Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 42 - Part 9

00:00 Speaker 1 The Rebbe explains that everyone can certainly attain yiras Shamayim. What does he explain? He makes one point here: each of us has a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu, the faculty of daas that we receive from him, and from that perspective it is a small matter. On the other hand, the soul is clothed in the body and the animal soul. From that perspective, tremendous effort is needed, doubled and redoubled: effort of the soul and effort of the body. The Alter Rebbe explained that effort of the body means thoughts of teshuvah from the depths of the heart. Effort of the soul means exerting one’s mind, striving to contemplate Hashem’s greatness deeply, and through this attain yiras Shamayim. The Alter Rebbe went on to explain that there are different levels here, because this effort is not the same for every soul. Some people have a soul that is naturally refined, so as soon as they contemplate Hashem’s greatness, fear of Hashem awakens within them. Others have a soul that is naturally lowly and need a great deal of effort. The Alter Rebbe says that if a person cannot find G-dliness in his thoughts, he must exert himself with difficulty and determination. Then he speaks about a third matter: sins of youth. A person who has been tainted by sins of youth, whose sins create a barrier, also needs greater effort. Nevertheless, it is certainly clear that since he has this within him through his connection to Moshe Rabbeinu, and we have this within the soul, he will certainly attain it through effort. Now, we see something interesting in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. We mentioned in the previous class that in the first edition, the Alter Rebbe writes only the first point: if a person contemplates Hashem’s greatness, he will immediately attain yiras Shamayim. In the later edition, the Alter Rebbe writes at length what

02:07 Speaker 1 he writes here. And not only that: the Alter Rebbe adds another point there that he does not write here in Tanya. In the later edition, the Alter Rebbe writes that if the soul is refined, the person will immediately attain fear of Hashem. And the Alter Rebbe says that if he does not attain it, he needs to contemplate at length. Then the Alter Rebbe writes that if he has sins, he should do teshuvah. To remove the... the... the barriers that separate him, he should do teshuvah. I’ve lost the exact wording there, but he needs to be moved to teshuvah for his own failings, and then, together with teshuvah and extended contemplation, he will be able to awaken yiras Shamayim. Here in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe does not mention this point about teshuvah. He only says, “particularly if he has been tainted by sins of youth,” so that “his sins create a barrier,” but he does not mention teshuvah. He says that with difficulty and determination, he will also attain fear of Hashem. Why doesn’t the Alter Rebbe mention here that one must do teshuvah for sins of youth? The answer is very simple: the Alter Rebbe did mention it. He mentioned it earlier. The Alter Rebbe did mention it—he mentioned it earlier, a few lines before, when he said there is effort of the body and effort of the soul. What is effort of the body? The Alter Rebbe said: thoughts of teshuvah from the depths of the heart. So the Alter Rebbe has already mentioned doing teshuvah. Effort of the body means thoughts of teshuvah from the depths of the heart. On the other hand, if he has already mentioned thoughts of teshuvah, why does the Alter Rebbe bring this up again here, “particularly if he has been tainted by sins of youth”? Rather, the Alter Rebbe is telling us

04:04 Speaker 1 something very important here: even after a person has already done teshuvah—the effort of the body, thoughts of teshuvah from the depths of the heart—sins of youth are so serious that even after teshuvah, he still needs to exert himself more, with difficulty and determination. In other words, yes, a person does teshuvah, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives and pardons him. But the damage caused by sins of youth means that even after doing teshuvah, he will have to exert himself more. It becomes harder for him to find inner focus, and he needs more effort of the soul—more effort of the soul—to attain yiras Shamayim. That is why the Alter Rebbe mentions it here even after speaking about thoughts of teshuvah. He says that particularly if a person has sinned in his youth, he needs much more effort to attain yiras Shamayim. That is the point. To understand this too, let’s continue in the text. We’ll explain it afterward; it’s a general point that we’ll come to later as well. But first, let’s continue a little in the text. So the Alter Rebbe says here that when a person exerts himself, with effort of the soul and effort of the body, then, the Alter Rebbe says, he will certainly be able to awaken yiras Shamayim—at least the lower level of fear. The Alter Rebbe now continues at the top of page 61, first line. Look inside, at the first line at the top: “As our Sages said, ‘If I have toiled and found, believe it.’” The Alter Rebbe says that our Sages tell us, “If I have toiled and found, believe it”: if a person works and exerts himself, he will certainly find it afterward. It follows necessarily. Everyone knows the full saying: “If I have toiled and not found, do not believe it; if I have not toiled and found, do not believe it.

