Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 42 - Part 8

00:03 Before we move on, there’s another point we haven’t discussed, based on the Rebbe’s notes here. Earlier, when speaking about the soul being united with the body, the Rebbe quoted the words “great and immense exertion, doubled and redoubled.” The Rebbe focuses on the wording “doubled and redoubled.” What is the significance of that wording? The Rebbe points to his own explanation of those words in chapter 33. The phrase “doubled and redoubled” appears there too, and the Rebbe explains it there. In chapter 33 it says, “great and immense joy, doubled and redoubled.” Here, the Rebbe doesn’t give the explanation; he just writes: See chapter 33. Now, here’s something interesting. Chassidim would always explain, both in chapter 33 and here—and I think the phrase appears another time or two—that “doubled and redoubled” means doubled in quantity and redoubled in quality. The wording emphasizes that it’s not only a greater amount of joy because there are two reasons for it rather than one; it’s also a different quality of joy. That’s how they explain the joy in chapter 33. There, the discussion is about the understanding that leads to joy, and it says “doubled and redoubled.” In other words, there’s an additional reason for joy, so the joy is doubled: both because of closeness to Hashem and because of the pleasure Hakadosh Boruch Hu derives when a Jew does His will. Those are two reasons. So there’s a difference in quantity and also in quality: the joy that comes from Hakadosh Boruch Hu being happy is a different quality of joy. But the Rebbe doesn’t explain it that way. It’s interesting. The Rebbe understands “doubled and redoubled” to mean

02:29 four things. “Doubled” is two, and “redoubled” is another two. So “doubled and redoubled” is as though it said “two that are four.” In other words, there are two reasons for joy, and each reason has two aspects. In chapter 33, the Rebbe explains that there are two reasons for joy. One is closeness to Hashem: a person should be happy that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is close to him. The whole explanation centers on closeness to Hashem. He contemplates that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is close to him, and that brings him joy. Within that, there are two aspects. What are they? Hashem’s closeness and His dwelling with him. There is closeness, and there is dwelling. Two aspects. There is closeness in general, and then there is dwelling, which isn’t just closeness but a permanent presence. Or, in other words, staying as a guest and dwelling. Tanya uses both expressions, staying as a guest and dwelling. A guest is someone who is there only temporarily. A person comes to an inn for a limited time; dwelling means permanence. So those are the two aspects of closeness to Hashem: staying as a guest and dwelling. Then there is the second reason for joy: Hakadosh Boruch Hu rejoices over iskafya of the sitra achra and transforming darkness into light. Here too there are two aspects: iskafya and ishapcha—the subduing of the sitra achra and the transformation of darkness into light. The Rebbe uses both expressions. So there are two kinds of joy, including the joy of iskafya. That gives us four aspects altogether: two that are four. That is what “doubled and redoubled” means. When we come to chapter 42, the Rebbe doesn’t explain what the aspects are. He only writes: See chapter 33. In other words, he points us to his explanation there. So it would seem that, following the Rebbe’s approach—where “doubled and redoubled” means

04:24 two that are four—we can say the same thing here in Tanya. It says that one needs “great and immense exertion, doubled and redoubled.” What does “doubled and redoubled” mean? Two that are four. There is exertion of the soul and exertion of the flesh. Those are two forms of exertion, and each of them also has two parts. Take the exertion of the flesh: what are its two parts? The Alter Rebbe points to what was written earlier, in chapters 29 and 30. When we look at those chapters, we see two approaches to awakening teshuvah, two lines of thought. In chapter 29, the Alter Rebbe explains the contemplation of everything connected with the animal soul. A person has an animal soul and desires, and he has transgressions from the past that he has not yet fully corrected. All the explanations there lead him to a broken heart. Then, in chapter 30, there is another reckoning: to be “humble before every person,” recognizing that he has not yet fought the battle as he should, even in comparison with the lowliest of people. That brings humility. So those are two kinds of contemplation. The Rebbe explains this in his commentary on chapters 29 and 30: they are two kinds of contemplation. One relates to some of his actions, and one relates to the direction... Wait, the details of that explanation aren’t important right now. The point is that the exertion of the flesh also has two parts: the approach of chapter 29 and the approach of chapter 30. That is “doubled.” The same is true of the exertion of the soul; it too has two aspects, as the Rebbe emphasizes here. So what does the Rebbe say here? Here too he gives two details.

