Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 2

00:00 Speaker 1 Okay, we’re returning to Igeres Hakodesh, letter 2. Igeres Hakodesh—well, everyone has surely learned it many times in the daily Tanya. It’s one of those letters that, on the surface, doesn’t look impressive when you learn it superficially. But when you get into the details, well, we’ll see. One unusual thing about this letter, unlike most of the letters in Igeres Hakodesh, is that it has a heading. Most letters in Igeres Hakodesh just begin “Letter 1,” “3,” “4.” Here it has a heading: “After His Arrival from Petersburg.”

00:40 Speaker 2 And who added that?

00:42 Speaker 1 The printers.

00:44 Speaker 2 Okay.

00:45 Speaker 1 From the first printing.

00:46 Speaker 2 The ones who put in the heading.

00:47 Speaker 1 Yes, yes. There’s one other letter like that in Igeres Hakodesh, letter 27. There too—I don’t know if there’s another one; I think it’s just those two. There’s a difference between the heading here and the heading there. See how every tiny detail here is precise. In the heading of letter 27, it first says “Letter 27,” and the heading is underneath. Here the heading comes first, and then “2.” The order is reversed. There’s a sicha of the Rebbe about this. What’s the significance of that detail? A wonderful sicha. The Rebbe explains, based on a sicha of the Frierdiker Rebbe, that letter 2 of Igeres Hakodesh wasn’t simply placed second. It began the second phase. This letter marks the beginning of the second period in Chassidus. In other words, there is Chabad Chassidus up to letter 2 of Igeres Hakodesh, and Chabad Chassidus from letter 2 onward. The Alter Rebbe wrote this letter to the chassidim when he was released from prison, from his major imprisonment in Petersburg.

02:05 Speaker 2 In ’59.

02:06 Speaker 1 In ’59, 5559. Why did he see a need to write a letter? The imprisonment had followed denunciations, and the whole story surrounding the Tanya. We’ve spoken about this a number of times: opposition to the Alter Rebbe kept growing stronger, but the opponents had held themselves back somewhat. After all, they were Jews; somewhere along the line, they hadn’t crossed every boundary. But the moment the Alter Rebbe printed the Tanya in 5557, they threw off all restraint and began an all-out war against the chassidim, with bans and, eventually, denunciations intended to get the czar to execute the Alter Rebbe. That was their explicit aim.

03:01 Speaker 2 Well?

03:04 Speaker 1 And when the government—the czar—released the Alter Rebbe, it was a slap in the face to the opponents. In other words, the government had officially recognized Chabad Chassidus. They didn’t know what to do. For the chassidim, this was a victory that meant more than the Alter Rebbe having been saved. It meant more than being able to continue teaching Chassidus. It wasn’t just that we had won. It was a complete turnaround. The chassidim simply couldn’t contain their excitement at the magnitude of the victory. They walked around with a feeling of “I, and nothing besides me.” What do you call it—paying no attention to the world. They simply didn’t care what anyone thought, and felt such confidence and expansiveness: that’s it, the channel is open, the way is clear, and that’s that, and...

04:07 Speaker 2 We’re in charge here.

04:08 Speaker 1 Hm?

04:08 Speaker 2 We’re in charge.

