Likkutei Amarim Chapter 44 · 5785

00:01 Speaker 1 From my angle.

00:03 Speaker 2 No, what?

00:04 Speaker 1 What?

00:05 Speaker 2 That question.

00:08 Speaker 1 All right, talk to me and I’ll answer you. Do you want that same correction?

00:16 Speaker 2 Yes, of what?

00:20 Speaker 1 Why is the correction connected to this?

00:22 Speaker 8 In the previous chapter, chapter 43, the Alter Rebbe explained that there are two levels of fear and two levels of love. Remember? There is lower fear and higher fear, and there is ahavas olam and ahavah rabbah, love of delights. In the second half of the chapter, he went into more detail about ahavas olam. Love is an emotion. But what does ahavas olam mean? It is a feeling of love for Hashem that awakens when a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness. And the more he contemplates Hashem’s greatness, the stronger his feeling, the greater his love. He explains there that, generally speaking, it has three levels: contemplating how Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills and gives life to the worlds, how He transcends the worlds, or how everything is considered as nothing before Him. These can give rise to three levels, but all of them are called ahavas olam. Even a very great, very powerful love, like flames of fire, when a person is entirely ablaze with love—that too is called ahavas olam. It is an intellectual love, a love born as a result of contemplation. Then he said there is another kind of love called ahavah rabbah, love of delights. What does love of delights mean? It is a love that a Jew receives as a gift. A person cannot attain it through contemplation. Why? Because the substance of this love of delights is that he takes delight in G-dliness. What does it mean to take delight in G-dliness? He senses G-dliness itself; it becomes something he feels. A person of flesh and blood cannot possibly... By G-dliness itself, we mean the oneness of Hashem as it is in the World of Atzilus. That is how it is explained. That is what he explained. So how could any created being, especially a person in this world, feel that he can sense this? It isn’t possible. So he receives it as a gift. Who receives it as a gift? Why doesn’t everyone

02:27 Speaker 8 receive the gift? When do they, and when don’t they? He said that it belongs to a person who is complete in his fear of Hashem; then Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him this love as a gift. Why? Because what is the substance of fear? Fear means that a person nullifies himself.

02:47 Speaker 2 Yes.

02:47 Speaker 8 And the more he nullifies himself, the more he can sense G-dliness. When his fear is complete—higher fear, higher fear—we said that he explained it as something like complete self-nullification. Like a sense of shame. What is shame? When a person is ashamed of something, he wants not to be there. The point of shame, the feeling of shame, is that a person nullifies himself. He explained the contemplation that leads a person to fear. But when a person reaches the level at which his fear is complete, his sense of self is nullified. And because he is no longer a separate entity, he can sense the Divine oneness as it is in the World of Atzilus. So that, generally speaking, is what was explained in the previous chapter: two levels of fear, apart from the beginning of the chapter. The main part of the chapter’s conclusion, from the middle onward, explains that there are two levels of love: ahavas olam, an intellectual love awakened through contemplation, and ahavah rabbah, love of delights, something a person receives as a gift from above. Two levels. And then, at the end of the previous class, we asked: Why are you telling us that such a thing exists? Intellectual love, fine. But ahavah rabbah, love of delights—what does that have to do with us? We’re talking about the Book of the Beinoni. Why tell us such wonderful things? What are they? How are they

04:20 Speaker 2 relevant to us?

04:20 Speaker 8 There’s a book for tzaddikim. Write these things there. What are they doing here? That will become very clear in our chapter.

04:30 Speaker 2 Mm.

04:30 Speaker 8 It begins like this. Chapter 44: “Now, each level of love of these two levels”—discussed in the previous chapter, ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam—“is divided into innumerable aspects and levels.” Why? “Each person according to his own measure.” Obviously, if a person has a higher soul-root, greater sensitivity, more time, and also works harder, then the deeper his contemplation, the stronger the love in his heart will be. That makes sense, right?

05:20 Speaker 2 Mm.

05:20 Speaker 8 It doesn’t quite make sense. With intellectual love, it’s clear that this is so.

05:26 Speaker 2 Yes.

05:26 Speaker 8 But a love that a person receives from above—he receives it as a gift from above. What difference does it make whether he contemplates or not? Right? Well, no. He says that even ahavah rabbah, love of delights, which a person receives from above, has innumerable levels. And even though it comes from above, it too depends on how much effort a person puts in. Why? He explains this with what the Zohar says about the verse, “Her husband is known in the gates.” Who is the husband of Knesses Yisroel? Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And what does the verse say—that He is known in the gates? The Zohar asks: What does “known” mean? How can Hakadosh Boruch Hu be known to a person? That is exactly what we were saying. What is ahavah rabbah? It is when a person feels G-dliness itself. Yes. So the Zohar asks: How can Hakadosh Boruch Hu be known to a person? And it answers that this is precisely what the verse means: “Her husband is known in the gates”—this is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is known and cleaved to by each person according to what he measures in his heart, and so on. So it’s true that he receives the love from above; everyone who receives it is given the same thing. But how deeply he feels it depends on his preparation. Consequently, both ahavas olam and ahavah rabbah have innumerable levels. It depends on how much each person exerts himself, how hard he works, how much he thinks, how much he knows, and what abilities he has. That is how deeply he feels it—both intellectual love and ahavah rabbah. And so he continues: “Fear and love are called ‘the hidden things that belong to Hashem our G-d,’” because they are hidden. How did our Sages put it? A person does not know what is in another person’s heart. He can see what the other person does, his actions, but he does not know what is in his heart. Those are the hidden things. “But the Torah and mitzvos are ‘the revealed things that belong to us

07:40 Speaker 8 and to our children, to do,’ and so on, for there is one Torah and one law for all of us in their observance.” In observing all the Torah and mitzvos in practice—and in practice there is no difference; everyone does the same thing. The difference between one Jew and another is not in the practical fulfillment of a mitzvah, but in the heart. “This is not so with fear and love, which depend on the knowledge of Hashem in the mind and heart, as explained above.” There, it is not one Torah and one law. Each person experiences it according to what he measures in his heart. That was the introduction. “There is, however, one love.” There is another kind of love that we haven’t discussed until now, “which encompasses all the aspects and levels of ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam.” Do you hear how... How can that be? Ahavas olam is a love based on intellect. Right?

08:47 Speaker 9 Give us an example.

08:49 Speaker 8 What is ahavas olam? We’ve spoken here many times about how, when a person thinks about something until it becomes real to him, he is moved emotionally.

08:56 Speaker 9 Ah.

08:56 Speaker 8 He thinks about Hashem’s greatness. How does Hakadosh Boruch Hu give life to the worlds? That is why it is called ahavas olam.

09:01 Speaker 9 Yes.

