Likkutei Amarim Chapter 42 (Part 1) · 5785

00:01 Speaker 1 We’ll start chapter 42 today. We’ll see whether we finish it or not, but we’ll start it. Chapter 42 continues chapter 41. In other words, chapters 41 and 42 are...

00:15 Speaker 2 About the same idea, yes.

00:17 Speaker 1 They’re two chapters that clarify the beginning of the service of Hashem, its essence and its root. The root of that service, the beginning of serving Hashem, is yirah—fear of Hashem. And chapters 41 and 42 clarify the kind of yirah that begins that service. In the next chapter he’ll explain that there’s also a kind of yirah that isn’t the beginning of the service, but here we’re talking about the kind that is. So how does he begin chapter 42? He says, “And with what was explained above concerning the lower level of yirah, we can readily understand what the Gemara says about the verse, ‘And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear Hashem your G-d?’” So he says it explicitly.

01:06 Speaker 2 No. I just read about that. He didn’t get married...

01:11 Speaker 8 What? I’ll start afterward. I’m not starting. My son doesn’t start with me anymore.

01:19 Speaker 2 Did you find yourself a place?

01:21 Speaker 8 Yes.

01:22 Speaker 2 Let it be here.

01:23 Speaker 8 A friend of Mom’s. Yes.

01:32 Speaker 1 So he says right at the beginning of the chapter that what he’s about to discuss is connected to what was explained above. It’s a direct continuation of the previous chapter. What did he explain there? That the beginning of the service, the first thing a person needs to awaken within himself, is yirah. What kind of yirah? The yirah of kabbolas ol, accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven: a person needs to picture Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King, constantly standing over him and examining his innermost thoughts and heart to see whether he serves Him properly. He explained many details of this, and later in the chapter he explained why this yirah truly belongs to everyone: because it’s a natural yirah, not something a person has to bring into being within his soul. It isn’t a trait, an emotion, that he has to create where none exists. Creating something that isn’t there takes hard work. But the yirah discussed in chapters 41 and 42 is natural. A person has a G-dly soul—every Jew has a G-dly soul. Just as that soul naturally has a love of Hashem, it naturally has fear of Hashem. So all that’s needed is to reveal it, to bring it out from where it’s hidden somewhere inside. Just as the love is hidden, a person’s natural yirah is also deeply hidden; it isn’t apparent, so it has to be revealed. How do you reveal it? You clear away the dust, clear away the mud, clear away the habits, and what was there all along comes to light. Since everyone has a G-dly soul, everyone has yirah, a natural yirah. And the lower level of yirah, which is the beginning, essence and root of the service, means revealing the yirah he already has. That’s what he explained in the previous chapter, chapter 41. So he continues here: “And with what was explained above concerning the lower level of yirah”—that it’s natural and belongs to

03:44 Speaker 1 everyone, and through contemplation a person need only reveal it, not create something new—this helps us understand what the Gemara says about the verse, “And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear Hashem your G-d?” That’s what the verse says. So what is it saying? In our own words, what does it mean? What, after all, is Hashem asking of you? Only to fear Hashem. That’s all. Yes, that’s how it sounds. “What does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear”—all that’s being asked of you is yirah. It’s not... If they were asking you to—

04:32 Speaker 9 Yirah and love, no?

04:33 Speaker 1 The verse says, “And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear?” You’re not being asked to break mountains apart and grind hills to dust. You’re not being asked to do some extraordinary thing. Just to have yirah, that’s all. The Gemara asks about this: “Is yirah such a small matter?” This is all Hashem asks for—just yirah, that’s all? And you call that “just”? The Gemara asks: Is awakening yirah something you can call “just”? How many people toil to attain fear of Hashem, and it doesn’t come so easily. How can the verse say, “Just this, and that’s it”? It’s not “just” anything; it’s something difficult to awaken. That’s the Gemara’s question: “Is yirah such a small matter?” The Gemara asks and then answers—it doesn’t only ask; it answers too. It says: yes, yirah is a small matter. Why? “For Moshe, it is a small matter.” Is yirah a big thing? The Gemara says no: for Moshe it’s a small thing. Well, what did you ask, and what did you answer? The Alter Rebbe asks the obvious question: “At first glance, the answer is not understood.” What kind of answer is that? The Gemara’s question is perfectly understandable: yirah doesn’t seem like a small thing. But what is its answer? What does the verse say? “What does Hashem your G-d ask of you...” If the verse had said, “What does Hashem your G-d ask of Moshe Rabbeinu? Only yirah”—fine, that’s a small thing. But it says, “What does Hashem your G-d ask of you?” Why answer me that it’s a small thing for Moshe? Hashem is asking it of me, not of Moshe Rabbeinu. So the Alter Rebbe explains what the Gemara means. Where did he begin? What was explained in the previous chapter will help us understand why our Sages said yirah is

06:46 Speaker 1 a small thing for Moshe Rabbeinu, even though the verse is speaking to each and every person. How does what we explained in the previous chapter make sense of the Gemara’s answer? Are you following the line of thought?

07:00 Speaker 9 Yes.

07:03 Speaker 1 Rather, the point is that every soul of the House of Israel contains something of the quality of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him. For he is one of the seven shepherds, who channel vitality and G-dliness to all the souls of Israel; that is why they are called shepherds. It’s not that Moshe himself is inside every person. But there is an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu, a certain quality, a certain attribute, a certain element that truly defined Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t keep it to himself; he nourished all of—what does “nourished” mean? When we say that a father provides for his children, what does that mean?

08:04 Speaker 9 He takes care of them.

