Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 42 - Part 4

00:00 Speaker 1 This is what it means to be shepherds of the Jewish people, faithful shepherds, people who impart daas to the Jewish people as a whole. The Alter Rebbe adds that, beyond receiving daas from Moshe Rabbeinu, there is another aspect. In every generation, sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul are invested in the bodies and souls of the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community. Their role is to teach the people daas. They care for them and teach the people daas, so that they may know Hashem and serve Him with heart and soul. This raises a question: Why do they need to have sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul? To teach the people daas, you would seemingly just need someone capable of teaching. Yet the Alter Rebbe says that sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul are invested in the bodies and souls of the sages of the generation. For what purpose? To teach the people daas. What does that have to do with sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu? A person with a good head can sit and learn. He knows Torah and can teach it. So why does the Alter Rebbe emphasize that it can’t be just anyone—it has to be someone with these sparks? What do the sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu add? What does it add for a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul to be invested in a sage’s body and soul in order to teach the people daas? Why couldn’t they teach the people daas without that investment? This is explained through a very interesting point. The Rebbe explains it in one of the sichos in Likkutei Sichos, and it is also brought in a maamar. We’ll come to another point, but we can take the explanation from there for our subject as well. There is a very big difference between hearing Torah from an ordinary person who has Torah to teach and hearing Torah that comes from a Rebbe, from a person in whom sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul shine. What is the difference? We can understand it from something the Rebbe explains in one of the sichos. Why didn’t chassidim

02:37 Speaker 1 study Chassidus written by chassidim? They studied specifically the Chassidus of the Rebbeim. Chassidim were particular not to study Chassidus written by chassidim, only Chassidus of the Rebbeim. In other words, there is the Chassidus of the Rebbeim—what the Rebbeim wrote—and there is also Chassidus written by chassidim. What does that mean? There are, for example, books of Chassidus by Reb Aharon of Strashelye, who was a student of the Alter Rebbe. He wrote on subjects in Chassidus, explanations and maamarim. There is Reb Aizik of Homil, Reb Hillel of Paritch, and others like them—chassidim who wrote maamarim. But chassidim did not study those maamarim. The Rebbe said that in the case of Reb Hillel, they did look at his writings. Why? Reb Hillel had a special quality the other chassidim did not have: he was completely self-effacing. He observed the restriction, so one could rely on him. There is a story about why he was an exception, because of the idea of [unclear]. Sometimes it says, “Look into it carefully.” In any case, the main thing was to study Chassidus specifically from a Rebbe, to study a Rebbe’s maamar. What is the point of that? Why? Why? Why? You look at the maamar and it seems the same. What is the difference? Look, take books by one and by the other. What? What? Both are talking about Chassidus. So an analogy is given: there are two kinds of painters. Some people have an artistic sense—what Chassidus calls an artist. And there are people who can paint but don’t have that sense. Such a person is called a craftsman. What is the difference between an artist and a craftsman? In the Rebbe Rashab’s Toras Shalom, he explains this at length. What is the difference? An artist, for example, is someone who has a sense for painting in his soul. He is a painter at heart. When he paints a picture on the page, he has an image within him that he wants to paint,

04:50 Speaker 1 and the strokes he makes, the lines and circles, express something within him. He has an essential sense for painting in his soul, and on the page he brings it out. As he paints, it is as though he doesn’t even feel himself making lines and so on. He is living the thing itself, the essence of the picture he wants to paint. A craftsman, by contrast, knows how to make lines. He has learned all the rules. He went to art school, where they taught him the rules of painting: here you need black, here white, here this color, here red, here green, here white, here a square. He has learned the rules of painting. So he follows those rules to construct a picture, and a picture does result. But there is a very big difference. When you look at the picture, you can see it. Someone with even a little understanding of painting can see the difference. With a craftsman, someone who lacks an artistic sense and has only learned the rules, you look at the picture and you feel that there are circles here, squares there, black and white, and that he intended to make some sort of picture. You can sometimes see this in pictures of the Rebbe. Some people like to paint portraits of the Rebbe, and there are two kinds. There is a living portrait: you feel that the person really has an artistic sense. He has managed to convey—to make the subject come alive. And then there are people who make a portrait that resembles the Rebbe in some way. That was what they were trying to do, but you can feel that it isn’t alive. It is something else entirely. Not long ago, a few years back, a portrait of the Tzemach Tzedek was discovered. There was already the familiar portrait of the Tzemach Tzedek that everyone has. But about ten years ago, they found a very old portrait of the Tzemach Tzedek in Russia, and all those who understand painting, the real artists, concluded that it was the authentic portrait of the Tzemach Tzedek. Even though this portrait is not especially beautiful: the Tzemach Tzedek looks quite unwell and weak. Do you know the portrait? It is similar to the one everyone has. But the difference is—I read something an artist wrote, an article on the subject. He explains that in this portrait you can see the difference: there is life in the face. In the usual, older portraits that everyone has, you can see that the picture lacks vitality. Look at it: everything is beautiful, everything is fine, but you can see that the eyes lack life. In this portrait, by contrast, you can see that it really is alive. You can tell that the artist saw the Tzemach Tzedek and painted him from life, not by, by, by... The way children do it: they put one picture underneath, lay a sheet on top, trace all the lines precisely, and then say, “What a beautiful picture I made!” What is that called? Copying?

