Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 46 - Part 7

00:00 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe explains here the idea of “as water reflects a face to a face.” Then he explains how it applies to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people. We’ve learned up to page 68b, and we’re holding at the line, “Although all this was done by His own glory and His own self.” At the end of the line, at the word “in order.” So the Alter Rebbe is explaining what we’ve learned so far. He has discussed three points. First, he explained the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: He is a great and exalted King. He gave several details about Hashem’s greatness. On the one hand, this corresponds, apparently, to the king in the analogy, bringing us toward an understanding of “as water reflects a face to a face” as it applies to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. On the other hand, the Alter Rebbe discussed a second point: the lowliness of the Jewish people, who were in a state of utter degradation, in “the nakedness of the land.” Those are the two extremes. The Alter Rebbe then explained a third point: the great and immense love that Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed the Jewish people by descending into Egypt. Hashem Himself descended into Egypt—not through an angel, not through a seraph, but Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, because of His great love. He descended to take the Jewish people out of Egypt. So up to this point he has discussed the three main details needed to understand “as water reflects a face to a face”: the greatness of the king, the lowliness of the person, and the connection between them brought about by that immense love. Now the Alter Rebbe explains what comes next. What was the next part of the analogy? After the king himself descends to a simple person and takes him out of the refuse, he takes that simple person and brings him inside. He brings the man from the marketplace into the king’s palace, and within the palace itself, into the innermost chamber,

02:19 Speaker 1 a place no minister or servant may enter. There he embraces and kisses him—the deepest, closest connection possible between the simple person and the king. Those are the details. Now the Alter Rebbe will begin to explain how this is expressed and how it applies to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people. So let’s look inside at the continuation of the passage. As we said, the Alter Rebbe writes: “In order.” You have it there in the Tanya, page 68b, line 11, at “His glory,” toward the end of the line: “In order to draw them close to Him.” Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself descend into Egypt? To draw the Jewish people close to Him “in true closeness and union.” In what way? In true closeness and union. This is the closest connection, and there are two expressions here. “Closeness and true union” has two aspects: closeness is more connected with mitzvos, while union is more connected with Torah. Closeness means drawing near, but the two still remain separate. Union, by contrast, is an inner connection. “Closeness and true union” includes both: the two ways in which Hakadosh Boruch Hu took the Jewish people, joined them to Him, and bound them to Him. This is the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos, and a bond between souls in the most literal sense. A Jew has the ability to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in an actual bond of the soul. One aspect is that of kisses. In the analogy, the Alter Rebbe spoke about the kiss between the king and the simple person. So what does kissing mean here in our avodah? A kiss is mouth to mouth: “The word of Hashem—this is halachah.” A kiss, then, is mouth to mouth: the mouth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu

04:31 Speaker 1 with the mouth of a Jew. That mouth-to-mouth kiss is the connection between “the word of Hashem—this is halachah” and the person’s speech. We also learned this point in chapter 55. And “the cleaving of spirit to spirit” is the comprehension of Torah and the knowledge of His will and wisdom. Beyond the mouth-to-mouth kiss, which is the external aspect, there is an inner aspect of a kiss. The inner aspect is the cleaving of spirit to spirit. The Alter Rebbe also said this in the analogy. He used the expression “embrace and kiss and the cleaving of spirit to spirit.” Because a kiss has two aspects: the actual, outward act of kissing, and what the kiss expresses inwardly—the cleaving of spirit to spirit that takes place between two people. The same applies above, regarding Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people. There are those two aspects. The act of kissing is speech: a person speaks and says words aloud. He recites halachos—“the word of Hashem is halachah”—and his mouth becomes one with the mouth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is the mouth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? It is the sefirah of Malchus, the source of all the halachos. As is known, Chassidus says that all the halachos of the Oral Torah are associated with Malchus. Why? Because Malchus, the sefirah of Malchus, contains multiplicity. The sefirah of Malchus is called “earth”; it has a multitude of details. That is the character of the Oral Torah: it sets things out in detail, with many particulars and many parts. In the Written Torah, everything is written briefly. In the Oral Torah it appears with many details and at great length. Halachos are an expression of the sefirah of Malchus, “the land of life.” That is why the halachos are called “the land of life.” The Oral Torah is explained at length

