Likkutei Amarim Chapter 25 · 5781

00:01 Speaker 1 Okay, good evening.

00:03 Speaker 2 Why “good”?

00:05 Speaker 1 Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe. Today we’re learning chapter 25. Chapter 25 is a special chapter in several respects. Perhaps, by way of introduction, it’s worth mentioning that on the day the Rebbe got married, the Frierdiker Rebbe instructed him to study chapter 25 on the morning of the wedding. Chapter 25 of Tanya is the chapter that prepares a person for life. Until the wedding, a person prepares for life, and from the wedding onward, the actual work begins—the service of Hashem itself. It’s no longer preparation for the work; it’s the work itself: refining the world, taking a wife and refining the world. Chapter 25 is really the chapter that defines the purpose and goal for which the whole Tanya was written. At the beginning of Tanya, in the introduction—on the title page, as it’s called—he says that he is writing the whole book so that we can fulfill the verse, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” Then, in the first seventeen chapters, he explained several foundations: what the G-dly soul and the animal soul are, and the battles between them; and several general principles of serving Hashem—that one needs to have trust, joy, hope, and faith, and trust that one really can succeed. He explained several foundations of serving Hashem. Then, in chapters 16 and 17, he explained how to serve Hashem in practice. After learning all the foundations, one contemplates the greatness of Hashem, and that contemplation should illuminate a person’s heart and awaken—give birth to—love and fear of Hashem in the heart. Once a person has that, he goes through life with love and fear; he is alive. His life is a life of love and fear of Hashem. So naturally, he is always looking for ways to do mitzvos and fleeing from transgressions. He won’t commit transgressions, and he won’t fail to fulfill mitzvos. Then the Alter Rebbe says there, at the beginning of chapter 18, that although this really is the way to serve Hashem—to contemplate His greatness and awaken love and fear—and this is how keeping the mitzvos can truly be close to every Jew, there is a “but.” What is the “but”? It depends on contemplation. What happens with someone who hasn’t studied? He doesn’t have the knowledge; he doesn’t know what to contemplate. He hasn’t studied enough Chassidus or enough Kabbalah. Or more than that, perhaps he simply can’t, because his mind isn’t that deep, or he has no time, or he never had the opportunity. Or perhaps he has studied and does understand and know, but contemplation has no effect on his heart. He tries; he contemplates, and his heart doesn’t stir. What? How can you tell me it’s very close? I understand that it’s close: if a person contemplates, he can succeed. But that isn’t within everyone’s ability. How can you tell me it’s very close? So the Alter Rebbe began to explain that besides the long way of serving Hashem—the way of awakening the heart through contemplation, which is called the long way, a difficult path that not everyone can manage—there is also a short way. A short way suited to each and every person. What is the short way? He began explaining it in chapter 18 and continues through our chapter, which concludes the explanation. What is this short way of serving Hashem that really is suited to everyone? The short way rests on the fact that every Jew has a G-dly soul. My G-dly soul naturally loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It loves Him, wants to become one with Him, wants to keep mitzvos, and is afraid of committing transgressions. So all that’s needed in the short way, this second approach to serving Hashem, is to awaken it, to reveal it. Here I don’t need to generate a new love; I don’t need deep contemplation of the greatness of Hashem.

02:39 Speaker 1 I just need to remember that I have a G-dly soul whose nature is to want to cleave to G-dliness, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Once I remember that, it’s enough to awaken the soul, and then it will do its work: I won’t commit transgressions anymore; I’ll do only mitzvos. To get to this point, the Alter Rebbe first gives several introductions. First, he explained how to awaken that hidden love, the G-dly soul—how to bring it from potential into action. So first we need to get to know it. He devoted two chapters, 18 and 19, to explaining what the G-dly soul is, what hidden love is, and what mesirus nefesh is. Over those two chapters, he described the G-dly soul’s nature and essence. Then he said: now that we’ve gotten to know that G-dly soul, what happens when someone tries to separate it from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? What does it mean to separate the G-dly soul from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? When a person faces the test of idol worship, when he is forced to renounce his faith, at that moment the G-dly soul feels as though it is being burned, thrown into a fire, as though someone wants to kill it. It cannot bear such a thing—being separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu and worshipping idols. It digs in its heels, and suddenly the person starts acting beyond reason, doing things that make no sense at all, and is ready to give his life for the sanctification of Hashem’s name. The Alter Rebbe says that this drive of the G-dly soul, pushing a person with tremendous force not to commit a transgression, can be awakened at every moment, at any hour—literally all the time. How? By explaining to it, by telling my G-dly soul: listen,

04:30 Speaker 1 idol worship isn’t the only thing that separates you from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Every transgression a person commits, even the smallest one, separates you—the soul—from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, exactly as idol worship does. There’s no difference at all. For this reason, he explained what the unity of Hashem means: that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the only true reality in the world. What is idol worship? It is denying this, not believing that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the only reality in the world. He explained how every positive mitzvah expresses the unity of Hashem. Do you remember when we explained that and talked about it? In chapter 23, he explained at length that through every mitzvah a person fulfills—whether in speech, action, or thought—he becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. His body becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu; his soul becomes one with Him. Through every mitzvah a person fulfills, he becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, just as in sanctifying Hashem’s name. And every transgression a person commits... Then, in the chapter we learned last time, he explained that every transgression a person commits separates him from G-dliness exactly as idol worship does. After all these introductions, we come to chapter 25, our chapter, where the Alter Rebbe sums it up and shows how we can live with these principles we’ve learned throughout the entire day. And that is enough to push us, draw us, motivate us not to commit transgressions and to do only mitzvos. Then any one of us who actually puts what is written in chapter 25 into practice is a beinoni: he doesn’t commit transgressions. What’s called the beinoni of Tanya. Chapter 25: “This is what is meant by the verse, ‘For the matter is very close to you.’” This is not like what was discussed in chapter 17, where contemplation is needed. Rather, it is through awakening the hidden love. This is very close,

