Likkutei Amarim Chapter 37 (Part 2) · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 What about those?

00:02 Speaker 2 I’m not really in the mood. What’s going on here?

00:04 Speaker 1 Or she’ll come.

00:06 Speaker 2 She’ll come if she wants to; then she’ll come later.

00:09 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:09 Speaker 2 All right, I’m coming, I’m not coming.

00:12 Speaker 5 On the second page, there’s “Furthermore.” Last time we learned up to there. We’ll go over it again from the beginning.

00:20 Speaker 2 Yes, that’s good. Oh, it’s just one page further.

00:30 Speaker 5 What are we talking about here in chapter 37? Let’s review. Chapter 37 sums up, or connects, the two preceding chapters, 35 and 36. Chapter 35 begins the second part of Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe starts discussing the virtue of practical service—our service in observing practical mitzvos. Before that, he spoke about the service of the heart: how we can achieve completeness in observing Torah and mitzvos through love. We awaken love and awe, and then, as a matter of course, we keep all the mitzvos. The second part discusses the virtue of practical service, of actually doing things. But what sort of service is there in that? Service isn’t simply doing something. What is the element of inner service, of feeling, in the act of doing? “In your mouth and in your heart, to do it”—where is the heart in “to do it”? So he began the explanation in chapter 35. He explained that practical mitzvos have something that Torah study and prayer, and other things, do not. What is it? Through practical mitzvos, the light of Hashem, the light of the Shechinah, rests in this world. That is something unique to action, specifically to practical mitzvos. He explained why and how it is specifically through practical mitzvos: the mitzvos are like oil that draws the light onto the soul and the body here in this world. That was chapter 35. Then, in chapter 36, he began explaining something else. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the world—this world, all the worlds? Because He desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms. And he explained what a dwelling place in the lower realms means. The Alter Rebbe didn’t invent that Midrash. The Midrash had always been there. But how did all the generations understand the purpose of creation? Why

02:51 Speaker 5 do we need Moshiach? How did even the Kabbalists understand what it means for Moshiach to come? Moshiach will come, and everything will be more spiritual, the kelipos will be nullified, and the world will be elevated. Right? That’s how all the generations understood it. What does that mean? It means that spirituality is the main thing. Today there are things that interfere with spirituality, and when Moshiach comes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will abolish and break the spirit of impurity. The Divine truth will be revealed, and the truth within everything—its spirituality—will be revealed. That is the revelation of Moshiach. That’s how everyone understood it, including the Kabbalists. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe introduces something entirely different. There had been no such explanation before the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe explains that the purpose of creating the world is not for the world to be elevated, or for what is above to be revealed. The purpose lies in the world itself.

04:07 Speaker 2 But doesn’t He first reveal the lower realm?

04:09 Speaker 5 The purpose is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world for the sake of the darkness, for the concealment itself. Not so that, through it, something else would later be revealed. If Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants revelations, if revelations are what interest Him, He doesn’t need all the worlds and concealments. He doesn’t need creation, the first tzimtzum or the second tzimtzum. He doesn’t need any of it. There are revelations above. He wants this world. So the question is: what does it mean that He wants it? What does He gain from concealment and darkness, from limits? What is the purpose? What sort of purpose is it to want something whose whole nature is concealment and absence—nothing at all? Why does He want that? Why? So the Rebbe explains that the purpose is for the darkness to shine, to be transformed. What does it mean for darkness to shine? It doesn’t mean that darkness becomes light. It remains darkness, and it shines. It doesn’t turn into light. If the whole purpose were for it to become light, there would be no need to make darkness. Light already exists.

05:32 Speaker 2 Right.

05:34 Speaker 5 The purpose is for it to remain a world—a limited world with a physical body, with everything that makes it a world—and for it to be light. Not for light to be revealed in it, or for it to receive light, but for it to be light. For the darkness to be...

05:53 Speaker 2 For everything to turn good, right?

05:56 Speaker 5 Yes, but... Look at it this way. Today, when we look at spiritual beings—an intellect or angels, right?—what do we say? There is a very great angel in whom G-dliness is very strongly revealed. There is a lesser angel in whom it is revealed less. Human intellect can understand even less than angels. Lower and lower. But as long as something is spiritual, it has at least a little light, a little revelation, a little bittul, a little G-dliness—something. Even the three completely impure kelipos: “They call Him the G-d of gods.” They, too, acknowledge Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So as long as we’re speaking about something spiritual, however low it may be, it recognizes G-dliness and senses G-dliness. Perhaps it senses something else as well. The only thing that does not sense G-dliness is the physicality of this world. Nothing else. Why is this world called the lowest realm, with none lower than it? When we’re speaking of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, there is no such thing as higher and lower relative to Him. He is here, He is there, He is everywhere.

07:14 Speaker 2 I’m just writing to you about a private memorial.

07:19 Speaker 6 I came for twenty minutes.

07:25 Speaker 2 It’s...

07:26 Speaker 5 You can’t say, with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, that this world is higher—that He is present more in one world and less in this one. He created this world and all the worlds, and He is present equally in all of them. Right? And even from the perspective of the worlds themselves, you can’t say that the World of Atzilus is higher than the World of Beriah. By how much? Two kilometers? A hundred kilometers? What does “higher” mean?

07:48 Speaker 2 The opposite.

07:48 Speaker 5 Hmm? When we speak of lower, higher and lower, we mean the degree to which something conceals G-dliness. One conceals it more, and another conceals it less. That’s what higher and lower mean—not that one is physically higher, or that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present more here and less there. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present in all of them, in all the worlds, to exactly the same degree. The only difference between the worlds is how deeply Hakadosh Boruch Hu is enclothed and concealed within them. That is the whole difference. Right? So in all the worlds, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is concealed more in one, still more in another, and still more in another. What about this world?

08:20 Speaker 6 In the lowest world.

