Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 38 - Part 4

00:00 Speaker 1 In this analogy, they are divided. The Alter Rebbe explains at length here the idea that mitzvos without intention are like a body without a soul. By understanding the analogy of body and soul, and the difference between them, we can understand the difference between the act of a mitzvah and the intention behind it. So the Alter Rebbe explains body and soul. What do we say? On the one hand, body and soul have something in common: both involve extension. Both have an aspect of being a garment and extending outward—the body and the soul alike. Both are created beings, and both involve extension. But on the other hand, this is the difference between body and soul: in the soul, life extends outward, whereas in the body, life is contracted. The same applies to a mitzvah. This is the difference between the intention of a mitzvah and the act of the mitzvah. On the one hand, what they have in common is that both are the Supernal Will, without any division. The same Hakadosh Boruch Hu Who wanted the act of the mitzvos also wants the intention of the mitzvah. So the Supernal Will is equally present in both, without any division. On the other hand, the difference lies in contraction and extension: in the intention of the mitzvah, G-dliness is revealed and extends outward, whereas in the act of the mitzvah, it is present in a contracted way because of the material nature of the act. As he explains in the note, this is the difference between lights and vessels. The source of the act of a mitzvah is vessels, whereas the intention of a mitzvah is lights. The union of intention and action is the union of lights and vessels Above. So just as with lights and vessels, we say that the difference between them is that both are

02:17 Speaker 1 “He and His life-force and His vessels are all one.” The lights and vessels are all one. The lights are G-dliness, and the vessels are G-dliness, because “You shall know today that Hashem is Elokim.” Lights and vessels are all one at their source. Nevertheless, there is a difference in how they are revealed. In the lights, G-dliness is revealed; in the vessels, it is contracted. So just as there is a distinction between lights and vessels, there is a distinction between the act of a mitzvah and its intention: in the intention, G-dliness is revealed; in the act, it is present in a contracted way. That is why we say that a mitzvah without intention is like a body without a soul. In other words, the act remains intact as a matter of halachah, and the ultimate purpose—the drawing down of Hashem’s Essence—is accomplished through the act itself, because that is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted: specifically, that there be an act. Nevertheless, for this to be perceptible, for it to be revealed there, intention is needed. That was the Alter Rebbe’s explanation up to this point. But since the Alter Rebbe compares this to the analogy of body and soul—the Sages compare the act of mitzvos and the intention behind a mitzvah to body and soul—what do we say about body and soul? There are four categories: inanimate, plant, animal, and human. As he explains on the previous page, there are four categories among created beings. Broadly speaking, these fall into two groups, as we discussed: inanimate things and plants belong to the category of body, while animals and humans belong to the category of soul. Although inanimate things, plants, animals, and humans all have a body and a soul, when we group them broadly, we divide them into two categories. Animals and humans are included in the category of soul, because their primary feature is the soul. By contrast,

04:06 Speaker 1 their bodies are not felt as entities in their own right because of the soul. With inanimate things and plants, however, the primary feature is the body, because the soul within them is not felt. What is felt most is the material substance, the body. But in more detail, there are four categories: inanimate, plant, animal, and human. So now, in the final part of chapter 38, the Alter Rebbe comes to explain that the act of a mitzvah and its intention, though broadly divided into two groups—act and intention—also have four levels in detail. There are two levels in the act of a mitzvah, corresponding to plants and inanimate things, the two levels of body. And likewise, there are two general levels in the intention of a mitzvah. Just as animals and humans are two levels, there are two types of intention: intention corresponding to an animal and intention corresponding to a human. Let’s look inside now and see how the Alter Rebbe explains this and divides it into four levels. The Alter Rebbe says that the act of a mitzvah and its intention are divided into four levels. The body of the mitzvah itself—the act of the mitzvah, its body—has what levels? There are two levels in the act of the mitzvah, in its body. What are these two levels in the material aspect, the body of the mitzvah? The Alter Rebbe says they are actual practical mitzvos. There are mitzvos defined by an actual deed, which is the case with most mitzvos involving physical action, such as tzedakah, prayer, and tzitzis—all these things that involve an actual act—and mitzvos that depend on speech and thought. There are mitzvos that depend on speech and thought, such as Torah study, the recitation of Shema, prayer, Grace After Meals, and other