08:05 Speaker 1 He takes care of them, gives them food. Yes. He provides for them, sustains them, gives them food, keeps them alive. And Moshe Rabbeinu nourishes the entire Jewish people throughout all generations with this particular quality. He feeds us with this aspect of himself. That’s why, more generally, in the book of Michah, the prophet Michah says, “And we shall raise up against him”—“And I will raise up for you,” in the future—“seven shepherds and eight princes of men.” The Gemara says who the shepherds are and who the princes of men are. They are great Jewish figures throughout the generations. There are some differences of opinion about their identities. In any case, according to all opinions, Moshe Rabbeinu is not among the princes of men; he is among the shepherds. What is a shepherd’s job?

08:58 Speaker 9 To lead.

08:59 Speaker 1 To lead the flock, right—but where?

09:03 Speaker 9 To pasture.

09:04 Speaker 1 To pasture. To give them food. He isn’t taking them on an outing. He’s bringing them to a place where they can eat. He also looks after them so nothing happens to them; he protects them. But a shepherd’s main role really is to provide for them, to feed them. Why is Moshe Rabbeinu—why are all seven shepherds called shepherds? Because each isn’t simply a tzaddik in his own right. There have been many tzaddikim, very, very great tzaddikim in every generation, whom the Jewish people remember fondly for all sorts of things. But their particular quality was their own. It wasn’t something that belongs to each and every person in every generation. The seven shepherds listed by the prophet Michah were righteous Jews who each gave his particular quality to every Jew in every generation. That’s why they’re called shepherds. And Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, encompasses them all. He is the shepherd of them all. Although in the Gemara’s description of how the seven shepherds stand, with David in the middle and others to his right and left, Moshe is last on the left. There is an explanation for that too. But in any case, Moshe Rabbeinu is the shepherd of them all. He encompasses what all the shepherds are about. And he is called raaya mehemna, the faithful shepherd. What does mehemna mean?

10:49 Speaker 9 Faithful.

10:50 Speaker 1 Hmm?

10:51 Speaker 9 Faithful.

10:53 Speaker 1 That’s one interpretation, yes. When we say meheimna, it can be translated into Hebrew in two ways, and both are correct. One is “trustworthy,” “faithful.” Someone tells him a secret and he doesn’t reveal it. Whatever he’s told to do, he does. Yes, faithful. We say “a trusted member of the household,” right? But there’s another meaning: “a shepherd of faith.” What does that mean? It means he feeds the Jewish people with faith; he sustains us with faith. When they call him a “faithful shepherd,” they mean that, as a shepherd, he is faithful to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When they call him a “shepherd of faith,” it means he gives us faith. And that is Moshe Rabbeinu’s main role. He isn’t called a shepherd because he’s faithful. There are many faithful tzaddikim. Moshe’s role is to be a shepherd, and when we speak of him as a shepherd, the main point is that he shepherds faith, not just that he is a faithful shepherd. In other words, how does Moshe Rabbeinu sustain us with faith? By drawing down the faculty of daas to the Jewish people as a whole. Moshe Rabbeinu’s whole role is daas. And what he gives every Jew is his own defining quality: daas. That is why our Sages said—why the Rebbe says that Moshe Rabbeinu encompasses them all. What did we learn? Maybe you remember chapter 3, near the beginning of Tanya, where it discusses the attributes of the G-dly soul. Do you remember what it says there? It explains how a person gives rise to those attributes: he applies his chochmah and contemplates with his binah, and through that gives rise to love and awe. Then the other attributes are branches and offshoots of love and awe. So the question is: What about daas?

13:26 Speaker 10 Why?

13:28 Speaker 1 What?

13:28 Speaker 10 To connect.

13:29 Speaker 1 Yes, but at the beginning of chapter 3 he doesn’t talk about daas. He explains how the attributes come into being: a person contemplates. How does it work for us, without Tanya? Simply put, when someone thinks about something, an emotion is aroused. You don’t need daas for that, right? He thinks, he understands that it’s something good, and then he... Yes. The arousal of the attributes doesn’t depend on daas. They can be aroused through chochmah and binah even without daas. What does it say later in that chapter, chapter 3? That without daas, the attributes have no staying power, and without daas they are vain imaginings. It’s not that when a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness and a feeling of love arises, that feeling is false. The love arises because he contemplated Hashem’s greatness, right? But then it ends. He stops contemplating, stops thinking, and it disappears. Why? Because all that love of Hashem, that awe of Hashem born from contemplation, doesn’t belong to him. He isn’t connected to it; it has no connection to him. A person can know things in the sense of having information. He’s learned a great deal, so he’s very knowledgeable, but that knowledge doesn’t touch him. There’s a well-known story that’s told often; I’m sure most of you know it. It’s a story I saw from Reb Michoel Bliner, one of the mashpi’im. He used to teach this chapter, and he would give a parable to explain daas. We’re talking here about daas, about Moshe Rabbeinu—the whole chapter revolves around this daas. Although it’s mentioned in chapter 3, this is where the idea is explained.

15:48 Speaker 1 He would tell a parable. What is daas? There was a yishuvnik, a man living in a rural settlement. He lived in a village founded by the Tzemach Tzedek and worked the land. He had children, but he couldn’t read or write. He wanted to educate his son, so he hired a teacher from the city to come and live in his home. He fed him, paid him some sort of salary, and the teacher taught his son for several years. Since there was now someone in the house who could read and write, whenever letters arrived from the yishuvnik’s father, the teacher would read them to him. One day, a letter arrived saying that his father had passed away. Well, it must have been painful, but a letter came, and the teacher read it to him. When the yishuvnik heard the news—he was apparently very close to his father—the story says he fainted. That’s how it’s told. I don’t know about hearing news and fainting, but that’s how the story goes: he was so overwhelmed that he fainted. After telling the story, Reb Michoel Bliner would ask: What happened here? Chassidus explains in many places that when a person sees something, he connects to it, right? If he only hears about it, well, he’s heard about it. Hearing isn’t like seeing. But here, the teacher saw what was written. He saw it with his own eyes. The yishuvnik only heard it. So why did the yishuvnik faint? The teacher should have fainted, not him.

