Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 41 - Part 8

00:02 Up to here. We said, after the two dots, “And behold.” Up to this point, the Alter Rebbe has explained one central point in serving Hashem: what is meant by “the beginning of service, and its essence and root.” He explained that it means awakening yiras Shamayim, a sense of awe, and awakening kabbolas ol. The first thing a person needs in serving Hashem—the foundation of serving Hashem—is to accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King, and he is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s servant; accordingly, he serves Him with all the kinds of work a servant does. That is what serving Hashem means, and it is the foundation of the whole matter. For this to be complete, it cannot be only kabbolas ol; there must also be a feeling of awe. At the very least, there must be a natural awe, the awe a person should have because Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the King and stands over him. He needs to awaken that awe together with kabbolas ol. That is called serving Hashem in a complete way, as the Alter Rebbe said at the end, referring to the service in the Beis Hamikdash; that is what it means to be a servant. By contrast, if a person has only love, that is not called service, because the Torah says, “And you shall serve.” What defines a servant’s service is kabbolas ol and yiras Shamayim. He brought this to explain that it matters not only for turning away from evil, as we might have understood at the beginning of Tanya, but also for doing good—even for doing good itself. As we explained at length in the previous classes, this applies to every aspect of service, including drawing holiness into the world and transforming it for the good forever. The foundation of all service of Hashem—both the service and the light and holiness—must be a posture of bittul and kabbolas ol. That, specifically, is what it means

02:37 to serve. To be a servant. Let’s continue. Perhaps just one small point we did not explain before moving on. Having now explained this whole matter of kabbolas ol at the end, the point is that being a servant matters not only for turning away from evil, but also for doing good, and for doing good itself. It matters not only to the general idea of doing good so that holiness can rest within a person, so that the person will not conceal G-dliness, but also so that G-dliness can be drawn down. Positive mitzvos draw down a good light for all time, a G-dly light into the world. That requires kabbolas ol. This also explains why, earlier, the Alter Rebbe went on at length about the intention one needs when performing a mitzvah: one should intend that, as one fulfills the mitzvah, one draws the light of Ein Sof upon oneself. And not only that—one should also have the specific intention that each mitzvah draws down a particular level of G-dliness. Now we can understand how everything the Alter Rebbe explained there at length relates to what we have just said. In other words, kabbolas ol is needed not only for turning away from evil, but also for drawing down the light of Ein Sof through a mitzvah—which is the idea of transforming the world for the good forever. Every mitzvah draws the light of Ein Sof into the world. Beyond that, each particular mitzvah draws down a particular light. This is connected with drawing down holiness, drawing down the light of Ein Sof to bring good into the world. That too must be permeated with kabbolas ol, with awe. Let’s continue. Now we move on, after the two dots: “And behold, even one who, even in his mind and thought, feels no awe or shame.” The

04:28 Alter Rebbe says here—the Alter Rebbe’s subject in Tanya, after all, is the book of the beinonim. Throughout the chapter, and throughout Tanya, the Alter Rebbe aims to explain the verse, “For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” He comes to explain how every person, whoever they may be, is capable of the entire service of Hashem: “For it is close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” There are no excuses. The Alter Rebbe comes to remove every excuse in the world. He comes to show that every Jew, whatever the level of their soul, can be a beinoni in thought, speech, and action, serving Hashem “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” So we see this several times in the Alter Rebbe’s words, and we will see it here too: he seeks to show how this is within everyone’s reach. Even if a person cannot attain high levels of awe, at least lower levels are within reach, as we will now see. In other words, everyone can be a beinoni and observe Torah and mitzvos on the most fundamental level. “And behold, even one who, even in his mind and thought, feels no awe or shame.” Even someone who contemplates everything we discussed earlier, yet no sense of awe is stirred in his mind. Earlier, the Alter Rebbe said that it must be present at least in his mind. At the beginning of chapter 41, the Alter Rebbe spoke of “the beginning of service, and its essence and root.” A person is not being asked to have awe and fear in his heart, in the hidden depths of his heart. It is enough for the awe to be in his mind, at least. That is, at least in his mind he feels some intellectual sense of awe of Hashem—an awe of His greatness.

