Tanya Chapter 32 - Part 2

00:05 Chapter 32 of Tanya—everyone knows it is one of the most central chapters, if not the very center of the entire Tanya. The Rebbe would always call it the heart of Tanya: the Hebrew letters for 32 also spell “heart.” In a number of sichos, the Rebbe speaks about chapter 32 as the heart of Tanya. On the simplest level, love and “love your fellow as yourself” are connected with the heart. But the Rebbe also relates something known among chassidim: the Alter Rebbe wrote two versions, an earlier version and a later one. The earlier version of Tanya is now in print; the Rebbe had it printed at the end of 5742. And you can see that chapter 32 is not in it. When the Alter Rebbe first wrote Tanya, there was no chapter 32. He added it later, in the second version. You can see this from the content as well. Chapter 32 does not entirely belong to the subject being discussed here. [unclear] In chapter 31, the Alter Rebbe was explaining the subject of joy. Throughout the chapters beginning with chapter 26, he speaks about how serving Hashem must be done with joy. In chapter 31 in particular, after explaining the bitterness that stands opposite joy, the Alter Rebbe began explaining how to come to serve Hashem with joy. In chapter 33, he continues with joy. Chapter 33 follows directly from chapter 31: more advice, more explanations, more ways to arrive at joy. And that is indeed how it runs in the earlier version. The Alter Rebbe explains how to arrive at joy. There is joy connected with the exodus from Egypt, with leaving the imprisonment of the body and the animal soul. There is joy that comes from the higher purpose, as we discussed in chapter

02:29 31. Then there is joy that comes from the oneness of Hashem, which is what chapter 33 discusses. So we are talking here about joy. Who is talking about Ahavas Yisroel? Yet this is precisely where the Alter Rebbe inserted it. Of course, there is a connection. Chapter 32 begins, “And through fulfilling the above.” In other words, it is connected to what we learned in chapter 31. It is a result, a continuation. It is connected with your ability to awaken joy within yourself. Although you know you have an animal soul and all that comes with it, you nevertheless manage to free yourself from thoughts of the body and the animal soul, connect with your soul, and connect with the higher purpose of the soul’s descent. If a person can free himself from those concerns and raise the soul above the body, he can thereby come to Ahavas Yisroel. That is the connection. But it is a connection through those particular steps. In essence, though, this was not the subject the Alter Rebbe had been discussing. That makes it all the more striking that the Alter Rebbe specifically wanted this subject to be at the heart of Tanya—to teach us that Ahavas Yisroel is the heart, the innermost point, the center. Just as the heart is at the center of the body and sends life out to all the limbs, so it is with Chassidus—Chabad Chassidus. What is its center? The innermost point of all of Chabad Chassidus is Ahavas Yisroel. The Rebbe spoke about this many times in connection with our name. We have two names: Chabad and Lubavitch. Chabad refers to chochmah, binah, and daas, because that is the Alter Rebbe’s innovation in relation to Chassidus in general.

04:27 In Chassidus in general, the Baal Shem Tov revealed faith, while the Alter Rebbe revealed Chabad—chochmah, binah, and daas, in that order. And all of Tanya is founded on the principle that the mind rules the heart, which is the idea of Chabad, chochmah, binah, and daas. But our other name is Lubavitch. What does the name Lubavitch mean? Lubavitch comes from the word for love. As the Frierdiker Rebbe relates at the beginning of Sefer Hazichronos, the whole story of how the town of Lubavitch began started with Jews. There is the whole story he tells there about Binyamin and Jews who had Ahavas Yisroel, and how they sought a name for the town: a town of love, a city of love. That is what Lubavitch means. And it became our name. That is what people around the world call us. The Rebbe spoke many times about how this is no coincidence. Incidentally, as is known, “chassidim” is not a name we gave ourselves. The misnagdim called us chassidim. There is the well-known story of the Alter Rebbe’s discussion with one of the great rabbis. The Alter Rebbe explained to him that the misnagdim had called us chassidim as a form of protest. That is how the name caught on and became our name. He also explained why, in the story recounted in the Rebbe’s sichos. But Lubavitch, too, is part of who we are. It is not simply that we came to call ourselves Lubavitcher chassidim because, when the Mitteler Rebbe was looking for somewhere to live after the Napoleonic War, they could not return to Liozna or Liadi. There was the whole story of the troubles there; the town had been destroyed. So they had to find another place. They came to Lubavitch, and it became the town of Chabad chassidim. All the Rebbeim, from the Mitteler

