The Amazing Discovery of the Tanya: The Power of Moshe Rabbeinu That Exists Within You Literally!

00:00 Many people ask: Why does the Torah speak so much about Moshe Rabbeinu? From the beginning of the book of Shemos, from the moment Moshe Rabbeinu is born, the whole Torah revolves around him. The Torah begins by telling us of Moshe’s birth, and from then on, everything follows Moshe Rabbeinu as he flees Egypt. Then he returns to Egypt, redeems the Jewish people, they cross the sea, receive the Torah, and build the Mishkan. And throughout—even when the Torah speaks about all the mitzvos we will learn later in the book of Vayikra, and in the stories that continue until the end of the Torah—Moshe is always there. As the well-known Baal Haturim says, there is no parsha in which Moshe Rabbeinu’s name does not appear several times, apart from one parsha that we know is connected with Moshe’s passing, Parshas Tetzaveh, and so on. But what is the essence of this? What does it mean that Moshe Rabbeinu is so central to our lives that the Torah speaks about him so much? So today we’ll talk about Moshe Rabbeinu: both why Moshe’s figure is so important and central to the giving of the Torah, and what Moshe Rabbeinu means in our own daily lives, according to Tanya and the words of the Alter Rebbe. First of all, why is Moshe Rabbeinu so central to the Torah? Why couldn’t the Torah have been written in a completely different way? After all, the Torah is about mitzvos. It tells us what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants from us. The Torah could have given us all the commandments and everything else without telling us that Hashem spoke to Moshe, and Moshe went, and Moshe said. It could have gone straight to the subject from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s perspective. What does it mean that Moshe Rabbeinu occupies such a central place in the Torah?

02:17 What does that tell us? That’s one point, and from there we’ll move on to understand what Moshe Rabbeinu represents in our personal, everyday lives. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe gives us a very interesting understanding of what Moshe Rabbeinu means in our individual lives. I’ll begin by saying that I had the privilege of hearing the Rebbe address this point at a farbrengen. The Rebbe spoke about the account the Torah gives of what happened after the giving of the Torah—or actually, in the middle of it. As we know, when there was a Divine revelation and Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai, Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself was revealed at the giving of the Torah. As the Gemara says at the end of tractate Makkos, the Ten Commandments came “from the mouth of the Almighty”; Hakadosh Boruch Hu began to speak. Then, the Torah says, the people told Moshe Rabbeinu, “We can’t do this. Speak to us yourself, and we will listen.” We want you to speak, “but let G-d not speak to us.” We don’t want to hear directly from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It says that Moshe Rabbeinu was disheartened. What did it mean that the people had an opportunity to hear from Hakadosh Boruch Hu and weren’t interested? They wanted to hear from Moshe instead. Moshe Rabbeinu was disheartened by this. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to him in Parshas Va’eschanan, “If only they would have this heart of theirs all the days.” If only they would think this way throughout their lives. In other words, not only was Hakadosh Boruch Hu not upset by it; on the contrary, He was pleased. He said the people were right. If only they would always want to receive the Torah through you, through Moshe Rabbeinu. This is what the well-known verse in Parshas Va’eschanan says: “I stood between Hashem your G-d and you to tell you the word of Hashem.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed Moshe Rabbeinu there to convey the word of Hashem to the Jewish people. So what was the answer here? Seemingly, Moshe Rabbeinu was right. You have an opportunity to meet face

04:41 to face. Everyone is always asking: Why can’t we see Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Then we would have faith; everything would be clear. And here you already have the opportunity. For the one time in history, the Jewish people experienced Divine revelation without any intermediaries, without anything in between: Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. In Rashi’s words, “The One who is giving Himself to you is speaking with you.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is revealed, and the Jewish people can’t accept it. Moshe Rabbeinu has a valid question: How can that be? You don’t want to hear from the Almighty Himself? So what really is the answer? In a wonderful sicha, the Rebbe explained the point in terms of our purpose. The purpose of the creation of the world, and the purpose of the Jewish people in the world, is to bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the reality of the physical world. That is the whole reason we, the Jewish people, are here in the physical world. The soul of a Jew is literally a part of G-d above; it descended from beneath the Throne of Glory. Before they descended, the souls were in Gan Eden, in the world of Atzilus, connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The soul descended here and entered this physical world. The purpose is to make the physical world a dwelling place for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in Tanya. The Midrash says, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.” That means in this lowest world, this physical and material world. It is specifically here, in the physical world, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired, wanted, and chose to dwell. Through whom? Through the souls of the Jewish people, through the Jewish people themselves. So Jews have a purpose, and that purpose began with the giving of the Torah: to connect the world with G-dliness, to connect Hakadosh Boruch Hu with physical reality. And this was, in fact, what lay behind the Jewish people’s request when the Divine revelation took place at the giving of the Torah, at the moment of the revelation of “I am

