic law, not by Torah law, and he did so for the sake of Heaven. He was a learned Jew. Yet it brought doubts about faith into him. So let’s continue on line nine. “Therefore, the yetzer hara and the power that desires forbidden things is a demon of the foreign demons, which is the yetzer hara of the non-Jewish nations, whose souls come from the three impure kelipos. By contrast, the yetzer hara and the power that desires permitted things in order to satisfy its appetite is a demon of the Jewish demons, since it can return to holiness, as explained above.” That is the difference between a Jew’s yetzer hara and a non-Jew’s yetzer hara. We already learned in the previous chapter that there is a difference between the animal soul of a Jew and the animal soul of a non-Jew. A Jew’s animal soul comes from the kelipos—from which kelipah?

27:36 Speaker 9 Nogah.

27:37 Speaker 1 Kelipas Nogah—the animal soul. And a non-Jew’s animal soul comes from the three impure kelipos. We already learned that in chapter one, right? Now we see what Kelipas Nogah relates to: permitted things. And what do the impure kelipos relate to? Forbidden things. So a Jew’s yetzer hara really is a yetzer hara; it doesn’t want holiness. What does it want? Permitted things.

28:06 Speaker 9 Permitted.

28:07 Speaker 1 Permitted things. It comes from Kelipas Nogah. What is Kelipas Nogah? Permitted things—that’s what it desires. What is a non-Jew’s yetzer hara? It wants forbidden things. It’s interesting that it’s called a demon. Why is the yetzer hara called a demon?

28:29 Speaker 9 It jumps out at you from [unclear]?

28:30 Speaker 10 It drives a person crazy.

28:33 Speaker 1 That’s true.

28:33 Speaker 10 Something he has no control over.

28:35 Speaker 1 That’s true. No, my question was coming from a different direction. I thought someone would jump in. Uh... No, because it’s the opposite of everything written in Tanya. We learned from chapter one—and I keep trying to go back to this and emphasize it—that the Alter Rebbe’s great innovation, one of the foundations of all Chassidus, which we already discussed in chapter one, is that the yetzer hara is not something external. It is me myself. We’ve spoken about this at length and emphasized it several times, right?

29:07 Speaker 9 Yes.

29:07 Speaker 1 What does it say here? That the yetzer hara is—hmm?

29:09 Speaker 9 It’s something else; it’s a demon.

29:11 Speaker 10 Oh, it’s a demon.

29:13 Speaker 1 It’s a demon. If it’s a demon, then everything we said before—well, fine, then it isn’t me. Some demon is bothering me and pulling me, so I’m all right. That’s a little reassuring. It’s reassuring, but it’s the opposite of everything we’ve learned all along. Why suddenly call it... Here: “a demon of the Jewish demons” or “of the foreign demons.” That’s language from the Zohar; he’s quoting the Zohar. If the Zohar says the yetzer hara is a demon, how can you say it isn’t a demon, that it’s the animal soul? What’s going on here? So I searched a great deal. In the end I found an explanation in a book that actually isn’t a Chabad book. It gives a very interesting explanation that fits here very well. It says that “the animal soul receives its vitality from the kelipos, as demons do.” There’s a lengthy explanation of what demons are. The animal soul receives its vitality from the same place demons do. And just as there is the animal soul of a Jew and that of a non-Jew, there are also demons more closely associated with Kelipas Nogah and others associated with the impure kelipos. There are several parallels between the animal soul and demons. That is why the animal soul is sometimes called a demon. So how can it say that the yetzer hara is a demon of the Jewish demons or of the foreign demons? It isn’t because it isn’t me. Just the opposite: it’s because the animal soul is sometimes called a demon.

30:49 Speaker 9 So your explanation is right.

30:50 Speaker 1 Hmm?

30:51 Speaker 9 Your explanation is right.

30:51 Speaker 1 So the explanation is right. I said right away that it was right. Yes.

30:55 Speaker 9 I knew more than that. I just...

30:57 Speaker 10 No, a few years together, then a mashpia.

