Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 41 - Part 11

00:00 We’re moving on to Tanya, and we’re on page 2. [unclear] After the period and the vowel markings: “But indeed...” The Rebbe explains here that there must be fear of Hashem; it isn’t enough without it. If a person observes Torah and mitzvos but has no love or fear, that Torah and those mitzvos do not ascend Above. He explains that love and fear are like limbs—like wings. Just as a bird cannot fly without wings, so too, Torah and mitzvos cannot be raised up and connected with Hakadosh Boruch Hu without love and fear. And the Alter Rebbe immediately explains that fear is the beginning, the essence, and the root of the service of Hashem. It is a necessary preparation not only for turning away from evil, but also for doing good. At the very least, a person must awaken the natural fear within him, so that it comes to the fore: not to rebel against his King. That is called serving Hashem as a servant. The Torah says, “And you shall serve”; there has to be an element of servitude. If a person has love alone, without the service of a servant, without kabbolas ol and fear, then the element of servitude is missing. The foundation is missing. And he explains that just as fear and kabbolas ol—the service of a servant—are necessary, love is necessary too. Fear alone, without love, is like a bird with one wing: it is missing its other wing. So there must also be love. That is the aspect of a son; that is why the Jewish people are called sons. “Whether as sons or as servants”—both sons and servants. Through the service of fear and kabbolas ol, they are called servants; through the service of love and cleaving to Hashem, they are called sons. Both are needed for a person’s service of Hashem to ascend

02:13 Above. So here the Rebbe is in the middle of explaining love. The Alter Rebbe said that we need to awaken love. What kind of love? At the very least, we need to awaken the natural love every Jew has—the desire to be attached to G-dliness. And how can one be attached to G-dliness? Through Torah and mitzvos. That is what we learned in the previous classes. Now the Rebbe continues with another point, a new idea. That was the point; look inside. “But indeed, our Sages said, ‘A person should never exclude himself from the community.’” The Gemara says that a person must not exclude himself from the community. In other words, he must not separate himself from the congregation. This means more than simply joining in when a group of Jews is doing something good. According to the explanation the Rebbe now gives us, in everything a Jew does, in every action, he must have in mind not only himself but all of the Jewish people as well. A person must always include himself together with all of the Jewish people. Now the Rebbe will explain what that means, and we’ll come to the practical service he brings here and to the subject of love. The Alter Rebbe says that our Sages teach that a person must not exclude himself from the community. “He should therefore intend to unite and attach to Him, blessed be He, the source of his divine soul and the source of the souls of all Israel.” So when a person fulfills a mitzvah, besides the intention of fear that we discussed earlier, and besides the intention of cleaving to Hashem—the intention of love—there must be another intention: to attach not only himself to G-dliness, but also the source of his soul. In other words, not only should his soul as it is down here, the soul

04:19 in the body, be connected with G-dliness. That is the straightforward intention when a Jew observes Torah and mitzvos: he wants his soul, which is in a body alongside the animal soul in this world, to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah and mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe says that this is not enough. He must intend not only that he himself be attached to G-dliness, but that the source of his soul Above also be attached to G-dliness. “The source of his divine soul and the source of the souls of all Israel”—seemingly, this also includes the source of all Jewish souls. These are not two separate things, two intentions: one that the source of Akiva’s soul be attached, and another that the source of all Jewish souls be attached. Rather, they are one and the same: the source of his divine soul is also the source of the souls of all Israel. Here is what that means. As long as I observe Torah and mitzvos thinking only about myself, about my soul down here, I am an individual soul. I have my own individual soul, and I want my soul in the body to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is an individual soul thinking about its own individual attachment to G-dliness. But the moment I think not only about my soul in the body, but also about connecting the source of my soul through the mitzvah—we’ll soon explain how to do that—then, when I fulfill a mitzvah, I intend not only to connect the soul in the body, but also to connect the root of the soul Above, the soul’s source, with G-dliness. And there, at the soul’s source, it isn’t just my soul that is present. All of Israel is there, because at the source of their souls, all Jews are truly brothers. So all of Israel is like one soul

