Likkutei Amarim Chapter 19 · 5781

00:01 Speaker 1 We’ll begin. Good evening. We’re up to chapter 19. Just as a reminder, to get back into it: what is this chapter about? Chapter 19 is part of a group of eight chapters, from 18 through 25, that discuss how we can awaken the love hidden within us, the love we were born with. What does that have to do with Tanya—with its overall explanation of serving Hashem? The Alter Rebbe began by explaining that since every Jew’s mind rules over the heart—every person’s mind rules over their heart—a person can contemplate whatever they wish. And if they contemplate Hashem’s greatness, love and awe will immediately be born in their heart: love of Hashem and awe of Hashem. They’ll be able to serve Hashem with joy and a glad heart, and everything will fall into place. After briefly explaining this approach to serving Hashem, called the “long and short way,” he immediately raises a question about it at the beginning of the previous chapter. True, it’s a short way, but it’s also long. Not everyone can do it; not everyone is capable of it. It takes a great deal of effort. So in the chapters we’re studying now, the Alter Rebbe presents another approach, another way of serving Hashem: a second way in which everyone can awaken love and awe in their heart that will lead them to keep the mitzvos. It isn’t by generating something new in their heart. In these chapters, the Alter Rebbe says that a person doesn’t need to generate a new love of Hashem and awe of Hashem, because they already have them. They were born with them. Everyone has love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu inside them, in their heart, and all they need to do is reveal it, since it’s already there. So we don’t need profound contemplation

03:34 Speaker 1 of Hashem’s greatness. Rather, we—

03:37 Speaker 2 Is there an essential difference between the two?

03:38 Speaker 1 What?

03:39 Speaker 2 Is there an essential difference between the two things?

03:41 Speaker 1 There’s a very significant essential difference, in many respects. It’s something completely different. Since this love already exists—as we’ll see, it’s part of the nature of our soul—we don’t need to contemplate Hashem’s greatness to bring something new into being. We just need to give it a nudge. It’s there somewhere, hidden deep, deep, deep inside, and we need to prod it, or scratch at it, or tickle it so that it comes out. And once that hidden love comes out, it will take care of everything. I’ll have no problem keeping mitzvos; I’ll run after the mitzvos and flee from every aveirah. All we need to do is reveal the hidden love.

04:43 Speaker 3 Just that.

04:43 Speaker 1 Yes, really, just that. About this, it says that it’s not merely close—it’s very close. With the first kind of love, it’s close: “close” means that everyone can do it. But how can you say it’s very close? It doesn’t seem very close; it’s hard. This hidden love is what we call “very close”—it’s just this, it’s practically nothing. But—

05:06 Speaker 3 That means—

05:06 Speaker 1 The question that immediately comes to each of us is: How can you tell me it’s very close? I don’t feel that it’s very close. So he says, let me explain it to you step by step. He explains it systematically over eight chapters, as we said. In the first two chapters, 18 and 19, he first explains what this love is. Before we even start talking about how to awaken it, how to bring it from potential into actuality, how to use it, we first learn what this hidden love is. In the first chapter, chapter 18, which we studied last week, he discussed the source of this love and how it is our inheritance. He said that it is an inheritance: every Jew receives it as an inheritance, as a gift. Every Jew is born with this thing called hidden love. Why? It’s a gift. We had holy forefathers—Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. They served Hashem with self-sacrifice; throughout their lives they were a vehicle for Him, completely nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave them a reward. Part of that reward was that all their descendants, down to the end of all generations, would be born with this kind of love within their souls. They’re born with it.

06:39 Speaker 3 Why?

