Likkutei Amarim Chapter 40 (Part 2) · 5785

00:00 Speaker 1 And we’ll study the—soon we’ll start on page 108, below the note “And even though the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu…” We learned this last week, but it’s the beginning of a topic. What are we talking about here? Just a reminder. In this chapter, chapter 40, the Alter Rebbe concludes the line of thought he began back in chapter 35. In chapter 35, the Alter Rebbe began explaining that action is what matters most. The purpose of the world’s creation depends on action, and sanctifying the world happens through the performance of mitzvos, practical mitzvos. And the perfection of the days of Moshiach depends on practical mitzvos. That was chapters 35 through 36. But after explaining the virtue and importance of action at such length, a question suddenly arose: Why do we need intention at all? What difference does it make whether there’s love and awe or not? The action is everything. You fulfill the mitzvah, and that’s it. Hashem’s will is fulfilled, the world is sanctified, there’s reward, and everything works. So why do we need…? He explained that action without intention is like a body without a soul. What does “like a body without a soul” mean? It’s like the difference between the inanimate and plant life, on the one hand, and animals and human beings on the other. The inanimate and plants have bodies, but no souls. A plant grows, but it doesn’t have a soul, right? Animals and human beings—that’s incomparable. You don’t need to explain the difference between the inanimate and plants and between animals and human beings: these have souls and those don’t. Everyone sees the difference and recognizes the advantage. And he said that in the analogy, too, it’s along the same

02:11 Speaker 1 lines. What does “a body without a soul” mean? Despite all the importance of performing a mitzvah, you have the body—the body exists—but it has no soul. It cannot compare to that same act, that same mitzvah, performed with intention. Then he took this analogy further. When we speak of a soul in the analogy—what does it mean to perform mitzvos for their own sake? It means performing a mitzvah with intention. That’s called the soul of the mitzvah, right? So just as in the analogy there are two kinds of souls, the souls of animals and the souls of human beings—both are called souls, and neither can be compared to the inanimate or to plants, but there is a great difference between animals and human beings—so too in what the analogy represents. There are mitzvos performed with intention like an animal’s soul, and mitzvos performed with a soul like a human being’s. What’s the difference between—

03:20 Speaker 2 What are an animal and a human being?

03:22 Speaker 1 Between an animal and a human being. Sorry. What’s the difference between an animal and a human being in the analogy? A human being has intellect, and the intellect can govern the emotions. But an animal has no free choice. It has emotions; its intellect only serves those emotions. Its whole being is emotional. What does “emotional” mean? Its behavior is natural; it has no choice about how to behave. All its behavior comes from what you—

03:55 Speaker 2 Drives.

03:55 Speaker 1 Hmm?

03:56 Speaker 2 Drives.

03:56 Speaker 1 What’s a drive? It’s its emotions, right?

03:58 Speaker 2 Its emotions.

03:59 Speaker 1 Its emotions, its drives, its nature. That’s simply how it is. It can’t be otherwise. That’s how it was created, and that’s how it behaves.

04:06 Speaker 2 It can’t even moderate it, or—

04:08 Speaker 1 It can’t moderate it; it can’t do anything about it. That’s its nature. An animal behaves according to its nature, while a human being behaves according to intellect. A human being also has emotions, but can change those emotions according to what they understand. An animal can’t. So in what the analogy represents, it’s the same. There’s a Jew who performs a mitzvah with a soul, with intention—an intention to do it for its own sake—but that intention comes from the natural emotions of the divine soul. And there’s another who also performs mitzvos for their own sake, but their intention doesn’t come from natural emotions; it comes from emotions born of intellect. When a person performs a mitzvah—as we see in the analogy, there’s an enormous difference between an animal and a human being—there’s likewise an enormous difference between performing a mitzvah with natural intention, with hidden love, and performing it with a love born of intellect. That’s something else entirely. What’s the difference? He explained it by continually returning to the analogy. Just as there are four levels in the analogy—the inanimate, plants, animals, and human beings—there are also four levels in what it represents: in G-dliness, in the soul of the world. They are the worlds of Asiyah, Yetzirah, Beriah, and Atzilus. So he says that a person’s natural or intellectual intention corresponds to a particular level. What is natural love? It’s the nature of the divine soul. It belongs to the world of Yetzirah. Yetzirah is where, so to speak, the vav of Hashem’s Name is revealed—the emotions, so to speak, the divine attributes. So this is something connected to emotion. When a person performs a mitzvah with natural love, it belongs to the world of Yetzirah. And when a person performs a mitzvah with love and awe born of intellect—arising because they contemplated and, as a result, developed

06:26 Speaker 1 love and awe, intellectual love and awe—then their intention belongs to the world of Beriah. So when they perform a mitzvah with natural intention, that intention becomes invested in the mitzvah. After all, they’re performing it now. Why? Because of the love of Hashem they have. That love of Hashem is now invested in their Torah study and their performance of mitzvos; it enters and joins with them. We say that they serve Hashem with natural love. So their natural love belongs to the world of Yetzirah. It becomes invested in their Torah study and elevates that Torah study to the level of their intention, to the world of Yetzirah, and from there it shines upon them, and so on. You surely remember this. What happens when a person performs a mitzvah without intention? Without intention, they have only the body. It doesn’t ascend to the world of Yetzirah or the world of Beriah, and it doesn’t belong to the world of Asiyah either. There’s no intention, only the body. It remains in the external aspect of the worlds. It doesn’t unite with the sefiros at all. It remains in the world of separation, in the external aspect of the worlds. That’s when someone performs a mitzvah without any particular intention. But if they perform the mitzvah with an ulterior motive—how does he put it? To become a Torah scholar, or to gain people’s respect. If they perform the mitzvah for personal gain, then not only does the mitzvah remain in the world of separation, but the intention descends to the kelipos.

08:27 Speaker 2 When? When they do what?

08:28 Speaker 1 If they perform the mitzvah with an intention that isn’t for its own sake. They’re not deliberately acting against Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but they’re doing it for themselves. They put on tefillin to receive a great reward in Gan Eden, to have blessing and a livelihood, or whatever else they’re thinking of for themselves.

08:52 Speaker 2 So it’s forbidden.

08:53 Speaker 1 What?

08:54 Speaker 2 Is it forbidden to do that?

08:56 Speaker 1 It’s a matter of kelipos. The moment—

08:59 Speaker 2 If I put down money and give tzedakah, and ask for a livelihood, don’t those go together?

