Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 37 - Part 10

00:01 To understand what the Alter Rebbe is now coming to clarify in this part of the chapter, let’s begin with an introduction—a brief recap of the point we’ve learned in the last several chapters. We’ve really been returning to it all along. At this point, you could say, the Alter Rebbe has finished explaining one aspect of what he set out to explain. And now, where we’re picking up, he raises a question that seems to go against everything we’ve learned until now, and he comes to explain it. What was the point we learned? It began in chapter 35, where the Alter Rebbe introduced “to do it”—“For the matter is very close to you... to do it.” Action is the main purpose of serving Hashem, particularly for the beinoni. Certainly, the beinoni is not expected to fully refine his intellect and emotions. What is chiefly expected of him is to control the garments of thought, speech, and action. The Alter Rebbe asked why. What is the purpose of toiling with all ten fingers when you cannot finish the job and win the battle completely? The Alter Rebbe cited the Zohar, and that began the whole explanation of why good deeds, specifically, are so important. What are good deeds? The Zohar says that good deeds are the oil that keeps the flame burning on the wick. The flame is G-dliness, the Shechinah; the wick is the body and the animal soul; and the oil is good deeds. Why good deeds specifically? First, the Alter Rebbe began by explaining the general advantage of Torah and mitzvos—not just deeds, but Torah and mitzvos as a whole—over serving Hashem through love and awe. Love and awe cannot serve as the oil, as the thing that keeps G-dliness present in the world and in the body. Even love and awe at the very highest level,

02:13 the love and awe of a complete tzaddik, cannot serve as the vessel that holds G-dliness within a person. Why? Because love and awe are the person himself; he is still a distinct entity. There is someone who... There is a lack of bittul here. Torah and mitzvos, by contrast, are not something a person comes up with; they are what Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us—His supernal will. That is the advantage Torah and mitzvos have over all forms of service involving the intellect and emotions. Intellect and emotions are an expression of the person’s own existence, whereas Torah and mitzvos are the supernal will. So for a Jew to become a vessel for G-dliness, it must be through something that is not an expression of his own existence, something that is truly bittul. What is truly bittul? Torah and mitzvos, because they are the supernal will, beyond any reason or understanding. That is true of Torah and mitzvos in general. Within that, the Alter Rebbe says, mitzvos have an advantage over Torah. Why? As he explained, Torah is spiritual, so it primarily affects the G-dly soul. Torah involves comprehension and understanding. It therefore acts mainly on the G-dly soul and on the spiritual garment of thought; it does not affect the body and animal soul as much. Mitzvos, on the other hand, must be performed with the vital soul and the body. Without them, you cannot fulfill mitzvos. So mitzvos have an advantage over Torah: the refinement of the body and animal soul, of the physical body and the garment of action, is accomplished specifically through mitzvos, not through Torah. That is the advantage mitzvos have over Torah. But the question remains: Why is it so important that it be specifically a matter of action, involving the body and animal soul? That itself is the question:

04:01 What is wrong with Torah, which is a spiritual form of service? Why does it have to be a form of service connected specifically with the body and animal soul? The Alter Rebbe explained this in chapter 36 through the teaching that Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired a dwelling for Himself in the lower realms. “Lower realms” means specifically the lowest realm, beneath which there is nothing lower—a place of kelipah and sitra achra, of concealment and obscurity. It is specifically there that the essence is present, because this is not a matter of descent. Descent applies to the higher worlds, which represent a descent from somewhere else. Down here, by contrast, it is not a descent but a new existence, an existence created from nothing. Indeed, it is the very opposite of revelation. And specifically in this lower realm, Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired a dwelling for Himself. Since He desired a dwelling in the lower realms, this emphasizes action. But the Alter Rebbe explained: When will the dwelling in the lower realms be complete? In the future, when His essence will be revealed here below, [unclear] without any garment, without any concealment. There will be no concealment [unclear]. Here below—that is where the dwelling for His essence will be. But when do we make the dwelling? Its revelation will come then. When do we make it? We make it now, through the mitzvos a Jew performs. In other words, performing a mitzvah is the act of making a dwelling in the lower realms, though its revelation will not take place now. This is “the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself.” That already began in chapter 37, where the Alter Rebbe began explaining that all its revelations