06:22 It is awe: awe of the King. If he feels that sense of awe even in his mind, that too is enough for it to be called complete service, as we learned on page 32b. So the Alter Rebbe says here: there is a person who does not even have that—not even awe in his mind. Sometimes a person can contemplate chapter 41, and not only is fear of Hakadosh Boruch Hu not awakened in his heart, it is not awakened even in his mind. It remains cold for him. He thinks about it, but it does not move him. Even in his mind, it produces no sense of awe of any kind. The Alter Rebbe says there are people like that too. Why does it happen? The Alter Rebbe says that he feels no awe even in his mind “because of the lowly level of his soul’s source, hewn from the lower levels of the sefiros of Asiyah.” It happens. Why does this happen? A person contemplates these things—the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the fact that Hashem stands over him, and everything the Alter Rebbe said earlier about His kingship. You would think that a normal person would feel some sense of awe. Why is awe not awakened in him even in his mind? The Alter Rebbe says there is a reason: his soul comes from a lowly place. We learned in chapter 2 of Tanya that the Alter Rebbe explained that there are four general levels of souls: souls of Atzilus, souls of Beriah, souls of Yetzirah, and souls of Asiyah. In simple terms, [unclear]. Some souls descend to the world of Asiyah and emerge from there. In other words, many souls come from the world of Asiyah, and within Asiyah itself there are different levels. There are ten sefiros of Asiyah. So there are souls that, within Asiyah itself, come from its very lowest level. That is what he means here when he says that they come from a source hewn from the lower levels of the sefiros of

08:14 Asiyah. Say they come from Malchus of Malchus of Asiyah. Of course, every soul is “a part of G-d above,” but that part of G-d above can be from Chochmah of Atzilus all the way down to Malchus of Asiyah. All of that is included in “a part of G-d above.” As the Alter Rebbe explained at length with the analogy of the drop that comes from the father’s brain and from which the entire child develops, even the fingernails. Similarly, he explained that all souls are rooted in Divine Chochmah—that is “a part of G-d above.” Divine Chochmah, Atzilus, the Creator’s Chochmah. But it then descends through the ten sefiros of the four worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. So there are souls connected to a higher world, and they consequently have a stronger feeling for holiness. This has nothing to do with whether a person has talents, a good mind, or a good heart. It has nothing to do with their level in terms of IQ, how smart they are, how much they have studied, or how much knowledge they have. It is a matter of holiness connected to the soul. Some people are very intelligent and have a soul of a low level. Others have very little intellectual ability and have a soul of a high level. The soul’s level is not determined by those things; it depends on the level to which the soul is connected, which comes from Above. So there are souls—it has nothing to do with anything else. It doesn’t mean that a person will necessarily be a certain way. It is simply something given from Above. Hakadosh Boruch Hu decides what to give each person. You can’t complain, “Why did You give me a low soul?” Each person is given their soul by Hakadosh Boruch Hu, along with their task. What are they meant to do? In any case, apparently certain merits are involved in this too. I don’t know how it works, but however it may be, generally,

09:55 the soul is something given from Above. So when one person contemplates a Divine concept and feels something, while another contemplates the very same concept and feels nothing, that depends on the level of the soul and where it comes from. If it comes from the lower levels of Asiyah, then even when the person contemplates the matter in chapter 41, which we studied in chapter 42, they know about it, hear about it, and contemplate it, yet nothing happens. Nothing changes within them. They do not develop a feeling of awe, even in their mind. The Alter Rebbe says that this person, too, can serve Hashem. Nevertheless, since their intention in their service is to serve the King—how so? When they set out to act, they take this upon themselves and perform the mitzvah, and while performing it, they intend to serve the King. They don’t feel the King; they have no awe of the King, neither in their heart nor in their mind. But they know there is a King. After all, they have thought about it. They have contemplated that there is a King of kings, that His kingship encompasses all the worlds together, and that His kingship extends over them—over the Jewish people as a whole and over them in particular. They have contemplated this, and so they go to perform the mitzvos in order to serve the King. Thus, even though they have not developed a feeling of awe, since their intention in their service is to serve the King, “this is complete service.” It counts as complete service. What does “complete service” mean? It goes back to what we said earlier: the Torah’s commandment to serve Hashem does not say, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d with awe.” In Tehillim it says, “Serve Hashem with awe.” But in the Torah,

