Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 35 - Part 3

00:00 Speaker 1 Page 44a, in the middle of the page, from the line beginning “in complete unity,” after the period. In short, here is the point the Rabbi has explained so far: the Rebbe cited the Zohar. The Zohar says that the Shechinah rests upon a person’s body through good deeds. A person’s body is like a wick, and the Shechinah is like a flame. A flame needs oil to keep it burning on the wick. What is the oil? Good deeds. So that was his question: why do we need oil? Why isn’t the wick enough? You need a refined substance to sustain the flame. Oil is refined; a wick is coarse, and of course a wick cannot sustain the flame on its own. But oil, being fine and refined, can sustain the flame on the wick. The same is true above. Whatever sustains the Shechinah in the body must be something more spiritual, more refined. And that is precisely his question: why aren’t thought and the soul’s service of love and awe enough? That is spiritual service, lofty service. Why can’t it sustain the Shechinah in the body? The question applies especially to tzaddikim. After all, we say that a tzaddik serves Hashem with love and awe, with delight. In other words, his service of Hashem is as complete as can be. If we were talking about beinonim, or about someone who isn’t a beinoni, we could say that perhaps his love and awe are lacking, that his Ahavas Yisroel is lacking, or that his service of Hashem isn’t inward and genuine, and therefore he needs good deeds. But the point here is that even a tzaddik who serves Hashem with love and delight needs good deeds too. So the question is: why? Why aren’t

02:40 Speaker 1 love and awe enough—especially love with delight—to be the oil, the fine, refined substance that sustains G-dliness within the body? The Alter Rebbe explains the basic answer we have learned so far: in every form of inward service of Hashem, including love and awe, the person remains an entity in his own right. He loves Hashem and stands in awe of Hashem, but he is still, in some sense, an entity—an entity that loves Hashem, an entity that fears Hashem. His separate existence is still the underlying reality. Good deeds, by contrast, are His blessed will and wisdom. They are bound up with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so there is no separate existence here. Of course, the whole world is the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But, as he explains, the world expresses the outer dimension of His will, and it comes into being through concealments and garments, and so on. A mitzvah, by contrast, is His innermost will: He wants it directly. So a mitzvah gets to the essence of the matter. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, it is just like the analogy: the oil must be absorbed into the flame. It must become part of the flame, surrendering its separate existence. That is how the wick burns: the oil is absorbed and becomes fire. It must be completely nullified. And what kind of service is this? It is service with bittul. That is the service of good deeds. Love and awe, apparently, are not bittul in that sense, because there is still a separate entity here. That is what we have learned so far about the advantage of bittul. Now the Alter Rebbe continues. What does he want to explain next? Before we go on, let’s say what the Alter Rebbe is about to explain. “Now, the matter of the resting of the Shechinah...” What is the Alter Rebbe coming

04:45 Speaker 1 to clarify now? The Alter Rebbe is coming to answer a simple question. After all, we still haven’t fully understood. All right, we understand that good deeds have an advantage over love and awe. Why? Because love and awe still involve a certain separate existence, whereas good deeds are the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And indeed, it is good deeds that sustain the Shechinah in the body. But still, why does it matter so much that the person remains some kind of entity? What’s the big issue? What’s wrong with love and awe still involving a certain sense of self? After all, we’re talking about love of Hashem, not self-love. We’re talking about love of G-dliness and awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So why aren’t love and awe enough? He loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu and fears Him. Fine, he is an entity that loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But so what? In the end, he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We’re talking about love of Hashem! So why isn’t it enough for a Jew to work on himself to love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to attain love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even love with delight? Why can’t that be what connects him to G-dliness? Why must we look specifically for what is most completely nullified? Even if he isn’t completely nullified, surely he still has some connection here. He loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so he draws closer to Him and connects with Him. What’s the problem? Why can’t that bring the Shechinah to rest upon the Jew? Let’s take an example from human experience to understand more clearly the question the Alter Rebbe is coming to answer. Suppose I love a certain person. You love someone. Why do you love him? Because he has all kinds of good qualities, because he’s a good person. You think about his qualities. You want to be his friend, to get closer to him. When a feeling of love awakens in me, it brings closeness, not distance. If I love him, does that create a connection between the two people or not? What do you think? Obviously it does. Reuven loves Shimon; he loves him and draws closer to him. Reuven’s love for Shimon creates the connection. There is a bond between them. We might even say that Reuven grasps Shimon in some way; he has a connection with him because he loves him. So why not? You can start making calculations and say that love still involves a separate sense of self: you are the one who loves. So what? Love is what brings Reuven and Yechiel closer together. Why don’t we say the same thing about G-dliness? I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Loving Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes me a vessel for Him. By loving Him, I grasp Him; I connect with Him. Why must it be specifically through good deeds, which involve the ultimate bittul? Love of Hashem is good too. That is essentially the question the Alter Rebbe pauses over and now comes to explain. The point is this: with Ahavas Yisroel, it is true. Between two people, or between two things in this world, it is true that loving someone also lets you receive him and grasp him. But with G-dliness, it is not so. You cannot grasp G-dliness while remaining a separate entity—only through bittul. Let’s look inside now. He is about to explain it to us. “Now, the resting of the Shechinah...” What

