Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Chapter 3

00:02 Speaker 1 Okay, good evening. We’re learning chapter 3. We promised it would be short today, so I told Lena [?], “I won’t prepare for the class; that way it’ll be shorter.”

00:16 Speaker 2 We need to coordinate with the teachers, the teachers who teach me somewhere else.

00:24 Speaker 1 Ah, chapter 3 begins with a heading of sorts that the Alter Rebbe gives it: “And now, after these words and this truth, every discerning person will understand clearly.” So the Rebbe first—the Alter Rebbe says explicitly at the beginning of this chapter that it is the conclusion of the previous two chapters. “After these words and this truth”—after what was explained in the previous two chapters—“every discerning person will understand clearly.” Now we can understand what was explained and what we need to understand. He first explained the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching that there is nothing besides Him: Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the world anew from nothing at every moment through the Ten Utterances. Then, in chapter f—the second chapter, the previous chapter, chapter 2, he brought a proof for this, a logical proof from the splitting of the sea. We see Hakadosh Boruch Hu perform a miracle, changing a property of nature. How does He do that? At every single moment, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has to renew the change, renew the miracle. The east wind has to keep blowing the whole time; otherwise, if it stops for even one moment, the miracle will cease and the water will cease to stand like a wall. So all the more so when you take nothing, something that is nothing, and turn it into something. That is much, much more than changing just one property of water, just one property of matter. It means taking nothing and transforming its entire existence, making it exist, making it something, a reality. So all the more so, it has to be renewed at every single moment. That is more or less the reasoning explained at length in the previous chapter. And that explanation should lead us to the conclusion we’ll reach in this chapter. What is the conclusion? That what we said at the beginning of

02:41 Speaker 1 the first chapter—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the only true reality and there is nothing besides Him—now makes sense. What did we say at the beginning of the first chapter? That in the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu commands: “Know this day and take it to heart that Hashem is G-d in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is nothing else.” The Torah’s command is not so much to make an effort, to toil, to understand that there are no other gods. That is not so hard to understand. Rather, the Torah’s command is to delve into and understand that there is nothing besides Him, no reality besides Him. That is very hard to understand. Our feelings and our intellect cry out, sensing that the world is alive, the world exists, the world is a reality, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu merely rules over it. To bring ourselves to an understanding—and even more, to a feeling—that the whole world is truly nothing at all, that apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu there is no other true reality, no separate reality: that is very hard to understand and certainly hard to feel. Now, after the explanation in the previous two chapters, through which we understand the idea intellectually, the Alter Rebbe adds an analogy here in chapter 3. Through this analogy, what we previously grasped only intellectually will become much clearer and more tangible, and we’ll be able to connect with it, to become one with it. So let’s look at the analogy the Alter Rebbe brings for what we understood in the previous chapter. “After these words and this truth, every discerning person will understand clearly how every created being and existence is truly considered absolutely nothing in relation to the power of the One who acts and the breath of His mouth within the thing acted upon, which constantly brings it into being and brings it from absolute nothingness into existence.” What we said at the beginning of chapter 1 really is true: it is “truly considered absolutely nothing in relation to the power of the One who acts and the breath of His mouth within the thing acted upon, which constantly brings it into being and brings it from absolute nothingness into existence. And the reason every created being and thing acted upon appears to us as something real and substantial”—how can you—the whole explanation you gave was very good. We understood it, and you explained it to us in a very