06:11 together. As explained at length in Tanya, chapter 32, the division among souls exists only down here. But at the root of the souls Above, all are brothers and “one Father is Father to them all”; therefore, all Jews are called true brothers by virtue of the root of their souls in the one Hashem. In other words, at the root of the souls Above, all the souls are one soul, one entity. So when a person fulfills a mitzvah, he must intend not only to connect himself with G-dliness, but to connect the root of his soul. Then he does not exclude himself from the community, because through the mitzvah he performs, all of Israel is connected with G-dliness. That is what it means not to exclude oneself from the community. When I fulfill a mitzvah, it isn’t only I who connect with G-dliness. By performing a mitzvah, a person affects all Jewish souls too, helping them connect with G-dliness. That is a remarkable thing about fulfilling a mitzvah. But you have to intend it. If you do not, and you think only of your own personal intention for the mitzvah, it will not happen. That seems to be the implication of Tanya: a specific intention is needed here. If a person does not have that intention, then, simply put, he is thinking about himself. “I’m fulfilling a mitzvah. I’m putting on tefillin, and through the tefillin I want to be connected with G-dliness.” Or, “I’m lighting a menorah so that through it I can connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” That connection comes through intention. But a specific intention is needed so that not only he, but all of Israel, will be connected. How does he do that? By thinking not only about his soul in the body, but about the source of his soul. And at the source of the soul, all the souls are present. So through

07:55 Through this, he also connects all the souls to G-dliness by means of the mitzvah he performs. What is the source of the souls of the Jewish people? What is this level that is the source of the G-dly soul, and also the source of all souls? He explains that it is the breath of His mouth. This level is called “the breath of His mouth,” which is called the Shechinah. This is what it means when we say that the Shechinah is the source of the souls. As is well known, our Sages say, “All Jews are children of kings.” Chassidus explains what “children of kings” means: the Jewish people come from the sefirah of Malchus. “Children of kings” refers to the sefirah of Malchus. Malchus is called the Shechinah, the breath of His mouth, and it is the source of the souls of the Jewish people. That is why Malchus is sometimes also called Knesses Yisroel. Knesses Yisroel refers to Malchus, because it is the source of the souls. We learned in Tanya, chapter 2, that the Rebbe said the source of the souls is in Chochmah. That is speaking about higher levels. But the soul in the body—the soul that must descend into the world and become enclothed in a body—what level is its source? It is the sefirah of Malchus. At its initial emergence, the soul’s source is in Chochmah of Atzilus, which is His wisdom, blessed be He. But afterward it descends to Malchus, to the sefirah of Malchus. There it becomes the source of the soul in the body, and that is why it is called Knesses Yisroel. It gathers, collects, unites and brings together all the souls, and from there the process of descent leads to a soul in a body. So it is called the Shechinah—the Shechinah that dwells and becomes enclothed. Why is the level that is the source of the souls, the sefirah of Malchus, called Shechinah? Why do we call it Shechinah? He explains that it is a level that becomes enclothed within the worlds. Shechinah comes from the word “dwells”: it dwells and becomes enclothed within them to give them life

