Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Chapter 7 (Part 1)

00:02 Speaker 1 Good evening. We’re up to—

00:05 Speaker 2 A class on [unclear] and what a bas kol is. You can sit down.

00:15 Speaker 1 We’re up to chapter 7 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. Ah, perhaps by way of introduction, also for students who weren’t here—some weren’t at the previous classes, so we always have to pause briefly. For some reason, chapter 7 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah is considered one of the hardest chapters in Chassidus, one of the deepest, the least understood, the most explained, the longest. Something like that.

00:54 Speaker 2 That’s our chapter.

00:55 Speaker 1 Yes.

00:56 Speaker 2 Yes.

00:56 Speaker 1 When people talk about chapter 7, they always sort of go, “Oh, chapter 7,” as though they’re taking a step back. That’s how it sounds. Hashem’s oneness, yichuda ila’ah—there are concepts like these that are hard to understand. The truth is, I don’t know why. This chapter is no harder than any other chapter in Tanya. It’s long, that’s true. We’ll divide it into two classes simply because it’s long. The Alter Rebbe himself divided it into two. There are several chapters, and also several letters in Igros Kodesh, that the Alter Rebbe himself divided into two chapters, or even three. Chapter 7 contains two broad subjects that together form one unit, one chapter. Today we’ll study the first part.

01:39 Speaker 2 Yes.

01:46 Speaker 1 To make the chapter simple and understandable, we just need to understand the point the Alter Rebbe is driving at in this chapter. I was looking for the Rambam earlier; we couldn’t find it. In the Rambam, right at the very, very beginning, where the Rambam begins his enumeration of the mitzvos—that’s how the Mishneh Torah begins—the Rambam starts counting the mitzvos. We’ve spoken before about how the Rambam was among those who enumerated them. We have a tradition, passed from one person to another from Moshe Rabbeinu, that there are six hundred and thirteen mitzvos. When you look in the Torah, there seem to be far more than six hundred and thirteen. There are many thousands of instructions. So—

02:40 Speaker 2 Should I bring it? There’s one here.

02:41 Speaker 1 No, no, there’s no need. So in the era of the Rishonim, several of them—the Rambam, the Semag, and others—worked on classifying the mitzvos: which of the Torah’s instructions count as mitzvos and which don’t. On most mitzvos, virtually all of them, there’s agreement among everyone who enumerates them. There are a few over which they disagree: whether this counts as a mitzvah or not; whether these two are really just one mitzvah; whether this one is actually three mitzvos, and whether it counts. So there are a few points of disagreement. Most, most mitzvos are settled. One thing on which everyone who enumerates the mitzvos agrees, and with which the Rambam opens his book, is that the first two positive mitzvos are the mitzvah to know Hashem and the mitzvah to affirm His oneness. Two mitzvos: one to know Hashem and one to affirm His oneness. What’s the difference? Let’s stop there.

03:47 Speaker 2 To know that He exists, that He is King, that He created the world. And the second mitzvah is to—believe that He alone created the world, that no one else took part in the work. It’s as though they’re the same in that respect.

03:56 Speaker 1 Those are both parts of the first mitzvah. To know Hashem means to know of Hashem’s existence, as far as one can know, and as far as one can believe, that Hashem is one and not two, that He is a simple oneness—a simple oneness. In other words, there can be a “one” followed by a second, a third, a fourth: one that is first. No, He isn’t a first one; He is one, and there is no second. Nor is He a composite one. My body is also one body, but it’s made up of many organs. No: Hashem is neither a one that can be counted nor a composite one. He is a simple oneness, and there is no other deity besides Him, and He alone created the world, and so on. Everything connected with the mitzvah of Hashem’s oneness—that Hashem is one—is one mitzvah. The second mitzvah is to affirm His oneness. When we say “to affirm His oneness,” we hear in the grammar that we’re doing something. To believe that He is one: He is one, and I need to know and believe it. But to affirm His oneness sounds as though, without my act of doing so, He isn’t one. I’m doing something here to make Him one. Do you understand the difference? Yes? First of all, just in the plain meaning of the words, in the grammar. Right? One mitzvah is to know and believe that He already is one. The second mitzvah is to make Him one. What does it mean to make Him one? What is this mitzvah? How can I affirm the oneness of—? Does He need me in order to be one? What does it mean to affirm Hashem’s oneness? The truth is, every one of us who davens says at least once every morning—and Sephardim say it much more often—“For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah.” Right? Do we say that at the beginning of davening? So what are we saying? That we’re now going to daven for the sake of bringing about a union involving Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Every Jew says that this is

