Igeres Hakodesh Chapter 5 (Part 1)

00:00 Speaker 1 All right, let’s begin. Igeres Hakodesh 5 is a little longer than the ones we’ve been learning lately. I don’t know if we’ll manage to finish it in one sitting; we’ll see. This is the third letter that discusses tzedakah. We said that Igeres Hakodesh contains close to twenty—eighteen—letters about the virtues of tzedakah, and each letter explains a different virtue. The first two letters spoke about... The first spoke about giving tzedakah as armor: when a person gives tzedakah, it brings him wealth, honor, abundance, health, and a livelihood. All his material needs come through giving tzedakah. That was the first letter. The second letter said that when a person gives tzedakah, it brings him not only material blessings but spiritual ones as well. The innermost point of the heart—the hidden depths of the heart, whatever you want to call it, the innermost point—is revealed through tzedakah. Once we’ve said that tzedakah gives a person both his material and spiritual blessings, what else is there to add? The Alter Rebbe has much, much more to add. So this is another letter dealing with the subject. He begins, “And David made a name.” That’s a verse in Shmuel. It speaks of King David fighting the Arameans, and after he defeated them and returned, the verse says, “And David made a name.” What did he do there? He came back, he defeated the nations, and he made a name. What does “made a name” mean? The commentators give two explanations—Rashi, the Radak, and others. Broadly speaking, there are two explanations. One is that he made a good name for himself and for the Jewish people by burying the enemy dead. Usually, in a war, the winning side doesn’t bother to bury

02:15 Speaker 1 the bodies of those killed. By doing them this kindness and burying them, he made a good name for himself and for the Jewish people. That’s one explanation. The second is that he made a name for his strength and might by defeating such powerful nations. Here the Alter Rebbe explains: “And David made a name—as interpreted in the holy Zohar.” In other words, besides the plain-meaning interpretations that he made a name for himself—a good name, or a reputation for strength—there is also the Zohar’s interpretation. What does the Zohar say “made a name” means? It draws on the verse, “And David administered justice and tzedakah to all his people.” That comes two verses later. The Zohar says that “he made a name” doesn’t refer to what he had done before, defeating the nations, but to what is written about David afterward. How did he make a name? By giving tzedakah to all his people—by giving a great deal of tzedakah. The Zohar links making a name with tzedakah. What does it mean that David made a name through tzedakah? Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says there: “Rabbi Shimon opened and said: Who makes the holy Name each day? The one who gives tzedakah to the poor,” and so on. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai offers a very surprising interpretation in the Zohar. Who makes the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu each day? As it were, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has no name. Who makes a name for Him? King David. King David is the one who makes the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So “And David made a name” doesn’t mean, as the commentators explain according to the plain meaning, that he made a name for himself—a good name, a reputation for strength, a reputation as a hero. Rather, King David

04:19 Speaker 1 made the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is how Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai explains it. How did he make the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Through tzedakah. We need to understand, says the Alter Rebbe: What does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has no name, that King David has to make a name for Him, and that the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is made through tzedakah? What is Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai trying to say? To understand what the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu means, why we need to make that name, and why it is done specifically through tzedakah, we must first understand the Zohar’s teaching on the verse, “For with Yud-Hei, Hashem formed the worlds.” Our Sages say that this world was created with the letter hei, and the World to Come with the letter yud. Once we understand the teaching of our Sages that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the worlds with yud and hei—that He created the World to Come with yud and this world with hei—we’ll be able to understand “And David made a name.” So for now we’re leaving tzedakah, leaving the subject of the name, leaving everything else, and going to understand what this world and the World to Come mean.

05:25 Speaker 2 This is somewhat connected to what we learned in Igeres Hateshuvah about the hei of this world.

05:32 Speaker 1 Say that again.

05:33 Speaker 2 It’s connected to what it says in Igeres Hateshuvah, about teshuvah and the division of this world.

05:37 Speaker 1 The division of this world. Yes, that’s the explanation at the end, when he explains the subject of this world. But he begins from the top down, explaining the World to Come, which was created with yud. It begins like this: “Explanation.” What does it mean that the World to Come was created with yud? “The delight that the souls of the tzaddikim experience as they enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah shining upon them in the upper and lower Gan Eden comes from their understanding and comprehension.” The tzaddikim are in Gan Eden. I don’t remember if we’ve spoken about this before. What does gan mean in Hebrew, in Lashon Hakodesh? What does the word gan mean? Just a gan—not a kindergarten, but the gan mentioned in the Torah. Yes, it says, “He went to stroll in the garden”; there is Gan Eden. A gan is a place of pleasure. It’s a place where trees are grown with lots of fruit and lots of flavors. Someone with plenty of money grows a garden. He has an orchard—sometimes they call it a bustan, yes?—a place set aside for enjoyment. How do we enjoy ourselves in this world? There’s a beautiful, level place with lots of trees, lots of greenery, and lots of fruit. A person can walk from one fruit tree to another, pick fruit and eat it, enjoying the different flavors and all kinds of sweetness. That’s what a garden means in physical terms. What is a garden in spiritual terms? In every spiritual world, too, there is a place called Gan Eden. There is the World of Yetzirah and the World of Beriah, and so on—the spiritual World of Asiyah. In each such world, although it’s a spiritual world where G-dliness is seen and heard, and so on, and although everything in the spiritual worlds is spiritual and G-dly, there is a special place called a gan, Gan Eden. It is the place set aside for pleasure in that spiritual world: a kind of enclosed, special place where G-dliness is revealed in an extraordinary way, entirely different from the rest of that world and on a far higher level. There,

