Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 18 - Part 6

00:00 Speaker 1 We’re holding on page 24, the fourth line from the bottom, at “And therefore all Jews.” That’s where we are. So what has the Alter Rebbe explained here? He has explained the concept of chochmah in the soul. What is so special about chochmah in the soul? We said that every Jew has this chochmah in the soul, in which G-dliness shines. The Alter Rebbe explained that the quality of chochmah is bittul—koach mah. As we explained in the previous class, there are two points: on the one hand, chochmah is above comprehension; it is bittul. At the same time, it is the source of intellect. And so the Ein Sof is revealed in the soul’s chochmah because of the bittul in chochmah. The whole point of chochmah is not how I understand something, but that the matter itself shines—something like sight, where the truth shines within a person. That is why a Jew has this capacity for the truth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the truth of the Ein Sof, to be revealed in the soul through its chochmah. Now, in this part of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain that this helps us understand the simple faith every Jew has, and also mesirus nefesh. Those are the two things the Alter Rebbe is about to explain: the faith and the mesirus nefesh found in every Jew. They result from this matter of the Ein Sof—from the fact that the Ein Sof shines in the soul’s chochmah. As we explained, a Jew has the power of bittul that comes from koach mah, the bittul of chochmah. That is why the Ein Sof shines within him. It is not because of who he is, or because he grasps it. On the contrary, the Ein Sof is revealed within him in a way comparable to sight. That is why a Jew’s faith is a particular kind of faith, and a Jew’s mesirus nefesh is a particular kind of mesirus nefesh. This is what the Alter Rebbe comes to explain now in the chapter. These are two very

02:06 Speaker 1 fundamental matters in Yiddishkeit in general and in serving Hashem, and all the more so in Chassidus. This is really the basis for what the well-known Chofetz Chaim says, where he also discusses these two things. So let’s look at the Alter Rebbe’s words here. The Alter Rebbe says: “And therefore all Jews, even women and unlearned people, believe in Hashem.” We see this among all Jews, even women and unlearned people. The Alter Rebbe chooses these two examples. Regarding women, the Gemara says that “their understanding is light,” meaning that they lack something in the completeness of daas. Similarly, an unlearned person lacks knowledge. He lacks the various kinds of intellectual work involved in comprehension. Those are the examples he gives. Nevertheless, we see that all Jews, even people who lack completeness of intellect and daas, believe in Hashem. They have faith in Hashem—in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In particular, as we explained in the previous class, they believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu as He is beyond intellect. As we explained last time, there is G-dliness that you can understand through the world, G-dliness you arrive at through reason. A non-Jew can reach that too. You don’t need faith for that; that is not the special quality of faith. Here we are speaking of faith in Hashem, faith that is beyond intellect. Faith in the Ein Sof, as He is beyond all comprehension—the level of which it is said, “No thought can grasp Him.” Faith in G-dliness, in Hakadosh Boruch Hu as the Ein Sof, whom no thought can grasp. So every Jew, even women and unlearned people who lack knowledge and comprehension, has faith in Hashem. Why? The Alter Rebbe says that faith is above knowledge and comprehension.

04:00 Speaker 1 Because faith is above knowledge and comprehension, it makes sense that a person’s level of comprehension does not enter into it. That is what the Alter Rebbe comes to explain here. We see it plainly: among the Jewish people, in a distinctive way, we see the simple faith a Jew has, simple faith in G-dliness. Where does that faith come from? It comes from the Ein Sof shining in the soul’s chochmah. Since the Ein Sof shines in the soul’s chochmah, a place beyond the bounds of faith and comprehension, all Jews have faith, regardless of their level of understanding and comprehension. Faith is above knowledge and comprehension. As the Alter Rebbe quotes here: “The simpleton believes everything, but the prudent man understands, etc.” It’s a verse—I don’t know, in Mishlei—which says, “The simpleton believes everything, but the prudent man understands.” The verse is not necessarily speaking about faith. It is speaking more generally. King Shlomo is speaking about moral conduct, and he means the opposite. On the face of it, the verse says this as a shortcoming, not as a virtue. He says that a simpleton—a foolish person—believes everything. A simpleton believes everyone; he believes anything you tell him. But a prudent man—a wise person—seeks to understand. He doesn’t simply accept what you tell him. He wants to understand things. “The prudent man understands.” “Prudent” denotes wisdom. Prudent, prudent. That is the plain meaning of the verse. But the Alter Rebbe brings the verse here for the idea that “the simpleton believes.” Notice how the Alter Rebbe reads it: he is not bringing the verse as proof of what he is explaining here, as proof that faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu is above knowledge.

