Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 41 - Part 5

00:00 Speaker 1 We’ll pick up on page 2, line 13, in the middle of the line, at “And then.” Up to here, this is what we’ve learned. To sum up the whole discussion, the Alter Rebbe spoke about three points a person needs to contemplate in order to bring himself to kabbolas ol malchus Shamayim—accepting the yoke of Heaven—and yiras Shamayim, fear of Heaven. The first point was that one must constantly remember that Hakadosh Boruch Hu stands over the Jewish people as a whole and over each individual in particular, as it says, “And Hashem stands over him.” As we explained, this is something to keep in mind all the time. The second point concerned the moment one fulfills a mitzvah: the light of Ein Sof becomes vested in the person performing it. The third point was the particular intention of each mitzvah. Every mitzvah has its own particular focus, its own particular feeling and intention. There is a general intention and a particular intention. Up to here, these have all been forms of contemplation a person needs in order to bring himself to feel kabbolas ol malchus Shamayim when he serves Hashem. All this relates to the point the Alter Rebbe is clarifying here: that this is “the beginning of the service, its essence and its root.” The Alter Rebbe continues, after all this contemplation, with the word “And then,” in the middle of the line. He says that when a person contemplates everything we’ve discussed so far, “even if, despite all this, dread and fear do not descend upon him in a revealed way in his heart.” Even if it does not bring him to a revealed feeling of dread and fear in his heart—that is, to a fully developed yiras Shamayim felt openly in his heart—nevertheless, since he accepts upon himself

02:26 Speaker 1 the kingdom of Heaven. He accepts this upon himself, as we said earlier: he accepts the sovereignty of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and undertakes to serve Him in every way. So the acceptance is there. “And he draws His fear upon himself in the revealed thought and will of his mind.” He also draws fear upon himself. In other words, there are two things here. Yes, the Alter Rebbe spoke here about two points: kabbolas ol and fear. One is the act of acceptance. A person must accept upon himself, as the Alter Rebbe put it earlier, “and he, too, accepts His sovereignty upon himself.” A person must resolve to give himself over to be, in a sense, a servant of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So the acceptance is in place; he accepts it upon himself. But that is not all. Kabbolas ol can exist without vitality. It can be very mechanical—dry, as it were, without any feeling or vitality. So the Alter Rebbe says it is not only kabbolas ol; he also has a connection to fear, because he contemplates matters that inspire fear. He contemplates the words “And Hashem stands over him,” and he contemplates how the light of Ein Sof is revealed in the mitzvah he performs. So he is not only contemplating acceptance of the yoke of Heaven. There is also a drawing down of fear: he draws fear upon himself because Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King whom he serves. So he has both kabbolas ol and a movement toward fear, “in the revealed thought and will of his mind.” It is just not felt in his heart. As the Alter Rebbe said earlier—I’ll show you here—

04:10 Speaker 1 it is just not felt in the heart as an actual feeling of fear. What is the heart? Yes, you can see it here. This is fear only in the mind. In other words, in his mind he accepts it. He understands that this is how it should be, that there should be fear, and he senses that fear in his mind. Even so, “this acceptance is certainly genuine, without any doubt.” When a Jew accepts the yoke of Heaven upon himself, that is inherently genuine, without any doubt. Why is it genuine? “For it is the nature of the souls of all Jews not to rebel against the King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” Why is it genuine? Because that is their nature. As the Alter Rebbe said at the beginning of the chapter, kabbolas ol malchus Shamayim is present in every Jew by the nature of the soul: not to rebel against the King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. By nature, a Jew feels that he does not want to rebel against the King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes, so that is what follows here. What is the Alter Rebbe emphasizing? He wants to emphasize that this is sufficient. What we are discussing—a person bringing himself to kabbolas ol in his mind—is enough. He accepts the yoke of Heaven upon himself, and when he thinks about matters of yiras Shamayim, he thinks about fear of Hashem in his mind, even if he does not come to feel fear in his heart. That is sufficient for it to be called avodah, service of Hashem, and to say that it is service as He desires. This is the beginning of avodah; he is already serving Him. You see? So there are two things: the person makes an acceptance, and he also draws fear upon himself. The Alter Rebbe adds that this is genuine. Why is it genuine? Because every Jew inherently has it by nature.