06:33 Speaker 1 in Igeres Hakodesh in Tanya, chapter 29. So what is the point here? When a Jew uses his mouth to learn halachos, to learn Shulchan Aruch—the bochurim here are involved in a mivtza now, and they put this into practice, thank G-d—when they actually learn halachos and say the Torah’s halachos aloud, the Jew’s mouth becomes one with the mouth of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is what a kiss means. Alongside it is the cleaving of spirit to spirit, a more inward aspect: he not only says the words aloud, but also understands, grasps, contemplates, and delves into them. That is the cleaving of spirit to spirit. All of this is part of the kiss, which comes about primarily through Torah study. There is also another kind of connection, an embrace, which he spoke about in the analogy as well. What does an embrace mean in our avodah? It is the performance of practical mitzvos. An embrace is more connected with the body. In the simple sense, you embrace with your body, with your arms around another person’s body. What, then, is an embrace in our avodah? The Alter Rebbe explains: it is “the performance of practical mitzvos with the 248 limbs.” An embrace involves the 248 limbs of the body; in avodah, that means performing practical mitzvos. “The 248 commandments are the 248 limbs of the King,” as mentioned above. The 248 commandments are the 248 positive mitzvos, the “248 limbs of the King.” What does that mean? The Alter Rebbe says, “as mentioned above.” What does “above” refer to? The Rebbe says this requires examination. There is a question about what the Alter Rebbe means by those words. Does he mean chapter 45, just one chapter earlier, where he discussed embracing and kissing? Or does he mean chapter 4? In chapter 4, too, the Alter Rebbe spoke about an embrace. He said there that Torah and mitzvos are like the king’s embrace: it makes no difference what he is wearing when the king embraces him, whether one garment or several, because the king embraces him with both arms. So the Rebbe writes that it requires examination whether the Alter Rebbe means the previous chapter or chapter 4. What is the question here? One might suggest—and I’m just offering a thought—why does the Rebbe say it requires examination? What is the question? The Rebbe does not explain; he simply writes, “Requires examination.” On the face of it, one could say it means chapter 45, the nearest chapter. He just spoke about this, so he mentions it again: “as mentioned above.” On the other hand, in chapter 45 the Alter Rebbe discussed the embrace in a more specific sense. There the embrace was primarily about the mitzvah of tzedakah. The Alter Rebbe spoke about an embrace as expressed particularly in tzedakah, which relates to the right hand. A person gives tzedakah with his hand, and Hashem’s kindness is also the right arm. So just as an embrace is with the right arm—“and His right hand embraces me”—the same applies here. But here the Alter Rebbe is speaking about an embrace through all the mitzvos: the 248 commandments, the 248 limbs of the King. That is why the Rebbe says perhaps it refers to chapter 4, because there the Alter Rebbe discusses Torah and mitzvos as a whole. There he also brings the idea of the 248 limbs of the King. So it could be that chapter. That is the question here. In any case,

08:39 Speaker 1 About the idea of embracing and kissing: is he referring to chapter 4, or to chapter 4, etc.? In chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe also spoke about an embrace. The Alter Rebbe said there that Torah and mitzvos are like embracing the king: it makes no difference what one embraces him through, whether one embraces him when he is wearing one garment or several garments. The king embraces him with both arms. So the Rebbe writes, “It requires examination” whether, by “as mentioned above,” the Alter Rebbe means the previous chapter or chapter 4. What requires examination here? I’m just suggesting a possible explanation: why does the Rebbe say this requires examination? What’s the question? The Rebbe doesn’t explain; he simply writes, “It requires examination.” On a straightforward reading, it could mean chapter 45, the nearest chapter. He just spoke about it, so he mentions it again: “as mentioned above.” On the other hand, in chapter 45 the Alter Rebbe spoke about an embrace in a more specific sense. There, the embrace was primarily about the mitzvah of tzedakah. The Alter Rebbe spoke about an embrace expressed through tzedakah, which is associated with the right hand. A person gives tzedakah with his hand, and the kindness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is also the right arm. So just as an embrace is with the right arm—“His right hand embraces me”—it’s along those lines. Here, though, the Alter Rebbe is speaking about an embrace that comes about through all the mitzvos: the 248 commandments are the 248 limbs of the King. That’s why the Rebbe says perhaps it refers to chapter 4, because there the Alter Rebbe speaks about the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos. There, too, the Alter Rebbe cites the idea of the 248 limbs of the King. So that may be it. That, then, is the point of uncertainty here. In any case.

