Likkutei Amarim Chapter 23 · 5781

00:02 Speaker 1 [unclear]

00:03 Speaker 2 It works.

00:05 Speaker 1 Mom, it says that in places where it’s permitted to eat and drink, then—

00:11 Speaker 7 What are you so happy about here? Are you stupid?

00:13 Speaker 1 Mom.

00:18 Speaker 7 All right, if you were drinking from—

00:21 Speaker 2 Okay, we’re up to chapter 23, right?

00:24 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:35 Speaker 2 Good.

00:35 Speaker 1 What do you say—can it be uprooted?

00:38 Speaker 2 Ah, everyone has their own ideas. We don’t need to say it all over again every week, but to get into what we’re learning now: how to awaken the G-dly soul, how to awaken the soul’s hidden love. After all, as we’ve said several times, the author of the Tanya devotes eight chapters to this. In the first two chapters, we learned what that hidden love is, what the G-dly soul is, what it’s about, what it’s called, what it looks like. Then we said that to bring it—to awaken it, to bring it into our daily lives—we first need to understand what the unity of Hashem is and what idol worship is. So he spent two chapters explaining the unity of Hashem, and then one chapter explaining idol worship. What’s the point? The point explained there is that the unity of Hashem means “there is nothing besides Him”: the entire existence of the world is nothing at all, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu alone is the true existence, the only existence there is. So if that’s the case, how do we, all the created beings, feel ourselves to be alive and existing, and see the world? It’s because Hakadosh Boruch Hu concealed Himself from us. He concealed Himself from us, so in our experience, we are separate. From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective, the world is not separate from Him, but because we don’t sense Him, it seems to us as though we’re separate. And what would happen—that was in the previous chapters. What would happen if, for just one moment, this concealment were taken away from us? If it disappeared? We said: why aren’t we united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Because something conceals Him. From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective there is no concealment; it’s concealed from us. And if, for one moment, that concealment were moved aside, what would happen? We would be truly one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and from our perspective it would be exactly as it is from His. That’s what we’re discussing

02:57 Speaker 2 in our chapter, chapter 23. Broadly speaking, the chapter explains that when a Jew observes Torah and mitzvos, while he is fulfilling a mitzvah, while he is learning Torah—during those moments when he is learning Torah and observing mitzvos—the world’s concealment is removed, moved aside, and we are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in absolute unity. It is exactly the same from our perspective as it is from His. True, we don’t feel it, but as far as that unity is concerned, as far as the truth is concerned, we are united with Him completely. Why does the Alter Rebbe go into this explanation? Because we said that to awaken the G-dly soul, to reveal it so that it affects us, we need something to stir it. And we saw what stirs it: mesirus nefesh. When we are faced with a situation that calls for mesirus nefesh—being told to convert, G-d forbid—the G-dly soul awakens. So the Alter Rebbe wants to show us that this matter of mesirus nefesh, of faith in Hashem, is relevant not only to the prohibition of idol worship. A Jew denies G-dliness, denies Hakadosh Boruch Hu, not only when he worships idols, but also when he violates any prohibition. And a Jew is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu completely not only when he is saying Shema Yisroel and contemplating Hashem’s oneness, but through every single mitzvah. In this chapter, the Alter Rebbe begins to weave this together, to start showing us how every mitzvah and the study of Torah connect us to Hakadosh Boruch Hu just like the fundamental commandment, “I am Hashem your G-d”—faith in Hashem. So let’s look inside. Chapter 23: “With all the above”—after what we explained, that the only thing separating us from G-dliness is concealment, only our own perception; in truth, in truth we are not separate from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So, “with

05:20 Speaker 2 all the above, we will understand, and it will be clearly explained with further elaboration, what the Zohar says.” Why? What’s difficult about what the Zohar says? What does the Zohar say? The Zohar says, “The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are all one.” By contrast, in the Tikkunim—have we spoken about this before? Have we mentioned what the Tikkunim are? There is a section of the Zohar, long passages in the Zohar, called Tikkunei Zohar. These are also midrashim from that period. In Tikkunei Zohar, they explain that “the 248 commandments”—the 248 precepts, the mitzvos—“are the 248 limbs of the King.” Why do we need to understand something here? What isn’t clear that needs explaining? After all, he said it would be understood with further elaboration. What needs to be understood? What’s the difficulty? The Zohar says that the Torah is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Elsewhere in the Zohar it says that the mitzvos are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What isn’t clear? The wording isn’t clear. Regarding the Torah, the Zohar writes, “The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are all one.” Regarding the mitzvos, it doesn’t say “all one.” The mitzvos are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—but how? Not as “all one,” but as the King’s limbs, as limbs. What does that mean? What kind of analogy is it to say that the mitzvos are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu the way a person’s limbs are united with the person? Is there an explanation of this whole analogy, and how it differs from the first description, “all one”? So first, the question. Let’s understand the question before we understand the explanation. When we say that two things are “all one,” that they are both one thing, it’s like saying, for example, that a coin has two sides. The coin’s two sides aren’t two different things; they’re two sides of one thing, of the same thing. Right? If I take a coin and turn it over, does it become a different coin? Are these two coins that have joined together? No. It’s one coin.