06:39 Speaker 1 Sons, daughters; those with lofty souls and those with lowly souls. Every Jew has it. So he said it’s an inheritance. What does this love mean? What is its source? Where does this love come from? It comes from the Chochmah of the G-dly soul. We’ve said several times that the G-dly soul has ten levels—Chochmah, Binah, Daas, Chessed, Gevurah, and so on—but all the middos develop from and begin with Chochmah, the first level of the G-dly soul. This hidden love is a natural quality of the level of Chochmah. Since the light of the blessed Ein Sof rests within Chochmah, within that level of the soul, it follows that every Jew has the light of the Ein Sof within them. That is what we mean by the source of this love. Its source is the light of the Ein Sof that shines in each of our souls, at the level of Chochmah. Those were the two points of the previous chapter. Now, in this chapter, we still need to understand two more things about the love itself before we discuss how to awaken it. First, we mentioned briefly last week—and here he’ll explain it at length—what is the nature of this love? All love means being drawn to something, whether physical or spiritual—something. What does this level called hidden love want? What is it seeking? What is it drawn to? What attracts it? Once we know what attracts it, it will be easier to understand how to awaken it. To put it very simply, suppose we want to get a child to learn, to sit down and say pesukim. We say, “Come, if you say pesukim, I’ll give you a candy.” Why? Because we know they’re drawn to candy. So how do I get them

09:05 Speaker 1 to say pesukim? I offer them something they’re drawn to. If I discover what the G-dly soul, what that love, is drawn to, I can offer it: “Listen, if you behave nicely, I’ll give you that.” So to awaken it, we first need to know what it’s drawn to. Then, at the end of the chapter, he’ll also discuss how awe is included within it. We’ll talk about that when we get there. Chapter 19. “For further explanation, we must thoroughly explain the verse, ‘The soul of man is the candle of Hashem.’” The plain meaning of the verse is that the soul of every Jew is called the candle of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We need to understand why the verse compares a Jew’s soul to a candle. What is there about a candle that resembles a soul? What is there about a soul that resembles a candle? There are several points here; he discusses one of them. Later in Tanya he’ll explain this at length. In fact, from chapter 35 to the end of Tanya, he’s explaining what “The soul of man is the candle of Hashem” means. Here he briefly explains one point: “This means that the soul of Israel, who are called ‘man,’ is like the flame of a candle, which by its nature constantly flickers upward.” What does “by its nature” mean? Today they’ve invented a new word for it. In modern Hebrew, they call it “physics.” That’s how it behaves. What are the laws of nature? In the Torah, it’s called Elokim, but in our simple understanding, “nature” means that something behaves according to fixed laws. Its behavior doesn’t depend on feelings or intellect or anything else; that’s simply how it works. Like electricity: when you pass it through a wire, the wire heats up. There’s a kind of… What’s the idea? There’s something here… Did my candle go out? No, my candle hasn’t gone out on you.

11:54 Speaker 1 You can all sense it. Yes, anything that behaves according to fixed laws is nature; that’s its nature, the way it behaves. So what is the nature of the soul? I mean something inherent in the soul, the way it is built; it cannot be otherwise. Those are the laws of the soul. For the light of a flame naturally desires to separate from the wick and cleave to its source above, in the universal element of fire beneath the sphere of the moon, as explained in Eitz Chayim. And even though this would extinguish the flame—if it cleaves to its source above, it will no longer give light down here. The moment it separates from the wick and rushes to its source beneath the sphere of the moon, it will go out and illuminate nothing below, or even above at its source. As long as it is down here, it is separate from its source. So we see that it has an existence: it exists as fire, as a flame. We see it and feel its warmth. The moment it reaches its source beneath the sphere of the moon... Someone flying to the moon in a spacecraft doesn’t see fire on the way. There isn’t any. Fire only exists as fire when it is separate from its source. At its source, it has no existence as fire; it is nothing at all. Its light, too, becomes utterly nullified within its source. So why, seemingly, does it want that so much? What is it about this flame that makes it constantly seem to want to separate from the wick and rise upward? What’s wrong with being here? The moment you separate, you’ll be nullified. You’ll have no existence below or above. Why do you want that? Nevertheless, that is what it desires by nature. That is its nature. The nature of the flame is to seek nullification. It seeks to become nothing at all. It seeks to unite with its source and root, even though it is clear that the moment it unites with its source and root it will cease

