Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 45 - Part 1

00:00 Speaker 1 We’re learning Tanya, chapter 45. Before the summer, we finished chapter 44, and now we’re going to begin chapter 45. First of all, before we go inside, we need to understand how the subjects the Alter Rebbe comes to explain in this chapter follow from what came before. As all the bochurim remember, throughout the recent chapters, beginning with chapter 41, the Alter Rebbe explains in detail how a person comes to awaken love and fear. In chapter 40, the Alter Rebbe quoted the statement of our Sages: “Torah without fear and love does not ascend on high.” Torah without love and fear does not rise upward. He gave the analogy of a bird and its wings: just as a bird cannot fly without wings, so too Torah and mitzvos cannot ascend without wings. The two wings are right and left, kindness and severity, love and fear. Love of Hashem and fear of Hashem are the wings through which all the Torah and mitzvos a person performs ascend on high and bring about a revelation of G-dliness—not merely drawing down kindness itself, but bringing it into revelation. We explained all this at length in those chapters, as the Alter Rebbe did through chapter 40. In chapter 41, the Alter Rebbe began explaining in detail how a person awakens love and how a person awakens fear, what must come first and what comes afterward. He explains fear in one way, love in another, and discusses a number of matters. He spoke about several levels of love, including ahavah rabbah and ahavas olam. And he spoke about several levels of fear, lower fear and higher fear, with several levels within those as well. In the last chapter we learned before the summer, chapter 44, he also spoke about a special kind of love: the love of “My soul, I desire You”

02:37 Speaker 1 and the love of “like a son who strives.” The Alter Rebbe explained the special qualities of these forms of love. That was the point of the chapters we’ve learned so far. In chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe presents new advice, an entirely new idea. This is a new approach, a new explanation. It is not a continuation of the previous chapters; it is a new and distinctive way for a person to awaken love and fear. In fact, when we look inside the chapter, it seems at first glance to have nothing to do with love and fear. When you learn chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe begins discussing a third matter—neither love nor fear. What is this third path? The attribute of compassion. We know that we have three forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and the three forefathers represent three paths in serving Hashem. Avraham’s attribute was love: “Avraham, who loves Me.” Yitzchak’s attribute was fear: “The Fear of Yitzchak was with me.” And Yaakov’s attribute was compassion. So Hashem can be served through all three paths. A person can serve Hashem by contemplating and cultivating love of Hashem; a person can serve Hashem by contemplating and cultivating fear; and a person can serve Hashem by contemplating and cultivating compassion. That, too, is a path in serving Hashem. So when we look at the wording inside chapter 45, it sounds as though the Alter Rebbe is introducing a new path in divine service: serving Hashem by cultivating compassion. The Alter Rebbe has not spoken about this at all until now. It is a new subject, because until now he has spoken about love and fear, not about compassion at all. It is so new that some chassidim say this is precisely why the Alter Rebbe begins chapter

04:47 Speaker 1 45 without a vav. We know that most chapters of Tanya begin with a vav. I haven’t checked exactly, but most chapters of Tanya begin with a vav. I believe it says that only nine chapters in the entire Tanya begin without one. Huh? What did you do? You checked how many? Don’t check now. Check afterward. Yes, I believe the Rebbe writes that ten chapters begin without a vav. And here we see only nine. We would have to say the Rebbe meant ten. This also connects with the weekly parsha: the Rebbe writes that ten parshiyos in the Torah begin without a vav. Just as ten parshiyos in the Written Torah begin without a vav, so too ten sections of Tanya—ten chapters of Tanya—begin without a vav. The problem is that in Chumash it seems to be the same story: there, too, it appears to be nine, not ten. I don’t know why I brought this up. These are the Rebbe’s words. So perhaps we need to… yes. In any case, there is a whole question to investigate here. In short, we won’t get into it now. Another time. Let’s get to the point. So here, in chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe begins: “There is yet another direct path before a person.” That emphasizes that it is a path—another path, a different path. What is the difference? Until now we’ve spoken about love and fear, but now we’re speaking about compassion. We’ll see it inside. What does it mean to serve Hashem by cultivating compassion? There is a problem, though. What is the problem? The problem is that this whole chapter—all these chapters—are a continuation, as we said. They are all based on that statement of our Sages: “Torah without fear and love does not ascend on high.” It is like a bird with two wings, one wing of love and one of fear, which lift all

