Igeres Hakodesh, Letter 11, "Lehaskilcha Binah" - Part 2

00:02 Speaker 1 So we were discussing chapter 11 of Igeres Hakodesh, the first part. The Alter Rebbe writes that, as much as we are able, right? He comes to explain that this is not the way for the light of Hashem to dwell upon a person. A person needs to know that the way for the light of Hashem to dwell upon him is not through physical well-being, or through children, life, and livelihood. About this it says, “Nullify your will before His will.” So the Alter Rebbe explains that a person’s will must be completely nullified. What does that mean? That he should have no desire at all for worldly matters, including children, life, and livelihood. And about this it says, “Against your will, you live.” That’s the point we discussed. In the previous class, we explained what the Rebbe says here about what the Alter Rebbe is adding. In other words, what is he teaching us? We explained that a person might think the main thing is iskafya—subduing himself. He does have desires, but in practice he overcomes them. So the Alter Rebbe explains that his will must be completely nullified. To be a vessel upon which Hashem dwells, for Hashem to dwell within him as in a sanctuary—to be revealed within him inwardly and permanently—he needs to reach a level in serving Hashem where his desire for worldly matters is truly nullified altogether. Incidentally, the Rebbe connects this understanding—that he should have no desire for worldly matters, that his will should be completely nullified, and that precisely this makes him a vessel upon which Hashem dwells—with what is explained in Likkutei Amarim. In fact, the point we’re learning in this chapter is the foundation of the entire Tanya. Perhaps here it is written in very sharp, very forceful language, but what we’re learning in this chapter 11 is really the basis of the entire Tanya. Because the whole foundation of Tanya, as the Alter Rebbe

02:19 Speaker 1 says in Likkutei Amarim, and says many times, is that the essential difference between holiness and kelipah is that holiness is characterized by bittul, self-nullification, while kelipah is characterized by a sense of self. That is the fundamental difference between holiness and kelipah. The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya that anything completely nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu has G-dliness dwelling within it. Anything that is not nullified has a sense of its own existence and is therefore in conflict with G-dliness, so G-dliness is not revealed within it. It follows that becoming a dwelling place, a vessel for the light of Hashem, comes specifically through bittul. The more genuine the bittul, the more genuinely G-dliness is revealed—the light of Hashem dwells there. That is the advantage of complete self-nullification over nullifying one’s sense of self. This is what the Alter Rebbe is saying. As long as a person has desires for worldly matters, even if in practice he serves Hashem, overcomes those desires, and does Hashem’s will despite having them, that too is an important level in serving Hashem. It is the work of iskafya, and it has great advantages in other respects. There is iskafya, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But to be a dwelling place for G-dliness, that comes specifically through complete self-nullification. When is Hakadosh Boruch Hu revealed? When a person is nullified—in places of bittul. So the more completely his desires are nullified, the more he becomes a dwelling place in which Hashem dwells. Now, in the continuation of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe comes to explain what a person needs to contemplate in order to become such a dwelling place, a dwelling place and vessel for the light of Hashem. So let’s continue inside and see how the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain this in the chapter. The Alter Rebbe says, “And the explanation of this matter”—to explain how a person brings himself to

