Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 5 - Part 4

00:00 The Alter Rebbe mentions here the Sefer HaChayim[unclear], Shulchan Aruch, section 9, subsection 3, page eighteen. The line that ends with a yud. The last word. After the period. We already read this in the previous class, so let’s read it again. “And this is an additional, great and wondrous advantage, without end, in the mitzvah of knowing and comprehending Torah.” What we just explained about the advantage of learning Torah—the wondrous union brought about through Torah—the Alter Rebbe says is a great and wondrous thing without end, an advantage that knowing and comprehending Torah has over all the practical mitzvos. This is a wondrous advantage Torah has over all the mitzvos: over practical mitzvos, and even over mitzvos that depend on speech. It is not only higher than mitzvos performed through action; it is higher even than a mitzvah performed through speech. Although speech is more spiritual than action, it still does not have this advantage of such a wondrous union. “And even over the mitzvah of Torah study through speech.” It is not only higher than a mitzvah involving speech, such as bentching, reciting Shema, or prayer. There, the main thing is doing it, not so much the wondrous union. He says it is higher even than Torah study through speech. That is Torah study; it is the same subject, the same thing. We are talking about Torah study, but Torah study has two aspects: comprehension and speech. Comprehension has the great and wondrous advantage we have been discussing: the union, a wondrous union unlike any other, in which a Jew becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That happens specifically through comprehending Torah, not through Torah study that consists of speech. “And even over the mitzvah of Torah study through speech.” What exactly is the mitzvah of Torah study through speech? That is

02:31 not so simple. I don’t remember all the details right now, but exactly what constitutes the mitzvah of Torah study through speech is not so simple. When you look at the laws of Torah study, the Alter Rebbe speaks of two mitzvos in Torah study. Anyone who has learned the laws of Torah study knows that the Alter Rebbe discusses this at length and rules, after an extensive discussion, that there are two mitzvos in Torah study. One mitzvah is called knowing Torah, and the other is called “You shall meditate on it.” That is what the Alter Rebbe says. The Alter Rebbe does not cite speech. Ah, “You shall speak of them”—in the plain meaning of the verse, “You shall speak of them” refers to the recitation of Shema, to “Hear, O Israel.” “You shall speak of them” refers more to reciting it. The Sages do say that it also refers to Torah study, but it is hard to say that speech is a Torah mitzvah; that is how it appears from the Alter Rebbe’s laws of Torah study. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe does write “the mitzvah of Torah study through speech.” So take a look, if you like, at the Shulchan Aruch, at the Alter Rebbe’s laws of Torah study. He speaks there of two mitzvos: the mitzvah of knowing Torah, which he discusses, and the mitzvah of “You shall meditate on it.” It appears from the Reshimos that the Rebbe understands the mitzvah of Torah study through speech as referring to “You shall meditate on it.” What is the mitzvah of “You shall meditate on it”? It is not so much a mitzvah of comprehension or knowledge. “You shall meditate on it” means to learn. There is a mitzvah to learn, to learn constantly. “You shall meditate on it”—to review. He has already learned it and already knows it, and he reviews what he learned. So reviewing one’s learning includes reviewing it aloud. He also understands it as he reviews it, but in any event, part of the mitzvah of “You shall meditate on it” is

