Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Chapters 4–5 – The Parentheses at the End

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, today we’re up to chapter 4 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. Unusually for us, today we’re covering half a chapter—or, more precisely, half a chapter and another chapter: the second half of chapter 4, plus chapter 5.

00:14 Speaker 2 Ah, okay.

00:16 Speaker 1 And before we start looking inside, I’ll explain why.

00:22 Speaker 2 Excellent.

00:23 Speaker 1 Last week, when we studied chapter 4—or whenever it was—I didn’t photocopy the page, but I told you that chapter 4 actually continues. From that point on, though, there are square brackets, and it’s a different subject. We didn’t explain why. Today we’re going to talk about those brackets. They begin in the last lines of chapter 4, which is what’s photocopied here. But when you look for where the brackets end, you can’t find it. They begin, and... that’s it. They have no end. That’s one strange thing about this passage in Tanya. There’s another thing that’s more difficult than the brackets, harder to understand. What have we learned so far, in the first three—four chapters, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah? First we learned that created beings are brought into existence by the Divine light, the force that brings them into being, the name Havayah. It brings them into being through the twenty-two letters, which are the active force within what they produce, and they bring created beings into existence from nothing at every moment. And it’s not like sunlight outside the sun, but like sunlight while it is nullified in its source, in the body of the sun. Therefore, created beings are utterly nullified and do not truly exist. Like the... the middos, the emotions. We gave an example. Emotion is born from contemplation, as it says in chapter 3 of Tanya. So if emotion comes from the intellect, then before it existed, before it emerged as an emotion, it was contained within the intellect, its source. Where was it contained in the intellect? How can there be any emotion inside intellect at all? Inside the intellect there is thought, there is understanding; there is no emotion there, no emotional arousal. It doesn’t exist there. Because, as we explained at length with a number of examples on several levels that the Rebbe gave, anything that is nullified—that is within its source and root—

02:46 Speaker 1 is utterly nullified. And what does “utterly nullified” mean? It doesn’t mean that it’s so small that it’s hard to see. It means it is nullified: its existence is nullified; it doesn’t exist there. It isn’t there. The illustration used for this in Chassidus is “suppose.” In other words, take the example of the middos, of emotion as it exists within the intellect. Suppose a person is now contemplating something that will lead him to an emotion, to an emotional response, but at the moment he hasn’t felt it yet. There’s nothing in his heart; he is only thinking about it intellectually. The middos are still contained within the intellect; they haven’t emerged yet, right? If we could now make the intellect disappear, would any middos remain here? Let’s suppose we could somehow take the intellect and make it disappear, hide it. Would there be any middos here? No, there’s nothing. The entire existence of the middos while they’re contained within the intellect is not an existence of middos. It’s an existence of intellect. No intellect, no middos. Right? Clear? Say we’re now making some shape, shaping a vessel out of clay, right? Before we made the vessel, its shape was still contained within its source and root, within the clay. If we now take the clay away, is there anything here? There’s nothing, right? When something is contained within its source and root, it has no existence—that’s what “utterly nullified” means. It doesn’t exist. So if we say that the way Hashem brings created beings into existence—through the Divine force, the letters, as the Alter Rebbe explains in chapter 1—is such that they are constantly nullified within their source and root, within the letters that create them, then, essentially, the world has no existence. It doesn’t exist. Only the Divine force exists. There is

04:48 Speaker 1 nothing else besides Him. So how is it that I feel myself to be an entity, and I see the world, and we live and breathe and argue and fight and go to vote and do all sorts of things? What does it mean? This reality—is it all...? How? How is such a thing possible at all? How can I see anything if everything actually remains within its source and root and is nullified there? How is there an existence of...? That’s what he explained in chapter 3. The question makes sense, right? We also discussed it at length; we’re just going back over the basics. So he explained in chapter 3 that the question isn’t so difficult. There is the verse, “For Havayah Elokim is a sun and shield.” Just as the sun has a shield, a covering that protects people from being burned by its heat, so too the name Havayah—the force that brings things into existence, the letters that bring created beings into existence—has the name Elokim. The name Elokim conceals it, so that created beings won’t see or feel their source and root, won’t be burned by the heat of the fire of Havayah. Right? Since they don’t feel it—why don’t they feel it? Because it has been concealed from them—we feel ourselves to be real. So far, so good. But then the question is—sorry, this is at the end of chapter 3—wait, what does that mean? We said that if they’re nullified within their source and root, what good will concealing the source do? Conceal the source, and there’s no existence of created beings. If we conceal the source, there are no created beings. If there are created beings, there is a source. Created beings cannot exist without a source. They’re within their source and root. They’re contained in it; they’re part of it; their existence is the existence of the source. Right? So what good does it do to conceal it? If you conceal