31:06 Speaker 1 So the yetzer hara of the, of the... where is it? We said this. Line nine. “The yetzer hara that desires forbidden things is a demon from the foreign demons.” The yetzer hara of the nations of the world—their souls come from the three impure kelipos. “But the yetzer hara that desires permitted things to satisfy its cravings is a demon from the Jewish demons.” Why a Jewish demon? Because it can return to holiness. But until it returns to holiness, it is still sitra achra and kelipah. Which kelipah? When a person commits a transgression with something permitted: he takes permitted food and eats it in a forbidden way. For example, he eats permitted food on Yom Kippur. He has committed a transgression. Or any number of things like that. The moment he eats it in a forbidden way, he brings it down into the three impure kelipos. And once he has brought it down into the three impure kelipos, what is now giving the person vitality?

32:13 Speaker 9 The three impure kelipos.

32:14 Speaker 1 The three impure kelipos. Right? Until he does teshuvah, that is where his vitality comes from. And even afterward, once he has done teshuvah, an imprint of it remains attached to his body. This is the main point of the whole chapter. What did we start with? “Furthermore, with forbidden foods,” which is worse than other prohibitions. In what way is it worse? With every other prohibition, a person commits a transgression, but the transgression does not become part of his body. When he eats food, his body is made from something forbidden. His body draws vitality from the three impure kelipos. That does not happen with any other transgression. Nothing else a person does becomes part of his body the way food does. So with all other transgressions, after a person does teshuvah, the vitality of that thing returns to holiness. But with food, because its vitality has become part of the body, even after he does teshuvah and the vitality returns to holiness, an imprint remains attached to the body. The body retains an imprint of having received vitality from the three impure kelipos. The vitality of that permitted thing, which descended into kelipah and then rose back up, has returned to holiness—but an imprint remains in the body. That does not happen with any other transgression.

33:55 Speaker 9 The food that went down to...

33:57 Speaker 1 The food—

33:57 Speaker 9 Can it rise back up?

33:59 Speaker 1 Like any other—if it is something permitted. If he ate something permitted in a forbidden way—

34:06 Speaker 9 What does “in a forbidden way” mean?

34:07 Speaker 1 For example, he ate on Yom Kippur.

34:09 Speaker 9 Ah.

34:11 Speaker 1 Or in some other way.

34:12 Speaker 9 So the food does return to holiness.

34:13 Speaker 1 If he did teshuvah, then the thing itself can return to holiness. But his body received vitality from the three impure kelipos, so an imprint of that remains in his body. Because “from every food and drink, blood and flesh of his flesh are immediately formed.” Once it is digested, it becomes... “Therefore the body needs chibut hakever, the beating of the grave, to cleanse and purify it from the impurity it received through the pleasures and enjoyments of this world, from the impurity of kelipas nogah and the Jewish demons.” So even if a person eats permitted food, not in a forbidden way, but does not eat it for the sake of Heaven—if it is not for the sake of Heaven—

34:58 Speaker 9 What if someone eats permitted food without a brachah, for example?

35:01 Speaker 1 With a brachah. Why without a brachah?

35:03 Speaker 9 Then it is not permitted anymore, is it? I mean—

35:06 Speaker 1 If it is without a brachah, I do not even know what to say. If he ate permitted food and made the proper brachos before and after it, everything is fine.

35:13 Speaker 9 Washed his hands.

35:14 Speaker 1 But his intention was to enjoy it. He ate it because it tasted good. If he ate it because it tasted good, he brought the food down into the three impure kelipos, and then his body receives vitality from there. Afterward, he does teshuvah and the food’s vitality rises to holiness, but his body is left... And that is why, after a hundred and twenty years, the body has to go through a process called chibut hakever to cleanse it of...

35:44 Speaker 9 Can it not happen before then?

35:45 Speaker 1 Hmm?

35:46 Speaker 9 I do not mean dying before the sin. Can this not be done during a person’s lifetime?

35:51 Speaker 1 We will see in a moment. But what is the one case in which chibut hakever is not needed?

35:59 Speaker 9 Someone who did not—

36:00 Speaker 1 Someone who did not enjoy this world throughout his life. His whole life, he never once ate for the enjoyment of this world. Like Rabbeinu Hakadosh.

