Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 34 - Part 4

00:02 Speaker 1 So, in short, the point the Alter Rebbe explains here is this: how a person can be joyful all day because of the oneness of Hashem. True, in chapter 33 the Alter Rebbe explained how a person should be joyful over this—the inheritance we received from our forefathers, true belief in the oneness of Hashem. But ultimately, we are not on the level of the forefathers. For us, this belongs to the realm of faith. We truly believe, but faith is not a person’s lived reality. Faith is a point, an essential point, an abstract point, but it is not the person himself. The belief in the oneness of Hashem has not penetrated the person serving Him so thoroughly that he lives with it twenty-four hours a day. That was the case with the forefathers, as he said earlier: the oneness of Hashem was so present for them that their entire being never ceased, even for a moment, to be united with Him, blessed be He. That was also the case with Moshe Rabbeinu. But for ordinary Jews, likened to the sun in the firmament, this is not the case. It was revealed only once, at the giving of the Ten Commandments. And then their souls left their bodies; it did not penetrate the body. So when Hashem saw that the Jewish people were not vessels for the oneness of Hashem, He gave them the Mishkan, because the oneness of Hashem is revealed in the Mishkan through the Holy Ark. Now that we do not have the Beis Hamikdash, how can the oneness of Hashem be brought into a Jew’s life? Through Torah study, as the Alter Rebbe quotes: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah.” Those four cubits of halachah enable a person, through Torah study, to become a vessel for the oneness of Hashem.

02:03 Speaker 1 But Torah study, too, does not take up the whole day. A person studies Torah according to the limitations of his circumstances at home. So the Alter Rebbe tells him: Yes, a person must contemplate the oneness of Hashem. Afterward, he must tell himself, “Since the root of my soul is on a low level, it is not my fault that I cannot live with the oneness of Hashem twenty-four hours a day. My soul is on a low level; I simply was not given that ability, so I cannot be permeated with the oneness of Hashem twenty-four hours a day.” Therefore, I make myself a vessel for it through Torah study—and the opportunity to study Torah itself is also given from Heaven. Hashem gives each person the amount of time he can have. Since the Alter Rebbe is speaking here to someone who runs a business, who is exempt under the Shulchan Aruch from studying Torah all day—one chapter in the morning and one chapter in the evening suffice for him—he must know how to be happy and give praise and thanks to Hashem for his lot: that he can be a host to the Divine Presence, that he can welcome Hashem into himself through Torah study. At least once in the morning and once in the evening, as his circumstances allow. And that itself should make him happy: that he has merited to be a host to the Divine Presence. All right, but the person still has a question. Meir, are you with me? Not with me. Moti, Moti, Mordechai, was there a thought? Ultimately, we are still left with the question: Fine, an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. Through studying a chapter in the evening, I have the oneness of Hashem. But what about the entire day?

03:44 Speaker 1 How can I live with the oneness of Hashem all day? A person wants the oneness of Hashem to be connected to him throughout the day. So now the Alter Rebbe comes to address this. After the colon, he says the following. From here, the Alter Rebbe explains how a person can be connected to the oneness of Hashem all day, not only during the chapter he studies in the morning and the chapter he studies in the evening. And the Alter Rebbe—if you fellows look inside, the fifth line after the colon—says, “And if Hashem grants him greater means.” Chapter 34, page 86, fifth line: “And if Hashem grants him greater means.” If Hashem... It says so explicitly; it is not written in the notes. Huh? “And if Hashem grants him greater means.” If Hashem gives him greater latitude, then “he who has clean hands will increase his strength.” Following what the Alter Rebbe said—that a person has time for only one chapter in the morning and one in the evening, and he is already happy that he has merited to be a host to the Divine Presence—he continues. The Alter Rebbe says that a person must resolve that the moment Hashem gives him more time—G-d willing, perhaps I will retire, or for some reason find a livelihood that does not require me to work so much—then, if Hashem grants him more time, “he who has clean hands will increase his strength.” It is the wording of a verse: “He who has clean hands will increase his strength.” He uses it here. We need to understand exactly why. But “he who has clean hands will increase his strength”: he will take on more and exert himself. Then he will add more time, and “a good thought,” and so on. The very fact that he thinks about it now,

