Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 42 - Part 15

00:01 The Alter Rebbe adds something here in the last lines of the text. He has explained that a person must contemplate how Hakadosh Boruch Hu is everywhere, so that “Hashem stands over him and looks at him and examines his heart and kidneys.” Therefore, one must be careful in every detail, turn away from evil and do good, and not rebel against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Alter Rebbe adds that a person must also think about this: although the King sees him, looks at him, and examines his heart and kidneys, he himself does not see the King. So the Alter Rebbe explains that a person should remember that even with a flesh-and-blood king, he does not see the king himself. That is, he does not see the soul. His awe is not of the flesh but of the life within it, and that life he cannot see. He sees the garments, through which he knows there is a king. This is seeing with the mind’s eye through what the physical eye sees, as we explained at length in the previous class. The same is true of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: the world is a garment for Him. All of creation, all created beings, everything in the world, is a garment in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu clothes Himself for His glory. So when a person sees the world with his physical eyes, he continually reminds himself that the entire world is only a garment for G-dliness, for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In that sense, he sees that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is here. His awe should be directed toward the life within those garments—the King, the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This adds something for a person. It gives—

01:59 it gives us a more tangible sense of it, greater strength in our fear of Heaven, so that it becomes a higher, more inward kind of awe. This comes through training himself to look at the world and see that its entire reality is a garment for something more inward: Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the King of kings, who is within it. Here, in a gloss, the Alter Rebbe adds another point to this line of thought, another detail. We do not only see the very existence of the physical world and contemplate that it is a garment for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In the gloss, the Alter Rebbe adds that we can also see the world’s bittul, its self-nullification. We do not merely see that the world exists and then have to contemplate the Divine life within it. We can tangibly see the world’s bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In a number of details, we can see how things in the world show that they are nullified to Him. Seeing the world’s bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu adds still more to one’s fear of Heaven, as we will now see in the gloss. First we will read the gloss itself, and then we will see what the Alter Rebbe adds there to what he wrote in the main text. The Alter Rebbe wrote this as a gloss, and we also need to understand why he wrote it specifically that way, rather than in the body of the Tanya. That suggests it is a side point, not directly part of the subject he is discussing in the main text, but an additional explanation of what we learned there. So first let us look at what the Alter Rebbe writes in the gloss. The Alter Rebbe says:

03:51 “And it is also visible to the eye that they are nullified before His light, may He be blessed.” One can see with one’s eyes how the worlds are nullified before the light of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He is saying that when a person trains himself to look at the world properly, to look for G-dliness, he can see the world’s bittul with his own eyes. Through what his physical eyes see, he can see how the world is nullified before Him—how the created worlds are nullified before Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “In their bowing every day toward the west as they set.” We see the created beings bowing to Hakadosh Boruch Hu every day, toward the west, as they set. We see the heavenly hosts—the stars, the sun, and the moon—moving westward. Why do they move westward? It is an act of bowing. “As our Sages said concerning the verse, ‘And the hosts of heaven bow to You,’ that the Shechinah is in the west.” Our Sages ask: Where do we see what the verse says, that “the hosts of heaven bow to You”? We see it physically: the Shechinah is in the west, and they, as created beings, move toward the west. That movement toward the Shechinah is their bowing, for the Shechinah is in the west. “It follows that their movement toward the west all day is a form of bowing and bittul.” So it is not only at sunset that we see them bowing. The Alter Rebbe explains that the point is not merely that when they reach the west at sunset—the place of the Shechinah—they bow there. Rather, they move toward the west all day long. From the very beginning of the day, the heavenly hosts are constantly moving toward the western side of the world, because the Shechinah is in the west and they are moving toward the Shechinah. “It follows that their movement toward the west all day is a form of bowing and bittul.” It is a form of bowing, a form of bittul. So in this we tangibly see,

06:05 with our own eyes, the bittul of the heavenly hosts and of created beings. This shows even more clearly what we see with a body and soul: the body does not conceal the soul. When you look at a king, why does the king’s flesh not conceal the king? Because the flesh, the body, is nullified to the soul. The body is not an independent entity, a reality unto itself. It is nullified to the soul. So what is primarily present here? His life, his soul. That is why he inspires dread and awe in a person. The same is true of created beings. This is what the Alter Rebbe adds here: not only is Hakadosh Boruch Hu within created beings, but we can also see their bittul by observing how all the heavenly hosts bow toward the Shechinah in the west. This expresses the bittul of the body itself. Now, the Alter Rebbe does not, of course, go into the lengthy explanations given about this. What does “west” mean? What are we speaking about? Some of the bochurim here have learned the maamar of 5659. In the maamar Shuvah Yisroel, the Rebbe Rashab adds a great deal and explains the general idea. In brief, the west represents the sefirah of Malchus. It is known that each of the four directions alludes to a particular sefirah [unclear]. There are east, west, north, and south: north and south correspond to Chesed and Gevurah, right and left, while east and west correspond to Tiferes and Malchus—front and back. The back corresponds to the sefirah of Malchus; that is where the west is. So the west represents Malchus. That is the meaning of “the Shechinah is in the west”: the Shechinah is in Malchus, because Malchus is the concept of the Shechinah. Malchus is holiness; Malchus is the Shechinah. So regarding this they ask why Hakadosh Boruch Hu made