09:01 Speaker 8 How Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives life to the worlds, how He transcends the worlds, how Hakadosh... He thinks about Hashem’s greatness, and that awakens an emotion. This is a love rooted in intellect. Ahavah rabbah, love of delights, has its foundation in something opposite to intellect: he nullifies himself and feels what is beyond him. Those are two opposite things. How can there be a love that encompasses both? And more than that, it doesn’t just encompass both: this one love contains every level of ahavas olam as well as every level of... ordinary love. When we speak of intellectual love, ahavas olam, each person has his own level. The love he is about to discuss encompasses all the levels. First of all, how can ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam go together? And how can one love encompass every level? Two questions—two things that aren’t quite clear. So before I continue with the chapter, I have to... Sometimes we stop and put things in order a little. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came into being.

10:18 Speaker 9 Amen. Hey, hey, hey.

10:24 Speaker 8 Mm?

10:24 Speaker 9 [unclear] I see you.

10:39 Speaker 8 You surely remember—and if you don’t remember, you certainly know—that near the beginning of Tanya, in chapters 18 through 25, there are eight chapters in which the Alter Rebbe speaks about a hidden love. Remember we talked about that? Every Jew has a soul, and the nature of the soul is to love Hashem. So a person doesn’t need to bring any new love into his heart. It’s enough for him to remember that he cannot be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He doesn’t need to contemplate, doesn’t need to think, doesn’t need to do anything. He just needs to bring it to mind, to remember. Simply remember: If I were backed against the wall, I would give my life. So am I going to commit a sin? And that’s enough to stop a Jew from sinning. Why is it so powerful? He desperately wants to say something he mustn’t say, or eat food he mustn’t eat, or commit some other sin. He’s burning with that desire right now, and he just remembers that he has the capacity for self-sacrifice in his soul, and he won’t do it. Where does this power come from, from merely remembering? Because when a person remembers, he reminds himself that he has the capacity for self-sacrifice. Where does that self-sacrifice come from? From the fact that he has a divine soul. The divine soul is truly “an actual part of G-d above,” and it truly senses G-dliness and truly cannot be separated from Him. So the moment he reminds himself, that alone is enough to affect what he actually does. The Alter Rebbe explains this at great, great length. What did we call this love? A hidden love. Why hidden? Because usually, in a person’s everyday life—even someone observant, a Chabad chossid, someone who serves Hashem—he

12:42 Speaker 8 doesn’t feel it. He doesn’t feel this love. It awakens when there’s a situation that calls for self-sacrifice. Then this point awakens. But on an ordinary day, in day-to-day life, a person doesn’t go around feeling, “Heaven forbid, I’m about to be cut off from G-dliness.” When someone tells him, “Here, now we’re cutting you off,” it starts screaming. But as long as that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t scream; it’s as though it isn’t there. That’s why it’s called hidden, concealed. We talked about this through various examples and stories that show plainly that when Jews—even those who aren’t so observant in their everyday lives—feel that someone is coming to cut them off from G-dliness, they’re ready to give their lives. That’s called the hidden love, and that’s what those chapters discuss. How do you reveal the hidden love? By reminding yourself. What they didn’t discuss there is that this same hidden love has two other aspects. What does that mean? Why doesn’t a person want to be cut off? The person’s divine soul—why doesn’t it want to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Because it feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is its life. Right? And more than that, it feels not only that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives it life. It feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is its very self. He is its source. So here, in this chapter, the Alter Rebbe will explain that this hidden love, this natural love that exists in the divine soul, has two other aspects besides the aspect of guarding against separation from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, which it fears. It also has two positive aspects: it loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And it loves Him not because a person contemplated the greatness of Hashem, but because it feels that He is its life. And not because it was given some gift from above, either, but because it feels that Hakadosh

14:55 Speaker 8 Boruch Hu is the source of its life. So there are two more aspects that come, essentially, from that same point in the divine soul. It turns out that, broadly speaking, we have two kinds of love of Hashem: love of Hashem that comes from outside, and love of Hashem that exists naturally within a person. The love of Hashem that comes to a person from outside has two kinds: one that comes through intellect and one that comes from above. The love of Hashem that exists naturally within a person has three forms: not wanting to be separated, feeling that He is our life, and feeling that He is our Father. All right, we’ve put things in a bit of order. Now, it isn’t quite so simple. It’s much more complicated, but that’s a digression. It’s no longer part of the subject here. Chassidus often speaks about love like flames of fire, love like water, ahavah rabbah, ahavah zuta—because some of the levels or kinds of love we’ve discussed can only be love like water. Some can only be love like fire. Some can be both. Lesser love, greater love, and so on. And there are explanations upon explanations about this. But broadly speaking, you need to know that there are two kinds of love that come from outside—love of Hashem that is born within a person but doesn’t come from his nature—and three forms of love that do come from his nature. All right? So there, in chapters 18 through 25 near the beginning of Tanya, one aspect is discussed. Here, the other two aspects will be discussed. Now we can understand what it says. So that love—what is this love that includes both ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam and all the levels? It’s speaking about that natural love. What does it say? Namely, what

17:14 Speaker 8 the Zohar says about the verse, “My soul, I have longed for You at night.” What’s the problem with “My soul, I have longed for You at night”? Let me go through it slowly. What do the words “nafshi ivisicha” mean? Two words. “Nafshi”—a Jew is saying to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; this is from the book of the prophet Isaiah—“my soul, I—”

17:34 Speaker 10 “I longed for You at night.”

17:35 Speaker 8 “At night I yearn for You.” That’s the plain meaning. Right? Now, what does it say here? What is “nafshi ivisicha”? “Nafshi”—what does that word mean?

17:45 Speaker 10 My soul.

17:46 Speaker 8 My soul. Two words, right? And what is “ivisicha”?

17:49 Speaker 10 I yearn. I yearn.

17:51 Speaker 8 “Ivisicha” is three words: “I yearn for You.”

17:54 Speaker 10 Yes.

17:55 Speaker 8 Right? “Nafshi ivisicha”: “My soul, I yearn for You.” That doesn’t sound right.

18:03 Speaker 10 Yearns for You. “My soul yearns for You.”

18:07 Speaker 8 “My soul, I yearn for You.” Why do we need to say “I” a second time? We’ve already said “my soul.” It should have said “nafshi ivscha.” The vav should have a sh’va, not a chirik.

18:19 Speaker 10 Maybe because I’m also speaking for myself, on behalf of my soul.

18:23 Speaker 8 We’ll hear the interpretation in another moment, later in the line. But first, let’s hear what troubles the Zohar. The Zohar asks: Why say “I” twice? It should have been “nafshi ivscha,” not “ivisicha.” A simple question. Incidentally, the commentators also struggle with this—the commentators who explain the straightforward meaning. They offer explanations about poetic language and all sorts of things. So the Rebbe gives an astonishingly simple interpretation here that resolves the question from the outset, alongside all the commentators’ interpretations. The interpretation based on the inner dimension is actually the simplest one according to the plain meaning.

19:10 Speaker 10 Yes.

19:10 Speaker 8 He says this: “For he loves.” What does the Zohar explain? “For he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu with the love of the soul and spirit, just as the soul clings to the body and the body loves it, and so on.” What does that mean? This is what is meant by “nafshi ivisicha”: Because You, Hashem, are my soul and my true life, therefore I long for You. “Nafshi” doesn’t mean “my soul.” A Jew declares to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “You are my soul; I long for You.”