17:29 Speaker 11 Because it was his father.

17:31 Speaker 1 Because it was his father. He’s connected to his father. For the teacher, it was information. Now he knows one more thing, but it doesn’t touch him. He doesn’t feel it, right? So a Jew can learn about G-dliness, learn Torah, learn Chassidus, understand it, and through that understanding even feel a genuine love and awe. But afterward it disappears. Why? Because he isn’t there; it isn’t connected to him. For a feeling of holiness that has been aroused to last, to be enduring and real, it has to touch the person. He has to feel it; it has to connect with him and not remain only an intellectual understanding. That is daas. Daas means connection. And the power for what I understand to matter to me—that comes from Moshe Rabbeinu. This is why Moshe Rabbeinu encompasses all the shepherds: Avraham gives chessed, and Yitzchak gives awe. That’s all well and good, but without daas, it doesn’t truly take hold. All right? What’s remarkable is that every single Jew receives this daas. Moshe Rabbeinu is a faithful shepherd and a shepherd of faith, and he gave this quality to every Jew, through the end of all generations. So just as a person has a natural love—a hidden, natural love in the soul—and a natural awe, as explained in the previous chapter, every person also has daas. With the power of daas that each person has naturally—why does he have it? Because Moshe Rabbeinu gave it to him. So since you have daas, you can connect; you can awaken awe. All right? Let’s look at it inside. “Rather...”

19:54 Speaker 1 “The point is that every soul... above, and it draws its sustenance from the root of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, which is rooted in the supernal daas of the ten sefiros of Atzilus.” You need three things—three conditions. It’s true that everyone has daas, but how much can it be revealed in each person? That depends on three conditions. First, what are his intellectual abilities? What is his soul capable of grasping? Some souls have a lower capacity, and the person finds it hard to understand even when something is explained to him. And even when he does understand—

20:57 Speaker 12 Understanding.

20:58 Speaker 1 Even before that, he may understand only a little. Or he may understand more, more details, but his understanding is superficial, that’s all. It isn’t sharp. The deeper and sharper a person’s understanding, the more he has to contemplate. So first of all, that’s needed. And it’s a quality you’re born with. Of course, a person can practice anything. When someone practices something, he develops that ability, right? But there’s a basic aptitude he was born with. A person can train to run very, very fast, but even the fastest person in the world won’t run like a deer. No amount of training will help; he doesn’t have that ability. What can you do? Yes. That will cool down now. Yes, good.

21:55 Speaker 12 Oh, no, no.

21:57 Speaker 1 I was waiting. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word all things came to be.

22:06 Speaker 12 Amen.

22:06 Speaker 1 So first of all, a person has to have... We’re talking about what the soul can grasp, what the G-dly soul can grasp. But each person’s G-dly soul is constituted differently, and some people can’t grasp all that much. That’s one thing. Second, its source Above. The G-dly soul too—what can a person...? Like this: everyone has an area where, if they think about it and delve into it, they’ll understand more. Someone with a feel for art, let’s say, can pick up more of its nuances. I don’t know how to explain it. Someone else has a feel for another field. A person can understand the field they have a talent for. One person has more of a feel for numbers; another has a feel for art; another has a feel for people, for social relationships, and in that area he’s... What?

23:37 Speaker 12 Social intelligence.

23:38 Speaker 1 What’s that?

23:39 Speaker 12 Intelligence.

23:40 Speaker 1 Social intelligence. Good. Every person—even when we’re talking about intellect, you can have two people with exactly the same level of intelligence, but one will understand one field better and the other will understand another. They’ll put in the same effort. Why? Because the source of one person’s soul comes from here, and the other’s comes from there. A soul has a certain form, a certain—let’s call it a kind of container, a particular spiritual form. A person’s intellect can grasp what falls within it, but what’s outside it isn’t his. Right? So a person might be highly intelligent, with very fine, sharp intellectual abilities, but the source of his soul isn’t so high, because his soul comes from the World of Asiyah. Then when he tries to understand matters belonging to the World of Yetzirah, he can’t. He has no connection to them. Right? So for a person to successfully connect with a particular subject, first he needs the basic ability to understand it; he mustn’t be foolish. Second, the source of his soul must reach the place he wants to understand. Otherwise, how can he understand something that isn’t connected to him? Even if he has the intellectual talent, he has no connection to it. And third, it depends on how closely his soul is connected to Moshe Rabbeinu. Someone might have a very, very lofty soul—a soul from the World of Beriah, say—but receive little from Moshe Rabbeinu, so his daas is limited. Then it won’t matter how much he contemplates, or how lofty the source of his soul is, because he

25:47 Speaker 1 can’t connect; he has nothing to connect with. Right? So for G-dliness to be something tangible to a person, something he feels and connects with—so that he feels G-dliness—he needs the intellectual ability to grasp what his soul can grasp, a lofty source for his soul, and a strong connection through which he receives from Moshe Rabbeinu. Three things. How firmly each person can fix his mind on G-dliness depends on these conditions. Everyone has certain basic capacities with which to serve Hashem, and they differ from person to person. No two people are alike. The combination of those three qualities is different in each person. Now, the source of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul, peace be upon him, is truly connected with the supernal Daas, the Daas among the ten sefiros of Atzilus. The ten sefiros of Atzilus are truly united with their Emanator, blessed be He; He and His knowledge are one, and He is the knowledge, and so on. We’ll explain that further and discuss it at length. I don’t want to dwell on it now. So first, he explained why the Gemara says that fear of Hashem is a small thing for Moshe Rabbeinu: because there’s something of Moshe Rabbeinu in you too. One person has more and another less, but everyone has something of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul within them. So everything we discussed in the previous chapter—all the contemplation and so on—applies to everyone. To some more, to others less, but it applies. There is no Jew without a natural fear of Hashem, and no Jew without something from the source of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul. So everyone can connect and awaken fear within themselves; that makes it a small thing. “Furthermore.” Why “furthermore”? After all, how much daas of G-dliness do any of us have? Well, not too much.

