Likkutei Amarim Chapter 30 - Part 1

00:00 Well, today we’re beginning chapter 30 of Tanya. Here the Alter Rebbe continues to explain how a person can break the coarseness of the body and the animal soul. When the heart is blocked and a person feels unable to daven or contemplate, it is because the coarseness of the body has gained the upper hand over the spiritual form, over the G-dly soul. The coarseness must be broken. In chapter 29, the Alter Rebbe laid out a whole approach to this work. Broadly speaking, he gave two ways to break the coarseness of the body and the animal soul: by contemplating matters that break the heart, or by “thundering at it with a voice of tumult.” Those were the two approaches he gave in chapter 29. Now, in chapter 30, the Alter Rebbe is going to give another contemplation, another form of work. There is another way a person can bring about this breaking. The Alter Rebbe says in chapter 30: “He should also take to heart” another matter a person needs to contemplate: “Be humble of spirit before every person.” To break the coarseness of the body and the animal soul—the arrogance of the kelipah—a person should contemplate the teaching of our Sages, “Be humble of spirit before every person.” That means contemplating his own lowliness, to the point of considering how he stands in relation to every person in the world. In the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe spoke about a person’s lowliness in his own eyes: how he takes stock of himself and contemplates his lowliness in relation to himself—regarding the things he does wrong, his yetzer hara, his nature, and matters of sin and so on. The Alter Rebbe gave various ways of reckoning with a person’s lowliness in his own eyes. Here, the Alter Rebbe

02:16 speaks about a person’s lowliness in relation to other people. To break himself down further, to further break the coarseness and arrogance of the kelipah, he should contemplate where he stands in relation to the whole world, and his lowliness in relation to everyone. This further crushes the arrogance of the kelipah. As we said in the previous chapter, the whole matter of a blocked mind and heart comes from the coarseness of the kelipah. That coarseness needs to be broken, and that is the subject of chapter 30. The Alter Rebbe will give a beinoni a way to take stock of himself, a matter for contemplation. We are speaking here about the level of a beinoni. Yes, even a beinoni can make a genuine reckoning that leads him to feel his lowliness before every person. That will break his arrogance, and breaking that arrogance is another way to overcome the blockage of the mind and heart. There is another difference between chapters 29 and 30: in chapter 29, the Alter Rebbe also spoke about lowliness in relation to animals. One of the things he explained there was how a person can feel lower than animals. The Alter Rebbe said at the beginning of chapter 29 that a person is worse even than beasts and wild animals, because they cannot transgress Hashem’s will, while he can. That is why he said a person is worse even than impure animals, and so on. In this respect, too, there is a difference between chapters 29 and 30. There he spoke about transgressions and so on: a person can fall into sin, and in that particular respect he is lowly even in relation to animals. Chapter 30 speaks about lowliness in relation to other people. The contemplation in chapter 30 concerns his lowliness before every person. So what do our Sages say? They say, “Be humble of spirit before every person.” That is the teaching in Pirkei Avos. The

04:12 Alter Rebbe says: “And this should be in absolute truth before every single person, even the least of the lowly.” The Alter Rebbe adds an explanation here. In the words “Be humble of spirit before every person,” he points out two novel ideas. The first is that this should be “in absolute truth.” And the second is that “before every person” means every single person, even the least of the lowly. What are these two ideas? When we learn the Mishnah, “Be humble of spirit before every person,” its plain meaning—and this is how some commentators on the Mishnah explain it—is that this is a feeling a person should cultivate. It does not necessarily have to be objectively true. A person should feel humble before everyone, even if deep down he knows that he is greater than the other person. He may know that he is a Torah scholar, G-d-fearing, learned, righteous. In truth, there may be no comparison between him and the other person. Nevertheless, his actual conduct should be humble. Yes, you may know the truth, but you don’t need to show it. So, as it seems from Rabbeinu Yonah and several other commentators on the Mishnah, “Be humble of spirit before every person” refers to conduct. A person should behave humbly. He should not put himself above others. As we find in the Rambam and the Gemara, a person should not display authority over the community—even if he truly is a rabbi and a leader. How is it worded there? He should not make a show of his authority

06:11 over the community. Even if he truly is a rabbi and a leader, it must all be done with humility and modesty. Yes. In any case, that is how some of the commentators understand it. That is one point. Similarly, when we come to the words “before every person,” some commentators ask: What does “every person” mean? It means distinguished, important people, people of substance—not absolutely everyone. “Before every person” means people on his level, people comparable to him. Toward them, he should conduct himself this way. But this would not be said about someone who is truly unlearned, or someone who is not at all on his level. The Alter Rebbe comes to rule out both of these interpretations. That is what he is saying. “Be humble of spirit,” says the Alter Rebbe, “in absolute truth.” It is not only a matter of conduct; it must truly be so. A person must be genuinely convinced that he is lowlier than each and every person. And “before every person” does not mean a particular kind of person. It means literally every person, even the least of the lowly. That is the Alter Rebbe’s great insight. The Torah of truth, the inner dimension of Torah, reveals the innermost truth in every matter. So when the Mishnah says, “Be humble of spirit before every person,” it means truly humble of spirit, before literally every person, even the least of the lowly. The question is: How can this be? We are speaking about a beinoni, and a beinoni genuinely serves Hashem. A beinoni’s thought, speech, and action are all as they should be. How can we say that a beinoni can truly feel humble before literally every person, even the least of the lowly? They are simply not comparable. So