05:48 Speaker 1 is a particular insight the Alter Rebbe is giving us. It does not simply mean that, for now, I will sit and study in the morning and evening, and when I have time I will study more. No. He wants to explain here how a person can be a host to the Divine Presence all day. Even though, in practice, I cannot study right now because my circumstances require me to work, so I cannot study all day—I can only study one chapter in the morning and one in the evening—if I resolve that the moment I have time to study, I will study in my free time, and the moment I can study all day, I will study all day, then I am already resolving now to study throughout the entire day, if I have free time. As soon as I have free time—then, “a good thought,” and so on. We know that when a Jew merely thinks about this and resolves to do it, even though he cannot actually do it now, Hashem counts it as a deed. Consequently, it is considered as though he really is connected to Hashem all day. That is what the Alter Rebbe wants to say. Yes. In other words, it is true that in practice I do not study all day, but in my thoughts I study all day. As the Baal Shem Tov said: “Where a person’s thoughts are, there he is.” In his thoughts, he wants to study all day. He simply has no choice; he has to go to work for a while. He has to do that. But in his thoughts he wants to study all day, so it is considered as though he really is connected to Torah study all day as well, because he has resolved that as soon as he has

07:29 Speaker 1 time, he will do it. That is the idea of “a good thought.” Here, though, he does not add the words “Hashem joins it to the deed.” He writes only “and so on.” Why is that? Everything is precise. Why does he write “a good thought, and so on,” rather than the rest? The Rebbe explains that earlier, in chapter 16, the Alter Rebbe explained the meaning of “A good thought—Hashem joins it to the deed.” There the Alter Rebbe gave a full explanation that does not fit here. The Alter Rebbe explained the teaching of our Sages, “A good thought—Hashem joins it to the deed,” to mean that when a person has a good thought and contemplates something, and afterward also acts—through thought, speech, and deed, using the power of his mouth—even if he does not feel love in his heart, Hashem joins the thought to the deed. That is, according to what the Alter Rebbe says there in chapter 16. But the Rebbe points out that the wording is indeed “A good thought—Hashem joins it to the deed,” not that Hashem completes it for him as though he had done it. The Rebbe says that, in that teaching of our Sages, there must be both a deed and a thought, and Hashem then joins the thought to the deed even though there was no heartfelt emotion. That is the Alter Rebbe’s explanation there. But here in Tanya, that interpretation does not apply, because here we are speaking of a person who does not perform the deed; he only wants to perform it. That is why he quotes only the beginning, “A good thought,” and so on. He also intends the second interpretation of the teaching of our Sages, which is mentioned elsewhere: the simpler meaning, that even if a person does not perform the deed, the very fact that he wants to perform it means that Hashem also counts it as

09:04 Speaker 1 That. So when a Jew thinks that he wants to learn Torah all day, and that as soon as he is able to, he will learn all day, it is considered as though the love of Hashem and the learning of Torah are with him all day even now. There is a well-known story involving the Rebbe. All the bar mitzvah boys recite the well-known maamar: “It says in Midrash Tehillim: The Jewish people said to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, ‘We wish to toil in Torah day and night, but we have no time.’” The Jewish people tell Hakadosh Boruch Hu that they want to learn Torah all day and all night, but they have no time. So He told them that the mitzvah of tefillin takes the place of Torah study. The well-known story is that a boy came to the Rebbe before his bar mitzvah. The Rebbe asked him to recite his bar mitzvah maamar before him, and the boy began. He had barely started the first line—“We wish to toil in Torah”—[unclear]. “But we have no time.” The Rebbe immediately said to him, in a singsong tone, “Du host doch tzeit”—but you do have time! You’re saying, “We wish to, but we have no time.” But you’re a yeshivah student. You have time, so you need to learn Torah day and night. What the Midrash says is for people who truly have no time; they need to put on tefillin. But you do have time, so you have no excuses. You can see it here too, as we learn Tanya: the Alter Rebbe is trying to help a poor fellow who has to work hard to earn a living and has no time to learn Torah all day. So the Alter Rebbe gives him advice on how he can connect through his desire to learn, through a good thought, and so on. But then comes the outcry: yeshivah students don’t have those excuses. Yeshivah students—