04:10 Speaker 1 We’re in charge. Exactly—that sense of expansiveness. But the Alter Rebbe did not look favorably on it. Even though it came from a holy place, from “his heart was uplifted in the ways of Hashem”—we’re succeeding, we can spread the teachings of Chassidus—the Alter Rebbe was very concerned that it would lead to plain arrogance. From that attitude of expansiveness and not caring what the world thinks, it’s a very short step to falling into arrogance, self-importance, and haughtiness. Especially since not all the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim at that time—he already had tens of thousands of chassidim and heads of households—were among the great chassidim who understood these things. There were ordinary people among them too. The Alter Rebbe was very concerned, so he wrote this letter of Igeres Hakodesh with the whole purpose of bringing the chassidim back down to earth. So that’s one thing: the general background to the situation. Now, when the Frierdiker Rebbe tells the story, he says that beyond what the chassidim felt, it wasn’t merely a feeling they had. There was truth to it. The Frierdiker Rebbe compares the Alter Rebbe before Petersburg and after Petersburg to Moshe Rabbeinu before he ascended the mountain and after he received the rays of glory. It was a different revelation. Up to Petersburg, the Alter Rebbe was at what is called the first level of maturity; from Petersburg onward, the second level of maturity was revealed in the Alter Rebbe. We once spoke about—I think we once discussed the first and second levels of maturity. This whole subject, well... I know it’s a little long, and that’s why, in the end—there are two letters of Igeres Hakodesh printed here; I printed both. I thought we’d learn both of them, but I knew the introduction would be long, so I said we’ll end up learning only one. It’s very short, but its introduction is long. Chassidus explains that just as

06:32 Speaker 1 with a person, there’s a child and there’s an adult. A small child’s understanding—it’s not just that he understands slowly. His whole understanding is small, immature. He understands slowly, he...

08:15 Speaker 4 There are two kinds of development in growing up: from an infant to a child, and from a child to an adult.

08:20 Speaker 3 Now, more specifically, with a child there are three stages. A child develops while still in his mother’s womb, and even then he already has intellect, and consequently feelings too. But that’s completely different from when he begins to nurse. And when he stops nursing and starts eating, his intellectual faculties begin to develop. That’s another stage again. So when we speak about children, about immature intellectual faculties, there are the intellectual faculties of gestation, the intellectual faculties of nursing, and mature intellectual faculties. A child’s mature intellectual faculties aren’t truly mature intellectual faculties yet. They’re the mature faculties of a child. Right? But broadly speaking, there are immature intellectual faculties—the intellect and emotions of children—and mature intellectual faculties, the intellect of adults. Clear so far? Within mature intellectual faculties themselves, once a person is already an adult, we generally see two kinds of people. There are people who, as you say, remain children. He’s an adult; he thinks like an adult and has an adult’s emotions, but what interests him? He lives within this world. Then there are people who live in a world of ideas. They’re interested in intellectual or spiritual pursuits—it could be astronomy, philosophy, mathematics. That’s the world they live in. And you can see a difference in how these two kinds of people behave. It’s not just what they think about. Someone who is constantly more involved in intellectual pursuits is also more composed in his character, more accepting, more able to make room for others. He gets angry less; the things of this world matter less to him. So, in the physical realm, these are called the first and second levels of maturity within mature intellectual faculties. All right? Everything in this analogy, along with many, many, many other details, also exists in the spiritual realm. There is... the mind rules the heart, the intellect gives rise to emotion, and there is the way love of Hashem is born in someone who has

10:35 Speaker 3 He has mochin d’katnus, a limited way of understanding, and there is mochin d’gadlus, a more expansive way of understanding. And within mochin d’gadlus, there is a first level and a second level. Now, all this is talking about a chossid who studies Chassidus, an adult who has already finished yeshivah. In the Alter Rebbe’s time, they only began studying Chassidus as adults, after they had finished studying Gemara, Mishnah, and so on. We are talking about an adult, but his way of looking at Torah and at G-dliness, his contemplation, is on a limited level. Others have a more expansive understanding, and within that there are two kinds. What are these three kinds? When a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness in what we call the light that fills all worlds—how Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings the worlds into being, gives them life, sustains them, performs miracles or does not perform miracles, brings the stars down and raises the... changes the times, saves the Jewish people, and governs the world—that is mochin d’katnus. He is looking at Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but what does his entire view come down to? To the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes Himself small in order to govern the world. So his love of Hashem is limited accordingly. Even though it may be a love like flames of fire, a very great and powerful love, it is still called mochin d’katnus. Mochin d’gadlus is when a person contemplates G-dliness not as Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives life to the world, but as He is in Himself. And within this there are two levels. A person may contemplate the existence of Hashem, or he may sense His essence. Is his contemplation expressed in knowing that Hakadosh Boruch Hu exists—studying Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah and trying to understand everything, so that it all remains within the realm of understanding? Does his knowledge of G-dliness come through the intellect, through understanding? Or does he rise still higher and manage