05:59 Speaker 1 what he is doing when he davens. He is now going to bring about a union involving Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he is about to fulfill the mitzvah of affirming Hashem’s oneness. Does Hashem need me to daven so that He will be one? What, what does this mitzvah mean? About this mitzvah—about this matter of affirming Hashem’s oneness—the holy Zohar says, and we discussed this seven classes ago, at the beginning of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah; it’s the heading of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. The holy Zohar says that “Hear, O Israel—” “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One” is the mitzvah of affirming Hashem’s oneness through yichuda ila’ah, a higher unity. And “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever,” the second verse of Shema, is the mitzvah of affirming Hashem’s oneness through yichuda tata’ah, a lower unity. The Alter Rebbe says: To understand what the Zohar means—what it means to affirm Hashem’s oneness at all, and why there are two ways of doing it—let me first explain what Hashem’s oneness is. Once you understand what it means that Hashem is one, you’ll understand what you need to believe. Now that you know what it means that Hashem is one, let’s explain what it means to affirm His oneness. So in the first six chapters, chapters 1 through 6, which we finished studying last week, the Alter Rebbe explained what it means that Hashem is one. What was the central point of his explanation? Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates all beings from nothing into something, the very concept of creation from nothing into something requires creation to be continuous: Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates them at every moment from nothing into something. He explained and demonstrated why. And since Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates them at every moment from nothing into something, we must conclude that created beings have no existence apart from Hashem. They have no existence of their own. Their entire existence consists of their being created at every moment. So they aren’t independent entities at all. They are nullified to their source.

08:06 Speaker 1 And their root; they have no existence of their own. And if created beings have no existence of their own, what is there? Hashem is one and His name is one; there is nothing besides Him. That’s it. So to believe that Hashem is one—the mitzvah to believe in Hashem’s oneness—is to believe that Hashem is one and His name is one, that there is nothing besides Him, because all created beings are utterly nullified before Him. The Alter Rebbe explained this at length over six chapters. He explained the questions it raises, the answers to those questions, how to understand it, and many, many other details. But that was the point: created beings are constantly within their source and root, utterly nullified to G-dliness. Now that we understand Hashem’s oneness, the Alter Rebbe begins here in chapter 7 to explain the main subject for which the whole of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah was written: What is the mitzvah of affirming Hashem’s oneness? Here it isn’t just believing in something that already exists; it’s something we have to do. So let’s look inside. Chapter 7: “And with this we will understand.” With what? With what we explained in the first six chapters about the meaning of Hashem’s oneness. “With this we will understand what is written in the holy Zohar, that the verse ‘Hear, O Israel’ is yichuda ila’ah”—a higher unity, in which I affirm the oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu on a higher level—“and ‘Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever’ is yichuda tata’ah,” in which I also affirm Hashem’s oneness, but on a lower level. What’s the difference between the two verses? The Alter Rebbe explains that the word “va’ed,” meaning “forever,” is the word “echad,” meaning “one,” with its letters exchanged. “Atvan” is Aramaic for “letters”; “exchanged letters” means an interchange of letters. So the Alter Rebbe says that “va’ed” and “echad” are the same word, only with the letters changed a little. How were they changed? That’s explained elsewhere, not here. “Echad” is spelled alef, ches, daled, right? And “va’ed” is spelled vav, ayin, daled. So the alef of “echad” was exchanged for the vav of “va’ed.”

10:22 Speaker 1 In place of the aleph, there’s a vav. What’s the connection between aleph and vav? The explanation is that both are among the letters aleph, hei, vav, and yud—the letters used to indicate vowels. Sometimes, when you put a vav in a word, its function is to indicate a cholam or a shuruk; it’s a vowel letter. So aleph and vav belong to the same group, and an aleph can therefore be exchanged for a vav. That’s a rule, and it comes up elsewhere too, not just here. Now, how did the ches become an ayin? Aleph, ayin, ches, reish—I don’t remember the others. Ayin, ches. There are several letters pronounced in the throat, and letters pronounced in the throat can be exchanged with one another. That’s one type of letter substitution. So the ches in echad went out, and the ayin in va’ed took its place. And what happens with the daled? The daled in echad is written in the Torah as a large daled, while the daled in va’ed is a small daled, an ordinary, medium-sized daled. So the—

11:40 Speaker 5 Does that happen in a Chumash? Can you see it there?

11:42 Speaker 1 They don’t always print it that way in every Chumash, but in a Torah scroll, yes. By the way, as an aside—not directly related to the Tanya here—that daled in echad isn’t just a large daled. There are twenty-two large letters in the Torah, and the Arizal writes that the daled in echad must be twice as large as all the other large letters. Throughout the Torah there are small letters, medium-sized letters, and large letters, but the daled in echad is twice as large as the other large letters. That’s an aside. It has implications for tefillin and for quite a few other matters, but not for today. All right, back to the subject. In any case, the Arizal says—and it’s brought here in Tanya—that the verse “Hear, O Israel, Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One” and the verse “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingship forever and ever” have the same meaning. Both express the oneness of Hashem. So what’s the difference? In the first verse, echad, “one,” is written explicitly and openly, so that’s called the higher unity. In the second, echad is written through substitutions of letters, as though that oneness has descended to a lower level, so it’s called the lower unity. Later we’ll understand exactly what “higher” and “lower” mean. For behold... To understand this matter of unity, the Alter Rebbe begins his explanation: “The reason and purpose for this contraction and concealment, through which Hakadosh Boruch Hu concealed and hid the life-force of the world so that the world would appear to be a separate entity in its own right...” We learned in the previous chapters that for created beings to be able to sense themselves—since they are utterly nullified, because Hashem creates them—they cannot sense themselves as an entity while they are within their source and origin. We gave quite a few examples of this.