08:21 Speaker 5 In this world, He is completely concealed. What does “completely” mean? When you look at the earth, you see a tree. Now, when you look at an emotion, you know it came from some thought. That thought, too, has some source. The soul, too, has something above it from which it comes. An angel, too... With anything spiritual, you can sense at least a little something beyond it. Even with the lowest kelipos, you can sense that they draw their life-force from holiness. You can sense that they come from somewhere. But what do you sense in this world, in physical things? The thing itself. You look at a stone, and it would never occur to you that there is something beyond it—that it comes from somewhere, receives its life-force from somewhere, draws sustenance from somewhere. No. There it is. The same is true of a tree, of animals, of human beings. Throughout this physical world, concealment is absolute. That is why this world is called the lowest realm, with none lower than it. Why can there be none lower? Because once you say that nothing is apparent, that’s it. Absolute concealment. Nothing. Wherever you look, even at the loftiest, most refined things in this world, you see no revelation of G-dliness. Just as with the lowest things, there is nothing. Throughout this world as a whole, nothing at all is apparent. Look at anything—nothing. You don’t sense in anything in the world that it comes from G-dliness, or from spirituality, or anything of the sort. Nothing at all. That’s the point: there can be nothing lower than this. What does that mean? If higher and lower are measured by how much concealment there is, then when there is such concealment that nothing at all is apparent, that is the limit. And what do we say? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the world? For this lowest world, with none

10:10 Speaker 5 lower than it. What did He want? He wanted concealment so complete that nothing is sensed at all. That is what He wanted.

10:17 Speaker 6 So here the question is: How did He create the higher worlds?

10:20 Speaker 5 Hmm?

10:22 Speaker 6 And then there’s the question: How did He use the higher worlds to create this lower world?

10:26 Speaker 5 He didn’t use them to create this lower world.

10:29 Speaker 6 Yes.

10:29 Speaker 5 No.

10:30 Speaker 6 He went straight to something higher and more exalted to create something lower.

10:33 Speaker 5 No. Where does it say that?

10:36 Speaker 6 In what we said?

10:38 Speaker 5 The physical world?

10:40 Speaker 6 No.

10:40 Speaker 5 That it was created from the higher worlds?

10:41 Speaker 6 Not that it was created from them—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created all the other, higher and more exalted worlds...

10:46 Speaker 5 Well?

10:46 Speaker 6 For the sake of this world.

10:48 Speaker 5 No. That’s precisely what’s being explained here. Chapters 36 and 37 discuss this. He says: What’s the proof that this world is the purpose of creation? Because for the higher worlds, it is a descent from the light of His countenance, may He be blessed. Well, if it’s a descent for them, then what about this world? Isn’t this world a descent from the light of His countenance? Much more so than they are. So if it’s a descent for them and they aren’t the purpose, then this world—here, here is the purpose. What does the Alter Rebbe say there? What do those words mean—“and therefore... for them it is a descent from the light of His countenance, may He be blessed”? He’s speaking about the higher worlds. Since it’s a descent for them, we have to say that the purpose isn’t in them, but in what?

11:42 Speaker 6 In something higher.

11:43 Speaker 5 Something higher than them, not something lower than them. Certainly not something lower. Rather, what does “higher than them” mean? That comes later. They reveal that the divine light is so great that it can be revealed even here—even here, even, even, even, even here. So the whole point of the higher worlds really is revelation. And since Hakadosh Boruch Hu didn’t create the world for a revelation, He created it for His essence—for He Himself to be revealed, not a revelation from Him—the purpose really isn’t in them. So what is the purpose? The purpose is in this lower world. What does “lower” mean? Lower? It means there’s nothing lower than it. It means a world so low, so limited, that there’s no revelation of G-dliness in it at all. But what does Hakadosh Boruch Hu want? That this world, which has no revelation of its own—not merely that it should reveal, that it should indeed reveal—

12:38 Speaker 7 That it should reveal Him.

12:39 Speaker 5 But that it should reveal Him, not His revelations.

12:43 Speaker 7 Which still doesn’t have the gene.

12:45 Speaker 5 Yes. So, chapters 35 and 36. Chapter 35 explained—we said chapter 37 connects the two chapters and explains the connection. Chapter 35 says that when a Jew performs a mitzvah with something physical, divine light is drawn into the world. Chapter 36 says the purpose of creation is for darkness to turn into light. Not for light to be revealed within the darkness, but for the darkness to turn into light and remain darkness.

13:18 Speaker 7 How can it turn into light if it remains darkness?

13:19 Speaker 5 Wait a little; we’ll see soon.

13:21 Speaker 7 Turning light into darkness, as it were.

13:23 Speaker 5 It doesn’t matter whether we can understand it, but that’s the purpose. We have to say that this is... Based on this, we have to say that this is the purpose. Besides, it’s written in the Midrash.

13:30 Speaker 7 Darkness is a color in its own right.

13:32 Speaker 5 What do you mean?

13:32 Speaker 7 Black. I just remembered.

13:35 Speaker 5 That’s why I’m talking about two...

13:39 Speaker 7 If I’m understanding this correctly, you’re saying that, for example, let’s take people as an example. Every single person has G-dliness within them, has Hashem within them.

13:52 Speaker 5 Yes.

13:53 Speaker 7 And through them, G-dliness can be revealed.

13:55 Speaker 5 So we’re saying no: the purpose isn’t the soul. The purpose is the body. Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms—in the body, and not just in the body but in the physical world. Physical means animals and plants and living things and... inanimate things.

14:12 Speaker 7 And to find Hakadosh Boruch Hu there.

14:14 Speaker 5 Not to find Him—for it to be Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

14:16 Speaker 7 For it to be Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes, that’s what I meant.

14:19 Speaker 5 We don’t understand that.

14:20 Speaker 7 People will themselves be Hakadosh Boruch...

14:22 Speaker 5 People too, among other things. In any case, we don’t know what it will be like when Moshiach comes.

14:26 Speaker 7 If you look at us, you see G-d.

14:30 Speaker 5 Yes.

14:30 Speaker 7 Yes, that’s what we said. They also say that every single thing like this has a soul, it has, like...

14:39 Speaker 5 That’s another matter. Yes, that’s another matter. That’s what they’re asking about, about that, about that. So now, okay, what does it say in the two chapters? We’re just spending too long on things we already know. So the question is: What’s the connection between them? Performing mitzvos draws down divine light. Fine, I understand. The purpose of creation is for darkness to turn into light. How do those fit together? First of all, how do they fit together? What’s the connection between drawing down light and turning physicality into light?

15:17 Speaker 7 Yes, the physical actions also draw down the light.