05:45 depend on our actions and our service during the time of exile. That is the meaning of “the reward for a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself”: the mitzvah is what a person does to refine the animal soul. The revelation in the days of Moshiach is the result of refining the animal soul. That is the mitzvah, and the reward for the mitzvah is the revelation of what the mitzvah accomplished. They are not two different things; they are the same thing. Why? What is a mitzvah? A mitzvah means that a person takes something physical, something associated with kelipah, and connects it with the essence of the Ein Sof. That is the unique power of a mitzvah. Then it will be openly apparent how the physical world becomes a dwelling for Him. The Alter Rebbe explained in detail everything we have learned so far in chapter 37: how this is accomplished specifically through performing a mitzvah involving a physical object in the world, which is associated with kelipah, and through the animal soul, which comes from kelipas nogah. That is the essence of practical mitzvos. The same applies to mitzvos involving speech, such as when a person learns, and to all the ways a person must engage his animal soul. Specifically through this does he make the dwelling in the lower realms. The Alter Rebbe then explained in greater detail that there are two forms of service here: “turn away from evil” and “do good.” Turning away from evil nullifies the vitality of kelipah. We do that by observing the 365 prohibitions, bringing about the future fulfillment of “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” By doing good, we draw down the light of holiness, bringing about the future fulfillment of “They will see eye to eye,” and “The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.” That is the point we have just learned. The Alter Rebbe concluded that, based on this

07:19 We can now understand what the Alter Rebbe said about all the mitzvos. Since the whole purpose of a mitzvah is, as we just learned, to make a dwelling for Him, may He be blessed—to refine the kelipah and the animal soul, to refine the kelipah and make it into a dwelling for the Infinite—where is this refinement, this making of a dwelling for the Infinite, accomplished most fully? Precisely through the mitzvah of tzedakah. A person puts into tzedakah all the energy he invested in his work, all his life-force. So tzedakah brings about the primary refinement of the animal soul, and that is why it is specifically about tzedakah that we say, “Great is tzedakah, for it brings the Geulah closer.” That was the point we just learned. Now the Alter Rebbe comes and asks a general question about everything we have learned so far. Let’s read it inside and explain. “And now we can understand what our Sages said: Torah study is equal to all of them.” We have a teaching of our Sages that we say every day. We say it in the morning blessings: “Torah study is equal to all of them.” What do we mention before that? We mention various practical mitzvos—acts of kindness, yes, and the other things listed there. They are all connected with physical action, including tzedakah. Nevertheless, we say that Torah study is equal to all of them: Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos, even including the mitzvah of tzedakah. So the question here is as follows. At first glance, it seems that the Alter Rebbe is asking about what he just said at the end. He has just finished explaining tzedakah and said that tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos. So he asks: How can you say that tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos? After all, Torah study is equal to all of them. So apparently the question is that we have two teachings of our Sages. One says that tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos,

09:22 and this teaching of our Sages says that Torah study is equal to all of them. That would seem to be the question, but it cannot really be the Alter Rebbe’s question. Why not? Because we can answer it simply. We find the expression “equal to all of them” used for other mitzvos as well, not just these. It is used for tzedakah, for Torah study, and there are other things said to be equal to all the mitzvos. Tefillin is said to be equal to the entire Torah. There are several such expressions, and the answer is straightforward: each has a particular advantage. When someone asks why one thing is said to be equal to all the mitzvos, the answer is simple. In one particular respect, tzedakah has an advantage equal to all the mitzvos. In another respect, something else is equal to all the mitzvos. Every mitzvah, every thing, has an advantage that another does not have. So it is not much of a question. When our Sages say that the mitzvah of tzedakah is equal to all the mitzvos, they are speaking about a particular respect in which that is true. But there is another respect in which only Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos. So we still cannot say that this is such a difficult question that the Alter Rebbe needs to explain it here. Although this, too, is resolved by what the Alter Rebbe is about to explain, the main question is actually a general one about everything we said earlier. According to what we explained earlier, the question about Torah study is not just because of tzedakah. Tzedakah is not the question. The question about Torah and mitzvos is not a question about tzedakah; rather, the question is