06:43 Speaker 1 it’s close to everyone. No special contemplation is needed here. Why? Because “at every time and every hour, it is within a person’s power and control to remove the spirit of folly and forgetfulness from within himself.” After all, we said: when a person commits a transgression, why does he do it? Because a spirit of folly makes us feel as though there’s a difference between idol worship and other transgressions: idol worship separates me from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but with other transgressions I’m not really separated; I still remain a Jew. So when a person makes that calculation, he gives his life rather than worship idols, but he doesn’t give his life rather than commit other transgressions.

08:48 Speaker 1 He says that in the chapter too, I think, where he discusses the differences, doesn’t he? That a person imagines that with this transgression he’s still a Jew.

09:30 Speaker 3 That what?

09:35 Speaker 1 He imagines that with this transgression he’s still a Jew.

09:35 Speaker 3 He imagines that with this transgression—yes, that’s the spirit of folly. No, that was in chapter 24, the previous chapter, if I remember correctly.

09:38 Speaker 1 I don’t know.

09:49 Speaker 3 I don’t know.

09:50 Speaker 1 I don’t think it’s talking about this chapter. Maybe it is; it could be. In any case, the point is that the only reason a person can commit a sin at all is that he sees some difference between idol worship and other sins. If he regarded every sin the way he regards idol worship, then just as he wouldn’t commit that sin, he wouldn’t commit the others either. And what makes him see a difference? It’s simply a spirit of folly, because in truth there is no difference. They separate him from Hashem in exactly the same way. And at every moment, a person has it in his power to remove the spirit of folly and forgetfulness from within himself, and to remember and awaken his love for the one Hashem, which is certainly hidden in his heart, without any doubt. This is what the verse means by “in your heart,” “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart”... Not just... Generally, “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” refers, on the simple level, to thought, speech, and action. Right? It is very close to us to keep the mitzvos in thought, speech, and action. “In your heart” means thought, but on a deeper level it refers to a person’s feelings. “In your mouth and in your heart, to do it” means that, inwardly, it is very close to a person to keep mitzvos not only in action, speech, and thought, but also “in your heart”—with feeling. How? Not with feelings born of contemplation, but with feelings he already has, the soul’s natural feelings. This is what the verse means by “in your heart,” and this also includes fear. The soul’s love of Hashem includes within it fear—meaning an unwillingness to be separated in any way from His oneness and unity, even at the cost of literally giving up one’s life, without any reason or intellectual understanding, but simply because of its G-dly nature. Yes, the very fact that the G-dly soul longs to cleave to G-dliness means that it fears separation from G-dliness. So it has both love and fear. And if we

12:06 Speaker 1 can awaken that love and fear, then we can serve Hashem not with love and fear born of intellect and contemplation, but with the soul’s own love and fear. And he says here that all the more so, since breaking one’s desires is easier than suffering death, it is even more within a person’s reach to overcome his yetzer—both in turning away from evil, even from a minor transgression of the Sages’ words. Certainly a minor transgression is easier to resist than a serious one. So if a person is prepared—if a person makes the calculation; not “if.” When a person makes an honest calculation, there is no difference between idol worship and all the other sins. It’s the same thing: idol worship, a sin punishable by kareis, a serious sin, a less serious sin, even a violation of the Sages’ words. With every sin I commit, I separate myself from Hakadosh Boruch Hu in exactly the same way, with no difference. So if, rather than commit idol worship, I am prepared—I would be prepared—to accept the suffering of death, then all the more so can I bear the suffering of breaking my desire and not committing the sin. That suffering is much easier than death. Holding back for one moment is much easier than giving up one’s life. Right. So if I can do that, then all the more so can a person control his desire, if he only makes the calculation: he would have been prepared to accept the suffering of death, so certainly he can bear the suffering of breaking his desire. Because through even a minor sin, he is separated from His oneness and unity, just as with actual idol worship, at the moment he commits it. The Alter Rebbe asks: Wait, wait, wait—how can you compare them? How can you make this all-the-more-so argument? It’s not the same thing. With idol worship, we learned in the previous chapter that when a person commits it, he is separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu forever. He is cut off; his soul is cut off. But with the other

14:23 Speaker 1 sins, he is indeed separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu to the same degree, but only while committing the act. The moment he stops sinning, he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu again. So idol worship isn’t like the other sins. How can you make an all-the-more-so argument? What do you mean? I’m prepared to give up my life rather than commit idol worship because I know that here the separation is permanent. But for the other sins, I’m not prepared to give up my life, because I know that once I finish committing the sin, I go back to being a Jew. So how can you make that argument? It doesn’t follow. Right? The question is clear. The Alter Rebbe answers: No. That calculation isn’t correct. After all, a person can do teshuvah afterward even for idol worship. Even for idol worship. People say there is a difference between idol worship and the other sins, but the truth is that there is no difference here either. If he does teshuvah afterward, he once again returns to being a Jew. So yes, idol worship makes it harder, but there is no essential difference. Therefore, just as you’re prepared to give up your life in that case, you should be prepared to give up your life in this case too. He notes in parentheses—no, it’s not in parentheses—he notes here: And yet, seemingly there is still a difference. Why? “One who says, ‘I will sin and repent,’ is not given the opportunity,” and so on. Someone could say to the Alter Rebbe: They’re not the same thing. Idol worship and other sins are not the same. Why? Are you telling me that I can do teshuvah for idol worship? Is that what you mean? That idol worship is like all the other sins because I can do teshuvah afterward and then I won’t remain separated? That’s not

