Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 39 - Part 3

00:01 Page 2, near the bottom. Three lines from the bottom. The line that begins... “and what they merit” at the end of the line. Yes, is that right? Hm? Yes. The Alter Rebbe explains here—in general, he explains that when it comes to the intention behind a mitzvah, a mitzvah without intention is like a body without a soul. There is the matter of the intention behind the mitzvah, but this is the intention itself. There are two kinds of intention. There is love and fear, which is a matter of the heart’s intention. And within love and fear, there are two kinds. One can fulfill a mitzvah with natural love and fear: every Jew has a natural love inherited from our forefathers. And there are intellectual love and fear, which come through explanation and contemplation. The difference in level between these two approaches is like the difference between an animal and a human being. Not physically—the difference is that an animal also has feelings of love and fear. Animals have feelings too, but their feelings are instinctive; they do not come from the intellect. With a human being, by contrast, feelings arise from the intellect. So too with love and fear: when these feelings arise from a Jew’s nature, that is comparable to an animal; when they arise from understanding, that is comparable to a human being. The Alter Rebbe continues in chapter 39 that this is also the difference between angels and souls. Angels are called living creatures. Why? Because their service is primarily a matter of natural love and fear. Michael is associated with love and kindness; his service follows the path of love. Gabriel’s service follows the path of fear. In other words, for them the main thing is love and fear—and natural love and fear—so they are called living creatures and animals. The souls of tzaddikim, by contrast, serve primarily through understanding. They delight in the radiance of the Shechinah, which is a matter of understanding

02:15 G-dliness, and therefore they are considered to be on the level of a human being. The Alter Rebbe explains that there is also a difference in the world associated with the angels. The angels’ world is the World of Yetzirah. Why Yetzirah? Because Yetzirah is where the middos of Hakadosh Boruch Hu shine. In these words: “The six sefiros dwell in Yetzirah.” The World of Yetzirah is where the middos of Hakadosh Boruch Hu reside, are enclothed, and are revealed. That is why it is the place of the angels, whose service is with fear. Similarly, it is the place of the Lower Gan Eden, where the souls that serve Hashem with natural love and fear are found. They are at the level of the Lower Gan Eden of Yetzirah, because that is the world of the middos. So those who served Hashem through the middos, with natural love and fear, have their Gan Eden in the World of Yetzirah. By contrast, the souls of tzaddikim who served Hashem with intellectual love and fear—which the Alter Rebbe calls re’usa deliba—have their Gan Eden in the Upper Gan Eden, in the World of Beriah, since their service is intellectual. In the World of Beriah, the mochin of Hakadosh Boruch Hu shine, primarily binah. But together with binah, all three mochin—Chabad—are revealed. So the Upper Gan Eden is the Gan Eden of binah, and it is the dwelling place of the tzaddikim, whose service is with love and fear that come through the intellect. Even among the tzaddikim themselves, the Alter Rebbe says—even within a tzaddik himself—when we say that the dwelling place of the souls of tzaddikim is the Upper Gan Eden in Beriah, that refers only to the tzaddik’s neshamah, the level called neshamah. But the tzaddik’s ruach is also found in the Lower Gan Eden. In other words, even within a tzaddik there is a difference between the neshamah part and the ruach part. The tzaddik’s neshamah is what is found in the Upper Gan Eden, in the World of Beriah. Why? Because the level of neshamah is connected

04:18 with binah. As we know, there is a distinction. Chassidus explains the difference between nefesh, ruach, and neshamah: nefesh is connected with the actual performance of a mitzvah. Ruach is connected with love and fear. Ruach is connected with feeling, with the middos. The spirit of a person, the spirit of an animal—this is connected with feelings, with middos. Neshamah is connected with understanding: “And the soul given by Shaddai grants them understanding.” That is a verse in Iyov: “And the soul given by Shaddai grants them understanding.” In other words, binah comes from the level of neshamah. So when we say that the neshamah of tzaddikim is found in the Upper Gan Eden, in the World of Beriah, we mean specifically the tzaddik’s level of neshamah, because it is through his neshamah that he is connected with intellectual love and fear. But the tzaddik’s ruach is in the World of Yetzirah, because his ruach is natural love and fear. Even a tzaddik has two levels of love and fear. There are times—or levels, stages, periods—when his love and fear are intellectual, and there are levels of natural love and fear. So the part associated with intellectual love and fear is in the Upper Gan Eden, while the part associated with natural love and fear is in the Lower Gan Eden. All the more so the other souls of the Jewish people, who always serve Hashem with natural love and fear, who never serve... They are certainly in the Lower Gan Eden, the World of Yetzirah. The Alter Rebbe then adds that, nevertheless, there are special times when even the souls of the World of Yetzirah, who serve Hashem with natural love and fear, ascend to the Upper Gan Eden. There are times for this. Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh are very elevated times, when the souls ascend to the Upper Gan Eden. All the souls, even souls that served Hashem with natural love and fear, merit to ascend to the Upper Gan Eden. How do they ascend? He says: through the pillar. We explained the matter of the pillar in the previous class, so we won’t go over it again. In any case, the souls do

