Likkutei Amarim Chapter 24 · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 I need to tell you in Russian.

00:01 Speaker 2 Okay, chapter 34 is—chapter 24 is the second-to-last chapter in this group of chapters where the Alter Rebbe teaches what our service of Hashem is, the service of the beinoni, the simple service of Hashem for each and every person. How it is very close to every person to reveal the hidden love. So this is the second-to-last chapter. In the first chapters, he explained what the hidden love is, what its source is, why it is hidden: it is the chochmah of the soul, the essence of the soul, and it awakens when a person is put to a test in a matter of faith. Only then does it awaken, and when it does, the person will of course not commit any sin. The moment his hidden love awakens, it burns away the yetzer hara, melts it, and it simply disappears. He will not commit even the gravest sins. What’s the problem? It isn’t awake all the time. You have to awaken it. How do you awaken it? The Alter Rebbe explains in these chapters how all the mitzvos, both positive and negative, are particulars of the prohibition against idol worship. All 613 mitzvos are particulars of the prohibition against idol worship. In other words, whenever the yetzer hara tempts a person to commit a sin, if he thinks, “The sin I’m about to commit is exactly like idol worship”—not just like it; it’s the same thing—his hidden love will awaken and he won’t commit the sin. Simple logic. But how do you explain that all the mitzvos are like idol worship? There are all sorts of mitzvos. What connection is there between lighting candles, or a sukkah, or an esrog or lulav, or Chanukah, and idol worship? What’s the connection? So he explained what—

02:16 Speaker 2 What the difference is between kedushah and kelipos. Kedushah is anything that is nullified to G-dliness. Kelipos are anything that is not nullified, that feels itself to be an independent existence. Right. Whenever a person does a mitzvah, what does fulfilling a mitzvah mean? That at that moment he is nullifying himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When he learns Torah, he is learning the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When he fulfills a mitzvah, he is fulfilling Hashem’s will. In the previous chapters, he explained at great length what Hashem’s oneness and unity mean, that there is nothing besides Him, that the true reality... Do you remember? Do I need to go over that again?

02:57 Speaker 1 Yes.

02:59 Speaker 2 Yes, I need to go over it, or yes, you remember?

03:01 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, it’s fine if you go over it.

03:04 Speaker 2 Look, he began the subject there. We’ll come back to our point in a moment. He began with what our Sages said, with belief in Hashem’s oneness. The verse in the Torah says: “Know this day and take it to heart that Hashem is G-d in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is nothing else.” That’s a verse. A simple question: Why does a person need to “know this day and take it to heart” that Hashem is one? Everyone knows Hashem is one. When you warn someone over and over, “Contemplate it and think about it,” you’re talking about something difficult to grasp. Here we’re talking about something very simple: Hashem is one. There is only one G-d, and He is one. What is there to contemplate and take to heart? Why is the Torah so insistent? Right, that was the question he asked at the beginning. What was the explanation? Why does the Torah need to insist so strongly that you know there is only one Hashem? Because believing in Hashem’s oneness doesn’t mean merely believing that there is one G-d and not two. You have to believe that Hashem is one and there is nothing besides Him. There is no other existence—not just no other G-d besides Him. There is no existence besides Him. G-dliness—Hashem is the only true reality that exists. And that really is the point. I don’t feel that way. No one feels that way. We live in a whole world with people, with animals, with an entire world, and a person doesn’t feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the only reality. A person feels that he lives in a world. At most, he can understand that Hakadosh Boruch Hu runs the world. But to feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the reality of the world—I don’t feel that way. I don’t understand it that way; I don’t see it

04:56 Speaker 2 that way. It doesn’t seem that way. Right. Yet belief in Hashem’s oneness means believing that Hashem is one. “There is nothing besides Him” means that only He exists. How do you explain such a thing? So he explains that the world was created something from nothing. How did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the world? What was the world before Hakadosh Boruch Hu created it? Was there a world?

05:24 Speaker 12 Tohu va’vohu.

05:25 Speaker 2 No. “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth,” and afterward “the earth was tohu va’vohu.”

05:34 Speaker 12 Oh, He created it first.

05:35 Speaker 2 First He created it. But before He created it, even tohu va’vohu didn’t exist. What did exist?

05:41 Speaker 12 Only Him.

05:41 Speaker 2 Hmm?

05:42 Speaker 12 Only—there was nothing here, only Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

05:46 Speaker 2 Only Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Where was He? In what place was He?

05:51 Speaker 12 There was no place.

05:51 Speaker 2 There was no place. What does “no place” mean?

05:54 Speaker 12 Everywhere.

05:55 Speaker 2 No!

05:56 Speaker 12 What do you mean, no?

05:57 Speaker 2 After Hakadosh Boruch Hu created space, He is everywhere. He is also where there is no space. But before He created the reality of space, what was there? There wasn’t any. Now, we cannot picture a reality in which something is absent. I can picture a place. Here’s a cup; now it’s gone. So now there’s no cup here, right? But although there’s no cup here, there is still a place here. There’s empty space. Can anyone picture a reality in which there isn’t even empty space? No. What does “nothing” mean? Right? Hakadosh Boruch Hu created all of reality, including empty space, something from nothing. He created it. Before He created it, it didn’t exist. So because the world’s true reality is that it does not exist, He must make it exist at every single moment, because the real—because—

07:03 Speaker 12 You.

07:05 Speaker 2 I’ll give an analogy. We used the analogy of a stone for this. When a person throws a stone—right, he throws a stone—has the stone turned into a bird?

07:17 Speaker 12 No.

07:18 Speaker 2 No. So why is it flying through the air? A bird flies through the air; a stone doesn’t. Why is it flying through the air now? Because the force the person put into it is keeping it in the air. When that force runs out, it will go back to being an ordinary stone, just as before. After all, it hasn’t changed. Right? When you take something and make it act contrary to its nature, it doesn’t change. The moment the force stops holding it, it goes back to what it was before. Right. So what is the world’s true reality? Absence. Nothing. Nothing. The moment it stops being created, it doesn’t exist. Right? So what do we understand from this? Since the world’s true reality is, in fact, nothing, even while the world exists, what exists here? There is nothing here, an absence here, zero here. What reality does exist? Only Hashem. There is nothing besides Him. Okay? That was the point of the explanation. He explained it in much more detail. Okay, that’s barely even scratching the surface, but that’s the point. So what are kedushah and kelipos? Kedushah is anything that is nullified to G-dliness. What does “nullified to G-dliness” mean? That it truly feels itself to be nothing. If an angel feels that the world’s true reality is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and feels itself to be nothing, to be zero, then the angel is holy. A tzaddik feels that the truest reality in the world is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and therefore he does nothing else and thinks only about mitzvos and Torah. He has nothing else in his life. Why? Because he is nullified to holiness, so he is holy. Right? But a person who doesn’t think about Hakadosh Boruch Hu—as the person becomes more distant, less nullified to Hashem’s will, not only