12:53 Speaker 3 to sense G-dliness as well, to see it with his own eyes? That is called mochin d’gadlus. And the Rebbe says that the difference in the G-dliness the Alter Rebbe himself experienced, and in what he brought into the world before and after his imprisonment, is the difference between the first and second levels of mochin d’gadlus. The imprisonment affected the Alter Rebbe, and as a result, chassidim—even in our generation—can sense G-dliness. That is what this Igeres Hakodesh is about, and that is why it begins section 2. After his return from Petersburg comes the second part, section 2. What does the Alter Rebbe say? “I have become small through all the kindnesses and all the truth.” That is a verse spoken by

13:47 Speaker 5 Yaakov Avinu.

13:47 Speaker 3 Yaakov Avinu had been saved from Lavan and was about to meet Esav. So he saw fit, as it were, to express his concern to Hakadosh Boruch Hu that perhaps sin had caused him to lose his merit. You know this, right?

14:08 Speaker 5 Yes.

14:08 Speaker 3 The Alter Rebbe says: “The meaning is...” What do you mean, “the meaning”? What needs explaining? Rashi already explained it, right? What needs explaining about “I have become small through all the kindnesses”? The Rebbe explains that there are two interpretations of this verse, and neither quite fits. There is Rashi’s interpretation and Ramban’s. Rashi explains “I have become small through all the kindnesses” to mean: perhaps sin has caused me to lose my merit, or, You have given me so many kindnesses that my merits have been diminished. Yes. Ramban asks a question on Rashi: It says “I have become small”; it does not say “they have become small”—that my merits have become small. The verse does not say that the kindnesses diminished my merits. It says that I became small. So Rashi, what you are explaining does not fit the wording of the verse. Right? Are you with me?

15:09 Speaker 5 Yes.

15:10 Speaker 3 Ramban says there is another explanation. No, he disagrees with Rashi. There is another explanation. What is Ramban’s explanation? Yaakov was small in his own eyes. He always saw himself as small, regardless of anything else. Because he thought so little of himself, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed him such abundant kindness, he felt unworthy—unworthy of Hakadosh Boruch Hu doing him any more kindnesses. The Alter Rebbe says: Wait, but according to that, the kindnesses did not cause him to become small. It says, “I have become small through all the kindnesses.” So Rashi’s interpretation has a difficulty: it was not the kindnesses that made him small. Ramban’s interpretation has a difficulty: he already saw himself as small, not because of the kindnesses. What do we do? The Alter Rebbe says that the meaning combines them both. Yaakov Avinu had not been small. What made him small? The kindnesses, as Rashi says. But the kindnesses did not diminish his merits; they made him himself feel small. That brings together the interpretations of Rashi and Ramban. The meaning is that with every kindness Hakadosh Boruch Hu does for a person, he should become very, very humble in spirit. In other words, what does “I have become small through all the kindnesses” mean? When Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows a person kindness, it should make him very, very humble in spirit. Yes. Why “every kindness”? Every kindness Hakadosh Boruch Hu does. What two kinds of kindness are there?

16:58 Speaker 6 Kindness you can see openly and kindness you cannot see openly?

17:01 Speaker 3 Yes, more or less. Kindness within the chain of creation and kindness beyond it; kindness that follows the natural order and kindness beyond the natural order. Whatever kindness Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows a person, if the person himself comes from a place of holiness, that kindness should make him humble, as it did Yaakov Avinu. So, you chassidim—Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed you such kindness. Do you now feel that you are above everyone else? It should have produced the opposite feeling in you. Why? Why should a person feel smaller when Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows him kindness? Seemingly, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has shown me kindness, so...

17:49 Speaker 6 I deserve kindness.