16:14 Speaker 1 an answer. If, while committing the sin, I—why am I committing it? Because I tell myself: Look, I don’t want to die. If I don’t worship this gentile’s idol now—bow down to his statue—he’ll kill me. So I’ll bow down to it outwardly for just a moment, and afterward I’ll do teshuvah. Right? But our Sages said that someone who says, “I will sin and repent,” is not given the opportunity to repent. How can I do it? You’re telling me I can do teshuvah afterward. How can I do teshuvah if I commit the sin precisely because I’m relying on being able to do teshuvah afterward? Our Sages said I won’t be given the opportunity—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu won’t enable me to do teshuvah. So how can you say it’s the same thing?

17:00 Speaker 4 So on Yom Kippur, for example, if there’s distress, we’ll feel tense, and afterward we’ll find the...

17:05 Speaker 1 Hmm?

17:06 Speaker 4 Because, say, on Yom Kippur—

17:07 Speaker 1 Yes.

17:09 Speaker 4 We don’t do any mitzvah.

17:11 Speaker 1 Yes.

17:11 Speaker 4 And afterward we’re commanded to do certain things. So it’s sort of...

17:13 Speaker 1 It’s similar. Yes, it seems it’s not exactly the same, but it’s similar. The similarity is in this point: if a person says, “All right, I’ll commit a sin now...” On Yom Kippur it’s the other way around: I do teshuvah and then commit a sin. But if, while committing a sin, a person says, “Why do I allow myself to sin? Because I know I’ll always be a Jew; I’ll always have the option of doing teshuvah. So it’s not so terrible; nothing has really happened”—our Sages said that if this is why he allows himself to sin, then he is not given the opportunity to do teshuvah. No, he won’t be helped. He won’t be able to afterward. So the Rebbe says—no, that’s not right. Why? What did our Sages mean? “Not given the opportunity” means he is not helped to find a suitable occasion to do teshuvah. The right opportunity is not arranged for him. But if he presses on and does teshuvah, nothing stands in the way of teshuvah. So what do we get from this whole calculation in the end?

18:25 Speaker 4 That you can rely on it.

18:27 Speaker 1 That you can rely on it, and there is no difference between idol worship and other sins. Here he is completely separated, and here he is completely separated. Here he can do teshuvah, and here he can do teshuvah. So there is no difference. It’s harder to do teshuvah in one case, but there’s no essential difference. Therefore a person should make this calculation: Just as I am prepared to give up my life, to part with life itself, rather than commit idol worship, so I should be prepared to give up my life for every mitzvah. It’s the same thing; there’s no difference. And yet, when a person commits the sin of idol worship, G-d forbid, he is necessarily pushed away. So what is his calculation, really? “I’ll worship the idol for one moment, he’ll leave me alone, and afterward I’ll do teshuvah.” Right? Why isn’t a person prepared to make that calculation?

19:39 Speaker 4 People could see outwardly that he believes.

19:41 Speaker 1 Hmm?

19:41 Speaker 4 That outwardly it would look as though he—

19:43 Speaker 1 But why should he care how it looks outwardly? He knows he believes. He knows it’s only something external. He knows he can do teshuvah afterward.

19:52 Speaker 4 But he doesn’t want others to think he really worshipped it. Maybe he doesn’t believe after all.

19:57 Speaker 1 When a person gives up his life, when he’s placed in a situation like that, many times there was nobody else there with him.

20:03 Speaker 4 Is that really the point of the answer?

20:05 Speaker 1 Because the innermost point of the soul awakens. The essence of the soul is not prepared to tolerate even one second of separation. It just can’t bear it. What do you mean, you’ll kill me and then bring me back to life? Fine, I believe you can bring me back to life. So what? I give the analogy of a king whose head is pushed into—just for one second, they’ll push his head in there. He won’t agree. What does “just one second” mean? That I can take a shower afterward? That doesn’t help me. Nevertheless, even though he can do teshuvah, every Jew is ready and willing to give up his life to sanctify Hashem’s name rather than bow to an idol, even temporarily, even if it’s only for one second, and do teshuvah afterward. “Temporarily” doesn’t necessarily mean an hour; it means a short, limited period of time. Why? Because of the light of Hashem clothed in their souls, as explained above. It is not subject to time at all. Rather, that light of Hashem clothed in the soul of each of us is above time, and rules and governs it, as is known. In Chassidus, we use the term “the light of the Infinite One, blessed be He.” Infinite means not limited. Everything in the world is limited in space. Space means anything that has volume. Right. How do you define volume? It has length, width, and height. You learn that in math, right? Volume has three dimensions. So everything in our world is limited by space or limited by time, or by both time and space. Why? Because the reality of the world is time and space. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who created the world, is limited by neither time nor space. He doesn’t occupy space. It’s not just that He has no size. The whole concept of space, of size,