09:35 Speaker 2 A person—anything in which holiness is not revealed is distant from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s the difference between holiness and kelipos, between holiness and impurity. Right? Good. Now that we understand this principle, the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain what it has to do with Torah and mitzvos. What are mitzvos? What is the meaning of all the positive mitzvos? That now Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed in the world. Before, the esrog was just growing on a tree; now it is a fruit through which Hashem’s will is fulfilled. And while Hashem’s will is being fulfilled through it, the physical fruit is united with His will and is nullified to it, so it reveals holiness. Right? And the person—certainly, the person nullifies his own will to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There are several levels to this: the person’s soul is nullified, his thought is nullified, and his body is nullified. So the person, his soul, and the physical object are nullified to Hashem’s will when he performs a mitzvah. What does that mean? What is the essence of every mitzvah? To reveal the oneness of Hashem. Once more? Should we go over it?

11:06 Speaker 13 Yes.

11:08 Speaker 2 What does a mitzvah do? A person performs a mitzvah. What happens when he does it? What is revealed in the world? It is revealed that there is nothing besides Him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants me to put on tefillin. When I put on tefillin, what is revealed here? That my entire existence, the existence of the tefillin, and everything else are only what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants. There is nothing else here. When I study Hashem’s wisdom, what is revealed? My intellect and my thoughts—what is here now? Hashem’s wisdom is here. Whenever a person performs a mitzvah, it is revealed in the world that there is nothing besides Him. So every single mitzvah, all the mitzvos, are particulars of “I am Hashem your G-d,” of the mitzvah to believe in Hashem. All right? That was in the previous chapter. What does this chapter explain? The other side: what are the prohibitions? So we need to explain that prohibitions reveal how a person becomes separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He explains here just how far that goes. Let’s look inside. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came to be. Amen. Chapter 24. “And corresponding to this are the 365 Torah prohibitions and all the rabbinic prohibitions.” So it isn’t only the Torah’s prohibitions that are contrary to Hashem’s will; rabbinic prohibitions are too. What are rabbinic prohibitions? Things the Sages forbade. Okay? Such as what? Decrees and enactments—things the Sages forbade. Why is that contrary to Hashem’s will? Hakadosh Boruch Hu didn’t say not to do it. The Sages said not to do it. Human beings said it. Why is it contrary to Hashem’s will? Do you understand what I’m asking?

13:21 Speaker 14 Yes. They’re prohibitions.

13:26 Speaker 2 But these are prohibitions that people made. It wasn’t Hakadosh Boruch Hu; it isn’t written in the Torah. For example, the Torah doesn’t say you have to light Shabbos candles half an hour before sunset. It says to add a minute from the weekday to the holy day; it doesn’t say half an hour. In Afula, if a woman lights candles twenty-five minutes before sunset, is it already forbidden for her to light? It is. But if that same woman lives—hmm?

13:57 Speaker 14 Is that a yes or a no? Half an hour is too much, isn’t it?

14:02 Speaker 2 That’s how the halachah was decided in Afula. And if that same woman—

14:07 Speaker 14 It says four, but if I—

14:09 Speaker 2 And if that same woman is visiting or traveling to her family in Tel Aviv—

14:14 Speaker 14 That’s already half an hour. Sunset is...

14:18 Speaker 15 Half an hour before sunset.

14:20 Speaker 2 And if that same woman travels—

14:21 Speaker 14 And four? Then she lights at ten to four.

14:24 Speaker 2 So she needs to light according to the calendar. It’s all set out in the calendar.

14:27 Speaker 15 No, she needs to light a few minutes before.

14:29 Speaker 14 She can. You can. Not at ten to, before that. Up to an hour.

14:34 Speaker 2 And if that same woman traveled to Tel Aviv the following Shabbos, or the Shabbos before, to a friend or to family, then suddenly, if she lights candles even twenty minutes later, it’s fine, because there they light only ten minutes before sunset. And what if she’s in Jerusalem?

14:53 Speaker 14 Oh, it changes from city to city?

14:55 Speaker 2 Yes, and in Jerusalem it’s forty minutes.

14:58 Speaker 15 But why—

14:59 Speaker 2 Why does it change? Because it isn’t written in the Torah. The Sages decided it. Why did they decide that? There are reasons. It doesn’t matter right now. No, we’re—

15:05 Speaker 14 Why Shabbos begins later.

15:07 Speaker 2 No, this isn’t a halachah class right now. What I want to emphasize is that these are laws the Sages established. They aren’t written in the Torah. So why is someone who goes against what the Sages established acting contrary to Hashem’s will? Hashem didn’t say it was forbidden. What’s the problem?

15:27 Speaker 15 But the Sages didn’t say it on their own authority.

15:30 Speaker 2 Why not? They did say it on their own authority. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to keep a person away from transgression. I’ll go further. One of the Torah’s mitzvos, a positive mitzvah in the Torah, is: “Do not deviate from anything they tell you, right or left.” There is a Torah mitzvah to follow what the Sages establish. Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded us to listen to the Sages. So if the Sages enacted something, Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded us to listen to them, and what they said is also Hashem’s will. “Since all the prohibitions are contrary to His will and wisdom, may He be blessed—their very opposite—they are utterly separate from His unity and oneness.” Just as the positive mitzvos reveal His wisdom and will, what do the prohibitions do? They are the opposite of His wisdom and will. So these mitzvos... By fulfilling a positive mitzvah, a person nullifies himself and cleaves to the Shechinah. But through a prohibition, he separates himself from the Shechinah. And he is separated—these prohibitions are separate from G-dliness. Utterly separate. “Just like the sitra achra and the kelipah, which are called idolatry and other gods.” So there is the spiritual kelipah, and there is the physical thing with which the transgression is committed. Right? The spiritual kelipah is certainly separate from Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the impure kelipos. Why? Because they are impure kelipos. What does that mean? They feel themselves to be an independent existence. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants one thing, and they feel themselves to be something in their own right, so they are separate. Right? But when a person commits a transgression, he commits it with something physical in the world, and now the spiritual kelipah gives life to that physical thing. So the physical thing, too, becomes united with the kelipos, just as an object used for a mitzvah becomes united with holiness. A physical thing becomes impure and separate, like the kelipah. And the sitra achra and the kelipah are—they are—it is called idolatry and other

18:29 Speaker 2 gods “because the Supernal Will is concealed from them, as explained above.” Do you remember why we said the kelipos are called “other gods”? This is important. It’s an important point. That’s one reason. Yes. What is idolatry? An idol is a statue. Right? A statue, a stone, something someone bows down to. An idol is some object people bow down to. The sun, the moon—it doesn’t matter. Right? Why is a spiritual kelipah called idolatry? Nobody bows down to worship a spiritual kelipah. Why is it called idolatry? The works of Kabbalah say that the spiritual kelipos are also called idolatry. Why? Because what characterizes idolatry, these “other gods”? They receive from the aspect of “the back.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not want to give them life; He does not want them. So to speak, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is compelled to sustain them. What does that mean? It can’t be that way.

