Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 20 - Part 3

00:01 So we’re here in Tanya, on page 26a. The line... the fifth line. The Alter Rebbe is in the middle of explaining the whole subject of the oneness of Hashem. The oneness of Hashem, according to Chassidus, according to the truth, means that He alone is, just as He was before the world was created. After the world was created, He is exactly the same, without any change. “I, Hashem, have not changed.” There is no change in Hakadosh Boruch Hu before creation and after creation. So the Alter Rebbe continues here, in the fourth line, saying: “For everything before Him is considered as nothing, as absolute naught and nothingness.” Why do we say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is one and unique, and there is none besides Him after creation just as before creation? The Alter Rebbe says: Why? Because “everything before Him is considered as nothing, as absolute naught and nothingness.” What that means is that all the worlds have no value, no significance whatsoever in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. They are absolute naught and nothingness, and therefore they do not count for anything. And therefore Hakadosh Boruch Hu was not changed by His creation of a world. When would we speak of a change? When the thing you do has some value, when it counts for something. But when we’re talking about something that has no value, that does not count for anything, then it brings about no change. Since everything in Tanya is precise, every word is precise, some want to say that when the Alter Rebbe uses several expressions here—“everything before Him is considered as nothing, as absolute naught and nothingness”—he is speaking, in brief, about several levels in the bittul of the worlds. “Everything before Him is considered as nothing” is one kind of bittul. Then there is “as naught,” and then there is “nothingness.” These are three concepts. “Considered as nothing” refers to bittul in terms of significance. In other words, the thing has no significance. A thing has no

02:16 significance. It’s like saying, “What use is a lamp in daylight?” Like a candle in the light of day. The candle has no significance—not because it isn’t there. There’s a candle, and there’s daylight. They’re two things. The candle is there and the daylight is there, and the daylight shines. The sun shines, and the candle shines too. But what happens? Because the sunlight is so powerful, the candlelight isn’t noticeable. So that’s called “What use is it?” That’s at the end, right? Where is this idea that it has no value, no significance? That’s the idea of “considered as nothing,” but it isn’t bittul of its very existence. In other words, it doesn’t mean that its existence isn’t real. It only means that it has no significance, no value. But as soon as you remove the sunlight, when the sun goes down, the candlelight has an effect. It does have an existence. Then we say “naught.” That goes deeper. “Naught” means there is no independent existence here; all that exists is G-dliness. There is no independent existence here at all. Like the expression “There is none besides You.” It means there is no existence here apart from the Divine light. So the bittul is not only in its significance; the bittul is also in its very existence. After that we say “nothingness.” Nothingness is more than naught. In davening we say, “There is none besides You, our King, for the life of the World to Come, and nothing apart from You, our Redeemer, for the days of Moshiach.” The World to Come is Gan Eden. Moshiach is higher than Gan Eden. So of Gan Eden we say, “There is none besides You”—naught. And of Moshiach we say “nothingness.” What is the difference between the bittul of naught and the bittul of nothingness? Chassidus explains that “naught” is a kind of bittul like the light of the sun outside the sun. In other words, sunlight has no existence of its own either. Its entire existence comes only from the sun, but the sun does give it an existence. It has no separate existence. Its whole existence is only what the sun produces here. But

04:00 when the light is within the sun, the bittul there is much deeper, because within the sun there is nothing but the sun. So the bittul of “nothingness” is much deeper, much stronger than the bittul of “naught.” Accordingly, some commentators on Tanya want to say that this is why the Alter Rebbe writes out the whole phrase here: “Everything before Him is considered as nothing, as absolute naught and nothingness.” The Alter Rebbe wants to speak here about bittul in the oneness of Hashem, about “I, Hashem, have not changed,” and all these levels of bittul are present: the worlds are considered as nothing, with no significance whatsoever, and they are also naught and nothingness. But the plain meaning of Tanya isn’t like that. The plain meaning of Tanya isn’t three levels. Rather, it’s an explanation. “Everything before Him is considered as nothing, as absolute naught and nothingness” is not another level. Rather, “as absolute naught and nothingness” explains “everything before Him is considered as nothing.” What does “everything before Him is considered as nothing” mean? It is considered as nothing in the sense of being absolute naught and nothingness. In other words, when you say that one thing is considered as nothing in relation to another, it might be considered as nothing only in the way it expresses itself outwardly. Take the example we gave of a candle in daylight, right? There, it is considered as nothing only in the way its light spreads. The candle itself is there and it shines. It’s just that the light it spreads isn’t noticeable because of the daylight. But there is a kind of “considered as nothing” where the bittul is one of absolute naught and nothingness. “Considered as nothing” here does not mean that this is another level. Rather, the Alter Rebbe