36:14 Speaker 9 Rabbi Yehudah.

36:15 Speaker 1 Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi. Why specifically emphasize Rabbeinu Hakadosh?

36:19 Speaker 9 Because he was so... wealthy. He had radishes and horseradish all year round.

36:23 Speaker 1 And horseradish.

36:24 Speaker 9 Horseradish.

36:27 Speaker 1 Rabbeinu Hakadosh was a very wealthy Jew, and he was the Nasi. It says that throughout the year, neither radishes nor horseradish were ever absent from his table. These are two foods that were available only for a short part of the year. Huh?

36:40 Speaker 9 Is that what he ate?

36:41 Speaker 1 No, the point is that these foods grow for only a short part of the year.

36:45 Speaker 9 They are hard to get.

36:46 Speaker 1 Yet he was wealthy enough to have even those on his table all year. And when he passed away, he said that he had not enjoyed this world even with his little finger. What does it mean that he had not enjoyed this world? We saw what you ate all your life. What does it mean that he did not enjoy the world? He did not eat—he did not seek enjoyment. He ate only for the sake of Heaven. Not once in his life did he eat for the pleasure of eating. So a person on that level really does not need chibut hakever, because he truly did not enjoy this world. He did not derive pleasure from it. His body did not enjoy the world. He ate, he made use of the world, but he did not enjoy the world, so he did not need chibut hakever. That is why he is called holy. But we... well, we have a problem with that. “And for idle talk that is permitted.” How can idle talk be permitted? Is it permitted to talk idly?

37:59 Speaker 9 “Such as an unlearned person who cannot study.”

38:00 Speaker 1 Hmm? “Such as an unlearned person who cannot study.” He is unable to study. He does not have the intellect, or the background, or the means, or the ability. So he... Even then, it is only permitted in very specific circumstances. Even a person like that does not have all that much time in which idle talk is permitted. But even someone like that—look.

38:29 Speaker 9 What does that mean?

38:29 Speaker 1 So say Tehillim! Why are you chattering?

38:34 Speaker 9 What is idle talk? If he is discussing business, is that idle talk?

38:37 Speaker 1 Idle talk is anything that is not needed for holiness or for sustaining the body.

38:43 Speaker 9 In short, if someone is working and discussing the technical details of his work—

38:47 Speaker 1 If he is discussing what is needed for his work, of course that is permitted.

38:50 Speaker 9 But is it idle talk?

38:52 Speaker 1 No.

38:52 Speaker 9 Okay.

38:52 Speaker 1 It is needed for the body. But anything a person says that is not needed to sustain the body and is not words of Torah—which is actually most of what we say—

39:03 Speaker 9 Come on, that depends on the context.

39:05 Speaker 1 Hmm?

39:06 Speaker 9 Why? It is needed to sustain the body, is it not?

39:10 Speaker 1 Then he needs to intend it for sustaining the body. But if that is not his intention, or if his intention is the enjoyment of it, then it is pleasure; it is idle talk. It all depends on his intention. “So he must purify his soul of this impurity of kelipah by having it tossed about in kaf hakela.” So we have been talking about anyone who eats permitted foods. We are discussing permitted things, not forbidden things. Permitted things. If he eats permitted things for pleasure, he needs chibut hakever. If he says permitted things for pleasure, he needs kaf hakela. What is the difference?

39:48 Speaker 9 Because speech is spiritual.

39:49 Speaker 1 Hmm?

39:50 Speaker 9 Because speech is more spiritual.

39:51 Speaker 1 Speech is not physical; it is not part of the body, right? It is a pleasure of the soul, not a pleasure of the body. So pleasures of the body require chibut hakever. If it is the person’s soul that enjoys, then kaf hakela is needed. What is kaf hakela?

40:07 Speaker 9 They take the soul and throw it from one place to another. Is that it?