06:20 Rebbe onward, remained there until the end of the Lubavitch period in 5676. The Alter Rebbe himself had also been in Lubavitch before he became known, because, as is known, he studied for a time in his youth with Reb Yissachar Ber of Lubavitch, a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, before he went to the Maggid of Mezritch. Our connection to the name Lubavitcher chassidim is that love—Ahavas Yisroel—is central to Chabad chassidim. In our generation, we saw this very strongly in the Rebbe. Ahavas Yisroel is the center. And particularly in our generation, the seventh generation, we see something remarkable. In 5711, when the Rebbe accepted the leadership, before the maamar at the historic Yud Shvat 5711 farbrengen—the farbrengen at which he accepted the leadership—the Rebbe said that America has its customs. The Gemara says that when you go to a place, you should follow its customs: “When you go to a city, follow its ways.” So, among the customs of America, when someone takes on a new position—becomes president, a new leader, a prime minister beginning his term—he has to make some statement, offer some phrase or saying that will be his watchword, his motto, the expression associated with him. So at that farbrengen, the Rebbe said what the saying, the idea, the Rebbe’s motto would be. He cited the well-known teaching that there is love of Hashem, love of the Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel—three loves—and that all three are one. And within that, where do we begin? Sometimes we begin with love of Hashem, and love of Hashem leads us to Ahavas Yisroel and love of the Torah. Sometimes we begin with love of the Torah, and from there come to love of Hashem and Ahavas Yisroel. And sometimes

08:32 You begin with Ahavas Yisroel, and that brings you to love of Hashem and love of the Torah. I don’t remember the exact words of the sicha, but that was the idea: the innovation in Chabad teachings, following the Baal Shem Tov, is that Ahavas Yisroel is the foundation, and from there you come to all the other forms of love. That was roughly what the Rebbe said in the sicha: this is the foundation. This is the basis of the seventh generation. The seventh generation will be based on the three forms of love. We are going to work on this: love of Hashem, love of the Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel. And we can see clearly that all of the Rebbe’s teachings are founded on these three forms of love. All the Rebbe’s battles were for these three forms of love. Of course, we can see clearly that everything the Rebbe did was connected to these three things: love of Hashem, love of the Torah, and Ahavas Yisroel. But within that, Ahavas Yisroel is the foundation. Later, over the years, when the Rebbe began the mitzvah campaigns—in the late 5720s and early 5730s—when the Rebbe began the whole drive for the campaigns, he started with the tefillin campaign, the Torah campaign, the education campaign. There was an order. How did the Rebbe begin the sequence of campaigns? What was the last campaign? It was the Ahavas Yisroel campaign, in 5737. And the Rebbe said that the Ahavas Yisroel campaign is the overarching campaign. It is the general principle encompassing all the campaigns. It is not a separate campaign; it is an overarching campaign, and every one of the campaigns must be permeated with Ahavas Yisroel. Are you going to put tefillin on a Jew? Do it with Ahavas Yisroel. Are you going to learn Torah with a Jew? Let it be with Ahavas Yisroel. It applies to all the campaigns. Ahavas Yisroel is the principle encompassing all the campaigns. Since, by Divine Providence,

10:19 we are here talking now, and we’re coming up to the month of Adar, which was when the… right? So today in the yeshiva we studied the Rebbe’s last farbrengen, and there we see something remarkable. It was the last farbrengen we have received from the Rebbe to date, and every one of us needs to live with it. Because it is the last farbrengen, the last sicha, the last instruction and guidance the Rebbe gave our generation, though, rachmana litzlan, thirty years have already passed. In that sicha, the Rebbe gave us guidance and direction in life. How should a Jew live? All of this was in preparation, as the Rebbe discussed at the farbrengen. Because we are on the verge of entering the Geulah, and soon there will be the ingathering of the exiles, and all the exiles will return to their land. It had already begun: the ingathering of the exiles had already begun, as in that period when tens of thousands of Jews, hundreds of thousands, left Russia. That was the beginning of the ingathering of the exiles, and its completion is still to come. So the Rebbe spoke about this at the last farbrengen. And there is something remarkable we see in that farbrengen, which is also an explanation of chapter 32 of Tanya. In fact, the entire farbrengen of Vayakhel is one wonderful explanation of chapter 32 of Tanya. So, given the time we have, I’ll make one point and show how this point is a foundation and a pillar of the Rebbe’s innovation—the revolution the Rebbe brought about in Ahavas Yisroel. What is the Rebbe’s innovation in Ahavas Yisroel? The Baal Shem Tov was the one who revealed Ahavas Yisroel as a foundation. People say the Baal Shem Tov established foundations of Torah. The Baal Shem Tov spoke about the need to love simple people, and he drew simple people close. As we know from the stories the Frierdiker Rebbe tells about how far-reaching