06:01 Speaker 1 blessings. All these mitzvos involve speech. Yes, Torah has the aspect of speaking words of Torah: “You shall speak of them.” And with the recitation of Shema, too, there is “You shall speak of them.” Prayer is also a mitzvah performed through speech. Yes, the mitzvah to pray is specifically through speech. Grace After Meals is also through speech. Other blessings are rabbinic, but they too involve saying the words aloud. So it is speech, but at the same time it is speech that includes thought. Yes, with the recitation of Shema, with the verse of Shema, the whole point is that there must be both speech and thought. Torah involves knowing Torah, not just speaking it. In the recitation of Shema there is the aspect of the mitzvah, and then it is fulfilled specifically through intention. The same applies to prayer, though not necessarily to all of them. So these are mitzvos that involve speech and intention. The Alter Rebbe thus divides the practical mitzvos—thought, sorry—the practical mitzvos into two groups. A mitzvah performed through an actual deed is like an inanimate thing. An actual deed is like an inanimate thing, quite literally, because an actual deed is outward, like an inanimate thing. An inanimate thing has no growth at all; its material remains the same material. The same is true of a mitzvah performed through an actual deed. The tefillin remain the same tefillin. In other words, you cannot add to the tefillin themselves, you cannot—if you make the tefillin more or less than they should be, you do not fulfill the mitzvah. In other words, the defining feature of practical mitzvos is that they must remain precisely within that measure, that prescribed amount. But mitzvos connected with speech and thought—there you cannot say they are cut to one fixed measure. There, certainly, differences are possible, as with growth. Yes, you could say

07:44 Speaker 1 Reciting Shema: saying it faster or slower, saying the words, thinking more or thinking less—how much thought he puts into it. That means that with mitzvos connected to speech and thought, there is, at least, an element of growth. You can increase the amount, and bring more thought to it, or sometimes even more speech. So that is why he says that a mitzvah performed through action is like the inanimate, while a mitzvah performed through speech or thought is like a plant. “And the intention in a mitzvah—to cleave to Him, blessed be He—which is like a soul to a body, is also divided into two levels.” This applies to the performance of the mitzvah as well. There are two levels: mitzvos performed through action, and mitzvos performed through speech and thought. Then we come to the intention of the mitzvah, where there are also two levels, like the animal and the human being. The intention in a mitzvah, to cleave to Him, blessed be He, is like a soul to a body. So within this element of the soul, too, there are two levels, like the two levels of soul in living bodies: the animal and the human being. There are two levels of soul: the soul of an animal and the soul of a human being, who is called “the speaking being.” These are two levels that are incomparable to one another, even though both fall into the category of soul. The soul of an animal and the soul of a human being are two different kinds of life. Likewise, there are two levels of intention in a mitzvah. What is the difference between them? The Alter Rebbe now explains: “For one whose mind is capable of knowing Hashem.” This means a person with a broad mind, who knows how to contemplate. He has the breadth of mind to contemplate, “to know Hashem and to contemplate the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof, and to give rise, through his understanding, to a higher awe in his mind, and a love of Hashem in the right chamber of his heart.” A person who is able to use his intellect

09:36 Speaker 1 and contemplate G-dliness can, through his understanding, give rise to these feelings. First, it says, awe in his mind. Then it speaks of love of Hashem in the right chamber of his heart, “so that his soul thirsts for Hashem, to cleave to Him.” Through his understanding, awe is awakened in him, and afterward love is awakened in him. From this comes the feeling that his soul thirsts for Hashem, to cleave to Him through observing Torah and mitzvos. The love and awe produced by his understanding give him a thirst to cleave to G-dliness. And how can one cleave to G-dliness? As the Alter Rebbe explains in chapter 4, cleaving to G-dliness is possible only through Torah and mitzvos, “which draw down and reveal the light of the blessed Ein Sof upon his soul, so that it may cleave to Him.” How can a person actually cleave to G-dliness? Through observing Torah and mitzvos. That is where he is drawn after Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “And with this intention”—with this feeling, with the intention that came from his understanding, which gave rise to awe and love, and which then moved him to observe Torah and mitzvos in order to cleave to G-dliness—“with this intention he studies Torah and performs the mitzvos, and likewise, with this intention he prays and recites blessings.” That is, he studies Torah and performs mitzvos, and then the Alter Rebbe also mentions prayer and blessings. “This intention is, by way of analogy, like the soul of a human being.” This kind of intention, which comes through deep understanding of G-dliness and an awakening of love and awe through that understanding, is like the soul of a human being. It is on the level of the “speaking being,” a higher level. Why is it like the soul of a human being? What is the human being’s advantage over an animal in terms of understanding? “For he possesses intellect and choice, and speaks with understanding.” The human being’s advantage is that he possesses intellect

