Tanya Likkutei Amarim, Chapter 41 - Part 3

00:00 Yes, we’re continuing here in chapter 41. We’re up to the fifth line. So the Alter Rebbe says: “Therefore, one must first awaken the natural fear hidden in the heart of every Jew.” After saying that love alone is not enough—what, then, is “the beginning of the service, its essence and its root”? The Alter Rebbe says: “Therefore, one must first awaken the natural fear hidden in the heart of every Jew.” The beginning of the service, its essence and its root, is that a Jew must awaken this natural fear hidden in the heart of every Jew. In other words, every Jew has fear of Heaven ingrained within him, etched into his very blood. By nature, a Jew has awe of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and does not want to rebel against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, “as explained above.” By nature, a Jew has a natural fear of Heaven; he does not want to rebel against the King. The Alter Rebbe says “as explained above.” It isn’t clear what the Alter Rebbe means by those words. Where is it explained above? It means he has already discussed this. But where exactly did the Alter Rebbe say earlier in Tanya that every Jew has a natural fear of rebelling against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu? It’s very interesting to find where that appears. Scholars point to chapter 19 of Tanya. What does it say in chapter 19? There the Alter Rebbe speaks about every Jew having a natural love. He speaks about love: every Jew has a natural love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “The soul of man is the lamp of Hashem.” Just as a flame naturally rises upward, every Jew naturally has a love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And a Jew’s love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu is so great that he wants to be absorbed into the Infinite and does not want to be separated from G-dliness in any way. So when faced with a test, a Jew is prepared to give himself up completely rather than be separated from G-dliness. And at the end of chapter 19, the Alter Rebbe says that this love

02:25 that a Jew has for Hakadosh Boruch Hu also includes fear. Fear is included in the love. What is that fear? It is that, because of this love and this desire, the soul naturally fears and dreads touching even the slightest impurity of idol worship, G-d forbid. In other words, because a Jew has such an extraordinary, immense love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu—because he wants to be absorbed in and united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu and in no way wants to be separated—this love includes fear as well. Fear is included within love. Because of his love, he fears doing something that would separate him from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So, on the face of it, that’s what the Alter Rebbe means. But it’s interesting; there’s something new here, because here the Alter Rebbe emphasizes fear of rebelling against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the natural fear: by nature, a Jew fears rebelling against the King of kings. Rebellion against the King. In chapter 19, the Alter Rebbe did not speak about fear in terms of rebellion against the King. There, the fear is of losing the connection, of losing the love. Seemingly, these are two different things. To put it another way, in chapter 19 the Alter Rebbe speaks about a bond of love, the bond of a son. Seemingly, it’s the bond of a son. A Jew is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu like a son to his father. A son’s bond is one of love, an essential bond. The son loves his father beyond reason, because his father is part of his very being, and the son fears losing his father. He doesn’t want to lose that connection. So the fear is of losing that bond. Here the Alter Rebbe is speaking—sorry—here the Alter Rebbe is speaking about kingship, about a servant. This is not in the mode of a son; it is in the mode of a

04:34 servant. A Jew is a servant of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he has a natural fear of rebelling against the King. There is another place in Tanya where the Alter Rebbe discussed this, in chapter 38. And you’re trying to identify where the “as explained above” is—what does the Alter Rebbe mean by it? Chapter thir—the Rebbe notes, I believe, in [unclear], chapter 38. So in chapter 38, the Alter Rebbe does indeed say that there are two kinds of intention in performing mitzvos. There is intention connected with contemplation, yes? That is a higher level. And there is a simple intention connected with natural love, yes? Then he says: “And fear is also included in it: to accept His kingship and not rebel against Him, G-d forbid.” Ah! Here the Alter Rebbe does speak about rebelling against the King. So seemingly, he means chapter 38. The Rebbe points to both chapters, apparently because—ultimately, it’s all connected. In their particulars, these are different kinds, different levels of fear, but at their core they are one point. In other words, by nature a Jew has fear of Heaven. That is the point. Every Jew has fear in the very nature of his soul. He—what is that fear? There are several aspects to it. There is the fear of losing the connection, which he discussed in chapter 19. A Jew will not engage in idol worship, not even something with the slightest trace of its impurity, even if he could find a lenient ruling, even if it is not actually idol worship and halachically there might be grounds to permit it. But when a Jew’s innate love is awakened, he is afraid. He does not want to be cut off from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Or there is the fear of rebelling against the King. In any case, here in chapter 41 the Alter Rebbe is speaking about a Jew’s fear of rebelling against the King. This can be connected with