11:37 where the positive commandment of service is written, awe is not included. It says, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d,” and, “Him shall you serve.” So what does the word “service” mean? Service means kabbolas ol. Even if you have only kabbolas ol, without awe, then by the definition of service, it is called complete service. It is complete service. Here we need to pay attention to the wording. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe emphasizes the expression “complete service” here. Earlier, on page 112, the Alter Rebbe used a different expression. Look—when he discussed a person serving with kabbolas ol together with awe. Where is it? Ah, six lines down. Yes. That’s where he begins discussing kabbolas ol of the Kingdom of Heaven, and [unclear] both kabbolas ol and awe. Then, at the end, on the bottom line—look at page 112, the last line—the Alter Rebbe says that this inner kabbolas ol is called “perfect service.” There the Alter Rebbe emphasized the expression “perfect service”; here he says “complete service.” Those are two different things. There is perfect service, and there is complete service. Yes. In other words, for service to be perfect, kabbolas ol is not enough; there also has to be awe. If awe is missing, then even if there is kabbolas ol, it is not called perfect service. The perfection of service is to have awe as well, not just kabbolas ol—to have some feeling of awe, at least in the mind. That is why the Alter Rebbe earlier said “perfect service.” But when there is no awe, only kabbolas ol without awe, it still falls within the definition of service. Regarding the commandment of service, he says it is “complete service.” “Complete” means that the person has performed an act of—this counts as service.

13:30 It is not considered half a service; it is considered complete service. But perfection is lacking. If we feel no sense of awe at all, then the perfection of service is lacking. In other words, we have to distinguish between complete service and perfect service. “Complete service” means that the person is doing the service. Yes, it counts as service; by the definition of service, it counts. You can’t say it doesn’t count as service. But if we are looking for perfection, perfection means more than the minimum. Plainly, perfection means something more. For the service to be more perfect, it must specifically include awe. Yes, for service to be performed perfectly, there must be awe. Here, by contrast, he says “complete service.” For although the person has no awe, the Alter Rebbe says that by the definition of service, it counts as complete service, because awe and service are counted as two mitzvos among the 613, and one does not prevent the fulfillment of the other. The Alter Rebbe says: Why is the service complete even without awe? Because they are two separate mitzvos. The Torah contains two commandments: “You shall fear Hashem your G-d,” and “Him shall you serve.” Two separate mitzvos. The mitzvah concerning service is “Him shall you serve”; the mitzvah of awe is “You shall fear Hashem your G-d.” They are counted as two distinct mitzvos among the 613. Therefore, even when awe is lacking, the mitzvah of service is fulfilled. That is what “complete service” means. It is true that awe adds perfection to service, because when a person also feels awe of the King, their service is on a higher, more perfect level. Nevertheless, its absence does not prevent the fulfillment of service. They are two mitzvos. In connection with this, the Alter Rebbe

15:25 He says here that these are two mitzvos in the count of the 613. So there is a whole question here: What does the mitzvah of avodah mean? Which mitzvah is that? The mitzvah of fear of Hashem is one of the 613 mitzvos. But which mitzvah is the mitzvah of avodah? So we look at the Rambam. According to the Rambam, the mitzvah of avodah is the mitzvah of prayer. Yes. The Rambam rules that prayer is a Torah obligation. Prayer is a Torah obligation. So where do we learn that from? From the verse, “And Him you shall serve.” The Rambam quotes it there, in Sefer Hamitzvos. He also quotes the verse; it is one of the verses the Alter Rebbe brings here. So the mitzvah is prayer, but that is not avodah in general. There is a well-known rule in the Rambam’s principles: he writes that he does not include a mitzvah in the 613 unless it has a specific application. General mitzvos—there are commands written in the Torah that are general—are not counted as individual mitzvos. A mitzvah has to address something specific. That is why the Rambam does not list many things. There are many commands written in the Torah, such as “After Hashem your G-d you shall walk,” that you cannot count as a mitzvah. Yes, “All these you shall observe.” Many times something is expressed in general terms, and that is not counted as a mitzvah. A mitzvah has to be specific. So according to the Rambam, avodah in itself is not a mitzvah. The mitzvah is “And Him you shall serve,” meaning prayer, a positive mitzvah. When the Alter Rebbe writes here that fear and avodah are counted as two mitzvos among the 613, that is not the Rambam’s approach. Rather, it follows, as the commentators there cite, I think, the Behag, the author of Halachos Gedolos. The author of Halachos Gedolos lived before the Rambam; he was one of the Geonim. Some say he was Rav Yehudai Gaon, and some say he was someone else. In any case, he was one of the Geonim, before the Rambam, and he wrote a book called Halachos Gedolos. There is the

