Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 4 - Part 4

00:01 The Alter Rebbe is speaking here about the garments of thought, speech, and action. He explains that the soul’s faculties of the divine soul, though they themselves are not so much a matter of mitzvos—mitzvos belong primarily to the garments—nevertheless become invested in the garments and give them life. He also speaks about the attribute of love, which is invested primarily in doing good, in the 248 positive mitzvos. And the attribute of fear is invested primarily in being careful not to transgress the prohibitions. He explained that this is fear of rebelling against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why does a person take care not to commit any transgression? What is the inner feeling, the life behind it? It is that he contemplates that there is a King, the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that with every transgression he commits, he rebels against the King. He does not want to rebel against the King. He is afraid to rebel. Now, when we speak of fear here, we do not necessarily mean fear of punishment. We mean fear of rebelling. He is afraid of the rebellion itself. He fears being a rebel against the King. He does not want to be a rebel against the King. The very idea of rebellion against the King is what frightens him. He therefore avoids anything that could constitute rebellion, primarily the 365 prohibitions. That is one point. Here the Alter Rebbe adds: “Or a more inward fear than this.” There is another kind of fear, one that also gives life to the avodah of turning away from evil, but is more inward. We will soon see why it is called more inward. He says: “Or a more inward fear than this, in which he is ashamed before His greatness.” Here the fear is not fear of rebellion.

02:24 Here the fear is that he feels ashamed—“ashamed before His greatness.” He is ashamed before the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is, he contemplates the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere, and he feels ashamed before His greatness. He is ashamed “to defy the eyes of His glory and do what is evil in His eyes.” He is ashamed to do something that is not good in the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what it means to defy Him and do what is evil in His eyes. He does not want to do what is evil in the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “All the abominations of Hashem that He hates.” What are the things that are evil in His eyes? They are all those things called “the abominations of Hashem that He hates”—all the things that Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates. “They are the kelipos and sitra achra, which draw their sustenance from man below.” This refers to the kelipos and sitra achra, the things that Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates. And these things receive life; they “draw their sustenance from man below.” All these aspects of the kelipos and sitra achra receive life from a person. Where do the kelipos and sitra achra get their life? From the life a person has. “And they gain a hold on him through the 365 prohibitions.” The kelipos and sitra achra gain a hold on a person and receive life from him through the 365 prohibitions. So when he contemplates that by doing wrong things, he causes the kelipos and sitra achra—the things Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates—to receive life, he feels ashamed. He is ashamed to do such a thing to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to give life to things that Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates. He therefore avoids anything connected with a transgression. So what is the difference between this fear and the previous fear? And why is this one called a more inward fear? There are two

04:30 aspects to this: first, the contemplation that brings about the fear, and second, the result that comes from it. I’ll start with the contemplation. In the first contemplation, I reflect that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King. Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, I do not want to rebel against Him; I do not want to rebel against the King. In other words, the feeling here is: I do not want to do something that constitutes rebellion against Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A transgression is rebellion against Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and I do not want to rebel against Him. The second contemplation is deeper. Here he is “ashamed before His greatness.” In other words, a basic contemplation is not enough here. For the first one, a more external contemplation is enough: he knows that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, without going into the details. We do not get into that here. The basic point is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, the King of kings, and I am the servant. So I must not rebel against the King. That contemplation has just one point: since He is King and I am the servant, I must be careful not to rebel against the King, not to act against the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In the second contemplation, it is no longer enough that He is King. He adds something to the contemplation: he is “ashamed before His greatness.” First of all, he contemplates not just the King, but His greatness. He does not stop at the fact that He is King; he goes into the details—that the King is not just any king, but a great King. And this matters here, even though the Rebbe does not go into it now; elsewhere in Chassidus it is explained at length. What does it mean to be “ashamed before His greatness”? After contemplating the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he contemplates that this greatness is here. This greatness is not in the seventh heaven. This greatness, this great King, is here, down here, down here