14:06 Speaker 1 Because time is short, I don’t want to go over it again. I hope you remember. So created beings shouldn’t have been able to sense themselves. How do they nevertheless sense themselves as entities? If they are utterly nullified and aren’t entities in their own right at all, how do they sense themselves? Because the name Elokim conceals and hides. Since the name Elokim conceals the light that creates them, they sense themselves: the G-dly power that brings us, the created beings, into existence is hidden from us. Since we don’t sense it, because it has been hidden from us, we sense ourselves. The Alter Rebbe asks: Why? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu do such a thing? If You can create beings that are nullified to their source and origin, why make beings like us, who aren’t nullified? After all, You made the world because You want a dwelling place in the lower realms. You made the world because You want created beings to be nullified to You. So why create a concealment that keeps them from being nullified to You? What purpose does that serve? What have You gained? The Alter Rebbe answers on line seven: “Now, the reason is known.” Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create this concealment? “It is known to all that the purpose of the world’s creation is the revelation of His blessed kingship.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu—actually, this needs a little explanation. Maybe... all right, we’ll touch on it briefly. We’ve already seen several times in earlier classes a number of reasons why Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world: because He desired a dwelling place in the lower realms; because it is the nature of goodness to do good. And here we have another reason: Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world because He wanted His blessed kingship to be revealed. So—

15:57 Speaker 1 I know that Chassidus and the teachings of our Sages give a number of reasons why Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world. We won’t get into why each reason is given right now. At the moment, we’re discussing this one. Another time, when we have more time—that’s an interesting explanation in its own right. But again, because time is short, I don’t want to get into it now. So why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create the concealment? What did He want? Why did He create the world? He created the world because He wanted His kingship to be revealed, and that’s why He created concealment. What kind of explanation is that? What does it mean? You want Your kingship to be revealed, so You create concealment? Can’t You reveal Your kingship without creating concealment? Is the question clear? Do you understand? Yes or no?

17:04 Speaker 6 He created the world, and through that He revealed His kingship, when we don’t...

17:08 Speaker 1 And more than that, he said—the Rebbe said, the Alter Rebbe said—that He made the world, the created beings, in a way that they would sense themselves. How did He do it? By concealing Himself. Why did He do it? Because He wanted to reveal His kingship. The Alter Rebbe asks a simple question: To reveal Your kingship, do You have to conceal Yourself? Reveal Your kingship! Why do You need to conceal Yourself? Right? So he answers: It isn’t possible. Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s attribute of kingship cannot be revealed unless He conceals Himself. Why? There is no king without a people. Tell me, can a king rule over animals?

18:19 Speaker 6 No.

18:19 Speaker 1 No, right. Why? Because...

18:22 Speaker 6 They don’t have that kind of intention.

18:24 Speaker 1 Because whom would he rule over? Right. Can a king rule over plants? That doesn’t apply. Can a king rule over inanimate things—houses, pictures? I don’t kno—it can’t be, right? There’s no such thing. Right? Can a king rule over his own children? Not that either. So whom can a king rule over? A king can rule only over those who, on the one hand, are on a comparable level to him—they’re people too. On the other hand, they are separate and distant from him. Right? That’s what defines a king. What is a king? Someone who rules over people. What kind of people? The more distant they are, the more fully he can rule over them. He is the one ruler. And the more numerous they are, the greater his kingship. Right?

19:17 Speaker 6 But seemingly, when it comes to people, Hakadosh Boruch Hu fits that definition: on the one hand, they’re on a comparable level to Him; on the other hand, as it were...

19:26 Speaker 1 So what does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to reveal His kingship? Who are these people? Who are the ones He can reign over, who are on His level? What are we talking about? He wanted to reveal His kingship—is that why He created the world? Now that the question is clear, let’s look inside. The Alter Rebbe explains in greater detail: “There is no king without a people.” The word for “people,” am, is related to omemos—dim embers in which you can’t see the fire. Something faint and distant. They are separate, foreign, and distant. A king can reign only over those who are separate, foreign, and distant. Why those three words? They allude to the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. The world of Beriah is separate from G-dliness. The world of Yetzirah is not only separate but also foreign to G-dliness, and the world of Asiyah is even distant from G-dliness. Only over these can a king reign. For even if he had very many sons, kingship would not apply to them. Nor would it apply to ministers alone. On the contrary, even if they aren’t his sons but only his ministers—important ministers—he cannot be a king over ministers if there is no people. It is specifically “in the multitude of people” that there is “the glory of the king.” That is the idea of the attribute of kingship. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to reveal His kingship. What does it mean to be a king? There has to be someone separate from him. If that someone has to be separate, Hakadosh Boruch Hu must somehow distance Himself from the created beings; otherwise He isn’t a king. If the created beings were utterly nullified in their source and root, they would not be separate, foreign, or distant, and then He could not—His kingship could not be revealed. And the name that denotes His attribute of kingship is the name Adnus. This is something new. Until now we’ve been talking about the name Elokim, right? All along,