04:14 Speaker 1 complete self-nullification, so that he has no desire or interest in anything else, and all his desire is directed only toward G-dliness. How does one reach such a level? The Alter Rebbe says: “Only true faith in the Creator of Bereishis.” The way to reach this bittul is through true faith in the Creator of Bereishis. In other words, the Alter Rebbe is saying here: How does a person bring himself to have no desire or interest in worldly matters? Through true faith. As we explained, the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us that this is relevant to every Jew. It is not some lofty level of service that belongs only to a select few. The Alter Rebbe wants to say that this is relevant to every Jew. So he says that to reach the nullification of one’s desires, to serve Hashem in a way that allows one to accept everything with joy and have no desire for worldly matters, one does so through true faith. Every Jew has faith; the question is that we need to learn how to define that faith—what faith means. But that is what the Alter Rebbe says: “Only true faith in the Creator of Bereishis.” What exactly does “Creator of Bereishis” mean? True faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why does the Alter Rebbe use the words “Creator of Bereishis”? Those particular words are relevant to what we’re discussing here. So the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain exactly what “Creator of Bereishis” means. The Alter Rebbe says: “That is, creation is something from nothing, the ‘nothing’ being called ‘the beginning of Chochmah.’” Creation—the world—is something from nothing, and that “nothing” is called “the beginning of Chochmah.” “Chochmah is called ‘nothing,’ and it is His wisdom, which no created being can grasp.” The Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is called “nothing.” Why “nothing”? Because no created being has any grasp of G-dliness; that is why it is called “nothing.”

06:18 Speaker 1 As is well known, one of the meanings of the word “nothing,” when used in reference to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, is that the G-dly power that brings created beings into existence is called “nothing” because it cannot be grasped. We have no grasp, no understanding whatsoever, of the G-dly power that brings us into existence, and so we call it “nothing.” Thus Chochmah is the G-dly “nothing” from which all of our creation comes. As it is written, “You made them all with wisdom.” Creation—the world—comes from the sefirah of Chochmah, which is the “nothing” from which the “something” comes into being. This creation takes place at every moment. So that is true faith. True faith is that the Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, this “nothing,” brings created beings into existence. When does it bring them into existence? At every moment. “From there, all created beings come into existence from nothing, from His wisdom, which gives life to everything.” All created beings come into existence from nothing at every moment, from the Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, which gives life to everything. So what is the Alter Rebbe saying here? First of all, he tells us what true faith is: true faith in the Creator of Bereishis. The meaning of “Creator of Bereishis” here is that He creates, He brings into existence, He makes—with bereishis. What does bereishis mean? According to this explanation, “Creator of Bereishis” means that He creates with reishis, “the beginning.” Reishis refers to the “nothing.” It is the beginning of Chochmah. It is the “nothing” called reishis, and that is Chochmah. So this is “Creator of Bereishis”: with reishis, Hakadosh Boruch Hu creates everything. In other words, the G-dly “nothing,” which is the Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, brings everything into existence. And how does it bring everything into existence? At every moment. In other words, what the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us is that, for a Jew to truly internalize

08:22 Speaker 1 Truly, for a Jew to serve Hashem with joy and a glad heart at every moment, the concept of Hashem’s oneness has to be firmly settled within him. True faith in Hashem’s oneness is the foundation for serving Hashem in the way we are discussing here: having no desire or pleasure in anything of this world. And the explanation is as he just said. Once you understand the connection between true oneness of Hashem and the nullification of desires, the Alter Rebbe explains it here. When I understand what Hashem’s oneness means, I understand that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings the world into existence. How does He bring it into existence? He brings it into existence from nothing. The ayin brings the yesh into existence, and when the ayin brings the yesh into existence, it continues to bring it into existence. This does not happen just once; at every moment the ayin must bring the yesh into existence. The Alter Rebbe does not go into the explanation at length here, but we already know it from Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. There the Alter Rebbe explained at length that because the world is yesh from ayin, and its coming into being is from a Divine ayin—from nothing, a tangible existence comes into being—that is something extraordinary. It is something new, and since it is something new, it is not enough for Him to have done it once. At every moment, the Divine ayin must bring the yesh into existence. That is what he says here: “at every moment.” So that is the point of faith—true faith. The very fact that a Jew grasps this, that a Jew believes in the true oneness of Hashem as revealed by the Baal Shem Tov—that creation of yesh from ayin takes place at every moment—will cause all a person’s desires and everything of that sort to be utterly nullified. Because all of creation is G-dliness. There is no existence

