Likkutei Amarim Chapter 48 · 5781

00:01 Speaker 1 All right, we’re returning to chapter 48. The previous chapter was a nice one—short, easy, and interesting. In the last two chapters, the Alter Rebbe explained the love described by the verse, “As water reflects a face to a face, so does the heart of man to man.” In Chassidus, this is called, for short, the love of “as water reflects a face.” When we began learning this, we emphasized several times that this love of Hashem is different from every other kind of love of Hashem mentioned in Tanya. How are all the other kinds of love awakened? Through contemplation. The more a person is capable of contemplating—the more understanding and feeling he has, the more open his heart is—the easier it is for him to awaken love. And the more elevated a level of love is, the harder it is to awaken. The lower a person’s level, the harder it is for him to awaken love. The author of Tanya explained several kinds of love and contemplation, including contemplation that leads to love suited even to a simple person, and then to someone simpler still. He kept going lower and lower until he reached the very bottom. Then came the surprise of chapters 46 and 47. The Alter Rebbe says: There’s another kind of love, something else. What do you mean, something else? You’ve already explained so many kinds, from the highest to the lowest! Yes, but this is something entirely different. All the kinds of love until now were accessible even to a simple person. The love of “as water reflects a face” is especially for a simple person. In other words, the farther a person feels from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the easier it is for him to awaken this love. Why? Because what are we talking about here? A person who feels grateful to Hakadosh Boruch Hu

02:13 Speaker 1 because You, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, love me even though I’m not worthy. So the more unworthy I feel, the more I love You. If love comes from gratitude, then the greater my gratitude, the greater my love will be. And if my gratitude comes from the fact that You gave me Torah and mitzvos, that You embrace me and kiss me and love me and give me such abundance even though I’m not worthy, then the more unworthy I am, the greater and stronger my love will be. That was the content of chapters 46 and 47. There he explained how Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for us is expressed—that love we were not worthy of. We were in Egypt, in the depravity of that land; we did not keep mitzvos and had no merits. Yet Hakadosh Boruch Hu came, lifted us out of the refuse, raised us up, and gave us Torah and mitzvos. He then explained that Torah and mitzvos are like an embrace and a kiss. Mitzvos are like Hakadosh Boruch Hu embracing us, and Torah is like Hakadosh Boruch Hu kissing us. Hakadosh Boruch Hu drew us close to Him with a wondrous love. Though we were unworthy, He took us out and drew us close to His service. He brought us before Mount Sinai and gave us Torah and mitzvos. So everyone should feel tremendous gratitude to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And not only gratitude: naturally, without any deep contemplation, if a person thinks for just a moment about what Hakadosh Boruch Hu has done for him, tremendous love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu will arise in his heart. Of course, this too requires effort, but not the kind of effort that depends on contemplating profound matters that are difficult to understand. He only needs to impress upon

04:05 Speaker 1 himself that Hakadosh Boruch Hu truly did him an immense kindness. That, simply put, was the last two chapters. And we said that in the next two chapters, which we’re beginning now—48 and 49—the Alter Rebbe adds something else, something much deeper, to this very same love, the love of “as water reflects a face.” When you grasp what the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us, it’s just… I don’t know, it makes you exclaim in amazement. We’ll see when we get there. The explanation itself will be in the next chapter, chapter 49. But to understand what the Alter Rebbe wants to say there, we first need to study the ideas in chapter 48. Chapter 48, which we’re now beginning, is one of the most difficult theoretical chapters in all of Tanya to understand—perhaps the most difficult. We’ll do our best to make it simple. Let’s begin and look inside. Generally speaking, chapter 48 explains what tzimtzum is. We’re talking about tzimtzum in G-dliness. What is tzimtzum? That’s the subject of chapter 48. Let’s look at the explanation. Chapter 48: “When the thoughtful person contemplates the greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He.” When someone begins contemplating the greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, what is the first thing he understands? “For He is as His name indicates.” What is He? As His name indicates. What is His name? “There is no end, limit, or bound whatsoever to the light and life that extend from Him, blessed be He.” We’re used to hearing the term Or Ein Sof. How many times have we heard it in our lives? Endless times, right? But usually—or perhaps never—we haven’t noticed that Or Ein Sof can be understood in two completely different ways. It can mean the light of the Ein Sof. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is infinite, while what brings the worlds into being and gives them life is only an illumination, a light that comes from Him. But the light is not the sun. The sun is infinite, and the light is only an illumination, nothing at all compared with it. That’s one way to understand it. The second way

06:40 Speaker 1 is that the Ein Sof is infinite, while what brings the worlds into being and gives them life is only an illumination, a light that comes from Him. But the light is not the sun. The sun is infinite, and the light is only an illumination, nothing at all compared with it. That’s one way to understand it. The second way

06:57 Speaker 2 is that the light itself is infinite. How does the Alter Rebbe explain it?

06:58 Speaker 1 The light itself is infinite. How does the Alter Rebbe explain it?