21:36 Speaker 1 the name associated with might and contraction, the name Elokim. Now something new comes in: the name Adnus. So, in short, the essential point, the very heart of the matter, is the difference between them. Both are on the side of gevurah. The role, so to speak, of the name Elokim is more to limit things quantitatively and qualitatively. That means there is less revelation, and the revelation takes on a particular form. For example, there’s sunlight outside, and we let the light in only through a window. The light comes in, but less of it comes in, right? Only through a window or an opening. And then, if we put some colored glass there, the light will still pass through, but it will also take on a particular appearance, a particular color. That is the name Elokim: limiting and contracting the light through concealment—concealing part of it, reducing it, and giving it a particular quality. The name Adnai—A-d-n-a-i—does something further. It also brings about a concealment in which He is not sensed at all. That is an additional matter. And where is the name Adnus found? In the sefirah of Malchus, because without it there is no kingship—only when G-dliness is concealed. So the name that denotes His attribute of kingship is the name Adnus, for He is Master of all the earth. It follows that this attribute and this name bring the world into being and sustain it as a world the way it is now: an independent entity, something separate in its own right, not utterly nullified. It’s really very interesting to go into all these expressions. At some point we’ll do that too, G-d willing. We’ll get to it. I don’t know, sometime, somewhere, at length. But in any case, without the name Adnus there is no existence separate from G-dliness. For if this attribute and this name were to withdraw, G-d forbid—once the G-dly light was no longer concealed—the world would return to its source in the word of Hashem and the breath of His mouth. You remember we discussed how the G-dly power that creates the world is called the word of Hashem: “The world was created through ten utterances.” So the words that Hakadosh Boruch

24:06 Speaker 1 Hu speaks in the ten utterances—what are they? They are the power that brings about—creates—the created beings. And then there is the name Elokim, which also gives them their characteristics, form, and measure, and limits them. So if the name Adnus, the name that conceals the created beings’ source and root from them, were to cease operating, G-d forbid, then at that moment what would be at work here? Only the creative power, the name Havayah. And they would all immediately be utterly nullified in their source and root, and the world would return to... no, to nothingness.

24:44 Speaker 7 Desire?

24:46 Speaker 1 No. To be nullified in its source and root. What are its source and root? Until now, we’ve spoken about its source and root without giving them a name. Its source and root: the word of Havayah, which brings the world into being. And we’ve referred to the word of Havayah—Hashem, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, brings things into being. But until now we haven’t emphasized that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not bring the world into being directly. He does it through speech. Hakadosh Boruch Hu speaks. The speech is not Him. There is Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His Essence and Being, and there is the word of Hashem, His speech, which is the name Havayah that brings the worlds into being. So now we have not just two things; we have three. Until now we had two: the active power that produces the existence of the created beings—the name Havayah—and the created beings. Suddenly we have three: the Essence and Being of the Infinite One, blessed be He; the name Havayah, which brings about creation; and the name Adnai, which conceals and makes it possible for there to be created beings, entities separate in their own right. So if the light that brings them into being withdraws—the light that conceals withdraws—the light that brings them into being remains. The creative light remains. The created beings’ existence will remain. But in what state will they be? They will be nullified in their source and root.

26:23 Speaker 7 Wait, and the name Elokim isn’t involved?

26:26 Speaker 1 Hmm?

26:26 Speaker 7 It is involved.

26:28 Speaker 1 We said it’s very much involved. But earlier we were speaking about the name Elokim in general terms. The name Adnai is more specific. The name Elokim encompasses... everything connected with contraction in general is called Elokim. More specifically, it isn’t the name Elokim that creates the concealment; it’s the name Adnai. Elokim brings about reduction, reduction, limitation, and particular qualities, but not concealment.

26:53 Speaker 7 Mm-hmm.

26:53 Speaker 1 Concealment comes from the name Adnai. And if it weren’t concealed, then...

27:01 Speaker 7 It’s sort of like a factory: the name Elokim is the raw material. It brings in the raw material, and the name Adnai gives it more of its form and its...

27:10 Speaker 1 The name Havayah is the raw material.

27:11 Speaker 7 Oh.

27:13 Speaker 1 The name Elokim is the artist. It creates the forms. It makes this a plant, that an animal, and that a person.

27:20 Speaker 7 So the name Adnai is the marketplace?