09:05 Speaker 1 The mitzvah has been performed. But when a person performs a mitzvah for themselves and not for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the vitality of the mitzvah descends to the kelipos. They sustain, give vitality to, the sitra achra, the kelipos.

09:21 Speaker 2 So does that mean it’s forbidden to ask for personal things?

09:25 Speaker 1 First, the mitzvah has to be performed for its own sake. I’m giving tzedakah now because Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded me to give it. Once I do it for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, then Hakadosh Boruch Hu also wants it to bring me blessing. But it isn’t that I want Hakadosh Boruch Hu to give me a blessing; Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants it to give me a blessing. Anything a person does for themselves, out of a sense of “me”—that “me” is… Holiness means being nullified to G-dliness. What defines holiness? Something that is nullified. Something that isn’t nullified, that feels its own self, is the opposite of holiness.

10:05 Speaker 2 So even after lighting Shabbos candles?

10:06 Speaker 1 Hmm?

10:07 Speaker 2 Even after lighting candles—

10:08 Speaker 1 Exactly the same thing. If a woman lights the candles for Hakadosh Boruch Hu and then asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “For Your sake, for Your honor, let there be children, health, and a livelihood,” or whatever else she asks for His sake—if it’s for His sake, it’s a mitzvah, it’s holiness. If it’s for my sake, it’s kelipah and sitra achra.

10:32 Speaker 2 It says, “Tithe so that you will become wealthy.”

10:34 Speaker 1 Huh?

10:35 Speaker 2 “Tithe.”

10:36 Speaker 1 Yes.

10:36 Speaker 2 “So that you will become wealthy.”

10:38 Speaker 1 Yes.

10:38 Speaker 2 So you have to ask.

10:39 Speaker 1 So that you can give tzedakah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu asked for it.

10:46 Speaker 2 No, but here the wording is sort of…

10:49 Speaker 1 The observance of every mitzvah. A mitzvah is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu commands. If I do it for myself, then I’m no longer doing it for Him. This can be very blatant: I don’t think about Him at all; I think only about myself. It can be subtle, or exceedingly subtle, but as long as a person feels, while doing a mitzvah, that he’s doing it for himself too, that also gives vitality to the kelipos. What can you do?

11:20 Speaker 2 Let’s put it the other way around.

11:25 Speaker 1 So he asked: Well, then what? I can’t live up to that, so should I stop keeping mitzvos? I’m not capable of it. I can’t do it. I’m a person, I’m human, I’m me. What can I do? My animal soul is the one that rules me, and the whole essence of the animal soul is “me,” because it’s the exact opposite of the G-dly soul. The essence of the G-dly soul is bittul; the essence of the animal soul is “me.” That’s how it is. So I can’t do it. I can try, and want to, and have the right intention, but here I know it isn’t really right even when I try. So it’s better that I don’t keep mitzvos. That’s what a person could say to himself. Yes, that’s it.

12:04 Speaker 2 But I can—

12:05 Speaker 1 Yes. The Alter Rebbe says: No. Even when you do it shelo lishmah—not for its own sake—keep doing mitzvos. Keep learning. Why? Because from doing it shelo lishmah, one comes to do it lishmah. When you next do that mitzvah with the right intention, whenever that may be, everything you did without that intention will join it and ascend. After all, what you’re doing is something holy. The mitzvah is holy. It’s just that right now it has descended into the kelipos. When you do it as you should, that observance will draw it out of the kelipos, raise it up, and reconnect it. So don’t hold yourself back because of this, but you do need to know how it should be done. All right. That’s what he explained up to the very beginning of chapter 40. All right, that’s what he explained. Let’s start at the top of page 108. Yes, yes.

13:00 Speaker 2 We learned more.

13:00 Speaker 1 Yes, I said we’d go back a little, so we won’t read that. Yes: this is what our Sages said, “Fortunate is the one who comes here with his learning in his hand”—meaning that it didn’t remain down here in this world. Yes, if he learned. The straightforward meaning of “the one who comes here with his learning in his hand” is someone who comes to the World to Come by virtue of having learned Torah. Fortunate is he. But the Alter Rebbe explains it differently: fortunate is the one who learned Torah lishmah in this world—not merely someone who learned Torah. When he learned Torah lishmah, then, when he reaches the World to Come, the Torah he learned here lishmah is there. It has united with the higher sefiros in the World to Come, and there it illuminates his soul. But if he learned Torah shelo lishmah, his Torah remained in the realm of separation. When he reaches the World to Come, there’s nothing to give him, even though he learned Torah. Here he asks the question that is the subject of the chapter: “Yet the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one, for He and His will are one.” The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His will, His Torah, and the mitzvos are all one. That is absolute unity. We learned that. Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need my intention in order to ascend?

14:28 Speaker 2 Isn’t it the soul that becomes involved?

14:29 Speaker 1 What?

14:30 Speaker 2 Isn’t it the soul that becomes involved?

14:33 Speaker 1 No. We said that when a person does a mitzvah with intention, his intention raises the mitzvah. Without his intention, the mitzvah remains in the realm of separation. But wait a minute—what are we talking about? A mitzvah is His will, and His will is Him. Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need my intention in order to ascend to the higher worlds? No, no. If I have a natural intention, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will ascend to the World of Yetzirah. And if I have an intellectual intention, an intellectually generated love, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will ascend to the World of Beriah. I mean, what’s going on here? So he explains it this way: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills all worlds equally.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills all the worlds equally, “and nevertheless, the worlds are not equal in their level.” If Hakadosh Boruch Hu...

15:34 Speaker 2 There’ll be a niggun. Sorry.

15:38 Speaker 1 Let’s put it as a question: If Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present in all the worlds and creates all the worlds, why is there a difference between them? He is everywhere equally and creates...

15:49 Speaker 2 Ah, not all places are able to receive the same amount.

15:51 Speaker 1 That’s what he says. The difference comes from the recipients. The difference between the worlds isn’t on the part of Hakadosh Boruch Hu; He is everywhere equally. The difference is on the part of the worlds, and it takes two forms—two, two forms. First, the higher worlds receive an infinitely greater illumination than the lower ones. So one difference between the worlds is quantity. The higher world has the capacity; it is stronger, more refined, and can receive more—more revelation of G-dliness, simply a greater quantity. And second, they receive it without so many garments and screens. There can be a great revelation of G-dliness somewhere, but it can be concealed. So the G-dliness is there. It’s there, yes, but concealed. Thus, the higher a world is, the greater the amount of revelation of G-dliness it has, and the less concealed that revelation is.