19:54 Speaker 10 That G-d is my soul?

19:56 Speaker 8 Yes.

19:58 Speaker 10 So what’s new about that?

20:01 Speaker 8 That when a person says “nafshi,” he isn’t talking about his own soul, but about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He calls Hakadosh Boruch Hu “my soul.”

20:08 Speaker 10 He’s equating his soul with G-d?

20:10 Speaker 8 No.

20:10 Speaker 10 So what is he saying—that his soul—

20:11 Speaker 8 He feels, he feels that G-d is his soul, his life.

20:16 Speaker 10 Ah, okay.

20:16 Speaker 11 What do you mean, “my life”?

20:20 Speaker 8 Yes, “my life,” exactly.

20:21 Speaker 11 That isn’t my life.

20:28 Speaker 8 So there’s no question here. He isn’t talking about his own soul; he’s talking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And what does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is “my soul”? It means that I yearn and long for You the way a person longs for the life of his own soul. “My soul yearns for You at night,” the Alter Rebbe explains, means that a person longs for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why? Because he feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is his life. Not because He gives life to the worlds and is so great, and then—wow, that stirs an emotion in me. That’s something external. It isn’t because he senses the essence of G-dliness. He doesn’t sense the essence of G-dliness. He feels that G-dliness is his life. What gives life to his body is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s what he feels. And clearly, if a person feels that what gives life to his physical existence, to his ordinary life, is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, will he want anything in this world? Apart from learning Torah, he won’t want anything. If a person feels that his life, his physical life, is Hakadosh Boruch Hu—that He is his soul—he won’t want anything else. Only that. That’s life; that’s what he wants.

21:53 Speaker 10 Well, it’s like in [unclear]... from that book, Zikaron, recently.

21:55 Speaker 8 Yes, yes, yes.

21:58 Speaker 10 Completely nullified. Living with bittul.

22:02 Speaker 8 Wait, that’s only the first level.

22:06 Speaker 11 That’s just... where did we go, and where...

22:09 Speaker 8 Wait, wait, wait, wait. We said that the whole point of this chapter is to show us that the great and wondrous love we couldn’t understand why we were even being told about belongs to us—and very much so. Hold on. What are we talking about? When does a person long for the life of his soul? Think about a person living a physical life; let’s leave G-dliness aside for a moment. When a person is healthy, he doesn’t long for the life of his soul. When he’s sick, when he doesn’t feel well, when he’s tired, suddenly he...

22:43 Speaker 10 He has a hard time.

22:45 Speaker 8 He feels the goodness of life; he longs for life. Yes. Suddenly he feels it. So this is what he says: when he is weak, he is like a person longing for the life of his soul. And when he is weak and afflicted, he yearns and longs for his soul to return to him. Likewise, when he goes to sleep, he yearns and desires that his soul return to him when he awakens from sleep. We see this so often in ourselves.

23:13 Speaker 10 What, as in, so he won’t die and it will return to...

23:15 Speaker 8 No, no, no, no.

23:17 Speaker 10 That’s the plain meaning.

23:17 Speaker 8 No, no, no. We see this with so many people—and with me too. I’m surely not the only one. A person gets to nighttime, he’s already tired, he knows he needs to sleep, and he drags it out a little longer. Come on, your mind isn’t even working anymore; you can’t do anything. Why are you dragging it out? Go to sleep. No, just a little longer, a little longer. But why? What makes a person stay awake?

23:45 Speaker 11 The phone.

23:47 Speaker 8 But why? He knows it’s worth nothing. He even knows it’s bad for him. He knows he can’t do anything useful. No, another five minutes. He doesn’t go. Why doesn’t he go? What’s stopping him from going to sleep? You’re tired; you need it. Go to sleep. Why? Why do people drag it out? He’s losing life. He’s about to disconnect from life. A person thinks, “If I go to sleep now...” He feels he’s losing something. It’s hard for him, hard to disconnect from life.

24:21 Speaker 10 It happens to babies too.

24:23 Speaker 8 It happens...

24:24 Speaker 10 Going to sleep. Babies are afraid to go to sleep.

24:28 Speaker 8 So he says that when a person feels that his life is “my soul”—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is “my soul,” that He is his soul—then just as a person going to sleep yearns and desires that his soul return to him when he awakens, “so I yearn and long for the light of the blessed Ein Sof, the true Life of life, to draw it into myself through engaging in Torah when I awaken from my sleep at night, for the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu...” He can’t sleep, so he goes to sleep, and after two hours he wakes up and runs to grab a sefer and learn something. This is my life.

25:03 Speaker 10 What does that say about people who love sleeping?

25:05 Speaker 8 Hmm?

25:06 Speaker 10 People who love sleeping.

25:09 Speaker 8 Nobody loves sleeping. There are people—once a person is asleep, it may be very hard for him to wake up. And about that it says explicitly that it comes from the yetzer. The very first halachah in the Shulchan Aruch, the first one: “He should strengthen himself like a lion.” What do you need to overcome? While you were asleep, the G-dly soul withdrew, and now the animal soul has taken over completely. So getting out of that is not so simple.

25:44 Speaker 10 But couldn’t it be that the body is tired?

25:47 Speaker 8 What do you mean?

25:48 Speaker 10 That you want to sleep more? That it really is hard for you to get out of bed.

25:51 Speaker 8 The body doesn’t need to rest. The body, the muscles—let them rest for half an hour, and that’s it, they’ve recovered. The soul needs to rest.

26:01 Speaker 10 Well, all the more so.

26:03 Speaker 8 Well?

26:04 Speaker 10 All the more so. What? So what is it? It needs that balance.

26:09 Speaker 8 The G-dly soul seeks life: to be busy, to do things, to act. The animal soul—the body is functioning. “Let me rest, let me lie down, let me... The less I move, the better.” It’s the G-dly soul’s role to give life to the body. It’s exactly the same reason a person likes to exercise—or rather, he doesn’t like exercising. He likes the feeling after exercising.

26:37 Speaker 10 Yes.

26:38 Speaker 8 It’s exactly the same thing. He feels good, so now he thinks, “I feel good. Leave it like this.” As it says in the Zohar, “A person should desire”—yes, “desire,” that means to seek. A person seeks, out of love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to rise every night and devote himself to His service until morning, and so on. Every night he wakes up and serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He learns Torah until daybreak. He can’t sleep, he can’t—after sleeping two hours, something inside him is already stirring. Now: “And a great love, greater than this, is also hidden in every Jewish soul as an inheritance from our forefathers.” Just as this love, in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the life of my soul, comes by inheritance—because I have a soul, and its nature is that G-dliness is its life—that same soul has another quality, another aspect of that love. It is what is written in Raaya Mehemna—Raaya Mehemna is a passage, a section of the Zohar. It says there: “Like a son who strives for his father and mother, whom he loves more than himself, his soul and his spirit.” Like a son—there can be such a son, there are children like that—who loves his father more than he loves his own soul, spirit, and neshamah. He loves his father more than he loves himself. There are those who don’t, but it’s possible for a son to love his father more. What does “more” mean? More than what?

