Likkutei Amarim Chapter 35 (Part 1) – Until the Note · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 We learned chapter 35 at the end of the previous class. We said that, apparently, chapter 35 begins the second part, the second half of Tanya. What is the second half? We didn’t really explain that; we only spoke about it generally. The Alter Rebbe says in—

00:24 Speaker 2 Do you want to read it again? I don’t—

00:29 Speaker 1 Every book has a title page. Tanya has a title page too. There, on the title page, the Alter Rebbe says a few words. He says the book is based on the verse, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” So that’s where we asked a question. I’m mentioning it because it’s connected to what we’re discussing here. The whole book is connected to this verse. We asked there: What kind of order is this? On the simple level, what does “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” mean? “In your mouth” is speech, “in your heart” is thought, and “to do it” is action. So, simply speaking, Tanya bases all our service of Hashem on this: it says that a beinoni’s service is not about changing his inner essence. He can’t do that. He’s a beinoni, not a tzaddik. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the wicked. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created us as beinonim in such a way that we cannot become tzaddikim. That isn’t our task. Our task isn’t to become tzaddikim. We have no reason to expect that of ourselves. It simply isn’t our task. So what is our task? Thought, speech, and action. He bases the whole book on the verse “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it”—that Torah is very close to you in your mouth, in your heart, and in action. In other words, thought, speech, and action. Apparently, that’s the—remember we spoke about this? Yes? We’ve spoken about it several times. And there we ask—

02:01 Speaker 2 Wow, I haven’t seen you in half a year.

02:04 Speaker 4 Yes, because of the birth.

02:04 Speaker 2 How are you?

02:09 Speaker 1 Good evening. And there we ask: If that’s the whole point—if the Alter Rebbe brings the verse to tell us that a beinoni’s entire service is only thought, speech, and action, not service of the heart—then why is the verse in this order? What’s the usual order? Either we say thought, speech, and action, or we say action, speech, and thought, or—

02:38 Speaker 2 Action and thought, kabbolah.

02:41 Speaker 1 When we name the three faculties of the soul, the three garments of the soul, what order are they in? Thought is highest, then speech is lower, and then action. So you should list these faculties—

02:54 Speaker 2 I love the black [unclear]. Her hair is so [unclear].

03:01 Speaker 1 So when you mention thought, speech, and action, that’s also the usual wording. Either you say thought, speech, action, from top to bottom, or you say action, speech, and thought, from bottom to top. But the order in the verse is neither one nor the other. The verse says “in your mouth”—it starts with the mouth, with speech. Then it jumps to the heart, thought, and then goes back again to—what? There’s no order here, not from top to bottom. Right? Remember we asked this? Do you remember or not?

03:33 Speaker 2 I don’t remember.

03:35 Speaker 1 But now it’s clear. So what’s the explanation? It’s explained that, on a deeper level, the Alter Rebbe is really saying two things here, not just one. On the simple level, he says that serving Hashem is indeed a matter of thought, speech, and action. That’s the main service. What’s the deeper point? That a person’s main service of Hashem is in the heart—literally the heart, not “heart” in the sense of thought. A person really can work with his heart too. That’s what “in your mouth and in your heart” emphasizes: a person can serve Hashem not only with his outward faculties but also with his inner faculties, with feeling, with love and awe in his heart. And that is really the whole content of the first part of Tanya, from chapter 1 through chapter 34, which we learned: how, through contemplation, a person awakens love and awe in his heart. Then, when he has love of Hashem and awe of Hashem, it becomes very close to him to fulfill all the mitzvos. Right? So it turns out that throughout the first part of Tanya, up to chapter 34, the Alter Rebbe is mainly explaining the word “in your heart.” On a deeper level, yes? What is he explaining? You want to be a complete Jew? You want to be someone who never commits a transgression, someone who is attached only to Hakadosh Boruch Hu? How do you become that person? Put your heart to work. Contemplate things that awaken love of Hashem and awe of Hashem. Once you love Hashem, you’ll want to do mitzvos. Once you stand in awe of Hashem, you won’t commit transgressions; you’ll be a complete Jew. Is it hard for you? There’s a yetzer, you need to be joyful, and so on. Yes. So the whole content of the first thirty-four chapters is how a person awakens his heart—his “in your heart”—and through the heart reaches completeness—