17:50 Speaker 3 So I should feel better about myself, shouldn’t I? What? Why should it have that effect? The Alter Rebbe says: “For kindness is the right arm, and ‘His right hand embraces me.’” Again, just as he spoke of two kinds of kindness, he brings two quotations here. What are the two kinds of kindness? There is kindness of the kind called “the right arm,” and kindness of the kind called “His right hand embraces me.” “Arm” is—

18:21 Speaker 6 An arm.

18:21 Speaker 3 An arm. A hand. Yes. The hand is one of a person’s limbs. So when we speak of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kindness as His right arm, that means the way Hakadosh Boruch Hu enclothes Himself within the “limbs” through which He governs the world. There is the right hand and the left hand through which He governs the world. But this refers to the light that fills all worlds. “His right hand embraces me” refers to the kindness that embraces a person, that surrounds him from without. Yes. Both are described as belonging to the right side: the kindness that enclothes itself within the worlds and the kindness that is beyond the worlds. “The right arm” and “His right hand embraces me.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe wants to explain why every kindness shown to a person should bring him humility and lowliness of spirit, rather than the opposite. It is because kindness comes from the right side. Well, if it comes from the right side, then what?

19:20 Speaker 6 If so, all the more so when it comes from the right side.

19:22 Speaker 3 So why should it make him humble if it comes from the right side? He explains the difference between right and left.

19:28 Speaker 6 Kindness and judgment.

19:30 Speaker 3 Yes. The right side represents an actual closeness to Hashem, even greater than before. The right side is when Hakadosh Boruch Hu draws him close. The left pushes away. Here He draws him close, closer than before. Well, if Hakadosh Boruch Hu is now drawing me closer than before, why should I still feel more humble? Because the closer a person comes to Hashem, rising ever higher, the more humble in spirit he must become, descending ever lower. Why? As it says, “From afar Hashem appeared to me.” That can be understood in two ways. First, the verse says—says the Alter Rebbe. Sorry, let’s start this way. The Alter Rebbe says there is a verse: “From afar Hashem appeared to me.” Understand it whichever way you like. Either you understand that only if you are distant, if you are humble, will Hashem appear to you; or you understand that if you truly want Hashem to appear to you, you need to be distant. It does not matter how you understand it. If Hashem appears to you only when you are distant, then what good is it that He draws you close to Him? If He draws you close, you cannot see Him.

20:57 Speaker 7 You can sense Him.

21:03 Speaker 3 The revelation of G-dliness to a person happens only when he feels humble. If a person feels himself to be lofty, begins to feel a sense of self-importance and becomes conscious of himself, then there will be no “appeared to me.” And as is known, it is specifically before Him that everything is considered as nothing. When does something have a sense of its own importance? When it is distant? When something stands before Hashem, measured against Him, it is considered as nothing. Only if it is distant from Hashem does it have a separate existence. So the more a person stands before Him, the closer he is—Hakadosh Boruch Hu has now embraced him, or...

22:01 Speaker 7 Does “before Him” mean distant, or...?

22:02 Speaker 3 No, it means in His presence.

22:04 Speaker 7 Okay.

22:04 Speaker 3 The more a person stands in His presence, the more Hakadosh Boruch Hu has shown him kindness and drawn him close. So the person becomes more like nothing, ayin, and efes. Why, then, do you suddenly feel so important because you were shown kindness? If that closeness were real, you should feel more like nothing, more ayin, more efes. If being shown kindness makes you start feeling important, that’s a sign you haven’t really drawn close. What’s the significance of this precise wording: “like nothing, ayin, and efes”? Why three expressions? What’s the difference between “like nothing,” ayin, and efes?

22:53 Speaker 7 And efes is [unclear]; it’s really less than ayin.

