Likkutei Amarim Chapter 53 · 5781

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, sorry. Good evening. Today we’re learning chapter 53, the last chapter of Tanya—we’re completing Tanya. Chapter 53 is both short and easy. Though here, too, the Alter Rebbe has some startling insights…

00:19 Speaker 2 Thank you.

00:20 Speaker 1 You probably all remember that we’ve been discussing the last three chapters, 51 through 53. The Alter Rebbe himself opens them with the heading, “For a further explanation of the words of the Yenuka.” We talked about this at the beginning and mentioned several times what needs to be explained in the Yenuka’s words. The entire second half of Tanya, from chapter 35 through chapter 50, where he explains what serving Hashem should be like—how the performance of mitzvos should be permeated with love and awe—is based on the analogy he brings from the Zohar, from the Yenuka in the Zohar. The Yenuka compares the light of the Shechinah that rests upon a person to a burning lamp: you put oil in an oil lamp, light it, and the flame burns on the lamp. So after all the explanation that through mitzvos, Hashem’s light rests upon a person’s soul—that when mitzvos are performed with love and awe, the light of holiness, the light of the Shechinah, rests upon the person—we’re still left with a difficulty in the Yenuka’s wording. The Yenuka compares mitzvos, the performance of mitzvos, to oil. And the Alter Rebbe asks: What do mitzvos have to do with oil? Oil, olive oil, always represents chochmah. But here the Yenuka in the Zohar says that the oil is mitzvos. Mitzvos are action. Chochmah is the first faculty of the soul, and action is the last faculty of the soul. One is chochmah and the other is malchus. How can you say that oil is an analogy for mitzvos rather than chochmah? To understand this, the Alter Rebbe adds a further explanation spanning three chapters. After posing the question at the beginning, he says that to understand why mitzvos are compared to oil, we need to understand what the resting of the Shechinah means. Then he leaves oil and mitzvos aside altogether and begins explaining what the resting of the Shechinah is. In the first chapter,

02:35 Speaker 1 chapter 51, he explains what the resting of the Shechinah is. Shechinah means malchus. Good evening. Shechinah means malchus of Atzilus, which dwells below and descends to give life to the lower realms. What is the light of the Shechinah? It is the light—the Infinite Light, the very essence of G-dliness—that is present within malchus.

03:02 Speaker 2 One second, just a moment. Even if it’s Kaf Menachem, let’s wish Shoshanis bas Mazal and the rabbi a complete recovery.

03:09 Speaker 1 Amen.

03:09 Speaker 2 May everyone hear good news.

03:14 Speaker 1 Amen. So the light of the Shechinah is the Infinite Light that rests within the Shechinah, within malchus. That is the light of the Shechinah. What is the resting of the Shechinah? The resting of the light of the Shechinah. He explained there in chapter 51 that when malchus of Atzilus descends to give life to the worlds, the light that comes through the Shechinah, through malchus—the Infinite Light—descends and gives life to the worlds. That, broadly speaking, was the content of chapter 51: he explained—thank you very much—what the light of the Shechinah and the resting of the Shechinah are. Then, in chapter 52, he added how the light of the Shechinah becomes enclothed in the worlds. The light of the Shechinah is G-dliness, and created beings are created beings. Where, how, do they connect? How can G-dliness connect with created beings, give them life and bring them into existence? So he explained that in each world, when the light—the Shechinah, the light within malchus of Atzilus—descends into the world below it, this happens in two stages. Say the Shechinah, malchus of Atzilus, is descending now to give life to the world of Beriah. First, it becomes enclothed in the Holy of Holies of the world below it, and that Holy of Holies is chochmah, binah and daas. In other words, malchus of Atzilus descends and becomes enclothed in the chochmah, binah and daas of the world of Beriah, giving life to the world of Beriah as a whole. Then, when the chochmah, binah and daas of Beriah descend and become enclothed in the malchus of that world—in the malchus of Beriah, in this case—all the beings in that world are created: its angels and souls. How, then, does this light, this G-dliness, descend to give life to the world of Yetzirah, below Beriah? That same light of malchus of Atzilus descended and became enclothed in the Holy of Holies, in the chochmah, binah and daas of Beriah. Then it descended and became enclothed in the malchus of Beriah. From there it descends and becomes enclothed in the Holy of Holies of Yetzirah. There, the same process happens again: when it becomes enclothed in the Holy of Holies, in the chochmah, binah and daas of

05:38 Speaker 1 Yetzirah, it gives life to the world of Yetzirah as a whole. And when it becomes enclothed in the malchus of Yetzirah, it gives life to and brings into existence all the created beings, souls and angels of the world of Yetzirah. How does it then descend into the world of Asiyah? In the same way. The malchus of Yetzirah descends and becomes enclothed in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, giving life to the world of Asiyah as a whole, and so on. That was chapter 52. Chapter 53 is our chapter. To finish explaining how and why mitzvos are compared to oil, the Alter Rebbe begins the chapter by introducing the difference between the resting of the Shechinah in all the spiritual worlds we’ve learned about—Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah—and the resting of the Shechinah in this physical world, which is something entirely different. Let’s look inside. Chapter 53: “Now, when the First Beis Hamikdash stood, and the Ark and the Tablets were in its Holy of Holies, the Shechinah, which is malchus of Atzilus, the manifestation of the light of the blessed Ein Sof, rested there.” Where is “there”? In the Holy of Holies. So far, there’s nothing new, right? That’s how the Shechinah rests in every world: malchus of Atzilus descends and becomes enclothed in the Holy of Holies. Yes. But here’s the difference: “There, the Shechinah—which is malchus of Atzilus, the manifestation of the light of the Ein Sof—rested, enclothed in the Ten Commandments, with far greater intensity and strength, in a revelation much greater and more powerful than its revelation in the chambers of the Holy of Holies above, in the higher worlds.” We would have expected that as the G-dly light descends to give life to and create lower beings, it would again become enclothed in the Holy of Holies, and again in malchus, and so on, until it creates all the lower things. The Alter Rebbe says no. Who shines within the Holy of Holies of Asiyah? Malchus of Atzilus itself, directly. The Infinite Light that gives life to this physical world does not pass through enclothement in the malchus of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Rather, that very Infinite Light that shines in Atzilus—the Shechinah of Atzilus, malchus of Atzilus—rests

