Explanations of the Prayer - Hodu - Part 4

00:00 We keep coming back to this verse, don’t we? There’s a maamar about it, at the beginning of the year—when was it? Around Pesach. We said a maamar on this verse: “Seek Hashem and His strength; seek His face always.” We need to seek Hashem and His strength, and always seek His face. What does that mean? In the Rebbe’s maamar [?] on Rosh Hashanah [?], he brings a teaching of our Sages. The Gemara says that one of the Tannaim told another: “If you want to see the face of the Shechinah, engage in Torah study in Eretz Yisroel, as it says, ‘Seek Hashem and His strength; seek His face always.’” That’s what it says in the Gemara, in the Midrash. I don’t know where it is. He told him that if you want to see the face of the Shechinah, you do so by engaging in Torah study in Eretz Yisroel. The plain meaning is that when you study Torah in Eretz Yisroel, you merit to see the face of the Shechinah. And the Rebbe explains—what does the Rebbe say [?]—he explains the meaning according to Chassidus. How do we learn that from this verse? He explains what it means to see the face of the Shechinah. What is the face of the Shechinah? He explains that Shechinah is Malchus of Atzilus. Shechinah is the Divine presence that becomes invested in the world. In other words, Shechinah is that aspect of G-dliness invested in the world, through which the world and its natural order appear to be a reality. That is Shechinah, invested through Malchus. What is the face of the Shechinah? It is the inner dimension of the Shechinah. And what does that mean? It means recognizing that nature is G-dliness. Recognizing that nature is G-dliness. If we look at nature on its own, since Malchus comes through concealments and all kinds of tzimtzumim, and the Divine life-force is invested in the world through those tzimtzumim, then when we look at the world, we see nature. From that, a

02:36 person can make a mistake: thinking that nature is a reality in its own right and attaching importance to it. Yes, thinking that one needs to be immersed in the workings of nature and in material concerns, and so on. We need to recognize the face of the Shechinah—to know the inner dimension of all of nature. Nature is G-dliness. Within this itself, there are two levels. One level is knowing that nature is G-dliness. In other words, nature remains nature, but a person sees that it isn’t something that happens automatically on its own, G-d forbid; it is a Divine phenomenon, brought about by Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is a higher level. Seeing the face of the Shechinah means seeing that nature, Elokim, and Havayah are all one. Not only is nature G-dliness, but nature itself is above nature: Hakadosh Boruch Hu directs nature through His providence, directing it in a way that transcends nature. In other words, nature isn’t really what it appears to be; it comes about in a way that transcends nature. This is the concept of Havayah Elokim, as explained in Chassidus: to see, within the natural order of creation, the boundlessness and what transcends nature. Then we see individual Divine providence and a tangible revelation of G-dliness in our personal lives. How do we reach this? By engaging in Torah study in Eretz Yisroel. What does that mean? The maamar explains that it means studying the inner dimension of Torah—Chassidus. After all, Chassidus explains this whole idea to us. The entire point of Chassidus is to explain how nature is G-dliness. And more than that, how nature is not only G-dliness associated with the name Elokim, but is Havayah, which transcends nature. That is what it means to engage in Torah study in Eretz Yisroel. By studying Torah in Eretz Yisroel—

04:32 that is the inner dimension of Torah. That is the difference between Torah outside Eretz Yisroel and Torah in Eretz Yisroel: the revealed dimension of Torah speaks about physical things, while the inner dimension of Torah speaks openly about G-dliness. That is why it is called Eretz Yisroel, because there G-dliness is revealed. So by studying the inner dimension of Torah, Chassidus, which speaks openly about G-dliness, one can come to see the face of the Shechinah: to look at the world and see the G-dliness within its natural order, and beyond that, to see Havayah—what transcends nature. According to this, the meaning of the verse is, “Seek Hashem and His strength; seek His face always.” What does it mean? A person needs to seek. What does “seek” mean? It means to search. Or it can also mean to ask. The maamar speaks about both in connection with prayer. In prayer, a person asks and pleads; he prays to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and asks to see G-dliness. And he also searches for it. He doesn’t only ask for it; he searches for it through contemplation and study. He searches for the G-dliness within nature, for Havayah within Elokim. So, “Seek Hashem and His strength”—this is the power and strength that come from the name Havayah, giving us the ability to search for Him. “Seek His face always” means searching for the inner dimension. That is the idea of the inner dimension of Torah: through it, to search for the inner dimension of each and every thing. To search for G-dliness. To search for boundlessness, for what transcends nature. To search for the inner dimension always. The Rebbe asks: Why does it say “always”? He explains that when a person searches for G-dliness, every time he reaches something, he senses that there is still more, because G-dliness is