15:22 Speaker 5 Right. So they draw down the light, and then what? Before, there was darkness; now there’s light. Later, someone turns the light off. So what? Drawing down light doesn’t turn darkness into light. There’s a room—

15:33 Speaker 7 Darkness already has a reality of its own.

15:34 Speaker 5 There’s darkness. It also says that when you perform a mitzvah... What was explained there is like switching on the—the—what do you call it? The switch.

15:43 Speaker 7 Darkness is the absence of light.

15:45 Speaker 5 Good. So now you switch—there’s darkness. What does darkness mean? What does “the absence of light” mean? We said earlier that there’s no revelation of G-dliness. Now what does the mitzvah do? It flips the switch. Now there’s light. Well, then what? And therefore—

15:57 Speaker 7 The darkness remains darkness. There’s no darkness in it; there’s light.

16:01 Speaker 5 And if they switch off the light?

16:03 Speaker 7 Then there’s no light.

16:04 Speaker 5 Then there’s no light. That means the darkness hasn’t turned into light. They’ve illuminated it for now, shone a light on it, put a spotlight on it. It remains as it was before.

16:15 Speaker 7 From within the darkness.

16:16 Speaker 5 What? Understood.

16:16 Speaker 7 It’s not darkness in the usual sense.

16:19 Speaker 5 Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai in fire and all of that. And there was a revelation that had never happened before and will never happen again. Matan Torah won’t happen a second time. But “when the ram’s horn sounds long, they may ascend the mountain”—once the revelation at Mount Sinai ended. What kind of mountain was it then? A mountain like any other, without any holiness. By contrast, an ordinary shul, once it’s built, has holiness. It becomes a holy place. When the sun shines, there’s light. It sets, and the light disappears. Why? Because the world hasn’t turned into light. But here we’re talking about the purpose of the world: for the world to turn into G-dliness, and even as it turns into G-dliness, it will remain a world, because He wants a dwelling place in the lower realms. How do those two things fit together? Apparently we need a little patience. Right now the question is: What’s the connection between the two? There we spoke about drawing down light through a mitzvah. Here we’re speaking about the purpose—turning the world into light, turning physicality into light, into G-dliness. What’s the connection? Chapter 37 connects them. These are two questions. First, what’s the connection between them? They’re two things that don’t seem related. Here we’re talking about drawing down light, from above to below; there, from below to above. They’re two different things. Second, okay, suppose I do everything I’m supposed to do here—Torah and mitzvos, davening, giving myself over completely, all of it properly and completely—and I’ve transformed myself, or my home, into... Now my home is holy. I’m holy, my soul, my body, whatever. But what about China or Antarctica, or the iron deep in the earth, hundreds or thousands of kilometers below? How will it become holy? How will I reach it? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants a dwelling place in the lowest of the lower realms. The entire world, all the world’s physicality, will proclaim G-dliness. What—

18:29 Speaker 5 does that have to do with me? How can I affect them? That’s what this chapter discusses: the connection between the two things, and how my work affects the whole world. After that, we can begin to discuss how it’s done. Chapter 37: “And this ultimate perfection of the days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead, which is the revelation of the light of the blessed Ein Sof in this physical world, depends on our deeds and our work throughout the time of exile.” In other words, what was explained in chapter 36 depends on what was explained in chapter—chapter 35: the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos.

19:03 Speaker 7 Because actions are physical. And how does that affect the physical world?

19:06 Speaker 5 Well, that—that was explained here. The act of a mitzvah, the act of Torah. Why? What’s the connection? Because the mitzvah itself brings about its reward. There are two kinds of reward. There’s a reward where you’re paid money for work, and there’s a reward that results from the work. Right? Whoever prepared food on Friday, whoever made salads before Shabbos, will have something to eat on Shabbos. If he doesn’t make salads, he won’t. Well, whatever, but... So what did they say? Rabbi [unclear] says: What is the reward for a mitzvah? The reward for a mitzvah is the days of Moshiach. What will happen in the days of Moshiach? Darkness will turn to light—“darkness will be transformed into light.” What brings about the days of Moshiach? The fulfillment of mitzvos. In other words, how do people generally think about it? I’m observing Torah and mitzvos now. How is it understood outside Chabad, right? I’m observing Torah and mitzvos, and I’m doing some work for Hakadosh Boruch Hu that He needs. I don’t know exactly why He needs it.

20:21 Speaker 7 For me.

20:22 Speaker 5 Ah, because—

20:23 Speaker 7 Because it’s in the Shulchan Aruch. It’s written in the Shulchan Aruch. That too.

20:25 Speaker 5 Not even for me. A person who serves Hashem for its own sake. Yes, but he does the work now, and afterward—ah, you’ve made a world. You’ve—

20:32 Speaker 7 You’ve made a world in thought.

20:33 Speaker 5 You’ve done your job. They give you a prize, they give you a reward, they give you Gan Eden. Afterward, an even greater reward. Then the resurrection of the dead. You go on to the resurrection of the dead, the seventh millennium: you work and you receive a reward. Well, yes, but the Alter Rebbe says: No! They don’t give you a reward. The days of Moshiach and the resurrection of the dead are a result of the work. How are they a result of the work? Because by performing a mitzvah, a person draws down a revelation of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, from above to below, to become invested in the physicality of this world—in something that had previously been under the dominion of kelipas nogah and received its vitality from it. All the physical things in this world... The Alter Rebbe said in chapter 6 that this entire world, as a whole, receives its vitality from kelipas nogah. Remember that? It says so in chapter 6. What does it mean that it receives its vitality from kelipas nogah?

21:34 Speaker 7 That it’s in the lower world.

21:35 Speaker 5 That it doesn’t sense G-dliness. Holiness is nullified to G-dliness; kelipas nogah is not nullified—it senses its own existence.

21:46 Speaker 7 So what’s the difference between the three kelipos and kelipas nogah?

21:47 Speaker 5 What?

21:48 Speaker 7 So what’s the difference between the three kelipos and kelipas nogah?

21:50 Speaker 5 They also receive their vitality from kelipas nogah. Why does it say “receives its vitality from it” in the feminine form, rather than the masculine? “Something that had previously been under the dominion of kelipas nogah and receives its vitality from it.” Whose vitality? Why is it feminine?

22:17 Speaker 7 A soul?

22:19 Speaker 5 Which soul?

22:21 Speaker 7 The G-dly soul.

