Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 45 - Part 5

00:00 Speaker 1 A review of chapter 45. It’s a short chapter. We’ll review chapter 45 and add a few points we haven’t explained yet, to complete what we discussed before Pesach. Then, if there’s time today, we’ll begin chapter 46. If not, with Hashem’s help we’ll begin it in the next class. In chapter 45, the Alter Rebbe speaks about Yaakov’s attribute, the attribute of compassion. The Alter Rebbe begins by saying that there is another path, a straightforward path for a person, a way to arouse oneself to serve Hashem and fulfill Torah and mitzvos for their own sake. That’s the whole point the Alter Rebbe has been discussing in these chapters. As we said, from chapter 40 onward the Alter Rebbe explained that Torah and mitzvos must be for their own sake. What does that mean? They must also have an element of love and awe. So the Alter Rebbe says in chapter 45 that there is another straightforward path: to arouse Yaakov’s attribute. Kindness and love are Avraham’s attributes. Strength and awe are Yitzchak’s attributes. But there is a third attribute, tiferes, Yaakov’s attribute, which is compassion. And in this chapter the Alter Rebbe explains how one can serve Hashem through the attribute of compassion. What does that involve? The Alter Rebbe explains that a person arouses great compassion for his soul, for his G-dly soul. To arouse compassion for the G-dly soul, one must think about two things: Where was it before? What lofty level was it on? And, on the other hand, where is it now? What low level is it on? It is precisely by considering these two extremes that compassion is aroused. So he contemplates the soul’s greatness: that it is truly a part of G-d above, and that it was

02:02 Speaker 1 above in Gan Eden. It was bound up with the Life of life, the blessed Ein Sof, with all the details the Alter Rebbe explained about the soul’s great advantage in being bound to the Ein Sof, the Life of life. That is one side. On the other hand, the soul descended. And where did it descend? Into a body. He speaks about several aspects of this descent. There is the descent into this world, into a world that is the very lowest of the kelipos. There is the descent itself—even while it is still in [unclear], that too is a descent. Then there is the descent into this world, the lowest of the kelipos, and into a physical body, a “serpent’s skin.” And beyond that, there are also a person’s thoughts, speech, and actions, through which he brings the Shechinah into exile when he transgresses, whether in action, speech, or thought. Through this, “the King is bound in the tresses”: he takes the King—the soul, which is a part of G-d above—and brings it down to a place of kelipos. Contemplating this will arouse great compassion in him for the soul. And not only for the soul, but also for G-dliness, for the Shechinah. To arouse compassion for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the soul are one, yet through his conduct they are in exile among the kelipos. When he arouses great compassion, it gives him the desire to leave exile and lift them out of exile. And how does one lift the soul out of exile? How does one take the soul out of exile and reconnect it with the Ein Sof? How does one turn the descent into a descent for the sake of ascent, so that the soul rises from exile to connect once again with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? The Alter Rebbe explains in the second half of the chapter that this is through Torah and mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe

03:55 Speaker 1 explains in the second half of the chapter—the Alter Rebbe brings the story of Yaakov and Rachel to explain great compassion and what must be done to leave exile and the state of descent. So he brings the story of Yaakov and Rachel. Yaakov, after all, represents the attribute of compassion. So in the story of Yaakov and Rachel, we see what serving Hashem through compassion should look like. When Yaakov saw Rachel, what does it say he did? He cried when he saw her: “He raised his voice and wept.” There was weeping here, and not just weeping. The wording is “he raised his voice.” He raised his voice and cried—an expression of aroused compassion. Then “Yaakov kissed Rachel.” The Alter Rebbe explains here in the chapter what this means in our service of Hashem. Rachel refers to Knesses Yisroel, the collective soul of the Jewish people. Rachel is the sefirah of malchus, Knesses Yisroel. Yaakov represents the attribute of compassion. So Yaakov Avinu arouses compassion for the souls of the Jewish people. And all the service of Hashem we do now through compassion—when a person today arouses great compassion for himself, for his soul, for the G-dly part within him, for Hakadosh Boruch Hu Who is in exile—all of this we inherited from Yaakov Avinu. What Yaakov Avinu accomplished through his service on the day he met Rachel gives us the strength for it today. Everything the Avos did gave us the strength; their actions were a sign. What does that mean? “The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.” So the kiss Yaakov gave Rachel and the tears he shed are the service we’re discussing in this chapter. What is the weeping? Arousing great compassion. And what does “he raised his voice” mean? It doesn’t simply say “he wept.”