06:51 Speaker 1 it, there are no created beings. That’s what he asks in the last line of chapter 3. And he answers it at the end of chapter... he answers it in chapter 4, which we studied in the previous class. You should know that just as you cannot understand Hashem’s greatness, you also cannot... Just as you cannot understand the name Havayah, you cannot understand the name Elokim either. Just as you cannot understand Hashem’s greatness, you cannot understand His might either. And there he explained what we mean when we say we cannot understand Hashem’s greatness, and why, in the same way, we cannot understand His might. I don’t want to go into that explanation, because you’ll get completely confused again. But the central point, without going into the details of how it works, was that Hashem’s greatness isn’t the same kind of greatness as ours. When a person does an act of kindness, he gives something to someone. A person can’t take nothing and give it to no one. If I want to do someone a favor, there has to be someone to do the favor for. I can’t do someone a favor when there’s no one there, right? And I also can’t give him nothing. I have to give him something. Now, the existence of that something, and the existence of the other person, don’t depend on me. They already exist. But to take what does not exist and give it to someone who does not exist—that only Hakadosh Boruch Hu can do. That is His attribute of greatness: to bring something into being from nothing. And just as a created being cannot understand Hashem’s attribute of kindness—what it means to take nothing and make something out of it—so too

08:45 Speaker 1 a created being cannot understand Hashem’s might. What is His might? It is that very might, that tzimtzum, that power of Elokim that conceals their source and root from created beings, and yet they continue to exist. Okay? That was the central point of the explanation in chapter 4, everything we’ve learned up to here. At this point, in the middle of chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe puts in square brackets and starts explaining the tzimtzum of the keilim, Mantzepach, Butzina deKardinusa, Atik Yomin. He starts explaining... Since when did Tanya become a book of Kabbalah? It’s not that the Alter Rebbe didn’t know Kabbalah, but what does this have to do with the subject?

09:43 Speaker 5 All of Tanya is based on Kabbalah.

09:45 Speaker 1 Uh-huh.

09:45 Speaker 5 All of Tanya is based on...

09:47 Speaker 1 It rests on that, but here the Rebbe explains what it means. What is the point? How is Hakadosh Boruch Hu one? What exactly are we meant to believe when we say Hashem is one? How does that show itself? What does “Hashem is one” mean? What does this have to do with it? Butzina deKardinusa is the source of the gevurot, and it is in Atik Yomin itself; the chasadim come from there too. Nu, nu, yasher koach, very good, excellent. That’s explained in Kabbalah, but what does it have to do with Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah? The Alter Rebbe puts it right here in the middle of chapter 4. That’s one thing. Second, when you look ahead to chapter 5, it becomes even more puzzling. Suddenly he starts explaining—chapter 5 opens with a midrash about the creation of the world. Where did that come from? What does it have to do with the subject? After the midrash about creation, he goes on: you should know that Moshe Rabbeinu’s level is such and such. He finishes with Moshe Rabbeinu and moves on to Gan Eden. He finishes Gan Eden, then Torah and mitzvos. We reach chapter 6, and suddenly there’s the continuation—literally the continuation of the very sentence we finished in the previous lesson. Just like that. “And the name Elokim.” Earlier he explained what the name Elokim is: gevurah and tzimtzum. He begins explaining it, opens a parenthesis, and explains all sorts of things that seem unrelated. He finishes chapter 4 and chapter 5, starts chapter 6, and there’s “the name Elokim” again—as though he suddenly remembered where he was. This whole question is one that R—sorry, that the Rebbe asks. Sorry, it’s the Rebbe who explains this point. The Rebbe explains something wonderful. He says that as we learned the first three—the first four chapters, several difficult questions arose from what we learned.

11:40 Speaker 1 They are questions about the very foundations of Judaism, and they arose because of our study. If we had learned about the creation of created beings the way the misnagdim learn it, we wouldn’t have had a question. All these questions about the very basis of Judaism arose because of the way we explained it, the way the Baal Shem Tov explained it. That raised questions that hadn’t existed before. So the Alter Rebbe opens a parenthesis. One by one, he sets things in order and resolves all the questions. All these subjects explain the questions that came up earlier. When he finishes, he closes the parenthesis and, in chapter 6, returns to the subject. Hey, where’s the closing parenthesis? We saw him open it, but where does he close it? So turn for a moment to the end of the second page, the bottom of page 63. Yes? You see that it ends with a square bracket. Right?

12:46 Speaker 6 Yes.