06:29 Exertion of the soul: one aspect concerns quality—delving deeply into and contemplating Hashem’s greatness—and the other concerns quantity: a sufficient number of consecutive hours. So there is exertion in quality, in the depth with which a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness, and there is exertion in the amount of time, spending a sufficient number of consecutive hours on it. It seems to me that the exertion of the soul is also doubled: exertion in drawing the soul close, and exertion in the time spent. So it seems to me that, since there are four aspects here too, the wording is “doubled and redoubled”: two aspects of exertion of the soul and two of exertion of the flesh. That’s one way to explain it based on the Rebbe’s explanation in the sicha. Let’s continue with the text of Tanya that we’re studying. First, I want to correct a mistake I made in the previous class. I said in the name of the Frierdiker Rebbe that “hours sufficient for him” means an hour of sixty minutes. In fact, the Frierdiker Rebbe doesn’t say that. I heard it from my mashpia in yeshiva, in the name of Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman, who would say that this is the meaning of “hours sufficient for him.” But I looked at the Frierdiker Rebbe’s sicha from Pesach 5703, where he discusses this passage—it was the Tanya lesson for the week of Pesach. Yes, yes. In the Pesach 5703 sicha, the Frierdiker Rebbe discusses this passage of Tanya and explains that “hours sufficient for him” doesn’t necessarily mean an hour of sixty minutes. But that’s how I remember it from yeshiva: the mashpia would relate that Reb Shlomo Chaim was particular about the words “hours sufficient for him,” taking them to mean sixty minutes. Presumably, he meant to emphasize the straightforward meaning of the Alter Rebbe’s words. By stressing an hour of sixty minutes, he meant that when the Alter Rebbe writes “hours” here, he means that there should be hours sufficient…

08:26 He doesn’t just say “hours.” He says, “hours are enough for him,” emphasizing that here he means hours in the sense of actual time. In the previous class, I explained that when we find the word “hour,” it doesn’t always mean a fixed length of time. For example, “One hour of repentance and good deeds is better...” There, “hour” means a period of time; it could even be a single moment. The length of time isn’t the point. Here the Alter Rebbe explicitly rules that out. He says, “hours are enough for him.” So it’s clear that he means a substantial amount of time, though not necessarily exactly sixty minutes. It could be less or more. The Alter Rebbe himself immediately says that it isn’t the same for everyone: some people need more time, and some need less. The point he is emphasizing is that contemplation takes hours. He doesn’t mean “hours” in the sense the word can have elsewhere, where it could even mean a moment. Here he means a real stretch of time, a significant amount of time. The Alter Rebbe continues, and we’ll stop at a particular line here, at the word “for”: “The measure of this hour is not the same for every soul.” The length of the period we’ve been discussing is not the same for everyone. There is a soul... it varies from person to person. “There is a soul that is refined by nature.” Some people have a refined soul, and because their soul is refined, “as soon as it contemplates the greatness of Hashem, fear and awe of Hashem will come

10:11 to him.” As soon as he contemplates, it doesn’t have to be lengthy contemplation. With some contemplation of Hashem’s greatness, fear and awe of Hashem immediately awaken in him. As it says in Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, section 1: “When he contemplates that the great King, the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Whose glory fills the entire earth, stands over him and sees his actions, fear will immediately come to him, etc.” That’s what it says in Shulchan Aruch. It says that when a person gets up in the morning, he thinks about how the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Whose glory fills the entire earth, is standing over him and watching how he behaves. At that moment, fear awakens in him. The Alter Rebbe says here that the Shulchan Aruch is speaking about a refined soul. What it says—that as soon as a person contemplates how Hakadosh Boruch Hu stands over him and watches his behavior, fear awakens in him—applies to a refined soul. That is how it works for such a person, but it does not mean everyone. “And there is a soul that is lowly by nature.” There is another kind of soul, a lowly soul, “by its nature and origin, from the source where it was hewn, from the lower levels of the ten sefiros of Asiyah.” He has a lowly soul, a soul on a lower level. What does the Alter Rebbe mean by that? He gives several details. First, he says “by its nature”: the soul is lowly because of its own nature. Second, he says “and origin.” Some say that “origin” refers to his mother’s sanctity. That is not necessarily the straightforward meaning, but some explain the difference between “nature” and “origin” this way: “nature” is the nature of the soul itself, while