06:00 Speaker 1 He only wants to show that faith is not connected to intellect. That is the point the Alter Rebbe is establishing here. The Alter Rebbe is explaining that faith is not connected to intellect, and we see that in the verse. It says, “The simpleton believes everything.” In other words, a simpleton has no intellect—he is simple or foolish; he has no intellect. What does he have? He has faith. Yes, he has faith. But his faith may be placed in nonsense too, and in things that are not true. Here we are speaking about true faith. So when we say that Jews have true faith, we mean that every Jew, even women and unlearned people, has this simple faith in G-dliness and believes in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not connected to reason and understanding. The real reason for this, as we said, is that the light of the Ein Sof shines in the soul’s chochmah. If faith came from a person’s own grasp of the matter, then someone with a greater grasp would have more faith, and someone with less of a grasp would have less faith. But faith is not connected to a person’s grasp; it is connected to the light of the Ein Sof being revealed within him. That is why every Jew, whoever he may be, has faith in G-dliness in its fullest measure. For “the simpleton believes everything, but the prudent man understands it properly.” But with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, He is above intellect and knowledge. When we speak of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the Ein Sof, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is above intellect and knowledge. That means He is not within the bounds of knowledge. We are speaking here of G-dliness, of the Ein Sof—of Hakadosh Boruch Hu as He is, as He is in essence. The truth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is above knowledge and intellect. That means He is not within the bounds of knowledge.

07:47 Speaker 1 It doesn’t mean we’re talking here about something intellectual that is simply deeper. It isn’t in the realm of intellect at all. This is the truth of the matter: G-dliness is beyond intellect and understanding, and “no thought can grasp Him at all.” Everyone is like a simpleton before Him, blessed be He. So any person, whoever he may be, feels like a simpleton before Him. But that is being a simpleton in a positive sense. On the contrary, here being a simpleton, being a fool, is a positive thing. When a person stands before the Infinite, before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who is beyond the realm of understanding, intellect cannot grasp Him at all. As the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, you can’t even say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is beyond understanding. The Alter Rebbe says there that if someone says Hakadosh Boruch Hu is beyond understanding, everyone who hears him will laugh at him. Generally, people do say “beyond understanding.” But no, no, no. It makes sense to say that something is beyond understanding only if it belongs to the realm of understanding. You’re expressing how extraordinary it is. You mean that it is so lofty, it is beyond intellect; intellect cannot grasp it. It is something so deep, so lofty, so exalted that you cannot grasp it with intellect. So you’re saying it belongs to the realm of intellect, but is beyond intellect. But the Alter Rebbe says in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not belong to the realm of intellect at all. He is not in the realm of comprehension and understanding at all. Consequently, when a Jew stands before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, what is the reality? He is indeed like a simpleton before Him. Not a simpleton or a fool in a negative sense, but in a positive sense. In other words, when he stands

09:28 Speaker 1 before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he senses the truth that, with respect to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “no thought can grasp Him at all.” Intellect amounts to absolutely nothing. Consequently, on the contrary, every Jew as he is—every Jew, no matter where he is or what level of intellect he has—has faith in its fullest perfection. And this is what the Alter Rebbe continues: “And it is written, ‘I was foolish and did not know; I was like an animal with You, yet I am always with You.’” Here the Alter Rebbe also brings this verse from Tehillim. This is already a verse connected with faith. It isn’t like the previous verse, which he brought only as evidence that faith in general is connected with a lack of understanding. Here he is speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. King David says—or, ultimately, whoever is speaking in this chapter, chapter 73 of Tehillim—“I was foolish and did not know.” I am a fool and I do not know. “I was like an animal with You, yet I am always with You.” I am like an animal when I am with You, and I am always with You. I am always with You. What is the verse trying to say? What is it saying with these words? So the Alter Rebbe explains its meaning; that is, the Alter Rebbe adds an explanation here. Because this verse can be explained in several ways. But the Alter Rebbe gives an explanation of the verse here. At first glance, the verse sounds like “nevertheless.” In other words, you could explain it to mean: Although I am foolish and do not know, nevertheless I am always with You. I am always with You despite being foolish, despite being a fool. Nevertheless, I am with You. And the Alter Rebbe says: No. According to what we have explained here, it is not “nevertheless.” On the contrary, that is precisely why.