04:22 learning through speech. I need to look into this. I don’t remember right now. I only remember that somewhere, once, this was discussed at length—what exactly the source for it is. In any case, this is what the Rebbe explains in the Reshimos. Incidentally, the Rebbe uses two expressions here: “the mitzvah of knowing and comprehending Torah.” Why the two expressions, knowing and comprehending Torah? They correspond to the two mitzvos the Rebbe writes about in the laws of Torah study. Knowing Torah is the mitzvah of knowing Torah, while comprehending it refers to “You shall meditate on it.” For “You shall meditate on it” has two elements. There is the speech itself: he learns Torah and says the words. But there is also the review, when he understands what he is learning. That is comprehending it. The Alter Rebbe is referring to the element of comprehension within the second mitzvah, “You shall meditate on it.” At any rate, what is the Rebbe saying here? For our purposes, the Rebbe is saying that the mitzvah of knowing and comprehending Torah has a great and wondrous advantage that Torah study through speech does not have—even Torah study through speech. Why? Because through all the mitzvos performed through speech and action, Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothes the soul and surrounds it with the light of Hashem from head to foot. As with all mitzvos, when a person performs a mitzvah through speech or action, the effect is only encompassing. There is union from just one side, only in an encompassing way: Hakadosh Boruch Hu surrounds the person and clothes him from head to foot. There is an encompassing light, but the inward aspect is missing, so this is only one side of the union. It is a union in an encompassing way, without an inward union. That is only an encompassing relationship. By contrast, in knowing Torah, besides the fact that the intellect is clothed in the wisdom of Hashem—which is an encompassing relationship;

06:26 the intellect being clothed means that Torah surrounds it, that the intellect is clothed in wisdom and the wisdom therefore surrounds it—there is also that encompassing aspect. It also has the advantage of mitzvos, the advantage of being encompassed. But in addition, it has an advantage found only in Torah and not in the mitzvos: His blessed wisdom is within the person. There is also an inward aspect: His blessed wisdom is within him, inside the person. Whatever the intellect can comprehend and grasp and encompass within itself—whatever a person can grasp and comprehend in knowing Torah, when he grasps and understands the Torah, the wisdom he is learning—that part he understands enters him inwardly. So this combination, both encompassing and inward at the same time, exists only in Torah. Only Torah has this advantage: it is not just encompassing but also inward. With a mitzvah, it is only encompassing; the inward aspect is not there. A person can grasp and comprehend Torah according to his intellect and his capacity for knowledge and comprehension. In practice, each person has his own limit to how much he can understand. When he learns what he is able to understand, he becomes united inwardly with that part. This is an advantage found specifically in Torah: this wondrous advantage of an inward union with the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In other words, the advantage of Torah over mitzvos. The Rebbe explains it elsewhere in a slightly different way. Let’s put it like this: a mitzvah is an expression of will. Will is an encompassing faculty. A mitzvah is Divine will. What is will? Will is an encompassing faculty. For example, a master commands a servant to perform a particular action. The master’s will is his own. The servant is not equipped to understand why the master wants it or what purpose it serves. The purpose and the reasons remain with the master. All the servant receives is the outcome, not the thing itself. He receives only the outcome: the master’s command that he perform a particular action. So all he receives from the master is the result of the will. Because the king wants a particular thing, he commands him, and the servant carries out the command. When the servant carries out the command, he becomes united only with the action. The will, however, remains encompassing. It is the master’s will and remains with the master. Its entire expression for the servant takes place only in an encompassing way. The servant does not feel it inwardly. He does not understand why; he cannot grasp it. He is not equipped for it. That is an encompassing relationship; that is will. Torah, by contrast, is wisdom. Torah descends inwardly and is drawn into him; it does not remain outside. It also has an encompassing aspect, as we said, but it also has intellect and wisdom, and wisdom is inward. “Inward” means that it descends, becomes clothed within the person, and becomes part of him, uniting with him inwardly. This inward comprehension exists only in Torah, not in the mitzvos. That is why the Divine illumination drawn down through mitzvos is only encompassing, whereas the Divine illumination drawn down through Torah is inward: it enters the person. So it is both encompassing and inward, both advantages together. That is what the great and wondrous advantage of union means: it exists only in Torah, not in the mitzvos.

