Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 22 - Part 1

00:00 So regarding the unity of Hashem, the Alter Rebbe spoke at length about the whole concept of speech. He explained that on the one hand, we say speech is only relevant to someone else. But this is the difference between human speech and the speech of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When a person speaks, his speech becomes separate from him. In relation to the soul, speech is, in the end, nullified; but once the speech actually comes out, it is not nullified—it is an entity. With Hakadosh Boruch Hu, however, even after He speaks, even when the speech comes from potential into actuality, it remains united with Him. Therefore, with regard to G-dliness, we say that even after the worlds came into being, they remain utterly nullified, just as they were before their creation. That is the point the Alter Rebbe was making. Now, why is it called speech? The Alter Rebbe explained that speech has two aspects: an advantage and a shortcoming. Its advantage over thought is revelation. Thought is concealed; speech is revealed. That advantage of speech—the aspect of revelation—is also present in the way worlds come into being through the unfolding of the speech of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But the shortcoming of speech is that it separates from the soul, from the person, and thus becomes an entity. That does not apply to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, because His speech does not separate from Him. It always remains with Him, united with Him, never outside of Him. Therefore, everything remains utterly nullified even after its creation, just as before. This explains “I, Hashem, have not changed,” and “You are the same before the world was created; You are the same after the world was created.” But the Alter Rebbe adds that even the tzimtzum, which prevents me from perceiving the true reality, is part of Hashem’s unity, because from His perspective, even the tzimtzum does not conceal. Up to

02:09 this point, that is what he discussed in chapter 21. In chapter 22, the Alter Rebbe will use this to explain where the whole reality of the kelipos and sitra achra comes from. After all, our world does not actually feel this nullification. Not only does it not feel this nullification; it does not feel nullified at all. And not only does it not feel nullified—on the contrary, it feels the opposite. It feels itself to be an entity, to the point that there is kelipah and sitra achra, and even rebellion against and opposition to G-dliness can exist. So how does that happen, given everything we have explained? It all comes from the speech of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and His speech is united with Him. So how? How does a world come into being that conceals this truth—and not only conceals it, but even opposes it? That is the foundation of chapter 22. The Alter Rebbe will explain what kelipah, sitra achra, “other gods,” and idol worship mean: the other side, the opposite of Hashem’s unity. And how does it happen? That is what we will learn now in chapter 22. “It is only that the Torah speaks in human language.” In chapter 22, we are going to learn a very important principle in Chassidus and in every aspect of emunah. What defines idol worship? What defines kelipah and sitra achra? This is a fundamental matter that the Alter Rebbe explains here in Tanya, and the entire service of Hashem that he will go on to discuss in the coming chapters is built on it. The Alter Rebbe says: “It is only that the Torah speaks in human language.” Look, the Torah uses words that belong to human language. We also learned a principle of emunah that relates to this. When the Torah speaks about

04:06 Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it uses human terms, and we have to move beyond the literal illustration to understand what it means with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But since the Torah uses our words, words of human language, there must be a resemblance between the illustration and what it represents. And that resemblance is not limited to an advantage; sometimes it extends to a shortcoming as well. As we explained in earlier classes, when we generally say that the Torah speaks in human language, we mean that we use a physical illustration to understand matters of G-dliness. Usually, only one aspect of the illustration is intended. As we explained here in earlier classes, every illustration has an aspect that is an advantage and an aspect that is a shortcoming. The advantage also applies to what it represents with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu; the shortcoming does not. So take the example we are learning here, speech: speech has an advantage and a shortcoming. Its advantage is revelation, and its shortcoming is that it separates. We therefore say that Above, the advantage exists—revelation without the shortcoming. His speech does not separate; it remains united with Him. But that is one side of it, and that is how we generally speak in Chassidus. Often, though, there is another reason the Torah uses human language. This is what the Alter Rebbe adds here in chapter 22: the Torah deliberately uses human, physical language that includes a shortcoming, because the shortcoming, too, applies to what we are trying to understand. To whom does it apply? Not to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but to the created beings. In other words, speech also has a shortcoming. What