05:44 Speaker 1 in observing Torah and mitzvos. Right? But if that’s the meaning, if “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” doesn’t mean only thought, speech, and action, but also really means that a person must serve Hashem with his heart—if that’s the deeper meaning of the verse—then what are “in your mouth” and “to do it” doing there? If the Alter Rebbe wants to say that, to be a complete Jew, our main service of Hashem must truly be with the heart, that it’s possible and necessary, and he explains how to work with the heart, then what are the words “in your mouth” and “to do it” doing there? “The matter is very close to you, in your heart.” What are “your mouth” and “to do it” doing there? Right? On the simple level, that isn’t a question, because on the simple level the verse really is talking about thought, speech, and action, and he does explain that. But on a deeper level, when we say that the Alter Rebbe wants to explain how it really is possible to serve Hashem with the heart, and that only through working with the heart can we reach completeness in observing Torah and mitzvos—and that is indeed what he explains—then what are “in your mouth” and “to do it” doing there? Right? That’s the question the Rebbe now comes to answer. And the Rebbe answers it at length. He starts here, in chapter 35, and continues through the end of chapter 53. He explains why, although the main point of serving Hashem—what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants from us—is that we observe mitzvos, and to observe mitzvos we need to engage the heart, nevertheless, the completeness of serving Hashem depends specifically on action, not on the heart. In other words, to reach completeness you have to work with the heart. But what is that completeness? It’s when the heart has an effect on action. So to understand “to do it,” the observance of practical mitzvos—

07:49 Speaker 1 “to do it” and “in your mouth”—he’ll speak about the mouth too, but mainly about action. So first he gives us three chapters, 35, 36, and 37, in which he explains why action is so important in the first place. What’s the question? Why does he need to explain why action is important? Why does that need explaining at all? Isn’t it obvious that observing mitzvos is important? Yet the Alter Rebbe devotes three long chapters to it. They aren’t simple or easy chapters; they’re wonderful, but there’s a lot here to understand. He explains why doing things matters so much. Does anyone have a question about that?

08:33 Speaker 5 Why isn’t intention enough?

08:35 Speaker 1 Hmm?

08:36 Speaker 5 Why isn’t the intention behind it enough?

08:39 Speaker 1 Well?

08:39 Speaker 5 Why did Hashem give us practical mitzvos in the first place?

08:43 Speaker 1 Yes, but what’s the question there? That’s right, that’s what he’s asking, but what—

08:46 Speaker 5 Physical things, like, that don’t seem connected.

08:49 Speaker 1 Exactly. It’s very simple, really, in our understanding and in how we feel—every one of us, or anyone else you ask. How do I connect, how do I attach myself to the Shechinah? Ask them. A birthday, what?

09:12 Speaker 5 Yes.

09:12 Speaker 6 No, that’s my brother, that’s the neighbor.

09:16 Speaker 5 No, once they also had something arrive for them, and the neighbors started ringing.

09:23 Speaker 6 How do you say it?

09:25 Speaker 5 Can you hear? You can hear—that’s responses.

09:27 Speaker 6 We can hear fine.

09:28 Speaker 5 For an evening event there, uh—

09:30 Speaker 6 Like—

09:30 Speaker 5 Loneliness. Or their door is open.

09:37 Speaker 6 Yes.

09:37 Speaker 5 Their door is open.

09:38 Speaker 6 Here, like.

09:40 Speaker 1 Each of us, when we wants to come close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—what is the first thing that comes to mind? How will I come close to Him? When I have love of Hashem, right? I’ll have awe of Hashem; I’ll feel attached to Him; I’ll want to come close to Him, I’ll yearn for it. That’s called being attached to Him. That’s called being close to Him. Right? So why does Hakadosh Boruch Hu ask for practical mitzvos? What do they accomplish? What are they for? If the whole purpose of keeping Torah and mitzvos is for me to come close, to cleave to Hashem, why do we need practical mitzvos? Hakadosh Boruch Hu could command me to contemplate, to study Kabbalah and Chassidus, to reflect on Hashem’s greatness, and to daven. That’s it. If the ultimate purpose of Torah and mitzvos is to cleave to Him, how do you cleave to someone? Through feeling, through understanding. Why do we need to perform mitzvos at all? Yes, it’s an understandable question. That’s what he addresses here. But before answering it, he first explains three chapters. Why do we need practical mitzvos at all? So he begins: “And now, to further explain the word la’asoso, ‘to do it.’” This is only a further explanation, not the main explanation. The main explanation is what we explained earlier: by awakening his heart, a person will attain completeness in his actions. But why must he attain completeness in his actions? What is so special about that? Why is it needed? So this is a further explanation. “And also to understand, if only a little, the purpose of the creation of the beinonim and the descent of their souls into this world, to be clothed in the animal soul, which comes from kelipah and sitra achra. Why have their souls descended into this world to toil in vain, G-d forbid?” Now, I’m sure you noticed—

11:56 Speaker 1 that we skipped a few lines. Did you notice or not?

12:00 Speaker 5 I’m trying to catch the words.