06:50 Hashem your G-d,” the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. Notice that with this kind of revelation—a revelation of the Infinite, of the unlimited, when Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is revealed in full force—the physical reality of the world becomes nothing. “Their souls flew out,” in the words of our Sages. The intensity of the light, the clarity, the revelation caused the souls of the Jewish people to be unable to remain within limited physical reality. Their souls flew out; they couldn’t bear it. Then they understood: If so, we aren’t fulfilling the purpose for which we came into this world. We know that the purpose is to connect the reality of the world with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and if that connection comes directly, it won’t happen. That is why they said, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen.” We need Moshe Rabbeinu, a “connecting intermediary,” as it is called in Chassidus. In other words, there needs to be someone between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the world to bring the word of Hashem down here. Moshe Rabbeinu had a unique soul, and “Moshe was a shepherd.” Here we return to the beginning of Moshe Rabbeinu’s story in Parshas Shemos, where the Torah explains to us who Moshe Rabbeinu was at his core. “Moshe was a shepherd”—a shepherd of sheep. The Zohar explains, and Chassidus explains at length, that this does not refer only to shepherding sheep in the physical sense. Everyone understands that the whole account of “Moshe was a shepherd” is not just the Torah telling us stories about the physical side of Moshe Rabbeinu. There is a very deep, very inner message here, especially as we all know the famous story. What is the story of “Moshe was a shepherd”? He was tending the flock beyond the desert, and one of the sheep ran away—a kid escaped from the flock. Moshe ran after it and took

08:50 He picked it up, put it on his shoulders, gave it something to drink, and brought it back. Then came the great revelation the Torah tells us about: the Divine revelation at the burning bush, where the Shechinah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, appeared to Moshe Rabbeinu and told him, “I have chosen you to be the redeemer of the Jewish people.” What does all this tell us? It tells us something about Moshe Rabbeinu’s special role. This is what the Jewish people took to heart and understood, and it is why they asked, “You speak to us and we will listen; let G-d not speak to us.” G-d forbid, they did not mean to distance themselves from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. On the contrary, they wanted to draw closer. For us to fulfill the purpose for which we came into this world, we need Moshe Rabbeinu, the shepherd of the Jewish people. In the language of the Zohar, the raya mehemna. What does raya mehemna mean? The faithful shepherd. A shepherd’s job is to take the flock to the right place—to the field, to the grass, to wherever they need to be. He knows exactly what kind of grass the flock needs. He feeds them, provides for them, protects them, and makes sure they receive the nourishment they need. What does that mean spiritually? It means that for us, the Jewish people, to recognize Hakadosh Boruch Hu and know Him—for our recognition of Him to be deep and internal, to nourish our souls and our spiritual lives with the right nourishment in the right measure—we need Moshe Rabbeinu. And Moshe was a shepherd. That, essentially, was Moshe Rabbeinu’s role: to bring Hakadosh Boruch Hu down here, into the physical world, to the people. We see this in the Torah’s accounts of Moshe Rabbeinu from the very beginning. The Jewish people were in Egypt. Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu that the whole purpose of bringing him to the people is

11:07 what? So that they will know. “And you shall know that I am Hashem.” You will gain daas—knowledge, a connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu at the deepest level. Because a very simple question arises here: Why, seemingly, do we need Moshe Rabbeinu? Every Jew is a believer. The Jewish people are called “believers, children of believers,” and we received that long before Moshe Rabbeinu. We received it from Avraham Avinu. The Torah tells us this in the parsha, too: “And the people believed.” Moshe Rabbeinu comes to the Jewish people with the wonderful, heartening news and tells them that the time for the Geulah has come. “I have surely remembered you.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu has heard our cries, He is bringing us the Geulah, and we are about to leave. And the Torah tells us, “And the people believed.” The Jewish people believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, believe in Moshe Rabbeinu, and believe Moshe Rabbeinu’s message of Geulah. So if we already had faith, what exactly is Moshe’s role? Chassidus explains that Moshe Rabbeinu is called the raya mehemna, the faithful shepherd. His role is to bring that faith into every part of us. We see that a person can believe, yet that belief has no bearing on his everyday life. There are many Jews—and in fact, as we said, every Jew is a believer—but we see on many occasions that faith can have no practical meaning. “I believe.” Ask him, and he’ll say yes. He’ll say “Boruch Hashem” and “With Hashem’s help.” Yet at the very moment he says “Boruch Hashem” or “With Hashem’s help,” he may do something that is not at all what Hashem wants. He may do something utterly low, a sin, a transgression, something contrary to the Divine will, and at that very moment say, “With Hashem’s help.” His faith makes no difference. Why?

