Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah Chapter 7 (Part 2)

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, we’re up to chapter 7. The previous chapter was a bit of a mess, and I came away feeling that the point hadn’t gotten across.

00:14 Speaker 2 And I wasn’t here, so how did we begin?

00:16 Speaker 1 So I said we’d go over it in a more focused way, and then we could continue with the chapter. Here’s the point: In chapter 7, we begin talking for the first time about yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah. Up to chapter 7—in chapters 1 through 6—we were talking the whole time about the oneness of Hashem. And from that, we can see that these are two different things. There is believing in the oneness of Hashem, and there is a mitzvah to unify His name. In fact, in the Rambam’s count of the mitzvos, the first two positive mitzvos are: one mitzvah to believe that Hashem is one, and a second mitzvah to unify His name. They really are two mitzvos, two distinct concepts. What is the difference between them? Regarding the oneness of Hashem, the Alter Rebbe explains in the first six chapters that...

01:22 Speaker 2 Here we started something new.

01:25 Speaker 1 Yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are in chapter 7. This is where it begins, based on what was explained about the oneness of Hashem. Now we can understand what yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are—the question we asked before we began. In other words, first there was an introduction explaining the oneness of Hashem. Once we understand the oneness of Hashem, we can understand what it means to unify His name. So what is the oneness of Hashem? That Hashem is one, that there is nothing besides Him. What does “there is nothing besides Him” mean? That created beings are nullified to the word of Hashem, their source, like sunlight within the sun itself, and they have no independent existence and no significance. That’s the point, and we studied the questions and answers about it. This is what it means to believe in the oneness of Hashem: even after Hashem created the beings, they have no independent existence. The very definition of created beings is “He commanded, and they were created.” Because He commanded, they came into being. They do not stand as things in their own right. They are nullified in their source, in their root. So even after they were created, Hashem is one and His name is one; there is nothing besides Him. “Know this day and take it to heart.” That is what the first six chapters cover. On that basis, we can understand what it means to unify Hashem’s name. What does that mean? We need to reflect on what we learned earlier: that created beings have no independent existence. True, they have no independent existence, but they do have importance. After all, Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants them; He created them. He needs them in order to reveal His kingship. There is no king without a people, and He wants to reveal His kingship, so, as it were, He needs them for His kingship to be revealed. Right? So although they have no independent existence or significance, and they are utterly small and are nothing

03:17 Speaker 1 and nullified—all of that is true, but they do have a certain importance. Right? In what respect are they important? Because the word of Hashem—Malchus, the word of Hashem that creates the beings, the light of Hashem that creates them—as it were, needs them so that the fullness of His powers can be revealed, so that His kingship will be revealed. That is true. When do we say that created beings have importance? They have importance in relation to Malchus. But in relation to the name Havayah, to the G-dliness above Malchus—to the sefiros of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, and everything above them—they have no importance. When do time and space have significance? “Hashem reigns, Hashem has reigned, Hashem will reign.” That involves time. Over what will He reign? Over the world: above and below. He is King from infinitely high above to infinitely far below, and He is King over the four corners of the earth and throughout its seven regions. He is King in relation to space. So when we speak of a king, of Malchus, it makes sense to speak of the parameters of time and space, of created beings and a world. But above that, in the higher sefiros, the concept of space does not apply. There is no space and no time. We explained this at length in the previous class: the same applies to the human soul. A person has emotions and the faculty of speech. The emotions—Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, and so on—are about me: What do I feel? Yes, what do I feel toward another person? But the focus here is not the other person; it is what I feel. Speech, by contrast, is entirely about the other person, about relating to them. So there is an essential difference between the sefirah of Malchus and the sefiros above it. In relation to Malchus, the world and its created beings truly have no independent existence; Malchus is their source and root. It is the sun from which the light comes. So in relation to Malchus of Atzilus, created beings are truly nullified, but they have importance. Yet in relation to the infinite light

05:48 Speaker 1 above Malchus, in relation to the name Havayah, created beings have no importance at all, because it has no need of them. Only Malchus needs them. The higher attributes, G-dliness itself, do not need created beings, so the beings have no importance there either. It follows that, from the perspective of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—not from the perspective of the created beings, but in how Hakadosh Boruch Hu relates to them—there are, as it were, two ways of relating to them. From the perspective of Malchus, they have no independent existence, but they do have importance. From the perspective of the name Havayah,

06:25 Speaker 9 they do not even have

06:27 Speaker 1 any importance. Right. Now, based on this, we can understand what it means to unify: to connect Malchus, the source of created beings, with the G-dly light above the source of created beings.

06:49 Speaker 9 Okay, it’s like a liaison corps: the whole idea is to connect the two...