06:01 is the shortcoming of speech? That it is separate. So since the human term is “speech,” and the speech of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is also called “speech,” that tells us there is an aspect of separateness here too. It is true that Hakadosh Boruch Hu sees the truth: from His higher perspective, He knows that His speech is not separate and that nothing exists outside Him. And the tzimtzum is not literal. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world in such a way that the world would feel separate. In other words, He gave the world the possibility, from the created being’s perspective, of feeling that it is indeed an entity, a created being. From the standpoint of the truth, from the standpoint of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, it is nothing and utterly nullified. Hakadosh Boruch Hu perceives that and sees it; we are not denying it. But Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself provided this possibility, through this tzimtzum: He created the being so that it would feel itself to be an entity, separate from Him. That itself is also why the Torah calls it speech. In other words, when the Torah uses the term “speech” for the creation of the world, there are two intentions. From the perspective of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the intention is the advantage alone, without the shortcoming, revealing the truth. There is a truth here that relates to speech: just as speech is revelation, the Ten Utterances are also revelation. We also find speech in the Torah: “And Hashem spoke…”—all the instances of Hakadosh Boruch Hu speaking in Tanach. The creation of the world is a revelation from Above. That is from the perspective of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But from the perspective of created beings, the created being feels itself to be an entity. That, too, is included in the concept of speech, because speech in its plain sense implies separation. So that

07:49 too is part of what the Torah means. That is why the Torah uses the word “speech”: to emphasize that this side exists as well—the created being feels itself to be an entity, separate from Him. That, too, is part of the intention. It is not imaginary; it is not false. It, too, is part of the intention. That is what the Alter Rebbe is going to say. We will look at it inside the text. In other words, this is also real: Hakadosh Boruch Hu made the world in such a way that it would experience itself as an entity, and the created being would not feel its nullification. It would experience speech not only in terms of its advantage, but also in terms of its shortcoming. That itself is part of the intention of creation, so it is a genuine aspect of reality. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted the created being to feel this way. Why did He want that? Because it relates to the purpose of creation. It relates to free choice and to the entire matter of the created being’s service of Hashem, as we will see later. Therefore, even the meaning of speech as a shortcoming is part of what the Torah means, and it, too, is real. Let’s see it in the Alter Rebbe’s words: “It is only that the Torah speaks in human language, and in the Torah the speech of the Omnipresent, blessed be He, is called actual speech.” The Torah uses the word “speech” with regard to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, just as it uses the word “speech” with regard to human beings, “because this is truly the manner in which life descends and is drawn down to the lower realms.” For this, too, is real. In other words, the word “speech,” as people understand it to include a shortcoming, also expresses part of the intention of creation. This is how Hakadosh Boruch Hu actually made it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world in such a way that it would not be

09:40 felt in the world, so that its reality will not be felt, and this is brought about by the power of tzimtzum. Now, it is true that we said earlier, in chapter 1, that tzimtzum does not conceal anything from Hakadosh Boruch Hu, because He knows the truth. He sees in tzimtzum the whole point that tzimtzum is part of the perfection of the Infinite, and everything we discussed last week. It is no deficiency for Him. That is the truth from Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s side, but at the same time, this is also true: Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants there to be such a thing as tzimtzum, such a thing as concealment and hiddenness. He wants the created being to exist in a way that, from the created being’s perspective at least, it will not feel the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It will not feel that bittul, so that it can exist as a yesh, an entity in its own right. So this, too, is real. It shows that tzimtzum is not imaginary. This is one of the foundations of understanding Chassidus: it encompasses two opposites. But that itself is the whole point of Chassidus’s explanation of the oneness of Hashem. The Rebbe explains this at length. There is a wonderful sicha of the Rebbe on Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. It is printed in Lessons in Tanya, on Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. There the Rebbe explains and closely examines the Alter Rebbe’s wording in Tanya. After the Alter Rebbe explained the whole matter of the name Havayah and the name Elokim—that from the perspective of the name Havayah, created beings should be utterly nullified, while the name Elokim causes the created being not to be utterly nullified and to feel itself to be a yesh—in chapter 4 of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, the Alter Rebbe writes in parentheses at the end of the chapter: “And tzimtzum is called...” What is the wording there? A vessel. There is the aspect of light and the aspect of a vessel. The name Havayah is called light and the name Elokim is called a vessel, something