07:04 Speaker 2 …

07:04 Speaker 1 “For He is as His name indicates.” The correct understanding is the second one: the light itself is infinite. “There is no end or bound whatsoever to the light and life that extend from Him, blessed be He, by His will.” This is an even greater innovation, an insight of the Alter Rebbe. Generally speaking, an influence passing from one to another, from a giver to a recipient, can come either as light or as an imparting of something. What’s the difference between these two kinds of influence? Light comes about automatically. The moment a candle is burning, it gives light. The moment a lamp is switched on, it gives light. The lamp doesn’t do anything in order to shine. Once it’s on, it shines. Right? The nature of a luminous object is that light comes from it. That’s what it is. The sun doesn’t do anything in order to shine, and it doesn’t think about those for whom it shines. It is a luminous body whose very nature is to emit light. It happens automatically. And because light comes about automatically, it is of the same nature as its source. It expresses the nature of its source. That’s why Or Ein Sof is also infinite, even though it is only the light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is not Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, not His Essence and Being; it is only light that comes from Him. Nevertheless, it too is infinite. How can it be infinite if it’s only an illumination? Because it is light, and light shares the nature of its source. So just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is infinite, the light that comes from Him is Or Ein Sof as well. These, then, are two characteristics of light: it comes about automatically, and it shares the nature of its source. Imparting something is different. When someone gives another person, a friend, something of his own—teaches him an idea, gives him a gift, gives him money, gives him something—he thinks,

09:31 Speaker 1 He’s involved in it. What do I want to give him, and how will I give it to him? It comes through deliberate involvement, right? That’s one thing. Second, what he gives doesn’t have to resemble the person giving it. He can give all sorts of things. Yes. So shefa—an outflow of influence—is something that comes through deliberate involvement, and it comes by choice. Someone who gives shefa wants to give. If he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t give. Light doesn’t come through deliberate involvement; it comes of itself, and therefore it comes necessarily. You can’t light a candle and have no light. There’s no such thing. The candle doesn’t—it isn’t something that happens by choice. Light comes of itself; it comes necessarily. What does the Alter Rebbe say here? “The light and life-force that spread from Him, blessed be He, by His will.” Excuse me: if it’s light, it can’t be by will. If it comes by will, why do you call it light? How do those fit together? Light and will are two things that contradict each other. What? I don’t know if... Ah, all right, they don’t go together. Light can’t come by will, and will can’t produce light. It can produce shefa. So, without getting into the deeper explanations, the point is that when the Alter Rebbe says “by His will” here, he doesn’t mean will as we understand it. The word “will” appears here in Tanya only to rule out the idea that Hashem gives light out of necessity. Hashem isn’t a lamp. He isn’t an inanimate object, or a living creature, or an angel. And He certainly isn’t anyone’s shliach. With Hashem, nothing happens out of necessity—even light, which among created things comes of itself and necessarily. With Hashem, too, it comes in a way that resembles

11:46 Speaker 1 the luminary. But with Him it comes by will, not out of necessity. So the point is clear, right? Why is this emphasized so much? For now, we’ll set aside the question of why the Alter Rebbe brings in the word “will” here. Why is it so important to the Alter Rebbe to emphasize that the Ein Sof light doesn’t come out of necessity, but rather that Hashem wants to bring it forth? We’ll see in chapter 52 why the Rebbe brings in the word “will” here. And that’s what he adds here: “His will is simple and united with His essence and being in absolute unity.” We’re not talking about will as we understand it, but a completely different kind of will—a will that serves only to rule out necessity. So what have we learned from the beginning of the chapter up to this point? That the Ein Sof light is ein sof—it is infinite. So what follows from that? “Had the progression of the worlds from the light of the blessed Ein Sof occurred without tzimtzumim, merely by descending from level to level in the manner of cause and effect, this world would not have been created at all as it is now, with limits and bounds.” So the Alter Rebbe has told us here that there are two kinds of tzimtzumim. There’s a tzimtzum called cause and effect. You can see it here in the text, in those words. Yes? There’s a tzimtzum, a lowering of the level—it’s called not a generator, a transformer—that lowers the level of electricity from one level to the next, gradually, in a chain of descent, where each level has some relation and connection to the one before it. You take that level, put up some sort of screen, a little remains, then you put up another screen and another screen. That’s called cause and effect: one thing causes the next. For example, let’s look at a king. A king’s thought causes him to speak, right? So the thought is the cause and the speech is the effect. Then,

14:13 Speaker 1 when the king speaks, his speech causes other people to act, to carry out his instructions. So speech leads to action. That’s called cause and effect: one thing leads to the next. That’s one kind. There’s a second kind of tzimtzum that the Alter Rebbe calls tzimtzum. It isn’t cause and effect. What’s being emphasized here? That if Hashem had contracted the Ein Sof light in the manner of cause and effect, we wouldn’t be sitting here at this table. This world could not have been created. Why?

14:53 Speaker 3 But you also can’t contract the Ein Sof light, can you?

14:56 Speaker 1 Hmm?

14:57 Speaker 3 My understanding is that you can’t contract the Ein Sof light either.

14:59 Speaker 1 You can. Why can’t you? Of course you can.

15:02 Speaker 3 That’s not the light before the tzimtzum. I mean, it’s...

15:05 Speaker 1 The Ein Sof light is the light before the tzimtzum. Right.

15:08 Speaker 3 So you can’t contract it, because it’s before the tzimtzum.

15:11 Speaker 1 First of all, Hashem can do anything.

15:15 Speaker 3 Look at the technical question you’re asking. First of all.

15:17 Speaker 1 Wait, one second. Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came into being.

15:24 Speaker 3 No, no, I told him that... the Shabbos candle-lighting. Shabbos candle-lighting was half an hour ago.

15:32 Speaker 1 I’ll add a story I heard about two years ago, and I’ve heard it several times since. There’s a mashpia in our community here in Afula today, Shmuel Kretz. When he was a bochur in the kvutza, he was one of those bochurim who were attached to Rabbi Yoel Kahn—just attached to him, attached, attached. Wherever he went, wherever he moved, every word he said was recorded, written down, everything. Every year there were a few like that.

16:09 Speaker 3 Thoroughly caught up with him.

