Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 46 - Part 8

00:01 Speaker 1 We’re holding near the bottom of page 65, about three lines from the bottom. There’s one point left from the previous class that we didn’t finish explaining. The Alter Rebbe is speaking here about mitzvos, about an embrace. He explains that an embrace involves the limbs. What’s the significance of the limbs? There are 248 limbs, corresponding to the 248 positive mitzvos—the 248 limbs and the faculties of the mind. So that’s the idea of an embrace. The Alter Rebbe says that, generally, an embrace involves three aspects: right, left, and center, corresponding to kindness, judgment, and compassion—the three lines. This is the idea of “two arms and a body”: the right and left arms, and the body in the center. Last class, we asked why the Alter Rebbe mentions these three things three times. Why does he put it that way? He could have mentioned just one of them. Why mention right, left, and center; kindness, judgment, and compassion; and “two arms and a body”? Reb Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father, explains that in holiness, besides there being three lines, each of the three lines itself includes all three. This interinclusion means there are three distinct lines, but each one also includes three. He gives examples of this in several areas. One example is the shofar, and another is the lulav. With the shofar, the Torah requires tekios, teruos, tekios, and that sequence itself must be done three times. Three times three. That is the Torah mitzvah: we fulfill the mitzvah of blowing the shofar by sounding those three sets of tekios, teruos, tekios. That’s

02:25 Speaker 1 how we fulfill it: three sets of tekios, teruos, tekios. We find the same thing with the lulav. There must be three hadassim. As we do according to Chabad custom, one hadas is placed on the right, one on the left, and one in the center. Those are three lines. And each hadas itself has three leaves, which is one of the requirements for a hadas. So here, too, we have three, each of which contains three: three times three. That’s why, when the Alter Rebbe speaks here about the embrace, which has three lines—right, left, and center—he describes it in three ways. He’s alluding to this interinclusion: there must be three aspects, and each of the three must also contain three. That is the full expression of interinclusion. This explanation is from Reb Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father. The Rebbe once explained this point at length in a maamar, Basi Legani. He discussed at length the account in the Gemara, in Tractate Sukkah, concerning Simchas Beis Hashoevah. It tells of a chossid there who danced with three hadassim, tossing and catching them. The Gemara tells how Rabbi Zeira said, “The old man is embarrassing us,” and then there’s the whole account of the pillar of fire. The Rebbe explained there at length

04:35 Speaker 1 why the maamar discusses that account. What’s the significance of his dancing with hadassim? Why does it say there were specifically three hadassim? There, too, the Rebbe discusses this point, also citing Reb Levi Yitzchak: three times three. It’s the idea of interinclusion. There are three lines, and each of the three lines itself contains three; they must be joined together. It’s the greatest possible interinclusion. Three indicates interinclusion. Yes, two also involves interinclusion, but three is a greater degree of it. Three is the primary expression of interinclusion, and here it’s three times three—interinclusion within interinclusion. The goal is to join them together. It’s discussed there at length. [unclear] It isn’t relevant to the plain meaning of Tanya here, but it shows how everything is precise and purposeful. So the Rebbe brings this point there. Are you following? Listen carefully. Ready to do a little arithmetic? Then you’ll appreciate another beautiful point the Rebbe brings in the name of Reb Levi Yitzchak. He says that the word “chayim,” life, appears in Tanya. We’re finishing this now, and in a moment we’ll get to it in Tanya. It speaks of the life of a tzaddik—and the life of a tzaddik is not physical life, but spiritual life. What is the life of a tzaddik? The Alter Rebbe lists three things. Again, there’s the number three: the life of a tzaddik is faith, awe, and love. Chapter 27 of Igeres Hakodesh is a chapter we should study during these days, to connect with this whole point. It says there that the life of a tzaddik is not physical life, but spiritual life: faith, awe, and love. These are also the three lines we’re discussing here. Faith

06:37 Speaker 1 belongs to the center line, since faith is connected with keser. Awe and love are the left and right lines. So it comes out that there are three kinds of life. The life of a tzaddik is faith, awe, and love. That’s three: the life of awe, the life of faith, and the life of love. What is the gematria of the word chayim three times? Who can do the math? What? What is three times chayim? Chayim is sixty-eight. Three times sixty-eight.

07:18 Speaker 2 All the...

07:19 Speaker 1 Huh? Three times sixty-eight. What does that come to?

07:26 Speaker 3 Two hundred and four.

07:27 Speaker 1 Two hundred...

07:28 Speaker 3 and four.

07:29 Speaker 1 Two hundred and four.

07:31 Speaker 2 Sixty-eight.