08:06 The Alter Rebbe devotes chapter 30 to this—to showing us and explaining how a person reaches that point. There is a wonderful observation by the Rebbe, and a wonderful explanation in a letter. The Rebbe wrote the letter before he assumed the leadership, and it was later printed in Likkutei Sichos, volume 4, in the form of a sicha, among the explanations of Pirkei Avos in the appendices. Someone had asked the Rebbe a question. Before the Rebbe assumed the leadership, people would send him questions, and he would answer them in Kovetz Lubavitch, a publication that came out in America in those early years. This was when the Rebbe’s greatness was beginning to become apparent. So someone asked about the Alter Rebbe’s quotation of the Sages’ teaching, “Be lowly of spirit before every person.” In the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos it says “before every person,” but without the word “the.” In Tanya, every letter and every word is precise. So he wanted to ask: Perhaps this is a printing error? Why would the Alter Rebbe change the wording of the Mishnah? After all, the Alter Rebbe also included Pirkei Avos in the siddur, so both the text of Pirkei Avos and the text of Tanya are precise. In Pirkei Avos it says “every person,” without “the,” while in Tanya he writes “every human being,” with “the.” That was the question. He asked the Rebbe whether it was a printing error that needed to be corrected. The Rebbe said he had checked all the editions, and they all had the same wording. So it could not be called an error. Every edition of Tanya says “every human being,” while the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos says “every person.” The Rebbe pointed out another detail: this Mishnah is also quoted in Tanya, in Igeres Hakodesh. At the end of section 2, the Alter Rebbe quotes the Mishnah,

10:05 and there the Alter Rebbe says, “Be lowly of spirit before every person,” without “the.” So within Tanya itself, Likkutei Amarim says “every human being,” Igeres Hakodesh says “every person,” and the Mishnah also says “every person.” What is the meaning of this? The Rebbe gives a wonderful explanation. First, there is a distinction between “person” and “the human being” in halachah, in the revealed teachings of Torah. When it says “person,” it refers only to the Jewish people: “You are called adam, but the nations of the world are not called adam.” Tosafos on the Gemara in Bava Metzia says that this applies only when the word is adam; when it is ha’adam, “the human being,” it also includes the nations of the world. So there is a very significant difference. Adam refers only to the Jewish people, while ha’adam includes the nations of the world as well. It is a general term that includes a non-Jew too. Now the Rebbe says this: When we tell a person that he needs to be lowly of spirit—to have humility, bittul, a sense of lowliness—Chassidus offers two explanations of what that means. What we are learning here is one explanation; what is explained in Igeres Hakodesh is another. What are these two ways of understanding humility and lowliness before every person? The first is what we are learning here. Its basis is that a person reflects on how his own conduct is worse than that of anyone else. He considers that if someone else faced the same tests he faces—or, conversely, if he faced the tests that someone else faces—he would not withstand them. He comes to recognize that, in his conduct, he is on a lower level