06:03 Speaker 1 If I have toiled and found, believe it.” So the Rebbe explains that this saying applies to the matter of yiras Shamayim we are discussing here. Actually, the saying of our Sages concerns Torah study there, but he uses it with regard to yiras Shamayim as well. It means that when a person exerts his soul and body in the pursuit of yiras Shamayim, then “believe it”—he will certainly find yiras Shamayim. And now the Alter Rebbe adds another point: “As it is written, ‘If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of Hashem.’” The verse also tells us that if you seek yiras Shamayim—I’m speaking here about the verse as it relates to yiras Shamayim—“if you seek it like silver,” if you seek yiras Shamayim the way a person seeks money, meaning that he wants it, “and search for it like hidden treasures”—if a person searches for yiras Shamayim as he would search for a hidden treasure, for riches buried underground—“then you will understand the fear of Hashem.” The verse says that you will certainly understand. What does “understand” mean? In a moment, the Alter Rebbe will explain why the verse uses that word. But simply put, it means that you will attain yiras Shamayim. That is, like someone searching for a treasure hidden deep in the earth. Here we are talking about a person who knows for certain that the treasure is there. There is no uncertainty. The point of the verse is that he knows for certain that a treasure lies there in the ground, and he searches for it, digging for it with tremendous effort. When a person knows that a treasure is buried underground, he is prepared to invest enormous strength and effort of both soul and body to find the treasure that is

08:12 Speaker 1 Inside the ground. In the same way, a person has to dig with tremendous effort. A person has to dig with great effort to uncover the treasure of yiras Shamayim hidden in the understanding of the heart of every Jew. The same applies to yiras Shamayim. Yiras Shamayim is like a person's treasure. You have to understand—that is the whole analogy. The Alter Rebbe explains here why the verse compares it to a treasure. A person knows that there is gold, a treasure, beneath the ground, so he is prepared to invest tremendous strength, effort of the soul, and physical effort. The same is true of yiras Shamayim. A person, a Jew, has to know that yiras Shamayim is within him. It is there inside him. He has to work hard. That is the essential point: when a person knows he has the treasure inside him and only needs to dig for it, that awakens in him the strength to exert himself, with effort of the soul and physical effort, [unclear]. As he said earlier, he has to uncover it within himself, even though it is certainly already there. He only has to exert himself. One person may need to exert himself more, another less. But the very knowledge that it is certainly there gives him the strength and energy to work hard, to invest all his strength in awakening it and uncovering it. The Alter Rebbe brings two points here, two verses, two sources for the matter. First the Alter Rebbe brings “If you have toiled and found, believe it,” and then he brings the verse, “If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures.” So apparently it is not for nothing that the Alter Rebbe brings both, the Rebbe writes. Rather, apparently we are speaking

10:03 Speaker 1 here about two points. That is, consider the teaching of our Sages that he brings first, and also the order: first the teaching of our Sages, then the verse. Seemingly, the straightforward explanation is that the teaching of our Sages addresses the basic point: “If you have toiled and found, believe it.” The Alter Rebbe is saying here that through effort you will certainly find it. That is what our Sages say: “If you have toiled and found, believe it.” In other words, it is clear that if you invest effort—“If you have toiled and found, believe it.” If you invest your strength, that effort will lead to finding it. As for the second verse, he brings a verse about the manner of the effort. This goes into more detail: the effort must be like that of a person searching for hidden treasure. Because he knows there is treasure here, he exerts himself tremendously. If a person is unsure, or does not know whether there is treasure here—there are two things: it is a treasure, something precious to him, and he is certain that it is there. So that is the manner of the effort: like a person working to uncover a treasure he knows is there. That is how one must exert oneself in yiras Shamayim.

11:24 Speaker 2 Huh?

11:24 Speaker 1 Huh?

11:24 Speaker 2 “If you have toiled and found, believe it.”

11:27 Speaker 1 But that does not emphasize the manner of the effort: that it is like a person searching for hidden treasure. There are two details: not only that it is hidden, but also what it is—a treasure, something precious, something a person searches for with tremendous effort. It is not only because he is certain it is there; it is also because he knows it is a treasure. He searches for it because it is precious to him. But there is another explanation for why the Alter Rebbe brings these two sources, these two points. According to this explanation, one refers to effort of the soul and the other to physical effort. “If you have toiled and found, believe it” refers primarily to effort of the soul. By contrast, what is “If you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures” talking about? Removing the earth that lies over the treasure. That is, “If you have toiled and found, believe it” concerns the effort a person makes in the matter itself. He works to awaken yiras Shamayim. That is the effort of the soul that is needed, as we said earlier: he works to contemplate, and also [unclear], to strengthen himself in yiras Shamayim. But with “search for it like hidden treasures,” what is the effort? The person is not working on the treasure; he is working on the earth. The treasure is there, intact, but earth covers it. So the person has to dig and remove the earth from over the treasure. This digging away of the earth is more of an analogy for physical effort: a person has to remove the concealment of the earth, the soil covering his yiras Shamayim. So that is another reason he brings these two—two teachings of our Sages, two verses: one about effort of the soul and one about

