Likkutei Amarim Chapter 37 (Part 2) · 5781

00:10 Speaker 1 Where did we get to? Did we get as far as tzedakah?

00:12 Speaker 2 Ah, as far as the second part, which we read.

00:21 Speaker 1 Is there anything else to do here? No.

00:22 Speaker 2 No, that’s not how it is. David, you’re interrupting.

00:31 Speaker 1 David, please stop. David, stop. “And with this, it will be understood.” Page 75, and what’s marked here, Shabbos Kodesh, [unclear].

00:42 Speaker 2 Okay. Ah yes, this.

00:50 Speaker 1 Wait, we’re still waiting for someone, aren’t we?

00:52 Speaker 2 We’ll wait for Maran and start. What? Call him. How are you? Dudi? Dudi?

01:14 Speaker 7 Here, David, there’s something here.

01:15 Speaker 2 Moving up quickly. What kinds of sequences are you learning?

02:01 Speaker 1 What?

02:01 Speaker 2 Sequences. Arithmetic sequences.

02:03 Speaker 1 I see.

02:03 Speaker 2 Ah, arithmetic sequences, easy things. We haven’t started geometric ones yet.

02:09 Speaker 1 Hm?

02:10 Speaker 2 We haven’t started geometric ones yet. Just the very basics.

02:18 Speaker 1 Arithmetic sequences, you mean.

02:19 Speaker 2 Yes. After that you move on to geometric ones. Okay.

02:29 Speaker 1 What is that, how many units are you taking?

02:31 Speaker 2 Five.

02:32 Speaker 1 Oh, five? Nice. What grade?

02:37 Speaker 2 Eleventh.

02:38 Speaker 1 Hm?

02:39 Speaker 2 Eleventh.

02:39 Speaker 1 Eleventh?

02:47 Speaker 2 What about Maran? Call Maran, [unclear]?

02:50 Speaker 1 In our day they didn’t have that yet. They hadn’t divided it up. In the end, our math exam was seven hours long.

03:02 Speaker 2 Wow.

03:03 Speaker 1 On all the material we’d learned in eleventh and twelfth grade.

03:08 Speaker 2 Wow. Never mind.

03:11 Speaker 1 On all the material we’d learned in eleventh and twelfth grade—a seven-hour exam.

03:17 Speaker 2 How long is yours? Today we have a four-hour exam, and three and a half hours have gone by. And is that enough? [unclear] ready for Shabbos by seven.

03:32 Speaker 7 Oh, no. Then people sit down for Shabbos and...

03:36 Speaker 2 Why, how long is yours? They don’t bring that back. Same idea. How much did you do in your course?

03:45 Speaker 7 How would I know?

03:46 Speaker 2 I see, there wasn’t anything. How many questions do you have on the matriculation exam?

03:49 Speaker 7 There are lots of topics.

03:50 Speaker 2 I think we should just start.

03:51 Speaker 7 But it isn’t divided by topic.

03:52 Speaker 2 No.

03:52 Speaker 7 One question. Exactly, but each topic is...

03:56 Speaker 1 I see.

04:02 Speaker 2 If we go...

04:03 Speaker 7 It’s a great merit, a tremendous blessing. With Hashem’s help, we can dedicate this to the elevation of the soul of your father, Reb Elazar ben Shemesh, and I’ll finish this. Ah yes, I think we’ll start.

04:18 Speaker 1 Okay.

04:19 Speaker 7 Very interesting.

04:19 Speaker 1 All right, we only began with that to get into it. Now we’ll start reading inside, on page 75.

04:32 Speaker 7 Who’s coming over to me first for you? [unclear].

04:37 Speaker 1 “And with this, it will be understood”—the passage here in Tanya begins, “And with this, it will be understood.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe himself announces, “And with this, it will be understood”: what we’ve learned throughout the chapter will help us understand what I want to tell you now. This is where the second part begins, the chapter’s conclusion, as it were. What did we learn up to here that we need in order to explain what comes next? In the two preceding chapters, 35 and 36, he began discussing the virtue and importance of fulfilling mitzvos: through fulfilling a mitzvah, G-dliness rests upon a person’s body and soul, and the person who fulfills it becomes nullified to G-dliness. That was chapter 35. Then, in chapter 36, he added: no, this isn’t merely something wonderful that I can do if I want to—I can fulfill a mitzvah and G-dliness will rest within me. It isn’t just a wonderful thing; it has real significance in its own right. Beyond the wonder of being able to connect with G-dliness by fulfilling a mitzvah, there’s its importance in itself. What is that? It’s the purpose of the world’s creation. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world so that I would connect with G-dliness. It’s not merely that when you fulfill a mitzvah you connect with G-dliness. It’s much more than that: this is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. The purpose of creation is for G-dliness to be revealed down here, in the lower realms. What are the “lower realms”? You and me. This whole world. When I—a person with limited intellect, limited emotions, an animal soul, desires, and a yetzer hara—overcome myself and fulfill a mitzvah, what happens at that moment? My speech becomes nullified to G-dliness, my thought becomes nullified to G-dliness, my whole being, all of me,

06:54 Speaker 1 becomes completely united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s it. This is why the world was created: to make a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. That was chapters 35 and 36. After that he began explaining, in chapter 37, how this is the purpose of the world’s creation. After all, when we say Moshiach will come, what are we talking about? Are we talking about people here feeling Hakadosh Boruch Hu? When people speak about the days of Moshiach, when they simply say that Moshiach will come, what do they imagine? Do they picture themselves davening from morning till night?

07:35 Speaker 7 No.

07:36 Speaker 1 They picture a world without illness, with abundance, with freedom, without wars. They picture a liberated world. They picture a G-dly world. They don’t picture a Jew davening in front of them, right? And the plain meaning of Geulah isn’t that an individual is redeemed—that I keep mitzvos, study Torah, and feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Geulah means the entire world is redeemed. Not just the Jewish people. The Geulah encompasses not only the Jewish people but also the nations, and not only the nations but animals and even plants. Our Sages even said that in the future, “A stone from the wall will cry out, and a beam from the woodwork will answer it.” The Geulah will penetrate—

08:40 Speaker 8 Yes.