22:23 Speaker 5 We’re talking about something that had previously been under the dominion of kelipas nogah. That means all the physical things in the world.

22:31 Speaker 7 We’re now—

22:32 Speaker 5 And where did it get its vitality? It receives its vitality from it. What does “its vitality from it” mean? Why not say, “his vitality from it”?

22:41 Speaker 7 The vitality of the...

22:44 Speaker 5 The vitality of kelipas nogah. It receives kelipas nogah’s vitality from kelipas nogah. That means there are two separate things here. Something can be under the dominion of kelipas nogah without receiving its vitality from it.

23:01 Speaker 7 From whom, then? What does it receive it from?

23:02 Speaker 5 And something can be under the dominion of kelipas nogah and also receive its vitality from it. Our animal soul—it says that it comes into being from the G-dly soul, that it descends and comes into being from the G-dly soul, and that its vitality, the main vitality of the animal soul, comes from the G-dly soul. So then, if its main vitality comes from holiness, why does a person feel his own existence?

23:35 Speaker 7 Because it’s under the dominion of—

23:36 Speaker 5 Because it’s under the dominion of kelipas nogah. Kelipas nogah conceals it so that he won’t sense it.

23:41 Speaker 7 Can there be something whose vitality comes from its source—

23:43 Speaker 5 But—

23:44 Speaker 7 While it’s under the dominion of nogah?

23:45 Speaker 5 Yes. But all the physical things—ah, all physical things, he’ll say it in a moment, Nir, he’ll say it in a moment—all physical things are not only under the dominion of kelipas nogah; they also receive their vitality from it. Their vitality comes from it. And then he specifies: “All the pure and permissible things with which a practical mitzvah is performed.” Then he gives three examples. First, “such as the parchment of tefillin, a mezuzah, and a Torah scroll,” as the Zohar says: “Only that which is pure and permitted to your mouth is fit for sacred work.” So, all the things that are permitted. What things are permitted? All the kosher animals, right? When a mitzvah is performed with them, instead of their vitality coming from kelipas nogah, they now receive their vitality from holiness. So here, the mitzvah not only draws down G-dly light; it changes the source of the thing’s vitality. That’s already...

24:58 Speaker 8 Another stage.

24:59 Speaker 5 Another stage, yes. Of what? Of all the kosher animals. When? When a mitzvah is performed with them. Well, what about plants and inanimate things? “And likewise an esrog that is not orlah.” He adds in a note that orlah comes from the three completely impure kelipos, which can never be elevated. That’s what it says in Kabbalah texts: during its first three years, the tree receives its vitality from the impure kelipos, and afterward it begins receiving it from kelipas nogah. There’s been a lot of ink spilled over exactly how that works, but in general, that’s the point. So an esrog whose first three years have passed no longer receives its vitality from the impure kelipos, only from kelipas nogah. When he takes it and performs a mitzvah with it, he draws down—or, how should I put it—changes the source from which the thing draws its vitality.

25:51 Speaker 8 In the fourth year, the fruit is holy, and it’s permitted too, because it’s a mitzvah. That’s why an esrog is used for a mitzvah.

25:57 Speaker 5 Yes, yes.

25:58 Speaker 8 Is it permitted to eat it in the fourth year?

25:59 Speaker 5 Yes. What about inanimate things? “Money given to tzedakah, provided it wasn’t stolen.” If it was stolen, then it receives its vitality—its existence—from...

26:09 Speaker 8 The note says that this falls under a mitzvah performed through a transgression.

26:11 Speaker 5 What?

26:11 Speaker 8 The note says that this falls under a mitzvah performed through a transgression.

26:14 Speaker 5 Yes. And after that... Now, “when one fulfills Hashem’s mitzvos and His will with them, the vitality within them”—which previously came from kelipas nogah—“ascends, becomes nullified, and is incorporated into the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, which is His will invested within them.” So the moment a person performs a mitzvah with a physical object, it’s not merely that Hashem’s light descends and becomes invested in it. Because Hashem’s light descends and becomes invested in it, the source of its vitality changes. It becomes a holy thing. Now, it depends how, right? An esrog becomes a holy thing only during the days of Sukkos. Afterward, it...

26:59 Speaker 8 Like tefillin.

27:00 Speaker 5 Afterward, it reverts. Tefillin remain holy. It depends on each mitzvah. “Since there is no concealment of the Divine countenance at all in the fulfillment of a mitzvah, to conceal His light.” Why does this happen specifically through a mitzvah? Why does a mitzvah, specifically, bring this about? We said: What do we call concealment of the Divine countenance? We call anything where holiness isn’t visible concealment, right? When a person performs a mitzvah, why does he do it? A person puts on tefillin now. Why does he put on tefillin? Because Hashem wanted it. There’s no other reason, right? A person takes an esrog and waves it. Why? Because Hashem wanted it. With every mitzvah, there is no concealment of the Divine countenance in the mitzvah itself. The mitzvah makes it apparent. The fact that I don’t sense it is because I don’t sense it. But the mitzvah itself reveals Hashem’s will without any concealment. Here it is—this is His will. He and His will are one. He Himself is present; He Himself has been revealed. The fact that I’m not shaken is because I don’t sense it or understand it. But the mitzvah itself doesn’t conceal. It’s like a person standing in a dark room with his eyes closed, and someone turns on the light. He doesn’t see it. The light is there, but he doesn’t see it because his eyes are closed. A screen has been placed before us, so we can’t see, but the concealment here doesn’t come from the thing itself, from the thing’s vitality concealing it. It’s openly present. I can’t see it. So up to this point, what has he explained? How, through the fulfillment of a mitzvah, permissible and pure things are transformed into holiness—whether animal, plant, or even inanimate matter. Right? Now—

29:14 Speaker 5 He goes on to explain: “And likewise, the energy of the vital animal soul in the limbs of the person who fulfills the mitzvah also becomes invested in this action.” Now, it says in chapter 9 that all thoughts of Torah and fear of Heaven come from the G-dly soul, while all physical matters come from the animal soul. Right? So when a person comes to perform a mitzvah, who performs it? Who moves the body?

29:43 Speaker 9 The soul.

