Tanya Igeres Hateshuvah - Chapter 1 - Part 1

00:00 Today we’ll begin Igeres Hateshuvah from chapter 1. The Alter Rebbe says here: “It was taught at the end of Yoma: There are three categories of atonement, and teshuvah accompanies each one.” We learned this at the end of Yoma. As the Rebbe points out, it isn’t literally the end of Yoma; it’s a few pages before the end. But broadly speaking, all those pages are considered the end of Yoma, and they all discuss teshuvah. So the Alter Rebbe calls it “the end of Yoma.” We learned there that there are three categories of atonement, three kinds of atonement, with teshuvah accompanying each one. Each has the work of teshuvah and the matter of atonement. Teshuvah is necessary in every case, but when it comes to atonement, there are three kinds. In other words, the Alter Rebbe brings this baraisa at the beginning of Igeres Hateshuvah to establish that there are two distinct matters: teshuvah and atonement. Teshuvah is a form of work in its own right, and the Alter Rebbe will explain its essence in the following chapters. In addition, there is atonement. We can see that these are two different things from the baraisa: on the one hand, it says that teshuvah accompanies each category. Whatever kind of transgression it is, teshuvah is needed. On the other hand, atonement is a matter in its own right, and there are three categories of it. So the Alter Rebbe brings this first of all to explain that there are two things, teshuvah and atonement. He also wants to explain that—uh—one does not depend on the other. That is, a person may need to do teshuvah, and in a way, in a way, in a way—besides that, there is the further work of atonement. That is another

02:18 matter. So we understand that there is a form of avodas Hashem here called the work of teshuvah, which the Alter Rebbe will explain later in the chapter: what teshuvah is in itself. Then there is the question of what atonement is. At the same time, we understand that atonement is also necessary, because for a person to reach a state of completeness, there certainly needs to be atonement too. The Alter Rebbe will explain that as well: what teshuvah is, what atonement is, and why both are needed. So the Alter Rebbe brings the baraisa. The baraisa says: “If one transgressed a positive mitzvah and repented, he does not move from there before he is forgiven.” In other words, he is forgiven immediately: the moment he does teshuvah, the teshuvah itself also brings about atonement. With a positive mitzvah, atonement and teshuvah come together. As soon as there is teshuvah, atonement has already been achieved through the teshuvah itself. “If one transgressed a negative mitzvah and repented, teshuvah holds the matter in abeyance, and Yom Kippur atones.” But if a person transgressed a negative mitzvah, teshuvah is necessary, and it is still not enough. He must wait until Yom Kippur, when atonement takes place. Further down, the Alter Rebbe will bring the continuation of the baraisa: there is a third case, involving transgressions punishable by kareis or death at the hands of the court. In those cases, we say that even Yom Kippur is not enough; suffering is also needed, as the Alter Rebbe will bring at the end of the—at the end of the—at the end of the page. But before the Alter Rebbe brings this up and we get to kareis and court-imposed death, the Alter

04:26 Rebbe has a parenthetical passage here. It is a very interesting passage, and a very fundamental one for avodas Hashem in general. In it, the Alter Rebbe comes to answer a question that arises as soon as we learn the baraisa. The baraisa says that when someone does teshuvah for transgressing a positive mitzvah, atonement takes effect immediately. With a negative mitzvah, by contrast, two things are needed: teshuvah and Yom Kippur. So an obvious question immediately arises. A person sees this and concludes, seemingly, that a negative mitzvah is more severe than a positive mitzvah. But then there is a question from the revealed dimension of Torah: how does this fit with what we see in the Gemara, where in other respects it is the reverse, and a positive mitzvah is given greater importance than a negative mitzvah? The Alter Rebbe addresses this question right at the beginning of the chapter. The Alter Rebbe says: “That is, although with regard to the fulfillment of a positive mitzvah, it has greater force, overriding a negative mitzvah.” That is the Alter Rebbe’s question. How can you say that teshuvah for a negative mitzvah is more difficult—that teshuvah holds the matter in abeyance and Yom Kippur atones—than teshuvah for a positive mitzvah? We see in the Gemara that when it comes to fulfilling a mitzvah, the opposite is true: a positive mitzvah is more important than a negative mitzvah. Where do we see this? The Alter Rebbe doesn’t explain; he relies on our knowing the halachah. We see it in the rule that a positive mitzvah overrides a negative mitzvah. A positive mitzvah—sorry, the Alter Rebbe does bring it, if I’m not—“a positive mitzvah has greater force, overriding a negative mitzvah.” The Alter Rebbe says it. A positive mitzvah overrides a negative mitzvah. This is a principle that applies to a number of cases in the Talmud. The Gemara in Tractate Shabbos discusses it at length in the chapter Rabbi

