Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 18 - Part 1

00:00 Speaker 1 The idea was that we would study certain chapters, not in order, but in a structured way. Each time, we would take a few chapters and study them in greater depth. Greater depth. And that’s what we’re going to do now as well. So this time we’ll begin with chapter 18 of Tanya. Chapter 18 begins a subject that you could say stands on its own. In general, as we know—we’ve spoken about this before; I don’t know whether it was while you were here in the yeshiva, or before, or in between, but we’ve discussed it several times—Tanya is divided into groups of chapters. Likkutei Amarim can be divided into several parts. When you study Tanya, you see that it has distinct sections. Up to chapter 17 is one subject, and from chapter 18 the Alter Rebbe begins another. Chapters 18 through 25 form a group that goes together, like a continuing series. It begins in chapter 18 and ends in chapter 25. What are these chapters about? To understand that, we need an introduction—the introduction the Alter Rebbe gives on the title page of Tanya. The Alter Rebbe himself wrote the title page of Tanya, as is well known, so its wording is precise; every word there is exact. The Alter Rebbe writes that all of Tanya is based on the verse, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” In other words, the entire book of Tanya comes to explain this verse: to teach how it is close to me. The Torah says that the whole matter of serving Hashem—“in your mouth and in your heart, to do it”—includes speech, thought, and action, and “in your heart” also includes the heart itself: feeling and awe. “The matter is very close to you.” The question is: How is it close to me? On the face of it, it isn’t.

02:38 Speaker 1 An ordinary person—the Torah wasn’t written just for tzaddikim. The Torah is not in heaven. The Torah is eternal. It was given to every Jew; it is for each and every person. The Torah speaks to beinonim—to ordinary people, not necessarily beinonim in the technical sense, but regular, simple people. And the Torah says, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” The question is: How is it close to me? The whole of Tanya sets out to explain to every Jew how serving Hashem is within his reach, and how it is close to him. The Alter Rebbe says that he will explain “for the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” by a “long and short way.” So how do we understand those words, “a long and short way”? What does that mean? Long and short? Which is it? What does “a long and short way” mean? There are, as is well known, two explanations of this in Chassidus. Both explanations are also brought in a sicha of the Rebbe. In one place, it is explained that “a long and short way” means one route that is called both long and short. In other words, there is a route called “short and long,” and there is a route called “long and short.” The way of Tanya is long and short: it is one route that is long in one respect and short in another. The story in the Midrash is always brought in connection with this. The Midrash tells of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah, who wanted to go to Jerusalem and asked a child how to get there. The child told him there were two routes: he could take a short and long route, or a long and short route. At first Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah didn’t understand. Later he did: he took the short and long route, so he got there faster. But it was difficult, almost impossible, to enter Jerusalem, because when he reached the edge of the city there were all kinds of

04:40 Speaker 1 obstacles that kept him from entering. So it was faster, shorter, but in practice it turned out to be long. The other route was longer. It took more time to get there, but it was a clear road—a short route in terms of how smoothly it went, without obstacles or delays. The Rebbe explains in one of his sichos—there is a farbrengen on 19 Kislev 5710 where the Rebbe discusses this at length—that the way of Chabad Chassidus, the way of Tanya, is what is meant by a “long and short way.” Chabad Chassidus demands a long route. On the one hand, the Alter Rebbe demands in Tanya a kind of work that takes a great deal of time. He calls for contemplation. He calls for effort—effort of the soul, effort of the mind, Chabad. He calls for a great deal of work and effort, and that takes a long time. So it is a long route, but at the same time it is long and short. Although it takes more time, it brings you much more reliably to the inner Jerusalem of the soul. Through the approach of Chabad Chassidus, you are on a secure, clear road. That is why it is long and short. This is how the Rebbe explains it in one of his sichos. Elsewhere, another explanation is given, and the Rebbe also brings it in Likkutei Sichos: there are actually two routes. The Alter Rebbe says on the title page, “by a long and short way,” meaning two routes. In Tanya he speaks of two approaches: there is a long way and there is a short way. He explains “for the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it” in both ways. It can be explained by the long way, and it can be explained by the short way. The Alter Rebbe discusses both routes. Where does he discuss the long way, and where the short way? The explanation is that up to chapter 17 is the long way, and from chapter 18