11:38 Speaker 1 and choice. He has intellect, and because he has intellect, he also has the power to choose. Through his intellect, he knows how to choose what is good, and so he chooses. “And speaks with understanding.” What does “speaks with understanding” mean? When he performs a mitzvah and speaks, his understanding is invested in his speech. It is a different kind of speech. His speech is guided by understanding, guided by intellect. It is not like the speech of... A bird can also speak, but that is not speech with understanding. When a human being speaks, the speech itself is speech with understanding. It is the same here: he does a mitzvah, he performs a mitzvah, but his performance is permeated with a feeling of love and awe. And what kind of love and awe? Intellectual love and awe—an awe that comes from contemplation. So this is called the level of the human being; it is an act on the human level. That is one kind of intention: the intention of a person who has intellect and contemplates. Through contemplation, a feeling of love and awe is awakened in him, and with that motivation he performs all the mitzvos. This is a human being: when he speaks and acts, you can sense that his actions are grounded in intellect and emotion. “But one whose mind is limited”—a person who does not have that capacity for understanding, whose mind is limited, who cannot contemplate—“who cannot know and comprehend the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu so as to give rise, through his understanding, to love that is revealed in his heart.” He cannot awaken love openly in his heart. “Nor can he give rise to awe in his mind and fear of Hashem in his heart.” He cannot awaken awe in his mind or fear of Hashem in his heart. In other words, he cannot awaken love and awe through contemplation. Instead,

13:20 Speaker 1 he awakens the natural love hidden in his heart in another way. He cannot reach intellectual love and awe. What can he reach? Only natural love and awe. He can awaken the natural love of a child. You see, in the earlier chapters of Tanya—we have been learning this in the daily Tanya lessons over the past few days—there is a difference between chapters 17 and 18. There the Alter Rebbe explained a way to awaken love and awe through contemplation. That is what he discussed in chapters 16 and 17. The Alter Rebbe explained how a beinoni, through contemplating the greatness of Hashem, comes to love and awe—or at least to love and awe hidden in the recesses of his heart. But all of that is love and awe that comes through contemplation. That is one kind. There is another kind of love and awe, which the Alter Rebbe discusses from chapter 18 onward. Those are the chapters we are learning now in Tanya: love and awe that come from the essence of the soul, not through contemplation. They come from a Jew’s nature. We inherited this love from Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and it is hidden within us. We only need to reveal it, to awaken it. This is called “the natural love hidden in his heart.” The person is not creating any new love or awe here. He is only revealing what he already has, concealed within him. “He need only bring them out of concealment into revelation, in his mind at least, so that he desires, with the will in his mind and the hidden feelings of his heart, and truly resolves with complete willingness to actually give up his life for the oneness of Hashem.” In his mind, the person resolves to give himself over because he already has, by nature and by inheritance, the power of mesirus nefesh. He is only awakening it. He agrees to it and accepts it “in order to cleave to Him—his G-dly soul and its garments—and to include them in His unity and oneness.” He wants to reach the goal

15:02 Speaker 1 through this intention, as explained above. “And awe is also included in it: to accept His sovereignty and not rebel against Him, G-d forbid.” Within this love that he has, this love of mesirus nefesh, he wants to cleave to G-dliness. Awe is also included in that love: his fear of rebelling against His sovereignty. As the Alter Rebbe explained earlier, in chapter 41, it means “to accept His sovereignty and not rebel against Him, G-d forbid.” “And with this intention he turns away from evil and does good.” This is an intention, but there is no intellectual love or awe here. Rather, it is the natural love and awe that a Jew has by nature. He only awakens it and brings it out of concealment into revelation. Since this love and awe are not based on intellect, but on what he already has by nature, he is simply awakening and revealing his nature. “And with this intention he turns away from evil and does good, studies, prays, and recites blessings, concentrating on the meaning of the words alone, without love and awe revealed in his heart and mind.” This is without love and awe openly revealed in his heart and mind; it is natural love and awe. “This intention is, by way of analogy, like the soul of an animal.” This kind of love and awe, this intention, is like that of an animal. What is the difference between a human being and an animal? An animal also has love and awe, but in a human being, love and awe are grounded in intellect. Even ordinary human love and awe are guided by intellect. An animal’s love and awe, by contrast, are natural. What it fears and what it loves are determined by its nature, by what is good or bad for it. It is not that it understands something intellectually and therefore comes to love or fear it. With an animal,