12:09 than anyone else in the world. He sees the other person’s virtues and his own shortcomings by comparison, and then he feels lowly of spirit before every person. That is one way, and it is what we are discussing in this chapter. But there is another kind of lowliness of spirit, explained in Igeres Hakodesh, section 22: the Jewish people are one whole body, made up of limbs, and each limb needs to receive from another. The Jewish people are like a body made up of a head, feet, hands and all kinds of other parts. In a person, the head cannot consider itself superior to the feet, because just as the feet need the head, the head needs the feet. Each has something that the other receives from it. Every limb needs the others. So being lowly of spirit before every person means recognizing that, in some particular respect, I need to receive from someone else. There are things I give and things the other person gives me; I need to receive from him. That lowliness comes from the fact that all Jews are like one body, each completing the other. Now, when the Alter Rebbe comes in chapter 29 to explain how to break through the dullness of the heart, to break the coarseness of the yetzer, the first reflection a person needs is one that will break that coarseness and his materiality. He needs to reflect on his own lowliness in relation to everyone in the world—not only Jews, but non-Jews too. That is why it says, “Be lowly of spirit before every human being.” That is the precise wording. The Alter Rebbe writes “the human being” here because, in the reflection discussed in chapter 30, a person can feel lowly of spirit even in relation to a non-Jew. How does that work? For example, the Alter Rebbe said in chapter 24 that [unclear]: a non-Jew does not have that capacity. But you are a Jew, and you have a soul. Nevertheless, there is this reflection. On the one hand, you consider that a Jew has free choice and can do wrong, and in a particular respect can fall to a depth even worse than a non-Jew. If a non-Jew had the capacities I have, he would do more than I do. There are all kinds of reckonings like that. The Rebbe once cited a maamar about Moshe Rabbeinu. The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that a maamar of the Alter Rebbe discusses the verse, “And the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any human being on the face of the earth.” The Alter Rebbe says this means even more humble than a non-Jew. In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu’s humility was not only in relation to the Jewish people; he felt exceedingly humble even in relation to non-Jews and servants. This goes so far as the reckoning cited among chassidim: Moshe Rabbeinu would say that if someone else had the capacities he had, that person would accomplish more than he did, and so on. In any event, since the aim in chapter 30 is to break the body’s materiality that comes from the yetzer, the Alter Rebbe uses “the human being”—even a non-Jew. By contrast, in chapter 22 of Igeres Hakodesh, where the Alter Rebbe speaks about the lowliness of spirit a person needs in connection with Ahavas Yisroel, the subject is different. There the aim is to reach Ahavas Yisroel. To reach Ahavas Yisroel, one does not reflect on one’s lowliness in relation to everyone. Rather, one understands that the entire Jewish people are one body, that each person is a limb with a particular virtue, and that each needs to receive from the other. That is why the Alter Rebbe writes “person” there, referring only to a Jew. In chapter 22 of Igeres Hakodesh, the Alter Rebbe calls

14:10 [unclear] A non-Jew does not have that ability. But you are a Jew, and you have a soul. And still, there is this contemplation. In other words, on the one hand you reflect on the fact that a Jew has free choice and can do wrong; in a particular respect, he can even sink lower than a non-Jew. If a non-Jew had the abilities I have, he would accomplish more than I do—calculations of that sort. The Rebbe once cites in a maamar—Moshe Rabbeinu... The Rebbe once said at a farbrengen that a maamar of the Alter Rebbe quotes, “And the man Moshe was exceedingly humble, more than any person on the face of the earth.” The Alter Rebbe says this means even in comparison with a non-Jew. That is, Moshe Rabbeinu felt exceedingly humble not only in relation to the Jewish people, but even in relation to non-Jews and slaves. This goes as far as the reasoning cited in Chassidus: Moshe Rabbeinu would say that if someone else had the abilities he had, that person would have done more than he did, and so on. In any case, here in chapter 30, since the goal is to break the coarseness of the body that comes from one’s yetzer, the Alter Rebbe brings in the idea of “a person,” even... By contrast, in chapter 22 of Igeres Hakodesh, [unclear], where the Alter Rebbe speaks about the humility a person needs to feel in connection with Ahavas Yisroel, the subject is different. There, the aim is to reach Ahavas Yisroel. To reach Ahavas Yisroel, one does not contemplate one’s lowliness in comparison with every single person. Rather, one comes to understand that the entire Jewish people are one body, that each person is a limb with a particular quality, and that everyone needs to receive from the other. That is why there the Alter Rebbe writes “a person”—only a person. Chapter 22 of Igeres Hakodesh, where the Alter Rebbe speaks about this, calls for

16:04 on the chassidim to have brotherly love and friendship: “Let none of you think evil of his fellow in your hearts.” Chassidim should have friendship; each should connect with the other, without making calculations or giving way to jealousy, hatred and competition. That is what the Alter Rebbe asks of them. Through this reflection one comes to feel lowly in relation to other Jews, and that is why he writes “person” there, not “the human being.” Similarly, the Mishnah in Avos offers ethical guidance for a person who is on a refined, pure level, and he needs to bring himself to feel lowly in relation to other Jews. There, too, the reflection concerns the Jewish people themselves, so the precise wording is “person,” not “the human being.” That, in brief, is the Rebbe’s explanation, showing that every letter in Tanya is precise. The Rebbe concludes his letter by saying that this shows how carefully Tanya must be studied: every letter is exact. The Alter Rebbe deliberately wrote “the human being” rather than “person.” It is not just some mistake. There is a wonderful precision here, and it applies to every letter. It shows how careful we need to be when studying Tanya. That is the Rebbe’s explanation of this Mishnah, and it relates to the Alter Rebbe’s point here: “Be, in the truest sense, lowly of spirit before absolutely every person, even the lowest of the low.” Now, I have heard two stories that chassidim tell about this passage. What is meant by the precise wording, “in the truest sense, even before the lowest of the low”? Reb Zalman Duchman tells one story, and I heard another from Reb Motel Kozliner. The two stories are quite similar but differ in their details. So either it happened twice, or it is one story with different versions. In his book Lishmoa Ozen, Reb Zalman Duchman relates that a Jew came to the Alter Rebbe—