07:27 Speaker 1 Torah and mitzvos. We don’t see a bird with three wings. A bird has only two wings. And it is the same in serving Hashem. What are the two wings in divine service? Love and fear. They are what enable our service of Hashem to ascend on high. What’s more, look at the beginning of Tanya, where the Alter Rebbe first explains Torah and mitzvos, in chapter 4. There he explains that there are 248 positive mitzvos and 365 prohibitions, “turn away from evil and do good.” Love relates to all 248 positive mitzvos; fear relates to all 365 prohibitions. Where does compassion fit in? So what does it mean that a new subject, compassion, suddenly appears here? It’s not that compassion has no place in divine service. It does. But the Alter Rebbe did not write Tanya simply to explain assorted aspects of divine service. He did not come to tell us stories and discuss one thing after another. Tanya is a book in which the Alter Rebbe proceeds in an orderly way, explaining how a person serves Hashem, each person according to his ability, and how to reach the level of a beinoni. And now we come to love and fear, because they are the gateway to fulfilling the rest. So why does the Alter Rebbe suddenly begin discussing compassion in chapter 45? When we look carefully and study the chapter more deeply, we’ll see that this is actually a mistake. In chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe is also speaking about love and fear. It’s a short chapter, but we need to delve into it. When we look closely, we’ll see that chapter 45 is not about a different subject. The Alter Rebbe continues to speak about love and fear, in connection with the previous chapters. Now the Alter Rebbe

09:25 Speaker 1 has discussed several ways to awaken love. In chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe continues speaking about awakening love. How? How do we awaken love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Through compassion. So it does not mean that this chapter is about a new path in divine service, serving Hashem out of compassion. We are still discussing what we discussed earlier: how to awaken love of Hashem. In the previous chapters, the Alter Rebbe gave several suggestions for attaining love of Hashem: by contemplating the idea of calling Him “our Father”; by contemplating the idea of “My soul, I desire You”; and by contemplating the greatness of Hashem. He isn’t studying the greatness of Hashem? Nu, Shlomo. The greatness of Hashem as He fills all worlds. The Alter Rebbe explained all these things—several subjects for contemplation through which to attain love of Hashem. Then, in chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe says there is another way to awaken love of Hashem: through compassion. Through the attribute of compassion, a person comes to awaken love. The Alter Rebbe brings this out right at the end of the chapter. In its last line, he quotes the verse, “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham.” The Alter Rebbe also quoted this verse earlier. In which chapter? Who knows? Nu. Chapter 32. Very good. In chapter 32, the Alter Rebbe also quoted the verse “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham.” Another chapter, too. The Alter Rebbe brought up this idea of “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham.” What does it mean? Yaakov represents compassion, and Avraham represents love. “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham” means that compassion redeems, liberates, and brings out the love imprisoned within the body, in a state of confinement. Through compassion, love is awakened. There, in chapter 32, he spoke about this in connection with Ahavas Yisroel.

11:22 Speaker 1 Now, when you have compassion for your friend, you can’t hate him. On the contrary, it removes the hatred and awakens love. Here the Alter Rebbe is speaking in the context of love for Hashem. By awakening compassion—compassion for what?—you can accomplish that. Compassion is a way to awaken love. We need to understand how. We’ll see as the chapter continues how it works. But according to this, chapter 45 isn’t about the Alter Rebbe moving on to an entirely different subject, a new subject called compassion. The Alter Rebbe still wants to bring the beinoni to a point where, in his service of Hashem, he has love for Hashem and feels it in his heart. There is a new way to do that, one that isn’t through contemplation. Until now, the way to awaken love for Hashem has been through contemplation. The Alter Rebbe says there’s another way to awaken love for Hashem: through compassion. We’ll now see in the chapter how compassion awakens love for Hashem. Just one more point—this is a fundamental point, a major principle for understanding what’s coming in chapter 45. Yes?

12:23 Speaker 2 What does it mean that it starts with a vav?

12:26 Speaker 1 That it...?

12:27 Speaker 2 Maybe it’s hidden in the oral [unclear]? In the dates.

12:32 Speaker 1 Look, it’s a type of love and fear, but it’s a new type. If it were just another contemplation, then it would have had a vav. It wouldn’t have been different. Chapter 41 gave one contemplation; chapter 42 gave another; chapter 43 another, and chapter 44 another. Each chapter had another contemplation. There’s something to that. It was all the same approach, the approach of contemplation. The only question was: What are you contemplating—this subject or that subject? Chapter 45 is something new, because it isn’t the approach of contemplation; it’s the approach of compassion. It’s a different kind of approach. But the goal is still to awaken love. It’s just a new kind of approach, a new way to awaken love. But it’s all for the purpose of awakening love. Yes, what did you want to ask?