27:22 Speaker 1 The name Adnai only... it only conceals. It only conceals. The name Elokim is what creates the form. The name Adnai conceals the form’s source from it, so the source isn’t sensed within it.

27:33 Speaker 7 And then I can exist.

27:36 Speaker 1 And then I feel that I exist as an entity, and I have free choice, and I live in a world where it’s possible... There are even people who say Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t exist at all. They don’t sense Him. It takes contemplation and effort to sense Him. The name Adnai brings that about. That’s what he said.

27:53 Speaker 7 You have another card.

27:55 Speaker 1 Yes, yes, yes, yes. “And if this name were to withdraw, G-d forbid, the world would return to its source and root, which is a state of absolute nothingness, and it would not be called a world at all. Now...” So up to this point, we’ve been discussing and explaining the reality of the word of Hashem, which we hadn’t spoken about until now. What is that word of Hashem? This word of Hashem is the name Adnai, which conceals the created beings’ source from them. What kind of world results from this? What is the outcome? Now, it’s as though Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted...

28:37 Speaker 8 The name Adnai?

28:38 Speaker 1 Yes. After all, we said at the beginning of the chapter that Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted the ultimate purpose of creating the world to be that His kingship would be revealed in it. Right? What is this world in which kingship is revealed? So he explains: “Now, the definition and designation ‘world’ apply specifically to the dimensions of space and time.” A place without space or time is not a world. The dimension of space means east and west, north and south, up and down. Yes. A defining feature of a world is space. And what defines space is that when something—this cup, for example—occupies its place, you can’t put another cup in that same place. That place is already occupied. That’s it. Right? You can’t put it there. Or if its place is here, it can’t be both here and there. That’s it. A defining feature of the world is space. A person standing to the left of a tree can’t also stand to its right. He’s standing now... that’s his place. Yes. Now, space isn’t only physical; it exists spiritually too. For example, the right is chessed and the left is gevurah. So it can’t be both chessed and gevurah together. Either it’s chessed. Right?

30:00 Speaker 8 But there is chessed within gevurah. We talked about that.

30:03 Speaker 1 I was waiting for that question. That’s why I gave that example. The question is: But there is such a thing as chessed within gevurah and gevurah within chessed. What does that mean? No. When we say there is chessed within gevurah, we mean that the light of gevurah shines in the vessel of chessed. But light is light. It isn’t a vessel; it isn’t a place. In a place, in a vessel, you can’t have two things together. I’ll give you an example. When a person... Do you know the difference between a slap, a caress, and a latmeh?

30:37 Speaker 8 What’s a latmeh?

30:39 Speaker 9 What’s a latmeh?

30:39 Speaker 1 Huh?

30:42 Speaker 9 What’s a latmeh? It’s, uh...

30:43 Speaker 1 A pat is a pat. You pat someone. That’s chesed, right? Yes. A slap is? A slap is gevurah. A playful slap is when someone gives you one like this: “Ah, you’re so sweet.” Right? So the action is an act of gevurah, but the person receiving it even enjoys it. Someone here once told me, “I went to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef—what a slap he gave me!” He told the story with such a smile on his face. “I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

31:16 Speaker 8 It’s like...

31:17 Speaker 1 Because it’s an act of gevurah, but the light within it, the intention within it, is an intention of chesed. So it can be a light of chesed in a vessel of gevurah. That can happen, or the other way around. But it can’t be a slap and a pat in the same action. It’s either a slap or a pat. Right? Why? Because that’s how the world is defined. Everything takes up space. And the same applies to time—to the categories of past, present and future. Once the past is over and there is a present, and once the present is over, something can’t also be in the past. It has its own—everything has its own defined place. Now, all these categories—north, south, above, below, past, present and so on—have no relevance to the higher, holy middos. Take the middah of chesed, for example. Chesed leads a person to love, right? Yes? A person can love another person, but it isn’t limited to that. It isn’t limited to loving a person. A person can also love animals, can love plants, and can even be drawn to some beautiful object. He really wants that thing, even though it’s inanimate. The middah of tiferes—beauty. A person can be struck by the beauty of animals, of plants, and also of a beautiful painting or a beautiful house. The six middos, the emotions within a person, aren’t limited to human beings. The middah of malchus within a person: a person can rule only over people. Malchus is indeed one of the seven sefiros, one of the seven middos, but there’s an enormous difference between the other six middos and the middah of malchus. What is the fundamental difference? All a person’s emotions are his own emotions. They’re his; they’re inward. It’s about me. What do I feel? What do I want, what do I love? What am I drawn to? What’s good for me? What isn’t good for me? The middah of malchus is entirely