13:33 Speaker 1 physical effort. But according to the second explanation, the order is not clear. Why does he bring this verse first and then the other one?… He should have brought them in the opposite order. In any case, these are two explanations given here for why he brings both points. The Frierdiker Rebbe adds something in a sicha. The Rebbe says here that finding the treasure requires effort, like a person searching for hidden treasure and working tremendously hard to remove the earth. The Frierdiker Rebbe also says in that sicha, where he explains this entire verse, that when a person digs in the ground, there are two kinds of earth. There is the soil on top. In other words, when you want to dig and uncover a treasure buried in the ground, there is loose soil, like powder—softer soil that has accumulated over time. All kinds of soil collect on top, and you remove that first. Then there is the hard earth deeper in the ground. So there are two things to deal with: you need particular tools to remove the upper layer of soil first, and then particular tools to break through the hard earth deeper down. The Frierdiker Rebbe says that this illustrates… To uncover the treasure of yiras Shamayim, there are two kinds of materiality. There is materiality that comes from habit—that is the soil on top. Over time, a person becomes accustomed to all kinds of things that do not come from the essential nature of his animal soul, but simply from habit. He has grown used to an easy life. He has grown used to various desires. He has grown used to all kinds of

15:35 Speaker 1 habitual behaviors, and those habits have made it difficult for him to awaken yiras Shamayim. That is the first layer of soil, which comes from external habits. Then there is harder earth: things that stem from a person's nature, not just habits he has somehow picked up. Every person has various natural traits and characteristics. Some people have a more difficult animal soul—coarseness, foolishness, stubbornness. That is harder earth, and special tools are needed to remove it. It is explained at length how a person works on himself to remove both kinds of earth. Reb Mendel Futerfas told a story. It is simply connected to this whole subject of earth, not to the particular points we have been discussing, but it is interesting, since we are talking about it. Reb Mendel Futerfas related that when he was in Russia, he was in Siberia. In Siberia they were subjected to hard labor. What was the work? They had to build railroad tracks. That was the work of all the prisoners: they had to build the railway, the—what do you call it? The rails, yes, the railroad tracks. Does anyone know what they are called?

17:13 Speaker 3 Tracks.

17:14 Speaker 1 Tracks, yeah. So they had to build it. To build this thing, they had to dig into the ground and make trenches stretching thousands upon thousands of kilometers across Siberia. It was the longest railway they had built, running from one side of Siberia to the other, a railway thousands of kilometers long. They had to work terribly hard, so many hours from morning until night, digging. Now, digging in Siberia is no simple matter. The ground there is very hard because of the ice. In Siberia the ground is frozen all year round, not just in winter. The ground is cold from the freezing temperatures and the ice there; everything is I don’t know how many degrees below zero. So digging into it is no simple matter. The ground is as hard as iron. They had to spend hours upon hours, sometimes whole days, just breaking through the—breaking through the ice. First you have to clear away the snow on top. Then you reach the ice. You have to stand there, he said, for hours upon hours and work. You see these people in Siberia, with hardly anything to eat and so on, standing there for hours, working with an iron tool to break through that first layer of ice, which is the hardest. After that, he said, little by little, once they got past the first layer of ice, it became easier. Deeper down, the ice was not quite so hard. The deeper they went, the easier it became. In other words, digging became easier the deeper they went. Reb Mendel said that in Russia he had resolved to learn a lesson in serving Hashem from everything he saw. So—

19:26 Speaker 1 So he thought about what lesson in serving Hashem he could learn from this, and he took from it a lesson for his own avodah. It relates to what the Rebbe writes here about exertion of the soul and exertion of the body, and to how the Rebbe explains the analogy of “and search for it as for hidden treasures.” In that account from Russia, you see that first there is the snow, the easy part that has to be cleared away. Then comes the hard part that takes tremendous effort to break through. But afterward, when you are deeper in the ground, suddenly it is warmer there, and softer. So you see the same contrast in serving Hashem. When a person starts to contemplate—starts to contemplate Chassidus—at first he feels that it is very hard. He feels as though he has to break through ice. He is not used to contemplation; he is not used to thinking. In particular, he is not used to thinking about things that demand concentration, so he has no enthusiasm for it. It is simply like having to break through ice. The work is very hard; it takes tremendous effort during that first period, when a person wants to accustom himself to contemplation. It is like— But if he does not give up and keeps digging and digging and digging, he reaches a point where he has become accustomed to it, and then it becomes softer. Contemplation starts to go more smoothly. That is the lesson in serving Hashem that he took from it. That is how it is in the avodah of Chassidus: there is a period when contemplation is harder, but little by little, as you go deeper, further inside, it becomes softer and clearer. That is something Reb Mendel used to say in connection with what the Tanya explains here, the plain meaning of the Tanya.