06:45 Speaker 1 all kinds of good qualities. Because he’s a good person. You think about his qualities. You want to be his friend, to get closer to him. When a feeling of love awakens in me, it brings closeness, not distance. If I love him, does that create a connection between the two people or not? What do you think? Obviously it does. Reuven loves Shimon; he loves him and draws closer to him. Reuven’s love for Shimon creates the connection. There is a bond between them. We might even say that Reuven grasps Shimon in some way; he has a connection with him because he loves him. So why not? You can start making calculations and say that love still involves a separate sense of self: you are the one who loves. So what? Love is what brings Reuven and Yechiel closer together. Why don’t we say the same thing about G-dliness? I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Loving Hakadosh Boruch Hu makes me a vessel for Him. By loving Him, I grasp Him; I connect with Him. Why must it be specifically through good deeds, which involve the ultimate bittul? Love of Hashem is good too. That is essentially the question the Alter Rebbe pauses over and now comes to explain. The point is this: with Ahavas Yisroel, it is true. Between two people, or between two things in this world, it is true that loving someone also lets you receive him and grasp him. But with G-dliness, it is not so. You cannot grasp G-dliness while remaining a separate entity—only through bittul. Let’s look inside now. He is about to explain it to us. “Now, the resting of the Shechinah...” What

08:41 Speaker 1 What does “the Shechinah resting upon something” mean? This is the whole concept our Sages speak of: the Shechinah dwells, Hakadosh Boruch Hu dwells, rests upon a person. What does it mean for the Shechinah to rest upon something? The Alter Rebbe explains: it is the revelation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s G-dliness in something. It means that His G-dliness is revealed in something, or becomes enclothed in it. In what way? What does it mean for Him to be revealed in something? There is an explanation from Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father: he explains that “His G-dliness” refers to the keilim, while “Ein Sof” refers to the light. Both the keilim and the light are each part of this. In general, then, we are speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu being revealed in something. And what does that mean? It means that something becomes included in the light of Hashem and is utterly nullified to Him. For Him to be revealed in something means that the thing becomes completely nullified and included in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Only then, when it is completely nullified, does Hashem, Who is One, rest upon it and become revealed in it. Only when it is utterly nullified can G-dliness, so to speak, be revealed. But anything that is not utterly nullified—anything not completely nullified to G-dliness—the light of Hashem does not rest upon it or become revealed in it. Hakadosh Boruch Hu cannot be revealed there. Even in a perfect tzaddik who cleaves to Him with great love. As we said earlier, “No thought can grasp Him at all,” in truth. Even a perfect tzaddik who has love for G-dliness—the thought of a created being has no grasp of G-dliness. Why, really? Because the truth of Hashem, the true G-d, is His oneness and unity: He alone exists, and there is literally nothing besides Him. What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s oneness mean? What is G-dliness? G-dliness means that there is nothing besides Him. Oneness means He alone. That is what G-dliness means. And if the one who loves is an entity