06:32 Eliezer. There the Gemara goes into the case of a person who has the positive mitzvah of bris milah and, for example, the prohibition against cutting away a mark of tzaraas. There are a number of similar examples where a positive mitzvah and a negative mitzvah come together, and the ruling is that the positive mitzvah overrides the negative mitzvah. So we see that a positive mitzvah is more important, yet here, regarding teshuvah, we say the opposite. The Alter Rebbe answers this. I’ll say the main point in my own words, and then we’ll read it inside. What answer does the Alter Rebbe give? He says there is a difference between fulfilling a mitzvah and committing a transgression. They are two different things. When we’re talking about fulfillment, a person asks what he should fulfill: the positive mitzvah or the negative mitzvah? In terms of fulfillment, the positive mitzvah is certainly more important. But if we’re talking about a transgression—someone failed to fulfill a positive mitzvah or violated a negative mitzvah—then violating the negative mitzvah causes a greater blemish than failing to fulfill the positive mitzvah. What is the explanation? It’s very interesting, because the Alter Rebbe brings this explanation here as a general foundation for the whole of Igeres Hateshuvah as well. We’ll soon see why. What happens? What is the difference between positive and negative mitzvos? What does each do? In general, the positive and negative mitzvos make up the 613 mitzvos. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave us 613 mitzvos: 248 positive mitzvos and 365 negative mitzvos. But what is their substance—the substance of the positive and negative mitzvos? As explained in Likkutei Torah on Parshas Balak, the Alter Rebbe writes there that when you build a house for a king, a palace for the king, two things are needed. First, you have to remove everything dirty. The house is full of dust, dirt, and all sorts of undesirable things. You have to clear them out and clean the house of anything the king would object to. Then there is a second thing: you have to fill the house with beautiful furnishings, with all kinds of fine furniture. If you bring beautiful furnishings into a dirty house, you’ve spoiled the whole thing. So two things are needed in this work: you must remove all the dirt, and you must also bring in all the beautiful furnishings. And that is the difference between positive and negative mitzvos. The purpose of negative mitzvos is to keep things from getting dirty. That is their role: to keep things from getting dirty. A Jew must guard himself against everything that soils, everything undesirable. Positive mitzvos, by contrast, are meant to draw light into the world. That is their role: they draw down G-dly light, bring G-dliness and holiness, and bring furnishings into the king’s house. So what happens when it comes to fulfillment? Say a person has to choose between fulfilling a positive mitzvah and observing a negative mitzvah. If he chooses the negative mitzvah because he doesn’t want to soil anything, and therefore does not perform the positive mitzvah, he has kept things clean, but he has missed an opportunity to make furnishings for G-dliness. He has not drawn G-dliness into the world. Conversely, if he performs the—negative mitzvah—the positive mitzvah, even though performing the positive mitzvah will require him to