40:12 Speaker 1 Kela means a slingshot in Hebrew: you take a stone and fling it from one side to the other. There are several explanations. One that appears more often is that at one moment they show the soul the truth, Gan Eden, G-dliness; then, a moment later, it imagines it is back in this world. Then they show it the truth again, and then the other thing again. To the soul, it is like being thrown from side to side, and the anguish is terrible. Unlike Gehinnom, of which it says, “The judgment of the wicked in Gehinnom lasts twelve months.” Even the most wicked cannot be in Gehinnom for more than twelve months. Kaf hakela has no fixed time limit. Only after a person has finished everything involved in chibut hakever and kaf hakela does he merit to enter Gehinnom, Hashem protect us.

41:16 Speaker 9 “Merit.”

41:17 Speaker 1 By then, yes. That is already the final stage. But a soul can, G-d forbid, remain in kaf hakela for decades, or even—

41:25 Speaker 9 Do you know how to get through all of this? How to skip all of it? I said that to prompt the question.

41:41 Speaker 1 How do you really avoid all of this?

41:44 Speaker 9 Well? What do you think?

41:45 Speaker 1 Hmm? There’s— That’s why it says, and the Frierdiker Rebbe writes a great deal about this, as does the Alter Rebbe, that when a person says words of Torah, Tehillim, Tanya, Mishnayos, or reviews Torah teachings, the holy words he says cancel out the idle talk. So one should keep doing that as much as possible. And there’s a story, I think about the Tzemach Tzedek. There was a chossid, a simple man, called Yehuda Ovler[?], if I’m not mistaken. When he passed away, the Tzemach Tzedek said of him that Reb Yehuda had not even smelled the scent of Gehinnom. He was a simple Jew who had never studied, didn’t know how to study, and was quite unlearned. But all his life he never stopped diligently reciting Tehillim, and that got him past everything. So that’s for idle talk. But forbidden speech, such as mockery, lashon hara, and the like—we won’t stop now to discuss what mockery is; there are about five types of mockers. We won’t go into that now. “Since they come from the three completely impure kelipos, when a person speaks not of permissible things but of things it is forbidden to say, Kaf Hakela alone cannot cleanse and remove their impurity from his soul. His soul must also descend to Gehinnom.” Kaf Hakela only shakes a person free of idle talk. But if the speech is connected to the kelipos, the root has to be burned away. There, that’s no longer enough; there, Gehinnom is needed. “Likewise, one who is able to engage in Torah study but engages in idle matters—Kaf Hakela alone cannot scour and refine his soul. Rather, he needs the severe punishments imposed specifically for neglect of Torah study, besides the general punishment for neglecting any positive mitzvah out of laziness, in the Gehinnom of snow, as explained elsewhere.” So here there’s another added severity. A person talks, neglects his studies, talks

44:11 Speaker 1 about idle things, and therefore doesn’t study Torah. There are three issues here. First, he speaks idle words, so he needs Kaf Hakela. Second, he neglects Torah study, which is a transgression, so he also needs Gehinnom. And third, there’s the neglect of Torah study itself, which has its own special punishment—severe punishments. He needs this and this and this. So up to this point, he was talking about—

44:46 Speaker 11 That doesn’t apply to women, does it?

44:47 Speaker 1 Hmm? It applies less to women.

44:50 Speaker 11 Because women are busy with...

44:52 Speaker 1 Yes, with things, with—

44:53 Speaker 11 Busy with things.

44:54 Speaker 1 More important things.

44:55 Speaker 11 No, I mean—idle talk is the same. I’m talking about engaging in Torah study.

45:03 Speaker 1 The obligation of Torah study for women is—women aren’t obligated in Torah study.

45:09 Speaker 11 Yes.

45:10 Speaker 1 What do you mean, they aren’t—

45:11 Speaker 11 They don’t have it.

45:11 Speaker 1 What do you mean, they aren’t obligated?

45:12 Speaker 11 Yes, that’s what I meant.

45:14 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, but—

45:14 Speaker 11 For women—

45:15 Speaker 1 But “not obligated in Torah study” needs a lot of qualification. What does it mean, not obligated in Torah study?

45:22 Speaker 11 Because they’re busy with...

45:23 Speaker 1 No.

45:25 Speaker 11 It’s—

45:25 Speaker 1 Doesn’t a woman need to know the laws of Shabbos?