05:59 Speaker 1 It is just that a Jew may not think about it; he forgets it. But by nature, a Jew has truly accepted it upon himself. In other words, it is something genuine within the soul itself. What can happen, though, is that it remains dormant within him. So the whole “avodah” is simply to think about it. Once I think about it, then, since it is inherently genuine, my thinking about it is enough for it to be called genuine kabbolas ol. The Torah study and mitzvah observance that a person performs because of the kabbolas ol he has accepted, and according to the Shulchan Aruch in his mind, are then called complete avodah. So this counts as avodah. Not only that—it counts as complete avodah. This is what the Alter Rebbe teaches us here. Until now, what did we think? What is the Alter Rebbe doing here? This is the revolution he brings about in this chapter. Until now we thought that something is called complete avodah only when a person has revealed fear, an emotion in the heart, when he actually feels fear of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. If it is only in his mind, if he merely thinks about fear, then it seems external, not truly genuine. He is not afraid; he is only thinking. In other words, that doesn’t seem genuine. Thinking about something is just thinking about it. Take an example: you think about someone and his good qualities, but you don’t love him. True, you think about his good qualities, yet you still can’t stand him. Of course, even that isn’t really right when it comes to Jews, because there is an inherent bond with every Jew. But we can still find

07:45 Speaker 1 an analogy in which you think about something and yet it isn’t genuine, because it hasn’t penetrated you. It is no proof: your mind understands one thing, while your heart feels something else. Then you’re a hypocrite—as they say, a hypocrite. What’s the word for it? An inconsistent person? Yes, one thing in your mind, one thing in your mouth, and another in your heart. How can that be? The Alter Rebbe teaches us here that in serving Hashem, that is not the case. It isn’t like that. This does count as serving Him. Why? Because a Jew inherently has kabbolas ol by nature. It is the nature of his soul. And a Jew inherently has yiras Shamayim. So that is his true reality. It may not be something he feels openly, but inherently it is there. Therefore, since it is there inherently, your thinking about these matters and accepting them counts as complete avodah. And that is what the Alter Rebbe says: the service—the fulfillment of a mitzvah that a person undertakes from this place—counts as complete avodah. Apparently, this is called service in the way a servant serves his master, just as any servant serves his master and king; it, too, counts as complete avodah. The Rebbe adds an explanation of why the Alter Rebbe writes “complete avodah” here. What is the significance of that wording? Hmm? It is complete avodah. Does that imply there is avodah that is not complete, and that this avodah in particular is called complete? The Rebbe explains that “complete avodah” means it includes both kabbolas ol and fear. The Alter Rebbe emphasizes two details here: a person both accepts the yoke and has fear. In other words, a person might have only kabbolas ol and no fear. It often happens that a person, uh, thinks about

09:32 Speaker 1 The idea of kabbolas ol is that a person works it out in his mind: he comes to recognize that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King, I am the servant, and a servant must accept the yoke of the King. I have no feeling of awe, not even in my mind. I don’t feel any awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but I make the calculation: He is the King, I am the servant, and I must accept a servant’s yoke toward the King. That, too, counts as serving Him. Even a person who has only kabbolas ol, without any awe at all. There is such a thing. Some people have kabbolas ol without awe. They contemplate matters of kabbolas ol: Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King, one must accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven from the King and observe the entire Shulchan Aruch. They fulfill all the Torah and mitzvos out of kabbolas ol. They have no feeling of fear or awe, and that, too, is service. But what? It isn’t complete service. It is still service. He serves; he does what— It’s like a servant who has a master. The servant isn’t afraid of his master, but he is nevertheless devoted to him and does everything the master asks. He has no fear of his master; he isn’t afraid of him. He has no feeling of fear, not even in his mind. Rather, he has accepted this master as his master, and he does everything the master says. So he, too, counts as a servant. Nevertheless, for service to be complete, there must be not only kabbolas ol but also awe. Awe brings completeness to the service. Why? Because then, alongside the action, there is also awe—a certain feeling, even if only in the mind, a certain feeling of awe,