08:31 The Alter Rebbe says that when you build a house for a king, a palace for a king, there are two things you have to do. First, you have to take out everything dirty. A house can be full of dust, dirt, all kinds of things that don’t belong there. You have to remove them and clean the house of anything that might displease the king. Then there’s a second thing: you have to fill the house with beautiful vessels and all kinds of beautiful furnishings. If you bring beautiful vessels into a dirty house, you’ve spoiled the whole thing. So there are two aspects to our avodah: we have to remove all the dirt, and we also have to bring in all the beautiful vessels. And that’s the difference between positive and negative mitzvos. The role of a negative mitzvah is to make sure things don’t get dirty. That’s its job. The point is that a Jew must guard himself against anything that soils him, anything undesirable. A positive mitzvah, by contrast, is meant to bring light into the world. That’s its role: to draw down Divine light, to bring G-dliness and holiness, to bring in vessels for the King. So what happens when it comes to actually doing the mitzvah? Say a person is in a situation where he has to choose between a positive mitzvah and a negative one. If he chooses the negative mitzvah because he doesn’t want to make things dirty, and he doesn’t do the positive mitzvah, then he has kept things from getting dirty—but he has lost the opportunity to make vessels for G-dliness. He hasn’t drawn G-dliness into the world. On the other hand, if he does the positive mitzvah, even though doing it will mean he has to

10:46 To transgress a prohibition as well, it will not cause any defilement. Because if the Torah tells him he must do it, then it does not defile. There is no blemish here, no problem. When is transgressing a prohibition a problem? When the Torah says not to do it. But if the Torah tells him to do it, then you cannot say that a blemish has been caused, because the Torah told him it is permitted. And at the same time, he has the opportunity to draw G-dliness into the world by fulfilling a positive mitzvah. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying about fulfillment: when we are talking about fulfilling mitzvos, a positive mitzvah takes precedence over a prohibition. The positive mitzvah has the advantage, because it has a special power to draw down G-dliness, to draw down light. You are doing something positive, which you do not have with a prohibition. Only with a positive mitzvah do you have that opportunity. Ah, but is there a blemish? There will not be one, because the Torah gives you permission to do it. So that is the explanation according to Chassidus of why, when it comes to fulfillment, a positive mitzvah takes precedence over a prohibition: you have an opportunity to bring G-dliness into the world. That is regarding fulfillment. But what happens regarding a transgression? When a person sins, it is the other way around. If I do not perform a positive mitzvah, what happened? I lost an opportunity to draw G-dliness into the world. That is all: an opportunity was lost. You had the chance to make vessels for G-dliness, to draw light into the world, and you did not do it. You lost the opportunity, but you did not defile or blemish anything; you simply did not act. But if you transgress a prohibition, what happens? You cause a blemish. You did something bad, something wrong. So you caused a

12:45 blemish. You did something negative, something, something, something of darkness. You added darkness to the world. Therefore, when it comes to rectification, the Alter Rebbe says that for a positive mitzvah, he is forgiven immediately. Ah, I lost an opportunity to draw G-dliness into the world. What you lost, you lost; in any case, teshuvah will not help with that, nor will Yom Kippur. You cannot make up for the opportunity you had to put on tefillin and did not take. Tomorrow you will start putting on tefillin, but those will be tomorrow’s tefillin. Yesterday’s opportunity has already passed, so the light you missed cannot be drawn down. All that remains is to rectify the rebellion. When a person commits a transgression, there has been a rebellion against the King. For that, there is teshuvah. He does teshuvah, he is forgiven, and that is it. But with a prohibition, besides the rebellion, besides casting off the yoke by committing a transgression, you also caused a blemish. When you transgress a prohibition—eating non-kosher food, desecrating Shabbos—you cause a blemish both in your soul and in this world. We will soon see inside how the Alter Rebbe explains this. Since you caused a blemish here, it is much worse. Therefore, this requires not only teshuvah to remove the rebellion; you must wait for Yom Kippur, when the blemishes are cleansed, as the Alter Rebbe will explain in the continuation of the chapter. That is the basis of the explanation the Alter Rebbe gives here in parentheses. The question is: Why does the Alter Rebbe want to go into all this at the beginning of the discussion? What is his purpose in explaining it here? These parentheses seem to raise a question. One of the students asks: Seemingly, this is a question in nigleh, a halachic question the Alter Rebbe raises. Why explain that question here? We will explain