22:56 Speaker 3 Efes is more absolute nothingness than ayin. Right, but how? Where does that fit here? Try to remember what we once discussed about light—sunlight. Remember the sunlight? The radiance. There’s the radiance as it exists outside the sun, and the radiance as it is contained within its source. Remember we spoke about that? Yes. So when sunlight shines out in the space of the world, the sun itself isn’t here. There is a reality of light, a reality of radiance. Yes? But light as it is contained within the sun is utterly nullified there; there it is efes. Outside, it is ayin. The light. Sunlight is like ayin—there is something there. The light cannot exist without the sun; it has no existence without the sun. The sun sets, and there’s no light. Yes. Its entire existence depends on the sun, so even when it is present in the space of the world, it is not an independent reality. It is nullified to the sun; it is nullified to its source. So yes, on one hand there is a reality of light here. On the other hand, what sort of reality is it? It is only an extension of the sun, not something independent. That is called the bittul of ayin. But when the light is contained within its source, within the sun itself, where the sun is, you can’t say there is light there. There is no light there. There is the sun. There is nothing else there besides the sun. Nothing else. Yes? So that is efes. There, its existence is efes. What does “like nothing” mean? That’s ayin and efes, yes? The light as it is outside. What does “like nothing” mean? “Like nothing” is... He feels himself to be a real entity. What can you do? He lives in this world. He eats, breathes, has children, a family; he functions, has to work a little. He lives here and feels that he’s alive and breathing, but he

25:06 Speaker 3 nullifies himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is called bittul hayesh, the nullification of one’s sense of independent existence. Yes? So three—two levels: “like nothing,” ayin, and efes. There is bittul hayesh, and above that, the nullification of light to its source, and complete nullification of its very existence. Yes. So the more kindness Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows you, the closer you are to the light, the closer you are to Him, until you are contained within Him. With such great kindness from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, surely you’re already contained within your own source and root. How can you feel yourself to be an independent reality? “And this is the aspect of the right side of holiness, and ‘kindness to Avraham.’ That is why Avraham said, ‘I am dust and ashes.’” It’s not that Avraham Avinu was—think of the descriptions of Avraham Avinu, Avraham the Hebrew, all the descriptions from our Sages, from the Rambam, and so on. How could someone like that feel himself to be dust and ashes? Because this is the right side of holiness. Precisely because he was so close, because Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed him such kindness, he felt himself to be dust and ashes. And we do see people like that, people to whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows kindness, and it actually suits them. So he says—ah, sorry. He—“And this was also Yaakov’s attribute.” In other words, what Yaakov Avinu says, which the Alter Rebbe quotes at the beginning of the letter: “I have become small from all the kindnesses.” Oh, we forgot to mention something important. What the Alter Rebbe quotes there, “I have become small from all the kindnesses,” is the same response as Avraham Avinu’s. He said, “I am dust and ashes.” Yes, the bittul, the feeling of bittul—like nothing, ayin, and efes—that a person feels because Hakadosh Boruch Hu draws him close and shows him kindness. “And with this he explained his fear of Esav.” Yes, we said that Yaakov was explaining himself here. “For the promise, ‘Behold, I am with you,’ and so on, was not enough for him.” Perhaps

27:24 Speaker 3 we should go over that again. Just... let’s go back to the beginning for a second. It would be a shame to miss this precise point; it’s a point the Rebbe makes. The Rebbe asks about “I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all,” etc. Now it’s easier to explain the question. What is the Rebbe explaining here, essentially? That in this letter, we have to feel nullified as Yaakov Avinu felt nullified, right? What does the verse say? “I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all the truth.” Why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe quote the words “and from all the truth”? On the other hand, if he thinks the words “from all the truth” at the end of the verse aren’t relevant here, why does he write “and from all,” etc.? Just write “etc.” But what did we discuss? Did we ever discuss the difference between “etc.” and “and so on”? We never did. In Tanya generally, the wording is quite precise, but in Tanya this is very precise. There are places in Tanya where the Alter Rebbe begins quoting a teaching of our Sages and then writes “etc.” In other places he writes “and so on.” The difference is that when it simply says “etc.,” the Alter Rebbe is saying: Listen, there are a few more words in the verse, but they aren’t relevant to our discussion. Yes? But when it says “and so on,” the words that follow in the verse are relevant. The “and” connects them. They are relevant. So why not write them out? Because they’re relevant, but they aren’t directly at issue. Now, the Rebbe points out this distinction in many sichos about Rashi as well: “etc.” and “and so on.” In Rashi it’s even more precise. Rashi uses one form when quoting teachings of our Sages, and another when quoting verses. These are really precise distinctions down to the letters. So here the Alter Rebbe doesn’t just say—he doesn’t say “and from all the truth”; he says “and from all,” etc. There’s something else there. You’ve already brought it up; why don’t you