10:54 Speaker 2 there is chapter 23.

10:57 Speaker 1 How is that my fault? Oh, right, Lessons in Tanya. Good, excellent. Good point. Thank you very much. I hadn’t looked. He says something interesting here. He says that, again, Lessons in Tanya refers not to chapter 45 or chapter 4, but to chapter 23. Because apparently the authors of Lessons in Tanya understood that “as mentioned above” refers not to the idea of an embrace, but to the idea that the mitzvos are the 248 limbs of the King. And the idea that the mitzvos are the 248 limbs of the King is explained in chapter 23. But the Rebbe… Here’s the thing: Lessons in Tanya was written by a chossid, Rabbi Yosef Wineberg, who lived to a ripe old age, nearly a hundred, and the Rebbe would review what he wrote. But the Rebbe did not always review every word. In other words, the Rebbe would review the lesson as a whole. Sometimes the Rebbe would delete something or add something. Sometimes the Rebbe reviewed more, sometimes less. It probably depended on how much time there was, because every week Rabbi Wineberg gave the lesson on the radio, and beforehand he would submit it to the Rebbe for review. So there are many truly wonderful things in Lessons in Tanya. Thanks to Lessons in Tanya, we gained many notes on Tanya and straightforward explanations of Tanya that we would never otherwise have understood. But you can’t say that every detail there is the Rebbe’s own wording. At the end of the day, they are lessons. Yes. [unclear] There is the explanation of Tanya that was revealed—an actual explanation that the Rebbe wrote in his own holy handwriting. What was revealed in Tanya in [unclear]. Yes, so certainly, for matters like what a reference is pointing to, that is more precise. So, according to what the Rebbe says in the Reshimos, the five mentioned above.

13:05 Speaker 1 This brings us to the point about an embrace. The Rebbe speaks about an embrace twice in Tanya, in chapters 4 and 5. But according to the straightforward reading in Lessons in Tanya, he is talking not about an embrace but about the 248 limbs of the King. What does the Rebbe say in chapter 23? In chapter 23, the Rebbe explains why mitzvos are called “limbs.” What is the connection between mitzvos and limbs? The Rebbe explains that a limb is subordinate to the soul. The limbs are so completely subordinate to the soul that every limb obeys it. The limbs heed the soul’s will. Generally, the moment the soul wants something, the limb does it without being commanded. So there is this subordination of the limb to the soul’s will. Similarly, the mitzvos are subordinate to the Divine will. The whole point of a mitzvah is that each mitzvah is a limb. That is, each mitzvah is a vessel through which the Divine will is expressed. So it is subordinate to that will. The Rebbe then explains the difference between Torah and a mitzvah. Torah is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom and will. It is, so to speak, the soul itself, not a limb. A mitzvah is invested in a physical object. Tefillin and tzitzis are physical things, but they are subordinate to His will. That is why the analogy for a mitzvah is a limb. Now, there are 248 limbs. Similarly, there are 248 limbs of the King. That is, there are 248 positive mitzvos, and each mitzvah is connected with a particular vessel, a particular power, as in the soul. The soul has 248 limbs and 248 powers. There are 248 powers in the soul, each of which is invested in a different limb. The limbs’ subordination means that each limb is subordinate to its power: the foot to the power of walking, the eye to the power of sight, and the ear to the power of hearing. Similarly, every limb