06:20 ascend from time to time—but only from time to time. Generally, though, this is the distinction. It is clear. What is the distinction? There are intellectual love and fear, and natural love and fear. In terms of the worlds, it is the difference between the World of Beriah and the World of Yetzirah. In Gan Eden, it is the difference between the Upper Gan Eden and the Lower Gan Eden. In the levels of the soul, it is the difference between neshamah and ruach. More broadly, it is the difference between the higher souls that serve Hashem with love and fear, and also the difference between souls and angels. Among souls themselves, it is the difference between those who serve Hashem with intellectual love and fear, who belong to the World of Beriah, and those who serve Hashem with natural love and fear, who belong to the World of Yetzirah. That is the point of the Tanya we have learned so far. There is more to this matter. I want to add here that in Kuntres HaAvodah, the Rebbe Rashab discusses this subject and cites the Tanya. Interestingly, the Rebbe Rashab gives a somewhat different explanation there—look—of these two levels. He explains the difference between... between the neshamah—they speak here of neshamah and ruach. The difference between the level of neshamah and the level of ruach. We say that neshamah is found in the Upper Gan Eden and ruach in the Lower Gan Eden, corresponding to the World of Beriah and the World of Yetzirah. The Rebbe Rashab explains this whole subject somewhat differently there. What does he explain? Chassidus explains that there are two kinds of love and fear, both of which come through contemplation. Not as it says here, that one is natural and the other comes through contemplation. Within love and fear that come through contemplation, there are also two forms. There are what Chassidus calls revealed love and fear and concealed love and fear. Or sometimes Chassidus calls them love and fear of the outer heart and love and fear of the inner heart. Or sometimes Chassidus calls them mochin degadlus and mochin dekatnus. These are different names,

08:17 But all of this is about the same thing. What does that mean in brief? We won’t go into it at length now, but here is the short version. In the usual way, a person contemplates the greatness of Hashem. He reflects on how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is hidden, awesome, exalted and good. After contemplating all this, he concludes that one must therefore love Hashem. “Taste and see that Hashem is good,” and from there he comes to recognize that “the closeness of G-d is good for me”—if it is good, it is good for me too. This produces a practical conclusion, a feeling of love. That is generally the sequence: there is contemplation; the contemplation leads him to a practical conclusion; and that conclusion leads to love and awe. In the language of Chassidus, this is called love and awe of the external dimension of the heart. It too comes from contemplation. But here the person is seeking love and awe. He wants to awaken love and awe within himself. How does he do that? Through contemplation. The contemplation awakens the love and awe. But what is the emphasis here? What is the person occupied with? Attaining love and awe. In the words of the verse, “Know this day and take it to heart.” First comes the knowing—the contemplation and study—and afterward comes the act of taking it to heart, bringing it down into the heart so that love and awe are awakened. That is one kind of love and awe. But there is another kind: what we called love and awe of the inner dimension of the heart, or concealed love and awe. Here the person is not occupied with love and awe at all; they come about on their own. He contemplates the greatness of Hashem in a very lofty way. Sometimes contemplation is not external contemplation. The contemplation we were discussing until now is more

10:18 based on reason, on human intellect, on understanding and explanation. There is another kind of contemplation—it is hard to define in words—in which the matter seems to shine for you, as though you can see it. A person now strips away the garments of intellect: the explanations and the details. He is so absorbed in the G-dly matter he is contemplating that he no longer senses the intellectual understanding or the explanation. Instead, it is as though the G-dly light itself shines for him. He sees what he is contemplating; he lives it. It stands before him as though he were looking at a picture. Then he does not need to take a further step to awaken love and awe. The love and awe come on their own, as though his whole being is there. It is not a matter of contemplating, then drawing a practical conclusion, then doing something else so that love and awe will follow. Rather, the contemplation takes hold of the whole person. Sometimes a person looks at a painting, or something wonderful, some magnificent sight, and is entirely absorbed in it. He has not taken a series of steps, first making a calculation and then arriving at conclusions. There is no sequence of stages; his whole being is immersed in the matter. This is love and awe that arise on their own from the intellect. Here the person is not working with his emotions. At first he works only with his intellect, but the matter shines in his mind with such force that his whole being becomes part of it. Love and awe are present as a matter of course. This is called concealed love and awe, love and awe of the inner dimension of the heart—all the names we mentioned earlier. The Rebbe Rashab says in Kuntres HaAvodah that these are the two levels the Tanya is discussing here. These are the two qualities