13:17 Because faith is disconnected from everyday life. That is what it means that Moshe was a shepherd: Moshe Rabbeinu connects the Jewish people with Hakadosh Boruch Hu at a more internal level. This is the meaning of “And you shall know”—the idea of daas. The Jewish people did not lack faith. They were in Egypt, doing backbreaking labor, hard work with mortar and bricks. But despite all that, they always had faith. What they lacked was daas. Daas is not just faith. It means understanding, feeling, connecting, forming a bond. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains that daas is related to the words for “bonding” and “connecting.” Sometimes a person knows about something, but detached knowledge is not real knowledge. Real knowledge is a connection. Where do we first find the word for knowing, daas, in the Torah? “And Adam knew Chavah.” Adam marries Chavah. The first marriage the Torah tells us about is described in three words, with nothing more written about it: “And Adam knew Chavah.” What does that mean? Clearly, when we are talking about the marriage of Adam and Chavah, we are talking about a bond. “Knew” does not just mean knowing from afar; it means a connection. Here, knowing means bonding and connecting. This is also what Moshe Rabbeinu, the raya mehemna, brings us. According to Kabbalah and the Zohar, Moshe Rabbeinu embodies daas. Moshe Rabbeinu is the collective soul, the shepherd of the Jewish people, the raya mehemna. He is the collective soul Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose to bring daas. In the language of the Zohar, Moshe Rabbeinu embodied daas elyon, the higher daas. He had the highest connection and bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and through his bond with the Jewish people, he instilled daas in them. This is, in essence, the whole secret of exile and Geulah. According to Kabbalah and Chassidus, what is exile, and what

15:42 is Geulah? We are talking about Parshas Shemos. Sefer Shemos begins the story of exile and Geulah. What are exile and Geulah? In Chumash, we learn about backbreaking labor, hard work with mortar and bricks, decrees, Pharaoh wanting to kill the children, and so on. But what is the inner meaning of exile? As the Baal Shem Tov says, it is the exile of daas. Do you know what exile is? Exile is when daas is in exile. What are we connected to? What are we bound to? Where does my connection lie? Do I believe? Yes, of course I believe, but my faith is completely disconnected from reality. My faith is somewhere in the seventh heaven. I believe on some level, but it has no meaning beyond that. So where am I connected? Where is my daas? That is what exile means: when my connection is to materialism, to physicality, to my desires and pleasures. That is where I am connected—to money, honor, jealousy, hatred, and competition. Moshe Rabbeinu, the raya mehemna, brings true daas, enabling a Jew to connect with something spiritual, something G-dly, something real. We receive that through our connection to Moshe Rabbeinu. This is what the Jewish people took to heart and understood. We want to live here in this world, not detach ourselves from it. That is not the goal. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants a dwelling place in this physical world. The goal is not for our souls to fly off into the world of Atzilus. On the contrary, the whole purpose of giving the Torah was for it to be in the physical world, with physical mitzvos and a Torah lived out in the physical world, and to make the world’s physicality a dwelling place for Hashem—while remaining internally and genuinely connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why we have Moshe Rabbeinu. That is why we need Moshe’s soul as an intermediary, bringing Hakadosh Boruch Hu into the reality of this physical world. And here we come to the Alter Rebbe’s wonderful explanation in Tanya.

17:57 that gives us this meaning in everyday life. The subject is yiras Shamayim, fear of Heaven. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 41, that serving Hashem has a foundation, a basis. Like anything a person does, there is a foundation on which the entire structure rests. If you build a building, it has to stand on foundations. Without foundations, there is no building. You can build a magnificent building, story upon story, using the most expensive materials, but if you haven’t laid a strong foundation, a wind will come and the building will fall. That is a physical building, and the same is true of what we build spiritually. If a person wants something to last, it must have strong foundations. The foundation is the essential thing, and the whole structure rests on it. The Alter Rebbe says in Tanya that serving Hashem, too, must have a foundation. There are many levels and stages in a Jew’s life. A person must constantly grow and develop—in Torah study, in observing mitzvos, in love of Hashem, in fear of Hashem, and in serving Hashem. There are levels upon levels without end, but there must be a foundation. What, the Alter Rebbe asks in Tanya, is “the beginning of the service, its essence and its root”? What is the root, the foundation? What does the entire structure rest on? Yiras Shamayim. We have to begin with simple, pure fear of Heaven. A Jew needs to know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King of kings, that He is my King and I am His servant. In the words of our Sages, kabbolas ol malchus Shamayim—accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. That is basic yiras Shamayim. Fear of Heaven does not mean fear of punishment. We are not talking about being afraid of something frightening. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not frightening. He is our Father in Heaven; He loves us. This is not fear of punishment. Nor are we talking about awe of His exaltedness, or a sense of shame before Him—some lofty level of awe. We are talking about the foundation. The foundation, says