10:11 Speaker 1 apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu at any moment. All of creation is G-dliness, so everything is about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is no desire apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the central point. There are still many details to it, but this is the foundation the Alter Rebbe is giving here. By the way, one moment. Why do we say that chochmah is called “reishis,” “the beginning”? The Alter Rebbe does not explain it here. He says chochmah is called reishis because it says, “The beginning of wisdom.” But what is the actual explanation? It is explained elsewhere in Chassidus that chochmah is called reishis quite simply because chochmah is the first of the sefiros. The first sefirah is chochmah, and therefore chochmah is called reishis. Also, in the Targum Onkelos—in Targum Yonasan, I think, or the Jerusalem Targum—on the Chumash, “In the beginning G-d created” is translated as “With wisdom He created.” “In the beginning” is translated as “with wisdom,” meaning chochmah. So that is also the translation of reishis. And when we say, “You made them all with wisdom,” chochmah is reishis. Quite simply, it is the beginning of it all, the first of the sefiros. Here it is the beginning of creation because it is the ayin from which all created beings come into existence. Yes, what did you want to ask?

11:27 Speaker 2 Why does he spend three lines here explaining the level of the ayin that brings the yesh into existence? Remember, what matters in practice is just that there is an ayin. He goes on about its being the beginning, chochmah. He only needs to make the point that the ayin brings things into existence.

11:40 Speaker 1 Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. A very good question. Oh. So Mendel asks: Why does he need to go on here and say something about chochmah? Seemingly, to explain that a person should be utterly nullified because he comes into existence from yesh from ayin at every moment, it should have been enough to say that it is yesh from ayin, as he says in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. Why does he emphasize that the ayin is chochmah? A very good question. Why does it matter here to emphasize that the ayin is chochmah? We will see that now, as the chapter continues. We will understand very well that for a person to be happy amid suffering, to accept everything with joy and see the good in it, contemplating yesh from ayin alone is not enough. He also needs to understand the significance of chochmah specifically—that the ayin which brings things into existence is chochmah. And specifically this point, that the ayin which brings things into existence is chochmah, the beginning of wisdom, matters for accepting everything with joy and pleasure. We will see that now as the chapter continues. The Alter Rebbe goes on to say: “When a person contemplates with the depth of his understanding.” Until now he spoke about faith itself, faith in the concept of Hashem’s oneness. And the Alter Rebbe continues: “When a person contemplates with the depth of his understanding.” When a person contemplates with the depth of his understanding—that is, he does not stop at the basic point of faith, but takes that faith and brings it into his understanding, contemplating it deeply—“and pictures in his mind.” Notice, he adds not only contemplation but also picturing it. Picturing means making it more tangible, more real, closer to the soul, closer to the person. “And pictures in his mind his coming into existence from ayin”—that I come into existence from ayin at every single moment.

13:42 Speaker 1 That this process of coming into existence really happens at every moment. “How could it occur to him that things are bad for him?” So how could a person think that things are bad for him, feel distress, feel bad, or experience suffering concerning children, health, and livelihood? That he should feel distress or suffering because, G-d forbid, he lacks something in matters of children, health, and livelihood, “or any other suffering in the world? For the ayin, which is His blessed wisdom, is the source of life, goodness, and pleasure, and it is the Eden above the World to Come.” The Alter Rebbe says: Once a person grasps that the ayin brings him into existence at every moment—and what is this ayin? It is His blessed wisdom, and His blessed wisdom is the source of life, goodness, and pleasure, the Eden above the World to Come. I am about to explain this. So how could he have any distress or suffering? On the contrary, he should have life, goodness, and pleasure. That is the explanation that will lead a person to accept everything with joy. What is the Alter Rebbe saying here? There is something very interesting here. The Alter Rebbe is actually saying two things. He began the chapter by speaking about how a person should have no desire for material life, no desire or pleasure in material things or in children, health, and livelihood. Now the Alter Rebbe says something else: not only should he have no desire, but if he lacks one of these things—children, health, or livelihood—he should be happy, not distressed. Those are two different things. Before, we spoke about not taking pleasure in it and not wanting it. What does that mean? We were not talking about whether he has it or does not have it. We were talking about not desiring it. Now he adds that even if, G-d forbid, he is lacking something, then how could it occur