12:00 of the souls of the tzaddikim found in the World of Beriah. Even for lofty souls, this is the service of love and awe that comes from the intellect, the level of mochin d’gadlus. When a person’s service is at the level of mochin d’gadlus, the main focus is the intellect; he is not working with the emotions at all. The emotions come on their own from the intellect, so he belongs to the World of Beriah. But when his service consists of revealed love and awe, what he is primarily seeking is a feeling of love and awe. It is just that contemplation is needed to awaken them. Contemplation is the means of reaching love and awe. Since his main focus is the feeling of love and awe, he belongs to the World of Yetzirah. And this, then, is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here about the nefesh and ruach of the tzaddikim being in the World of Yetzirah. That is what the Rebbe Rashab writes in Kuntres HaAvodah. But the Rebbe writes in a note that one cannot say that what the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, says there is the plain meaning of the Tanya. The wording in Kuntres HaAvodah makes it sound as though the Rebbe Rashab reads the Tanya that way: he cites the Tanya and explains it in this manner. Yet the Rebbe writes in a note that this cannot be the plain meaning of the Tanya, because in the Tanya the Alter Rebbe is clearly not speaking about such lofty levels. The straightforward reading of the Tanya is that this continues what was said in chapter 38. There he said explicitly that the World of Yetzirah is associated with natural love and awe. “Natural love and awe” means the concealed love and awe inherent in the soul, while intellectual love and awe means love born of contemplation. In other words, the Tanya here implies that every kind of contemplation—whether it is contemplation on the loftiest level or even the sort we discussed, contemplation through the external dimension of the intellect—belongs to the World of Beriah if the feeling is awakened through contemplation. Here

13:52 in the Tanya, it sounds as though he is speaking of a higher level. Any kind of contemplation, whatever it may be: if the feeling is awakened through contemplation, it belongs to the World of Beriah. If the feeling comes only from a person’s nature—from the nature of his G-dly soul, from the love a Jew inherently has, from the concealed love—and that is what gives rise to it, then it belongs to Yetzirah. In any case, we should also know that the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, offers this explanation in Kuntres HaAvodah. Well, moving from one related subject to another: since we are already speaking about Kuntres HaAvodah, this is the place to note that one hundred years have now passed since Kuntres HaAvodah. Yes, the Rebbe Rashab began writing it around this time in 5670. That is why, in several places, the Rebbe Rashab refers to it as “Kuntres HaAvodah, 5670.” In other words, he began writing it during that year, and it was already published and circulated among the students in 5670. But the writing of Kuntres HaAvodah took place around this time in 5670. And indeed, in the Rebbe Rashab’s series of maamarim from 5670, we find many themes connected to what he explains in Kuntres HaAvodah. I mention this in passing: if anyone is interested in studying it, it is especially timely. This is the time to study this kuntres, particularly since it relates to the love of Hashem. And that relates to our subject. Let us continue in the Tanya. The Alter Rebbe now goes on to say the following. We just mentioned that there are certain times when souls—even souls whose service of Hashem was with natural love and awe—also ascend to the World of Beriah, on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. The Alter Rebbe asks: How did these souls merit to ascend higher than the angels? The Alter Rebbe asks why

15:50 Do these souls who serve Hashem with natural love and fear really deserve it? Why should they ascend to the World of Beriah? True, it isn’t every day—only on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh—but why at all? Someone who served Hashem only with natural love and fear: why should he rise to such a high level on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh? So the Alter Rebbe asks: “Why did these merit to rise above the angels?” Why can they rise above the angels, “although they served with natural fear and love alone”? Their entire service of Hashem was with natural fear and love alone. So why do they rise above the angels? They’re just like the angels. Angels never ascend to the World of Beriah. They remain in Yetzirah. Why do souls ascend to the World of Beriah too? “This is because, through their fear and love, they subdue the sitra achra clothed in their bodies.” Through their fear and love, they practice iskafya—subduing the sitra achra. A soul has something angels don’t have: iskafya. Even if a person’s service is with natural love and fear, he still has to practice iskafya. Through his love and fear, he has to overcome the sitra achra clothed in his body, “both in refraining from evil, by conquering and breaking his desires.” In refraining from evil, he has to break his desires so he can awaken his love and fear, “and in doing good, as explained above.” Doing good also requires iskafya of the sitra achra. Now, there are several ways to understand “as explained above.” In general, the Alter Rebbe means what he said in chapter 27. There the Alter Rebbe discussed several kinds of iskafya. There is iskafya in matters of—there, the Alter Rebbe discussed, and we’ll get to all

