Igeres Hateshuvah Chapter 4 Summary

00:03 Speaker 1 In chapter 4 of Igeres Hateshuvah, the Alter Rebbe begins to clarify the concept of teshuvah. He begins with the Zohar, which says that teshuvah means “returning the hei.” But there are two heis: the lower hei and the higher hei. Returning the lower hei is the lower level of teshuvah, and returning the higher hei is the higher level. From chapter 4 through chapter 10—the greater part of Igeres Hateshuvah—he explains these two levels of teshuvah in depth. But when we look inside the Tanya, we see something interesting. The Alter Rebbe’s wording is: “However, all the above concerns the completion of atonement and the cleansing of the soul before Hashem after teshuvah, as it is written, ‘And I remained on the mountain as on the first days.’” In other words, he is summing up what we discussed in the previous three chapters: the fasts, tzedakah, and all those things. He says they concern atonement. Now, though, his intention is to explain the essence of teshuvah itself. So the Alter Rebbe returns to the wording we discussed earlier, to teshuvah as understood according to the revealed dimension of Torah. As we heard in chapter 1, and discussed in the previous class, there is a Torah mitzvah of teshuvah. The beginning and essence of that mitzvah is to return to Hashem sincerely and with all one’s heart. That is the very foundation of teshuvah—not atonement, but returning to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As we said earlier, this is accepting the sovereignty of Heaven: a person makes up his mind that he will no longer rebel against the King. The essence of teshuvah is to accept upon himself the sovereignty of

04:51 Speaker 1 Heaven anew. About this, he says: “The lower level of teshuvah and the higher level of teshuvah.” What is the connection? How does this follow? If the Alter Rebbe wanted to explain teshuvah according to Chassidus, he could have said, “That was what we have discussed until now. In chapter 4, we will begin to study teshuvah according to Chassidus: returning the lower hei, returning the higher hei, and all these beautiful ideas.” But the Alter Rebbe does not say that. It is not simply, “Until now we studied the revealed dimension of Torah; now we are going to study Chassidus.” Rather, the Alter Rebbe says that returning the lower hei and returning the higher hei explain the Torah mitzvah of teshuvah itself. This is something remarkable. Chassidus is not merely coming to describe loftier, deeper, more inward and spiritual aspects of teshuvah. No. The explanation of returning the lower hei and the higher hei is relevant to fulfilling the mitzvah of teshuvah as understood according to the revealed dimension of Torah. It is “the beginning and essence of the mitzvah of teshuvah.” So the question arises: Returning the lower hei and the higher hei are lofty levels of teshuvah—especially the higher level, which is very lofty indeed. What do they have to do with the beginning and essence of the mitzvah? What do they have to do with kabbolas ol, with the start of teshuvah? A simple person comes to the Rebbe’s house. He wants to do teshuvah now, to begin with simple teshuvah. What does the higher level of teshuvah have to do with that? How does it enter the picture? That is what the sicha you are studying now addresses. As I understand it, this is a

06:58 Speaker 1 wonderful sicha in which the Rebbe sheds light on the whole concept of teshuvah and gives us an overall understanding of it. Here the Rebbe explains these four tremendous benefits. What is the central point? Based on Kabbalah and on this entire explanation, we understand that the whole concept of teshuvah is connected to the fact that we are Jews and have a soul, and that the soul has a G-dly life. Teshuvah means restoring the name Havayah to its place. That is the foundation here. Hashem’s name Havayah consists of four letters: Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. But those are not four separate things. They are one. What does that mean? When you say “Havayah,” everyone understands that you are speaking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The four letters certainly do not mean four different things. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is one, singular and unique. The four letters likewise form one name, though that one name has four stages. There is the yud, which then expands into the first hei; the hei extends into the vav; and the vav leads to the final hei. Even without knowing all the details, everyone understands that the four letters of the name Havayah are four aspects of one thing, one whole. You cannot separate a single letter from the name Havayah; it is all one name. And there is an order to it: the yud is the point; it then expands into the hei; from the hei it descends into the vav; and from the vav it descends into the lower hei. But it is all one whole, one name. The soul is a part of Havayah. In other words, as Jews we have a soul, so we are a part of Havayah, a part of the name Havayah.