05:51 Speaker 1 It says “he raised his voice.” Why use that wording? The Alter Rebbe explains that Yaakov Avinu did not merely arouse compassion. He “raised his voice” upward to draw down not just compassion, but higher compassion—the level of “Father of mercies.” What does that mean? It is explained in the sefarim that compassion has many levels. Broadly speaking, there are two levels. There is compassion as it exists in Atzilus, which is Yaakov’s attribute. Yaakov Avinu represents the attribute of compassion in Atzilus. But there is a higher compassion: compassion in keser. Compassion in keser is great compassion. It is not ordinary compassion, but great compassion. Broadly speaking, these are the two expressions found in the siddur: “merciful Father” and “Father of mercies.” “Merciful Father” is a lower level, compassion in Atzilus, while “Father of mercies” is great compassion as it exists in keser. We are now right in the period of Sefiras HaOmer, and these are the days of tiferes. We just had the day of tiferes shebetiferes. This relates to the attribute of tiferes, the attribute of compassion, for tiferes reaches up to keser. As is known, tiferes is the middle line, and the middle line has a higher source than all the sefiros: it is rooted in the innermost dimension of keser. That is the meaning of tiferes being compassion. But because tiferes has its source in the middle line, whose root is in keser, it is great compassion, for its innermost root is in keser. So the verse says of Yaakov Avinu, “He raised his voice.” Yaakov Avinu was not content to draw down ordinary compassion for the Jewish people—compassion based on reason, compassion in Atzilus. He wanted to draw down great compassion for the soul from a still higher level. Why? To lift it out of exile. When a person has undergone a descent, ordinary compassion is enough. But when the descent is great, with many descents and falls, a very great descent, then one needs

07:53 Speaker 1 For the Jewish people, too, compassion must be drawn down on a higher level. Ordinary compassion is not enough; specifically, abundant compassion is needed. That is what our forefather Yaakov accomplished: “He raised his voice.” He elevated compassion. He did not make do with his own compassion, but drew down abundant compassion from the source of Tiferes in Keser. And what did he accomplish? “And he wept”—he drew down abundant compassion from that level. Where did he draw it down to? To the souls of the Jewish people below, to lift them out of exile. What, then, is the meaning of the kiss? The Alter Rebbe says that a kiss is an expression of love. Just as in the physical sense—what is a kiss? It is a revelation of love, a cleaving of spirit to spirit between two people. They want to show their affection, their bond, their closeness—this cleaving of spirit to spirit. How do they show their bond? Through a kiss. In other words, the kiss is the outward expression of that cleaving of spirit to spirit. It shows that one person is connected to the other, loves him, feels affection for him. The same is true regarding Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the collective soul of the Jewish people, represented here by Yaakov and Rachel. Rachel represents the collective soul of the Jewish people, and Yaakov represents, so to speak, a level of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: the attribute of compassion Above. So this is the meaning of Yaakov kissing Rachel: union, a cleaving of spirit to spirit. What does that cleaving mean in our avodah? The Alter Rebbe says it is Torah. “The word of Hashem—this is halachah,” yes, through Torah study. When a person studies Torah aloud, speaking the word of Hashem, which is halachah, his soul becomes bound to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In other words, when a person studies Torah, he brings it out with his mouth, like a kiss. What is a kiss? It is an outward act, something you do with your mouth, but it

09:52 Speaker 1 expresses something deeper, something from the soul. The same is true here. How does a Jew express his love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for a Jew? By bringing the pearls of Hakadosh Boruch Hu out with his mouth: “The word of Hashem—this is halachah.” A person’s speech then becomes bound to the speech Above—a kiss, kisses. For when a person moves his mouth down here and studies, Hakadosh Boruch Hu studies opposite him Above. So there is an embrace—no, not an embrace, a kiss. It is a union and a cleaving of spirit to spirit, as a Jew connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the meaning of the kiss. The Alter Rebbe then goes on to discuss thought and action, and the performance of a mitzvah. In other words, it is not only Torah. Torah is the kiss, but there are also mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe says that a mitzvah in general, and the mitzvah of tzedakah in particular, is an embrace. In a relationship there is kissing and there is embracing. The embrace is the aspect of kabbolas ol. What is an embrace? An embrace is an action. Literally, you embrace with your arms, especially the right arm: “And His right hand embraces me.” In our avodah, this is the avodah of tzedakah and kindness. All the mitzvos are called tzedakah, and this applies particularly to acts of kindness and tzedakah. Kindness is associated with the right hand, the Alter Rebbe says, and this is avodah in the form of an embrace: “And His right hand embraces me.” Then the Alter Rebbe adds something else. We will get into the more complicated part in a moment. I am just giving the brief version aloud. Then the Alter Rebbe adds something else. Not the brief version—a summary. Yes, then the Alter Rebbe