45:29 Speaker 11 That, yes.

45:30 Speaker 1 The laws of the festivals?

45:31 Speaker 11 Well, yes.

45:32 Speaker 1 In other words, a woman needs to study the four sections of the Shulchan Aruch—or at least three of them—at least as much as a man, if not more.

45:40 Speaker 11 Yes, but...

45:41 Speaker 12 What “but”? She...

45:42 Speaker 1 Huh?

45:43 Speaker 11 No, reviewing and...

45:44 Speaker 1 Being exempt from Torah study means exempt from studying for the sake of studying.

45:50 Speaker 11 Yes, in that respect...

45:51 Speaker 1 But studying in order to know...

45:53 Speaker 11 That’s the kind of study I meant.

45:54 Speaker 1 Yes. So as long as a woman doesn’t know all the laws she needs to know...

45:59 Speaker 11 All right, I didn’t say a woman shouldn’t study at all.

46:02 Speaker 1 Yes, but—

46:02 Speaker 11 That’s what I meant.

46:03 Speaker 1 Yes, but as long as she hasn’t studied all the laws she needs to know, it’s exactly like a man. So sit down and study.

46:07 Speaker 11 All right, but what? We’re talking about these matters.

46:12 Speaker 1 A woman has an obligation to study what she needs to know, and as long as she hasn’t learned it yet, that obligation still applies to her.

46:19 Speaker 11 Yes, but a woman has less—she has less time in which she could be neglecting Torah study.

46:23 Speaker 1 Right.

46:23 Speaker 11 She’s busy with other things.

46:25 Speaker 1 Right.

46:25 Speaker 11 So she’s exempt from studying for the sake of studying.

46:27 Speaker 1 Yes.

46:27 Speaker 11 Right.

46:28 Speaker 12 Now, a woman...

46:28 Speaker 11 That’s what I meant, that’s what I meant.

46:30 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

46:31 Speaker 11 No one simply lets a person off the hook.

46:33 Speaker 1 So up to here, he’s been speaking about the particular severity involved. He began with the particular severity of eating forbidden food. Then he discussed a Torah prohibition and a rabbinic prohibition. We explained why the rabbinic prohibition is more severe. Then he said that this severity is also present in idle talk. With idle talk, he mentioned several levels: ordinary idle talk; forbidden speech, mockery and lashon hara; and then idle talk that also constitutes neglect of Torah study. There are three levels there together, three issues together. So up to here, he’s discussed forbidden foods and speech that is idle or forbidden. From here to the end of the chapter, he moves into a new subject—or seemingly a new subject. And now, line eleven: “Likewise, one who engages in the wisdom of the idol-worshipping nations.” What is that?

47:34 Speaker 11 Secular wisdom.

47:36 Speaker 1 All the fields of knowledge in the world that aren’t Torah. Everything they teach in school.

47:42 Speaker 11 Why do they teach it in school?

47:44 Speaker 1 And at university.

47:45 Speaker 11 So what is it?

47:48 Speaker 1 It’s called the wisdom of the nations of the world. It is wisdom—great wisdom. There’s a tremendous amount of very deep wisdom in it. It isn’t the wisdom of Torah; it’s a different kind of wisdom.

47:58 Speaker 11 So is it forbidden to do that?

48:01 Speaker 1 “It is considered idle matters with respect to the sin of neglecting Torah study.” Someone who studies secular subjects, who sits and learns them in school—once he reaches the age of thirteen, that’s considered neglecting Torah study, and it’s idle matters. He is liable for all three of those severe consequences: Kaf Hakela, severe punishments, and Gehinnom.

48:24 Speaker 11 Then why do they teach children general studies?

48:26 Speaker 1 Of course. As it says in Hilchos Talmud Torah. “Moreover, the impurity of the wisdom of the idol-worshipping nations is greater than the impurity of idle talk.” Besides the fact that the wisdom of the nations—what people study in schools and universities—carries all the severe consequences we’ve already discussed, it has another severity not found in ordinary idle talk. Two additional severities, in fact. First: “With ordinary idle talk, one clothes and contaminates only the middos that derive from the holy element of air in the divine soul, with the impurity of kelipas nogah found in idle talk, which comes from the evil element of air in this kelipah within the animal soul, as explained above.” We learned in chapter one that the animal soul has four elements. Right?