07:57 Speaker 2 It has two sides, but we’re talking about one reality, right? So when we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Torah are “all one,” what do we mean? That Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Torah aren’t two things that become united. Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Torah are two sides of the same coin. The Torah isn’t merely Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s Torah. The Torah is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the Torah. It’s one thing. They aren’t two things that become united. All right? That’s Torah. What are mitzvos? The mitzvos, he says, are like a person’s limbs. That’s something else entirely. The person himself is his mind, his emotions, his inner life, his feelings, the things he wants and loves and doesn’t love. That’s the person. Right? What are his limbs? Flesh and physical matter. The person and the body are two utterly different things. They aren’t just two things that are close or similar. One is spiritual and the other physical. It’s true that in practice, we never see a body without a soul or a soul without a body. They go together. But a human being is a union of two things that, in themselves, are completely different—even opposites. More than that, as we’ve explained elsewhere, they have different sources. The spiritual aspect of a person comes from one source, and the source from which the person’s physical aspect was created is another. They are two utterly different things. So this is what the Zohar is saying: there is an enormous difference between Torah and mitzvos. Both Torah and mitzvos are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but there is an enormous difference between them. The Torah is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does that mean? The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one thing. They aren’t two things; they are “all one.” As for the mitzvos being united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the mitzvos aren’t Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They aren’t

10:09 Speaker 2 Torah. Mitzvos are something else. Rather, they are something else that becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the way a person’s limbs are united with the person. All right? And we need to understand this analogy of the limbs. So he begins to explain: “Because”—why are the mitzvos called limbs?—“because the mitzvos are the inner aspect of the Supernal Will and His true desire.” What are mitzvos? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted us to take an esrog in our hand, and He wanted us to light a Shabbos candle, and He wanted us to observe family purity. That is His will. That is what He wanted. “And His true desire, which is clothed in all the upper and lower worlds to give them life.” What does that mean? How do the mitzvos give life to the worlds? When I fulfill a mitzvah, does that sustain something, give something life? What does the mitzvah I fulfill have to do with the life of a kangaroo in Australia?

11:21 Speaker 8 It keeps life going.

11:22 Speaker 2 Hmm?

11:22 Speaker 8 It keeps life going.

11:25 Speaker 2 Right. The mitzvos draw down the life-force—that’s what he says. We also know that from earlier; it’s nothing new. What the Rebbe wants to explain here in detail is the connection. Why does my putting on tefillin now mean that a kangaroo can be born in Australia? Or that there can be angels in the World of Beriah, for example? What’s the connection between the mitzvos I perform and the life-force of the worlds? “For all their life-force and sustenance depend on the mitzvos performed by those below, as is known.” That’s a known fact. But what’s the explanation? Maybe a few more lines. All right. “It follows that the performance and fulfillment of the mitzvos are the inner garment for the inner aspect of the Supernal Will, through which light and life-force are drawn from the Supernal Will to become vested in the worlds.” Let’s find a way to put that in simple words. Each of us earns a living somehow. Why do we go to work? Why does a person go to work? Because he wants to earn money, right?

13:00 Speaker 9 He wants something.

13:02 Speaker 2 Why does he need money? To live.

13:06 Speaker 9 And what’s that for?

13:06 Speaker 2 So what does he really want? All right, we could keep going. What for? What does he really want? A person wants to live. That’s what he wants. To live, he needs money. To get money, he needs to work. So there are three stages, right? What he wants—the will itself—is life. That’s his pleasure; that’s what he desires. But to attain life, he has to clothe his will in an inner garment and also an outer garment. His desire to live first has to be clothed in something called money. And since money is hard to come by—it doesn’t grow on trees, as they say—there’s also the outer aspect of his will: he wants to work. In other words, I want to work. Why? To get money. Why do I want money? So I can live. So wanting to work is the outer aspect of the will. It isn’t what I really want. What I really want is money—but money isn’t what I really, really want either. So money is called the inner aspect of the will, and going to work is called the outer aspect of the will. All right? And the will itself is life. The analogy brought there applies, so to speak, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu as well. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants the worlds—but He doesn’t want worlds for their own sake. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants Jews to observe Torah and mitzvos. That is His pleasure. “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.” Everything He does is because He takes pleasure in Jews observing mitzvos, right? That’s why He wants all of it. For people to observe mitzvos, there have to be mitzvos. So He created something called mitzvos for

15:02 Speaker 2 Jews to fulfill. So the mitzvos are the inner aspect of the will. And for there to be a place and a way to fulfill the mitzvos, you first need to create a setting, a backdrop. That’s where the worlds come in: the physical world, the spiritual worlds, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah, Atzilus—all the worlds, higher and higher. So it turns out that all the worlds are just the setting. They’re only the outer aspect of the will. The mitzvos are the inner aspect of the will, the inner garment for the will. And what does that garment actually clothe? What is the will itself? The Jew’s performance of the mitzvos. All right? So if that’s the case, why were all the worlds created? So that I would fulfill mitzvos. When I fulfill mitzvos, I justify the existence of all the worlds. We spoke earlier about the kangaroo in Australia. I don’t know exactly how it’s connected, but it’s part of the setting. It’s part of the world created so that I can fulfill mitzvos. So when I fulfill mitzvos, Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s will is fulfilled, and He gives life to all the worlds—even to that thing whose connection I can’t see. It follows that my performance of mitzvos, a Jew’s performance of mitzvos, is the root of the life-force of all the worlds. All right? Let’s go to the next page, the top of page 71. “Therefore they are called ‘the limbs of the King,’ by way of analogy.” That’s why the mitzvos are called the King’s limbs. What is the analogy? “Just as the limbs of the human body are garments for the soul and are utterly subordinate to it—for as soon as it enters a person’s mind to extend his hand or foot, they respond to his will immediately, without any command or instruction to them and without any delay at all.” One point here needs a little explanation. It’s easy to understand, but until you explain it, you don’t understand it. When I want—what does it mean that a person—I want to move

17:23 Speaker 2 my hand. Is there no thought process at all? There is. When someone learns to drive—thank G-d, I hope you won’t have to do that; the Rebbe doesn’t want people to learn to drive. There are lots of letters about it.

