Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 46 - Part 11

00:01 Speaker 1 The Alter Rebbe brings two interpretations here of the wording of the blessing: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us.” In one interpretation, he explains “sanctified” in the sense of kiddushin, betrothal. When a man betroths a woman, the purpose of that act is to set her apart from everyone else—she becomes forbidden to all other men—so that he can marry her and they can be completely united. The same applies to a mitzvah: by fulfilling it, a person is set apart from the world and united with Hashem. He then brings another interpretation of “Who has sanctified us with His commandments”: “sanctified” in the sense of holiness. Not in the sense of betrothal, but of holiness—heilig, made holy. “Who has sanctified us with His commandments” means that He has made us holy. What is holiness? The Alter Rebbe says this refers to the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: He is holy, set apart and above the world. And not just any holiness, but the holiness of sovev kol almin—sovev kol almin itself. As we explained in earlier classes, this is the level of sovev that is utterly removed from the world, even beyond sovev kol almin: true transcendence. The soul rises to this level when a mitzvah is performed, through the fulfillment of the mitzvah. The soul itself becomes holy. It is not merely that a person connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu by doing Hashem’s will and fulfilling what He wants; the person himself becomes holy. He rises to the level of Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he becomes heilig. That is why he brings these two verses here, as we discussed in the last class. The first verse says, “You shall be holy unto Me, for I, Hashem, am holy.” In that verse, “You shall be holy unto Me,” we become holy to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but it does not yet say that we rise to His own holiness. There are still two distinct levels: “You shall be

02:24 Speaker 1 holy unto Me, for I, Hashem, am holy.” The verse could mean: “I, Hashem, am holy”—that is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s holiness—and “you shall be holy unto Me.” What does “unto Me” mean? It could mean for My sake, for My honor, not that you reach My level. The first verse does not yet establish that a Jew becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s own level of holiness, rather than merely connecting with Him. It is like the first interpretation, of a man betrothing a woman; that does not yet mean the person reaches Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s level of holiness and separateness. The continuation of that verse, “And I have separated you from the nations,” also speaks more to the point we made about betrothal: she becomes forbidden to all other men, and he becomes set apart from the world. He is set apart from all the nations and connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu—but connected to Him. The person might still be on one level and Hakadosh Boruch Hu on another. By doing a mitzvah he is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and does what Hashem wants, but that does not mean he rises to the level of holiness. So the Alter Rebbe also brings the second verse. What do we see there? It says, “And you shall perform all My commandments and be holy to your G-d; I am Hashem your G-d.” It says, “And you shall perform all My commandments and be holy to your G-d.” The precise point here is that the person becomes holy on the level of “your G-d”: he rises to the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He does not merely do what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants; he actually reaches His level of holiness. Where is that indicated in the second verse? The point the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize is that the soul rises and becomes united with the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. That is where we are up to, as the Alter Rebbe comes

04:27 Speaker 1 to explain it. “Meaning”—come farther in, farther in; he can’t hear, he can’t hear the teacher. “Meaning” explains the words “and be holy to your G-d; I am Hashem your G-d.” Here the Alter Rebbe explains how the words of the verse express the soul’s union with holiness: it becomes one with that level of holiness and rises to the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Meaning, through the fulfillment of the commandments, I become your G-d, as in ‘the G-d of Avraham’ and ‘the G-d of Yitzchak,’ etc.” The verse means that when you fulfill a mitzvah—come a little closer here; and you need to sit specifically in the back, huh?—“through the fulfillment of the commandments, I become your G-d, as in ‘the G-d of Avraham’ and ‘the G-d of Yitzchak.’” When a Jew fulfills mitzvos, he becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the meaning of “your G-d”: “I become your G-d.” In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu connects with the person so that they become one. The whole point of “your G-d” is [unclear]. What do we mean when we say “our G-d” [unclear]? That He becomes one with Yitzchak, one with him inwardly. Likewise here, “your G-d” means that He becomes your G-d. The Alter Rebbe gives an example: “the G-d of Avraham” and “the G-d of Yitzchak.” What does that example show? First let’s read his words: “As in ‘the G-d of Avraham’ and ‘the G-d of Yitzchak,’ etc., who were called this because the Patriarchs were a chariot for Him, blessed be He, nullified to Him and absorbed in His light.” Why do we say “the G-d of Avraham” and “the G-d of Yitzchak”? Because the Patriarchs were a chariot for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, nullified to Him. What is the Alter Rebbe bringing out here? He is making a very fundamental point about fulfilling mitzvos. In this chapter he wants to emphasize the extent