49:21 Speaker 11 Well?

49:21 Speaker 1 Fire, air, water, and earth. And there he says idle talk comes from the element of air. Do you remember those words in chapter one of Tanya? When a person speaks idly, it comes from the element of air. Yes? What is the element of air? It’s connected with a person’s middos, the heart. So when a person speaks idly, what does it contaminate? His heart, his spirit. It doesn’t contaminate his mind. Which is higher?

49:48 Speaker 11 The mind.

49:50 Speaker 1 The mind. So if a person contaminates his mind, that’s much worse than contaminating his heart.

49:58 Speaker 11 But studying for a livelihood is permitted.

50:00 Speaker 1 We’ll get to that shortly. We haven’t reached it yet. First, when a person studies secular subjects, he contaminates his mind. That’s much worse than idle talk. Idle talk—at first glance, a person might say to himself, “Me? That other person just talks idly, babbling all day without any substance. I study things, I...”

50:27 Speaker 11 Develop my mind.

50:29 Speaker 1 “There’s substance in what I’m doing. Whereas that other person just talks idly, babbling nonsense.”

50:38 Speaker 11 And it doesn’t leave any impression, either.

50:39 Speaker 1 So he contaminates his heart. You contaminate your mind. And there’s something even worse: we know how to correct the heart, the emotions.

50:53 Speaker 11 Right.

50:53 Speaker 1 The mind rules over the heart. Through contemplation, you can correct the emotions, right? If a person contaminates his mind, how will he correct it? If he contaminates his heart, there’s still a way to repair it. If he contaminates his mind, how will he repair it afterward?

51:08 Speaker 11 Sorry, that’s not frightening at all.

51:10 Speaker 1 Huh?

51:11 Speaker 11 Sorry, not frightening at all. Studying today isn’t even...

51:15 Speaker 3 Gehinnom, Kaf Hakela. What do you mean, it isn’t? You’ve already decided that...

51:19 Speaker 1 Yes, but we don’t say this to frighten anyone. We say it so a person will understand how serious it is. We talk about it once.

51:26 Speaker 11 So how can you go...

51:27 Speaker 1 This is the place to—

51:28 Speaker 11 No, but yesterday it did make sense.

51:29 Speaker 1 I think this is the only place—I don’t know if there’s another place in Chassidus where it’s explained this way. We don’t generally talk about it.

51:35 Speaker 11 To frighten people and exag—

51:37 Speaker 1 I’ve told you this once. Know how serious it is. Leave it alone; don’t go there. All of Chassidus—

51:43 Speaker 11 How can you?

51:45 Speaker 1 All of Chassidus, the whole body of Chassidus, explains what you should do. Once, you’re told, “Listen, don’t go there. Be careful.”

51:56 Speaker 11 That’s what they tell you. You can say that to your friend.

51:58 Speaker 3 No, I mean, it sounds awful, so oppressive—having to be careful all the time. You do this, and then that; you do this, and then that, and this and this and this.

52:04 Speaker 1 A person—a Jew—needs to know that he should occupy himself only with holiness.

52:14 Speaker 11 It’s a battle for

52:15 Speaker 3 survival. On Shabbos, that’s understandable. It’s a battle for survival.

52:19 Speaker 1 That’s why being a beinoni is daily work, every single moment. Because the one pulling me toward the kelipos isn’t someone else—it’s me. I’m drawn toward the kelipos, and I’m drawn toward them not only by my heart but also by my mind. Why? Because my mind is also the mind of the animal soul. And what does the mind of the animal soul want? It wants the wisdom of the nations. Why? Because it finds it interesting. Why does it find it interesting? Because that’s where it comes from. And when it occupies itself with that wisdom, it becomes defiled. What does “defiled” mean? It introduces doubts about emunah, distances the person from G-dliness, and dulls his mind and heart.

