Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 35 - Part 7

00:01 Yes, here the Alter Rebbe is speaking about the advantage of serving Hashem through action—the advantage of actually performing a mitzvah. There is an advantage to performing a mitzvah even over learning Torah. The Alter Rebbe has explained several aspects of this, several details. One advantage concerns the G-dly soul: Torah engages only its inner garments. In Torah study, the Shechinah rests only upon thought and speech, whereas in a mitzvah it also extends into the G-dly soul’s power of action. A second distinction is that Torah engages only the soul, whereas a mitzvah also involves the body. A third distinction is that Torah primarily engages the G-dly soul, whereas a mitzvah also reaches the animal soul. Why the animal soul? The Alter Rebbe explains that no mitzvah can be performed without it. As we explained, the animal soul is the intermediary between the G-dly soul and the body. So the animal soul, too, must participate in the mitzvah, and it follows that through performing the mitzvah, the animal soul is also transformed toward holiness. But during a beinoni’s lifetime, it is not actually transformed. Even now, while he is performing the mitzvah, the beinoni’s animal soul does not, in its very essence, love Hashem. If so, the animal soul’s essential nature and character remain intact. How, then, can the Shechinah rest there? After all, the Shechinah rests only where there is bittul, and it is so lacking in bittul. The Alter Rebbe explains that while the mitzvah is being performed, the animal soul is bent toward holiness and, against its will, toward good. It consents, goes along, and gives the person the strength to help him perform the mitzvah. At that point, then, it is in a state of Geulah and the Shechinah. That is why it does not prevent the Shechinah from resting upon the

02:06 person while he performs the mitzvah. That is the point we have learned up to now. The Alter Rebbe continues: “That is”—four, four and a half lines from the top. Five lines. “That is, the power of the vital soul invested in performing the mitzvah is actually incorporated into the light of Hashem in complete union.” This is the overall principle of performing a mitzvah: when a Jew performs a mitzvah, the power of the vital soul—which, broadly speaking, as we explained, is also the animal soul—is incorporated into the light of Hashem and becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in complete union. This follows from everything we have discussed so far: the vital soul, the animal soul, also participates in the action, and it is specifically through it that the mitzvah can be carried out. So it, too, is incorporated into the light of Hashem and becomes nullified. We spoke earlier in this chapter about the special quality of a mitzvah: specifically through performing it, the Shechinah comes to rest upon a person’s body. The vital soul also has a part in this, because it is precisely what carries out the mitzvah. Without the vital soul, a mitzvah cannot be performed, so it, too, is incorporated into the light of Hashem in complete union. And through this—the Alter Rebbe now goes on to make another point, an additional point we have not yet mentioned. So again, we have discussed three things so far: the effect on the G-dly soul’s garment of action, the effect on the body, and the effect on the vital soul—that power of action, the energy of the vital soul that gives a person the strength to perform the mitzvah. Now the Alter Rebbe adds a fourth thing that happens through performing mitzvos. Meir, are you following, or are you dreaming? So now the Alter Rebbe continues with another point and says: “And through this, a radiance of the light of Hashem is drawn over the vital soul as a whole, throughout the entire body, and also over the physical body, in an encompassing manner, from above his head to his feet.” Now

04:19 the Alter Rebbe goes further and says that when a person performs a mitzvah, he also draws the light to the vital soul as a whole and to the entire body. Until now, we were speaking only about the particular limb. For example, when the Alter Rebbe said that a mitzvah draws the Shechinah to rest upon the person, upon the body, he was speaking only about the limb that performs the mitzvah. So if I give tzedakah, the hand that gives the tzedakah has the Shechinah resting upon it at that time. And this applies to the power of the animal soul, the power of the vital soul, within that hand. But we have not yet spoken about the body as a whole. The Alter Rebbe now goes on to say that, beyond the particular effect on the particular limb and on the power of the vital soul involved in that particular action, a general light is also drawn over the entire body and over the body’s vital soul as a whole—even over the physical body as a whole. A radiance is drawn to the vital soul as a whole, too. And the Alter Rebbe is precise in his wording. He uses the word “radiance.” Earlier, when he spoke about the action, the power of action, and those particular aspects, the word was “light.” Now the Alter Rebbe says “radiance.” There is a difference between light and radiance. You see, this is explained in Chassidus. The boys have learned this here in [unclear]; some of them say that “light” means revelation, while “radiance” is not as much of a revelation. Radiance is more distant. Because, after all, in the body and animal soul as a whole, it is not revealed to the same extent as it is in the limb performing the mitzvah. That is why, concerning the limb that performs the mitzvah and the particular action, the Alter Rebbe says, “incorporated into the light of Hashem.” That means a greater degree of revelation of G-dliness. There is