05:46 is simply explaining what the words mean. “Everything before Him is considered as nothing”—it is naught and nothingness, absolute naught and nothingness. How is it considered as nothing? In the sense of absolute naught and nothingness, as though it had never been an existence in the first place. It’s like what is written in the maamarim. In the maamar “Kiblu HaYehudim,” in chapter 7 of the Hemshech 5672—and this analogy is brought in several maamarim—there can be a situation where a lesser sage is in the presence of a greater sage, and his bittul to him isn’t merely in the way he expresses himself. It isn’t that I’m also wise, but he’s wiser than I am, so I don’t express myself. I don’t speak in his presence because I feel that he is greater than I am. In that case, the bittul is only in outward expression. Rather, there is a bittul of a lesser sage before a greater sage in which he feels a lack of wisdom. He feels that, compared with the greater sage, his wisdom isn’t wisdom at all. It’s not—it’s an absence of wisdom. That’s along the lines of what the Alter Rebbe says here: the bittul of the worlds is that “everything before Him is considered as nothing” in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What kind of “considered as nothing”? One of absolute naught and nothingness, as though it had no existence at all. Now the Alter Rebbe begins to explain this. Those words state the point of the matter. The point of the oneness of Hashem is that, in relation to Ein Sof, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, all the worlds are naught and nothingness, considered as nothing. But what is the explanation for this? After all, in its own right the world does exist. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created a world. How do you explain that even though He created the world, it nevertheless has no value or measure whatsoever? So here the Alter Rebbe begins to explain the matter. The Alter Rebbe says:

07:21 “For...” Yes? In the fifth line. The Alter Rebbe says: “For the coming into being of all the upper and lower worlds from nothing into something, and their vitality and continued existence, which keep them from reverting to the naught and nothingness they were before, are only the word of Hashem and the breath of His mouth, blessed be He, which are enclothed within them.” The Alter Rebbe says that the coming into being of all the worlds—the entire existence of the worlds—and their vitality and continued existence, which keep them from reverting to naught and nothingness, all come from the word of Hashem enclothed within them. Accordingly, the entire existence of creation is nothing other than the word of Hashem. In other words, the Alter Rebbe is setting out the preliminaries here. This still isn’t the explanation of “considered as nothing.” The two lines we’ve just learned, these three lines, do not yet explain “considered as nothing.” They are an introduction before that explanation. First, before we can explain “considered as nothing,” the Alter Rebbe explains what we are talking about: What is the world? What defines creation? What is the reality of creation? That is what the Alter Rebbe explains here: the entire existence of creation is the word of Hashem. This is essentially what we learn in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. Here the Alter Rebbe writes in two lines, briefly, what he explains at length in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. In other words, as we’ll see later—and we’ll discuss this more fully—there is the oneness of Hashem explained in the first chapters of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, and there is the oneness of Hashem that we are learning here. They are not exactly the same thing. They are connected, and in the end it all comes together, but here the Alter Rebbe is speaking in a different way. What is different about it? Briefly, at the beginning of the discussion, those first lines we just read, the three lines from the words “For the coming into being” through the end of the sentence—those three lines, the Alter Rebbe