16:36 Speaker 1 With an animal, there are things it likes, eats, and approaches, and there are things it runs away from. That is part of an animal’s nature. The same applies here. Since the love and fear a person has here are a matter of nature, they come from the nature of his soul. He did not arouse them through intellect; he only awakened what was already there naturally. That is why this is compared specifically to an animal. “For this intention is analogous to the soul of an animal, which has neither intellect nor choice, and all its emotions—its fear of things that harm it and its love of things it finds desirable—are merely natural to it.” They come from nature, not from understanding and knowledge. “So too, by way of analogy, are the natural fear and love hidden in the heart of every Jew, for they are an inheritance from our forefathers and are like a part of our souls’ nature.” The love and fear Jews have naturally were received as an inheritance, so they are considered natural. Accordingly, when the emphasis is on love, on the intention, it is like the animal level. Just as an animal’s love and fear are natural, so too the love and fear a Jew has for G-dliness were received as an inheritance. They are natural, not intellectual. So these are two types of intention. When my intention, my feeling, the vitality I have in my heart while performing mitzvos, comes only from the nature of my soul, from what I possess naturally—for example, if I contemplate what is written in chapter 41 about the natural fear hidden in the heart of every Jew, the awe of the King of Kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, or the natural love explained in chapter 19—then even

18:10 Speaker 1 when he reaches that point and it gives him a desire to perform mitzvos, this is the lowest level of intention in performing mitzvos. It is called intention on the animal level. But when it comes from contemplation, that is different. He studies Chassidus, contemplates the greatness of Hashem more extensively, and that contemplation arouses love and fear in him. This kind of love and fear is intellectual love and fear; it is considered the human level. What does intention on the human level mean? The Alter Rebbe is discussing four levels here, corresponding to what we said about the world having the inanimate, plant, animal, and human levels. Likewise, in action and intention there are four levels. Performing mitzvos is the inanimate level. Thought and speech—the mitzvos connected with thought and speech—are the plant level. Intention arising from natural love and fear is the animal level. And intention arising from intellectual love and fear is the human level. Now there are many precise choices of wording here, fine points and all sorts of details. I just want to share one insight from the Rebbe’s father that is really wonderful. Let’s go over it. Reb Levi Yitzchak points out the following distinction: When the Alter Rebbe speaks about intellectual love and fear, notice his interesting wording on page 51. He says—look five lines from the bottom of page 51—“And with this intention he studies and performs the mitzvos, and likewise, with this intention he prays and recites blessings.” So the Alter Rebbe lists four things here: studying, performing mitzvos, praying, and reciting blessings. Torah study, performing mitzvos, prayer, and blessings. These are the four things the Alter Rebbe mentions when describing how a person’s contemplation of Hashem’s greatness arouses love and fear—intellectual love and fear. And he divides them into two groups: “he studies and performs the mitzvos,” and “likewise, with this intention he prays and recites blessings.”

20:11 Speaker 1 He divides them into two groups: studying and performing mitzvos, and then prayer and blessings. Now look further on, at the second side of the page, where he discusses natural love and fear. In the line beginning “And with this intention,” the Alter Rebbe describes the intention that comes from natural love and fear. He writes something similar, but there are several changes: “And with this intention he turns away from evil and does good, and studies and prays and recites blessings while understanding the meaning of the words.” So what do we have here? Here the Alter Rebbe gives not four categories but five. And the order is different too. What are the five categories? Turning away from evil and doing good. Earlier, the Alter Rebbe called that one thing: performing mitzvos. Here he divides it in two: turning away from evil and doing good. After that he says studying, praying, and reciting blessings. So there are five things here, and the order is not the same as before. Earlier, studying came first, followed by performing mitzvos. Here, turning away from evil and doing good—that is, performing mitzvos—comes first, followed by studying. Nor does he divide them into two groups; he writes all five together. So there are several differences in wording here. Reb Levi Yitzchak gives a very powerful, beautiful explanation. You can understand it, even though it is a little Kabbalistic. It also fits very well with Chassidus. Reb Levi Yitzchak says: What are the two things being discussed here? Types of intention. There is intention on the human level and intention on the animal level. Natural love and fear are on the animal level; intellectual love and fear are on the human level. What did the Alter Rebbe say earlier? What is the difference between the animal and human levels at their source?