14:15 Speaker 1 to exist, both below and above. Nevertheless, that is its nature; that is what it desires. This is one of the reasons our soul is called a flame. The soul is the same. So it is with a person’s soul—and not only the soul’s higher level, but also its lower levels. Yes, the levels of ruach and nefesh naturally desire and yearn to separate from the body, to leave it and cleave to their root and source in Hashem, the Life of all life, blessed be He. That is what the soul wants. That is its nature. Even though it will become nothing at all and be utterly nullified there, just like the flame, and nothing will remain of its former essence and being. It will no longer illuminate the body, so it will no longer be a soul. It will be nullified within its source, its root, so it will have no existence there either. Why does it want that? That is the soul’s nature and desire. It cannot want anything else. If we could see a soul, what would we see? We would see a being that is constantly seeking only to detach itself from the body, cleave to and be absorbed within its source and root, and be utterly nullified. That is what it wants. Nevertheless, this is its natural will and desire, and “nature” is a borrowed term for anything that is not based on reason and understanding. There is no logic to it. And here, too, the meaning is that this will and desire in the soul—when we say, “The soul of man is the flame of Hashem,” what does that mean? It means that this will and desire in the soul are not based on reason, understanding, or comprehensible intellect. So we already see an enormous difference between the love born of intellect and this love. What is the essence of love born of intellect? We saw that when someone contemplates the greatness of Hashem and understands how great, holy, pure, good, precious, important, and wondrous it is, he wants to reach it. Why does he want to reach it? To be close, so that he, too, can have that goodness. But the soul’s—

16:41 Speaker 1 the G-dly soul’s love is not like that. It does not seek to cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu because that will feel good. It does not arise for a reason. It is not a love awakened by contemplation, or by anything else. It is its nature; that is how it was born. It wants to be nullified within its source and root. Rather, it is beyond reason and comprehensible intellect, and it is the level of chochmah within the soul, in which the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, resides. And this is the rule throughout the realm of holiness.

17:16 Speaker 4 How can something that is not based on reason and understanding be the level of chochmah?

17:19 Speaker 1 I can’t hear you.

17:20 Speaker 4 How can something that is not based on reason and understanding be the level of chochmah?

17:22 Speaker 1 Something that isn’t...

17:23 Speaker 4 Reason and understanding is the level of chochmah. What does that mean?

17:33 Speaker 1 There is a famous note in Tanya, in chapter 35. Whenever this question comes up in Chassidus—and it is asked in countless maamarim—there is always a note at the bottom: “See the note in chapter 35 of Tanya.” That is where the answer is. Incidentally, chochmah is also alluded to in the Rambam’s Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, which we are learning right now, these very days. I don’t know how much to elaborate on this. Maybe just the basic point. We are accustomed to calling the language we speak today “Hebrew.” “Hebrew” comes from “Avraham the Hebrew”: the language Avraham Avinu used. That is a mistake—a regrettable, even serious mistake. The language we use today does indeed draw its words from Tanach. But the vocabulary each of us uses today, according to the grammarians and others of our generation, is roughly eight to ten times the vocabulary found in Tanach. That’s in our everyday lives. The syntax we use is drastically different in many respects, and so are the grammar, vowelization, rules of punctuation, sentence construction, and so on. We simply speak a language that is not Hebrew. Some people have wanted to call it “Israeli.” By the way, here is perhaps one illustration. If you take an American, a non-Jew, to an American school to learn English and teach him the rules, he learns the rules. He will never make a mistake. He will never confuse masculine and feminine. He can’t make that mistake. What?

19:51 Speaker 4 No possibility of making a mistake.

19:52 Speaker 1 Because he was born into it. And it isn’t just Americans. There is an ironclad rule: people do not make mistakes in their mother tongue. Someone speaking his native language does not make mistakes. He may not know grammar; he may use crude language. There may be all sorts of things that aren’t desirable, but he won’t make a linguistic or syntactic error. Even if he has never studied, never set foot in a school, he won’t make those mistakes. It comes naturally to him. The only language in the world whose speakers make mistakes every day is Hebrew. Masculine, feminine, singular, plural—mistakes left and right. “You shouldn’t say it this way; you should say it that way”—arguments. Why is that? It’s very simple. The reason is that the language we speak is not Hebrew. We speak a language whose grammar and syntax are entirely different from Lashon Hakodesh. So when we want to discuss language, we think we are discussing Lashon Hakodesh. “Wait, it says it this way in Lashon Hakodesh. Why do you say it that way?” Simply because the language we speak is a different language.