06:41 Speaker 1 Of the Tzemach Tzedek—the well-known picture of the Tzemach Tzedek that everyone has. But about ten years ago, they found a very old painting of the Tzemach Tzedek in Russia, and all the people who understand painting, the real artists, concluded that this is the authentic painting of the Tzemach Tzedek. Even though it isn’t such a beautiful painting. You can see that the Tzemach Tzedek was very unwell, weak. Do you know this painting? It’s similar to the one everyone has. But the difference is—I read something an artist wrote, what do you call it, an article, about this. He explains that in this painting you can see the difference: you can see life in the face, vitality in the face. In the familiar, older pictures that everyone has, you can see that the image lacks vitality. Look, everything is beautiful, everything is fine, but you can see in the eyes that there’s no life. Whereas in this painting, you can see that it’s really alive. You can see that the artist saw the Tzemach Tzedek and painted him from life, not from—he, he, he... Like children do: they take a picture, put a sheet of paper over it, trace all the lines precisely, and say, “What a beautiful picture I drew!” What’s that called? Copying?

08:05 Speaker 2 Tracing.

08:06 Speaker 1 Tracing, tracing. So that is the difference here. It is something else entirely. One is alive and the other isn’t. And they say that this is the difference between a Rebbe’s Chassidus and a chossid’s Chassidus. For a Rebbe, G-dliness is something alive. It isn’t merely a subject for him; G-dliness is his very essence. He sees it, he lives it. So when a Rebbe says a maamar, all the explanation and elaboration are as though he is depicting something alive before his eyes, bringing it out in writing or in speech. You feel that the subject is alive. You feel the G-dliness in it; the letters and words are explanations of that G-dliness. You don’t feel the letters—you feel the G-dliness of the subject. With Chassidus written by a chossid, by contrast, he takes what he heard from the Rebbe and what he understood. He repeats the words and explanations and tries to arrive at the same conclusion. But it is something else entirely. They are letters without life. It has the whole picture, but it lacks the G-dliness, the feeling. When the Rebbe says it, what comes through is G-dliness. And this is what the Alter Rebbe means here when he says that sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul descend and are invested in the bodies and souls of the sages of the generation to teach the people daas. If you learn from an ordinary Jew who wants to give you a class and explain something to you, you gain understanding, comprehension and knowledge. That is all well and good, but you do not receive the G-dliness within it. By contrast, in these souls, in whom sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul are invested—of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul, about whom the Alter Rebbe said earlier [unclear]—when they teach the people daas, when they teach matters of Torah and G-dliness, G-dliness shines through. You can feel a G-dly illumination in the subject, not just the explanation and the idea.

10:01 Speaker 1 You can see this tangibly when you hear the Rebbe speak. Yes. There’s a difference between studying a lesson by listening to a tape and watching a video, where you see it live. It has a special effect. How do you feel the difference? In the vitality of it. The Rebbe puts that into it. You feel that this is truly real, that this is G-dliness. There’s a well-known story about a child at a Gan Yisroel camp in its early years. Not long after he came back from camp, his father asked him, “So, how was camp?” He told him that the Rebbe had come to visit him. [unclear] The Rebbe had come to visit the camp, and the Rebbe had come to visit him. That was the highlight. That was the greatest thing that happened at camp: the Rebbe came to visit. What a privilege! So his father asked him, “What did he say?” The child said, “He said Moshiach is going to come.” His father said, “I say that too.” “Yes, you say it, but he really believes it. He lives it.” Those were his words. Yes. In other words, both say the same thing, but there’s a way of saying it that is alive, and a way of saying it where you’re just repeating the words. And that’s our point as well: sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul descend to teach the people daas. Those sparks are present and shine within the leader of the generation. So when he conveys this teaching of daas to the people, you feel a G-dly illumination in it. He lives the G-dliness, and that can also bring understanding. When G-dliness illuminates the matter of daas, it can bring a person to serve Him “with a whole heart,” as the Rebbe explained. And there’s also the story told about the Rebbe Maharash: once, chassidim asked him to say