08:03 Nature. All the created beings move westward. In particular, as the Rebbe Rashab explains there, books of astronomy say that all the heavenly bodies are actually drawn eastward by their own nature. That is their physical nature, the nature of the world’s reality: to move eastward. So their movement westward goes against their own inherent motion. The Rebbe Rashab explains there that they have two motions. Their inherent motion is eastward, while their westward motion comes from something compelling them to move west. And what compels them? Something felt within the souls of the sun and moon. After all, the Rambam writes that the heavenly bodies have awareness and intellect. They sense that the west is where the Shechinah is. And the Shechinah—malchus of Atzilus—rules over all living things and all created beings. So even within nature, they are drawn toward the Shechinah, toward the west. The Rebbe once explained this as well in connection with Gimmel Tammuz. As is known, on Gimmel Tammuz Yehoshua bin Nun stopped the sun: “Sun, stand still in Givon, and moon, in the Valley of Ayalon.” The Rebbe explained there that this can also be understood in an even more tangible way. A person looks at the sun and sees it. Especially when you study the subject in books, you know that the sun is moving. It is not just moving slowly—the sun is racing like mad. It moves at an extraordinary speed, hundreds of thousands of kilometers a minute. The speed at which the sun races is simply mind-boggling. If you see an ordinary person running down the street, you think either, G-d forbid, something has happened to him, or something has gone wrong—how do you put it—with his mind.

10:00 An ordinary person walks down the street; he does not run. If you see him running, something must have happened. Perhaps he is alarmed. But the same question applies here: what does it mean to run? There has to be some reason for it. So what is this mad rush? Even if we say it is natural for things to move, why run? And why run at such an extraordinary speed? There must be something within the sun, some inner impulse drawing it into this motion, this rush. That is the meaning of “the Shechinah is in the west.” In other words, our Sages reveal the explanation for this. The sun has its song—song, song, song—and the created beings have their songs; that is what is called Perek Shirah. Every created being senses something, and some sense more than others, each according to its kind. Because they sense the Shechinah in the west, they constantly want to move westward, where the Shechinah is. That is why they are racing from the very beginning of the day. They are always running toward the Shechinah. Of course, one could argue. Someone might come along and say, “Where is the proof? You have to know that our Sages say the Shechinah is in the west. You need a number of foundations of faith to understand this. It is not something you can simply see here.” Yes, of course, several points need to be understood. So first let us see what the Alter Rebbe himself explains, and then we will explain the matter. The Alter Rebbe says—let us finish the letter—that this is something one can see and cannot mistake: how all created beings are nullified to G-dliness as they race westward. The Alter Rebbe says: “And even one who has never seen the king in his life and does not know him at all.” Even a person

11:56 who has never seen the king and does not know him at all. “Nevertheless, when he enters the king’s courtyard and sees many distinguished ministers bowing to one man, awe and fear will fall upon him.” The Alter Rebbe is making a simple point. Here is a person who has never seen the king and does not know him at all. What is the Alter Rebbe emphasizing? It matters for understanding our subject, because we are speaking about a world where the King is neither seen nor known. This is not just a story. The King is not seen, and He is not known. In other words, there is no revelation of G-dliness here, neither through sight nor through understanding. That is the nature of the physical world of Asiyah. It is a world with no revelation of G-dliness, neither in the sense of seeing nor in the sense of understanding. Sight and understanding are terms that apply to more elevated subjects. What would “sight” mean here? How can we speak of sight and understanding in the world of Asiyah, let alone physical Asiyah? There is no seeing the King or knowing Him. But here is something a person can clearly observe. He goes somewhere; he has not seen the king and does not know him, but he enters the king’s courtyard—only the courtyard, as though still outside the house. He sees ministers bowing to one man, without seeing who that man is. It is not that he has seen the man or knows him; as far as he is concerned, they are all alike. But he sees the very fact that many people are bowing to one person. That bowing inspires awe and fear in him. “Awe and fear will fall upon him.” Just seeing many ministers bow to one man inspires a greater sense of awe, fear, and holiness in a person. I do not