12:19 “origin” has to do with the mother—with the child’s birth, with his father and mother. Look at what the Alter Rebbe says near the beginning of Tanya: the parents’ sanctity affects the child and his soul’s garments, whether those garments will be coarse or more refined. So some want to say that this is the difference between “nature” and “origin.” It can be debated, in any case. So what is he saying here? That a soul is lowly by its nature and origin, from the source where it was hewn, from the lower levels of Asiyah. Why is the soul lowly? Because its source is on a low level. The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, chapter 2, that all souls come from Chochmah of Atzilus. But that is in terms of their root and their connection to the leader of the generation, who connects them to Chochmah of Atzilus. In terms of each soul’s particular source, though, there are the four worlds: Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Some souls remain in Atzilus. Even when they descend below, they are essentially souls of Atzilus or higher, and so on. Some souls descend to Beriah, some come from Yetzirah, and some come from Asiyah. Within Asiyah itself there is its lowest level, described elsewhere in Tanya as Malchus—nefesh of nefesh of Malchus of Asiyah, or something like that. In other words, the lowest level within Asiyah itself. Malchus of Asiyah also has nefesh, ruach and neshamah, and nefesh of nefesh of Malchus of Asiyah is the level of the lowest souls. Ultimately, it is still a neshamah, a G-dly soul, a part of G-dliness. But in terms of its particular descent from its source, it has been enclothed in the lowest world, in the lowest sefirah, and so such souls are on the level of the “fingernails,” and so on.

14:13 They are on a very low level of sensitivity, of feeling and connection to the unfolding of G-dliness. That is why they cannot feel fear of Heaven as soon as they contemplate it. A person can contemplate it, but it does not readily affect his heart or his conduct. So what should he do? It certainly does not mean that he has no hope. The Alter Rebbe says: “He will not be able to find the fear in his mind except with difficulty and force.” He will not be able to find that fear in his mind except through difficulty and force. He has to work very hard, with much effort and persistence. He needs firmness and dedication before he can come to feel that fear. Now, before we explain this, it is very interesting to look at the Shulchan Aruch. The Alter Rebbe does not include this in the first edition. It is only in the later edition that we see he added the entire point he makes here. We have both versions of these first four chapters of the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch: the first edition and the later edition. In the first edition, which the Alter Rebbe wrote earlier, he writes only the first point: as soon as a person contemplates that the King of kings stands over him, fear immediately falls upon him. That is what it says in the first edition. But if you look at the later edition, the Alter Rebbe includes the fuller discussion that he gives here in Tanya. As is known, when the Alter Rebbe wrote the later edition, he also drew on Kabbalah and added various halachic insights based on the teachings of the inner dimension of Torah. So there, in the later edition, we see that the Alter Rebbe writes that a person should contemplate the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch

16:11 When he realizes that He stands over him, fear will immediately come upon him. And if it does not lead to fear, the Alter Rebbe writes there that he should spend a long time contemplating it, and also do teshuvah. That is what the Alter Rebbe is about to go on to say: there also needs to be work on one’s sins, as you will see. So, in connection with this, we can already see that in the later edition the Alter Rebbe adds everything he writes here at length. Why was none of this included in the first edition to begin with? We simply have to say that the Shulchan Aruch was written according to how things should ideally be. The Shulchan Aruch was written as things ought to be. A Jew should be on a level where contemplating that the King of kings stands over him has an effect on him. Yes, if a Jew contemplates this and it does not affect him, that is a problem. It means he is ill; he has an illness. And this is Chassidus in practice: avodah that explains what to do when things do not go as they should. But as far as how things ought to be according to Torah, when a person gets up in the morning and closes his eyes—or opens his eyes, whichever it may be—and thinks that the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, is beside him and observing his actions, a sense of fear of Heaven must awaken in him. This brings us to what the Alter Rebbe writes here. There are two points we need to explain. First, regarding what the Alter Rebbe writes here, that he “cannot find the fear in his thoughts”: “If his soul is lowly by its nature and origin, he cannot find the fear in his thoughts.” We need to explain this so that we do not make a mistake: this is not referring to intellectual comprehension or a shortcoming in one’s study. We are not talking about the intellect here. A person can have a good mind and a good understanding, and know