21:02 Speaker 5 If there is a reason to speak with—

21:07 Speaker 1 Exactly the opposite.

21:08 Speaker 5 Exactly the opposite.

21:10 Speaker 1 That is why, in several letters, the Rebbe says that in Lashon Hakodesh it is forbidden to use the language for mundane matters. It is prohibited. So how do we speak about mundane matters today in Lashon Hakodesh? Because the language we speak is not Lashon Hakodesh; it is not Hebrew. It is a different language. There are several letters from the Rebbe about this in Shaarei Halachah. I think they want... What? Wait, wait, I— All right, that was the let—

21:37 Speaker 5 I’m saying, there are—

21:38 Speaker 1 There is—there’s more we could say about this, but it isn’t the subject of our class. I just wanted to make the point so we can understand where the mistake comes from. Today, when we call someone wise, we really mean that the person is perceptive, not that they have chochmah. In the Holy Tongue, chochmah means self-nullification. Chochmah is the faculty of the soul that... Maybe one more word about it will make this clearer. This isn’t a class on the faculties of the soul, but it is an important point. When I’m faced with something difficult, I want to understand it. I’m studying something profound, and I’m trying very hard, but it isn’t working. I try and try, and suddenly—ah! A flash of insight. Wow, the idea just came to me. Right? Where did it come from? Where was it before? The soul has a faculty above its chochmah called seichel hiyuli, a potential intellect. It is intellect in its simplest form: intellect that hasn’t taken on any particular shape. It contains no ideas; it is a power of intellect. It can produce infinitely many ideas, just as the power of speech can produce infinitely many words and utterances. The power of speech itself contains no words, but infinitely many words and utterances can come from it. This potential intellect is the source and root of intellect. What does the faculty of chochmah do? It draws from that source a specific insight relevant to what I’m dealing with right now. How does it do that? By nullifying its own sense of self and attaching itself to its source and root. Chochmah is the faculty of the soul through which a person—think of yourselves when you’re trying to understand something new. In a sense, I’m not here right now. Right? I’m absorbed in trying to understand something. Right now, I don’t want anything else.

24:15 Speaker 1 I don’t understand anything else. I don’t feel anything else. Food—nothing interests me. I’m there with my intellect. Chochmah is the faculty that takes me out of my own sense of self and attaches me to what is above me. Yes, that’s connected too. I hinted at it in the wording of the Rambam in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah. Or, more precisely... So chochmah is the faculty of self-nullification. Because it is self-nullification rather than a separate entity, the light of Ein Sof can rest in it, as it says [unclear]. All right, what line are we on? We’ve covered one line. “Rather, what is drawn from chochmah, which is called the supernal holiness, is nullified in its very existence to the light of the blessed Ein Sof clothed within it, and is not an entity unto itself, as explained above. It is therefore called koach mah, and is the very opposite of the kelipah and sitra achra. From the kelipah and sitra achra come the souls of the nations of the world, who act for their own sake and say, ‘Give, give,’ and ‘Feed me.’” Who said that?

25:23 Speaker 6 Esav.

25:23 Speaker 1 Esav, right. To whom?

25:25 Speaker 6 To Yaakov.

25:26 Speaker 1 [unclear] Esav. What does “Give, give” and “feed me” mean? Listen, I’m terribly hungry right now, and you’ve made delicious food. I’ll open my mouth and you pour it in. What? That’s a conventional notation in writing when you want to indicate that a word, or... It isn’t necessarily an acronym. It can be a contraction or an allusion indicating that a word isn’t being used in its plain sense. So the whole nature of the kelipos—Esav, the root of the kelipos—is exactly the opposite. The whole nature of holiness is self-nullification. The whole nature of kelipah is “me”: to be a separate, self-standing entity, as explained above, the opposite of chochmah. “And therefore the kelipos are called dead, for ‘wisdom gives life.’” It says, “Wisdom gives life to those who possess it.” Chochmah is our connection, the channel through which Divine vitality passes to every living thing. Someone who rejects chochmah is its opposite; he wants only himself. So kelipah is the exact opposite of chochmah. If chochmah is the source of life, then anyone who doesn’t nullify himself to G-dliness is... that is why they are called dead.