10:09 and sustain them. And it is this level that grants him the power of speech with which he speaks words of Torah, and the power of action with which he performs this mitzvah. This level—Malchus, the Shechinah, the source of the souls, and the G-dly power that becomes enclothed in the world—is itself present within him now, acting within him and giving him the ability to perform the mitzvah and say the words of Torah, tefillin and shofar. In other words, there is now a certain intermingling here. When I perform a mitzvah, there are two things: there is the soul of the Jew performing the mitzvah. Where does that come from? From the Shechinah, from the sefirah of Malchus, the source of the souls. And at the very moment of performing the mitzvah, where do I get the power to speak and to act? From Malchus of Atzilus, which grants me that power. Just as it grants life to all created beings, it also grants a person the power to perform a mitzvah and study Torah. So when I perform a mitzvah, I connect this power, the sefirah of Malchus, the source of the souls. And in this union, I unite it with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This union comes about by drawing down the light of the blessed Ein Sof through the study of Torah and performance of mitzvos, in which it is enclothed. How do I bring about this union? What is he saying here? When a person performs a mitzvah, he must want to intend to unite Malchus—the source of the souls, which is also the source of the souls of all the Jewish people. With whom must he connect the source of the souls? He explains that it must be connected with the light of Ein Sof. In other words, there are two levels in G-dliness. What does it mean to connect them? The Shechinah is also G-dliness. What does it mean to connect the Shechinah with Ein Sof? They are two distinct things. The meaning is that there are two levels in G-dliness. This is well known and mentioned throughout the maamarim,

12:09 in many places: generally speaking, there are two levels in G-dliness. There is the level called the Shechinah, and there is the level called Kudsha Brich Hu, Ein Sof, which is higher than the Shechinah. In other words, there is the level of G-dliness that becomes enclothed in the worlds. It is therefore called the Shechinah, because it dwells and becomes enclothed within the worlds to give life to all created beings. This is a level of G-dliness that relates to the worlds, and it is called the Shechinah. It is also the source of the soul—the soul in the body. Knesses Yisroel, the sefirah of Malchus. That is one level, and from there a Jew receives the power to speak, act and study so that he can perform the mitzvos. Then there is Ein Sof. Ein Sof is higher than the Shechinah. Ein Sof is the level of Hakadosh Boruch Hu that is higher than memalei. Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, so to speak, is beyond any relation to the worlds. And through my observance of Torah and mitzvos, I connect Malchus, the Shechinah, with Ein Sof, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is higher than memalei. How does that happen? The Alter Rebbe explains here that there are two things: the mitzvah itself and the power I have to perform it. The mitzvah itself is the Supernal Will. What does “Supernal Will” mean? The mitzvah belongs to Ein Sof. What is a mitzvah? A mitzvah is a command from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Whose will? Not the Shechinah’s. A mitzvah is the will of Ein Sof, the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. And the Torah is wisdom, the wisdom of Ein Sof. So there are two things here. The Jew who performs a mitzvah—my soul, the soul in my body—where does it come from? From the level of the Shechinah. And it is not only my soul in general, but also the power to speak with my mouth and the power to act. Where do they receive their vitality from? From the level of the Shechinah, Malchus. But where does the mitzvah itself

14:12 come from? From Ein Sof, which is higher than Malchus. So what happens when I perform a mitzvah? Malchus, the Shechinah—which is the source of the soul and also the source that gives me the power to act and to speak—becomes united with the mitzvah itself, which belongs to Ein Sof, to the realm of Will. This is what it means that the mitzvah creates a connection between Malchus and Ein Sof, and this should be a person’s intention when he performs a mitzvah. He should think not only about connecting himself to G-dliness. He should also think about including all the Jewish people in it, by having this intention. “And he should bear in mind to draw down the light of the blessed Ein Sof.” A person should intend to draw down the light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Ein Sof, the level of Will that is higher than memalei, “upon the source of his soul”—upon the soul’s source, the Shechinah—“and the souls of all the Jewish people together.” He should connect these two things: Ein Sof with the Shechinah, with the source of the soul, which is the source of all the Jewish people, “as will be explained below at length concerning the meaning of this union.” So, apparently, the Alter Rebbe explains what this union means: a person connects his soul—and not just his soul, but the source of his soul—with Ein Sof through the mitzvah. Where does the Alter Rebbe mean? “As will be explained below at length concerning the meaning of this union.” What is the Alter Rebbe referring to? Where? In which chapter of Tanya does the Alter Rebbe explain the meaning of this union? Various commentators on Tanya have suggested different explanations. There are quite a few explanations of what the Alter Rebbe meant when he wrote “as will be explained,” because we do not find an explicit passage where the Alter Rebbe discusses the meaning of this union. So