12:47 Speaker 1 So the Rebbe says something very simple: when that young man, Tzvi [unclear][?], saw that there were two opening square brackets at the end of chapter 3, he thought, “Why do we need that? A moment ago there was only one.” Where does it begin? He thought it was a mistake and deleted the second bracket. It didn’t occur to him to check that the bracket closing here had opened in the middle of the previous chapter. Okay, so that’s the background to chapter 4. Now we—

13:16 Speaker 6 So why, in fact, is it divided into another chapter?

13:19 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. We’ll see it inside in a moment. No, I hadn’t thought to emphasize that, but you can see it plainly—why the Rebbe divides it into two chapters. So what are the questions we’re coming to answer? When we learned—we mentioned earlier—how Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates the world through the Ten Utterances with which the world was created, the activating force within the thing acted upon, and how those Ten Utterances are made up of letters and so on. Right? If we said that Havayah, the one Hashem, brings all created beings into existence—He is all-powerful and brings them all into existence—I’d have no problem with that. But once we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings created beings into existence—what does Havayah mean? That there are twenty-two letters. And the twenty-two letters themselves don’t create the beings; combinations of the letters do. So if we explain that each combination of letters is a Divine name, made up of those twenty-two letters, it turns out that there are many gods. Very, very many gods. Every created being has its own private god that creates it. How can there be multiplicity in Divinity? That is outright idolatry. A difficult question. A second question arises from our study. If we explain it the way the misnagdim explained it—misnagdim who studied Kabbalah, I mean—how did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the world from nothing? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is all-powerful. They don’t understand “there is nothing besides Him” to mean that nothing else exists. To them it means that no one else rules the world besides Him. The world itself certainly isn’t connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What’s the question? Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a reality of separate beings, a reality of created beings. How can He do that? He can; that’s what He did. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu is there and the lowly world is here, and therefore Torah and mitzvos are needed to draw Divinity into the world.

15:46 Speaker 1 I understand why Torah and mitzvos are needed in that view. But if we explain it according to the Baal Shem Tov’s approach—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, the infinite light, Havayah, for whom past, present and future are one, is present and actually brings every created being into existence—and more than that, that created beings don’t really exist as independent entities at all; it only seems to them that they do. They only feel that—no, “it seems to them” isn’t right. They only feel that they are independent entities. But the truth is that everything is the infinite light; everything is His essence and being. Then what do we need Torah and mitzvos for? To draw down Divinity? Everything is Divinity. What? Why do we need to put on tefillin? To keep Shabbos? One kind of light, another kind of light—the essence of the infinite light is actually present everywhere. All of Torah and mitzvos would be unnecessary. That’s another difficult question, which again arises because we want to understand things as the Baal Shem Tov did. If we understood them as the misnagdim did, everything would fit; there would be no problem. In fact, that was one of the questions the misnagdim asked the Alter Rebbe about the Baal Shem Tov: according to your approach, there’s no need for Torah and mitzvos. And a third question: suppose we’re talking about all the people in the world. True, Divinity is here, but it isn’t felt. Our work is to make Divinity felt here. Of course I know—I understand, I’m a rational person, I know that everything is Divinity—but our work is to reveal Divinity. That’s the point. That’s what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted. Yes. If you try to explain it that way, a third question immediately comes up. Okay, for most people in the world, that works. Divinity really is here, and our work isn’t to draw it into the world but only to reveal it. Fine. But what will you say about tzaddikim who see Divinity? They no longer need to observe mitzvos. You might say that all

18:02 Speaker 1 the tzaddikim in the world see more or see less. But Moshe Rabbeinu—Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t need to observe mitzvos? How does that work? So these are the questions the Alter Rebbe comes to answer here. How can there be multiplicity in Divinity? What does it mean that it appears as though there is multiplicity in Divinity? Why do we need Torah and mitzvos? And why are Torah and mitzvos relevant even to tzaddikim, and even to Moshe Rabbeinu? All right. Well, after that very brief introduction, we can now learn chapter 4. “Now, the aspect of tzimtzum and concealment of the life-force is called keilim.” Surprise! What have we said until now? What did we call the tzimtzum?

19:02 Speaker 7 Elokim.

19:04 Speaker 1 We called it letters, right? And we said that the Divine light, which is the letters, creates the beings. Right? So until now, we said the letters are the Divine light. But here the Alter Rebbe says that the very thing we said conceals the life-force is not the light that creates the beings. The opposite: what conceals the Divine light, the power of tzimtzum, is called keilim, and the life-force itself is called light.

19:42 Speaker 7 In fact, this is the first time in Chabad that the concepts of light and a vessel are introduced. That’s really how we look at all of this.

