Likkutei Amarim Chapter 36 (Part 1) – Until the Note · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 We’ll begin. Today we’re going to learn chapter 36.

00:06 Speaker 2 Do you know where to put it? Under my nose.

00:10 Speaker 1 Ah.

00:10 Speaker 2 I—

00:12 Speaker 1 No, no, thank you.

00:13 Speaker 2 No. No.

00:15 Speaker 1 Lately we’ve had a regular introduction, for a regular reason, so... every week there’s news. So we’ll do the introduction again each week, with something new that will also be interesting for our—

00:29 Speaker 2 [unclear].

00:34 Speaker 1 That’s not so bad either. It’s such a fundamental point that you need to hear it until it finally sinks in. In Tanya, the first part of Tanya, Likkutei Amarim, has two themes. You could really call them two parts. The first part—all fifty-three chapters are based, as the Alter Rebbe says on the title page, on the verse, “For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” The entire first part, through the end of chapter 34, explains the words “in your heart”: “The matter is very near to you... in your heart.” It is very easy—near, not very easy, but very near—for every person to observe Torah and mitzvos with the heart. What does “with the heart” mean? People generally think: Who is considered a more elevated person? Someone who observes more mitzvos. And who is considered less elevated, an intermediate person or a wicked person? Someone who observes fewer mitzvos, or no mitzvos at all. Already in the first chapter of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe teaches something new: the distinction between people, in terms of how righteous they are, is not a matter of whether someone observes more or fewer mitzvos. No, that isn’t the point. That isn’t what it’s about. Serving Hashem is about how far a person has succeeded in casting the evil out of his heart. A person might observe all the mitzvos perfectly, exactly like a complete tzaddik, and still not be a tzaddik. Why? Because deep in his heart he is drawn to the pleasures of this world. And so on. Why is it so important to the Rebbe to explain this at such length—thirty-four chapters on the idea that serving Hashem is an inner matter, a matter of the heart? I’ll put it simply. The Torah says that observing all of Torah and mitzvos is very near. And anyone you tell that to—“Very easy? All of Torah and mitzvos? All of Torah and mitzvos?”

02:45 Speaker 1 Near? What? How is it very near? How is it near, and even very near? So the Alter Rebbe says: “Yes. If you love Hashem, you’ll naturally want to do everything He wants you to do. If you fear Hashem, you won’t commit transgressions. So if you awaken love and fear within yourself—a feeling of love—you’ll simply love Hakadosh Boruch Hu and fear Him, and then you’ll naturally observe all the mitzvos.” That is what the entire first part of Tanya is about: how a person can awaken his love and fear, primarily love. That is the main work. The main part of serving Hashem is to awaken love of Hashem. How can a person do that? What should he contemplate? And if all sorts of things interfere with his contemplation, how can he deal with them? That is what the whole first part deals with. So this is called “in your heart”: by serving Hashem in your heart, with your heart, with feeling, with love and fear—or through contemplation that reveals and arouses love and fear—it will be easy, very near, for you to observe all the mitzvos. But according to this, the verse needs explanation. If the way to observe all of Torah and mitzvos is by awakening love and fear in one’s heart, why does the verse say, “For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it”? It should have said, “For the matter is very near to your heart.” What do the mouth, speech and action have to do with it? It’s very near to your heart. What do those other things have to do with it? So to clarify this, beginning in chapter 35 the Rebbe explains an entire additional aspect of serving Hashem, continuing through the end of Tanya: why action—“to do it”—is necessary, and what its advantage is.

04:48 Speaker 1 And just as in the first part the Rebbe didn’t go straight into explaining how to serve Hashem, what to contemplate and what to do. No. First there is an introduction—twelve or thirteen, fourteen chapters of introduction. Various intellectual concepts, things you need to know. Once you know what a beinoni is, what a tzaddik is, what the G-dly soul is and what the animal soul is—once you know this and that—now we can explain to you how to serve Hashem. Similarly, the second part of Tanya explains serving Hashem through action: what that means and how we serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu through action. But first there are introductions: six chapters of introduction, from chapter 35 through chapter 40 inclusive. These chapters cover various things you need to know. They aren’t about the actual work of serving Hashem; they are intellectual concepts that you need to know and understand. Once we understand the matters discussed in those six chapters, then in chapter 41—now that we know what action is, what advantage it has, where it leads and what it accomplishes—we can begin to explain how to serve Hashem through action. And within this there is something else as well. Just as in the first part the Rebbe made clear—and that entire part is founded on this—that serving Hashem isn’t a matter of outward action, not a physical matter, but an inner form of work, in the second part of Tanya the Rebbe introduces the idea that serving Hashem through action is also inner work. It too is work

06:38 Speaker 1 of the heart. Without Tanya, what would people think? Without Tanya, what would they think? Serving Hashem means observing mitzvos. Tanya says: No, no, no. Serving Hashem is inner work, work of the heart. But once you understand that, all right, if serving Hashem is an inner matter, then what is the whole point of action? If serving Hashem is an inner matter, why do we need action? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants us to serve Him, right? Well, I’m serving Him. I contemplated, and I have love and fear. Why do I need action? It’s some additional thing, right? Something incidental that isn’t really needed. So the Rebbe says no. Even when it comes to action, to actually observing practical mitzvos in the physical world, there is inner work involved. In other words, a beinoni—each one of us—has two forms, two kinds of work. One is the work of awakening, revealing and bringing forth love and fear within myself. And there is a second kind of inner work. Even though it is called serving Hashem through action, actually observing mitzvos, it too must be inner work. But how can you speak of inner work done with your hands? That is what we’re going to explain. So the Alter Rebbe began the explanation in chapter 35. What was the main point he explained? The advantage of action, the advantage of observing mitzvos. What advantage does observing mitzvos have that love and fear do not? He explained at length in the previous chapter... Do you remember the parable of the yenuka? What?