26:54 Speaker 6 That’s why he wrote it.

26:57 Speaker 1 Exactly. “And it is written, ‘They die, but not with wisdom.’ Likewise, the wicked and the sinners of Israel, before they face a test that calls on them to sanctify Hashem’s name,” are also called dead. But once they face such a test, they no longer are. Why? When even sinners of Israel face a test involving the sanctification of Hashem’s name, their faculty of chochmah awakens. The moment it awakens, the person is alive. “For the faculty of chochmah in the G-dly soul, together with the spark of G-dliness from the light of the blessed Ein Sof clothed within it, is in a state of exile in their bodies, within the animal soul, because of the kelipah in the left chamber of the heart, which reigns and rules over their bodies—this being the mystery of the exile of the Shechinah.” We’ve spoken many times about how the G-dly soul, with its hidden love, is in the mind, while the animal soul, with its desires, is in the heart. The G-dly soul is in the mind and extends from there into the heart. When it reaches the heart, it meets its good friend there. What does that friend want? Material things. Desires. The pleasures of this world. Since, in the case of the wicked, the animal soul is presently in charge—it’s the one at home—the G-dly soul, even though it has reached the heart, is there in exile and cannot function. It is imprisoned, captive, in exile. “Therefore this love in the G-dly soul, whose wish and desire is to cleave to Hashem, the Life of life, blessed be He, is called hidden love. For it is hidden and covered by the sackcloth garment of kelipah in the sinners of Israel. And from that kelipah a spirit of folly enters them, causing them to sin.” Why is sinning called a spirit of folly? Right, but why is it called a spirit of folly? We just explained that the wicked, even during their lifetime, are called dead. Right? By doing what you’re about to do, you’re breaking the branch you’re sitting on. You’re making yourself dead. You’re cutting yourself off from life.

29:21 Speaker 1 How could a person... If someone understood that committing a transgression is the same as—I don’t want to say the words. He is harming himself, and not just in some incidental way. He is harming his very life, turning himself into someone who isn’t alive. He wouldn’t commit the transgression. So how can a person commit one? Because he doesn’t feel it. What stops him from feeling it? The kelipah. That kelipah—the yetzer hara, the animal soul, whatever we call it; it has all these lovely names—is in the heart, covering the G-dly soul and not allowing it to reveal itself. That is the spirit of folly that conceals the person’s truth. As our Sages said, “A person does not sin... unless a spirit of folly enters him.” If a spirit of folly hadn’t entered him, why would he commit a transgression? What, is he trying to destroy himself? “But this exile of the faculty of chochmah applies only to the aspect that extends from it throughout the soul to give it life. The root and essence of the faculty of chochmah in the G-dly soul, however, is in the mind and is not clothed in the sackcloth garment of kelipah in the heart in a state of actual exile.” We said, “Binah is the heart, and through it the heart understands.” Right? Binah, understanding, and daas are extensions of chochmah. Chochmah itself, in the G-dly soul, is in the mind. Where does the animal soul have control? In the heart.

31:17 Speaker 7 Is the fullness of chochmah daas?

31:19 Speaker 1 No.

31:20 Speaker 7 No?

31:21 Speaker 1 No.

31:24 Speaker 7 Because I remember... I had a question. Doesn’t it say that Moshe corresponds to daas?

31:32 Speaker 1 Yes.

31:32 Speaker 7 And didn’t I say that Moshe is the perfection of chochmah and understanding?

31:36 Speaker 1 Yes.

31:37 Speaker 7 But I was trying to understand. All right, so you see that it’s also an aspect of chochmah.

31:43 Speaker 1 And Moshe’s particular attribute is actually the sefirah of Yesod.

31:46 Speaker 7 So what does that mean?

31:51 Speaker 1 Not now. There’s a letter from the Rebbe printed in Likkutei Sichos, volume 15, if I’m not mistaken, on the question: What is Moshe Rabbeinu’s particular attribute? There the Rebbe brings all the places where Moshe is associated with each of the ten sefiros and discusses them. Several times I’ve looked for someone to explain that letter to me. I’m talking about people who know Chassidus, and they all told me, “Try to understand it yourself. I don’t understand it.” Every one of them. I mean people like Rabbi Dubroskin and great authorities in Chassidus. That letter is impossible to understand. I mean, the subject is explained there, but understanding it thoroughly is a deep and difficult matter. I don’t have an explanation I can just pull out right now. All right, so here’s what we said: the G-dly soul itself, the hidden love—where is it? In the mind, in the head.