06:37 the well-known phrase the Rebbe cites in maamarim, I believe in the name of the Frierdiker Rebbe: a Jew is, in his very essence, kabbolas ol of Heaven. There is such an expression: a Jew is kabbolas ol of Heaven. In other words, this idea of accepting the yoke of Heaven, of fear of Heaven, is the essence of a Jew. It is something naturally engraved in a Jew’s very being. And about this the Alter Rebbe says: “Not to rebel against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as explained above, so that it should be revealed in his heart, or at least in his mind.” The Alter Rebbe is saying that this fear of Heaven must be brought into a revealed state in the heart or the mind. It’s true that a Jew naturally has fear of Heaven, but it is concealed, hidden. It has to be revealed. So the Alter Rebbe says, “in his heart, or at least in his mind.” That is, the heart is really where it should be—the feeling in the heart. A person should feel fear of Heaven in his heart. That is the ideal: for the heart to feel fear of Heaven. But “at least in his mind.” In other words, sometimes a person doesn’t feel fear of Heaven in his heart. He doesn’t feel it. Each person knows this about himself: there are times when I don’t feel awe, when I don’t feel that fear. But at least it can be in his mind: to know about it. The very awareness, thinking about it, yes? That itself is also fear of Heaven, at least in the mind. To know the truth that there is a King and you are His servant, and that I don’t want to rebel against the King. How do we do that? How do we reach this fear of Heaven? How do we reveal it? The Alter Rebbe says, “That is to say”—here the Alter Rebbe begins to go into it. First, he says that one must contemplate the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. We’re now going to see here in Tanya that the Alter Rebbe divides his explanation for us into three parts. First, he speaks about the greatness of Hashem, contemplation of His greatness, of

11:15 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Second, contemplate the greatness of the Jewish people: how Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose the Jewish soul, chose the Jew, and chose me. And He singles me out for His kingship. That is the second stage. The third stage is that I must accept upon myself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. Those are the three stages the Alter Rebbe gives here for contemplation, at least in one’s mind. After that there is a fourth point, “And behold, Hashem stands over him,” which we will discuss later. So, more specifically, there are four things the Alter Rebbe asks us to contemplate here. The first is Hashem’s greatness. To awaken fear of Heaven, you have to know who “Heaven” is—who we are talking about. You have to know who Hakadosh Boruch Hu is. If you have no conception, no knowledge at all, what would it mean to fear Heaven? So the first thing the Alter Rebbe asks for is to contemplate, at least in your mind, several aspects of the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The more you know of His greatness, the greater your fear of Heaven will be. That is why the Alter Rebbe gives several details here. What does he say about His greatness? First he speaks of the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself—the greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He. Then he speaks of kingship. These are two different things. The greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, is His greatness in Himself, apart from kingship. His greatness is inherent, infinite, without limit. Kingship is His extension outward. We are speaking now of the greatness of His kingship, of the extension of that kingship. Here, regarding kingship, the Alter Rebbe mentions two things: sovev kol almin and memale kol almin. Hashem’s kingship

13:09 is present in this world, in the lower worlds, in two ways. Hashem’s kingship extends throughout all the worlds in the manner of sovev kol almin and in the manner of memale kol almin. Broadly speaking, these are also two ways in which Hashem is revealed in the world. Sovev kol almin means that Hashem is revealed equally in every world. With memale kol almin, Hashem is revealed in each world according to its nature. That is the idea. So this brings us to kingship. When we look at a king’s relationship with his people, there are two aspects: the desire to be king and kingship in practice. I am trying to explain this as simply as possible, so that we can contemplate it without getting into all the conceptual explanations and their many details and subdivisions. What am I contemplating when I think about memale kol almin and sovev kol almin? When we speak of a king, there is his relationship to his people. There is his desire to rule, and there is his actual rule. When the desire to be king arises in a king, the entire reality of the country is contained in that desire. A country has many components: the country itself, people, animals, an army, a palace, houses. Every country is made up of many things, and the king’s desire extends to all of them. Because of that desire, all this bounty comes from the king. But it is still called desire. At the level of desire, you cannot say that one thing is higher or lower than another. Everything is connected to a single point: together, all these things fulfill the desire for kingship. That is called sovev kol almin. Sovev kol almin is the will of