08:48 Speaker 4 The yenuka from the garden?

08:50 Speaker 1 Yes. He brought an analogy from the Zohar. The holy Zohar writes—and I’m quoting this whole passage from the Zohar practically word for word—the Zohar cites what King Solomon says: “A wise man’s eyes are in his head.” And the Zohar explains what “a wise man’s eyes are in his head” means. Where else would the wise man’s eyes be? In his foot? In his hand? Where would they be? What’s so wise about King Solomon saying that a wise man’s eyes are in his head? The simple meaning of the verse is that a wise person foresees the consequences. He thinks before he acts. When we say someone has his eyes in his head, what do we mean? He thinks first and acts afterward, right? But the Zohar says no. “A wise man’s eyes are in his head” doesn’t mean that he thinks before doing something. It means that the wise man looks at what is above his head. What is above his head? Because he fulfills mitzvos, the Zohar says, the light of Hashem, the Shechinah, rests upon his head. The Zohar explains: When a person fulfills mitzvos, the light of Hashem rests upon his head. The wise man knows that through fulfilling mitzvos, the light of Hashem rests upon his head, and so he constantly has fear of Heaven. He constantly reflects on the fact that with every mitzvah he fulfills, the light of Hashem rests upon him. That is what “a wise man’s eyes are in his head” means. That’s how the Zohar explains it. The Alter Rebbe asks: What is the connection between fulfilling mitzvos and the Shechinah resting upon one’s head? If you had said Torah study, perhaps. What’s the connection here? So he says that mitzvos are like oil. What does it mean that mitzvos are like oil? When you light a lamp, if

11:05 Speaker 1 you light the... You can’t—a wick alone won’t burn. You need oil for it to give light. In the same way, a person’s body is the wick. But for the Divine light, the light of the Shechinah, to rest upon the body, take hold there and not depart—for it to shine down here—you need mitzvos. That’s the analogy. Why specifically—why are the mitzvos associated with the animal soul? Why is the body the wick? Why is the animal soul a wick for the light of Hashem? Which would we have thought more suitable as a wick for the light of Hashem: the animal soul or the G-dly soul?

11:57 Speaker 4 The G-dly soul.

11:58 Speaker 1 Ah, there’s no question about it. Right? Seemingly—

12:06 Speaker 4 I’m in a class.

12:09 Speaker 1 If you ask anyone that question, it seems obvious: the G-dly soul is nullified, and it is Divine light. It makes sense that the light would take hold in it. What does the animal soul have to do with it at all? It feels its own existence and the desires of this world; it can resist and it can sin. How could it be nullified? So the Alter Rebbe says no. Even a complete tzaddik who serves Hashem with love and fear, with delight—meaning that his G-dly soul is fully revealed—is still a distinct being. He loves Hashem. He is a distinct being. What does it mean that he loves Hashem? There is a “he” who loves. True, he is nullified to Hashem. He fears Hashem. He wants, he yearns—but there is still a “he.” He cannot be utterly nullified. What can be utterly nullified, completely nullified to Hashem’s will? Only the mitzvos. The mitzvos are His wisdom and His will. They are what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted, what His wisdom decreed. The mitzvos are utterly nullified to G-dliness. So only the mitzvos are sufficiently nullified for the light of Hashem to take hold in them. How do you fulfill mitzvos? You can’t fulfill mitzvos with the G-dly soul alone. Mitzvos can only be fulfilled with the animal soul and the body. So the G-dly soul—the wise man—when he wants the light of Hashem to rest upon his head, needs the animal soul and the body. That is how the Alter Rebbe explains it in chapter 35. There are more details there, of course, but that is his explanation in chapter 35. So the subject of chapter 35 is the virtue of practical mitzvos. What is their virtue? Only physical, practical mitzvos performed through the body and animal soul can bring the Shechinah to rest here and reveal it in the world. All right?

14:26 Speaker 1 That is the content of chapter 35. In chapter 36, which we’re beginning to study now, the Alter Rebbe asks: What good is that? Why should I care? What does it accomplish? What is the advantage of the light of Hashem resting here or not resting here? If it doesn’t rest here, will anything happen? I don’t feel the light of Hashem here now. So what—is there a problem? The world could keep going like this for many years. What is the point of it all? So he begins to explain the purpose and the advantage of the mitzvos bringing the Shechinah to rest here in this world. In chapter 36, our chapter, he explains the ultimate purpose of the world’s creation.

15:25 Speaker 4 Such deep questions. It’s just dawning on me. Such deep questions. Who even dares to ask questions like that?

15:34 Speaker 1 We skipped most of them. All right, this chapter is harder than the previous one. Chapter 36: “Now, it is well known”—“it is well known,” as though everyone knows it—“the saying of our Sages that the ultimate purpose of the creation of this world is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.” Anyone who has spent two days in Chabad knows that the purpose of the world’s creation is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms. But none of us ever stopped to ask: What are “the lower realms”? Why is this world called “lower”?

16:17 Speaker 4 It means this world, doesn’t it?

16:18 Speaker 1 Yes, but why? In what way is it lower than the World of Yetzirah? Is this world at an altitude of a hundred meters, the World of Yetzirah at a kilometer, and the World of Beriah—

16:27 Speaker 4 Holiness.