11:51 Speaker 1 a maamar, and he said he wasn’t ready. So they said to him, [unclear], “You need to be ready? Surely the Rebbe has a reserve. How could he be short of something to say?” But he wasn’t ready. So the Rebbe Maharash said: “If you want to hear intellectual explanations, I can speak about that day and night without stopping. We can talk all day and all night. But if you want to hear Chassidus, that’s something entirely different. That requires preparation for hours, even days.” Yes, [unclear]. It’s a long story; it isn’t simple, because the Rebbe has to bring G-dliness into it. That takes a special preparation. We don’t exactly understand what that preparation involves, but that’s what a Rebbe is: it isn’t just that he gives an explanation or says words; he brings G-dliness into them. This can also explain a story that the Rebbe related and explained many times. Reb Hillel of Paritch would say—once, Reb Hillel of Paritch was with the Tzemach Tzedek, and they were discussing a certain point. The Tzemach Tzedek gave an explanation, and Reb Hillel said he had understood it differently. Reb Hillel said he understood the Tzemach Tzedek’s words differently. It wasn’t—the Tzemach Tzedek himself had said the maamar, and afterward there was a discussion between the Tzemach Tzedek and Reb Hillel about it. The Tzemach Tzedek explained it, and then Reb Hillel said he understood it differently. After all, the Tzemach Tzedek was the one who had said the maamar. So Reb Hillel said that when the Rebbe says a maamar, the Shechinah speaks from his throat; that is like

13:32 Speaker 1 Torah from Sinai. But afterward, when they begin explaining the matter, an explanation can be given in different ways. Each person may explain it according to his understanding. Of course, that was Reb Hillel’s position—not everyone is on that level. But the point is that there is something unique about a Rebbe. That is what the Rebbe is saying here in other words: because sparks of Moshe Rabbeinu’s soul are present in the leaders of the generation, when a leader teaches, it is something entirely different. He teaches the—he instills the essential point into a person’s daas, and that leads to serving Hashem with a whole heart. Through a whole heart, everything follows. So the Rebbe clarifies here and says... No, no. Where am I? Ah, never mind, because “the service...” We’re taking it from five lines from the bottom. So the Rebbe says here: “For the service of the heart is according to one’s daas.” We’re saying that a person needs to come to the Rebbe to receive daas from him and to focus it. Why, the Rebbe asks? Because the service of the heart depends on daas. According to one’s daas, according to one’s knowledge and understanding, it will become focused, and from that will come the service of the heart. Earlier, in chapter 3, the Rebbe also said that daas is the life of the emotions, and so on. The emotions—because daas gives them life. That happens through daas. As it is written, “Know the G-d of your father and serve Him with a whole heart.” King David says this to his son. What is the verse in which King David speaks to Shlomo? What does King David tell Shlomo before he passes away? These were King David’s final instructions to Shlomo. What does he tell him? “Know the G-d of your father and serve Him with a whole heart.” You need to know Hakadosh Boruch Hu and serve Him with a whole heart. So the question is: what does that mean? If he wants to tell him something, to teach

15:29 Speaker 1 him something, then he should teach him. What does “Know the G-d of your father” mean? If you want to give him an explanation, explain it to him. He doesn’t explain anything; he just says, “Know the G-d of your father”—go figure it out. What does “Know the G-d of your father” mean? As explained elsewhere, the Rebbe Rashab discusses this at length in Hemshech 5672, where he explains the whole subject of daas in detail. King David isn’t teaching him anything new here. He is just telling him to know. He says, “Know.” Everything I’ve taught you throughout your life—you now need to make it a matter of daas, so that it connects with you, sinks in, and becomes bound up with you, as the Rebbe will soon explain when he discusses the meaning of daas. Yes, daas. It must not remain an intellectual idea; it must become daas, a personal connection. That is the main thing, and then it will lead to “serve Him with a whole heart.” Daas is “Know the G-d of your father,” followed by “serve Him with a whole heart.” So why does the Rebbe cite this verse here? To emphasize that the service of the heart depends on daas. That’s why he tells him, “Know the G-d of your father,” and consequently he will “serve Him with a whole heart and a willing soul.” Yes, not only with a whole heart, but also with a willing soul. In other words, with pleasure, eagerness, and desire. It says, “They will no longer teach, each man his fellow and each man his brother, for they will all know Me.” Yes, when Moshiach comes, it says that people won’t need to teach one another. Why? Because then daas will be revealed, and everyone’s daas will be complete. Each person will have daas, and they won’t need to receive it from someone else. But until the future redemption—in other words, only in the future