16:56 Speaker 9 Well, that’s the same thing.

16:58 Speaker 1 No.

16:59 Speaker 9 A greater revelation and something being concealed—those are opposites.

17:03 Speaker 1 No. Quantity. There can be a greater quantity.

17:06 Speaker 9 Greater.

17:07 Speaker 1 Greater, and also less concealed. There can be a large quantity that’s very concealed. A person could have a chest containing thousands upon thousands of gold dinars, but it’s hidden. He can’t see it, he doesn’t have the key, he can’t even get to it. He has it, though—he has a large quantity. Yes. G-d forbid, someone passes away and hasn’t made some sort of... his will.

17:31 Speaker 9 So the amount of concealment is... In what way is it concealed?

17:37 Speaker 1 There are two... In the tzimtzum that distinguishes one world from another, there are two parameters, two things that make the difference: how much G-dliness each world has, and how concealed it is.

17:49 Speaker 9 But it’s equal. You said it’s equal. So what does “quantity” mean? The concealment hides from you how much is really there. Because it’s concealed, you don’t see how much G-dliness there is.

18:06 Speaker 1 No, not like that. Not like that. The essence and being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is equally present everywhere. But there’s the question of how much illumination from Him is received and united with the world. His illumination—the light that fills all worlds—the illumination from Him that descends, becomes enclothed in the world, and unites with it: in that, there’s a big difference.

18:40 Speaker 9 How much of that illumination can the physical world absorb?

18:42 Speaker 1 Yes. For example, I... The example...

18:45 Speaker 9 So that’s the concealment.

18:46 Speaker 1 Hmm?

18:46 Speaker 9 So there are concealments. Why can’t it absorb it? Because there are concealments. So that’s one...

18:50 Speaker 1 The best example is the one the Alter Rebbe himself already gave in chapter 38. He says that in this world there are four levels: inanimate, plant, animal, and human. Right? So a human has a very large amount of vitality, an animal has less, and a plant has still less. There’s a smaller quantity of vitality. But in terms of concealment—how concealed it is—there’s no difference. No difference at all.

19:29 Speaker 9 Isn’t it more concealed in this world than in a higher world?

19:32 Speaker 1 No, no. Within this world, there’s no difference in the concealment of G-dliness between inanimate things, plants, animals, and humans. It’s simply concealed to the same degree. These are two things, two separate parameters. There’s how much vitality there is—there may be a great deal. Do you see that it’s G-dliness? No. It’s concealed. Right? The higher a world is, the more G-dly vitality it has and the less concealed it is. All right, is that clearer? And this world is the lowest world in both respects. In other words, it has the least revelation. Ultimately, everything in this world is physical; it’s all sustained by a very, very limited vitality that gives life only to physical things. Even a human being is, after all, a physical created being. And it’s concealed, too. Everything is concealed, completely concealed, because the illumination in it is contracted to the utmost extreme, and therefore it is material and physical. Everything in it is material and physical. And beyond being material and physical, the illumination is clothed in garments and screens until it is enclothed in kelipas nogah, so that you don’t sense that it’s G-dliness, “to give life to all the pure things in this world, including the soul.” All the good things in this world. All right? What was all that for? What was the question? How are you going to answer the question? Do you remember? How can you say that Torah and mitzvos need my intention in order to ascend? What does that mean? No, listen: there are levels and concealments in this world. So what have you answered? Yes, how does that answer the question? In fact, he hasn’t answered anything yet. This whole explanation was for the next words: “including”—meaning, among the pure things in this world that receive life from kelipas nogah. That’s where the vitality is most limited and the concealment is greatest: kelipas nogah. And kelipas nogah also gives life to the speaking vital soul within a person. Right? So it turns out that the most limited, the lowest thing that exists is the animal soul within a person, the lowest created being

21:56 Speaker 1 in the world.

21:58 Speaker 10 Why isn’t a stone lower?

22:02 Speaker 1 Because a stone cannot act against Hashem’s will. Neither can a plant or an animal, or even a non-Jew—only a Jew can. A Jew’s animal soul is the only thing in the world, the only created being in the world, that can act against Hashem’s will. Why? How can that be? Because there, too, the G-dly life-force is more constricted than anywhere else. Right? And more concealed than anywhere else. Now what happens when the animal soul—that very animal soul we were just talking about... Wait, we said it is the lowest in every respect. Suddenly it begins to speak words of Torah.

22:50 Speaker 10 We said that...

22:52 Speaker 1 What?

22:52 Speaker 10 I said that...

22:53 Speaker 1 I said that’s where we had stopped. What happens when it speaks words of Torah?

22:57 Speaker 10 It becomes a mother.

22:59 Speaker 1 One moment. Is there concealment here?

23:02 Speaker 10 It’s the greatest life-force. The opposite of...

23:06 Speaker 1 Words of Torah are the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is not concealed. It isn’t written in any other book, and nobody invented it. Every halachah, every matter in Torah that a person says with his mouth, is the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in full revelation. Who is saying it? The animal soul—the very one we said has the greatest constriction and the greatest concealment.

23:33 Speaker 11 But who brings it to that point?

23:35 Speaker 1 What?

23:35 Speaker 11 The G-dly soul? No.

23:39 Speaker 1 Fine. In practice, it is now speaking words of Torah.

23:44 Speaker 11 Of course, it’s because of the mouth.

23:45 Speaker 1 Yes.

23:46 Speaker 11 Because of that, [unclear].