12:06 Speaker 1 So the Alter Rebbe wants to explain the word la’asoso, “to do it,” and something connected to it: Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create beinonim in the first place, and why did He send our souls down? Why must they be clothed in the animal soul of kelipah and sitra achra? He goes on for several lines explaining the question, and then sums it up at the end. Given what it says in the lines we’re about to study, there’s a question: Why did these souls descend into this world? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create such a thing as beinonim at all? What is the need for it? What exactly is the question? He explains: “Since they cannot send it away all their days, nor dislodge it from its place in the left chamber of the heart.” Beinonim cannot send away their animal soul; they cannot remove it from themselves entirely. Not only can they not send it away, they cannot even dislodge it from its place in the left chamber of the heart. What is the proof that beinonim cannot prevent thoughts from their animal soul from rising into the mind? When a person is just going about his day, thinking, living—he cannot stop his thoughts, right? What does he think about most of the day? All kinds of things, things of this world. Why isn’t he thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Because he has an animal soul. That is what occupies his animal soul, and what occupies him is what he thinks about. Those thoughts rise from the heart to the mind. Those are his thoughts all the time: thoughts of the animal soul. And a person cannot—a beinoni, we’re not talking about a tzaddik. A beinoni, meaning most people in the world, cannot prevent their thoughts from turning to matters of this world, to physical things. Why can’t he? If a person makes the firmest possible resolution: From today onward—

14:28 Speaker 1 I’m a tzaddik. From today on, I’ll think only holy thoughts. Can he keep that up?

14:34 Speaker 5 No.

14:34 Speaker 1 He might manage it for three minutes. If only he could manage three minutes. Why? Because his vitality, his pleasure, his sense of self come from the animal soul, and the animal soul has thoughts of its own. So as long as he manages to concentrate and keep hold of himself, he can, as they say, put it in a cage. But the moment he lets go for even a second, it is still there. It has not gone away, and it retains its strength. So he explains it this way: “For the very essence of the animal soul, which comes from kelipah, remains in its full strength and vigor within them, as it was from birth.” Just as he was born with an animal soul that gives life to the body in full force, so it remains until his last day. It does not grow weaker. “Only its garments do not become clothed in their bodies, as explained above.” He can ensure that the garments of the animal soul do not find expression. He can hold himself back firmly from thinking, speaking, or doing things contrary to holiness. But he cannot take the animal soul and send it away, or even move it aside. Why can’t he? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu created us this way. It says, “You created tzaddikim; You created reshaim.” We learned this, right? There in chapter 13. What does “You created reshaim” mean? Did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create us as reshaim? Did He make us into people who commit aveiros? As he explains there in chapter 13—we learned it—Hakadosh Boruch Hu created most souls in such a way that they cannot become tzaddikim. They can be beinonim, who do not commit aveiros. But they cannot become tzaddikim. They cannot control the animal soul or push it away. They can avoid being reshaim, but they cannot become tzaddikim. So since they cannot become tzaddikim, then—

16:48 Speaker 1 “Why have their souls descended into this world to toil in vain, G-d forbid, battling the yetzer all their days?” What is going on here, right? Who battles the yetzer? We have two souls, right? A G-dly soul and an animal soul. Who fights the animal soul? The G-dly soul. Right? How does it fight it? There are two possible ways of waging a battle. One way is from a distance. One side is here and fires a missile at someone overseas. You can cause the other side a great deal of damage that way, but you cannot conquer it. Even with planes that fly all the way there, you still cannot conquer it. Until you go in on the ground, until you get inside, you cannot conquer it. That is how it works in the physical world. And why is that? Because it works that way in the spiritual world too. If our bodies contained two souls, one G-dly and one animal, and how would they fight? This one strikes from here, that one throws a punch from there. If that were how the battle worked, the G-dly soul could never conquer the animal soul. If the G-dly soul acted on the animal soul only from the outside—just forcing it, hitting it, suppressing it, putting it in a cage and setting boundaries around it—it could never transform it into good. How could it transform it from the outside? It is outside, not inside. Right? So what did Hakadosh Boruch Hu do to enable a Jew to transform his animal soul into good? What did He do? He did not place the G-dly soul in the body as one of two souls sitting side by side. He placed them

18:59 Speaker 1 In a way that—this is the wording here; we read it, but I didn’t go into it. It says: “The descent of their souls into this world to become enclothed in the animal soul.” The G-dly soul descends into the body not simply to be there alongside the animal soul, but to become enclothed in it. What does “enclothed” mean? It unites with it. They become one. Because it’s inside me, it’s as though they’ve united. We say that when a person thinks all kinds of things and hesitates for a moment, is this thought coming from the yetzer tov or the yetzer hara? Why is it like that? Because I’m one person, not two. Right? The G-dly soul becomes enclothed in the animal soul and unites with it until they become one thing. And because they become one thing, the G-dly soul can transform the animal soul into good. Clear? But now we have a contradiction. The whole reason Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed the G-dly soul inside the animal soul in this way, enclothed in it—what was it for? So it could transform it, right? And what are you telling us now? No, it will never be able to transform it. Although Hakadosh Boruch Hu apparently enclothed it there in order to transform it, what does it say? That they will not be able to send it away or even push it aside throughout their lives. So why did You enclose it there? Do You just enjoy watching them wrestle with each other? Do You simply want to make things hard for us, to cause us pain? What’s the point? Decide. If You only want it to suppress the animal soul, arrange it that way. If You want it to transform the animal soul, then enclose it in a way that will let it do so. You place it there in a state of enclothement, but don’t let it transform the animal soul.