29:45 Speaker 5 No, the animal soul. The neshamah doesn’t know what a body is. A neshamah is G-dly; it has no connection to this world. The animal soul is a kind of intermediary that... operates the body for the G-dly soul. So, since—yes, it’s true that the one fulfilling the mitzvah is the neshamah. But how does it fulfill it here? By using the animal soul. How does the animal soul let the neshamah use it to fulfill a mitzvah? It really doesn’t want any part of it; it fights. It explains to the person why it isn’t worth it, why he’s tired, why he’s hungry, why he’s busy, and why he has a million and one things to do.

30:30 Speaker 9 So the yetzer hara is the animal soul.

30:33 Speaker 5 Yes, yes.

30:33 Speaker 9 Okay.

30:36 Speaker 5 Broadly speaking.

30:36 Speaker 9 The animal soul isn’t only evil.

30:39 Speaker 5 Oh, that’s chapter one. More specifically, the yetzer hara is a particular aspect of the animal soul. It’s a form of evil. The animal soul doesn’t have to be evil, but broadly, it’s all about concealment and obscuring. What does concealment mean? Holiness is everything that is nullified to G-dliness. So what’s the opposite of holiness? Something that isn’t nullified. Who isn’t nullified?

31:14 Speaker 9 The animal soul.

31:14 Speaker 5 Me. What is the animal soul? Me. The moment a person has self-awareness—he gets up in the morning and says Modeh Ani. Or even without getting up in the morning: whenever a person says “I,” why does he say “I”? Because he feels himself; he’s aware of himself. That means he’s less aware of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There’s me, and there’s someone I submit myself to. He’s greater, stronger. I don’t know, right?

31:45 Speaker 9 But first of all, there’s me.

31:46 Speaker 5 A person feels himself. And what does it mean to feel himself? It means a sense of self. A sense of self is kelipah. Which kelipah?

31:55 Speaker 9 Nogah.

31:56 Speaker 5 Kelipas nogah. Why is it kelipas nogah and not the impure kelipos? Because he isn’t opposed; he isn’t going against anything. He wants what’s good for him. The impure kelipos go against Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Kelipas nogah just says, “Leave me alone. Let me live. I feel myself. There are things I understand, things I like, things I want to do. What do you want from me now? Leave me alone.” Right. That’s the animal soul. The entire nature of the animal soul is kelipas nogah. It feels itself and wants what’s good for it. It doesn’t want anything against Hashem; it has nothing against Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But leave me alone.

32:35 Speaker 10 It wants to do what’s good for itself.

32:36 Speaker 5 It wants to do what’s good for itself. It’s just that this clashes with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So okay, so what? That’s why there’s a battle between the G-dly soul and the animal soul, and why it really isn’t simple when a person sometimes has all kinds of dilemmas and inner struggles. Yes, but in any case, for our purposes, every action the G-dly soul performs through the body is through the animal soul. There’s no other way. Yes. Since it has to use the animal soul, who actually performs the mitzvah? The animal soul? Well, where does the animal soul get its vitality from now, while it’s fulfilling a mitzvah?

33:15 Speaker 10 From kelipas nogah.

33:17 Speaker 5 From holiness, in any case. Yes. So when a person fulfills a mitzvah, it isn’t only the object used for the mitzvah that changes its source of vitality. The animal soul, too, suddenly starts receiving from holiness. It does! That’s already...

33:37 Speaker 10 If the animal soul is so difficult, then why do we fulfill the mitzvah?

33:40 Speaker 5 Wait.

33:42 Speaker 10 What earns it that vitality?

33:44 Speaker 5 It’s the one that... It isn’t a matter of earning it.

33:46 Speaker 10 It performs the mitzvah.

33:47 Speaker 5 It performs the mitzvah.

33:47 Speaker 10 Ah.

33:47 Speaker 5 If it performs the mitzvah, of course it receives that vitality. It’s now attached to Hashem’s will. Well, where else would it get its vitality—from the kelipos? “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word all things came to be.”

34:00 Speaker 10 Amazing. You reminded me.

34:05 Speaker 5 Huh?

34:06 Speaker 10 You actually reminded me about the black coffee.

34:08 Speaker 5 I waited patiently. I knew you’d remember. And the coffee, the coffee. So let’s see this in the Alter Rebbe’s words: “And likewise, the power of the vital animal soul in the limbs of the person’s body that fulfills a mitzvah is also clothed in the performance of that mitzvah, and it rises out of kelipah and is incorporated into the holiness of the mitzvah,” which is... What is the holiness of the mitzvah? It is His will, and now the animal soul is fulfilling His will. Consequently, the power of the animal soul that performs the mitzvah is also nullified within the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He. So the animal soul too. Yes. Up to here, he’s been talking about mitzvos, about fulfilling mitzvos. Right? So according to this, what do we need to study Torah for? Based on what’s been explained so far. The purpose of the creation of the world is to transform the world into holiness. How do we transform the world into holiness? By fulfilling mitzvos. And for the world to become holy, physical things have to be used for holy purposes by the animal soul. So it’s all connected to mitzvos. What does Torah have to do with it? We don’t need Torah.

35:26 Speaker 10 To know what to do.

35:28 Speaker 5 G-d forbid. So according to this, it would turn out that the whole purpose of Torah is just that—we can’t manage without it, but it’s something incidental. Right? That’s how it would seem. So the Alter Rebbe says no. He says: “Even in the mitzvos of Torah study, the recitation of Shema, prayer, and the like, although they do not involve actual physical action that is under the dominion of kelipas nogah...” Nevertheless... Under its dominion... They don’t receive their vitality from it. “Nevertheless, it is established that thinking is not equivalent to speaking, and one does not fulfill one’s obligation until one pronounces the words with one’s lips. And it is established that moving one’s lips is also considered an action.” So there’s a discussion in the Gemara. “For the G-dly soul cannot express itself through the physical lips, mouth, tongue, and teeth except by means of the vital animal soul actually clothed in the limbs of the body. And the more forcefully one speaks, the more powers of the vital soul one brings into and clothes in these words. This is what the verse says: ‘All my bones shall say,’ and so on.” So it’s true that through Torah study, a person sanctifies the animal soul and the world less than through fulfilling a mitzvah. But Torah study also sanctifies the...

36:58 Speaker 11 [unclear] mitzvos and Torah study.

37:01 Speaker 5 That’s exactly what he explained.

37:02 Speaker 11 Yes, but that’s...

