Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 5 - Part 6

00:02 The Frierdiker Rebbe says in one of his sichos that when a Jew walks down the street—a chossid walks down the street—and thinks the words of Tanya by heart, the Alter Rebbe walks down the street with him. He used the expression “a walking Tanya.” A person walks down the street thinking the words of Tanya, so he has the words of Tanya in his mind, in his thoughts. The Frierdiker Rebbe said that this is a walking Tanya, and that the Alter Rebbe is also walking down the street with him. I once told you the story of what the Rebbe said to someone. I heard from Reb Yudel Futerfas that someone asked the Rebbe to go into seclusion. The Rebbe told him to walk down the street. The Rebbe said to him, “Do what... do what I do. When I’m on the street, I think the words of Tanya. I learn Tanya by heart. On the street, I think the words of Tanya. So if you think the words of Tanya while you’re on the street, you’ll be connected to me.” That’s the story. I heard it from Reb Yudel Futerfas at a farbrengen. In any case, through Tanya we have that connection, especially on the days of the Alter Rebbe’s hilula. Here too, the Alter Rebbe says: “As stated in Eitz Chaim, Shaar 44, chapter 3, the soul’s garments in Gan Eden are the mitzvos.” We spoke here about the difference between Torah and mitzvos: mitzvos are an encompassing light. Mitzvos are the supernal will. So when a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, it draws down a light from Hakadosh Boruch Hu that surrounds the soul. It only surrounds it. Torah, by contrast, has an inward dimension. It is food, something inward that enters a person’s inner being. That is why Torah is called bread and food for the soul, becoming united with it inwardly. So he cites what Eitz Chaim says about Gan Eden. Gan Eden is the reward for the Torah or mitzvah we perform here. And the reward

02:17 has to accord with the nature of the deed. The reward is a result of the action we perform. So we see that the soul’s garments in Gan Eden are the mitzvos. The garments are associated with mitzvos. What is the connection between garments and mitzvos? From what we explained, it’s understood: since a mitzvah is an encompassing light, its effect on a person’s soul is also a garment. It takes effect in Gan Eden, creating a garment for the soul. What is the purpose of these garments above, in Gan Eden? This is explained in the maamarim. By Divine providence, there is a maamar on Va’eira by the Alter Rebbe, and one by the Rebbe on Va’eira, where he explains at length the idea of garments, the garments of the mitzvos. The garments of the mitzvos enable the soul to connect with G-dliness. Since Hakadosh Boruch Hu is infinite and without limit, while the soul is limited, the garment of the mitzvos enables a limited soul to enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah, to receive from and connect with the infinite. That is because the garment of the mitzvos joins the infinite with the finite. It is the supernal will, His very will, that has descended here below. When a Jew fulfills mitzvos, this clothes the soul and gives it the power to unite with G-dliness. That is the whole idea of a garment. He explains it there at length. So there are the garments, which are the mitzvos, while Torah is the food for souls that engaged in Torah study for its own sake in this world. Here, then, he says about Torah: it is the Torah we study here in this world, Torah for its own sake. That produces a kind of food that we receive above, when we are in Gan Eden. That food—the soul’s inward vitality in G-dliness—comes from the Torah a person studies in this world. What is the connection? From what we explained, it’s understood: since Torah is inward, Torah is the bread and food of the soul here below. Therefore, afterward as well, Torah

04:17 is the soul’s food in Gan Eden. But there is a difficulty that the Alter Rebbe now comes to resolve. The wording of Eitz Chaim is “Torah for its own sake.” Eitz Chaim says that Torah is food for the souls of those who engaged in Torah study for its own sake in this world. It doesn’t just say “Torah”; it adds the condition that it must be Torah for its own sake. So a question seems to arise: perhaps Eitz Chaim means that the food does not come from the very act of studying Torah. The food comes from studying Torah for its own sake. What has the Alter Rebbe explained until now? Why is Torah food? Torah itself is food, because Torah is intellectual understanding. Torah involves the work of comprehension, Chabad; it is something inward that unites with the soul inwardly. That is why it is the soul’s food. It is the very nature of Torah, because Torah is absorbed inwardly. Torah is the bread and food of the soul. But from the wording of Eitz Chaim, one might think that it does not come from Torah itself—that the very act of Torah study is not the soul’s food. It is only Torah when studied for its own sake, not Torah study alone. The Alter Rebbe goes on to rule that out. The Alter Rebbe says: “As stated in Zohar, Vayakhel, folio 210. And ‘for its own sake’ means...” What does “Torah for its own sake” mean? Why does Eitz Chaim add the words “for its own sake”? It means “in order to bind his soul to Hashem through comprehending the Torah, each person according to his intellect,” as stated in Pri Eitz Chaim. When Eitz Chaim says that Torah must be studied for its own sake, it doesn’t mean that only study for its own sake counts. Torah is food. Torah is food. Torah itself is food. So why does it add “Torah for its own sake”? It is to explain what “for its own sake” means. “For its own sake” means in order to bind his soul to Hashem through comprehending the Torah, according to his intellect. In other words, it’s a separate point. It’s the matter of “for its own sake”; it’s a separate point. Wait, no, no, no. The Rebbe comes...