08:35 Speaker 1 directly, enclothed in the Ten Commandments, which are the Holy of Holies of this physical world. How? Didn’t we say that the light of the Shechinah can become enclothed in a world only through its Holy of Holies? He says: Correct, because the Ten Commandments truly are the Holy of Holies. Why are they the Holy of Holies? Because the Ten Commandments encompass the entire Torah. What is the Torah? Our Sages said… Our Sages said that the entire Torah—“The Torah emerges from chochmah”—the entire Torah emerges from chochmah. Ilan, what does “emerges” mean? What is it? Do you know what the Aramaic word nafka means? Nafka means “came forth.” “The Torah emerges from chochmah,” our Sages said in the Zohar. The Torah came forth from chochmah. What does it mean that the Torah came forth from chochmah? The Torah is the level of Divine chochmah. What is the level of Divine chochmah? The chochmah, binah and daas of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right? We spoke about this long ago, several times already. What are chochmah, binah and daas? They are the Holy of Holies. Right? So if the Torah came forth from chochmah, it is the Holy of Holies. Where is it found? Here, in the Ten Commandments, here in this world. So how does the G-dly light shine in this world? By becoming enclothed in the world’s Holy of Holies. What is the world’s Holy of Holies? The Torah. What is the Torah in this world? The Ten Commandments, which encompass the entire Torah. I don’t know if you’re familiar with this—just something worth knowing—there was one of the Rishonim called the Rasag, Rabbi Saadia Gaon. In one of the works he wrote, he showed how all 613 mitzvos are connected to the Ten Commandments. For each and every mitzvah, he explains how it relates to this commandment or that one. He made a kind of tree linking all 613 mitzvos to the Ten Commandments, to show that the Ten Commandments really do encompass the entire Torah. The entire Torah is contained there.

11:05 Speaker 4 How beautiful.

11:06 Speaker 1 Yes, that’s very beautiful. And since the Torah belongs to the Holy of Holies, where does it reveal itself in the world? In the Ten Commandments. So it’s clear how the Shechinah rests in this world: by being clothed in the Torah, in the Ten Commandments. Fine, but why are you telling me that we’re talking about the Torah as it is Chochmah of Atzilus? The Torah is right here in this world. Why not say that the Torah, as the infinite light is clothed in it here in our world, is Malchus that descended and became clothed in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, until it reached this world and became clothed in it? And now the infinite light is clothed in the Torah as it exists in this world. Why do you conclude that the Shechinah rests in this world directly from Malchus of Atzilus, rather than through its being clothed in all the worlds? Is the question clear? The Alter Rebbe says: In order to engrave the Commandments on physical stone tablets, the Torah did not descend from level to level, in the manner of the progression of the worlds, until it reached this physical world. The Alter Rebbe is saying something very simple. In this physical world, there are no miracles. This world is clothed in the garments of nature. When you see something in this world that does not follow nature, that means something beyond nature is shining here now, something that has not become clothed in the garment of this world’s Malchus. The beings of this world are created through Malchus of Asiyah in a natural way. And with the Tablets of the Covenant we see—first of all, nowhere else in the world... Our Sages said, “There are no squares in the work of Creation.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not create anything square in the world. There are all sorts of other shapes—triangles, circles and octagons. Bees also make all kinds of beautiful symmetrical structures. There are other interesting things too, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not create a square. There is no such thing. The Tablets of the Covenant

13:46 Speaker 1 were square. How could they be square? There are no squares in the work of Creation. This is not the work of Creation.

13:51 Speaker 5 Specifically a square, or a quadrilateral?

13:53 Speaker 1 I don’t know. I don’t know.

13:54 Speaker 5 I don’t know.

13:56 Speaker 1 It says about the Tablets that they were a cubit by a cubit. They were actually square.

13:59 Speaker 6 The Rebbe [unclear]—there’s the image.

14:01 Speaker 5 No, no, I mean, a square means the sides are equal, but a quadrilateral could be—

14:07 Speaker 1 I understand what you’re saying. I know the mathematical term. What does it mean here? I don’t know.

14:13 Speaker 5 That’s why I’m asking.