15:44 Speaker 1 to him to feel distress, pain, or suffering? After all, life and goodness are what give him life. What is the explanation? What is the point here? The Rebbe also gives a very interesting explanation of this. The point is as follows: Sometimes a person can have children, health, and livelihood, and you do not see him taking any special pleasure in them. No, you do not see that he... There are people you can see taking tremendous pleasure in these things. He comes to eat with such relish, with all his enthusiasm, with all his energy. You see his excitement; he is enthusiastic, he lives for these things—for children, health, and livelihood. You can see that this is something very important to him. And there are people you see who are reserved. They do not get excited. They have children, health, and livelihood, but you do not see them showing excitement. So a person might think that this is already the level the Alter Rebbe described earlier—that he has no desire for these things. The proof is that he is unmoved. The Alter Rebbe says: No, that is still not enough. What is the test? When is there proof that a person’s desire for these things is truly nullified? When do I see that it really is nullified? When a moment comes that something is lacking. Then you can see how he accepts it. If he accepts it with joy, that is the test. Why? Because a person may simply be reserved by nature. He has children, health, and livelihood, and as long as he has them, his lack of enthusiasm may just be a matter of nature, of temperament. That is the sort of person he is; he has grown used to it. You do not see him showing excitement because he is used to it.

17:49 Speaker 1 He is always in it. By way of example, the Rebbe quotes a saying from the Baal Shem Tov: “A constant pleasure is no pleasure.” We can see this plainly in a person. The first time you eat some delicious food, you get excited about it. The second time, you’re still excited. But if someone has chocolate all day long, at a certain point the excitement wears off. What does it mean that the excitement wears off? It doesn’t mean—what it means is that he no longer feels a geshmak in it. That’s what “a constant pleasure is no pleasure” means. But what happens if you take it away from him? That’s when we want to see him. The moment that pleasure is taken away and he no longer has it, let’s see how he reacts. If he cries out and is upset, that shows the pleasure is still very much there for him. And that is what the Alter Rebbe adds here. It is not only that he should have no desire for worldly things. The test of whether a person has no desire for worldly things comes when he finds himself lacking something in worldly matters. And nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe says, he is happy. Ah, that shows he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what the Alter Rebbe adds here. When a person contemplates the unity of all worlds, he comes to understand deeply that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings him into being at every moment. And what does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings him into being? It is through His wisdom. And the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the source of life, goodness, and delight. In other words, his pleasure does not come from having the things he craves in this world—from children, health,

19:35 Speaker 1 and sustenance. His pleasure is G-dliness. If he truly feels that G-dliness is the source of life, goodness, and delight, that is the test of how connected he is to G-dliness. There’s a story that helps explain this point a little more. Chassidim tell of a wedding where there were rich people and poor people. The rich people sat at tables neatly set with plates and knives and all kinds of—excuse me—all kinds of utensils and other things. They sat and ate slowly. In a corner was a table for the poor. At their table it was chaotic: people grabbed food, and everyone wanted to get a plate first. Someone came in and said, “Ah, what gluttons these poor people are! Look how excited they are about the food, how they’re going wild over it. And look at those people over there, sitting calmly, in no hurry, talking among themselves and cutting their food slowly.” The poor were very excited, while the rich were quieter. Then a wise man came in and said, “Friends, that’s not right. Let me show you.” He took away a plate from a rich man and a plate from a poor man. When they took the poor man’s plate, he calmed down in a second. “So I won’t have this food. Yesterday I ate an onion; tomorrow I’ll eat an onion. There was tasty food, now I don’t have it, and that’s that.” But the rich man suddenly became furious. He went completely wild, lost his composure: “You took my food away! How could you do such a thing?” So the wise man said, “That’s the test. When do you see who is truly absorbed in their desires? Not when they have what they want, but when you take it away. When you take it

