Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 26 - Part 1

00:01 Speaker 1 Chapter 26 of Tanya begins a new subject. Tanya has different sections. What is the subject here? Every few chapters deal with a particular theme. Beginning with chapter 26, the Alter Rebbe starts giving advice about specific matters in serving Hashem. In other words, up to and including chapter 25, the Alter Rebbe is speaking more about general principles. In the first twenty-five chapters of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe explains the overall concept of the beinoni: what the G-dly soul is, what the animal soul is, the struggle between them, how a person can and must be a beinoni, how every Jew has the ability to be a beinoni, and what is demanded of the beinoni in thought, speech, and action. On the other hand, he is also expected to have love and awe “in your heart.” How much love and awe can be demanded of a beinoni? To what level? That is what the Alter Rebbe explained. Broadly speaking, up to chapter 17 the Alter Rebbe discussed the G-dly soul, the animal soul, the tzaddik, the rasha, the beinoni, the struggle between them, and the service of the beinoni. Then, from chapter 18 through chapter 25, the Alter Rebbe explains in detail how every Jew has the ability to be a beinoni, because every Jew has the hidden love that we inherited from our forefathers. From Avraham Avinu, every Jew has a love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu that extends to mesirus nefesh. That is the source of the simple faith every Jew has, to the point that he is prepared to give his life rather than be separated from faith in Hakadosh Boruch Hu and from His oneness. So the Alter Rebbe explained that when a Jew reflects on how every mitzvah is an expression of the oneness of Hashem, while every transgression is connected with idolatry—that, in essence, every sin and every prohibition, even a minor rabbinic prohibition,

02:09 Speaker 1 is connected with actual idolatry, while every mitzvah is an expression of the oneness of Hashem, as the Alter Rebbe explains in those chapters—he can draw a conclusion: If I am prepared to endure the pain of death rather than be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu even for a moment, if a Jew is prepared for mesirus nefesh, for physical suffering, even to give his life for the sanctification of Hashem’s name in the literal sense, rather than be separated from the oneness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, then all the more so he must overcome his yetzer in turning away from evil and doing good. This is what the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 25. On that basis, he explained the verse that is the foundation of all of Tanya: “For this matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” What does that mean? The matter is very close to you because, when a Jew thinks about it, he already has it; he does not need to create something new. A Jew already has love of Hashem, already has mesirus nefesh, and already has faith. It is present in his soul as an inheritance from our forefathers. He only needs to bring it out and understand how it should affect him, so that he overcomes his yetzer in matters of turning away from evil and doing good. When a Jew grasps this point, he can become a beinoni in thought, speech, and action, down to every detail. That is the point discussed in these chapters up to now. So, as I said, this has been about the service of the beinoni as a whole and how to become a beinoni in thought, speech, and action: “in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” It is also “in your heart” because of his connection to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There is another kind of love that the Alter Rebbe discussed in chapter 17: love that comes from contemplation. He spoke about it briefly there, saying that with the mind in his head, a person can contemplate the greatness of Hashem and discover

03:55 Speaker 1 another kind of love. There is love that comes from the hidden love, and there is love that comes from contemplating the greatness of Hashem. These are the two aspects of love of Hashem that he discussed in those chapters. That is what we have learned so far. What does the Alter Rebbe begin in chapter 26? In chapter 26, the Alter Rebbe starts explaining how to overcome the various difficulties along the way. Everything we have discussed until now is well and good; it all makes sense. I know I have a G-dly soul, I know I have an animal soul, I know what strengths I have been given, and I know what I inherited from our forefathers. I know I can do all these things. That is all well and good, but when it comes to actually doing it, there are obstacles and hindrances. There are distractions; there are things that prevent a person from drawing close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What are these obstacles and hindrances? In these chapters, from chapter 26 up to and including chapter 34—these eight or nine chapters—the Alter Rebbe explains what advice to follow, what prevents a person from serving Hakadosh Boruch Hu as he should, what those disturbances are, and how to overcome them. What advice is there for overcoming them? We all know that Tanya is, as the Alter Rebbe himself says in the introduction, advice for anash, for all those who came to the Alter Rebbe with questions about serving Hashem. So Tanya as a whole is a book of advice, a book of guidance. But we see that much more concretely and clearly in these chapters, from chapter 26 through chapter 34. Chapter after chapter, we can see how the Alter Rebbe addresses specific problems that each person may have in serving Hashem. The Alter Rebbe addresses them and gives his advice