06:56 Speaker 1 Come over here, over here. To what extent does a Jew, through fulfilling mitzvos, become truly one with the mitzvos of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself? Every day in Shemoneh Esrei we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d and G-d of our fathers, G-d of Avraham, G-d of Yitzchak and G-d of Yaakov.” The question is: What does “G-d of Avraham,” “G-d of Yitzchak” and “G-d of Yaakov” mean? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the G-d of the whole earth. Why specify Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov? Is He their G-d and not someone else’s? Hakadosh Boruch Hu is the G-d of the whole earth. So why say “G-d of Avraham”? That is what the Alter Rebbe explains here. “G-d of Avraham” means that when you looked at the Patriarchs, you saw G-dliness in them. When you looked at the Patriarchs, what did you see? You saw “the G-d of Avraham.” In their very being, the Patriarchs revealed and expressed the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why? Because they were a chariot for Him. In other words, an ordinary person is a being in his own right. You look at him—what do you see? You do not see Hakadosh Boruch Hu; you see a person. Yes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives him life, brings him into existence, does—but in his usual state, in his own being, he does not express the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He has desires, wishes and concerns of his own. His existence is entirely different from that of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So you cannot say “the G-d of Avraham” about him. Why? Because G-dliness and this person are two separate things. With the Patriarchs, however, it is “the G-d of Avraham.” What does that mean? Avraham’s very essence—when you looked at Avraham, what did you see in him? The attribute of kindness of

08:51 Speaker 1 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You saw no other reality besides—every detail, every movement of his, was about G-dliness. That is the connection expressed by “the G-d of Avraham”: a chariot to its rider. When you look at a chariot, you don’t see the chariot; you see the rider. You don’t see a separate reality there. A holy chariot is a reality wholly and utterly nullified to its rider. So when you look at it, what do you see? You don’t see a chariot; you see the rider. The chariot has no significance of its own, because it is not a reality in its own right. The reality is the rider. And that is what the Tanya says: “They themselves are the chariot.” But every Jewish soul, when engaged in Torah and mitzvos—among the Patriarchs, this was twenty-four hours a day, in every movement, every moment, and every limb. There was no detail of their existence—not in themselves, not in their limbs, and not at any point in time—that was otherwise. With us ordinary people, it isn’t like that. But when? At the time you fulfill a mitzvah, in that moment, while you are actually performing it. A person is standing in the water of a mikveh right now; fulfilling the mitzvah is what makes the difference. Of the Patriarchs we say, “They themselves are the chariot,” “the G-d of Avraham”: whenever you looked at the Patriarchs, and at whichever limb of Avraham you looked, you saw no reality other than Hakadosh Boruch Hu. With us, by contrast, it is said of every Jew when engaged in the 613 mitzvos. When a Jew actually fulfills a mitzvah, then in that moment, at that time, with that limb and that movement of the mitzvah, he is in a state of “they themselves are the chariot.” Then you can say of him, “the G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchak—your G-d.” And that is what the verse we say in Shema means: “And you shall perform all My mitzvos, and you shall be holy to your G-d.” “Your G-d”—through performing the mitzvos, and while performing them, “you shall be holy.” Right now you

10:48 Speaker 1 are on that same level. That is the holiness of being “holy to your G-d.” “For I am Hashem your G-d”—that is G-dliness. Your reality becomes a reality of G-dliness. He is saying that one can speak of “your G-d” as one speaks of “the G-d of Avraham.” How? In the way it is said of the Patriarchs. That is the point you need to explain here, and that is the wonder, the [unclear]. The wondrous union that takes place when a Jew actually fulfills a mitzvah: Hakadosh Boruch Hu becomes one with him, to the extent that one can say “your G-d”—his G-d—because his reality and G-dliness become one.