15:01 that shortly. First, I want to read a little more inside. The Alter Rebbe says: “That is to say, although, with regard to the fulfillment of mitzvos, fulfilling a positive mitzvah takes precedence and overrides a prohibition, this is because by fulfilling a positive mitzvah, one draws light and divine flow into the higher worlds from the supernal light, blessed be He.” When a person fulfills a positive mitzvah, he thereby draws G-dly light into the higher worlds from the supernal light, blessed be He. As the Zohar says: “The 248 commandments are the 248 limbs of the King.” This means that every mitzvah is, so to speak, a limb of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Just as a limb draws vitality—we can see that when you strengthen a limb, do various exercises and work with it, it draws more vitality from the soul—so too, with every mitzvah a Jew performs, he draws G-dly light into the vessels. That is the drawing of light and divine flow into the higher worlds accomplished by every mitzvah. And also into the G-dly soul. Besides what the mitzvah accomplishes above in the worlds, it also brings additional light and holiness to the Jew himself, as we say, “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos.” Through a mitzvah, a Jew becomes holy. In other words, he receives additional holiness. The G-dly soul is holy in its own right, but we say, “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos.” That means fulfilling mitzvos adds holiness to a person. That is the whole idea of mitzvos: through them, a person is elevated by the supernal holiness, and a very lofty drawing down of G-dliness enters him and surrounds him. So because a positive mitzvah has both these advantages—it brings an addition to the world and an addition to the Jew himself—when it comes to fulfillment, a positive mitzvah takes precedence over a

17:01 prohibition. With a prohibition, you do not have that. Ah, but is there a blemish? When Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells you it is permitted, there is no blemish, and therefore a positive mitzvah overrides a prohibition. But when it comes to teshuvah, even though he is forgiven for rebelling against His blessed kingship and not carrying out the King’s command, things are different. For a prohibition, Yom Kippur is needed, whereas for a positive mitzvah, we say that when he does teshuvah he is forgiven immediately. Why? The Alter Rebbe says: “But with regard to teshuvah, although he is forgiven the punishment for having rebelled against His blessed kingship and not carried out the King’s command,” once you do teshuvah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu forgives the rebellion against His kingship. That is the purpose of teshuvah. But as for the light you should have drawn down and did not, “nevertheless, the light is absent, etc.” The light you should have drawn into the world has been lost. You cannot rectify that. So waiting for Yom Kippur will not help. The Alter Rebbe wants to show that it is not because neglecting a positive mitzvah is less serious that we say, “He does not move from there before he is forgiven”—that he is forgiven immediately because it is less serious. Rather, the drawing down of light is absent, and you cannot draw it down now. “As our Sages said concerning the verse, ‘That which is crooked cannot be made straight’: this refers to one who neglected the evening Shema, etc.” Our Sages say that a person can transgress in a way that cannot be rectified. What is an example of “that which is crooked cannot be made straight”? A positive mitzvah. You had an opportunity to put on tefillin, and one day you did not. That is it. You should have recited Shema, and you did not. You can do teshuvah and start reciting Shema tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Shema

18:57 will be recited, but you lost yesterday’s Shema. You cannot rectify that. “For even if from now on he is careful to recite the evening and morning Shema forever, teshuvah does not help rectify the one time he neglected it.” Reciting Shema from now on will not make up for yesterday’s Shema, which he did not recite. That cannot be rectified. So we say, “He does not move from there before he is forgiven,” because as far as rectification is concerned, there is no way to rectify what was missed. But what actually happens with a prohibition? The problem with a prohibition is the blemish, the defilement. As for that defilement, we say one must wait until Yom Kippur. “One who transgresses a prohibition, because evil becomes attached to his soul”—when a person commits a transgression, evil attaches itself to his soul. “He causes a blemish above, in his root and the source from which he was hewn.” At the moment a person commits a transgression, he blemishes his soul below, and consequently also blemishes the soul’s root as it exists above, “in the garments of the Ten Sefiros of Asiyah. As it is written in Tikkunei Zohar: ‘You prepared garments for them, from which souls fly forth to human beings,’ etc.” The Zohar says that the root of the soul below is in the world of Asiyah. That is the meaning of “You prepared garments for them, from which souls fly forth to human beings.” There are garments of the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, from which souls emerge. A blemish caused to the soul down here blemishes the soul’s garments in the spiritual world of Asiyah. “Therefore, there is no atonement for the soul, nor above, until Yom Kippur.” Since there is also a blemish in the soul, one must wait until Yom Kippur to rectify it. As it is written, “And he shall atone for the Sanctuary because of the impurities of the Children of Israel and their transgressions,” etc.