11:09 about the whole matter: What advantage does Torah study have over the mitzvos? In everything we have explained in chapters 35, 36, and 37, we learned what a mitzvah is, and that specifically a mitzvah is primary. Why? Because a mitzvah brings the dwelling in the lower realms to completion. This is not just a particular matter but an overarching one. It concerns the entire purpose of creation, and it is specifically the mitzvos that fulfill that purpose. In response to this, the Alter Rebbe cites what our Sages say: “Torah study is equal to all of them.” So this raises a question about the whole matter. Look, until now we have explained that specifically a mitzvah is primary and brings completion. It fulfills the purpose of making a dwelling in the lower realms. It is specifically through mitzvos, not Torah study, that this purpose is fulfilled, yet here our Sages say, “Torah study is equal to all of them.” So the Alter Rebbe now explains why our Sages say that Torah study is equal to all of them: it is because Torah study takes place through speech and thought. Torah study engages the garments of speech and thought, which are the inner garments of the vital soul. When our Sages say that Torah study is equal to all of them, they are speaking of its advantage in this particular respect: Torah study engages the soul’s inner garments. In this respect, Torah has an advantage over a mitzvah. In other words, according to what we have explained so far, with regard to the overall purpose of making a dwelling in the lower realms, that dwelling is brought about more through action. Action reaches something lower, something more bound up with kelipah. There is more of the world there, and that is why it is specifically there that we make a dwelling in the lower realms. Yes, but the purpose of making a dwelling in the lower realms is not only to affect the lowest part;

13:08 it is also to affect the other parts of a person’s soul. A person has several faculties: thought, speech, and action. Right? So we need to refine not only the outer faculties but also the more inner ones. And in a certain sense, at least in one particular respect, thought and speech have an advantage over action because they are more inner garments. So in terms of reaching what is lower, action reaches lower. But within the soul itself, thought and speech have an advantage over action because they are more inner garments of the soul. In that respect, Torah study is equal to all of them. And he adds another point—what we have said still does not explain why it is equal to all of them. The main point, he says, is this: “Furthermore, the very essence of the faculties of Chochmah, Binah, and Daas from kelipas nogah in the vital soul is actually incorporated into holiness.” Look, he is saying two things here. There are two reasons Torah study is said to be equal to all of them. First, we are speaking about a different respect, that of the garments. It is true that when it comes to action, a mitzvah is the primary means of making a dwelling in the lower realms. But thought and speech also need to be refined. So with regard to thought and speech, the inner garments, we say that Torah study is equal to all of them, because it has a particular advantage. It reaches and refines the soul’s inner garments, which action cannot do. Action cannot refine the inner garments; specifically Torah study does that. So Torah has an advantage. Now the Alter Rebbe adds another point. There is a further advantage, because in this respect, they are still on the same level: this is a garment and that is a garment. One is the garment of action, and the other is a more inner garment, but it still does not…

15:00 That is so lofty. So he adds another point, a central one: Torah also has an advantage in quality. In other words, it has an advantage in its very nature: Torah brings about a transformation in the inner faculties of the soul as well, not only in its garments. The very essence of the soul is transformed for the good through Torah. That is something unique to Torah; mitzvos do not have the power to transform the essence of the soul. Torah does have that power. This is what he means: “And the very essence of the Chabad faculties from kelipas nogah in the vital soul”—the very essence of the Chabad faculties of the animal soul, which come from kelipah, is also incorporated into holiness itself when they engage in Torah with careful study and understanding. A person uses his mind to understand Torah. He studies Torah in depth, with love and involvement, and through this he transforms not only the garments but also the very essence of the animal soul. He takes the Chabad faculties of kelipah and turns them into Chabad faculties of holiness. So there is an extraordinary advantage here that cannot be achieved through mitzvos. Through mitzvos, you can bring about the dwelling place in the lower realms and reach the external faculties of the animal soul. Action is an external faculty, but the essence of the animal soul remains in kelipah. This is the advantage of Torah study. And that is why, on this point, the Mishnah says, “Torah study is equal to them all”: Torah study has the unique advantage of transforming even the very essence of the animal soul. The Chabad faculties of the animal soul become holy, and so Torah has an advantage that mitzvos do not have. That, essentially, is the point the Alter Rebbe is building here. So what is the advantage? What is the Rebbe’s explanation of why our Sages say that Torah study is equal to