06:28 There he adds a point. Because what the Rebbe explains is what the Alter Rebbe is adding here about the words “for its own sake.” That is precisely what “for its own sake” means. After all, when we say “Torah for its own sake,” there are several levels. What does “for its own sake” mean? What does it mean to study Torah for its own sake? As Chassidus explains, there are many ways of understanding it: for the sake of Torah itself; in order to unite Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. There are several levels of “for its own sake” that seemingly have nothing to do with our discussion. So the Alter Rebbe explains that here, when Eitz Chaim says “for its own sake,” it means for this very purpose: to bring about an inward union. That is what “for its own sake” means here. To explain it: “in order to bind his soul to Hashem through comprehending the Torah.” Here, “for its own sake” means precisely this: he studies Torah so that through Torah he will have food, and through studying Torah he will unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—to bind his soul to Hashem through comprehending the Torah, each person according to his intellect. So that is what “for its own sake” means. Here, “for its own sake” is not something additional. It is not that there is Torah and then “Torah for its own sake” as another matter. Rather, it means what we have been saying throughout this chapter. What have we been discussing? What is Torah? Torah is an inward union. Torah is an inward connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And Eitz Chaim says that this is what “Torah for its own sake” means. He studies Torah for that purpose, to bring about the... to bring about that inward union within himself. So it is not something additional, and it does not mean that two things are needed: Torah, plus something else called “for its own sake.” Here, “for its own sake” is Torah itself. Here, “for its own sake” is what we have been discussing all along about Torah. He studies Torah in order to bring about the inward union with the soul. That very purpose is why he studies. That is why the Rebbe emphasizes this.

08:18 Here. Because otherwise, why explain what Torah lishmah is? What is it doing here? Has the Alter Rebbe come here to explain what Torah lishmah means? Besides, there are many levels of Torah lishmah. There are much higher levels. Chassidus explains that what the Alter Rebbe says here—learning for its own sake in order to connect the soul to Hashem—is not, in the truest sense, called lishmah. Several maamarim explain that if someone learns Torah so that he can connect with G-dliness, then, on a subtle level, that is not called Torah lishmah. He is learning Torah for himself, not for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He wants understanding; he wants to become united with G-dliness; he wants to cleave to G-dliness; he wants to quench his soul’s thirst for G-dliness. These are all beautiful, wonderful things. So on lower levels it is called lishmah, of course. He is not learning Torah to become a rabbi. He is not learning Torah to become a rosh yeshivah, and he is not learning Torah to receive Gan Eden. He learns Torah because he wants to connect with G-dliness. Right? So on lower levels that is called lishmah, but on higher levels it is called not lishmah. Why? Because ultimately he is learning for himself, for what he will gain from his connection with G-dliness. Torah lishmah in its truest sense means “for its sake”—for the sake of the Torah. He does not learn so that he can connect with G-dliness. He learns because through his Torah study he brings about the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. He brings about the union of Ein Sof with the Torah. As the maamarim explain, using the expression brought in Chassidus from the works of Kabbalah: “David connected the Torah above with Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That is truly called lishmah. When he learns Torah in order to draw