05:07 Speaker 1 logical way, and we understood. But still, even after understanding it, created things still appear to us as real and substantial. Okay, so I understand intellectually that there isn’t really a cup of coffee here; what is here is the word of Hashem, bringing it into being and giving it life from nothing. Fine, I can understand that intellectually. But even after understanding it, I still see the world. I still see reality. Why is that? “It is only because we do not perceive or see with our physical eyes the power of Hashem and the breath of His mouth within the created being.” The Alter Rebbe is saying something simple. Why does the world still look like a reality to me when I know that isn’t the truth? Because I don’t see the power bringing it into being. If I saw that power, the word of Hashem, the Ten Utterances—if I could see them with my eyes—then obviously I wouldn’t focus on the results; I would focus only on the thing itself. The world’s reality wouldn’t—I wouldn’t look at it; I wouldn’t see it at all. “We do not perceive or see with our physical eyes the power of Hashem and the breath of His mouth within the created being. But if the eye were granted permission to see and perceive the life force and spirituality within every created being, flowing into it from the word that issues from Hashem’s mouth and from the breath of His mouth, the physicality, matter, and substance of the created being would not appear to our eyes at all.” Yes? Clear and obvious? Now that we know that the whole reality, the world’s entire existence, is only the word of Hashem within it, the world’s own reality is absolutely nothing. Do you remember the analogy of the stone flying through the air? Mm? We said that when you throw a stone into the air, the stone flies. So what is flying? Is the stone’s flight something real? Even while it is actually flying through the air, no new thing has come into being here, a flying stone. There is

07:21 Speaker 1 a force acting within it, making it do the opposite of its nature even while it’s in flight. The act of flying is not a real act; it is not the stone’s act. It is the act of the force of the person who threw it, keeping it in the air. The stone hasn’t changed its—

07:39 Speaker 3 Because the moment it hits something beneath it, that goes away.

07:43 Speaker 1 The stone itself hasn’t changed its nature. Right? So it’s the same here. If we could see the force of the thrower within the stone, we wouldn’t regard its flight as flight. We would look only at—we would see only the truth. So why do we see the world? Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu put up a barrier so that our eyes cannot see the reality, the power of the One who acts within the thing acted upon. By the way, chassidim say that in the Alter Rebbe’s wording here, “If the eye were granted permission to see,” the Alter Rebbe is hinting that the physical eye truly cannot see. But the spiritual eye, the mind’s eye—if a person toils, then he can see.

08:30 Speaker 4 But I’ll see it with my physical eye.

08:32 Speaker 1 What?

08:32 Speaker 4 But I’ll see it with my physical eye, which can’t.

08:36 Speaker 1 Yes, but when a person contemplates it with the mind’s eye and it becomes as clear to him as the sun, he’ll no longer go by what his physical eyes see. He’ll, so to speak, see the—

08:47 Speaker 4 The yud-vav-yud, and immediately, automatically, it’s Hashem’s name.

08:50 Speaker 1 What?

08:51 Speaker 4 It’s like when I see the letter vav with two yuds, I immediately, like, see it and say that it’s Hashem’s name.

08:59 Speaker 5 I think it would be like you’re in a cave now, and then at the time of the Geulah you’ll say, “Ah.”

09:05 Speaker 4 That doesn’t work.

09:05 Speaker 1 I’m not talking about physical sight. Physical sight isn’t possible now. Seeing G-dliness with physical eyes will be possible in the future. That’s what it means when it says the eye was not granted permission. But the Alter Rebbe hints here that the physical eye truly has no permission to see, while the spiritual eye does have permission to see. In other words, if a person truly toils—

09:29 Speaker 4 Not automatic sight.

09:31 Speaker 1 He won’t see it with his physical eyes, but it will be clear to him as—that’s what we mean by “clear as the sun.” Yes.

09:41 Speaker 4 What’s the analogy with electricity? What’s the analogy with electricity?

09:47 Speaker 1 What?

09:48 Speaker 4 Yes, about what you said.

09:49 Speaker 1 Yes. When I see a lamp lit, I don’t see the electricity, but it’s clear to me that electricity is powering it, right? Even though I don’t see it. It’s understood. Yes, understood in a way that—that’s the point. Understood on the level of feeling. It’s not just that I understand it intellectually; it’s clear to me that—

10:11 Speaker 4 Afterward, he tries to get around it.