18:11 Chassidus well. He can even be a great explainer of Chassidus. He lacks nothing in his ability to explain, understand, or grasp it intellectually. Here the Alter Rebbe is not speaking about intellect. “A soul lowly by its nature” can refer to a wise person who knows how to study many maamarim of Chassidus. What we are talking about here is the G-dliness of the matter—grasping the G-dliness within it. You can deliver a maamar of Chassidus and explain the entire concept, with all its intellectual depth. But for you it can be like philosophy. Just as someone studies a subject in Nigleh, he can also study a subject in Chassidus. You can explain it; you know how to explain and understand the whole discussion. But here we are talking about finding the G-dliness, about being unable to find the G-dliness in your thoughts. It means grasping the G-dliness within the matter, the spiritual sensitivity. What brings about fear of Heaven is not the explanation of the maamar or the understanding of the concept. What brings about fear of Heaven is feeling the G-dliness in it. You can contemplate the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does “the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu” mean? What does “the whole earth is full of His glory” mean? You can contemplate memalei kol almin and sovev kol almin, and [unclear], and contemplate all of it at length—all the explanations, analogies, and elaborations of Chassidus. Yet it may have no effect at all, because he has a lowly soul, and the G-dliness within it, that spiritual sensitivity, does not take hold in him. That is something else entirely. A person can study many maamarim and still not grasp the G-dliness. By contrast, someone else may not know Chassidus. He may not have much intellectual understanding or comprehension of all the levels, but this comes to him with its G-dliness, and it affects him. He feels the G-dliness within it. That is something else entirely. It is the spiritual sensitivity in it. This is what we learned earlier, at the beginning of the paragraph: what one receives from one’s teacher. It is the matter of

20:00 daas, which is this spiritual sensitivity—living with the G-dliness in the matter. It is not so much the intellectual comprehension and understanding, but the spiritual sensitivity to it. So of such a person we say that his soul is pure by nature: as soon as he hears a teaching of Chassidus, or contemplates the matter himself, a sense of fear immediately awakens in him. That is, he feels the G-dliness in it, and consequently it brings about fear of Heaven in him. Then there is someone who has heard a teaching of Chassidus and knows it, but for him to find the G-dliness in it, for it to take hold of him, requires a great deal of avodah and effort on his part—a great deal of work and exertion, with difficulty and strength. That is one point. My friends, there is another point here. I will read another two lines, so... “And especially,” the Alter Rebbe continues. We have said that for someone whose soul is lowly by nature, it takes more time, more effort, more work and exertion. The Alter Rebbe says: “And especially if he has been defiled by the sins of his youth.” Especially if, in addition to having a lowly soul, he also has the matter of the sins of his youth. Yes, he has stumbled in matters associated with the sins of youth. The well-known “sins of youth” refers to wasting seed and the like. Because of these sins of youth, as is known, there is an effect on the person’s mind. The Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, in Igeres Hateshuvah, that the sins of youth—wasting seed—particularly impair the mind. What does it mean that they impair the mind? They impair this particular aspect of the mind: its capacity to sense G-dliness, the part of the mind that can grasp the spirituality of things, that can perceive the G-dliness of the matter. That is what is impaired by the sins of youth. Consequently, his mind becomes coarse, the G-dliness is not felt by him, and he needs much greater effort. For sins create a separation. The matter of the... these are