19:32 Speaker 16 Compelled to sustain what? The idol?

19:35 Speaker 2 If Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t want idolatry, He doesn’t want the kelipos, why does He create them? He could simply not create them. After all, He creates everything from nothing.

19:41 Speaker 16 He wants the result.

19:43 Speaker 2 What?

19:44 Speaker 16 He wants the result in the end.

19:46 Speaker 2 Because He wants the result. He doesn’t want them. He wants to put a person to the test. He wants to give a person reward, so He needs to put him to the test. So, as it were, there’s no choice: He has to create something He hates. But how does Hakadosh Boruch Hu regard the kelipos? He hates them. That is why they are “other”—“other gods.” There are other reasons too. And more than that, what else did we discuss earlier? The spiritual kelipah is called idolatry. We understand why. When a person commits a transgression, the physical thing with which he commits it also becomes united with the kelipah, and it too becomes idolatry. What about the person himself? Who have we been talking about? The spiritual kelipah and the physical thing. What about the person who commits the transgression? “Also the three garments of the soul from kelipas nogah in a Jew—thought, speech, and action—which are clothed in the 365 Torah and rabbinic prohibitions.” Who does it? How does a person commit a transgression? With his body. He thinks, speaks, and acts. Yes. Who does that? Who directs the body?

21:06 Speaker 17 The head.

21:06 Speaker 2 The soul. What makes the body function? There’s a soul in the body, clothed in it, and it commits the sin, right? So it isn’t correct to say that only the body becomes united with the kelipah. If the body didn’t have a soul giving it life, it wouldn’t commit a sin. True, the body is what actually commits the sin. But what about the soul that gives it life? Doesn’t it commit the sin too? Of course it does. So the soul’s garments—its thought, speech, and action—also become united with the kelipah. Yes. It follows that while the soul gives life to the body, it too is called idolatry. When a person commits a sin, the person himself is called idolatry and “other gods.” More than that: not only thought, speech, or action, but also the very essence of the soul clothed in those garments. Can a person act, speak, or think without a soul inside? We said that thought, speech, and action are only the soul’s garments. What about the soul itself? There’s a soul clothed in those garments. So when a person commits a sin, the whole chain is involved: the kelipah is certainly “other gods,” and the body becomes united with it. Thought, speech, and action become united with it, and so does the person’s soul. And not only that. He takes it a step further: they are subordinate and secondary to it, and far worse and lower than it. When a person commits a sin, he descends to a level worse than the three utterly impure kelipos.

22:59 Speaker 17 Quiet music.

23:01 Speaker 2 Yes, I’ll say that at the end. Why? Because the kelipah, the spiritual kelipah, isn’t clothed in a physical body. A person is clothed in a physical body; the spiritual kelipah isn’t. And so the spiritual kelipah knows its Master and does not rebel against Him, against Hakadosh Boruch Hu, by acting through the evil angels it sends out unless Hashem, blessed be He, has sent it—G-d forbid. When the kelipah acts—say we say that Satan destroyed the Beis Hamikdash, right? What, did he do it on his own initiative? Hakadosh Boruch Hu sent him to destroy the Beis Hamikdash. Yes. The kelipah does bad and harmful things, but it doesn’t do them on its own initiative. It does them because Hakadosh Boruch Hu sent it. And when a person does bad and harmful things, does he do them because Hakadosh Boruch Hu sent him? Yes or no?

24:03 Speaker 17 That’s free choice, isn’t it?

24:07 Speaker 2 That’s free choice. The kelipah, as bad as it is—we’re talking about the three utterly impure kelipos, which we discussed in chapter 7: how severe, how bad, how terrible they are. But in the end, they do their job. True, Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates them; they do bad and harmful things. But the bottom line is that they don’t rebel. They feel themselves to be an independent existence, a separate entity. That’s all true, but they only do what they’re told. A human being is the only creature in all the worlds who can act against Hashem’s will, and when he does that, he commits a sin. So he is worse than the kelipah. Because although the kelipah does things and feels itself to be an independent existence, its separateness only goes so far. Only a human being can act against Hashem’s will. As Bilaam said: “I cannot transgress the word of Hashem.” When the messengers come to Bilaam, he tells them, “I’d very much like to, but if Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t tell me to, I can’t do anything to the Jewish people.” You’d think Bilaam was some great tzaddik, right? That he’d never committed a sin in his life. What happened? Chazal say in the Midrashim that Bilaam was quite capable of committing some very serious sins. And suddenly, when they come to him now, he can’t transgress the word of Hashem. What happened? His whole life he transgressed the word of Hashem. Do you hear the question? Yes, there’s a difference between Bilaam as a wicked individual and Bilaam as an emissary of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As long as Bilaam is Bilaam the wicked man, he can commit sins, has no problem with it, and commits plenty of them. A lot. But when Bilaam now goes to curse the Jewish people, how is he going to curse the

26:18 Speaker 2 Jewish people? What can he do? What does it mean to curse them? It means that he is an emissary of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to curse them. What does Bilaam say there? That his entire power is to pinpoint the moment when Hakadosh Boruch Hu is angry. He can tell when Hakadosh Boruch Hu is angry and then draw that down here. So if he is an emissary of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, at that point he can no longer transgress the word of Hashem. The moment he functions as a kelipah, a kelipah cannot transgress the word of Hashem. “And although they are called idolatry, they call Him ‘the G-d of gods.’” In other words, although the impure spiritual kelipos are called idolatry, “they call Him ‘the G-d of gods.’” They acknowledge that their life-force comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and they cannot transgress His will at all, because they know and understand that He is their life and sustenance, which they draw from the outermost aspect of the supernal will, blessed be He, that encompasses them. So why are they separate? What did we say before? Anything that is nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu is holiness, right? What does impurity mean? It means something that is not nullified, that feels itself to be an independent existence. If the kelipah acknowledges that it receives its life-force from holiness—and not only acknowledges that, but cannot transgress the word of Hashem—then is it nullified? Why, then, do you call it impure? So what’s the answer?