06:32 with me, and that is why it arouses shame. If I contemplated that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is great, but to me that greatness was somewhere else, it would not place any demand on me. It would not make me feel ashamed. Rather, as we explained—and as the Tzemach Tzedek also adds here—it is, of course, in the wording of Tanya as well: “the eyes of His glory.” That means He is here. The emphasis is not only that he contemplates His greatness. As we explained, he contemplates His greatness and that this greatness, this great Hakadosh Boruch Hu, is here before my eyes. That already brings about a feeling of shame. That is why it is called a more inward fear: the contemplation here is simply more inward, and it is also much closer to the person. It is not merely the external fact that He is King. Here the contemplation goes further into the details, further inward, further into the nature of the King. And we will get to the contemplation involved in this. There is also a difference in the result. What is the difference? When I contemplate only that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, I do not want to rebel against the King. That affects me only with regard to not doing things that constitute rebellion—the 248, the 365 prohibitions, meaning things that really are rebellion: actual prohibitions. But there are things that are not actually prohibited. There are permitted things that are not done for the sake of Heaven. Can you say that this is rebellion against the King? It is not rebellion. A person wants to eat, play, enjoy things that are not for the sake of Heaven, not for the health of his body—just to eat out of desire. The food is kosher; it is permitted, boruch Hashem. All well and good. So can we say he has rebelled against the King? We cannot. Yet it is kelipah, as the Alter Rebbe will explain later: even permitted things are kelipah and sitra achra.

08:31 Anything that is not nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—anything that is not completely nullified to Him—is also kelipah, the kelipah of sitra achra. So by doing that, I add life to the kelipah. If my only concern is not to rebel against the King, I can say: I’m not rebelling against the King. If I eat ice cream, if I eat something tasty, I still won’t be rebelling against the King. But if I have a more inward concern—that I would be ashamed before His greatness—and I know this is not what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants, then even though it isn’t outright rebellion, it isn’t His will. It is kelipah and sitra achra, and it is something Hashem hates. Even permissible things, when they are not for the sake of Heaven, he won’t do out of shame. So we see the difference in the wording of Tanya; it is precise. When the Alter Rebbe gives the first explanation, he says “to rebel against the King of kings of kings.” But afterward, when he speaks about the deeper fear, he says “to offend His glorious eyes.” To offend His glorious eyes. That isn’t rebellion. It isn’t “to rebel”; it is “to offend.” It means causing bitterness, causing—how should I put it?—dissatisfaction. It causes displeasure to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It isn’t rebellion; it is displeasure. In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not pleased that you are giving life to matters of kelipah. And the Alter Rebbe continues. This is how I heard it. Then the Alter Rebbe goes on to say: “And not do evil in His eyes.” What does “and not do evil in His eyes” mean? The straightforward meaning is as we explained: when you contemplate that this great Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present right here below, before you,

10:24 right there in front of your eyes, that brings a person to feel shame. He knows he is before His eyes. The Alter Rebbe explains this in the kuntres. He bases this whole analogy on what we say in davening every day: “And may we never be ashamed or humiliated, forever and ever.” The Alter Rebbe says there is a matter of shame here. Say a person is in a room and thinks no one is watching, no one else is there; he is alone. So he starts doing all kinds of silly things. He talks to himself, dances, jumps, makes faces—all sorts of silly things. Suddenly he turns around and sees his friend standing behind him, watching. He feels terribly embarrassed. The Alter Rebbe says in the kuntres that this is the meaning of being “humiliated forever and ever”: a time will come when we become aware. It happens to everyone. It says that before one’s passing, this happens to every person: suddenly he sees the truth. Hakadosh Boruch Hu shows him the truth—that the Shechinah is here. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here; the Infinite Light is here before his eyes. And suddenly he realizes that he has been acting like a fool in front of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That causes tremendous shame. It says this is revealed to a person shortly before his passing. That is why the pain is so great. It says that among the greatest cries, cries we cannot hear, are those of a person before he passes away. It is the greatest pain, because then he is ashamed of everything he has done: he realizes that Hakadosh Boruch Hu was beside him the whole time. But through contemplation—that is what the Alter Rebbe is saying—we must reflect that this is actually how it is all the time. He contemplates His greatness, and that He is present right here below.

12:07 So then, then he acts. He knows he is doing evil in His eyes. There’s some confusion here. And I heard this—Reb Gringlass used to say it in the name of Rabbi Tzvi the Maggid—about the meaning of “doing evil in His eyes.” He would explain it this way: the Siddur discusses hashgachah pratis, and Torah Or, Parshas Vayeira, discusses it at length. It explains that hashgachah pratis is called “the eyes of Havayah.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu watches over every single detail, and through that watchfulness He gives that thing life. Hashgachah is—through hashgachah a created being is... How does he put it there? That is called “the eyes of Havayah.” It says, “The eyes of Havayah range throughout the entire earth.” So the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu are His watchfulness: He watches over every detail and gives it life through that watchfulness. Yes. It follows that when a person commits a transgression, does something wrong, something forbidden, he is doing evil “in His eyes.” The meaning isn’t just that he does evil while Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s eyes are watching. He does evil to the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In Yiddish: “He pokes Him in the eyes.” It is as though he is poking Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the eyes, because His eyes are here—His watchfulness over everything. And I use my free choice to act against the will of G-d. So I do evil in the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, within His watchfulness, within the life given by the One Who gives life to and watches over everything. That is where I do the evil. So that is “evil in His eyes”: I do it within the eyes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is as if I am poking Him in the eye, G-d forbid. That is the meaning.