06:23 more revelation there. But when it comes to the body as a whole, that light is on a lower level. And besides that, look at the Alter Rebbe’s wording further on: “in an encompassing manner.” It is not as internal. In the earlier aspects, it enters inwardly. Here, however, he says, “in an encompassing manner, from above his head to his feet.” It is not internal, because Hashem’s light is invested more inwardly in the power of action that performs the mitzvah, in the particular part carrying out the mitzvah. That is not the case with its effect on the body as a whole. When we say that the G-dly light is also drawn throughout the body of the person performing the mitzvah, there it is only encompassing, not as inward, from his head to his feet. This is what Chassidus says about mitzvos. But look, he also brought this earlier, in chapter 5, chapter 5 of Tanya: mitzvos are called garments for the soul. He also quoted the verse in connection with mitzvos, “You surround him with favor like a shield”—that a mitzvah is like a garment, like a shield, something encompassing. In other words, besides the particular effect that a particular mitzvah has on a particular limb, a mitzvah also draws down a general, encompassing light over the person. And this general encompassing effect on a person—if we put it a little more simply—means that it brings the person into an atmosphere of holiness. A general encompassing light means that when a person performs a mitzvah, the person as a whole is surrounded by the light of holiness. There is a general atmosphere, a general encompassing holiness, surrounding the person. Overall, he is in an atmosphere of holiness. There is a certain aspect of—this is called encompassing. In other words, as though there is

08:23 Sometimes a person walks into a room and senses that it is a happy place. There’s an atmosphere, a general feeling of joy in the room. That’s a makif—an encompassing influence. It doesn’t mean he knows or understands the reason everyone is happy; it’s the overall atmosphere of the room. There’s an encompassing feeling, a general atmosphere of holiness. It’s the same with joy. You can see this in people. Some people are serious, and the moment they walk into a room, the atmosphere suddenly becomes serious. They haven’t spoken or shouted or said anything, but their very presence creates an atmosphere of seriousness. Or someone who is naturally cheerful walks in, and people start laughing. He hasn’t even told a joke; he’s just there, and everyone becomes happy. Reb Meir, there’s an example of this in Florida, about [unclear]. You can find all sorts of examples. This is called a makif: an encompassing influence that affects the surroundings. In the same way, when a Jew performs a mitzvah, besides the inner effect it has on the limb involved—all that we discussed earlier—the Alter Rebbe says there is also a general makif. It brings the person as a whole into a certain atmosphere, an encompassing holiness that takes hold of the entire person. Chassidus sometimes explains that this is also what “one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah” means. What is the explanation

10:20 of “one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah”? A person does a mitzvah, and that is the expression used. What does it mean? Is it a matter of reasoning? No. Chassidus explains that the mitzvah’s makif—the encompassing holiness, the drawing down of G-dliness that comes upon the person—places him in an atmosphere of holiness. That draws him along, pulls him almost unconsciously. It’s not that he understands why; the encompassing light of the mitzvah he did earlier brings him into that atmosphere of holiness, and so he is moved to do another mitzvah. The same is true of “one transgression leads to another transgression.” So this is the makif the Alter Rebbe is explaining here. Chassidus also brings the story in the Zohar—it appears in the maamar on Parshas Shelach. Some of the students learned it, the maamar about Yericho, “Vayishlach Yehoshua.” Why is Yericho associated with garments? A mitzvah is associated with fragrance. The Zohar tells of a yenuka, a child. I don’t know whether it was the same yenuka we’re discussing here, but this yenuka looked at some people who had arrived and said, “I can smell from your garments that you did not say the morning Shema today.” And it was true. He smelled it. What does that mean? That is the Zohar’s wording: through the fragrance—“and the fragrance of your garments”—he knew they had not said Shema. In other words, there is something about fragrance, about the makif. Fragrance is an encompassing influence, and he sensed in their makif that the mitzvah was missing. A mitzvah draws down a makif, and he could sense in theirs that they had not performed that mitzvah. So that is