16:12 Speaker 1 Thoroughly caught up with him, yes. And by the way, I think all the leading Moshiach activists in the world are, uh, his students or his students’ students. Let me put that out there. Politically he was on the other side, but in terms of... Well, never mind, this isn’t the place. It’s interesting, but this isn’t the place. Anyway, Shmuel Grass sat there for six or seven years and drank in Rabbi Yoel Kahn’s words thirstily. He simply knows his teachings and stories inside out. He told me once, twice, three times that when Rabbi Yoel taught chapter 48, there was this group of bochurim attached to him, and Rabbi Yoel Kahn was explaining it, so they tried to ask something. He laughed at them: “No, no, no, you don’t understand anything.” So they tried again and asked another question, and another, and he explained and they asked and he explained. This went on for a very long time. He couldn’t tell me how long it took. A very long time. They asked and he explained, and they asked—“No, you don’t understand, you don’t understand, you don’t understand anything. You don’t understand me.” All right, that was an aside.

17:32 Speaker 3 But... at least the Rebbe gave him the feeling that he did understand.

17:41 Speaker 1 So, cause and effect. Certainly a tzimtzum can take place from the Ein Sof light in the manner of cause and effect, just as in mathematics. When you take infinity, you can divide it by ten. The result will also be infinity, but it can be done. And that’s exactly what the Alter Rebbe says: if you took the Ein Sof light and contracted it only in the manner of cause and effect, some sort of world would be created, but an unlimited world, not a world as we know it. Something else would be created.

18:26 Speaker 3 But I still haven’t grasped it.

18:27 Speaker 1 Of course. Nothing—

18:29 Speaker 3 That’s what he said. It’s precisely to show you that all the questions you’ll have from now on won’t be answered.

18:33 Speaker 1 Nothing connected to infinity can be grasped by the human mind.

18:38 Speaker 3 No, but the very definition of infinity is that it can’t be contracted.

18:43 Speaker 1 Nothing—no, that’s not true.

18:47 Speaker 3 How can infinity be contracted?

18:50 Speaker 1 I’ll give you an analogy.

18:51 Speaker 3 Give him a number.

18:51 Speaker 1 I’ll give you a physical analogy, okay? One infinity can be greater than another infinity. Is that enough for you?

19:00 Speaker 3 What? No.

19:02 Speaker 1 No? There’s—

19:03 Speaker 3 I mean, how?

19:04 Speaker 1 For example, a point has no length, no width, nothing. A point—not a pencil dot, a point... What should we call a real point? A mathematical point, which has no length, no height and no width, right? It has no physical existence. That’s a real point. How many points are there on a line?

19:26 Speaker 3 Infinitely many.

19:26 Speaker 1 Infinitely many. But if there’s a long line and a short line... both have infinitely many, yet one is long and the other is short.

19:36 Speaker 3 But both have infinitely many. But there’s some—like, they both have the same amount of infinity.

19:40 Speaker 1 And what about an area containing infinitely many lines?

19:44 Speaker 3 But there isn’t a—

19:45 Speaker 1 Then it contains infinitely many infinities.

19:47 Speaker 3 Right.

19:50 Speaker 1 You don’t study—thank G-d, you don’t study mathematics at that level. That’s perfectly fine, but even in the physical world, there’s such a thing as one infinity being greater than another.

20:01 Speaker 3 What’s that called?

20:02 Speaker 1 One infinity is greater than another infinity—that’s what it’s called. What they call it today in schools, I don’t know, but—

20:11 Speaker 3 They don’t teach it.

20:12 Speaker 4 Wait, if I want to quantify it—I mean, what does it mean to quantify it?

20:15 Speaker 1 Let’s not. This isn’t a math class right now.

20:17 Speaker 4 No, but I—

20:18 Speaker 1 Besides, it’s been forty years since I studied this material.

20:22 Speaker 4 No, but can’t you quantify the small line relative to the large one?

20:25 Speaker 1 No, I don’t remember right now. There are formulas that deal with it. There’s a whole field in mathematics called, uh, I don’t remember—a whole field in mathematics that deals with numbers of infinity, with formulas and everything. A whole field.

20:41 Speaker 4 So it can be solved.

20:42 Speaker 1 Possibly, yes, but what I’m left with is not a world as we know it. That’s what... Come on, let’s not waste time; let’s look inside. “If the hishtalshelus of the worlds from the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, had taken place without tzimtzumim, only in an ordered progression from level to level, by way of cause and effect, this world would not have been created at all as it is now, with limits and finite dimensions. From earth to heaven is a journey of five hundred years, and so too between each heaven and the next, and so too the thickness of each heaven.” They have thickness, they have size. It would not have been the way it is now. “And even the World to Come”—which is not part of the seven heavens—“and the higher Gan Eden.” We won’t get into what the seven heavens are right now. “Even they, which are the abode of the souls of the great tzaddikim”—so apparently, yes, that’s above the seven heavens; it’s already entirely spiritual. Maybe you’ll say that there it is infinite? He says no. “And even the souls themselves, which are literally a part of G-d above,” are created beings; they are limited, not infinite. And needless to say the angels, since angels are on a lower level than souls, are certainly limited. So all of them are finite and limited. If the world had been created by way of cause and effect, then neither this world, nor the seven heavens, nor the spiritual worlds, nor the angels, nor even the souls could have been created. Nothing could have been created in the form we know now. So we have to say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world not by way of cause and effect, but in another way. Yes: “For there is a limit to their perception of the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, that shines upon them.” All right, that’s another subject for another time. “And therefore there is a limit to the pleasure they derive from the radiance of the Shechinah, and to their delight in the light of

22:57 Speaker 1 Hashem, for they cannot receive pleasure and delight from the level of Ein Sof without their existence being nullified and their returning to their source as they were originally.” That’s another proof the Rebbe gives for why souls are limited; we won’t get into it.