10:54 Speaker 1 really do have time to learn. Vacation is coming up now too, so they have plenty of time—more time than before. There are no excuses; they need to learn Torah day and night. All right, sometimes you really do need to help out. Sometimes you really do need to help out. Before Pesach, you need to help your mother a little with the cleaning. Whatever you’re obligated to help with, you should help with, with Hashem’s help. But the moment I have free time—especially afterward, when Chol Hamoed comes and all sorts of things are going on—instead of going on trips and the like, a yeshivah student should, of course, sit and learn Torah. He has no excuses. And it is specifically through this that one can become a vessel for G-dliness. All right, that’s it regarding Torah. I’ll continue now, and please look inside as well. “And throughout the rest of the day, when he is engaged in business.” Now the Alter Rebbe gives another way, besides Torah study, to bring Hashem’s oneness into practice. There is another way for a businessman to connect with Hashem’s oneness during the rest of the day too, while he is occupied with business. What is that way? He says: “He will be a dwelling place for Him, may He be blessed, by giving charity.” A person can be a vessel for G-dliness all day through charity as well. True, we said earlier that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah”: Hashem’s oneness is revealed specifically through halachah, through Torah. Nevertheless, charity can accomplish this too. That is to say, there are several levels here. The most ideal level, the finest way a person can attain Hashem’s oneness, is through Torah study, through the four cubits of—

12:45 Speaker 1 halachah. So whenever he has time to learn, he learns, and in that way he becomes connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the finest manner. As the Alter Rebbe mentioned earlier, in chapter 23, the union created through Torah study with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the most complete union. That is why it is the first way the Alter Rebbe presents. But seemingly, mitzvos too create a union with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a certain way, through action and so on. After all, a person can connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through mitzvos as well. That is why the Alter Rebbe adds this point here: even during the hours when he is not learning—when he is working, when he is at his business—he can still be a vessel for G-dliness by giving charity from his earnings. “By giving charity from his toil,” which is one of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s attributes. What is special about giving charity that makes it possible to be a vessel for G-dliness through it too? Charity is one of the attributes of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Just as He is merciful,” and so on. The Gemara says that giving charity is connected with cleaving to His attributes: “Just as He is merciful, so should you be merciful.” It is along those lines. That means that by giving charity, a person becomes a vessel for an attribute of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As it says in the Tikkunim, “Chesed is the right arm”—the right hand of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When a Jew gives charity, his right hand becomes united with the right hand of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He becomes a vessel for G-dliness. Now we can ask a question: Why does the Alter Rebbe need to explain the virtue of giving charity here by saying that it is one of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s attributes? These are beautiful explanations, but what do they have to do with this discussion? In Igeres Hakodesh, the Alter Rebbe—

14:20 Speaker 1 speaks constantly about the virtue of charity. We know charity is a mitzvah. Why does the Alter Rebbe need to give explanations for it? The Alter Rebbe wants to say that when a Jew gives charity, he connects with G-dliness. He could simply have said: Giving charity is a mitzvah, and through a mitzvah one connects with G-dliness. But the answer is simple. The answer is simple. There’s a story in Hayom Yom, part two. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Hayom Yom, part two. There’s a story there. There were two chassidim. One was always in a state of bitterness, full of thoughts and doubts, while the other was in a state of joy. So one of the Rebbeim said about them—I don’t remember the details of the story—that they were both thinking about the same thing. One contemplated yichuda ila’ah, the higher unity, and felt how far he was from it, so he became bitter. The other contemplated yichuda ila’ah and became joyful over it. That is, I don’t remember who said it—[unclear]—that the one who was joyful was on a higher level. That was, that was [unclear]. But I want to tell a different story. There were two chassidim. One was a melamed, Reb Berel Levitin, the grandfather of—or the father of—Shmuel Levitin, I think. There was another chossid; I don’t remember his name. He was a simple Jew in the village. Once he met this chossid, Reb Berel Levitin, and saw him sitting there, contemplating Chassidus for many hours. So he said to him, “Why are you sitting and contemplating Chassidus? What are you thinking about? You’re thinking about Ahavas Yisroel, right? And in the end you’ll reach the conclusion that ‘I don’t understand.’ I just think, ‘I don’t understand,’ and start crying.” That was—