11:19 like that. And tzimtzum—just as a vessel covers the light, so tzimtzum covers the... So the Rebbe asks: What is the Alter Rebbe trying to tell us with this? Why is it relevant? Is he just inserting a bit of Kabbalah here in the middle? What is the Alter Rebbe trying to tell us—that this is called light and that is called a vessel, and just as the vessel covers, so tzimtzum covers? I’m recalling all this from memory. There is a long sicha there. I won’t go into the whole sicha now, but the point we discussed here, as we come to this passage in Tanya, is what the Rebbe draws out there. Because when you learn Tanya, it can seem as though it is all imaginary. In truth, everything is like the sun’s light within the sun. In reality, the created being comes into existence in such a way that, from the perspective of the breath of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s mouth, it is utterly nullified, like the sun’s light within the sun. It is nothing at all; it is utterly nullified. But then what? There is the name Elokim, which causes the created being not to feel this. So is the created being’s failure to feel it a falsehood? That is what the Alter Rebbe comes to rule out by writing there, in parentheses, that tzimtzum is called a vessel, just as a vessel covers the light. In other words, when the Alter Rebbe cites Kabbalah—that tzimtzum is called a vessel and that the vessel covers the light—we understand from this that vessels are not imaginary. Vessels are vessels. There is light, there are vessels, and the vessels are real. And there are vessels that cover the light; likewise, tzimtzum covers. In other words, the Alter Rebbe wants to explain to us that tzimtzum is not merely imaginary. It is a real phenomenon: Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the created being the ability to feel itself to be an entity. This also lets us understand the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos. Otherwise, a very simple question arises: when you learn Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah and learn that everything is utterly nullified, like the sun’s light within the sun, when you learn

12:58 the subject of Divine oneness, the question arises: Why do we need Torah and mitzvos? Why do we need the work of refining the world? What is this whole matter of nullifying the yesh? There is no world at all! After all, everything is nothing; everything is utterly nullified. So fundamental questions arise about the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos. That is why the Alter Rebbe comes with these parentheses and answers those questions: tzimtzum is a reality. It is similar here, as we come to chapter 22, where the Alter Rebbe explains further. After explaining in chapter 21 the oneness of Hashem—that everything is utterly nullified, “I, Hashem, have not changed,” so everything is utterly nullified, everything is nothing—the question naturally arises: If so, what is the whole point of serving Hashem? In chapter 22, the Alter Rebbe adds the point that describing it as “speech” does not change Him. And there is an aspect of speech here, not merely as an analogy; speech is part of the matter itself. When Hakadosh Boruch Hu used the word “speech” in the Torah, He also intended the aspect of speech as human beings understand it. So when Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings created beings into existence, He gives them the ability to feel themselves to be separate things, because speech brings them into being in that way. This is what the Alter Rebbe continues: “So, too, is the manner in which the life-force descends and is drawn down to the lower realms, through many immense tzimtzumim of various kinds.” So there are a number of tzimtzumim here, and they are many and immense. “Many” refers to quantity: there is a great number of them. In Kabbalah, we learn about many tzimtzumim. And they are also “immense.” “Immense” refers to their quality. There is tzimtzum in quantity—a great number of tzimtzumim—just as in the physical world, if you place

14:53 layer upon layer of screens, those many screens have an effect: each screen, each covering, produces another tzimtzum, another reduction in quantity. And there are also different kinds of tzimtzum in terms of quality. That is what “immense” means as well: the tzimtzum itself is immense. For example, we say that the tzimtzum from the light of Ein Sof before the tzimtzum to the light after the tzimtzum is a tzimtzum from revelation to concealment. It is a tzimtzum of an entirely incomparable order. So much so that we say that in relation to the light of Ein Sof before the tzimtzum, there was no room for worlds to exist, while after the tzimtzum, a reality came about in which worlds could exist. So tzimtzum is something of an entirely incomparable order. It is not only “many” but also “immense,” and “of various kinds.” “Of various kinds” means that there are different types of tzimtzum. As is well known, Chassidus speaks throughout of three types of tzimtzum. There is a tzimtzum called tzimtzum by way of withdrawal, a tzimtzum called tzimtzum by way of reduction, and a tzimtzum called tzimtzum by way of a parsa. Tzimtzum by way of withdrawal is the transition from before the tzimtzum to after the tzimtzum. The boundless light withdrew, withdrew completely. Meaning, it became concealed, yes? Not literally, but in such a way that nothing of it remained there—only an empty space, a vacant place. That is tzimtzum by way of withdrawal. After that, there is tzimtzum by way of reduction. That is the tzimtzum of the kav, which diminishes from world to world, from level to level. That is reduction. Then there is tzimtzum by way of a parsa, which is spoken of between Atzilus and Beriah. That is generally where there is a parsa. A parsa is a concealing garment, a curtain, a screen, which makes it possible for a created being to exist there, unlike in Atzilus, which is G-dliness. So those are “various kinds”—different types of tzimtzum. “To create the heavens”—through this entire process of tzimtzumim. So through all this