06:53 Speaker 1 To connect the two together. And this is also expressed in the wording. The first mitzvah is to believe in His oneness. I don’t need to do anything there. I must believe in the reality that Hashem is one—to understand it and believe in it. But the word “unify” means that I bring about the unification. I effect it. It is an active mitzvah, something I do. Right? Connecting Malchus, the source of created beings, with the G-dly light above it—that is an action performed by a Jew. We do it through contemplation and so on. This is called bringing about unifications. Now that we understand the central point of unification—uniting the source of created beings, Malchus, with the sefiros above it—we can see that this can happen in two ways. One way is for Malchus to rise to the sefiros above it. The other is for the higher sefiros to descend, become revealed, and shine within Malchus. What does that mean? We gave examples of this. First, the example of space rising to a level beyond space. What are we actually saying here? There is space here, right? But that very space is transformed and rises to a level beyond space. Where do we find an example of this? In the Holy of Holies: the space occupied by the Ark was not included in the measurements. There is an Ark, there is space, and there are dimensions. Its width is a cubit and a half, its length is two and a half cubits, and the room is twenty cubits wide. You measure it. But wait—where is it? Zero. It isn’t there. So it has dimensions, and those dimensions do not take up space. On the one hand, you measure it; you see the physical reality of its dimensions, you see the space with your own eyes. Here is an Ark. You try to measure it, and you find both that it has measurable dimensions and that it takes up no space. Right? This is called the created realm—Malchus, with its parameters of space—rising to a level

09:25 Speaker 1 beyond space. Here, the reality of space has risen beyond space. The same applies to a miracle beyond nature, right? The sea split into twelve paths, into two parts, right? The sea split. The water stood like a wall. It was water, and it was wet. It had not frozen or turned to stone, yet it stood like a wall. Right? On the one hand, there was water that had not ceased to be water. On the other hand, its entire state was unlike that of water. Existence and nonexistence together. That is a miracle beyond nature. This is called the revelation of what is beyond space within space. It is called the ascent of Malchus. In the language of Kabbalah, it is called the unification of the name Adnai with the name Havayah. You have the letters printed in Sephardi siddurim, Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. The Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei is printed large, and the Adnai is printed small. This is called Adnai being interwoven within it. What you see is the name Havayah with Adnai interwoven inside it. Right? That is one form. The opposite form is when the light—the name Havayah, the G-dly light—descends and is revealed within space. What is an example of that? Miracles clothed in nature. We are now approaching...

10:57 Speaker 10 What’s happening?

10:58 Speaker 1 Chanukah. Right? There is a war. People fight, blood is shed, people are killed—with everything that war entails. Only after the war ends do you suddenly realize that five sons of the Chashmonaim defeated a trained army, along with another twenty yeshivah students who helped them. No weapons, no equipment, no training, nothing, no support, no—

11:31 Speaker 10 Why is Chanukah presented as a miracle above nature, and Purim as one within

11:35 Speaker 1 What?

11:36 Speaker 10 How do you understand Chanukah as a miracle above nature, and therefore it came to them from above, while Purim was within nature, and therefore the miracle came from below?

11:43 Speaker 1 No. Both were miracles clothed in nature. The difference is only that one came from above and the other from below, but that’s another matter. As far as miracles clothed in nature go, both were miracles. After all, Purim too was a miracle clothed in nature. And what does all this have to do with us? We said we’re looking at it in terms of a person’s avodah. So here we’ve only given examples of what yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are, and how they are expressed in the world. How does this relate to our avodah, to what a person does? We gave an example: say a person is standing in prayer, saying the Amidah. You see a person standing there, breathing; his heart is working, his blood is flowing, and so on. All his limbs, his body, everything is functioning, but he isn’t here right now. Right now he is with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed to him now; G-dliness is revealed to him now, right? That side is called yichuda ila’ah. And yichuda tata’ah is the other side. What do you see? You see a person. You see the world. He’s engaged in business dealings, in commerce, working for a living, working in… Someone told me this week—he himself is a lawyer—that he has a friend who is also a lawyer. This friend of his, my friend, regularly davens at our Chabad shul, regularly attends my classes, and has for many years. He told me this week that he has a lawyer friend here in Haifa who recently began keeping mitzvos without any…

13:27 Speaker 11 Wow.

13:28 Speaker 1 So he told me—keeping mitzvos, I don’t know how much he’s keeping. He began drawing closer, taking an interest in Judaism. He wanted to… He arranged a class at his home. He really began drawing closer. So he told me what happened. At this friend’s law office, he hired a few religious-Zionist young men, observant, quite frum. And there were some pens there—I don’t remember the exact details of the story—but the pens were on the desk, and they didn’t use those pens. They took out their own pens, something like that. So he was surprised. He asked them, “Why are you…?” “Those aren’t our pens. That would be stealing. How could we use them?” He was very impressed and told his wife. His wife said, “At last you’ve found normal employees. They won’t cheat you.” That was one story. Then there was another. He told me—I won’t tell it now; for lack of time I won’t tell you all of them. He told me four stories, and they so astonished him that he simply asked them to arrange a class at his home. He began learning Gemara with them, began drawing closer to Judaism, and began keeping mitzvos. Simply because he saw that—yes. And they weren’t doing it for him, or to impress him, or for any other reason. That’s called conducting business faithfully. A person lives in the world. He works in a law office. He’s not—at that moment he isn’t thinking about holiness. When he doesn’t take the pen, is he thinking about “Do not steal”? No. He’s busy working, right? But within his work, what shines

15:17 Speaker 1 inside it? The light of the blessed Ein Sof shines there. That is called yichuda tata’ah.

15:22 Speaker 11 You said you spoke with a woman who doesn’t keep Torah and mitzvos, and [unclear]. She spoke about the seventh year, about the land being holy, and so on. So what am I telling you? We can learn how important the personal example someone sets is. Look at where my mother lives: there are frum people there, but they don’t keep the place clean at all. So this is the holy land? I mean, in the case you told us about—

15:45 Speaker 1 That’s the opposite case.

15:46 Speaker 11 The personal example had a positive effect.