08:29 The servant, after all, is not equipped for it. He does not understand or comprehend why the master wants this or what benefit it serves. The benefit and the reasons remain with the master. All the servant receives is the outcome; he does not have the thing itself. He receives only the outcome, that the master commanded him to perform a particular action. So all he receives from the master is the result of the will. Because the king wants a particular thing, he commands him, and the servant carries out the command. When the servant carries out the command—when the servant carries out the command—he becomes united only with the action. The will, however, remains encompassing. It is the master’s will; it remains with the master. And its entire expression for the master—for the servant—takes place only in an encompassing way. The servant does not feel it inwardly. He does not understand why; he cannot grasp it. He is not equipped for it. That is an encompassing relationship; that is will. Torah, by contrast, is wisdom. Torah descends inwardly and is drawn into him; it does not remain outside. It also has an encompassing aspect, as we said, but it also has the aspect of intellect, of wisdom, and wisdom is inward. “Inward” means that it descends, becomes clothed within the person, and becomes part of him, uniting with him inwardly. This inward comprehension exists only in Torah, not in the mitzvos. That is why the Divine illumination drawn down through mitzvos is only encompassing. The Divine illumination drawn down through Torah, by contrast, is inward: it enters the person. So it is both encompassing and inward, both advantages together. That is the meaning of the great and wondrous advantage of this union, which exists only in Torah and not in the mitzvos.

10:15 The Rebbe makes a remarkable point in one of his sichos. He explains that what the Tanya says here about Torah is the basis for understanding the special stature of Torah scholars. It says that when a person studies Torah, he becomes master over the world. “Who are the kings? The rabbis.” A person studies Torah and becomes master over the world. The Rebbe often brings the proof from the verse, “To G-d, Who fulfills for me”: when a beis din rules that a month must be added to the year, a change takes place in the nature of creation. The Gemara discusses the rule that until the age of three, a girl’s virginity can be restored; that changes when she reaches three. So if a girl turned three in Adar, and for some reason the beis din then added another month, she has another month during which her virginity can be restored. Even though she had already turned three, and this is a matter of nature—the nature of creation is that it can be restored only until the age of three—nevertheless, because the beis din added another month, her physical nature changed. That is because Torah has the power to be master over the world: “To G-d, Who fulfills for me.” This is what the Rebbe is discussing. A person who studies Torah becomes master over creation. And the Rebbe explains that the reason for this is what the Tanya says here about Torah. It is specifically through Torah study. A person could perform mitzvos all day long and still not become master over the world. This is something unique to Torah. Why? Because when a person studies Torah, the “wondrous union” of which the Tanya speaks takes place, and he becomes

12:13 one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is master over the world—He says “Let there be,” and it comes into being—the person’s mind, through the wisdom of Torah, becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and therefore he has power over the world. He says something, and that is how it becomes. In other words, when we say that Torah scholars have power over the world, it is a result of Torah being a wondrous union: through it, the person becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There are two well-known stories about the Rogatchover that illustrate this point. The first took place after the Frierdiker Rebbe became Rebbe in 5680. As is known, very early in his leadership, in Cheshvan–Kislev 5681, the Frierdiker Rebbe became gravely ill. It was a life-threatening illness, and the doctors had already completely given up hope. At that time, the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote a pan—a request for a blessing—and sent it to the Rogatchover, asking him to bless him and pray for him. That was remarkable in itself: the Rogatchover was not a Rebbe; he was a rabbi. But the Frierdiker Rebbe sent him the request. The Rogatchover wrote back, explaining according to the revealed dimension of Torah why the illness had occurred. With all the brilliance of his Torah analysis, he explained its cause. It was, G-d forbid, a very severe fever: the body became hot like fire, with an intense heat in the flesh. Those were the particulars of the illness. The Rogatchover explained at length, bringing various proofs from the revealed dimension of Torah, that this illness was a form of libun—purging by fire.

14:18 Libun is something one does to make a vessel new, to renew it. In other words, since the Frierdiker Rebbe had become the nasi, the transition to that role required libun in between. That was the libun. In short, the Rogatchover explained the whole matter according to the revealed dimension of Torah. He then wrote that, by the power of Torah, he decreed that the Frierdiker Rebbe would recover. That is how he ended the letter. They relate that when the Frierdiker Rebbe received the Rogatchover’s letter, he exclaimed, “Ah, that is what it means to be a prince of Torah!” That is the meaning of a prince of Torah: someone with such mastery of Torah that, by its power, he can also rule on what is to happen in the world. That is a prince of Torah. There is another story about the Rogatchover that the Rebbe told, which expresses this same point: through the wondrous union, a person can become master over the world. The Rebbe told this story several times. He said he had heard it from the Rogatchover’s grandson, who had been there when it happened. Two notices arrived from the government on the same day, concerning two different taxes that had to be paid for government matters. The Rogatchover did not read Russian well, so he asked his grandson to explain them to him. After his grandson explained what each tax was for, the Rogatchover said, “This tax has a basis in halachah, so I will pay it. That tax has no basis in halachah, so I will not pay it.” His grandson said to him:

16:11 “Look, the government doesn’t know halachah. If you don’t pay, we’ll have problems.” But the Rogatchover was like that—very firm by nature. He said, “No, no. That’s final.” In short, two days later a letter arrived from the government apologizing for a mistake: one of the taxes did not have to be paid, only the other one. It was exactly what the Rogatchover had said. Since he had ruled that according to Torah the tax did not have to be paid, that is what happened, and a letter arrived from the government exempting him from it. In any case, this is what it means for someone immersed in Torah to be master over the world. The Rebbe explains that the basis for this is what the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya. Through Torah, a person becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is a wondrous union, and therefore he has power. “Who are the kings? The rabbis.” He becomes like the King Himself, like Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. The Rebbe brings another point connected with what the Tanya says here: such a person can also be relied upon. The Rebbe makes an interesting point—that when a person is deeply immersed in Torah, you can rely on him. Since he is united with Torah in a wondrous union, becoming one with the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, you can rely on him when he says something. His mind has become united with the mind of Torah, so you can rely on his reasoning and on the things he says. His mind works in accordance with the wisdom of Torah. Even if he sometimes says he does not know the exact source for something, because of his wondrous union with the wisdom of Torah, he can be relied upon in many matters.

17:50 There are also several stories about this idea: you can rely on a person who has become united with the wisdom of the Torah. His mind becomes like the wisdom of the Torah, and you can rely on him in all kinds of matters involving rulings, halachos, customs, and even worldly affairs, because his thinking is aligned with the Torah. This is what is meant when they say that the outlook of householders is the opposite of the Torah’s outlook. So the Rebbe explains that this is why the Shulchan Aruch states that a householder may not be appointed to a beis din. A householder means someone whose occupation, essentially, is with the affairs of this world. It says this in the Shulchan Aruch, in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch—I don’t remember exactly where. The outlook of householders is the opposite of the Torah’s outlook, and that is why a householder may not be appointed to a beis din. The explanation given is that because he is involved in business, working, earning a living and making money, his mind takes on a worldly way of thinking. The world carries weight for him, and that affects him so that his thinking does not accord with the Torah’s outlook. For someone to have the Torah’s outlook, he must be wholly immersed in Torah. Then he is united with the Torah, and you can rely on him. By contrast, the outlook of householders is the opposite of the Torah’s outlook. In any case, the Rebbe continues: “For in knowing Torah, the Torah is clothed within a person’s soul and intellect and encompassed by them.” The Alter Rebbe is making another point. Until now, he has spoken about the advantage of Torah in terms of the wondrous union it brings about—a union not found even in mitzvos. It is the greatest union with G-dliness.

19:49 The Alter Rebbe adds: “For in knowing Torah, the Torah is clothed within a person’s soul and intellect and encompassed by them; therefore it is called the bread and nourishment of the soul.” There is an inner union specifically in Torah, and that is why it is called the bread and nourishment of the soul. This also helps us understand why Torah is called the bread and nourishment of the soul. The Alter Rebbe is not simply coming to explain that description of Torah. This is not a book of discourses explaining expressions for their own sake. Why would that matter here? He is adding another unique advantage of Torah, something found nowhere else: Torah is the bread and nourishment of the soul. The soul’s inner vitality comes specifically from Torah. That follows from the advantage we discussed earlier, the wondrous union found in Torah. It means there is something else unique to Torah: it nourishes the soul. Torah is the soul’s sustenance, its bread. “Just as physical bread nourishes the body when one takes it in.” Why is Torah called the bread and nourishment of the soul? What is the connection? The Alter Rebbe cites the Gemara in Sukkah, which discusses the verse in Mishlei, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread.” Does that mean that if your enemy is hungry, you should give him bread to eat? The Gemara explains that “your enemy” refers to the yetzer hara. When the yetzer hara is pressing you and driving you out of your mind, “feed him bread”—give him the bread of Torah. Give him

