Tzitzis and the angel Michael

00:03 Speaker 1 There is a note by the Tzemach Tzedek on the subject of tzitzis. There is a book called Kitzurim Vehe’aros on Tanya by the Tzemach Tzedek. It contains notes and summaries that the Tzemach Tzedek wrote on Tanya, and it was published back in the time of the Frierdiker Rebbe. The Rebbe published it and added sources and notes. In 5749, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah 5750, it was 200 years since the Tzemach Tzedek’s birth. So the Rebbe republished it in a beautiful edition and distributed it on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. The night before the eve of Rosh Hashanah is the Tzemach Tzedek’s birthday. The Rebbe stood for hours and hours, giving everyone this book as a memento of the Tzemach Tzedek’s 200th birthday. I was privileged to receive it. Unfortunately, I lost my copy. In any case, there is a note there by the Tzemach Tzedek. Among other things, he explains the importance of mitzvos and how a mitzvah draws down from a level above seder hishtalshelus, the ordered chain of spiritual worlds. He explains the rest of the subject of mitzvos as well. Then he quotes the Baal Shem Tov as saying—some say it was before his passing; that is how they say the Tzemach Tzedek—the Baal Shem Tov, sorry—said it before he passed away. It does not say that there, but I think it says elsewhere that it was shortly before his passing. The Baal Shem Tov said that even the angel Michael, the greatest of the angels, would give up all his knowledge and understanding of G-dliness. The angel Michael is known to be the greatest angel within seder hishtalshelus. Yes, the high priest, the minister of Israel. He has many of the most important roles. So even the angel Michael, the greatest angel, would give up—give away; that also explains what “give up” means—all his knowledge and understanding of G-dliness, even for just one tzitzis

02:28 Speaker 1 out of the four tzitzis that every Jew has. Do you hear that? The angel Michael. If they gave him just one tzitzis from the four corners—not a tallis katan, just one tzitzis from the four corners—he would be willing, in order to receive one tzitzis from a Jew, to give up, to relinquish all the knowledge and understanding of the angel Michael’s spiritual levels. That is what the Baal Shem Tov said. Shortly before his passing, he wanted to express the greatness of the mitzvah of tzitzis. So the question is—well, that’s [unclear]. Now, in the Rebbe’s notes on the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe addresses this. It’s very interesting. Generally, the Rebbe’s notes are sources, one line or half a line. Here there is a whole discussion, as you can see. Yes, almost a page in which the Rebbe tries to explain what it means. First of all, why specifically use tzitzis as the example? Second, why specifically the angel Michael? All right, he is the greatest of the angels. But what is the point? Is there some special connection? Third, what does “one tzitzis” mean? Does one tzitzis have value on its own? A tallis katan, fine—that is a complete mitzvah. But one tzitzis from the four corners is a quarter of a mitzvah. What is the point here? All of this needs to be understood. So it’s very interesting: four points through which the Rebbe explains it wonderfully. This is a letter, a note the Rebbe wrote even before he assumed the leadership, and here you can see the Rebbe’s genius in both the revealed and the mystical dimensions of Torah. So first, the Rebbe cites the Gemara in Menachos. There is a dispute in the Gemara in Menachos, page 28: Is the mitzvah of tzitzis one mitzvah or four mitzvos? Yes, it is a dispute among the Tannaim. In other words, we have four corners—is that one mitzvah or four mitzvos? In any case, there is an opinion, Rabbi Yishmael’s, that holds that the four