09:19 He is giving a brief version of what he explained in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. First of all, what is the world? What is creation? Before we talk about creation’s bittul, about its connection or lack of connection, and about its being of no significance—first, what is the created being itself? What is its reality? The Alter Rebbe says that the entire reality of a created being is solely the word of Hashem invested within it. This is the principle the Alter Rebbe explained in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah: the coming into being of the worlds. This is what the Baal Shem Tov said. The world is not like a craftsman making a vessel. After a craftsman makes a vessel, the vessel remains a reality. Why does the vessel remain a reality in its own right? Because even while the craftsman is making it, it already has an existence. The substance of the vessel does not come from the craftsman. It existed before him and apart from him. What does the craftsman do? He merely shapes it. So after he makes the vessel, it continues to exist, because even while making it, he only changes its form, not its essential existence. The creation of the worlds, by contrast, is something from nothing. The created being did not exist before. It is something new. So, in itself, the created being is absolutely nothing; it does not exist, has no reason to exist, and cannot exist. In and of itself, it should have no existence at all. But something new happens. What is it? Through the word of Hashem: Hakadosh Boruch Hu commanded, and it was created. Hakadosh Boruch Hu can do this. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. By His power, Hakadosh Boruch Hu can bring into being even something that could not otherwise exist, and that is how a created being comes to be. Since this existence is something new, it does not happen just once; it happens every single moment. At every moment and in every movement, it is felt within the created being

11:10 that, in truth, it has no reason to exist. It should be absolutely nothing. It exists only because the word of Hashem gives it life at every moment. So what is the reality of this being? Its reality is the word of Hashem. Apart from the word of Hashem, it has no existence at all. The Alter Rebbe is precise in his wording here. He says: “which made all these, brought it from nothing into being, and is its life and continued existence.” There are three things here. There is its making—the coming into being of the created entity, the transition from nothing to something. That is through the power of the word of Hashem. Then there is its life. Life is its soul, its vitality. Every created being has two aspects. There is the actual making, the fact that something comes from nothing. That is one aspect of the created being. Then there is the life of that being, its spiritual soul: the soul of a speaking being, of a plant, of an inanimate object, a stone, water, or earth, as the Alter Rebbe says there in Tanya. Then there is its continued existence. This can mean that it continues to exist at every moment after its initial creation—the renewal of its existence, in the language of Chassidus. It could also refer to the matter of hashgachah pratis: what happens to the created being and how it is directed. However we explain it, the point is that every detail of a created being, at every moment, comes solely from the word of Hashem. Without the word of Hashem, the created being would have neither existence, nor life, nor continued existence. So what follows? You look at a created being and ask: What is its essence? What is its substance? Its reality is the word of Hashem. Since no aspect of the created being has an existence of its own—not its coming into being, not its vitality, and not its continued existence; all of it comes from the word of Hashem—then, automatically, what is the substance

13:02 of the created being? Its substance is the word of Hashem. That is the first principle. This is not yet about its being of no significance. We are not talking about that yet. First, we are establishing what the reality of a created being is. Its reality is the word of Hashem. Apart from that, it has no existence at all. Now that we know that the reality of a created being is the word of Hashem, the question is: What is the nature of the word of Hashem? It is speech: “And G-d said”—the Ten Utterances. The speech of Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings the created being into existence. Hakadosh Boruch Hu says, “Let there be light.” There is speech here, and because there is speech, there is significance. Speech itself means that, when Reuven speaks to Shimon, Shimon is a reality to him. We spoke about this in the previous class. The very act of speaking implies a relationship, significance, importance. So when Hakadosh Boruch Hu invests Himself in bringing something into being, He says, “Let there be light,” and there is light. True, we say that even after “Let there be light” has been said and there is light, that light must be brought into being at every moment. The light has no existence of its own. Its entire reality is the word of Hashem. But the very fact that the word of Hashem relates to bringing it into being—the very fact of speech—implies investment, that it occupies a place, that it has significance. So the Alter Rebbe now explains by way of an analogy. This is the continuation of the chapter. The Alter Rebbe comes and says: With a human being, we see that a single utterance has no significance compared to the soul. A single utterance occupies no place and has no significance relative to the soul. We are going to explain in detail what that means. And in the same way,