28:45 Speaker 12 Than himself.

28:48 Speaker 8 What does that mean? What’s the difference? Why does he say that this love for one’s father is a greater love, a love greater than “my soul and my life”? Why is it greater? Why can a son’s love for his father be greater than his love for his own life? It’s very simple. When a person loves life, he loves his own life; he won’t do something that goes against his life. If the only reason he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu is that he feels Hakadosh Boruch Hu is his life, he won’t give up his life. If he gives up his life, he won’t have life. Right? But if he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu the way a son loves his father and is prepared to give up his life—what does giving up his life mean? That he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu more than he loves his own life. On the basis of the love of “my soul and my life,” a Jew won’t reach the point of mesirus nefesh. On the basis of “like a son who strives,” he can give up his life. Very simple. For we all have one Father. And as we already said in chapter 2 of Tanya, right near the very beginning of Tanya, chapter 2, he demonstrated there at length that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the Father of every single person’s soul—even the simplest, the lowliest, and one lower still. The souls of all of them descended and were born from the very essence of G-dliness. One Father for all. Fine, all right, that’s written in Raaya Mehemna. Raaya Mehemna—what does Raaya Mehemna mean? You say Raaya Mehemna. Who is called the faithful shepherd?

30:46 Speaker 12 Moshe Rabbeinu.

30:47 Speaker 8 Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu had the love of a son who strives for his father. He was ready to give up his life; he loved Hakadosh Boruch Hu more than he loved even his own life. Moshe Rabbeinu, fine. But what do you want from me? What does that have to do with me? So I say this: “Yet who is the person whose heart would dare approach and attain even one part in a thousand of the level of love of the faithful shepherd?” Why are you telling me stories about Moshe Rabbeinu’s love? What? “Nevertheless, a mere edge and trace of the abundance of Moshe Rabbeinu’s goodness and light shines upon the Jewish people as a whole in every generation,” as it says in the Tikkunim, “the extension of Moshe in every generation, to illuminate them,” and so on. We discussed, not in the previous chapter, but when we spoke about fear—yes, when we began discussing “If there is no fear, there is no wisdom; if there is no wisdom, there is no fear.” So to explain that, he asked: What does it mean? Where can you begin? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? And he said that every Jew can have fear because every Jew receives something from Moshe Rabbeinu. There is an influence from Moshe Rabbeinu that extends through every generation and illuminates every Jew. It is concealed and hidden, but it illuminates every Jew, and through Moshe Rabbeinu’s power, every Jew can submit himself to G-dliness and to fear of Hashem. Why Moshe Rabbeinu specifically? Why not Avraham Avinu? Or Yitzchak—I don’t know—fear is associated with Yitzchak. Why is Moshe Rabbeinu specifically called—

32:42 Speaker 13 He was a leader.

32:43 Speaker 8 He is called the faithful shepherd.

32:45 Speaker 13 He was a leader.

32:46 Speaker 8 A shepherd’s main role is to give the sheep food, to provide for them, to give them what they need.

32:53 Speaker 13 To protect them.

32:54 Speaker 8 The role of Moshe Rabbeinu, the faithful shepherd of all generations, is to illuminate them. That’s what it’s called. Sometimes it’s described as a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul shining within a person, or being invested within him, or illuminating him. It depends on the person and on how it happens. He explained that and spoke about it there, but something of—how does he put it? Where is the wording? “A mere edge and trace of the abundance of Moshe Rabbeinu’s goodness and light shines upon the Jewish people as a whole in every generation.” So yes, it’s true: that love of a son who strives for his father—what does it have to do with me, loving Hakadosh Boruch Hu more than I love my own life? That belongs to Moshe Rabbeinu. True, but something of Moshe Rabbeinu shines within you too. As it says in the Tikkunim, “The extension of Moshe is present in every generation, to illuminate them.” It’s just that this illumination is deeply concealed and hidden in the souls of all the Jewish people, as everyone knows within himself that he does not love Hakadosh Boruch Hu as much as he loves his own life. It’s there; it exists. But is it revealed? No, it’s concealed. We called that a hidden love, right? So this is already the third kind of hidden love. There is the hidden love that keeps a person from separating himself from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; that was discussed at the beginning of Tanya. Then there is the hidden love discussed earlier in connection with “My soul desires You”: the truth is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu really is the life of the G-dly soul, but the soul generally does not feel it. And then there is the hidden love in which a person senses, somehow, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is our Father, and because of that he is ready to give up his life. So it all exists, but it is concealed. We don’t feel it. Now, “to bring this hidden love out of concealment and into revelation”—ah, that begins to concern us. Until now, it was all just talk.

34:51 Speaker 8 Yes, people tell stories: there’s this kind of love, and that kind of love, and another kind of love. You look at it and it seems very beautiful. But “to bring this hidden love out of concealment and into revelation, so that it is revealed in one’s heart and mind”—what are we talking about? The love of a son who strives for his father: a Jew loving Hakadosh Boruch Hu like Moshe Rabbeinu. At least a mere edge and trace of that—something of it—can be revealed in every person’s heart and mind. “It is not beyond you, nor is it far away; rather, the matter is very close.” How does the verse put it? “In your mouth and in your heart.” We learned the title page of Tanya before—when did we start? In Kislev last year, or was it this year? On the title page, in two lines, the Alter Rebbe gives an introduction to Tanya: the whole of Tanya, the entire book he is writing, its fifty-three chapters—and actually the second part too—is based on the verse, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” Everything written in Tanya. Everything.

36:15 Speaker 8 One of the places where you can really see this—and the truth is that it applies throughout; we discussed it at length then. I won’t go back over it now, because it would take a long time. But the truth is, this is how Tanya should be learned. That is, the entire Tanya, from its first letter to its last, rests on this verse. Here, though, you see it explicitly. One of the questions we asked then was: Why does it say, “In your mouth and in your heart, to do it”? If that refers to speech, thought and action, what kind of order is that? It should be either thought, speech and action, or action, speech and thought. What kind of order is this? “In your heart”—meaning thought—then speech... What’s the order here? So he says: When we’re talking about the love of a son who strives for his father, how does a person bring it from concealment into revelation in his mind and heart? Through “your mouth and your heart.” Speak about it; say it aloud, and then it will enter your thoughts and your heart. That is, “to accustom his tongue and voice to arouse the intention of his heart and mind.” Of course, one really does need to contemplate it, to think about the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is our Father, that He is our source and is like a father. Therefore, I should be ready to give myself over to Him more than I am concerned with myself. Torah and mitzvos should matter more to me than my own personal concerns. You have to think about that. Let’s think deeply about it—but you also have to speak about it. Say it aloud, or at least, so to speak, think the words aloud. When a person speaks, the speech itself will awaken this love.

38:27 Speaker 14 He should say that it matters more to him.