17:42 Speaker 10 Where?

17:42 Speaker 2 What?

17:44 Speaker 10 Where?

17:45 Speaker 2 Where? We collected them over the past few months. Dozens and dozens of letters to many people, both men and women, all over the world, in which the Rebbe strongly opposes learning to drive.

17:56 Speaker 10 Regardless of age?

17:58 Speaker 2 What?

17:58 Speaker 10 Regardless of age?

17:59 Speaker 2 Regardless of age. He really opposes it. In some letters the opposition is outright; in others it’s expressed more gently. Understand, there isn’t even one single instance where the Rebbe says, “All right, that’s excellent.” It doesn’t exist. It’s really amazing. I searched and searched—

18:15 Speaker 10 But only for women?

18:16 Speaker 2 What?

18:17 Speaker 10 Only for women, or—

18:17 Speaker 2 For men too.

18:19 Speaker 10 Learning to drive?

18:20 Speaker 2 Yes.

18:21 Speaker 10 So how will they learn? How will they drive?

18:23 Speaker 2 They can buy a taxi, so they don’t get confused. I don’t know. I just said what the Rebbe says. That’s all. I’m not... Everyone should ask their own rabbi. There are several people I know personally.

18:38 Speaker 10 But everyone does it anyway.

18:40 Speaker 2 Huh?

18:40 Speaker 10 Everyone does it anyway.

18:41 Speaker 2 Because it’s very difficult—a restriction that’s very difficult for the community to abide by. That’s probably why the Rebbe didn’t say it as a—The Rebbetzin once said about the Rebbe that he doesn’t introduce a directive, what we’d call a campaign, until he estimates that most of the community can abide by it. When something is inconvenient, people push it out of their minds. But the Rebbe says this; the Rebbe doesn’t back down from his position on anything. Not even on—never mind, this is really beside the point. Let’s leave the Rebbe aside. When you learn to drive, there’s something called the two-second following distance. Have you heard of it? When you’re driving behind another car, you need to keep enough distance so that if you have to stop—if the driver in front suddenly brakes, he’s gone crazy and slammed on the brakes. You don’t know why he hit the brakes; he doesn’t know either. Suddenly he’s hit them. It takes time from when you notice he’s stopped until you think, “Wait, he’s stopped. What do I need to do?” Bam, you hit the... Right? The fastest reaction time is under a second, but it’s close to a second, and in one second a car can travel quite a few meters. So the rule is that when you’re driving behind a car, always leave a distance—estimate it so that if you need to brake suddenly, you have two seconds before you reach the car in front of you. Right? So there’s a rule like that. Then why does the Alter Rebbe say that a person responds “without any delay at all”? The rule says it takes two seconds. Why do you say there’s no delay at all? We’re not talking about that kind of action. An action a person performs consciously really does take time. I’ve decided: now I’m moving my hand. That takes time. But all our involuntary actions, right? Like when I’m now—a person speaks,

20:51 Speaker 2 If you want to silence him, tie his hands behind his back; he won’t be able to speak. The involuntary things a person does, the movements he makes, walking and so on—all the time, they don’t take time. A person wants to walk, and his legs walk. He wants to describe something, and his hand moves. It doesn’t take time, right? Why not? From the moment the person gives the command, from the moment the brain gives the command until it reaches the hand—isn’t there a distance to cover? How can it take no time? The Alter Rebbe says it’s because the limbs are utterly subordinate to the soul. The limbs sense what the soul wants. The soul is present equally throughout the body. However we explain it, the limbs sense what the soul wants and act automatically. The soul doesn’t need to command a person’s limb what to do. When it wants to do something, the limb does it on its own. Right? That is called bittul. It’s bittul like the body’s bittul to the soul. Right? The Alter Rebbe asks: Why are the mitzvos called “the King’s limbs”? Because the mitzvos are not Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. They are what He wants. That is not Him. He wants this or that, but it isn’t Him. Yet His will is utterly subordinate to Him in the same way that the body is subordinate to the soul. All right? They become united in the same way. That is why the mitzvos are called the King’s limbs. “Rather, at the very instant”—line five—“Rather, at the very instant it arises in his will. So, by way of analogy, the vitality of performing and fulfilling the mitzvos is completely subordinate to the supernal will clothed within it, and becomes to it literally like a body to a soul.” The Rebbe doesn’t say this explicitly here. But what does it actually say? That with every mitzvah, when a person fulfills it, who is present here in my world now? Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. If the mitzvah is subordinate

23:34 Speaker 2 to Him and united with Him as the body is united with the soul, and now I am the one fulfilling the mitzvah, then I become completely united with Hashem’s will. He and I are one as the body and soul are one. That is essentially what it says, right? What have we been discussing until now? The mitzvos themselves. Now the Rebbe is going to break down the performance of mitzvos into three parts. After all, when I fulfill a mitzvah, how do I do it? Through thought, speech, and action. I can’t fulfill a mitzvah without—the soul has to fulfill the mitzvos in this world. How does the soul connect with this world? Through the soul’s garments, right? Are you with me or not?