22:14 Speaker 1 of time—none of it applies to Him. As the Alter Rebbe put it in his analogy: It’s like someone saying that wisdom is so lofty and exalted that you can’t feel it with your hands. Anyone hearing that would laugh at him. What do you mean, feel wisdom with your hands? They have nothing to do with each other. It’s a different realm. None of the concepts we know, time and space, apply to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And that light of Hashem, which is infinite and unlimited, shines in the soul. The reason a Jew is ready to give up his life is that this light of Hashem is revealed at that moment. For the light of Hashem, there is no such thing as one moment or an hour, or a whole lifetime or all the generations. The concept of time doesn’t apply to it. It doesn’t know what time is. It has no concept of time. For it, there’s no such thing as serving an idol for just one moment. It doesn’t know what “one moment” means; it is eternal. There is no difference for it between one moment and eternity. And then—“rules and governs it, as is known.” The Rebbe reveals this through various hints. But the main point is that a Jew is not prepared to serve an idol even temporarily, even though he could do teshuvah afterward, because the light of Hashem, the infinite light, shines in the soul of each one of us, and then it becomes revealed.

23:45 Speaker 5 Sorry, very quickly.

23:46 Speaker 1 Yes.

23:47 Speaker 5 How do you explain it when people go to Uman, to the rabbi and all kinds of places? They seem to have the light of Hashem so powerfully, that infinite light, and then suddenly you see that it hasn’t had an effect. I’ve gone to places associated with tzaddikim, and I happened to speak with a woman who had been to Uman. It was as though she’d experienced the infinite light, a revelation of G-dliness and so on. Then suddenly she went back to how she was before. It’s hard to grasp.

24:12 Speaker 1 Because it’s an encompassing force, a makif. We want to live with that encompassing force all the time. Maybe we’ll see a little more about it later. Just one word about it: an encompassing force is a term for anything that acts on reality, but we don’t feel it.

24:54 Speaker 5 Because there isn’t a vessel for it either, as it were.

24:57 Speaker 1 An encompassing force generally can’t enter a vessel; it’s above the vessel.

25:01 Speaker 5 What, what?

25:01 Speaker 1 An encompassing force generally doesn’t enter a vessel. You have to bring it into a vessel. I’m looking for an example. Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the entire world at every moment. He creates us, right? He creates us; the world exists. The Divine force is at work. More than that: it constitutes the entire reality of the world. Do I feel it? I don’t feel its presence. Right. Also, when a Jew does teshuvah, sometimes he suddenly awakens to teshuvah. Usually he can’t explain to himself why he woke up this morning and suddenly wanted to daven, and connected with the words of davening, when that didn’t happen yesterday. It won’t happen tomorrow. What happened today? Most likely, what happened is that this morning my soul heard some sort of proclamation in heaven that awakened it, and it was deeply stirred. This is called “and they flow from Lebanon”: from the supernal whiteness, a measure of fear of Heaven, an awakening, flowed into my body. I feel the awakening, but I can’t put my finger on what caused it. That’s called an encompassing force. Up to this point, he explained that by taking stock of himself and realizing there is no difference between any sin and idol worship, a person can keep himself from committing any sin, at any time. Whenever some sin presents itself, he simply needs to stop for a moment and consider: If this were idol worship, would I do it? Of course not. But then what’s the difference? There is no difference. That consideration is enough to keep a person from ever committing a sin. But wait—how is this “very close”? What does “very close” mean? I have to keep a constant hold on myself and keep thinking about it. I have to

27:20 Speaker 1 internalize it, think of it as the reality, and believe in it. How can you tell me it’s “very close”? But it doesn’t say “very easy”; it says “very close”—within reach. You don’t need profound contemplation for this. You don’t need spiritual preparation. You don’t need to know a great deal of Chassidus or anything like that. But you do need to keep a constant hold on yourself. You need to think about it all the time. That’s hard. It isn’t easy, but it’s close. It’s within reach. There is nothing preventing a person from thinking. Things that depend on deep thought, extensive knowledge, or a long period of time are not within everyone’s power. But this depends on such a simple consideration: that this sin is just like idol worship. There’s no difficulty convincing a Jew that this is true. If he thinks about it again and again, several times, he’ll also begin to get used to living with this idea. All he needs is to keep a constant hold on himself, to keep it in mind all the time, so that when some ordinary sin presents itself—even a minor matter, the sort of thing that comes up in everyday life, right? A pleasant conversation at someone else’s expense, or what’s called a trace of theft, a trace of gossip, a trace of lashon hara—the smallest things in the world. Whenever something comes his way that he knows is forbidden, that he knows isn’t good and isn’t what Hashem wants, he should stop for a moment and think about this idea that he has already learned and considered several times: What I’m about to do separates me from G-dliness just like idol worship. That’s enough.