11:44 Speaker 1 says something else. After bringing up the embrace, which refers to the performance of mitzvos, particularly tzedakah, the Alter Rebbe returns to the subject of kisses. The Alter Rebbe writes: “And engaging in Torah through speech, thought and in-depth study is also literally of the level of kisses.” When you study Torah aloud, and not only aloud but in depth, with thought and careful analysis, the Alter Rebbe says that this is literally of the level of kisses. But he already spoke about kisses earlier. Why does he return to it? We need to understand that. In any case, the Alter Rebbe comes back to it. But there is a difference. Earlier, the Alter Rebbe spoke about saying, “The word of Hashem—this is halachah,” and said that speaking halachah is of the level of kisses. Here, the Alter Rebbe speaks about thought and in-depth study. These are two different things. Earlier, he was talking about studying Torah as halachah, a clear-cut ruling, not in-depth analysis. You study the laws of sukkah, the halachos of sukkah. You study halachos, the halachos of Shulchan Aruch. That, too, is called kisses. Now the Alter Rebbe adds: not the study of halachah, but in-depth study. That is something else, studying a subject in depth. It is an entirely different way of studying. But the Alter Rebbe says that this, too, is literally kisses. Still, the order here is not clear. He began with kisses, then moved on to an embrace, and then returned to kisses. That needs to be understood. In any case, the Alter Rebbe concludes the chapter by saying that through arousing abundant compassion, which then leads to the actions of embracing and kissing—Torah and mitzvos, as we have just said—one can come to arouse love in the purity of one’s heart, as it is written, “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham.” Through compassion, we will then also reach love. That is,

13:26 Speaker 1 the order begins with compassion, with Yaakov. But compassion does not remain merely compassion; from compassion one also comes to love, for “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham”—compassion leads to love. We see this in practice: when a person feels compassion for someone else, love follows that compassion, as the Alter Rebbe wrote in chapter 32. He wrote there about coming to Ahavas Yisroel: when a person feels compassion for another Jew, that compassion removes hatred and arouses love between one friend and another. When you arouse abundant compassion, your compassion for your friend removes the hatred and arouses love. That is human nature. There, too, he cites this verse, “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham”: the attribute of compassion arouses the attribute of kindness. So here, too, we say the same thing: I can come to love Hashem because arousing compassion for my soul itself stirs the heart. What does “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham” mean? It is a verse. The verse says, “Therefore, so says Hashem concerning the house of Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham.” Here it is quoted as “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham,” without “the house of Yaakov.” What does “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham” mean? The Midrash asks: Where do we see in history, in Chumash, a story in which Yaakov redeemed Avraham? Where have we seen such a thing? Nowhere in Chumash do we see Yaakov redeeming Avraham. When our forefather Avraham passed away, our forefather Yaakov was barely thirteen or fifteen years old, depending on the differing opinions. But no older than that. We do not find any story in Chumash of Yaakov redeeming Avraham. So the Midrash tells a story about this: when our forefather Yaakov—when our forefather Avraham was in Ur Kasdim, yes, then