08:40 Speaker 1 into the world’s physicality, to the point that the physical world itself will cry out G-dliness. So what were you telling me in chapters 35 and 36? That if you fulfill mitzvos—if I fulfill mitzvos and study Torah—I’ll have a revelation of G-dliness. Moshiach will come. What does it mean for Moshiach to come? Is that Moshiach—that G-dliness is revealed within me? Moshiach, Geulah, means that G-dliness is revealed in the world, not that it’s revealed to me personally. Right? That’s what chapter 37 addresses. What does chapter 37 tell us? When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah or studies Torah, it isn’t only he who becomes sanctified. It isn’t only he who becomes a vessel for G-dliness—not only his G-dly soul, his animal soul, and his body. Rather, the entire world becomes a vessel for G-dliness. How does that happen? That’s what we explained in the previous class, from the beginning of the chapter up to here. Since mitzvos are fulfilled using the world’s physical things... He gave examples from plants and animals: parchment is made from animals, and an esrog comes from a plant. What example did he give of an inanimate object? I don’t remember. So when a Jew fulfills—

10:04 Speaker 8 Coins given to tzedakah.

10:04 Speaker 1 Coins given to tzedakah, there you go. So when a Jew fulfills mitzvos using the world’s animals, plants, and inanimate objects, he sanctifies the world’s physicality. It isn’t just me; mitzvos involve the world’s physical things. Fine, but how much of the world’s physicality do I actually use and sanctify? True, there have been millions of Jews throughout the generations, but to sanctify all the physicality in the whole world? How could that ever be completed? So he explained what—

10:43 Speaker 8 Do you remember the explanation?

10:45 Speaker 9 That we... that everything, essentially, through its... the soul, the desire, meaning what gives it life, the force that gives it life, which is kelipas nogah, the source of the animal soul.

10:57 Speaker 1 More simply.

10:59 Speaker 8 I didn’t understand.

11:01 Speaker 1 More simply. We explained that in passing too, but more simply: right now we’re studying together, yes? And there are various farbeissen—snacks—here on the table. They certainly help me, because if we don’t eat, we won’t have the strength to study. So—

11:15 Speaker 8 There are a few more on the way, with more...

11:16 Speaker 10 More farbeissen, or more...

11:21 Speaker 8 More dishes, boruch Hashem.

11:23 Speaker 10 That’s mesirus nefesh, like this—

11:25 Speaker 8 Yes, yes.

11:25 Speaker 10 To make it to the class.

11:27 Speaker 8 Mesirus nefesh for you, but it’s true.

11:29 Speaker 10 Oh, wow, wow.

11:29 Speaker 8 I told you, Chassidus uplifts and warms you.

11:31 Speaker 9 I saw it—

11:34 Speaker 8 The most—

11:35 Speaker 9 How frightening.

11:37 Speaker 8 Oh, really.

11:38 Speaker 1 [unclear] the airplanes, no?

11:43 Speaker 8 What was that?

11:43 Speaker 1 What, wasn’t that thunder?

11:45 Speaker 8 I think so.

11:45 Speaker 10 That’s what it sounded like.

11:46 Speaker 1 Wasn’t it thunder?

11:47 Speaker 8 Now that’s thunder.

11:47 Speaker 1 Really?

11:48 Speaker 8 It’s thunder.

11:48 Speaker 1 I was sure it was a plane.

11:51 Speaker 10 Only planes in Afula.

11:52 Speaker 8 Well, what?

11:54 Speaker 9 I can’t see the...

11:58 Speaker 1 So, so he explained it like this. We told a story, that’s the most... All right, never mind. We started with the farbeisen. This thing that I don’t even know what you do with it—it was made in some factory, right? Before that, I don’t know, the wheat or whatever was harvested in China, the spices were produced in India, and people grew all of it, and they have homes... Yes, thank you. They do, and so on and so forth. When you start thinking about what this thing is made of, thousands of people on all five continents took part in producing it. The moment you, a Jew, eat one of these for the sake of Heaven, and leave the rest on your plate because it isn’t healthy, or because... because according to the Torah you should eat only one, that one you ate elevates to holiness everything on the plate, including what you didn’t eat—the factory, the fields, the people, everything. Yes. And when a Jew lives sixty years, or, with strength, eighty years, and may he live to a hundred and twenty, for many good years, then over those years he makes use of a great many things in the world. And everything in the world is connected, connected, connected. In this way, every soul, through observing the mitzvos, transforms everything... brings Geulah into the entire world, into the physical substance of the whole world. R-r-remember when we spoke about that?

13:41 Speaker 11 Yes.

13:42 Speaker 1 Good.

13:42 Speaker 11 Yes.

13:43 Speaker 1 …

13:44 Speaker 11 Yes.

13:44 Speaker 1 Yes. By the way, he calculated there how many souls there are—not all of them have arrived yet. So, one more thing first, which I skipped last week because we were short on time. Let me see whether he does say it here.

14:01 Speaker 11 The organization, the organization.

14:02 Speaker 1 He said how many souls there are altogether. He worked it out there in two lines: there are six hundred thousand souls of the Jewish people.

14:08 Speaker 11 And each one, sixty souls.

14:10 Speaker 1 Each one is only one of the roots. But—

14:13 Speaker 11 [unclear].

14:14 Speaker 1 But each one, each one divides into sixty thousand individual souls.

14:21 Speaker 11 Six hundred, no?

14:21 Speaker 1 Into six hundred thousand, yes. So what does that come to? Six hundred thousand times six hundred thousand.

14:26 Speaker 11 A million, something like that.

14:28 Speaker 1 Six times six is thirty-six, plus ten zeros.

14:33 Speaker 11 Billion, billion.

14:35 Speaker 1 Three hundred and sixty billion.

14:36 Speaker 11 Wow.

14:37 Speaker 1 Right, but that, he says, is only the number of souls. Each soul, though, includes nefesh, ruach, and neshamah. So you have to multiply that by three. Now we’ve already reached about a thousand billion, roughly. Yes, uh, a billion? No, a million billion. Sorry, but that’s only in Atzilus. We have Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah.

15:01 Speaker 11 On—

15:02 Speaker 1 So multiply that by four. How many have we reached now? Forty billion.

15:07 Speaker 11 There’s a billion too.

15:08 Speaker 1 Yes, I don’t know, something like that. Not forty—four hundred billion. And then those are only the general sparks. But there’s also the nefesh of nefesh and the ruach of nefesh and the nefesh of ruach, and so on and so forth.

15:21 Speaker 11 A thousand?

15:22 Speaker 1 In short.

15:23 Speaker 11 How many zeros?

15:24 Speaker 1 There are, there are. I didn’t do the calculation, but there are enough souls to sanctify all the physical substance of the world.

15:32 Speaker 11 Wow.

15:32 Speaker 1 Especially since each one, each spark, each individual soul, is in its own body, its own physical body. And throughout a person’s life, as we explained along these lines, each one sanctifies an absolutely enormous amount of the world’s physical substance. So it’s clear and obvious: he is exactly on time.