21:56 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe says that the four levels—inanimate, plant, animal, and human—are drawn from the four letters of the Name Havayah: yud, hei, vav, hei. Accordingly, the human level is connected with the yud of the Name Havayah, which is Chochmah, while the animal level is connected with the hei of the Name Havayah, which is Binah. So the difference between the human and animal levels is the difference between Chochmah and Binah, between yud and hei. We discussed this in earlier classes. Chochmah and Binah. It follows that intellectual love and fear are connected with the yud of the Name Havayah, Chochmah, while natural love and fear are connected with Binah, the hei of the Name Havayah. Why does that make sense? As explained in Chassidus, the difference between Chochmah and Binah is that Binah is, above all, the mother of the emotions. Binah is already “the mother of the children”; it is already connected with the emotions. So Binah has more to do with natural love and fear. Chochmah, by contrast—koach mah—is the essential quality of intellect, the quality of bittul, which is more closely connected with intellectual love and fear.

23:04 Speaker 2 Huh?

23:08 Speaker 1 Huh? That is also in [unclear] Reb Levi Yitzchak. Whenever I say Chochmah and Binah, I mean yud and hei. He says this: Chassidus explains, in general terms, the difference between Chochmah and Binah. It says that Chochmah corresponds to the Name Havayah and Binah to the Name Elokim. Although, more specifically, one corresponds to yud and the other to hei, there is this general distinction between Chochmah and Binah. The name associated with Chochmah is the Name Havayah. Chochmah is connected with Havayah: “With wisdom He founded the earth.” Chochmah is connected with the Name Havayah. So Chochmah is primarily in the realm of... By contrast, Binah already involves vessels, and is connected with the Name Elokim—“the living Elokim.” In the Kabbalistic texts, Chochmah and Binah correspond to Havayah and Elokim. So, intellectual love and fear are connected with Chochmah, the yud of the Name Havayah. In general terms, that is the Name Havayah, which has four letters. That is why the Alter Rebbe gives four things here, dividing them into four categories. What are the four? Studying Torah, performing mitzvos, praying, and reciting blessings. He specifically divides them into four. Why? Because yud is Chochmah, Chochmah is connected with the Name Havayah, and the Name Havayah has four letters. So he divides them into four categories. Binah, by contrast, is connected with the Name Elokim, which has five letters. So when he comes to natural love and fear, which are connected with Binah—the hei of the Name Havayah, and with Elokim—he divides them into five categories. That is why there are four categories in one passage and five in the other. He adds another point: Why does he write “studying Torah” first and “performing mitzvos” second here, whereas there he writes about performing mitzvos first and only then about studying Torah?

25:11 Speaker 1 You know, Chassidus explains that this is the difference between the first paragraph of Shema and the second. In the first paragraph, it says “You shall teach them diligently to your children,” and only afterward, “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand.” Torah study comes first, and then the performance of mitzvos. So learning is mentioned before action. In the second paragraph, it’s the reverse. First it says “You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand”—action—and then “You shall teach them to your children.” Action comes before learning. What’s the difference between the first paragraph and the second? The first paragraph corresponds to the yud of the name Havayah. The second corresponds to the hei of the name Havayah. The first paragraph is connected with sight, with chochmah. In the maamar on Vayeira, right? Reuven and Shimon: Reuven is the first paragraph, Shimon is the second, associated with hearing. So Reuven, the first paragraph, is chochmah, sight, and there learning comes first and action afterward. That’s why here, too, when he speaks—and we’ll get to this—about intellectual love and awe, which are connected with chochmah, he first writes about studying Torah and then about performing mitzvos. That’s the order in the first paragraph: first “You shall teach them diligently,” and then “You shall bind them.” By contrast, when he speaks about natural love and awe, which are connected with hearing, with “and he heard,” with the hei of the name Havayah, the order is reversed. First comes action, and then learning, just as in the Shema, where action precedes learning. As for why he divides it into two groups here—he divides intellectual love and awe into two groups, whereas when he speaks about natural love and awe, he puts them together in one group—he writes that with yud-hei and vav-hei, with chochmah, with the level of intellectual love and awe, it’s possible to distinguish between... Well, that’s already a matter that’s a little hard to explain.

27:03 Speaker 1 You need to know a few basic principles of Chassidus and Kabbalah. In the four letters of the name Havayah, we distinguish between yud-hei and vav-hei. Yud-hei is one category, the hidden things, and vav-hei is the revealed things. They’re two groups. That’s why here, too, he divides them in two. With the name Elokim, by contrast, all five letters form one group, one category. So there he doesn’t divide them in two; he writes them together. He also writes that Elokim has the same numerical value as teva, “nature,” which connects it with natural love and awe. So all five are, as it were, on the same level, in the same category. There are a few more things to understand about all these levels, but Rabbi Levi doesn’t explain them. Still, perhaps from what he does explain, we can understand a few more distinctions concerning the first category that also appears in the chapter.