11:10 Speaker 1 Because I am a fool. Because I feel that “I was foolish and did not know,” that is why I am with You. And then he says, “That is to say.” That is why he says, “That is to say.” He is adding an explanation: It is precisely because I am foolish and like an animal—because I sense that, before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, everything is considered as nothing before Him, and no thought can grasp Him at all—that I feel foolish and like an animal. That, specifically, is the vessel. That is specifically how one grasps Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “I am always with You”—it is precisely because of this that I am always with You. Because if I try to grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu through intellect, I will not grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As we explained, if you want to grasp G-dliness from the standpoint of your own existence, through intellect, then however much G-dliness you comprehend, it will not be the truth of G-dliness. It will be a product of intellect. It is G-dliness insofar as G-dliness relates to intellect. It is G-dliness that can be understood. But G-dliness does not belong to intellect; it does not belong there at all. So yes, perhaps you have grasped some aspect of G-dliness that relates to the world—the contracted light, which is G-dliness. But that is not a Jew’s faith. So if you approach it with intellect, you have not reached Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is specifically “I was foolish and did not know.” Setting aside comprehension—that is the chochmah of the soul. Chochmah is koach mah, the power of self-nullification. So it is specifically there that the truth of faith is felt; there the Infinite shines as He is. This is what King David says: “I was foolish and did not know; I was like an animal with You, yet I am always with You.” Feeling like an animal before You is what makes me always be with You. Now, ask your question.

12:48 Speaker 2 [unclear]

12:55 Speaker 1 Oh, good question. So he is asking: Why does the Alter Rebbe bring the continuation of the verse, “A simpleton believes everything”? He also continues with “but a prudent person considers his steps.” The commentators ask this question here in Tanya. I don’t remember now exactly what the explanation is. It may be connected with what we discussed in the previous class as well. But look, perhaps he wants to hint that after self-nullification, one also needs to bring it down into the intellect. Although there is this idea of “a simpleton believes”—we need faith; that is the foundation—afterward we also need to carry that faith into our avodah and comprehension. I don’t remember. I saw it a long time ago. I don’t remember exactly what it said. In any case, to return to our point, this is the foundation. Here the Alter Rebbe is clarifying the point of faith for us: What is special about a Jew’s faith? Sometimes the answer is in the question. If you remember, the Alter Rebbe makes this point there. And the Alter Rebbe adds—this brings us to this point—the Alter Rebbe says that we see that Jews are “believers, the children of believers”: they believe in G-dliness with simple faith and do not need proofs or evidence for it. In other words, it is not just that women and unlearned people, who do not have fully developed intellectual understanding, also believe. It is more general than that. A Jew does not look for proofs to strengthen his faith. A Jew does not need proofs and evidence. Our belief in Hakadosh Boruch Hu is simply a given. Faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu is something simple and self-evident. We do not need proofs or evidence for it. It isn’t that I have weak faith and am looking for someone to prove it to me, and once someone proves it, I begin to believe. We do not need proofs or evidence for it. Faith is strong