15:58 Speaker 11 Is there proof that they’ve arrived? Can we also count some of the souls that are still to come?

16:07 Speaker 1 All right, the main point. We’ll begin on page ayin-hei, page 75: “With this we can understand.”

16:20 Speaker 11 The extra page, the extra one.

16:23 Speaker 1 Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, through Whose word everything came into being.

16:35 Speaker 11 That’s it. That’s page 75.

16:39 Speaker 1 So, “With this we can understand.” Now that we’ve understood, after he explained at length over three chapters—or two and a half chapters, chapters 35, 36, and up to here—that through observing mitzvos, doing mitzvos with physical things, and studying Torah, a Jew sanctifies the world and thereby brings it to its purpose and perfection, and then Moshiach comes. “With this we can understand why our Sages extolled the virtue of tzedakah so very, very highly.” Of all the mitzvos, the mitzvah our Sages valued most is specifically tzedakah. At first glance, why? Why is the mitzvah of tzedakah more important than all the other mitzvos? How many answers are there to that?

17:31 Speaker 11 In practice, it’s the atonement for [unclear].

17:33 Speaker 1 Huh?

17:34 Speaker 11 Because it’s a way through the trouble to atonement. It has a connection to Igeres Hakodesh.

17:38 Speaker 1 With Hashem’s help, we’ll get to Igeres Hakodesh one day. There are eighteen—eighteen, among other things, eighteen letters from the Alter Rebbe there. In each letter he names another virtue of tzedakah, greater than the one in the previous letter. Greater and greater and greater and greater. Eighteen letters, one after another.

18:06 Speaker 11 Is that from the fourth one, all of it?

18:07 Speaker 1 …

18:08 Speaker 11 Is there an order?

18:10 Speaker 1 The second, I think.

18:13 Speaker 11 No, the second is “Katonti”; the fourth—

18:15 Speaker 1 How does it begin? “Poschin Bivrachah,” “Katonti,” and then...

18:20 Speaker 11 I think so, but that’s how he puts it. Ah, right.

18:29 Speaker 1 The third. So, “With this we can understand why our Sages extolled the virtue of tzedakah so very highly and said that it is equal to all the mitzvos. And throughout the Jerusalem Talmud it is called simply ‘the mitzvah.’” Very interesting. All the other mitzvos have a qualifying name.

18:48 Speaker 11 Wait, why is that? Tzedakah.

18:51 Speaker 1 Here, here.

18:52 Speaker 11 Ah.

18:52 Speaker 1 First he shows that our Sages—first he establishes the fact. You have to prove it. You have to prove that our Sages really treated it in a special way. What’s the proof? Every other mitzvah has a qualifying name: the mitzvah of tefillin, the mitzvah of lighting candles, the mitzvah of this or that. There is one mitzvah that our Sages saw no need to identify by name. When they speak simply of “the mitzvah” without saying which one, what do they mean? Obviously, tzedakah. No, there’s no need to say it. Right? When people speak of “the mitzvah” without specifying which, everyone knows what they mean. From that very way our Sages referred to it, we see that they treated tzedakah differently from all the other mitzvos.

19:43 Speaker 11 Is there a reason for that?

19:44 Speaker 1 Yes, right here. Why? Because that was the customary expression; that’s really how people spoke. In the time of our Sages, if someone said that a friend had done “the mitzvah,” there was no need to specify. Obviously, they meant tzedakah. It was called simply “the mitzvah” because it is the principal mitzvah. Tzedakah really is the principal mitzvah—to the point that our Sages said it is equal to all the mitzvos, because it really is equal to them all. In what respect? “And it surpasses them all.” All the mitzvos—what is their purpose? What is their goal? As we said at the beginning of this chapter, they are all solely to elevate the vital soul to Hashem. Why do we have mitzvos? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu give us mitzvos? What did we just learn in this chapter? To sanctify the world, to elevate the vital soul, to reveal Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right? Now, which mitzvah accomplishes that most powerfully, more than all the others?

20:47 Speaker 12 Tzedakah.

20:47 Speaker 1 Tzedakah. Well, then it’s clear why it is equal to all of them. “For it is the one that performs them”—uh, uh—“they are all solely to elevate the vital soul to Hashem, for it is the vital soul that performs them and is clothed in them, so as to be absorbed into the light of the blessed Ein Sof that is clothed in them. And there is no mitzvah in which the vital soul is clothed as fully as in the mitzvah of tzedakah.” Why? Why does the mitzvah of tzedakah elevate the vital soul to holiness more than all the other mitzvos? He explains: “In all the other mitzvos, only one faculty of the vital soul is clothed in them, and that, too, only while the mitzvah is actually being performed.” For example, when you light candles, the faculty of action moves your hand right then, and your hand lights the candle. Yes? What is clothed in performing that mitzvah? Only the faculty of action. Thought and emotion aren’t active here. How long is that faculty performing the mitzvah? For the moment when you light the candle. Not before, and not afterward. “But with tzedakah, when a person gives from the labor of his hands, the entire strength of his vital soul is clothed in doing his work, or in the other business through which he earned this money.” When a person works for a living and knows that his livelihood depends on his work, he puts all his strength into it because he wants to earn money. So in that work, in the money he receives, lies the strength of the entire vital soul, from top to bottom. Not just some particular faculty, some garment of the vital soul. Yes? The money contains the entire vital soul, all of it. Now, when he takes those coins and gives them, puts them in a tzedakah box, he takes his entire vital soul and elevates it to G-dliness. “And when he gives them to tzedakah, his entire vital soul ascends to Hashem.” So there are two differences between the mitzvah of tzedakah and every other mitzvah. Every other mitzvah involves only a particular faculty, and only for a limited time. With the mitzvah of

23:25 Speaker 1 Tzedakah involves the entire vital soul; all of it is invested in that money. All of it rises to holiness at once. The Alter Rebbe asks: Wait, there are people you see who don’t work all day. They’re at home, walking around. You never see them working. What do they live on? I don’t know. They have enough to live on. I know lots of people like that. You come to shul at ten in the morning and there are ten minyanim; the shul is packed. Everything’s fine. Where do you work? “No, I have the day off.” Today it’s this, tomorrow it’s that. Every day, it’s always full. No problem. So are we saying that when someone really works and toils, his tzedakah has value, but when money comes easily to someone, without working too hard, his tzedakah does less to elevate his vital soul? The Alter Rebbe says no. Even someone who does not earn his money through his own toil—nevertheless, since he could have used that money to buy what sustains his vital soul, he is giving his very life to Hashem. He could have bought something for himself with that money. Instead, he gives it to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So he is giving Hakadosh Boruch Hu his life. That is why our Sages said that tzedakah brings the Geulah closer. Why is tzedakah so great that it brings the Geulah closer? Because the whole matter of the Geulah comes about through sanctifying the world. How do we sanctify the world? Through mitzvos. Which mitzvah sanctifies the world most? Tzedakah. So it is specifically tzedakah that is so great that it brings the Geulah closer, more than all the other mitzvos. For with a single act of tzedakah, a person elevates a great deal of his vital soul—more of its powers and aspects than he could elevate through several other practical mitzvos. So that is the greatness of tzedakah above all the mitzvos, because