11:26 Speaker 2 What does it mean that a Jew ascends to that level? With the Patriarchs, when they did this, they drew G-dliness down below. What does it mean to ascend to it? And that’s not... that’s the question. Actually, there’s another question: Where do we see this idea with regard to the Patriarchs themselves? That’s not in the text of the Tanya.

11:57 Speaker 1 The Tanya doesn’t use the words “we see,” but that’s the explanation. What does “the G-d of Avraham” mean? How does “the G-d of Avraham” differ from “the G-d of the whole world”?

12:09 Speaker 2 That’s a question, just a question.

12:11 Speaker 1 That is the plain meaning in the Tanya. [Unclear.] I tried to explain how this applies to a Jew through the mitzvos. How does it apply through mitzvos? Yes, [unclear]. What does it mean to ascend? Wait, wait. You asked two questions. Your first question was why it uses the term “ascend”—an ascent? That’s a good question. The answer is that here we are speaking of reaching Sovev Kol Almin, not Memalei Kol Almin. The Alter Rebbe’s point here is which aspect, which level of G-dliness, is drawn down through a mitzvah: the aspect of G-dliness that transcends the world, Sovev Kol Almin. So with regard to Sovev Kol Almin, it isn’t appropriate to speak of bringing it down. Down to where? Sovev Kol Almin is a level above the world. The new point is that through a mitzvah, a Jew has the power to connect with Sovev, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The whole world receives its life from Memalei Kol Almin. Memalei Kol Almin is a contracted life-force that enters into the limits of the world. So that isn’t the new point. A Jew has the power, by fulfilling a mitzvah, to connect with Sovev Kol Almin. And since Sovev Kol Almin is a light above the world, a Jew’s union with Sovev is a form of ascent. That is why the Tanya uses the term “ascent.” Why? Because through fulfilling a mitzvah, a Jew has the power to receive an influx of life-force. From which aspect? From Sovev. Relative to Sovev, the soul is described as ascending. It rises to a level beyond the reality of the world, the level of Sovev Kol Almin. That answers the question: why say “ascent”? That is the meaning of the term. Now we’ll get to the second question. I used the words “where do we see it?” It isn’t a matter of seeing it—that isn’t the word I mean. It’s simply the meaning, the straightforward meaning. You want to explain [unclear]. The Alter Rebbe is explaining here what

14:05 Speaker 1 the second interpretation of kiddushin adds to the first. What’s the difference? In the first interpretation, you are speaking only of kiddushin: the man designates the woman and betroths her so that she belongs to him. But belonging can also be an encompassing connection, and an encompassing connection does not yet express her ascent to his level. In the second interpretation, the Alter Rebbe adds greater depth. It is not just a connection; rather, the Jew ascends to the level of holiness. A Jew reaches the level of Sovev Kol Almin. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah, he reaches the level of Sovev Kol Almin. Where do we see that in the second verse? Because the verse says, “And you shall perform all My mitzvos, and you shall be holy to your G-d.” What does “your G-d” mean? How does G-d become your G-d? It means that G-dliness, the holiness of G-dliness, becomes yours. What does that mean? The explanation is like the case of Avraham, of whom it is said “the G-d of Avraham”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu is called “the G-d of Avraham.” Why? Because there was no reality in Avraham apart from G-dliness. That was his entire being. He was on a level of G-dliness. The entire character of his existence expressed the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Similarly, when a Jew performs a mitzvah, he ascends; he reaches the level of Sovev. That is the connection in the second verse: how deeply a Jew connects and becomes one, in an inner unity, with Sovev and with Hakadosh Boruch Hu through fulfilling the mitzvah. So is a Jew on the level of Sovev Kol Almin? Or is that only an analogy? Only in this respect. Ah, it’s only an analogy—only with regard to this particular point, that he becomes one. On what level? I don’t know. That is the new point in the Tanya. But the explanation here, this point, is a wonderful and fundamental explanation, and it gives us an understanding. By the way, this principle