10:13 Speaker 1 Yes, if I take an electrical wire, plug it into an outlet, expose the wires and try to chase someone with it, he’ll run away. Right? What do you see here? You don’t see anything, but he clearly senses that there’s something dangerous inside. Yes. We can reach that kind of sense that G-dliness is real. Seeing it with our eyes—that we can’t do. But “if the eye were permitted to see and perceive the life-force and spirituality within every created being, flowing into it from the utterance of Hashem’s mouth and the breath of His mouth, the physicality, substance and tangible form of the created being would not be visible to our eyes at all.” Because the truth is that every created being, all created beings, are utterly nullified in relation to the life-force and spirituality within them. Why are they nullified? And here begins the—until now, that was the heading. For two reasons. First, why is the created being nullified to the force that brings it into being? As we’ve said until now, because without the spirituality it would be absolutely nothing, just as a stone won’t fly unless there’s a force in it—unless someone throws it—and the water at the splitting of the sea wouldn’t stand if the wind weren’t blowing through it. In the same way, there would be no world without the Ten Utterances. That’s what we’ve said until now. The Rebbe adds another, deeper point: “Without the spirituality it would be absolutely nothing, just as it was before the Six Days of Creation. And the spirituality flowing into it from the utterance of Hashem’s mouth and the breath of His mouth alone constantly brings it from nothingness into existence and gives it being. If so, without it, it is truly nothing.” Here the Alter Rebbe makes the point of the chapter. It’s not only that without the spirituality the world could not continue to exist. Even while the spirituality is bringing it into being from nothingness, even now it has no independent existence. Do you understand the difference? Everything discussed in the previous two chapters was: What brings

12:45 Speaker 1 the created being into existence from nothingness? The word of Hashem. Here the Alter Rebbe adds a much deeper point.

12:52 Speaker 6 It brings the world into being.

12:53 Speaker 1 Even while it exists right now, it is still nothing, even now. Even now it is nothing; it is not an independent reality. And there are quite a few things we need to understand about this point. That’s what we’re starting in this chapter. And the analogy for it—

13:14 Speaker 6 Which chapter?

13:17 Speaker 1 This chapter and half of the next chapter, followed by three chapters of questions and answers.

13:21 Speaker 6 Okay, we have plenty.

13:26 Speaker 1 But the point is here, in the next few lines, in the analogy he gives in this chapter. The analogy helps us understand why it is truly nothing without Him. Because even when the world exists, it still does not exist as a separate, independent reality. The analogy is the sunlight that illuminates the earth and those who dwell on it. That’s the analogy: sunlight illuminating the earth and those who dwell on it. How is it an analogy? The light of the sun is not the sun itself. It is only a radiance and light spreading from the body of the sun. There’s the sun, and there’s the light and radiance spreading from it. Everyone can see it shining on the earth and throughout the space of the world. So there’s the sun, and there’s its radiance. Now, this is obvious. Let’s examine the nature of that sunlight. Right now we’re going into the analogy in depth; afterward we’ll move on to what it represents. “Now, it is obvious that this light and radiance also exists within the body and substance of the sun itself in the heavens.” Why? Why is that so obvious?

14:42 Speaker 6 Because it’s sunlight.

14:44 Speaker 1 At first glance, the sun has its own body; the sun is a luminous body. Where does it shine? Outside itself. Take a candle flame, for example. Where you see the body of the flame, you see the flame itself. You don’t see light. The light is what spreads out and illuminates the room. Right?

15:11 Speaker 6 What?

15:11 Speaker 1 Light.

15:12 Speaker 6 What?

15:13 Speaker 1 What?

15:13 Speaker 6 A flame.

15:13 Speaker 1 The flame is a luminous body. Is the very same light that exists outside it also present inside it?

15:22 Speaker 6 So how does that work?

15:24 Speaker 1 That’s the question. Yes?

15:27 Speaker 6 Wait.

15:27 Speaker 1 Where does the light we see come from? Is it present

15:31 Speaker 6 outside?