38:30 Speaker 8 Yes. “To focus his thoughts deeply on the Life of life, the blessed Ein Sof, for He is truly our Father and the source of our life, and to awaken love for Him like a son’s love for his father. And when he accustoms himself to this”—accustoms himself to speaking about it, even when he’s alone. He doesn’t need to speak to anyone else. Of course, he could give a class and speak about it. That’s easier; it’s worth giving classes just for that. “When he accustoms himself to speaking about it constantly, habit becomes second nature. And even if it seems to him, at first glance, to be imaginary”—come on, do I really feel this way? I talk about it and imagine that I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu like Mr. Zherba[?]. Well? “He should not be concerned.” Don’t worry; it’s all right. Even if it feels like imagination, like you’re telling yourself stories that you yourself don’t believe, don’t be concerned. Keep going. Why? “Because it is the absolute truth in itself.” The truth is that it really is so. Hakadosh Boruch Hu really is his Father. And when you think that way, it’s true that you may not connect with it or feel it, but what you’re thinking is what your soul truly feels. “In itself, as a hidden love”—it’s hidden. But it’s the truth. So if it’s the truth even without my thinking about it, and my thinking about it remains just imagination to me—I don’t really feel it—then let it stay hidden. Why should I make the effort to think about it if I can’t bring it into practice? Is the question clear? Can you hear me? What I’m saying is: “The benefit of bringing it into revelation”—speaking about it, thinking it aloud—“is to bring it into action.” The Alter Rebbe spoke in chapters 38 and 39—I don’t remember exactly where—when he discussed—

40:53 Speaker 8 What do we need love of Hashem for? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the whole world? He wanted a dwelling place in the lower realms. How do we make the world a dwelling place in the lower realms? We take things of this lower world and make them into a dwelling place: we perform mitzvos. A person takes a physical object and uses it for a mitzvah. He performs a mitzvah. Mitzvah is related to the word meaning joining and connection. A mitzvah is Hashem’s will, what He wanted us to do. So the person performs a mitzvah, Hashem’s will is revealed in the world, G-dliness permeates it, and the world becomes a dwelling place. Why do we need love and fear? What do they add? So your goal is to make a dwelling place in the lower realms? Make a dwelling place in the lower realms. Go ahead, fine.

41:47 Speaker 15 It can’t be mechanical.

41:48 Speaker 8 Huh?

41:49 Speaker 15 I’m saying, it can’t be mechanical.

41:50 Speaker 8 It would be enough for me to have that kind of love—since I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, a love that leads to action. Why does love have to permeate the action? The action needs to be permeated with love. I understand that it should. It’s a good thing. But I do it with kabbolas ol. So why do I need love? He explained there that two mitzvos are different from all the other 613 mitzvos. There are 611 mitzvos, plus two. What are the other two? Love and awe. What distinguishes love and awe from all the other mitzvos? With all the other mitzvos, the purpose and intent of the mitzvah is the mitzvah itself. Love and awe don’t stand on their own. True, Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded them, but the purpose of the avodah—the love—is to serve out of love. That’s the purpose of the mitzvah to love Hashem. The mitzvah isn’t simply to love Hashem; it’s to love Hashem so that the love will lead a person to fulfill mitzvos. You can’t ask why Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded us to light candles, send away the mother bird, or put on tefillin. Why? Because that’s what He wanted. The purpose is the mitzvah itself. There’s no other aim.

43:25 Speaker 15 Yes.

43:25 Speaker 8 Love and awe have no purpose in themselves. Their purpose is for the other mitzvos. So he says that the same is true here: since the whole purpose, the main point of loving Hashem, is to lead to the other mitzvos, if Moshe Rabbeinu’s love is within you but concealed, it won’t lead you to fulfill mitzvos. If you think about it and reveal it, it will. So even if you don’t truly connect with it, it is true in itself. In practice, it will strengthen your observance of the mitzvos. That’s enough.

44:11 Speaker 15 That’s what we said.

44:12 Speaker 8 All right? “The benefit of bringing it into the open is to bring it to action: the study of Torah and fulfillment of mitzvos, which he undertakes thereby to give pleasure to Hashem, like a son serving his father. Of this they said: ‘A good thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins to the deed.’” That’s already the other side of it.

44:36 Speaker 15 That’s already a further step.

44:38 Speaker 8 That’s already the other side of it.

44:39 Speaker 15 Thought joined to action.

44:40 Speaker 8 That’s already the other side. When we said that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants a dwelling in the lower realms, what does “a dwelling in the lower realms” mean? That the G-dly light descends and is revealed down here. Yes, a dwelling for Him in the lower realms. That happens through fulfilling mitzvos. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t just want a dwelling; He wants a well-lit dwelling. A person walks into an apartment: construction is finished, but they haven’t put in any lights. You can’t live here. It’s a perfect apartment, but it isn’t lit, it isn’t clean. You need to illuminate the dwelling. Illuminating it is something else. One thing is to draw G-dliness down below; another, in a sense the opposite, is to elevate the world, to sanctify and refine it. Not only should the light shine in it; the world should absorb the light, become a vessel for the G-dly light and unite with it. And that doesn’t happen through simply fulfilling mitzvos. When a mitzvah is fulfilled, Hashem’s will has been carried out. His will has been revealed. There it is, right here: you can see someone fulfilling a mitzvah. That doesn’t change the physical substance. It has brought the G-dly light down, but the substance hasn’t changed. For the physical world to change, to be elevated and refined, you need love and awe. Love and awe are spiritual; they aren’t physical actions, right? When a person fulfills a mitzvah with feeling, on the one hand there’s the action, but the action is permeated with feeling. The feeling connects with the physical object used for the mitzvah, refines it and elevates it to holiness. So fulfilling mitzvos draws G-dliness from above to below. The feelings of love and awe elevate physicality from below to above. That was explained there, in chapters 38 and 39. What happens with a person when—this is in general. What happens in our case? He has love and awe, but they’re concealed. Fine, he revealed them. He

46:58 Speaker 8 contemplated it, and it was revealed in his mind, but he doesn’t feel it in his heart. In practice he doesn’t feel it, right? So does it connect with the action or not? Now he performs a mitzvah. He contemplated: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my father. Since He’s my father, I don’t want to be separated from Him. I want to connect with Him, so now I seek Him out; I study Torah.” Yes. So on the one hand, I study Torah because I contemplated the fact that I love Him, and in my soul I really do love Him. But I don’t feel it. Does it connect or not?

47:33 Speaker 15 On the face of it, yes, but I don’t think so.

47:35 Speaker 8 On the face of it, no.

47:35 Speaker 15 On the face of it, no? No, that’s it. I was going to say that on the face of it, yes, but there’s a problem with that.

47:42 Speaker 8 What’s the problem? The problem is that the intention is spiritual.

47:47 Speaker 15 Yes.

47:47 Speaker 8 And the action is physical. If you don’t feel it in your heart, then it isn’t there; there’s no connection. Our Sages said about this: “A good thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins to the deed.” You have the good thought. In truth it’s real, and you’ve also done the deed. Hakadosh Boruch Hu will make the connection.

48:08 Speaker 15 Yes? What does that mean? What do you mean, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will make the connection?

48:13 Speaker 8 The thought itself hasn’t permeated you enough to permeate the action. But the thought is there.