17:28 same thing in the Sifrei, if I’m not mistaken. So he counts these commands as mitzvos, and that is what the Alter Rebbe means here—according to the, according to the Behag, the author of Halachos Gedolos. The problem here—and this is just an aside, for the sake of the discussion, for your information—is that those who rule differently from the Rambam disagree with him. They say that the mitzvah of prayer is not a Torah obligation; it is rabbinic. The Ramban, and similarly the author of Halachos Gedolos, disagree with the Rambam. They say that the mitzvah of prayer is not a Torah obligation. Prayer is a rabbinic obligation, and so they maintain that avodah does not refer to prayer. The whole verse, “And to serve Him with all your heart,” does not refer to prayer; it refers to avodah in general, serving Hashem, the service of a servant. So whoever holds that “And to serve Him with all your heart” refers to prayer holds that there is no separate mitzvah of avodah. Serving Hashem in general is not a mitzvah counted on its own. Whoever holds that “And to serve Him” refers to avodah in general holds that prayer is a rabbinic obligation. Now, what do we do with the Alter Rebbe? Here the Alter Rebbe says that avodah counts as a mitzvah among the 613. That means that here he holds like the Ramban and the author of Halachos Gedolos: avodah is a mitzvah in its own right, the matter of serving Hashem. But the Alter Rebbe himself writes later that prayer is a Torah obligation, like the Rambam. Where does the Alter Rebbe write—who knows where the Alter Rebbe writes that prayer is a Torah obligation? Let’s see how well the scholars here know Tanya. Where does it say in Tanya that prayer is a Torah obligation? I’m not going to make a big deal out of anyone. Whoever answers, I won’t make a big deal out of him. You’re allowed to say it. Yes? Where does Tanya say that prayer is a Torah obligation? I can give