04:37 Speaker 1 corners are four mitzvos. In other words, every time I put on a tallis katan, I fulfill four mitzvos. That is not the practical halachah, but Rabbi Yishmael holds that way. In any case, we see that there is a source. After all, “these and those are the words of the living G-d,” so even one tzitzis from the four corners can be considered a complete mitzvah. That is what it implies. There is such an opinion in the Mishnah. But why specifically the mitzvah of tzitzis? What is the reason? Why did the Baal Shem Tov, to convey the extraordinary greatness of mitzvos and how the angel Michael would be willing to give everything up for a tzitzis, choose tzitzis specifically? Why not tefillin? What did he see specifically in tzitzis? So look at how the Rebbe discusses it in this note. First, the Rebbe cites a Gemara in Menachos, page 41. The Gemara in Menachos, page 41a, relates that Rav Ketina was an Amora—his name was Rav Ketina. Some say Rav Ketina was Rav Zeira. Yes, he was called Rav Ketina and later Rav Zeira. The two names mean the same thing: Ketina and Zeira have the same meaning. In the Babylonian Talmud they called him one name, and in the Jerusalem Talmud the other. In any case, Rav Ketina. The Gemara relates that Rav Ketina was walking in the marketplace wearing a garment that was exempt from tzitzis. Some kind of cloth—he was wearing a garment that was exempt from tzitzis. An angel met him, and the angel was very upset with him. The angel said to him, “What is this? You aren’t fulfilling the mitzvah of tzitzis!” At first, Rav Ketina explained that it was exempt from tzitzis: it was a nighttime garment, or this kind of garment, or a garment that was not square, that did not have four corners, that was rounded on one side. All sorts of explanations under halachah for why it was exempt. Then the angel finally said to him, “I didn’t ask you whether tzitzis

06:27 Speaker 1 are required on the garment. I asked about you. Why are you looking for an excuse? You’re looking for excuses to get out of it. A mitzvah as important as tzitzis, and you’re looking for an excuse to avoid it.

06:40 Speaker 2 How precious is it to you?”

06:41 Speaker 1 Who was that? An angel from Heaven. Look, the Gemara says the angel was upset. He wanted to punish him. Yes. So we see from this that angels have a particular concern about tzitzis. Angels care deeply about tzitzis. It is a story in the Gemara. So we understand from this that there is a special connection: this mitzvah is very important to the angels, to the point that the angel was upset with Rav Ketina. Although Rav Ketina did, in fact, have a halachic basis for not wearing it, the angel’s objection was not about the halachah. He argued that tzitzis is important and a Jew should take care to observe it. So we see a source in the revealed dimension of Torah that angels have a certain—what do you call it, how do you say it—a certain sensitivity specifically to the mitzvah of tzitzis. The question itself is: Why? Why specifically? Why do angels have this sensitivity to the mitzvah of tzitzis? So the Rebbe says as follows. The Gemara says—the well-known Gemara in Sotah, in Menachos, and in several places concerning tzitzis—that tzitzis contain techeiles. Yes. And techeiles resembles the sea, the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory. You know that Gemara, right? The techeiles of the tzitzis resembles one thing after another until we reach the Throne of Glory. So, in effect, tzitzis symbolize the Throne of Glory. Yes. Now, because the angels stand before the Throne of Glory—as it says in the verse in Yeshayahu, when he saw the vision of the Divine Chariot: “I saw Hashem sitting on a throne,” yes, “Seraphim stood above Him”—the whole idea of the angels is that they stand around the Throne of Glory, and they see the throne itself. The techeiles of the tzitzis only resembles it: techeiles resembles the sea, the sea resembles the sky, and the sky resembles the Throne of Glory. Ultimately, the whole purpose is to reach the Throne