11:00 Speaker 1 and not nothing, “his thought cannot grasp Him at all.” The light of Hashem does not rest upon him or become revealed in him except through observing the mitzvos, which are His will and wisdom, without any concealment at all. You see, he raises a remarkable point here. Why must it be specifically something that is completely nullified? It is a remarkable point, and a very simple one—simple in the fundamentals of Chassidus. This is one of the foundations of Chassidus. What did we ask? We asked, seemingly: Why does it matter that he has a sense of his own existence? After all, he comprehends G-dliness. He contemplates Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His greatness, and is aroused to love. And not just any love—great love, love filled with delight. So he is drawing close to G-dliness, connecting with Him. In ordinary terms, too, we say that when a person understands something, he grasps it. Something illuminates him; he loves something. So here, too, there is a connection. The answer is simple. With created beings, that is true. A created being is an entity. When you grasp it, you have grasped part of that entity, part of it. You may have grasped a larger part or a smaller part. There can be a lesser love and a greater love; there can be understanding... Some degree of grasp is possible. But G-dliness is a matter of “Hashem is One.” As he explains here, “Hashem is One” means that He alone exists and there is nothing besides Him. The entire meaning of the concept of G-dliness is that nothing exists apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what G-dliness means: He alone exists, and there is literally nothing besides Him. So as long as there is any sense of a separate existence, that contradicts the oneness of Hashem. Then you do not have G-dliness at all. You have not grasped anything. You have no grasp of G-dliness whatsoever. That is the difference. When you are speaking about created beings, there is

13:15 Speaker 1 an entity there. So you can say, yes, I do not need to negate my own existence in order to connect with someone else. I can exist and still connect with you. But G-dliness—because G-dliness means nullification, because its very definition is that “there is nothing besides Him”—as long as you have any sense of yourself as an entity, there is something besides Him. And if there is something besides Him, that is not G-dliness. So even when I contemplate G-dliness, and even when I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, because love still involves some sense of self, I have no grasp of Him through that. There is no grasp of G-dliness there. That is not Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Torah and mitzvos, by contrast, are not about what I grasp of G-dliness, but about how G-dliness reveals itself—what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants. Here you grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Here Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present. The Alter Rebbe is defining the whole point of the Shechinah resting upon something for us. What defines it? It means the revelation of Hashem’s oneness. It means that the oneness of Hashem becomes revealed. When is the oneness of Hashem revealed? When there is no separate existence. As long as there is any sense of separate existence, however subtle, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not present there; His oneness is not present there. This explains why, in relation to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even the great love and love filled with delight of a tzaddik do not bring the Shechinah to rest upon him. It is specifically in mitzvos that there is nullification.

14:59 Speaker 2 There is someone who studies.

15:04 Speaker 1 And...?

15:06 Speaker 2 He says that when someone speaks about something, he grasps it.

15:10 Speaker 1 You’re talking about Torah and mitzvos? Yes? With Torah and mitzvos, the emphasis is that it is not about me. The point of Torah and mitzvos is Hashem’s will. What does Hakadosh Boruch Hu want? Not what I want, what I love, or what it means to me. In Torah and mitzvos, my own existence does not enter into it. There is Hakadosh Boruch Hu and what He wants. He wants tefillin. It is not that I love putting on tefillin or that I want to put on tefillin. There is no “I” here at all. There is what He wants. That is why Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present there.

15:42 Speaker 2 A sense of one’s own existence is the feeling, and the feeling of it is a mitzvah.

15:51 Speaker 1 Why do you need to say that?

15:53 Speaker 2 When you daven, you want to. You feel that it still hasn’t [unclear].

16:00 Speaker 1 Not a personal stake, baruch Hashem. It touches the heart of the matter: the definition of a mitzvah. A mitzvah is the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is nothing else here. Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants tefillin. That is not Hakadosh Boruch Hu; it is unrelated. There is the person. The person wants something.