48:20 Speaker 15 Okay.

48:21 Speaker 8 It’s too spiritual to connect. As for the action, the action is there, the thought is there; they’re just too far apart. Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins it to the deed.

48:37 Speaker 15 Mm-hmm.

48:37 Speaker 8 All right? So consequently—

48:39 Speaker 15 Cooperation with the deed.

48:40 Speaker 8 Cooperation.

48:41 Speaker 15 Right.

48:42 Speaker 8 So consequently, even though we’re talking about Moshe Rabbeinu’s love, in terms of what is revealed, none of us is Moshe Rabbeinu. Maybe somewhere within us a little of it shines, and even that is concealed. And even when I reveal it, it isn’t really revealed. An imagined capacity. So why is it useful? It’s useful in two ways. First of all, in practice it will lead you to fulfill mitzvos, and that alone is enough. And not only will it lead you to fulfill mitzvos; beyond that, Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes it connect. All right? “Of this they said: ‘A good thought, Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins to the deed,’ so that they become wings with which to soar, as explained above.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu will make them connect; they’ll become wings and lift the deed. What does it mean for a son to serve his father? Why does a son serve his father? To give his father pleasure, right? And what does that pleasure mean? What pleasure does it give Hakadosh Boruch Hu? He gives two answers here: “Like the joy of a king when his son comes to him after leaving prison, as explained above; or to make a dwelling for Him in the lower realms, as explained above.” I won’t... I won’t ask who remembers. Ah, when we learned about how a person needs to humble himself—when he feels a dullness of heart, then he needs to... a dullness of mind, a dullness of heart. He needs to humble himself so that it will penetrate him. Then there are two whole chapters on how a person humbles himself in relation to others and to himself. And afterward chapter 31 begins: “Even if prolonged reflection on the above matters brings him bitterness—and serving Hashem must be done with joy—he should not be concerned.” Why should he not be concerned? Because precisely by humbling himself, a person can come to tremendous joy. Precisely through bitterness, when a person humbles himself...

50:50 Speaker 8 himself, that can bring him to joy. What is the joy? It is the joy of a son coming out of prison. Before, he was far away; he was in the kelipos, in darkness, in prison. Now, because he has humbled himself and asked, “Where am I? What state am I in? What is this?” he awakens within himself a longing—sorry, a longing—to come close to G-dliness. Right? So he has come out of prison. What nachas that gives Hakadosh Boruch Hu! His son has come out of prison. There, the Alter Rebbe spoke about the joy of a person drawing close to the King. Here he speaks about the other side: the King rejoices when His son comes out of prison. The son—the King rejoices? What, Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu want to punish us? A Jew commits a sin, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu looks for a way to... Some people describe Hakadosh Boruch Hu as though He were waiting around the corner with an axe: just come along, and we’ll bring it down on you. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is a merciful Father. He wants teshuvah; He wants us to return to Him. That is what He wants. So when a Jew truly works on himself and awakens within himself a longing, he has come out of prison. What nachas that gives Hakadosh Boruch Hu! Right? This is called a son who serves his father. It is one way a Jew awakens within himself love of Hashem. So what is he—what is he thinking? Here the Alter Rebbe is simply emphasizing a different point from the one he emphasized there. What point is he emphasizing here? Why does the person—because of his feeling, because of his contemplation that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my Father—why does he now come out of prison? Not because I want to get out of prison, but to give my Father nachas. It is the same movement of the soul, but viewed from the other side. Right. So when a Jew—this is one aspect of loving Hashem. Love of Hashem: why does a Jew

52:50 Speaker 8 love Hakadosh Boruch Hu? To give Him nachas, not for his own sake. We said that this is the whole difference between “Nafshi ivisicha” and “k’vra d’ishtadel.” With “Nafshi ivisicha,” he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu because he feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is his life. With “k’vra d’ishtadel,” it is for Hashem’s sake, not mine. He is not thinking about himself; he is thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Do I want to get out of prison? If it weren’t for that, I could stay in prison; nothing would happen. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu suffers from it. I want to leave for His sake. That is one thing. Or, as we said, to make a dwelling for Him, may He be blessed, in the lower realms. Why do I want Hakadosh Boruch Hu to have a dwelling in the lower realms? So that I will have light? So that I will have revelation? No. Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants it. The whole reason He created the world was to have a dwelling in the lower realms. Like a son who loves his father more than himself. Why does he serve? Why is he careful about mitzvos and study Torah? Because he wants to give Hakadosh Boruch Hu nachas. How? In two ways: either so that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will have nachas from me, or so that He will have nachas because His will is fulfilled. These are the two aspects of “Nafshi ivisicha” and “k’vra d’ishtadel.” Both actually come from the same point in the soul: a Jew senses G-dliness. The only question is what he senses. Does he feel that G-dliness is my life, or does he feel that Hashem is my Father? Understood? Very clear. “And behold, even with regard to the level of ‘Nafshi ivisicha’ mentioned above, it is very close at hand to bring it from concealment into revelation through constant practice, with one’s mouth and heart in accord.” Interesting. When he spoke about the love of “Nafshi ivisicha,” he did not say how to awaken it. Remember? He explained what

54:46 Speaker 8 “Nafshi ivisicha” is, and that there is a greater love, “k’vra d’ishtadel.” And how do you awaken the love of “k’vra d’ishtadel”? Through practice—with your voice and heart, speaking and contemplating, continually doing so and making it a habit. Now, suddenly, he remembers: “Yes, yes, yes, and the first love we spoke about—you can awaken that with the same method too.” Why didn’t you say that when we were discussing it? What does “even” mean here? When you say “even,” you mean this: there is the love of “k’vra d’ishtadel,” and this is how you awaken it. And the love of “Nafshi ivisicha”—that too. So what do you hear from that? That it is very simple to awaken that love. Contemplate, and it will awaken. “Nafshi ivisicha” is a little harder, but the method will work there too. That is how it sounds, right? Seemingly, the opposite should be true. Do you know what “the opposite should be true” means?

55:47 Speaker 3 The opposite of what makes sense.

55:48 Speaker 8 What makes sense is the other way around. Which love is loftier, “Nafshi ivisicha” or “k’vra d’ishtadel”?

55:55 Speaker 3 “Ivisicha.”

55:57 Speaker 8 Which is loftier?

55:59 Speaker 3 “D’ishtadel.”

56:00 Speaker 4 I’m not a Torah scholar.

56:01 Speaker 3 You have to make an effort.

56:03 Speaker 8 We said earlier: with “Nafshi ivisicha,” I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu because He is my life. From the perspective of “Nafshi ivisicha,” I will not give up—no, there is no mesirus nefesh. With “k’vra d’ishtadel,” there is mesirus nefesh. It is “a greater and more abundant love than this.” Right? That is what we said. Yes? So if “k’vra d’ishtadel” is the greater, more abundant, loftier love, then the greater, more abundant, loftier love is easily awakened through voice and speech. Make it a habit on your tongue, and it will awaken. The lesser love, “Nafshi ivisicha,” is a little harder. It will work there too. It should have been the other way around, shouldn’t it?