28:08 Speaker 1 The Arizal does assure us that everyone has it, all right, but it’s a kind of illumination that we barely feel, if we feel it at all. So the Alter Rebbe says there’s another way to receive daas from Moshe Rabbeinu, another form of help that doesn’t come from the soul’s illumination, but from something else. “Furthermore”—beyond the illumination from Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul—“in every generation, sparks from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, descend and become clothed in the bodies and souls of the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community.” What’s the difference between light and a spark?

28:52 Speaker 13 Light is greater.

28:56 Speaker 1 Hm?

28:57 Speaker 13 Light is greater than a spark.

29:00 Speaker 1 That’s true, but that’s the advantage of light. What’s the advantage of a spark?

29:07 Speaker 13 It’s at the beginning; it isn’t the whole thing.

29:12 Speaker 1 When there’s a bonfire and sparks fly off, the light cast by the fire is certainly much greater than the light of a spark.

29:19 Speaker 13 A spark can—

29:20 Speaker 1 A spark is the fire itself. It’s part of the fire; it is fire in essence. It isn’t an illumination. Right? It’s small, but it’s the fire itself. So there are two ways this happens. There’s what Moshe Rabbeinu illuminates from his soul within every person in every generation. That does reach everyone, but it’s only an illumination. Then there’s a spark—something substantial from Moshe Rabbeinu—that becomes clothed in the body and soul of the sages of the community. Now, this is very... How do we—what gives life to the... How does life work? The soul gives life to the body, right? So what should the order be? If a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu becomes clothed in a body, you would think the spark becomes clothed in the soul, right? And the soul becomes clothed in the body. That should be the order. But what does the Alter Rebbe say? A spark from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu...

30:28 Speaker 13 Is imposed on him.

30:29 Speaker 1 That was the spark. A spark from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu becomes clothed in “body and soul.” Why does he say “body” first? Do you hear what I’m asking?

30:50 Speaker 13 Yes. Why “body” first?

30:54 Speaker 1 A spark from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu becomes clothed in the soul too. But first, it becomes clothed in the body. The Alter Rebbe is emphasizing what “becomes clothed” means here. When we’re speaking of the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community, a spark from Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul gives life to their bodies. In each of the sages of Israel, Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul, or a spark of it, gives life directly to the body. It isn’t clothed somewhere in the soul, concealed and hidden, with something of it eventually shining into the body as well. Because in the sages of Israel, Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul shines openly—not just shining in them, but becoming clothed in and giving life to their physical bodies—they can give us daas and teach us to know G-dliness. Take two people who can draw. Both know the technique extremely well. They’ve studied, and they have—

32:28 Speaker 13 They have a natural inclination too.

32:29 Speaker 1 They have, they have—

32:30 Speaker 13 Talent.

32:31 Speaker 1 They have excellent talent, and they’ve trained it equally. They’re both accomplished artists. What’s the expression?

32:42 Speaker 13 Ready.

32:42 Speaker 1 What do you call it? It comes naturally to both of them. But there’s a difference. One has a feel for it, and the other doesn’t.

32:49 Speaker 13 Talent.

32:50 Speaker 1 No. They’re equally talented. They have equal talent for using the technique. They’re both outstanding. There’s no difference there. Yet you look at one painting and it draws you in, while the other doesn’t. It’s perfect, but it’s lifeless. It isn’t—what am I trying to say?

33:14 Speaker 13 Because one paints from the soul and the other doesn’t.

33:16 Speaker 1 Paints from the soul.

33:18 Speaker 13 Right.

33:18 Speaker 1 The difference is that for an artist who has that feel for it, the talent is just an expression of that feeling. It’s only the—

33:28 Speaker 13 Means.

33:29 Speaker 1 The means through which his soul speaks on the page. Now, it isn’t something you can define, but even an ordinary person who doesn’t know much about painting will look at it and say, “Ah, this looks different.” Right? You can have two prayer leaders, two cantors, both with beautiful voices. They’ve studied music and trained their voices. But one is a baal tefillah, while the other simply knows the traditional melodies. He knows them perfectly and is very pleasant to listen to, but it isn’t the same. Why not? The soul isn’t in it. Right?

34:08 Speaker 13 But that’s true of everything, not just painting.