06:49 Speaker 1 is the short way. That is the difference between the earlier chapters and the chapters that follow. What did the Alter Rebbe say in the chapters leading up to chapter 18? What was the approach? How can a person reach all of this—“in your mouth and in your heart”? In the preceding chapters, chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17, the Alter Rebbe explains how a Jew can come to serve Hashem with love and awe. In those chapters, though, he speaks about contemplation. A person contemplates the greatness of Hashem, and through spending considerable time contemplating Hashem’s greatness, love for Hashem and awe of Hashem are awakened within him. Within that itself, there are several levels. The love and awe may be revealed, or they may be hidden. There may be a kind of love and awe that exists only as intellectual understanding, leading him to act accordingly. He describes several levels and approaches, but what they have in common is that a person must contemplate Hashem’s greatness. That contemplation awakens some kind of love and awe within him, which brings him to serve Hashem in the manner of “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” It brings him to observe the mitzvos. This also applies to awe. There is the advantage of one who serves Hashem “a hundred and one times.” So what is the foundation of everything he discussed in the last three chapters? The foundation is using the mind. That’s the foundation: the mind. Tanya says: Why do we call this close? Because a person has control over his mind. We have a problem with the heart. The heart is more self-centered, more conscious of itself, more selfish. The problem with the heart is that it causes difficulties at every turn. It doesn’t let serving Hashem penetrate so quickly, because it wants a good life. It wants desires; it wants to enjoy itself, it wants freedom—it wants things. It wants a good life. That’s the heart. So when you want to bring a person into serving Hashem, then

08:57 Speaker 1 The heart is not so easy to influence. But the mind is easier, because the mind is more objective, more objective, more focused on the matter at hand. It is not so subjective. So the Alter Rebbe says: First of all, you have a brain in your head. Use your mind to contemplate the greatness of Hashem, and that contemplation will bring you love. It may not bring you love and awe [unclear]. It is enough for it to affect your thought, speech, and action, as the Alter Rebbe explains in the previous chapters. So this is the path in serving Hashem that the Alter Rebbe taught us in the last few chapters. What is this path called? The long path. Why is it the long path? Because it takes a great deal of study, a great deal of knowledge, a great deal of contemplation. If you have nothing to think about, if you have no knowledge or no mind for it, then you don’t have it. You have no aptitude for contemplation. So it won’t have an effect; it won’t work. It is a long path. It takes a lot of time, a lot of knowledge, a lot of study, and a lot of training—what you might call training in contemplation. But there is another path, the short path. That is what the Alter Rebbe will begin here, from chapter 18 through chapter 25. In these chapters, the Alter Rebbe sets out to clarify the second path in serving Hashem. What is the short path? The short path is that the Alter Rebbe speaks about something we already have. Every Jew has a natural love of Hashem, not one that comes from contemplation. It is not the love associated with contemplation or with the greatness of Hashem. It is the natural love a Jew has: a Jew does not want to, and cannot, be separated from G-dliness. It is the love of mesirus nefesh, the love connected with simple faith. On the one hand, it is far higher than all intellectual understanding and contemplation. On the other hand, it is there in every single person, at the foundation of who they are.

11:04 Speaker 1 It has two beautiful qualities. On the one hand, it is much loftier. It is above reason and understanding, above comprehension, and therefore it has no limits, as he will explain later. This love can take a person all the way to mesirus nefesh. Simple faith and mesirus nefesh—that is the whole idea. On the other hand, it is also unlimited in its reach. Who has it? Every single person, even the lowest of the low. Every Jew has this impulse, this point within them. The love and awe are there. I have them. What has to happen? They have to be revealed. What does it mean to reveal them? How do I bring this feeling into actual service, into thought, speech, and action? How do I connect this essential impulse, this essential point of a Jew that is always within me, to an ordinary day? Not at a moment of mesirus nefesh, not on Yom Kippur, not at a moment of sanctifying Hashem’s name. No, no. On a simple, ordinary day, with a yetzer hara. Thought, speech, and action on an ordinary day. How do I take this aspect of the soul and connect it to everyday life? The Alter Rebbe devotes these eight chapters to that question. But it is called the short path. Why is it called the short path? Because here you do not need to be a scholar. You do not need a great deal of knowledge. You do not need a lot of material to study, or a lot of aptitude and patience. You only need to believe that you are a Jew and know what it means that you are a Jew. In other words, you need to know yourself. And once you know yourself, you know who you are, what your essence is. From there, the path to putting it into practice is very short.