15:17 Speaker 1 in its own right, too. Of course, it’s nice to hear explanations and proofs. People like proofs. There are letters from the Rebbe in which the Rebbe explains various proofs and arguments about the existence of creation through reason. You know those letters where the Rebbe explains this? People asked the Rebbe all kinds of questions: How can you prove the existence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu through reason? How can you prove through reason that Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world? How can you prove through reason that the Torah is from Heaven? The Rebbe explains it beautifully and at length. The Rebbe demonstrates that, according to human reason, if you are not just stubbornly refusing to believe because you are opposed to something, a person thinking with ordinary human reason, without, without, without faith, can arrive at clear proofs of Hashem’s existence. It isn’t something difficult. The existence of creation, creation from nothing, the fact that the Torah is from Heaven—these can be understood through human reason in the simplest way. They can be explained. The Rebbe explains them in a remarkable way. You don’t have to be a great expert in the subject. But what? Our faith does not depend on that. We see this plainly. We see it plainly: even if a Jew is not familiar with those letters, it does not make his faith any weaker. For us, faith is simply a given. And more than that, even after you learn the explanations of faith, yes, they are nice explanations, and they give you vitality and geshmak, and you can use them in your work with people. But as far as faith itself is concerned, that does not make it more of a faith. It’s nice; it’s geshmak. It gives you richness, a wealth of understanding. But faith itself stands on its own. It

17:10 Speaker 1 That I believe in Hakadosh Boruch Hu—that is simply how it is. I don’t need proofs or evidence for it. You want to verify it, give it form, bring it down into understanding? Yes, all of that is fine. But this, the Rebbe says, is a special power in a Jew’s faith. We mentioned the verse the Rebbe cites, “The simple person believes everything.” The verse itself is evidence that faith is not tied to what one can establish through reason: “The simple person believes.” But the Rebbe brings a Midrash that says “The simple person believes everything” refers to Moshe Rabbeinu. That is what the Midrash says about this verse. So we see that the Midrash understands this verse of King Shlomo as alluding specifically to a lofty level. Moshe Rabbeinu was the ultimate in wisdom; he was [unclear]. Yet it is about Moshe Rabbeinu that the verse says, “The simple person believes everything.” Before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, true wisdom is koach mah, the power of self-nullification. He regarded himself as simple. He was utterly self-nullified, and therefore accepted Hakadosh Boruch Hu with utter simplicity, with simple faith, without looking for anything else, without any cleverness. That was the essential nature of Moshe Rabbeinu’s faith. Once, the Rebbe delivered a maamar and spoke about this in the maamar. Afterward, they submitted the maamar to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe edited it. I think this was in 5740. Which maamar? I don’t remember exactly. Perhaps it was the maamar Basi Legani, or another of the maamarim from 5740. They submitted it for editing. It wasn’t an official text; it was a transcript, but the Rebbe edited it. It appeared in the collected maamarim. And this verse was written there. The Rebbe had quoted the verse

19:19 Speaker 1 and spoken about faith. The Rebbe had mentioned this point. The Rebbe marked the word “simple” with a large question mark and said, “I deliberately did not say this word.” When delivering the maamar, he had not said the word “simple.” He said, “Believes everything—this is Moshe,” but did not mention the word “simple.” The Rebbe was careful about which words he would say, even though the verse says, “The simple person believes everything.”

19:58 Speaker 3 Simple, simple.

19:59 Speaker 1 That word is relevant here. But the Rebbe did not want to use that word about Moshe Rabbeinu. The bachurim hadn’t noticed that the Rebbe left it out, so they wrote out the full wording of the verse. The Rebbe put a question mark there, as if to say: How could this be? I expressly did not say the word “simple.” Why did you put it in? So it remained “believes everything,” without “simple.” This shows how careful the Rebbe was about such things. In any case, let’s return to faith. There is an interesting point about the verse the Alter Rebbe brings here: “And I was brutish and did not know; I was like a beast with You. Yet I am always with You.” We said that the verse can be understood in two ways. One way is: Although I was brutish and did not know, nevertheless I am always with You. The other way, which the Alter Rebbe gives as its plain meaning, is just the opposite: Because I was brutish and did not know—because of my self-nullification—I am always with You. Interestingly, later in Tanya, in chapter 46, the Alter Rebbe also brings this same verse, and there he actually explains it the other way. In chapter 46 he quotes the verse, “And I was brutish and did not know; I was like a beast with You. Yet I am always with You,” and explains: Although, as it were, “I was like a beast with You,” and I do not know or feel this union within myself so that awe and fear should fall upon me, nevertheless “I am always with You.” So here we see the Alter Rebbe himself understanding the verse one way here and another way there. Isn’t that a contradiction? If we turn to chapter 46, the Alter Rebbe reads it as “nevertheless”:

21:48 Speaker 1 Although I was brutish and did not know, nevertheless I am always with You.