21:45 the bread of Torah to eat, and he will flee. You can see this in practice. Bochurim who sit and learn have ninety-five percent less trouble with the yetzer hara. They still have to deal with the other five percent, but it is ninety-five percent less when they are occupied with Torah. When a person does not learn and wastes his time, he has empty time, and that is when the problems begin. In any case, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him bread” is a source in the revealed part of Torah for calling Torah bread. What is the explanation? “For just as physical bread nourishes the body when one takes it right into oneself, into one’s very innards.” What does bread do? It nourishes the body, fills it and satisfies it. But when does bread satisfy the body? If I sit in a house full of bread, that does nothing for me. Being surrounded by bread does not help either. I have to take the bread and put it into my body. “When one takes it right into oneself, into one’s very innards, and there it becomes blood and flesh like one’s own flesh—then one lives and is sustained.” That is how a person lives. Now, the Alter Rebbe uses two expressions here. He is describing two things, and the wording is very precise. These are two requirements for bread. The first is “taking it right into oneself, into one’s very innards.” The second is that “there it becomes blood and flesh like one’s own flesh.” If I want the bread I eat to satisfy me, both things have to happen. First, I have to take it into my innards. In plain terms, I have to chew the bread well. A person

23:57 might eat and simply swallow. Maybe he does not want to taste the food, or maybe the bread is so hard to break down that he cannot chew it properly. Whatever the reason, if he swallows chunks, that bread does not really enter and become part of him. It does not have the desired effect; the bread and his body remain two separate things. So “taking it right into one’s innards” means, as we say, chewing it thoroughly so that it goes in properly. That is the first point. Then there is another: it must “become blood and flesh like one’s own flesh.” What does that mean? The bread has to be properly baked. Sometimes bread remains doughy because it was not baked well enough. You see this sometimes with baked goods: a pastry or something else still has a bit of raw dough in it. That, too, will not have the proper effect. So both things are needed: taking it right into one’s innards, meaning chewing the bread well, and its becoming blood and flesh like one’s own flesh. For it to become part of the body, it has to be properly baked. The same two details apply to Torah: “So it is with knowing and comprehending Torah in a person’s soul. When one studies it well, with intellectual concentration, until it is grasped by one’s intellect and becomes united with it, it becomes nourishment for the soul and life within it from the Life of life, the blessed Ein Sof, Who is clothed within His wisdom and Torah that are within the soul.”

25:53 Both things apply to Torah as well. When a person studies Torah, the Alter Rebbe emphasizes that he must “study it well, with intellectual concentration.” If I study Gemara or a maamar superficially, just reading through it—I understand the Gemara in general, and I have a general idea of what Rashi and Tosafos are saying, but I have not studied it carefully and in depth—then it is like someone swallowing a piece of bread without chewing it. It does not become part of him; his understanding remains superficial. Torah is like bread. The first requirement is to study it in depth. That means thoroughly “chewing” the sugya: every detail, every word, every letter of Rashi and Tosafos in the Gemara. What is Tosafos adding? What are they saying? You have to delve into the subject and break it down into small pieces. Only then does it become united with the soul. The second point is that it must be properly baked. This means the Torah study must be as it should be, not merely something a person studies for his own enjoyment. The Alter Rebbe does not state this explicitly here, but in Likkutei Torah, in the maamar “And Ten Women Shall Bake Your Bread in One Oven,” there is another maamar on “When You Come into the Land.” He refers to it here in Tanya, and explains that this is the point here: studying in depth is not enough. A person also has to know that this is the wisdom of its Creator, of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what it means for the bread to be properly baked.