34:10 Speaker 1 What does that have to do with us here? There can be two great scholars who both learned Chassidus and Kabbalah, know how to explain things, have intellect, and have I don’t know what else, right? But the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu shines in one of them and not in the other. When the one in whom Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul shines tells me the very same things, it will affect me. Yes, of course... because it is enclothed in his body. It gives life to his body. And we say something more: beyond the radiance that shines in each person’s soul—and that is only a radiance—in every generation, sparks from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, descend and become enclothed in the bodies and souls of the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community. And what do they do? They teach the people knowledge; they teach us. They say the same thing, but hearing it from the Rebbe is different. “To know the greatness of Hashem and serve Him with heart and soul,” because service of the heart depends on knowledge. As it says, “Know the G-d of your father and serve Him with a whole heart.” It isn’t enough to have a radiance from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, the root of your soul, understanding, and everything else. You need knowledge of the greatness of Hashem, and you need to receive that knowledge from someone in whose body Moshe Rabbeinu is enclothed. Then it will shine in you too; it will affect you too. And of the future, he says, “No one will teach his fellow, saying, ‘Know Hashem,’ for they will all know Me.” In the future there will be no need for that, because the faculty of daas will truly shine in everyone. But the essence of daas is not simply knowing; it isn’t enough that they know. We have knowledge of the greatness of Hashem from authors and books. Rather, the main thing is to deepen one’s awareness of the greatness of Hashem and fix one’s thoughts on Hashem with strength and firmness of heart and mind. Do those words remind you of anything? Do you remember the wording in chapter 3? You have a Tanya around here somewhere.

36:49 Speaker 14 We don’t know if...

36:50 Speaker 1 Then it should be on the shelf.

36:52 Speaker 14 Wow.

36:53 Speaker 1 Ah.

36:57 Speaker 14 Wow, wow.

36:59 Speaker 1 It definitely, definitely should be on the shelf.

37:01 Speaker 14 Where did you buy it?

37:02 Speaker 15 I’m used to— You know this one better.

37:04 Speaker 14 But I received it.

37:06 Speaker 15 What’s that?

37:08 Speaker 14 It’s falling. You need a shtender.

37:13 Speaker 1 It’s a beautiful edition. Here he says this: Daas is from the expression “And Adam knew Chava.” It denotes attachment and connection: that he connects—connects his mind with a bond—what is daas? That he binds his mind with a very firm and strong bond, and firmly fixes his thoughts on the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof, without letting his mind wander from it. For even someone who is wise and discerning about the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof, if he does not bind his mind to it and firmly and persistently fix his thoughts on it, he will not give rise in his soul to true awe and love, but only to vain imaginings. So the wording here is “binds his mind with a very firm and strong bond, and firmly fixes his thoughts.” Exactly the same words as here, right? Here, surprisingly: “The main thing is to deepen one’s awareness of the greatness of Hashem and fix one’s thoughts on Hashem with strength and firmness of heart and mind.” Here he adds something else that isn’t written in chapter 3 of Tanya: “Until his thoughts are

38:18 Speaker 14 bound to Hashem

38:19 Speaker 1 bound to Hashem with a firm and strong bond, just as they are bound to a physical thing he sees with his eyes of flesh.” That isn’t written in chapter 3.

38:32 Speaker 14 That we receive.

38:33 Speaker 1 Huh?

38:34 Speaker 14 That we receive.

38:39 Speaker 1 What’s the difference between seeing something with your physical eyes, seeing it in the material world, and understanding the matter intellectually? It’s clear to everyone that these are two completely different things, right? Yes. What is he saying? That everyone has a soul from M-M-M-Moshe Rabbeinu—a certain radiance. And through contemplating what the sages teach, listening to the sages, and binding one’s mind with a firm and strong bond, every person can and must reach the point where G-dliness—where he connects to G-dliness as he connects to a physical thing he sees with his eyes. He should feel G-dliness as something tangible. Chapter 3 doesn’t say such a thing. There it says that to have true love and awe, you need to bind your mind with a very firm and strong bond, and that’s it. He doesn’t—he doesn’t demand there that a person have, uh, a tangible vision of G-dliness, that he feel it. To feel G-dliness the way I see a physical thing. He doesn’t demand that there. What? What? Why here, but not there? So the Rebbe explains that it’s simple. There, the subject is giving rise to emotions for serving Hashem, primarily love. To give rise to love of Hashem, you don’t need Hakadosh Boruch Hu to stand physically before your eyes. But when a person needs to awaken awe, to be afraid, a person fears something he sees. He needs to see. He needs to see it with his eyes. If a person doesn’t reach a point where the presence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is tangible to him... If the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present all the time is something I only believe—I believe it. I learned it, and I’m a believing Jew, so I believe it. No, I’m not a heretic; I believe He is everywhere. Right? Then that doesn’t stop me from committing sins too, does it? No, let’s go further. I contemplated it and thought about it, and so on, so I can recall it at any moment. Right? I can also forget it, can’t I? I

41:14 Speaker 1 only understand it. And more than that, I firmly and persistently fixed my mind on it, so I really, uh, will never forget it, right? I won’t forget, fine—but in the end it’s an intellectual matter. But if I see Hakadosh Boruch Hu with my eyes, I can’t forget. I can’t; I—I feel Him. If I feel Him, I know Him; I’m connected to Him.

41:43 Speaker 3 That He exists.

41:45 Speaker 1 Then it’s no longer relevant. It’s no longer relevant to talk about sins. Right? For a person to have true awe, he needs to feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu. To feel G-dliness. And the Rebbe says—this sounds far-fetched when... I know, even the tenth time you hear it, it sounds far-fetched. That I should feel G-dliness? What exactly is being demanded of me? The Rebbe says—he emphasizes this, and it takes two chapters. We’ll see more later. He goes on to say how attainable it is, and so on, and how, if you contemplate—we’ll see later in the chapter. There’s a whole lengthy discussion. Every Jew has a radiance from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, and in every generation, a spark descends to the eyes of the community and becomes enclothed in their bodies. Therefore, a Jew, every single one... He’s talking about—he’s not talking about tzaddikim, not talking about tzaddikim.

42:43 Speaker 3 Who said that? The Rebbe said it?

42:44 Speaker 1 This Rebbe, yes.

42:47 Speaker 3 He said tzaddikim.

42:49 Speaker 1 What? Where?

42:50 Speaker 3 That everyone can see G-dliness.