19:49 Speaker 1 No. No, absolutely not. But here the Alter Rebbe introduces something new: the tzimtzum that conceals the G-dly light has two aspects. There is the light that creates the created beings—he isn’t taking back what he said earlier; he’s adding an explanation. Now he adds that the G-dly power we spoke about earlier, which contracts the light so the created beings won’t sense it, is called… well, it doesn’t just cover or conceal. It’s also called a vessel. What’s the difference between concealment and a vessel? A vessel is something real. Concealment isn’t a thing in its own right. Concealment is darkness, absence, hiddenness. Before it was there; now it isn’t. “Isn’t” means it isn’t. It isn’t a thing. A vessel, though—a vessel is a vessel, something you can hold in your hand. It’s real. So he adds that just as a vessel covers what is inside it, the aspect of tzimtzum covers and conceals the light and life-force that flows forth. This vessel we’re talking about—and we’ll soon see what the vessel is—has both aspects. If you pour coffee into any vessel and look at it from the outside, you can’t see what’s inside. It covers it, and besides covering it, the vessel itself is something real. What does that give us? What does it add to say that the vessel is real? So he says the vessels are the letters. When we told you earlier, in chapter one, that the light is called “letters,” that wasn’t the light in itself; it was the light as shaped by the vessels. The analogy given for this is light shining through colored glass. The Pardes of the Ramak gives this analogy. When light passes through red glass, it becomes red; through green glass, it becomes green. Right? And so on. Has the light changed after passing through the glass?

22:30 Speaker 8 No.

22:31 Speaker 1 It remains light. It hasn’t been clothed in something else. It’s still light, right? Or, to make it clearer, there’s an analogy with a vessel of water. If you put water in a green glass, the water is green, right? Now the water really is green. Its color is green. You look at it and see that it’s green. Take it out of the vessel, and the color hasn’t become part of it; it remains as it was. That’s what the Pardes says, and the Alter Rebbe brings it—not here, but elsewhere. And this is how they explain it here as well: the same applies to light. Once the light passes through the glass, the color really does become part of the light; the light changes from white to red. But that doesn’t change the point. Although the color truly becomes part of the light—it is red—to the extent that if you now pass that red light through green glass, it won’t pass through. You won’t see anything on the other side of the green glass, because red light doesn’t pass through green glass. Because it is red. At the same time, if you look… Let’s put it another way. If you take away the glass, right, remove the glass, then it’s the same light. Its essential nature hasn’t changed. Or even if you look from outside, through the glass, at the source of the light, you’ll see the light itself. You won’t see something else. It remains the same light. So both things are true here. On the one hand, the light has changed—meaning that the hue, the color, has genuinely become part of it. It really has become red. On the other hand, even after becoming red or green, it retains the same simplicity, as though it hadn’t changed. These are two ways of looking at it, both true at the same time. What the lett—what the letters of the Ten Utterances do when they contract the G-dly light works the same way. The letters give shape to the G-dly light.

24:47 Speaker 1 What creates the created beings is the G-dly light. That is the attribute of greatness, the attribute of chesed. But how does it create them? In what form? What form does it give them? What is their content? Their size? Their color? That comes from the vessels; it comes from the letters. And because the letters are vessels, because they are real, the shape they give the light is real as well. And if that shape is real, then just as the color genuinely becomes part of the light—it really is red, it doesn’t just appear red—so too, the letters shaped the G-dly light in such a way that it would create created beings, and it really created them. It isn’t make-believe. They really are created beings. And just as with the light, even after it created the beings it remained in its simplicity, so too the G-dly light: even after it truly created the beings, and they truly are a reality, truly separate, the light still remains—where the light itself is concerned, none of this has affected it. We can explain this. You follow? Here’s another interesting analogy, about a teacher who wants to explain something to… I know this is deep. It’s a point that’s very hard to explain, and even harder to grasp. But once you grasp it, it becomes something solid, a cornerstone. When a teacher wants to explain something to his students and they don’t understand—right? They haven’t understood, they haven’t grasped it—he gives them an analogy. After the analogy: “Oh! Now I get it.” Right? Now the students understand. What did the analogy do? It contracted the light of the idea. It brought it down. Right? He wanted to explain to the children about G-dliness—what’s it called? Botzina d’Kardinusa. So he gave them some analogy about a king and queen, a dog and a fox. He gave them an analogy, right, and then they understood the analogy; through the analogy they understood