08:02 Speaker 1 the souls in that... in the World of Beriah, let’s say, experience a special delight when they enter that place called a gan, utterly different from what is revealed in the world itself. So the delight that the souls of the tzaddikim experience as they enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah shining in the upper and lower Gan Eden—what do they enjoy there? In this physical world, when a person enters a garden, what does he enjoy? There are lots of trees with lots of fruit and lots of flavors, and he tastes them. He tastes all sorts of different flavors, and they taste good to him. He enjoys them physically. What is the pleasure there? “They delight in their understanding and comprehension: they grasp, know, and comprehend something of the light and life-force that flows there from the blessed Ein Sof and is revealed to their souls.” What does “revealed” mean?

09:14 Speaker 7 Yes.

09:14 Speaker 1 Even here in this world—I’m not talking about the spiritual worlds—even here Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed. When I... When we’re speaking about understanding, what does it mean to delight in understanding and comprehension? What does it mean when I say something is now revealed to me? I know it. Right? What does revelation mean intellectually? Before, I didn’t understand it; I didn’t know about it. Now it’s clear to me; now I understand it. I had a question. The question formed a kind of screen that concealed it. I couldn’t see it; it wasn’t clear to me. Now I understand. I’ve grasped it, I understand it, and now it’s clear to me. Seemingly, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed in this world too. If I learn Torah, if I learn Chassidus, it’s clear to me, obvious to me, self-evident to me that Hakadosh Boruch Hu exists. It wouldn’t occur to anyone sitting here in this room that Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t exist. Right? So that’s revealed to me. What, then, does it mean that in Gan Eden they delight in revelation? There’s revelation everywhere. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere.

10:30 Speaker 7 What level are you talking about?

10:31 Speaker 1 Hmm?

10:31 Speaker 7 What level are you talking about? There are all kinds of screens that conceal it.

10:36 Speaker 1 So he tells him: The difference is not only between this world—or even the higher worlds—and the Gan Eden in each world. It is not just a difference in how much is revealed, but in the kind of revelation. To the point that in Gan Eden it is truly called revelation, while everywhere else, even in the spiritual worlds, even in the spiritual World of Beriah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present and enclothed there, but He is not revealed. What is the difference between enclothement and revelation? Mm, are you familiar with that?

11:17 Speaker 7 Ah, yes, it sounds familiar. We learned it last year.

11:20 Speaker 1 You learned it?

11:21 Speaker 7 But I don’t remember.

11:23 Speaker 1 Ah. There is such a concept in Chassidus. It’s explained in Chassidus. A lot of the time—this happens to all of us—someone explains something deep to us. I had trouble understanding it, and in the end they gave me an analogy, and I understood. I managed to grasp the idea. Now I was very excited about it, so I went to a friend and told her about it too. How did I explain it to her? With the example they had given me. I explained that same example to her, right? Because how had I understood it? Now, if she asks me a question, if something doesn’t add up for her, I don’t know how to answer. I can’t come up with another analogy. I can’t show her how the idea applies somewhere else, in another form, in another way. Why? Because what did I receive? What did I understand of the idea? I didn’t understand the point itself. What was revealed to me was only the garment, only the analogy. I understood the analogy well. But the concept it represents, the inner point, doesn’t shine for me. Whereas if I now take the question she asked me to the person who explained it to me, assuming he really understands it, he will immediately find a way to explain it through another idea, in another way, with another analogy, another example, another explanation, from another angle. Right? Why? Because for him, the point itself shines. That is the difference between revelation and enclothement. Revelation means seeing the thing itself; it’s like actually seeing it. Enclothement is only like hearing about it. I know that it exists, but I don’t see the thing itself. The thing itself isn’t present for me; it