12:16 the revolution was that the Baal Shem Tov brought about in loving every Jew, even a simple person. It began as early as 5472. As is known, the Frierdiker Rebbe relates that in 5472 the Baal Shem Tov was only fourteen years old. No—that was the Baal Shem Tov’s age. In 5472, at fourteen, the Baal Shem Tov had already become part of the hidden tzaddikim. There was a group of hidden tzaddikim then, and the Baal Shem Tov was part of their fellowship. As soon as the Baal Shem Tov joined them, still a young man of fourteen, he transformed their whole approach. What was the change the Baal Shem Tov brought about among the hidden tzaddikim? Drawing simple people close and doing them material favors. The hidden tzaddikim had spiritual matters they occupied themselves with—mystical unifications, intentions, spiritual matters. Concealed from view, they would do all sorts of things. But the Baal Shem Tov came and changed the whole approach. He established that the foundation must be drawing close to a simple Jew and doing him a material favor, and afterward come the spiritual matters. They even said that 5472 was alluded to by the initials of “He who has a generous eye shall be blessed,” a hint that the Baal Shem Tov brought about a revolution that year. That was the beginning. Later, when the Baal Shem Tov revealed himself, drawing simple people close became a central part of his work. Then the Alter Rebbe comes along in Tanya. In chapter 32, the Alter Rebbe explains the foundation to us. What exactly is the foundation of Ahavas Yisroel? What is the deeper meaning, according to the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings? That is the point of chapter 32. So here we see—and, of course, with Hashem’s help we will study the text and see in detail how the Alter

14:06 Rebbe puts it—but right now I’m speaking about just one particular point, the point connected with Yaakov’s blessing. There are two ways of arriving at Ahavas Yisroel for every Jew. The fundamental question is: How can there be “Love your fellow as yourself”—how can you love every Jew—when there are all kinds of Jews, some people closer to me and some less close? How can I have Ahavas Yisroel for every Jew? As the Alter Rebbe puts it, how can there be Ahavas Yisroel for every soul of Israel, from the greatest to the least? Of course, “greatest to least” covers many things: great and small in material circumstances, great and small spiritually, great and small in Torah knowledge, great and small in the service of Hashem. There are many differences. How can there be the same love for each and every one? How can there be Ahavas Yisroel? This is the fundamental question the Alter Rebbe comes to explain. And not just love: the love must be “as yourself.” How can it be “as yourself”? “As yourself” means an essential love. A person’s love for himself isn’t based on some particular quality; I love myself with an essential love. How can I love my fellow—or every Jew—as myself, with an essential love? So what do we see here in Tanya? Looking at Tanya, we see that there are, broadly speaking, two explanations. There is a great deal to say about this. With Hashem’s help, when we study the text, we’ll see it in greater detail. But in general, there are two explanations of how to attain Ahavas Yisroel for every Jew. One explanation has to do with what the Jewish people share as a whole, and one has to do with each individual. The explanation concerning what we share as a whole is that all of us, the entire Jewish people, have “an actual part of G-d above.” And since we have an actual part of G-d above, that G-dly part means that, in fact, we all come from the same Chochmah of Hakadosh Boruch Hu

16:05 He is. So just as there is one father, and that father has many children, all the children come from the same essence, from one and the same essence. That is what makes them brothers. The love between brothers is an essential love. It is not a love dependent on anything. They love one another because, at our essence, we are one: the Jewish people. The Alter Rebbe already explained at the beginning of Tanya that this is true of all Jews. We all have our source in the one Hashem, and from that standpoint, the entire Jewish people is one people, one point, one essence. And therefore, there is love. If you look at the soul as a soul, you and I are all one essence, one being. A Jew. I am no less Jewish; you are no more Jewish. As Reb Levi, the Rebbe’s father, used to say: Moshe Rabbeinu is no more Jewish than the least observant Jew, and the least observant Jew is no less Jewish than Moshe Rabbeinu. If we are talking about avodah, about observing the mitzvos, about spiritual levels, then of course Moshe Rabbeinu and the least observant Jew are utterly incomparable. But we are talking about the essence of a Jew. Moshe Rabbeinu is a Jew—not more Jewish, but Jewish. And the least observant Jew, even the greatest sinner, is a Jew. He is no less Jewish. From the standpoint of that essential point, this is an avodah of— So when a Jew comes to recognize that our true essence is the soul, as we learned in the previous chapter, “There is a part of G-d within me”—that is who I am. And if my essence is the soul, a part of G-d, then we are all together. This is the idea of the half-shekel that the Rebbe spoke about on the last Parshas Shekalim. [unclear] But there is another kind of Ahavas Yisroel, also explained in chapter 32: “And as for their souls and spirits, who knows their greatness and their standing in their root and source in the living G-d?”