15:33 Speaker 1 Ah. This is the Alter Rebbe’s proof: “If it shines and spreads so far away, all the more so can it shine in its own place”—meaning within the actual body of the sun. This is a deep point that we have to stop and understand properly. When we speak of something coming from something, we mean that there is an active force acting upon something else. Right? There’s the reality of the thing acted upon—the existing thing—and there’s the force acting on it. For example, a craftsman making a vessel. The material of the vessel, whether silver or clay, already exists beforehand. Right? Now the craftsman’s power goes out from him, becomes invested in the material and gives it the form of a vessel. Right? Are we together so far? Whenever something comes from something, the force leaves the one acting, separates from him, becomes invested in something else—in the thing acted upon—and acts on it there. Where does the force act? Outside, after it has separated. When you pick up a stone and throw it, the throwing force separates from the person who threw it, and only after it separates does the stone fly through the air. When we’re talking about something coming from something, there must be one who acts and something acted upon, and the force must separate from the one acting and become invested in the thing acted upon. Is that clear so far? What happens when something comes from nothing? There’s nothing for the force to become invested in. It’s nothing.

17:57 Speaker 7 So it both creates it and becomes invested in it.

18:00 Speaker 1 Yes. But what would it become invested in? There’s nothing for it to become invested in. The analogy for this is the light and radiance of the sun, or light and radiance in general. Light is, so to speak, the sun’s force, and when it goes out from the sun, there’s nothing for it to become invested in. It’s light, right? So if it has nothing to become invested in, it doesn’t really leave at all. And if it doesn’t leave, that means it’s also present in its source. Okay? When we speak of something coming from nothing, we have to say that the force does not leave its source, because it has nowhere to go. Rather, it remains within its source and root the whole time. “All the more so can it shine in its very own place. Only there, in its own place, this radiance is considered absolutely nothing, because it is utterly nullified in relation to the body of the sun.” Now that sounds like an outright contradiction—one thing and its opposite. On the one hand, you’re telling me: the light shines outside the sun, so where did it come from? We must say it was inside the body of the sun, and that, on the contrary, it shines more strongly there than outside. That’s one side. On the other hand, inside the body of the sun there’s nothing there besides the sun. How do those two things fit together?

19:45 Speaker 7 What is the sun?

19:46 Speaker 1 Hmm?

19:47 Speaker 7 What is the sun?

19:48 Speaker 1 A luminous body.

19:50 Speaker 7 Okay.

19:50 Speaker 1 A source of light.

19:52 Speaker 7 So there is light within the source of light.

19:55 Speaker 1 So there’s no light inside the source of light.

19:57 Speaker 7 Why isn’t there light?

19:58 Speaker 1 Because the source of light is the thing itself. Within the thing itself, there’s nothing besides the thing itself; it itself is there. So the explanation is this: If an object is sitting in the dark, you can’t see it. You turn on the light, and suddenly you can see it. Has anything changed in the object?

20:19 Speaker 7 No.

20:20 Speaker 1 Before, you couldn’t see it; now you can. Nothing about it has changed. Right? The nature of the sun is that it is a luminous body, a source of light. The fact that it has light, that it is a luminous body, isn’t something separate from it. It itself shines. Or, in other words, when the light is within the sun, it isn’t separate. When it’s outside, it illuminates something else. It has a reality of its own. You can see it throughout the space of the world; it illuminates the earth and those who dwell on it. When it’s within the body of the sun, it isn’t separate from the sun. What you see is the sun. It is a revelation of the sun. The sun itself shines. There’s nothing else here.

21:08 Speaker 7 No, I don’t understand where you’re going with this.

21:09 Speaker 1 In other words, the light as it exists within the sun has two opposite qualities. On the one hand, we have to say it isn’t the sun itself. The very fact that there’s light outside—where did it come from? It came from the sun. So it’s there inside, more powerfully than it is outside. On the other hand, what is its reality inside the sun? Its reality there isn’t something separate; it’s only a revelation of the sun itself. Maybe I can put it another way. The light outside serves to illuminate. The light within the sun is a revelation of the sun itself. It doesn’t illuminate something else. It reveals the sun itself—like the object in the dark that you now shine a light on. It hasn’t changed; it’s the same object. Okay? I know this takes some thought. So within the body of the sun, the light is utterly nullified in relation to the sun, which is the source of this light and radiance. This light and radiance are only an illumination shining from the body and essence of the sun. When can you actually see the radiance? When does it have a reality of its own? Only in the space of the world, beneath the heavens and on the earth, where the body of the sun itself is not visibly present. Here, where the sun itself is absent, its light and radiance appear to everyone as something real. Here, outside the sun, the term “something that exists” truly applies to it. It’s like

22:55 Speaker 7 like the [unclear]—the sun [unclear] there.