16:50 Speaker 1 [unclear] Levitin had complaints against him for always being happy. Come on, let yourself go a little. He couldn’t bear that he was always in a state of joy. Why are you so—? So he said, “You spend all day thinking about Ahavas Yisroel, and what happens in the end? In the end you conclude that you don’t understand. I’ve already reached the conclusion that I don’t understand, so I go and cry.” That’s the story I wanted to tell. It came to mind here. We’re sitting here learning Tanya, chapter 31. The Alter Rebbe gives all sorts of advice on how a person can be joyful, on having the Shechinah rest upon him. And he brings about that revelation of the Shechinah through Torah study. But how does he do it when he can’t learn all day? How can he do it? Charity. Here I see a group of Jews sitting downstairs, and they’re happy. They don’t have—they don’t need all the excitement, all the searching. Something—they have some reason to be happy, thank Hashem. All right, that came to mind as an aside. Let’s return to our subject. So the question here was why, when the Alter Rebbe speaks about charity, he needs to add that the reason giving charity makes a person a vessel for G-dliness is that it expresses Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s attribute of kindness. The answer is simple. The Alter Rebbe is not trying to explain here what makes charity superior to other mitzvos. He wants to explain the revelation of the Shechinah. The point here is that a person is looking for a way to be connected with the unity of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—not just as a matter of faith, but in practice too. That is the question here. So we say that the first way is through Torah study. “Hakadosh Boruch Hu has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah.” He is present in Torah study; that is where the holy sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, the Shechinah, is.

18:27 Speaker 1 The indwelling of the Shechinah through charity. After that, the Alter Rebbe gives another way of understanding the giving of charity. But here it is not about giving charity simply as a mitzvah, like any other mitzvah. Here the point is Hashem’s attribute of kindness. Here a person is seeking unity with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So what he must feel when giving charity is not, “I am performing the mitzvah of charity,” but rather that charity is Hashem’s attribute of kindness. There is an attribute of kindness in G-dliness—Hashem’s kindness. It is Hashem’s right hand, and when I give charity, I become part of it; I become filled with Hashem’s kindness. That is the point here. In other words, through this, unity with Hashem becomes part of me, because for him, charity is not just a matter of fulfilling the mitzvah of charity. When it is felt as a mitzvah, there is a commandment and someone commanded to perform it, a master and a servant. So the servant remains a separate entity. There is a servant who is told to perform a mitzvah, as it says in Chassidus: “Ultimately, there is One who commands and one who is commanded, and he is still obeying.” But when what he feels in charity is not the commandment within it—that there is One who commands and one who is commanded—but that it is Hashem’s attribute of kindness, then he is not an entity unto himself. His whole being is an extension, an outgrowth, a continuation of Hashem’s attribute of kindness. So this brings about the indwelling of the Shechinah. Ah, if so, why is Torah needed? In other words, the Alter Rebbe says two things here. On the one hand, the Alter Rebbe says one must study Torah. And even if he cannot study all day, he must resolve that the moment he can study, he will. Through

20:08 Speaker 1 that, he has Torah even now. On the other hand, the Alter Rebbe speaks about giving charity. Why are both needed? Because each has an advantage. The advantage of Torah study is, as we said earlier, that unity with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah study is loftier than through mitzvos. In Torah study, it becomes “the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one”—literally one. With charity, by contrast, even when he feels that giving charity expresses Hashem’s attribute, ultimately it is only one attribute. It is kindness alone, one particular aspect. It is still not the indwelling of the Shechinah in its fullest perfection, as it is through Torah study. That is the advantage of Torah study. On the other hand, there is a limitation to Torah study: he cannot study all day. He has only the intention to study when he has time, but in practice he cannot do it now. He has it spiritually, but lacks it in practice, and a person is looking for the indwelling of the Shechinah to be with him in practice. That is why the Alter Rebbe brings up charity: through charity, the Shechinah actually dwells with him. But charity, in turn, has a limitation: ultimately, it is only one particular aspect. That is why he brings in Torah. Both are needed together: he should study Torah as much as he can, resolving to study even more the moment he has free time. At the same time, he must give charity, through which he too becomes a vessel for the indwelling of the Shechinah. Now the Alter Rebbe continues and asks a question. The Alter Rebbe asks: “Even though he gives only a fifth.” The Alter Rebbe is asking here: “Seemingly, the person gives only a fifth. What has that accomplished?”