29:46 Speaker 8 say that it isn’t relevant? At most, it’s related, but not directly relevant.

29:50 Speaker 3 So the Rebbe explains: Why did Yaakov Avinu say, “I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all the truth”? What is kindness and what is truth? Kindness is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives a person out of kindness. He isn’t entitled to it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has shown him kindness and given it to him. Truth is what He must do in accordance with the Torah of truth. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had promised Yaakov Avinu—ah, well...

30:18 Speaker 8 “And You said, ‘I will surely do good to you.’”

30:20 Speaker 3 That’s what Yaakov reminds Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “You said, ‘I will surely do good to you.’” But earlier Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him—yes, “I will surely do good to you.” Ah, with what? What? I don’t remember the whole verse. Well, He tells him that he’ll go and return in peace, and—and—“this stone.” What?

30:39 Speaker 8 There’s a song about it, right?

30:40 Speaker 3 Yes, yes, yes. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu explicitly promised Yaakov Avinu that he would return in peace. Consequently, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is committed to that. So Yaakov Avinu says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “I have become small from all the kindnesses”—not only have You given me the truth, what You promised me, but You have also shown me kindnesses. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had not promised the Alter Rebbe anything. The Alter Rebbe couldn’t say about himself, “I have become small from all the kindnesses and from all the truth,” because Hakadosh Boruch Hu had not promised him. On the other hand, there is a general promise from Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the Torah to every Jew: when he follows Hashem’s path—“If you observe My statutes and fulfill them”—then all the blessings will come to him, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu will protect him. So Hakadosh Boruch Hu did promise him, though He didn’t promise him explicitly. He both did and didn’t promise him. So the Alter Rebbe only alludes to it with

31:32 Speaker 8 “and from all.”

31:33 Speaker 3 And so on. Ah, so this is what Yaakov Avinu is apologizing to Hakadosh Boruch Hu for. He says: I know You promised me, and I’m grateful for all Your kindnesses, but I don’t feel—I don’t feel that I deserve it. So he’s afraid. Now, when Esav arrives, perhaps it’s true, yes, it’s all true, but I really don’t deserve for You to save me from Esav too. So he apologizes to Hakadosh Boruch Hu for asking again. “And with this he explained his fear of Esav, and why the promise ‘Behold, I am with you’ was not enough for him,” and so on. Hakadosh Boruch Hu had promised him explicitly. Yes, all right, You promised me, but perhaps... “Because Yaakov felt very, very small in his own eyes on account of the many kindnesses: ‘For with my staff,’” and so on, “‘and now I have become two camps.’” He feels that he is not at all worthy or deserving of being saved, and so on. As our Sages said, “Perhaps sin will cause it”—he imagined that he had sinned. Far be it from us to say that Yaakov sinned, but that was how it seemed to him. So that’s the point. We spoke about “kindness to Avraham,” when kindness comes from holiness. By contrast, when we speak about kindness that is not from holiness, that is Yishmael, because Yishmael represents kindness of the kelipah. Avraham embodies the attribute of kindness, and Yishmael, kindness of the kelipah, came from him. And Yitzchak embodied gevurah, and Esav, gevurah of the kelipah, came from him. So Yishmael is kindness of the kelipah. What do we see in Yishmael? Precisely the opposite movement. The greater the kindness, the more he grows in arrogance, coarseness of spirit, and an inflated sense of self, and so on. Simply put, the coarser a person is and the less he feels himself nullified before G-dliness, then, at best, he is like Yishmael: what’s called “My strength and the might of my hand have made me this wealth.” That’s at best. What’s the worst case? The worst case is

34:00 Speaker 3 like Haman, who said, “The king holds me in esteem.” Not only did I do it myself—the king holds me in esteem.