07:32 Speaker 1 Huh? Two hundred and four is the gematria of the word tzaddik. Yes, tzaddik equals two hundred and four. So that’s the meaning: the life of a tzaddik is faith, awe, and love. Tzaddik has the gematria of three times chayim—the three aspects, the three lines of faith, awe, and love. Now let’s see how we get to the hadassim. Chayim is sixty-eight. Hadassim—hadas. What does hadas equal? Hadas is...

08:11 Speaker 3 Sixty-nine.

08:13 Speaker 1 Hadas. The word hadas is sixty-nine. That means tzaddik plus one—ah, chayim, chayim plus one. Yes, that equals hadas: one additional alef beyond chayim. And this is what the Midrash says about hadassim, hadas—hei, daled, samech. Yes. That’s what it says in Megillas Esther: Esther is Hadassah. And we see that hadassim refer to tzaddikim. That’s what the Midrash says. Yes, hadas can also refer to a tzaddik. So he says that hadas is sixty-nine. What is three times hadas?

09:02 Speaker 3 Two oh seven.

09:03 Speaker 1 Two-oh-seven. Two-oh-seven, three more. Two-oh-seven is the numerical value of the word “or,” light. Oz, or. Yes, that is the aspect of light. So that is what the Alter Rebbe writes there in Tanya. Further on, the Alter Rebbe writes that there is an influence that comes from the tzaddik, the aspect of “light sown.” There in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains that two kinds of influence come from the tzaddik. One is the influence of the tzaddik’s life—faith, awe, and love. That is one kind of influence that comes from the tzaddik: through connecting to the tzaddik and learning his ways—yes, his faith, awe, and love. By learning the tzaddik’s way, following in his footsteps, and drawing faith, awe, and love from him, one receives life from the tzaddik. That is one way. There is also a second way, says the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe writes there at the end of chapter 27 that there is a light, an influence the tzaddik imparts, that comes in the manner of light. So, “light sown”: through the service the tzaddik performs, he exerts an influence in Gan Eden. He exerts an influence above; he brings about salvation. That is the wording there. He brings light, and from that light comes “light sown,” from which thoughts of teshuvah enter people’s minds, awakening them to serve Hashem and giving them the foundations of teshuvah. From that comes the… as it says in [unclear], and they come to fear Hashem through the foundations of teshuvah, through students who became servants of G-d through teachings and love. In other words, this is an influence in an encompassing way; the other is internal. Yes, through teachings and love. There is an encompassing influence: the tzaddik draws down light, and from that light come thoughts of teshuvah. Suddenly you are stirred with awe, with a desire for teshuvah and the resolve to strengthen yourself, to be more righteous, better, more, more… That comes from the “light sown” that the tzaddik brings in.

11:01 Speaker 1 So he writes that these are the two matters, this aspect. Yes, so there are three in the hadassim as well. Just as a hadas has three leaves, three aspects, and just as there are three aspects in life, there are three aspects in a hadas too. From this comes the concept of light, an influence the tzaddik imparts to the world. Incidentally, this is a thought the Rebbe expressed in a long maamar from 5735. He spoke about this today. Now, coming back to our subject, what does this mean? What do we learn from it here in Tanya? What the Alter Rebbe is saying here is that there must be an embrace. The embrace comes specifically through three elements, yes, through three lines. The Alter Rebbe himself writes it three times, to emphasize this idea of inclusion in the most complete way: three times three. Let’s continue inside the Tanya. The Alter Rebbe now begins a new subject. Up to this point, to sum up what we have learned, the Alter Rebbe has presented love as a matter of “as water reflects a face, so one person’s heart reflects another’s.” The Alter Rebbe discussed three points here. Just as he discussed three points in the analogy, there are three points in the subject itself. What were those three points? The first was that the king himself descends to the rubbish heap to take out the man lying there. The second is that he takes him and brings him into his innermost chambers. And the third is that there he unites with him in a wondrous union, an embrace and a kiss. Similarly, in the love between Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people, there were three elements: the Exodus from Egypt, the Giving of the Torah, and the actual observance of Torah and mitzvos. The Exodus from Egypt was when Hakadosh Boruch Hu took us out of the refuse, lifted us out of our lowly state, and we became a people. Then came the Giving of the Torah. The Giving of the Torah is