21:38 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe is constantly seeking to connect us to G-dliness more and more. So the question still remains. Fine, we have established the importance of charity. I will give charity even when I am not studying, but ultimately the question remains: when I give charity, I am not giving all my money. Only part of my money goes to charity. What about everything else that I do not give? And we are speaking here even about a Jew who is especially meticulous in mitzvos. He gives a fifth. He gives twenty percent of everything he earns to charity. You see, the obligation is to give a tenth; giving a fifth is the choicest way to fulfill the mitzvah. “One who gives generously should not give more than a fifth.” Giving twenty percent is an exceptional amount; it is already an enhancement of the mitzvah, right? And here we are talking about someone who gives not just a tenth but a fifth. Nevertheless, there are still four parts that he does not give. What about the twenty—what about the seventy-five? I do not know how to put it—those eighty percent. Four portions. So the Alter Rebbe says: “Even though he gives only a fifth, that fifth elevates with it all four portions to Hashem.” There is something remarkable about the power of a fifth. By giving that twenty percent to charity, he elevates not only that twenty percent; it brings about an elevation in all the remaining eighty percent as well. The fifth brings about an elevation. That is how charity works: the mitzvah of charity that you perform elevates everything that remains with you. It is elevated through the mitzvah. Put simply, since giving a fifth requires the other four parts, it is like the idea that what makes a mitzvah possible becomes part of the mitzvah, or that the ordinary things used for a mitzvah become part of it. Similarly here, to give a fifth, I need

23:34 Speaker 1 to have another four parts. Once I have it all, I can calculate and take a fifth from it. So all four portions are, as it were, a vehicle, a means to the fifth. And when he elevates the fifth, all four portions are elevated as well. There are other explanations of this, but that is the idea. The fifth elevates all four portions to Hashem, “to become a dwelling place for Him, blessed be He.” That is to say, even the four portions of money that remain in my pocket are included. They too become a means toward giving charity. “As is known from the saying of our Sages that the mitzvah of charity is equivalent to all the offerings.” This is a novel idea—to say that charity elevates even what remains ordinary. He says there is a source for it. The source is not stated so directly, but it does come from our Sages, from a Midrash: the mitzvah of charity is equivalent to all the offerings. Yes, look further: charity corresponds to all the offerings. “And with the offerings, all living creatures were elevated to Hashem through one animal.” It says in the Zohar that when a Jew brought an animal offering, it elevated not only that animal. It elevated all the animals in the world. The entire category of living creatures is elevated through one offering brought by a Jew. Since the whole world [unclear], every action a Jew takes brings about, as a natural consequence, an elevation throughout the order of creation. Everything is connected. So when one living creature is elevated, it brings about an elevation in all living creatures. That follows from the order of creation, in which everything is interconnected. When one thing is elevated,

25:28 Speaker 1 everything connected to it is elevated as well. So the elevation of one living creature brings about an elevation in the whole world. I have heard that scientists today have discovered something similar. I am not an expert in science, but I heard this from a Jew who is. They have discovered something in nature: today people do what is called grafting, grafting—taking fruit trees and grafting them onto one another. When they graft a tree, it causes a change not only in that tree. You work on one tree, and it can bring about a change in trees of the same kind in another country as well. In other words, all trees of the same kind are connected, though there is no apparent natural connection. Seemingly, here is one tree in Argentina and another in Africa or Chile. Yet by altering the nature of this tree in one place, you cause changes in the nature of trees in other countries too. That is what they have discovered today in nature. And from this we can understand how much more so this applies in spiritual matters—even in the physical world it is so. All the more so when it comes to spiritual matters: when a Jew brings holiness into some physical object in this world, all the objects connected to it, even in other places, are elevated. That is what the Rebbe says here. By bringing one offering and elevating it, you bring about an elevation in all living creatures. “And all vegetation through one tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with oil, etc.” The same applies to elevating vegetation: by bringing an offering from plant matter—the meal offerings mentioned in the parsha—vegetation too is elevated. And so on. What does “and so on” include here? They say that by “and so on,” the Alter Rebbe means inanimate matter. Where was inanimate matter