16:27 Speaker 2 It says in the maamar Beis Rabbeinu that there is some vitality in what Christians do. It is not significant, but there is still vitality.

16:51 Speaker 1 You have no reason? So why not have intention, then? In practice, that is how it is expressed.

16:59 Speaker 2 But they are doing something, aren’t they?

17:02 Speaker 1 But what does that matter? They have their own understanding, their own ideas and their own feelings. So the fact that someone does not want to eat—[unclear]. The point the Rebbe is explaining now is very, very, very important. What does it mean? What does “a revelation of G-dliness” mean? In Chassidus we often speak about a revelation of G-dliness. What is it? In our minds, we imagine it means seeing angels flying around, spiritual levels, higher worlds, various lofty things. Suddenly the heavens open and you see the supernal chariot and all sorts of things. What picture do we have of a revelation of G-dliness? What about [unclear]? Eliyahu Hanavi ascended to heaven—there was a revelation of G-dliness! But what is a revelation of G-dliness? The Rebbe says something very simple and very clear here: a revelation of G-dliness means that He alone exists and there is nothing besides Him. When a Jew feels, when the oneness of Hashem shines within him, that is what a revelation of G-dliness means. It means that the truth is revealed. The truth is that He alone exists. So every movement toward nullification, every movement toward nullification in the soul, at any stage or in any state—that is the meaning of a revelation of G-dliness. We say of a person that a revelation of G-dliness shines within him. How does a revelation of G-dliness shine within a person? What is a person in whom it shines? What do you think? Does he see angels, sefiros, spiritual levels and worlds? Does he see secret, hidden things? For a revelation of G-dliness to shine within him means that “He alone exists and there is nothing besides Him” is his reality. That is what shines within him; that is what he feels. He lives it. For him, nothing exists apart from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Exactly: “He alone exists”—that is what is real to him. And the less he feels that, the less revelation of G-dliness there is. So if

20:39 Speaker 1 If lower levels are what he senses, then, by contrast, he is on a lower level. There is even less revelation of G-dliness there. Right? “The Shechinah rests,” the Rebbe writes. The Shechinah rests. Right? For example, people often say, “The Shechinah rests on his face; you can see the Shechinah.” They think you’re supposed to see some kind of heavenly lights. What does it mean that the Shechinah rests on someone? It means that the person is utterly self-effacing, that he doesn’t see himself as an entity. You look at him and you don’t see ego, selfishness, or self-importance. You see the oneness of Hashem. So whenever a young man, a student, sits and studies a maamar of Chassidus, contemplates the oneness of Hashem, or prays while thinking about it—trying to understand it, grasp it, and be moved by it—he is experiencing a revelation of G-dliness. That’s the story of the Alter Rebbe and Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev. They tell that at the great wedding in Zhlobin, there were various exchanges between the Alter Rebbe and Reb Levi Yitzchak. In one of them, Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev pointed out one of his chassidim to the Alter Rebbe and said, “This chossid has a revelation of Eliyahu Hanavi—or ruach hakodesh.” Excuse me, ruach hakodesh or Eliyahu Hanavi. Then the Alter Rebbe went into the room, where Reb Binyamin Kletzker was in the middle of davening, a little before ten. The Alter Rebbe said, “Look, Reb Binyamin Kletzker is standing here davening, and the revelation of a soul is shining within him.” And he went on. In other words, he was dismissing and belittling the ruach hakodesh or the revelation of Eliyahu that the other chossid had. What does that mean? This is the reality: the Alter Rebbe wanted to explain to him that ruach hakodesh and a revelation of Eliyahu are lofty levels, lofty matters. But when a Jew contemplates the oneness of Hashem and lives with it in his own reality, it becomes part of him. That is what it means for the Shechinah to rest on someone. That is the most—

23:17 Speaker 1 wonderful thing, more than—this, this is the truth. All the other things still involve a sense of self. That’s not, that’s not revelation. In short, in simple words, according to the explanation of Chassidus, this is what it means for the Shechinah to rest on someone. It means that the light of Chassidus is absorbed into our minds: a revelation of Hashem.