12:49 Speaker 1 the idea of—what is the Giving of the Torah? It is the innermost chambers: Hakadosh Boruch Hu took us at the Giving of the Torah and brought us in. Then came the observance of Torah and mitzvos. At the Giving of the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us Torah and mitzvos, and through observing them comes the embrace and kiss, through engaging in Torah and observing the mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe continues: “And this is why we say, ‘Who has sanctified us with His commandments.’” On this basis, the Alter Rebbe explains why, whenever we perform a mitzvah, we use the wording “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” That is the wording used for mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe will explain how this wording—the simple wording we say before each mitzvah, from the most ordinary mitzvos of the day, starting in the morning: you get up and say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments” over [unclear], all the way to the great mitzvos of blowing the shofar, sukkah, and so on. For all these mitzvos we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” The Alter Rebbe will explain how these words allude to the entire point we have been discussing: “As water reflects a face, so one person’s heart reflects another’s.” That is why we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” What is the precise meaning of “Who has sanctified us with His commandments”? The Alter Rebbe says: “Like a man who betroths a woman so that she will be united with him in complete union.” What is the definition of kiddushin?

14:17 Speaker 4 “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.”

14:18 Speaker 1 Look at this. “Who has sanctified us with His commandments, like a man who betroths a woman so that she will be united with him in complete union.” What is the definition of kiddushin? What is the definition of kiddushin? When a man betroths a woman, there is a purpose to the kiddushin. The yeshivah students are now studying Tractate Kiddushin. So here, in these words, in the lines we are about to learn, is the whole subject of kiddushin. Four pages—the whole point of kiddushin. The Rebbe will explain it and connect it with several different approaches. What is the definition of kiddushin? “He betroths a woman so that she will be united with him in complete union.” What is the purpose of kiddushin? Its purpose is that through kiddushin she becomes his wife, in complete union. And [unclear]. The students have just learned the discussion of why one does not recite a blessing specifically over kiddushin. It is brought in the Ran; I know what it says there. The whole question is: what is its definition? Why not? Why is there no separate blessing for kiddushin? When kiddushin is performed under the chuppah, we say: “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning forbidden relations, forbidden betrothed women to us, and permitted married women to us through chuppah and kiddushin.” We recite an entire blessing, but it is not a blessing specifically for kiddushin; it also includes marriage. Yes, chuppah: “Who sanctifies His people Israel through chuppah and kiddushin.” In other words, the blessing is not specifically over the mitzvah of kiddushin. Rather, it speaks about marriage—about the fact that marriage must be preceded by kiddushin. So the point mentioned there is that kiddushin is not a mitzvah in its own right. The whole definition of the mitzvah of kiddushin is—yes, there is no obligation to perform kiddushin on its own, and therefore one would have had to say

16:08 Speaker 1 a blessing, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments,” over the mitzvah of kiddushin. Yes, why don’t we say it in that form? Because kiddushin is not a mitzvah in its own right. Its whole purpose is to prepare for marriage. It is preparation for marriage. That is, a person wants to marry, and then [unclear]. This is one of the obligations established at the Giving of the Torah. As the Rambam writes, before the Giving of the Torah, people would proceed directly to marriage. The Giving of the Torah introduced the requirement that marriage must first be preceded by kiddushin. Since kiddushin is, by definition, only preparation for marriage, there is therefore no… no… Maybe I’m confusing this with the blessing for marriage. Why is there no blessing specifically over marriage? The… the Ran writes this, I think. I think he discusses both questions, including why we do not recite a blessing over marriage. He writes that it is because the purpose of marriage is to be fruitful and multiply. That is the background he gives. Since the purpose of marriage is to be fruitful and multiply, it is not an end in itself. Now I think that is what we are discussing here.

17:16 Speaker 5 There’s no problem with that either.

17:17 Speaker 1 Huh?

17:18 Speaker 5 Being fruitful and multiplying. Surely that calls for a blessing. That is the ultimate purpose. One step further.

17:27 Speaker 1 Yes, right. We use different terms. I don’t know what the distinction is between them. There are better examples, too. When we get to the chapter—what do we see here? We’ll get there; let’s return to the point. When we get to kiddushin, we’ll see that the whole definition of kiddushin is preparation and invitation: a man betroths his wife, as though inviting her. That is what kiddushin means. He invites the woman, or takes her, so that afterward he can be united with her in complete union. The Rebbe uses this idea to explain “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” When a Jew actually performs a mitzvah, there is a union of the G-dly soul engaged in Torah and mitzvos, the vital soul, and their garments, with the light of the Ein Sof, blessed be He. The same is true here: through performing the mitzvah, a union takes place. The soul unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a wondrous union. So “Who has sanctified us with His commandments” refers to the kiddushin. But what is the purpose of kiddushin? Its purpose is marriage—the union—which corresponds to the mitzvah, the actual performance of the mitzvah. That is to say, it isn’t explicit here in Tanya, but the implication seems to be that the blessing you say before the mitzvah is like the kiddushin before the marriage. As we said earlier, this works on a broader level too. When we come to the discussion of a mitzvah, first there was Matan Torah. Matan Torah was, in a sense, Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kiddushin with the Jewish people. It is like taking someone and bringing him inside the room. Afterward comes the whole matter of the wondrous union. The same pattern applies in serving Hashem and arriving at the performance of a mitzvah. Matan Torah was the kiddushin. Matan Torah was the moment