16:27 Speaker 1 A hundred kilometers?

16:29 Speaker 4 Holiness.

16:29 Speaker 1 Huh? Obviously it isn’t a physical matter, right? So what is it? A spiritual matter. Is Hakadosh Boruch Hu present here, and more present there?

16:40 Speaker 4 Yes, here He is present in full.

16:42 Speaker 1 Seemingly, what any of us would have assumed is that in this lower world, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not present, or is only slightly present; there He is more present, and higher still He is revealed to a much greater degree.

16:52 Speaker 4 Perhaps more revealed, not more...

16:56 Speaker 1 Let’s put it that way.

16:56 Speaker 4 Not constricted.

16:56 Speaker 1 Here it is: “Before Him, blessed be He, the concepts of higher and lower do not apply.” Do higher and lower apply to Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Just as He created the spiritual, He created the physical. Just as He created what is above, He created what is below. And just as He created the higher worlds, He also created the lower worlds and this world. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created all the worlds in a single glance, in a single thought, with a single desire, in a single point.

17:30 Speaker 4 No, but even if He created everything, He could have created them with differences, couldn’t He?

17:37 Speaker 1 He did create them with differences—we’ll see in a moment. Why do higher and lower not apply before Him? “For He, blessed be He, fills all worlds equally.” Well, that’s... We’ll discuss it more when we reach chapter 48, where the difference between the light that fills all worlds and the light that encompasses all worlds is explained.

18:06 Speaker 4 So there is a difference.

18:09 Speaker 1 Have you heard those terms?

18:14 Speaker 4 So what?

18:17 Speaker 1 Do you know the difference between “fills” and “encompasses”? Do you or don’t you?

18:22 Speaker 4 You spoke about it.

18:24 Speaker 5 “Fills” is a particularized life-force.

18:25 Speaker 1 “Fills” is a particularized life-force, and “encompasses” is...

18:29 Speaker 4 An encompassing light.

18:29 Speaker 1 Encompassing, sort of.

18:31 Speaker 4 It sustains the flow into the world.

18:35 Speaker 1 So how is it usually explained? The light that fills is like the soul giving life to the body. Right? How does the soul give life to the body? It gives the eye the power of sight, while the soul’s power of walking is present—and revealed—only in the foot. In each organ, a particular life-force from the soul is revealed, suited to that specific organ. And so our Sages said: Just as the soul fills the body, so Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills the world. So what does “the light that fills all worlds” mean? A contracted Divine radiance suited to the level of each world, right? Suited in degree and in character. It gives each thing its form and its properties: fire is hot, water is wet, ice is frozen, and so on. That, seemingly, is the light that fills all worlds, right? But what does he say here? Why do higher and lower not apply to Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Because He fills all worlds equally. If He fills them, then it isn’t equal. If it’s equal, then it’s the light that encompasses, not the light that fills. Do you hear what I’m asking?

19:58 Speaker 5 Mm-hmm. That’s from His perspective, though. The difference is from our perspective, not His.

20:06 Speaker 1 Yes, that’s what he’ll explain later.

20:08 Speaker 5 Ah, yes.

20:15 Speaker 1 Rather, here is the explanation. What does “lower realms” mean? We can’t say that “lower” is a physical concept. We can’t say something is lower simply because it’s down below. In other words, “lower” and “higher” are not relative to us. Nor can we say they’re relative to Him, because higher and lower don’t apply to Him either. So when we say “lower,” what do we mean? If it’s not relative to us and not relative to Him, then relative to whom? So the Rebbe says: Here is the explanation. What does “lower realms” mean? He explains it from here to the end of this page. Before the world was created, He alone existed—He alone, blessed be He, was one and unique, filling the entire space in which He created the world. Where there is a world now, before the world was created there was only Him. And because a world is something limited, for a world to exist, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, moved His great light aside and concealed Himself, so that He would not be there. And because He is now not there, limited things can exist here. That is what it says in Eitz Chaim. All right? The Rebbe adds an insight and explains—he says he has already discussed this briefly elsewhere, and at great length, and it will be explained in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah—that even now, from His perspective, it is still that way. For Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even now, after the world was created, there is no world. He is here, in the place from which He withdrew Himself and where He is not present. He is present. How do we explain that? Well, make up your mind. Yes. How can that be? It sounds like two opposites. If we say the world is limited and the unlimited Ein Sof is here, then there is no world. Either the unlimited is here, the truth shines openly, and He is here—or He isn’t here. So when there is a world, He isn’t here. How can both be true at once? The only change is

22:35 Speaker 1 for those who receive His life-force and light, which they receive through many garments that cover and conceal His light. In truth, from the standpoint of absolute, genuine truth, there is no difference at all between before the world was created and after it was created. Before the world was created, there was no world. Even now, there isn’t. “You are the same before the world was created; You are the same after the world was created.” Why do we feel as though there is a world? Because the truth is concealed from us and we cannot see it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu made a kind of covering that hides from us the truth that there is nothing besides Him. Since we don’t see the truth, we do see the falsehood. This is alma d’shikra, a world of falsehood.

23:39 Speaker 5 The garment, as it were, covers.

23:41 Speaker 1 Just as a person’s clothing covers the person, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is clothed in garments that conceal Him. And then, for us—this is an analogy, of course—they conceal the truth. What is the truth? The truth is that there is nothing besides Him. That truth is hidden. We cannot sense it, and because we cannot sense that there is nothing besides Him, what do we sense? That there is something besides Him.

24:04 Speaker 5 That there is a world.