33:13 Speaker 8 Isn’t love in the heart?

33:14 Speaker 1 Huh? What?

33:15 Speaker 8 Isn’t love in the heart?

33:17 Speaker 1 No. The hidden love of the G-dly soul. Love that a person generates through contemplation really belongs to the heart. The hidden love is the nature of the G-dly soul. The G-dly soul comes to a person from above when he is born, and it resides in his mind. From there it can later shine and spread into the heart and throughout the body, but its place is in the mind. And we said, why is it called love? Because it longs to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In what way does it long for that? By becoming nullified as a separate existence. But listen, it is called love because it is drawn to cleave to G-dliness. Where is that attraction found? In the mind, in the head. Where in the mind itself? In chochmah. Binah and daas are already an extension of it. When a person wants to bring that chochmah, that soul, down into the body, he contemplates it with his binah and connects it to himself with his daas, and then it descends to the heart and reaches the heart. But chochmah itself—what follows from this? What actually reaches the heart? The hidden love itself, the essential point of the hidden love, does not reach the heart. What reaches the heart is only its extension through binah and daas. It itself remains in the mind. So it turns out that all the control the animal soul has over the hidden love is only over the extension of the hidden love, over that part of the soul, of the love, that has descended and become clothed in the heart. There the animal soul is king. But when the animal soul tries to climb higher and bring its wants, desires, and cravings up into the mind as well, it reaches a barrier it cannot cross. The moment the animal soul reaches the point of the hidden love, the point of the G-dly soul found in the mind at the level of chochmah, it breaks. There it has no control. Yes, because the principal level of chochmah in the G-dly soul is in the mind, in the head. It is not clothed in the heart, and there the kelipah and the heart...

35:49 Speaker 1 And in the heart it is truly in a concealed state. But if the animal soul does not control this love in the mind, and it is there in the mind and is not hidden, then why? Explain to me now why I don’t feel it. It is only that it lies concealed in the wicked and does not act upon them as long as their daas and binah are occupied with the desires of the world. The person has drawn himself into dealing with the desires and affairs of the world, so his heart and his mind are there. He does not reach the G-dly soul at all. He does not work with it. It does not act within him. It is there, but its powers do not spread through the body. The animal soul therefore controls the extension of its powers, that part of it which descends and takes hold of the body. So although it is there, and it is there openly, because nothing in the world can conceal it, in practice it does not act. This is called a state of sleep. But when does it awaken? When a person faces a test concerning faith, which is above reason, and it touches the soul, the level of chochmah within it, then it awakens from its sleep and acts. And how does it act? Through the power of Hashem clothed within it. As it says, “Hashem awoke as one from sleep.” To withstand the test of faith in Hashem without any reason or rationale, without any understanding he can grasp. He himself does not know what suddenly happened to him. To overcome the kelipos and the desires of this world, both permitted and forbidden, to which he has become accustomed, and to loathe them; to choose Hashem as his portion and his lot, and to give up his life for the sanctity of His name. What does a test concerning faith mean? A test concerning faith is a direct blow to the hidden love of the G-dly soul. The whole nature of the G-dly soul is that it wants to separate itself, to cleave to G-dliness and become absorbed in it. That is what is there. Like fire, constantly seeking to cleave to G-dliness. So as long as