11:12 Speaker 1 and that gives it more endurance; it is more genuine and more inward. That is why it is considered complete service. That is the precision in the Alter Rebbe’s wording here: it is complete service because it has both kabbolas ol and awe. Another point: the Alter Rebbe is precise in his wording here when he says that it is the nature of every Jew’s soul to stand in awe of the holy King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why does the Alter Rebbe use that expression, “the holy King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu”? He could simply have said “the King.” So what is the significance of “the holy King”? Earlier, too, in chapter 30, the Alter Rebbe uses the expression “the holy King.” There the Alter Rebbe says: “What difference does it make to me whether it is ‘turn away from evil’ or ‘do good’? They are all commandments of the holy King.” It says there, “They are all commandments—” of the holy King. Here, this is the wording there. What am I reading? Yes: “What difference does it make to me whether it is a matter of ‘turn away from evil’ or ‘do good’? They are all commandments of the holy King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” There, too, the wording is “the holy King.” What does that expression mean? It’s true that we say “the holy King” during the Ten Days of Repentance. But what does that have to do with our subject? Why emphasize “the holy King” here? There is an explanation there, and we can use that same explanation here in chapter 33 as well. The explanation is that “the holy King” emphasizes that all matters are equal before Him. Because Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not merely a king, but the holy King—a King who is holy and set apart—you cannot distinguish between one mitzvah and another. If you look at Hakadosh Boruch Hu as a king, then of course you must carry out everything the king commands.

13:22 Speaker 1 Nevertheless, with an ordinary king, some matters are certainly more important and others less important. A king governs a country. Some of his decrees are more important, and some are less important. You can distinguish between one matter and another. But when you look at Hakadosh Boruch Hu as the holy King—what does “holy” mean? He is holy, set apart from the world. There it makes no sense to say that some things are more important and others less important. He is, in essence, entirely set apart from the whole reality of the world, so every mitzvah has equal standing. That is how we understand it: although He is holy and set apart, He nevertheless desired these things. So every expression of His will has the same standing and the same force. From that perspective, kabbolas ol applies equally to all the mitzvos. Sometimes a person makes distinctions, saying, “This mitzvah is more important; that one is less important”—the lightest of the light and the gravest of the grave. But if you look at the mitzvos as commands of the holy King, then for a person, all these matters become equal. It doesn’t matter whether it is a major mitzvah or a minor one. He is holy and set apart, so all His commands carry the same force and call for the same devotion. We also used this to explain the relationship between a chossid and the Rebbe, matters of hiskashrus. We speak of a chossid’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe. There, too, when a person begins talking about hiskashrus to the Rebbe, he sometimes starts making calculations: some things are more important and others less important. What expresses my hiskashrus to the Rebbe? Sometimes people make distinctions: “I am connected to the Rebbe only in very—

15:07 Speaker 1 major, important matters. But small things—what difference do they make? Is it really so important to be careful about some particular practice?” Yes, there are major practices that express the whole essence of being a chossid, and there are matters that fall under the category of minor practices. When we speak about hiskashrus to the Rebbe, there are all kinds of instructions the Rebbe gave—guidance on various matters. So a person might sometimes say, “That’s a small thing, not so important. The Rebbe spoke about it only once. Why make such a big deal of it? It’s a small thing.” For example, if a yeshiva student doesn’t go on mivtzoim—the Rebbe spoke about mivtzoim so many times and put so much effort into them. A student who doesn’t go on mivtzoim—what kind of chossid is he? That doesn’t add up. So mivtzoim are a central part of a chossid’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe. But each person may decide for himself which things are important: one decides this is important, another decides something else is important. There are various practices instituted by the Rebbe, particularly in recent years, all kinds of matters the Rebbe spoke about. There is the study of Rambam, there is [unclear], and there are all kinds of practices we received from the Rebbe. Sometimes a person might say, “He spoke about this only once. It’s not such a big thing; it’s only a small matter, and it doesn’t express the whole idea of a chossid’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe.” So we explain that when we know we are speaking about a Rebbe, [unclear], who is holy—not just a Rebbe, but a holy Rebbe—meaning that he is holy and set apart, that in essence he is above this whole matter. The Rebbe is above the whole

