Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 19 - Part 4

00:00 Speaker 1 We’re learning here on page 24b, seven lines from the bottom. The Alter Rebbe says here that this concept we’ve been learning about—chochmah—is the faculty of “what?”: the faculty of bittul, self-nullification. That is a defining quality of the soul: the soul has chochmah. Chochmah is the soul’s faculty of bittul, and that is why the soul is drawn to G-dliness and wants to be completely nullified. The Alter Rebbe said that this is a general principle throughout the side of holiness. The overall distinction between holiness and kelipah is that holiness is chochmah. The defining quality of holiness is chochmah—everything that derives from chochmah. Chochmah is called the supernal holy faculty, along with everything that derives from it. What does that mean? It means that holiness is bittul. What is chochmah? The faculty of “what?”—the faculty of bittul. Bittul means that the truth of “there is nothing besides Him” shines there: the truth of the Infinite, that He alone exists and there is nothing besides Him. So anything prepared to yield to that truth, which it senses and which shines within it—anything prepared to be a vessel for that bittul—is holiness. Something that cannot be a vessel for that bittul is kelipah. That is the difference between holiness and kelipah: kelipah is self-importance. As we see among the nations of the world, everything they do, even the good things they do, is entirely for their own sense of self. The whole aim is “Give, give”—it is all centered on “me,” on my own self-importance. Holiness, by contrast, is bittul. There it is all the opposite: to become completely nullified; everything is for that point. The Alter Rebbe continues on page 24b, as we said, at the end of the line: “And therefore they are called dead.” This is why kelipah and the sitra achra are called “dead.” The whole realm of kelipah and the sitra achra is called “dead.” In many

02:32 Speaker 1 places, such as “sacrifices of the dead” and the like, the term is used in connection with kelipah and the sitra achra. Everything belonging to that side is called “dead.” What is the connection to death? The Alter Rebbe explains: “For wisdom gives life,” and it is written, “They die, but not with wisdom.” Chochmah is life; “they die, but not with wisdom.” When does death become possible? When chochmah is absent. When there is chochmah, death does not apply. What does that mean? What does death have to do with this? We know quite simply, when speaking about life and death, as we see in the physical world: “From my flesh I perceive G-dliness.” In the physical world, when is a person’s body alive? When the body is nullified to the soul. When it is not nullified to the soul, that is death. Quite simply, when is the physical body alive? When it is in a state of bittul, because the body does not feel itself. When it does not feel itself, it is nullified, and that is how it lives. We can see it plainly: a living person does not feel his body. A healthy, living person does not feel his body. I have a body, but I do not feel it. I have a hand, I have a foot—a person does not feel them. They are there, but he does not feel them. That is how it is. No one... A normal, healthy person does not feel himself. The moment I begin to feel something, it means there is some illness. That is how it works in physical reality. When do I feel my head? When it hurts. Do you have a headache? A fever? Then suddenly you feel that you have a head. When you are healthy and your head is—well, everything is fine,

04:33 Speaker 1 you do not even notice that you have a head. When I get hit—boom! Oh, now I have a head; I got hit. Yes, and similarly with your leg. Your leg hurts because you were injured, so you feel that you have a leg. When the leg is healthy, you do not feel it. So this whole sensation of oneself comes when there is a lack of life. Illness is illness; it is a kind of state in which the body is not nullified to the soul. When the body is not nullified to the soul, it feels itself. When the body is nullified to the soul, it does not feel itself. It is alive. Vitality is bittul; less bittul means less vitality. This is explained at length in the maamarim—[unclear] and so on. Many maamarim discuss this matter of life and death. It is a mass of kelipah; it is self-importance as opposed to bittul. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here. So chochmah, the faculty of “what?”, bittul—that is where there is life. But when chochmah is lacking, bittul is lacking, and consequently it is the opposite of life. That is the meaning of the verse, “They die, but not with wisdom.” When does death become possible? When chochmah is absent. When chochmah shines, by contrast, death does not apply. In Chassidus, this idea of “They die, but not with wisdom,” which the Tanya quotes here, is discussed in connection with the world of Tohu and the shattering of the vessels. This is a broad subject in Chassidus, the whole discussion of Tohu and Tikkun. It is written concerning the shattering of the vessels. It is also connected to this time of Sefiras HaOmer, the days of mourning for the students of Rabbi Akiva who passed away. They were from the world of Tohu, and therefore there was discord among them—the opposite of bittul. It is written that the whole matter of the world of Tohu, the shattering of the vessels, all of this, took place in the middos. That means chochmah was absent. This is the difference between Tohu and Tikkun: in the world of Tohu, chochmah did not, did not,