23:46 Speaker 1 Yes. Therefore, when it—the animal soul—speaks words of Torah and prayer without intent, even though they are holy letters, the kelipas nogah of the vital soul does not form any barrier at all to hide or cover the holiness of the letters. When the animal soul says words of Torah, however constricted and covered over it may be, however much it conceals, it does not conceal the words of Torah. It cannot conceal them. They are words of Torah. Yes, its impurity cannot cover the words of Torah, even when it says them without intent. Even when it says them with an intention contrary to the proper intent. The Torah is the Torah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu; that it cannot cover. It does not form any barrier at all to hide or cover His holiness, blessed be He, clothed within them, as it hides and covers His holiness within the vital soul when it speaks idle words. When someone speaks idle words, then certainly that conceals the fact that the life-force ultimately comes from holiness; you don’t sense it. And certainly kelipas nogah covers it in the vital soul of other kosher animals. It certainly covers and conceals the G-dliness. Although “there is no place devoid of Him,” the animal soul and kelipas nogah conceal it. But when it says words of Torah, it does not conceal it. So even though it conceals, nevertheless, “He is the most hidden of all that is hidden” and is called “a G-d Who hides Himself.” And the radiance and extension of the life-force from Him, blessed be He, is also hidden within many powerful garments and screens, until it becomes clothed and concealed in the garment of nogah. When the animal soul speaks idle words, or when it is the animal soul of living creatures, which live and behave as they do—even though no place is devoid of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and in truth, what is the life-force here? It is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It all comes from holiness, but it is concealed. By contrast, when it says the holy letters of Torah and prayer, then, on the contrary, kelipas nogah is transformed

26:07 Speaker 1 into good. We learned that in chapters 35 and 36, right? And it becomes included in this holiness. Now, we learned there that when the animal soul says words of Torah, it becomes nullified to the words of Torah it is saying, to the holiness. It is not doing what it wants now; it is doing what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, speaking what He thinks, what He understands. So it becomes nullified. Nevertheless, the radiance of His holiness, blessed be He, within them is constricted to the utmost degree. So when the animal soul says words of Torah or performs a mitzvah, there is no concealment here. It is Hashem’s wisdom, Hashem’s kindness—there is no concealment. But how much G-dliness is revealed here? This is in the physical world; the amount is small. That is where all the concealment comes in. What was the question? The question was: What good does it do me, or Hakadosh Boruch Hu, when I have intent? Does He need my intent? He says yes. Why? Because the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed here in the world is through the animal soul. Who reveals Him in the world? Who performs the mitzvos? The animal soul. So it’s true that when the animal soul performs mitzvos, it does not conceal Him. But how much G-dliness is revealed here?

27:35 Speaker 12 They say that when we perform a mitzvah here, every mitzvah here is precious because then more G-dly light is revealed.

27:41 Speaker 1 True, but how much?

27:42 Speaker 12 So it’s as though performing mitzvos here is worth more than in the higher worlds.

27:49 Speaker 1 You’re talking about drawing down G-dliness. That’s a different subject. We’ll get to it a little later in the gloss. Here we’re talking about how much G-dliness is revealed, in quantity and in plain terms. When a person understands Torah, is there now the same intensity of G-dliness here as in the world of Asiyah, or in the sefiros of the world of Beriah? Nothing remotely like it. Nothing. It’s zero. Only as much as can be clothed within an animal soul of kelipas nogah in this world. True, it cannot conceal it, but the amount is practically zero—minuscule, constricted to the utmost degree. That is what intent helps with. A person’s intent elevates his Torah and mitzvos. Since his intent belongs to the world of Yetzirah or the world of Beriah, depending on whether it is natural or intellectual intent, it takes his service of Hashem, which is already holy. What is it lacking? It has a tiny amount of revelation. But the intent belongs up there—that is the nature and essence of the person’s intent, as we learned in the previous chapter: it belongs to the world of Beriah or the world of Yetzirah. So it takes it, and now that intent, which belongs to the world of Yetzirah, becomes clothed in the... in the mitzvah, which in itself is holy service, yes? It’s just small. But the intent belongs above, so it connects that service to its place and elevates it there. Is that clear now? Let’s look at it inside. “Nevertheless, the radiance of His holiness, blessed be He, within them is constricted to the utmost degree.” Since the voice and speech are physical, how much can there be? A small, constricted amount, a constricted radiance. So when is it constricted? When he performs the mitzvah without intent for its own sake. Without intent for its own sake, the performance of the mitzvah remains constricted to what can be revealed in this world. But when he prays with intent, or learns Torah with intent for its own sake, then the intent becomes clothed in the letters of speech. Since it—the intent—

30:07 Speaker 1 is their source and root, and because of it, because of his love of Hashem, he speaks these letters; and it comes from its own place, as we learned in the previous chapter, in the world of Yetzirah or Beriah. Therefore, it raises them to its place, the sefiros of Yetzirah or Beriah, depending on whether the intent consists of intellectual or natural awe and love, and so on, as explained above. And there, once the intent has raised his Torah or his mitzvah to the world of Yetzirah, to the sefiros, the light of the blessed Ein Sof shines and is revealed. This is the supernal will, blessed be He, clothed in the letters of the Torah he learns and in their intent, yes? The will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed there—in the letters of the Torah he learns with intent. In other words, he learned the letters of the Torah and—

31:02 Speaker 13 Had intent.

31:03 Speaker 1 And had intent. When it rises there, Hashem’s light, the light of the Ein Sof, shines both in the letters and... It cannot do so down here. Here it is constricted. There, above the screen, the light of the Ein Sof can shine in them. Or in prayer with its intent, or a mitzvah with its intent. And there, in the world of Yetzirah or Beriah, it shines and becomes united with the supernal will—the light of the Ein Sof and an endlessly great radiance—which cannot shine or be revealed at all while the letters or the mitzvah remain in this physical world. What would happen if the light of the Ein Sof were revealed in this physical world? It would no longer be a physical world. It would simply be a spiritual world, not a physical world.

31:47 Speaker 13 That’s what will happen in the era of Moshiach, when Moshiach is revealed.

31:50 Speaker 1 There it will be much, much more—immeasurably more. That is already the reward of the future. We’re talking about what happens now.

32:01 Speaker 13 All right.

32:05 Speaker 1 Nothing of the sort, not even a trace, until the end of days, when the world will rise above its physicality and “the glory of Hashem will be revealed,” and so on, as explained at length above in chapter 37. Then the light of Ein Sof will truly shine here in this physical world. In the future, that will be possible. How will it be possible? Right now, a person takes this whole world and uses it to fulfill mitzvos. Then the whole world becomes holy, and through his intention it connects with the sefiros above. The world becomes a vessel, and in the future the sefiros—the Divine light—will be able to shine directly within this physical world. That itself needs explaining, but that is for other maamarim. All right, there is a wonderful note here by the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe adds a whole other subject in this note, one that is not directly related. That is why it is in a note; it is not directly related to the content of the chapter. We won’t study it inside. It would be a shame to lose the flow, the progression of the chapter.

33:12 Speaker 14 Right.