56:39 Speaker 4 That’s what... yes.

56:40 Speaker 8 Seemingly, the lower, simpler love—the lower love of “He is my life”—I contemplate it and it awakens. And the love that is harder, the higher one—that too. But no: it is specifically the higher love that comes readily through voice and speech. Make a habit of it, and it will awaken. The lower love, “Nafshi ivisicha,” that can... What is going on here? First of all, did you hear the question? Can you hear me? Yes?

57:13 Speaker 4 Yes.

57:13 Speaker 8 So there is that. None of us would have asked this question. It is a question the Rebbe asks.

57:19 Speaker 4 Ours.

57:20 Speaker 8 On page one hundred and twenty-six. [unclear].

57:26 Speaker 4 Women or men.

57:27 Speaker 8 I don’t even know anymore. And “even”—where is that “even”? Come on.

57:49 Speaker 4 “And... and behold, even”—yes?

57:52 Speaker 8 “And behold”—yes. Well, where is it? I’ve lost my place myself.

57:55 Speaker 4 Ah, here. I found it.

58:02 Speaker 8 Yes, yes. So what does he say? The Rebbe explains something wonderful. The Rebbe says this: contemplating that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my Father is a spiritual matter, right?

58:15 Speaker 4 Yes.

58:15 Speaker 8 This is Hakadosh Boruch Hu; it is entirely spiritual. But to feel “Nafshi ivisicha”—what does “Nafshi ivisicha” mean? That a Jew feels G-dliness is his life. That is something physical, right? A person can picture Hakadosh Boruch Hu as my spiritual Father, and that the source of my life is my soul and Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A person can do that; he has... But to feel that my physical, bodily life is G-dliness—true, it is a lower love, but feeling it is very far from us. Right? So that is why he first says that voice and speech awaken the loftier love. But the same method will work—even though it is harder to feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my physical life, it will work there too.

59:19 Speaker 4 So what you’re saying is that “Nafshi ivisicha” is specifically a level—

59:23 Speaker 8 It is the lower level, because on that basis a person will not give up his life. But feeling it is harder.

59:35 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

59:36 Speaker 8 There are both aspects to it. It depends what we are talking about. “And behold, even with regard to the level of ‘Nafshi ivisicha,’ it is very close at hand to bring it from concealment into revelation through constant practice, with one’s mouth and heart in accord. But if he cannot bring it into revelation in his heart”—he can think about it and bring it into revelation in his mind. He can think, contemplate and understand, but he cannot manage to feel it. “Nevertheless, he can engage in Torah and mitzvos for their sake.” “For their sake” means with love and awe, by picturing this love in the thought of his mind. “And Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins a good thought...” We have already discussed “Hakadosh Boruch Hu joins a good thought,” haven’t we? The Alter Rebbe goes over it again.

1:00:36 Speaker 5 What kind of love is that?

1:00:37 Speaker 8 The love of “My soul desires You”—on the one hand, it’s harder to feel. But it also has this aspect: He is my life. My life is my life; I feel my own life. To feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my father—you can think about it, but feeling it is more complicated, right? Ultimately, it’s a higher level. Moshe Rabbeinu felt that way. For me to feel it? So he says: Although feeling—not understanding, but feeling—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is my father, the source of my life, the source of my soul, is something only Moshe Rabbeinu can truly do, I might be able to understand it and think about it. But arousing it in the heart, “My soul desires You,” is harder. Yet when it is aroused, it is aroused in the heart. The love of “like a son who strives” is easier to arouse, but when it is aroused, it is aroused in the mind. It doesn’t descend into the heart. Right? Even though it is aroused only in the heart and not in the mind, Hakadosh Boruch Hu still joins it to the deed. Sorry—only in the mind and not in the heart? Hakadosh Boruch Hu can join that to the deed too. “Now, regarding these forms of love, although they are an inheritance to us from our forefathers”—why an inheritance? Because every Jew has a soul, and just as the soul does not want to be separated from G-dliness, it feels that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is its life and its father. “And they are like a nature within our souls; and fear, too, is included in them—the fear of being separated, G-d forbid, from the source of our life and our true Father, blessed be He.” So that is the soul’s nature. What did we say about the soul’s nature? He is going back. We discussed earlier: What is the purpose of love and fear? To elevate the deed. Right? Mitzvos bring Him down below, while love and fear refine the mitzvos and elevate them upward. To where?

1:02:51 Speaker 8 Upward? Where upward? We discussed this before, in chapters 39, 49, 40. What does “upward” mean? It depends on what kind of intent, what kind of love and fear, a person has. If he has natural love and fear, it rises to the world of Yetzirah. The world of Yetzirah is the world of angels; it is called the world of middos, as it were, the realm of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s emotions. So if their love and fear are only emotional, they rise to the world of emotion, the world of Yetzirah. If their love and fear are intellectual, they rise to Beriah, the world of Beriah. And if his love and fear are a matter of bittul, like a merkavah, then they rise to Atzilus. That is what is discussed there. Accordingly, the love and fear we are discussing here—both “My soul desires You” and “like a son who strives”—what kind of love and fear are they? Natural. Right? We have been discussing this since the beginning of the chapter. This is natural love. It isn’t intellectual, and it doesn’t come from above. It is the soul’s nature, natural love. So where would such natural love and fear elevate the deed? To which world? To Yetzirah, because they’re natural, right? So he says this: These two forms of love, although they are an inheritance and a nature—and the fear is also natural, including the fear of separation from the source of our life; all the love he discussed in these chapters is natural—“nevertheless, they are called natural love and fear only when they remain in his mind, in his thoughts alone, and in the hidden recesses of his heart.” When they have not been fully revealed.

1:04:37 Speaker 6 So that is a higher level.

1:04:39 Speaker 8 So this is the nature of the G-dly soul: to love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, not to be separated from Him, to feel that He is its life. That is the soul’s nature. As long as it has not actually been revealed in the heart, but remains in the hidden recesses of his mind and heart, it is still somewhat concealed. It has emerged, but it is still somewhat concealed. It is called natural because it comes from the soul’s nature. So “their place is indeed among the ten sefiros of Yetzirah, and there they ascend together with the Torah and mitzvos that result from them.” That makes sense. “But when they”—what is “they”? Those forms of love and fear, “My soul desires You” and “like a son who strives.” “When they are revealed in his heart,” the Zohar calls this re’usa deliba, the desire of the heart. The Zohar no longer calls it love and fear; it calls it the desire of the heart. And “the place of the desire of the heart is among the ten sefiros of Beriah, and there they ascend together with the Torah and mitzvos that result from them.” And here the son asks: What’s going on? What happened? We’re talking about the same love and fear. If they are not so fully revealed, they’re natural; but if they are revealed, suddenly they become something intellectual that rises to the world of Beriah. What—what—what happened here? Now... right? This needs explaining. Go back—I can’t hear.

1:06:15 Speaker 6 It’s already ten, so...

1:06:17 Speaker 8 Huh?

1:06:17 Speaker 6 Ten.