24:30 Speaker 11 Yes.

24:31 Speaker 2 When my soul craves a cup of coffee, it can keep craving one until tomorrow. If I don’t think about it and want it, put my power of action to work, reach out my hand, and then make a bracha, it won’t happen on its own. The soul connects with the world through its three garments: thought, speech, and action. Since, in practice, we fulfill every mitzvah through thought, speech, and action, the Rebbe wants to show us in detail how this idea—that the mitzvos are like the limbs of a body—is expressed in our thought, speech, and action. So he starts from the bottom up. And not only is the mitzvah itself like a body to a soul; so too is the outer garment of the G-dly soul of the person fulfilling and performing the mitzvah. It isn’t only the soul’s desire to fulfill a mitzvah that unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The power of action with which it performs the mitzvah also unites with the supernal will, just as the soul does. Just as the soul, when it wants to fulfill a mitzvah, unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a body with a soul, so too the soul’s power of action, which actually performs the mitzvah: the supernal will is now revealed in it as well. “That is, its power and faculty of action. It is clothed in the vitality of the mitzvah’s performance and likewise becomes like a body to a soul in relation to the supernal will, completely subordinate to it. Therefore, the limbs of the person’s body that fulfill the mitzvah, in which the G-dly soul’s power and faculty of action are clothed while the mitzvah is being performed and fulfilled, become”—the person’s limbs “become an actual vehicle for the supernal will.” Exactly like the soul itself. So not only are the mitzvos the King’s limbs; the person too, his physical body, is subordinate to Hakadosh Boruch Hu while he fulfills a mitzvah, and unites with Him like a body with a soul. “For example, the hand that distributes

26:52 Speaker 2 charity to the poor.” So now, in that hand, the very essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed, clothed in His will within the mitzvah, which is clothed in the hand. “Or performs another mitzvah. And the feet that walk for the sake of a mitzvah. Likewise, the mouth and tongue that speak words of Torah, and the mind that contemplates words of Torah, fear of Heaven, and the greatness of Hashem, blessed be He.” So whenever a person fulfills a mitzvah with a particular limb, that physical limb of his body is subordinate to Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a body to a soul. “And this is what our Sages said: ‘The Patriarchs themselves were the vehicle.’” Why were they the vehicle? Every Jew is a vehicle. Whenever a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, he is a vehicle for the supernal will. Why did our Sages say that the Patriarchs themselves were the vehicle? What is the difference between the Patriarchs and all other Jews? “Because all of their limbs were holy and removed from matters of this world, and throughout their lives they were a vehicle for the supernal will alone.” As for me, when I fulfill the mitzvah of charity, my hand is a vehicle at that moment.

28:15 Speaker 2 And what about my left hand? It’s less of a vehicle. Right? When I study Torah, my mind is a vehicle. And what about my hands? They’re off duty now; they aren’t united with the supernal will at that moment. But with the Patriarchs, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, all their limbs, throughout their lives without any interruption, were literally a vehicle for the supernal will—every single moment of their lives. That is why it says of the Patriarchs that they themselves were the vehicle. So up to here we’ve discussed... Actually, there’s something I should have emphasized and didn’t, though I did talk about it. Look for a moment at the previous page; this is important for what comes next. Lines eleven and twelve: “The faculty of action of the G-dly soul is clothed in the vitality of performing the mitzvah and becomes like a body to a soul.” Do you see the wording? When the G-dly soul’s power of action is fulfilling a mitzvah, in what way does it unite with G-dliness? Like what?

29:42 Speaker 12 A body to a soul.

29:43 Speaker 2 Like a body to a soul.

29:44 Speaker 12 It gives it expression.

29:44 Speaker 2 What?

29:45 Speaker 12 It allows the will to find expression.

29:47 Speaker 2 To find expression. Yes, but what’s the analogy? Like a body to a soul—that’s the analogy. And then, when we look at line fifteen, two lines further on, right? Suddenly he switches to something that sounds—“While the mitzvah is being performed and fulfilled, they become” what?

30:05 Speaker 12 A vehicle.

30:05 Speaker 2 Suddenly it becomes a vehicle.

30:09 Speaker 12 Ah.

30:10 Speaker 2 Huh? Did you notice that suddenly he switches phase? I don’t know what a phase is. You probably study electricity.

30:19 Speaker 12 No.

30:20 Speaker 2 Thank G-d, no. I won’t explain what a phase is to you. [unclear] I’ll explain—actually, a phase is a wonderful analogy. I’ll just mention it without going into the details. You know that some homes have a single-phase connection and others have three-phase power. That—that—everyone... But everyone knows there’s single-phase and three-phase power. You know there are air conditioners that run on single-phase power—

30:58 Speaker 12 Is that power?

30:59 Speaker 2 And there are air conditioners that run on three-phase power. You haven’t heard of that? You really haven’t?

31:05 Speaker 12 Today there’s just a phase, so it runs on one power source, three power sources.