14:16 Speaker 1 That’s the wording of our Sages. There’s a long letter from the Rebbe explaining that it says one thing here and another thing there, and some say they disagree on this. The general point is that our Sages said, “There are no squa—” Here you see something square, genuinely square, with angles and corners. How is that possible? Right, because “the Tablets were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d, engraved on the Tablets.” The Tablets and the writing are not part of this world. Where have you ever seen a stone that suddenly has letters and sentences engraved inside it, without anyone engraving them? Everything about the Tablets of the Covenant is beyond nature. Why is it beyond nature? The Alter Rebbe says it’s very simple: because here the light of the Shechinah descended and became clothed directly, not through the world of Asiyah. Something is shining here in the world of Asiyah now that is not part of this world, so it does not behave according to this world’s rules. This physical world operates through the garments of physical nature, whereas “the Tablets were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d”—beyond the nature of this physical world. The nature of this physical world flows from a radiance of the Shechinah, not from the Shechinah itself, only from a radiance of it. What kind of radiance? One that became clothed in the chamber of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah. The Alter Rebbe does not go into detail here, but the physical beings were not created directly from the radiance of the Shechinah in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah either. It then became clothed in Malchus of Asiyah, and from Malchus of Asiyah came the spiritual beings of the world of Asiyah and the physical beings of the world of Asiyah—and even that was not direct. Because we learned in chapter 8 of Tanya, I think, or 7—6, 7, 8, I don’t remember which one—that all the vitality of this physical world comes from kelipas nogah. So even after the Shechinah descended and became clothed, and a radiance from it shone into Malchus, in order to create the

16:26 Speaker 1 physical beings of the world, that too came through the garment of kelipas nogah. But with the Tablets of the Covenant, the writing was the writing of G-d. How does the wording go? Ah: “The Tablets were the work of G-d, and the writing was the writing of G-d, engraved on the Tablets.” That did not come through being clothed in anything; it came directly. Beyond the nature of this physical world, the radiance of the Shechinah in the chamber of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah flowed forth. From it, light and vitality are drawn into the world of Asiyah, which includes this world as well. There is the spiritual world of Asiyah and the physical world of Asiyah, and it all comes by way of being clothed. But that is not how it was with the Tablets. Rather, in the Tablets, the level of Supernal Chochmah of Atzilus, which encompasses the Torah contained in the Ten Commandments, became clothed in Malchus of Atzilus and of Beriah alone. And these alone are united with the infinite light within them. Sorry. We need to understand this a little, because just a few lines earlier we said that in the Ten Commandments—the fourth line, or third or fourth, right there—the Shechinah rests and is clothed with greater intensity and power, in a greater revelation than its revelation in the chambers of the Holy of Holies above, in the higher worlds. So at first it sounds as though the Shechinah shining in this world is higher than all the higher worlds—higher than Yetzirah, higher than Beriah, higher than everything, right? He doesn’t distinguish between them there. And now, suddenly, he does distinguish: the Shechinah did become clothed in Malchus of Atzilus and Beriah. Where does that— First of all, what is the difference between the two statements? When he speaks at the beginning, there is what shines, and there is how it shines. What shines? The infinite light, the light of the Shechinah. But how does it shine? Does it shine a great deal or a little? When it shines through some sort of screen that restricts it, the screen of Malchus of Beriah holds back some of the light. The screen of Malchus of Yetzirah holds back a little more, and so on. But even after all those restrictions, what remains? The same light remains. There is less of it, but it is the same light, the same

18:59 Speaker 1 level, the same thing. There is less of it in quantity. So there is a difference between what shines and how much of it shines, or how it shines. Earlier, at the beginning, he was speaking about how all the worlds generally receive their vitality. What gives them life? Not the Divine light itself. The Divine light descended and became clothed, and its nature changed. It now took on the nature of Beriah. It is no longer the light of Atzilus; it is something else, and it gives life to the world of Beriah. It descended and became clothed in Yetzirah. Now there is something else here: Divine light belonging to Yetzirah, with a different nature. It gives life to the beings there. It descended further into the world of Asiyah, and so on. The light of the Shechinah that shines in the Holy of Holies, in the Ten Commandments, does not go through that same process. It is only restricted and reduced in quantity. But what is present here? The very same light of Supernal Chochmah shines directly in the Ten—“The Torah comes forth from Chochmah.” The very Torah that exists in Chochmah of Atzilus is exactly the same Chochmah that is here in this world. It is not a different Torah. It became clothed in physicality. It speaks about physical things. In the world of Atzilus, no—there are no donkeys there, and no candles that need lighting, and no, I don’t know, no physical things. There, the Torah speaks about a spiritual reality. But who is speaking about that reality? The same Torah. There it speaks about that kind of reality. In the world of Beriah it speaks about the reality of Beriah. In the world of Yetzirah it speaks about the reality of—yes, and so on. And in this world the Torah speaks about things that... It became clothed in things. It becomes clothed in, and speaks about, physical things. Who is speaking about physical things? The same Torah. It is not someone else.

21:01 Speaker 7 Eventually, we understand why it speaks about physical things here.

21:04 Speaker 1 But the point is that we need to distinguish between what it is—who is speaking, who is shining—and the way in which it shines.

21:13 Speaker 7 As in, how much of it?

21:15 Speaker 1 How much of it—meaning, what it became clothed in. But the way it becomes clothed... How can I explain this?

21:26 Speaker 7 And where, too.

21:29 Speaker 1 Usually, when we say that one thing is enclothed in another, it becomes one with it and changes its nature. For example, when someone moves to live in a... Let me use a different example. A person starts observing mitzvos. At first, everyone says about him that, G-d forbid, he’s no longer in the light. Right? But then time passes, he becomes one with it, and you can no longer tell. A person moves somewhere without knowing the language. At first, everyone sees that he’s a stranger there, but later he takes on the local customs and becomes one of the locals. And with his children, you can’t tell at all. That’s a kind of enclothement that changes a person’s nature. Here, when we speak about the Torah descending into the world and being enclothed in worldly matters, it has not changed its nature. It remains the same Torah, the same Divine wisdom. It now speaks about subjects that people in this world understand. But who is speaking? It’s the same Torah, the same Divine light, the same wisdom of Atzilus. All right? So that’s the difference between what we had on the first page, where he spoke about who is speaking, and here, where he speaks about how and what it speaks about. “Rather, the level of supernal wisdom...” I started from line eight, not line six. I don’t know where we stopped. “Rather, the level of supernal wisdom of Atzilus, which encompasses the Torah contained in the Ten Commandments, was enclothed in Malchus of Atzilus and of Beriah alone. They alone are united with the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, within them, and they are what is called the Shechinah, which rested in the Holy of Holies of the First Beis Hamikdash through its enclothement in the Ten Commandments engraved on the tablets in the Ark, through a miracle and the work of the living G-d.” Here a question comes up—a question that always bothered me, at least, until one day I saw an explanation from the Rebbe. How does the Alter Rebbe know what level of the Shechinah shone in the Holy