15:03 Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Whatever Hashem desired, He made.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants there to be a world. He wants there to be four worlds, and many worlds. He wants there to be sefiros, souls, angels, created beings, and the inanimate, plant, animal, and human realms—all these things. But what is the central point in all of them? His will. And that is, in fact, the source of life. “Whatever Hashem desired, He made”—the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is what gives life to all created beings and all the worlds. That, though, is sovev kol almin: a single point that influences and encompasses the entire order of hishtalshelus at its source. Then there is the king’s involvement in the details. When the king narrows his attention to the particulars of his rule—to taking an interest in how his kingship operates in practice and what each person receives according to their particular circumstances—there is already an ordered hierarchy. Some are more important, others less so. Some deserve more, others less. What does each receive, and how much? This is called memale kol almin: the king’s inward involvement in the particulars of his subjects and their circumstances, so that each receives according to his situation. So the Alter Rebbe says here that a person must contemplate the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in general, and His kingship: that His kingship extends over the upper and lower worlds and everything in them. And within that, how He is memale kol almin and sovev kol almin. All this expresses the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in His kingship in a most remarkable way: encompassing the entire order of hishtalshelus, while also reaching each individual, and so on. He cites the verse, “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” As the Alter Rebbe continues, “As it is written, ‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’” What is this verse speaking about? In Chassidus, it is sometimes cited in reference to memale and sometimes to sovev. On the one hand, the word “fill” suggests memale kol almin. On the

17:03 other hand, “I fill” points to sovev. And in most maamarim, “I fill the heavens and the earth” generally refers to sovev kol almin. Here we see that the Alter Rebbe brings the verse without specifying. It is as though the verse itself can be understood either way: you can interpret it as referring to memale or to sovev. The Alter Rebbe is not concerned here with precisely how the verse should be interpreted. The verse says, “I fill the heavens and the earth.” In what manner does He fill them? There is the manner of sovev and the manner of memale. In any case, Chassidus sometimes cites two verses: “I fill the heavens and the earth” and “The whole earth is filled with His glory.” Some maamarim cite both verses, one for memale and one for sovev. Here the Alter Rebbe does not go into that detail. As we said, the Alter Rebbe’s concern here is not the depth of these mysteries. He is concerned primarily with the basic point through which a person should awaken fear of Heaven. You need to know Hashem’s greatness and know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present everywhere. That is the first stage. Then the Alter Rebbe goes on to the second stage, the second point to contemplate: “And He sets aside the upper and lower worlds.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu sets all the upper and lower worlds aside and singles out the Jewish people as a whole for His kingship. He focuses on the Jewish people and singles them out for His kingship in an inward, special way—and each individual Jew in particular. In other words, the second stage of contemplation is that Hakadosh Boruch Hu sets aside all the worlds and all created beings. It is as though He says, “They are not what interests Me.” Although He gives them life and brings them into being at every moment, both as sovev and as memale—all of it—nevertheless, along with all that,

18:50 That is really the external aspect of His will. That is not—not what matters. What does He choose? Upon whom does He specifically place His kingship? Where does He invest Himself inwardly? What matters to Him? He places His kingship upon the Jewish people as a whole. First of all, it is all about the Jewish people. So this is the point we need to understand in order to attain yiras Shamayim, to awaken kabbolas ol: although Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King over the entire order of creation, what matters to Him in particular is the Jewish people as a whole. This is why, in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah—and really every day—we say... Rosh Hashanah is about crowning Him as King. We speak of Hakadosh Boruch Hu as King of Israel and King over the entire world. And every day, in the blessings, we say, “Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the world.” “Our G-d” comes first, and “King of the world” afterward. That means the primary thing for Hakadosh Boruch Hu is that He is our G-d, the King of Israel—the Jewish people as a whole. Afterward, He is King over the world through Israel. But upon whom does Hakadosh Boruch Hu specifically place His kingship? What matters to Him inwardly? The Jewish people as a whole. And the Alter Rebbe does not stop there. The Alter Rebbe adds: “And upon each individual in particular.” Each individual in particular. What does the Alter Rebbe mean by “in particular”? There is a sicha of the Rebbe about this. In 5725, Rabbi Weinberg gave Tanya classes on the radio, and the Rebbe strongly supported them. As is well known, the Rebbe saw this as a way of spreading the wellsprings. At the time, it was a remarkable innovation to reach people throughout the world by radio. In short, that is how we came to have all the Rebbe’s explanations of Tanya in Lessons in Tanya: the Rebbe would review and edit the lessons.