13:38 know whether anyone here has ever been to England, where you can see the soldiers near the palace of the... I do not know what it is called. It has a name. You see all the soldiers standing there—hundreds of soldiers—and they march and change the guard. It is quite a ceremony. Usually, even when you go there, you do not see the queen. You do not see the Queen of England. All you see are those soldiers in red with black hats, marching and carrying out the ceremony. That alone creates a certain sense of bittul. It is the last thing left in the world today of that kind of monarchy. Today we have no conception of monarchy, no real understanding of what it is. As the Frierdiker Rebbe once related, when Nicholas was killed in Russia and the whole system was overthrown—monarchy in Russia came to an end and the Communists took over—the students complained that they could no longer understand certain concepts in Chassidus. “We no longer have an analogy for kingship.” As long as Nicholas—or whatever his name was—was there, they had an analogy for kingship, some example that helped them understand what the analogies about a king meant. Today we have no such analogy. There, something of it still remains. Even that is nothing extraordinary. But at any rate, you see only the king’s courtyard, yet you see all sorts of people bowing and a whole ceremony taking place. That alone produces a feeling of awe and fear. It is an entirely external analogy, a simple, physical analogy. But I remember—and [unclear]—this was many years ago. There was a meeting in 770 about various matters that needed strengthening and correction. The Rebbe had delivered a very sharp sicha about the situation in 770 itself, about several things that needed to be corrected. One of them was talking during davening. Yes, people were talking during davening in 770. The Rebbe was deeply concerned about it. At one point a meeting was held to address the matter, with various resolutions and proposals. I remember one of the chassidim there speaking about it. He brought up this example from Tanya.

15:32 He said we have to understand, right? He repeated this example from Tanya. He said we need to realize what happens when a Jew comes in, a fremder, a stranger—a Jew who is not from Eretz Yisroel, right? A Jew who... I am speaking about the earlier days, before 27 Adar, when the Rebbe came to davening every day. So he said: A person who is not a Chabad chossid arrives and enters 770, a large shul. He does not see the Rebbe, because to get near the Rebbe you had to fight your way through, and it was very difficult. He enters 770. How does he come in? He comes in from the street, at the back of the shul. Now, if he sees people standing there in awe and fear because the Rebbe is present, that will inspire awe and fear in him too, and he will feel bittul toward the Rebbe. Even though he has not yet seen the Rebbe—it might take him several hours before he manages to see the Rebbe. It is a whole undertaking. Someone who does not yet know his way around 770 has to learn all the tricks: how to push through, how to get close, how to see. You could be there and not see anything at all.

17:21 But the very fact that he sees thousands of people standing in awe and self-nullification will have an effect on him. If, G-d forbid, he enters 770 while the Rebbe is there and sees bochurim and others talking among themselves—that is rebellion against the king. Do you remember how he cried out about this? “Rebellion against the king!” He was speaking then about this analogy in Tanya. So this is the explanation the Rebbe gives: when a person cannot see the king himself, there are two points. First, he is in the king’s courtyard, but from the courtyard he cannot recognize or see the king. That is external. And second, he sees people bowing to someone else. The Rebbe does not say, “bowing to the king,” but “bowing to someone else.” Why? For the same reason: he does not yet know who the king is. To him, the king is simply someone else. He does not yet know what a king is; he has not even begun to learn or understand it. Yes, but seeing everyone bow, he understands that something special is happening, and that itself inspires awe and fear in him. In the same way, the Alter Rebbe wants to bring this home to us. A person trains himself to look at the heavenly hosts and see this. He sees them bowing. He does not see what they are bowing to, because he does not see the Shechinah. He sees the sun’s movement, the motion of bowing. He is, as it were, in the courtyard, seeing some other person. He does not know to whom they are bowing, or what it is, or why they are bowing. That very motion inspires awe and fear in a person. This is the explanation the Rebbe gives here in the note. So, to understand the—the

19:15 new point, the Alter Rebbe’s explanation here in the note, we first need to explain something. What is the Alter Rebbe teaching us here? That a person should look at the world and the way it operates. Through that, he can see how the created beings are nullified before Hashem, and this will help him, too, to be nullified before his Creator. There is a story that can help us understand this in more detail. There are several stories on this subject. One is about Reb Zusha of Anipoli. Once, Reb Zusha went out into the street at night and stood looking at the stars. He contemplated them, and was overcome with such tremendous awe and fear that it affected his stomach. Afterward he became very ill—he began bleeding, a whole story. What happened? He saw stars. Was he moved simply because there were so many stars? Of course not. It was not merely that he looked at the stars; he saw the inner meaning of it. He contemplated the heavenly hosts and the whole question of whom they bow to. The self-nullification of those mighty heavenly bodies—this teaches us the point. There is another story, a particularly vivid illustration of the same idea. They tell of the chossid known as the Radatz, a chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash—[unclear]. His grandson related that when they were walking down the street and he saw, for example, a bicycle—yes, a bicycle—he would stop, look at it, and say, “Ah, the wonders of the Creator! The wonders of the Creator!” What were the wonders of the Creator here? That two

