Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 38 - Part 1

00:00 And in light of all the above, we can readily understand the established halachic ruling in the Talmud and the halachic authorities: thinking is not equivalent to speaking. The Alter Rebbe continues that, based on everything we discussed in chapter 37, we can understand the ruling we learned: if a person only thinks the words, he has not fulfilled his obligation. If he recited the Shema in his mind and heart alone, with all the force of his concentration, he has not fulfilled his obligation. He must go back and recite it. He has to say it again, because the main thing is speech. The same applies to Birchas Hamazon, which is a Torah obligation, and to other blessings instituted by the Sages, and to prayer. So the halachah is that one must actually say the words. On the one hand, if someone had all the proper intentions but did not say the words, he has not fulfilled his obligation. On the other hand, if he uttered the words with his lips but did not focus his heart—if he said the words but lacked concentration—he has fulfilled his obligation after the fact and does not need to repeat them, except for the first verse of the Shema and the first blessing of Shemoneh Esrei. As it says at the beginning of chapter 2 of Berachos: “Up to this point, the mitzvah is to have intent; from here on, the mitzvah is to recite,” and so on. So we see that, on the one hand, someone can have all the proper intentions, even the loftiest ones, but if he does not bring them into speech, he has not fulfilled the mitzvah. By contrast, he can say the words without having all the proper intentions. There are parts of the prayers and blessings where he fulfills his obligation even without concentration, though there are specific parts where concentration is indispensable. What do we see from this? Speech carries more weight than the intention itself. But how are we to understand that? What does it teach us? The whole point of prayer is that it is service of the heart, yet it has to be spoken. So what if the feeling in his heart is missing? He says the words—what, is he a child or something? But as we explained earlier, the main

02:09 point of fulfilling a mitzvah—what is the point of making a dwelling place in the lower realms? It is to refine the lower realm, to refine the body and the animal soul. Since speech is where that refinement primarily takes place—because by bringing the words out through his mouth, he refines the body and the animal soul—speech in prayer and study brings about that refinement, and that is why it is the main thing. That is why halachah places more emphasis on the act itself than on intention. But next he explains that, nevertheless, intention matters too. On the contrary, a mitzvah and its intention are like a body and a soul; intention matters as well. There is a story about the Tzemach Tzedek that the Rebbe tells in Likkutei Sichos. There were two mohalim, and the question was which one to choose: a mohel who knew how to perform the bris better but did not know the proper intentions—perhaps he simply was not a chossid; I do not know what the situation was. By contrast, the other mohel was a Chassidic Jew and all that, but he lacked experience—how shall I put it—in actually doing the physical procedure. So the Tzemach Tzedek said: The main thing is to choose the one who knows how to cut well—er ken gut shnaydn. No, the intentions are not what matters here; the main thing is that he knows how to cut well. Why? Because action is paramount. The Rebbe explains in that sicha that this is the whole innovation of the Giving of the Torah. This is the very point being explained here in Tanya. Because the action matters for making a dwelling place in the lower realms—a purpose that was introduced at the Giving of the Torah—the action is primary. It is specifically in the action that the intent to make that dwelling place is realized. Therefore, if one person can perform the act better, even though his intention is lacking, the main thing is the actual act. But if so, when we speak of avodah, [unclear].

03:50 He goes on to explain that, of course, if a person only performs the act without any intention, something will be lacking. They are like a body and a soul; there must be intention too. As we explained earlier, the Alter Rebbe now explains in greater detail that intention, too, is part of the ultimate purpose of making a dwelling place in the lower realms, because intention matters as well. But to achieve that dwelling place in the lower realms, the action is primary.