06:26 Speaker 1 did not shine openly. There was no revelation of chochmah, and as a result each middah felt only itself. How did the world of Tohu operate? It worked like this: chesed was only chesed. Chesed felt only itself; chesed was the only way. It could not combine with gevurah, and gevurah could not combine with chesed. Similarly, none of the sefiros could combine with another. What does that mean in other words? Bittul was lacking. Each sefirah felt only itself: chesed was wholly chesed, gevurah wholly gevurah. That led to the shattering of the vessels. What does it mean that chochmah was lacking? The faculty of “what?” was lacking. When that faculty shines—bittul—chesed knows that it cannot work without gevurah. When there is bittul, chesed sees the virtue of gevurah, and gevurah sees the virtue of chesed. Then the middos can be integrated with one another. That is the distinction between Tohu and Tikkun. In Tikkun, chochmah shines, so there is integration, and Tikkun is life. In Tohu, by contrast, there was death, the opposite of life: shattering. That is what happened during Sefiras HaOmer. Rabbi Akiva’s students were souls from the world of Tohu, as it says in the sefarim. That is why they did not treat one another with respect. How does the Rebbe explain “they did not treat one another with respect”? They were great, righteous students, but each one saw only his own path. Someone who served Hashem through love saw only love: there was no other way. Another student, who served through gevurah, could not bear the one who served through love. And the reverse was also true. That is what it means that they did not treat one another with respect, and the result was death, the opposite of life. That is what happened in the shattering of the vessels. That is Sefiras HaOmer. Rabbi Shimon bar

08:10 Speaker 1 Yochai, who came to Lag BaOmer, brought about the tikkun. That was the whole point of Rashbi: [unclear], tikkun, chochmah—chochmah is bittul. Through that came integration, and that is the significance of the bonfires and the whole matter. So that is the meaning of “They die, but not with wisdom.” Where is there death? The shattering of the vessels, which is a form of death, occurs where chochmah is absent. That is where it can happen. But when chochmah shines, the shattering of the vessels cannot happen; death cannot happen. Here, though, he is not discussing this in terms of spiritual levels. He is speaking plainly about the difference between holiness and kelipah. In the realm of holiness, chochmah shines. Kelipah has no chochmah. This is also the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew: a non-Jew does not have chochmah. He may have binah and other qualities, but chochmah does not apply to him. “Chochmah is bittul.” For the truth of infinite G-dliness to shine within him—that does not apply to a non-Jew. Therefore, in everything he does, the underlying point will always be his sense of self. That is why they, too, are called dead: death, the opposite of life. The Alter Rebbe continues: “And likewise the wicked and the sinners of Israel.” So this is the difference between holiness and kelipah in general, and the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew in general. Now the Alter Rebbe goes on to say that, within a Jew as well, this is the difference between a state in which the soul does not shine within him and one in which it does. Now he begins to explain how this applies to each person today. “And likewise the wicked and the sinners of Israel.” Even a Jew—but a Jew in a state where his soul is in exile; as he will soon explain, the soul does not shine within him. They are called “the wicked and the sinners of Israel, before they were faced with a test requiring them to sanctify Hashem’s name.” Before he faces