34:13 Speaker 9 “Whom would the king desire to honor?”

34:15 Speaker 3 Huh?

34:16 Speaker 9 “Whom would the king desire?”

34:17 Speaker 3 “Whom would he desire to honor more than me?” Yes. The King of the universe. So look, look at whom Hakadosh Boruch Hu bestows kindnesses upon. No, He did it for me; He bestows kindnesses. And so, now that we understand the point, the Alter Rebbe says: “Look, everyone, the more kindnesses Hakadosh Boruch Hu bestows upon a person, the more humble he should become, the more he should feel like nothing at all. The fact that you’re holding your noses in the air doesn’t come from holiness.” That’s a very serious blow. “Therefore, I have come to make a great announcement to all of our fellow chassidim, for all generations, concerning the abundance of kindnesses”—not just an abundance of kindnesses—“that Hashem has magnified.” An abundance of great kindnesses that Hashem has magnified in doing—not just anywhere, but for us. So what is the announcement we need to know? “To adopt Yaakov’s qualities.” There are two verses about Yaakov Avinu, one in Yeshayahu and one in Yirmiyahu. In Yeshayahu, Yaakov—the Jewish people—is called “the remnant of His people,” and in Yirmiyahu, “the remnant of Israel.” Both verses describe the Jewish people as a remnant. The idea is to regard oneself as actual leftovers, as something superfluous. Leftovers are what remains on the plate that nobody wants; you throw them in the trash.

35:56 Speaker 9 There’s no such thing as leftovers.

35:57 Speaker 3 Huh?

35:58 Speaker 9 There’s no such thing as leftovers.

36:00 Speaker 3 Maybe that’s why there are no leftovers with our Rebbe. That’s no joke. I’m saying it seriously. A lighthearted way of putting it, yes, but... “As though he serves no purpose, so that their hearts should not be raised above their brethren,” and so on. Which brethren is he talking about? Those very brethren who had made their lives miserable, persecuted them, wouldn’t let them daven, beat them, ostracized them, and I don’t know what else. There were even worse things. Not to make a display of it here, as though the chassidim were saying, “Aha! We told you so,” or to whistle at them, G-d forbid. What does it mean to whistle?

36:49 Speaker 10 To whistle.

36:50 Speaker 3 Huh?

36:51 Speaker 10 To whistle.

36:52 Speaker 3 To whistle—that’s what it’s called, to whistle. What? What does it mean to whistle at them? When does a person whistle?

37:00 Speaker 10 To brush them off.

37:01 Speaker 3 To brush them off. When? When does a person whistle?

37:06 Speaker 10 It can happen. There are people who whistle while saying Tehillim.

37:09 Speaker 3 There are a few stories, a few occasions at the Rebbe’s farbrengens when the Rebbe suddenly signaled to the chassidim to whistle—twice, three times. Once it was on Shabbos. Shabbos! It says explicitly in halachah that whistling is forbidden. The Rebbe signaled like this.

37:25 Speaker 10 When was that?