37:05 Speaker 5 Yes, the purpose of the creation of the lower realms. How do we sanctify the lower realms? By fulfilling a mitzvah, not by studying Torah. That’s why our Sages said, “The action is the main thing.”

37:21 Speaker 11 You could give another whole class on that.

37:23 Speaker 5 Mm.

37:23 Speaker 11 Say something more about prayer.

37:23 Speaker 5 Wait, wait, we still have more of the chapter. Later in the chapter, he’ll also explain why Torah study is needed. But from this perspective, from the perspective of bringing the world to its ultimate perfection—mitzvos. And what about Torah study? Yes, it also plays a part in transforming the world into holiness, but Torah study is somewhat secondary. It works through speech and thought. So it transforms his speech, his thought, and his lips into holiness. That’s something too, but it isn’t the main thing. And this is what our Sages said: “If it is arranged in all 248 limbs, it is retained; otherwise, it is not retained.” If a person studies with all 248 limbs—he studies like this, how do you say it, he studies with his hands, or prays like this with all his heart, with all his heart and concentration, with his whole body and with feeling—then now he isn’t praying only with his mouth. Now he prays and studies, and “All my bones shall say.” “If it is arranged in all 248 limbs, it is retained”—his Torah study will be retained better. Why? Because if he studies with his hands, he understands it better? What’s the connection? Because forgetfulness—where does forgetfulness come from? It’s a form of concealment and obscuring. Right? Where does concealment come from? From kelipas nogah. It doesn’t come from holiness. Forgetfulness comes from the kelipos. If he now puts more enthusiasm, more of the animal soul’s powers, into Torah study, a greater part of it receives its vitality from holiness, so he won’t forget. Simple.

39:10 Speaker 11 I think it’s more...

39:11 Speaker 5 Huh?

39:11 Speaker 11 What one can learn about something.

39:15 Speaker 5 And you should know, it works.

39:16 Speaker 11 Try it.

39:18 Speaker 5 From experience.

39:19 Speaker 11 What?

39:20 Speaker 5 From the extensive experience of everyone who’s tried it, without exception.

39:23 Speaker 11 You hear? See?

39:23 Speaker 5 When you study out loud, with enthusiasm and a smile, you remember. Absolutely. If you’re studying Torah, I mean. Because forgetfulness comes from the kelipah of the body, the vital animal soul from kelipas nogah, which is sometimes incorporated into holiness. That is, when is the kelipah incorporated into holiness? When its strength is exhausted. How does he exhaust its strength? He puts all the strength of the animal soul into the holiness of Torah or prayer. So he exhausts its strength, and then he has less kelipah and remembers more. So that’s as far as “and what’s more.” That’s where we got to last time.

40:06 Speaker 11 Ah, so we got that far.

40:09 Speaker 5 What has the Rebbe explained up to this point? We asked a question; the Rebbe did not ask it. We’ve emphasized many times that the Alter Rebbe doesn’t ask the questions and then answer them. Usually, as he teaches, he brings up things that I hadn’t even realized were questions. I didn’t know there was a problem at all. Then, after we’ve learned something, or when something is now unclear, he stops and explains it. He simply explains the sequence. So, in the previous two chapters we learned that G-dliness is drawn into the world through mitzvos, and that the purpose of creation is to transform the world into holiness. Now he explains the connection between them—between drawing down holiness and transforming the world into holiness. Those sound like two opposite movements. What connects them? When we do a mitzvah, not only is light drawn into the world, but the physical thing becomes subordinate to the mitzvah, to G-dliness, and is transformed into holiness. It now serves a holy purpose. But what has this been explained about? Things that are permissible to eat, right? I can eat them—an esrog that isn’t orlah—and there’s tzedakah, and so on. Fine, we understand how to make those things holy. But what if I want to make holy things that aren’t pure, or things I don’t eat, or fruit that isn’t used for a mitzvah, or all the inanimate matter in the world that isn’t a coin given to tzedakah? How do we make that holy?

42:05 Speaker 11 By not doing it.

42:06 Speaker 5 What?

42:07 Speaker 11 By not doing it.

42:07 Speaker 12 No, not necessarily. Suppose a non-Jew has money. How will that money reach a Jew? How will the non-Jew’s money be elevated to holiness? That’s one example—

42:17 Speaker 5 And we can ask something much broader. Not just money. There are...

42:21 Speaker 12 Orlah, for example—who’s going to take the orlah? Orlah will come to a person—

42:25 Speaker 11 We sit and do nothing.

42:26 Speaker 12 Orlah is forbidden. It’s the first three years.

42:29 Speaker 11 So because they don’t reach us, that counts as [unclear].

42:32 Speaker 5 In Mongolia there are billions and billions and billions of tons of sand that no human foot has ever stepped on—not only no Jew’s foot, but no non-Jew’s foot either. How do we transform that into holiness? And beneath the earth there’s what the Torah calls the deep. About half a year ago they discovered something. The Torah says that the earth rests on water. A few months ago they discovered that some seven hundred kilometers beneath the earth’s surface there is—what?

43:13 Speaker 11 A continent?

43:15 Speaker 5 Not a continent. There’s a sea, an amount of water ten or twenty times greater than all the oceans combined.

43:24 Speaker 11 That’s good.

43:27 Speaker 5 How do we elevate that water to holiness? I don’t even know it’s there. I have no way to reach it.

43:34 Speaker 11 But by virtue of its existing—

43:36 Speaker 5 What’s more, the power of the vital soul clothed in the words spoken during Torah study and prayer, and the power of action in practical mitzvos—the entire growth and vitality of that power of the animal soul comes from the blood. Right? If a person doesn’t eat, he won’t have blood and won’t be able to live. The animal soul gets its vitality from the blood. And the blood receives its vitality from kelipas nogah itself. What does that mean? Blood is formed from the food and drink he consumed, which are from kelipas nogah itself. He didn’t eat and drink for the sake of a mitzvah; he just ate and drank.

44:27 Speaker 11 So that afterward he could serve Hashem.