18:11 Here the Alter Rebbe offers another perspective. The Alter Rebbe says: There are greater people and lesser people, and that is true. But who knows? Who says you are the greater one and he is the lesser one? Perhaps it is the other way around. This needs further explanation. With Hashem’s help, we will discuss it in more detail. But as the Rebbe discusses in a number of sichos, this is the well-known explanation in Likkutei Torah: the Jewish people are like a body, and the body has different limbs. There is the head and there is the foot. In general, the head is above and the foot is below, but in some respects the head needs the foot; without the foot, the head cannot go anywhere. So in that particular respect, the foot is the one that gives. As the Alter Rebbe says in Likkutei Torah, Parshas Nitzavim: “In this respect, that of walking, the foot is called the head.” The same applies to Ahavas Yisroel. Each person has certain qualities. Not everyone is the same. Each has something unique. There are souls of Yissachar and souls of Zevulun; souls of those who serve Hashem out of love and souls of those who serve Him out of awe. There are tzaddikim and baalei teshuvah, many kinds of souls and many kinds of avodah. There, there certainly are higher and lower, one who gives and one who receives. There are “your woodcutters and your water-drawers,” and there are “your heads, your tribes.” But each needs the other. Just as the woodcutter needs the leaders, the leaders also need the woodcutter. Everyone needs someone else. So Ahavas Yisroel arises specifically through these different parts—sorry—through one another. Each person gives to or receives from the other, and that creates Ahavas Yisroel. That is “their souls and spirits—who knows their greatness and their standing in the living G-d?” That is called Ahavas Yisroel in the manner of Pekudei, as the Rebbe called it at the farbrengen.

20:18 Pekudei means the particulars. The Rebbe held a farbrengen on Vayakhel and said that we need to bring about Vayakhel. Pekudei is harder work: you have to distinguish the particulars, get into the details, and so on. But we need Vayakhel, especially in a year when Vayakhel is separate from Pekudei. So the emphasis must be on Ahavas Yisroel from the essential perspective of Vayakhel: loving a Jew simply because he is a Jew. That is the idea of the half-shekel. A Jew must know that I am a half and you are a half, and only together do we become one whole. This is what we need to focus on. The Rebbe explained it at length, and there are many details in the sicha. But for our purposes, as we are speaking about the heart of Tanya, we need to take this point and understand that it is what the Rebbe spoke to us about at the last farbrengen. It must therefore be a primary, fundamental, central part of a chossid’s service of Hashem: working on ourselves in this matter of the half-shekel, and particularly of Vayakhel. Ahavas Yisroel. Loving every Jew without exception. Sometimes it is easier to love a Jew on the street than your own classmate. We always talk about loving a Jew, as it says in Hayom Yom: even a Jew at the far end of the world must be loved. But listen, sometimes the emphasis needs to be the other way around. The Jew sitting here in the study hall may not be exactly your type. He is your fellow student, but you may not stand to gain anything from him. That is precisely where Ahavas Yisroel for everyone must come in. That is where the work lies. So there are two kinds of avodah in Ahavas Yisroel, and both are alluded to in Tanya, chapter 32. There is love that recognizes greater and lesser people, but asks, “Who knows their greatness and their standing?” That is one kind of love, and it has a special advantage. As explained in a number of places in the Rebbe’s teachings, there is an advantage in Ahavas Yisroel that does take account of the particulars

22:31 and connects with a person where he is. We will discuss that in future classes. But when speaking about Vayakhel, the Rebbe said the emphasis should be on what we have in common—not so much on our differences, but on finding the point that connects us. We are all Jews; “We are the sons of one man.” As we told the story of the Rebbe from Potipcha[?], who went out on mivtzoim and said, “I Jewish, you Jewish, I tefillin, you tefillin.” He did not know how to speak English, so that was what he knew how to say: “I Jewish, you Jewish, I tefillin, you tefillin.” That is essential Ahavas Yisroel. I am a Jew; you are a Jew. So if I put on tefillin, you put on tefillin. This kind of Ahavas Yisroel is what Chassidus teaches us. It is, in fact, the heart of Chassidus. And through this avodah, as the Rebbe said at the farbrengen, may we merit the “great congregation”—Vayakhel, the ingathering of the exiles: “As a great congregation they will return here.” May we merit the complete Geulah already, and merit to see the Rebbe upon his arrival. May all the troubles in the world, all the wars and all the illnesses, come to an end. And may we merit the complete Geulah, when there will be “neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition,” and “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea.”