24:05 Speaker 1 That there is a world. This itself is a very profound subject. It is explained at great length in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. This is not the place for it; he is only mentioning the point. As it is written, “For no man can see Me and live.” To introduce such a novel idea—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu really is here, that in truth the world does not exist at all, and that the only reason it seems to us that there is a world is that garments conceal Him—that is such a major idea. Something like that needs to be written somewhere. So the Rebbe brings a source. It says, “No man can see Me and live.” What does the verse “No man can see Me and live” mean?

24:52 Speaker 5 Maybe he would have to die at that very moment.

24:54 Speaker 1 Mm? What is the simple meaning of “No man can see Me and live”?

24:57 Speaker 5 That a person would have to die at that very moment; he could not see Him everywhere.

25:01 Speaker 1 If I see Hakadosh Boruch Hu, I won’t live. Both cannot be true at once, right? But that is not what the Rebbe wants to say. If that were all the verse meant, then fine: in this world one cannot see Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But in the higher worlds, where there are no human beings—in the world of Yetzirah, the world of Beriah, the world of Atzilus—then there is... So He cannot be revealed here, but there He can. The Alter Rebbe says that the verse “No man can see Me and live” is to be understood “as our Sages interpreted it.” How did our Sages interpret the verse? “Even the angels called chayos cannot see,” and so on. So how do our Sages connect the chayos with “No man can see Me and live”? How did they interpret the verse to mean that even the chayos cannot see? How did they arrive at that?

26:06 Speaker 5 That even the ch—“and live” includes all the living beings, as it were.

26:09 Speaker 1 The “and” in “and live” adds something. It was not referring to the person’s life. “No man can see Me”—and anyone else who can be called a living being cannot see Me either. So from this verse, as our Sages interpreted it, the Rebbe brings proof that even in the higher worlds, even the higher chayos, the angels—even the very, very highest angels—cannot see Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why can’t they see? Because they too have screens; they too have garments. “And this is the meaning of the chainlike descent of the worlds, their descent from level to level.” It is not that Hakadosh Boruch Hu made a higher world here, a lower one there, and a still lower one elsewhere, while He is not present here at all. No. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere. Here He placed a finer garment, and then a coarser garment, and then an even coarser one.

27:05 Speaker 5 More layers.

27:05 Speaker 1 Another layer—yes, He put on another layer. So it becomes colder, more distant, more separate. And the entire difference between the worlds is the extent to which the truth is felt. In the world of Beriah, the G-dly truth is felt as it is. There is a wonderful analogy in Chassidus—though the two things are, of course, different—that explains the worlds through the process of birth. At the very first moment of pregnancy, can you say there is a fetus there? There isn’t. There is a drop, a single point. There is nothing. What is the difference between this moment and nothing at all? Before, there was nothing, and now too there is nothing. Before, there was only the mother; now too there is only the mother. So what has changed? What has changed is that from this point, something can develop. There is now the possibility of a separate existence. There is no separate existence yet. There is no baby; it has no hands, no feet, no brain—nothing at all. But from this point, something can develop. The world of Beriah means that G-dliness is the obvious reality. What existed in Atzilus exists in Beriah too. The only difference is that from here, something can develop. That is why we say that even those angels whose level is that of the world of Beriah are already on a level where something other than G-dliness is possible. Where Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is present, nothing else is possible. Here, the very fact that there is room for something besides G-dliness—there is nothing here, only G-dliness, but there is room for something else—is already a garment that conceals. And in the world of Yetzirah, it already takes on... We won’t go back over all the details now, the entire chain of descent. But in each world, the further down through the worlds you go, there is another garment. What does “another garment” mean? That there is less awareness of

29:28 Speaker 1 the G-dly truth and more awareness of the created being’s own existence. And this is the meaning of “the chainlike descent of the worlds, their descent from level to level through the many garments that conceal the light and life-force that come from Him, blessed be He, until this physical, material world was actually created.” It is very interesting to look at the Alter Rebbe’s wording here. He speaks of the chainlike descent of the worlds until this physical world was created. Of the spiritual worlds, he does not say that they were created; they descended one from another. But when he gets to the physical world, he no longer calls it a chainlike descent. It was created. What is the difference between a chainlike descent and creation?

30:12 Speaker 6 A chainlike descent is through a process of selection, it’s...

30:17 Speaker 1 In a chainlike descent, one thing develops from another; creation is something from nothing. Why? What is the difference?

30:24 Speaker 6 You can’t produce something physical. As in, no matter how far something descends from G-dliness, it can’t produce something so physical unless there is a break. I...

30:39 Speaker 1 Yes, yes.

30:42 Speaker 6 Yes.

30:42 Speaker 1 We learned this in Igeres Hakodesh, chapter 20. We learned it at great length.

30:46 Speaker 6 It’s not a function of that. We have good students here.

30:55 Speaker 1 Can you teach a cat to read? No, right? Why not? It can see; it has eyesight, right? It has intelligence—a cat’s intelligence, right? So it has intelligence and it has eyesight. It sees the letters just as we do, right? Why can I understand that these letters form a combination? Even for a child in first or second grade who is learning the letters, afterward you tell him, “Listen, all these letters together make a word.” He already knew how to speak before that, and he knows that every word has a meaning. But making that click—that these letters mean this, this, this, that they convey the content of a word—for most children, that click is very, very hard. Why? The content of a word is abstract. It isn’t physical; it has no connection to the physical. A cat, with all its intelligence—a cat is a foolish animal. I don’t know, pick a smarter one; it doesn’t matter. Imagine an animal that’s very, very, very intelligent.