16:37 Many created beings came into being through this. It made it possible for there to be many created beings, of all different kinds. Here too, when we come to the beings that came into existence through it, we find a multitude of created beings. There is multiplicity in quantity, which is also one of the things the tzimtzum brought about. Before the tzimtzum, there was oneness and unity; after the tzimtzum, the withdrawal of G-dliness made it possible for there to be many created beings. Within that multiplicity, there is quantity and there is quality. There are many beings in number, and there are many different kinds. As we know, it says, “How manifold are Your works” and “How great are Your works”—multiplicity in quantity and in quality. And so powerful were the higher tzimtzumim and concealments of the countenance. The Alter Rebbe says that when we say speech brings something about, we mean speech that conceals. That is why it produces a tzimtzum, and there are so many tzimtzumim. So powerful were the higher tzimtzumim and concealments of the countenance that even impure things, kelipos, and sitra achra could come into existence and be created. Through the many tzimtzumim, a concealment of the countenance also came about. What is the difference between tzimtzum and concealment? Broadly speaking, it is all tzimtzum. But as long as you use the word tzimtzum, it does not mean that the light is no longer there. Tzimtzum means that it is restricted. Say you have the very powerful light of the sun. You do not want all that sunlight coming into a room, so you put up walls and make a window. Only the light that comes through the window enters. That is a tzimtzum: there is less light, but it is not that there is no light. The same applies spiritually. If a teacher conveys an idea to a student, the teacher does not reveal the whole idea; he reveals a small part of it. That is called tzimtzum. But even after the tzimtzum, the connection remains. It is still

18:37 light; it is still a revelation, though a limited one. But after many tzimtzumim, something new occurs, called concealment of the countenance. This is no longer just tzimtzum. It is concealment: he hides himself, and you can no longer see him. So after many tzimtzumim, there is also concealment of the countenance. Through the concealment of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s inner countenance, a situation arises in which created beings come into existence that not only do not visibly reveal G-dliness, but actually oppose and conceal it—impure things, kelipos, and sitra achra. “And therefore, their creation from nothing into something and their continued existence are from the word of Hashem and the breath of His mouth, blessed be He.” These beings also need Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Without Him, nothing happens. So ultimately, they too come into existence through His power. But how does it happen? Through concealment of the countenance. Hashem’s life-force is in them, but how does it reach them? Through concealment of the countenance, as though the inner dimension is hidden, and through a descent from level to level. And that is why they are called “other gods.” This is why the verse—the verse spoken by Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, which we mentioned earlier, when “I am” and “You shall have no other” were heard directly from the Almighty—uses the words “other gods.” What did Hakadosh Boruch Hu mean when He said “other gods”? The Alter Rebbe will explain two meanings here in this chapter. First, he explains the first meaning: “And that is why they are called ‘other gods.’” Based on what we have just explained—that kelipah comes about through tzimtzumim and concealment of the countenance—we can understand why it is called “other gods.” The Alter Rebbe says: “What does ‘other gods’ mean? Because what they draw upon, and their life-force, do not come from the aspect of the countenance, but from the aspect of the ‘back’ of holiness.”

20:28 What does “other gods” mean? The Alter Rebbe says that “other” alludes to “back.” In other words, they receive life from the aspect of the back. Hakadosh Boruch Hu made everything in the world and gives it life. He puts His inner dimension into these things, so to speak, as though He is present within them. But with kelipah and sitra achra, Hakadosh Boruch Hu also brings them into existence—but in what way? His inner dimension is not present there. On the contrary, He conceals it. Their life-force therefore comes from the aspect of the back, and when something comes into being in that way, through the external aspect, it can exist without being connected to G-dliness; it can even oppose G-dliness. The very fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings them into existence and gives them life through the aspect of the back is why they become kelipah and sitra achra: disconnected from G-dliness, opposing it, and obscuring and concealing it.