21:43 Speaker 1 away, you can see what their reaction really reveals. You can see whether their pleasure is truly bound up with worldly things or not.” Along these lines, the Alter Rebbe says here that it is precisely when a person is lacking something, and nevertheless does not complain or become sad—on the contrary, he serves Hashem with joy—that you have the test. It shows that what truly matters to him is G-dliness. That is the real thing, the deepest and truest thing. Now, wait a moment: what does all this have to do with wisdom? What is the point here? That’s what we asked earlier. If so, why does the Alter Rebbe emphasize in this contemplation that the One who watches over everything at every moment does so through the Creator’s wisdom? Why wisdom specifically? That is exactly the point about wisdom here. As the Alter Rebbe says, wisdom is called “Eden” in Chassidus and Kabbalah. Eden is the source of delight. The Alter Rebbe describes wisdom here in three words: life, goodness, and delight. These three words are specifically connected with the sefirah of Chochmah. Chochmah is the source of life, goodness, and delight. Regarding Chochmah, it says, “Wisdom gives life.” So we see that Chochmah is called life. Chochmah is also associated with goodness: “And G-d saw the light, that it was good.” Light is Chochmah, and goodness is therefore connected with the sefirah of Chochmah. And delight, too, is connected with Chochmah: Chochmah is called Eden. As explained, there is Eden and there is Gan Eden. The maamarim explain the verse, “And a river went out from Eden to water the garden.” The river is the sefirah of Binah. That is what the river represents: Binah. The river goes out from Eden, and Eden is Chochmah,

23:40 Speaker 1 which is higher than Binah. That is the meaning of Eden. Eden means delight, as in “the stream of Your delights”; the word Eden is associated with delights. So Eden is delight, and it is the source of the river of Binah: Chochmah. And this is what he means when he says that it is higher than the World to Come. What does “higher than the World to Come” mean? The World to Come is the sefirah of Binah. As is well known, the World to Come is where, as it says in Tanya, “they enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah.” The sefirah of Binah, the World to Come, the world of Gan Eden, is the place where... So that is the idea of the World to Come: Binah. It is Gan Eden, not Eden itself. “And a river went out from Eden to water the garden.” That is the World to Come. But Eden is higher than the garden. The Gemara says in Tractate Shabbos: “All the prophets prophesied only about the days of Moshiach, but as for the World to Come, ‘No eye has seen it, G-d, except Yours.’” ... Adam, who was in Gan Eden. But there the Gemara brings proof that Eden is the revelation that will come only at the Resurrection of the Dead, on the very highest level. That is the level of the World to Come, even higher than Gan Eden. So it follows that Chochmah, this level of Chochmah called life, goodness, and delight, is the source from which everything is brought into being from nothing at every moment. If Chochmah brings everything into being at every moment, and the Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the source of life, goodness, and delight, then everything is good. So how can a person experience sorrow and suffering? The Alter Rebbe will soon go on to explain this. This is only the beginning of the explanation. I just want to mention one point here from Reb Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father, about the three words the Alter Rebbe uses: life, goodness, and delight. So

25:39 Speaker 1 Reb Levi Yitzchak says that he does not use these three words for no reason; everything in Tanya is precise. These three words—life, goodness, and delight—correspond to the three things we are discussing here: children, health, and sustenance. Health corresponds to life, children to goodness, and sustenance to delight. He explains this, citing various verses and teachings of our Sages, and shows how these three words correspond to children, health, and sustenance. In other words, even this detail is precise. The source of all three—children, health, and sustenance—is the life, goodness, and delight within His wisdom. So when a Jew knows that his very existence comes at every moment from His wisdom, where life, goodness, and delight are found, then even if that is not yet openly visible down here—as we will see shortly—it is nevertheless the truth. Therefore, he must be joyful even when, outwardly, it appears that something is lacking. Several points still need explaining. With Hashem’s help, we will look at them in the coming classes.