25:40 Speaker 1 it is what brings the Geulah. That’s what this chapter discusses. Fine, but... although tzedakah is said to be greater than all the mitzvos and to bring the Geulah closer, we also have the mitzvah of Torah study. Of Torah study it says, “Study is great because it leads to action.” And it says that the mitzvah of Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos. Why do you keep telling me about tzedakah, tzedakah? What about Torah study? Is that nothing? So he comes to answer this question. After speaking so much about the greatness of tzedakah, why do we need Torah study at all? “And when our Sages said that Torah study is equal to all of them, this is because Torah study takes place through speech and thought, which are the inner garments of the vital soul.” Oh—“Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Whose power and might fill the world.” When a person gives tzedakah, it’s true that the essence of his vital soul is sanctified, but only its external aspect. The inner aspects of the animal soul—speech and thought—don’t participate so much in tzedakah. A person gives tzedakah; he gives it with his hand. You can’t give without thinking, but the main thing involved is the power of action, the deed.

27:27 Speaker 13 The power that acts.

27:27 Speaker 1 Hmm?

27:29 Speaker 13 The power that acts.

27:29 Speaker 1 The power that acts—the deed, the outer garment. The inner garments of the animal soul are thought and speech. Yes? Yes or no?

27:40 Speaker 13 Um, partly. I mean, is it just the bare thought needed to move the hand, or is what’s in the mind not involved at all?

27:47 Speaker 1 In every action, all three garments generally take part, but in tzedakah the main thing is the deed.

27:55 Speaker 13 But lots of mitzvos are like that.

27:58 Speaker 1 Right, but the other mitzvos don’t elevate, don’t engage the soul the way tzedakah does. Torah study—when a person studies Torah—

28:07 Speaker 13 Tzedakah is everything—

28:11 Speaker 1 When a person studies Torah, he isn’t actually doing anything. His power of action isn’t active right now, but his thought and speech are working. In other words, Torah study sanctifies the inner parts of the animal soul more—parts that tzedakah can’t reach. That’s why it isn’t enough just to give tzedakah; Torah study is also necessary. Because with all due respect to tzedakah—yes, it is equal to all the mitzvos, it is the main thing, and it sanctifies everything—but it doesn’t do very much to thought and speech. When a person studies Torah, though, the inner garments of the vital soul are sanctified too. More than that, “even the very essence of the Chochmah, Binah, and Daas of kelipas nogah in the vital soul become incorporated into actual holiness when one engages in Torah with deep thought and understanding.” Have you ever heard such a thing? It’s a striking point. Someone who doesn’t study that line five times won’t notice it. The very essence of the Chochmah, Binah, and Daas of the animal soul. What’s the difference between a tzaddik and a beinoni or a rasha? A tzaddik has no yetzer hara. Right? Why doesn’t he have a yetzer hara? Because his animal soul has been transformed into good. What is he saying here gets transformed into good through Torah study? Not only the garments, thought and speech, but “the very essence of the Chochmah, Binah, and Daas of kelipas nogah in the vital soul.” The essence of the vital soul itself. Its powers of Chochmah, Binah, and Daas—not its garments. The very intellect of the animal soul is transformed into holiness. How can that be? So any one of us could study Torah and immediately become a tzaddik? Right, that sounds like too much.

30:41 Speaker 13 Not necessarily.

30:42 Speaker 1 Huh?

30:42 Speaker 13 Not necessarily.

30:43 Speaker 1 You still have to sit down and study Torah, like a seven-year-old child.

30:45 Speaker 13 Torah study also requires action. That’s—

30:53 Speaker 1 What we’re looking at now is how to transform the animal soul into holiness. We always thought: A beinoni’s mind rules over his heart. He understands what he needs to do. He knows what’s forbidden. Thought, speech, and action: he doesn’t commit transgressions, and he performs mitzvos. But that’s only thought, speech, and action. The soul itself hasn’t been transformed into holiness. That’s a beinoni. That’s what we always thought. The Alter Rebbe says: No. When a Jew studies Torah, his animal soul is transformed into holiness. But what does he say in the next line? Not the entire animal soul. The aspect of Chochmah, Binah, and Daas is incorporated into actual holiness when he engages in Torah with deep thought and understanding. “But although beinonim could not transform the very essence of the middos—Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, and so on—into holiness, this is because evil is stronger in the middos than in Chochmah, Binah, and Daas, since it draws greater nurture from holiness there, as is known to those familiar with the hidden wisdom.”

32:08 Speaker 13 Someone—

32:08 Speaker 1 So we celebrated too soon.

32:13 Speaker 13 But specifically Chochmah, Binah, and Daas—the intellectual part.

32:15 Speaker 1 Right.

32:17 Speaker 13 And we keep our hands in check.

32:19 Speaker 1 This is remarkable, and that’s why the Alter Rebbe points it out and also explains why. The lowest part of the soul—the soul has intellect and emotion. Right? We’re not talking about—

32:30 Speaker 13 Why don’t I feel like sitting down to study?

32:31 Speaker 1 We’re not talking now about the garments. Put thought, speech, and action aside. We’re talking about the animal soul itself, its intellect and its emotions. Yes? Which part is higher? Certainly the intellect. Which part is lower? Certainly the emotions. The Alter Rebbe says that the higher, more essential part of the animal soul can be transformed into holiness. The lower part, the emotions—specifically that cannot be transformed into holiness.

33:06 Speaker 13 I don’t understand that.

33:07 Speaker 1 Hmm.

33:07 Speaker 13 I don’t understand that. Because the intellect is in the brain, and the brain is where the good is, while the middos are in the heart, which is...