27:04 Speaker 1 what it represented. Right? Now, if the teacher tells that same analogy to little children, they’ll hear only the story. They see only the words. They won’t grasp the meaning inside it. Right? The analogy itself makes the idea more substantial. It brings it down, contracts it, gives it a particular shape, and the shape the analogy gives the idea is real: it truly makes it more substantial. Right? You can’t equate the king and queen with G-dliness. They are two different things. It really has made the idea more substantial, contracted it, and given it shape. But for the teacher? For the teacher, there is no difference before the analogy and after it. The tzimtzum has had no effect on him. It has an effect for the students. For the teacher, nothing has changed. Right? Is that clearer? That is exactly how it works with light. The glass acts on the light; it gives the light a particular form. But as far as the light itself is concerned? The light remains light. For it, there’s no difference. The entire difference is in what it does. And it is exactly the same with G-dliness in the created being. The power of tzimtzum—the vessels, the letters—gives the light its form. What creates the created beings? The light creates them. How does it create them? The vessels contract it, and the tzimtzum is real, so the created beings really are a reality and really are separate. But as far as the infinite light is concerned, nothing has changed. It remains in its simplicity, just as it was before. All right? Now this answers our first two questions. First, we asked how there can be multiplicity in the light. We said there is no multiplicity at all; the light remains in its simplicity. The multiplicity comes from the vessels, not from the light. All right? And second, how can you say—why do we need Torah and mitzvos? What do you mean, why do we need Torah and mitzvos? Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the created beings through vessels, and the vessels are a real reality, so the created beings are a real reality. They really are created beings,

29:21 Speaker 1 and they really are separate. So there really is a need for Torah and mitzvos to bring G-dliness into them. All right? That was the line of reasoning. The Rebbe continues: we still have a problem. Why? We haven’t finished with the question of multiplicity. Okay, so we explained that the G-dly light has no multiplicity, and the created beings aren’t a multiplicity. Right? But we still have multiplicity. We still have the power of chesed and the power of gevurah. At least there are two. Right? What do we do with that? So the Rebbe continues: the vessels are the letters, and the letters have their root in the five letters of Mantzepach. Mantzepach refers to the final forms of the letters. Right?

30:13 Speaker 9 Why are they specifically in the order Mantzepach?

30:16 Speaker 1 Why is that the order? There’s a letter from the Rebbe about it; I don’t remember it right now. I dealt with it a year or two ago, but I don’t remember now. It’s a side issue. It can be—this is something that’s written and explained. There are many things about the final letters mem, nun, tzadi, pei, and chaf that aren’t understood or explained, but this particular question is explained. I just don’t remember. All right, it doesn’t matter now. Why are they called the five gevurot? Because these letters always appear at the end of a word. They separate that word from the next one. Right? That’s where the word ends. These are letters whose function is to separate. And just as, in speech, there are letters whose function is to separate, that comes from the five gevurot above. Divine speech, the Ten Utterances, is also made up of letters. Just as the letters of our speech are divided into twenty-two letters through the five organs of speech—which are the five gevurot, mem, nun, tzadi, pei, and chaf—so too with the speech above: there, too, are five higher gevurot that divide and separate the breath and voice through the five organs of speech, forming the twenty-two letters. Good, so we’ve already narrowed it down. We no longer have so many distinctions between letters. Now we have, in total, chesed and gevurah, with five divisions within gevurah. Right? Five divisions. So we’ve already narrowed it down. The next step: those five gevurot we’re talking about—what are they? They are Butzina deKardinusa. I think we spoke about this once. Butzina deKardinusa has several interpretations. These are Aramaic words that originate in the Zohar, and one interpretation is “the lamp of darkness.” The lamp of darkness—and even with that interpretation of “lamp,” according to the interpretation that Butzina deKardinusa means “the lamp of darkness,” there are other interpretations too. So even this itself has two meanings: a lamp that is dark, meaning a light so lofty that it isn’t revealed to created beings. That’s the simple meaning. There is a deeper, inner meaning that fits

32:33 Speaker 1 better here: a lamp that spreads darkness. The name Havayah is a lamp that spreads the light that creates the created beings. Butzina deKardinusa is the root of the vessels; it is the lamp that spreads darkness, the lamp that spreads the power of tzimtzum. How does that help us? First of all, the five gevurot are no longer five; they are just one, Butzina deKardinusa. So we’ve narrowed it down again. Now we have only two, right? The Rebbe adds that Butzina deKardinusa is the supernal gevurah of Atik Yomin, and the root of the chasadim is likewise the chesed of Atik Yomin, as is known to those versed in the mystical teachings. And in Atik Yomin—we won’t go into that now. Now, as to Atik Yomin: in Atik Yomin there is no chesed and gevurah; “there is no left in this Ancient One.” In Atik there aren’t two lines, only one.

33:45 Speaker 10 There the distinction breaks down; it has already become one.