33:13 Speaker 1 …

33:17 Speaker 14 So here is the point in brief.

33:25 Speaker 1 He says this. Let’s say the substance of it in our own words. What did he just say? That when the Torah—when a person’s intention raises his Torah and mitzvos to the higher worlds, the Supernal Will is revealed within them there. Right? Now, where is the Supernal Will revealed primarily? Through Torah and mitzvos, it is also revealed wherever his Torah and mitzvos have reached, in Beriah and Yetzirah. But when it comes to be revealed there, it passes through—it comes from above. That’s [unclear]. Yes. The main union, where the Supernal Will is revealed, is in the world of Atzilus. In other words, a person fulfills a mitzvah down here in the physical world. His intention raises it to the world of Yetzirah or Beriah. In the worlds of Beriah and Yetzirah, what has now happened? Hashem’s will has been fulfilled. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted something, and it came to be. Right? The Supernal Will shines. Where does it shine? Where is the Supernal Will revealed? Primarily in the world of Atzilus, even though his mitzvah rises only to one of those other worlds. But the Supernal Will is revealed primarily in Atzilus, because there it can be revealed. And when the Supernal Will is revealed in the world of Atzilus, it brings about an increase of light in Atzilus. It brings about a union of right and left. All the lines connect and unite; that nullifies the judgments and brings abundance and blessing into this physical world. That is simply the explanation of why, when you tell a person to do a mitzvah, it will bring a blessing. There is a spiritual process here: a person fulfills a mitzvah with intention; it rises to a higher world; the Supernal Will is revealed; right and left come together; the judgments are nullified; and then abundance flows. That is more or less the content of the note. Here the Rebbe begins a new subject. So first of all, we have received an explanation. We had a side question about how—after all, it was only a side question, right? The explanation was that through

35:51 Speaker 1 Torah and—through intention, a person raises the mitzvos and Torah to the higher worlds. We asked: What about Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Something was bothering us here, right? So the Rebbe says: You had a question—why does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need your intention? The point is not to reveal something by removing its concealment; that is not what the intention is needed for. Rather, your mitzvah down here shines with a very limited Divine light, and your intention raises it above so that even the Supernal Will can be revealed within it. After he finishes explaining this, the Rebbe introduces a novel point here, an enormous one. It is an innovation of the Alter Rebbe’s that is not written elsewhere. It is written here, but not in other places. He says: “This will provide a clear understanding of why love and awe are called wings,” by way of analogy—wings. Love and awe are called wings. As it is written—and he brings a straightforward proof here—“and with two it would fly.” What does it mean that the angel “would fly with two”? It says that the angel flies with two wings. Does an angel have wings? Or does it have some kind of face? What does it have there? Rather, love and awe are the angel’s wings. What does “wings” mean?

37:11 Speaker 15 What does it mean there?

37:12 Speaker 1 There, love and awe raise it up. Why does an angel need to rise? Just as love and awe raise the body of the mitzvah for us, an angel also serves Hashem, and its love and awe raise its service too. In every world, on every level, the function of love and awe is to raise the service upward. As Rabbi Chaim Vital, z”l, wrote in Shaar Hayichudim, chapter 11, the wings of a bird correspond to a person’s arms. He brings another proof from the Zohar’s Tikkunim. Tikkunei Zohar explains that those who engage in Torah and mitzvos with love and awe, who engage in Torah and mitzvos for their own sake, are called fully grown birds; otherwise, they are called chicks. What is the difference between a grown bird and a chick?

38:03 Speaker 15 Spreading their wings.

38:04 Speaker 1 Chicks can’t spread their wings.

38:05 Speaker 15 To rise upward.

38:06 Speaker 1 He engages in Torah, but without love and awe. Not that he is actually doing it for ulterior motives, right? He studies Torah simply because he studies Torah. Yes. So he is called a chick. Why? It doesn’t rise; it has no love and awe. “They cannot fly.”

38:29 Speaker 15 Something like when the chick grows up?

38:32 Speaker 1 What?

38:33 Speaker 15 [unclear]

38:36 Speaker 1 When the chick grows up, it develops wings. Yes, exactly. He brings another note here that—I don’t want to study it because of the limited time.

38:51 Speaker 15 There are a lot of notes, yes.

38:52 Speaker 1 There are four notes here, each of which—

38:54 Speaker 15 Long ones.

38:55 Speaker 1 Each is a subject in its own right.

38:57 Speaker 15 We’ll lose the—

38:58 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. So I’ll just tell you the substance of it. In this note, he brings another proof from Tikkunei Zohar concerning the angel Metatron. The angel Metatron, the prince of Israel, is also called a bird in one place. Why is he called a bird? Because of his form. It says of Metatron that “his name is like his Master’s name.” What is his Master’s name? The name of Hashem, Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei. So Metatron’s name is like his Master’s. That means that this angel, the prince of Israel, also has the letters Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei within him. What does it mean that he has Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei within him? Tikkunei Zohar explains that the yud is his head, the vav is his body, and the two heis are the two wings with which he rises upward. So he brings another proof from Tikkunei Zohar that there, too, the whole purpose of wings is to raise the mitzvos. Right? Well, what is the great new point? We have already seen all this. What does this whole discussion add? It adds the following: “Just as a bird’s wings are not the essential part of the bird, and the bird’s life does not depend on them at all, as the Mishnah teaches: If its wings were removed, it is kosher.” There is a halachic discussion: if a bird’s wings were broken and it was slaughtered, it is not a treifah. It may be eaten. It is a very common thing. Why?

40:32 Speaker 16 If it was missing—if the bird was missing one wing.

40:35 Speaker 1 It was missing a wing, and they slaughtered it, and it was kosher.

40:38 Speaker 16 Yes, it was missing one wing.

40:40 Speaker 3 Wow.

40:42 Speaker 16 That’s it, apparently. You know.

40:43 Speaker 3 Maybe it’s hidden somewhere.

40:45 Speaker 16 No, no. I—

40:46 Speaker 3 Maybe it folds up.

40:47 Speaker 16 But I cut up the chicken. I did.

40:49 Speaker 3 Oh, you cut it up.

40:50 Speaker 16 Exactly. It wasn’t there.

40:51 Speaker 1 I’ve had occasion to kasher poultry more than once. It happens: birds thrash around, and a wing breaks, either beforehand or during—or before the slaughter. It’s still kosher.