28:14 Speaker 17 No.

28:15 Speaker 2 Again. What is impurity? Impurity is something... A person, a person who feels himself to be an independent existence doesn’t feel... he doesn’t feel connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he feels independent. The truth is that nothing is independent. But if someone or something feels that it isn’t connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, then it is separate. The moment a person feels, “In order to live, I need to eat,” he is separate. He is impurity, he is sitra achra, he is idolatry, he is kelipah. Right? Now, the spiritual kelipos know their Master. Not like us—we don’t know. They do know, and because they know their Master, they cannot transgress the word of Hashem. So if they know, don’t transgress the word of Hashem, and are nullified to Him, why do you call them idolatry? What answer does he give? He says: “Rather, the life-force they draw, which is within them, is in a state of exile within them, so that they consider themselves divine. This is a denial of His unity”—but not a denial of Him. There are two... two levels of denial. There’s someone who denies Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who doesn’t believe Hakadosh Boruch Hu exists. Then there’s someone who does believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but believes there are other gods too. He believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu as well, right? And there’s someone whose view is even subtler: there are no other gods. He believes only in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It’s just that he also believes, “I exist too.” Right? So the very fact that the kelipos feel themselves to be an independent existence is already a denial of Hashem’s unity. That’s why they’re called kelipah, idolatry, “other gods,” and impure kelipos. Why? Because they feel themselves to be an independent existence. Not because they deny Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They acknowledge Hakadosh Boruch Hu, know their Master, don’t act against

30:32 Speaker 2 His will, and are completely nullified to Him. The very fact that they feel themselves to be an independent existence is already called idolatry and “other gods.”

30:39 Speaker 17 You said they’re nullified, and now you’re saying they’re...

30:42 Speaker 2 They’re nullified to His will, but they feel themselves to be an independent existence.

30:47 Speaker 17 An independent existence.

30:48 Speaker 2 And that very fact, that feeling, the very fact... The Rebbe says something here...

30:55 Speaker 17 What about us? We feel ourselves to be independent all the time.

30:57 Speaker 2 Oh! That’s exactly what we’re learning.

31:08 Speaker 17 That’s the problem—you understand.

31:10 Speaker 2 For a person to be sitra achra, repulsive, a kelipah, idolatry, “other gods,” he doesn’t have to commit any sin. It’s enough that he feels himself to be an independent existence. Very encouraging, right? After all, that is a denial of Hashem’s oneness. Nevertheless, the kelipos do not utterly deny Hashem, saying, “He is not.” That’s biblical language, a little unusual because it’s a quotation from a verse: “They denied Hashem, saying, ‘He is not.’” It’s from the Book of Yirmiyahu. There, he complains about... about the Jewish people, that... that... Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “I told them this and this and this, and they couldn’t care less about Me.” Rather, “they call Him the G-d of gods”—that is, they acknowledge that their life and existence flow down to them from Hashem. That is why they never defy His will. So up to... what was this whole discussion about? He began by saying that a person who commits a sin is worse than the kelipah and sitra achra. Why is he worse than the kelipah and sitra achra? So he went into an explanation of what kelipah and sitra achra are. Why are the kelipah and sitra achra called deniers? Because they deny Hashem’s oneness, but they do not deny Him. If so, when a person commits a sin, what does that mean? He denies Him. When a person commits a sin, what... what... what does it mean? Hakadosh Boruch Hu...

32:45 Speaker 18 He simply doesn’t do Hashem’s will, because Hashem’s will is that he perform the mitzvah.

32:49 Speaker 2 Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to do this, and I’m going to do that.

32:52 Speaker 18 Right. That’s Hashem’s will, and he doesn’t do it...

32:54 Speaker 2 So when a person disregards Hashem’s will, G-d forbid, that is called denying Him. It’s: “I don’t... I don’t care what He says.” Right? So to explain why a person is worse than the kelipos, he first had to explain that the kelipos do not deny Him; they only deny His oneness. But when a person commits a sin, he can deny Him. So a person is worse than the kelipos when he commits a sin. And so, when a person transgresses the Creator’s will, he is worse, far worse and much lower than the sitra achra and kelipah, which are called idolatry and “other gods.” He is worse than idolatry itself. And he is utterly separated from the unity and oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—more so than it is. It is as though he denies His oneness even more than it does, G-d forbid. As it says in Eitz Chaim, Gate 42, end of chapter 4, the evil in this physical world is the dregs of the coarse kelipos, the very end of the refinement. There is evil in the spiritual worlds too. What does evil in the spiritual worlds mean? Denial of His oneness. But denial of Him can exist only in a soul clothed in a physical body in this world.

34:09 Speaker 18 Only a person can do that.

34:10 Speaker 2 Only a person can do that. But we haven’t gotten to the... that’s still... that’s coming now. Now, within this world itself—our world in its own right. First we said that the worst evil is in this world, only in someone clothed in a physical body. Now, within this world itself—and therefore, sorry. “Therefore, all the deeds of this world are harsh and evil, and the wicked prevail in it,” and so on, because this world has material substance that covers and conceals the G-dly truth. Because of the body’s material substance, the very fact that... We once talked about the difference between “physical” and “material,” remember? Not so long ago. What’s the difference? People always say “the physical and material world.” What’s the difference between physical and material?

34:59 Speaker 18 Material is lower.

35:00 Speaker 2 Material is lower. In what way is it lower? The simple explanation is that some things are physical but not so material. You can’t feel them with your hand, like light or scent. Those are physical too, but... Material means something you can touch with your hand. It’s coarse, actually coarse. So because the soul is clothed in something as coarse as actual matter, that matter keeps it from sensing G-dliness. As a result, a person can not only feel himself to be a separate existence, but can deny Hashem and act against His will. And that is why our Sages said, concerning the verse “If his wife goes astray,” that “a person commits a sin only if a spirit of folly enters him.” He begins with “that is why.” Meaning, without the explanation we’ve given so far... What have we explained so far? That the reason a person commits a sin is that his soul is clothed in a material body, right? A body that conceals the G-dly truth from it. That’s what we explained. Yes. Once we’ve explained that, we can understand what our Sages said. What did they say? That a person commits a sin only if a spirit of folly enters him. Why “that is why”? Why only now? Without the explanation we’ve just given, what would we have understood? Someone comes along who hasn’t studied—someone who hasn’t studied Chassidus, hasn’t studied Torah, has never studied Chassidus. He opens the Gemara, and it says, “A person commits a sin only if a spirit of folly enters him.” What... what... what is he supposed to understand? Without a spirit of folly, a person can’t commit a sin? Why not? He has a desire, he’s drawn after it, and he commits the sin. Why do we need some spirit of folly to cover something up here?