52:57 Speaker 3 So what does it mean if one person feels more drawn to it than another? It’s not that... He has a stronger yetzer hara.

53:06 Speaker 1 Absolutely. Certainly.

53:07 Speaker 3 So does it depend on personality?

53:09 Speaker 1 Certainly. It depends on the soul, on the soul’s root. Souls, as you know, range from the very highest to the very lowest.

53:16 Speaker 3 They’re not alike. Obviously. One says black; another says white. Of course.

53:21 Speaker 1 And also in their makeup: how much intellect and how much emotion, what kind of emotion, and which subjects the mind is drawn to. One person is drawn to one field of knowledge, another to a different one. Everyone is different. But generally speaking...

53:34 Speaker 3 We talk about the yetzer hara as though it were a separate entity that merely clothes itself in a person, so it’s as if there’s...

53:40 Speaker 1 Someone to pin the blame on. Here I have no one to blame.

53:45 Speaker 3 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes. He’s to blame.

53:51 Speaker 1 Now, continuing on line twenty: “The wisdom of the nations, by contrast, clothes and defiles the Chabad faculties of his G-dly soul with the impurity of kelipas nogah contained in those fields of knowledge, which fell there through the shattering of the vessels, from the external aspect of holy wisdom, as is known to those familiar with the esoteric teachings.” That’s in parentheses at the end. So we spoke about the prohibition involving forbidden foods, rabbinic prohibitions, idle talk—even when it’s for the sake of Heaven, and when it isn’t—and so on. Then we spoke about the prohibition involving the wisdom of the nations, which is another level that defiles the soul even more. Unless—as you can see at the end of page 72, at the end of the first line—“unless he makes them an axe with which to cut.” Meaning, he studies worldly knowledge in order to earn a comfortable living for the service of Hashem. Today, in our generation, especially when we’re young, if a person doesn’t study, how will he make a living? Almost every kind of livelihood today depends on some kind of study. So that’s different. But it really is on condition that he goes to study in order to make a living. And when the courses include all kinds of things that aren’t directly relevant to his livelihood, he closes his ears. “I’m studying the wisdom of the nations now so I’ll have a livelihood. Not because it interests me or draws me in, but because I need it.” So if something isn’t directly related to what I need, then no. What does “no” mean? The teacher is sitting there teaching it.

55:34 Speaker 3 To enrich yourself.

55:36 Speaker 1 Exactly.

55:36 Speaker 3 You’re not allowed to enrich yourself.

55:37 Speaker 1 It isn’t enriching myself; it’s defiling myself.

55:42 Speaker 3 Just don’t.

55:42 Speaker 1 That needs to be the approach. It really is very difficult, which is why the general guidance is: Don’t get into it. Leave it alone.

55:53 Speaker 3 That’s why, among us, we don’t really encourage people to go study at a university, for example. But after marriage—no, not necessarily after marriage—when a person is more mature and settled in life, then he also knows how to separate things and not get carried away, and to finish. They also set up programs for you.

56:15 Speaker 1 And here comes the Alter Rebbe’s great innovation. Here comes the Alter Rebbe’s great innovation: another way it’s permissible to study worldly knowledge, even when it isn’t for a livelihood.

56:30 Speaker 3 Wow.

56:31 Speaker 1 “Or if he knows how to use them for the service of Hashem or for his Torah study.” What does it mean to use them for the service of Hashem?

56:37 Speaker 3 To build the Beis Hamikdash. To study geometry so you can draw up plans for buildings; to study... calculations, astrology. Exactly, exactly. But you’re talking about using it for the calendar, for determining the month. You mean astrology in order to...

56:53 Speaker 1 That’s how most commentators on the Tanya explain it. That’s right, nearly all of them.

56:59 Speaker 3 Wow.

57:00 Speaker 1 What does that mean? How do they explain it? He studies the wisdom of the nations so he’ll be able to understand various matters in Torah. You need to understand terumos and maasros. How do you separate tithes? You need to know a little arithmetic, a little about farming, all kinds of things. You don’t need to go to university for that. Learn what you need. If you come across something in Torah that you don’t understand, sit down and study that particular subject in worldly knowledge.