15:49 Speaker 1 So, well. Last week we spent a long time, the whole rest of the class, discussing this: explaining what yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are, how they differ from the oneness of Hashem, what our role is in all this, and so on. We lingered over it a bit. The atmosphere here also made it a little difficult to teach. And that’s where we stopped. I’d intended to cover much more, but we’re now on page 63, in the second section at the bottom. So we know, in general, what the oneness of Hashem is and what yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are. All right? Let’s continue with the chapter below. Now, with what has been explained—what yichuda ila’ah means, and what yichuda tata’ah means… That is, he began with yichuda ila’ah and then continued with yichuda tata’ah. What is yichuda tata’ah? That even within the world as it appears to be a world, the G-dly light shines. With this explanation, we can understand what is written: “I, Hashem, have not changed.” What does “have not changed” mean? It means there has been no change whatsoever in Him, just as… no change at all. Now, before learning chapter 7, what would we have thought “I, Hashem, have not changed” meant? Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the worlds from nothing into something, and the worlds, in themselves, are utterly nullified, there is no change for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But from the perspective of the created beings, there certainly is a change. After all, created beings experience themselves as existing. And we learned that this experience is real, because they conceal G-dliness. That’s why Torah and mitzvos are relevant: they really do conceal, and they really do experience themselves as existing. Right? That’s what we learned. So we would have said: What does “have not changed” mean? He has not changed, but for us there certainly is a change. That’s how we would have understood it, right? After understanding what yichuda tata’ah is,

17:55 Speaker 1 we now have a much deeper understanding of “I, Hashem, have not changed.” What is it? That there is no change whatsoever: just as He was alone before the creation of the world, so He is alone after the world was created. That means even after creation, when a world exists and created beings exist and experience themselves as existing—and how strongly they experience themselves as separate entities—even then, “have not changed” applies to the created beings too, because the G-dly light shines within them as well. This is the meaning of “You are He before the world was created; You are He after the world was created.” The very same “You are He” that was before the world was created remains after the world was created, when created beings exist and experience their own existence. It is still “You are He,” without any change. Without any change in His essence. Now someone could immediately say: Okay, fine, there is no change in His essence, but surely there is a change in His knowledge. Before, there were no created beings, and now there are. So first of all, previously He didn’t know these created beings, and now—how could He have known them before they existed? Right? Seemingly. How could… Now that there are created beings, they are known. So seemingly there is a change in His knowledge. To answer this, he goes on to give a whole explanation. There is no change in His knowledge either. “I, Hashem, have not changed” doesn’t only mean that His essence hasn’t changed because the created beings are nullified to Him and He shines within them too; it means there is no change in His knowledge either. That is the meaning of yichuda tata’ah. What does it mean that there is no change? Before they didn’t exist, now they do, and now He knows them. And it’s not only that He knows them. Well, let’s say it now. The Rebbe will say it explicitly later, but let’s introduce the idea through our own knowledge. When I know one person, and then I

20:16 Speaker 1 get to know another, I’ve gained another piece of knowledge. And for each person I know, I know several things about them. So each thing I learn is another detail added, right? Now, if Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s knowledge created all the beings, then He must know them. That would mean an enormous number—countless pieces of knowledge—have been added to Him, right? So what does it mean that there is no change in His knowledge?

20:44 Speaker 12 Does that correspond to the question of being composite—that He isn’t composite? Is the added knowledge what would make it composite?

20:55 Speaker 1 Yes. For us, knowledge is composite, and “composite” here has… two meanings. What does it mean that our knowledge is composite?

21:06 Speaker 12 What does it mean for knowledge to be composite?

21:07 Speaker 1 That it is made up of several things, like a body made up of many limbs. So the fact that our knowledge is composite—that itself is made up of… there are two aspects to it. That’s just a play on words. Never mind that. There are two aspects. The first is what you said in the straightforward sense: knowledge is made up of many different pieces of knowledge, side by side, so to speak.

21:33 Speaker 12 And then they intersect with one another.

21:34 Speaker 1 Mm?

21:35 Speaker 12 And then they intersect with one another.

21:37 Speaker 1 And then?

21:37 Speaker 12 They intersect with one another.

21:39 Speaker 1 No, that’s separate. What does it mean that knowledge is composite? First, knowledge is composite because it is made up of many things. Second, knowledge is something added to the soul; it isn’t the essence of the soul.

21:52 Speaker 12 Something more external.

21:55 Speaker 1 The essence of the soul is not something to which anything is added. In the essence of the soul, there really are no changes. Why can knowledge change, and why can it be composite? Because it isn’t the essence of the soul. It is only something added to the essence of the soul, something additional to it, so to speak.

22:13 Speaker 12 A kind of outer layer.