23:10 Speaker 3 Wait, in the Geulah won’t everything be without tzimtzum?

23:12 Speaker 1 What?

23:12 Speaker 3 In the Geulah, will the souls be subject to tzimtzumim?

23:16 Speaker 1 That’s already the earlier stage of the shattering.

23:19 Speaker 4 I don’t think everything in the Geulah will be subject to tzimtzumim.

23:22 Speaker 3 But that’s everything we’ve created.

23:27 Speaker 1 The wording in Kabbalah, cited in Chassidus in many places, is that in the true and complete Geulah—not when Moshiach comes, but when the dead are resurrected, and perhaps only in the second stage—Pnimiyus Atik will also be revealed. What is Pnimiyus Atik, how does it work, and what exactly is it? That’s a class in its own right, G-d willing. I briefly said last week, or two weeks ago, when this question came up, that even Pnimiyus Atik is not the Essence and Being of G-d. We even told a story about it.

24:03 Speaker 3 I didn’t understand, Shimon.

24:04 Speaker 1 What?

24:05 Speaker 4 What you said about Pnimiyus Atik?

24:07 Speaker 1 I said it deserves a class of its own, G-d willing.

24:13 Speaker 4 Ah.

24:13 Speaker 1 Because there is in...

24:14 Speaker 3 In the end, you go through the whole entry that—

24:16 Speaker 1 To get a starting point, anyone who has Google can go to Chabadpedia and look up the entry “Kesser.” There are a few lines there that sum it up.

24:25 Speaker 3 Good luck. And there are those who—

24:27 Speaker 1 No, I wrote that. You can, you can understand it. All right.

24:34 Speaker 3 Anyone?

24:38 Speaker 1 I’ll say it again. This chapter isn’t easy, but it’s crucial for understanding what will be written in chapter 49. We need to understand what’s written here, at least in general terms. All right, we’re on page 48, in the second section for Monday, yes? So we’ve learned up to this point that the light of Ein Sof is itself infinite, and in order—and since it is infinite, for the world to be created the way we want it, the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants it to be, as a limited world, it can’t happen through cause and effect.

25:11 Speaker 3 So how?

25:12 Speaker 1 Through tzimtzum, instead. As he said at the beginning, there are two ways.

25:17 Speaker 3 Of the—of the tzimtzum.

25:18 Speaker 1 Right. What is tzimtzum? Here: “The details of the tzimtzumim—how and what they are—are not for explanation here.”

25:32 Speaker 3 Explain it to us.

25:32 Speaker 1 “But in general terms”—we’ve said a few times that whenever the Alter Rebbe writes “in general terms,” he means: what is tzimtzum in general? Not how He contracts the light and so on. What is the idea of tzimtzum? That’s also explained in Tanya. By the way, we’re getting fairly close to it in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, and there we will go into what tzimtzum is in detail. But for now, in general terms, what does tzimtzum do? “In general terms, they are the concealment and hiding of the flow of light.” That’s what you need to etch into your mind. Tzimtzum means hiding and concealing the light. It isn’t cause and effect. Cause and effect means taking some spiritual level and bringing it down to a lower level, making it more tangible, taking a part of it. Tzimtzum means putting up a screen, and below it there’s nothing. Tzimtzum means concealment and hiding, darkness; nothing passes through. The light from which worlds are created is not the light of Ein Sof. The light of Ein Sof cannot reach here. Why doesn’t it reach here? Because there is a tzimtzum. In a moment we’ll see that what I just said isn’t precise, and maybe isn’t even correct. But for our purposes, tzimtzum means concealment: a concealment in which you don’t sense or see anything. “So that it will not shine or flow to the lower realms in a revealed manner, to be enclothed in them, influence them, and give them life so that they come into being from nothing.” Tzimtzum means that the light will not reach them and give them life.

27:31 Speaker 3 Now it won’t reach them. What’s the problem?

27:33 Speaker 1 What?

27:34 Speaker 3 What’s the problem with the light? What’s the problem?

27:37 Speaker 1 That’s a question that immediately cries out, and the Alter Rebbe answers it straight away. Because if—sorry, that “because” isn’t an answer; it explains why it does reach them. Because if the light of Ein Sof reaches the created beings, they won’t be limited, and they’ll be—if what brings the created beings into existence is infinite, they’ll be infinite too. Every created being will be infinite.

28:09 Speaker 3 Like...

28:09 Speaker 1 Like every line has an infinite number of points.

28:13 Speaker 3 Say, like, I mean, how would we say it’s one? Like, there would be many of the same thing.

28:19 Speaker 1 No. Its size would be infinite.

28:23 Speaker 3 But we would also be infinite.

28:25 Speaker 1 We would also be infinite.

28:26 Speaker 3 That’s something our minds can’t grasp at all. At all.

28:31 Speaker 1 We know the world. We know the world we live in. We can’t know a reality we live in that falls outside the scope of our minds. We can’t. The mind cannot grasp a reality that isn’t within its grasp. That’s just how it is. There’s... I’ll say it anyway. Let me open a parenthesis, just to illustrate how the mind can’t grasp something beyond its grasp, even in the physical world. In the physical reality of this world—this is a digression, completely unrelated to Tanya. Have you ever heard of quantum theory? Everyone’s surely heard the name, right?

29:17 Speaker 3 What does it mean?

29:18 Speaker 1 What? No, really, I haven’t.

29:20 Speaker 3 What it means, I don’t know. What is quantum theory? Something complicated.

29:25 Speaker 1 No, it’s not mathematics. It’s physics.

29:29 Speaker 3 What is it about?