21:52 Speaker 4 But is the faith discussed there part of the subject, or not?

21:57 Speaker 1 No. So that is remarkable. People asked the Rebbe about it—there was a class on this, and they asked the Rebbe a question. The fact that the Alter Rebbe explains it in two ways is interesting, but that was not their question. Here he explains it one way; it depends on what is being discussed. They asked the Rebbe a different question: In chapter 46, the Alter Rebbe introduces the verse with the words, “And this is what Asaf said through ruach hakodesh on behalf of the entire Jewish people in exile: ‘And I was brutish and did not know; I was like a beast with You.’” He gives the verse a whole introduction: Asaf said it through ruach hakodesh on behalf of the entire Jewish people in exile. The first time he brings the verse, he simply writes, “as it is written.” The second time, he gives a whole introduction: Asaf said it through ruach hakodesh. For whom did he say it? For the Jewish people in exile. Why?

22:55 Speaker 1 What? That can’t be incidental. If it matters who said it, when, and why, why doesn’t he say so the first time? And if it doesn’t matter, why does he say so the second time? The Rebbe said that this is a question, a difficult question about the plain meaning of Tanya. Now we see how the Rebbe teaches us to learn. The Rebbe said there is a very great difference between these two explanations. In chapter 18, the Alter Rebbe speaks about faith, about an actual reality: every Jew has simple faith. The Alter Rebbe explains what simple faith means. A Jew has simple faith and does not need evidence or proof. Why? Because Ein Sof is invested in the soul’s faculty of chochmah. This is something we can understand. When we study the subject and understand what chochmah is and what it possesses—everything we explained in the previous class—we understand that chochmah is a vessel for Ein Sof, and therefore there is simple faith. What is he discussing in chapter 46? In chapter 46, the Alter Rebbe discusses a Jew’s union with Hakadosh Boruch Hu while performing a mitzvah. There he is speaking about something else: how every Jew, when performing a mitzvah, becomes at that moment an actual vehicle for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You become united with Ein Sof. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed to you inwardly. That is why the Alter Rebbe says one should stand before a person performing a mitzvah, because the Shechinah is revealed there. Now the Alter Rebbe asks: Why don’t we feel it? Because we have a physical body. Those who served Hashem felt it. We don’t feel it. Tzaddikim feel it; we don’t. But our not feeling it changes nothing. The reality is that when you perform a mitzvah, you become one with Ein Sof. It is about this that he quotes the verse, “And I

24:48 Speaker 1 was brutish and did not know.” Although I do not feel how I am becoming united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—I put on tefillin, I wear tzitzis, and I don’t feel that I am now becoming one with Ein Sof. If we did feel it, we would all stand in love and awe, in complete self-nullification. But we don’t feel it, and so that self-nullification is not revealed in us. Still, your not feeling it does not change the fact that this is the reality. “Nevertheless, I am always with You,” says the Rebbe. With this, we can understand the distinction. Here, when speaking about the revelation of faith, all that is needed is a proof from the verse. There is no need for ruach hakodesh or for “the Jewish people in exile.” Every Jew, at every time—during the time of the Beis Hamikdash or during exile, a great Jew or an ordinary Jew, an unlearned person, even the lowliest of Jews—it makes no difference. If you are a Jew, you have the soul’s faculty of chochmah, and consequently Ein Sof is present. That is a reality. But who says that when a Jew performs a mitzvah, he becomes one with G-dliness? Perhaps that is true only of a great tzaddik, and not of an ordinary person? Here there are differences. A great tzaddik performs mitzvos with love and awe and with a refined body. But perhaps it is not so for a more ordinary Jew who performs mitzvos without intent. That is why the Alter Rebbe says, “Asaf said through ruach hakodesh.” This requires ruach hakodesh. Here we already need ruach hakodesh; it is no longer a matter that can be established from the reality we observe. And on whose behalf did he say it? On behalf of the Jewish people in exile, who are in a state of concealment. Nevertheless, “I am always with You.” That is why this explanation needs the words “Asaf said through ruach hakodesh” and “the Jewish people in exile.” So we see the difference in the Alter Rebbe’s wording, and how every detail is precise.