16:49 Speaker 1 matter of being connected to us, and yet, with all his holiness and greatness, he instructs us to act. From that perspective, what difference does it make whether it is a major instruction or a minor one? It is all a command of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The same point applies to a chossid’s hiskashrus to the Rebbe. If you look at him as someone on your own level, you can make distinctions: some things are more important and others less important; I understand this one more, that one less. You can relate to him on that basis. But if he is holy and set apart, then you observe every mitzvah, every instruction, every practice with the same care, the same energy, and the same kabbolas ol with which all the practices must be observed. The Alter Rebbe continues: “But this is not so if he does not intend to fulfill the mitzvah as service to the King, in order to cleave to Him through His Torah and mitzvos.” What happens if a person fulfills a mitzvah out of love alone? Here the Alter Rebbe concludes the discussion. Until now, he has explained that the beginning, essence, and root of service must specifically be awe and kabbolas ol, not love. That was the point the Alter Rebbe introduced at the beginning of the chapter: even when it comes to “do good,” love is not enough. Even for “do good,” there must also be awe. Why isn’t love enough, at least for “do good”? Why isn’t it enough for a person simply to arouse love and fulfill all the mitzvos with love, without a feeling of awe? So the Alter Rebbe now explains: “But this is not so if he does not intend to fulfill the mitzvah as service to the King.” If a person connects to Hashem

18:31 Speaker 1 ...Boruch Hu only out of love, in order to cleave to Him through His Torah and mitzvos, because he wants to be close to his Master through Torah and mitzvos. In other words, what motivates him in Torah and mitzvos? Love: he wants to cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that is why he fulfills mitzvos. It is not out of awe or desire. If he has love alone, it is not called avodah, service. You cannot call such a thing avodah. It is something very beautiful: you love Hashem, and therefore you fulfill the mitzvah. But you are not serving Him, so it is not avodah. The whole foundation of avodah is missing here. And the Torah says—this is a command of the Torah—“You shall serve Hashem your G-d.” The Torah wants a Jew’s relationship with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, when he comes to fulfill a mitzvah, to be one of servitude. The Torah says, “You shall serve Hashem.” So even if you fulfill mitzvos, but do not feel kabbolas ol—the obligation of the mitzvah—and do it only out of love, because of its truth, because of what you find in it, that is all well and good, but you have not served Hashem. It is not considered avodah; it is not considered servitude. The Torah says, “You shall serve.” There has to be a feeling of servitude. The feeling of... the whole element is missing here. “And Him shall you serve,” and so on. The Rebbe brings two verses. One verse, in Parshas Mishpatim, says, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d.” There we see specifically the wording “you shall serve”: the manner of service must be one of servitude. And he brings a second verse, “And Him shall you serve.” There too, the wording is “shall you serve,” an expression of servitude. Why does the Rebbe bring both verses? Because also

20:29 Speaker 1 in—because that is how it appears in the source, where the mitzvah is cited. The Rambam, who discusses idolatry—and, in fact, there is an extended discussion of the whole subject of the mitzvah and the verses concerning service—brings both these verses: “You shall serve Hashem your G-d” and “And Him shall you serve.” Seemingly, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d” is not a command; it is a statement. The verse says, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d,” and then, “He will bless your bread and your water,” right? In other words, the verse is telling us what will happen: by serving Hashem your G-d, you will receive everything that follows—all the material things, all the blessing. The second verse, “And Him shall you serve,” is phrased more as a command. How does it go there? “After Hashem your G-d shall you walk.” I think that is the verse. “And His mitzvos shall you keep,” “and Him shall you serve”—something like that. Parshas Re’eh. Incidentally, we need to look into why the Rebbe brings precisely these two verses. There is some extended discussion about the Rambam—why the Rambam brings this particular verse. I do not remember the point right now; it needs looking into. But in any case, coming back to our subject, what point is the Rebbe explaining here? That it must specifically be in the manner of avodah. The Torah says it must specifically be in the manner of a servant. So when a person has love without awe, all his Torah and mitzvos are not considered avodah. The element of servitude is missing.

22:37 Speaker 2 You hear that he, uh... it is a householder’s kind of service [unclear].