19:51 you time to think. In any case, this seems to be a contradiction. There seems to be a problem in Tanya. Tanya rules that prayer is a Torah obligation, like the Rambam, and here it presents “And to serve Him” as one of the 613 mitzvos—not a command to perform the service of prayer, but the whole matter of serving Hashem. In any case, there is a story connected to what the Alter Rebbe says here about souls. There are different kinds of souls; there are souls that come from the lower levels of the sefirah of Asiyah, and all of that. There is a well-known story about the Mitteler Rebbe. We’ll soon reach 19 Kislev, so we can tell a story about the Mitteler Rebbe. In any case, the Mitteler Rebbe was the mashpia for the young married men. The Alter Rebbe had appointed the Mitteler Rebbe to be the mashpia for the young men, and he was a very, very demanding mashpia. That is, he expected a great deal from them and pressed them hard in their avodah, in iskafya and in refining themselves. In any case, he demanded a great deal. Once, at a farbrengen, the Mitteler Rebbe pressed the chassidim about their avodah: what they learned and their prayer were not as the King’s words required. He spoke to them very forcefully about avodah. In the middle of the farbrengen, one of the chassidim stood up—I won’t even give his name. One of the chassidim stood up and told the Mitteler Rebbe that he had an objection to what he was saying. “You’re telling us that our avodah isn’t right. What puts you in a position to say such things to us?” That is what a chossid said to the Mitteler Rebbe. He said, “When your soul had to come down into the world, the Alter Rebbe went into the treasury of souls and chose the very best soul. He took that soul, and from it you were born. The Alter Rebbe took the loftiest soul he found in the treasury of souls, and you were born from it, and afterward he watched over you. You grew up in the Alter Rebbe’s home, with an upbringing like the Alter Rebbe could give—utter holiness and all that. So of course you can demand avodah and study of yourself. But us? When they had to choose our souls, they pulled us out of the very lowest levels of the sefirah. From the bottom, from the leftovers, they took some discarded soul lying there. They put us into a coarse body. We also grew up in a materialistic home, with parents who didn’t know how to educate us. That’s how we grew up, and afterward we had no opportunity. We barely learned a little.” He was a chossid, by the way. It is even said that this chossid was on a high level and feared Hashem. And this is how he explained it. He said, “Then we have to carry out our avodah. A man has to go out to villages for his business, collecting money and selling goods to non-Jews. He has to go into a non-Jew’s house and sit with them, drink a l’chaim with them, and hear all the rubbish and nonsense they talk. Then he has to sell them something and so on. Finally he comes home and wants to pray a little. First imagine what kind of deveikus and spiritual feeling he can have then. So how can you demand that of us?” The Mitteler Rebbe heard this. The Mitteler Rebbe said, “[unclear] Who am I, really?” Then the Mitteler Rebbe went and began to work on himself with tremendous effort. He took it seriously. The Mitteler Rebbe was stirred by the whole matter and began to devote himself to Chassidus and to the avodah of prayer with even greater strength and vigor after what the chossid had said. They later relate that the Alter Rebbe said he owed that chossid thanks: he had made something of his Berel. Through the rebuke he gave him, he had raised the Mitteler Rebbe to a higher level.

22:00 A lofty soul that he found in the treasury of souls—that is the soul you were born with, and afterward he watched over you. You grew up in the Alter Rebbe’s home, with an upbringing like the Alter Rebbe’s, in a place of utmost holiness. So of course you can demand avodah and learning of yourself. But us? When they had to choose our souls, they took them from the very lowest levels, from the bottom, from the leftovers. They found some discarded soul there and put it into a coarse body. We grew up in a coarse home too, with parents who didn’t know how to educate us. That’s how we grew up, and afterward we had no opportunity. We barely learned a little. He was a chossid, by the way; it even says that this chossid was on a high level and feared Hashem. And this is how he explained it: Then we have to go about our work. A person’s business required him to go to villages, collect money, and sell merchandise to non-Jews. He had to enter their homes and sit with them, drink l’chaim with them, and listen to all the garbage and nonsense they talked about, and then sell them something. Finally he comes home and wants to daven a little. Just imagine what sort of deveikus he can have, what sort of feeling. So what do you expect of us when we come in? The Mitteler Rebbe heard this. The Mitteler Rebbe said, “[unclear] Who am I, really?” Then the Mitteler Rebbe went and began working on himself with tremendous effort. He took it seriously. The whole matter stirred the Mitteler Rebbe, and after what the chossid had said, he began applying himself to Chassidus and to avodah through davening with even greater strength and vigor. Later, they relate, the Alter Rebbe said he owed that chossid thanks: he had taken his Berel and made something of him. It was thanks to the rebuke he gave him that the Mitteler Rebbe reached that level.

24:00 In any case, there are souls of one kind and souls of another. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe says here that no one has an excuse. Every person, according to his circumstances, must serve Hashem. Even if he cannot attain fear of Hashem, he can still serve as a servant serves the King. Because avodah is complete even without fear. Well, have you found it yet? Has anyone found the…? I can’t hear; speak up. That’s because of teshuvah; in connection with teshuvah there is [unclear]. But there is [unclear]. He’ll tell you [unclear]. Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What? Yes? [unclear]. Where? It is explicit in Tanya. It is explicit in Tanya. It is explicit in Tanya. On the page. Well, 148. At the end of Likkutei Amarim: “For of the Torah’s 613 mitzvos, nearly all are practical mitzvos, including those that depend on speech and thought, such as Torah study, bentching, Shema and prayer, in order to make for Him a dwelling, for…”