15:12 Speaker 1 So the angels asked that he be saved from the fire after Nimrod threw him into the fiery furnace. They asked that Avraham be saved in his own merit, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu said that was not enough. Then they asked that he be saved in Yitzchak’s merit, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu said that was not enough. Then they said, “In Yaakov’s merit,” and Hakadosh Boruch Hu said, “In Yaakov’s merit I will take him out of the fiery furnace.” That is the meaning of “To Yaakov, who redeemed Avraham”: Avraham Avinu was saved from the fiery furnace in Yaakov’s merit. That is the Midrash. What does it mean? The Alter Rebbe explains here that Yaakov represents the attribute of compassion, while Avraham represents the attribute of kindness. Sometimes love—what love? The love of Hashem within the soul—can be in exile. As we learned earlier in Tanya, every Jew inherits a love of Hashem from our forefathers. We have a natural love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the yechidah of the soul, the attribute of the tzaddikim. But what happens? It is in exile. I don’t feel that love. Why? Because the love is in exile, as we just learned regarding the exile of the Shechinah. So a person doesn’t feel that he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He forgets that he has a love of Hashem because of the exile of the Shechinah, because of sins, because of everything that conceals the truth. When he awakens compassion from Above, compassion awakens that love. It is like redeeming Avraham: redeeming the attribute of love, Avraham, from exile. That can be done through compassion. Compassion awakens love. Why does the Alter Rebbe bring this at the end? If you remember, we spoke about it at the beginning of chapter 45. Why does he bring in love here? Because the Alter Rebbe

16:48 Speaker 1 is not really discussing compassion for its own sake here. In Tanya, the Alter Rebbe’s main subject is love and fear. The whole point of Tanya—“For the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it”—is to explain how to serve Hashem with the “wings,” with the attributes of love and fear. Not compassion. So what is compassion doing here? There are several ways to reach love. One can contemplate all the things mentioned earlier, in chapters 44, 43 and 42. We explained various ways of awakening love, and we explained fear. There is another way to reach love, and that is through compassion. That is the point here. So the Alter Rebbe ends by arriving at love. That concludes chapter 45. Let’s come back to the questions we asked. There are a few more details in the Tanya that call for careful attention, and a few other things we need to understand. Another question, besides the ones we asked earlier: seemingly, it is not clear why he begins with a kiss, then moves to an embrace, and then returns to a kiss. With the first kiss he speaks of “the word of Hashem—this is halachah,” while with the final kiss he speaks of actual kisses. What is going on here? Besides that, where did the embrace come from in the first place? If you look in the Chumash at the story of Yaakov and Rachel, it doesn’t mention an embrace. It only mentions a kiss: “Yaakov kissed Rachel, and he raised his voice and wept.” There was only a kiss. Where did the Alter Rebbe get the embrace? That is one question. And more generally, where does this whole collection of details come from? Where do all the many details the Alter Rebbe brings here come from? Reb Levi Yitzchak offers an explanation. We mentioned it briefly before Pesach; now we’ll explain it in more detail. He addresses all these questions. Reb Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father, gives a wonderful explanation here, with a great deal of Kabbalah.

18:36 Speaker 1 His explanation is a very long note in Likkutei Levi Yitzchak on Tanya. But whenever he gets to the plain meaning of the Tanya, it is beautiful and very precise. It fits the plain meaning of Tanya very well, aside from the Kabbalah he adds there. Reb Levi Yitzchak says the following: The story of Yaakov Avinu and Rachel did not end with Yaakov and Rachel. It is also connected with Lavan. Before Yaakov Avinu met Rachel, we see that he asked the people of Charan whether they knew Lavan: “Do you know Lavan?” And they answered, “We do.” Then it says, “And here comes Rachel with the flock.” So Yaakov was looking not only for Rachel; he was looking for Lavan. As they were speaking about Lavan, Rachel suddenly arrived. Yaakov approached her, kissed her and wept—“He kissed her and wept.” Then he began speaking with her about the family, and from there they went to meet Lavan. When Lavan heard about Yaakov, Lavan ran toward him, and it says that Lavan “embraced him and kissed him.” So, Reb Levi Yitzchak says, that is the whole story here. The Alter Rebbe is speaking not only about Yaakov’s meeting with Rachel, but also about Yaakov’s meeting with Lavan. These are not two separate stories; it is all one continuous story. This is what the Alter Rebbe is explaining here. How so? According to Chassidus, Yaakov represents the attribute of Tiferes—compassion—in Atzilus. Rachel represents the sefirah of Malchus, which is Knesses Yisroel. Yes? Are you following?