17:56 kinds of iskafya: iskafya in action, speech, and thought, with forbidden things and with permitted things. So that is what he means by “as explained above.” Some say that by “as explained above,” the Alter Rebbe means chapter 16. Chapter 16. The Alter Rebbe says that even a person who serves Hashem with natural love and fear throughout his life—if that love and fear are natural, it isn’t called work. Where is the iskafya? It’s his nature. A person may be diligent in study and prayer, so he serves Hashem by nature. He has grown accustomed to studying and praying. He has no other nature, as the Alter Rebbe concludes. So where is the iskafya? The Alter Rebbe says in chapter 16 that even someone diligent in study and prayer naturally loves his body more. Even though he is diligent in study and prayer, he naturally loves his body more than that. He loves his body more than his own self, so to study and pray he also needs a certain degree of iskafya. If there were no iskafya involved at all, he wouldn’t study. So that is what the Alter Rebbe means here by “as explained above.” In other words, as we discussed, iskafya is needed not only to refrain from evil. It is needed to do good as well, because a person naturally loves his body. “And they had free choice to choose evil, G-d forbid.” They had the ability to choose evil, G-d forbid, “yet they chose to subdue the sitra achra and attach themselves to Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” So this person is unlike the angels, who have no choice. A soul does have free choice. He could have chosen otherwise, G-d forbid. Yet he chose to awaken love and fear, and he

19:52 subdued the sitra achra. That brings about the remarkable result the Alter Rebbe explained earlier, in chapter 27: through subduing the sitra achra, “the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is elevated throughout all the worlds.” There is a drawing down of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and not just in an ordinary way, but “throughout all the worlds.” The Alter Rebbe explained that precisely when there is darkness, the light drawn down through iskafya is far loftier than the natural light. That is the advantage souls have over angels. Angels have no darkness, so they have no ability to subdue the sitra achra. They therefore cannot attain this “advantage of light that comes from darkness.” Souls, by contrast, have iskafya, so they bring about the advantage of light that comes from darkness. That is why souls rise above the angels. That is the general point. But if we look closely, there are two questions. First: very nice, they practice iskafya. Perhaps that gives them a claim to something special. But why the World of Beriah? What is the connection? Because they practice iskafya, they ascend to the World of Beriah? How does that follow? Iskafya brings about the advantage of light that comes from darkness, and then “the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is elevated”—that relates to sovev kol almin. That is written in the maamar Basi Legani. What does “the glory of Hakadosh Boruch Hu” have to do with the World of Beriah? Earlier, the explanation made sense: natural love and fear belong to the World of Yetzirah, because emotions are associated with Yetzirah. Intellectual love and fear belong to the World of Beriah, because intellect is associated with Beriah. Why should practicing iskafya bring a person to the World of Beriah? On Shabbos or Rosh Chodesh, he ascends to the World of Beriah. Why does the Alter Rebbe say it is because he practices iskafya? True, iskafya

21:59 makes him superior to an angel in one respect, but why should it cause him to ascend to Beriah? That is one question. The second question is this: if we look carefully, the Alter Rebbe says two things here. He explains the advantage souls have over angels. Look inside. The Alter Rebbe says two things. At first, it sounds as though the whole advantage is iskafya, and that is why the soul rises higher. Then he says, “And they had free choice to choose evil, G-d forbid,” and so on. That is the advantage of choice. These are two different things. So which is the advantage—is it iskafya or is it choice? What enables souls to rise to a higher level than angels? First he says it is iskafya: a person has a yetzer hara and has to overcome it. Then he says, no, it is because they had free choice. That sounds as though the point here is not specifically iskafya, the breaking of the sitra achra, but simply that a person has a choice. He chose. He could choose, and he made that choice. That is the advantage of choice. In fact, one question answers the other. The Alter Rebbe really has two questions here, not one, and he gives two answers. These are two entirely different questions. First, why do souls rise higher than angels at all? Never mind the World of Beriah for now. Before we discuss Beriah, look at how the Alter Rebbe begins his question. He does not ask why souls ascend to Beriah. He asks why souls rise above the angels. So, simply put, the Alter Rebbe’s question is not about the World of Beriah. He is asking a straightforward question: you explained earlier that natural love and fear are like the angels. So the question is, if love and fear