05:49 Speaker 1 in a very orderly way. How does one overcome the obstacles and hindrances? How can a Jew serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu sincerely, with joy and gladness of heart? That is the underlying theme of these chapters. Let’s begin looking at the text. The Alter Rebbe says: Chapter 26: “However, in such a case, a great principle must be made known.” The Alter Rebbe is saying that he needs to make known a great principle here, and he now begins with a great principle in serving Hashem. What does “a great principle” mean? The Rebbe points out in his notes on Tanya—there is a book of the Rebbe’s notes and source references on Tanya that was published in recent years, after being discovered after Gimmel Tammuz; what is it called? Hagahos U’Marei Mekomos—that the Rebbe also refers to the phrase “a great principle” in Tractate Shabbos, where the Gemara says, “They stated a great principle concerning Shabbos.” “A great principle” means that it includes a number of details as well. The same is true here. We will see one principle, but within that principle there are many details. It is like what the Gemara says about a general category and its derivative in Tractate Shabbos. There is a general category, and there are also derivatives. There are primary categories and derivatives. So too here: “a great principle” means that it includes a number of details, all encompassed by that great principle. What is the great principle? The Alter Rebbe says: “Just as, in order to win a physical contest—for example, when two people wrestle with each other, each trying to throw the other down—if one of them is sluggish and heavy, he will easily be defeated and fall, even if he is stronger than his opponent.” We see this in a physical contest. Two people are struggling; two people wrestle, as the verse says, a man wrestles with his fellow. Wrestling means that they grapple with each other, and each one tries to throw the other down.

07:51 Speaker 1 So what do we see there? If someone is in a state of laziness and heaviness, if he is sluggish and weighed down, he will fall. He “will be easily defeated, even if he is stronger than his fellow.” Even if he has greater strength, even if he is the stronger one, he will still fall. “The same is true of overcoming the yetzer: it cannot be overcome with laziness and heaviness.” The same applies in the battle with the yetzer. We cannot overcome the yetzer hara if we are in a state of laziness and heaviness, “which stem from sadness and a heart that is dull as stone.” Where do laziness and heaviness come from? The Alter Rebbe says they come from sadness and a heart that is dull as stone. One leads to the other. So there are two problems here: an outward problem and an inner problem. The outward problem is laziness and heaviness. The person is lazy—what they call here [unclear]. There’s another word. Huh? [unclear], laziness, heaviness, all right. That’s the situation in practice. The person feels lazy and heavy. But the Alter Rebbe says: Where does that laziness and heaviness come from? It comes from sadness and a heart that is dull as stone. When the heart feels dull, you cannot overcome the yetzer that way. The only way to overcome it is “with alacrity that stems from joy, an open heart, and a heart cleansed of every trace of worry and sadness in the world.” The only way to overcome the yetzer is through the opposite approach: alacrity. And alacrity comes through joy—not just any joy, but joy that opens the heart, the opposite of a dull heart. The heart must be open and cleansed of every kind of worry and trouble in the world. It has to be open, clean, pure, without any worry or trouble in the world. So what is the great principle here? Let’s see. It’s very interesting when you look at the Tanya, because every word in the Tanya is precise. So what

10:14 Speaker 1 is the great principle here? On the one hand, there’s a great principle here; on the other hand, we see several details. The great principle the Alter Rebbe is discussing is alacrity and joy. The Alter Rebbe wants to say: Know that to overcome the yetzer, you need alacrity and joy. In other words, the Alter Rebbe is telling you this: True, you’ve now learned twenty-five chapters of Tanya, and you know you have a soul, a G-dly soul, that is truly a part of G-d above. Anyone who has learned the Tanya up to this point knows with complete certainty that we’re talking about tremendous strengths. I have a soul, a soul that is truly a part of G-d above, with all that entails—all that the Alter Rebbe explained in chapters 2, 18, and 19. All the explanations he gave of the qualities of a Jew’s soul, the strength of the soul. And then there’s the animal soul. What is the animal soul? It comes from kelipos and sitra achra, which receive their life through many tzimtzumim, from the “back,” and so on. So the G-dly soul is incomparably stronger than the animal soul. I already know that. But what’s new here? This is what the Alter Rebbe is coming to tell us: You might be stronger and still not win. We see this in the physical example. There can be two people, one physically stronger than the other. Yet if his spirits are low, if he feels down, has no desire and no drive, he will fall. Yes, he has what you call—oh, right, he has, how do you say it, muscles? He has strength, he has muscles, he’s a strong person. But what good is that if