20:58 Speaker 1 What’s going on here? So the Alter Rebbe says there’s a big question here. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu enclose the G-dly soul within the animal soul? As he puts it, “Why did these souls descend into this world to toil in vain?” If the whole purpose of this enclothement is to transform the animal soul, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu made it from the outset so that it cannot do that, then a person’s entire life is for nothing. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave a person a task while knowing from the outset—and making it so—that the person could not accomplish it. So what’s the point? Is the question clear? “If so, why did these souls descend into this world to toil in vain, G-d forbid, to battle the yetzer all their lives without being able to overcome it?” If it’s known in advance that they won’t be able to overcome it, why enclose the soul there? The Alter Rebbe says: What I’m about to explain “will be their consolation, comforting them with double strength.” Wait, wait. When you reach the end of chapter 37, you’ll understand this twofold consolation. Do you remember what we learned about “double strength”? It isn’t explained here, but a little in other places. Think of a double knot. How do you tie one? One knot, and then another on top of it, right? A single knot comes apart immediately. So what holds it? The second knot holds it. Well, then I’ll just make the second knot. That won’t hold on its own either, right? But when there’s one knot and then another, it doesn’t come apart. That’s somewhat connected to this, though perhaps more so elsewhere. So what’s the consolation? To begin to understand it, we have to understand what Hakadosh Boruch Hu really wants from us. How can He demand something of us

23:13 Speaker 1 that He Himself makes us unable to do? There must be some purpose in this. Hakadosh Boruch Hu didn’t enclose the G-dly soul within the animal soul for no reason. “And to gladden their hearts in Hashem, Who dwells with them in their Torah study and service. This can be understood by first citing the words of the Yenuka in the Zohar, Parshas Balak.” Usually, when the Alter Rebbe brings a quotation—not only from the Zohar, but from the Gemara as well—he doesn’t tell us the name of the sage or exactly where it appears. He says, “It says,” or “It says in the Zohar,” but doesn’t name the speaker. Why would it matter to me whether this was said by the Yenuka, the elder, or Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai himself? We’re discussing the idea. Why does it matter who said it? But the Rebbe explains that here it matters very much. That’s why the Alter Rebbe mentions it. This Yenuka was one of the sages of Kabbalah in Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s time, a holy Jew. Why call him “Yenuka,” a child? Was he a child? He was one of the great sages of his generation. But when he said this, he was still a young child. Why does that matter to us? The Rebbe wants to explain how this applies not only to tzaddikim, who can transform their souls from evil to good. This quality of observing mitzvos belongs to children too, to us too, to ordinary people. There in the Zohar, the Yenuka comments on the verse, “The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” King Shlomo said it, as everyone knows. The Zohar asks: “‘The wise man’s eyes are in his head’? Where else are a person’s eyes?” On his body,

25:15 Speaker 1 on his hand, on his foot? King Shlomo, the wisest of all men, is telling us something very, very wise. What is his insight? “You should know that a wise man’s eyes are in his head.” If King Shlomo hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t know? Does someone who isn’t wise have eyes somewhere other than his head?

25:39 Speaker 7 It’s a metaphor, isn’t it?

25:41 Speaker 1 What?

25:41 Speaker 7 Isn’t it a metaphor?

25:44 Speaker 1 Ah. The plain meaning is a metaphor. And what does the metaphor mean? What does the verse mean? That before a wise person does something, he thinks ahead about what will come of it. Yes, that’s the plain meaning. But the Zohar doesn’t want to understand it that way. The Zohar wants to understand the words themselves. If you want to say that a person looks ahead, why use the expression “The wise man’s eyes are in his head”? What do the actual words mean, apart from the metaphor and what it represents? It explains: “Rather, this is certainly the meaning of the verse.” We must say that this is what the verse means. “For we have learned: A person should not walk four cubits with his head uncovered.” That’s a saying of Moshe Rabbeinu there in the Zohar. A person should not walk four cubits bareheaded, Moshe Rabbeinu says. Why? “Because the Shechinah rests upon his head.” Moshe Rabbeinu says that since the Shechinah rests upon a person’s head, it isn’t fitting for him to walk even four cubits with his head uncovered. How far are four cubits? How long is a cubit?

27:09 Speaker 7 A meter? Four?