19:18 Speaker 1 of kiddushin: Hakadosh Boruch Hu betrothed, invited, and took the Jewish people into the innermost chamber. Afterward, actually performing a mitzvah is the marriage; it is the union. The same pattern applies to the wording of the blessing, when we say, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” The blessing over the mitzvah is the kiddushin. “Who has sanctified us”—the blessing before performing the mitzvah—is the invitation. Then comes the actual performance of the mitzvah, the wondrous union that takes place when a person performs it and becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is why King Shlomo, in Shir Hashirim, compared this union to the union of a bride and groom: the union brought about through observing Torah and mitzvos. All of Shir Hashirim is a parable for Matan Torah and its purpose, observing Torah and mitzvos. It describes the wondrous union that begins with kiddushin and proceeds to the performance of the mitzvah. There is a sicha of the Rebbe on Parshas Shelach, in volume 3, I think. There the Rebbe connects this idea with the subject of the parsha. In the sicha on Shelach in volume 3, the Rebbe says that the blessing made before a mitzvah is like a certain aspect of the story of the spies. Sending the spies was not an end in itself; it was preparation. “Send men for yourself, and let them explore.” There had to be preparation, to see the land. But afterward came the entry into Eretz Yisroel. Right. So what does the Rebbe explain there? He explains the central point of the parsha, specifically regarding the spies: before entering Eretz Yisroel, you first need

21:11 Speaker 1 to lay the groundwork—to prepare, to focus, to know what to do and how. Only then do you enter. The same applies here. For example, as explained in Chassidus, kiddushin is preparation, and then comes marriage, which is the goal. Likewise, the spies were sent as preparation, so that afterward the people could enter the Land. And the same applies in each person’s avodah: there is the blessing over the mitzvah and the thought and intention before the mitzvah. Before a person goes to perform a mitzvah, he first has to know its halachos. There is the whole matter of contemplating the meaning of the mitzvah and saying the blessing. The main point here is the blessing over the mitzvah. That is like kiddushin and preparation; afterward comes the actual performance of the mitzvah, which is like marriage—the deed itself, and so on. The Rebbe also brings here King Shlomo’s parable in Shir Hashirim to describe this, because union is the purpose of performing a mitzvah. There is the well-known vort that the Frierdiker Rebbe quotes in Likkutei Dibburim from Reb Azriel[?]. Reb Azriel[?] said that King Shlomo was a chossid. He could have written all of Shir Hashirim using the relationship between a chossid and a Rebbe as his parable. Yes, fine, you say Shir Hashirim uses the parable of a woman. But if he had been a Rebbe, he would have written Shir Hashirim using a chossid and a Rebbe as the parable, because the connection between a chossid and a Rebbe is actually more wondrous and stronger than any other kind of connection—stronger than any relationship used as a parable in this world. Reb Azriel Kolb[?] said this, and Reb Kirb[?] told it to [unclear]. It caused quite a stir. The Rebbe once said that people made an issue of it: How can you say such a thing about King Shlomo?

22:51 Speaker 1 In short, there was an uproar over it. Nevertheless, after he read it, he said it. Later it appeared in Likkutei Dibburim, but the Rebbe did not permit people to publicize it or make publicity out of it. Once, when they printed the vort, the Rebbe was very displeased that they had printed it. The Rebbe did not want them to promote it. They asked why not, since the Rebbe had printed it in Likkutei Dibburim. Actually, they did not ask the Rebbe; they asked Rabbi Tal[?] why the Rebbe was so opposed to publicizing it when it was written in Likkutei Dibburim. The rabbi answered: In Likkutei Dibburim, there are several hundred pages before this vort and several hundred pages after it. Someone who studies Likkutei Dibburim and reaches the vort is already a vessel capable of hearing it. But if you take that vort on its own and put it on a sign, you have to be careful. That caution matters in many situations. Sometimes people want to take one line from a sicha and make something of it. They need to understand that, sometimes, to be ready to receive that line, you first have to read several sections before it. Several sections can put it in its proper place. In any case, the vort is a vort. Certainly, even if we may say it, it is a fundamental vort: we need to know about this connection, about the love there should be between a Rebbe and a chossid—from the chossid to the Rebbe and from the Rebbe to the chossid. It is there, but to grasp it, we also need the proper vessels. There is no greater love than that.