16:03 There are several opinions about this. And the Rebbe, after all the confusion and uncertainty about the matter, settled the question. There is a letter from the Rebbe in which he rules that the Alter Rebbe means chapter 46 of Tanya. What does chapter 46 of Tanya say about this union of the soul and the soul’s source with Ein Sof? In chapter 46, the Alter Rebbe speaks about “as water reflects a face back to a face,” and so on. He gives the analogy of a great king who comes down to a lowly person lying in a rubbish heap. The king comes down to him, takes him out of the filth, the mud and the rubbish, cleans him, embraces him and brings him into the king’s innermost chamber, where he embraces him and unites with him in a wondrous union. The Alter Rebbe explains there that, in the same way, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did this for us at the Exodus from Egypt and at the Giving of the Torah. The Jewish people, all the souls, were in Egypt, a land of depravity. Then Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself—not through an angel, not through a seraph and not through a messenger, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu in His own glory—came down to that land of depravity, took the Jewish people out of Egypt, brought us to the Giving of the Torah, and gave us the Torah and mitzvos. There is also the union and connection through which Hakadosh Boruch Hu connects Himself with the Jewish people. There the Alter Rebbe explains that this is the meaning of a mitzvah: it is a connection. When a Jew performs a mitzvah, he is elevated. That is the meaning of the words we say in the blessing over a mitzvah: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us.” What does “sanctified us” mean? It means holiness and separation—the supernal holiness, which is Hashem’s Ein Sof, far, far above. There is the level of the Shechinah, which dwells and is enclothed within the worlds. And there is the level of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who is holy and exalted, far above. So we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” because when a Jew performs a mitzvah

18:21 he is elevated to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to the level of the blessed Ein Sof light itself, and becomes united with G-dliness when he... That is what a mitzvah is about. This, according to the Rebbe’s explanation, is what the Alter Rebbe means here. As the Alter Rebbe says here, he explains the meaning of this union at length. Again, he means at length relative to this discussion. What the Alter Rebbe explains there in chapter 46 is that this union means that a Jew is elevated. Although his soul, in essence, belongs to Malchus, the Shechinah, the G-dliness enclothed within the worlds, through the mitzvah he rises above all the worlds. He rises to the level of G-dliness beyond the worlds, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” The Alter Rebbe says: This is the meaning of “For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, in the name of all Israel.” This helps us understand why, before a mitzvah, we say, “For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, in the name of all Israel.” That entire intention is what “for the sake of the union” means. As is well known, it says in the writings of the Arizal, and it also appears in the siddur, that before each and every mitzvah one should say, “For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah.” That is the custom in many Jewish communities—among Sephardim, Ashkenazim and Chassidim. Not in Chabad, but in those communities they say the full text of “for the sake of the union” before every mitzvah. In Lubavitch, our custom follows what the Alter Rebbe established in the siddur: we say “for the sake of the union” only once a day, before Boruch She’amar. And the Rebbe explains the reason for this. Why do we say it only once? The Rebbe explains that saying it once a day fulfills the requirement; we have the whole day in mind. The Alter Rebbe wanted to make