12:07 what the Alter Rebbe is saying. Besides all the advantages of performing a mitzvah that we discussed earlier, there is another, general effect: it draws down a makif upon the entire person. But it encompasses everything rather than entering inwardly. This is the meaning of the verse, “And the Shechinah rests upon his head.” The Alter Rebbe suggests that this also helps us understand the precise wording the yenuka used earlier. Referring to the Shechinah, he said, “And the Shechinah rests upon his head.” The word is “upon.” Why do we need to wear a kippah? What is the reason for covering our heads? The yenuka explained that it is because the Shechinah is upon the head. Why specifically “upon his head”? What we’ve just explained makes that clear: there is an encompassing light, a makif, which does not enter inwardly. That is why the wording is “upon his head”—“upon” indicates a makif. In other words, covering the head is connected primarily with that encompassing influence, with the mitzvah’s makif. Why do we need to cover our heads? Up to now, the Alter Rebbe’s entire explanation has dealt with each particular mitzvah and its particular effect. But he brings this in connection with the requirement to cover one’s head. So he explains that covering the head relates to the mitzvah’s makif. Yet this seems to require further examination: one must keep one’s head covered twenty-four hours a day, all the time, not only while performing a mitzvah. The Alter Rebbe’s explanation here concerned the act of a mitzvah: while a person is performing it, a makif rests upon him. What

14:02 does that imply? That the makif remains all the time, not just while the mitzvah is being performed, and that is why one must keep one’s head covered all the time. The Rebbe says this requires further examination. But then the Alter Rebbe cites another teaching of our Sages that seems to indicate this, though it isn’t entirely clear. The Rebbe seems to say that this next teaching also comes to resolve the question. The Alter Rebbe cites the teaching, “Wherever ten are gathered, the Shechinah rests.” Here, too, we see that the Shechinah is drawn down in an encompassing way. Our Sages say that when ten Jews are together in one room, the Shechinah is there. The Aramaic word is “akol,” with an alef, as though it said “al kol”—“upon all”—again indicating an encompassing influence. But why bring this proof? We weren’t discussing a group of ten; what does it have to do with our subject? The Rebbe explains this in his explanations. “Wherever ten are gathered, the Shechinah rests” applies not only when they are performing mitzvos. When ten Jews are in a room, the Shechinah is there even if they are not performing a mitzvah. For example, the Rebbe explains in Igeres Hakodesh 23 that even if they are not discussing words of Torah, the very presence of ten Jews in one room brings the Shechinah in the form of a makif. So the Rebbe says that perhaps this is why the Alter Rebbe brings it here: to explain what he said earlier about covering the head. With ten Jews, at least, we see that the Shechinah is drawn down as a makif even when they are not performing a mitzvah. Similarly, for an individual,

15:50 even if he is not performing a mitzvah right now, it may be that the makif from a mitzvah he performed earlier remains upon him. That would be why he must keep his head covered all day. In any case, it still isn’t entirely clear; we need to understand exactly what is going on here. Be that as it may, this is what the Alter Rebbe explains here: there are two ways in which the Shechinah is drawn down—an inward drawing down into the limb that performs the mitzvah, and an encompassing drawing down upon the entire body. “Now, all of these ways in which the light of the Shechinah is drawn down—which is the revelation of the light of the blessed Ein Sof—are not considered, G-d forbid, a change in Him or a multiplicity.” The Alter Rebbe now continues. He has explained all the levels at which the Shechinah rests: how it rests during Torah study, inwardly and only on the spiritual aspect; how it rests when a mitzvah is performed, on the body; how it rests on the soul, on the animal soul, on the limb involved, and, as we’ve said, on the entire body. There are many levels and many ways in which the Shechinah rests. Here it is inward, there it is encompassing; here it relates to the inner aspect, there it reaches the body as well. These seem like different kinds of resting of the Shechinah. That can raise the question: How does this fit with “I, Hashem, have not changed”?

17:33 And it would seem to indicate change and multiplicity in G-dliness. The Alter Rebbe explains: This is not called a change in Hashem, G-d forbid, or multiplicity. None of this constitutes a change in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We say that before I fulfilled the mitzvah, the Shechinah did not rest here, and after I fulfilled it, the Shechinah did rest here. And within that, I say that in one part of the body the Shechinah rests inwardly, while in another it rests in an encompassing way—all these distinctions. But this is not a matter of change or multiplicity in Hakadosh Boruch Hu, G-d forbid. Why? As it says in Sanhedrin. The Gemara in Sanhedrin relates: “A certain heretic said to Rabban Gamliel”—there was a heretic who asked Rabban Gamliel—“You say that wherever there are ten, the Shechinah rests.” You believing Jews say that whenever ten Jews are together in one place, the Shechinah rests there. “How many Shechinahs are there?” His question was primarily about multiplicity. The heretic asked about multiplicity, not change. If so, there are multiple Shechinahs: wherever there are ten Jews, the Shechinah is there. So there is multiplicity in the Shechinah. That was the heretic’s question. The Alter Rebbe applies that same question not only to multiplicity, but also to change, which is what concerns the Alter Rebbe here: before, the Shechinah was not here, and now it is here. That is a form of change. This is how the Alter Rebbe understands the question the heretic asked Rabban Gamliel. “And he answered him”—Rabban Gamliel answered him with an analogy of sunlight entering through many windows, and so on. Rabban Gamliel’s analogy was that when sunlight enters through many windows, even