41:03 Speaker 16 Yes, we used to kasher poultry for years and years. Your father—

41:07 Speaker 1 You’re missing the point. None of you has picked up on the point.

41:10 Speaker 16 What are we—wait.

41:12 Speaker 3 That it can live without wings, and it is kosher.

41:19 Speaker 1 What does that—

41:19 Speaker 16 Wings lift it, but they’re not—

41:21 Speaker 1 It can live without wings. Right. Now, what about what the analogy represents?

41:25 Speaker 3 Even without love and awe.

41:26 Speaker 1 You can do without love? Aren’t love and awe mitzvos? Aren’t they among the 613 mitzvos? Doesn’t it say, “You shall love Hashem your G-d”? Doesn’t it say, “You shall fear Hashem your G-d”? Are these mitzvos you can dispense with? That’s not... What does it say here?

41:45 Speaker 16 Right.

41:46 Speaker 1 Do you hear what it says here?

41:47 Speaker 3 They’re the wings.

41:48 Speaker 16 That they’re not the essential part.

41:48 Speaker 3 But how can it move without wings?

41:50 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe is introducing a new idea: there are two mitzvos in the Torah, two of the 613 mitzvos, that differ from all the others. With all the other mitzvos, what does it mean to fulfill a mitzvah for its own sake? To fulfill it for the sake of the mitzvah. But love and awe are not primarily for their own sake; their purpose is to bring life into other mitzvos. That is what “if its wings were removed, it is kosher” means. Love and awe are two mitzvos unlike all the others: their purpose is not primarily for themselves, but for other mitzvos. That is their role.

42:36 Speaker 16 What does that mean?

42:41 Speaker 1 What does that mean? What did we say at the beginning? How did we start chapter 35? Chapters 35, 36, 37: the deed is the main thing. Through action, we sanctify the world, take it out of the kelipos, elevate it, and prepare it for the future. Everything that will be in the future, with all its reward, comes through action. Right? So why do we need love and awe? We need intention. Intention is needed to elevate the deed. Right? But then a question remains. Hold on: love and awe are also mitzvos, aren’t they? Why do you need this whole explanation that love and awe serve to elevate the other mitzvos? You could have said from the outset that love and awe are mitzvos too, and so, when you practice love and awe, that’s also part of the mitzvos. That, too, sanctifies the—sanctifies the world, turns it from evil to good, refines the sparks, whatever it may be. No! The deed is the main thing. The mitzvos of love and awe do nothing to turn the world from evil to good or to refine the world. That isn’t their purpose. These are two mitzvos whose content really differs from that of all the others. Their purpose isn’t to refine the world, but to elevate a person’s service so that the higher unity is revealed within it.

44:23 Speaker 16 But I didn’t understand the analogy of the bird—as though it doesn’t need its wings.

44:28 Speaker 1 Just as a bird is kosher even without its wings.

44:34 Speaker 16 Right.

44:34 Speaker 1 So, too, when a person serves Hashem in every way without love and awe, he still sanctifies the world.

44:42 Speaker 16 But he doesn’t elevate it.

44:43 Speaker 1 He doesn’t elevate it, and the Divine holiness isn’t revealed. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants not only a dwelling place; He wants a dwelling place that is lit up, a dwelling place with furniture, a clean dwelling place, a beautiful dwelling place, somewhere one can live, somewhere He can reveal Himself. Otherwise, it’s a dwelling place that isn’t comfortable to live in yet. For that, you need love and awe.

45:08 Speaker 16 [unclear]

45:10 Speaker 1 All the other mitzvos build the dwelling place, build the house. Love and awe light up the house.

45:20 Speaker 16 That’s the basis.

45:22 Speaker 1 So you can have a house without them. A person can live in a—what do you call it—a cowshed, right? Yes. But love and awe are what light up the house. That is also the meaning of the saying of our Sages, “A mitzvah without intention is like a body without a soul.” There is a body, and the body exists. Not a body of—what does that mean? A human body without a soul? There is a body; it’s there. Its physical existence remains even without the soul, even without life. So what’s the problem? I study Torah without love and awe. I study Torah. I know a lot of Torah. Yes, but it has no soul. It lacks the revelation of G-dliness. Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t revealed here. The revelation of G-dliness comes through love and awe: through them, G-dliness is revealed, descends, and connects with the world and with a person’s service. That happens through love and awe. It also makes sense on a simple level: this is something physical. How would G-dliness be revealed here? In feeling. Feeling is a vessel for the spiritual heart. So, by way of analogy, Torah and mitzvos are the essence of the higher unity, because the supreme will is revealed through them. And through them—the other mitzvos—love and awe elevate them to a place where the will can be revealed. No, they don’t draw it down; they don’t bring about the unity. They reveal the supreme will, the light of the blessed Ein Sof, and the unity in Yetzirah and Beriah. There’s a note here that I did want to study, but we really have run out of time. It’s a wonderful note. All right, the Alter Rebbe resolves something here—uh, I, I—

47:06 Speaker 16 I just don’t have it right now. You’re simply presenting it.

47:08 Speaker 1 We’re already at the end of the chapter.

47:08 Speaker 16 There is—yes, we can.

47:09 Speaker 1 Yes.

47:10 Speaker 16 We can finish with that.

47:11 Speaker 1 I’ll tell you the gist of what he discusses, and then we’ll look at it inside. Uh, near the beginning. He says: Where is the supreme will revealed? In the ten sefiros of Yetzirah and Beriah. Right? Through Torah and mitzvos, through love and awe, the supreme will is revealed in Yetzirah and Beriah. That’s what we learned earlier, isn’t it? With natural love, there’s the world of Yetzirah—we understood why—and then there’s the world of Beriah. Right. What does he say in parentheses? “Or even in the ten sefiros of holiness”—sorry—“or even in Asiyah, in the ten holy sefiros, through the performance of practical mitzvos.” He’s turned everything on its head. Mixed it all up.

48:09 Speaker 16 That’s really good.

48:10 Speaker 1 So what have we learned happens when a person performs a mitzvah with love—with love and awe? If they’re natural, it reaches the world of Yetzirah; we understood why. If they’re intellectual, it reaches the world of Beriah; we understood why. If he has none, it’s in the worlds of separation; and if he acts with the opposite intention, it’s in the kelipos. So how can it be in the ten sefiros of Asiyah? If he has this or that intention, we know why it belongs to the world of Yetzirah or Beriah. If he has no intention, it’s either in the external aspect of the worlds or in the kelipos. Where does the world of Asiyah fit in here?