17:00 them all? “Torah study is equal to them all.” The explanation is that in this particular respect, Torah study has an advantage equal to them all: it engages the soul’s loftier garments and makes them holy. And not only that—it also engages the essence of the soul and makes that holy. The Alter Rebbe asks about this: now that he has begun to explain that Torah’s advantage is that it transforms even the essence of the soul, even the soul’s Chabad faculties, isn’t this contrary to everything we have said until now in Tanya? “As for the very essence of the evil middos in the animal soul, the beinoni cannot transform them into holiness.” The Alter Rebbe himself said earlier that the beinoni does not transform the essence of his animal soul. The whole distinction between the beinoni and the tzaddik that we have discussed in Tanya until now is that the beinoni can transform only his garments, while his essence remains in kelipah. That is the tzaddik’s advantage over the beinoni: the tzaddik brings about a transformation of his essence as well, including the middos themselves, whereas the beinoni does not. So we have said that the beinoni’s achievement concerns only the garments, and that he cannot transform the essence itself. The Alter Rebbe therefore asks: didn’t we say that the beinoni cannot transform the very essence of the evil middos in the animal soul into holiness? We said that the middos do not become holy. Here the Alter Rebbe introduces a remarkable insight that he has not stated so clearly before in Tanya. He hinted at it, but not this explicitly: for the beinoni, there is a difference between the mind and the middos. The beinoni cannot transform the middos into holiness, but

18:49 he can transform the mind into holiness. The Alter Rebbe says: “As for the very essence of the evil middos in the animal soul, the beinoni cannot transform them into holiness, because the evil is stronger in the middos than in the Chabad faculties.” The evil in the middos is stronger than the evil in the mind, “because they draw more sustenance from holiness there, as is known to those versed in the hidden wisdom.” “The hidden wisdom” means Kabbalah, the Torah’s hidden wisdom. Those who study Kabbalah know that the evil in the middos is stronger than the evil in the mind, and therefore harder to refine. So when we said earlier in Tanya that the beinoni can transform only the garments, not the very essence, that referred only to the middos. The beinoni cannot transform the middos. Why? Because the evil in the middos is harder to overcome. That is why we see that, when it comes to the middos, the beinoni has desires and an inner struggle, as we have said throughout Tanya until now. But the beinoni can indeed transform the mind. Why? Because the evil in the mind is not as strong, so it is easier to transform. Even a beinoni can do that. Why did I say that the Alter Rebbe had already hinted at this earlier? In fact, the Alter Rebbe said it in chapter 17. There he said that the beinoni can use his mind to understand G-dliness, even though his heart is not under his control. He has desires and so on, but his mind is under his control. He can use his mind to contemplate G-dliness and thereby awaken, at least, thoughts that have a bearing on action—though they are not genuine feelings, as he explained. So

20:50 there, too, the Alter Rebbe distinguished between the mind and the middos, and explained that the mind is easier to work with. But the explanation there was different. There the Alter Rebbe’s explanation was more practical, more down-to-earth. Because the mind is more—how should I put it? The explanation there in Tanya was simply more practical. The mind is more objective, as people say. It is not the person himself; it is something more objective. So in his mind, a person is not so bound to his sense of self. He is more detached from himself, more detached from his nature. It is not a matter of nature. The mind understands things; I do not necessarily have to feel them. I can understand even things that do not sit so well with my nature. That is the advantage of the mind over the middos that he describes in chapter 17: because the mind is more focused on the matter itself, it seeks the truth rather than what suits a person’s nature. So a person can contemplate G-dliness. The middos, by contrast, are more bound up with a person’s nature, with the person himself, so they are harder to change. Here, then, the Alter Rebbe adds a point he did not make earlier. Why do we say that a beinoni can transform his mind into holiness but cannot transform his middos? Because the evil in the middos is stronger than the evil in the mind. He says this is known to those versed in the hidden wisdom. At first glance, this raises a question: it seems to contradict Tanya itself. The Alter Rebbe says here that the evil in the middos is stronger than in the mind, and that is why the beinoni can transform his mind into holiness by studying Tehillim and Iyov, but cannot do the same with his middos. Yet the Alter Rebbe himself explicitly wrote in chapter 8 of Tanya, when discussing the study of secular subjects,