22:18 Speaker 1 So with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, not only is there no change in Him, there is also no change in His knowledge. Why? How can that be? Because in knowing Himself, He knows all created beings. There is a fundamental difference between our knowledge and Hashem’s knowledge. When I know something, that thing is external to me, and I know it. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu knows something, there is nothing else. He knows Himself. And in knowing Himself, He knows all created beings. Why? Because everything comes from Him. And how does it exist as something that comes from Him? It is utterly nullified to Him. So there is no change in His knowledge, because even after they were created, nothing has been added. It is all Him. As the Rambam wrote—and the Alter Rebbe now brings the Rambam’s wording from here until the end of the passage on the next page. The Alter Rebbe quotes the Rambam from several halachos in different places in Mishneh Torah and the Moreh Nevuchim. He gives two or three words of the Rambam, explains some words, and combines his own wording with the Rambam’s. About all of that he writes, “As the Rambam wrote,” and at the end he writes, “This concludes his words.” This is what the Rambam says, and this is how we need to understand him. As the Rambam wrote, regarding the unity, the unity of Hashem: “He is the Knower, He is the Known, and He is Knowledge itself.” With us, it isn’t like that. There is me, knowing the thing that is known by means of my knowledge. But with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, He is the One who knows, He is the means by which He knows, and He is what is known. And it is all one. “This is something that the mouth cannot express, the ear cannot hear, and the human heart cannot grasp fully.” Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu—I’m not like that. I can’t understand a reality that isn’t like me. I have no analogy or example for it, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu, His being and His essence

24:47 Speaker 1 and His knowledge are all truly one in every respect and in every way of being united. His knowledge is not something additional to His being and essence. It isn’t like the human soul, whose knowledge is something additional to its essence, something added to it. That’s the second point we mentioned earlier. Because when a person learns and comes to know something, his intellectual soul already existed before he learned and knew it. After he learns and knows it, this knowledge has been added to his soul. And so it is day by day: “Days shall speak, and many years shall make wisdom known.” As the days go by, more and more pieces of knowledge are added to him that he didn’t have before. That is not simple unity; it is composite. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu is a simple unity, without any composition or any multiplicity whatsoever. So necessarily, His being, His essence, and His knowledge are all truly one thing, without any composition. We have to say that.

25:52 Speaker 13 What does it mean, to create the essence?

26:03 Speaker 1 I think “being” describes the essence, but I’m not sure about that. All right, let’s move on with the content of the chapter. We’re getting stuck on fine points of wording that none of us knows how to explain. What do we want to know? What is the Rebbe trying to tell us? “So necessarily, His being, His essence, and His knowledge are all truly one thing, without any composition”—without any composition. “Therefore, just as no created being in the world can grasp the being and essence of the Creator, so too it is impossible to grasp the nature of His knowledge.” In other words, since He and His knowledge are one, just as I can’t grasp His essence—I can’t create something from nothing; I can’t understand what it means to create something from nothing. I can’t. We also said that I can’t understand what gevurah means, either. Just as I can’t understand Him, I can’t understand His knowledge. What can I do? “Only believe with a faith that transcends intellect and comprehension that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is singular and unique, and that He and His knowledge are truly one; and in knowing Himself, He perceives and knows all beings above and below”—all beings above and below. Now, when the Alter Rebbe says that you can’t understand this, and therefore you should believe it without understanding, that’s not what he means.

27:31 Speaker 13 That actually kind of goes against Chabad Chassidus, doesn’t it?

27:36 Speaker 1 Exactly. It doesn’t just kind of go against Chabad Chassidus. There’s... It’s the same question people ask—we talked about this once—about the Rambam. Why does he raise the issue of foreknowledge and free choice in Hilchos Teshuvah, chapter seven—not chapter seven, chapter five? How can Hakadosh Boruch Hu know what will happen in the future? How can He know that? And on the other hand, the Raavad protests there: Why do you raise a question you have no answer to? And at the end the Rambam writes, “Know that I have an answer to this,” and...

28:08 Speaker 13 And you heard that.

28:10 Speaker 1 “Know that I have an answer,” and the answer to the answer is—know that the answer to this question is “longer than the earth and broader than the sea,” and “not every mind can bear it.” Believe it; I know, I know the answer, and let that suffice for you. So the Raavad protests: What do you mean? You raise questions in a book of halachah that you then have no answer to? And the Rambam wanted [unclear]. Then people discuss it at length, debating what the Rambam—clearly, the Rambam didn’t mean to leave us with a question. So what, then? There’s a whole series of questions and answers. What do they think the Rambam wanted to say? No—what did he mean? The bottom line is that... through understanding by negation, you can understand things that you can’t understand through positive understanding. With positive understanding, I say: if this is so, and that is so, and this is so, then this is the conclusion. And then I can climb. How far can I climb? As far as the ladder reaches. But somewhere above the top rung of the ladder, I have no tools. I don’t have the words; I don’t have—I have nothing to talk about, nothing to grasp. I can’t get there. You can’t understand it through positive understanding, but you can understand it through understanding by negation. If it isn’t this, and it isn’t that, or that, or that, or that—well, what’s left? So understanding by negation is a kind of understanding—right, but there’s a big difference.

29:55 Speaker 13 It’s also more precise, isn’t it?