20:13 the Alter Rebbe, is the recognition that the world is not ownerless. It is the recognition that this world has a Master; that there is a King, and this King rules the entire world and every detail within it—and He is my King. He chose me, and He wants me to be His servant. A servant of the King. We, the Jewish people, are servants of the King, servants of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the foundation of yiras Shamayim. So where, says the Alter Rebbe, do we get the strength to awaken that fear of Heaven? There is a very interesting Gemara in Berachos, page 33. The Gemara discusses a verse in Parshas Eikev, where Moshe Rabbeinu speaks to the Jewish people. The book of Devarim records Moshe Rabbeinu’s final days in this world, when he speaks to the Jewish people. Moshe Rabbeinu says to them, “Listen, Jews: ‘And now, Israel’—I am speaking to you today and telling you—‘And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you, other than to fear Hashem your G-d?’” What is Hakadosh Boruch Hu asking of you now? Nothing unusual, nothing great—only to fear Hashem your G-d. Hakadosh Boruch Hu asks us for yiras Shamayim. Then the Gemara raises an objection. What is going on? He speaks as though this is a small thing. Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jewish people, “Oh, nothing much is being asked of you—just to fear Hashem your G-d.” What? Is that small? “Is it a minor thing?” the Gemara asks. Is fear of Heaven a small thing? It is something tremendous! Every one of us knows that working on yiras Shamayim is hard, demanding work. We are generally not naturally G-d-fearing. Usually, a person likes to enjoy himself. In the Gemara’s words, in Gittin and elsewhere, “A servant prefers a life without restraint.” He wants to be free of restraints, to live as he pleases. Why would he want yiras Shamayim? Where

22:40 does it come from? It is not easy. Yet Moshe Rabbeinu makes it sound trivial. The Gemara answers: No, Moshe Rabbeinu says this because, for him, it is a small thing. Moshe Rabbeinu, the great man who was certainly on far higher levels in serving Hashem, served Hashem out of love—a great, wonderful, exalted love. So for him, yiras Shamayim was the foundation, the starting point. It was a small thing. That is what the Gemara says. Then the Alter Rebbe asks a simple question: Wait a moment—what difference does that make to us? Why does it matter to us that it was a small thing for Moshe Rabbeinu? Was Moshe Rabbeinu trying to boast? Of course not. He was speaking to the people. If they had to work hard to attain fear of Heaven, why would Moshe Rabbeinu tell them it was a small thing just because it was small for him? What is going on here? The Alter Rebbe gives a wonderful answer. Continuing what we said earlier, Moshe Rabbeinu is not only a person somewhere outside us. We are speaking about Moshe the person, but also about the Moshe within the soul. “Every soul of the House of Israel contains an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him.” These are the holy words of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya, chapter 42. Every Jew, every soul, has within it an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him—the faculty of daas. As we said, Moshe Rabbeinu was the soul who brought daas into the world. There is a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu within every Jew, and because of that spark, a Jew has a bond, a connection, a conscious awareness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what gives us vitality. That is what enables a Jew to feel a sense of G-dliness in everyday life. We received this from Moshe Rabbeinu. And that is what the Gemara means when it says, “For Moshe, it is a minor thing.” In other words, for the Moshe within you, for your own inner Moshe,