14:57 this applies with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. True, the entire reality of creation is His speech, but speech has no significance relative to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. All the more so—consider the human soul. A person is a created being and is limited in every respect; even the soul is limited. Nevertheless, I say that one utterance, compared to the soul as a whole, has absolutely no significance or importance. It is utterly nullified. How much more so with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: the speech that brings the world into being has no significance or importance relative to Him. This is not the whole explanation. It is only the beginning. Friends, we need patience. The Alter Rebbe takes us through two chapters here, right? And he explains it step by step. Each part adds another level of depth, another explanation, another point. The Alter Rebbe sets out to explain the matter of the word of Hashem. He says he is doing so briefly—and it really is brief. Yes, it is two chapters, but in these two chapters the Alter Rebbe approaches the word of Hashem from every angle. Still, there is a process here. First, he explained to us—and this is what we have done—the bittul of the created being relative to the word of Hashem: understanding that the created being is not an independent reality; it is only the word of Hashem. Why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe go straight to explaining that it is of no significance? Why does he first need to repeat what is written in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah? Why doesn’t he go straight to the point that it is of no significance? After all, that is what he wants to explain. The answer is simple. If I don’t yet know that the reality of the created being is the word of Hashem, what good will it do to explain to me that the word of Hashem is nullified? If we

16:37 If we look at the created being as an independent reality, then saying that Hashem’s word is of no account will not help us understand the bittul of the worlds. That is what we want to explain here: the bittul of the worlds. So first we need to understand that the entire definition of the world is Hashem’s word. There is no reality here apart from Hashem’s word. Once we understand that the world is not an independent reality, that its entire reality is Hashem’s word, then we can explain the nature of Hashem’s word: it is included within the Infinite, like speech within the soul. Then we can understand how this bittul, this being of no account, extends to creation itself—how the reality of the world exists in a state of bittul, of being of no account. This is true unity of Hashem, as we say every morning: “You are He before the world was created; You are He after the world was created.” It is truly the same as before creation. This explains the concept of true unity of Hashem. That is the continuation of the discussion here in Tanya. Now let’s read a little inside, after the period. The Alter Rebbe says, giving an analogy from a person’s soul, that when a person speaks one utterance, “this utterance alone is truly as nothing even in relation to the entirety of the power of speech in the speaking soul, which is its intermediate garment”—the person’s power of speech, through which he can speak an endless number of utterances. When the Alter Rebbe comes to explain just how little an utterance counts in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he brings an analogy from the human soul. In the human soul, too, there are several levels. There are several stages to this bittul, this being of no account, when speaking about the soul. So there are several levels in the soul as well. First, there is the bittul of a single utterance in relation to the entire power of speech. Before discussing higher levels, we do not yet need to go beyond the power of speech. We are talking about the power of speech itself, the intermediate garment. It is a garment, not the soul itself, nor even a vessel for the soul,

18:40 but a garment of the soul—and, among the soul’s garments, it is the intermediate garment. In other words, compared with thought, it is something external. We are speaking about a very low level, almost like action—though action is lower. Speech is a very low level. Nevertheless, even within speech itself, without discussing the higher levels, a single utterance is of no account in relation to the entire power of speech. Why? Simply because, as the Alter Rebbe says here, the power of speech is “endless.” In terms of its potential, I can speak without limit. In practice, you cannot speak without limit, because at some point you stop. But in terms of its potential—the capacity for speech in the soul—that power is endless, without limit. One can speak an endless number of utterances, in endless ways. There is no limit. When you say one word, though, that is one word; it is limited. So one word in relation to the entire power of speech is like one in relation to the unlimited. What is the distance between one and the unlimited? Unlimited. Infinite. So it is of no account. One compared with infinity has no proportion, no significance. And yet this is speech and that is speech. They belong to the same realm, the same level—the level of speech. Even within speech itself, I am saying that one utterance is of no account in relation to the entire power of speech. Now imagine one utterance in relation to thought—not to speech, but to the power of thought. It is even less significant. It is not only of no account quantitatively, as one compared with the unlimited; qualitatively, too, this is speech and that is thought. And compared with the soul’s inner faculties, it is even less significant. So

20:39 it is even more of no account. And the Alter Rebbe continues. We are short on time; in the next class we will read it inside. The Alter Rebbe wants to explain that even within the soul, there are many levels of being of no account. So imagine one utterance in relation to the soul as a whole: there is no proportion between them, whether in quantity, quality, or essence. However you look at it, there is no proportion at all. Within the soul, one utterance has no significance, no standing. It brings about no change; it has no proportion or significance. How much more so when we say that the entire world is speech. “The world was created through ten utterances.” What are those utterances? The entire world is speech. So that speech, in relation to the Infinite, is certainly utterly nothing, of no account whatsoever. And that is the concept of true unity of Hashem.