23:45 Speaker 1 of Holies of the First Beis Hamikdash? The level of the Shechinah as it is in Malchus of Beriah? Why not as it is in Malchus of Yetzirah? I understand why it isn’t Malchus of Asiyah, because it isn’t part of this world; it’s above this world. Fine. But why did you decide that it’s the level of G-dliness of Malchus of Beriah? Why did you skip Yetzirah? What compelled you to? Yes, of course. How do you know? So the answer is that the Alter Rebbe himself answered it; we just need the Rebbe to illuminate the... to show us the way. The Rebbe writes that the Torah was enclothed in the Ten Commandments engraved on the tablets in the Ark, “through a miracle and the work of the living G-d.” What does “the living G-d” mean? In the Torah it says... there’s no G-d who isn’t living. Right? In the Torah... the verse says, “The writing...” Well?

24:49 Speaker 8 G-d.

24:49 Speaker 1 “The writing was the writing of G-d.” No, that’s the workmanship. Well, again. I don’t remember the wording. It slipped my mind again. “The writing was the writing of G-d, and the workmanship was the workmanship of G-d.” I’m not quoting it exactly. Right. It doesn’t say “the living G-d.” It says “G-d.” That’s it. That’s where the verse ends. The expression “the living G-d” does appear in Tanach, in four or five verses, but not in connection with the tablets. No connection at all. The Rebbe adds it here: when connecting the tablets and the illumination of the Shechinah, he adds the word “living.” In Kabbalah, the expression “the living G-d” alludes to... and this is explained at length in Chassidus: the world of Beriah. Why the world of Beriah? What is there in the world of Beriah? When we say something is alive, we usually mean some created being—a person, a fly. There’s a body here, and that body is alive, right? In other words, when we say “alive,” we mean that something is giving life to something else. If one thing is giving life to another, there’s a relationship between them. We’re not talking about G-dliness in its essence. Of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, just as it isn’t applicable to say that He is dead, it isn’t applicable to say that He is alive. He is neither dead nor alive. He isn’t part of... He isn’t part of the world. When we say something is alive, we’re no longer speaking of the light in its essence, only of its extension. So we’re no longer talking about the world of Atzilus, which is G-dliness itself. When we speak of a radiance from the world of Atzilus, we’re already talking about the world of Beriah. There is an entire lengthy explanation that wherever it says “the living G-d,” it refers to the sefirah of Binah or to the world of Beriah, in which the sefirah of Binah shines. That is already a radiance and extension of G-dliness, not G-dliness in its essence. Since it says... In any case, this is how the Alter Rebbe understands it: the tablets were the writing of the living G-d, so we must

27:06 Speaker 1 say that what shone here—what shone in the tablets—was not only G-dliness from a world above the world of Asiyah, but even above the world of Yetzirah, directly from the world of Beriah. And that’s what it says. He adds here in parentheses, “He”—who is the living G-d? “He is alma d’iskasya.” What is alma d’iskasya? The world of Beriah; it means the world of Beriah, as is known to those familiar with Kabbalah. That’s the First Beis Hamikdash. So in the First Beis Hamikdash, the Shechinah shone directly. The light of the Shechinah was revealed here in this physical world, without intermediaries. [unclear] To penetrate straight through. And the Second Beis Hamikdash—the Second Beis Hamikdash did not have the... did not have the tablets. There were five things that the Second Beis Hamikdash did not have... How did the Shechinah shine in the Second Beis Hamikdash? Of the Second Beis Hamikdash, which did not have the Ark and the tablets, our Sages said, “The Shechinah did not rest in it.” The Second Beis Hamikdash... How can you say such a thing? There was no Shechinah in the Beis Hamikdash? Then what were they doing there? The Alter Rebbe explains: “What did our Sages mean when they said that the Shechinah did not rest in the Second Beis Hamikdash? It means that the level of the Shechinah that rested in the First Beis Hamikdash, not through the usual order of the worlds’ descent, was not present in the Second Beis Hamikdash.” What was there? “Rather, in the Second Beis Hamikdash it rested through the usual order of descent and enclothement: Malchus of Atzilus in Malchus of Beriah, Beriah in Malchus of Yetzirah, and Yetzirah in the chamber of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah.”

28:54 Speaker 9 How were there miracles there, then?

28:56 Speaker 1 Hmm?

28:56 Speaker 9 How were there miracles there?