16:02 Speaker 1 is relevant to many subjects in Chassidus. One of them is the concept of a Rebbe. People speak about a Rebbe all the time. Chassidim use expressions like “essence and being,” and all those expressions—yes, all that talk. When speaking of G-dliness in relation to a Rebbe, chassidim use the expression the Rebbe used at a farbrengen, “Essence in a body,” and other such phrases. The Rebbe said that this has a source in the Zohar. The Zohar says: “Who is the face of the Master, Hashem? It is Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.” What does that mean? This is the explanation. The principle being explained here is a general one that helps us understand the whole subject. “Who is the face of the Master, Hashem? It is Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.” What does that mean? When you looked at Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, his very existence expressed Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He had no other reality. There was no other reality there besides Hakadosh Boruch Hu. To the extent that you can call Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai “the face of the Master, Hashem.” Why? Because he had such a profound connection, and it was constant. That is the distinction with the tzaddikim, with the Rebbes: for them it is present in every movement. There is no detail of their lives in which it is otherwise. That is why they can be called “the face of the Master, Hashem,” because no part of their lives, their existence, or any of their limbs is separate from it. The Alter Rebbe’s wording in chapter 34 is “all their limbs.” It is mentioned several times in the Tanya. Here too, the wording is “all their limbs.” Their limbs are like that. Elsewhere the Alter Rebbe says, no, no, not for a moment did they cease—[unclear]. It applies to every moment and every aspect. Whatever detail you looked at, you saw nothing other than G-dliness. So how can Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai be called “the face of the Master, Hashem”? There is a story about precisely this with the Alter Rebbe. It connects with this Shabbos’s parsha, Parshas Korach.

18:03 Speaker 1 There is a verse in the haftorah for Shabbos Parshas Korach. Shmuel is speaking there to the Jewish people about the matter of a king. Shmuel the prophet says, “Hashem, Who made Moshe and Aharon.” That verse appears in the haftorah: “Hashem, Who made Moshe and Aharon.” Now, when the Alter Rebbe was in Petersburg, word got around that he was a great scholar. So various philosophers and scholars among the non-Jews came there with all the questions they had about Tanach. There were people there who knew a great deal about Torah, and they came to ask the Alter Rebbe, each with his questions about faith and matters of wisdom. The Alter Rebbe answered all kinds of questions for them. He said that this was one of the hardships he suffered during his imprisonment: having to explain fundamental matters of faith to the mind of a non-Jew. But let’s see. The Alter Rebbe answered their various questions. One question concerned this verse. There is a Midrash on “Hashem, Who made Moshe and Aharon.” The Midrash says: Do not read it as “Hashem, Who made Moshe and Aharon,” but rather as “Moshe and Aharon, who made Hashem.” There is such a Midrash. Well, that sounds either very Chassidic or very... The non-Jew, of course, asked about it because he wanted to use it as proof for idolatry, lehavdil. Moshe and Aharon made Hashem? What does that mean? The Rebbe says one can imagine the anguish the Alter Rebbe felt—[unclear]—what a hardship it was for him when they asked that question, and he had to enter their dull way of thinking and explain what it meant. By the way, how did the Alter Rebbe explain the Midrash to them? He explained it this way: Egypt was a place where, until Moshe and Aharon

20:19 Speaker 1 arrived, Hakadosh Boruch Hu was not in the Egyptians’ minds. For them, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not exist. It was Pharaoh’s domain: “I do not know Hashem.” They did not believe in Hashem’s existence. Their whole outlook was based on the wisdom of nature. The wisdom of Egypt was sorcery and things of that sort. When Moshe and Aharon arrived and began showing them miracles, they gradually brought awareness of Hashem’s existence into Egypt. But the Rebbe said the meaning of “Moshe and Aharon, who made Hashem” is that they made the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu known. Moshe and Aharon, through their very presence, their involvement and their whole way of being, revealed Hashem in the world. That is the meaning. “Moshe and Aharon, who made Hashem”—they made Hashem present. Before Moshe and Aharon, the world was such that you could not see Hashem in it. When they came, they revealed Him. Chapter 36 of Tanya is saying the same thing. The Rebbe points out a very interesting nuance that people do not notice, but look at the wording in Tanya. The Rebbe points it out several times, particularly in [unclear], in several maamarim of [unclear]. The Rebbe repeatedly notes the wording in chapter 36: “He joined the attribute of mercy to it, meaning the revelation of G-dliness through tzaddikim.” What does “the revelation of G-dliness through tzaddikim” actually mean? It does not say through the service of tzaddikim, through the wonders performed by tzaddikim, or through their miracles. It means the very presence of a tzaddik. His very presence is a revelation of G-dliness. You look at the tzaddik. What does the tzaddik’s presence reveal? G-dliness.