27:12 Speaker 1 A cubit is half a meter. There are different opinions about it. Today, the commonly accepted ruling follows the gaon Rabbi Chaim Naeh, who ruled that a cubit is forty-eight centimeters. That’s about half a meter, almost half a meter. So four cubits is two meters—the length of this table. Moshe Rabbeinu says that since the Shechinah is above a wise person’s head, he may not walk four cubits bareheaded. “And every wise person”—on this basis, the Yenuka explains the meaning of “The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” Since the Shechinah is above the head of the wise person—he studies Torah, and so the Shechinah rests upon him—“his eyes and his words are on his head.” He has to keep looking there. The Shechinah rests upon a Jew who studies Torah the entire time he’s learning. So his eyes must always be “in his head,” directed toward the Shechinah resting above him. You can’t study Torah—a Jew studies Torah, and the Shechinah automatically rests upon him—and ignore the Shechinah. What does “The wise man’s eyes are in his head” mean? The Yenuka explains that a wise person, a Jew studying Torah, must constantly reflect that the Torah is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s Torah and that the Shechinah rests upon him right now. That’s the meaning of “The wise man’s eyes are in his head.” That’s how he explains it. “Upon that which rests and remains above his head. And when his eyes are there”—when that wise person reflects that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is now above his head, that the Shechinah rests upon his head—“he will know,” or understand, “that the light burning above his head needs oil.” Then the Yenuka says something remarkable. Moshe Rabbeinu and King Shlomo likened the Shechinah to a light resting above a person’s head. So what does the Yenuka say?

29:38 Speaker 1 If the Shechinah is likened to a light, that means something like the flame of a lamp, right? How does a flame rest on a lamp? There’s a wick; you light it, and a flame rests on it. Right? And if there’s no oil, can a lamp without oil burn?

29:59 Speaker 8 Almost.

30:01 Speaker 1 For one second.

30:02 Speaker 8 Right.

30:02 Speaker 1 And its light will be jumpy, not soft and beautiful and steady. Right? If the Shechinah is compared to a light resting over a person’s head, you need oil. You need a wick and you need oil. What is the wick? The wick is the person, the person’s body. So the body is the wick. What is the oil? How can there be light without oil? That’s what the Yenuka asks. That’s the depth of the question in Shlomo’s saying, “A wise man’s eyes are in his head.” What does “a wise man’s eyes are in his head” mean? He needs to contemplate that when he studies Torah or observes mitzvos, Hakadosh Boruch Hu rests upon him, upon his head. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the Shechinah—is compared to light. So if there’s light, there must be oil, because without oil the light won’t last. That’s an entirely different understanding of the verse “A wise man’s eyes are in his head.” Not just that someone who looks ahead plans his steps. Right?

31:07 Speaker 8 Wow, what an insight.

31:08 Speaker 1 Huh?

31:09 Speaker 8 I liked that.

31:10 Speaker 1 That’s the Yenuka’s insight; it’s written in the Zohar. Instead of interpreting the—simply, instead of interpreting the—no, as a metaphor, as she said. No, it’s the words themselves. Look at what it says. Not the interpretation. Don’t give me interpretations. What does it say? “A wise man’s eyes are in his head.” If Hakadosh Boruch Hu is over your head, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is compared to light, where’s the oil? How can there be light without oil? And then he answers. How does he continue here? “He sets his eyes there, to know that the light burning over his head needs”—it needs oil, it needs oil. Why? “Because a person’s body is the wick, and the light burns above it.” So there’s a wick and there’s light. And what does King Shlomo—King Shlomo proclaims and says. What does King Shlomo proclaim? “A wise man’s eyes are in his head,” and “Let oil never be lacking on your head.” Okay, you have a wick, you have light; “Let oil never be lacking on your head.” The Shechinah can’t rest there without oil. Very good. And what is the oil? What is the oil?

32:36 Speaker 9 Moshiach.

32:37 Speaker 1 Huh?

32:38 Speaker 9 Moshiach.

32:38 Speaker 1 Why?

32:41 Speaker 9 What?

32:41 Speaker 1 Why?

32:43 Speaker 9 Why? Why?

32:45 Speaker 1 What do mitzvos have to do with oil?

32:50 Speaker 9 But that’s the answer.

32:51 Speaker 1 Huh?

32:52 Speaker 9 That’s the answer.

32:53 Speaker 1 Yes.

32:53 Speaker 9 Mitzvos are the oil.

32:56 Speaker 1 “Let it not be lacking.” Right. “For the light over his head needs oil.” And what is the oil? “It is good deeds.” Good deeds and mitzvos. The oil is the good deeds. And that’s the meaning of “A wise man’s eyes are in his head.” That concludes the Yenuka’s words. We went through the Yenuka’s words slowly, deliberately, because from here until the end of Tanya, it’s an explanation of those words.

33:26 Speaker 9 Until the end of chapter 53?