33:47 Speaker 1 That is the root of everything. There aren’t two there. Chesed and gevurah are one thing. It follows that Hashem is one. Both the power that brings created beings into existence and the power that covers, conceals, hides, and separates them are one at their root; they aren’t two. So up to this point, we’ve resolved the problem of how there can seemingly be multiplicity in G-dliness: the multiplicity doesn’t come from the light, but from the vessels. And why do we need Torah and mitzvos? Because created beings have a real existence. The Alter Rebbe continues in chapter 5: “Concerning this, our Sages said: Initially, it arose in thought to create the world with the attribute of judgment. He saw that the world could not endure, so He joined the attribute of mercy to it.” This is one of those puzzling statements of our Sages. What does it mean? Initially Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted—it arose in thought to create the... Initially Hakadosh Boruch Hu thought of governing the world with the attribute of judgment. That’s how it seemingly should have been written, right? Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants something. What does He want? He wants a world governed by the attribute of judgment. And afterward He thought: No, no, no. If He governs the world only with the attribute of judgment, they won’t be able to withstand it. So He joined the attribute of mercy to it. That’s how it seems; that’s how it’s explained, right? Why did our Sages say “to create the world with the attribute of judgment”? Why not “to govern the world”?

35:30 Speaker 10 Why did they say that? Why did they say that?

35:32 Speaker 1 From this it sounds as though, at first, Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s initial thought was to create the world only with the attribute of judgment. But when it came to actually doing it, He seemingly changed His mind, and in practice He created it with the attribute of mercy joined in. That’s how it sounds. Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came to be.

36:00 Speaker 10 Amen.

36:00 Speaker 1 So based on what we’ve just learned, this is very understandable. Now that we’ve explained and learned that the attribute of judgment means the Divine power that contracts the light, through which separate created beings come into existence, we understand why Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to create with the attribute of judgment: because He wanted a dwelling in the lower realms. How would there be lower realms? How would there be separate created beings? Only through the attribute of judgment, only through tzimtzum. From the attribute of chesed, they wouldn’t be separate; they wouldn’t be created beings. And why, in practice, did He then also join the attribute of mercy to it? Because the whole purpose of creating the world isn’t merely that there should be lower realms; it’s that He should have a dwelling in the lower realms. If all He wanted was for there to be lower realms, the attribute of judgment would be enough. But for Him to be revealed within the concealment—how can G-dliness be revealed within concealment, within something separate? How could that thing retain its existence? It would lose its independent existence. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had to—“had to,” so to speak, right?—already at the time of creation, join the attribute of mercy to the contracted, limited creation. What does it mean to join the attribute of mercy here? It means the revelation of G-dliness through tzaddikim and through the signs and wonders in the Torah. There are signs and wonders thousands or hundreds of years later, right down to our generation. What are signs and wonders? Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world according to the laws of nature. How can they suddenly change? Because from the outset, Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed Divine light within the bounds of nature. It is there, hidden and concealed, in such a way that whenever the natural order needs to be changed, the Divine light is already there. Otherwise, how would it get in? If the whole of creation opposed Divine light, how could it be revealed? But it doesn’t oppose it. From the outset, Hakadosh Boruch Hu joined

38:15 Speaker 1 the attribute of mercy to creation.

38:22 Speaker 11 Do you mean the G-dly soul? As in, within us?

38:25 Speaker 1 Well, signs and wonders—the splitting of the sea.

38:33 Speaker 11 Okay.

38:33 Speaker 1 And concerning this, the Zohar says: “Above, on the side of holiness, there is a right and there is a left.” Above in holiness, there is no distinction between left and right. Above in holiness, there are chesed and gevurah. What this means is that both are Divine attributes, and both are beyond the intellect and comprehension of created beings. For above, in the world of Atzilus, “He and His vessels are one”—in the world of Atzilus. So all the multiplicity and separate beings we see are down here. But above, at their root, the root of all created beings is chesed and gevurah, which are one thing. How are they one thing? That is beyond the intellect and understanding of created beings. That’s the end of chapter 1. And here the third question we asked becomes even stronger. Fine, when it comes to the whole world, to all other people: why do they need Torah and mitzvos? Because the concealment conceals. The hiddenness hides. They don’t see G-dliness, and as far as they are concerned, G-dliness truly doesn’t exist. So they need Torah and mitzvos to draw down and reveal G-dliness in the world. But what will you tell me about Moshe Rabbeinu? Fine, you could ask about the Patriarchs. The Patriarchs lived before the Giving of the Torah, so how could hiddenness and concealment apply to them? Or ask about Moshe Rabbeinu. In general—but during his prophecy, Moshe Rabbeinu sees G-dliness; he lives in the higher worlds. “You shall see My back.” What does it mean—why does he need to observe mitzvos? The Rebbe begins to answer this: “Even Moshe Rabbeinu’s comprehension during his prophecy was not in the world of Atzilus.” You’re asking me why Moshe Rabbeinu needs to observe mitzvos? Because even Moshe Rabbeinu did not comprehend Atzilus.