33:14 Speaker 1 In the Alter Rebbe’s words, evil has a stronger hold on the emotions than on the intellect. I can understand that something isn’t good, and then convince myself that it really isn’t good. But feeling—that’s me; I’m drawn to that thing. What can I do? I heard a story this week, in one of the messages that was going around. A chossid approached one of the mashpi’im of the previous generation. He was already an older Jew with a white beard, and he told that mashpia—I don’t remember who the mashpia was—“Boruch Hashem, my yetzer hara has finally left me. Now I can move upward; now I can study Chassidus.” Something like that—as if his yetzer hara had left him. The mashpia laughed and said to him, “No, no, no, no, no. Don’t fool yourself. Your yetzer hara hasn’t left you. If you had the strength, you’d carry on committing transgressions like you used to. It’s just that you’re old and no longer have the strength, so the yetzer hara has left the transgressions of physical desire and moved on to tempting you with pride and honor.”

34:42 Speaker 13 Right.

34:42 Speaker 1 I don’t remember the exact wording, but that’s the point. The yetzer hara has a much stronger hold on the middos. We can drive the yetzer hara out of the intellect, but not out of the middos. How do we drive it out of the intellect? Through Torah study. That is the extraordinary advantage Torah study has over tzedakah. All the mitzvos sanctify the physicality of the world. Tzedakah does that more than any of them. So why do we also need Torah? Because Torah also sanctifies the inner parts of the animal soul.

35:26 Speaker 13 If so, he’s about to say that tzedakah actually transforms that feeling of pleasure into good as well.

35:31 Speaker 1 What?

35:32 Speaker 13 So is it going to turn out that tzedakah transforms the feeling of pleasure into good?

35:36 Speaker 1 No.

35:38 Speaker 13 Oh.

35:38 Speaker 1 No. He was talking about the physicality of the world.

35:40 Speaker 13 Okay, what was he talking about?

35:41 Speaker 1 About the—he was talking about the garments.

35:44 Speaker 13 No, that’s just it. Actually, it’s your job to explain something to me.

35:47 Speaker 1 No, there’s—

35:48 Speaker 13 It’s the feeling of pleasure.

35:49 Speaker 1 Yes.

35:49 Speaker 13 Because

35:50 Speaker 1 We spoke about the special quality of tzedakah—why is tzedakah, specifically, equal to all the mitzvos? What our Sages said, that tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos, explains what we’ve learned throughout this chapter: the entire purpose of the mitzvos is to sanctify the world. So why do we need Torah study? He asked that because Torah study sanctifies the inner faculties of the animal soul—its thought and speech, and even its intellect. That was the point up to here. “Furthermore”: there is another advantage Torah study has over tzedakah, the greatest advantage of engaging in Torah study over all the mitzvos. As explained above in the name of the Tikkunim, “the 248 precepts are the 248 limbs of the King.” In a person, by way of analogy, there is no comparison at all between the life-force in his 248 limbs and the life-force in his mind—the intellect, which divides into the three faculties of Chochmah, Binah and Daas. So too, by way of analogy, though with infinitely many distinctions, there is no comparison between the illumination of the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is clothed in practical mitzvos and the illumination of the light of the Ein Sof in the Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Torah wisdom, each person according to his intellect and understanding. So that’s another advantage Torah study has. What was the first advantage we discussed? That Torah study sanctifies the inner faculties of the animal soul. Right? We discussed that? What is he saying besides that? He gives an analogy from a person’s physical life-force. A person has a soul that gives him life. So it’s obvious to everyone that there is an enormous difference between the soul’s life-force that animates all the limbs—the hands, the feet, the digestive and respiratory organs, and so on—and the soul’s life-force that is clothed in the intellect, in the brain. That’s something entirely different. Right? The limbs are separate from the life-force; the soul’s life-force merely animates them. But when the soul’s life-force is clothed in the intellect, they are one thing. The intellect is the life-force, and the life-force is the intellect. They aren’t

38:23 Speaker 1 two things. In the intellect, the soul itself shines forth, whether it’s the divine soul or the animal soul. In the intellect, the soul itself finds expression. In the rest of the body, it merely operates the limbs, moves them; it doesn’t unite with them. In the intellect, in the head, the soul itself is revealed. It isn’t doing something else. Is the difference clear? Right? And so it is with what the analogy represents. What does it represent? The difference between Torah study and all the other mitzvos.

39:14 Speaker 14 Torah study is the intellect itself.

39:18 Speaker 1 The mitzvos are called the 248. Are there 248 mitzvos? Are there 248 mitzvos?

39:27 Speaker 14 Yes.

39:28 Speaker 1 Two hundred and forty-eight—

39:28 Speaker 14 If you’re right, then... we’re now at 247 as opposed to [unclear].

39:33 Speaker 1 No, because the mitzvah of Torah study is also included as a mitzvah, apart from its special advantage. There are 248 positive mitzvos, which are the 248 limbs of the King.

39:44 Speaker 14 I didn’t understand. Why?

39:47 Speaker 1 Why are the mitzvos called the 248 limbs? Because the mitzvos are what give life to all the worlds, to the 248 limbs of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. By contrast, the mitzvah of Torah study is, so to speak, Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself and His wisdom. “The Torah proceeds from Chochmah.” The Torah is His wisdom, and it is He Himself. In the mitzvah of Torah study, the very essence of G-dliness is revealed. In all the other mitzvos, only that aspect of G-dliness whose purpose is to give life to the worlds is revealed. So just as there is clearly an enormous difference between how the soul is revealed in a person’s head and how it is revealed in the rest of his limbs, that is the difference between the G-dliness revealed through the mitzvah of Torah study and the G-dliness revealed through the other mitzvos.

40:47 Speaker 3 So I don’t understand—is he bringing out the advantage of Torah study here?

40:51 Speaker 1 Yes.

40:52 Speaker 3 What about tzedakah?

40:53 Speaker 1 We’ll come back to it in a moment.

40:55 Speaker 3 But I’m trying to—what is he getting at? I don’t understand.

40:59 Speaker 1 We began with an explanation spanning three chapters: to bring Moshiach, to bring the Geulah, we need to bring G-dliness into the world. How do we do that? Through mitzvos. That’s the point. And since we said it’s through mitzvos, you should know that the main thing is practical mitzvos. Why practical mitzvos? Because practical mitzvos make use of the world: they take the world and bring G-dliness into it, preparing its physical substance. The mitzvah that encompasses all the mitzvos is tzedakah. Why? Because it involves the greatest share of the vital soul’s energies; a person works and exerts himself most for it; and it is called the mitzvah—the mitzvah of mitzvos. So the principal mitzvah that prepares the world for the Geulah is tzedakah. Tzedakah. But that raises a question: why do we say Torah study is equal to them all? “Study is great because it leads to action.” Yes, because Torah study also has an advantage. What is its advantage? He gave two points. First, it works on the inner faculties of the animal soul and sanctifies them too, which tzedakah doesn’t reach to the same extent. Second, in the mitzvah of Torah study, an incomparably higher divine light shines than in the mitzvos—all the mitzvos, including tzedakah. That’s what he has said so far. He asks on line four, page... where are we? Page 77, line four: “Even though he grasps it only in its physical form.” You’re telling me that the very essence of divine wisdom shines in Torah study? I don’t feel anything. “For the Torah has been compared to water that descends from a high place, etc.,” as we learned in chapter 4, right near the beginning of Tanya, as explained above. “Nevertheless, our Sages said—” Okay. So now that we’ve said Torah study has this lofty quality, even greater than tzedakah—that a much higher divine light shines in it and it sanctifies the inner faculties of the animal soul—why

43:16 Speaker 1 do I need tzedakah at all? Wait, wait, now the question is the other way around. Right?