31:10 Speaker 2 All right. Most of the sockets in our homes have three holes. Right? There are sockets with five holes. That exists. When you want particularly powerful machines, instead of three holes in the electrical socket, there are five. All right? Why? What’s the difference between three holes and five? You always need two holes—electrical sockets, right? You always need two holes: one to prevent electrocution and one to give the electricity somewhere to return to. So two of the holes aren’t supplying power. That means the remaining holes are. In other words, there are two types: electricity that needs one source, one supply—

32:00 Speaker 12 Only with two holes.

32:01 Speaker 2 And machines that run on three electrical supplies. All right?

32:07 Speaker 12 And those have only two.

32:11 Speaker 2 Now, are we all right so far?

32:14 Speaker 12 Yes.

32:14 Speaker 2 What’s the difference? With an electric motor, if electricity comes into it from just one direction, the way it works is: on, off, on, off, on, off, on, off. Its momentum keeps it turning all the time, but inside, it’s actually on, off, on, off, on, off, so it isn’t that powerful. If you feed it electricity from three directions, then at every moment it receives electricity from a different direction, so it runs continuously. The same amount of energy will therefore produce much more power. Putting in the same amount of energy gives it much more power. That’s called three-phase power. All right? What does this have to do with our subject?

32:58 Speaker 12 Sorry, one second, the class is being recorded. You know. The class is being recorded.

33:04 Speaker 2 Afterward, afterward we delete the parts that aren’t relevant.

33:09 Speaker 12 …

33:09 Speaker 2 It’s not—when it goes online, it goes up in a shortened form. We delete things. No, but okay. What does that have to do with our subject? Until now, we were talking about how the Alter Rebbe approached it from one direction. Suddenly, body—from the direction of body and soul. Suddenly he switched to the subject of a chariot and its rider. He’s approaching it from a different direction all of a sudden. It’s...

33:42 Speaker 12 I’m still having a little trouble with it.

33:43 Speaker 2 And in a moment we’ll see that for the engine to run properly, you need both directions. Fine, that was all an aside. What’s the difference? Now, back to our subject. What’s the difference between the bittul of a body to its soul and the bittul of a chariot to its rider? Body and soul are united in the fullest sense.

34:14 Speaker 12 But each has its own way of functioning.

34:16 Speaker 2 Right. Hmm?

34:16 Speaker 12 But each has its own requirements.

34:18 Speaker 2 Each one... Yes, but my body and my soul are one. A chariot and its rider are not one. The rider is a human being, and the chariot is a wooden wagon. True, the chariot won’t do anything its rider doesn’t tell it to do. It has no will of its own; it’s completely nullified to the rider. But it’s clear to us that the connection between body and soul is a far higher connection, incomparably higher than the connection between a chariot and the person driving it. They’re two different things, right? About this, the Alter Rebbe says: “The vitality of the divine soul, the power of action of the divine soul, are nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a body to its soul. They unite with Him completely, just as soul and body are truly one. The physical act of the mitzvah, the physical object used for the mitzvah—clearly that too is nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This esrog is no longer just an esrog that grew on a tree. It’s an esrog used to fulfill a mitzvah. That’s something else entirely. It’s nullified to the Supernal Will. But how is it nullified? Like a chariot to its rider, not like body and soul.” Okay? Now that we’ve understood the difference between the bittul of body to soul and that of a chariot to its rider, the Alter Rebbe comes to tell us: Listen, there’s a third level too. There’s a higher degree of bittul—higher than a chariot to its rider, and higher than body to soul. “But thought and reflection on words of Torah in the mind, and the power of speech engaged in words of Torah in the mouth, are the inner garments of the divine soul.” Earlier we were talking about the power of action and the outer garment. The powers of speech and thought are the inner garments, right? “And all the more so the divine soul itself, which is clothed in them. They, however, are not like a chariot, nor are they like body and soul; they are actually united in complete unity with the Supernal Will.” What does “complete unity”

36:53 Speaker 2 mean? Complete unity means there aren’t two things here that come together. Even when body and soul unite perfectly, in the end the soul remains a soul and the body remains a body. They have united. They work together, and you can’t separate them. But they are two different things. The inner garments of the divine soul, though—the powers of thought and speech of the divine soul—when a Jew thinks words of Torah and speaks words of Torah, what is he speaking? What are words of Torah? What is Torah? We said at the beginning that Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are “entirely one.” It is He Himself, right? And if I’m thinking now, what am I thinking? I’m thinking Torah. So my thought is Torah. It’s not that my thought is clothed in Torah. What I’m thinking is Torah, and Torah is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So when a Jew thinks words of Torah or speaks words of Torah—through those two inner garments of the divine soul—he doesn’t merely join with Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He becomes one. He and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one. Not two things joined together, not even like body and soul, but he and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one, with that oneness fully revealed. He’s already—

38:36 Speaker 13 What?

38:36 Speaker 2 What?

38:36 Speaker 13 Like a process?

38:38 Speaker 2 A process—yes. It isn’t a mixture. It becomes one thing.

38:43 Speaker 13 Thought, speech, or action?

38:46 Speaker 2 It makes a difference.

38:47 Speaker 13 It changes the mood.