28:58 Speaker 1 That’s exactly the question everyone should ask. In the Second Beis Hamikdash, how did the Shechinah—the light of the Shechinah—shine? I’ll repeat the question aloud. If in the Second Beis Hamikdash the Shechinah shone only through enclothement in the world of Asiyah, why were there miracles there? And what’s the difference between the Beis Hamikdash and the rest of the world? Both receive it through enclothement in the world of Asiyah. The point is that the enclothement reached the chamber of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, not Malchus of Asiyah. The world of Asiyah as a whole receives its life-force from Malchus of Asiyah as it is enclothed in kelipas nogah, and only from a radiance. In the Beis Hamikdash, although it did not have the tablets, the light of the Shechinah did shine there through direct enclothement in the chamber of the Holy of Holies—not merely as far as Malchus. The spiritual Holy of Holies of Asiyah was enclothed in the Holy of Holies in the Beis Hamikdash below, even without the tablets. The very fact that there was a structure of the Beis Hamikdash, and within the Beis Hamikdash there was... Now, I’m sure everyone remembers the laws of the Beis Hamikdash’s construction, its layout. At least everyone knows that the Holy of Holies itself was a cube, ten by ten by ten, which signifies perfection upon perfection upon perfection. There are a number of concepts and explanations about this in Kabbalah and in Chassidus. And the very fact that there is such a holy place, there in the Holy of Holies, the place Hashem chose—that is where the Shechinah was enclothed in the chamber of the Holy of Holies. It was enclothed in the world of Asiyah, but in the Holy of Holies.

30:55 Speaker 9 Was there something there, though, if there was no Ark?

30:57 Speaker 1 Hmm?

30:58 Speaker 9 Was there something there? Any vessels, perhaps? I don’t know exactly what was in the Ark.

31:02 Speaker 1 No, there was no Ark, no Ark, no—

31:04 Speaker 9 There was no Ark there.

31:05 Speaker 1 The stone on which the Ark had rested was there.

31:08 Speaker 9 Ah, okay.

31:13 Speaker 1 There are entire discussions about this: when the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur and had to sprinkle the blood between the poles, between the two poles of the Ark—but there was no Ark. Where did he sprinkle the blood? He had to set down the pan of incense. Where exactly did he put it? There are discussions about this. It’s an interesting question. The room was empty. Yet the Shechinah rested there: Malchus of Yetzirah was clothed in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah. And so, because there was nevertheless a revelation of G-dliness in the Holy of Holies that was far, far above the world as a whole—it was not clothed in Malchus, and certainly not in kelipas nogah, but directly in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah—no one was permitted to enter, even in the Second Beis Hamikdash, except the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. So up to this point, we’ve understood the difference between the resting of the Shechinah in the First Beis Hamikdash and in the Second: in the First, it was direct; in the Second, it was through being clothed in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah. But we have to note, and keep remembering, that it is only the manner in which the Shechinah is present that involves this clothing. What shines even in the Second Beis Hamikdash? Who is that Shechinah clothed there? We are still talking about that same Malchus of Atzilus, that same Chochmah of Atzilus itself, the same level. It was clothed, it descended a little further, but it was the same one, the same Chochmah of Atzilus. That was in the Beis Hamikdash. And afterward, when there is no Beis Hamikdash, there is no Holy of Holies at all. After all, everything we discussed in the previous chapter—that for the Shechinah to descend into the world below and give it life, even in a general way, it can only do so by being clothed in the Holy of Holies of that world. Right? So if there is no Holy of Holies in the world, the Shechinah cannot be clothed in the world, and the world cannot continue to exist. That’s fairly clear. So we have to say that even after the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, there is still a Holy of Holies somewhere.

33:26 Speaker 1 The world exists. “Since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four amos of halacha.” When we learn halacha, however frustrating, difficult, and boring it can sometimes be, we are now inside the Holy of Holies.

33:54 Speaker 10 Four amos means?

33:55 Speaker 1 Four amos means four. That word means four. Four amos of halacha. It means that when a person now—

34:02 Speaker 10 Learns or does?

34:03 Speaker 1 No, no, no, no. I’ll explain. There is a concept in halacha: a person’s four amos acquire things for him. Four amos—when a person stands like this, from here to here is roughly four amos altogether, and when he stands like this, that’s four amos too. So when he turns around, he is in the middle of a circle around him. Even when he isn’t doing this, yes—even when he is here without spreading his arms, he has four amos around him. Halacha says that the four amos at whose center a person stands belong to him, and this is relevant to a number of things in halacha. If someone threw an object to another person, or if someone found an object that does or doesn’t belong to him—there is a rule in halacha that if the object is within those four amos, or was thrown and landed within them, it is considered that he has acquired it, as though he were holding it in his hand, even though he was only standing there looking at it. There are explanations in Chassidus, too, for why this is so. It has to do with the encompassing powers of the soul, among other things. In any case, halacha has this concept of four amos. What the concept means is: this is my space. This is my territory, even when there is no fence around it. What does “the four amos of halacha” mean? I’m learning halacha now; I’m now within the territory of halacha. Yes, the Torah is now the center, and I’m learning it; I’m there, learning halacha. So the moment a person learns, the four amos of halacha are the Holy of Holies. I’m learning halacha now; I’ve entered the Holy of Holies, the Holy of Holies. The Shechinah now shines within me. True, it does so by being clothed, and so on. That’s all true. But who is that Shechinah that became clothed? We are still talking about the supernal Chochmah of Atzilus, which is not revealed even in the higher worlds. So let’s see

36:27 Speaker 1 this inside.

36:29 Speaker 10 Let’s have a halacha class.

36:38 Speaker 1 There is much more to say about the saying you mentioned, but... it is very true. “Since the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four amos of halacha.” Even one person—not a public class. “One who sits and engages in Torah study, the Shechinah is with him.” Which Shechinah? We’ve already discussed that.

37:08 Speaker 10 Chochmah.