13:27 Speaker 1 isn’t revealed to me. So everywhere, even in the spiritual worlds, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present, but His presence is in a way of enclothement. He is hidden; they don’t see Him or feel Him. It is only in Gan Eden that G-dliness is openly present, and that is the delight of the souls in Gan Eden. For them, G-dliness is not something they merely know about or understand through an analogy. The very essence of G-dliness is completely revealed to them. That is the central point of Gan Eden. And when Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself shines openly in a person’s soul, to the point that it penetrates his understanding, his intellect, his knowledge, his feelings—his entire being—and he grasps it as though seeing it, then he has that experience. It is the greatest delight there can be. If even an analogy, or an analogy of an analogy, in the physical world can bring an understanding of an intellectual concept, then all the more so when the point itself... the person... the soul, right? Without any limitation of a body, unites with and has revealed to it the very essence of G-dliness. That is the greatest delight, beyond which there is none. So this is what he says: “The delight experienced by the souls of the righteous, as they enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah that shines in the higher and lower Gan Eden, is the delight they take in their comprehension and understanding, as they comprehend, know, and grasp something of the light and vitality that flows there from the Ein Sof, blessed be He.” And there in Gan Eden, this is revealed to their souls and to their understanding, so that each one can understand and grasp something according to his level and according to his deeds. Some souls receive delight according to their level, and some souls in Gan Eden receive delight only according to their deeds. We spoke about this... most of you weren’t here. Ah, in Part One of Tanya, where he begins discussing the need to fulfill mitzvos with intention, up to—up to chapter 35,

15:43 Speaker 1 until the end of chapter 34, the Alter Rebbe explains how a person can fulfill the mitzvos without ever stumbling. Practical advice. Do this, do that, do this, do that, and you’ll never stumble into a transgression. I promise you. That is up to chapter 34. From chapter 35 he begins to discuss: Fine, okay, we’ve reached perfection in actually doing the mitzvos. What about intention? Our Sages said that an act without intention is like a body without a soul. So from chapter 35 until the end of Tanya, chapter 53, he explains how to fulfill mitzvos with heartfelt intention. And there, at the beginning of those chapters, he explains at length that there are two general kinds, two general ways of having heartfelt intention when fulfilling mitzvos. One person fulfills mitzvos out of kabbolas ol. That is an intention. It isn’t “a habitual observance of commandments.” He isn’t doing it casually. He fulfills the mitzvos while thinking and reflecting that he must set himself aside. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, and he must submit himself to Him. So that is fulfillment of mitzvos on the level of action. Then there is fulfillment of mitzvos in which—what drives him to fulfill the mitzvah? Intellect and feeling. He loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu, simply loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A feeling of love awakens in him, and he understands that the only way to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is by fulfilling His mitzvos. And now he is fulfilling a mitzvah, and here he is, drawing closer to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So when a person fulfills a mitzvah—any mitzvah—with an inner feeling of genuine love, of... there he explains that there is an enormous difference in the elevation a person experiences in these two ways. When a person fulfills mitzvos without that kind of intention—intention without feeling, just the act—he has the act of the mitzvah. The act

17:54 Speaker 1 of the mitzvah is also a garment of the soul, and it elevates him to Gan Eden. But where? To the lower Gan Eden, the Gan Eden of reward for the mitzvos. But when a person fulfills a mitzvah with intention, with feeling, with inner enthusiasm and vitality, when fulfilling the mitzvah matters to him, then his soul and his body, and so on and so forth—all the explanations there—he is elevated to the higher Gan Eden. That is the difference between the lower and higher Gan Eden. The higher Gan Eden is the soul’s reward for mitzvos performed with intention, for mitzvos performed at a level to which the person has elevated himself.

18:31 Speaker 8 Is that the Gan Eden we spoke about at the beginning?

18:33 Speaker 1 Both of them. Both levels of Gan Eden involve the revelation of G-dliness. But what kind of revelation of G-dliness? There are levels in that too. Even within each Gan Eden itself there are also infinitely many levels. But in general, the difference between them is that in the higher Gan Eden, which is in the World of Beriah—we spoke about this—the reward is for the intention behind the mitzvos, while in the lower Gan Eden the reward is for fulfilling the mitzvos.

19:00 Speaker 8 Fulfilling the mitzvos means with the intention of kabbolas ol?

19:03 Speaker 1 Primarily, but not only. There he makes a further distinction. It’s not relevant right now. There he distinguishes between intellectual intention and emotional intention. So that is what he is saying; he alludes to the whole subject here in a single word. I’m speaking about it briefly because it isn’t the subject of this letter. I saw that it wasn’t familiar, so I wanted to expand on it a little. Ah... yes. So in Gan Eden, each person grasps something, each one according to his level or according to his deeds. Some according to their level, and some according to their deeds, “and therefore the World to Come is called Binah.” In one place in the holy Zohar, it speaks about Binah, the level of Binah, and calls it the World to Come. What is the connection between Binah and the World to Come? Because the whole point of the World to Come is to understand G-dliness. So the World to Come is called Binah in general, both the higher and the lower Gan Eden. Where does it come—so what is revealed in Gan Eden? The very essence of G-dliness is revealed in Gan Eden. Where does that come from? This flow into Gan Eden is drawn from supernal Chochmah. In other words, Gan Eden is about Binah, understanding G-dliness. Where does Binah’s understanding of G-dliness come from? From Chochmah. That’s straightforward. Yes. That is Chochmah. What level of—this starts out simply. What level of Chochmah are we talking about here? Not the Chochmah we usually talk about.

20:53 Speaker 9 Supernal.

20:54 Speaker 1 Rather, supernal Chochmah, which is the source of intellectual insight and comprehension. So it goes like this: Supernal Chochmah is the source of intellectual insight and comprehension. What is comprehension?