44:30 Speaker 5 And they became blood. They had been under its rule and drawn their vitality from it. Now, when he studies Torah, he studies with his mouth, in speech, or in thought. To move his mouth and to think, the animal soul has to function; its power has to work within him. And where does that power of the animal soul get its vitality? From the blood. And what is the blood made from? The things he ate and drank. “It is transformed from evil to good and included in holiness through the power of the vital soul that grew from it”—from kelipas nogah—“which became clothed in these letters or in this act, which are the inner dimension of His blessed will, without any concealment. And their vitality”—whose vitality? The vitality of the foods from which all this was formed—“is also included in the light of the blessed Ein Sof, which is His blessed will.” It’s not only the object with which he performs the mitzvah. Those things he ate without any intention at all—their vitality is now also elevated to holiness, because he’s performing a mitzvah with the strength he got from eating them. “And together with their vitality, the power of the vital soul is also included and elevated.” Not just their vitality, but the vital soul itself. “And through this, kelipas nogah as a whole will also be elevated.” Why? What does my doing a mitzvah have to do with kelipas nogah as a whole? Kelipas nogah as a whole encompasses the vitality of this physical, material world. We know that, right? We discussed it earlier. And when every soul and G-dly soul among the Jewish people—which divides into six hundred thousand individual souls—when each individual soul fulfills all 613 mitzvos of the Torah... He spells it out. Why do we need all 613 mitzvos? If vitality is transformed into holiness by doing a mitzvah, right, how many—

46:46 Speaker 5 Mitzvos are there?

46:48 Speaker 11 613.

46:52 Speaker 5 Doing something applies only to positive mitzvos. When a person refrains, he isn’t doing anything. To draw down holiness and transform something, he has to do something.

47:05 Speaker 11 Yes.

47:05 Speaker 5 So why all 613 mitzvos, rather than just the positive ones? The 365 prohibitions are needed “to keep the 365 sinews of the blood of the vital soul in the body apart, so that they do not draw and receive vitality, through transgression, from one of the three completely impure kelipos, from which the 365 Torah prohibitions and their rabbinic extensions derive.” If he transgresses a prohibition, then that particular part of his vital soul, that particular power, along with the vitality of the food and so on, now receives its vitality from the three impure kelipos, because he committed a transgression. “And his vital soul as a whole can no longer ascend to Hashem if it has been defiled by the impurity of the three impure kelipos, which can never be elevated.” If a person has committed a transgression—

48:00 Speaker 11 He can do teshuvah.

48:01 Speaker 5 He can do teshuvah—until he does teshuvah. As long as a person hasn’t done teshuvah—

48:09 Speaker 11 He’s still continuing in the transgression.

48:11 Speaker 5 Then impurity rests upon him. Impurity isn’t... It’s something spiritual; it’s a kelipah, a concealment. He committed a transgression in just one area, but the impurity rests upon his entire being. As long as a person has committed a transgression and part of his soul receives its vitality from the impure kelipos, impurity rests upon his entire being, and he cannot ascend to holiness—neither he nor the things he does. So before doing positive mitzvos, he first has to take care not to transgress the prohibitions. As the saying goes, before moving into a house, you first have to clean up the mess the contractor left behind.

48:46 Speaker 11 It’s recommended.

48:51 Speaker 5 It’s not just recommended; you simply can’t do otherwise.

48:53 Speaker 11 You can’t live with a recommendation. I think that in a world without women, it would be possible.

49:00 Speaker 3 What?

49:01 Speaker 11 In a world without women, it would be possible.

49:05 Speaker 5 For it is the nullification of the— as it says, “And I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” So for that, we need the 365 prohibitions and the 248 positive mitzvos. We need to draw the light of the blessed Ein Sof down below, to elevate, connect, and unite with Him the entire vital soul in the 248 limbs of the body in complete unity. He says it explicitly here too: the whole point of drawing the light of the Ein Sof down below—what he explained in chapter 35—what is its goal and purpose? To elevate and connect the vital soul and the body above. The purpose is not to draw down the light of the Ein Sof. The purpose is to transform darkness into light. As is known, He must have a dwelling in the lower realms, and the powers of the vital soul, the foods a person ate, and their life force—all of it becomes a vehicle for Him, like the Patriarchs. So up to this point, he has spoken about the necessity for every individual soul to fulfill all 613 mitzvos. Because if a person fails to fulfill even one mitzvah—if he transgresses one prohibition, he cannot ascend at all; and if he fails to fulfill a positive mitzvah, there is a particular part that will not ascend above. He has not fulfilled his task. So every individual soul—there are 600,000 souls, and within each soul, each such soul-root branches out, divides into 600,000 sparks—and every individual spark must fulfill all 613 mitzvos. All of them. Without a single exception. And if, G-d forbid, there is someone who has not finished fulfilling all 613 mitzvos, he must descend again in a gilgul—not in our generation. But that concerns only an individual soul. What does that have to do with the entirety of kelipas nogah throughout the whole world? An individual soul, me... Yes. Once the entire vital soul of the Jewish people becomes

51:01 Speaker 5 a holy vehicle for Hashem, then all the life force of this world, which is kelipas nogah, will also emerge from its impurity and desecration and ascend to holiness, becoming a vehicle for Hashem as His glory is revealed. “All flesh will see together,” and He will appear to them in the splendor of His majestic might, so that the glory of Hashem will fill the whole earth—the whole earth. When all the souls throughout all the generations each fulfill their own task, each one will refine his portion, separate it from evil, and elevate it to holiness. Then all of kelipas nogah will ascend to holiness. And although the entire world will ascend to holiness, there will be a difference between the rest of the world and the Jewish people. The whole world will be transformed into holiness, while the Jewish people will see eye to eye, as at the Giving of the Torah. As it is written: “You were shown to know that Hashem is G-d; there is none besides Him.” Through this, all three utterly impure kelipos will be completely swallowed up and nullified. The moment all of kelipas nogah ascends to holiness, the impure kelipos will become nullified on their own. They have no other source. Where will they get their life force? What happens to a plant when you do not water it? It dies out. And [unclear]. In Igeres Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe expands on how all the bad things that happen in the world are because of our transgressions. There is a frightening discussion of that subject there. So that is the other side. Here he is speaking about the side of holiness. For the sustenance and life force that the impure kelipos now draw from holiness comes through kelipas nogah, which stands between them. It follows that the entire purpose of the days of Moshiach and the Resurrection of the Dead is revelation—not only the days of Moshiach, but the Resurrection of the Dead too. What will there be in the days of Moshiach and at the Resurrection of the Dead? There will be a revelation of His glory and G-dliness, and the spirit of impurity will pass from the earth. Both aspects—the revelation of Hashem’s glory and the removal of impurity from the earth—will take place both in the days of Moshiach and at the Resurrection of the Dead. All this depends on drawing His G-dliness and the light of the blessed Ein Sof into the vital soul of the entire