37:08 Speaker 1 As stated in Berachos. How can you say such a thing? It’s as if it shakes the foundations of the world. To think that when I learn halacha now, it is the same as entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. It’s the same essence, the same thing. How can one say such a thing? I didn’t make this up; it’s already written in the Gemara. As stated in the first chapter of Berachos, “the Shechinah is with him” means through the progression and clothing of Malchus of Atzilus in Malchus of Beriah and Yetzirah, and that is also clothed in Malchus of Asiyah. So it’s true that now, when there is no Beis Hamikdash and not even a Holy of Holies—not only is there no Ark, there is not even a physical Holy of Holies—the Shechinah has to descend, become clothed, and find itself another sort of Holy of Holies: the four amos of halacha, something spiritual. So here we are already saying that the same Shechinah descended and became clothed in Malchus, even in Malchus of Asiyah, not only in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah. But who is still here? That same supernal Chochmah. Where do we see this? In the 613 mitzvos of the Torah. What is the Torah about? Torah comes from the word meaning “instruction.” Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu give us the Torah? To instruct us in our path through the world. What is our path in the world? To fulfill the 613 mitzvos. That is the purpose, the goal, and the sum of the entire Torah: the 613 mitzvos. And almost all of the Torah’s 613 mitzvos are practical mitzvos. As we already discussed there in chapters 36 and 37, the special quality of action—and even the mitzvos that depend on speech and thought, such as Torah study, Birkas Hamazon, the recitation of Shema, and prayer. Even with these mitzvos, we hold that thought is not equivalent to speech. Thought is very important. Contemplating G-dliness is one of the foundations of serving Hashem. It is important and lofty, but thought is not the same as speech. A person can think through—say he has just finished

39:32 Speaker 1 eating and wants to recite Birkas Hamazon. He can go through the whole of Birkas Hamazon in his mind, letter by letter, from beginning to end. That does not count as having recited it. He has not said it aloud. He does not fulfill his obligation through thought and intention alone until he says it with his lips. And we hold—it is clear to us—that moving one’s lips constitutes an action. True, it’s a minor action. Speaking doesn’t take much effort, but something here in the physical world has moved. That is an action, an action. So it turns out that all 613 mitzvos of the Torah, even mitzvos that depend only on speech, are connected with action. It’s true that the Torah descended and became clothed not only in spiritual matters but also in the physical matters of this world—to the point that if a person does not fulfill the Torah in a practical way, he has not fulfilled it; he has not discharged his obligation. So it’s true that the Shechinah descended and became clothed even below. But we see that the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, together with the seven rabbinic mitzvos, have the numerical value of keser. Six hundred and thirteen, plus seven mitzvos instituted by the Sages: washing the hands, eruvin, Shabbos candles, Chanukah, Hallel. Seven rabbinic mitzvos together with six hundred and thirteen make six hundred and twenty. Yes or no? The arithmetic is simpler here. And how does that work in gematria? Six hundred is tav and reish, right? Four hundred and two hundred. And twenty is chaf. So six hundred and twenty mitzvos have the numerical value of keser. What are the mitzvos of the Torah? They are physical mitzvos. What do we say about them? That they are keser. What is keser? A crown is above the head. Keser is will. Where is Hashem’s will found? Down here, in the physical world. Hashem’s wisdom is also present in Torah study, in understanding the Torah, but Hashem’s will is in halacha—which is His supernal will, blessed be He, clothed in His wisdom, which is united

42:08 Speaker 1 In the light of the blessed Ein Sof, in a state of complete uni—complete unity. So the Torah comes forth from wisdom. When a Jew studies the mitzvos of the Torah, studies halachah, he enters the four cubits of halachah, right? And when he fulfills mitzvos—“mitzvos” has the numerical value of “keser,” and that’s not all: we know that mitzvos involve physical things. So when he fulfills mitzvos, that too relates and connects to the Supernal Will, to supernal wisdom. There’s something else in between that we forgot. Between the Written Torah, where the 613 mitzvos are written, and actually performing the mitzvos, there is the study of how to fulfill them: the Oral Torah. So what, isn’t the Oral Torah part of this? The Alter Rebbe immediately adds, “Hashem founded the earth with wisdom.” What is “earth”? Earth is the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah, which is the wisdom of the Torah, the understanding of the Torah, is an intermediary connecting the Torah with the mitzvos. Where does it come from? There’s an explicit verse: “Hashem founded the earth with wisdom.” The earth—the Oral Torah—what is its source and root? What is its essence? It too is supernal wisdom, for it comes forth from supernal wisdom. And he brings a proof from the Zohar, as it says in the Zohar, “The father founded the daughter.” There’s the whole matter of the father; in Parshas Tazria we always talk about this. If the man contributes his seed first, a daughter is born; if the woman contributes her seed first, a son is born. Surely you all know that. Right? No? Well, very good. And from this, that is to say, our Sages learned that the birth of sons is connected to the mother: if the woman contributes her seed first, she gives birth to a son. And the birth of daughters is connected to the father: if the man contributes his seed first, she gives birth to a daughter. In Chassidus, in the teachings of Kabbalah, it is explained in connection with this: “The mother of the children rejoices.” The mother of the children is binah. The children are the middos, the six emotional attributes. How are a person’s middos, his feelings—love of Hashem and fear of Hashem—awakened? Through contemplation. Binah is the mother. What is born from her? Sons are born from her. So the root of the middos, of the sons, belongs to the mother,