15:09 Speaker 1 is subordinate to its own power. That is the subordination of the limbs to the powers. Similarly, Above, the limbs are the mitzvos. Each mitzvah expresses a particular vessel, a particular power, a particular sefirah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The mitzvah of tefillin is connected with the intellectual faculties. The mitzvah of tzedakah is connected with the right hand. In this way, every mitzvah has a particular limb, a particular vessel, a particular power, a particular sefirah. So when a Jew performs mitzvos, there is an embrace. When a Jew performs a mitzvah, the limbs with which he performs it embrace the limbs of the King, the sefirah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the idea of an embrace. The Rebbe continues: “Generally, they are divided into three categories.” This idea of the connection created through a mitzvah. So the Rebbe says that the mitzvos are divided into three parts. There are three kinds of mitzvos. “Generally, they are divided…” Here, too, the Rebbe writes, “This requires examination”: What does “they are divided” refer to? Does it mean the mitzvos are divided, or the limbs are divided? Both are true. But the question is, what is the plain meaning in Tanya? When he says “they are divided,” is he referring to the analogy or to what it represents? Both are true, but in any case it is not clear in Tanya. At any rate, “Generally, they are divided into three categories.” The straightforward meaning, let’s say, is the mitzvos. Although there are 248 mitzvos, they are divided into three parts: right, left, and center. There is the right channel, the left channel, and the middle channel, corresponding to kindness, judgment, and compassion. Those three channels are the three attributes of kindness, judgment, and compassion. The right channel is kindness, the left channel is judgment, and the middle channel is compassion, as is known. So look, he continues: “The two arms and the body, etc.” The Rebbe writes here that the word “etc.” requires examination. Why

17:27 Speaker 1 does he write “etc.”? Seemingly, it is unnecessary. In any case, what is he saying here? The Rebbe is adding another detail, and we’ll get to the embrace. Look, he is adding another point here that brings us to the embrace. We are explaining why a mitzvah can be described as an embrace. First of all, what is the Rebbe’s general explanation? An embrace is with the body, the body has 248 limbs, and the mitzvos likewise are 248 limbs. That is one approach. The Rebbe adds another approach: an embrace involves the entire body. How does an embrace happen? A person holds someone else with both arms and his body. That is how they connect in an embrace. So there are three elements here. There is the right arm and the left arm, as it also says in Shir Hashirim: “His left arm is beneath my head, and His right arm embraces me.” There are the right and left arms, and there is the body. Together, these three create the embrace. The same is true of the mitzvos. Some mitzvos are connected with the right, such as mitzvos involving tzedakah, kindness, and the like. Some mitzvos are connected with the left—mitzvos involving judgments and justice, which are expressions of gevurah. And some mitzvos are connected with the middle channel, with the attribute of compassion; they have a blend of kindness and gevurah. When the Torah speaks about matters connected with the middle channel, the attribute of compassion—also, [unclear], things in which compassion is emphasized, with a blend of both. Or elsewhere it is explained that the reference is to positive mitzvos, prohibitions, and Torah. Those are the three elements: kindness, judgment, and compassion. All of this—so kindness includes all the positive mitzvos in the right channel, the channel of kindness, because positive mitzvos involve

19:22 Speaker 1 action, which is connected with the channel of revelation. Prohibitions are an expression of gevurah. They are connected with the channel of gevurah: judgment, refraining from action. And there is something in the middle, which refers to Torah, because Torah is the middle channel. [unclear] Because Torah addresses both, and it creates the connection between kindness and gevurah. It addresses them both together—when to act and when not to act. That is the idea of the middle channel, which refers to Torah. There are several ways of explaining it, but either way, the point is the embrace. An embrace involves three things: right, left, and body, corresponding to the three elements within the mitzvos. Yes.

20:04 Speaker 3 The embrace itself involves the entire body. Here he divides the mitzvos into three. No single mitzvah is an entire embrace; it is part of an embrace. He divides the mitzvos in this way because all the mitzvos together are like an embrace with the entire body.