31:59 Speaker 6 Why not?

32:00 Speaker 1 I don’t know, a dolphin, maybe. You know, smarter than the snake, the shrewdest of the animals. It doesn’t matter. Whatever its level of intelligence, if it has no connection to the spiritual, it has no connection to abstract things. It just won’t understand. It has no connection to it; it doesn’t exist in its world. It doesn’t matter how far you bring abstract ideas down, or how much you refine the physical vessel—there’s no connection. They don’t speak the same language. A physical thing cannot come from the spiritual. You can take an intellectual idea, condense it, bring it down, explain it, give an analogy. But, as they say, the plate won’t move unless you pick it up with your hand. You may have the best proof in the world that this plate should now hold watermelons instead of peanuts. The peanuts don’t belong there, and they’re all wrong for it—you suddenly have a thousand and one reasons. You have proof? Take it to court. You’re one hundred percent right. Are there watermelons on the plate? No. An explanation cannot act upon a physical thing. A physical thing can. A nail won’t go into wood unless you take a hammer and strike it. A nail understands the language of a hammer. It doesn’t understand the language of explanation, of understanding, of intellect. It doesn’t feel it. It doesn’t know such a thing exists. Now, as long as we’re still talking about spiritual worlds, the Rebbe spoke about this. What is a spiritual world? More and more and more concealment. Well, how much can you conceal? Conceal it completely, until in the end nothing is revealed at all. Fine, it won’t be revealed, but a physical thing won’t come out of that. This world has something novel about it, something new that none of the higher worlds have. It was created yesh me’ayin, something from nothing, yesh me’ayin. And therefore the Rebbe says that this world

34:02 Speaker 1 was created, and therefore it is actually physical and material. What’s the difference between physical and material?

34:12 Speaker 7 Physical is more refined than material.

34:16 Speaker 1 In simple terms, “physical” refers to things like light, air, and fire, while “material” means something you can hold in your hands. In some places it’s explained more deeply: the Frierdiker Rebbe explains that “physical” refers to something that doesn’t feel G-dliness; it feels only itself. “Material” is something that even goes against it. And why doesn’t it feel it? Because it’s concealed from it. But there’s a difference between someone who doesn’t feel it and doesn’t go against it, and someone who does go against it. In other words, it’s concealed to such an extent that he can even oppose it. And therefore this world is the lowest in rank, with nothing lower than it. Now we can understand what it means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling in the lower realms. Where did Hakadosh Boruch Hu want a dwelling? In a place called “lower” with respect to the concealment of His blessed light. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted a dwelling precisely where His light is concealed, where He isn’t felt. That’s what “a dwelling in the lower realms” means: in a place of darkness doubled and redoubled. Surely everyone has learned this. Right? Darkness is a place where it’s dark; you can’t see anything. Double darkness means you can’t see anything at all. And doubled and redoubled means you don’t even realize that it’s dark. Say there’s someone being taught by a great rabbi. He understands a little bit, but he’s in the dark. He understands that he doesn’t understand. That’s darkness. Then there’s someone in double darkness. He doesn’t understand anything. It’s not that he understands a little; he understands nothing. But he does understand that the rabbi is talking about some very profound subject. And then there’s someone who doesn’t even realize that this person is a rabbi at all. No, no—

36:29 Speaker 1 It has nothing to do with him. “Why is he talking nonsense? He doesn’t know the first thing about life.” Right? That’s darkness doubled and redoubled: he thinks the light is with him. It’s so dark that he doesn’t feel the darkness. That’s why we say that in our world, the darkness—the concealment of G-dliness—is not merely darkness, and not merely doubled; it’s redoubled too, as each of us can see for ourselves. Look at most people in the world, most of the billions of people in the world… They don’t miss Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Even religious people. He doesn’t miss Him. He keeps mitzvos because that’s how he was raised, or because—or even because he understands something, has thought about something, contemplated something. Does he miss Hakadosh Boruch Hu? He doesn’t. We see it: let each of us ask ourselves when we last thought about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We don’t feel that lack. Why not? The nature of the world conceals Him so thoroughly that even when we contemplate and want to feel Him, even then we don’t feel Him. We can’t.

37:53 Speaker 8 So why do we try?

37:54 Speaker 1 Hmm?

37:55 Speaker 8 So why do we try?

37:56 Speaker 1 We’ll see.

37:56 Speaker 8 We can’t.

37:57 Speaker 1 We’ll see.

37:58 Speaker 8 It’s been difficult for us up to now.

37:59 Speaker 1 The nature of the world—this world is called “this lower world” because it is so low that nothing is lower than it. What does that mean? That the nature of the world… It’s not that the world happens to have a certain quality. If we said, “There’s a world, and one of its qualities is that it conceals G-dliness”—no. It isn’t a quality of the world; it defines the world. What is this world made of? Concealment and hiding. It’s called an olam, a world. Concealment isn’t one of its qualities; it’s its very reality, its essence. This world is a place whose whole nature is to feel its own existence.

38:43 Speaker 8 But making a dwelling means revealing Him.

38:46 Speaker 1 Wait, we haven’t reached that yet. For now we’re only explaining what “lower” means. And therefore it is full of kelipos and sitra achra that actually oppose Hashem, saying, “I, and nothing besides me.” Those are two things. First, “I”: he feels his own existence. And not only “I,” but “nothing besides me.” Who is there besides me? There is no G-d. There’s me and nobody else.

39:16 Speaker 8 All right.