23:00 Speaker 1 Like a person looking in a mirror. The image reflected in the mirror has no existence without the person, right? Without the person, it wouldn’t be there. But that means that, on the one hand, without the person it has no existence of its own; it doesn’t exist inside the mirror. On the other hand, where is it? It isn’t inside the person. It’s there in the mirror. It’s somewhere else. And it can’t think, and it has no feelings. It’s a completely different kind of existence. On the one hand, it has no existence at all without the person; on the other hand, it’s something entirely different. Now what happens to the image in the mirror when there’s no mirror? Is it there or not?

23:51 Speaker 7 You’ve got it. That’s—

23:58 Speaker 1 So that’s what I’m saying. When the light is outside the sun, it can be called an entity. What kind of entity?

24:07 Speaker 7 At least—

24:08 Speaker 1 An entity that is attached to its source, has no existence of its own, and is utterly nullified. Yes, but it isn’t inside the sun; it’s separate. When it’s inside the sun, though, its entire existence is only a revelation of the sun itself.

24:22 Speaker 7 It’s always there, except that when there’s a bump, when there’s [unclear].

24:26 Speaker 1 Come on, let’s continue. “For the body of the sun itself is not present here. Here, the light and radiance are plainly visible to everyone, and here they truly can be called an entity.” Why? Because here we don’t see the sun, so we see the light, the energy. “But when it is in its source, within the body of the sun, it cannot be called an entity at all.” It simply isn’t. Nothing. Even though it exists—and exists more powerfully there. But you can’t point and say, “Look, there’s light here.” There’s no light here; there’s only a revelation of the sun itself, the flame itself. What shines there, within the body of the sun? “Only its source alone, the body of the sun, shines, and there is nothing besides it.” Light has no existence within the sun. So on the one hand, the light within the sun not only exists, it exists more powerfully. On the other hand, there is nothing besides the sun; there really is no light there at all, only the body of the sun. And the parallel: “Exactly so, in every detail, are all created beings in relation to the Divine energy from the breath of His mouth that flows into them and brings them into being. That”—the Divine light—“is their source, while they themselves,” the created beings, “are merely like light and radiance spreading from the energy and the breath of Hashem that flows into them, is invested within them, and brings them from nothingness into existence. Therefore, they are utterly nullified in relation to their source, like the light of the sun, which is utterly nullified and considered truly nothing at all. It cannot be called an entity at all when it is in its source.” Where, then, can the light be called an entity? Only beneath the heavens, where its source isn’t present. “So, too, none of the created beings can be called an entity at all.” Except what? “Only to our eyes of flesh,” because we don’t see. We haven’t been given permission to see. The power of the Creator within the created thing has been hidden from us. We can’t see the source and root; we can’t see—

26:49 Speaker 1 the word of Hashem. So to us, they appear to be real entities; the world appears to be a real entity. But the truth is—the truth is that all created beings are only like the light coming from the sun: they have no existence at all without it. “For we do not see or perceive at all the source, the breath of Hashem that brings them into being.” So what conclusion have we reached so far, before the chapter’s big surprise? Now it’s much clearer to us why all created beings are truly nothing at all. Because their whole existence is like light, which has no existence without its source. And therefore, because for us—

27:43 Speaker 7 Isn’t it the opposite?

27:44 Speaker 1 What?

27:45 Speaker 7 Isn’t it the opposite? As in, because it’s apart from the sun, it does have an existence.