12:14 Speaker 1 you’re in a bad frame of mind because of some worry, some sadness, something that has dulled your heart, whatever it may be? Then you’ll fall. Why? Because strength alone isn’t enough to win; to win, you need to be quick and energetic. Yes, you need alacrity. That’s why we see that the very first thing written in the Shulchan Aruch, in the first section of the first part, is: “Yehudah ben Teima says: Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion.” That is the alacrity needed in serving Hashem, which is mentioned at the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch. To overcome the yetzer, you need alacrity. The opposite of alacrity is laziness, and we saw this in the previous chapter as well. It’s very interesting that already in the previous chapter, chapter 25, when the Alter Rebbe spoke about the yetzer hara, the animal soul, he used the words “to overcome the yetzer that casts laziness upon him, from the element of earth in the animal soul.” Of all the traits, the Alter Rebbe chose laziness, because it is central to the matter. The yetzer hara casts laziness upon a person because it knows that once a person is lazy, he can be defeated. Oh, he’s stronger? It doesn’t matter. Laziness brings a person down. Alacrity is the way to overcome the yetzer. The Alter Rebbe says: Where does this come from? It comes from how the person feels inside. Alacrity comes from joy. When a person is happy, he has energy; he runs, he moves, he’s alive. When a person is sad, he naturally becomes lazy. He sinks; he feels heavy. And that’s why, in chapter 1 of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe groups laziness and sadness together under the element of earth, because they belong together. So what follows from this? There’s a general point here. What is the great principle? Is the great principle that we need joy, or that we need alacrity? Which one exactly

14:07 Speaker 1 is the great principle? That we need joy or alacrity?

14:15 Speaker 2 Both.

14:15 Speaker 1 Both. It’s alacrity that stems from joy. So that’s what I was telling you. What’s important here is that the Alter Rebbe is precise in calling this a great principle. There are details here, several elements. If you look closely, the Alter Rebbe is actually speaking about four things, not just one. He speaks about alacrity and an open heart. Yes, and on the other side, what are his words? There is laziness and heaviness, which stem from sadness and a dull heart. So there are two things here: laziness and heaviness. They seem the same, but they aren’t. Laziness is one trait; heaviness is another. In fact, we’ll see that the Alter Rebbe addresses laziness and heaviness in two different chapters here. The Alter Rebbe says that laziness stems from sadness, while heaviness stems from a dull heart. So there are four elements here. There is laziness and heaviness, and they come from two inner states: sadness and a dull heart. Now, laziness and heaviness are about what happens in practice. Yes, in practice. That’s the reality. Laziness shows up in practice: he’s lazy, he’s lazy. Instead of being energetic, he’s lazy. Laziness is the opposite of alacrity. Yes, heaviness means not only that he’s lazy, but that he feels weighed down. It’s more than laziness. Heaviness is the feeling of something pulling him downward. A person can simply be lazy. Laziness is just a lack of alacrity. Heaviness is more than the absence of alacrity. Heaviness is a feeling of defeat, a feeling of falling. It’s worse. We need to define it precisely, but heaviness is worse than laziness. It’s as though he’s not only lazy, not only lacking alacrity—he also feels weighed down. There’s a feeling of heaviness, a feeling that everything inside him is blocked. And the Alter Rebbe says where this comes from