29:56 Speaker 1 No, the opposite. Positive understanding is an understanding that defines something; it is a grasp of its essence. I can point to it; I can grasp, so to speak, what the thing is. Through understanding by negation, I can only grasp that it exists. I have to say that such a thing exists, but I have no way to understand what it is. These are called grasping the essence and grasping the existence. So the Alter Rebbe explains what I can understand and what I can’t understand. On that basis, we establish that Hashem is one—a simple oneness. “But I can’t understand that!” Right, you can’t understand it. But this is called understanding by negation, because I’m defining what I can understand and what I can’t. This is a deep subject, and it is explained, but that’s the basic point. Maybe put differently. The Rebbe also comments on this point. After all, we’re talking about daas tachton, the lower perspective. If you were talking to me about yichuda ila’ah, the higher unity—yichuda ila’ah is the level of tzaddikim, of the Rebbe, who becomes absorbed in contemplation and isn’t present in this world. That’s yichuda ila’ah. We’re talking about yichuda tata’ah, the lower unity, our avodah. If you said about yichuda ila’ah that a person cannot grasp it, that it’s beyond human capacity and impossible to understand—but this is yichuda tata’ah. So what do you want from us? Right? The point is that although this really is difficult and deep, and hard to picture in our minds, because it truly is a deep and difficult subject, through understanding by negation, through this kind of contemplation, it is possible to understand. To understand what can be understood, to gain a grasp of—of its existence. And grasping its existence is enough to believe. All right, let’s go back to the text. So on the page

31:54 Speaker 1 All in all, in one line: By knowing Himself, He recognizes and knows all beings, those above and those below. He knows them through knowing Himself, not through knowledge of something outside Himself. Down to a tiny worm in the sea and a tiny mosquito at the center of the earth—expressions from the Gemara and the Prophets. The tiny worm in the sea is the smallest creature in the world, and the tiny mosquito at the center of the earth is the least significant creature in the world. So by knowing Himself, He knows them all, down to the smallest and least significant creature. Even that is through knowing Himself. Nothing is hidden from Him, and this knowledge—all these things He knows—does not add any multiplicity or complexity to Him at all, since it is only knowledge of Himself, and His essence and His knowledge are all one. Because this is very difficult for our minds to picture. So you see, he does not say it is impossible.

32:50 Speaker 14 It’s difficult.

32:50 Speaker 1 Difficult. That is why the prophet said: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” And it is written, “Can you fathom G-d?” and so on. And it is written, “Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as a human sees?” A person sees and knows everything through knowledge of something outside himself. And again, that is the Rambam’s wording. We have returned to the Rambam’s wording.

33:10 Speaker 14 We said “the prophet”—the Rambam?

33:11 Speaker 1 Huh?

33:12 Speaker 14 It was the prophet.

33:13 Speaker 1 No. All of this is the Rambam’s words interwoven with the Alter Rebbe’s words. We’re still—

33:18 Speaker 14 Just now, specifically, those were the prophet’s words.

33:20 Speaker 1 Yes.

33:20 Speaker 14 And now we’re back to the Rambam’s words.

33:22 Speaker 1 The tiny worm and all that—the Rambam brings that too.

33:25 Speaker 14 Yes, no, but I was talking about “My ways are higher than your ways.”

33:27 Speaker 1 Yes. “My ways are higher than your ways” is also brought by the Rambam.

33:31 Speaker 14 Isn’t that a verse?

33:33 Speaker 1 It’s a verse; he quotes the verse.

33:34 Speaker 14 Oh, “the heavens are higher than the earth.” Okay.

33:38 Speaker 1 A person sees and knows everything through knowledge of something outside himself, while Hakadosh Boruch Hu knows through knowing Himself. That is the end of the Rambam’s wording. It was there in Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah, near the beginning. And the sages of Kabbalah agreed with him, as in the Pardes of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, z"l. There was the disagreement with the Maharal, and Rabbi Moshe Cordovero explains that disagreement—the Alter Rebbe explains that the disagreement with the Rambam is only on the part of those who were speaking about the essence and being of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. If you are speaking about His essence and being, then everything the Rambam writes about His knowledge being one with Him, and about His knowing—that does not apply there. But when we speak about the Divine light that creates the world, the lower unity—both the lower unity and the higher unity—then we can speak of knowledge, the Knower and the known. That is the end of the first part of chapter 7. In the first part of chapter 7, the Alter Rebbe explains what the higher unity and the lower unity are. In the second part, which starts here, the Alter Rebbe begins to explain the concept of the first tzimtzum. We have already mentioned the first tzimtzum here once; I don’t remember in what context.

35:12 Speaker 14 Before the tzimtzum. Or before the tzimtzum.

35:17 Speaker 1 Um, no. And if that’s the question, I’ll put it briefly. The first tzimtzum—the concept of the first tzimtzum was introduced by the Arizal. Until then... It isn’t written in the Zohar or in books of Kabbalah. It was the Arizal’s innovation. Even in the Pardes, by the Arizal’s teacher, there is no first tzimtzum.

35:50 Speaker 14 An innovation of the Arizal.

35:51 Speaker 1 Hmm?

35:52 Speaker 14 An innovation of the Arizal.

35:53 Speaker 1 That’s the first place—an innovation. The Arizal didn’t invent it, yes, but the first place—

35:57 Speaker 14 A revelation.

35:58 Speaker 1 —where it is written? It is written in the Arizal’s writings. What does the Arizal write? The Arizal—Rabbi Chaim Vital, who wrote down what the Arizal said. The Arizal himself did not write it. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to create the world, there was no room; He had nowhere to do it. Everything was filled with the infinite light, so there was nowhere to create the world. What does that mean in simple terms? When there is infinity, you cannot create anything. There is no room for something limited, so to speak. Right. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu had to find some way to have a place to create the world. He wanted to create the world; He needed to make room for it. So He moved His great light aside. He contracted Himself, concealed Himself, erased Himself, made a large sphere—an empty space where He would not be. And once there was an empty space, He drew a line into it—a short, thin line, I think, a short, thin line of light. Then the description continues: at first this line curved, then straightened, then curved again. In short, all the worlds were subsequently created from this line within the empty space that had formed. That is, in pictorial language, what the Arizal writes. When you look at it in Eitz Chaim, it is even more pictorial. What’s more, in the original edition of Eitz Chaim there is a drawing of a circle with a point in the middle and a line. It is literally drawn there, a hand-drawn illustration you can see. That is the first tzimtzum. Yes?