57:33 Speaker 3 [unclear]

57:35 Speaker 1 You don’t need to sit and study for that. Sit down, learn what you need, and that’s it. The Alter Rebbe adds: “And this is why the Rambam and the Ramban, of blessed memory, and their colleagues engaged in them.” Why does the Alter Rebbe mention specifically the Rambam and the Ramban?

57:55 Speaker 3 Because that’s the straight-laced answer?

57:57 Speaker 1 Are there no stories in the Gemara about great Jewish sages, Tannaim, who engaged in worldly knowledge? Why does he skip ahead to the Rambam and the Ramban? What was different about their study of these fields from that of everyone before them?

58:22 Speaker 3 That’s a hard one. What’s the answer?

58:28 Speaker 1 They sat and studied the wisdom of the nations without any immediate purpose. They simply sat and studied. The Radbaz, too, went and studied [unclear].

58:37 Speaker 3 Without any immediate purpose. Without any immediate purpose. The Rambam was a physician, and he studied...

58:43 Speaker 1 The Rambam eventually became a physician when he had no choice. When the Rambam studied medicine, he never dreamed he’d one day be a physician. He studied medicine in his youth, when his older brother supported him, comfortably and generously. After his brother drowned, I think, on a ship—drowned during some voyage—he was left without a livelihood. He had no choice. He already knew medicine, so all right, he would make a living from it. But when he studied medicine, he didn’t study it in order to treat patients or to earn a living from it.

59:17 Speaker 3 So how do we explain that?

59:20 Speaker 1 “And this is why the Rambam and the Ramban...” He studied it for the service of Hashem. What does it mean to study worldly knowledge for the service of Hashem? What’s the plain meaning?

59:29 Speaker 3 Birurim—to refine it? Because if Hashem created that too, then there must be something to accomplish there as well.

59:34 Speaker 1 More or less. Since I know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu made everything in the world, and that everything He created, He created only for His glory, there must also be something in the wisdom of the nations. What good is hidden there? I can’t comprehend G-dliness itself; that’s beyond the intellect. But I can understand how Hakadosh Boruch Hu has clothed Himself within the world. That’s in the world. So if I understand how the world works, I’ll have a good analogy for understanding Hakadosh Boruch Hu and what the Torah really means. He studies medicine so he’ll have an analogy for understanding matters in Torah. He studies astronomy, astrology, mathematics, chemistry, and whatever else, so he’ll have subtler, more precise analogies for understanding what’s written in Torah. That’s why he studies them. Now try to imagine how a person could sit... This really does require higher education. How can someone sit and pursue higher education at a university, among the nations—sit among non-Jews, in their atmosphere, studying things that are very, very interesting and fascinating and that occupy the mind—and have his entire mind focused solely on how to draw an analogy from them for the service of Hashem? It’s no simple matter. That’s why the Rebbe writes: If you’re someone like the Rambam or the Ramban, you can go study at a university. If not, stay put. All right, so those were the three chapters about the animal soul. Let’s give a very, very brief recap. In the first eight chapters, which form part of the foundation of serving Hashem, the Alter Rebbe taught that within my soul there are, in effect, two people—two complete people. There’s one person who is utterly devoted to G-dliness, who understands only G-dliness and wants only to draw closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and apart from Torah

1:01:53 Speaker 1 and mitzvos, nothing interests him. And there’s another one...

1:01:57 Speaker 4 Shoshana.

1:01:57 Speaker 1 Shosh... Shoshana.

1:02:01 Speaker 4 Shoshana.

1:02:01 Speaker 1 Shoshana, that’s his name. Exactly. Once we called him Amalek, once we called him Sh— It’s me. Who am I? My feelings draw me to talk, eat, and enjoy the world, and my mind is the same way. These two people are here inside me together. How do they get along? Each wants the opposite of what the other wants. They occupy the same mind and the same heart; they have only one body. How do they get along?

1:02:39 Speaker 4 A battle.

1:02:39 Speaker 1 Perfect.

1:02:42 Speaker 4 I think next week’s class will be about growing up and modesty. I don’t think so.