21:16 Speaker 9 Understanding.

21:17 Speaker 1 Comprehension is understanding. So understanding is Binah. Yes, comprehension is Binah. What is intellectual insight?

21:24 Speaker 9 Intellect, Chochmah.

21:26 Speaker 1 Intellectual insight is chochmah. There’s insight, and there’s understanding. Yes, insight is the discovery of an idea; the Hebrew word for insight comes from the word for intellect. First you discover the idea, and afterward you understand it. What’s the relationship between insight and understanding? Insight is a point; understanding is an area. You take that point. I was having trouble understanding something. I didn’t get it. I worked at it, struggled with it, and suddenly—ah! Have you ever had that feeling?

22:03 Speaker 9 Yes.

22:05 Speaker 1 You know that feeling when you work and work and work, and suddenly—ah! Right? I’ve got it! Suddenly, all at once, it illuminates the... right?

22:14 Speaker 9 And then everything connects.

22:16 Speaker 1 And then everything connects. But when I try to... Sometimes, if it’s a deep subject, it can take a day, two days, several days. Even once I’ve grasped the point and it’s clear to me—I can see it before my eyes—I still can’t explain to myself how it fits here and there and there and there. I’ve grasped the point, but it hasn’t yet come down into comprehension, into understanding. I haven’t grasped it in all its details. Now, that point of initial understanding is called a flash of insight. It’s a point of light. It’s like a flash: a point suddenly appears. It isn’t a steady light. When lightning flashes, for one second you suddenly see everything. But it’s only a fraction of... it lasts one moment. It doesn’t illuminate the world. For it to illuminate the world, you need the power of binah to grasp the point, stay with it, draw it out, and develop it. But—

23:20 Speaker 9 You control the lightning that’s there.

23:21 Speaker 1 What?

23:22 Speaker 9 As though you control the electricity of the lightning.

23:26 Speaker 1 That’s also fine; that’s another...

23:29 Speaker 9 Complicated question.

23:29 Speaker 1 Yes. No, I don’t want to get into those details. Now let’s focus for a moment on the point of the flash. That point, that moment of intellectual understanding: does it have size, or not? On the one hand, it’s a point. I don’t see anything there. On the other hand, there’s something there I can grasp. Right? I have something to contemplate. So does it exist, or doesn’t it? This is called an intellectual point. In terms of letters, it’s the relationship between yud and hei. The yud is a point, but it’s a point with an area. It’s a point you can look at. It has size; it has shape. There’s something there. I can’t define it, because it’s only a point. It has no defined boundaries, but there is some kind of reality there that I can grasp. Right? Where does it come from? We have to say that this intellectual flash, this point, has some earlier source that I’m not aware of at all. Right? Simple logic tells us that. That source of intellect, the primal source of intellect, is called supernal chochmah. It isn’t the point of chochmah; it’s supernal chochmah. It’s the source and root of chochmah. What is revealed in Gan Eden? Think of the corresponding level in our own souls, by way of analogy. Just try to imagine it as an analogy—I’m not talking about what it represents, only the analogy. Imagine that something is now revealed to me, within my own understanding. We said that the World to Come, Gan Eden, is binah. Right? What is revealed in binah? The primal source of intellect—the essence of G-dliness, which is above intellect. Imagine that the primal source of intellect were suddenly revealed to me. All the ideas I will ever conceive in my lifetime—until 120, until 200, and beyond—are present in potential in the power of my intellect, in the power of my soul. It’s just that they aren’t revealed to me; they’re completely hidden from me, even though they’re

26:18 Speaker 1 mine. On the contrary, that’s the soul itself; it’s my very essence. But it isn’t revealed to me. Where does it come from?

26:30 Speaker 10 No, but what is the flash? It comes.

26:33 Speaker 11 Where does it come from?

26:34 Speaker 1 From where?

26:36 Speaker 10 From Hashem. It wasn’t there before.

26:38 Speaker 1 Are you talking about the flash of intellectual understanding?

26:45 Speaker 10 Because you’re saying that the mind is open.

26:53 Speaker 1 Good question.

26:56 Speaker 10 Enjoy.

26:57 Speaker 11 Thank you.

26:58 Speaker 10 [unclear]. What’s that? We have an important bus.

27:03 Speaker 11 Thank you.

27:05 Speaker 12 Thank you very much for coming.

27:06 Speaker 10 Thank you very much.

27:17 Speaker 1 Excellent question. I heard what she’s asking.

27:20 Speaker 10 What does that mean today?

27:20 Speaker 1 How can you be so sure that what I understand comes from the primal source of intellect? Maybe Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave it to me from somewhere else.

27:29 Speaker 12 There are people who only understand something when Hashem gives them the understanding.