27:53 Speaker 1 The light has an existence because it’s... When does it have an existence? Because it has come out of the sun. Yes, and it’s the same with us. Because we don’t see the thing—because we don’t see the sun, don’t see the source—then from our perspective it has left its source, since we don’t see its source. So to us, the world appears to be a real entity. But what is the truth? The truth is that it hasn’t left its source, and the truth is that created beings really are nothing at all. It’s only that, what can I do, a screen has been placed over my eyes. I can’t see the power of the Creator within the created thing. So I don’t see its source and root. That’s why I see the thing as an entity. But what is the truth? The truth is that the world is nothing at all. There is nothing besides Him. Everything is only the word of Hashem. That’s how it sounds so far. “And therefore, to our eyes, the physicality, substance, and tangible reality of created beings appear to be fully existent, just as sunlight appears to be fully existent when it is not in its source.” And here the Alter Rebbe throws in the—the switch, the bombshell of the chapter. “But in this respect, the analogy does not seem to match the parallel entirely.” Why? “For in the analogy, the source is not present at all in the space of the world.” The sun really isn’t here in the space of the world. It’s over there, and the light is here. “In the space of the world and on the earth, where its light appears to be fully existent.” Why does the light appear to be fully existent? Because the sun isn’t here. Okay, fine, we understand. “Not so in the parallel”: it’s completely different. “All created beings are always within their source.” There’s no place outside Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In the analogy, you can say, “Here there’s a sun, and here there isn’t a sun; here there’s only light.” In the parallel, what would it mean to say Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t here? There’s no such thing; it isn’t possible. So in the parallel, created beings are always within their source, and they never go outside it. They have nowhere to go. And if they have—

30:09 Speaker 1 nowhere to go, then what does that mean? Yes, they have nowhere to go. “Only the source is not visible to our eyes of flesh.” We don’t see it. We don’t see it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, right? And if—if so, if the truth in the parallel is that created beings are within their source and haven’t left it, like light within the body of the sun—within, in terms of G-dliness—why aren’t they utterly nullified to their source? Sorry. You explained very nicely that the eye hasn’t been given permission to see. What difference does it make whether it has or hasn’t? If the truth is that the world doesn’t exist... Because created beings are within their source, inside the sphere, within the body of G-dliness, and the truth is that they haven’t become separate. And if they haven’t become separate, then just as light within its source, inside the body of the sun, has no existence, created beings have no existence either—so there is no world. That’s the inevitable conclusion, isn’t it? And if there is no world, and it’s all just in my imagination because the—the body of the sun, the—the body of G-dliness, the power that creates—because that power was hidden from me, then it’s all just imagination.

31:38 Speaker 8 So everyone has the same imagination?

31:40 Speaker 1 So everyone has the same imagination, because the same thing has been hidden from everyone.

31:44 Speaker 8 Everyone is living in a dream together.

31:46 Speaker 1 But that would mean there’s no Torah, no mitzvos, no world, nothing. So that’s a serious problem. “But to understand this, we must first explain...”

32:03 Speaker 8 Here, later on, I can make a diagram.

32:07 Speaker 1 Chassidim told a story about this. Whenever we get to this point, there’s a story people always tell. Among chassidim, the practice was to limit the study of works of philosophical inquiry. Those are books that investigate questions—like Moreh Nevuchim—that raise questions about faith and discuss them. Chassidim don’t study those books very much. Why not? The saying goes like this: What happens if a person studies some work of philosophical inquiry, or a book of mussar, or a book like that, a deep Kabbalah book, and in the end he doesn’t understand it? He doesn’t understand. There’s some question about G-dliness, a question about faith, something there that doesn’t add up, and he goes to sleep with it. Then he sleeps all night with that question about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he can walk around for days thinking that perhaps something isn’t right with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So it’s better not to study it, not to get into those questions, and not to live with the feeling that Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t exist. So why does the Rebbe end this chapter with such a question about faith? How can that be? How does that fit with Chassidus?

33:26 Speaker 9 There’s philosophical inquiry, and mussar too.

33:28 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. So the chassidim said that here the question is the reverse. What’s the question here? The question isn’t whether Hakadosh Boruch Hu exists. The question is whether we exist. With a question like that, you can go to sleep.