10:08 Ein Sof into the Torah, he truly is not thinking about himself. He is thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, thinking about the Torah, and not thinking about himself at all. That is truly lishmah. Why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe bring that here? Why does he bring a lower level here? According to the Rebbe’s explanation, it is clear: this follows from the entire chapter. The Alter Rebbe wants to explain the point made in Etz Chayim, which is what we have been discussing in this chapter. This is what Etz Chayim requires. For the soul in Gan Eden to receive vitality from Torah—Torah as the soul’s nourishment—the Torah must be studied lishmah. Which level of lishmah? The level we are discussing in this chapter: studying Torah in order to unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A higher level is not required here. What is required here is this: studying Torah lishmah. Here, lishmah means in order to connect with G-dliness. The Alter Rebbe continues, and says about it: “Nourishment enters inwardly, while garments are encompassing.” When Etz Chayim says that in Gan Eden, Torah provides nourishment and mitzvos provide garments, this is the distinction between the inward and the encompassing. These are the two levels we spoke about earlier. The nourishment of Torah is inward, and a garment is encompassing. That is why the Zohar says that Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe says that this helps us understand the statement of our Sages that Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos. What does that mean? It means Torah study has a quality equal in weight to all the mitzvos: it has something that includes everything, even all the mitzvos. But seemingly, according to what we explained earlier, what is the difference between Torah and a mitzvah? A mitzvah is encompassing, while Torah is inward. So that still does not fit. What does it mean that Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos? They are two different things. Through mitzvos you receive an encompassing light, while through Torah you receive

12:05 an inward light. What does it mean that Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos? That implies it also includes the quality of mitzvos. So this is what the Alter Rebbe says: a mitzvah is a garment alone, because mitzvos have only one aspect, that of a garment, while Torah is both nourishment and a garment. Torah has both the quality of nourishment and the quality of a garment. In other words, Torah study has both qualities. It has Torah as nourishment, which mitzvos do not have. It also has the quality of mitzvos, the quality of garments, and is also a garment for the intellectual soul that engages in its contemplation and study. As we explained at the beginning of the chapter, Torah study involves two things: the person encompasses the Torah, and the Torah encompasses him. Torah has both qualities together, the encompassing and the inward. That is why we say Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos. If Torah had only the inward aspect, we still would not understand how it is equal to all the mitzvos. But because Torah study has both an encompassing light and an inward light—because the person encompasses the Torah and the Torah encompasses him, as we explained earlier—Torah has both a quality that mitzvos do not have and the quality found in all the mitzvos, that of encompassing light. So Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos because it also has the quality of mitzvos. In addition, it has another quality, the quality of Torah. “Torah is both nourishment and a garment for the intellectual soul that engages in its contemplation and study. All the more so when one articulates it in speech, for the breath of speech becomes an encompassing light, as stated in Peri Etz Chayim.” The Alter Rebbe adds another point beyond the encompassing light present during study and contemplation. When I study a Torah topic, I also

13:56 have both the encompassing and the inward. When I study a Torah topic, there is the encompassing and there is the inward: I encompass the topic, and I also enter into it inwardly. Studying the topic involves both things we discussed earlier. But there is something more: all the more so when one also articulates it in speech. He does not stop at understanding the Torah; he also says the words of Torah aloud. He articulates them; he says them in speech. What is the advantage of speech? Seemingly, in understanding the Torah he already has both qualities, the encompassing and the inward. What does speech add? The Arizal says that the breath of speech becomes a form of encompassing light, as stated in Peri Etz Chayim. This happens when I say the Torah aloud. Speech is an encompassing light, and seemingly, the simple reason is that speech is a mitzvah. As we said earlier, on the previous page he spoke of the mitzvah of Torah study performed through speech. The mitzvah aspect is encompassing. But it also sounds as though there is another aspect besides the mitzvah: the breath of speech becomes encompassing. The mitzvah is one thing; this is another. In any case, what does “all the more so” mean when he articulates it in speech? What is the difference between the encompassing light drawn down through the breath of speech and the encompassing light drawn down through understanding the Torah? There is encompassing light there too. So the rabbi [unclear] explains that the encompassing light involved in understanding the Torah is an encompassing light related to inward understanding. When I learn a concept, when I study a particular topic, I understand as much as I am able to understand. That is inward. What I understand of the topic is inward. I understood it well, but there is a part I do not understand, which remains encompassing, something beyond my grasp of the topic. But at least I know what I do not understand. In other words, there are aspects here that remain beyond my grasp of the topic.