20:58 Hashem grants atonement on Yom Kippur. It is a time of atonement, when Hashem atones for the impurities and transgressions of the Jewish people. “Before Hashem you shall be purified”—“before Hashem” specifically. That is the idea of Yom Kippur: atonement takes place “before Hashem.” And the Alter Rebbe is precise about those words: “before Hashem” specifically. What does that mean? When a person commits a sin, he causes a blemish in his soul. That is what we said earlier. And because the soul ultimately comes from Hashem, a blemish in the soul also causes a blemish in the soul’s source, the root of the neshamah. Now, we know that the root of the neshamah is in Hashem’s Name. The Alter Rebbe will explain this shortly, in the following chapters of Igeres Hateshuvah. The root of the neshamah is in Hashem’s Name: “For Hashem’s portion is His people.” So a blemish is caused in the letters yud-kei-vav-kei as well. By impairing his service down here, in his soul, a person impairs his source, to the point of causing a blemish in yud-kei-vav-kei. How is that blemish repaired? This is why we say that on Yom Kippur, “before Hashem you shall be purified.” On Yom Kippur, a G-dly light is revealed from a level higher even than Hashem’s Name—“before Hashem.” Through the revelation of that level, all the sins are atoned for and all the blemishes are repaired. That is why a prohibition requires Yom Kippur for atonement. So what comes out of this? There are two reasons why we cannot take positive mitzvos lightly. We say that for a positive mitzvah, a person is forgiven immediately, whereas for a prohibition he must wait until Yom Kippur. There are two reasons for that distinction. First, with a positive mitzvah, the loss cannot be repaired anyway. That is one point. And the very fact that it cannot be repaired shows even more clearly how serious these mitzvos are.

23:13 Positive mitzvos cannot be repaired—what does it mean to repair them? That is one way we see the seriousness of positive mitzvos. And there is another way we see their importance, with regard to fulfilling them. In terms of fulfillment, we say that fulfilling a positive mitzvah is more important than refraining from a prohibition. In other words, with this whole lengthy explanation, the Alter Rebbe wants to explain two reasons—I don’t know if I put that correctly—the Rebbe wants to explain here two reasons why positive mitzvos have greater importance than prohibitions. There are two reasons. Positive mitzvos are more important than prohibitions in terms of fulfillment, because a positive mitzvah draws something down. That is why a positive mitzvah overrides a prohibition. And the same is true with regard to teshuvah. Don’t think that because teshuvah for a positive mitzvah is easier, the mitzvah itself is less serious. Teshuvah is easier because the loss cannot be repaired. So from both perspectives—fulfilling the mitzvah and doing teshuvah—we understand that positive mitzvos have a particular seriousness and require particular care. The Alter Rebbe therefore concludes this passage in parentheses by saying: “But this is not so; one must not learn from here any leniency, G-d forbid, regarding positive mitzvos, and particularly Torah study.” The Alter Rebbe is saying that, given what we have just explained about how serious positive mitzvos are, we obviously cannot take any leniency from this. We must know that positive mitzvos require particular care. Even though, when you study the Gemara in Yoma, it might seem easier, you should know that the opposite is true. On the contrary, positive mitzvos are much more serious—to the point that the loss cannot even be repaired. So we must be very, very, very careful in our approach to positive mitzvos, particularly Torah