33:44 Speaker 1 about ruling over the other person, over someone outside oneself. The common center of all six middos is me. The middah of malchus is about the other person. And therefore all these categories of the limits of time and space have no relevance at all to the higher, holy middos. Only with regard to His blessed malchus is it appropriate to say that He is King above without end and below without limit, and likewise in all four directions. And the same applies to time: “Hashem is King, Hashem was King, Hashem will be King,” and so on. But you can’t say that Hashem “was chesed, is chesed, will be chesed.” I don’t know what that would mean for His middah of chesed. So He creates the beings, all the created beings. It follows that since the whole concept of time, and the limits of time and space, pertains only to malchus, the life-force of space and likewise the life-force of time—their coming into being from nothing and their continued existence for as long as they exist—comes from His blessed malchus and the name Adnus, blessed be He. Because His blessed malchus is united... Sorry. All right, we’ll stop there. So we’ve understood what is unique about the middah of malchus. On the one hand, for there to be created beings that have an existence of their own, it conceals G-dliness from them. On the other hand, what does it accomplish? What does it do? It brings created beings into existence. Without the middah of malchus, there are no created beings. Is that clear so far? Now we’ve reached the secret of what yichuda ila’ah is. “And because His blessed malchus is united with His blessed essence and being in absolute unity,” as will be explained later in the chapter. The middah of malchus isn’t something separate. We’ve spoken before about all the middos in the world of Atzilus. The introduction to the Zohar says, “He and His vessels are one; He and His lights are one.” G-dliness is united with all the middos. They aren’t separate from G-dliness; they are one with Him. Since the middah of malchus itself is united with G-dliness, and all created beings are nullified to it, what follows? That, in fact, all created beings are nullified to G-dliness. If their source and root, the word of Hashem, is nullified

36:36 Speaker 1 and united with G-dliness, then they certainly are too—whether they feel it or not. “Therefore, space and time, too, are utterly nullified before His blessed essence and being, like sunlight within the sun.” So even after the created beings have come into existence, and even when they don’t feel their own existence, they are still nullified like sunlight within the sun. Why? Because their source and root is nullified. “And this is the interweaving of the name Adnus with the name Havayah.” There are siddurim... Do you know what “interweaving” means?

37:15 Speaker 10 When—what’s written.

37:17 Speaker 1 With the letters. Yes, yes, yes, exactly. There are siddurim—well, actually, essentially all siddurim other than Chabad siddurim—where the name Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei is sometimes written in large letters, with Alef-Daled-Nun-Yud written in small letters inside it. Or they write Yud-Alef—well, it continues—Hei-Daled, right? The letters of Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei interspersed with the letters of Alef-Daled-Nun-Yud. That’s called interweaving: interweaving the name Adnus into the name Havayah. And there are two ways of doing it. In one, the first name, Havayah, is large, and the second, Adnus, is small. And sometimes it’s written the other way around: Adnus is large, with Havayah in small letters inside it. All right? That’s called interweaving, when one name is interwoven into the other. What is the Alter Rebbe saying? That the fact that created beings are nullified to their source and root even after they’ve been created—that is the interweaving of the name Adnus into the name Havayah. The name Adnus is the source of time and space. The name Havayah is the light that brings things into existence, the G-dly light that brings them into existence. So when the name Adnus is nullified and included within the name Havayah, all created beings are nullified within their source and root. We’ll explain that more in a moment. Is the basic idea clear? Let’s continue for another two lines, and then we’ll give an example and an analogy, and everything will be clear. To the end of the page. “This is the interweaving, the interweaving of the name Adnus with the name Havayah, for the name Havayah indicates that He is above time.” What does Havayah mean? Past, present and future in a single moment. So He is above time. If He created time, then the One who creates time must be above time. He made time exist, so He isn’t subject to time. As it says in Raya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas. And He is also above space, for the same reason. If He made space, that means He isn’t subject to space. He is above space, because He constantly brings all of space into existence, from above to below and in all four directions. Let’s try

39:51 Speaker 1 to think for a moment of how this can exist—what example do we know of, at least, where the name Adnus is interwoven with the name Havayah in a way we can actually see? There’s a created being that exists, and despite being created, despite existing, despite our seeing it with our eyes, we nevertheless see G-dliness there. It is completely nullified to G-dliness. Where do we see such a thing? Where did people see such a thing?

40:29 Speaker 10 The Rebbe.

40:32 Speaker 1 That’s an excellent example, and we’ll bring it at the end.

40:37 Speaker 10 Is there another place?

40:38 Speaker 1 Yes.

40:40 Speaker 10 The Beis Hamikdash.

40:41 Speaker 1 Our Sages said in the Mishnah that the Aron’s place did not take up measurable space. Hm? Someone said it.

40:49 Speaker 10 I said the Beis Hamikdash.

40:50 Speaker 1 The Beis Hamikdash, yes.