37:40 Speaker 15 Okay.

37:44 Speaker 1 Immediately in the first generation after the Arizal, the Arizal’s students disagreed about his intent. What did he mean? What does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu contracted Himself? Did the Arizal mean that He contracted Himself literally—that He was not there? Or did He only contract Himself, as it were, so that His presence would not be felt, while in truth He was there? That was the disagreement. Yes? One of the leading Kabbalists who held that He concealed Himself as though He had erased Himself, removed Himself, was named Emanuel Chai Ricchi. He wrote this in Mishnas Chassidim, one of the most important Kabbalah books from the first generation after the Arizal. It is studied in Chassidus—an important, accepted Kabbalah book—and he brings proofs for it, several very simple proofs. One of the Arizal’s students was called Rabbi Yisrael Sarug. Sarug—what was his name? I don’t remember. And he was not a student. A student of that Sarug wrote a Kabbalah book called Meleches Shamayim, I think, and there he writes: What are you talking about? That cannot be. What does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not present? How could such a thing be? Rather, He only made it so that He would not be seen, and then drew a small, short line of revelation into that space. That was the disagreement. That was what the opposition to the Baal Shem Tov was about. All the disputes against the chassidim revolved around this point: the chassidim accepted the approach of Meleches Shamayim, and the Litvaks accepted the approach of Emanuel Chai Ricchi. Blood was spilled over this; the Jewish people were divided over this. All right, that’s the background. Let’s now see how the Alter Rebbe presents it. “From this we can understand the error of certain sages, wise in their own eyes—may Hashem forgive them.” That is language without

40:11 Speaker 1 parallel in the history of Chassidus, not before and not afterward, I think. “They erred and were mistaken in their study of the writings of the Arizal, and understood the concept of tzimtzum mentioned there literally.” So first of all, you see that the Alter Rebbe is waging an uncompromising battle. To him it was as clear as day that Emanuel Chai Ricchi was mistaken. And certainly all those who followed him, among whom the Gaon of Vilna was the standard-bearer of that approach.

40:49 Speaker 16 After all, the Litvaks back then were Kabbalists too.

40:51 Speaker 1 Hmm?

40:52 Speaker 16 The Litvaks of that time were Kabbalists too.

40:54 Speaker 1 Not only were they Kabbalists: the Gaon of Vilna writes that someone who does not study Kabbalah is forbidden to rule on halachah. He doesn’t understand anything of what he’s reading, and he is forbidden to rule on halachah.

41:11 Speaker 16 Where does that leave us today?

41:15 Speaker 1 Ah.

41:16 Speaker 16 Even today, the study is much more—

41:20 Speaker 1 “And they understood the concept of tzimtzum mentioned there literally: that Hakadosh Boruch Hu removed Himself and His essence, G-d forbid, from this world, and merely watches from above, with individual providence, over all creatures in the heavens above and on the earth below.” How can you say such a thing? And—

41:36 Speaker 16 But the Rambam also held that way, didn’t he?

41:38 Speaker 1 What?

41:38 Speaker 16 The Rambam also held that way, didn’t he?

41:40 Speaker 1 No.

41:40 Speaker 16 That individual providence applies in a general sense, no?

41:43 Speaker 1 Not in a general sense. They say: Why does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need to watch over things? He removed Himself, after all. Why did He remove Himself? Because He wanted a world to exist here. If He is here, there is infinity, and there cannot be a world. So He removed Himself so that He would not be here, and limited things could exist. And now limited things exist. Ah, but one of the foundations of Torah is belief in reward and punishment, in individual providence. We must say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu watches over things. He watches like a king looking on from where he exercises his influence. He is not here; He watches from outside. A teacher stands outside the classroom, looks in and shouts at the students. He doesn’t have to be inside the classroom to watch over them, right? Yes?

42:26 Speaker 16 Good.

42:27 Speaker 1 Huh?

42:28 Speaker 16 Behaving nicely.

42:30 Speaker 1 That’s what they understand. Like a king [unclear] the place where his influence is felt. The students are like students looking into the teachers’ room. Never mind—the point is, that’s how they think. So, at first glance, you can see that the Alter Rebbe is shaken by the very thought. But wait, let’s stop and think: what’s the problem? At first glance, it seems very reasonable to think this way. If He wants limited things to exist, while He Himself is unlimited—

43:12 Speaker 16 He went outside.

43:13 Speaker 1 So He went outside.

43:14 Speaker 16 He leaves the students in the house.

43:15 Speaker 1 He can do anything, so He created a reality in which He isn’t present. Limited things exist there, and He watches over them from outside. What’s the problem? All right? But here the Alter Rebbe gives us two proofs that this cannot be. It’s completely untenable.

43:31 Speaker 16 So wait—how do miracles happen if Hakadosh Boruch Hu is inside the world?

43:35 Speaker 1 According to their view, He watches over it from outside.