06:27 boundless. Havayah represents the infinite, the boundless. So each time I rise to a certain level in my understanding and begin to see that the world is not a reality in the way it appears, that there is Divine kindness in creation—that is one level. After that, I come to realize that G-dliness is still higher than this. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is above and beyond even that. In other words, there are many levels to the world’s bittul before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So at every stage of his understanding, a Jew discovers more of an inner dimension that has no end—the inner dimension of the G-dliness within creation, the face of the Shechinah. That is why it says “always”: we are constantly searching and constantly reaching a higher level. And that leads into the continuation of the verses. What comes next here? All these verses keep making the same point. What are the opening verses of the prayers talking about? They establish the foundation of all prayer: a person needs to contemplate creation, contemplate the world, and see the purpose of creation—to see Hakadosh Boruch Hu and reveal the G-dliness within creation. That was the point at the beginning. We spoke about knowing that there is what transcends nature, and there is the name Elokim, invested in nature, and that the two need to be joined together. “Sing to Him; make music to Him.” We discussed in previous classes that this means joining the G-dliness invested in the world with the G-dliness that transcends the world—always joining Havayah and Elokim. The same applies within the person, to the animal soul and the G-dly soul: to join them so that the animal soul, too, will have love for Hashem. Joining the animal and G-dly souls—that is the idea of “Sing to Him; make music to Him.”

08:13 So along these lines, here too he says, “and His strength”: a person needs to seek Havayah. Not to be satisfied with nature alone, or with faith alone, or even with the understanding that nature itself is G-dly. Rather, a person needs to reveal Havayah within nature—the G-dliness that is above nature. He continues: “Remember His wonders that He has done, His miracles and the judgments of His mouth.” Now he turns to the Jewish people. A Jew is expected not to be satisfied, in his understanding, with nature or with the G-dliness within creation. Rather, his understanding must lead him to Havayah, to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a way of “there is nothing else besides Him,” entirely beyond any connection to the world, and to reach true bittul before Havayah. That is possible only for a Jew. The nations cannot reach this level. Only a Jew has a connection to what is above nature, and that is what he begins to explain throughout the following verses. He addresses the Jewish people, who have continually seen how Hakadosh Boruch Hu guides them above nature. It begins: “Remember His wonders that He has done, His miracles and the judgments of His mouth, the seed of Israel His servant, the children of Yaakov His chosen ones.” Looking at the Jewish people, we see Hashem’s guidance from the very beginning of their history. [unclear] He begins here with the whole story from the start of the Jewish people’s existence. Throughout, Hashem guided them through wonders and miracles—that is, above nature. For a Jew is expected to live above nature, so that G-dliness as it is above nature shines within him. He is expected not to be satisfied with yichuda tata’ah, with the bittul of an independently existing being, but to reach bittul bimetzius. In other words,

10:03 to reach a connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, with G-dliness that is above the world. So he says to the Jewish people: Remember the wonders. “And the judgments of His mouth, the seed of Israel His servant, the children of Yaakov His chosen ones.” He then goes through the following verses in order, describing the entire course of the Jewish people’s history and how they were guided above nature. All of this comes at the beginning of davening, to bring us into the atmosphere of davening and what a Jew needs to know. And Hodu is about acknowledgment. He does not yet understand the subject, but Hodu means at least acknowledging the truth: that Havayah, [unclear], is above nature.