13:49 “To do evil in His eyes.” After that, the Alter Rebbe continues: “Every abomination of Hashem that He hates”—these are the kelipos and sitra achra, which draw their sustenance from man below. When a person commits a transgression, what is happening? He says it is “an abomination of Hashem that He hates.” What does that refer to? It refers to all the kelipos and sitra achra. As we said, this includes not only forbidden things but also permissible things; they too are “an abomination of Hashem that He hates.” “Which draw their sustenance from man below and have a hold on him.” What does it mean that they draw their sustenance from man below? It is explained in the Siddur that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the kelipos at the beginning of Creation. But as He created them, they are, in themselves, the lowest and most inferior of created things. They have almost no life-force, only what is absolutely necessary, and they are at the very bottom of the levels, below all the worlds. Yes, that is what the kelipos are like as they exist by virtue of Creation: they are beneath everything else. A person has the power, though, when he transgresses one of the 365 prohibitions, to give life to the kelipos. By doing so, he lifts them up, elevates them, gives them life and gives them strength—life-force. That is the meaning of their drawing sustenance from man below. All the abundance and life-force the kelipos have comes from man below. Yes. So what follows? When a person commits a transgression, what is he doing at that moment? He is giving life. He is encouraging, supplying life-force to, and strengthening the very things Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates. He takes things Hakadosh Boruch Hu hates and strengthens them, gives them sustenance. When you reflect on that, it is the greatest shame. You take the

15:52 Hashem is right here. Hashem is right before your eyes, and at that very moment you’re giving life to Hashem’s enemies. You’re strengthening Hashem’s enemies. That itself is part of being ashamed before His greatness. What is he ashamed to do? Something that strengthens Hashem’s enemies. That’s the point here. There’s a story connected to this idea of strengthening the king’s enemy, and the great shame in doing so. It’s a very interesting story about one of the great chassidim. There was a period, in the time of the Rebbe Maharash, when there was a major dispute between Lubavitch and Kapust. After the Tzemach Tzedek passed away, there was Lubavitch and there was Kapust, and there was opposition and conflict. It wasn’t an easy situation. Of course, the chassidim of the Rebbe Maharash were attached to the Rebbe Maharash and wanted nothing to do with Kapust. To them, Kapust was, you might say, completely off-limits. In any case, what happened? After the Rebbe Maharash passed away—he passed away in 5643—one of the great chassidim traveled to Kapust for Shabbos. Not because he wanted to become a Kapust chossid, but because he wanted to see how they conducted themselves. So he went to Kapust for one Shabbos. He was one of the great chassidim, a great chossid and a great mashpia, and so on. But he wanted

18:23 to see how they conducted themselves. Word of it got around among the students, the chassidim, the people there: the chassidim found out that he had gone to Kapust. When he came back, they began making his life miserable. “What do you mean? How could you go to Kapust?” They started criticizing him. But this chossid was strong-willed. He maintained that he hadn’t done anything wrong. He had gone to Kapust because he wanted to see how they davened and how they learned Chassidus. He hadn’t gone there to become attached to them; he just wanted to take a look. What had he done wrong? What was his offense? There was a whole uproar. They did all sorts of things to him; the chassidim wouldn’t let him into the shul. They gave him a hard time. But nothing helped. He stood by his position that what he’d done was perfectly fine. He had only gone to Kapust to see for himself. Then Sukkos came. At a farbrengen on Saturday night, one of the young men, himself a chassidishe Jew, said to him after taking some mashke, “Imagine your father had someone who hated him. Would you go visit that person just to see how he conducts himself?” When he said that, it touched him deeply. He burst into tears, and then he went to the Rebbe Rashab to ask how he could make amends for having gone to Kapust. What does that mean? All the explanations and arguments hadn’t touched him. But when he realized that this was about someone who hated his father,

20:40 it affected him so deeply that he understood he had done something wrong. Along these lines, there are also many lessons for serving Hashem. But that’s not our subject right now; it’s simply relevant to our point. Yes. We have to know that when it comes to kelipah and the sitra achra, beyond all the other considerations, there is this awareness: this is something my Father hates. Hashem hates it. And if I’m involved in it, I’m giving life to things Hashem hates. I’m adding life to things He hates with the utmost hatred. That should move a person to feel ashamed to do those things. That’s the general point. Now, two more things, and then we’ll get to the specifics.