12:51 Speaker 2 Knowing yourself is

12:55 Speaker 1 after all, and so on. That is why there are eight chapters here. We once spoke about how the Alter Rebbe explains the short path at greater length than the long path. The Alter Rebbe explains the long path in three chapters—not even three chapters, less than that. Yet he devotes eight chapters specifically to the short path: 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. He really digs into it for eight chapters. You might say: It is precisely the short path that the Alter Rebbe needs to explain at greater length. But the point of the work on the short path is that it is short because it is already there in your soul. It is within you; you have it. It is yours. You just need to come to recognize that you have it. You just need to be conscious of it, and not let the spirit of folly confuse your mind. It is not that you need to make something happen. You don’t. There is no process here, no process of bringing it into being. No. It is there. You always have it. So what is the problem? The spirit of folly covers it up and confuses your mind. Get rid of the spirit of folly and live with this truth. You will see that it affects your thought, speech, and action—your everyday life. At any rate, that is what we are about to learn in these chapters. The Alter Rebbe revealed this concept of the hidden love, this point within us. The essence of a Jew is the deepest thing there is within a Jew. And the Alter Rebbe’s innovation is to bring it into practice, into thought, speech, and action. A Jew has it—but bringing it out, bringing it down into everyday practice, into thought, speech, and action, is the Alter Rebbe’s great innovation. That is what he explains in these chapters. In these chapters, we will see that in every chapter the Alter Rebbe revolutionizes the very nature of

15:05 Speaker 1 the foundations of faith. Each of these eight chapters contains a revolution in the foundations of faith, in its fundamental principles. What is a Jew? What is faith? What is mesirus nefesh? What is love of Hashem? What is Torah? What are mitzvos? What is a transgression? These are all the most fundamental things, as they say, in a Jew’s life. And in these chapters the Alter Rebbe explains them from this perspective. These are very important chapters. When a student knows these chapters, the foundations of faith are very, very clear to him. All right, that was the introduction. Now let’s learn a little inside the text. The Alter Rebbe says: “To further explain thoroughly the word ‘very’ in the verse, ‘For the matter is very close to you,’ etc.” The Alter Rebbe begins with the verse. As we said, the whole Tanya is based on the verse “For it is close to you.” So first the Alter Rebbe examines the wording of the verse. We have already explained the verse. The Alter Rebbe already explained it in the previous chapter. He answered the question about “For the matter is very close to you” in chapter 17. What did he say “For the matter is very close to you” means? That every person has a mind, and the mind rules the heart. So, given that the mind rules the heart, you are not being asked for just any kind of love and awe. You are being asked for love and awe that lead you to action, and that is close to every person. A Jew has the ability and the power to contemplate G-dliness and, through contemplation, awaken love and awe—at least the kind of love and awe that will lead to action. That is what he discussed in the previous chapter, and with that he answered the question. But, the Alter Rebbe says, there is still a question that the previous chapter does not answer: the word “very.” If it had said, “For the matter is close to you,” that would be fine. Thank you. The matter is close; you have a mind. But ultimately, that

17:06 Speaker 1 cannot be called very close. Let’s not fool ourselves. This is a great deal of work. True, it is easier to influence the mind than the heart. What did the Alter Rebbe explain to us in the previous chapter? What, in simple terms, did the Alter Rebbe do in the previous chapter? What did he change in the way we think? The Alter Rebbe said: Listen, I am not asking you to have a heart that burns for G-dliness. That is the problem. The problem is when you come to a person and say: Do you know what it means to be a Jew? You need a burning heart, a blazing fire of love and awe. That doesn’t work. I know. So the Alter Rebbe says: Correct, that is not what is being asked of you. Nobody is asking that of you. You are being asked to use your intellect, and you have an intellect. The mind rules the heart. Contemplate, study, and something will come of it. You won’t have love and awe like fire; you will have love and awe like water. You will have the love and awe of a Torah scholar—enough for you to be a beinoni right now in speech and action. So that answers the “close to you,” but it does not answer the “very,” because ultimately this is a great deal of work. You need to study; you need to contemplate. And the verse says, “For the matter is very close to you.” That implies a kind of service that is not merely close, but very close. So the question has still not been answered, and that is why we need to reach the second explanation, the short path. “One must know with certainty.” So, the Alter Rebbe says, to answer this question: “One must know with certainty.” “Know with certainty”—meaning that what we are about to explain is something you need to be conscious of. You need to know it, yes, and believe what we said. The precise wording “know with certainty” is very interesting. The expression