15:58 I know what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about certain matters. I know what we’re talking about, but I don’t understand these things. In other words, it’s a makif—something that encompasses a person. On the one hand, it’s beyond the subject being studied; on the other hand, it’s a makif that is felt inwardly, as the Rabbi puts it. It’s a makif that is felt inwardly. Incidentally, as we’ve said and written several times, the intellect itself agrees that there are matters beyond the intellect. It reaches the conclusion that this is something beyond the intellect. On the one hand, it’s beyond the intellect; it’s a makif. On the other hand, the intellect itself recognizes it, accepts it, and demonstrates it. So it’s a makif, but one that is felt inside. It has more of a connection to what is internal. By contrast, the makif of speaking words of Torah—the makif that comes through the mitzvah of speaking words of Torah—is entirely a makif. It has no connection at all to what is internal. It does not become enclothed inside. It’s a more elevated makif. So this is what the Rebbe says: all the more so when a person speaks words of Torah aloud, that has an even more remarkable quality. He also has the makif from above, which is completely beyond him. So, in Torah we have three things. There is the inward union. There is the makif—the Torah encompasses me—which relates to the matters in Torah beyond the subject I can grasp. And there is the third thing, speaking words of Torah, through which an even more elevated makif is drawn down. That’s why Torah study is so lofty: it contains the union, the attachment, the soul’s comprehension of G-dliness through Torah. This is in the loftiest way possible. So what’s the conclusion? What is the Alter Rebbe teaching us in this chapter? The conclusion of this chapter is that the Alter Rebbe is teaching us what Torah is, what revelation is, if

17:46 the revelation involved in studying Torah. The whole point the Rebbe wants to explain to us here concerns the G-dly soul and its connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The G-dly soul’s deepest connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is specifically through its garments, and among the garments, specifically through Torah, through comprehending Torah. And within that, there is studying Torah in depth, and there is speaking words of Torah aloud. Through Torah, specifically, the union between Jews and Hakadosh Boruch Hu becomes a wondrous union unlike any other union, spiritual or physical. There is no other union of this kind—not through a mitzvah, not through anything else—only through Torah study. They tell a story about the Alter Rebbe: after the Alter Rebbe was released from imprisonment, he spent three hours with a Misnaged, who made it a condition that he visit two or three leading Torah scholars: Rabbi Yehoshua Zeitlin, Rabbi Moshe Chefetz—and what was the third one’s name? There was someone else. In any case, three leading Torah scholars, leading Misnagdim. He went to visit them. The Alter Rebbe came to one of them, Rabbi Yehoshua Zeitlin—or it was Zeitlin or Moshe Chefetz, one of them; I no longer remember. The Alter Rebbe agreed to it and went. He visited those three leading Torah scholars. One of them asked the Alter Rebbe about something he had heard the Alter Rebbe had written in Tanya: that Torah must be studied lishmah, for its own sake, and that if one studies Torah shelo lishmah, not for its own sake, the Torah remains below and does not ascend above. He asked him where he had gotten his source for that. Where had he gotten the idea that it has to be Torah lishmah, and otherwise it does not ascend? So the Alter Rebbe told

19:59 him, “I wrote the source for it in Tanya. I didn’t write it on my own; it says so in the Zohar. The Zohar says: ‘Torah without fear and love does not soar upward.’ When a person studies Torah without fear of Hashem, the Torah does not ascend above.” So that’s understood. But he said to him, “We don’t decide halachah from the Zohar; we decide halachah from the revealed part of Torah. So where is the halachic source for saying such a thing?” The Alter Rebbe said to him, “You want a source from the revealed part of Torah? I’ll give you one. It’s an explicit Gemara.” He said, “No, there’s no such Gemara.” He was an extraordinary genius. He knew the entire Shas “with a needle,” as the Misnagdim call it. Do you understand what it means to know Shas “with a needle”? If you stuck a needle through a particular page, he could tell you what word was at that spot on each page, wherever the needle passed through. He had it all in his head; that’s called knowing Shas “with a needle.” He knew the entire Shas. He looked, thought, and said, “No, it isn’t there.” So the Alter Rebbe told him, “You need the Tzlach as well.” To make a long story short, he convinced him. In the end, he told him: The Gemara says that Rava raised a contradiction. One verse says, “For Your kindness is great up to the heavens,” while another says, “For Your kindness is great above the heavens.” One says “up to the heavens,” and the other says “above the heavens.” Rava says this is a contradiction between the verses, and resolves it: one refers to someone who studies lishmah, and the other to someone who studies shelo lishmah. So the Gemara clearly says that one who studies shelo lishmah reaches up to the heavens, while one who studies lishmah reaches.