20:41 The Rebbe also spoke about them at times, including in Kfar Chabad. On Shabbos Parshas Noach, Rosh Chodesh, the Rebbe gave an entire sicha because they were then studying chapter 41 on the radio. The Rebbe explained chapter 41 and gave a whole sicha on these words, these last lines. It is very interesting. A person might think that, yes, the Jewish people matter to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but one could look at the Jewish people as a group. There is the Jewish people, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu chooses them. True, as Rashi says, “Bereishis”—the world was created for the sake of Israel. So the Jewish people and their service matter to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But if you think of the Jewish people as a group, a person might say: Fine, the group is doing well. If one person is missing, what of it? It is not so important. The Jewish people as a whole need to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs a people. If one person does not behave as he should, what is the problem? That is an individual matter. The Alter Rebbe comes to rule that out. That is why he adds, “upon the Jewish people as a whole, and upon him in particular.” It is not like that. The fact that the Jewish people as a whole are especially important to Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not mean only the collective Jewish people and their Torah. Every single Jew matters to Hakadosh Boruch Hu in particular. Your Torah and mitzvah, your individual part, matter to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Every Jew in particular. So when Hakadosh Boruch Hu places His kingship upon us, every Jew matters to Him personally. My own service therefore reaches Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

22:30 Where do I get that from? The Alter Rebbe says: “For a person is obligated to say, ‘The world was created for my sake.’” The Alter Rebbe brings proof from the Mishnah. What does the Mishnah say? The Mishnah in Sanhedrin says that whoever sustains a single Jewish soul is considered to have sustained an entire world. Right? When a person sustains one Jewish soul, he has sustained an entire world. The Mishnah says: Why was man created alone? Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create Adam alone? All the other creatures were created in groups, many creatures together. Only Adam was created alone. Even a man and a woman were not created together. He was created alone, and only afterward was there Chava. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu create Adam alone? The Mishnah says it was so that every person would know that he is alone in the world and say, “The world was created for my sake.” When we say “the world was created for my sake,” we obviously do not mean it from a place of ego and arrogance. Look, plenty of people say “the world was created for my sake,” but they say it out of arrogance and ego. What, then, does it mean here? It comes from a place of responsibility: understanding that my service matters to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and that the entire world was created for my sake. In other words, my service affects the entire order of creation. When Adam was created, he knew that the whole world depended on him. If he behaved as he should, he would elevate all of creation; if he did not, he would bring ruin upon all of creation. And that is what actually happened. When Adam was created, he gathered all the creatures and said, “Come, let us bow down and bend the knee; let us kneel before Hashem.” Adam thereby elevated the entire order of creation. He crowned Hashem as King. All the creatures submitted themselves to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and he brought elevation to the entire world. He had no one to rely on. He was alone. He knew that the revelation of Hashem’s kingship depended on him.

24:42 In the same way, afterward, when he could not control himself and ate from the Tree of Knowledge, he brought ruin upon the entire order of creation. That is the point Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to teach us: I was created alone; every Jew is alone in this sense. Know that the entire order of creation is affected by your service. “The world was created for my sake.” And the Rebbe brings in the maamar Basi Legani 5710 that “the world was created for my sake” also means that the world’s concealment was created for my sake. What does it mean that the concealment was created for my sake? All the concealment and hiddenness in the world is there for me. In other words, it was all created so that I would refine it, purify it, and illuminate the world. Every Jew needs to know that he is unique. And in the sicha of 5708, the Rebbe says this is the foundation. The Alter Rebbe cites the Mishnah here not just as proof, but as a further explanation. First he says, “the Jewish people as a whole.” Then the Alter Rebbe says: not only the Jewish people as a whole, but each person in particular. Yet you could still think of yourself as one individual part. There are six hundred thousand, and each one is a part—six hundred thousand parts. So one part will be missing, but ninety-nine percent remains. There are six hundred thousand, minus one part. The Mishnah says no: he was created alone. You are not merely one part of the whole; you are unique. Every Jew is unique, and all the worlds depend on that person. That is something extraordinary. Hakadosh Boruch Hu approaches every Jew not only as part of the Jewish people, not only as an individual within the whole, but as someone unique. This is the well-known teaching of the Baal Shem Tov: Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people are like an elderly father who had no children, and in his old age a child was born to him—his only son.

26:43 Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s love for every Jew is like that elderly father’s love for his only son. That is the special quality of an only son. Every Jew is, to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, like an only son, and through his service he can elevate the entire order of creation—and, G-d forbid, the reverse as well. This is connected to the well-known teaching of the Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah: a Jew must know that with every thought, every word, and every deed, he can tip the scales for himself and for the entire world toward merit and bring deliverance and salvation. With a single deed, a person can transform the whole world and bring it to the complete Geulah with Moshiach Tzidkeinu.