37:26 Speaker 3 I don’t remember the date. The Rebbe signaled. Some of the fellows hesitated, but a few started, and then the whole crowd, like in Shiloh, started whistling on Shabbos. Afterward there was an uproar, and people tried explaining it one way and then another. Then the Rebbe delivered a sicha: Your Rebbe is doing it—what are you frightened of? Whistle at the world! A wonderful sicha. So there is such a thing as whistling that comes from holiness. Whistling expresses “His heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem”—and not just “his heart was elevated.” There is a sicha of the Frierdiker Rebbe in Likkutei Dibburim, where he relates what his father, the Rebbe Rashab, explained to him about whistling. He says it is that feeling of expansiveness in the ways of Hashem. A person places himself in a state of mind where the world doesn’t exist. I’m above it; I keep mitzvos; I’m a chossid. The world is mine. From the side of holiness, from... yes. Don’t tell me what to think; don’t tell me not to daven. Yes, uh... I have to work, I have to work. Fine, right now I’m davening. So there’s this movement—there are things a person can put into words, and there are things that come from such an inner point within him that he cannot speak. That can also happen with pain, when a person simply—what’s it called?—loses the words to speak. It can happen with joy too. So the Frierdiker Rebbe says in his father’s name that the inner point of “his heart was elevated,” when it fills his entire being so completely that he can no longer say it, comes out in a whistle. The whistle, and the “Aha!” of “His heart was elevated in the ways of Hashem.” And about this the Alter Rebbe says that, regarding the misnagdim, even though you are right, even though what you feel is correct, even though it comes from holiness, nevertheless, because this can lead to the very worst places, you must not make a display

39:49 Speaker 3 of it here or whistle at them, G-d forbid. “Perish the thought”—a stern warning. Those are words... There are no words like that anywhere else in Chassidus. There’s nothing like it. I think this is the only place.

40:05 Speaker 10 Those were exactly the two places there.

40:09 Speaker 3 “To be angry with their brethren—perish the thought—a stern warning.” Only, what should they do? “Humble their spirits and hearts with the quality of ‘truth to Yaakov,’” as we discussed earlier, “before every person.” Every person, meaning even those who... and so on. “With lowliness of spirit; a gentle answer turns away wrath; and a broken spirit,” and so on. Now, this is very interesting. “A gentle answer turns away wrath”—we understand that. That’s the whole point here. The Alter Rebbe brings a verse, as is his holy way. For everything he says, he brings a source from a verse. But what is “a broken spirit,” and so on? What does that have to do with the subject? Is a person supposed to go around feeling sad and... what? Where did that come from? So the Rebbe explains as follows: In Mishlei, there are three verses that use the expression “a broken spirit.” Three such verses. Which of the three did the Alter Rebbe mean?

41:27 Speaker 10 The first.

41:29 Speaker 3 No, the middle one. In this case, only the middle one. That verse says, “A broken spirit dries the bones.” “Bones” means bones. Bones indicate the... If we didn’t have bones, what would we look like? What would a person look like without bones?

41:51 Speaker 10 A jellyfish with...

41:52 Speaker 3 Like a jellyfish, exactly. A limp mass. The bones give a person his form. Incidentally, in Chassidus there is this idea that a person’s inner form, the human form, is the— That’s why a bone is also called etzem, the person’s essence. It comes from the word etzem, “essence.” Even though a bone has no... it is the least living part of the body, that is where the person’s essence is found. And the bone is what gives firmness; it is what—what holds a person upright physically. Right? So when the misnagdim have firmness, an etzem, a bone of opposition to Chassidus, the Alter Rebbe says two things. First of all, you need to—up to this point he was speaking about what you yourselves need to do, regardless of the misnagdim. You need to know for yourselves: if you are in a state of anger, don’t be certain that it comes from holiness. It could be the opposite, heaven forbid. That is a grave warning. That’s one. Second, he speaks about your effect on them. First of all, “A gentle answer turns away wrath.” It could be that if you come down from your high horse and speak to them nicely, they will calm down. The Alter Rebbe says something more: not only does a gentle answer turn away wrath, but “a downcast spirit dries up the bone.” When you are humble in spirit, that can dry up their bone, their firmness. It won’t just lessen their anger; it will remove their opposition altogether. And so on: perhaps Hashem will put it into the hearts of their brothers, “as water reflects a face to a face.” That is already a third stage: if you yourselves behave as you should, it can turn away their anger and remove their firmness, to the point that they themselves become, uh, chassidim too. Uh, that’s it—that’s this letter. Now we’ll also study the second letter, but that’s a whole subject in itself. We’ll leave it for next time.

44:06 Speaker 10 Please.