20:26 Speaker 1 Right. But that’s the point. The Alter Rebbe is talking here about the Giving of the Torah, not about an individual deed. He’s talking about what happened at the Giving of the Torah, following the Exodus from Egypt. That was the moment in history when Hashem took the dispossessed, lowly man from his place, from the refuse heap, lifted him up, brought him close, and embraced him. That was the Giving of the Torah: the embrace, the deepest connection between Hashem and the Jewish people through the observance of Torah and mitzvos. So yes, everything is there. Of course, in each individual thing you do, you have this element or that element. Sometimes it’s the right arm. But here we’re talking about the overall picture, the bond formed at the Giving of the Torah, when Hashem took the Jewish people and chose them over all the other servants, all the angels, and everyone else. Yes, “He chose us from among all the nations.” And not only did He choose them: He brought them into the innermost chamber and embraced them in the most extraordinary way. That is what the Alter Rebbe is discussing here. Now there are a few details here, a few points that need explaining to understand this precisely. We won’t manage to explain everything today, but at least one point, and then another. Maybe this is the plain meaning, but it’s interesting; it fits. The point is that the Alter Rebbe specifically writes about three lines. He divides the embrace into the right arm, the left arm, and the middle, and calls them chesed, din, and rachamim. There is an interesting allusion here, mentioned in Kabbalistic works and also in Chassidus: chesed, din, and rachamim—kindness, judgment, and compassion—form the Hebrew acronym for cheder, “room.” Notice that the usual wording is chesed, gevurah, and tiferes, or chesed and gevurah. But here the Alter Rebbe specifically writes chesed, din, and rachamim, which

22:29 Speaker 1 form the Hebrew acronym for cheder. Yes, this is given as the meaning of a verse concerning the Giving of the Torah—which is what we’re discussing here: “Through wisdom a house is built, through understanding it is established, and through knowledge its rooms are filled.” That’s the wording of a verse in Mishlei, speaking about building at the Giving of the Torah: chochmah, binah, and daas. Hashem gave the Jewish people the Torah: “Through wisdom a house is built, through understanding it is established, and through knowledge its rooms are filled.” We won’t go into the full meaning of the verse now, but there is this idea of “through knowledge its rooms are filled.” What does that mean? What rooms are we talking about? We’re talking here about chochmah, binah, and daas. So what is the connection between wisdom and rooms? The sefarim explain that cheder, “room,” is an acronym for chesed, din, and rachamim—the middos, the three lines. That’s the meaning. “Through knowledge its rooms are filled”: daas gives the middos their enduring strength. As explained in Tanya, chapter 3, the whole idea of daas is that it fills the room, so to speak. Daas enters the middos and gives them life and lasting strength. That is “through knowledge its rooms are filled.” Accordingly, the Alter Rebbe has this idea in mind here as well. Why is it relevant? Why does he bring in chesed, din, and rachamim, the acronym for cheder, here? Because he had it in mind when he wrote “a chamber within a chamber.” Look: he writes that Hashem brings him, how shall I put it, “into a chamber within a chamber,” a place “where no servant or minister may enter.” So the precise wording, “a chamber within a chamber,” means there are several chambers. This is the chamber into which Hashem brings the Jewish people—the innermost chamber. “A chamber within a chamber” means that cheder stands for chesed, din, and rachamim, the middos. Angels, too, serve through the middos. Some angels serve with love, others with awe. But within that itself there is “a chamber within a chamber.” The chesed, din, and rachamim

24:22 Speaker 1 of the Jewish people, who connect with Hashem’s middos through Torah and mitzvos—this embrace, this “chamber within a chamber”—are chesed, din, and rachamim on the highest level. Through them, they connect with Hashem Himself. That’s one point. Then there’s another point from Rabbi Levi[?]. He explains that the Alter Rebbe immediately writes three things, expressing the idea of three lines three times. First he says right, left, and middle. Then he says chesed, din, and rachamim. Then he says the two arms and the body. Three sets of three. “Right, left, and middle” makes the wording longer, and in Tanya every word is precise. Why does the Alter Rebbe write at such length, repeating the same thing three times—right, left, and middle; chesed, din, and rachamim; the two arms and the body? Why spell it out so fully? With Hashem’s help, we’ll leave that for the next class.