27:32 Speaker 1 Well, I can’t answer that right now—certainly not in an orderly way. Although I do have something hovering in my mind. In any case, this is how it’s explained everywhere. It’s a basic point in Chassidus that intellect comes from the primal source of intellect. In other words, among the powers of my soul, I have intellect itself, and I have the capacity to conceive new ideas. That capacity is infinite. In terms of that capacity, each of us is as wise as King Shlomo and as great a prophet as Moshe Rabbeinu, and who knows what else. Yes, and so on. It’s just that in me it becomes revealed one way, and in him another way. But insights come from that source called the primal source of intellect. And it’s a good question: Why? Why must we say it works this way and not another way? But that’s how it’s explained. That’s the analogy. Now imagine that, at some point in my life, the primal source of intellect were suddenly revealed openly within my understanding. The moment that happened, I would be flooded with infinite joy. Just trying to imagine it can bring tears to your eyes. It’s simply... And that’s what happens in Gan Eden. The essence of G-dliness is revealed to the soul through understanding, through binah. “And this is the primal source of intellect, before it comes into revealed comprehension and understanding, while it is still in a state of concealment”—

29:26 Speaker 13 I don’t think that’s the right line.

29:28 Speaker 1 Line fourteen.

29:30 Speaker 13 “And comprehension is called binah.”

29:32 Speaker 1 Hmm? Which line are you on?

29:34 Speaker 13 No, it’s just that it says, “is called binah.” So wait—is supernal chochmah also called binah?

29:39 Speaker 1 The supernal chochmah being discussed here isn’t what we usually mean by supernal chochmah. Usually, when we speak about chochmah, whether in a person or in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, we mean the point of an idea. Here we’re talking about the primal source of intellect.

29:53 Speaker 13 Which is actually binah? Chochmah, binah?

29:56 Speaker 1 No. What is the primal source of intellect? Do you want to give it a name? It’s called Mocha Stima’ah. Somewhere up there, above Arich Anpin and below Atik Yomin. What difference does its name in Kabbalah make right now? It’s the essence—the power of intellect itself among the soul’s encompassing powers. It’s explained, but we’re not studying Kabbalah here. “It is the primal source of intellect, before it comes into any revealed comprehension and understanding, while it is still in a state of concealment.” So what is revealed in Gan Eden? A tiny amount, a little here and a little there—that is, through successive contractions—flows and is drawn from there into binah, enabling one to understand and comprehend the hidden intellect. That is why it is called “a point within a chamber” in the holy Zohar. Gan Eden is called “a point within a chamber.” When I take an intellectual idea—a point, the flash—and bring it down into my own understanding, there’s no longer a point there. Again? One step further. What’s the difference between the point of intellect and the primal source of intellect, the essence of intellect? The point of intellect is the point that came down to me and that I grasped. Even though it’s only a point, it has some shape, some area, some size. Once I’ve contemplated it, delved into it, grasped it, expanded it, given it form, and brought it into all the details, the point no longer exists. It’s no longer a point. Right? It has become a complete understanding. The original point, as a distinct thing, has effectively disappeared; it has itself expanded into all the details.

32:11 Speaker 13 And the essence of the matter remains.

32:14 Speaker 1 We don’t call the primal source of intellect a point—though we do call it a point, because we have no other name for it. It isn’t the initial intellectual point; it’s the essence of intellect, the essence of the matter, the light within it. Even after I’ve understood the intellectual point, the primal source of intellect remains in the form of a point.

32:39 Speaker 13 It reminds me of a baby, in a way.

32:43 Speaker 1 Yes.

32:44 Speaker 13 Like the woman is with it when... [unclear].

32:47 Speaker 1 Yes.

32:48 Speaker 13 When she...

32:48 Speaker 1 Yes.

32:49 Speaker 13 It really parallels that.

32:51 Speaker 1 Right. So that’s an analogy for a point and its expansion. But for the very essence of the soul, it’s actually a good analogy.

33:01 Speaker 13 Yes.

33:01 Speaker 1 Yes, even after the original drop has developed flesh, sinews, bones, and a complete body, the soul itself cannot be grasped there. The initial point from which everything would develop has developed; it no longer exists as such, because it has become something entirely different. But the soul that was inside has remained the same. Just as it was a soul at the beginning, it is still a soul now; it has not changed. So it is the same in the spiritual realm, in Gan Eden. This is called “a point within its chamber”: in Gan Eden, what shines is not only the Divine light that descended into the worlds and became enclothed in them. The point of the primordial intellect, the essence of Divinity from above, remains there revealed and shines there all the time. On the one hand, it cannot be grasped; it remains a point. On the other hand, it is openly present; one can perceive it. Indeed, the holy Zohar calls this “a point within its chamber.” This is the level of the yud of Hashem’s name, and it is called Eden, of which it is said, “No eye has seen it, O G-d, besides You.” Even when it is in Gan Eden and revealed, it is still called something that “no eye has seen,” because it is something essential that cannot be seen. One can recognize it, understand it, sense it, and have it revealed within oneself—but one cannot see it. So that is the first stage in understanding the World to Come. What is revealed in that world? We said that to understand how, through tzedakah, we “make” a name for Hakadosh Boruch Hu—we make Hashem’s name—we need to understand what this world and the World to Come are. What is the World to Come? It is Gan Eden, the place where Divinity is revealed. How is Divinity revealed? The primordial Divine intellect is openly revealed to the souls in Gan Eden.