22:43 Secular wisdom, the wisdom of the nations. The Alter Rebbe writes that impurity affecting the soul’s Chabad—the intellectual faculties—is worse than impurity affecting its emotions. That sounds like the exact opposite of what the Alter Rebbe says here. In chapter 8 of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe writes about why studying secular wisdom is so serious. Here is his wording: compared with idle talk, which, he says there, contaminates only the emotions, secular wisdom contaminates the Chabad of one’s soul. So there it is clear that impurity of the intellectual faculties is worse than impurity of the emotions, while here he says that the evil in the emotions is stronger than the evil in the intellect. In short, we won’t go into that whole issue at length now. The point is that here the Alter Rebbe is being precise when he says that the evil is stronger. There, he is speaking about the level of impurity. That is the distinction hinted at in the wording. If we are talking about levels of impurity, impurity of the intellect is a greater level of impurity than impurity of the emotions. Contaminating the intellect is worse than contaminating the emotions, because the intellect is higher, and consequently its impurity is also on a higher level. That is straightforward. Say, for example, with a person physically—[unclear]. If someone has an illness of the heart, it may be possible to correct it through the brain. But if someone has an illness of the brain, that is worse, because the brain rules over the heart. In other words, for our purposes, since the brain is higher than the heart, if the impurity is only in the emotions but his head is in the right place, it can be corrected. But if his head is already... he has—

24:58 But if his head is not working properly, then the problem is at the root, and it is worse. So the point is that in terms of the level of impurity, impurity of the soul’s Chabad is on a higher level, and consequently the impurity is on a higher level too. But it is different when we speak about strength—the force of the impurity, how hard it is to break. In that sense, the impurity is stronger in the emotions than in the intellect. The impurity of the intellect is easier to work with, even though it is on a higher level. It can be refined and purified more easily. Not so with the emotions. True, the level of impurity is lower, but it is more forceful and more deeply entrenched. Because it involves more ego, is more inward and more bound up with the person himself, it is harder to deal with. Although its level of impurity is not as bad, it is harder to correct. That is why the Alter Rebbe says that it barely reaches the emotions. So what is the Alter Rebbe saying here? This is the advantage of Torah study: specifically through studying Torah, the intellectual faculties can be refined. The beinoni succeeds in transforming even his intellect, making it holy. He transforms the very substance and essence of the soul—the soul’s intellectual faculties—and makes them holy. When it comes to the emotions, however, he cannot do that, because they are harder to change. Now, what is the explanation for this? The Alter Rebbe does not write it here; he only... At the end of the parsha it says of all the kings who ruled in Edom before the children of Israel, “These are the kings who ruled in Edom before any king ruled over the children of Israel.” Right? It lists eight

28:26 kings. Of seven of the eight kings of Edom, it says, “He ruled and he died.” Of the eighth, it does not say “he died”; it says “he ruled,” but not “he died.” It is explained in the mystical teachings that the seven kings correspond to the seven emotions of Tohu. Right? The seven kings of Edom correspond to the seven emotions of Tohu, and of those seven it says, “He ruled and he died.” There was a shattering there, as we were just discussing: the shattering of the vessels took place in the emotions. But of the eighth king it says “he ruled,” without saying “he died,” because he represents a level above the shattering. This refers to the intellect, to binah. There are various explanations of precisely which level it refers to, but it is a higher level.