22:12 transgressions. This is written in Sefer Chassidim, section 35. Sefer Chassidim discusses this at length there. In fact, this whole passage is almost word for word from Sefer Chassidim—all the extended discussion. Yes, the entire matter is written there. So he needs even greater effort. We therefore have three levels. There is a pure soul: as soon as he contemplates, though he too needs to devote some time to it, he at least does not need much difficulty or forceful effort, and he already grasps the G-dliness in it. Then there is a soul lowly by nature, who needs difficulty and strength, with a great deal of exertion, to reach it. And then there are the sins of youth, which make it even harder. In any case: “Nevertheless, through difficulty and strength, by firmly strengthening his thoughts with resolve and great effort, and deeply contemplating the greatness of Hashem for a long time”—because even if a person has all those shortcomings, both a lowly soul and the sins of youth, all these things, the Alter Rebbe nevertheless assures him that if he exerts himself and toils, putting great effort and deep thought into contemplating the greatness of Hashem for a long time, “he will certainly attain, at the very least, the lower level of fear mentioned above.” Yes, the Alter Rebbe says that he will certainly attain, at the very least, the lower level of fear. That is what we are discussing here: the lower level of fear, which is a small matter. Since it is certain, it is therefore a small matter. In other words, we have all the strengths of Moshe Rabbeinu, which make this attainable for each and every person. And great, tremendous effort is needed because of all the reasons we have mentioned here. But we are assured—it is clear and certain—that through great, tremendous effort he will at least certainly attain the lower level of fear, because he has

23:46 the mesirus nefesh of Moshe Rabbeinu, as we explained earlier. There’s another point I wanted to make, but I’ll leave it for another class. Just one story to finish. They tell a story about two people to illustrate the distinction the Alter Rebbe makes between a refined soul and a coarse soul. There were two Temimim who studied in Lubavitch, and people would use them as an example of this difference. One was called Dovid Horodoker—Rabbi Dovid Kivman, the grandfather of the entire Kivman family around the world today. The other was a chossid called Reb Shilem. The difference between Dovid and Shilem was this: both were outstanding in avodah in Lubavitch. They would sit for hours, davening at length. The Rebbe Rashab even said of Dovid Horodoker that with Dovid Horodoker he had repaid the principal of Lubavitch. In other words, Dovid was the capital among the students; with Dovid, he had already repaid it. Dovid was on a very high level. On the other hand, there are also many stories about Shilem Kuratin. The Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, held Shilem Kuratin in very high regard. In several letters he writes remarkable things about him. Both of them davened at length. Shilem passed away early; both of them died young. Shilem passed away before the Rebbe Rashab, at a very young age, and the Rebbe Rashab said of him that he was “a lion in avodah,” or something like that. In any case, both were devoted to avodah. The difference was that when Dovid Horodoker contemplated Chassidus before davening, he would sit with his eyes open. He could sit like that for hours without even noticing any disturbance. He could

25:43 do it even if there was a commotion in the zal, with bochurim and whatever else was going on. His eyes were even open, and yet he was completely absorbed in a concept in Chassidus. He had the ability to disconnect completely in his thoughts, without any difficulty. They even tell a whole story about a funeral that the Rebbe Rashab, of blessed memory, attended. There was a great commotion, and the entire yeshivah went; [unclear]. When they returned and entered the zal, Dovid was still sitting there davening, his eyes open. The Rebbe Rashab came in and stood watching him daven, and Dovid noticed nothing—not the commotion or the noise, and not even that the Rebbe Rashab was watching him. Nothing at all. The Rebbe Rashab made a remarkable comment about it. I don’t remember the exact words now, but it was as though this was what he had intended with Tomchei Temimim. Shilem was the opposite. To contemplate Chassidus, he needed to be in an enclosed place where there was no commotion. Any noise would disturb him. So much so that when the Rebbe Rashab delivered a maamar, they built a special place for Shilem so that he would not have to strain, because he was one of the chozrim. For him to be able to repeat and remember the maamar, there could be absolutely nothing to disturb him. Simply thinking about Chassidus required intense concentration and a great deal of effort. Yet both of them reached very, very high levels in avodah. People would say that Dovid Horodoker was refined by nature. His soul was naturally refined. When he contemplated Chassidus, he could attain that concentration quickly,

27:26 whereas for Shilem it was just the opposite. He was heavyset, and everything was more difficult for him—Chassidus, concentration. But he worked on himself and eventually reached very, very high levels. Later on in Lubavitch, Shilem too reached all those levels. That is the point the Alter Rebbe is making here about these two levels.