33:27 Speaker 1 Until the end of chapter 53. From here, we begin explaining what it means that mitzvos are oil. There will be two stages. The first stage of the explanation runs through chapter 50, and then the last three chapters take it to another level. Here: “The explanation of this analogy, in which the light of the Shechinah is compared to the light of a lamp, which cannot shine or take hold of the wick without oil: Likewise, the Shechinah does not rest upon the human body, which is compared to a wick, except through good deeds specifically.” What’s the question? There’s an analogy and what it represents. In the analogy, it’s very clear: without oil, the light can’t take hold of the wick. It won’t burn properly for long. Right. So the analogy is very clear. But what it represents doesn’t seem to fit. Why not? What’s the problem? Well, what did we say? What did King Shlomo say? What did the Yenuka say? What is the oil? The oil is good deeds. Right. Why good deeds? If something has to serve as the oil connecting the light of the Shechinah with the person’s body, what would be best suited to be that intermediary, the oil that connects them?

34:52 Speaker 9 Wisdom, Torah.

34:54 Speaker 1 No, the G-dly soul.

34:55 Speaker 9 Oh.

34:56 Speaker 1 The G-dly soul, with its wisdom, its love and awe. Right? A person has a G-dly soul. When his G-dly soul is revealed, when he brings it into expression, as we discussed in the first part of Tanya, he’ll have love of Hashem, he’ll have awe of Hashem, and he’ll burn with love of Hashem. Right? So G-dliness is revealed within him and drawn into him through his G-dly soul. Right? Where is his G-dly soul? Inside his body. So there’s our connection. Seemingly, then, the G-dly soul is the most suitable vessel, the most suitable thing to serve as the oil that draws Hashem’s light onto the body. Right? What does he say? No. Your G-dly soul isn’t enough; it isn’t suitable. Even the G-dly soul of a tzaddik who loves Hashem and serves Him with love and awe, with delight, as he’ll say shortly, cannot cause the light of the Shechinah to rest upon the body. It has to be good deeds specifically, and this is the explanation. All right, now he begins to explain why. First he asks the question: “Why is his soul not sufficient to serve as oil?” Why isn’t the soul alone enough? His soul is “a part of G-d above.” Why isn’t it sufficient as oil for the wick? What’s the problem? Seemingly, the opposite should be true. Here: “This is understood and clear to every discerning person.” What’s the explanation? “For the human soul,” the G-dly soul, even if the person is a complete tzaddik, someone who serves Hashem with awe and love, with delight—we’ll explain later what love with delight is; it’s the loftiest level of love—“nevertheless, it is not utterly nullified in its existence, so as to be nullified and absorbed in the light of Hashem itself and become one with it in complete unity. Rather, he remains an entity unto himself, who fears and loves Hashem.” A complete tzaddik. Even a complete tzaddik who serves

37:14 Speaker 1 Hashem with love and delight, with awe and complete self-nullification—can we say that he is united with G-dliness? No. He delights in G-dliness, he stands in awe of G-dliness, he loves G-dliness, and he delights in G-dliness. So he is the one who feels awe, love and delight. He has an existence of his own. True, his entire existence is one of self-nullification. Think about what kind of existence that is. Moshe Rabbeinu—what existence of his own did he already have? Or Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. But there’s something else here: he isn’t united, he doesn’t become one. You can’t say that he is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. No. “By contrast, mitzvos and good deeds are His will.” Well? So what if mitzvos and good deeds are His will? Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted mitzvos to exist, He also wanted the four worlds—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah—to exist, right? Didn’t He want that? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create all the worlds? Because He wanted to, right?

38:31 Speaker 10 He wanted them along the way, so to speak, not directly. It’s like I want...

38:36 Speaker 1 Yes, that’s exactly the distinction he’s going to explain. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted all the created beings in the world to exist. So he asks: What’s special about mitzvos being His will? Everything in the world is His will. Now I’ll explain the difference between Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s will for mitzvos and His will for all other created beings. Like this: “His will is the source of life for all the worlds and all created beings,” not just mitzvos. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s will descends to them, to all the worlds and created beings. How? “Through many tzimtzumim, concealment of the countenance of the Supreme Will, blessed be He, and a descent through levels.” There are three general kinds of concealment involved in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s descent to give life to the worlds. First, tzimtzum. What is tzimtzum? Less. At first there was a lot, and now only a little has been taken. Right? Besides that, there’s concealment of the countenance. Even the little that descends to give life to the worlds is hidden. They don’t sense it. Right? And it’s not only that they don’t sense it: there’s also a descent through levels. It comes, so to speak, through something else. We’ll explain that another time. “Until they can come into being and be created as something from nothing, as separate entities in their own right, without being nullified in their existence at all.” So it’s true that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants everything in the world to exist. But how does His will give them life? Through tzimtzumim, concealment of the countenance, and a descent through levels. “By contrast, mitzvos are the inner dimension of His will, and there is no concealment of the countenance there at all.” Why do we say there is no concealment at all in the inner dimension of His will? When I do a mitzvah, do I feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Do I feel Him or not?