38:48 Speaker 2 That’s what he explained at length: action—the power of action, not the physical act itself, but the soul’s power that moves the body, yes? The soul’s lowest power. It too connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but only like body and soul. The two inner garments, though—thought and speech—unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in truly complete unity. “And not merely like a chariot, for the Supernal Will is the very halachah about which one thinks and speaks, since all the halachos are particular expressions of the inner Supernal Will.” What is each halachah? He wanted it this way and said it this way: “For so it arose in His will that this thing should be permitted or kosher, exempt or innocent, or the opposite.” He goes even further. Not only thought and speech concerning words of Torah, halachos and mitzvos. “And likewise all the combinations of letters in Tanach.” Even when it isn’t a mitzvah. What’s written in the Torah? The entire Torah, the entire Tanach, is prophecy, right? What is prophecy? The word of Hashem. What is the word of Hashem? It’s Torah; it’s He Himself. So not only—ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.

40:07 Speaker 13 Lucky.

40:09 Speaker 2 I got carried away. One moment. So not only... not only thought and speech concerning halachos and mitzvos, but thought and speech concerning the entire Torah as well. At that moment, the soul’s inner garments—thought and speech—are united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the fullest sense. “And likewise all the combinations of letters in Tanach, which are drawn from His will and wisdom, are united with the Ein Sof, blessed be He, in absolute unity, for He is the Knower and He is the Knowledge, etc. And this is what is meant by the statement that the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one, and not merely ‘limbs of the King,’ as the mitzvos are.” So here the Alter Rebbe finished explaining the question he asked at the beginning of the chapter: What’s the difference? Why does the Zohar say that mitzvos are only the King’s limbs, while it says of Torah that it is the King Himself? Because Torah is He Himself. A student learning Torah joins—becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When he fulfills mitzvos, his power of action is like a body to its soul, while the mitzvah itself is like the limbs of a human body; it’s like a chariot to its rider. And that gives us all three levels. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, then with every mitzvah I fulfill... Every mitzvah I fulfill, I first think about it, right? Then I speak about its halachos, and then I do it too. Right? So with every mitzvah I fulfill, I unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu completely. My powers of thought and speech become united with His very Essence and Being in complete, actual, revealed unity. Revealed? Actually revealed. Do I feel it? Wait, that’s at the end of the next chapter. We won’t get there. Why won’t we? Will we get there? Yes, yes, yes. Well? You already want to learn it? No, I just want to know about the revelation. Ah, okay. Thought. We’ll get there. [unclear]. The answer is a little disappointing, but... [unclear]. So, once again: when we fulfill a mitzvah

42:28 Speaker 2 We have thought, speech, and action. So we immediately unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the most complete way. Our thought and speech unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in complete unity, openly; our power of action unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a body with a soul; and through the mitzvah itself, the limbs of our body unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a chariot with its rider. That’s what we’ve covered so far. What’s the conclusion? Line seven: “And since the Supernal Will, which is united with the Ein Sof, blessed be He, in absolute unity, is fully revealed, with no concealment at all, within the G-dly soul clothed in…” What does “revealed” mean? When I think words of Torah and speak words of Torah, everyone can see that what I’m saying and thinking isn’t my own thoughts, wishes, and words. I’m saying what Hakadosh Boruch Hu says. This isn’t two separate things coming together. No. The words of Torah I say are His. No one would imagine that when I say you may not eat non-kosher meat, it’s because I feel like it, or because I made it up, or for some other reason—I don’t know what. It’s as clear as day, plain for everyone to see, that I say it because Hakadosh Boruch Hu said so. And the words I say are Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s words. They aren’t mine; that’s out in the open. I don’t feel it. But is it concealed? No, it’s revealed. Everyone sees it. “And since the Supernal Will is united with the Ein Sof, blessed be He, in absolute unity, and is fully revealed, with no concealment at all, within the G-dly soul and its garments—its inner garments, which are its thought and speech—at the time a person is engaged in words of Torah, then the soul too…”

44:48 Speaker 2 “…and these garments are actually united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu at that time in absolute unity, like the unity of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s speech and thought with His very Essence and Being, as explained above. For nothing is separate except where there is concealment.” And if, when I speak words of Torah and accept the mitzvos, there’s no concealment, then I’m not separate.

45:09 Speaker 3 Even though, apparently, we don’t feel it.

45:13 Speaker 2 Wait, one second.

45:15 Speaker 3 What do you want?

45:16 Speaker 2 Up to this point. Everything we said in the previous chapters: when is a person separate from G-dliness? When there’s concealment. Right? If there’s no concealment, then just as from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s side we’re one with Him, so… The concealment is only on the side of the one from whom it’s concealed. If, while I’m learning about mitzvos now, the concealment has been lifted—look, everyone can see it—then there’s no concealment. So just as I’m one with Him from His side, I’m one with Him from my side too, right? And what’s more, the unity of the soul and its garments with G-dliness while observing the mitzvos is even greater and stronger than the unity of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, with the higher worlds. For the Supernal Will is actually revealed in the soul whose garments are engaged in Torah, since the Torah itself is His will. And all the higher worlds receive their life only from the light and life-force drawn from the Torah. That very Essence and Being, that Divine light, that G-dliness which is fully revealed within me when I observe mitzvos and speak words of Torah—it isn’t present in the higher worlds. How do the higher worlds exist and have life? They’re part of a process so that, ultimately, this world can come into being and mitzvos can be observed. Torah and mitzvos aren’t there; they’re here. Hakadosh Boruch Hu didn’t give the Torah to those above. The angels asked for it, and He didn’t agree. The Torah is only here. There’s no Torah there. So when a Jew learns Torah, he unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu more than the loftiest revelations in the highest worlds. As it is written, “You made them all with wisdom.” If so, wisdom—which is Torah—is higher than them all, than all the worlds. It is His will, called sovev kol almin, “encompassing all worlds.” It only encompasses the worlds; it isn’t revealed within them. But here, within me, it is revealed. This is the Torah and wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch…