17:10 Speaker 1 will it be that way. Right now, before Moshiach comes, before the future redemption, we need to receive from the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community. We need to receive daas in G-dliness from them. What is the Rebbe trying to say here? Why bring up what will happen in the future? Why does the Rebbe need to tell us about the future? What is he emphasizing? That in the future we won’t need to receive daas. What exactly is the point he wants to emphasize here? Now, it’s well known that here in Tanya, in this passage, the Alter Rebbe is concerned with something—this is by the way, but it isn’t really by the way. This is the very foundation of the Alter Rebbe’s novel approach, on which he differed with all his colleagues, the Maggid’s disciples. Everyone knows that the Alter Rebbe had a particular approach to Chassidus: service through love and understanding, through Chabad. Most of his colleagues, the Maggid’s disciples, however, opposed that approach. They argued that Chassidus was not about that; it was about Chagas, the emotions. Chassidus meant the service of the heart without daas, without intellectual comprehension. It was faith: faith in the tzaddik and simple faith, through which one serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu with love, awe, joy, and delight. Everything was built on faith, on faith in the tzaddik, but not on daas. The Alter Rebbe, by contrast, opposed that view. He suffered a great deal because of it; he had disputes with various colleagues and all kinds of difficulties as a result. But the Alter Rebbe held very firmly that the path of Chassidus is specifically through daas. So here in Tanya, when the Alter Rebbe discusses this, he is explaining the purpose of the tzaddik. What is the tzaddik’s role? Yes. Among the Alter Rebbe’s colleagues at the time, what was that role? What

18:48 Speaker 1 What did they do? For them, the main thing was that a chossid would come and receive blessings, salvations, and miracles from them. He would come to the tish, receive shirayim, and faith in tzaddikim is a very lofty thing; from that, he would draw life for the entire year. But the Alter Rebbe held otherwise: the role of the tzaddik is to teach love and awe of Hashem, to teach them yiras Shamayim, to explain things to them, to teach them matters of wisdom and understanding, love and awe, 06:01 to give them love and awe so they have something with which to serve Hashem. A person must serve Hashem himself. That was the Alter Rebbe’s approach. That is why the Alter Rebbe emphasizes Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai here. This is what the Rebbe is explaining: the entire role of the sages of the generation, the eyes of the community, is to teach knowledge of Hashem. Not just faith, not just faith and blessings. The role of the tzaddik is to teach knowledge of Hashem. And about this the Alter Rebbe says 06:28 that when Moshiach comes, there will be tzaddikim and there will be Rebbes, but perhaps they will have a different role then. Then, “No one will teach his fellow,” 06:37 because every Jew will have knowledge of Hashem on his own. There will still be Rebbes and tzaddikim from whom people will receive other things. But that is in the future, in the time to come 06:47. For now, as long as that time has not come, where do we get that knowledge? We need to travel to the Rebbe, the tzaddik, and receive it from him. There are many, many stories about this and about all sorts of things. One is an interesting story I saw recently, very much on this subject. One of the leading figures in the dispute against the Alter Rebbe was Reb Avraham of Kalisk. Reb Avraham of Kalisk was already in Eretz Yisroel at the time, and he wrote many letters against

20:38 Speaker 1 the Alter Rebbe and disputed this approach extensively. He claimed that the Alter Rebbe was mistaken, that the way of the tzaddik was simple faith, without avodah, [unclear]. There are very sharp letters against the Alter Rebbe and the chassidim, and there was a great deal of conflict. More than once, the Alter Rebbe expressed distress over various problems there. This is not the place for the details, but here is the story: Some years later, the Alter Rebbe had a closed chest in his room. No one knew what was inside. One day, someone came and said that a letter had arrived from Reb Avraham of Kalisk containing harsh words against the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe said, “I don’t know what he wants from me. If he has questions about my path and my approach, he should have written me a letter and asked me, and I would have answered him. Why does he write against me to everyone?” Then the Alter Rebbe said that the chest contained money that had been collected to send there, to Eretz Yisroel. “That money is still with me. I haven’t opened it because of all the conflict.” The Alter Rebbe did not want to touch the money, because it had become caught up in the dispute. Then the Alter Rebbe said something very striking, and this is the main point. He said, “We both studied under the same teacher. We both received from the Maggid of Mezritch, he and I. The Maggid passed away [unclear]. After we left the Maggid, he understood it one way and I understood it another. I am certain that when Moshiach comes and I stand before Melech HaMoshiach, before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, my approach and his will be heard. I am certain that my approach will be found correct.” That is what the Alter Rebbe said: “I am certain that my approach will be found correct, without a doubt.” Incidentally, this is why the Alter Rebbe emphasizes here the matter of traveling

22:32 Speaker 1 to the Rebbe. It is fundamental. It is not enough for one’s connection to the Rebbe to be only in external, all-encompassing matters. Certainly there is a connection to the Rebbe, and in all matters one should write letters to the Rebbe, receive the Rebbe’s blessing, and travel to the Rebbe. But one must know that, in Chabad, the central role of a Rebbe is to impart knowledge of Hashem. From that, people receive their avodah of Hashem, and through it they can come to understanding.