41:00 Speaker 12 Why? Does anyone comprehend Atzilus?

41:01 Speaker 1 Because what exists in Atzilus is beyond the intellect of created beings. And when we say that Moshe Rabbeinu understood, comprehended, and saw in a prophetic vision, that wasn’t in Atzilus. There was hiddenness and concealment for him too, and therefore he too needed Torah and mitzvos. Rather, Moshe Rabbeinu comprehended Atzilus only as it was enclothed in the world of Beriah. The world of Atzilus is enclothed in the world of Beriah, and there Moshe Rabbeinu comprehended it. And even then, not the two attributes of chesed and gevurah, but only as they were enclothed in the attributes below them, on the level of the attributes of netzach, hod, and yesod, as we learned in Shaar HaNevuah. That is where Moshe Rabbeinu comprehended. So now it’s very clear why everyone needs to observe Torah and mitzvos, even Moshe Rabbeinu, because concealment applies to him too. For him, it isn’t concealment like ours, but still, he cannot see G-dliness itself. G-dliness itself is beyond comprehension and understanding. No one’s jumping in?

42:08 Speaker 12 Why do Torah and mitzvos bring it down?

42:10 Speaker 1 What?

42:10 Speaker 12 Why do Torah and mitzvos bring it down?

42:17 Speaker 1 The Rebbe asks: Wait, wait, wait, excuse me. What are you telling me now—that it’s impossible to understand G-dliness? Impossible to grasp G-dliness? What exactly do they do in Gan Eden? “The righteous sit with crowns on their heads and enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah.”

42:37 Speaker 12 The light of the Shechinah, not the Shechinah itself.

42:40 Speaker 1 Hmm?

42:40 Speaker 12 The light of the Shechinah, not the Shechinah itself.

42:46 Speaker 1 The radiance of the Shechinah.

42:48 Speaker 12 That’s light.

42:50 Speaker 1 What do they do there? They enjoy it. What do they enjoy? The fact that they grasp something. What do they grasp? The radiance of the Shechinah.

42:56 Speaker 12 Light.

42:59 Speaker 1 We’ve been talking about light all along. So the Rebbe says: That’s true. Gan Eden is exceptional. In Gan Eden, they really do grasp G-dliness, and it really isn’t part of the usual order. But even though they do grasp G-dliness there, that doesn’t raise a question about Torah and mitzvos. Because our question was: Wherever G-dliness can be grasped, there’s no need to observe Torah and mitzvos, because you can see it—G-dliness is already there. Now, Gan Eden doesn’t raise that question. Why? Because Gan Eden is where the righteous receive their reward. Gan Eden is a reward. It isn’t a matter of studying Torah and observing mitzvos there. What happens in Gan Eden is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives them their reward. And there, it really is the apprehension of the extension of the life-force and light that flows from these two attributes, chesed and gevurah; it truly is nourishment for the souls of the righteous who studied Torah for its own sake in this world. Yes, you’re right. Gan Eden isn’t part of the usual order; it’s something else entirely. There, they really do enjoy it. There, they grasp G-dliness as nourishment, inwardly. Wait, wait, wait—how is that possible? We just said that wherever there is an actual revelation of G-dliness, even just a radiance of G-dliness, it comes from chesed and gevurah, which are beyond the understanding of created beings. If created beings were there, their very existence would be nullified. How can G-dliness suddenly be revealed in Gan Eden? Even if Hakadosh Boruch Hu devised some way to give them their reward, how can it work? The Rebbe explains: How can they enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah in Gan Eden without being nullified? Because from the extension of these two attributes, chesed and gevurah, a firmament is spread over the souls in Gan Eden. It isn’t the attributes themselves, chesed and gevurah, that are revealed in Gan Eden. Rather, they form a kind of encompassing presence, a firmament over Gan Eden. And this firmament is—

45:09 Speaker 3 It isn’t Eden itself?

45:10 Speaker 1 What?

45:11 Speaker 3 It’s Gan Eden, not Eden itself?

45:18 Speaker 1 What—first of all, Gan Eden isn’t Eden. That’s true. But how does that relate to this? Eden itself really can’t be seen. “No eye has seen it, O G-d, besides You.”

45:27 Speaker 3 So, in other words, that’s why they still don’t see chesed and gevurah themselves.

45:33 Speaker 1 They see the radiance. The radiance is enough. He’s explaining here how they can see the radiance without being nullified. Because that radiance is the light that creates the created beings. So the moment it’s revealed—it’s their source and root, after all—how can they continue to exist?

45:49 Speaker 3 Oh.