39:17 Speaker 1 So something remarkable emerges. This world has something novel that the higher worlds don’t have. In the higher worlds, the whole progression is one of increasing concealment: more concealed, and more concealed, and more concealed. All right, we’ll talk about that shortly. Now, why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu make such a thing? He wanted a dwelling in the lower realms. So first He made a “lower realm.” What is that? A world of this kind. What for? “The purpose of the chainlike descent of the worlds, as they descend from level to level, is not for the sake of the higher worlds.” Let’s put it another way. Up to this point, the Alter Rebbe has been explaining what our Sages said. What did they say? “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling for Himself in the lower realms.” Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the world? Because He wanted to be revealed in a place called the lower world, as we explained. The Alter Rebbe didn’t give any explanation for this—none. That’s what our Sages said; that’s what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted. But what’s your proof? The Alter Rebbe wants us to internalize everything, to feel it, to become one with it. A person can’t become one with something or internalize it if he doesn’t understand it. Our way of becoming one with things, of feeling them, is by understanding them. So the Alter Rebbe doesn’t stop at telling us what our Sages said; he also seeks to bring it closer to our understanding, to offer some intellectual proof that it must be so. All right? That’s what he now begins to explain: a line of reasoning showing why we must say that this world is the lower world, and that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the… and that the purpose of creation is specifically this world of ours, not the higher worlds. Now, “the purpose of the chainlike descent…”

41:46 Speaker 1 The worlds and their descent from level to level are not for the sake of the higher worlds. Why? What’s the proof? Because for them, each descent means less of the light of His blessed countenance. What did we explain earlier? The whole nature of the higher worlds is that something is concealed from them. Well, what does Hakadosh Boruch Hu want? He wants to be revealed. The whole nature and purpose of the higher worlds is that He is not revealed. And here He is revealed even less, and then even less. So certainly they are not the ultimate purpose. What is? The ultimate purpose of creating all the worlds, including the higher ones, is this lower world. Why this lower world? Because this lower world has something new that the higher worlds do not have. There, there is less revelation, and less revelation, and less revelation. Here, it’s either there or it isn’t. Here, there is no revelation. There is nothing like that there.

42:43 Speaker 9 Why, then, does the chain of higher worlds matter to us if we’ve said that this world is completely different? I mean, for this a physical world was created, with water and with this whole chain of worlds, so...

42:52 Speaker 1 You’re asking why we need the higher worlds? That isn’t explained here.

42:55 Speaker 9 Um, that too, but also why he says that the purpose of the chain of worlds and their descent isn’t for their own sake, but for the sake of this world.

43:02 Speaker 1 For the sake of this world.

43:03 Speaker 9 What’s the connection, I mean?

43:05 Speaker 1 You’re asking why this world needs them?

43:08 Speaker 9 Yes.

43:08 Speaker 1 So that isn’t explained here; it’s explained elsewhere. Here he explains why this world is needed. We need the higher worlds not for the sake of this world itself, but so that we have something to contemplate, so that we have a way to connect with G-dliness. But that isn’t the point here. This lower world has something new that the higher worlds do not have: only in this world can a created being—not merely can, but actually does—feel that it has no prior cause. I exist, period. There’s no one who created me. In the World of Beriah, a created being clearly senses its source; in Yetzirah it senses it somewhat; in Asiyah it barely senses it. But it senses that there is something. Only in this world has a new reality come into being. This is called the lowest realm, below which there is no lower realm. A new kind of created being—what does it naturally feel? It naturally feels that nothing created it, that it has no prior source. I’m the first. None of us feels that someone created us, that someone made us, that someone gives us life—certainly not life at every moment. None of us feels that. The natural feeling of every created being in this world, without exception, is that we have no prior cause, right? Why is that? It has to do with the word “created.” All the other, spiritual worlds came into being from the Divine light. There was a Divine illumination from Hakadosh Boruch Hu that was contracted and created them. This world was created directly from His very Essence and Being. What’s the difference between the Divine light and His Essence and Being? Does the Divine light have a source or not?

45:32 Speaker 10 It has a source.

45:32 Speaker 1 The infinite light. What’s its source?

45:35 Speaker 10 Hakadosh Boruch—

45:35 Speaker 1 The Infinite One Himself? Yes. The Infinite One Himself, Hakadosh Boruch Hu in His own glory. Does He have a source? He has no source. He Himself is the source. So because He Himself created this world, what do we feel in this world? We feel what is true of Him. The reason created beings in this world can—and not only can, but actually do—feel that they have no prior source is that they were created directly from His Essence and Being, not from the Divine light.

46:13 Speaker 10 The opposite.

46:14 Speaker 1 Hmm?

46:15 Speaker 10 If you’re connected to the source, then you—

46:18 Speaker 1 But their source is concealed from them.

46:21 Speaker 10 Who conceals it?

46:22 Speaker 1 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. On the one hand, this world is the lowest, because the concealment here is so great that a created being senses nothing of its source. And since it senses nothing of its source, it senses only itself. But on the other hand, how can it sense itself in this way at all? Because its source is the Essence itself. It works from both sides. But this raises a very big question. What did Hakadosh Boruch Hu want? He wanted a dwelling place. What is the special quality, the novelty, of this world? That I, a created being, feel my own existence. Right? Is that novelty an advantage or a disadvantage?

47:02 Speaker 10 A disadvantage.

47:03 Speaker 1 It’s an advantage that is entirely one big disadvantage. Is that what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted? So the Rebbe explains that it arose in His blessed will to have pleasure when the other side is subdued and darkness is transformed into light, so that the light of Hashem, the blessed Ein Sof, would shine in the place of darkness and the other side throughout this whole world. With us... Let’s not start with the sun. Can the sun choose not to shine?

