Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 47 - Part 3

00:01 The Alter Rebbe says here that there is an exodus from Egypt every single day. Every day, a person must see himself as if he is leaving Egypt today. The Alter Rebbe explains that “in every generation” and “every day” mean that a Jew experiences an exodus from Egypt each day. What is this daily exodus? For every Jew, it means that the G-dly soul leaves the confinement of the body and the animal soul. And when does the G-dly soul make this exit? The Alter Rebbe says that, in fact, it happens all the time. When a Jew studies Torah and performs mitzvos—every time a Jew does a mitzvah or studies Torah—the G-dly soul leaves the confinement of the body and animal soul and connects with the Ein Sof. In particular, the Alter Rebbe says, this happens during the recitation of Shema. Why? Because in Shema we explicitly speak of becoming united with the Ein Sof. Shema is about accepting the sovereignty of Heaven. When we say, “Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,” the union with the Ein Sof during Shema is more complete and more openly revealed. And the Alter Rebbe said that this is the path that existed with the Avos. We saw with Avraham that he attained union with G-dliness. For every Jew, the path is to study Torah and perform mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe explains, though, that there is a difference between how this was for the Avos and how it is for us now, after the Giving of the Torah. The Avos lived before the Giving of the Torah, when it was a matter of “Who may ascend the mountain of Hashem, and who may stand in His holy place?” Before the Giving of the Torah, Avraham Avinu had to reach this through his own efforts, and that is how he attained all these things and came close to G-dliness. We, by contrast, received it as an inheritance and a gift. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us His Torah, as we are now

02:11 going to continue learning inside the chapter. So in the previous class we explained the difference. Why does the Alter Rebbe bring up this distinction here between the Avos and Moshe Rabbeinu—between before and after the Giving of the Torah? What is it doing in this chapter, where the Alter Rebbe wants to explain the exodus from Egypt within the soul? Why explain here that it works differently for us than it did for the Avos? We explained in the previous class that there are three points to this. The first is that the Alter Rebbe wants to say that this is relevant to everyone. In the past, Avraham Avinu had to attain it in a special way. Today it is within everyone’s reach. Since we received it as a gift and an inheritance after the Giving of the Torah, every Jew, even a simple Jew, can come to connect with G-dliness. Then we explained a deeper point here. The Alter Rebbe brings this up to emphasize even more the idea of “As water reflects a face to a face, so does the heart of a person to a person.” Chapter 47, after all, continues chapter 46. Here the Alter Rebbe is explaining the extent of this “face reflected in water”: the more we understand the greatness of the King and the lowliness of the person, the more this idea is emphasized. Now, when we consider Avraham Avinu, both sides were missing. First of all, Avraham Avinu was not in a state of lowliness. You cannot say he was like “a vile person lying in the refuse,” to use the Alter Rebbe’s earlier words. On the contrary, most of Avraham’s body had been refined. He had worked on himself; clearly, he was on a lofty level. So one might think that Avraham Avinu merited to connect with G-dliness because of his level, his service, and his efforts. After the Giving of the Torah, by contrast, we say that it was given to us as an inheritance, as a gift. What does that emphasize? That even if a person

04:07 has not done the work and made the effort on his own, he receives it as a gift. You perform a mitzvah, and that means that at that very moment you connect with G-dliness. No special exertion is demanded of you. So this brings out even more that side of it: even to a person who is utterly lowly and degraded, the King comes. It expresses even more the “face reflected in water” on the side of the person’s lowliness. And conversely, there is also the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, which is likewise part of this “face reflected in water.” The level of G-dliness that we reach is much higher than the level Avraham Avinu reached. Why? As we discussed in the previous class, since Avraham Avinu attained it through his own efforts, he reached only the highest level a created being can reach through his own efforts. Through his own efforts, a created being can reach only the source of created beings. In other words, he can reach only a level of G-dliness above the world—the sefirah of Malchus, a level of G-dliness associated with the world—but not the Essence, not the Ein Sof Himself. When it is given as a gift at the Giving of the Torah, by contrast, there is a revelation from above downward that is not measured by the efforts of created beings. And when the revelation comes from above, from G-dliness, it is without those limits. So which level of G-dliness is revealed through this? The level of the Ein Sof that transcends the world. It follows that the “face reflected in water” works on both sides: the person is in a lowly state and has not prepared himself to receive the revelation, and yet what level of G-dliness draws close to him? Not the King’s outward aspect, but the King Himself, in His most exalted state, in His very Essence, comes down to the person. And to what kind of person? Someone who has not prepared himself and is not a vessel for it. Yet He connects with him through