35:10 Speaker 13 Is the World to Come [unclear], or is it what remains with you?

35:15 Speaker 1 Excellent question. There is a maamar of the Rebbe in which he sorts out these terms. When Chazal use the term “World to Come,” you have to look at the context each time to see what they mean. Sometimes “World to Come” means the world of souls. Sometimes it means the days of Moshiach, and sometimes it means the resurrection of the dead. These are three completely different concepts, all called the World to Come.

35:49 Speaker 13 Are we in the World to Come already?

35:51 Speaker 1 Huh? Depends who you mean.

35:55 Speaker 13 Jules.

35:56 Speaker 1 And it also depends when. As an aside, I think I’ve mentioned this already: even in Chassidus, we simply don’t have enough words in Lashon Hakodesh. There are so many subjects and concepts that we discuss and explain, yet we often use the very same word for things that are different from one extreme to the other. Sometimes that can happen within the same sentence. We were just talking about a “point,” right? At one point we meant the flash of insight. At another, we meant the essence—how should we call it? We said the point, the yud, and at one point we said that the yud signifies something with an area, a point that has some area to it. At another, we said that the yud is something beyond all comprehension, something you cannot grasp at all. These are spiritual matters. I saw something today about the Baal Shem Tov that someone sent in one of the groups. It’s truly wonderful. I think it was two lines from a sicha of the Rebbe, or a maamar, or something like that. I don’t remember the exact source, but it’s wonderful, and directly relevant. The story goes that the Baal Shem Tov made an ascent of the soul and reached the chamber of Rabbi Chaim Vital, who wrote down all the teachings of the Arizal, and he challenged him. It says it there in two lines. In short, he challenged him: How could you take the teachings of Kabbalah, its deepest principles, and present them in such physical terms? How dare you? After all, all the writings of the Arizal bring—

37:54 Speaker 14 Who said that to the Baal Shem Tov?

37:55 Speaker 1 The Baal Shem Tov challenged Rabbi Chaim Vital. Vital wrote down the teachings of the Arizal; the Arizal himself wrote nothing.

38:03 Speaker 14 You would think it should be the other way around, because the Baal Shem Tov—

38:10 Speaker 1 The Baal Shem Tov challenged Rabbi Chaim Vital. What was his objection? What? Why make it all so physical? You took the concept of supernal unifications and brought it down to the union of male and female. How could you do that? You took something so profoundly deep, spiritual, wondrous, Divine, and gave it an analogy like that. Couldn’t you find a better analogy? That was his objection. So it explains there that Rabbi Chaim Vital actually enjoyed the question very much and told him, “No problem. Take the quill and write it yourself. If you have a better analogy, please, go ahead. The quill is yours. You’re in this world; there you are—explain it.” So the Baal Shem Tov threw up his hands and said that there really was no better analogy. But we have to remember that we speak in physical terms because we don’t have other words. The concepts themselves are spiritual. Whatever subject we discuss, we have to strip away its physical imagery. It’s the same here. We use physical words, but we have to look for the idea behind them. All right. Up to this point, he has explained Gan Eden, where Divinity is revealed. Now he begins to explain another aspect that flows from Chochmah. The first thing that flows from Chochmah is the primordial intellect, the essence of Divinity that is revealed in Gan Eden. Now for the second aspect. Chochmah is also called “the father who establishes the daughter.” Kabbalah explains that Chochmah and Binah are the father and mother who give birth to children, sons and daughters. The son is Za, the middos: Chessed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. Why? Because they are born through Chochmah and Binah. A person contemplates, and emotion is born. And the daughter is Malchus, kabbolas ol. This analogy appears in many places in Kabbalah, and the Alter Rebbe expands on it—

40:31 Speaker 1 And so on. This isn’t the place to go into it. So the ten sefiros are father and mother, son and daughter. Now, where are the middos primarily born from? From the mother, from contemplation. A person contemplates, and the middos are born. We’ve spoken about this a thousand times, right?

40:51 Speaker 3 Yes.

40:51 Speaker 1 Where is the daughter—kabbolas ol—born from?

40:56 Speaker 3 From the father.

40:57 Speaker 1 So it says specifically, “the father establishes the daughter.” The primary foundation of Malchus comes specifically from the father. This also fits what is written in Parshas Tazria: “When the man contributes his seed first, a daughter is born; when the woman contributes her seed first, a son is born.” The son’s birth primarily comes from the mother, and the daughter’s primarily from the father. That’s what it says. What?

41:26 Speaker 3 Aren’t we entering a cycle here, where later the son born from Binah becomes Chochmah? So how do you—

41:32 Speaker 1 No, no, no. I was just explaining the concept broadly, how it works in general, before we get into the details. In the next few lines, only one detail concerns us: what is drawn down from Chochmah. Until now, we’ve been discussing what that means: from the primordial intellect to Binah. Here he explains something else drawn from Chochmah, from Chochmah to Malchus. What does that mean? What flows from Chochmah to Malchus? Let’s see. Meaning: what does it mean that “the father establishes the daughter”? “For the formation of the letters of speech, which emerge from the five organs of articulation…” We already know from other places that Malchus is speech, right? Do we know that or not?