47:47 Speaker 10 No.

47:48 Speaker 1 It has no free choice. Right. Even with us, in our day-to-day behavior, we have free choice, but most everyday behavior is compelled; it’s natural. Water can’t suddenly, I don’t know, climb upward. It was created to flow downward. Right. A cat can’t suddenly fly. Right. With Hakadosh Boruch Hu, nothing is compelled. No one compels Hakadosh Boruch Hu to do anything. Since no one compels Him to do anything, how can we say that He desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms? What does “desired” mean? A desire, you’re saying, is something He wanted. If it’s something He wanted, that would mean He, too, has some sort of nature: He wants this and doesn’t want that; this gives Him pleasure and that doesn’t; this appeals to Him and that doesn’t. So what’s the difference? I’m like that on a small scale and He’s like that on a grand scale. How can we say of Hakadosh Boruch Hu that He wanted this, that He desired it? How can we say such a thing? Hmm? Do you understand the question? To this the Alter Rebbe says, “It arose in His will”—that it arose in His blessed will to have pleasure when the other side is subdued. Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose that this would give Him pleasure. His choice did not come from anything else. It was a choice. What does choice mean? That isn’t explained here. It’s a difficult concept to understand. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose—Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms. It’s true that this gives Him pleasure, and it’s true that this is what He wanted. When does it give Him pleasure, and when is it what He wants? After He chose that this would give

49:57 Speaker 1 Him pleasure and that He would want it. And what did He want? What did He choose? That here He would have... He chose and wants there to be a revelation here, in this world, with far greater intensity and power—a greater light emerging from the darkness—than His illumination in the higher worlds. What’s the difference? How does He shine in the higher worlds? He shines through garments and through a concealment of His countenance that hide the light of the blessed Ein Sof. Since all that is revealed in the higher worlds is the light, there can be a still higher light and a still thinner garment, and one thinner still. But it always comes through a garment, so it will always be only an illumination. And it has to be that way, because the higher worlds receive their entire life-force from an illumination of G-dliness. If the Essence were revealed, they would cease to exist; they could not remain in existence. Right? Is that clear? If the source of their life is the light, then when the Essence is revealed, they will not be able to exist. By contrast, the source of this physical world is not an illumination but the Essence itself. So only here, in this world, can the very Essence of the blessed Ein Sof be revealed without any concealment of His countenance. Naturally, that is beyond comparison with what can be revealed in the higher worlds. But this itself raises a question. If even the higher worlds, and even angels, have only... How does it go? It says in the Gemara that the angels said to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “Place Your glory upon the heavens.” They wanted to see Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu extended His little finger among them and they were consumed. “Little finger” is the language of our Sages. Wherever our Sages say “little finger,” they mean the little toe. Hakadosh Boruch Hu extended His little toe among them, and they ceased to exist. So if even the higher angels cease to exist when Hakadosh Boruch Hu reveals to them something so slight, such a tiny revelation...

52:25 Speaker 1 What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu want from us? That He should be revealed here—not His light, but His very Essence? If He is revealed, how will we continue to exist? He wants a dwelling place in the lower realms. How can there be lower realms, and in those lower realms there will be a dw—what is a dwelling place? What is the difference between a person who is outside and a person who is inside his own home? The moment a person walks out the door of his home, he has a role. He might be a student, he might be a rabbi, he might have some profession, I don’t know what. He has a certain outward appearance, and he behaves according to his role at that moment. At home, the rabbi is free; he is himself. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone. There is a difference, right? Yes? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to reveal Himself—a dwelling place. Where? Down here. If You reveal Yourself here, where will the lower realms be? How will there be a world? How will the world continue to exist?

53:36 Speaker 11 Dad also explained that the Geulah means we’ll be able to contain that revelation.

53:41 Speaker 1 But how?

53:43 Speaker 11 It’s going to happen.

53:45 Speaker 1 That’s our chapter. And for this purpose Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah to the Jewish people. The Torah is the vessel that gives us the strength to be in this physical world—a soul within a physical body—and to contain the revelation of the King of kings, of the Essence and Being of the Infinite One, blessed be He, Who is beyond all the higher worlds, without our existence being nullified.

54:17 Speaker 11 …

54:19 Speaker 1 The Torah is called strength and power, as our Sages say: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives the righteous the strength to receive their reward in the time to come, so that their existence will not be utterly nullified by the light of Hashem that will be revealed then. Without the Torah, without something to sustain them, how could He be revealed? In the time to come, He will be revealed without any covering—not as He is in the higher worlds—as it is written, “Your Teacher will no longer conceal Himself.” Meaning, He will not be covered from you by a garment or covering. He brings another verse: “Your eyes will see your Teacher.” Then he brings a third verse: “For they will see eye to eye,” and so on. Why do we need three verses? What is the difference between them?

55:00 Speaker 11 Verses.

55:01 Speaker 1 Hmm?

55:01 Speaker 11 There are more verses. Don’t they count?

55:03 Speaker 1 Where?

55:04 Speaker 11 “And it is written: The sun will no longer be your light.”

55:06 Speaker 1 That’s another point, yes.

55:07 Speaker 11 Ah.