42:53 Speaker 1 That—that’s what he says. The Gemara asks, “Is awe such a small thing?” Yes, awe is a small thing. How is it small? Because you have an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu within you. And not only within you; you also have the eyes of the community. So you, too, can have awe. And what is awe? Awe means that you feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s a small thing for every Jew—or “you’ve got this,” as they say. Not simple.

43:26 Speaker 3 So does everyone feel Hakadosh Boruch Hu?

43:28 Speaker 1 Everyone can.

43:29 Speaker 3 Can.

43:29 Speaker 1 But for that you need daas, to bind your mind to it. “Rather, the main thing is to deepen one’s awareness of the greatness of Hashem and fix one’s thoughts on Hashem with strength and firmness of heart and mind, until his thoughts are bound to Hashem with a firm and strong bond, just as they are bound to a physical thing he sees with his eyes of flesh, on which he focuses his thoughts deeply.” Right? When a person looks at a physical thing with his eyes of flesh and focuses his thoughts deeply on it—the same thing, the same feeling toward Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

44:03 Speaker 3 That’s not—that’s not connection. I mean, the moment you see a physical thing... You haven’t connected with it just because you saw it.

44:09 Speaker 1 When—

44:10 Speaker 3 Maybe it means that He should feel as real as a physical thing?

44:12 Speaker 1 No. Like a person—the example we gave earlier: a person sees a painting. He can look at a painting—a beautiful painting, a realistic painting, a, uh, what do you call it, a painting that... Yes, he can look at it and... move on. Very beautiful. But he can also stand in front of it and become so absorbed in it that he loses his sense of himself. He’s—he’s already there, inside it. Right?

44:36 Speaker 3 Yes.

44:37 Speaker 1 So when a person... Just as it’s relatively easy for a person to look at a physical thing and... become so absorbed in it that he loses his sense of himself and... is swallowed up in it, so too it must—and can—be with G-dliness. “As is known, daas denotes attachment, as in ‘And Adam knew,’ etc. And this power and faculty of binding one’s mind to Hashem exists in every soul of the House of Israel, through the sustenance it receives from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him.” Well, that seems very far off to me. So I believe it’s probably true, but when I stop and think for a moment—wait, what do I need to do now? Where, how, uh, where do you start? Right? I don’t actually feel it. And where is it? Where? You keep telling me it’s there, and I believe it’s there too, but I don’t feel it. He says, why? Huh?

45:45 Speaker 3 How do you begin to feel it?

45:47 Speaker 1 He says only... So you have it. It’s just that, since the soul has become clothed—what soul? You, the G-dly soul, which has natural awe within it, and from the standpoint of daas it is there—but since the soul has become clothed in your physical body, it needs tremendous effort, doubled and redoubled, to bring that awe and daas out from under the body’s covering. So it’s inside, but revealing it takes tremendous effort, doubled and redoubled. Why doubled and redoubled? There’s... you need both effort of the body and effort of the soul. What is effort of the body? “Doubled and redoubled”—that’s the wording, right? What is effort of the body, and what is effort of the soul? “The first is exertion of the flesh,” effort of the body, “to crush the body and subdue it so it does not darken the soul’s light, as explained earlier in the name of the Zohar.” Do you rem-remember the Alter Rebbe discussing this? What does it mean to crush the body?

47:05 Speaker 3 Nothing, a nonentity, and a worm.

47:07 Speaker 1 Yes, exactly, that chapter. After he spoke there about how to awaken the hidden love. A beautiful chapter. To overcome the yetzer hara, you need to be joyful. He says, yes, but there’s someone who tried all the tricks and all the contemplation, and neither that nor joy... Nothing, nothing works for him. That’s because the body covers the... the soul, the neshamah. So with a piece of wood—we understand from the Zohar—if you have a log that won’t catch fire, you throw it into the bonfire and it still won’t catch. Before throwing it in, take an ax and break it, break it into...

47:54 Speaker 3 Chips.

47:55 Speaker 1 Make the klotz into little pieces of wood, as they say in Yiddish.

47:59 Speaker 3 Yes.

47:59 Speaker 1 And throw those into the fire; they’ll catch. Right, so your body is like that log, heavy, and the soul—the soul’s light—doesn’t catch in it; it can’t set your body alight. So break the body up a little, and then it will catch. How do you break up the body? How do you crush the body? There’s chapter 29, about how a person needs to contemplate that he is nothing, a nonentity, and... even if he has done teshuvah, even if he hasn’t committed sins, he has thoughts, and this and that. So many different things that, when we learned that chapter, we said, “When will we finally finish?” It’s not... one of the less pleasant chapters to learn. Chapter 29 of Tanya. So first of all, that’s called exertion of the body. A person has a soul inside, with natural awe and natural love and daas, but it’s clothed in a body. If it doesn’t shine, the body needs to be crushed. That comes first. As explained earlier in the name of the Zohar: “A body in which the soul’s light does not rise must be crushed.” How? Through thoughts of teshuvah from the depths of the heart, as explained there at great length, in chapter 29. And the second—that’s the doubled effort. What is the second effort? Exertion of the soul. So the first effort is exertion of the body, to crush the body. The second is exertion of the soul. What is exertion of the soul? That it should not find the task too burdensome to exert its thought, to delve into and contemplate the greatness of Hashem for an uninterrupted hour—a long, uninterrupted stretch of time. Because the length of that “hour” is not the same for every soul. There is a soul that is pure by nature, which, as soon as it contemplates the greatness of Hashem, is filled with awe and fear of Hashem, as stated in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, section 1. That’s the... second halachah in Shulchan Aruch, I think, right at the... How does the Shulchan

50:04 Speaker 1 Aruch open, on the first page? It says there: “When a person contemplates that the great King, the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, whose glory fills the entire earth, stands over him and sees his deeds, awe will immediately come upon him.” So it’s explicit in Shulchan Aruch. Shulchan Aruch! People often say—you hear it, at least among the men—“But it’s written in Shulchan Aruch!” As if to say, how can you do that? It’s written in Shulchan Aruch. They treat Shulchan Aruch as though it’s the very top. As though if you do everything written in Shulchan Aruch, you’re a...