37:21 Speaker 19 As though the person found a desire.

37:23 Speaker 2 Huh? Without the explanation of Chassidus, this teaching of our Sages isn’t understandable. Without the inner, spiritual explanation we’ve just given, we don’t understand what our Sages meant. Why does a person commit a sin? He made a mistake, he had a desire and was drawn after it, and he couldn’t overcome his inclination, so he committed the sin. Why do we need an explanation about something covering things up? Because if he sensed G-dliness the way the spiritual kelipos do, he wouldn’t commit a sin. The spiritual kelipos also feel themselves to be independent existences, and it doesn’t suit them to receive from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; they want other things so badly. But they don’t commit a sin. Why don’t they commit a sin? Because they sense their Master. They know Him, recognize Him, sense Him. They don’t love Him, and they don’t like their role. But they do what they have to do. Why? Why do they submit, even though they don’t want to? Because they sense Him. Since we live in a material world, and the world’s material substance is a spirit of folly that covers up the truth before us, it doesn’t let us sense the G-dly truth. That is why a person can commit sins. And he emphasizes this: even an adulterous woman. Meaning, we’re talking about someone at the very... a person at the lowest possible level, and a woman at that, whose understanding is considered light. Even she would master the spirit of her desire if not for the spirit of folly that comes and covers and conceals the hidden love in her G-dly soul. She too has a G-dly soul. She too has a hidden love. If nothing covered it, she wouldn’t commit the sin. What is a spirit of folly? You could explain it differently. You could explain it in a way other than we have. You could say, for example, a child plays in the sand, right? He plays in the sand, so what does he

39:45 Speaker 2 do? He does silly things; he occupies himself with little things. Right? You’ll never see an adult sitting there, I don’t know, playing children’s games. Right? Why? Because that’s children’s silliness. It doesn’t suit him. He feels it doesn’t suit him. Right? You won’t see a great scholar occupying himself with all sorts of things—I don’t know what. Right? Why? Because it’s foolishness. But a child who is at the appropriate age plays, and it’s for him. For him, it isn’t foolishness. Right. In other words, there’s a kind of foolishness that’s relative: for one person it’s foolishness; for another, it isn’t. Right? That’s not the kind of foolishness we’re talking about here, something relative. Here we’re talking about foolishness that’s objective. The material substance of a person and of the world—the material substance of the world that conceals the truth from a person—it makes no difference whether he’s a great person or an ordinary person. We’re even talking about an adulterous woman, someone at the very, very lowest level. Yes, it’s foolishness for her too. For her too, it’s foolishness. Not only for... not only for... for a great tzaddik it’s foolishness; for her too, it’s foolishness. Yes, but although it’s foolishness, that foolishness covers up the truth, and therefore she commits a sin. A spirit of folly. Meaning, there’s something in this world. Everyone has a hidden love, everyone.

41:27 Speaker 3 So the spirit of folly is, like, a tactic of the yetzer hara.

41:30 Speaker 2 It isn’t the yetzer hara; it’s the nature of the world, the nature of the world. Every person, every Jew, has a soul, and his soul loves Hashem. When that soul becomes revealed within him, he cannot commit a sin—just as the kelipos cannot commit a sin. If the kelipos cannot commit a sin, then a person who has a G-dly soul certainly cannot commit a sin. So how does he do it? Something covers it up, something conceals it, something hides it. What hides it? A spirit of folly. What is a spirit of folly? Simply the material substance of the body. All right.

42:12 Speaker 3 But why does the spirit of folly grow stronger in one person? I mean...

42:19 Speaker 2 Some people are more material, and some are less material.

42:23 Speaker 3 Because earlier you said it doesn’t matter whether it’s a great person or...

42:27 Speaker 4 Or, relatively speaking, there is... The spirit of folly of a tzaddik, of a beinoni, will be different from the spirit of folly of...

42:45 Speaker 2 A person can dispel the spirit of folly if he thinks about it. What am I doing? Everything drawing me toward a transgression right now is because of physicality, because of a spirit of folly. It’s the opposite of the truth. I’m about to worship an idol. Yes, he won’t do that, because then his hidden love will reveal itself. But if he doesn’t think about it, doesn’t reflect on it—which seems to be the subject of the next chapter—then the physical body simply pulls him along, concealing, concealing, concealing the truth. So he does it. What happens when a person is tested in a matter of faith? Suddenly he throws everything aside and becomes a great tzaddik. After all, he hasn’t observed mitzvos his whole life. What happened? Something came along and burned away his spirit of folly, burned it away, melted it. I don’t know what happened. His soul was revealed, his soul was revealed. So he won’t commit the transgression. He won’t do it. So even an adulterous woman, whose judgment is weak, would have mastered the spirit of her desire were it not for the spirit of folly within her, which covers and conceals the hidden love in her G-dly soul—the love of cleaving to faith in Hashem and His unity, and not being separated, G-d forbid, from His oneness, even if her life were taken from her to make her worship idols. Even a woman capable of being drawn to such low things—if she faced the test of idol worship, she wouldn’t do it. Right? Why wouldn’t she do that? What’s the difference? This is a transgression and that is a transgression. This is a serious transgression, and that is a serious transgression. Why? Why? Why wouldn’t she bow down to an idol? Because here the spirit of folly cannot cover it. It’s the same woman, not someone else. In other words, the same person. You see, here a person fails the test, and here

44:49 Speaker 2 he passes the test. What’s the difference? Here there’s a spirit of folly that conceals; there the spirit of folly can’t conceal, can’t conceal. So he won’t commit the transgression even if he dies. Understood? What isn’t clear here? The point that’s hard to understand is, as someone already asked: Wait, so there are things the spirit of folly conceals and things it doesn’t conceal. When does it, and when doesn’t it? All right? That’s the difficulty. And that’s exactly what he’s about to explain. Yes, she wouldn’t do it, even if her life were taken from her to make her worship idols, even if it meant only bowing down to one without any belief in her heart at all. How much more so could she overcome the inclination and the soul’s desire for lesser prohibitions out of love for Hashem. She wouldn’t do such a thing. No, wait, wait, yes. Where does this difference come from, for her, between the prohibition against adultery and the prohibition against bowing down to an idol? Why does one stop her and the other not? After all, that too is folly. That too is a spirit of folly from kelipah. The very fact that she distinguishes between one transgression and another—that distinction itself is a spirit of folly. Why? Because the spirit of folly of kelipah clothes the G-dly soul up to its faculty of chochmah, but not including it, because of the light of Hashem clothed in chochmah, as explained above. To explain this, let’s explain something else for a moment. There’s a well-known principle that an essence cannot cover an essence. Know it? Do you know the principle?