18:08 He went in for yechidus. This Jew told the Alter Rebbe about himself, confessed certain things, and asked how to make amends for very, very lowly matters. The Alter Rebbe felt he could not help him. The things this person had stumbled in were extremely lowly. So he relates that the Alter Rebbe lowered his head and entered a state of deep contemplation for a long time. The Jew was standing there in yechidus, while the Alter Rebbe was absorbed in contemplation. After some time, the Alter Rebbe emerged from it and said in a singsong voice: “There are seven things this person has more of than I do.” The Alter Rebbe began listing seven qualities he found in this man, compared with himself. Seven things. Only after saying this did the Alter Rebbe answer him, give him a way to make amends, advise him, and help him. He relates that chassidim say—I don’t know exactly—that after this yechidus, the Alter Rebbe added the words “in the truest sense” to Tanya. After what happened with this Jew, the Alter Rebbe, in order to help him, had to recognize that the Jew had not just one virtue. He found seven virtues in him. Only then did he feel he could advise him. Reb Zalman Duchman writes this story in the name of [unclear]. I heard a story like this from Reb Mottel Kozliner. He told a very interesting story. Chassidim came to the Alter Rebbe and asked: How can it be that one must “be lowly of spirit before every person”? In practice, that’s impossible—even before the most disreputable person. This was after Tanya or its pamphlets had been printed; perhaps it was in the earliest editions of Tanya. It—

20:33 I don’t know the exact details of the story, but chassidim came to the Alter Rebbe and said that there was a Jew in Liozna at the time who was among the most disreputable. Today it isn’t hard to find someone like that, but back then it was. This Jew went around Liozna behaving with blatant disregard for the practices of Torah and mitzvos. So they came to the Alter Rebbe and said: “How can we feel ‘lowly of spirit’ before someone like that? We saw this Jew eat without washing his hands, without making a brachah, and without covering his head. How do you expect us to feel lowly before such a person?” He also related that the Alter Rebbe thought about it for a while, and then spoke in a singsong voice. The Alter Rebbe mentioned the man by name and said: “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, ate without washing his hands. Who says? Perhaps he washed his hands when you weren’t looking and had not taken his mind off them. And even if he did not wash, washing hands is a rabbinic requirement. He ate without a brachah. Who says he ate without a brachah? Perhaps he made a brachah in the morning and had not taken his mind off it since. And even if he did not make a brachah, a brachah is a rabbinic requirement. He ate without covering his head. Who says his head was uncovered? Perhaps he had what is called a wig. People without hair used to wear artificial hair—people use those today too. What? Wigs. Hair that isn’t real, and that counts as a head covering. And even if we assume that wasn’t the case, covering the head is also a rabbinic requirement. But you spoke lashon hara, and lashon hara is prohibited by the Torah. So, ‘be lowly of spirit in the truest sense.’” That was—

22:57 the story. Yes, so he said that some say it was then that the Alter Rebbe added the words “in the truest sense.” Those are the details of the story. I don’t know exactly which of the two accounts is accurate about when the Alter Rebbe wrote those words, but these are two true stories chassidim tell. A person must understand just how much this is true in the truest sense. That’s how it is; that’s the truth of “be lowly of spirit.” These are stories chassidim tell. And we’ll get to “in the truest sense” with just one point from Reb Beilik [unclear]. In Reb Beilik’s [unclear] point—everything with Reb Beilik [unclear] is Kabbalah—he focuses on the word “vehevei,” “and be,” in “and be lowly of spirit in the truest sense.” Reb Beilik [unclear] says this is hinted at in the word “vehevei.” The Mishnah says “vehevei”; it does not say “hevei.” It could have said, “Be lowly of spirit.” Pirkei Avos uses the word “hevei” several times, right? But here it says “vehevei.” What is “vehevei”? Reb Beilik [unclear] says that, according to Kabbalah, the letter vav is— the Zohar says that vav is Tiferes. [unclear] the name Havayah, or vav is Tiferes. Yes, Tiferes is the middle line, and that is the vav. Vav is a man of truth. Okay? [unclear] and humility, and humility is the vav of truth. That is Yaakov, Tiferes, the attribute of truth. There are two vavs in “vehevei”: one at the beginning and one in the middle. This is the concept of the higher Tiferes of Keser. So there is a vav at the start of the word and a vav in the middle. That is the meaning of “in the truest sense”: the truth of Tiferes and the deeper truth of Keser. “In the truest sense” corresponds to the two vavs. Yes, and that is why the Rebbe points out that the Mishnah uses the word “vehevei”: to hint at the two vavs, the two levels of truth—the truth of Tiferes and the truth of Keser. That’s how Reb Levi approaches it.