13:24 Speaker 2 Do you mean it happens automatically, or that you actually think about it?

13:30 Speaker 1 One moment, we’ll see that inside. A very good question. Yes, a good question. We haven’t begun learning the chapter yet, so we don’t know. But it’s a good question. What does this compassion mean? Does compassion for oneself arise on its own? That’s something we really need to think about. So let’s begin learning a little of the chapter inside.

13:50 Speaker 2 Regarding the count of chapters that don’t begin with a vav, you could simply say that in chapter 46 the Alter Rebbe didn’t want to begin with the word “yeish,” so he put in the vav. But really, that’s...

14:06 Speaker 1 Who’s heard about that vav? Eh? There really is such a thing. It’s printed in Lishmoa Ozen. I didn’t actually want to get into this, but since you mentioned it: There’s a book called Lishmoa Ozen, written by a chossid named Reb Zalman Duchman. He would write his stories to the Rebbe, and the Rebbe commented on them. In one of the stories, he writes that his grandfather, Reb Mordechai Yoel Duchman, was a chossid of the Tzemach Tzedek. Before he passed away, he asked his children that he wanted all his descendants, besides saying Tehillim for the letters of the name Mordechai Yoel, also to recite Tanya according to the letters of his name. His name was Mordechai Yoel, so he asked them to recite the chapters of Tanya beginning with mem, reish, daled, chof, yud—the letters of Mordechai Yoel. They told him there was no chapter in Tanya beginning with yud. So he told them that chapter 46—chapter 46, in fact, also introduces a new approach to serving Hashem. From chapter 46 onward, which we haven’t learned yet, a new approach begins. And the Alter Rebbe actually wanted to begin chapter 46 without the vav: “There is a straight path before a person.” How does it go? “There is, there is a straight path before a person.” The Alter Rebbe wanted to begin without the vav, but because that would make the word “yeish” the first word of the chapter, he added a vav. That’s what Reb Mordechai said. So chapter 46 counts as though it begins with yud, and you can recite it for the letter yud. That’s what Reb Mordechai said. So there is a source for it. And if you count that letter, there really are ten chapters that begin with a vav. Eh?

16:05 Speaker 2 In the Tanach?

16:06 Speaker 1 In the Tanach, that’s the story. We’ll get to the Tanach when we get to Igeres Hakodesh. In the Tanach the problem is the opposite: In the Torah there are eleven parshiyos that begin with a vav. The Rebbe writes ten—eleven. So one could say, as some want to suggest, that since the Rambam writes “Ve’eileh Pekudei” in... in the Rambam’s laws, somewhere in the Rambam, I think—he writes “Parshas Ve’eileh Pekudei.” That indicates there is a version of the Tanach in which it begins with a vav, which would leave ten. Yes. So in Tanya there’s one version like that, and together it works out to ten. All right, first things first: Let’s begin learning the chapter. Chapter 45: “There is yet another straight path before a person.” The Alter Rebbe says there is another new path, another way. When the Alter Rebbe calls it a “straight path,” he means a straightforward path, one without many complications—a path that goes smoothly. “Before a person, to engage in Torah and mitzvos for their own sake”—to reach a point where his engagement in Torah and mitzvos is for their own sake. What does it mean to engage in Torah and mitzvos for their own sake? It’s what we said: “Torah without fear and love does not soar upward.” Learning Torah for its own sake, as the Alter Rebbe writes in chapter 5 of Tanya, means “to bind his soul to Hashem.” His Torah study and his performance of mitzvos should be accompanied by an intention and a feeling of love and fear, to be attached to G-dliness. That’s what the Alter Rebbe means here too. For his engagement in Torah and mitzvos to be for their own sake, love and fear need to be awakened within him. So there is another straight path before a person to awaken this, so that his Torah and mitzvos will be for their own sake: “through the attribute of our forefather Yaakov, peace be upon him.” How do we reach that point? By making use of the attribute of our forefather Yaakov, peace be upon him, which is