43:23 Speaker 3 Mm-hmm.

43:25 Speaker 1 Mm-hmm?

43:25 Speaker 3 Because I really didn’t understand. No, but wait, all right, how is it more... Yes, simple, easy things, I mean.

43:30 Speaker 1 So now the question is the other way around. After emphasizing so strongly the advantage Torah study has over tzedakah, why did you tell me at the beginning that tzedakah is the main thing? Say that Torah study is the main thing, that it prepares the world for the Geulah. The answer is: “Nevertheless, our Sages said, ‘The main thing is not study, but action.’ And it is written, ‘Today, to do them.’” Today, during the time of exile, the main thing is action. “So much so that our Sages said that we interrupt Torah study to perform a practical mitzvah when it cannot be done by others.” Why? Because this is the whole purpose of man, of his creation and his descent into this world: to make for Him, blessed be He, a dwelling specifically in the lower realms; to transform darkness into light, so that “the glory of Hashem will fill the entire” physical earth, specifically, and “all flesh will see together,” as above. So here’s what we’re discussing: suppose I have to make a choice now. There’s a mitzvah, there’s tzedakah, and there’s Torah study, and for some reason I can’t do both. I have to decide now what to do. Tzedakah has a wonderful advantage. Torah study also has a wonderful advantage.

44:52 Speaker 4 You have to go out, because this one is smaller.

44:54 Speaker 1 So here’s what I’m saying: if there is—

44:59 Speaker 4 Otherwise. Not like that.

45:00 Speaker 1 Here’s what I’m saying.

45:02 Speaker 4 Not like that. We’ve taken a tzaddik from you. It isn’t necessarily about going to someone.

45:05 Speaker 1 Here’s what I’m saying: if there’s no one who can perform the mitzvah in your place—if you don’t do it, it won’t be done. No, the mitzvah won’t happen. It won’t exist. Leave your Torah study and do the mitzvah first. Why? This is why the world was created. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world to have a dwelling in the lower realms—the lower realms. How is that done? Through tzedakah, through a mitzvah, through physical things. Bringing holiness into the physical, into what is below, into the lower realms—that is a mitzvah. That isn’t Torah study. That is why the world was created. There’s no one else; if you don’t do it, nobody will. With all due respect to Torah study, leave your Torah study and do the mitzvah, because that is why man was created. But if there is someone else who can perform the mitzvah, the world will be sanctified anyway. The divine light will come down into the world even without you. Why waste the time? You can use that time to study Torah and sanctify your soul with a divine light far higher than the light of a mitzvah. So if the mitzvah can be performed by someone else, you should study Torah.

46:16 Speaker 4 Seemingly, even if you study Torah... But the preference is for me to do it. It’s like the story with the Alter Rebbe, when he went on Yom Kippur.

46:24 Speaker 1 A preference.

46:24 Speaker 4 He could have sent someone else, but he said, “There’s no one better suited than me.” Yet what he’s saying here is that if someone else can perform the mitzvah of tzedakah in your place, you should study Torah. But based on that story about the Alter Rebbe, you’d understand the opposite: whenever you have the opportunity to do tzedakah for someone else, run to do it. Don’t look for excuses.

46:44 Speaker 5 Someone greater than that.

46:46 Speaker 4 [unclear]. Now he’s getting stronger.

46:48 Speaker 5 But no, maybe not when you’re in the middle—when you’re in the middle of studying, he...

46:51 Speaker 4 We’re not talking about davening.

46:53 Speaker 5 He was in the middle of Yom Kippur davening.

46:54 Speaker 4 He isn’t talking about interrupting your learning. The question is whether you study Torah now or go help someone. He says that if someone else can help your friend, you should study Torah. But from what I understand of the Talmud, it sounds like the opposite.

47:10 Speaker 1 But there they were talking about missing prayer, not interrupting Torah study.

47:19 Speaker 4 You’re here in the middle of learning.

47:21 Speaker 1 Yes.

47:22 Speaker 4 And someone asks if you can help someone with a flat tire, let’s say.

47:25 Speaker 1 Yes.

47:26 Speaker 5 No, because I think the question isn’t whether to choose to do it. It’s whether he’s in the middle of learning.

47:32 Speaker 4 So it’s only if I’m in the middle of learning and someone asks me to help fix his flat tire, but I’ll find someone else, uh...

47:38 Speaker 1 If there’s someone else, then let that person do it. But if there isn’t someone else, then...

47:41 Speaker 4 And if they approached me, I’d ask around to see if someone else can help you. You wouldn’t run to help. No, no, I mean, the way this sounds is that you should keep learning and someone else should help. That goes against Chabad.

47:55 Speaker 1 But, but...

47:55 Speaker 4 Chabad means running to help.

47:57 Speaker 1 But that’s if you know there’s someone else. Not if you have to look for someone else. If you have to look for someone else, that means there isn’t someone else.

48:04 Speaker 4 But if you don’t know how to do something, and you know someone else does, and you know whether he’ll do it or not, then, I mean, yes, that too.

48:10 Speaker 5 Sometimes it’s easy for him to get out of it, I mean.

48:13 Speaker 1 That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re not dealing with [unclear]. No, we’re talking about it in principle, in principle. If someone else can do it, then, with all due respect, step aside.

48:34 Speaker 4 With all due respect, send [unclear].

48:35 Speaker 1 Yes.

48:36 Speaker 4 Okay.

48:37 Speaker 1 Whereas, yes, when it can be done by others, one does not interrupt Torah study, even though the entire Torah is only an explanation of the practical mitzvos. So, so how do you...

48:46 Speaker 5 Then in any case he won’t perform practical mitzvos. A student sits and studies Torah all the time, because [unclear] Torah study.

48:51 Speaker 1 What?

48:51 Speaker 4 I didn’t understand a word.