50:48 Speaker 4 Tzaddik.

50:49 Speaker 1 More than a tzaddik. A tzaddik is nothing; that’s less than a tzaddik.

50:55 Speaker 4 Super.

50:55 Speaker 1 Yes, Superman. I don’t know what you’d call it. What’s the truth? The truth is the opposite. What is Shulchan Aruch for? What are the halachos for? The halachos define the boundary between kosher and treif, between pure and impure, between truth and falsehood. Shulchan Aruch defines what you might call the bare minimum. Below that, it isn’t Jewish practice. Shulchan Aruch doesn’t come to define what a Jew ought to look like. This isn’t an extra measure of piety; it’s... you could say, it’s the minimum. Don’t go below it. And what does Shulchan Aruch start with? The very, very first thing, the most basic thing, the beginning of the beginning of the minimum. What? That the moment a Jew contemplates the greatness of Hashem, fear of Hashem comes upon him. Shulchan Aruch says this is relevant to everyone. Not only is it relevant—with this we begin. Hmm? That’s what it says. I’ll read it again. This is something to contemplate. It’s explicit in Shulchan Aruch, at the beginning of Shulchan Aruch. Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, section 1: “When a person contemplates that the great King, the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, stands over him and sees his deeds, awe will immediately come upon him.” Why isn’t it like that for me? Because my soul isn’t pure by nature. For someone whose soul is pure by nature, it really is like that. But there is a soul that is lowly by its nature and origin, by the source from which it was hewn. That soul comes from the lower levels of the ten sefiros of Asiyah, and it cannot find G-dliness in its thoughts except with difficulty and force. So there are Jews for whom the Shulchan Aruch’s words hold true: they simply contemplate the greatness of Hashem, and awe immediately comes upon them. And there are those who have to work for it. “Especially if it has been defiled by the sins of youth”—if a person has some sin, then sins create a separation, and so on, as we’ll discuss in... where

53:39 Speaker 1 is it? In Sefer Chareidim, section 35. “Nevertheless,” even if there’s someone with a lowly soul, even such a person, with difficulty and force, “if he greatly strengthens his thoughts with resolve, much effort, and great depth, delving into the greatness of Hashem for a long stretch of time, he will certainly attain at least the lower level of awe mentioned above.” Why? Because ultimately every Jew has within his soul a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul—

54:10 Speaker 5 A spark.

54:11 Speaker 1 A spark, [unclear]. And as our Sages say, “If someone tells you, ‘I worked hard and found,’ believe him.” And as it is written, “If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Hashem.” Would you like to stop here? What?

54:30 Speaker 5 No problem.

54:31 Speaker 6 It’ll be too late.

54:32 Speaker 5 No problem.

54:33 Speaker 6 Then keep going if she doesn’t mind. Go on a little longer. We’ve come this far, so yes, go on a little longer.

54:45 Speaker 1 So ultimately, even someone who finds it very, very hard, who feels nothing and is sure none of this applies to him—even he, the Alter Rebbe assures us, on the basis of the explanation he gave earlier: “If someone tells you, ‘I worked hard and found,’ believe him”; “If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of...” What does it mean, “like silver and hidden treasures”? When a person knows there’s a treasure in a certain place, he’ll dig.

55:15 Speaker 6 Right, he’ll search there.

55:18 Speaker 1 If he knows there’s a treasure there, he’ll dig.

55:21 Speaker 6 He’ll make an effort.

55:22 Speaker 1 Even if it’s very hard for him. If he isn’t sure, I don’t know how much effort he’ll make.

55:25 Speaker 6 He’ll make an effort too.

55:26 Speaker 1 He’s not... he’s not sure. Maybe he’ll give up; he doesn’t know whether it’s there. But if he’s certain, if he knows it’s there, he won’t give up. He’ll work until he finds it. “Then you will understand the fear of Hashem. Meaning: Just as a person searches for a treasure hidden deep in the earth, digging for it with tremendous effort, so one must dig with tremendous effort to uncover the treasure of yiras Shamayim concealed and hidden in the understanding of the heart of every Jew.” What is tremendous effort? Exertion of the soul and exertion of the flesh, as he explained earlier. We haven’t gone into all the details; there’s more to discuss there. What is this treasure of yiras Shamayim “concealed and hidden in the understanding of the heart”? That’s the treasure. What are we looking for?

56:12 Speaker 6 The treasure.

56:12 Speaker 1 The treasure. What is this “treasure of yi...” What does that expression mean? Let’s take it apart slowly. Yiras Shamayim. It’s yiras Shamayim. It means bittul to G-dliness. Yes, a tangible sense of G-dliness, as we discussed earlier. It’s called a rope. In the Gemara it’s called a treasure of yiras Shamayim. Why? Why is it called a treasure?

56:42 Speaker 6 It’s precious. It’s rare.

56:44 Speaker 1 Because you have to search for it the way you search for a treasure. It’s hidden deep in the earth.

56:50 Speaker 6 What is? Yiras Shamayim.

56:51 Speaker 1 There is yiras Shamayim; everyone has natural awe, but it’s hidden under the earth like a treasure. That’s why it’s called a treasure of yiras Shamayim: because it’s hidden underground.

57:05 Speaker 6 Because yiras Shamayim is something so essential.