42:22 Speaker 3 We do now.

42:23 Speaker 1 The hei is the final hei of Hashem’s name. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world through speech.

42:28 Speaker 3 Which is also—

42:29 Speaker 1 Yes?

42:29 Speaker 3 That’s a little clearer.

42:31 Speaker 1 Are you familiar with this? “Malchus is the mouth; we call it the Oral Torah.” Malchus is connected to the mouth. Malchus is speech. Why is speech connected specifically to Chochmah? That is what the Zohar means when it says, “The father establishes the daughter”: speech is connected specifically to the primordial intellect, to supernal Chochmah.

43:04 Speaker 3 It brings it out.

43:05 Speaker 1 Hmm?

43:05 Speaker 3 It brings out, through speech, what you have inside.

43:08 Speaker 4 But you could say that’s Binah, because Binah—because speech explains.

43:11 Speaker 1 We’ll see in a moment that it isn’t.

43:13 Speaker 3 Good question.

43:15 Speaker 1 At first glance, it seems that speech brings out the intellect and reveals it. But if we think about it for a moment, we immediately realize that most of what we say usually reveals no intellect at all; it reveals emotion. A person is constantly talking about what he feels, not what he understands.

43:37 Speaker 3 We’re talking here.

43:38 Speaker 1 When he studies Torah or some intellectual subject, then he speaks about what he understands. But usually—

43:43 Speaker 3 Could you say that when we see, we then express the idea in speech?

43:47 Speaker 1 Okay, so that is exactly the question. Since speech reveals the intellect and emotions, why does the Zohar say that speech is connected not to intellect or emotion, but to the source of intellect—to Abba, to the supernal Chochmah we spoke about earlier? What is the connection? He explains it this way: The formation of the letters of speech that emerge from the five organs of speech is neither an intellectual process nor something inherent in the nature of those organs. We’re talking about the letters of speech. The letters of speech are neither intellectual nor natural. Why? Let’s continue with his words, and then we’ll add a few words of our own. It isn’t something inherent; it isn’t the nature of these organs. What are these organs? The five organs of speech. Right—the tongue, teeth, um…

44:46 Speaker 5 Lips, palate.

44:47 Speaker 1 Lips, palate, and throat. Right. So producing the sounds of the letters through breath and voice striking them is not the nature of these five organs. How does it work physically? Breath comes from the heart, from the lungs, strikes the organs of speech, and a sound comes out. Well, why does it produce a beis one time, a ches another time, an alef another time, a vav another time, and an alef another time? The breath is the same all along. So if the same thing is coming out all the time, then if speech were a natural property… Take a guitar string. If I keep striking it, it will always make the same sound, right? Why should it contract once and stretch another time? What causes all these changes? Not the string itself, right? The lips themselves have no property that makes them say beis one time, pei another time, and mem another time. It doesn’t come from the lips. Something is moving the lips, right? In other words, the lips’ ability to make different movements isn’t a property inherent in their nature. Something else is moving them. Is that understood?

46:25 Speaker 5 Yes.

46:25 Speaker 1 Good. So first of all, it isn’t natural. It isn’t inherent in these organs. And it certainly doesn’t happen through intellect either. When a person pronounces a letter, does he think about how to move the organs of speech?

46:47 Speaker 5 No, right.

46:47 Speaker 1 Even a child learning to speak doesn’t think about how to move the organs of speech.

46:56 Speaker 5 So why isn’t it natural?

46:57 Speaker 1 When a child is first learning to speak and says his first word, does he think? Is he thinking?

47:06 Speaker 5 Is that discussed in the Gemara?

47:07 Speaker 1 Could you say that he thinks, “I’ll move my lips this way for a mem or a beis, and that will produce this sound”? He doesn’t think about it. It isn’t the intellect that moves the organs of speech. So if what makes a person produce different syllables and letters is neither natural nor intellectual, then what moves those organs? Good question?

47:45 Speaker 5 Yes.

47:45 Speaker 1 It doesn’t happen according to nature or through intellect. Take the lips, for example. The letters beis, vav, mem, and pei are pronounced with the lips, but neither nature nor intellect causes those four different sounds to emerge through different movements of the lips, when the same breath and voice strike them equally. On the contrary, it’s exactly the reverse: the lips move differently according to the different letters the soul wishes to pronounce with them.

48:23 Speaker 5 And the soul—what?

48:25 Speaker 1 Exactly the reverse. It isn’t that the lips want to produce letters. The letters move the lips. Did you hear that?

48:42 Speaker 5 The soul, not the letters. The soul.