48:52 Speaker 1 Me neither. Take the laughter out.

48:58 Speaker 5 If you’re studying Torah all the time, there’s someone else who can do it.

49:02 Speaker 4 Slowly, slowly.

49:03 Speaker 5 Okay. If you’re studying Torah.

49:05 Speaker 1 Well?

49:05 Speaker 5 All the time.

49:06 Speaker 1 Yes.

49:06 Speaker 5 Because there’s always someone else.

49:08 Speaker 1 Yes.

49:08 Speaker 5 Who can do it.

49:09 Speaker 1 Yes.

49:09 Speaker 5 Then we don’t perform practical mitzvos.

49:12 Speaker 4 There are people whose Torah study is their occupation, aren’t there?

49:14 Speaker 5 Yes.

49:14 Speaker 4 And in fact they don’t.

49:15 Speaker 5 Wicked people, something like that.

49:16 Speaker 4 We’re not wicked people.

49:17 Speaker 1 We’re not talking about theory; we’re talking in practical terms.

49:20 Speaker 4 In practical terms.

49:21 Speaker 5 We’re talking about me, practical people.

49:23 Speaker 4 People with means.

49:24 Speaker 5 He won’t perform practical mitzvos; he’ll just sit and study Torah all the time, because there will always be someone who can perform the mitzvah in his place.

49:31 Speaker 1 There are many mitzvos a person can’t have someone else perform in his place.

49:36 Speaker 5 We’re studying tzedakah.

49:37 Speaker 1 What?

49:38 Speaker 5 Are we studying tzedakah, or tzedakah?

49:39 Speaker 1 No, he’s talking about all the mitzvos. No, not specifically tzedakah.

49:42 Speaker 5 But there are still those—all the mitzvos.

49:44 Speaker 1 What?

49:45 Speaker 5 Okay, there are mitzvos where, fine, he has to do [unclear] himself, fine. But there are mitzvos where every second is [unclear].

49:50 Speaker 4 Someone else can’t study Torah for him, either.

49:52 Speaker 1 We’re not talking about sending anyone. We’re not saying you have to go looking for someone to send, or even look for someone.

49:58 Speaker 5 If there’s someone else here who will do it.

50:00 Speaker 4 If there’s someone else—he’s in the beis midrash, there are also people sitting idle there, and he’s learning. So he’s saying, as it were...

50:04 Speaker 1 If someone else goes, fine. If no one else...

50:06 Speaker 5 No one has any interest in pulling him away from his learning, understand?

50:09 Speaker 1 If someone else goes, fine; if no one else goes, then you go.

50:12 Speaker 5 Yes, because he’s learning in the beis midrash.

50:15 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:15 Speaker 5 No one will [unclear] him.

50:16 Speaker 4 That would make me laugh.

50:18 Speaker 1 You’re not going out—what is this, poor guy, he’s stuck.

50:21 Speaker 5 No one says he’s stuck, because he’s studying Torah.

50:23 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:24 Speaker 5 So he says he isn’t stuck, because he’s studying Torah.

50:26 Speaker 1 So he’s studying Torah. Boruch Hashem, that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

50:28 Speaker 5 That’s the mitzvah.

50:29 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:30 Speaker 5 So he’s stuck because he’s fulfilling a mitzvah?

50:31 Speaker 1 I have yet to see anyone in our world who wants to perform mitzvos and can’t. There are opportunities. No, this is just a theoretical discussion; it isn’t practical. Do you understand that it isn’t practical? Someone who looks for mitzvos to perform has endless opportunities in life, every day, all the time. They’re just telling him: You should know that, with all due respect to how eagerly you pursue mitzvos, there is a great advantage to Torah study. Through Torah study you achieve two things, two very wonderful things, that you cannot achieve through the mitzvah of tzedakah. So if you have the opportunity—if you see that someone else will perform the mitzvah—then despite your tremendous desire to perform mitzvos, and despite knowing that bringing Moshiach comes specifically through performing mitzvos and not through Torah study, you should nevertheless study Torah. Yes.

51:27 Speaker 5 That hastens what comes afterward.

51:29 Speaker 1 Whereas, when it can be done by others, the reason is that the Chabad of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, engaged through Torah study draws down upon him the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, with infinitely greater intensity and radiance than the radiance and drawing down achieved through the commandments, which are the 248 limbs of the King. This is what Rav Sheshes said: “Rejoice, my soul! For you I have studied Scripture; for you I have studied Mishnah,” as explained at length elsewhere—that Rav Sheshes rejoiced greatly in his Torah study. Now, this drawing down and radiance that a person draws down from the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, to illuminate his soul and the souls of all Israel—which are the Shechinah, Knesses Yisroel, the source of all Jewish souls, as will be explained below—through Torah study is called “calling.” That’s already a third point. A third advantage Torah study has over all the mitzvos, even tzedakah. One: it sanctifies the inner dimension of the animal soul. Two: it draws down the light of the Ein Sof. Three: it’s called “calling”—he “calls” through the Torah. What does that expression mean? It should have said, uh, uh, uh...

52:52 Speaker 6 Well, what’s wrong with “reading the Torah”?

52:54 Speaker 1 It should have said that he studies Torah. What does it mean that he “calls” through the Torah? A person goes up...

53:02 Speaker 6 As though Hakadosh Boruch Hu...

53:04 Speaker 1 Why do we say of a person studying Torah that he “calls” through the Torah? The expression should be that he studies Torah.

53:11 Speaker 6 Because he understands that everything he studies, he isn’t really studying?

53:13 Speaker 1 No. “Calls through the Torah” means that through studying Torah he calls Hakadosh Boruch Hu to come to him, so to speak, just as a person calls his friend to come to him, or a small child calls his father to come to him, to be together with him as one and not be separated from him and left alone, G-d forbid. Surely everyone knows the story about the Tzemach Tzedek when he was little.

53:38 Speaker 6 There’s a really funny story.

53:39 Speaker 1 No.

53:43 Speaker 6 There is.

53:43 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe loved his grandson very, very much.

53:47 Speaker 6 Where’s Grandpa?