27:28 Speaker 1 Without semichah? In what, the offerings? Huh? Salt. Salt is inanimate. And regarding salt, it says, “With all your offerings you shall offer salt.” So by bringing salt with the offerings, all inanimate things are elevated as well. Yes, why doesn’t the Rebbe explicitly include that among those examples? Presumably because it isn’t written in the source the Rebbe is citing. In any case, the point is that the inanimate, the plant kingdom, and the animal kingdom are all elevated through what? The offerings. Now we can understand the same thing regarding giving tzedakah: when a Jew gives a fifth of his money to tzedakah, giving that fifth elevates all the other four portions to Hashem. There was a time, some years ago—about thirty years ago. Yes, almost thirty years ago; it was in 5740. It was Simchas Torah 5740. Perhaps someone here was even there—Rabbi Shaul, perhaps you were in New York in 5740. At any rate, it was Simchas Torah 5740. The Rebbe said at a farbrengen then that whoever undertook to give a sum to tzedakah—whatever sum it might be—the Rebbe promised that he would have four times that amount. Yes, meaning the other way around: not that you first give a fifth of what you have, but the reverse. First you decide on an amount of tzedakah you will give, and then you will have four times that amount. The Rebbe clearly promised at the farbrengen that anyone who submitted a sum of money would earn four times as much. So the Rebbe...

29:13 Speaker 2 Checks.

29:13 Speaker 1 Yes, they gave checks. The Rebbe spoke about this then, and mentioned that the fifth elevates the other four portions. The Rebbe also put it in more practical terms: when a person decides to give a fifth, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him the other four portions. There were Jews who submitted large checks to the Rebbe. Some the Rebbe accepted, and some he returned. There were many checks the Rebbe did not accept. Later the Rebbe gave a sicha about it. Yes, but the Rebbe did not accept them all, because the Rebbe knew who was fit for it and who was not. In any case, I don’t know the details. The Rebbe said at a farbrengen that afterward, some people had submitted a check and then ran to the doctor to have their hearts checked, because they had begun to worry that the Rebbe might use the money. After all, the blessing might come true, and then—“I don’t want any favors!” There were fellows whose checks the Rebbe sent back, and they arrived here. There were checks the Rebbe did not send back; they remained with him, but he simply did not use them. And there were some the Rebbe did use. Some people even submitted a blank check to the Rebbe, with no amount written on it, so that the Rebbe could write in whatever amount he wanted. In some cases the Rebbe wrote quite a few zeros, too. In any case, the point is this: tzedakah elevates material things as well. And in plain terms—the Rebbe once expressed it at a farbrengen too, and we’ll come to an example—the Rebbe says here, in simple words, that this applies materially as well. When a person gives a fifth to tzedakah, the other four portions, the four parts left in his pocket, become healthy money that goes toward healthy things. He won’t, G-d forbid, need to use it for medical expenses or other undesirable things. Yes, and more...

30:58 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe says something else besides this. Apart from the advantage of tzedakah—that giving to tzedakah elevates the other four portions to Hashem alone—“at the time of Torah study and prayer, all that he eats, drinks, and enjoys from the other four portions ascends to Hashem.” Everything else you do has this further advantage as well: the portion you do not give to tzedakah, from which you eat and drink—when you pray and learn, the food and drink you consumed using money from those four portions is elevated to Hashem through your Torah study and prayer. Here too, we need to understand why the Alter Rebbe needs to mention both things. Why does the Alter Rebbe bring both advantages? On the one hand, he says that tzedakah elevates the other four portions to Hashem. On the other, he says that the food a person eats afterward ascends to Hashem when he prays and learns. Each has its own advantage. The advantage of the fifth elevating the other four portions to Hashem is that those four portions become part of the mitzvah of tzedakah. They become part of the mitzvah, as though they were actually considered part of the mitzvah of tzedakah. In the second case, by contrast, eating and drinking are eating and drinking; they are not a mitzvah. Rather, afterward he prays and learns with the strength they give him. It is like the distinction the Rebbe explains between “All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven” and “In all your ways, know Him.” With “All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven,” they are only for the sake of Heaven; the act itself remains an ordinary act. With “In all your ways, know Him,” the act itself becomes for Him, blessed be He. It is the same here. In the first case, where the other portions become part of the tzedakah, they themselves become part of the matter of tzedakah. But