20:24 prayer something accessible to everyone. That is the approach. In the wording and practice the Alter Rebbe established, he did not want... The Alter Rebbe removed various kabbalistic passages, intentions and formulas. He wanted it to be accessible to everyone, so he removed various intentions. He left “for the sake of the union” in just once, because, after all, it is a most fundamental matter. As the Alter Rebbe says here in chapter 41—and here, in chapter 41, he is not speaking about lofty levels, but about what every Jew must have at the outset—it is clear that every Jew’s intention in performing mitzvos must include some intention to unite Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. And not only to unite them, but to do so in a way that also connects him with all Israel, as part of the community. All of that is contained in this wording: “For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, in the name of all Israel.” Why does it say “in the name of all Israel”? What is the connection? “For the sake of the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, in the name of all Israel”—how are those two things connected? They seem to be different things. But it is understandable in light of the Alter Rebbe’s explanation, because “His Shechinah” is Malchus, Knesses Yisroel, the source of all souls. So when I bring about this union, when my intention in performing a mitzvah is not only that I myself should be connected to G-dliness, I also intend that the Shechinah—Malchus of Atzilus, the source of the souls—should connect with the blessed Ein Sof light. That includes all Israel as well. So what is the point that the Alter

22:11 Rebbe explains here, and how does he include everyone? The Alter Rebbe explains that, besides awakening in himself the feeling of a son—a son who wants Hakadosh Boruch Hu, who wants to cleave to G-dliness, and who can do so by performing a mitzvah—he must also have a broader intention. The son’s intention should not be only that he himself cleave to G-dliness. He also wants two things: that Malchus, the source of all souls, be joined to the Ein Sof light—the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah—and that, through this, all Israel also cleave to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Rebbe adds another explanation here: “in the name of all Israel” does not only mean that he includes the entire Jewish people in his intention. It also means that he is acting as their shliach. In other words, when a Jew performs a mitzvah with this intention, it is as though he is a shliach. He comes in the name of all Israel, as though the entire Jewish people had sent him on a mission to perform a mitzvah and connect them to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He becomes, as it were, the Jewish people’s shliach in bringing about this union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. Incidentally, what we are discussing here also gives us a general explanation of the wording of the prayers. The point the Alter Rebbe explains here helps explain the wording of the prayers as a whole. There is a well-known question: Why is the entire text of the prayers worded in the plural? The whole text is in the plural, especially in Shemoneh Esrei. All the blessings are in the plural: “Grant us,” “have mercy on us,” “bring us back,” “our bread.” It is all in the plural. Sometimes

24:09 People used to say that it simply makes it easier to bear. In the confession, you say, “We have sinned.” When you include everyone who sinned, you feel better. If you said, “I alone have sinned,” it would feel harder. So we say, “We have sinned”—everyone committed a sin. That’s not my view; it’s just said in jest. But what is the real reason? Why did the Men of the Great Assembly compose the prayers in the plural? The explanation follows what the Alter Rebbe says here: the intention should not only be that I connect with G-dliness. A Jew should also intend that by connecting with G-dliness, he connects with the source of the souls, where all of the Jewish people are present. In this way, he includes the entire Jewish people; through his prayer, he connects all Jewish souls to the source of holiness. In fact, this is also why the wording of the blessing on a mitzvah is “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us,” in the plural. It doesn’t say “commanded me” in the singular. It is specifically in the plural for the same reason: through the mitzvah I do, I include myself together with the entire Jewish people, and I bring about the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. As a result, I am also united with the entire Jewish people. This also explains something else: Why, before davening, at the beginning of the day’s avodah, must we say, according to the Arizal, “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of ‘Love your fellow as yourself’”? One explanation is that this is not only a preparation for davening, but a preparation for all of the day’s avodah. Since every Torah study and mitzvah a Jew does must be done with the intention of uniting Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah with the source of the souls, there must first

25:47 of all be an acceptance. At the beginning of the day, he accepts upon himself to be together with all of the Jewish people. If a Jew has a dispute with someone, doesn’t love someone, can’t get along with him, or harbors hatred toward another Jew, G-d forbid, he separates himself from that person. Consequently, he is also separated from the source of the souls and cannot bring about the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. That is why, at the beginning of the day’s avodah, one must make the commitment, “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of”—“Love”—how does it go?—“your fellow as yourself.” This unity is the preparation that enables him to bring about the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah through davening and throughout the day’s avodah.