29:33 Speaker 1 I’ll try to put it in just a couple of words, simply to address the question you asked. What I want to illustrate—again, this is a digression, not directly related to the subject—is something tangible: how there are things in our physical world that the mind cannot grasp and never will, even though they happen physically every moment. It’s not a question of difficulty. I’m talking about something else. Here goes.

30:04 Speaker 3 The theory of gravity.

30:05 Speaker 1 Here goes. Try to concentrate for a moment. Matter. If we take any kind of matter—it doesn’t matter what: plastic, air, anything—and cut it into the smallest piece we can, the very smallest, with the thinnest knife. I’ve cut it down to a speck of powder. Yes? Can we divide it further?

30:29 Speaker 3 No, it’s really small. So no.

30:32 Speaker 1 Why not? Because I have a technical limitation. But suppose I had a thinner knife; I could divide it further.

30:38 Speaker 3 Yes.

30:40 Speaker 1 Is there some particle that can no longer be divided, or can we keep dividing forever, again and again? One second. The greatest thinkers in human history have debated this question since the dawn of humanity. Is the world ultimately made up of elementary particles from which everything is composed, or not?

31:07 Speaker 3 Science.

31:08 Speaker 1 Science today, as far as it has managed to reach on tiptoe, has a fairly organized answer to that question: the world is made up of a whole zoo of about seventy-six types of fundamental particles that cannot be divided into smaller particles. They have all sorts of names: atoms, bosons, electrons, and a whole zoo besides. As of today, science has found them. It can point to one and explain: here, this particle is called a boson. It has this form and this weight, and I have proof that it cannot be divided for this reason and that reason, and so on. Never mind.

31:51 Speaker 3 No, H2O is what’s written for water; that’s unrelated.

31:54 Speaker 1 A bond, a bond.

31:55 Speaker 3 An atomic bond, what’s inside the atom. But let’s say all that.

32:00 Speaker 1 Come on, come on, come on, come on. Sorry. Let’s move on. So far we’ve said—no, really, this is a long lecture. So far, so far we’ve said something simple: the world, at least as science understands it, is made up of certain basic particles that cannot be divided. Okay. These building blocks of our physical reality—again, with the qualification that this is how science understands it today—are called quanta. That’s the general term. An atom is a quantum. An electron is a quantum. All these building blocks are called quanta. Now, one aspect of quantum theory is something that was discovered. Listen very carefully, because your mind won’t grasp this. Mine won’t either. Experiments conducted as far back as a hundred years ago proved absolutely conclusively that every quantum—that is, each one of these building blocks—can be in two different places at the same time. If this is a quantum, it can be both here and here. Not two of them, not a copy of it.

33:27 Speaker 5 The very same one.

33:28 Speaker 1 The very same one. It can also move from one place to another without passing through the space in between.

33:36 Speaker 5 Because it’s faster than the speed of light and all that.

33:38 Speaker 1 No, without dimensions. It can go from here to here without being in between.

33:45 Speaker 5 [unclear]

33:48 Speaker 1 And all sorts of other things. It can also happen now. As if, when I drop it, the fall I just saw happened both now and ten minutes from now.

33:59 Speaker 5 How? How do scientists know that?

34:02 Speaker 1 All these things have been proven in scientific experiments that can be repeated, and you can see them with your own eyes. The mind can’t grasp it, but you can see it happen.

34:15 Speaker 5 So the mind has nothing to do with it.

34:17 Speaker 1 It doesn’t matter how they prove it, but this is something completely physical. You can see it with your own eyes and you can’t understand it with your mind. So when we speak about spiritual things, about G-dliness, about creation of something from nothing, and about infinity—well, all right, let’s close the aside and get back to the maamar. Okay, so there are many things that are written, and we have to accept them on faith because we have no other way to grasp them. So I’ll start again from the passage: “Now, the particulars of the tzimtzumim—how they work and what they are—cannot be explained here. But in general, they are a concealment and hiding of the light and vitality, so that it will not shine forth and be drawn down into the lower realms in a revealed way, to become enclothed in them and influence them, giving them life as something from nothing, except for a minuscule amount of light and vitality.” Because... except for what? How, then, is a world created? Through a minuscule amount of light and vitality. There is a certain light and vitality described as “a minuscule amount,” and that is what creates the worlds. It is not the infinite light. Worlds cannot come from the infinite light; it is unlimited. So how were the worlds created from a light called “a minuscule amount”? Where did it come from? Where did it originate?

35:57 Speaker 5 What remained—and how?

35:59 Speaker 1 It didn’t remain. If you take the infinite light and reduce it, and reduce it, and reduce it, it remains infinite.

36:06 Speaker 5 A screen.

36:06 Speaker 1 That is what the tzimtzum does. The tzimtzum brings about a new reality beyond the screen of the tzimtzum, one that did not exist before. It is called “a minuscule amount of light.” That’s what it’s called. “So that they will be limited and finite, it is a very small illumination, considered truly as nothing in comparison with the unlimited and infinite illumination.” The light that creates the worlds is what gives the worlds life. It is utterly incomparable to the infinite light before the tzimtzum; there is no proportion or comparison between them at all. “As is known from the meaning of the word ‘proportion’ in numbers.” We’ve spoken about this many times: the number one has some proportion to a million, because one is one part of a million. Take one away from a million and you have only 999,999. Yes, only one is missing, but something is missing. You can tell it’s missing. “But in relation to something that is altogether unlimited and beyond number, no number bears any proportion to it. Even millions upon millions are not to it as the number one is to millions upon millions; rather, they are considered truly as nothing.” There’s more to explain here too. But we’ve already discussed the general idea a few times, so let’s go on. And that is exactly how it is with this small illumination, which we called “a minuscule amount” earlier. This illumination is enclothed in the worlds—not only in the lower worlds, but in the upper and lower worlds—to influence them and give them life. So this illumination, in comparison with the hidden and concealed light, which is infinite and does not become enclothed in the worlds or openly influence them to give them life, is... it is incomparable. It’s not even like zero. It doesn’t count. Not just that it doesn’t count—it’s like the finite compared to the infinite. And the infinite light, the hidden light, surrounds the worlds from above. Why doesn’t it create them? Why isn’t it revealed in them? Because if it were revealed in them, then they would... then they

38:26 Speaker 1 wouldn’t be worlds. That’s what we explained earlier. “And therefore it is called sovev kol almin,” surrounding all worlds. So here’s a first point to grasp. What does sovev kol almin mean on our initial understanding?