53:48 Speaker 1 Yes. So he asked him, when he was a little boy, “Where’s Grandpa?” The Tzemach Tzedek was a little boy, and he pointed to him. But he pointed to him, and the Alter Rebbe said, “No, that’s Grandpa’s chest, and the beard is Grandpa’s beard, and that’s Grandpa’s head,” and so on. All right. A few moments later—fine, he finished playing with him—a few moments later the Alter Rebbe turned around. The Tzemach Tzedek was a little boy, so he called out to the Alter Rebbe while his back was turned, and there—the Alter Rebbe turned toward him. There you have it. Yes, that’s what “calling” means. When I call someone, I’m not just saying his name. I mean: now you, in your entire being and essence, turn toward me. Why is it called “calling through the Torah”? Because when a person engages in Torah, he calls Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It isn’t just the light of the Shechinah, not just some lofty light, chochmah—I don’t know what to call what he was discussing earlier. When a person studies Torah, the very essence and being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu turns toward him, to be together with him as one and not be separated from him and left alone, G-d forbid. And that is what the verse says: “Hashem is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.” What is that? What does the addition mean? It could have said, “Hashem is near to all who call upon Him.” Why add “to all who call upon Him in truth”?

55:28 Speaker 6 Through the Torah.

55:29 Speaker 1 Yes, because there are people who call upon Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but not “in truth.” What does “not in truth” mean? “There is no truth but Torah.” That is, he calls upon Hakadosh Boruch Hu specifically through studying Torah. This excludes someone who calls to Him without studying Torah, but simply cries out, “Father, Father.” There are Jews who connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through prayer: “Father, Father.” You know Jews like that, who go out into a field and call to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “Father, Father.”

56:06 Speaker 6 Get me out of...

56:07 Speaker 1 Huh?

56:08 Speaker 6 “Get me out of the mud.” I don’t understand. So does that mean that someone who cries out isn’t really calling “in truth”?

56:15 Speaker 1 I’m telling you what the Alter Rebbe says.

56:17 Speaker 6 No, but I’m asking whether that’s something...

56:18 Speaker 1 Yes.

56:19 Speaker 6 Do you really want to call upon Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Torah study is a korban. The Rebbe [unclear] “in truth”...

56:24 Speaker 1 Do you want an even stronger vort?

56:27 Speaker 6 Something sharper?

56:28 Speaker 1 Much—much sharper. Yes. Huh?

56:33 Speaker 6 That suits us.

56:34 Speaker 1 That suits you. And on what date in the year did the Rebbe arrange for people to study the... the daily... the, the, that?

56:46 Speaker 6 Shabbos.

56:47 Speaker 1 Huh?

56:47 Speaker 6 Shabbos.

56:48 Speaker 1 No.

56:48 Speaker 6 25 Menachem Av.

56:49 Speaker 1 The—the Hayom Yom calendar. The Tanya was divided up in 5703, which was a leap year.

56:55 Speaker 6 Right, so 28 Adar II.

56:56 Speaker 1 No, a leap year.

56:58 Speaker 6 20 Nissan.

56:59 Speaker 1 No.

57:00 Speaker 6 Open the... Shvat.

57:03 Speaker 1 No.

57:03 Speaker 6 Something connected to Rabbi Nachman or something. What? Something connected to him—that’s the question.

57:11 Speaker 1 Ah, here it changes. It changes who’s in control.

57:13 Speaker 6 A leap year. Open the...

57:16 Speaker 1 Anyway, it’s on 1 Nissan, the birthday of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.

57:26 Speaker 6 How can I turn that into a sharp question?

57:28 Speaker 1 Huh?

57:31 Speaker 6 Wow, I know that story too. In general, you hear a lot about it in Shvat. No, I wanted to ask the rabbi something.

57:43 Speaker 1 So Torah study has three advantages over tzedakah: it sanctifies the inner dimension of the animal soul; a higher Divine light shines through it than through all the other mitzvos; and through studying Torah, a Jew truly calls upon Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As the prophet laments, “And there is none who calls upon Your name,” and so on, as explained elsewhere. What does that mean—“calls upon Your name”? All Jews, the entire Jewish people, pray, and yet no one here is truly calling upon You. They call upon You, but not truly—not through Torah. From this, a thoughtful person should contemplate how to draw great awe upon himself while studying Torah, as explained above in chapter 23. The Alter Rebbe is hinting here, in these last words, that after everything we’ve learned about the great advantages of Torah study—what does it say at the end of chapter 23? You should know that Torah study is a wonderful thing, with one advantage after another after another. But the purpose of Torah study is to bring a person to awe. Torah study, for all its greatest and most wonderful advantages, does not stand on its own—it is not the ultimate goal. “Study is great because it leads to action.” What is the Torah? The Torah is a gateway to the courtyard of awe. It is only a gateway; it is secondary. For all the wonderful advantages of Torah, ultimately the goal is awe of Hashem. So those were the three chapters, 35, 36, and 37, where he discussed the importance of action, of observing practical mitzvos and studying Torah, through which we sanctify the world, prepare it for the Geulah, and bring Moshiach. From here on, the next three chapters will begin discussing the importance of intention in what we do, because until now we haven’t talked about intention. You perform a mitzvah; you do the deed. First we discussed how to do it. Then, how important it is to do it. But a mitzvah without intention is like

1:00:03 Speaker 1 a body without a soul. The Alter Rebbe is going to engrave that saying in us over the next three chapters.

1:00:11 Speaker 6 Who said that saying?

1:00:14 Speaker 1 I don’t remember, but that’s the substance of all three of the next chapters. In other words, in chapters 38, 39, and 40, the Alter Rebbe is going to engrave this in us, deeper and deeper: observing mitzvos without inner intention—

1:00:33 Speaker 6 Is worth nothing.

1:00:35 Speaker 1 That’s not what he says—that it’s worth nothing. But he talks about how impor—

1:00:42 Speaker 6 Yes, the importance of intention.

1:00:43 Speaker 1 The importance of inner intention.

1:00:44 Speaker 6 If a person doesn’t do the mitzvah exactly as he should—say, he doesn’t fully understand it, but he had the right intention—does Hashem accept it as...

1:00:51 Speaker 1 He fulfills the mitzvah. He does fulfill the mitzvah. That’s what we’ve already discussed.

1:00:55 Speaker 6 And then they bring up that point about a person’s strength—

1:00:58 Speaker 1 We’ll discuss that later.

1:01:00 Speaker 6 When they forcibly put his finger in, who fulfilled the mitzvah? The person who did it, or the one whose finger they put in?

1:01:04 Speaker 1 What we’ll discuss later is an addition to what we’ve learned.

1:01:08 Speaker 6 That changes it.

1:01:08 Speaker 1 Through intention, it’s not just what we’ve discussed, but much, much, much more. Once we understand how impor... how important intention is, then, from chapter 41 to the end, he’ll also begin explaining how to have the right intention.

1:01:26 Speaker 6 Why?

1:01:35 Speaker 1 Where’s the disgraced one?

1:01:39 Speaker 6 Girls, design it for me already so we can move on.