48:43 Speaker 4 If it’s without any intention, it’s in the external aspect.

48:46 Speaker 1 What?

48:46 Speaker 4 If it’s without any intention, it’s in the external aspect.

48:48 Speaker 1 The external aspect of what?

48:50 Speaker 4 Of the worlds.

48:50 Speaker 1 Which worlds? Yetzirah and Beriah?

48:55 Speaker 4 Well.

48:55 Speaker 1 Not Asiyah. If he studies Torah, it’s in the external aspect of the world of Beriah, and if he performs mitzvos, it’s in the external aspect of the world of Yetzirah. What does that have to do with this? When he studies for its own sake, it will connect with the inner aspect of the worlds. Without that, it remains in the external aspect, in the world of separation, in the chambers and abodes. Where do the ten sefiros of Asiyah come into this? And there’s another thing we don’t understand: “the ten holy sefiros, through the performance of practical mitzvos.” What does that suggest? That practical mitzvos belong to the world of Yetzirah, apparently, when he performs them. Right? And spiritual mitzvos—uh, I don’t know—to the world of Yetzirah. Where did we previously distinguish between practical mitzvos and other ones? It depends on the intention. What difference does it make which mitzvah he performs? What difference does it make whether he performs a mitzvah or studies Torah? With one kind of intention it reaches here; with another kind it reaches there. Why should it matter what he’s doing, whether it’s practical mitzvos or Torah study? What difference does that make? What? How did you arrive at that? What’s going on here?

50:03 Speaker 4 That practical ones are preferable because they—

50:05 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:06 Speaker 4 Take physical things and elevate them spiritually.

50:08 Speaker 1 Yes, but what does that have to do with the whole explanation I gave earlier? Earlier I said it all depends on intention. If he performs a physical, practical mitzvah with natural love, it will reach the world of Yetzirah. If he performs a physical, practical mitzvah with intellectual intention, it unites with the world of Beriah, with its ten sefiros.

50:30 Speaker 4 Ah.

50:30 Speaker 1 If he does it without intention, how did you get to the world of—the ten sefiros of Asiyah? What’s going on here?

50:34 Speaker 4 Ah.

50:48 Speaker 1 Huh? There are different elements in Torah and mitzvos, and the Alter Rebbe himself explains this. Not here; in a maamar of the Alter Rebbe in one of his books, about [unclear]. When a person engages in Torah and mitzvos, there are—there are two things here. There are three things. There’s the mitzvah itself, the physical object, the candle he lights, or the physical substance of the world. Right. And there are two more things: there’s Hashem’s will, which is revealed, and there’s the person’s service. Right? So here’s the point. Everything we discussed earlier about intention elevating—what does intention elevate? A person performs mitzvos. Which of these three things? There’s the physical object, the supreme will, and the person’s service: the energy he puts in, his study, his feelings, the effort he invests. Right? Intention elevates his service. Right? The supreme will—what does that have to do with it? The supreme will is the supreme will. What did Hakadosh Boruch Hu want? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to reveal Himself in various ways. What does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to reveal Himself in various ways? So, like this. When a person, when a person—uh, I’ll give an example from the intellect, from understanding. There’s something a person understands. Right? And he contemplates it. There are two ways the intellect is revealed, two general ways. In one, he contemplates and thinks about it until it becomes so thoroughly absorbed within him that it arouses a feeling. Right? In the other, he writes. He uses his finger to write down the idea he understands. Right? Where is the intellect revealed more: in the feeling or in the writing?

52:57 Speaker 5 In the writing.

52:58 Speaker 1 Hmm?

52:58 Speaker 5 In the writing.

52:59 Speaker 1 Is the intellect itself revealed in the writing? In the feeling? You see that a person is happy, and you can tell he thought about something happy. You don’t see the idea itself in there. Right? Where is the intellect revealed? It’s revealed clearly through the finger. Right? Which one feels the idea—the emotion or the finger?

53:24 Speaker 5 Oh.

53:27 Speaker 1 Does the finger feel the idea?

53:30 Speaker 5 I don’t understand. Uh, that really sounds—

53:31 Speaker 1 There’s no connection at all. The intellect uses the finger to write. Right. Why is that? Emotion is so close to the intellect that it feels the idea and is moved by it, yet the idea can’t be revealed there—only a little of it can. The finger is so far from the intellect, incomparably far, and suddenly the idea is revealed there. Huh?

54:03 Speaker 5 It’s revealed, but it isn’t felt in—

54:05 Speaker 1 It isn’t felt. And because it isn’t felt, it can be revealed. An emotion is not a vessel that can receive the full light of the intellect; it is limited. So the intellect can be revealed within the emotion only to the extent that the vessel of the emotion can contain it. The finger, on the other hand, is not a vessel for intellect at all, so the intellect merely passes through it. It doesn’t interfere with its expression. Right? Now, with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah are like a finger. To Ein Sof, blessed be He, what difference does it make? This created being, that created being, another created being—what difference does it make to Him? It’s all the same. Right? From Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective, all three worlds are garments. Right? So what is the distinction? In the world of Beriah, He wanted to reveal Himself in one way; in the world of Yetzirah, in another way; and in the world of Asiyah, in another way. In what way? What is the difference between Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah? When we’re speaking about G-dliness, about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Asiyah is the doing of what? Of mitzvos. Yetzirah is the halachos—how the mitzvos should be performed. Why is that called Yetzirah? Because we said Yetzirah is the world of middos, the world of emotion. Right? What is emotion? Emotion has a right and a left. Right? So all the halachos are yes or no, impure or pure, invalid or kosher. It’s—yes? Do this; don’t do that. The whole subject of mitzvos involves the two lines, the right line and the left line. So the halachos, the Mishnah, belong to the world of Yetzirah. The Written Torah and practical mitzvos belong to the world of Asiyah. The Mishnah and the halachos belong to the world of Yetzirah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu revealed His intellect in the form of right and left, the two lines of halachos. And in the world of Beriah, it’s a matter of intellect, understanding, and the reasons behind the halachos—the explanation. Why this way? Why that way? From where do we derive a kal vachomer? A gezeirah shavah? A binyan av? Right.