38:42 Speaker 5 That Hashem, as it were, gives life to the whole world.

38:45 Speaker 1 What? No.

38:46 Speaker 5 That... that... that He sort of gives life to the whole world and the whole world sort of belongs to Him.

38:53 Speaker 1 What we learned here is that the light that gives life to the worlds is the light enclothed in them. That is the small illumination, the minuscule amount. What did he call it? He gave it several names here. The small illumination is what gives life to the worlds, even the upper worlds. What is sovev kol almin? It is the light above the worlds, which cannot become enclothed in the worlds. It cannot be revealed in the worlds, and that is why it is called sovev, “surrounding.” Why is it called “surrounding”? Because it cannot be inside the worlds. Pretty simple, right? Yes.

39:26 Speaker 5 Now I don’t understand. It can’t come down.

39:28 Speaker 1 This is the... the first step is simple.

39:30 Speaker 5 Now, after I’ve understood why it can’t come down—

39:34 Speaker 1 “The meaning of ‘surrounding’ and ‘encompassing from above’ is not spatial, G-d forbid, for the concept of space does not apply to spirituality at all.” So we’re being told this: Listen, when I said that the infinite light—why is it called “surrounding”? Why is it called “encompassing”? Because it surrounds. It encompasses from above; it doesn’t enter inside. That’s how it sounded, right? So the Alter Rebbe emphasizes: When I said that it surrounds and encompasses, I did not mean that it isn’t present within the worlds. That’s what he said, right? It seems to be exactly the opposite of the previous two lines. Again, what did he say in the previous two lines?

40:18 Speaker 5 Simple.

40:19 Speaker 1 What?

40:19 Speaker 5 Completely simple. There is no world, because there is no space.

40:22 Speaker 1 Wait, wait, wait, wait, just a second. What did he say in the previous two lines? That it is called “surrounding” because it encompasses from above and is not enclothed in them in a revealed way, right?

40:34 Speaker 5 In a revealed way.

40:35 Speaker 1 Yes, right, you’re correct. “Rather, it means”—so what is he saying now? That “surrounding” doesn’t mean it encompasses from above; it is present within them. How do those two ideas fit together? “Rather, ‘surrounding’ and ‘encompassing from above’ refer to whether its influence is revealed.” What does “revealed influence” mean? “For an influence that is revealed within the worlds is called ‘enclothing,’ because it becomes enclothed in the worlds, and the worlds contain or grasp something of the influence they receive.” So that is one kind of influence: the small light that becomes enclothed in the worlds and is revealed in them, and the worlds grasp it and sense it. That’s one kind. “By contrast, an influence that is not revealed but remains hidden and concealed—the worlds do not grasp it.” So there are two kinds of—first of all, there are two kinds of influence. That’s a new point. What did we say at first? That if the infinite light influences the worlds, if anything from it is present in the worlds, the worlds will be infinite. That’s what we said earlier, right? He says no. Sorry, there’s a qualification. The infinite light does influence the worlds, but its influence is not revealed. In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the worlds through two kinds of influence. There is a limited light that becomes enclothed in the worlds, and its influence is revealed. And there is the infinite light, which does not become enclothed in the worlds, and its influence is not revealed. It, too, influences them, but not in a revealed way. “And the worlds do not grasp it. It is therefore not called ‘enclothed,’ but ‘encompassing’ and ‘surrounding.’” This, too, is an influence, but it is an influence called “encompassing” and “surrounding.” “Therefore, since the worlds are finite and limited, it follows that the influence of the infinite light is not enclothed and revealed within them.” So what is revealed in the worlds? A minuscule amount, a small, very, very limited illumination. Only a small illumination. The infinite light is not revealed in the worlds. It is not enclothed, not in a revealed way. It

43:20 Speaker 1 It has an effect, but not in a revealed way. Not yet—we haven’t said what that means yet. “It is only in order to give them life in a limited and finite way. But the principal light, which is not so greatly contracted, is called makif and sovev, since its influence is not revealed within them, because they are limited and finite.” In these lines, the Alter Rebbe introduces one of the deepest ideas in Chassidus. Let’s start this way. When we speak about an inner influence and an influence in a makif, or encompassing, way, there can be two forms of this. There is one form of makif that we always explain. We always bring the example—we’ve brought it more than once in this class too—of Daniel and his three friends, who saw Nebuchadnezzar’s army, I think, on the mountain opposite them, in a vision. Daniel was a prophet; he saw them. He actually saw the army with his own eyes. His three friends—Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—were ordinary people, and they didn’t see it. The Gemara says that even though they didn’t see it, a great fear fell upon them. The Gemara asks: “They didn’t see it, so why did fear fall upon them?” They didn’t see anything; what were they afraid of? “Although they themselves did not see, their mazal saw.” Their souls saw. Because their souls saw, fear fell upon them. What’s the explanation? The soul’s seeing affected them in an encompassing way. They didn’t see. Yechezkel—ah, Yechezkel? Daniel. Sorry. Why was Daniel afraid? Because he saw. Why were they afraid? Because their souls saw. They didn’t even know why they were afraid. For Daniel, that’s called an inner influence; for his three friends, an encompassing influence. What does that—

45:58 Speaker 6 The Gemara says that precisely because of the inner influence, like Daniel’s seeing, he actually saw [unclear]. Is there a connection between the external aspect and the inner influence from the souls of Jews? [unclear].