32:43 Speaker 1 on the other hand, there is a drawback: that happens only in a hidden way, not openly. In other words, outwardly the money remains material; it remains ordinary. In the second case, when he takes the food and drink and uses them for Torah study and prayer, he uses the strength they give him for Torah study and prayer. At the same time, the eating and drinking themselves are ordinary eating and drinking. And furthermore, up to this point the Rebbe has explained the whole subject of joy in the recent chapters. We should also sum it up, so here is the final point of chapter 34. The Alter Rebbe has now finished explaining the matter of joy. He began it in chapter 26, and here the Alter Rebbe concludes the whole discussion. In chapter 26, the Alter Rebbe explained how essential it is to be joyful. That is precisely how one can defeat Egypt. Then the Alter Rebbe went through several chapters, from chapter 30 through chapters 33 and 34, explaining various ways to reach a state of joy. Chapter 31 gives the explanation of the Exodus from Egypt: leaving exile through Torah study and prayer, and also the explanation that Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought me down, under His arm, in order to elevate the body and the animal soul too, to Torah and G-dliness. Then in chapter 33 he explains “How fortunate we are, how good is our portion”—“How fortunate we are, how good is our portion.” He also explains two sources of joy: that one is already fulfilling Hashem’s blessing, and the joy in the pleasure Hakadosh Boruch Hu derives from it. In chapter 34 he explained how to carry this through the entire day as well, through words of Torah and giving tzedakah. One can live with the chariot of Hashem. Perhaps that is

34:26 Speaker 1 especially relevant because now, after all this, the Rebbe concludes by answering the question from chapter 1 of Tanya. Who remembers chapter 1? Huh? Chapter 1 of Tanya. We learned it five years ago—about how many years have we been learning Tanya already? We’ll have to count. But presumably the yeshivah students have learned it recently too. It should be freshest in their minds. So everyone probably knows chapter 1 of Tanya. The Alter Rebbe began with a question, and now he comes to answer that question from the beginning of chapter 1. What did he ask at the beginning of chapter 1? “And also...” What was the question? “And even if he regards himself as wicked, his heart will be troubled and he will be sad, and he will not be able to serve Hashem with joy and a glad heart. And if his heart is not troubled by it at all, he may come to take things lightly, G-d forbid.” So you see, there is a remarkable question in Tanya: what should a person feel about the reality, about the fact that he sees he is a beinoni, not a tzaddik? “Regard yourself as wicked”—what feeling should that produce? If it makes him bitter, he cannot serve Hashem with joy. And if he is not bitter, he may come to take things lightly. That was the powerful, fundamental question with which the Alter Rebbe opened Tanya, and here the Alter Rebbe comes to answer it. “Now, none of the various kinds of joy mentioned above”—all the kinds and levels of joy we discussed in the recent chapters of Tanya—“prevents one from being despicable and repugnant in his own eyes, and having a broken heart and a humble spirit, at the very moment of joy.” There is no conflict or contradiction in having both at exactly the same moment. I can be in a state of joy for all the reasons we learned in the recent chapters, and at that same time be despicable and repugnant in my own eyes, with a broken heart.