46:46 Speaker 5 Maybe because you can’t put your hand on your head.

46:53 Speaker 2 Right.

46:57 Speaker 5 Wow.

46:58 Speaker 2 That’s not what I meant. You can’t, you can’t cover the, the, the... do this and say a blessing if you don’t have a kippah, because your hand can’t cover your body, can’t... cover the body. A person won’t go outside without clothes and cover himself like this, because it doesn’t cover anything. The body doesn’t cover. Right? One part of the body can’t cover another. It’s not only like that physically; it’s the same spiritually. A thing can’t cover, can’t cover itself. How can something cover itself? It is itself. What, what, what is there to cover? Whatever is doing the covering is also itself. Understood? Can Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His Essence and Being, cover Himself? An essence cannot cover an essence. The Essence and Being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu cannot be covered, cannot be covered. There’s nothing to cover and no one to do the covering and nowhere for it to be covered. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His Essence and Being, is completely revealed everywhere. Where do we see this? Our Sages said that the name of Heaven is familiar in everyone’s mouth. You see little children? “Boruch Hashem.” They believe when they say “Boruch Hashem”; they believe. They say a blessing and believe they’re blessing Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They believe. How does a child know? What does he know? A little child hasn’t learned Torah, hasn’t learned anything. How does he know? But he feels that it’s true. Does he understand it intellectually? No. Emotionally, not either. How, then? So how does he? Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His Essence and Being, is an essence, and an essence cannot be concealed, He is revealed to everyone, even little children. And He is revealed to adults more or less in exactly the same way. Yes. What can be covered? Light can be covered;

49:06 Speaker 2 a revelation can be covered. Put up a partition, and light won’t get through. Right. So when we’re talking about a revelation from Hakadosh Boruch Hu that radiates from the soul, the soul’s light, there the body, the physicality of the world, can cover it. The spirit of folly can cover it. But when we’re talking about the essence of the soul, which is one with the Essence and Being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the yechidah of the soul, the chochmah of the soul, whatever you call it—that cannot be covered. There’s nothing that can cover it. What could cover it? Right. So when a transgression touches only on particular details, on things that are peripheral—not peripheral, but things that aren’t the essence—there the spirit of folly can cover it. But when you say to a person, “Come worship an idol,” he can’t fool himself: “Here I am, and I’m still with Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” You’re speaking to him about the essence here, so it cannot be covered. It cannot be covered. The G-dly soul awakens, and it awakens. He won’t commit the transgression even if they kill him. Understood? Yes, more or less. But in absolute truth, that distinction itself is a spirit of folly. Why is it a spirit of folly? Because in absolute truth, even with a minor transgression, the person who commits it violates the will of the Supreme One, blessed be He, and is utterly separated from His unity and oneness—more so than the sitra achra and kelipah called “other gods” and actual idol worship, and more so than all the things that flow from them into this world. So the person fools himself. What does the spirit of folly do? It tells a person there’s a difference: when you go and worship an idol, you become separated, but if you just commit a small transgression, you don’t become separated. What’s the truth? Even with a small transgression, you become separated. The only difference is that in one case he feels it and in the other he doesn’t, but

51:27 Speaker 2 he is separated to the same degree. There’s no difference. Right.

51:34 Speaker 6 So the covering is, like, over the...

51:35 Speaker 2 The covering conceals it from his perception, but the reality is the same. And here he says something even stronger: not only is he worse than the kelipah, he’s also worse than the things that flow from kelipah into this world, into this world—unclean animals, wild beasts, birds, and creeping creatures. He isn’t only worse than the spiritual kelipos; he’s also worse than unclean animals. As the saying goes, “The mosquito preceded you.” Meaning that even the mosquito, which takes in but does not expel, which is the lowest kelipah, yes, and utterly distant from the holiness that gives, precedes the person who sins in the chain of descent of life from the will of the Supreme One, blessed be He. Right. First of all, when a person sins—we’ve come back to this—when a person sins, they tell him: “Why are you so, uh, proud? The mosquito preceded you.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the mosquito first and then you. You’re not so... But it isn’t just about the order of creation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the mosquito before the human being because the mosquito is more nullified to G-dliness than a person committing a transgression. The mosquito—while a person is committing a transgression, a mosquito is holier than he is. Why? Because a mosquito—why, why are we talking specifically about a mosquito? What’s special about this creature? It’s the only creature that takes in but does not expel. All the other animals, even the unclean ones, at least expel their waste. Right? The mosquito only takes in, takes in until it dies. It doesn’t give anything out. The whole nature of holiness is to give. A mosquito doesn’t give anything. So the mosquito... Huh?

53:27 Speaker 7 It gives—it bites.

53:28 Speaker 2 No, it, it bites to take blood, not to give.

53:32 Speaker 7 Right, it does that for itself.

53:34 Speaker 2 He lives for himself. So a person who commits a sin is even worse than a mosquito—more impure, further from Hakadosh Boruch Hu than even a mosquito. All the more so, obviously, he is worse than other non-kosher animals and even wild beasts, because none of them depart from their role or from the command of the Master of the World. “And even though he does not see,” and so on. What, a mosquito? It’s holier than me? In what way? Fine, you don’t see it, but that’s the reality. As it says, “The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth.” Our Sages explained: “A wild beast has no power over a person unless he appears to it like an animal.” No, we’ll skip that. With tzaddikim, from whom the image of G-d does not depart, all the wild beasts submit before them, as it says in the Zohar. Daniel in the lions’ den, too—everyone knows those stories, right? Daniel, and also the story the Baal Shem Tov told about the Or Hachaim in the desert. We told it once. The Baal Shem Tov once related that the Or Hachaim needed to get somewhere. He was traveling with a caravan, and Shabbos arrived, but they wouldn’t stop for him. So he and his attendant stayed behind in the desert. As soon as the caravan started moving, a lion came and began approaching them. So he showed it his tzitzis katan, and the lion stayed there and guarded them throughout Shabbos. On Motzaei Shabbos they rode the lion and caught up with the caravan, and afterward they treated him with great honor. That’s a story the Baal Shem Tov told. Ah, why doesn’t a lion honor me like that? Because he was nullified to G-dliness, and animals sense that bittul. Why do they sense it? Because they are holier than a person.