18:25 Speaker 1 the attribute of compassion. Our forefather Yaakov’s attribute is compassion. As we said earlier, Avraham is chessed, Yitzchak is gevurah and fear, and Yaakov’s attribute is compassion, the middle line. What is the significance of the precise wording, “a straight path before a person”? The Alter Rebbe doesn’t use flowery language. In Tanya, every word is precise. We’ve said many times that it’s like the Written Torah. The Alter Rebbe doesn’t just use nice-sounding expressions. The wording is beautiful, certainly, but why does the Alter Rebbe use this particular wording here? “A straight path before a person.” That brings us to the word “person”—ish. It makes sense, because ish is associated with the middos. As is known in Chassidus, there are four terms for a person: adam, ish, gever, and enosh. Ish is the term associated with the middos. So “a straight path before a person” refers to the middos. Since we’re speaking here about love, fear, and compassion, which are middos, the term ish is fitting. It refers to someone seeking to work on his middos and bring them to perfection. Why the phrase “a straight path before a person”? There’s an explanation from the Rebbe’s father, Reb Levi Yitzchak. Reb Levi Yitzchak says that the word “straight” is especially fitting here, in this chapter and on this subject, because we’re speaking about the attribute of compassion. Compassion is the middle line, and the distinctive quality of the middle line is that it’s straight. The difference between the right line, the left line, and the middle line is that the right line goes toward the right—it isn’t straight, it goes off to the side. And the left line isn’t straight either. Which line can be called straight? Specifically the attribute of tiferes, Yaakov’s attribute, compassion. It is the central bar that extends from one end to the other. That’s why the Alter Rebbe uses this wording specifically here, when speaking about the...

20:21 Speaker 1 which is connected with the attribute of compassion, so the Alter Rebbe calls it a straight path. Later, when you get to chapter 46, you’ll have a question: why does the Alter Rebbe also write “a straight path” in chapter 46? But I don’t have to answer that here. We can wait until chapter 46, and then I’ll have to look for an answer. In any case, we’ve reached chapter 45, and this explains why the Alter Rebbe specifically wrote “a straight path”: because this is the idea of the attribute of compassion. Compassion is straight—“the upright will behold His face”—extending from one extreme to the other, from the very highest to the very lowest. And since we’ve mentioned this, we can connect it to Pesach as well. We’re now in the period before the holiday, right? Thirty days before the holiday, so we already need to connect things to Pesach. Chassidus explains—and we’ll get to abundant compassion and we’ll get to Pesach—how is this work of compassion connected to Pesach? At the Seder, we see something interesting: we put down the matzos and then place the Seder plate on top. And how do we arrange the Seder plate? On the right we put the shank bone, on the left the egg, and in the middle the maror. Then, lower down, on the right we put the charoses, on the left the karpas, and at the bottom the chazeres. What’s the idea? It’s the three lines, right? The right line, the left line, and the middle line. The shank bone is on the right, which is connected with chesed. The egg is connected with the left, with gevurah. These correspond to the Pesach offering and the Chagigah offering, chesed and gevurah. Now isn’t the time to explain why that is

22:17 Speaker 1 so. Then there are the charoses and karpas as well. Charoses is connected with the right line, right? It’s sweet and so on; that’s the right. And for karpas we use onion, which is associated with gevurah. It’s sharp—the attribute of the left, the line of gevurah. And the maror in the middle represents compassion. Because bitterness arouses compassion. Both the maror and the chazeres are on the middle line, because the middle line is the attribute of compassion. And how is compassion aroused? As we’ll now learn in the chapter, through bitterness: when a person arouses bitterness within himself over his distance from G-dliness, that in turn arouses abundant compassion. So that’s why the maror is in the middle line. This is the idea of a straight path, the straight line that reaches from the very highest to the very lowest. In any case, that’s the precision in the Alter Rebbe’s wording here: “a straight path before a person.” He says: “To engage in Torah and mitzvos for their own sake through the attribute of our forefather Yaakov, a"h, which is the attribute of compassion: first to arouse in his thoughts abundant compassion before Hashem for the spark of G-dliness that gives life to his soul.” How does one arouse compassion? By first arousing in his thoughts abundant compassion before Hashem, “for the spark of G-dliness that gives life to his soul.” The compassion should be for his own soul, for the spark that gives life to his soul, which descended from the Life of life Himself, blessed be He: “Who fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds, before Whom all is considered as nothing, and it became clothed in the skin of the serpent, utterly distant from the light of the King’s countenance.” That is what one should arouse compassion for: his spark of G-dliness, which descended from the very highest to the very lowest. Again, the idea of straightness is being emphasized here: the compassion is precisely for that spark, which descended from the very highest. He says it descended from the Life of

24:23 Speaker 1 life, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, all the way down to the very lowest—to a state of distance from Hashem’s countenance. Now, there’s a lot to explain here: what exactly calls for compassion, the wording, the details, and why compassion is needed. And we need to answer Saadia’s [?] question: what does “abundant compassion” mean? Does it mean that Hakadosh Boruch Hu should have compassion, or that the person should have compassion? These are all questions we need to explain, with Hashem’s help. We’ll leave that for the next lesson.