44:57 Speaker 1 to binah. And where does malchus come from? Malchus is not one of the middos; it is not an emotion. Malchus is speech. Yes, “A king’s word has power.” Where does speech come from? In Igeres Hakodesh, which we learned not long ago, we saw that the root of speech is in... in the intellect, in wisdom above. “The father founded the daughter.” The mother, binah, gives birth to the middos, but the daughter—the Oral Torah, the earth—what is the source and root of the Oral Torah? It is wisdom. So that is a proof from the Zohar. “The father founded the daughter,” meaning that the Oral Torah, too, has its root— So what emerges, basically, is that in our physical world—and up to here is the summary of the subject, up to here—in our physical world, after the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, when a Jew is within the four cubits of studying the Written Torah and the Oral Torah and fulfilling the mitzvos, he is now inside the Holy of Holies. And this is called the indwelling of the Shechinah in this world, in our generation. How does all this—after we’ve studied at such great length and in such detail what the indwelling of the Shechinah means, how it dwells, what dwells, and the difference between the upper worlds and our physical world—how does all this explain why the mitzvos are called oil? What does the Yenuka mean? So now we return to the Yenuka’s analogy, and now everything will be very clear. And this is what the Yenuka said: the supernal light that burns above the wise man’s head, above a person’s head, above a Jew’s head—the Shechinah, the light of the Shechinah—needs oil. Meaning, it needs to be clothed in wisdom, which is called “the oil of holy anointing,” as it says in the Zohar. For the light of the Shechinah to dwell in the world, there has to be some aspect of the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies, wisdom, is oil. That is what the Yenuka is saying. So up to here, everything is clear. This is what we’ve learned so far: for the light of the Shechinah to dwell in the upper

47:53 Speaker 1 worlds, and even in this physical world, it needs oil. What is the oil? The chamber of the Holy of Holies. The Zohar continues and says: And what is that oil? Until now, what did we think the oil was? The chamber of the Holy of Holies. It says: No, no, no, no, no, no. Supernal wisdom—it is good deeds, the deeds—the good deeds of fulfilling the mitzvos. What really is the oil? In truth, the oil is wisdom. Where is it found? Not in the Holy of Holies, but in the deeds of the mitzvos. Why? They are the 613 mitzvos, which in fact merely derive from His wisdom. So if they merely derive from His wisdom, they are not wisdom itself. Then why do you say they are the oil? In order to hold the light of the Shechinah to the wick, which is the vital soul in the body, called the wick. When a Jew studies Torah, then yes, Torah is the Holy of Holies; it is chochmah, binah, and daas, and through it the light of the Ein Sof can dwell. All that is true, but it will not take hold in the physicality of the world. For the light of the Shechinah to take hold within the animal soul, within the body, within the world’s physicality, it has to descend into physical matters. Where are there physical matters? Only in practical mitzvos. Through practical mitzvos, the light of the Shechinah descends, becomes clothed in the physicality of the world, and unites and connects with it. For just as with a physical lamp, its light shines as the wick is consumed and burned, turning into fire, so the light of the Shechinah dwells upon the G-dly soul through the consumption of the animal soul. The lamp is the vessel, made from a vessel, an earthenware vessel containing a wick and oil. Yes. So which part is the G-dly soul? The G-dly soul is the earthenware, the earthenware vessel. You want the earthenware lamp to shine? Then you have to put a wick and oil inside it. Light will not dwell on the G-dly soul if you do not put a wick and oil in it. The wick is the body and the animal soul, and the oil is the mitzvos. For there to be a revelation to the G-dly soul, it has to take hold of the—

50:40 Speaker 1 Just as in the physical world, the earthenware will not shine without a wick and oil, so too in the spiritual realm, a person will have no revelation of G-dliness if he doesn’t—if he doesn’t have a wick and oil, if he doesn’t make use of the mitzvos. For it is through the mitzvos that G-dliness is drawn into the physical, so that it can transform the wick. Thus the light of the Shechinah dwells on the G-dly soul through the consumption of the animal soul and, in the case of tzaddikim, through the animal soul’s transformation from darkness to light and from bitterness to sweetness. What happens when the fire burns the wick? The wick is consumed. That is the analogy: through fulfilling mitzvos, the animal soul is transformed, consumed in G-dliness. And if not the animal soul itself, as happens with tzaddikim, then at least through the consumption of its garments—thought, speech, and action—in the case of beinonim. Thought, speech, and action, and their transformation from the darkness of kelipos to the light of Hashem. The blessed light of the Ein Sof is clothed in and united with the thought, speech, and action of fulfilling Torah and mitzvos in the case of beinonim. In the case of tzaddikim, the animal soul itself actually changes from evil to good; or in the case of beinonim, at least the garments of the animal soul change from evil to good. For through the transformation of the animal soul, of kelipas nogah, from darkness to light—as the animal soul changes from darkness to light, and so on—there is an elevation of mayin nukvin, drawing down the light of the Shechinah, which is the revelation of the light of the blessed Ein Sof upon his G-dly soul in his mind. So there is something else here that the Rebbe has introduced, almost in passing. What have we been talking about until now? For the Shechinah to dwell, there has to be a vessel. The Shechinah cannot dwell in a place that is not a vessel. What is the vessel? The chamber of the Holy of Holies: chochmah, binah, and daas. But why would the Shechinah want to come down in the first place? It is fine up above. What does it need—what is it looking for down here? Yes. So the Alter Rebbe says that this, too, is brought about through the transformation of the animal soul.