55:34 Speaker 7 What do you really mean?

55:36 Speaker 2 Huh? So what I’m saying is that when a person commits a sin, even wild beasts precede him. Even though it’s a lion and it understands and knows nothing, it senses G-dliness more than a person does—more than a person who commits a sin. If so, someone who sins and transgresses the will of the Master of the World, even through a minor sin, is at that moment utterly distant from the higher holiness, which is the oneness and unity of the Master of the World—more so than all the non-kosher animals, creeping things and crawling creatures that receive their vitality from the sitra achra and the kelipah of idol worship. Here he asks a question. Seemingly, it says that saving a life overrides the other prohibitions. And we also tell a person, regarding all the other prohibitions, “Transgress rather than die.” If someone is told, “Either commit the sin or we’ll kill you,” he should commit the sin, right? Except for idol worship, right? With idol worship, we tell a person to be killed rather than transgress; with the other prohibitions, transgress rather than be killed.

56:42 Speaker 8 Even at age six, they already know that.

56:45 Speaker 2 In general, what have we explained until now? That in truth there is no difference. There is no difference between idol worship and the other sins. It’s all the same, right? But the Torah itself makes a distinction. How can you say—how—the whole explanation was meant to show us that the difference exists only in how we feel, because of a spirit of folly, while in truth there is no difference. What do you mean, no difference? The Torah says there is a difference: for idol worship, one must be killed rather than transgress, but not for the other sins. The Torah says there is a difference. So why are you explaining to me that it’s the same? That’s the question. So the Alter Rebbe says: No. It isn’t because idol worship is more severe. No. Why is someone permitted to desecrate Shabbos—that is, to transgress rather than be killed? Not because Shabbos is less severe than idol worship, but for another reason. Rather, as our Sages said: “Desecrate one Shabbos for him so that he may observe many Shabbosos.” It isn’t a matter of the relative severity of the sins. Shabbos and idol worship are equally severe. So why, when it comes to Shabbos, do we say to transgress rather than be killed? Desecrate one Shabbos, and afterward you’ll be able to observe many Shabbosos. Hakadosh Boruch Hu calculates that it is worthwhile for a Jew to desecrate Shabbos once so that afterward he will observe many Shabbosos.

58:07 Speaker 8 He has another chance.

58:08 Speaker 2 Huh?

58:08 Speaker 8 He has another chance.

58:09 Speaker 2 Yes. What’s the proof that this is really so? What’s the proof that this is actually the reason? Maybe the Torah really did say that idol worship is more severe. Who says it’s because of the reason, “Desecrate one Shabbos for him”? So the Rebbe brings a proof in parentheses. He says: Know that what I’m telling you is the real reason. In truth, there is no difference. Why? Shabbos is as severe as, and equivalent to, idol worship regarding the slaughter performed by a mumar ledavar echad, as discussed in Yoreh De’ah, section 2. There’s a halachic concept called a mumar ledavar echad—someone who rejects one particular commandment. A Jew observes the entire Torah, but as far as he’s concerned, this one prohibition doesn’t exist. He allows himself to steal. For him, the prohibition against stealing doesn’t exist. Or he allows himself not to put on tefillin. That whole mitzvah of tefillin is—Torah or not, there’s some—he’s chosen a particular transgression. He observes the entire Torah, but this one, for him, it’s as if Hakadosh Boruch Hu didn’t command it. Right? Okay? That’s called a mumar ledavar echad. The Gemara discusses what happens when a person is a mumar with regard to Shabbos. He observes the whole Torah and all the mitzvos—Torah, mitzvos, he’s observant, goes to the mikveh, everything. Except what? He doesn’t keep Shabbos. What does he care? He smokes on Shabbos. Right? That’s called a mumar ledavar echad. He allows himself this one thing. The Gemara says—it is stated as halachah in the Shulchan Aruch—that if a person is a mumar ledavar echad, one may not eat from his slaughter. If he slaughters an animal, one may not eat what he slaughtered. Why should that matter? What connection is there between Shabbos and slaughter? They’re two completely different things. When it comes to slaughter, he’s very G-d-fearing. So what’s the issue? What’s the connection? Why does the Shulchan Aruch say that?

1:00:16 Speaker 2 What’s the reason? Because the Gemara says that someone who desecrates Shabbos is like someone who worships idols. Yes, did you hear that? By contrast, someone who is a mumar with regard to forbidden sexual relations keeps Shabbos, but he has no problem with forbidden sexual relations; that’s where he feels free to do as he likes. One may eat from the slaughter of someone who is a mumar with regard to forbidden sexual relations. What do you understand from that? Which is more severe, Shabbos or forbidden sexual relations?

1:00:50 Speaker 9 Shabbos, Shabbos.

1:00:52 Speaker 2 In the first case it’s forbidden, while in the second you may eat from his slaughter. Right? So Shabbos is more severe than forbidden sexual relations. Right? That’s what we concluded. Let’s go on. If so, why does saving a life override Shabbos, while saving a life does not override the prohibition of forbidden sexual relations? What have we done? Shabbos is more severe, yet saving a life overrides Shabbos. Forbidden sexual relations are less severe, yet saving a life does not override that prohibition. Saving a life—after all—he’s already about to transgress. So which is more severe? Here it sounds like Shabbos is more severe; there it sounds like forbidden sexual relations are more severe. Right? Rather, what is it? A decree of Scripture. What do I mean by a decree of Scripture? I’ll ask you a simple question. What did we say earlier? Desecrate one Shabbos so that he can observe many Shabbosos. Right? Why don’t we say, “Worship idols once so that afterward you’ll believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the rest of your life”? We could say exactly the same thing. Right? It’s a decree of Scripture. In terms of the severity of the sins, every single sin separates a person from Hakadosh Boruch Hu to exactly the same degree. With every sin, a Jew becomes separate, a denier, a kelipah of idol worship—it’s all exactly the same. Right? So if that’s the case, why in one instance is he told that he may transgress, while in the other he’s told that he may not? A decree of Scripture. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decided that this is permitted and that is forbidden—not because one is more severe and the other less severe. All right, what shall we do? The last section is very important, the last section of the chapter. Do you have the energy for a few more minutes?

1:03:04 Speaker 9 Yes, yes. Enough. Let’s finish.