55:09 Speaker 1 First he says what will happen in the time to come: “Your Teacher will no longer conceal Himself.” What does that mean? He will not be covered. Now there is a covering. In the time to come, when Moshiach comes and the dead are resurrected, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will be revealed here without a covering—His Essence and Being, without garments. It will not be like the revelation in the higher worlds; it will be beyond that. Then he says something more: “Your eyes will see your Teacher.” Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu could be revealed, but I might not see Him—so what good would that do? No: “Your eyes will see.” And even when we speak of seeing, it could mean seeing with the mind’s eye, not necessarily physical sight. So he adds, no, it is written, “They will see eye to eye.” There will be physical sight of G-dliness. And it is written, “The sun will no longer be your light by day, for Hashem will be your everlasting light,” and so on. From this we understand that the days of Moshiach, and especially the time when the dead are resurrected, are the ultimate perfection of the creation of this world; that is what it was created for from the beginning. What is he saying here?

56:19 Speaker 3 I don’t know.

56:20 Speaker 1 Why do we need Moshiach? What’s so good about his coming? Come on, Daniel, we’re not studying now; we’re standing outside. You ask a Jew, “Do you want Moshiach to come?” “Of course I do. Obviously. Who wouldn’t?” “What for?” “When Moshiach comes, things will be good.” Right? So what do you understand from that? That Moshiach is a kind of reward. Right? We’re working and making an effort now, and Moshiach’s coming will be our reward for that work. That’s how people understand it. What has the Alter Rebbe just explained here? The days of Moshiach are not a reward. They are the fulfillment of what we’re doing now.

57:19 Speaker 3 Mm.

57:19 Speaker 1 So if the days of Moshiach are not the reward at all, and even the resurrection of the dead is not the reward at all, they are simply the natural result of what we’re doing now. Somewhere it says—I think it’s in Likkutei Sichos—that the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead are like a hen sitting on eggs. Eventually the chicks hatch, but that isn’t a reward; it’s the result.

57:45 Speaker 3 The result of a process.

57:46 Speaker 1 The result of the process, yes. So when will we receive the reward?

57:55 Speaker 3 When Moshiach comes.

57:56 Speaker 1 Huh? No. Moshiach is not the reward. That is the purpose of the work. It’s the result.

58:02 Speaker 3 Not that Moshiach’s coming is the reward.

58:05 Speaker 1 All the revelation we spoke about—that the Essence will be revealed down here, to the point that we will see it with our physical senses—is not a reward. It’s the result of the work. The Alter Rebbe adds in a note—

58:16 Speaker 3 The mitzvah itself.

58:17 Speaker 1 What?

58:18 Speaker 3 Because the reward for a mitzvah was…

58:20 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe adds in a note: “The principal receiving of reward will be in the seventh millennium,” as it says in the Arizal’s Likkutei Torah. Receiving the reward comes after the resurrection of the dead. In other words, there will be two periods in the future. There will be a first period, which is itself divided in two: the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead. After that ends, there will be a period called the seventh millennium, and that is when the reward will be received. What is the difference between the two periods? What more could there possibly be?

59:00 Speaker 3 Mm.

59:00 Speaker 1 If we say that this is receiving a reward, then what will be revealed is something entirely different.

59:05 Speaker 3 Isn’t that the stage where… no, it’s no longer in the eighth tikkun, right?

59:10 Speaker 1 The explanation is simple. It’s simple. Everything that will happen in the time to come depends on us. It comes from us; it doesn’t come from Him. What will happen in the seventh millennium is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give what He wants to give. Something completely, completely different. We cannot understand what it means for there to be a revelation greater than the revelation of the Infinite One here in this physical world. We have no conception of it. We don’t have much conception even of the things written here. But receiving the reward means receiving what Hakadosh Boruch Hu will give—not the result of our work. That will be in the seventh millennium, after the resurrection of the dead is complete. How are we doing for time?

59:53 Speaker 3 Just finish up.

59:55 Speaker 1 I should finish, huh? So… all right.

59:59 Speaker 3 There’s no more time.

1:00:00 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:00:01 Speaker 3 No, no, you also have to drop me off at the office.

1:00:04 Speaker 1 Oh, really? All right. So next time we’ll decide whether just to sum this up briefly or to study it inside the text. We’ll decide then. In the meantime, keep the pages.

1:00:15 Speaker 3 Until the Geulah.

1:00:15 Speaker 1 Until the Geulah. We studied up to the Geulah.

1:00:17 Speaker 3 Review everything before that, and then the note is already in there.

1:00:23 Speaker 1 No, we already mentioned the note. No, no, the note isn’t explained. Just know that everything we’ve been discussing is not the reward they’re talking about. The reward is something completely, completely different.

1:00:34 Speaker 3 [unclear] which chapter, and that’s it. You’ll see what you need to work on.

1:00:42 Speaker 1 Maybe just one more word, one more point. We’ve already seen, in practice, what this chapter is about. Right? The previous chapter spoke about the virtue of action: that through practical mitzvos, we bring holiness down here. And this chapter discusses the ultimate purpose of creation: the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead. Right? What connects the two? What’s the relationship? Why does he… These are two different things. First he spoke about the virtue of action, using the parable of the child from the Zohar: to bring the Shechinah into the world, we need practical mitzvos. Then he spoke about the purpose of creation—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, G-dliness, will be revealed here in the world. What? Yes, what? How did you connect those two things? We made them into one section, but they’re two different messages. So in the next chapter, chapter 37, the Alter Rebbe will explain what you were about to say: that the ultimate purpose of the world’s creation—the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead—comes about through our practical service. In other words, what was explained in this chapter comes about through what was explained in the previous chapter. That’s chapter 37, also a long chapter with a great deal to learn.

1:02:17 Speaker 3 Mental preparation.