45:53 Speaker 1 So from these attributes a firmament is spread. It’s an encompassing presence. And this firmament is called raza de’Oraisa, the secret of the Torah. What does that add? This firmament, spread over the souls of the righteous in Gan Eden, is the encompassing presence that gives them the strength to receive the G-dly light inwardly and still not have their existence nullified. Why? Because this firmament is the secret of the Torah. What is it about the Torah that gives souls the strength and power to receive the revelation without their existence being nullified? “And within it”—within this firmament—“is the secret of the twenty-two letters of the Torah, for the Torah was given from these two attributes, as it is written, ‘From His right hand, a fiery law for them.’” A fiery law for them. The Torah includes both the right hand and fire, water and fire, right and left, chesed and gevurah. Because the Torah includes both chesed and gevurah—two opposites—and contains them together. The right side and the left side are both one Torah. So the Torah can give souls the strength and power to bear these two opposites and receive the radiance. Since the Torah itself includes two opposites, it can give souls the strength and power to bear those opposites: to receive the G-dly light, absorb it inwardly and enjoy it without being nullified. “And from this firmament dew drips down to nourish the souls—that is, knowledge of the secret of the twenty-two letters of the Torah. For this firmament is the secret of daas.” Daas includes chesed and gevurah within it, because the attributes are awakened through the faculty of daas. And Torah—the knowledge of Torah—is daas, which includes the two attributes, chesed and gevurah, within it. That is what gives strength to the souls of the righteous in Gan Eden. So Gan Eden really doesn’t raise a question. There, they truly don’t need to observe mitzvos. There, they truly don’t need to draw down G-dliness. G-dliness is revealed there, and that’s outside the usual order. It has nothing to do with our subject. You can’t use it to ask

48:11 Speaker 1 questions about why one does or doesn’t need to observe Torah and mitzvos. “And the Torah is nourishment for the souls in Gan Eden.” The Alter Rebbe asks: Wait, wait, wait, excuse me. Gan Eden isn’t a reward only for studying Torah. Gan Eden is also a reward for fulfilling mitzvos. Now, you’ve explained that beautifully, and I understand: Since the Torah includes fire and water, it can bring the two opposites together. That’s why the righteous can receive the G-dly light associated with Torah and mitzvos. Fine—as far as studying Torah goes. But the G-dly light a person draws down by fulfilling mitzvos is far higher than the G-dly light drawn down through studying Torah. I understand how the Torah can give the righteous the strength to absorb the revelation of G-dliness that comes from Torah. But how can they receive, in Gan Eden, the G-dly light that is the reward for mitzvos? The Alter Rebbe adds: The mitzvos are really only garments. The reward the righteous receive in Gan Eden for mitzvos isn’t actually the mitzvos themselves. Rather, the light of the mitzvos becomes an encompassing presence around the soul. It says that the reward for mitzvos will truly be revealed only in the world of resurrection, only in the World to Come. Gan Eden isn’t really the reward for mitzvos; it is truly a reward only for Torah. Because that reward is so lofty, it cannot be revealed there—only as an encompassing presence, as garments. All this is explained in the Zohar, Vayakhel, page 218, and in Eitz Chaim, Gate 4, chapter 3. All right, so—

50:00 Speaker 4 It’s more developed.

50:01 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:01 Speaker 4 More developed.

50:04 Speaker 1 So we’ve answered all three questions—or rather, the Rebbe answered them, because it would be impossible to understand this without the Rebbe’s explanation. No one raised those questions or gave those explanations before. So, the three questions that came up in our earlier study: How can there be multiplicity in G-dliness? What do we need Torah and mitzvos for? And how does the observance of Torah and mitzvos apply to the righteous? The Rebbe explained that, in truth, there is no multiplicity in G-dliness. Why? Because the power of the letters only gives form to the light. The multiplicity comes from the vessels, not from the light. Ah, you say there’s multiplicity? No, no, no. At their source, they are one. Why do the righteous also need to observe Torah and mitzvos? Because even for them, there is concealment. Ah, then how can G-dliness be revealed in Gan Eden? That’s something else. All right? Now that we’ve finished studying and understanding the Baal Shem Tov’s approach, along with the objections the misnagdim raised against it and the questions the Alter Rebbe raised and explained, we have one final point left to understand in the next chapter: What does the name Elokim have to do with tzimtzum? The name Havayah—we said the light that brings things into being is called Havayah because it brings things into being. Havayah is constantly bringing them into being. So there’s a clear connection between the name Havayah and its role in bringing things into being. But what does the name Elokim have to do with it? Why is the power of tzimtzum called the name Elokim? What’s the connection? He’ll explain that connection between the name Elokim specifically and tzimtzum at the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 5, and then we can begin to take off. I photographed this from Weinberg’s explanations at the end of chapter 5, but the source in Likkutei Sichos is given at the end. Blessed are You, Hashem.