16:36 Speaker 1 Where does it come from? From sadness and a dulled heart. Sadness is one thing. Sadness is the opposite of joy. Things happen that make a person feel sad. Why? Because he has problems and worries, and the worries make him sad. Sometimes they are material worries—things he lacks materially. Sometimes spiritual matters can also make him sad: transgressions, matters between him and his Creator. So he is sad. That is one thing. Then there is a dulled heart. A dulled heart is something else. It is not just sadness. It means you feel that your heart is closed off. Sadness is a feeling; a dulled heart is the absence of feeling. It is as though you have become like a stone and feel nothing. That is what a dulled heart means: becoming like a stone. So what emerges here? Laziness comes from sadness. Heaviness comes from a dulled heart. And we will see in these chapters—chapters 26, 27, and 28—how the Alter Rebbe addresses getting rid of sadness. In chapter 29, the Alter Rebbe begins discussing a dulled heart and heaviness. That is chapters 29 and 30. So we see in Tanya that, broadly speaking, he is making one point, because all of this is connected; it all belongs to one family. But when we get into the details, there are several distinct matters here, several aspects of our avodah. Yes, we are talking about avodah in practice: it needs to be done with alacrity and ease. The opposite is avodah done with laziness and heaviness. But what causes those two things? Laziness and heaviness come from sadness and a dulled heart. So the avodah is to awaken joy and to open the heart—the opposite of a dulled heart. The Alter Rebbe is now going to explain all of this over the next eight or nine chapters. The Alter Rebbe will explain

18:49 Speaker 1 how to remove laziness, how to remove worries, and how to remove a dulled heart. Then he will explain how to awaken joy and open the heart. That is what all the following chapters are about: the Alter Rebbe gives guidance for every side of it, every detail. Now let us come to the overall point the Alter Rebbe makes, which is very fundamental: victory over the yetzer comes through alacrity that flows from joy. And more broadly, we see here a fundamental principle of the Alter Rebbe’s approach in Tanya. One of the things we see throughout Tanya and Chabad Chassidus is that the Alter Rebbe speaks about inner avodah. Here, the Alter Rebbe discusses a problem called laziness and wants to explain that one needs alacrity. But in practice, he does not offer tips for being more energetic. He goes to the root of the matter. Why are you lazy? In other books, in works of mussar, you might find a section on alacrity and all sorts of ideas about how a person can do things energetically, how to be energetic in serving Hashem. There are teachings of our Sages, Midrashim, and advice about running to shul, getting up in the morning, and all sorts of ways to be energetic. Although the Alter Rebbe says that the basis for overcoming the yetzer is alacrity, and its opposite is laziness, in practice he looks at the root, as he does with everything in Tanya. The reason a person is lazy is that he has some worry. If we address the root, take away his worries, and explain to him how to be joyful, alacrity will follow naturally. So this is one of the principles of Chassidus that we learn: the remedy has to address the root of the matter. Work on joy; work on opening the heart. Then you will have neither laziness nor heaviness. On the contrary, you will have alacrity in serving Hashem. And there is another point that brings us

20:59 Speaker 1 directly to our present situation: we are now at the beginning of a new period. There is the well-known vort that the Frierdiker Rebbe relates in his sichos in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek. The Tzemach Tzedek once visited the soldiers in Kronstadt. It was the time of the Cantonists. The soldiers were there, and the Tzemach Tzedek spoke to them about Chassidus and preparing for Rosh Hashanah. He explained that Rosh Hashanah is the coronation of the King, and for a coronation there has to be a procession; for a procession, you need clean clothes, and so on. He spoke about cleaning the clothes and their buttons with earth and water—bitterness, a broken heart, tears, and Tehillim. Then one of the soldiers stood up and said, “Rebbe, I am a simple man, but in the army we learned that to win a war, you have to march to a victory tune. That gives you the strength to win.” The Tzemach Tzedek said, “You are right.” The Tzemach Tzedek said that the King is crowned specifically with joy. He returned to Lubavitch and told the chassidim about it. That year there was a joyous Rosh Hashanah and a joyous Yom Kippur. They said that even Reb Hendel did not cry that Yom Kippur. Reb Hendel was someone who often wept, yet even he did not cry that Yom Kippur. There was such great joy that the whole year was a year of joy. So here, too, we see this principle in Tanya: the way to overcome the yetzer is specifically through alacrity that flows from joy. When you begin with a spirit of joy, a spirit of victory, it gives you much greater strength to overcome all the concealments, obstacles, and challenges, to defeat the forces of the yetzer, and to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu as one should.