40:52 Speaker 10 Don’t

41:01 Speaker 1 you all know what that means—the Aron’s place? All right. The Aron’s length, as the Torah says in Parshas Terumah, was two and a half cubits. So how long was it? Two and a half cubits. It was placed across the width of the Mishkan, of the Beis Hamikdash. It doesn’t make much difference, because the dimensions there were twenty cubits by twenty cubits. So they once did an experiment—or maybe they didn’t do an experiment; I don’t know how they checked it—but they took a measuring tape and checked. From one side of the Aron to the wall was ten cubits. From the other side of the Aron to the wall was also ten cubits. They measured the Aron in the middle: it was still two and a half cubits. Then they measured from one side all the way to the other: it was still twenty. Imagine they used four measuring tapes. Right? One measured the width of the Aron, one measured from the Aron to the wall on this side, one from the Aron to the wall on that side, and one measured the whole length together. You see that the total length is twenty. From here to here is ten. From here to here is also ten. In the middle are two and a half. Where did those two and a half cubits go? That’s how it worked. You see with your own eyes a physical object that can be measured in centimeters, and—and—and it takes up no space. Is there space or isn’t there? The Aron’s place did not take up measurable space. That is the interweaving of the name Adnus with the name Havayah.

42:37 Speaker 10 Wait, was it bigger than the space it occupied, or smaller than the space it occupied?

42:42 Speaker 1 It took up no space. It was there. They measured it in centimeters, and at the same time it wasn’t there. That’s not something the mind can grasp. Why? Because it’s beyond the intellect. There, the Divine Name Havayah, which is above time and space, was revealed. But the Divine Name Havayah, which is above time and space, was revealed within time and space. And what I just said isn’t precise, because it’s not that the Divine Name Havayah was revealed within time and space, but exactly the reverse: space was elevated to a level above space. The Divine Name Adnai was elevated and included in its source, the Divine Name Havayah. Is it clearer now? This is called yichuda ila’ah, higher unity. Yichuda ila’ah means there is a world. We’re not talking about the oneness of Hashem where there is nothing besides Him, and... that’s it. “You are the same before the world was created”—we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about a world that exists. There is the Divine Name Adnai, and it created a reality. There was the Divine Name Elokim, and it made created beings; there was concealment and hiddenness. They have the bounds of time and the bounds of space, and you can measure them in centimeters—and they aren’t there. That’s called yichuda ila’ah: the physical boundaries of the world are nullified while they remain physical boundaries. Why did I say earlier that the Rebbe is a good example? For this point. There are many stories about the Rebbe when he was in a state of deveikus: you see a person, he’s alive, he’s breathing, his heart and lungs are working, but he isn’t with us. There are lots of stories like that. I’m sure you all know them, right? That’s called yichuda ila’ah. He is in the physical world, and—and—and he is united with G-dliness. His existence is utterly nullified to G-dliness. He isn’t—he isn’t—he’s here, he’s not here, he is here, he’s not here.

45:05 Speaker 11 Or the other way around.

45:07 Speaker 1 That’s called the integration of the Divine Name Adnai within the Divine Name Havayah. That’s called yichuda ila’ah. Let’s go down one more level.

45:13 Speaker 11 With the Rebbe it’s the other way around. There was a story, I think, where the Rebbe said a maamar, but in...

45:23 Speaker 12 Yes, while weeping.

45:23 Speaker 11 While weeping. It seems that you...

45:25 Speaker 12 His heart—you could hear his heartbeat. It didn’t seem as though he...

45:29 Speaker 11 Yes.

45:31 Speaker 1 That story also needs to be understood. He was still in a physical body.

45:41 Speaker 11 Yes.

45:41 Speaker 1 Tell me, how could he live without a physical body? Without a working heart, all the more so. I don’t know. In any case, the point is clear. Now let’s go further down. Let’s bring this down to ourselves. This is a mitzvah, the second mitzvah in the count of mitzvos. It’s the ABCs; it’s where we begin. Yichuda ila’ah—Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t expect it to remain in the Beis Hamikdash, and He doesn’t expect it to remain with the Rebbe, either. The Rebbe wants it to reach—Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants it to reach—this is a mitzvah for each and every one of us. Where do we have yichuda ila’ah?

46:20 Speaker 11 Prayer.

46:21 Speaker 1 Good. Bingo! Prayer. During prayer, a Jew is nullified to G-dliness. This isn’t the level of the Beis Hamikdash, the Holy of Holies, and it isn’t the Rebbe’s deveikus either. But right now, he is with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Right now he isn’t occupied with the world; he isn’t thinking about the world. He’s thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He stands without moving, as much as is possible for ordinary mortals. The time of prayer is yichuda ila’ah. All right? So what is yichuda tata’ah, lower unity? Let’s turn to the next page. “And although He, may He be blessed, is above space and time, nevertheless He is also present below, within space and time. That is, He unites with His attribute of Malchus.” So it’s exactly the reverse. Yichuda ila’ah is when the created being nullifies his own existence, rises and becomes integrated into the Divine Name Havayah, included in his source and root. Yichuda tata’ah is exactly the reverse: the Divine Name Havayah descends and shines within the Divine Name Adnai. Which one is primary here? Which one predominates? Which one determines what we see? We see the Divine Name Adnai. What shines within it? The Divine Name Havayah shines within it. Let’s bring this down to a simpler understanding. “He descends below to unite with His attribute of Malchus, from which space and time are drawn forth and come into being. And this is yichuda tata’ah: the integration of Havayah within Adnus, blessed be He. That is, His essence and being, may He be blessed, known as Ein Sof, blessed be He, literally fills the entire earth.” What does “literally fills the earth” mean? The earth as it is. There is time and there is space, and their dimensions are not nullified. We see time and we see space, and nevertheless He fills the entire earth. “For in the heavens above and on the earth, and in the four directions, all are filled equally with the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He. For He is on the earth below just as He is in the heavens above”