46:13 Speaker 1 In an inner way, he really saw and understood what was happening, and he was afraid. He understood, he saw, and he was afraid. That’s called an inner way. He’s afraid, and he knows why he’s afraid. They were afraid without knowing why. In other words, there can be an influence from something on a higher level, and because it’s so lofty it can’t become invested within the other person. The other person isn’t a vessel for it, and this light is lofty, so it can’t become invested within him. But even though it doesn’t become invested within him, it’s close to him. And because it’s close to him, it has an effect on him. He was afraid; they were afraid. They felt something, but didn’t know what it was. Take intellect, for example. Intellect can become invested in the brain, right? In an inner way. Intellect can also become invested—then thought can become invested in speech.

47:23 Speaker 6 The thought of the intellect.

47:24 Speaker 1 What?

47:24 Speaker 6 The thought of the intellect.

47:24 Speaker 1 The intellect becomes invested in thought, and thought can become invested in speech. When thought becomes invested in speech, it depends. For the person speaking, it’s in an inner way. But the person who hears the outward speech—if he doesn’t understand the language, he doesn’t understand what the other person is saying. He doesn’t grasp the intellect; he hears only the speech. Right? That’s already—but thought, and even speech, are still vessels of some kind. So it’s an inner vessel or an external vessel, an inner influence or an encompassing influence, but there is an influence here. Can intellect become invested in a foot? No. Why? Can you think with your foot? No. Why? Because the flesh of the foot isn’t a vessel for the intellect that becomes invested in the brain. The flesh of the brain is a vessel for intellect, and the flesh of the foot isn’t. Right? Yes. Good. That’s what makif and pnimi, encompassing and inner, mean among created beings. When a created being experiences an encompassing influence, how does that show itself? Why is it called encompassing? Because the influence can’t enter him; it’s too lofty. The created being isn’t a vessel that can receive this light. The foot isn’t a vessel for intellect. Right? And when he’s somewhat of a vessel for it, the influence comes from outside; when he’s more of a vessel, the influence is inside. Right? That’s what encompassing and inner mean among created beings. It can be higher or lower; it enters more or enters less. But when we speak about makif in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it’s something entirely different. Why? Because for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, there’s no finite or infinite. There’s no above or below, no right or [unclear], no before or after. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is beyond every kind of limitation you could imagine. So with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, you can’t say—with the Or Ein Sof, you can’t say—

49:48 Speaker 1 that it can’t enter because it’s too lofty. Lofty and lowly aren’t the relevant concepts at all. Right? So with the Or Ein Sof, we have to say that it is present below in a revealed way just as it is above, with no difference whatsoever. So when you say “makif,” you have to be careful about what you’re talking about: makif in a created being, or makif as it applies to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That’s the point the Alter Rebbe introduces in these lines we read quickly. With Hakadosh Boruch Hu, when we say He is makif and sovev, it doesn’t mean He isn’t present. He is present deep within every world, right here, in actual fact. So why do you say He is makif? Why do you say He is sovev? He’s here. Because His influence is not revealed. Which influence is revealed? The minute portion of influence. That’s clear so far, right? And here the child asks a question. You all should have jumped in, but I understand that because of the... Ah, we got a message. What influ— We said there were questions already. Which influence here is revealed? Does anyone see Hakadosh Boruch Hu? What did he mean when he said the influence becomes invested in a revealed way in all the worlds, all the way down to inanimate matter? If you say there’s a revealed influence in a human being, fine. But among non-Jews and animals, in plants, in inanimate matter—the influence is revealed? What did he say? There’s a difference: this influence is sovev because it isn’t revealed, while that influence is revealed. Where is it revealed? Is the question clear? The question you should have asked? Yes. So what really is the explanation? The explanation is very interesting. When we say the world conceals G-dliness, it’s not because there’s something here hiding it. Just the opposite. It’s because G-dliness is so completely united with the world that it doesn’t occur to us that it’s G-dliness. I’ll give an analogy—an analogy is given; I’m not making it up. An analogy is given—

52:21 Speaker 1 in Chassidus about the soul becoming invested in the body. The soul—a person might—when someone who doesn’t study Chassidus, a non-Jew who doesn’t study Torah, looks at it, he thinks the body is alive on its own. It’s some kind of highly sophisticated machine. Right? It doesn’t occur to him that there’s a spiritual soul here giving life to the body. Why? Because you can’t see the soul? Anyone who looks at a body can see that this one is alive and that one isn’t. The soul is the most revealed, the most obvious, the most readily grasped thing: everyone can see whether something is growing or alive. It’s not something you can’t see. But you don’t see the G-dliness in a person. You don’t see the soul with your eyes, but when you look, you see that this is inanimate, this is growing, and this is alive. What don’t you see? Of course you see it. But it’s so completely united with the physicality of the world that it doesn’t occur to us that it’s spiritual. The spiritual vitality, that minute portion of light invested in the world, is completely revealed. Divine vitality is present in the world—in human beings, and in plants, and in animals, and in inanimate matter—in an entirely revealed way. The reason we don’t sense it or recognize it is that it’s so completely united with the physical world that we imagine the physical world has life of its own. We don’t recognize that it comes from G-dliness because it has descended so far. So that’s the difference between the Or Ein Sof and the radiance that becomes invested in the world. When we say that the influence of the Or Ein Sof isn’t revealed, it really isn’t revealed. If it were revealed, created beings would be infinite. The minute portion of influence that becomes invested in the world is revealed; it’s entirely revealed. The fact that I don’t sense it is because I don’t sense it, not because it isn’t revealed. All right? And the analogy for this—actually, no analogy is given here. It’s like we say—let me give you an example. Here’s an example of it.