21:41 wheels could carry someone along. It was not something people were used to then. Right? That you could ride on two wheels without falling—that was astonishing, a wonder of the Creator. Now, someone else might laugh: what is so wondrous about that? It is simple! But there is a very deep point here. There are many more stories like this, in different forms and on different levels. But what is the point of these stories? What is the explanation? One more story before I explain. The Tzemach Tzedek: they say that whenever there was thunder—how do you say it in English? A thunderstorm—the Tzemach Tzedek would be startled, and sometimes he would even hide under the table out of fear. Do you think the Tzemach Tzedek was simply afraid of thunder? What do Chazal say? They say that thunder comes from above to awaken a person to yiras Shamayim. A loud noise naturally startles a person; a powerful clap of thunder brings a moment of fear. But it comes from above to awaken a feeling of yiras Shamayim. So look at what all these stories have in common. In short, when a person sees things in the world, where do they fit? The world operates in two ways: there is miraculous conduct and natural conduct. Something that is entirely beyond nature is an outright miracle. There a person has no doubt about what he is seeing: it is plainly a miracle, something beyond the natural order. Then there is the natural order, where the world goes on as usual. And there are things in between—many things that are neither miracles nor simply nature. They are not miraculous, yet they contain a particular element of Divine Providence. They are not beyond nature, but if you think about them, you can see a certain Divine Providence, something unusual, some particular sign of it. So there is a difference between a person who is coarse, who lives only in this world and cares only about this world, and another kind of person. The first person is unmoved. These things mean nothing to him; he sees nothing G-dly in them. He dismisses them. If there were a truly great miracle, he would say, “That cannot happen naturally; it is the hand of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” But until there is an unmistakable miracle, what will he say? “It is nothing.” He will not give it a thought. A person who is connected to G-dliness, who seeks Hakadosh Boruch Hu in everything and has spiritual sensitivity, does not need a miracle to see G-dliness. Whenever he encounters something in the world that is out of the ordinary, something in which he sees a measure of Divine Providence, he immediately connects it to G-dliness. He sees something G-dly in it. And this is what the Rebbe asks of us here, [unclear]: a person has to remember—that is, train himself

23:59 There is nature, the ordinary, and miracles. Say there is the natural order. Nature means that things carry on as they always have, without changing. But there are also things in between—many things that are neither miracles nor simply nature. They are not miraculous, yet there is a certain hashgachah pratis, Divine providence, in them. They are not above the natural order, but when you look closely, you see something unusual, some particular movement of hashgachah pratis. Yes. So there is a difference between a person who is coarse, who lives only in this world and cares only about this world, and someone else. The first person is not moved. These things mean nothing to him. He sees nothing G-dly in them. He makes nothing of them. If there were a truly great miracle, then he would say, “That can’t be—it’s the hand of Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” But as long as there is no outright, revealed miracle, what will he say? “It’s nothing.” He won’t even pay attention to it. But a person who is connected to G-dliness, who looks for Hakadosh Boruch Hu in everything, who has spiritual sensitivity, does not need a miracle to see G-dliness. Whenever something happens that is out of the ordinary, he sees a measure of hashgachah pratis in it and immediately connects it to G-dliness. He sees something G-dly there. And this is what the Rebbe is asking of us here: a person has to remember—that is, train himself—

25:38 to remember and take to heart that he should look at the world this way. He should train himself not to see only its external, material side, but to seek G-dliness in everything. Then even simple things, like the stars or the sun’s course, will stir a feeling of faith in him. Along these lines, the Rebbe explains [unclear]: a person gets up in the morning, and as soon as he wakes up, he thinks of the resurrection of the dead. This strengthens his faith in the resurrection of the dead. The Rebbe says in this text: a person wakes up and thinks he wants to keep sleeping. What does a coarse person think about when he wakes up? That he is tired; what kind of coffee he will drink, how he will arrange his day, what problems he has to deal with. But what should a person think about when he gets up in the morning? The resurrection of the dead. Why? Because getting up in the morning is specifically connected to the resurrection of the dead. What does waking from sleep have to do with dying? Nevertheless, a person with faith looks for meaning in every experience. It is a movement that immediately connects him to matters of faith. There is something of the resurrection of the dead here: I was asleep, in one state, and then I got up. That change immediately awakens in him the thought of the resurrection of the dead. It awakens his sense of being a Jew. This is what the Rebbe is explaining to us here as well: a person should live in such a way that looking at creation, at the world, awakens in him, in every matter, a feeling of

27:17 yiras Shamayim.