1:06:19 Speaker 8 Oh, you want to stop here? We’re already at the end of the chapter. I’ll explain less, then. Let’s see. “For their emergence from the heart’s concealment into revelation comes about through daas, through firmly fixing one’s thoughts and contemplating deeply, from the depths of the heart, more intensely and constantly, the Ein Sof, blessed be He—how He is truly our life and our true Father, blessed be He.” True, the love and fear themselves are natural. But how did they become revealed in the heart? Through firmly fixing one’s daas, through intellect. So there is an intellectual aspect here, and if there is an intellectual aspect, where is its place? In the world of Beriah, not the world of Yetzirah. “And it is known what is written in Tikkunei Zohar, that in the world of Beriah dwells the Supernal Mother”—that is, contemplation of the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, the Life of life, blessed be He. “And as Eliyahu said, ‘Binah is the heart, and with it the heart understands.’” What does “Binah is the heart” mean? Where does a person usually understand?

1:07:24 Speaker 6 In the mind.

1:07:24 Speaker 8 What understands, the heart or the intellect?

1:07:27 Speaker 6 The heart too.

1:07:28 Speaker 8 The heart understands? The intellect understands. How does it usually work? The intellect understands and influences the emotions, acts upon them, so that a person begins to feel, to be moved, to love. Right? Here they say, “Binah is the heart”; the heart understands. So what does it mean that the heart understands? It’s like this. The Zohar explains, “Binah is the heart, and with it the heart understands”: When an emotion comes from the intellect, the heart does not understand. The intellect moves the emotion. The heart itself doesn’t understand anything. The emotion comes from the intellect, not from the heart. But when we’re talking about natural love, it comes from the heart. It doesn’t come from above down—from intellect to emotion. It works the other way around: the heart is the source of the love. So why wasn’t it aroused before, and now suddenly it is? The heart felt what the intellect contemplated. “Binah is the heart, and with it the heart understands.” Since its emergence from concealment into revelation depends on daas and understanding, it is therefore called intellectual, and its place is among the sefiros of Beriah. “And furthermore.” What have we said up to this point? How did he begin this whole subject? There is another kind of love that incorporates aspects of both ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam. First, we understand why it incorporates both ahavah rabbah and intellectual love. It has an intellectual aspect, because without intellect it is not revealed; and it also has the aspect of ahavah rabbah. Ahavah rabbah comes from above, right? My soul is not something I produced. I received it as a gift from above. So it has both sides. On the one hand, it comes from above—the soul I was given as a gift when I was born. On the other hand, it is revealed through contemplation. Up to this point, he has only said that it is like that, and now he is going to establish

1:09:26 Speaker 8 that more fully. “And furthermore, these two forms of love mentioned above incorporate an aspect of ahavah rabbah, and are greater and loftier than intellectual love and fear”—the love of intellectual love and fear, which we called ahavas olam. Here we’re talking—ahavas olam is something that comes through contemplation, can come to an end, and is limited by a person’s intellect. Here we’re talking about something enduring, something that is the soul’s nature. So then the question arises from the other side: If natural love is so much greater, so much stronger and more enduring, and so easy to arouse—all that is needed is for a person to accustom his mouth and tongue to it, and it will awaken—why do we need to contemplate Hashem’s greatness at all? Why study Chassidus? Why do we need any of that? “Nevertheless, one must exert his intellect and attain the aforementioned level of ahavas olam,” the lower, intellectual love. Why? “For it comes from understanding and knowledge of Hashem’s greatness, in order to enlarge the bonfire of love into fiery sparks and a mighty flame, a blaze rising heavenward, until ‘many waters cannot extinguish it,’ and ‘rivers cannot wash it away,’ etc.” Why? “There is an advantage and superiority to the love that burns with fiery sparks and a mighty flame, etc., which comes from understanding and knowledge of Hashem’s greatness, over the two aforementioned forms of love when they do not burn with fiery sparks and a flame, etc.—like the advantage and superiority of gold over silver, etc., as will be explained later.” At the end of chapter 50 and in other places. What is love that burns with fiery sparks? Why is love compared to fiery sparks?

1:11:06 Speaker 7 Do you have a problem with the...

1:11:11 Speaker 8 Fire cannot tolerate the material it clings to. It burns it, pours out its fury on it. The moment it finishes, snap, it breaks away and rises upward. It has no reason to be here. It hates every moment it remains here. It wants to get out, to burn, to be done with it. Right? Love like flames of fire means that a Jew loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu so much that he cannot bear this world, cannot bear his present state. He wants to get out of here, to cleave to G-dliness, to burn away the world. That is love like flames of fire. Natural love does not have that. He loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he feels Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why would he want to burn anything here?

1:11:56 Speaker 7 It’s like that thing about money you receive [unclear] and money you love.

1:12:00 Speaker 8 So although intellectual love is limited, dependent on understanding and contemplation, and on a lower level—that’s true—the drive to leave his present state, burn everything away, and cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu exists only there, not here.

1:12:14 Speaker 7 What do you mean by “there”?

1:12:15 Speaker 8 In intellectual love. Precisely because intellectual love is on a lower level, because he feels distant, it kindles in him a fire to draw close to G-dliness and leave everything behind. Natural love does not have that kind of self-sacrifice. But as I mentioned briefly at the beginning, even this natural love—we were speaking about it in general—[unclear]. Each of these two loves can itself be calm, in a manner of cleaving, or it can be like flames of fire. They too can involve contemplation, so that the very same love takes on the character of fire. When this natural love comes like flames of fire—well, that is not what we are discussing here. We’ll discuss it later, as he says below. And there is another reason we need intellectual love. After all, if someone has natural love like flames of fire, why does he still need intellectual love? He already has flames of fire from this, and more intensely. It is also because “this is the whole purpose of man: to know the glory of Hashem and the precious splendor of His greatness.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to be known. One of the reasons Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world is “so that they would know Him.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to be known. Contemplation of G-dliness is itself a mitzvah, each person according to his capacity. As it says in Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Bo, “so that they would know Him,” and so on; that is why He created the world, and so on, as is known.

1:14:03 Speaker 7 Yes.

1:14:06 Speaker 8 So let’s make a very, very brief summary. We discussed in this chapter that besides the two loves spoken about in the previous chapter, which relate to what is external, there is natural love, and natural love itself has three forms. In this chapter we discuss the two forms that come through contemplation. He explained the differences between them and explained that although at first glance they seem unattainable, they are actually easier to awaken than intellectual love. Here you do not need to study a great deal; you only need to contemplate that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is our Father and our life. That is much simpler to understand and closer to a person. And the love already exists within him; he does not need to bring it into being. But because it is something very, very spiritual and lofty, and deeply hidden, he needs to make an effort and toil. Fine—put in the effort. Once you do, it is possible. If so, why do we need intellectual love at all? We need it for two reasons: first, so that you will have flames of fire; and second, because it is a mitzvah in its own right.

1:15:22 Speaker 7 You finished it, right?

1:15:23 Speaker 8 Yes.

1:15:24 Speaker 7 Because it didn’t show up.

1:15:25 Speaker 8 Ah, okay.