29:15 Speaker 1 He won’t do it. Nothing more is needed. It’s hard; it takes work. But it’s close, within reach. All of that is on the side of “turn away from evil.” What about the “do good” side of the mitzvos? The Rebbe continues: “And likewise with regard to ‘do good’”—exactly the same reasoning. “To strengthen oneself like a lion, with courage and fortitude, against the yetzer that weighs down his body and casts laziness upon him, stemming from the element of earth in the animal soul.” If you remember, in chapter 2—or even chapter 1—we learned that the animal soul contains four elements, one of which is earth, which constantly pulls a person toward laziness and sadness. Then a person has no desire, no energy, “to exert his body with alacrity in all kinds of toil and burdensome labor in the service of Hashem that involves effort and exertion.” Notice that the Alter Rebbe is talking here about doing good. He isn’t talking about fulfilling mitzvos. He doesn’t mention fulfilling mitzvos even once. He’s talking about things that involve effort and exertion—beyond fulfilling mitzvos, what’s called going beyond the letter of the law. When the Alter Rebbe speaks about “do good” in chapter 25, he isn’t talking about fulfilling mitzvos. Why? Fulfilling positive mitzvos is included in “turn away from evil.” If a person turns away from evil, he neither commits transgressions nor neglects mitzvos. If he neglects a mitzvah, he commits a transgression, right? A person who neglects a mitzvah separates himself from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He was told to do something and didn’t do it. That’s not what we’re talking about. Fulfilling mitzvos falls under “turn away from evil.” “Do good” means going beyond the letter of the law. And this reasoning—that through every mitzvah I do, I cleave to G-dliness—is useful not only for avoiding transgressions and fulfilling mitzvos, but also for the “do good” within every mitzvah: putting effort into every

31:47 Speaker 1 mitzvah. “For example, to toil in Torah study with deep analysis.” I study Torah, yes. But if I reflect that when I study Torah, it isn’t just to discharge an obligation, or to understand, or to know what I’m supposed to do; I study Torah in order to cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—and if I don’t use my mind’s power of analysis, that power will remain separate from G-dliness—then I’ll devote myself wholeheartedly to studying with all my intellectual strength. And if I think about how, if I don’t say the words of Torah aloud, my power of speech will remain separate, then I’ll do it even though it’s terribly hard. “And with his mouth, his lips should not cease from reciting, as our Sages said: A person should always submit himself to the words of Torah like an ox to the yoke and a donkey to its load.” The Alter Rebbe has a certain expression in this connection... There’s a book called Maamarei Admur Hazaken Haketzarim, the Alter Rebbe’s Short Maamarim. Besides Likkutei Torah and Tanya, there are the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim, including these short ones. There the Alter Rebbe says that one must study Torah like an ox under the yoke and a donkey carrying its load, “until he is truly weary of his life.” Until he is weary of his life. It’s not merely that he has no energy; he has to study Torah with such desire, intensity, and enthusiasm, and invest so much strength, that he loses his taste for life. That’s the Alter Rebbe’s expression: “until he is truly weary of his life.” And not only Torah, but davening too. Not just to daven, but to daven with concentration, with all one’s strength. Simply to devote oneself completely to every psalm in the siddur, every word. To keep at it, to think again about what it says, what it means, what the plain meaning is, and how it all fits... Every part of it. To devote oneself completely to davening. “And likewise in serving Hashem with one’s money, such as the service of tzedakah.” Yes,

34:10 Speaker 1 so he mentioned the three pillars on which the world stands: Torah, davening, and tzedakah. By contemplating the fact that through every mitzvah I fulfill, I unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, I’ll come not only to avoid transgressions and fulfill all the mitzvos, but to fulfill all the mitzvos—encompassed by the three paths of Torah, service, and acts of kindness—with complete devotion. “And similarly with the yetzer’s battles and its schemes to cool a person’s spirit.” What does the yetzer want? It says not to give away one’s money freely. Fine, I’ll give tzedakah, but give away my money freely? Today someone called me. People call asking for tzedakah every day. When I started studying the Alter Rebbe’s Igros Kodesh—not this section, but the letters—a great many of them discuss tzedakah. It comes up there all the time. So a few years ago—three years ago, however many—I took it upon myself that when someone asks, I give. Tzedakah. A Jew asks; you have to give. Today someone called me from the Or Yarok organization. Come on, really.

35:42 Speaker 6 That’s a different matter already.

35:49 Speaker 1 Ten of them call every day, right? At first I said to myself: Come on, I’ve already given. I really have given. I gave tzedakah before leaving the house, before drinking a cup of coffee, when I got into the car, when I got to work. I’m not feeling well, either. I haven’t worked for a week, and I have no income. And someone already called this morning—I don’t even remember who—and I gave to them, and then that other person... Now Or Yarok? Come on, leave me alone. Wait, wait, wait. I need to give tzedakah to anyone who asks. I made my coffee; I only gave them ten shekels. Never mind. To give away one’s money freely. And one’s physical health. A person will often say, “Of course I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What? Excuse me, I need to take care of my health. It’s very important to take care of your health.” So, here’s the thing: if you’re taking care of your health so you can draw closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and cleave to Him more, you’re right. But if you’re taking care of your health so it can serve as an excuse to cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu less, that’s not what we mean. In practice, a person needs to take care of his health—to exercise, I don’t know, eat healthy food, do whatever is needed. But he must be prepared to give up his health. If he’s prepared to give it up, then when he actually faces a test, it won’t become an excuse for him. It won’t be an excuse. Do you understand the difference? In practice, he needs to look after it. But if he’s willing to give it up, it will never be an excuse to avoid serving Hashem. He’ll look after it when that’s genuinely necessary. To stand against the yetzer and all these forces of coldness, and to overcome it, is very close to a person. It really is close, when he takes