40:24 Speaker 10 Yes.

40:24 Speaker 1 You feel Him. We’re talking about people who... Yes, yes.

40:29 Speaker 10 I feel Him. People don’t feel Him? What don’t they feel?

40:32 Speaker 1 Some people do feel it. I’m not saying anything, but...

40:35 Speaker 10 The spiritual uplift. Some people say blessings automatically. I feel it. Some people say blessings on autopilot and don’t even notice that they’re saying them.

40:41 Speaker 1 Right.

40:43 Speaker 10 We won’t say who, but some people do.

40:46 Speaker 1 Also, also, also—

40:48 Speaker 10 It gives that spiritual uplift.

40:49 Speaker 1 Right, right, right, right, right. Even those who do experience spiritual uplift, who do feel something—but do they feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu? How can I, with my mind and my feelings, feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu? I can’t. I rise a little, a little; I come closer—but closer to what? To the Infinite, so to speak. “No thought can grasp Him.” My thought—even the thought of the higher worlds—cannot grasp Him. So what is the point? One of the differ— We’ve spoken several times about the inner dimension of the will and its outer dimension, what Mushka mentioned. Right, Mushka?

41:28 Speaker 10 Yes.

41:30 Speaker 1 We’ve spoken several times about the difference between the inner and outer dimensions of the will: the outer dimension is what a person wants for the sake of something else, and the inner dimension is what he really wants. In other words, when a person wants to go to work, of course he wants to go to work—but he doesn’t want the work itself; he wants to earn money, right? So wanting to go to work is the outer dimension, and the purpose for which he wants it is the inner dimension. That’s how it’s explained in most places. But there’s a deeper difference between the inner and outer dimensions of the will. What is the outer dimension of the will? He wants... When a person wants something with the outer dimension of his will, he wants something else. With the inner dimension of the will, he doesn’t want a thing; he wants himself. Have you ever noticed that? When a person wants... Take the example we used: he goes to work, right? What does he want? He wants the job, so he says, “I want this.” Right? Why do I want it? To get money. Right? But even the money is ultimately something I want—an object. And why do I want the money? So I can buy food. Right? So deep down I actually want the food—but even the food is something else. Why do I want food? So that I can live. Right? So the inner dimension of the will isn’t that I want something else. The inner dimension of the will is that I want myself. That’s what’s called the inner dimension of the will. So, for a person, at a deeper level, the difference between the outer and inner dimensions is that the outer dimension is what I want in something else, while the inner dimension is what he wants in himself. In a similar way, so to speak, this applies to Hakadosh Boruch Hu as well. What He wants in all the worlds is something else—the worlds are what He wants. The inner dimension of His will is what... expresses Him, His very essence. It is He Himself. Right? So—

43:36 Speaker 1 If we say that the mitzvos are the inner dimension of His will, what does that mean? That the mitzvos are He Himself. That is where He is. It isn’t something else that He wants; it is what He wants in Himself. Is the point clear? Does the analogy make sense?

43:54 Speaker 10 Yes.

43:54 Speaker 1 Yes?

43:54 Speaker 10 In the analogy, yes.

43:55 Speaker 1 So we don’t understand what it means to say that the mitzvos are He Himself. We... that’s something I don’t know; it can’t be understood. But when our Sages said that the mitzvos are the inner dimension of His will, it means that the mitzvos are He Himself. That’s why he emphasizes: “The mitzvos, by contrast, are the inner dimension of His will,” and because they are the inner dimension of His will, “there is no concealment of His countenance there at all.” I don’t feel it because I can’t feel the inner dimension of His will. But here that inner dimension is revealed. And therefore “the life-force within them”—within the mitzvos—“is not a separate entity at all.” It isn’t like a tzaddik who delights in Hashem. The mitzvos are Hashem Himself. It is His will; it is He. “They are not separate, but are united with and incorporated into His will, may He be blessed, and they become truly one, in complete unity.” On this basis, he’ll explain why the indwelling of the Shechinah depends specifically on action and not on the divine soul. Here: the concept of the indwelling of the Shechinah. What is the indwelling of the Shechinah? It is the revelation of His G-dliness. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere. Is there anywhere Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t? Is there anywhere Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t?

45:19 Speaker 11 There’s no such place.