25:07 yiras Shamayim is a small thing, because you have the faculty of daas. This is the wonderful, good news the Alter Rebbe gives us in Tanya. You do not need to look for it elsewhere; it is inside you. A Jew is not only a believer by nature—we received that faith from Avraham Avinu. We received another gift, too, from Moshe Rabbeinu: daas. Every Jew has this faculty of daas, which we received from Moshe Rabbeinu. And for the aspect of daas within the soul, yiras Shamayim is “a minor thing.” Just reflect, just remember, just think. Devote a few minutes each day to thinking about your connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Awaken that connection. The Alter Rebbe goes on to explain there that our task is to set aside some time every day. That is what we need to do in practical, everyday life. The Alter Rebbe says that every Jew should set aside time each day. The best time is during davening, or in preparation for davening, to reflect on the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Reflect on the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King of kings, that “the whole earth is full of His glory,” that “I fill the heavens and the earth”—various verses and passages that we say in davening. Reflect on the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the great, glorious and wondrous King of kings, is here in our world with me; that He chose us; and that our Torah and mitzvos, our service, matter to Him. He wants us to serve Him. So we have the wonderful privilege of having been chosen to be servants of Hashem. Simply know that you stand before the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Reflect on that every day. And I want to quote the wonderful line the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya—I am returning to chapter 41. These are the two chapters that discuss

27:17 This subject—but there’s a passage, a quote from Tanya, that the Rebbe returned to again and again. It’s one of those things that, if we take it to heart in our daily lives, think about it and repeat it, it can simply change our lives and give us the fear of Heaven we’re looking for. The Alter Rebbe says: “And behold, Hashem stands over him, and His glory fills the whole earth, and He looks at him and examines his innermost thoughts and heart to see whether he serves Him properly.” Think about those words. These are the holy words of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya—words to think about, words to contemplate. If every day, several times a day, we repeat these words to ourselves, and especially if we contemplate them: “And behold, Hashem stands over him.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here with me, and “His glory fills the whole earth.” Wherever I go, wherever I am, Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes with me, walks with me. And what happens with me matters to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; He cares about me. He looks at him; He examines his innermost thoughts and heart. What I do, and how I do it, matters to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—with what vitality, with what enthusiasm we do things. So this fear of Heaven is what gives every Jew strength, and this is what Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jewish people: You received the power of daas from me. Once you have daas, you are no longer in exile. As we said earlier, when daas is in exile, we are disconnected. When a Jew succeeds in awakening daas through the power of Moshe Rabbeinu, he comes out of exile. And that is the whole story of the Torah. That is how the Book of Shemos begins: it begins with Moshe Rabbeinu’s birth and with Moshe as a shepherd, and the Torah tells us about Moshe Rabbeinu’s life. Not just to tell us about the greatness of Moshe as a person, but to tell us that this Moshe is within us. And this

29:27 is Moshe’s flock. We are all part of that flock; we received the power of daas, and therefore, “You shall know that I am Hashem.” That is why we have the ability to free ourselves from our inner exile and serve Hashem. And this is what Moshe Rabbeinu tells the Jewish people: “And now, Yisroel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear Hashem your G-d?” Fear of Heaven—and every single person has this fear of Heaven. Then the Alter Rebbe adds another point. In that same chapter, chapter 42, the Alter Rebbe says that besides the spark of Moshe within each person, there is another wonderful thing that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has given us: in every generation there is a Moshe Rabbeinu. In the words of the Zohar, “The extension of Moshe is present in every generation.” In every generation there are shepherds of the Jewish people who are a manifestation of Moshe Rabbeinu. And I’ll quote the words of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya here too: “In every generation, sparks from the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu descend and become clothed in the body and soul of the sages of the generation and the eyes of the community, to impart daas to the people so that they will know Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” There is the— in every generation there is also the soul of the tzaddik who has within him the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul becomes clothed in the body and soul of the sages of the generation, who know how to bring Hashem’s word to that particular generation. After all, generations change. Every generation has its own needs, its own tests, its own difficulties, its own challenges. So in His great kindness, Hakadosh Boruch Hu sends us, generation after generation, the tzaddik of that generation, the shepherds of the Jewish people who are the Moshe Rabbeinu of their generation. Through them we receive the nourishment we need: what matters for this generation, how we can overcome the tests of this time, how in this time we can reveal daas, the

31:39 connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. How can we, in this time, free ourselves from our inner exile and reach the complete Geulah? It begins with Moshe Rabbeinu and continues from generation to generation. There is a Moshe Rabbeinu in every generation, until the Moshe who— as it says in the Zohar, “The first redeemer is the last redeemer.” That is King Moshiach, about whom it says in this parsha, Parshas Shemos: “Please send by the hand of the one You will send.” The Midrash says: by the hand of King Moshiach. He will be the final messenger, in whom the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu will be clothed and united with the soul of Moshiach. He will redeem us from the most terrible, grueling and difficult exile, the final exile, and bring us to the complete Geulah, the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu, this very day. Amen, may it be His will.