20:35 Speaker 1 Knesses Yisroel. Malchus is in Atzilus. As for Lavan, Reb Levi Yitzchak says that, according to Chassidus, he represents or rachamim mechusim, “concealed light of compassion.” The initials of or rachamim mechusim spell Aram, as in Lavan the Aramean. Right? That is the level of Lavan: the level of compassion in Keser. Now, first there was a kiss, the kiss between Yaakov and Rachel. That is the first kind of kiss the Alter Rebbe discusses here: “the word of Hashem—this is halachah.” Reb Levi Yitzchak says this relates to Rachel. The first kiss, between Yaakov and Rachel, is the level of “the word of Hashem—this is halachah.” If you look closely at the wording, the first time it says “kisses,” while the second time it says “actual kisses.” In other words, the second is already something beyond the first kind of kisses. That explains the distinction. The first kiss in this passage of Tanya is Yaakov’s kiss with Rachel. The kiss mentioned at the end of the chapter is between Yaakov and Lavan. These are two levels, two entirely different kinds of kisses. And that was the order: first came the kiss between Yaakov and Rachel. Then Yaakov also met Lavan, and with Lavan it says, “He embraced him and kissed him.” There was an embrace—that is the embrace the Alter Rebbe brings here—and there was a kiss, Lavan’s kiss. What is the difference between the kiss of Yaakov and Rachel and the kiss of Yaakov and Lavan? Rachel represents the sefirah of Malchus. Speech is connected with halachah, and “the word of Hashem—this is halachah” means practical halachah. Practical halachah is what reaches action, the level of the sefirah of Malchus. So the kiss between Yaakov and Rachel, which is connected with Malchus, relates to halachah. It is

23:21 Speaker 1 a more external kind of kiss. In Torah study, when a person studies practical halachah, he studies the text and the law; he does not enter into the full depth of analysis. But through the kiss between Yaakov and Lavan, he draws down Keser, the inner dimension of Keser. And from the inner dimension of Keser comes in-depth Torah study: not only studying the law, but studying it in depth, delving into the subject, into the depths of wisdom. As it says in the sefer, through studying Torah in depth, one reaches the wisdom found in Keser—the depths of wisdom, a deeper wisdom. And it is specifically through this that the revelation of Moshiach comes. It depends specifically on in-depth Torah study. Right? So the order here in Tanya is precise in every detail. First come the kisses connected with halachah, the kiss between Yaakov and Rachel. Then comes the embrace, which represents the performance of mitzvos. And the Alter Rebbe also adds the word “actual” to the embrace: “an actual embrace.” Why specify “actual embrace”? Because there is an embrace in Torah study too. The Alter Rebbe wrote in chapter 4 of Tanya that Torah study also involves an embrace, and immediately afterward, in chapter 4, he explains that there is indeed an embrace in Torah study, but it is not an actual embrace. The main expression of an embrace is specifically in mitzvos, because mitzvos are encompassing, and that is where there is an embrace. So the “actual embrace” is the embrace between Yaakov and Lavan. Then, at the end, he goes on to “actual kisses.” These are the kiss between Yaakov and Lavan, an actual kiss that draws down Keser. When he speaks about Keser, it is expressed specifically in in-depth study. That is the Rebbe’s explanation. Afterward, he adds many more points from Kabbalah. But this is his explanation of how every detail in Tanya also fits.

25:05 Speaker 1 That’s precise; it’s all explicit. All the details in Tanya, too, follow an orderly sequence, and everything is precise according to the order in the Torah as well. Right? So go and wake up. That’s what you’re asking about.

25:24 Speaker 2 You have to say that you don’t give them directions. I think last year was the year.