53:02 Speaker 1 There is a concept in Kabbalah and Chassidus called “raising mayin nukvin and drawing down mayin duchrin.” Mayin nukvin is the arousal of the recipient, and mayin duchrin is the influence of the giver. If the giver is truly a giver, then from his own perspective, what does he need with the recipient? What does he gain? The recipient gives him nothing. He has nothing; he knows nothing. Why should I go and get involved with him now? Let him do the work himself. And this isn’t only in spiritual matters. Even for a person who is full of Torah and mitzvos, going to get involved with someone who is... it’s hard. Why do I need this? If the Rebbe told me to, and I have an instruction, then I need to do it. I understand its value. Fine. But from his own perspective, why would a person exert himself for someone else when it gives him nothing? There’s no reason for it to happen. The light of the Shechinah, the giver, does not, from its own perspective, want to descend into this world. It is better off above, attached to its source and root. To persuade the light of Ein Sof, so to speak, to descend and dwell in the Holy of Holies, you have to make a request. How do you make that request? By showing how much we want it, how important it is to us, how much we long for it. How do we do that? Through the consuming of the animal soul and its transformation from evil to good. So when a person works to nullify his own sense of self, to burn his animal soul in the light of Hashem for the sake of fulfilling Torah and mitzvos, he does two things at once. First, he shows that he wants it. He arouses himself from below, and that arousal causes the light of the Shechinah to want to descend. But wait—there’s no vessel. Where will it dwell when it descends? No: that same act of burning his animal soul arouses the flow of influence,

55:28 Speaker 1 and it is also the vessel. It is also the Holy of Holies; it is also the oil in which the light of the Shechinah can dwell. Yes, so that the light of the blessed Ein Sof can dwell upon his G-dly soul, in the intellectual faculties of his head. “And with this, we will clearly understand what is written: ‘For Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire.’” First of all, “with this, we will clearly understand” refers, quite simply, to what we’ve just been discussing. “Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire.” All of Jewish life, a Jew’s entire connection with G-dliness, depends on grasping that Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire. He has to nullify himself. You have a wick—your animal soul—and for the light of Hashem to shine upon your G-dly soul, you have to burn that wick. That is the way. But “we will clearly understand” doesn’t refer only to the last passage we learned. If we open our eyes for a moment, it applies to the entire Tanya: “Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire.” It doesn’t say, “Finished and complete.” It says, “The first part is complete, with the help of Hashem, blessed and exalted.” Why “the first part”? When someone says a book has two parts—not necessarily Tanya—what do you understand? That there is a subject too weighty and too large, or some distinction between... It’s no longer a matter of chapters. There is one part, and then another part of the same subject, but... Right? It isn’t just another chapter. And the second part has another twelve chapters, but it’s part of the same book. The Alter Rebbe wrote Igeres Hateshuvah; that was added several years later. It wasn’t in the first printing. But Likkutei Amarim, the Book of the Beinoni—and Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah—the Alter Rebbe wrote as one book. One book with two parts. True, the chapter numbering starts over, and it’s called a separate part. But it isn’t another book; it’s the same book. And in many

57:53 Speaker 1 places, when people refer to the Book of the Beinoni, to Tanya, they mean it from beginning to end, both parts together. And the entire subject of Tanya is the Book of the Beinoni. On the one hand, it is finished and complete; on the other, that is only the first part. There is another whole subject relevant to the avodah of beinonim. Otherwise, it would not have been included in this book. There are many other subjects the Alter Rebbe discussed—an enormous number of subjects that aren’t written in Tanya because they aren’t relevant to beinonim, or aren’t relevant to everyone, or not every day, or whatever. Profound subjects and so on. But here is another entire subject in Chassidus that is relevant to the avodah of beinonim, yet it wasn’t included in this part. Any guesses? Any ideas? Does anyone know?

58:53 Speaker 11 I don’t know.

58:53 Speaker 1 Huh? The unity of Hashem—yes, of course. That’s explained there; everyone knows that. But what’s the point? Everything we learned from chapter 1—actually, from the preface, the title-page preface, through chapter 1, all the way to the last words, “blessed and exalted,” in chapter 53—is about how to serve Hashem. Why should I serve Him at all? I don’t believe. I don’t feel like it. Where is the foundation? What? I don’t believe. Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah is the foundation and beginning of Tanya. So much so that the Alter Rebbe considered making the second part of Tanya the first part. We’ll see this, with Hashem’s help, in the next class. We’ll actually see it stated completely explicitly. What’s more, we have no explanation—not even a hint of an explanation—for why the Alter Rebbe made it the second part rather than the first. There isn’t even an explanation from the Rebbe. Nothing, not a hint. In one or two places it says that there is no explanation, and that’s it. There simply is no explanation. I could tell you my own theory, but it wouldn’t help, because if the Rebbe didn’t explain it, then that isn’t...

1:00:28 Speaker 11 Wow.

1:00:28 Speaker 1 “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, through Whose word everything came into being.”

1:00:30 Speaker 11 What’s the Rabbi’s theory?

1:00:34 Speaker 3 There are already much better ones.

1:00:40 Speaker 11 Yes.

1:00:40 Speaker 1 Yes, you want to hear it. I once thought—and I’ve thought about it a lot—that you could put it quite simply. But perhaps I should say this with trepidation, because it’s just a feeling, with no basis, no hint, no—nothing at all. The Alter Rebbe wrote Tanya for chassidim. Of course, it is intended for the whole world, for every person, and the whole world can be chassidim, and that’s all fine. But the Alter Rebbe wrote Tanya for chassidim, not for poor sinners. Faith? Every Jew has faith. Certainly a chossid does, and certainly a chossid of the Alter Rebbe. You don’t need to talk to him about faith. Fine—how do we serve Hashem? First, the practical question: what do we have to do? Later, there are some who need strengthening, so we’ll add that too. But really, uh, strike that from the record.

1:01:46 Speaker 3 Listen, girls, next week won’t be possible. Maybe there were