Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 43 - Part 7

00:00 Page 61b, at the bottom, three lines from the bottom. Here the Alter Rebbe is speaking about love, which has two general levels. Just as we said that fear has two general levels, lower fear and higher fear, love also has two general levels: ahavas olam and ahavah rabbah. Ahavah rabbah is a love that comes from Above as a gift, after a person has perfected his avodah, even after he has perfected his fear. Then he is given ahavah rabbah from Above. Ahavas olam, by contrast, is a love that comes through contemplating the worlds and their nullification before G-dliness. The author of the Tanya explained that a person contemplates this love. What does that mean? He contemplates memalei kol almin, then sovev kol almin, and then the idea that “all is considered as nothing before Him”—the nullification of all the worlds before Hakadosh Boruch Hu, their nullification before their Creator—and also the longing of the soul. What will all this contemplation accomplish? The love in his soul will turn away from all matters of this world. He will take no pleasure in anything else; his love will be directed neither toward physical things nor toward spiritual things. All his love and pleasure will be for G-dliness alone. For all the worlds are utterly nullified before G-dliness. There is no comparison at all between all the worlds and the Ein Sof. The disparity is as great as that between absolute nothingness and eternal life. Relative to eternal life, absolute nothingness has no relationship whatsoever. You cannot even say that it is “considered as nothing.” One is eternal life, and the other is absolute nothingness. It amounts to nothing. So once a person recognizes that everything in this world is absolute nothingness,

02:12 while G-dliness is eternal life, he will certainly leave behind every desire, every pleasure, and every love for the things of this world, and direct his love solely toward G-dliness. That is why he cited the verse, “Whom have I in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing on earth.” We explained in the previous class that he is not speaking here about the higher level of “Whom have I in heaven?” discussed in the sefarim. That is something else entirely: not wanting even revelations of G-dliness. No, that is not what we mean here. Here we are speaking in a straightforward sense: he wants no other pleasure, whether physical or spiritual. What does “spiritual” mean in the context of this world? Pleasure in intellectual pursuits, or in music, or in emotions. There is pleasure in all sorts of spiritual things as well. He wants no pleasure, physical or spiritual, but G-dliness alone. The Alter Rebbe continues here, on page 61b, three lines from the bottom: “And even one whose soul’s capacity for love is not invested at all in any physical or spiritual pleasure.” Even a person whose soul’s capacity for love is not directed toward anything in this world, toward any physical or spiritual pleasure. There are people, as the Alter Rebbe mentioned earlier, in chapter 16, who are called cold by nature. Such a person is cold-tempered; he is not someone who pursues pleasure. He takes no particular pleasure in anything. He has no geshmak in physical things. He is not someone who loves eating and things like that, and he does not love other things either. He takes no pleasure in them; his nature is cold, and so his capacity for love is not invested in anything. “And even one whose soul’s capacity for love is not invested at all in any physical or spiritual pleasure.” The

04:01 Alter Rebbe says that even then—although, seemingly, everything we said before would not apply. The previous explanation, seemingly, concerned a person who already has a capacity for love, but whose love is clothed in things of this world. His love is directed toward physical things, or perhaps toward something spiritual. So he needs to change what his love is clothed in. He needs to take that love, which is now directed toward something in this world, and use that very same love for G-dliness. But what happens with a person who has no love? He is not a loving person. He is not the kind of person whose natural disposition is one of love. He is a colder person, and his capacity for love is not well developed. So, seemingly, the whole idea of loving Hashem would not apply to him. The Alter Rebbe says that even such a person “can inflame his soul with fiery sparks and a mighty flame toward Hashem.” He, too, can kindle his soul with a fierce flame of love for Hashem. He, too, can reach tremendous enthusiasm in his love for Hashem through the contemplation mentioned above. He, too, can awaken it by contemplating what we discussed earlier: G-dliness, love of Hashem, memalei kol almin and sovev kol almin, and how “all is considered as nothing before Him.” He, too, will be stirred to great love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In other words, it is not necessary for him to have a visibly active capacity for love. He does not have to love eating, or games, or other things, even spiritual things, in order to have love for Hashem. It is not the case that a person can reach love for Hashem only if his capacity for love has already been expressed toward other things. Even someone who, by nature, has no love for anything physical or spiritual will awaken love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu through the very act of contemplating G-dliness—how “all is considered as nothing before Him,” and everything else we discussed earlier. He, too, will awaken that love.

05:46 Why? The explanation is that, ultimately, a person does have a capacity for love in his soul. Love is one of the attributes of the soul. Every person has ten powers of the soul, and love is one of those powers. It may be, however, that a person’s natural disposition is toward gevurah. His capacity for love is not the attribute active in his daily life. He is not a loving type of person; he is more inclined toward gevurah or other attributes. So he may not have used his capacity for love for anything in this world. But that does not mean, G-d forbid, that he lacks the capacity for love. It is there; he simply has not used it. And since it is there—and as we have learned many times, the Alter Rebbe has said repeatedly: What develops the emotions? What gives rise to them? The intellect: thought, contemplation, chochmah, binah, and daas. That is what brings the emotions to light. So when he contemplates love for Hashem, love is awakened in him as well. This is what the Alter Rebbe

07:29 explains here. In other words, to reach love for Hashem, your love does not have to be openly active already, with contemplation serving only to redirect it. There are two aspects, two levels. On one level, a person already has an active love, but his love is directed toward something in this world. He needs to take that love and use it for G-dliness. That is one level. How does he do it? By contemplating how all the physical things he loves—and all spiritual things, too—are utterly nothing, entirely insignificant. Then he will lose his geshmak in everything belonging to this world, and all his geshmak, all his love, will be directed solely toward G-dliness.

08:15 But there is another level. A person who has no love for the things of this world can also awaken this love for Hashem. Why? Because, after all, the capacity for love exists in the soul. It just hasn’t been stirred in him; nothing has awakened it. Through contemplating the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—how everything before Him is considered as nothing—love can ignite in him too, like fiery flames, a flame of G-d, a flame reaching heaven. So anyone can awaken this love. Even someone who is cold by nature can reach it, because his power lies in his mind, because his power lies in his mind. What does that mean? It means that his power lies in his mind. The Tzemach Tzedek points here to the end of chapter 44. At the end of chapter 44, the Alter Rebbe writes—even a person who has a hidden love, whose hidden love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu shines within him because it is an inheritance from our forefathers. So he already has a love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This hidden love is even revealed in him. Nevertheless, this hidden love... The Rebbe explained further in chapter 44 the love of “for You are our Father,” or the love of “for You are our soul”—the different kinds of love a Jew has by nature, which may also shine openly within him. The Alter Rebbe says at the end of chapter 44 that, nevertheless, a Jew must also work to develop a love born of contemplation. A person cannot say, “I can be satisfied with my hidden love because I’m a Jew. I feel that ‘You are our Father,’ or I feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is ‘our soul.’ So I have

10:01 love for Hashem already. I have love for Hashem as an inheritance.” For some Jews, that inheritance shines openly. They feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is their Father, and that gives them delight and vitality in the mitzvos. They feel that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is their very life, and that gives them delight in G-dliness—all from the natural, hidden love inherited from our forefathers. The Alter Rebbe says that this is not enough. A person needs to work at it. He must also contemplate the greatness of Hashem: how He fills all worlds, how He encompasses all worlds, and how everything before Him is considered as nothing. He must specifically contemplate G-dliness. Why? So that the love will be.