1:03:06 Speaker 2 And this isn’t just a way to finish; this is where the whole point of the matter lies. “But after the act of sin, if it is one of the transgressions that do not carry the penalty of kares or death at the hands of Heaven, so that his divine soul has not died completely and been cut off from its root in the living G-d, but its attachment to and hold on its root have only been somewhat impaired by this sin, then his vital, animal soul, which is clothed in his body, and his body as well, return and rise from the sitra achra and this kelipah, and draw close to the holiness of the divine soul clothed within them, which believes in the one G-d.” Right? So there is still a difference between idol worship and other transgressions. There is a difference. What is it? When a person commits a transgression, there are transgressions called kares. A transgression that carries kares cuts off the soul. He no longer has a divine soul within him; it only hovers over him. Right? And most transgressions do not carry kares. With most transgressions a person commits, it says, “Yaakov is the cord of His inheritance.” The soul of every Jew is like a cord woven from 613 fine strands. And every transgression a person commits is as if he takes a knife and cuts one strand of that 613-strand cord. So the cord is weakened. Right? But if a person commits a transgression that carries kares, it is as though he has taken a knife and cut his soul, cut his connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Those are transgressions that carry kares. Now, what happens? While a person is committing a transgression, what did we explain earlier? That his soul and body become completely united with the sitra achra, with the kelipah, with idol worship, with other gods. Right? Which soul?

1:05:09 Speaker 10 The animal soul.

1:05:09 Speaker 2 Which of a person’s souls commits the transgression?

1:05:14 Speaker 10 The animal soul.

1:05:15 Speaker 2 The animal soul. Which soul gives life to the body?

1:05:18 Speaker 10 The animal soul.

1:05:19 Speaker 2 The divine soul doesn’t know what a body is. The animal soul gives life to the body. So when a person commits a transgression, his animal soul—the soul that gives life to the body, the vital, natural, animal soul—is the one that commits it. It is the one that descends into the kelipos. It is the one that unites with the sitra achra. It is the one that denies G-d—all of this is the animal soul. Right? What about the divine soul? What happens to it at that time? Right now, a person is committing a transgression, G-d forbid. At this very moment, he is committing a transgression. The animal soul has descended into the kelipos and united with them. Fine, we understand that. What is the divine soul doing at that time? Where is it?

1:06:02 Speaker 10 I don’t know.

1:06:02 Speaker 2 Huh?

1:06:06 Speaker 10 It isn’t there.

1:06:07 Speaker 2 They go together.

1:06:09 Speaker 10 They go together.

1:06:10 Speaker 2 The divine soul is clothed within the animal soul. They cannot separate, even though they very much want to. They really do. Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothed them together, just as the soul is clothed in the body; they are truly one. The divine soul and the animal soul are clothed within one another; they are truly one. When the animal soul commits a transgression, the divine soul is there, inside that transgression. He gives an illustration later in the chapter. We won’t read it inside now. It is like someone taking a king and pushing his head into a sewer, into a place full of filth. The animal soul enjoys being there. The divine soul doesn’t want to be there. For it, this is terrible suffering. It has no choice. It is dragged along; it is there, in exile. It was pulled there. That is during the sin. What happens afterward? The sin is over. The person committed the transgression, and that’s it. He hasn’t done teshuvah. He has finished committing the sin, but he hasn’t done teshuvah. What happens now? Has his divine soul died? No. He committed a minor transgression, not one that carries kares. During the transgression he was completely separated. Afterward, his divine soul has not died. It recovers and pulls the animal soul back out of the kelipah and toward holiness. Without teshuvah. Simply because he has a divine soul that is still there, giving life and functioning in that same body. But what if it is a transgression that carries kares? Afterward, there is no one to pull the animal soul out.

1:08:02 Speaker 10 So what happens?

1:08:04 Speaker 2 It stays there. The person remains united with the kelipos and the sitra achra, and receives his life-force from the place of death and impurity.

1:08:15 Speaker 10 What does that mean?

1:08:16 Speaker 2 In practical terms, when the Beis Hamikdash stood, people would simply stop living. They would actually die, or die at age fifty or sixty, depending on the transgression.

1:08:28 Speaker 10 Not immediately.

1:08:29 Speaker 2 Some did die immediately. There were cases like that too. It depends on the kind of transgression. There is a story in Tanach about someone who committed a transgression and died immediately. That doesn’t mean the divine soul disappears, but it is no longer clothed in the body. And because it is no longer clothed in the body, it cannot pull the animal soul out; it is no longer clothed within it. So a person might say the following. This is the conclusion of the chapter. What might he say? He might say, “Okay, so as long as it isn’t a transgression that carries kares, after the sin everything is fine, right? The animal soul comes back out. So all in all, it isn’t so terrible, right? My animal soul enjoys itself, and in the end the divine soul comes back. It’ll be okay.” Why can’t you say that? He gives an illustration of what happens during the transgression. Here are his words: “It is like someone who grasps the head of a king, lowers it, and buries his face in a latrine full of filth.” Think about it. Each of us should ask ourselves: Would I be willing to put my head into a place like that for even one second? I could shower afterward—what’s the problem? That is exactly what the divine soul feels. When a person tells himself, “All right, I’ll just commit a transgression for one moment; nothing happened,” listen: that is what your divine soul feels. That is the “nothing” it feels at that moment. The transgression causes a person to become united with the kelipah and the sitra achra. The divine soul hates the sitra achra, as we learned earlier. It finds it repulsive. A tzaddik truly feels that revulsion. The divine soul feels it too. We don’t feel it, but it does. And when a person commits a transgression, the divine soul is there; it is dragged into it. So you cannot draw any leniency from this at all. What, then, have we learned from

1:11:10 Speaker 2 these last two chapters as a whole? Whenever a person performs a positive mitzvah, he reveals Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the world. As a result, he becomes nullified to G-dliness and reveals that there is nothing besides Him. So every positive mitzvah is a particular expression of “I am Hashem your G-d.” And with every transgression he commits, he unites with the kelipos and with the sitra achra. He becomes worse than the kelipos, worse than non-kosher animals, and so on, and is utterly separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It follows that each of the 365 negative commandments—each of those 365 transgressions—is the very same matter as “You shall have no other gods before Me.” So the entire lengthy discussion from chapter 18 until this chapter was meant to bring us to this conclusion: through every mitzvah, a Jew fulfills “I am Hashem your G-d,” and through every transgression, a Jew violates “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Now we... okay, we understand. What do we do with this? How will this insight help me never commit a transgression? That is the next chapter.

1:12:40 Speaker 11 Thank you very much.