25:06 study. The Alter Rebbe speaks here about positive mitzvos because we know that Torah study is the weightiest mitzvah, and “Torah study is equal to them all.” The whole matter of Torah study—and, accordingly, being careless with the time set aside for it—requires even greater care. On the contrary, our Sages said: “Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooked idolatry and so on,” even though those sins carry penalties of kareis and death by the court, “but He did not overlook neglect of Torah study.” That shows just how careful we must be with positive mitzvos in general and Torah study in particular. The Alter Rebbe says that regarding Torah study in particular, the Gemara tells us that Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooked the most serious sins, which carry penalties of kareis and death by the court. We will learn about that shortly. We have not yet learned that attaining atonement through teshuvah for those sins is the hardest, because it also requires suffering, may G-d protect us. Nevertheless, it says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooked those sins but did not overlook neglect of Torah study. What does that mean? The Gemara says—there is a verse in Yirmiyahu. The verse says: “Why was the land lost?” “For three transgressions of Sodom [unclear]”—I don’t remember—“and for four, I will not turn it back.” That is a verse in Yirmiyahu. The verse is asking what happened. Why was the land lost? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu destroy the Beis Hamikdash and Jerusalem? So it says, “For three transgressions”—those are three sins, idolatry and bloodshed. Then it says, “And for four, I will not turn it back.” The Gemara says that Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooked the three sins, even though they were the most serious sins. Those sins alone were not what He refused to overlook; rather, He did not overlook neglect of Torah study. As explained, on the plain level, it does not mean, G-d forbid,

27:04 that Hakadosh Boruch Hu overlooked the three sins as though He did not care about them, G-d forbid. Rather, had the Jewish people studied Torah—based on what we are learning here in Tanya, we can understand this in light of the Alter Rebbe’s explanation that a positive mitzvah draws down a very great G-dly light. Torah certainly draws down an even greater G-dly light. So if the Jewish people had studied Torah—of course, studying Torah and upholding it as it should be—they would have drawn down an infinite light. That would have repaired the blemish caused by the three sins. Because they did not study Torah as they should have, G-dly light was not drawn down into the world. And without that light, the blemishes caused by the three sins could not be repaired either. That is the explanation. “Overlooked” does not mean overlooked in the literal sense. The Alter Rebbe explains it as though to say: If there had been Torah study, then the blemishes would have been filled in. Its effect would already have been felt; even the blemish caused by the three sins would have been repaired without suffering. Since they were not upholding the Torah, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not overlook the three sins either. That is the explanation. What do we see from this? We see how important positive mitzvos are in general, and the mitzvah of Torah study in particular: through them, G-dly light is drawn down into the world. So why did the Alter Rebbe include this passage in parentheses? Simply, the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize how precious positive mitzvos are and how great their spiritual quality is. This is one of the foundations of Chassidus—Chabad Chassidus and Chassidus in general. There was an emphasis on positive mitzvos. At that time, as is well known, before the Baal Shem Tov, the focus was on fear of punishment and all of that.

29:04 Jews served Hakadosh Boruch Hu only out of fear, including fear of punishment. So there was more fear about prohibitions, while positive mitzvos were taken more lightly. That approach was based on this Gemara: since we see that one is forgiven immediately for a positive mitzvah, it seems that failing to fulfill one is not such a problem. A prohibition seems more serious, because then you cause a blemish and are blemished yourself. The Alter Rebbe wants to explain that this entire approach is simply mistaken. On the contrary, one of the foundations of Chassidus revealed by the Baal Shem Tov is that the main purpose of the soul’s descent into this world is not merely to avoid sins, but to perform mitzvos—to draw G-dliness into the world. This is the idea of “do good,” and it is central to the teachings of Chassidus. Among the teachers of mussar, the main focus and effort were on “turn away from evil,” while Chassidus began to reveal the power of “do good.” That is what the Alter Rebbe wants to explain here, as soon as he cites the beraisa: the great quality of “do good.” That is one explanation chassidim give. There is another explanation as well. The Rebbe writes about it in a letter, and we will explain it in the next class, with Hashem’s help.