05:54 Torah and mitzvos. So this fits into the whole train of thought we are learning here in chapter 47. In addition, after the Giving of the Torah, this “face reflected in water” is aroused even more: the immense love Hakadosh Boruch Hu has for a Jew, and how Hakadosh Boruch Hu, at His very highest level, comes to a Jew in the simplest state, even one who is utterly lowly and degraded. That is the point we discussed in the previous class. We are now learning this idea in a maamar in Likkutei Torah, where the Alter Rebbe cites the verse from Shir Hashirim, “Because of the fragrance of your good oils, your name is oil poured forth.” The difference between the service of the Avos before the Giving of the Torah and the service after it is that before the Giving of the Torah it was “the fragrance of your good oils”—only a spiritual fragrance. It was spiritual service, and through spiritual service one receives the light only as a fragrance, an external light, not the Essence. After the Giving of the Torah, by contrast, it is “oil poured forth.” It is the oil itself, because reaching the essence requires the Essence. And through what, specifically? Through practical mitzvos, which take effect in the era after the Giving of the Torah. So this emphasizes the point the Alter Rebbe is making. Now, if we look here, the Alter Rebbe uses two expressions. Look at the last line at the bottom. The Alter Rebbe says: “But for us it is an inheritance and a gift, for He gave us His Torah.” The Alter Rebbe uses both terms, “inheritance” and “gift.” What do these two terms mean? There are several explanations here. Briefly, one explanation is that the inheritance is what we received from the Avos. In other words, the qualities the Avos had—what the Alter Rebbe said earlier about Avraham Avinu: through his own service he became a vehicle for G-dliness, and through his attribute of love he became a vehicle for the Divine attribute of love.

08:13 In the same way, Yitzchak embodied the attribute of awe, and so on. So the Patriarchs passed this on to their children as an inheritance. It was passed down from the Patriarchs to every individual, through all the generations. So inheritance does not refer to the revelation at the Giving of the Torah. Inheritance refers to what was revealed through the Patriarchs. What the Patriarchs accomplished through their service, they passed on as an inheritance to every Jew. A gift is what we received at the Giving of the Torah. These are two different things. So the Rebbe wants to say that we have both qualities. We have the quality we received as an inheritance. We also have what the Patriarchs accomplished through their service; they passed it on as an inheritance to the Jewish people through all the generations. Every Jew has the ability, through his own service, to connect to Divinity. Besides that, we also have new things that the Patriarchs did not attain, as we said earlier—things we received as a gift. So first, the matter of inheritance. Why does the Alter Rebbe bring it up here? After all, according to what we explained earlier, the Alter Rebbe’s main point is that after the Giving of the Torah, we have higher revelations. Why does the Alter Rebbe want to emphasize what we received as an inheritance too? Because there is something special in this as well. The idea of “as water reflects a face to a face” is expressed in this inheritance too. The Patriarchs had to toil to draw close to Divinity. The Patriarchs had to toil to connect to Divinity—service, refinement, birur, and all these things. Now, ordinarily, in the natural course of things, a person does not pass on the fruits of his own service as an inheritance. Service is something you have to do yourself. If your father was a very great Torah scholar, that does not guarantee that you will be a Torah

10:19 scholar. Your father was a Torah scholar. If your father toiled in his service and attained a certain level in it, that does not automatically belong to his son. The son has to reach it himself. Yes, you can help him, but that does not guarantee it. He has to work on his own. Why should it pass down as an inheritance? And this, too, shows the greatness of Hashem’s love. The greatness of Hashem’s love is expressed in the fact that Hashem made even what the Patriarchs accomplished through their own service pass down as an inheritance to every Jew. After all, you can inherit money, you can inherit property, all sorts of things like that. But things that come through service require service. They are not an inheritance. And this is the novelty of what the Alter Rebbe says in chapter 18 of Tanya as well: Avraham Avinu was a chariot for Divinity, and he passed down his love of Hashem to all Jews through all the generations. So here, too, we see the greatness of Hashem’s love: Hashem made even what the Patriarchs accomplished through their service pass down as an inheritance to every member of the Jewish people. That is one point. That is one expression of love in the idea of “as water reflects a face to a face.” The Rebbe adds another point: a gift. That is the second matter we spoke about, what was new at the Giving of the Torah. With an inheritance, you receive what your father had, and that is what you get—nothing more. You receive it through inheritance, so it is yours. The heir takes the place of the one from whom he inherits, with all the advantages of inheritance, but he receives only what his father had, no more than that. With a gift, “one who gives, gives generously.” A gift is not measured by the recipient’s capacity at all. A gift is measured by

12:14 the giver. In one of the sichos, the Rebbe adds that with inheritance, there must at least be some relationship: one must be eligible to inherit. One has to be eligible. Not everyone inherits. You have to be a son; you have to have that connection. But when it comes to a gift, there are no such limitations, and it is given as a gift. What level does the giver give? He gives according to his own capacity. That is the difference between a gift and a sale. In a sale, it is according to the recipient’s capacity, while a gift is according to the giver’s capacity. These are the two points the Rebbe is making here: we, the Jewish people, now after the Giving of the Torah, have the advantage of inheritance—what we received from the Patriarchs as an inheritance. In addition, we have the advantage of a gift: “one who gives, gives generously.” Hashem gives us according to the capacity of the Giver, which is His blessed Essence and Being, as the Rebbe goes on to explain later in the chapter.