53:26 Speaker 5 Jewish people through our service: into all its 248 limbs by fulfilling all 248 positive mitzvos, and removing the spirit of impurity from it by observing all 365 prohibitions, so that the impure kelipos will not draw sustenance from its 365 sinews. Why does this depend specifically on the Jewish people? If holiness is drawn into the world by doing a mitzvah, how do you do a mitzvah? You put on tefillin. Or, I don’t know, you take care not to desecrate Shabbos. Well, a non-Jew can do that too. What is the problem? He can do it too. He is not really part of holiness. There is the vital soul of—what? The vital soul of the entire Jewish people. If we are talking about a vital soul, a non-Jew also has a vital soul, doesn’t he? He does not have a G-dly soul. What? Because we have a connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; we also have the G-dly soul, which is a part of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes, but if the work is done by the animal soul, why do we need the G-dly soul? Because he told us that even the animal soul of the Jewish people derives from the G-dly soul. They have no aspect of holiness; the non-Jews are from the three utterly impure kelipos. For the Jewish people as a whole, comprising 600,000 individual souls, are the totality of the life force of the entire world. Why? Because it was created for them. Up to this point, the Alter Rebbe has only explained the process. He has not yet explained how it relates to the whole world. Now he says something further: our Sages said that the entire world was created for the Jewish people. Yes, the first Rashi in the Torah. What does it mean that the entire world was created for the Jewish people? That every individual member of the Jewish people includes [unclear]; each and every one is a whole in himself, and each individual Jew has a share in the life force of one six-hundred-thousandth of the entire world, which depends on his vital soul

55:33 Speaker 5 to elevate it to Hashem when his soul ascends. That is, through what that individual Jew uses in this world for the needs of his body and vital soul in serving Hashem, such as food and drink and the like, a home, and all the things he uses. What has he added here? Earlier he spoke about food and drink. He spoke about mitzvos and their fulfillment, and then about food and drink. What has he added here? “And the like.” What does “and the like” mean? Pleasures that these things give a person, too. Like a home, like all the things he uses. Essential things. Everything a person uses. In the end, even if right now he is just, I don’t know, drinking, eating, and has a table at home—right? Fine, so right now he is not eating for the sake of holiness. But ultimately, the purpose of that table is that one day in his life he will learn Torah at it. Right? It could be that all his life he does not use it for anything else, but one time he uses it to fulfill a mitzvah. That is why this table was created, or this picture on the wall, or whatever it might be. Now, that table is made of wood, right? Where did the tree grow? I don’t know where. Abroad, right? And to bring the wood here, first it had to be sawn. To saw it, you needed a lot of non-Jews and workers operating various saws and heavy equipment. All that equipment is made of iron, and the iron was mined—I don’t know—in some other place. And for that, you needed whole factories to make and prepare those tools. Then it had to be brought by ship, with the sailors and the ship, and you need the sea so the ship has somewhere to travel. [unclear] a ship, [unclear] land. Yes, and so on. In other words, not

57:52 Speaker 5 Everything a person eats and drinks, and the like, and all the things he uses—every object a person uses has traveled and traveled and traveled, until ultimately Hakadosh Boruch Hu arranges, through individual Divine providence, that every Jew, every individual Jew in the world, has a share in one six-hundred-thousandth of the physical world as a whole, and it was created for him. And somehow Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings things together, so that a physical object I’m nowhere near, somewhere at the ends of the earth, reaches the right Jew on the right day, at the right time, in the right place. Oh, you want me to give that lesson? All right. I said you heard it last week. But these six hundred thousand individual souls are roots. Each root divides into six hundred thousand sparks, each spark being one soul; and the same applies to nefesh and ruach in each of the four worlds—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. That means that in each world there are six hundred thousand times six hundred thousand, and each has a nefesh, ruach, and neshamah. There are a great many souls. And each individual, individual, tiny spark descended into this world, into the individual body of an individual Jew, even though this is a great descent, truly a state of exile. Why did it descend? Why is it called a descent? Why is it called exile? Because even if he becomes a perfect tzaddik who serves Hashem with awe and with great, blissful love, he will not come anywhere near the level of attachment to Hashem, with awe and love, that he had before descending into this physical world—not even a fraction of it. Even a Jew who is, friends, the very last spark of the six hundred thousand within the six hundred thousand, from the nefesh of the world of Asiyah—as long as it is a spark in the world of Asiyah, its love and awe are incomparably greater than when it is clothed in a body. Up to this point he was speaking about a great tzaddik, whose soul is lofty, who, when he is in a body, cannot reach even a fraction of that level. So why did he descend? He did not descend for himself; he descended in order to

1:00:14 Speaker 5 rectify the world. As anyone with understanding knows, the body cannot bear, and so on, the love and awe found in the higher worlds. So we must say that each individual spark descends into this world and clothes itself in a body and a vital soul solely in order to rectify them. That is the reason. There is no other reason. It is not for the spark; it is for the world. To separate them from the evil of the three impure kelipos by observing the 365 prohibitions and their offshoots, and to elevate its vital soul, together with the portion of this world that belongs to it, and bind and unite them with the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He—a light that the person draws into them by fulfilling all 248 positive mitzvos through his vital soul, for it is the vital soul that performs all the practical mitzvos, as explained above. And as it says in Eitz Chaim, Gate 26—in Eitz Chaim, Gate 26—the soul itself needs no rectification at all and has no need to be clothed in this world, and so on. No, it gains nothing here. The sole reason the soul descended into the world is to draw down light and rectify them. And this is just like the mystical concept of the exile of the Shechinah to refine the sparks, and so on. That is a matter of Kabbalah. We’ll explain it another time. What, isn’t that enough?

1:01:32 Speaker 4 Yes.

1:01:32 Speaker 5 Well. “And with this we can understand why they spoke so highly of the virtue of tzedakah.” So we still need to understand the matter of tzedakah, which is the end of the topic we’ve been studying. And then there is the question of all questions that Rachel asked at the beginning of the lesson: what is it from the Torah? So we’ll continue the chapter next week.