38:18 Speaker 1 to heart that he can overcome the yetzer in all of this—and the demands here are not simple. If you remember, we learned that over the last ten minutes. To overcome the yetzer in all of this, and more than that, “and actually turn it into its opposite, is much easier than the suffering of death.” All the suffering, all the difficulty we’ve been talking about. I think: Wow, how hard it is to say aloud what I’m learning, how hard it is to toil, how hard it is to daven. But if I make this calculation right then: Wait—if it meant suffering the agonies of death, I would accept that. I would. This isn’t as hard as dying, is it? So the whole approach is actually very simple. A person needs to absorb the fact that every mitzvah... every transgression severs him from G-dliness, as idolatry does, and every mitzvah sanctifies him and unites him with G-dliness, like sanctifying Hashem’s Name. It’s straightforward. If he keeps that in mind and thinks about it all the time, then in practice he’ll be cleaving to G-dliness all the time. Someone might say: Wait, what’s that worth? I don’t feel love of Hashem. In chapters 16 and 17, it talks about contemplating the greatness of Hashem. A person has a love that burns like flames within him. His mind is filled with G-dliness; he’s on fire for G-dliness. He feels himself cleaving to Hashem. This whole world doesn’t interest him. What are you talking about? I’m supposed to know I have a hidden love and then fulfill mitzvos, and it’ll count as if I have love? I don’t feel anything. What’s that worth? So it would seem. But the Alter Rebbe says just the opposite. What kind of love is discussed there? A love born from the intellect, right? And here we’re talking about a love from the very essence of the soul. Which is greater? There’s no comparison between them. The love a person feels is incomparably smaller, weaker, and more temporary than the hidden love. The hidden love is

40:36 Speaker 1 Eternal—it never fades; it is there all the time. It is strong and powerful beyond all comparison to love born of the intellect. So yes, here I feel it and here I don’t, and feeling love for Hashem is a great virtue. But where is there greater love? When a person serves Hashem specifically by the short, simple path: just remembering and actually fulfilling the mitzvos. What is at work in him now, what is being revealed in him, is a level far, far higher than that of tzaddikim. Quite literally. When a beinoni serves Hashem this way, compels himself, reflects, and makes the calculation that through every mitzvah he draws close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and becomes connected and attached to Him, the love for Hashem that is now at work in him and actually revealed in him is greater than the love for Hashem of tzaddikim—greater beyond all comparison. Okay, we’ve wandered a little. Line thirteen. “When he takes to heart that overcoming the inclination in all this and more, and doing the very opposite, is very easy compared with the sufferings of death, may Hashem protect us—and the sufferings of death, may Hashem protect us, he would accept with love and willingness rather than be separated from His unity and oneness, blessed be He, even for a moment, by bowing to an idol, G-d forbid.” What, that won’t help? Thank you. “All the more so should he accept it with love and willingness in order to cleave to Him forever. That is, when he does His will, blessed be He, in this service, the innermost aspect of the Supreme Will will be revealed in it openly and with abundant revelation, and not at all in concealment.” So why is this an “all the more so,” an a fortiori argument? There are two differences between overcoming the temptation to worship idols and... Wait, maybe. Maybe.

42:57 Speaker 7 Honey?

42:58 Speaker 1 What?

42:59 Speaker 7 Honey?

43:00 Speaker 1 No, no. I told you that you would have to suffer through my classes, and it’s not from corona. No, I just got startled. What is he talking about? He said that through this contemplation, his soul, as it were, wants to cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So this is a way both to overcome the temptation to do wrong and to do good. Right? That’s what he said in the first stage. Then what did he say in the second stage? “All the more so.” Doing good follows all the more strongly than refraining from evil. Why? We’re talking about the same thought, the same calculation a person makes: if I do a mitzvah, I will cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. If I don’t commit the sin, I won’t be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right? Why is it “all the more so”? What’s the difference? So the Rebbe lists two differences here. “In order to cleave to Him forever.” When a person refrains from worshipping idols, he has just sacrificed himself rather than worship idols. Yes. So what happened here? Two things. He was not separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right, he didn’t worship the idol; he was not separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. For how long? Had he worshipped the idol, he would have been separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu for that one moment. But he was not separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So those are the two points: not being separated, and one moment. When a person performs a positive mitzvah, what happens? Not only is he not separated; he cleaves to Him. And not just for one moment, but eternally, forever. That’s the side of doing good. So a person might think: our initial thought was that by making the calculation that every mitzvah is like idol worship, the main thing is, first of all, that I shouldn’t commit sins. I can also use it to perform mitzvos. The Rebbe says:

45:23 Speaker 1 It’s actually exactly the other way around. The calculation for performing mitzvos, for doing good, is much stronger than the calculation for refraining from evil. The calculation for refraining from evil is only temporary, and is only about not being separated. The calculation for doing good is both eternal and about cleaving to Him. Okay. So “all the more so should he accept it with love and willingness in order to cleave to Him forever. That is, when he does His will, blessed be He, in this service, the innermost aspect of the Supreme Will will be revealed in it openly and with abundant revelation, and not at all in concealment. And when there is no concealment of the Supreme Will at all, there is nothing separate whatsoever that can be an independent entity.” That’s the whole lengthy calculation he made in chapter 23: whenever a person performs a mitzvah, his body is nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, his soul is nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and so are his speech and thoughts, and so on. “Therefore his G-dly and vital souls and their garments will all be united in complete unity with the Supreme Will and the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, as explained above.” Because he wants to be attached to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Rebbe goes on to explain this point: how, through performing a positive mitzvah, he cleaves to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “This union above is eternal, forever.” Why? “Because He, blessed be He”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu—“and His will are above time.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not limited by time; He is above time. And just as He is above time, His will is above time too. And likewise, the revelation of His will in His speech—which is the Torah—is also above time, eternal, as it says, “And the word of our G-d shall stand forever.” An explicit verse: the word of our G-d, the Torah, is eternal; it shall stand forever. And another verse. We also say it in the prayers: “And His words live and endure,” and so on. And he adds, “He will never change or exchange His law.” Do you know where that comes from? Anyone recognize the source?