56:42 Speaker 1 That’s a world—the world of the Talmud, the world of Gemara, the world of the reasons behind the halachos. Now we can read it inside the text. When a person performs a mitzvah, the Supernal Will is revealed even in Asiyah, within the holy sefiros, through the performance of practical mitzvos, and likewise through Mikra. But in Mishnah, the unity and the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, are revealed in Yetzirah, and in Talmud, in Beriah. That is, when a person studies Mikra, the unity—the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He—extends from Atzilus all the way down to Asiyah. In Mishnah it extends only as far as Yetzirah, and in Talmud only as far as Beriah, because all of them are in Atzilus. But when he studies Kabbalah, it does not extend at all from Atzilus into Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, as stated in Pri Eitz Chayim. So these are simply two different subjects; it depends what we’re talking about. When we’re discussing which garment the light of Ein Sof is revealed in when a person performs a mitzvah, it depends on which mitzvah he is doing. If he’s studying Kabbalah now, the Supernal Will of Atzilus is revealed in the manner of Atzilus. If he’s studying halachos, the Supernal Will is revealed in the garment of Mishnah, of halachos, and so on. But when we’re discussing a person’s service in performing the mitzvah, it rises through his intention and his awe. Okay, that’s this gloss. “And although love and awe are also among the 613 mitzvos, nevertheless they are called wings”—only wings. This is because the purpose of love is service out of love. The goal is not simply to love Hashem. With every other mitzvah—every mitzvah—why do we fulfill the mitzvah of lighting a candle? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted us to light a candle. Why tefillin? Because tefillin—the mitzvah itself is the reason. There is no further “why.” The mitzvah is the goal; it is the purpose in itself. The purpose of the mitzvah to love Hashem is to perform other mitzvos with love, to serve out of love. And someone who seeks love without service—who wants to reach a level where he has love for Hashem—that is love of delights. That is what’s called love of delights: love without service, love for the sake of love, delighting in Hashem as a foretaste of the World to Come.

59:15 Speaker 1 And that is called receiving reward in this world.

59:20 Speaker 6 To love Hashem. What does that mean?

59:25 Speaker 1 Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of love for Hashem. Imagine two children who really love ice cream; they’re both crazy about ice cream. Right? What’s the difference between them? One sees the ice cream in his mother’s hand, and the other is holding it in his own hand. They both love it, yes, but one loves it and longs to have it, while the other delights in what he has. Both are expressions of love, of attraction. But what kind? Longing for something, or delighting in what I have. Delighting in Hashem. Love of delights means delighting in Hashem. His joy, his delight, is—sometimes you feel a little taste of something like this, sitting at a farbrengen or at a class, and it’s just, wow, it’s like that, there’s something about it—just to understand the... So love of delights really isn’t a matter of—it’s a matter of reward. That’s what the World to Come is: delighting in Hashem.

1:00:36 Speaker 7 So we don’t have that here.

1:00:37 Speaker 1 Not in this world.

1:00:38 Speaker 7 That’s it.

1:00:39 Speaker 1 Unless—unless, yes, yes, yes, right—unless there’s an exception. There are tzaddikim who receive a foretaste of the World to Come in this world. Such a person has already completed his work of rectification.

1:00:51 Speaker 7 It’s not just anyone who says, “I love Hashem,” the way you might say, “Dad, I love you, I love you.” That’s not...

1:00:56 Speaker 1 It’s not.

1:00:56 Speaker 7 That’s not it.

1:00:57 Speaker 1 That’s not it. To delight means that he truly feels love; it’s as though it pours out of him. Love of delights—delighting in Hashem—is a foretaste of the World to Come; it is simply receiving reward. “Today, to do them,” it says. Today’s work is the work of performing mitzvos. The entire purpose of love and awe today is only to put a soul, a vitality, into other mitzvos. “And tomorrow, to receive their reward.” Someone who has not reached this level—a person who is not a tzaddik tasting a foretaste of the World to Come while living here, but whose soul still longs and thirsts for Hashem—does not delight in Hashem. He contemplates G-dliness until it affects him so deeply that he truly longs for G-dliness. But that is a love of thirst, not a love of delight. Right? So the entire purpose of this kind of love is to bring vitality into other mitzvos; it is not an end in itself. “And his soul yearns for Him all day”—and this very person, who is on that level, the beinoni—“does not quench his thirst with the waters of Torah before him.” Heavens, be astonished! You’ve reached the level of having genuine love for Hashem. You contemplated and arrived at it, and you don’t use it to study Torah. All your love for Hashem is worth nothing, because the whole purpose of love for Hashem is to give life to other mitzvos. “He is like someone standing in a river and crying out, ‘Water! Water to drink!’” As the prophet complains about him: “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.” What is the plain meaning of “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water”? What is the prophet saying on the simple level?

1:02:50 Speaker 7 Whoever is thirsty should go and drink.

1:02:50 Speaker 1 Whoever is thirsty should go drink. What is the prophet saying—what does he mean?

1:02:53 Speaker 7 To study Torah.

1:02:54 Speaker 1 Whoever wants to study Torah should go study. What does the Alter Rebbe say? No. “The prophet complains about him.” The prophet isn’t encouraging people: “Go study Torah.” The prophet is voicing a complaint about them. You’re thirsty. You’ve reached a level of thirst for G-dliness, and you don’t use it to study Torah. You’re content with your love. What is all your love worth? The prophet complains about him. If you thirst for G-dliness, you need to quench that thirst with water, for on the simple level this is not understood: if someone is thirsty and wants to study, he’ll simply go study on his own. So why does the prophet need to cry out to him, “Ho”? As is explained at length elsewhere, that is the whole purpose of loving Hashem. So here, on this point, the Rebbe has essentially summed up and finished explaining the foundation for what he goes on to explain from the next chapter until the end of Tanya. From the next chapter, the Rebbe begins explaining how to serve Hashem, how to awaken love and awe, how a person reaches them, what to contemplate, the different levels involved, and so on. In other words, before he begins explaining all that, he first explains why love and awe are needed at all. And that took the Rebbe six chapters too, right? Thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven—six chapters. He explained why love and awe are needed at all. Love and awe are not ends in themselves. On the one hand, they have no purpose in themselves; but if a person serves Hashem, studies, and performs mitzvos without love and awe, then how can he expect it to be service of Hashem? Performing the practical mitzvos and studying Torah with love and awe—only through that is G-dliness revealed in a person’s service.

1:04:48 Speaker 8 Long live our master, teacher, and Rebbe, King Moshiach.