23:57 Natural love and fear are like those of the angels, so why do souls rise higher than angels? Whatever the level, why do they rise higher than angels at all? Then there’s a second question: why to the World of Beriah? The question has two parts, and the Alter Rebbe really answers both. Why do souls rise higher than angels in the first place? How can a soul reach a higher level than an angel? His answer is that souls practice itkafya—self-restraint—and angels do not. How does a soul practice itkafya? By subduing the darkness. That is why a soul is on a higher level than an angel, even if that soul’s level is Yetzirah. It’s because of itkafya. Now you have another question: why do they rise specifically to Beriah? What is the connection to Beriah? The answer is: choice. What does choice have to do with the World of Beriah? We explained this in the previous class. Choice is connected with intellect. What does it mean to choose? To choose, you have to think it through. There’s an advantage to this and an advantage to that, and you choose between them. The whole concept of choice involves intellect. Angels have no choice because they don’t have intellect. Souls do have choice. But this isn’t the kind of intellect that comes from contemplation. It isn’t contemplation of the greatness of Hashem. So the soul’s service generally doesn’t belong in the World of Beriah; it belongs in Yetzirah, the world of natural love and fear. But ultimately, even with natural love and fear, the person had a choice whether or not to awaken them. And since choice is connected with intellect, the soul rises specifically to the World of Beriah. So ordinarily it doesn’t rise to Beriah, because its service and its revealed experience are natural love and fear, which belong to Yetzirah. But now we can understand why, at least from time to time, at an auspicious time, first of all, it rises above the angels: because it has

25:54 itkafya. Itkafya raises it to a higher level. And why specifically to Beriah? Because of choice. That’s what the Alter Rebbe means here in Tanya when he mentions these two points. When you learn Tanya quickly, you don’t notice what’s going on here at all, right? But when you learn a little more attentively, you notice that the Alter Rebbe makes several points here. He’s answering several questions, and so on. In connection with what we’re saying here—that souls rise higher than angels—there’s a story they tell. Reb Zalman Duchman would say he heard it from his grandfather, who was there when it happened. Reb Zalman’s grandfather, Reb Motke Duchman, was a student of Reb Aizik of Homil. He related that once, in the time of the Tzemach Tzedek, chassidim were sitting together at a farbrengen. Reb Motke lived in Homil, a well-known town in Russia. They were sitting in the shul, in the shtiebel, farbrenging, when suddenly a man walked in. He was old, but a simple man, a poor man who went from place to place collecting money—a destitute beggar. But they noticed he wasn’t an ordinary beggar. There was something special about him. His face had a certain glow; he was so cheerful, positive, full of life. You could see a special vitality in him. They understood there must be something about him. Perhaps he was a hidden tzaddik, or perhaps he had some secret. In any case, the fellows got hold of him and sat him down. What eventually came out was that he really was a simple man, with nothing particularly special about him. Except for one thing: forty years

28:23 earlier, he had been to Lubavitch. He had been there with the Alter Rebbe, and the Alter Rebbe had said a short teaching. In those days, the Alter Rebbe would come in and speak. He wouldn’t deliver long maamarim; he would say a short teaching. And when the Alter Rebbe said something, it would take hold of a chossid. It would sink in and turn his world upside down. That was how things were before Petersburg. So the Alter Rebbe came in and said: “It says in the Gemara, ‘Hakadosh Boruch Hu extended His little finger among them and burned them.’” Hakadosh Boruch Hu was angry with the angels, so He extended His finger. We’re learning this in the Gemara now, aren’t we? Hakadosh Boruch Hu extended His little finger and burned them. The Alter Rebbe said it in a particular tune: “What is His little finger? His little finger means a soul.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed them a soul, and they were burned. “A soul is higher than an angel.” That was the whole teaching. And it had such an effect on this man, who was just a simple person. He said, “I didn’t understand its deeper meaning, but I understood one thing: the Alter Rebbe had just said that a soul is higher than angels. I had always thought angels were the greatest thing there was. And suddenly the Alter Rebbe said that a soul is higher than an angel—that when an angel sees a soul, he is burned. From that day until today, that’s what gives me life. All my life, I’ve lived with that teaching: a soul is higher than an angel.” That was a Yid. That’s what he lived with: a soul is higher than an angel. Well, we learn it in Tanya with all the explanations. Even so, it doesn’t touch us quite as much. It touches…