09:00 Speaker 1 the Throne of Glory in order to awaken fear of Heaven. That is the point of tzitzis: they bring a person to fear of Heaven. The Rebbe also brings this in Tanya, chapter 41. The explanation here is that tzitzis represent the spreading forth of kingship. That is the point: the whole purpose of tzitzis is to bring about fear of Heaven, and the Throne of Glory is bound up with awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The angels, after all, stand before the Throne itself. They see the Throne itself; they do not need images of it. That is what is remarkable here. So, first of all, this explains why the angels are particular about tzitzis. Since the angels’ whole existence is standing before the Throne of Glory, they stand in awe and bittul before it. The Rebbe says that we see this plainly: when a person has a particular area of strength, something special that he lives with, it matters more to him, and it bothers him more when he sees someone who is not absorbed in it. We see this plainly, yes. A person who lives with Torah study, a Jew who has never stopped learning day and night and feels the pleasure, the sweetness, the geshmak of Torah—when he sees people not learning, it bothers him. It is hard for him. As with us, Rabbi [unclear] complained many times: Why do the bochurim waste time they could spend learning Torah? He cannot understand how anyone could do that. Torah is such a sweet thing. So when a person has something that, for him, is so... With the angels, since the Throne of Glory is their level, it is their whole concern, and tzitzis are an image of an image of an image of the Throne of Glory, that means tzitzis must ultimately

10:49 Speaker 1 bring a person to it. That is why this matter is so important to them. And when the angel saw Rav Ketina without tzitzis, it bothered him. Tzitzis in particular bothered him more. But this also lets us understand just how remarkable the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching is. That is what he wanted to say. This is the wonder of it: although the angel Michael stands before the Throne of Glory and has the very source of tzitzis—what does he need tzitzis for? He has the Throne of Glory itself. He stands before the Throne of Glory, while tzitzis are only an image of an image of an image. Nevertheless, he was prepared to give up his whole connection to the Throne of Glory to embrace, to receive a single tzitzis of a good Jew. So this gives us a little more geshmak, a deeper sense of the great virtue of this matter, and of why it is specifically tzitzis. Another point—and this is the third point—will also explain why it is one of the four tzitzis. Why did he speak specifically of one tzitzis? Here comes the third point. The Zohar says—you following?—that the four tzitzis correspond to the four legs of the Merkavah, because the Throne of Glory also has four legs. There is also the Merkavah, with its four faces. These are different levels—the Merkavah, the Throne of Glory—but in each case there are four: the four legs, the legs of the Merkavah, the faces of the Merkavah, and so on. The angels are associated with the four legs of the Merkavah. As is known, there are four angels, meaning four groups, like the tribes. There were four banners, right? To the east, west, north and south. Those banners reflected what exists above: just as there are four groups of angels in heaven, the tribes were divided into four groups of banners, each of which

12:47 Speaker 1 had three tribes. Who are the four groups of angels? Their names form the acronym Gemara: Gavriel, Michael, Raphael and Uriel. Those are the four groups of angels.

13:04 Speaker 3 Who was the third one?

13:05 Speaker 1 Uriel. Those are the four angels. Michael is the angel on the right side. Gavriel is the angel on the left side. Raphael is in the middle, above, right? East is Tiferes, and Uriel is Malchus; he is below. Malchus is west. East, west, north, south—that’s... Sorry, I said east. What did I...? I think I got mixed up. Michael, on the right, is south. South is the right, Chessed. Gavriel is on the left; that is north, Gevurah. East is Tiferes, Raphael, and Uriel is Malchus, the west. Yes. Did I get that right? In any case, Michael is one side of the Merkavah. In other words, he is one tzitzis, since the four tzitzis correspond to the four legs of the Merkavah, which correspond to the four groups of angels. It follows that Michael is only one side, one tzitzis. So Michael says that although he is one leg of the Merkavah, corresponding to one tzitzis, one corner bearing tzitzis, he would give up that leg of his Merkavah for the tzitzis brought about through a Jew’s avodah. Do you understand? You see how precise it all is. But what is the real reason for this? That is what the Rebbe adds as the fourth point. Because the word in... Ah, there is another point first. What is superior about mitzvos? Why would Michael really give up everything for a mitzvah? Because a mitzvah draws down something from above the chain of spiritual worlds. The entire Merkavah is within that chain. A mitzvah, tzitzis, draws down something from above it. So the Rebbe says that one further detail can be added here: Why specifically tzitzis? He wants to bring out something remarkable about tzitzis. Although tzitzis are associated with hairs—anyone who has ever learned Derech Mitzvosecha on the mitzvah of tzitzis knows that tzitzis are threads. Threads symbolize the light that fills all