09:59 Speaker 1 In a test of sanctifying Hashem’s name, there can also be a situation of—G-d forbid—death. Now, it says, “The wicked, even in their lifetimes, are called dead.” That is written not only about a non-Jew; it is written about a Jew too. When a Jew is in the state of a rasha, he is in a state of separation from G-dliness. In other words, his soul does not shine within him. His soul is there, but it does not shine. What is in exile within him? His animal soul rules over him, and that is why he, too, is called dead—the opposite of life. Why? Because he lacks bittul, self-nullification. That is why they are called dead. But what about beinonim? It must apply to a beinoni too. Here he says, “The wicked and the sinners of Israel, before they faced a test of sanctifying Hashem’s name.” What about beinonim? With regard to beinonim, that is the whole point the Alter Rebbe is explaining here in Tanya: the yechidah within a beinoni, and the bittul he possesses, do not shine within him all the time either. Nevertheless, they are active in the present, in practice. As they say, está consciente—he is aware of it. He knows he has the—this is the whole point the Alter Rebbe is now explaining in these chapters: a beinoni works on himself to know that he has a soul, that he has bittul, and then he can... the opposite of life. Why? Because he lacks bittul. That is why they are called dead. But what about beinonim? It must apply to a beinoni too. Here he says, “The wicked and the sinners of Israel, before they faced a test of sanctifying Hashem’s name.” What about beinonim? With regard to beinonim, that is the whole point the Alter Rebbe is explaining here in Tanya: the yechidah within a beinoni, and the bittul he possesses, do not shine within him all the time either. Nevertheless,

12:13 Speaker 1 they are active in the present, in practice. He has a soul. Every Jew has the supernal spark, a G-dly spark. Yes, it is found even among the sinners of Israel; even a rasha has it. Nevertheless, we say he is called dead. What does that mean? The Alter Rebbe explains: he has a G-dly spark, he has a soul, and the light of the blessed Ein Sof shines within that G-dly spark. But it is in a state of exile within the body, within the animal soul. It is in exile within the kelipah in the left chamber of the heart, which reigns and rules over his body—this is the secret of the exile of the Shechinah, as explained above. This is called the exile of the Shechinah. What does “the exile of the Shechinah” mean? Is that an expression of our Sages? Yes. The Gemara says: “It was taught: Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai said, ‘Beloved are the Jewish people, for wherever they went into exile, the Shechinah went with them.’” They were exiled to Babylonia; they were exiled to all sorts of places. In every place, the Shechinah was with them. That is a teaching of our Sages. It is in the Gemara, in Megillah, taught there in that brief passage. In any case, what does the Gemara say? It says that when a Jew goes into exile, the Shechinah goes into exile with him. What is the explanation according to Chassidus? The Alter Rebbe explains here that “Shechinah” means the soul. There is an exile of the Shechinah—not only of the Shechinah in general. When a Jew is in exile, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is also in exile, but there is also the individual Shechinah: the G-dly part within him. It is the G-dly spark that is in exile. So when a Jew is in a state in which the animal soul controls him, that is called the exile of the Shechinah. What defines exile? Simply, exile means being somewhere you are not in charge. That is what exile means. What defines it? A person is in a place that is not his own. When I am in my own home, I do what I want. When I am