22:09 Speaker 1 The revelation of G-dliness through a tzaddik. Through his very presence, the tzaddik reveals the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. I once heard a story from Reb Yankele [unclear] about when the Frierdiker Rebbe came to Eretz Yisroel. The Frierdiker Rebbe was [unclear]. The Rebbe was in Tzfas for several days, and there was a chossid who was a rabbi in [unclear]. His name was Reb Alter Simchovitch. Reb Alter Simchovitch was a great mashpia in Chassidus and one of the Rebbe Rashab’s first shluchim. The Rebbe Rashab sent him to establish Toras Emes. Later, many years afterward, the Rebbe sent him to serve as a mashpia at Toras Emes. Two weeks before the Frierdiker Rebbe was due to arrive, Reb Alter was so overwhelmed that he could no longer give classes. He simply could not contain himself. He could not give his regular classes. He would begin a class and start crying. He just could not do it anymore. When the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived, Reb Alter simply did not leave his side. He went with the Rebbe everywhere, twenty-four hours a day. That was how it was. After the Frierdiker Rebbe left, it took him another week to calm down. In short, the students had about a month off before he settled down again. Reb Alter was deeply connected to the Rebbe. There are many stories about his hiskashrus. He was so attached to the Rebbe that he fled in the middle of his shlichus because he could no longer bear being far from the Rebbe. There are several stories about him. By the way, they say that after some time had passed and the Rebbe had already left, Reb Alter came into class one day, opened the maamar and began reading a few lines. Then he stopped and said to them, “Did you see eyes? No. That is G-dliness. Did you see ears? No. That is G-dliness. Did you see?” Then he went on: “Did you see this? No. That is... Did you see? That is G-dliness.”

24:15 Speaker 1 “Did you see? That is G-dliness.” Then he burst into tears, closed the book, and could not give the class that day either. He told me, [unclear], that he had heard it from one of Reb Alter’s students who was there and heard him say it. That was how Reb Alter expressed what he was going through, what he felt. He looked at the Rebbe—not merely at the Rebbe himself. Of course, with the Frierdiker Rebbe, there was G-dliness in every movement, every state, every detail of the Rebbe. His whole being was utterly batel to G-dliness. So of course, that was what they felt. That was what they saw when they looked. We will come back to this later. But in any case, when a Jew performs a mitzvah, at that moment he, too, reaches this level through it. Now we can also apply this to our subject. We are talking about connection, about the Rebbe’s work. It is the same thing. When a bochur studies Rambam, he needs to know that he is fulfilling the Rebbe’s will. This, too, is part of the same idea: “Who has sanctified us with His commandments.” We study Rambam because the Rebbe instructed us to study Rambam. So when you study Rambam, you know that it is a directive from... from the Rebbe. Through that directive, “Who has sanctified us with His commandments” comes about. What does “Who has sanctified us with His commandments” mean? It is an idea of kiddushin, of a bond, and of holiness. In other words, through the directive, you become united with him; an inner connection and relationship forms between the chossid and the Rebbe. The chossid is elevated to the Rebbe’s level while engaged in his work—not because the Rebbe comes down to his level. The Rebbe is on an entirely different plane. But through fulfilling the directive, the chossid is raised to that dimension of holiness, of being set apart. How? By carrying out the Rebbe’s wishes and honoring his will. And this

26:07 Speaker 1 gives us the foundation for understanding how much we need to bring these things into practice.