15:32 Speaker 1 worlds, hairs, and tzimtzumim. I might have thought, then, that tzitzis are a matter of tzimtzumim, of descent. But no: the mitzvah of tzitzis draws down the encompassing light from above the chain of spiritual worlds. That itself is brought down here below, and that is why the angel Michael is prepared to give up his entire spiritual level for a single tzitzis. That is more or less the content of the Rebbe’s Reshimah, which the Rebbe wrote to explain what the Tzemach Tzedek quotes in the name of the Baal Shem Tov. Interestingly, for anyone who is interested, there is a sicha of the Rebbe from 19 Kislev 5718. There the Rebbe tells a story he heard from the Frierdiker Rebbe at a 19 Kislev farbrengen, from even before the war. The Frierdiker Rebbe related that one 19 Kislev, if I am not mistaken, was a freylekher Yom Tov—a particularly joyous Yom Tov—for the Alter Rebbe. In other words, it was a particularly joyous 19 Kislev. Ordinarily, 19 Kislev was a Yom Tov; a particularly joyous Yom Tov means a particularly joyous 19 Kislev. The nineteenth, Rosh Chodesh Teves—Yom Tov in any case. So the Rebbe relates what the Frierdiker Rebbe told. Are you listening? Yes? It was 19 Kislev. The Alter Rebbe was very happy, and he called his three sons into his room: the Mitteler Rebbe, Rabbi—what was his name?—Chaim Avraham and Rabbi Moshe. The three sons, and also his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek. The Tzemach Tzedek was then under twenty, close to twenty years old. In any case, he called in the three sons and his grandson, the Tzemach Tzedek. The Alter Rebbe was in a state of profound deveikus. Then he emerged from his deveikus and asked just one question: What is the difference between a maskil and an oved? What is the difference between a maskil and an oved? He asked them to explain to him the difference between a maskil and an oved. So the Mitteler Rebbe offered one explanation. Chaim Avraham said

17:53 Speaker 1 A second explanation, and Rabbi Moshe gave a third explanation. Then the Alter Rebbe said: The Mitteler Rebbe explained what a maskil and an oved are in the World of Beriah. Chaim Avraham explained what a maskil and an oved are in the World of Yetzirah. Rabbi Moshe explained what a maskil and an oved are in the World of Asiyah. But what are a maskil and an oved in Atzilus? At that point, the Alter Rebbe entered a state of deveikus, and then he said that the difference between a maskil and an oved in Atzilus is this: “Is there a delight in tzitzis, or is there a delight in doing someone a favor?” That is the difference between a maskil and an oved. A maskil is someone who finds delight and pleasure in tzitzis. An oved in Atzilus is a person who finds delight and pleasure in doing a favor for a Jew. That is the whole avodah. That is the story. The Rebbe told it in 5718, and then, of course, the Rebbe gave an explanation—a broad, wonderful explanation, as only the Rebbe could—of the story. What does it mean? What is this? What is the meaning of a maskil and an oved? What do tzitzis have to do with it? What does an oved have to do with it? So the Rebbe said something very interesting. I’ll give the main points briefly. The Rebbe says: The World of Atzilus is a world of G-dliness—yichuda ila’ah, oneness. Yichuda ila’ah is Atzilus, the world of unity. Every soul has a connection to Atzilus, because souls come from Atzilus, even a soul within a body. Every Jew has the ability to reveal within himself this aspect of Atzilus, the soul of Atzilus, particularly through his connection to Moshe Rabbeinu, and so on. And particularly the Alter Rebbe: It is known that he was a soul of Atzilus. As is known from the sichos, the Alter Rebbe was a soul of Atzilus here below, much as it says about Moshe Rabbeinu. We are studying this very thing in [unclear]. It says that Moshe Rabbeinu was a soul of Atzilus here below, and it says this about the Alter Rebbe as well.