43:37 Speaker 16 And when does He become involved in what—

43:39 Speaker 1 Yes, He intervenes when necessary. He created a world with laws of nature. The world operates according to those laws, but He remains in charge, and when necessary, He shows His power. Now, “Apart from the fact that it is altogether impossible to say that tzimtzum is literal, which would attribute bodily characteristics to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” Clearly, the Alter Rebbe isn’t suggesting that they want to say Hakadosh Boruch Hu has a body. Obviously they don’t think that, and that isn’t what the Alter Rebbe is refuting. What does “body” mean? It doesn’t mean only a physical body; there can also be a spiritual body. The defining feature of a body is that it occupies space. Right? Why is this a body? Because it has a size—say, fifteen centimeters—and a certain thickness. If you contracted a body until it occupied no space, it wouldn’t exist. Right? If it doesn’t occupy space, it doesn’t exist. There’s no body that occupies no space. A body, by definition, occupies space. And that isn’t only in physical terms; it’s true in spiritual terms too. If there’s, uh—

44:57 Speaker 3 One thought can’t be another thought.

44:59 Speaker 1 Yes, or the nature of love—that’s the place it occupies. Right? Or a spiritual state at the level of Yetzirah or Beriah, or whatever it may be. That’s the place it occupies, whether a physical place or a spiritual one. Right? So when we speak of bodily characteristics, we don’t mean only those of a physical body. Anything that occupies some sort of place—because it occupies a place, its place can be removed. But what can we say occupies a place? Only a created being. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not subject to place. It’s not that He... How can I put it? A thought, for example: suppose you and I understand exactly the same thing. Then the thought is here, and here, and here. But it isn’t here because I’m sitting here, and also here and here. It isn’t located anywhere; it has no place. The fact that it is in several places isn’t because it occupies several places, but because it doesn’t occupy any place. It isn’t defined by the terms of physicality.

46:11 Speaker 3 It has no body.

46:12 Speaker 1 It has no body, so it isn’t defined by physicality. It isn’t here and then... Right? So when you say Hakadosh Boruch Hu withdrew, that doesn’t mean He was here before and then moved to live somewhere else. To begin with, He wasn’t “here,” because the whole concept of place doesn’t apply to Him. I can understand what it means not to be confined to a physical place. But for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even a spiritual place isn’t something that applies. So how can you attribute bodily characteristics to Him, a definition involving place? How can you say He left? Left where? To say He was here before and then wasn’t, you have to say there was a place here and that the concept of place applies to Him. It doesn’t, so that’s impossible. That’s the first proof that we cannot say tzimtzum was literal: a literal tzimtzum would necessarily mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has some kind of body, that He occupies some kind of place. That cannot be. All right? That’s the first proof, a straightforward one. That is, once you understand a little—

47:23 Speaker 3 Yes.

47:24 Speaker 1 It’s hard to explain because it’s a somewhat spiritual idea, but the explanation is simple. It is impossible to say that tzimtzum is literal, “which would attribute bodily characteristics to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, when He is separated from them and from bodily characteristics by myriads upon myriads of distinctions.” It isn’t merely that He has no body; He is infinitely beyond that. So apart from this simple point—how can you attribute anything bodily to Hakadosh Boruch Hu?—the Alter Rebbe says there’s something else. I shouldn’t have to explain that first point; you should understand it yourselves. But besides that, “they also speak without understanding.” Who are “they”? Those people who erred, “some who consider themselves wise,” who are nevertheless “believers, children of believers.” What do they believe? They believe that Hakadosh Boruch Hu knows all the creatures in this lowly world and watches over them. You do believe that. The Torah explicitly says there is Divine providence—whether it’s specific providence or not, Hakadosh Boruch Hu watches over the world. “And necessarily, His knowledge of them adds no multiplicity or novelty to Him, for He knows everything through knowing Himself.” Well, if He knows them through knowing Himself, and they’re here, where is He? Right? For His Being, His Essence and His knowledge are all one. So the Alter Rebbe is saying: “First, how can it occur to you to attribute bodily characteristics to Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Second, according to your own view, He is here.” “And this is what is stated,” says the Alter Rebbe. “I’m not telling you this just on the basis of reasoning. Look, it’s written in the Zohar. This is what is written in Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57: ‘There is no place empty of Him’—no place at all is empty of Him, neither in the upper realms nor in the lower realms.” You understand Aramaic, right?

49:21 Speaker 4 Yes.

49:21 Speaker 1 Right?

49:22 Speaker 4 Yes, yes.

49:23 Speaker 1 “And in Raaya Mehemna”—that’s another section of the Zohar.

49:26 Speaker 4 A particular chapter, huh?

49:27 Speaker 1 Huh?

49:27 Speaker 4 A particular chapter.

49:29 Speaker 1 A chapter—one of the difficult chapters. But afterward, the next chapter is difficult. I think after that it’s only chapter eight or nine of Igeres Hateshuvah.

49:35 Speaker 4 Oh, yes.

49:35 Speaker 1 I think so. That’s how I remember it.

49:37 Speaker 4 Wow.

49:38 Speaker 1 This too—I mean, there are easier sections. This one is just long, but...

49:42 Speaker 4 No, you have to find the point.

49:44 Speaker 5 Yes.

49:44 Speaker 4 But once you bring out the point, it’s much easier.

49:46 Speaker 5 Okay.