45:20 Speaker 1 There’s no such place. So what’s the whole differ— What, then, is the indwelling of the Shechinah? First of all, what does it mean? Here He is present openly. The indwelling of the Shechinah means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed. It doesn’t mean that He wasn’t here before and has now arrived. A person learns Torah, and suddenly Hakadosh Boruch Hu has arrived here. Where was He before? He was here before; now He has been revealed. The indwelling of the Shechinah means the revelation of the Shechinah. “The indwelling of the Shechinah is the revelation of His G-dliness and the light of the blessed Ein Sof.” In what can Hakadosh Boruch Hu be revealed? “That is to say, that thing is incorporated into the light of Hashem and utterly nullified to Him, so that the one Hashem dwells and is revealed within it.” The moment something becomes a mitzvah, that mitzvah is now Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, revealed. So now the Shechinah dwells here. That is what the indwelling of the Shechinah means: Hakadosh Boruch Hu has been revealed. Right. So when can Hakadosh Boruch Hu dwell somewhere, be revealed? Only when... when the inner dimension of His will is revealed here. If it isn’t the inner dimension of His will, how can He be revealed? It’s something else; it isn’t Him. Where do we have the inner dimension of His will? Only in mitzvos. Ah, a tzaddik can serve Hashem with love and awe. True, but that isn’t the inner dimension of His will; it’s the outer dimension. Hashem cannot be revealed there. Do you understand what’s being said here? The Rebbe explains this very sharply: there is no difference between a perfect tzaddik and the simplest Jew who performs a mitzvah. The greatest perfect tzaddik—even a tzaddik of the stature of those of earlier generations, with all their love and awe—if he doesn’t perform the mitzvah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t revealed. There is no indwelling of the Shechinah. He can be, how do you say, like the Baal Shem Tov, transcending physicality; he can be—

47:26 Speaker 1 a prophet. He can be I don’t know what. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not revealed here. Where is Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself revealed? Only in mitzvos. Because a mitzvah is something I can do too. Well, that’s a little comfort for beinonim. That’s the beginning of working this out. “But anything that is not utterly nullified to Him cannot have the light of Hashem dwell and be revealed within it. Even a perfect tzaddik who cleaves to Him with great love—‘no thought can grasp Him at all,’ in truth.” He’s saying: it’s not just that you feel a little G-dliness. Even a perfect tzaddik who feels G-dliness, however he feels it—“no thought can grasp Him at all.” He doesn’t mean merely that thought cannot grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That goes without saying: Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t an idea. Thought can only grasp an idea. Something that isn’t an idea cannot be grasped by thought. Is that clear? Yes or no? What can the intellect understand? It can understand something intellectual. Is Hakadosh Boruch Hu an intellectual concept? Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t. He created the intellect. So how can the intellect grasp something that isn’t intellectual? When we say “no thought can grasp Him at all,” we certainly don’t mean, “Listen, even thought can’t grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That’s obvious, right? It doesn’t need to be said. What do we mean? “No thought can grasp Him”—not simply that the intellect cannot grasp Him, but that it is impossible to touch G-dliness. A human being made of flesh and blood, even with a divine soul, cannot touch the very essence of G-dliness. But when he performs a mitzvah, the very essence of G-dliness is here, revealed openly. “For in truth, the truth of ‘Hashem Elokim emes’ is His unity and oneness: He alone exists, and there is literally nothing besides Him.” If so, the one who loves Him—that perfect tzaddik—

49:29 Speaker 1 who loves Him—is a distinct being; he is not nothing. “His thought cannot grasp”—his thought cannot touch Hakadosh Boruch Hu at all, “and the light of Hashem does not dwell and become revealed within him,” even within a perfect tzaddik, “except through the performance of mitzvos.” Why? Because the mitzvos are His very will and wisdom, without any concealment of His countenance. Tell me, isn’t that wonderful? What time is it now? How are we doing for ti—how are we doing for time?

50:07 Speaker 3 Stop.

50:07 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:09 Speaker 3 If you want to stop.

50:11 Speaker 1 Yes, it’s already...

50:12 Speaker 3 Yes, this is the chapter...

50:17 Speaker 1 This is the lowest chapter.

50:19 Speaker 3 Yes, but you made it lofty.

50:22 Speaker 1 No, here we bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu—here we bring G-dliness down below.

50:25 Speaker 3 Down below, there you go.

50:28 Speaker 1 Well, I’d actually wanted to skip the note because of the time, but maybe it’s better to stop here and study the note next week too. I’ve mentioned many, many times what it says in the note to chapter 35 of Tanya, and now we’ve reached it. It’s one of the foundational points in Chassidus. So what have we covered here? We began by reviewing the first part of Tanya: to be a complete Jew in the observance of mitzvos, a Jew needs to awaken love and fear of Hashem—especially love of Hashem—so that we can observe the mitzvos fully. But why do we need to observe the mitzvos fully? That’s what he began explaining here. He’ll explain it at much greater length, but he has begun with the central point: bringing the Shechinah to rest here, bringing G-dliness down into the world, happens specifically through observing mitzvos, not through all the forms of serving Hashem discussed through most of the first part. Within this subject itself there are three chapters—35, 36, and 37—dealing with three different aspects. Only after that does he begin discussing love and fear of Hashem and our inner service of Hashem.