49:08 Speaker 1 “literally. For all space is nullified in its very existence within the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, that is invested in it.” How is it invested in it? Not openly, because then everything would be nullified. Rather, the light of Ein Sof is invested within all created beings, down to the very lowest levels, through “His attribute of Malchus, which is”—ah—“united with Him, may He be blessed.” So if He is present down here, the light of Ein Sof itself is present here. Then how—how—how are the created beings not nullified? “His attribute of Malchus is the attribute of tzimtzum and concealment, concealing the light of Ein Sof, blessed be He, so that time and space will not be completely nullified out of existence, and there will still be some aspect of time and space in existence, even for those below.” All right, I think we’ve understood the lofty words. Now what does this mean for us? Where do we bring about yichuda tata’ah? We said that the time of prayer is yichuda ila’ah. What is yichuda tata’ah?

50:18 Speaker 3 Ah, of course, we already said: in the practical mitzvos.

50:22 Speaker 1 So first of all, the practical mitzvos. A person is no longer in a state of “just me and Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” Yes. Rather, he is already in the world, performing a mitzvah. And there’s something even lower.

50:37 Speaker 3 A mitzvah and prophecy.

50:38 Speaker 1 Huh?

50:39 Speaker 3 Prophecy.

50:40 Speaker 1 No, no. Prophecy is on the other side. That’s yichuda ila’ah. He rises to receive the word of Hashem.

50:46 Speaker 3 Wouldn’t Torah study be that?

50:47 Speaker 1 Torah study? Certainly not. In Torah study he unites with G-dliness, doesn’t he? Of course.

50:53 Speaker 3 Even lower?

50:54 Speaker 1 Even lower. Certainly. Below Torah, below mitzvos. Down, down. You see the—where you see the world. Let me ask it differently. Wh-where—

51:03 Speaker 3 That saying about—

51:04 Speaker 1 Where do we see the world? What expresses the world? There’s a saying: “The world stands on three things.” On...

51:12 Speaker 3 Torah, mitzvos, and acts of kindness.

51:14 Speaker 1 Ah, I didn’t mean that saying.

51:15 Speaker 3 Torah, mitzvos, and acts of kindness.

51:18 Speaker 1 Good.

51:20 Speaker 3 Money, money, and money.

51:21 Speaker 1 The world stands on three things: money, money, and money.

51:26 Speaker 3 Very close.

51:29 Speaker 1 Conducting business faithfully. When a person goes to work, he needs to earn money, but he doesn’t lie. He conducts his business faithfully. Why does he act faithfully? He could make money by not telling the whole truth. What would happen? You know what? It can happen quite often. Something like that happened to me today. Someone came to me and accidentally gave me an extra two hundred shekels in change. He gave it to me; I didn’t do anything. So what, I just closed my eyes? That’s all. What’s the problem? Wouldn’t two hundred shekels be nice? What’s wrong with that? You don’t even have to lie. A person can often make a lot of money honestly, just not quite faithfully. When a person believes... and conducts his ordinary, physical, everyday life according to Hashem’s command, you don’t see anything special here. You see a person, a merchant, someone working. You see the world; you don’t see G-dliness. Who knows that there is G-dliness here? Who knows? He does—the person himself. He knows that he acts this way because he believes. That’s called the integration of the Divine Name Havayah within Adnai. What do we see? We see the boundaries of the world. What shines within them? G-dliness shines within them. So these are the two ends of a Jew’s service of Hashem. And about this the Alter Rebbe says in Chinuch Katan, which we studied in the introduction to Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, that the basis, the foundation, the root of all 613 mitzvos, is faith in the oneness of Hashem. Faith in the oneness of Hashem includes, first of all, knowing Hashem—that’s the first six chapters—knowing and believing. And the second aspect of the oneness of Hashem, the second mitzvah, is to affirm Hashem’s unity. To affirm Hashem’s unity means that a Jew lives with Hakadosh Boruch Hu both in his loftiest affairs, which is yichuda ila’ah, and in his lowliest affairs, which is yichuda

54:06 Speaker 1 tata’ah. All right? How are we doing for time?

54:15 Speaker 4 Fine.

54:15 Speaker 1 Hmm? Ah, all right. Actually, I’d planned to finish the last two pages, but, ah, well, we’ll leave that for next time.

54:28 Speaker 4 Yes.

54:28 Speaker 1 Good.