38:24 Speaker 1 you speak to it about all sorts of supposedly secondary things—understanding, comprehension, getting the body to act a certain way, even transgressions—you are not addressing the essential matter directly. It can absorb that, so it sleeps. But the moment a person is backed up against the wall with a test of faith, that touches the essence of the soul directly. And when it is touched, it awakens; and when it awakens, the animal soul cannot contend with it. It becomes completely nullified. “Even though the kelipos had prevailed over him all his days, and he could not overcome them.” He wanted to, but could not. He did not succeed in overcoming himself. As our Sages say, “The wicked are in the power of their hearts.” We mentioned that in chapter 17. “Nevertheless, when he faces a test concerning faith in the one Hashem, which is rooted in the holy heights—the level of chochmah in the G-dly soul, in which the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, is clothed—all the kelipos are nullified and utterly annulled, and are truly as though they had never existed before Hashem, as it is written, ‘All the nations are as nothing before Him.’ And it is written, ‘For behold, Your enemies, Hashem, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; they shall be scattered,’ and so on. And it is written, ‘As wax melts before fire, they shall perish,’ and so on.” Wax can cover things, conceal them, hide them, and form a screen. But the moment you bring fire near it, the fire does not have to do anything for it to melt. The moment the fire comes close and is lit, it disappears. And it is written, “Mountains.” Mountains means mountains of darkness. Yes, the mountains of the yetzer hara: “Mountains melted like wax.” “Now the light of Hashem, the Ein Sof, blessed be He, clothed in the soul’s chochmah, has such great and mighty power to drive away and repel the sitra achra and the kelipos that they cannot touch even its garments.” What have we been talking about until now? That when the chochmah of the soul is touched, the person awakens. And I’m telling you, gentlemen—yes, pay attention—we are not talking here only about an inner awakening. We are talking about this power taking hold of the outer aspects, and the outer aspects, and the outermost aspects of

41:01 Speaker 1 the person. All three garments of thought, speech, and action, in the faith in the one Hashem. And he explains what “even its garments” means: “That is, to withstand the test and give up his life rather than perform even a single act against faith in the one Hashem—even merely bowing to an idol, though in his heart he does not believe in it at all.” Do you remember the story of Chana and her seven sons?

41:36 Speaker 9 To defeat the northern one.

41:40 Speaker 1 Yes, just as though.

41:43 Speaker 9 So that is exactly what we said: faith in Hashem is not enough; here it is idol worship.

41:47 Speaker 1 Right. So the question is, how does this relate to the other mitzvos?

41:51 Speaker 9 No, we said earlier that faith in Hashem is powerful as a general principle. So can it reach all the faculties of speech and action? Then why bring the example of idol worship, where it is just some ruling king trying to...

42:04 Speaker 1 What is the difference between idol worship and faith—faith in Hashem?

42:07 Speaker 9 At first we said that with faith in Hashem, the essence of the soul awakens.

42:10 Speaker 1 Yes.

42:11 Speaker 9 And only now Rabbi Azriel[?] said that this can be brought into ordinary thought, speech, and action too.

42:14 Speaker 1 Not that it can be brought into them. When the essence of the soul awakens, it affects not only the inner faculties, intellect and emotion; it also affects the garments: thought, speech, and action. Later, in the chapters that follow, we will see how this really relates not only to the mitzvos concerning idol worship and the oneness of Hashem, but to all the other mitzvos as well. But right now he is talking about idol worship. What awakens this? So what example really shows that when the hidden love awakens, it takes hold even of the external faculties, even thought, speech, and action? He gives an example involving action: even just bowing. He does not believe in it. So what do you care? Bow down. After all, you do not believe in it. What do you care about merely pretending, staying alive, and being able to serve Hashem? But he will not. The love in the essence of the soul takes hold of his faculty of action too. He cannot do it. He cannot bow down even in pretense. “And likewise, not to speak erroneously, G-d forbid, about the oneness of Hashem.” Even in speech he is incapable of saying something against it. “Although his heart is not wholehearted in this faith, his heart is wholehearted in faith in Hashem.” So up to this point he has explained the matter, the nature of love, of hidden love. Yes, what is hidden love? It is the level of chochmah in the soul. It wants to become nullified and absorbed in G-dliness. What the animal soul controls is only its garments, but it has no control over the love itself. And the moment it awakens, the person is transformed in a second, in an instant. He does not recognize himself. He cannot explain why he is behaving this way. It takes hold of him even in his external garments. Up to this point, then, we have dealt with what hidden love is. We have not touched on the matter of fear. When fear awakens within a person