14:33 Speaker 1 in exile, I am somewhere I cannot do what I want. They tell me, “Come, go, get up.” [unclear] He is in a situation where he does not control the place; on the contrary, the place controls him. That is the definition of exile. The same is true of the soul. When a Jew’s soul controls his body, the soul shines openly, and the body does what the soul wants. In other words, as we said, the body is subordinate to the soul. The body is a vessel for the soul. The soul shines within it, and the body does what the soul wants. That is called a Jew being alive: the body is subordinate to the soul. But when the soul is in the body and, in practice, you do something entirely different—when the body, the animal soul, takes the soul and uses it for the opposite purpose—then the soul is within the kelipos. The soul is present in every Jew, but it is there in such a way that the body is not subordinate to it. On the contrary, instead of the body being subordinate to the soul, the soul becomes subordinate to the body. That is called the exile of the Shechinah, and it is therefore the same idea as death. What did we say defines death? Death means that the body is not a vessel for the soul. That is called death. The body does not subordinate itself to the soul. That is the definition of death. The same is true on a subtler level: when my body is not subordinate to the soul’s will, the soul is there, but it has no effect. That is a kind of death; it is the opposite of life. Life is when you can be subordinate to the soul, when the soul is revealed within you and every movement of the body’s limbs follows the soul’s will. But if the soul is within me and, in practice, I do the opposite, that is the exile of the Shechinah. The Alter Rebbe’s wording here is interesting.

16:36 Speaker 1 He is speaking about the wicked and the sinners of Israel, and he says that the animal soul of kelipah “reigns and rules over their bodies,” in the secret of the exile of the Shechinah. Those are two expressions: “reigns” and “rules.” What is the difference? Reigning is with the subject’s consent; ruling is against his will. This means that with the wicked and the sinners of Israel, the animal soul comes to both reign and rule over a person. There is a way the animal soul reigns, and a way it rules. Reigning is with consent; ruling is against one’s will. In other words, sometimes the animal soul affects a person in such a way that the body willingly subordinates itself to the animal soul, and sometimes the animal soul takes control of the body against his will. In our avodah, both are possible. Sometimes a person follows his desires because he wants to follow them, and he gives himself over to them. He surrenders himself to the desire. And sometimes he truly does not want to, but it is as though something compels him. He has become so enslaved to the desire of his body, of his animal soul, that even when he does not want to give in, he cannot control it. That is a kind of rule against his will. This is explained in Derech Chayim. The Mitteler Rebbe discusses there the phrase “Also from willful sins,” as it says there: “Also from willful sins... let them not rule over me.” Dovid Hamelech says, “Then I shall be clean of great transgression”; “Also from willful sins, hold back Your servant; let them not rule over me.” The Mitteler Rebbe discusses this. Sometimes a person becomes so enslaved to his desire—what does it mean, “his” desire?—that the desire rules over him. It is no longer reigning with his consent. He does not want it, but he cannot hold himself back. It is like what people today call addictions. He has become addicted. He does not want it. He knows

18:54 Speaker 1 it is not good. He knows it harms him, that it ruins his life, that it is not good. But he has become addicted. So that is a kind of rule against his will, as though the desire rules over him. That is the exile of the Shechinah. And that is what the Alter Rebbe is saying. Any Jew, too, can be in a state where he lacks bittul, where a power of the soul does not shine in the body. The body is not subordinate to the soul; instead, it is subordinate to the animal soul. That is the opposite of the revelation of G-dliness, the opposite of what the soul is about. That is called exile. “And therefore this love in the G-dly soul is called...” The Alter Rebbe says: This helps us understand why the love of the G-dly soul, “whose desire and wish are to cleave to Hashem, the Life of life, blessed be He,” is called a hidden love. We can now understand why the love of the G-dly soul is called a hidden love: because it is “hidden and covered by the sackcloth garment of kelipah in the sinners of Israel.” Why is the soul’s love called a hidden love? What does that mean? He says it is hidden and covered by the sackcloth garment of kelipah in the sinners of Israel. There is a sackcloth garment of kelipah that covers the G-dly soul’s love. What is the Alter Rebbe trying to say here? After all, in Tanya the Alter Rebbe is describing the greatness of a Jew. That is the whole point here: every Jew has a soul that is truly a part of G-d above. Every Jew has simple faith in G-dliness, to the point of self-sacrifice. That is the foundation of chapter 18 onward, where the Alter Rebbe explains that every Jew has an innate love for G-dliness, through which he can overcome every desire and every obstacle. So this is