54:53 Speaker 1 Right? Here’s an example: this physical earth. Although “the whole earth is full of His glory”—whose glory fills the whole earth? It isn’t His “glory” in the sense people sometimes explain it, but the infinite light of the blessed Ein Sof itself, as it is written: “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says Hashem.” So Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself fills both heaven and earth. Nevertheless, only a tiny measure of life-force is invested in the earth as a revealed influence, giving rise to inanimate things and plants alone. When we look at the earth, what do we see? Inanimate things and plants. What are they? They are that tiny measure of life-force. They aren’t the infinite light. Wait, isn’t the infinite light here? Yes, it is here, but what we see revealed is not the infinite light. It is only that tiny measure of light after the tzimtzum. And the infinite light of the blessed Ein Sof is called “surrounding” the earth, even though it is actually within it. Here, too, there’s an emphasis on “actually.” Since its influence is not revealed in the earth any more than that, it influences it only in a hidden and concealed way. So here’s a question to think about: What does it influence? We said that the existence and life-force of the worlds all come from that tiny measure of light. Right? We explained that; we emphasized it. On the other hand, he says that the infinite light also influences them. It isn’t just there; it also has an effect. So what effect does it have? We’ll see in a moment. And every influence that is hidden is called “encompassing from above,” because the concealed world is on a higher level than the revealed world. So that was the example he gave. What was the example? That the infinite light is present in the earth, even though what we see is only that tiny measure of light. To understand this, he now gives an analogy for this encompassing light. To bring it closer to

57:33 Speaker 1 our understanding, it is by way of an analogy: When a person pictures in his mind something he has seen or is seeing, the entire body of that thing—its outside, its inside, and its innermost parts—is pictured in his mind, because he has seen or is seeing all of it. His mind is therefore called “encompassing” that entire thing. Right? When I look at this cup now, the cup is encompassed. I’m not wrapping my hand around it, but its shape is being formed in my mind right now. The proof is that if I close my eyes, I can still see it. It is entirely encompassed within me. Right? And it’s not only that the thing is encompassed by the person. It goes further. It’s not just that the person encompasses the thing in his mind; the thing itself is encompassed in his mind and thought. Right? When I think about the cup now and picture it in my imagination, it’s not just that I’m thinking about the cup. The cup is with me; it’s with me. I’m not merely grasping it. I see something. Right? What do I see? The cup as it exists. So if I see it, it’s with me. Right? In the same way, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees and knows the earth, His knowledge—sorry. When I see the cup, it is encompassed within me, even though my knowledge of it, my seeing it, and its being encompassed within me have no effect on it. Right? But it is within me. So, too, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees the world, He is, so to speak, within the world. His knowledge encompasses the world, and the world is within Him, even though I don’t sense it. The difference is that the cup is not actually encompassed within me; it is only in the person’s imagination, thought, and mind. But of Hakadosh Boruch Hu it is written: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,” and so on. His thought and knowledge, by which He knows

1:00:01 Speaker 1 the cup—when He knows a created being, all created beings—His knowledge encompasses every single created being from top to bottom, its inside and its innermost parts, all of it in actual fact. It isn’t like my imagination, where my spirituality encompasses the spirituality of the thing. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s presence is not just in the imagination; it brings the thing into existence. And here is the key. Here we have answered the question. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s knowledge of the created beings brings them into existence from nothing. So what is the effect of the infinite light? The infinite light creates all created beings from nothing. Their form, their life-force, their continued existence as we see them, their limitations—all of that comes from that tiny measure of light after the tzimtzum. But what creates their very existence from nothing? The infinite light that is within them, while they are all within it. Take this planet Earth, for example. His knowledge encompasses the entire thickness of the earth and everything within it, down to its very depths, all in actual fact. For this knowledge is the life-force of the entire earth and brings it into existence from nothing. Only that it wasn’t—well, we have to finish, right?

1:01:45 Speaker 7 No, another hour and a quarter.

1:01:46 Speaker 1 Huh?

1:01:46 Speaker 7 An hour and a quarter.

1:01:47 Speaker 1 I’m asking about the time. Huh?

1:01:51 Speaker 7 All right, then I can go.

1:01:51 Speaker 1 Do you have the energy for another ten minutes? Good. The Rebbe does go on to explain and establish this point through the end of the chapter. The substance of what we learned in this chapter is that, for a world to be created—what was he explaining here, essentially? What is “encompassing”? What is “surrounding,” right? What is the infinite light? What is that tiny measure of light? How was the world created? For the world to be created, Hakadosh Boruch Hu had to contract Himself. What does tzimtzum mean? It means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu concealed Himself so that He would not be present. That was the substance of the whole chapter. Broadly speaking, the meaning of tzimtzum, the overall point of the chapter, is that to create the world, Hakadosh Boruch Hu concealed and hid Himself until He made room, created a reality, created a state in which He is not present—where He is not felt. On the basis of this understanding, in our next class, in chapter 49, we’ll see how it connects to the love described by “as water reflects a face to a face,” and how it will give us an entirely different vitality in this kind of love.

1:03:22 Speaker 7 Love.