18:59 Speaker 1 of the Alter Rebbe: “to know with certainty.” In other words, on the one hand, the Alter Rebbe is about to clarify a matter of faith. He will explain something that is a foundation of our faith as Jews. What defines a Jew? What is a Jew’s essence? On the other hand, the Alter Rebbe says, “to know with certainty.” We need to feel this faith; we need to live it. It’s like what we discuss with the Rebbe, our teacher[?], in the weekly parsha—the concept of Raaya Mehemna, the Faithful Shepherd, in Parshas Ki Sisa. We’re talking about faith, about living it. “To know with certainty.” You have to live it, know it, feel it. What do we need to know? “For even one whose understanding of Hashem is limited, and who does not have a heart that understands the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof so as to give rise to awe and love from it, even in his mind and understanding alone.” Even a person who has two problems. He has a problem with his understanding and with [unclear], right? He lacks knowledge; he lacks understanding of Hashem. That’s one thing. On the other hand, the Alter Rebbe says, “and who does not have a heart that understands.” So these are two things. His understanding of Hashem is limited, and he also lacks a heart that understands Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does “a heart that understands” mean? This isn’t a problem with the intellect; it’s a problem with the heart’s understanding. In other words, the intellectual understanding doesn’t reach the heart. There are people who can understand things, but their understanding stays in the realm of understanding. “A heart that understands” is like what we ask for every day in davening: “Place understanding in our hearts so that we may understand.” We say, “Place understanding in our hearts,” right? The understanding should be in our hearts. You have understanding, you have a good head, you understand things, but those things have no connection to your life. You learn, understand, and act—it doesn’t—it stays in the realm of the intellect, it

20:56 Speaker 1 goes around in the realm of the intellect. Right? For something tangible to come of it, the intellect has to take the form of “a heart that understands,” so that faith enters his heart and spreads through it. So there are people who lack understanding of Hashem and also lack a heart that understands Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “so as to give rise to awe and love from it, even in his mind and understanding alone.” Not only does he lack revealed love and awe in his heart; he lacks even love and awe in his mind and understanding alone. In other words, the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 16 that even if a person cannot arouse revealed love and awe in his heart, he can arouse love and awe in the hidden recesses of his heart. Love and awe in the hidden recesses of the heart means that you contemplate, and through your contemplation you say: This is true. This explanation should make me feel some closeness, some connection, some love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And because of this explanation and this closeness, I should conduct myself accordingly, carry out my avodah with all 248 limbs and 365 sinews, become inspired, and so on and so forth—and in practice, I’m going to do it. You go through that whole process in your mind and reach a conclusion. That means you have it, at least, in the hidden recesses of your heart. You haven’t felt the fire of love and awe ignite, but you have felt some appreciation for the matter, and it brings you to action. The Alter Rebbe says, though, that there is a situation where a person can’t do this. He can learn, he can understand, but that whole process doesn’t manage to bring him even to love and awe in the hidden recesses of his heart. It just doesn’t get there. “Nevertheless, it is very close to him to observe and perform all the mitzvos of the Torah—and Torah study, which is equal to them all—with his mouth and in his heart, literally, from the depths of his heart, with absolute sincerity, with awe and love: the hidden love in the heart of all of Israel, which is an inheritance

22:56 Speaker 1 to us from our forefathers.” The Alter Rebbe says that despite this, even such a Jew has the ability and the opportunity to be a complete Jew in his observance of Torah and mitzvos—in thought, speech, and action, in every detail. But from what place? From the hidden love and awe in the heart of every Jew. Not love and awe that come from the mind, but love and awe that come from the inheritance every Jew possesses. And now the Alter Rebbe is going to explain what this love and awe that we have inherited actually are.