47:37 Speaker 8 Down below.

47:38 Speaker 1 It says down below. Yes. Yes, that isn’t from Scripture or from our Sages. It’s a liturgical poem. What does the poem say? “He will never change or exchange His law.” He’s adding another point here. It’s not only that the Torah, the law, doesn’t change and won’t be changed. When we say that something exists forever, there can be two ways that happens. There can be one way—sorry. There can be one way in which it exists forever because Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed that it would exist forever.

48:12 Speaker 8 The Jewish people.

48:13 Speaker 1 Hmm?

48:14 Speaker 8 The Jewish people. Like the heavens, it’s—

48:18 Speaker 1 The Jewish people aren’t a good example. Like the—the—the—yes. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed that it would, yes. Ah, some things endure as a species and some endure as individuals. Very good. Yes, the heavenly host exists as long as the world exists; something exists. But there are things whose existence is eternal not because Hakadosh Boruch Hu made an eternal entity. It is itself eternal. Its very essence is eternal. Yes? The Jewish people are eternal not because Hakadosh Boruch Hu decreed that—because the Jewish people are part of G-dliness, and G-dliness is eternal. The same is true of the Torah. What he’s saying—what he adds here is that the Torah is eternal because “He will never change or exchange His law.” The meaning of the poem is that this is something that cannot be replaced. “But down here, for us, it is subject to time, and only at the moment when he is engaged in Torah or a mitzvah.” For us it’s temporary. The moment I finish learning, I’m learning something else, or earlier I was learning and now I’m performing mitzvos. The Torah I learned earlier is... not in my mind right now. So above it is eternal; for me it is temporary. But the fact that for me it is temporary doesn’t nullify the Torah down here. It simply isn’t revealed now. “For afterward, if he engages in something else, he is separated from the supernal union below.” And when is he separated? “When he engages in completely idle matters that have no need at all for the service of Hashem.” Then he is separated. “Nevertheless, when he later returns to the service of Hashem”—after having been separated—“to Torah and prayer, and asks Hashem’s forgiveness for having had the opportunity to study Torah then and not having done so, Hashem will forgive him. As our Sages said, ‘If one transgressed a positive commandment and repented, he does not move from there before he is forgiven.’” So this is a wonderful thing. The moment a person—

50:16 Speaker 8 So now he committed a sin, and that’s why he’s separated?

50:18 Speaker 1 What, what?

50:19 Speaker 8 So now he committed a sin, and that’s why he’s separated?

50:22 Speaker 1 Even if he didn’t commit a sin. Right now he isn’t performing a mitzvah. He’s engaged in ordinary activities. He goes to work to earn a living and doesn’t think about earning a living as a way to have money for—for—he’s just working to earn a living, not for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He is separated from the supernal union. Right now he isn’t thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

50:43 Speaker 8 [unclear]

50:45 Speaker 1 Yes. Is that the basic demand?

50:52 Speaker 8 Yes, no, so when he’s separated—

50:56 Speaker 1 Separated, that’s... There’s being completely separated.

50:58 Speaker 8 Yes.

50:59 Speaker 1 And there’s being separated from the supernal union right now. But the moment he returns, that same supernal union he already brought about earlier is reawakened. He becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu again. “And for this reason they instituted the blessing ‘Forgive us’ three times each day, for the sin of neglecting Torah study, from which no one is free each day.” And this enactment of our Sages, to ask Hakadosh Boruch Hu for forgiveness three times a day, is based on a mitzvah in the Torah, like the tamid, the daily offering. How many daily offerings were brought each day?

51:38 Speaker 8 Two.

51:38 Speaker 1 Two. One in the morning and one toward evening. Why? For sins committed at night and sins committed during the day. It atoned for failures to fulfill positive mitzvos, and this is not a case of “I will sin and then repent.” It is not called “I will sin and then repent,” where a person is not helped to do teshuvah. When is it called “I will sin and then repent”? Only when, at the very moment of the sin, he relies on teshuvah, and that is why he sins. As explained elsewhere, if a person says, “Now I’m going to work,” or “Now I’m going to... I don’t know, go for a walk, go to the pool, go camping, have a barbecue”—whatever he’s going to do—“Right now I’m not with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Fine, I’ll do teshuvah afterward. No problem.” When a person goes about worldly matters thinking, “I’m allowed to, because I can do teshuvah,” he is separating himself from Hashem. Then he is not given the opportunity to do teshuvah. But if a person simply stumbles—he did not deliberately commit a sin; he stumbled—then he is given the opportunity and helped to do teshuvah. Even if it happens twice a day, or three times a day. And this explains, the Alter Rebbe concludes, why Moshe Rabbeinu, a”h, commanded the generation entering the Land, in Devarim, to recite the Shema twice every day: to accept the kingdom of Heaven upon themselves, with mesirus nefesh. After all, the passages of the Shema—“Shema Yisroel” and “Vehayah im shamoa”—are in the Book of Devarim. Moshe Rabbeinu spoke the entire Book of Devarim during the last month of his life, to the generation entering the Land, just before his passing. What does he tell them there? “Listen, friends, I’m not going into the Land with you. You’re going to be on your own now. You need to give your lives for the observance of mitzvos: ‘Shema Yisroel,’ ‘You shall love Hashem your G-d with all your heart,’ and ‘If you will listen’—and if not...” Doesn’t Moshe Rabbeinu know