22:45 Speaker 1 So you are asking a good question. He is asking because sometimes the books say the opposite: that it is specifically love that is considered avodah. Yes, “There is no service like the service of love”—that is what the phrase means. So we see that love specifically is considered avodah. Yes, that is a good question. The answer—and this is the whole point—is that there are two meanings of avodah. One is avodah in the simple sense: service in the sense of servitude. A servant, right? Someone who serves. Another meaning of avodah is processing or refinement: working the land, for example. It means sifting and refining. It is like what the Rebbe brings in Parshas Mishpatim: avodah means tanning a hide. You take the hide from an animal and work it until it can be made into a garment or shoes, or something useful. Similarly, avodah can mean taking something in its raw state and working on it, sifting and refining it. That is the distinction between love and awe. When we speak of avodah as servitude, then the main thing in that service, as explained, is awe: servitude, being a servant. That is the simple meaning of the word avodah, and that is what Tanya is saying here. The answer is that “you shall serve,” in its simple meaning, refers to servitude, the service of a servant. This is specifically a matter of kabbolas ol and awe, not love. Love lacks the aspect of servitude and bittul, of kabbolas ol. Love involves a sense of self, of one’s own identity and feeling. So the element of bittul is missing here. But if avodah means working on something, sifting and refining it, then the opposite is true. Where does the main sifting and refining take place? Specifically in love. Awe, by contrast, lacks that refinement. Awe is bittul; it is not refinement.

24:42 Speaker 1 With love, specifically, a person changes and becomes attuned to the... connects inwardly with the one he loves. It brings about an inner change in a person. That is the distinction. Why does it sometimes say that the main aspect of avodah is specifically being a servant, while elsewhere it says that the main avodah is specifically in awe? There is also a note from the Rebbe here about the words, “And the Torah says.” Why does the Rebbe say here, “And the Torah says, ‘You shall serve’”? It is unusual wording. The Rebbe could have said, “As it is written.” What exactly is meant by, “And the Torah says, ‘You shall serve Hashem your G-d’”? The Rebbe makes a wonderful observation in Supplement 29. The Rebbe says that a number of places explain the difference between Torah and mitzvos: mitzvos are primarily about kabbolas ol. Mitzvos—kabbolas ol. Torah is intellectual. Torah is primarily a matter of intellect and understanding, so kabbolas ol is emphasized mainly in mitzvos, while enjoyment is emphasized mainly in Torah. These are two elements in serving Hashem. On the one hand, we are required to have bittul and kabbolas ol, which are expressed mainly in mitzvos. On the other hand, a person is also required to have enjoyment in his life of serving Hashem. That is expressed more in Torah. These are the two elements, Torah and mitzvos. That is why the Rebbe says here, “And the Torah says, ‘You shall serve Hashem your G-d.’” When a Jew feels that “you shall serve Hashem your G-d” is something the Torah says, it brings enjoyment into his kabbolas ol. In other words, although “you shall serve Hashem your G-d” is essentially service through kabbolas ol, which lacks enjoyment—a servant, as a servant, is not defined by enjoyment; a servant is defined by bittul and kabbolas ol—when he feels that the Torah says it, it is different. Torah means enjoyment, so it brings enjoyment into kabbolas ol. What an observation the Rebbe makes. There is also a story about

26:43 Speaker 1 the Rebbe. Once, I think, the Rebbe said to Reb Tzairi Shabtov[unclear]—the Rebbe had voiced various complaints about the chassidim. So Reb Tzairi Shabtov[unclear] said to the Rebbe: “What do you mean? Chassidim today have kabbolas ol. They do whatever the Rebbe tells them, they will go through fire and water, they are completely devoted to the Rebbe.” So the Rebbe said to him: “That may be, but an attachment based only on kabbolas ol needs enjoyment. I do not like people being connected to me only through kabbolas ol. It has to be with desire and enjoyment.” How? That is why the Rebbe said he does not want to tell each individual exactly what to do. He wants each person to do something he himself is drawn to. On the one hand, the Rebbe speaks to everyone collectively. But when it comes to a specific matter, he wants each person to choose something he also has desire and enjoyment in. Kabbolas ol comes first, of course, but there also needs to be a continuation from kabbolas ol into desire and enjoyment. That is why the Rebbe says, as a first point, “And the Torah says, ‘You shall serve Hashem your G-d.’” There is an element of Torah in it, and therefore an element of enjoyment too.