48:46 Speaker 1 The soul itself, the very essence of the soul. Our Sages said that the soul is full of letters. That is why man is called “the speaking being.” Although, at first glance, as we said earlier, speech is the most external thing about a person; it is only a garment. It isn’t part of the soul at all. There is the soul itself, then what I understand and what I feel, and then what I think and what I do and say. Those are already garments of the soul. We’ve spoken several times about the difference between the essence of the soul and its garments, right? Speech would seem to be only a garment, but it isn’t that simple. The act of speaking is indeed only a garment. But the essence of speech—how does it happen that a person speaks? That comes from the essence of the soul, from the source of intellect. That is why man is called “the speaking being,” not “the intellectual being”: the special quality of speech is a quality of the essence of the soul, not of intellect. Intellect comes from speech, not speech from intellect. And because what is highest descends lowest, “their beginning is bound up with their end.” So it is specifically the loftiest aspect of the soul that is revealed in the lowest place. The soul wishes to pronounce a beis, vav, mem, or pei with the lips—not the other way around. It isn’t that the soul intends to make the lips move in the different ways they do when pronouncing those four letters. It isn’t that the soul wants to move the lips; rather, it wants to say the letters, and the letters move the lips as a result. We can plainly see that the soul has no intention or knowledge of how to direct those different movements of the lips. This is even more apparent with vowel sounds. When the soul wants to pronounce a kamatz, the lips draw together on their own. In Lashon Hakodesh, a kamatz is an “aw” sound, right? So the lips draw together, while with a patach they open. It isn’t that the soul wants to close or open the lips. It isn’t that—

51:19 Speaker 1 the soul wants to draw the lips together and therefore an “aw” comes out. No. The soul wants to say “aw,” and therefore the lips draw together.

51:26 Speaker 5 Automatically.

51:27 Speaker 1 Right. The soul doesn’t want to close or open them at all. It isn’t concerned with that. It wants to pronounce the vowel, and the lips follow. There is no need to elaborate on something so simple, clear, and understandable to anyone who thinks about it: the pronunciation of letters and vowels is above the intellect that can be grasped and understood. So where do the letters come from? From the hidden intellect and the source of intellect within the speaking soul. That is why a baby cannot speak even though he understands everything. We often see this with babies. You can actually see that a baby understands not just the tone of voice but what is being said. So if he understands, let him speak. Let him get a word out. He can’t. Why? Intellect is a relatively lower level of the soul; it belongs to the soul’s revealed faculties. That has already become apparent in him. He has intellect, so he understands. But it takes time for the source of intellect to begin shining within the physical body, for it to descend that far.

52:33 Speaker 6 So how is this connected to grain?

52:34 Speaker 1 How is it connected to…?

52:35 Speaker 6 Grain.

52:36 Speaker 1 What does it have to do with grain?

52:37 Speaker 6 Because a baby doesn’t say “Abba” until he tastes grain.

52:39 Speaker 1 Ah, why is it specifically grain that brings forth this ability? That’s another matter. It’s discussed in the Pesach maamarim. “For six days you shall eat matzos” in Likkutei Torah explains this point. It isn’t relevant right now. So the first part of Igeres Hakodesh explained that from the supernal Chochmah, from the source of intellect, the very essence of G-dliness descends and is revealed in Gan Eden, in the higher worlds, in the World to Come. The second part explained that the source of intellect also gives rise to something entirely different: speech, letters. How are we doing for time? How much are we reading today?

53:32 Speaker 6 Nine thirty.

53:33 Speaker 1 Nine thirty? If you want, we could take another ten minutes or so and finish the next section too, or shall we do that next time?

53:48 Speaker 6 Next time.

53:56 Speaker 1 The question is whether you feel like continuing.

53:58 Speaker 6 Me? Let the others vote.

54:03 Speaker 1 Hmm?

54:05 Speaker 6 Ah.

54:05 Speaker 1 How is he supposed to vote, then?

54:06 Speaker 6 Ah, yes.

54:07 Speaker 1 Huh?

54:08 Speaker 6 What we have left.

54:09 Speaker 1 We’ll finish. Okay, let’s just summarize. This is what we’ve learned so far. We saw—no, we didn’t see it; on the contrary, we came here to explain what tzedakah is. We were told that to understand tzedakah, we need to understand this world and the World to Come. Well, we more or less understood what the World to Come is. We still haven’t quite understood what this world is, right? He began talking about letters. So next he’ll say a little more about what the letters are. Once he finishes explaining the letters, we’ll understand what this world is about, because this world was created through letters, through speech. Then we’ll have a question: Wait, the World to Come was created too. Gan Eden is also one of the worlds. So Gan Eden was also created through speech. Hold on, then—this was created through speech and that was created through speech. Why are you making such a distinction between them? Where does the difference lie? So he goes on to explain the difference between how the letters create and illuminate the World to Come and how they create this world. It’s a fundamental difference. Once we understand the difference between how this world was created and how the World to Come was created, we’ll be able to understand the concept of a name and what tzedakah accomplishes in this regard. That’s what the rest of the letter will discuss. We’ll stop here.

55:41 Speaker 6 May you have a good, sweet year.