47:51 Speaker 2 Hu, which cannot be clothed within the worlds. It only gives life to the worlds and shines upon them from above, in an encompassing manner. And that same Divine radiance, which is so lofty that it cannot be revealed in the higher worlds, is clothed in the soul and its garments in a truly revealed way when they engage in words of Torah. Hey, I don’t feel any of this. “And although he himself does not see,” the person doesn’t feel it, “etc.” What’s the “etc.”? How does the saying continue? Do you know it? Anyone? Huh? “Although he himself does not see”—what does “see” mean? Do you know?

48:40 Speaker 4 His mazal.

48:42 Speaker 2 All right, I’ll tell the story.

48:45 Speaker 4 His mazal.

48:46 Speaker 2 What? Your mazal—his mazal. Yes. My wording. Yes. There’s a well-known story, also brought in Chassidus in a great many places, from the book of the prophet Daniel. Daniel tells how he and his three friends, Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were standing there, and he saw a great vision on the mountain opposite them: chariots and horses of fire, a whole army. His three friends weren’t prophets like him, so they didn’t see it. But they became frightened. The text tells us that dread and fear fell upon them. He wasn’t frightened. Now the Gemara asks about the story: If they didn’t see it, why were they afraid? What was there to be afraid of if they couldn’t see it? The Gemara answers: “Although they themselves did not see, their mazal saw.” They didn’t see it, but their souls did. And because their souls saw it and were frightened, it produced a certain fear in their bodies that they couldn’t explain.

50:05 Speaker 4 And why wasn’t Daniel afraid?

50:07 Speaker 2 He was a great prophet. Do I know why he wasn’t afraid? That’s what the Gemara tells us. All right? The Rebbe says it’s the same here. When a Jew observes a mitzvah or learns Torah, G-dliness is revealed within his soul, the soul’s garments, and his body—fully revealed. The reason he isn’t overwhelmed, the reason he can bear it, is that he doesn’t feel it. In other words, there’s a difference between revelation and feeling. Revelation means I see it; I see it, but I don’t understand it. There are many things like that. A person sees a magician doing things and knows it’s a trick, but can you explain it to me? Explain how he does it. He can’t explain it. That’s my own analogy, something along those lines, but it isn’t exact. There’s a difference between revelation and feeling. It’s fully revealed, but it isn’t felt. Where is it felt? In the soul. The soul itself does feel it. And in the future it will be revealed to everyone. So the Rebbe adds here in parentheses: “And that is why he can bear it: because he does not see,” unlike those above. On the contrary, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did us a kindness by not giving us the ability to feel it. If we could feel the Divine unity while observing mitzvos, we would be nullified at that very moment; we couldn’t continue to exist. This also explains why engaging in Torah is so much greater than all the mitzvos. As we said, with all the mitzvos the unity is only like a chariot’s submission to its rider, or a body’s to its soul, whereas with Torah it is complete unity. Even greater than prayer. After all, prayer brings about the unity of the higher worlds. Torah is greater even than that unity, because Torah is actual union. He adds here in parentheses: “As for the law that one whose Torah study is not his occupation must interrupt it…” Why…

52:02 Speaker 2 must he interrupt? Torah is higher than prayer. If Torah is higher than prayer, why must he stop learning to pray? Because he interrupts his learning anyway; he wastes time either way. You know what that’s like?

52:18 Speaker 4 So you’re already—

52:19 Speaker 2 So you’re already stopping every other second in the middle of your learning anyway, right? You might as well do something positive with that time.

52:25 Speaker 4 How fortunate we are.

52:26 Speaker 2 What?

52:26 Speaker 4 Yes.

52:27 Speaker 2 Right. That’s why the Tannaim and Amoraim whose Torah study truly was their occupation did not interrupt it, and they were indeed exempt from prayer. By the way, even in our generation there are Jews who are exempt from prayer, and it’s written in halachah in the Shulchan Aruch. Who are they? Anyone know? A riddle. Who in our generation is exempt from prayer? As a matter of halachah.

52:52 Speaker 4 Women.

52:52 Speaker 2 Huh? No.

52:53 Speaker 4 Women and men.

52:54 Speaker 2 No, all right. It says that anyone engaged in—

52:59 Speaker 4 Ah, in a mitzvah. They’re exempt from positive and negative commandments.

53:02 Speaker 2 That’s one.

53:04 Speaker 4 No, seriously.

53:05 Speaker 2 Right. Right. But mainly, it says explicitly—not in a particular case, but generally—regarding tefillin: anyone who writes tefillin, and not only someone who writes them, but also someone who prepares them and someone who sells them. And not only the merchants, but even the merchants’ merchants. Anyone who is connected to tefillin in any way, as long as he is engaged in the tefillin trade, is exempt from all the mitzvos, including prayer.

53:38 Speaker 4 But what’s the point? Because—

53:40 Speaker 2 For the same reason. Because tefillin are the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

53:43 Speaker 4 But someone who handles tefillin—tefillin are part of prayer.