19:19 though there are many windows, everyone understands that it is the same sunlight. It does not produce change or multiplicity. It does not mean there are many different lights in the sun. And as Chassidus explains, the fact that sunlight shines in various places does not change the sun. It makes no difference to the sun whether it shines through one window, through ten windows, or does not shine through a window at all. It causes no change. Chassidus discusses at length the difference between light and an imparted influence: an imparted influence changes the one who imparts it. Whether there is one recipient or ten recipients makes a difference to the giver. All these things cause change and multiplicity in the giver. Light, by contrast, is unaffected by whether there are more or fewer windows, or by the windows’ colors—say, a red window or a green window. None of this changes the sunlight. You cannot say that because sunlight enters through a red window, the sunlight itself has now become red. Sunlight remains undifferentiated even after it passes through a red window; its own color does not change. The light itself always remains simple. The same applies to what the analogy represents. In terms of its effect, and how it appears to us, the recipients, it is considered a change. So too, the Shechinah may be drawn down here in an encompassing way, here inwardly; here it is not drawn down, and here it is; before the mitzvah, after the mitzvah, and during the mitzvah. All these distinctions are only in relation to the recipients. As far as Hakadosh Boruch Hu is concerned, none of this causes any change. It is the same light, the same reality. The novel point

20:57 the Alter Rebbe makes here, as explained in Chassidus, is a very great one. Because if what the Alter Rebbe were saying were simply that the Shechinah is the same Shechinah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere, only concealed in each place—and that concealment is not on His part, but on ours: we do not see Him, and through the mitzvah He becomes revealed—then what would be new about it? But the explanation given in Chassidus is not that. It is not simply that the Shechinah is everywhere and the whole difference is one of revelation. According to that understanding, a person accomplishes nothing new through a mitzvah. It would mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present here below in exactly the same way before the mitzvah as after it. And that is not correct. The point is that through a mitzvah, we do bring about a drawing down of G-dliness. Clearly, the level of G-dliness present in the world before the mitzvah is not the same as the level drawn down here below through fulfilling it. When a person fulfills a mitzvah, a mitzvah that requires action, he actually draws down here a higher degree of the presence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, one that was not here before. The Alter Rebbe’s novel point is that, nevertheless, this is not considered a change. That is the analogy—and specifically the analogy of sunlight and windows. When someone closes the window, there is no sunlight here. When I open it, something new certainly happens: I let sunlight into the room. It is not that the sunlight was here before but concealed. No, before that,

22:37 the sunlight was not here. Now it is. When I had the window closed, the sunlight was not in the room. When I opened it, this was not merely a matter of revelation rather than concealment. Light was drawn in: sunlight that had not been here entered the room. And yet this is not considered a change. Why? Because it comes in the manner of light, not in the manner of an imparted influence, as explained in Chassidus. The same is true here. Certainly, when a person fulfills a mitzvah, the Shechinah comes to rest here. Before that, the Shechinah did not rest here. Light is drawn down here below; something is drawn down that was not here before. Nevertheless, this is not considered a change, because it comes in the manner of light and not in the manner of an imparted influence. The Alter Rebbe concludes: “And the discerning will understand.” Well, what does “the discerning will understand” mean? Someone who studies Chassidus will understand the explanation. On the one hand, we are speaking about the extraordinary greatness of fulfilling mitzvos: through a mitzvah, a person brings about the resting of the Shechinah, as we have discussed throughout this chapter. Here the Alter Rebbe is explaining the greatness of serving Hashem specifically through the act of performing a mitzvah. It is specifically through this that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is drawn into the world more and more—more than through all the matters of feeling and everything else—specifically through fulfilling mitzvos. So “the discerning” means a person with the capacity for understanding and careful thought. And discernment is connected with the faculty of chochmah, which is bittul. As the Alter Rebbe said earlier, it is specifically in chochmah that bittul shines, that the truth shines. A discerning person, someone who has both the capacity to understand and the capacity for bittul, can understand the greatness we have discussed here: the greatness of the act of a mitzvah, through which specifically the loftiest level of Hashem is drawn down,

24:15 even though this does not bring about any change, as we have just discussed. Chassidim would always say, “The discerning will understand, and the one who serves will feel.” The discerning person understands the matter, but if you want to feel it as well, you also need to daven.