36:19 Speaker 1 And a lowly spirit will not throw me into chaos. On the contrary, at that very time, there can also be a broken heart in the midst of joy. How can two such opposite feelings exist together? Together? Because he sees himself as lowly and so on from the perspective of his body and animal soul, while he is joyful from the perspective of his G-dly soul and the spark of G-dliness clothed within it. In chapter 31, as you said, chapter 31, there are two souls here, and that means two perspectives. So the bitterness and joy also come from two directions: the animal soul and the wrongdoing we learned about in chapter 30 awaken bitterness in us. By contrast, the G-dly soul, which he began to explain in chapters 31, 33, and 34, brings him joy. And there is no contradiction, because one feeling relates to one matter and the other to something else. He cannot be happy and sad about the same thing; he is happy and sad about two different things. So at that very moment, he is happy that he can be close to G-dliness. He can draw close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and all of this is available to us; at the same time, he is broken and humbled because his body and animal soul are far from G-dliness. Those are two feelings. Both can exist together. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that a person feels joy and bitterness at the very same instant. Although that does seem to be what Tanya says here, later, in Igeres Hateshuvah, chapter 10, the Alter Rebbe says that it does not have to mean at the same time. They can be divided into two times: a person needs time to contemplate one matter, and separate time for the other. Even so, deep within his soul, he knows both things at once; he lives with both. He knows that he has reasons to be happy and reasons for bitterness, and both

38:00 Speaker 1 are true. There is no contradiction. At the same time, the Alter Rebbe says there in Igeres Hateshuvah, in particular, that it is impossible to live that way forever. So he says that at bedtime Shema, the emphasis should be on bitterness and on separation, while Shacharis should be focused on joy, as the Rebbe explains there in chapter 10 of Igeres Hateshuvah. That is not what he is discussing here. Here he says simply that both feelings can exist together at the same time. For the Zohar also says this: both feelings can exist at the same time—“Weeping is fixed in my heart on this side, and joy is fixed in my heart on that side.” What does the Zohar say? I can be joyful on one side of my heart. I am happy; on the other side of my heart, I weep. What was the story? The Zohar relates that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai once spoke about the secrets of the Torah. His son, Rabbi Elazar, was there. Rabbi Elazar heard these secrets of the Torah as Rabbi Shimon explained the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai gave explanations according to Kabbalah, the inner dimension of the Torah, of various verses in Tanach that speak about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash. He explained the spiritual roots of these matters—their meaning in the lights, the sefiros, and the Divine Names. He explained all of this through the inner dimension of the Torah. When he finished delivering the teaching, Rabbi Elazar said: On one side, one side of my heart weeps, and on the other side of my heart it laughs. How can both happen together? He explained: He was happy because he had heard a secret of the Torah and encountered its inner dimension; on the other hand, that secret of the Torah concerned the destruction.

39:36 Speaker 1 And the destruction is not a good thing, so he was sad. In the same way here, a person can experience both feelings. He feels that he has a body and an animal soul, and from that perspective he is still utterly far from G-dliness. So he is broken and humbled at that moment, but he is also happy—very happy—that even someone as materialistic, as coarse as I am, is given Torah and mitzvos by Hakadosh Boruch Hu. I can draw close to G-dliness, and I can, I can serve Hashem. That makes him happy. On the contrary, the worse a person feels about himself, the more broken and humbled he is by the way he has lived, the happier he can be that, despite it all, he can be a host to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and fulfill Torah and mitzvos. This is called turning your attention elsewhere. That is what Reb Aizik of Homil says. What does turning your attention elsewhere mean? Stop thinking about yourself. Stop, and start thinking about what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants from you. If I think about myself, about my own state, I feel bitterness because of how coarse and animalistic I am. On the other hand, I think: Despite being so materialistic, Hakadosh Boruch Hu has given me Torah and mitzvos right now, and I can connect with Him. So that should bring joy, and that should be the main focus, the main driving force a person wants. This applies to everything as well. This feeling, this awareness, should be present at all times. Yes, the idea that “weeping is fixed in my heart on this side, and joy is fixed in my heart on that side” is one of the foundations of a chossid’s service of Hashem. It really is his inner life. In this sense, both feelings—joy and bitterness—should always be present in him. That is what it means for both feelings to exist together, in

41:17 Speaker 1 this way as well. Yes, this is also somewhat close to the situation we find ourselves in. On the one hand, we are in a time of exile, which awakens bitterness. At the same time, the knowledge that we have this connection, that we can be with the Rebbe, and that Moshiach will come at any moment, should awaken joy in us. Both of these feelings together should be alive in each and every one of us, in every situation, all the time.