44:25 Speaker 1 If he has love in his heart, he’ll want to keep all the mitzvos. But why would that stop him from committing transgressions? For the hidden love to keep us from transgressions, we need to see how it also contains fear: love is the root of the positive commandments, and fear is the root of the prohibitions. So from here to the end of the chapter, he briefly explains how it also contains fear. This is called “fear included in love.” They put him to the test of idol worship, and what happened? It didn’t drive him to do something. It kept him from doing something—from violating a prohibition. Why did he refrain? Because of love. In other words, that is fear included in love. He loves Hashem so much that he is afraid to do anything against Him. It is a natural love in the divine soul of every Jew, which by its nature desires and wishes to cleave to its root and source, the light of the Infinite One, blessed be He. Because of this love and desire, the soul naturally fears and dreads touching even the outermost edge of the impurity of idol worship—even just in speech, even just in action, G-d forbid, if it would go against belief in the one G-d. This is true even in its external garments, speech or action, without any belief in the heart at all. Ah, there’s a story here in the margin. I’ll tell the story—actually, I’ll tell the story written here. It’s a well-known story about the Baal Shem Tov. In the Baal Shem Tov’s time, there was a Jewish boy who, for various reasons, ended up being raised by a landowner from early childhood. The landowner, of course, didn’t tell him he was Jewish. He raised him as a non-Jew in every respect. The boy’s name was Feivish. Feivish. So this boy grew up. One day the landowner called the boy in and said, “Listen, Feivish, it’s time

46:47 Speaker 1 for you to convert.” Feivish asked, “What does it mean to convert? What?” He said, “Listen, the truth is you’re not my son. You were born to Jewish parents, and you’ve grown up with me since you were little. And, well, you’re a good Christian. So come on...” “What, what, what do I have to do to convert?” he asked. He was a good boy; he wanted to do what his father said. The landowner said, “Nothing. It’s not complicated. Until now you’ve been called Feivish. From today on, you’ll be called Ivan, Yoan.” So the boy said to his father, “But why? If I was born Feivish, I want to stay Feivish.” Well, “You grew up with me, and...” In short, they began arguing. He couldn’t persuade him; it wasn’t working. So he took the boy to a priest. At first the priest tried to persuade him kindly, then not so kindly, and then he began to torture him. The boy endured very, very, very harsh torture, and the whole time the priest was torturing him, he kept shouting, “I was born Feivish, and I’ll die Feivish.” In the end, he tortured him to death. A Jewish boy. It’s a true story. He didn’t know he was Jewish. He had never kept a single mitzvah in his life. All he knew about Judaism was that, at a certain age, they had told him he was Jewish and his name was Feivish. That was his Judaism. When the essence of the soul awakens, nothing in the world can stand against it. Now that we’ve become acquainted with the divine soul and its hidden love, all that remains is to see how we can actually work with it, bring it into our daily lives, and awaken that point within ourselves—not only at a time of self-sacrifice, which we should never have to face, G-d forbid, but so we can live with it all the time.

49:03 Speaker 10 He’s already hosting the rabbi.

49:05 Speaker 1 What?

49:05 Speaker 10 The class ended quickly.

49:07 Speaker 1 Look at the side. It’s short in length, but rich in content. When I was—when I was in the army, there was a period when I served at Tzrifin, at the electronics base there. The religious guys there organized something at the shul during the lunch break, after everyone ate: rabbis would come and give Torah classes for about half an hour a day. During my breaks I would do my own mivtzoim. So on one of the days—I no longer remember which day—Rabbi Greenblatt from Kfar Chabad would come and teach Tanya. How did he teach Tanya? He’d start reading the chapter, two or three lines, and it would remind him of some story. He’d start telling stories, and eventually time would run out and we’d leave. When he reached chapter 19, I—well, I don’t remember the stories he told. But when he reached chapter 19, the chapter about awakening the essence of the soul and self-sacrifice, I remember that he simply couldn’t finish the chapter. For about half a year, every week he’d begin, read a few more lines, and start telling stories of self-sacrifice—another story, and another, and another. The next week he’d begin, “Well, we haven’t gotten there yet. Let’s start from the beginning.”

50:31 Speaker 10 Thank you very much.

50:40 Speaker 1 You’re welcome.