49:47 Speaker 1 “And in Raaya Mehemna,” in Parshas Pinchas, it says: “He”—meaning Hakadosh Boruch Hu—“grasps everything, but no one grasps Him.” He is everywhere, but no one senses Him. So it’s explicit in the Zohar. “He encompasses all worlds, and there is no one”—no one at all—“who leaves His domain.” No one leaves His domain. But how does He fill them? “Not like the human soul within the body. The human soul is contained within the body to the point that it is affected and undergoes changes as the body changes and suffers—from blows, or from cold, or from the heat of fire.” When a person stubs his toe, he cries, “Ow!” Why does he cry out? Because it hurts. Who feels the pain? The body? The body is earth. It’s the soul that feels the pain. Have you ever thought about it that way?

52:49 Speaker 6 Everyone...

52:51 Speaker 1 Who am I myself? I am the soul. When I’m in pain, it’s the soul that feels pain. When I’m cold, it’s the soul that feels cold. What makes it cold? The physical body—or hot, for that matter. The way the soul is invested in the body, it is contained within it. It feels what the body feels. It isn’t the body that feels it; it’s the soul. And although Hakadosh Boruch Hu fills the worlds as the soul fills the body, He is not contained within them. Changes in the world don’t make Him cold or hot. “This is not so with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who undergoes no change from the changes in this world, from summer and winter, from day and night, as it is written: ‘Even darkness will not darken for You, and night will shine like day,’ because He is not contained within the worlds at all, although He fills them.” That’s what we need to understand. How can you say He is within the worlds, gives them life, brings them into being, creates light and cold and heat and darkness and everything else—and yet He undergoes no change and is not contained within them? What does that mean? The question is how much energy we have, because that’s the subject from here to the end of the chapter. Huh?

54:16 Speaker 6 Again, we didn’t understand.

54:18 Speaker 1 What time is it now?

54:20 Speaker 6 Ten thirty-seven. Nine thirty-seven.

54:25 Speaker 1 All right, we’ll stop here. We’ll think about whether to continue the chapter next time or just do a summary of chapter three.

54:30 Speaker 6 Wow, wow, wow. Honestly, if this is going to be... I have to say, if we have more background like this, I think we’ll be able to learn more.

54:37 Speaker 7 No, I mean, baruch Hashem, we’re learning well.

54:43 Speaker 1 Honestly, I thought that last time we learned up to the end of the Rambam’s wording.

54:49 Speaker 6 That’s not funny.

54:53 Speaker 1 Okay, let’s sum up. So far, the first half of the chapter explained what yichuda ila’ah and yichuda tata’ah are. I think it’s very clear now, right? Yichuda ila’ah is when the world proclaims G-dliness; the world feels the G-dliness. And yichuda tata’ah is when G-dliness is enclothed within the world and directs it, but that isn’t apparent in the world. Yehuda. Based on this, the Rebbe—we didn’t really explain the connection; maybe we’ll come back to it at the end—began to explain why our Sages said that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not change, that there are no changes in Him. Because even after He created the world, He is present within it. So the first point we’ve learned so far is: what does it mean that even when He is present within the world, there is no change in Him? He explained the first tzimtzum: that we must say, regarding what the Arizal writes about Hakadosh Boruch Hu contracting Himself, that this is so for two reasons—two grounds—actually, three grounds. First, it makes logical sense. Second, we have faith that He is everywhere. Third, it is stated explicitly in many places in the Zohar. So—

56:20 Speaker 6 So wait, what—

56:20 Speaker 1 Wait, so we must say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is indeed here. Yes. Now, there’s this seeming contradiction: on the one hand, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here; we have to say that He is here. On the other hand, I don’t feel Him, and there are no changes in Him. I have to say that there are no changes in Him, and I have to say that He is here. How do those fit together? So later in the chapter he explains sovev kol almin and memalei kol almin—we’ve already encountered those two terms. Their explanation will complete the puzzle: how, on the one hand, He is here, while on the other, He cannot be grasped here. And the One who is present in a way that cannot be grasped is not someone else. It is that very One who cannot be grasped. That same ungraspable One, that same “You are He” who is here—He Himself not only brings the created beings into existence from nothing, and not only gives them life, but also gives them their form and their particular character, down to the smallest details. That is the idea of hashgachah pratis, which extends to the ordinary lives of each and every created being. That’s what is explained here through the end of the chapter.

57:45 Speaker 6 Okay.

57:47 Speaker 1 So this is chapter seven. Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah has twelve chapters.

57:50 Speaker 6 Wow.

57:51 Speaker 8 Okay, so we have another half a month.

57:53 Speaker 1 Why? What are we missing?

57:56 Speaker 8 Um, a month.

57:59 Speaker 1 Up to this point, through chapter seven—each chapter, I mean, from one through six—basically explains the whole idea being discussed. Why is Hashem One? Because the created beings are not something separate from Him. Right? That’s essentially everything explained, including what we’re learning now: that they are nullified not only up above, but down below too. The created beings are not separate. He and the created beings are one. It’s the same thing. So all of that is only about how the created beings do not cause any change in Him. But besides created beings, there are other things in the Chassidus zoo. There are sefiros, utterances, letters, and all kinds of other things that are not created beings; they are Divine powers. You can say that created beings are utterly nullified, but you can’t say that about the sefiros. They are G-dliness. They aren’t nullified; they themselves are G-dliness. So what—does that mean there is multiplicity in G-dliness? Chapters eight through twelve explain the other side of how He is One: not how He is One in relation to created beings, but how He Himself is One.

59:15 Speaker 8 Wow.