53:40 Speaker 1 whom he’s talking to? His own people, Moshe’s people, whom he himself educated—his children. People who ate the manna for forty years, grew up within the cloud, and drank from Miriam’s well. They need to give their lives? And against whom? Is there someone in the Land they’re entering who will try to stop them from keeping mitzvos? What is this commandment about? The generation in the desert wasn’t told to recite the Shema. Suddenly they need mesirus nefesh. What happened? The Alter Rebbe explains. Hadn’t he promised them, “Hashem will place the fear and dread of you...” and so on? Why, then, does he demand mesirus nefesh of them? Because observing the Torah and its mitzvos depends on this: always remembering one’s readiness to give one’s life to Hashem for His unity. Not only in our generation—even in the generation that entered the Land, the generation of knowledge, even for them, day-to-day Torah and mitzvah observance depended on mesirus nefesh. A person must remember at every moment this readiness to give his life to Hashem. It must be fixed in his heart at all times, literally day and night, never leaving his memory. Through this he can stand against his yetzer and always overcome it, at every time and every hour, as explained above. And this also alludes to the advantage this love has over a love born in the heart through contemplation. When does that happen? During davening. Right now he is immersed in contemplation; right now he has a burning love of Hashem. And after davening? That isn’t there at every time and every hour. But when a person remembers the soul’s readiness to give itself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it awakens his love of Hashem at every time and every hour. Literally by day and by night, in easy times and difficult times. Whether he feels inspired or not, whether he feels emotion or not, whether he got up on the wrong side of the bed—it makes no difference. At any moment he can actually give his life to sanctify Hashem’s name. So in this chapter, essentially,

56:10 Speaker 1 the Rebbe finished the Tanya. Now you understand why—what I said at the beginning. The whole Tanya comes to explain, “For this thing is very close to you.” How it is close to every person. Now that we’ve learned chapter 25, all that remains is to do it. So what’s the question? The whole subject of Tanya is essentially complete. What, then, are all those chapters that come afterward? What is he talking about there?

56:39 Speaker 9 Bonuses.

56:39 Speaker 1 Huh?

56:40 Speaker 9 Bonuses.

56:41 Speaker 10 It goes beyond the common denominator, and the subject continues.

56:48 Speaker 1 From here... Actually, up to this point is the hard part of Tanya. Chapters 18 through 25 are the difficult chapters of Tanya. After that, he starts giving advice. A person comes along and says, “Listen, esteemed Alter Rebbe, I learned it, I understood it, I tried, and I’m not succeeding. It isn’t working for me. Listen, I really am trying. You know what? Maybe I didn’t understand it properly. Maybe I didn’t internalize it properly.” He studies it again from the beginning, chapters 1 through 25. He learns all the ideas, internalizes them, contemplates them, thinks about them, tries—and fails again. What’s going on? Because this really happens, the Alter Rebbe gives advice in the following chapters, 26 through 34, for people who are struggling. If someone isn’t succeeding, there are two general possible reasons. One is called sadness, and the other is called dullness of the heart. The Alter Rebbe says that someone who is sad cannot succeed in this avodah, even if he follows all the advice and applies himself. It won’t work for him. Someone whose heart is dull won’t succeed either. Since we have these two things getting in the way, we...

58:16 Speaker 9 What?

58:17 Speaker 10 That’s not encouraging.

58:18 Speaker 1 Since we have these two things getting in the way, we also need to treat those spiritual ailments called sadness and dullness of the heart. So the Alter Rebbe devotes a series of chapters—three, four, five chapters, through chapter 28—to how to get rid of sadness, and then chapters 29 through 34 to how to get rid of dullness of the heart. And then we’re all set.

58:44 Speaker 9 Oh, wait, and there’s someone who still...

58:47 Speaker 10 Yes, I just wanted to...

58:48 Speaker 9 They’re stopping me.

58:49 Speaker 1 When we get there, we’ll talk about it. That’s another issue.

58:53 Speaker 9 That’s a lot.

58:53 Speaker 10 No, it’s all right.

59:01 Speaker 1 The second part of Tanya, from chapter 35 to the end, is already just the enjoyable part. That’s after we’ve finished the work. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Creator of many living beings and their needs, for all that You have created to sustain the soul of every living thing. Blessed is the Life of the worlds. All right. Thank you very much for being willing to listen.

59:27 Speaker 9 Thank you very much.

59:28 Speaker 10 Thank you very much for the interesting class.

59:41 Speaker 9 I think it’s two or three spoonfuls.

59:44 Speaker 10 I think three.

59:46 Speaker 9 All right.

59:47 Speaker 10 Basically, they took off, uh, one piece of charoses and passed it to him, and... and made the piece...

1:00:00 Speaker 9 Thank you so, so much.

1:00:03 Speaker 1 I brought the...

1:00:08 Speaker 9 Thank you very much.

1:00:14 Speaker 10 The hashgachah pratis, when I was at [unclear], what you photographed, and I also put the keys with the keys so that...

1:00:20 Speaker 1 Oh, nice.

1:00:22 Speaker 10 It’s from the photo you took, chapter one of hashgachah pratis, and it burst, and then it comes out of there.

1:00:27 Speaker 1 Can we go?

1:00:28 Speaker 10 Yes.

1:00:32 Speaker 1 Well done. Good evening.

1:00:35 Speaker 10 Thank you very much.