57:12 Speaker 1 Yes. Here it’s free. Yes, all right.

57:14 Speaker 6 Not only because of the way it’s hidden, but also because...

57:17 Speaker 1 Hidden means hidden.

57:18 Speaker 6 A treasure.

57:19 Speaker 1 And why do we pursue it? Yes. And where is it hidden? Why is it called a treasure? Where is it hidden? Because it’s concealed. Hidden where? In the understanding of the heart. What is the understanding of the heart of every Jew?

57:35 Speaker 6 In our soul.

57:36 Speaker 1 Right. Why is it called “the understanding of the heart”? A person has intellect and emotion. Right? The heart is emotion, and understanding is intellect.

57:50 Speaker 6 It’s intellect, and also...

57:51 Speaker 1 Yes. Generally speaking, the whole matter of intellect is called understanding. It’s true that intellect also includes chochmah and daas, but when a person understands something, he doesn’t say, “I became wise.” He says, “I understood.” Right? Even when he connects with something, he says, “I understood.”

58:07 Speaker 6 I understood.

58:08 Speaker 1 The whole matter of intellect is understanding—understanding upon understanding.

58:11 Speaker 6 I became wise. I understood.

58:12 Speaker 1 I understood.

58:14 Speaker 6 There’s something else.

58:18 Speaker 1 Generally speaking, the intellect has three broad faculties, but take the whole matter of intellect. What is intellect? Intellect means understanding—he understands. Right. What’s the difference between intellect and emotion? Emotion shows itself outwardly. Intellect is just that I understand something inside. Nobody knows what I understand. Nobody knows what I understand. Whether I understood or didn’t understand, nobody can tell. If I don’t speak, nobody will know. Yes. Emotion goes outward. Intellect stays inward, hidden inside. When we say “the understanding of the heart,” it’s as though we’re saying something is... hidden in the heart. Binah means understanding. Intellect is associated with concealment; it’s hidden. Something you can’t see is hidden within the heart. What is hidden in the heart? And why? And why is it hidden specifically there?

59:19 Speaker 6 Fear, because fear is an emotion. Fear.

59:25 Speaker 1 Right, fear is an emotion, and so it’s hidden in the heart. But where does this emotion come from? Where does the feeling of natural fear come from? From the soul. Right. The soul is not intellect and not emotion. Is that understood? Is it understood or not? Hmm? A person has his essence. Who is he? “I.” And he has his faculties. One person has the strength to throw a stone far, and another can throw a stone but doesn’t have much strength in his arm. He has some strength. Yes. His ability to throw isn’t him; it’s a power that belongs to him. Right, it comes from him, it radiates from him, but it isn’t him. Yes. Nobody would say of the strength in his arm, “That’s me.” Right? It’s my strength, it’s mine, but it isn’t me. It belongs to me. And there are higher faculties, like sight. What do I see? I have the power of sight. One person sees well; another sees less well. Yes. So sight is much higher than the power of the muscles, but it’s still a faculty of mine. It isn’t me. Now emotion. What would we say about emotion? Surely that already is me. Sometimes I’m angry, sometimes I’m—sometimes I’m angry, sometimes I’m happy. I am me. There’s only one me.

1:01:06 Speaker 7 The soul and the faculties of the soul.

1:01:08 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:01:09 Speaker 7 The soul has its faculties too.

1:01:11 Speaker 1 So those are faculties—right, a faculty of the soul. All the emotions are also faculties of... They aren’t the soul; they aren’t me, the soul itself. Yes. And intellect? I understand; it’s my intellect. I understand better than you. So there is me, and there is the faculty—the faculty of intellect that belongs to me. Right? So I am... The soul, I myself, am the soul. I have all kinds of faculties, lower faculties and higher faculties, but the faculties aren’t me. Yes?

1:01:52 Speaker 7 So what is the soul?

1:01:54 Speaker 1 I am the soul, the essence of the soul.

1:02:02 Speaker 7 Yes. So everything comes from the soul. Everything, essentially, comes from the soul.

1:02:08 Speaker 1 So when we say... Now we can return to the question we asked earlier. When we say the soul is revealed in the heart, why specifically in the heart? Why say that the soul is revealed in the heart more than in the intellect or in any other faculty? A person—the soul, the “I”—has many faculties, right? Lots of faculties, and they’re all his. Why say it’s in the heart? Why say, as the expression goes, “Binah liba”—“with it, the heart understands”—that the soul is in... in... in... Why in the heart? Hmm? Why, I can’t explain. But ask any person, “Did you do that?” “Me?” That “me” is in the heart. Where does a person feel himself? In the heart.

1:03:03 Speaker 7 In the heart.

1:03:03 Speaker 1 Yes?

1:03:05 Speaker 7 Yes.

1:03:05 Speaker 1 And just as the physical soul, the material soul, the animal soul—whatever you call it—feels itself in the heart, the G-dly soul is also revealed in the heart. But ordinarily, for my heart to yearn for G-dliness and feel and sense it—that isn’t what I feel. Instead, my heart feels and is drawn to the reality of my physical body: how hungry or thirsty or tired or happy I am, and what I want. It feels things of this world. And the very fact that my heart feels the things of this world so strongly covers and conceals the soul within it, the understanding of the heart. That’s why it’s called hidden. What’s the wording here?

1:04:02 Speaker 7 Understanding.

1:04:04 Speaker 1 “A treasure of fear of Heaven, stored away and hidden in the understanding of the heart.” It exists in every Jew, and it is stored away and hidden in the understanding of the heart, “which is an aspect and a level above time, and is the aforementioned hidden natural fear.” We’ll stop here, because this is where a new subject begins—the second half of the chapter, as it were.