25:37 Speaker 1 Before Pesach, I told a story. I don’t know if this is what you mean—about what the Rebbe wrote concerning a pidyon nefesh. When people write to the Rebbe, they also use the phrase “to arouse abundant mercy.” Yes, that’s the same subject Tanya is discussing here: a pidyon nefesh. We ask for abundant mercy for the souls. The Rebbe spoke about this in a sicha; I don’t remember on which day. The wording was “to arouse abundant mercy.” The old wording used to be “to arouse abundant mercy from the source of mercy and kindness.” That’s how they once wrote it in the Tanya—sorry, I mean that the Rebbe wrote not to use the words “from the source of mercy and kindness.” This was difficult. That wording had been used for a long time. It was part of the text of the pan. A pan is something most sacred. This was a text accepted among many chassidim, going back generations to the Rebbe. I don’t know where it began. It was very precisely worded. It read: “To arouse abundant mercy from the source of mercy and kindness, in the manner of those who bring requests for mercy, as written in the responsum of [unclear].” That was the wording then. Have you ever seen such a text? There’s a handwritten pan from the Rebbe. There are several versions in writing. The Rebbe removed that entire section from the text. Why? Because the Rebbe said we don’t need to give directions. We don’t need to give the Rebbeim directions, telling them exactly where to draw the mercy from. The Rebbe knows where to draw the mercy from, and sometimes the levels you specified aren’t high enough; the mercy needs to be drawn from higher levels. So leave it to the Rebbe. Is that what you meant? Yes? That’s it. So every pan, even an ordinary one, is a profound act. Before that, one comes to the pidyon, but in practice one needs to arouse abundant mercy for all sorts of matters. Now we’re in Sefiras HaOmer. Yes, so here we have

27:29 Speaker 1 very deep matters. We’re talking here about arousing mercy. In the Alter Rebbe’s maamar in Likkutei Torah, we see how these days—this very week—are the week of Tiferes, of mercy. Yes, the attribute of Tiferes is the refinement of the attribute of mercy, which each person needs to work on during Sefirah. This is the week of Tiferes. What’s interesting is that the Alter Rebbe’s maamar in Likkutei Torah explains the attribute of mercy at length. He goes into it extensively. There’s also a maamar of the Rebbe’s—a very interesting, wonderful maamar—and there, too, the Rebbe explains at length the concept of Tiferes and where the attribute of mercy comes in. In any case, there’s one practical point I want to take from this whole chapter as we begin a new period of study, a new course of learning with all that it entails. Here the Rebbe emphasizes that the strongest bond between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu comes through contemplative thought. Specifically in the mind, in the chamber of contemplative thought, there are actual “kisses.” The greatest embrace, the deepest cleaving of spirit to spirit between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu, takes place specifically when he learns in depth. Sometimes people explain the virtue of studying halachah, practical halachah, arriving at a conclusion in accordance with halachah, and so on. That is a great virtue, but here the Rebbe emphasizes specifically in-depth study. That is where the kisses, the embrace, the cleaving of spirit to spirit with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, take place in the loftiest and deepest way. This underscores the need for in-depth study in yeshivah, especially for the older students. The main portion of yeshivah time, in terms of hours, should therefore be devoted to in-depth study. The Rebbe once said that when a bochur does not study in depth, he is guilty of neglecting Torah study, even if he is learning by reading through the material. Why

29:11 Speaker 1 is that considered neglecting Torah study? Because if part of his mind is not participating in the learning—if he is just reading through it—then only the outer part of his intellect is involved. The inner part of his intellect is not involved in the learning. So part of his mind is not learning at all. That, too, is considered neglecting Torah study, because part of his mind is asleep. Of course, one can’t study in depth all day; it takes strength. Each person needs to work according to his abilities and the time available. There are hours set aside for in-depth study—four hours of it—and there are several hours of in-depth study on the Exodus from Egypt. So we need to use our minds: to study in depth, examine things, work hard and try to learn, both in the revealed dimension of Torah and in its inner dimension. We need to go deeply into the very heart of the matter. What does that mean? To delve until you understand the reasoning of the Gemara, the reasoning of the maamar, the reasoning of the sugya. Each person has the abilities and aptitudes for it. The Rebbe gives us strength as well; we just have to use it. We need to know that it is specifically through in-depth study that we connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the loftiest way. This is also part of hiskashrus to the Rebbe. After all, everyone looks for ways to strengthen his connection to the Rebbe. Hiskashrus to the Rebbe includes many things: Rambam, Chitas, mivtzoim, various directives, birthday practices, good resolutions, all sorts of activities. Through all these things, and especially through Sefirah, we can connect to the Rebbe. But within all that is the connection through his Torah, which Hayom Yom says is the primary form of hiskashrus. And within studying his Torah itself, we see the importance of studying things in depth. Very often we study sichos, but we just read through them.

30:51 Speaker 1 That is good too, but we need to study at least one sicha a week or one maamar a week—both, really. Study them in depth. That means learning them, reviewing them and understanding them. Look at the footnotes; don’t just read the main text. Delve into the subject to its very depths, until you understand it. [unclear]