19:59 Speaker 1 So the Alter Rebbe, who revealed Chabad Chassidus, particularly on 19 Kislev, the Alter Rebbe’s Yom Tov, wanted to explain how every Jew can have the aspect of a maskil and an oved in Atzilus shine within him. Now, what is the difference between a maskil and an oved? A maskil is intellect; an oved is emotions. For a person who is a maskil in Chassidus, the main thing is intellectual understanding—the mind, Chabad. For a person who is an oved, the main thing is avodah, the emotions. That is the difference. The difference between intellectual understanding and avodah is also the difference between intellect and emotions. Intellect is a form of ratzo—separation, distance. In simple terms, a person whose strength is intellect is always in a movement of ascent. He wants to rise higher, understand more, delve more deeply. He detaches himself from the world. His movement is upward. An oved, by contrast, is a person whose strength is in the emotions, and there it is the opposite. Emotions mean coming down: doing a favor for a Jew, giving, sharing with others. In other words, in the language of Chassidus, these are called ratzo and shov. Intellect naturally tends toward ratzo, deveikus and elevation. Its nature is to rise. Emotions naturally tend toward shov, toward coming down. Accordingly, this is what the Alter Rebbe wanted to say: Why does the maskil find delight in tzitzis? What are tzitzis? As we said earlier, tzitzis are connected with the merkavah. There is the techeiles of the tzitzis, and techeiles is connected with ascent. Tzitzis are connected with yiras Shamayim. The movement of tzitzis, which symbolize the four levels of the merkavah, symbolizes the supernal merkavah, the living beings of the merkavah: the desire to be absorbed in G-dliness, to rise, to detach oneself and stand apart. [Unclear]. Two lofty kisses. Chassidus explains that techeiles is related to the word kilayon, a yearning to be consumed. It is the soul’s thirst and longing for G-dliness. So tzitzis are connected with the maskil. This is what the Alter Rebbe is saying: The maskil’s chief delight, the thing he lives for, is tzitzis, because tzitzis represent a movement

22:05 Speaker 1 of ascent, a movement of the merkavah, a movement of [unclear]. The Rebbe cites the account from the Gemara that we mentioned earlier: The angels were particular about tzitzis because angels, too, have ratzo and a thirst to ascend. “Seraphim stand above Him.” Angels are constantly in a natural state of ratzo and ascent; they want to be absorbed in the infinite light. That is why this aspect is found among the angels. What are tzitzis? Intellectual contemplation. An oved, by contrast, is concerned with drawing down, with shov—with bringing things from above to below and giving to others. So the oved says: What is the purpose? To do a favor for a Jew. To draw G-dliness down here. To seek out a Jew and do him a favor, materially and spiritually. And this was the Alter Rebbe’s way. The Rebbe concludes the sicha by saying that, particularly on 19 Kislev, we see both extremes in the Alter Rebbe. On the one hand, the Alter Rebbe revealed the inner dimension of Torah, the deepest concepts in Chassidus—intellectual understanding, tzitzis, [unclear]. That is the whole significance of 19 Kislev: the inner dimension of Torah, its deepest concepts, was revealed to us. At the same time, the Alter Rebbe himself said that the entire reason he merited release from imprisonment—“He redeemed my soul in peace” on 19 Kislev—was the tzedakah he worked so hard to collect and send to Eretz Yisroel, to Colel Chabad. All of that is about doing a favor for a Jew. So the Rebbe says there that we see how, in Chabad Chassidus, our Rebbeim demand both qualities of us: involvement in studying the inner dimension of Torah, its deepest and loftiest concepts—the intellectual understanding of Chassidus, tzitzis—and also doing a favor for a Jew: mivtzoim, spreading the wellsprings, spreading Judaism, even attending to straightforward material needs. This is the approach of a Jew who is a maskil and an oved in Atzilus. So that is another point from the Rebbe. In any case, it completes the subject we have been learning here.