53:47 Speaker 2 No, “handles” means preparing the tefillin.

53:50 Speaker 4 Sure, okay. This is someone who works—someone who helps the person preparing the tefillin. In other words, he’s helping someone else.

53:58 Speaker 2 He helps him because he’s his son, so not—

54:00 Speaker 4 Listen to me for a second. In any case, are tefillin part of prayer?

54:03 Speaker 2 Yes.

54:04 Speaker 4 So since he’s helping someone else pray, it’s as though he himself has to pray—

54:08 Speaker 5 But that isn’t prayer.

54:09 Speaker 4 That doesn’t make him exempt from prayer, because tefillin are a mitzvah.

54:15 Speaker 2 All right, so—

54:17 Speaker 4 We’re talking about a sofer STaM who—got it!

54:25 Speaker 2 In practice, although this is an explicit halachah, there isn’t a single sofer STaM who follows it. On the contrary, if a sofer STaM did follow it, nobody would buy from him. Even though it’s an explicit halachah in the Shulchan Aruch. All right, what does this mean for us in practice? What does this mean for us in practice? “And from this, the discerning person can”—this is the last passage. So hang in there another ten, five minutes.

54:57 Speaker 4 Hang in there.

54:59 Speaker 2 The last passage of the chapter. “And from this, the discerning person can draw upon himself a great awe while engaging in Torah study, when he contemplates”—meaning, before he begins to study Torah—“how his soul and its garments in his mind and mouth are truly united in the most complete unity with the Supernal Will and the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, which is actually revealed within them. Before Him, all the higher and lower worlds are of no account, truly as nothing and naught. Thus, He does not actually become clothed within them, but rather encompasses all worlds, sustaining them with their essential vitality in a transcendent manner. Only a certain radiance becomes clothed within them, as much as they can bear without becoming entirely nullified out of existence.” And that divine radiance, which even the higher worlds cannot bear and which sustains them only from beyond—when I’m about to study Torah, it’s about to become completely united with me. So if a person thinks about this and contemplates it before studying Torah, it will naturally bring him to a great awe. “And this is what is meant by the verse, ‘And Hashem commanded us all these statutes, to fear Him,’ and so on.” That verse is very strange. Usually we say, “The beginning of wisdom is fear of Hashem.” Right? If a person wants to attain wisdom, Torah and mitzvos, first he needs to have fear of Heaven. If he has fear of Heaven, he’ll keep the mitzvos. Right? So which leads to which? Fear leads to study and mitzvos. Right? What does the verse say here? The opposite. “Hashem commanded us all these statutes, to fear Him.” You want to have fear? Keep the statutes, and you’ll have fear. What’s the logic? What? So that’s not what it says here. Let’s explain. What’s the explanation? Based on what we’ve just explained in this chapter, it’s clear. There are two kinds of fear. There’s a fear called yirah tata’ah, lower fear, which leads to keeping mitzvos; and there’s a fear that comes as a result of keeping mitzvos. Through contemplating that keeping the mitzvos will bring him to complete union

57:23 Speaker 2 with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he comes to feel awe. That’s called great awe, which comes afterward, through the mitzvos. So that’s what our Sages said in Pirkei Avos: “If there is no fear, there is no wisdom. If there is no wisdom, there is no fear.” Well, which came first, the chicken or the egg? So they explained that these are two kinds of fear. If there is no lower fear, there is no wisdom—no Torah and mitzvos. And then, if there is no wisdom, there is no fear. The higher stage is that through contemplating the mitzvos and how he unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he reaches higher fear.

58:00 Speaker 6 Like a manager—as though just anyone could come and manage.

58:03 Speaker 2 Yes.

58:04 Speaker 6 But it isn’t his; he doesn’t know him.

58:05 Speaker 2 Yes.

58:05 Speaker 6 Now.

58:07 Speaker 2 Yes, all right. Good. “But not every mind can bear this”—this kind of awe. There’s a Jew like that... I know one quite well who could—actually, that Jew I know well put a lot of effort into contemplating this, trying to think about it and to have at least a little of this awe himself. And he’ll honestly admit to you that it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen. Why? Not every mind can bear this kind of awe. It really is a lofty matter. A person needs to contemplate deeply, and he also needs to believe it, feel it and be refined, for him truly, truly to have this awe. Otherwise it remains only an intellectual understanding and doesn’t bring awe into his heart. But the Tanya says that even “one whose mind cannot bear this fear at all”—he isn’t capable of this kind of awe—“not even a little of it” is possible for him, as is the case with most people in our generation, “because of the low standing of his soul at its root and source, in the lower levels of the ten sefiros of Asiyah.” As we said in chapter 2—we learned it back in chapter 2—most souls in our generation come from Malchus of Malchus of Asiyah, the lower levels. So our soul cannot feel this awe, this great awe. “The absence of this fear does not prevent him from acting,” as will be explained later. We’ll see later—not in the next chapter, but in chapter 25—that to awaken the divine soul’s natural love, one doesn’t need to reach that deep contemplation or that higher awe. It’s enough just to remember that this is a reality: I study Torah, and through it I unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is enough to give me the strength to keep the mitzvos.

1:00:22 Speaker 6 Thank you very much.

1:00:53 Speaker 2 But in general, everyone is standing. Oh, dear. I’m not here—I’ve already left.