21:06 Speaker 1 The love we’re talking about here is the love we inherited from Avraham Avinu. But this love is called a hidden love. Why is it called a hidden love? There are two reasons. First, it is hidden by its very nature. It is hidden in itself. It isn’t a love you’re conscious of; even when you’re not thinking about it, it’s there. In the simplest sense, “hidden love” means that this love is not naturally out in the open. By nature, it is part of a person’s very essence. He may not even know he has it. Every Jew has an inherent bond with G-dliness, but this is a natural love. It isn’t like a love that comes through contemplation. That love isn’t hidden; it’s revealed love, a love like flames of fire. With that kind of love, a person becomes stirred and feels something. But there’s a kind of love you don’t even know you have, because by nature it isn’t burning. It’s like the distinction we discussed in previous classes between the love of two brothers, or of a father and son, and the love between friends or between a husband and wife. In other words, there’s a kind of love you don’t feel. That isn’t a shortcoming: it isn’t a fiery love; it’s a love like water, a natural love. So it is hidden not because something is concealing it, but because it is inherently hidden. It’s an essential love. Then there’s a love that has a reason behind it. That’s a love in which a person gets excited and stirred, and the more meaning he feels in it, the more excited he becomes. That’s called a love like flames of fire. That’s one point. Here the Alter Rebbe adds another point. Why is a Jew’s love for Hakadosh Boruch

22:59 Speaker 1 Hu, the love connected with the soul’s faculty of chochmah, called hidden? Besides the fact that it is not inherently a revealed love, it is also concealed by a sackcloth covering of kelipah. Because a person is in a body and has an animal soul, the body and animal soul place an outer covering over this love that keeps it from being revealed. That is what he adds here: it is “hidden in a sackcloth garment of kelipah.” What’s the point of “sackcloth”? What does “sackcloth of kelipah” mean? “Sackcloth” is a word that appears in Scripture. It’s like what you call arpillera in Spanish, right?

23:35 Speaker 2 Arpillera.

23:35 Speaker 1 Arpillera. Sackcloth. It’s a big, coarse sack. And it’s a biblical expression. There’s a verse in Tanach that speaks about the nations, about the kelipos, about the sitra achra. That expression appears there. For example, it says, “I clothe the heavens in darkness, and make sackcloth their covering.” There are various verses—look—that speak about concealment, about layers of concealment, and use the metaphor of sackcloth. What defines sackcloth? It’s a kind of covering, but a coarse covering. Sometimes a vessel also serves as a covering, but it’s a beautiful vessel, one that adds beauty. You might put wine in a beautiful bottle. The bottle is also a covering, but it’s a special covering suited to the wine. Or you might put a piece of jewelry in a special, beautiful case. It covers the jewelry, but it also enhances it, adding beauty and splendor. The point of a sackcloth garment is that its whole purpose is to conceal. You can’t see what’s inside. When do you use a sack? For coarse, lowly things. That’s the point of a sackcloth garment of kelipah. Some garments are like fine vessels. This is a kind of garment that hides and conceals: a sackcloth garment of kelipah. [unclear] The significance of the word sak, “sackcloth,” is also that its numerical value is four hundred. With Esav, who is the source of kelipah, it says, “And four hundred men were with him.” You see the connection there between sackcloth and the number four hundred, which represents the power of the opposing side, of kelipah. Of Avraham Avinu it says that he bought the cave outright, paying four hundred silver shekels. That too is connected with the sitra achra, with this number,

25:40 Speaker 1 a number associated with the power of the opposing side. That power has to be overcome, nullified, and transformed into holiness. It’s also connected with the word sak, “sackcloth,” which has the same letters as kash, “stubble.” “And the house of Esav shall be stubble.” How does the verse go? “The house of Yosef shall be a flame, and the house of Esav shall be stubble.” Because stubble is something that has to be burned: the kelipah has to be burned away and transformed into holiness. Life and death.