09:12 Speaker 1 That is our essence: the name Havayah. Since our essence is the name Havayah, the same is true within us. These are not four separate things; they are one essence. A Jew’s connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is built on four letters, on the name Havayah. Just as the four letters are four levels yet one G-dliness, one unity, so too, when I want to connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, that connection must encompass the four letters of the name Havayah as one essence. What if a person grasps only the hei? He says, “I want to be connected to the lower hei. That is enough for me.” What is the lower hei? Malchus—kingship. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King. He is my King, and I am His servant. I will accept the sovereignty of Heaven and be a servant of Hashem. From now on, I will live with kabbolas ol and no longer rebel against the King. So I have repaired the hei, and I am a good Jew, but that is where I remain: with the sovereignty of Heaven alone. Is there a problem with that? Certainly there is. You have taken the hei, but not all of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You have taken only one letter. Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not just the hei. The name Havayah is one unity. Therefore, the service of teshuvah must not stop at one level. It must go all the way. You have to reach the yud of the name Havayah. The four letters are one essence, one whole. That is true of the service of teshuvah as well, even when you are just beginning and, for now, need to work on kabbolas ol—the beginning, essence, and foundation of the service.

11:31 Speaker 1 You need to correct the casting off of the yoke of malchus. But you also need to know that there is a higher teshuvah. There is a deeper way of looking at it, and that is where the deepest point lies—the essential point, teshuvah in its highest form. You need to aspire to that place. And this matters not just because there are more levels. The point is not simply that it isn’t enough to remain on one level and a person should aspire to higher levels. No. It matters to the very understanding of teshuvah. For a person’s understanding of teshuvah to be as it should, it must also include this idea of the higher teshuvah, the yud of Hashem’s Name: reaching the highest place. Because, in essence, it is all one point. That is the point of the sicha the Rebbe explains here, and it gives us an overall understanding of the entire process. Now we can understand what the Rebbe says. Accordingly, we can resolve what the Rebbe says in section four: there is atonement, which is specifically subject to certain conditions. But there is also the essence of teshuvah. The entire mitzvah of teshuvah, its main point, is not merely [unclear]. Do you know what that means? You need to know that there is teshuvah, and specifically to know that it is all one matter: a whole process that begins with lower teshuvah and ends with higher teshuvah. Broadly speaking, those are two levels. More specifically, there are four levels, corresponding to the four letters of Hashem’s Name. When you go all the way, you return to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You don’t touch just one letter, one level; you truly connect with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is called teshuvah. That is what teshuvah means: the soul connects with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and all four letters are one essence. It is one continuous process. That is the foundation. Do you understand? Clear. Now.

13:22 Speaker 1 More specifically, the Rebbe says, what are these four aspects? The Rebbe explains that the avodah of teshuvah has four parts: “Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” These four aspects correspond to the four letters of Hashem’s Name. Here in Tanya, chapter 4, the Rebbe explains what the four letters are. Yud is chochmah; hei is binah, breadth and attachment. Vav is the middos, and the lower hei is malchus. Similarly, the Jewish soul has these four aspects as well. So how is this explained in avodah? The Rebbe explains it beautifully. First, the avodah of teshuvah connected with the lower hei, malchus, is “turn away from evil.” Malchus means accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. Accepting that yoke brings a person to a sense of awe: he does not want to rebel against the King. This is chapter 41 of Tanya: “the natural awe hidden in the heart of every Jew, not to rebel against the King of kings, Hakadosh Boruch Hu.” The moment you awaken this sense of malchus within yourself—Hakadosh Boruch Hu is King, and I am His servant—you do not want to rebel against the King. A Jew has a natural awe and fear. He does not want to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he does not want to rebel against the King, and therefore he turns away from evil. “Turn away from evil” does not refer only to prohibitions. It means not doing anything contrary to the Divine will. This is the basic teshuvah of accepting the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven. It includes both positive and negative mitzvos. But what is the focus here? It is turning away from evil—not doing wrong, not rebelling against the King. Rebellion against the King is evil. Turning away from evil means

15:33 Speaker 1 not rebelling against the King. After that, though, there is a deeper teshuvah: “do good.” “Do good” does not just mean performing mitzvos. It is avodah from the heart—not only observing mitzvos out of kabbolas ol, but serving out of love. That is called “do good.” When you love someone, you want to do good for them. A Jew not only does not want to be separated from Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he wants to do good, to draw G-dliness into the world. He wants G-dliness to be revealed in the world, to be present in the world. That is love of Hashem. It is connected with the vav of Hashem’s Name. Love is one of the middos, and the primary middah is chessed, the middah of love. Therefore, avodah motivated by love belongs to the vav of Hashem’s Name. This is teshuvah in the sense explained by the Arizal: returning the hei of Hashem’s Name. That is the second stage. Understand that at this higher level of teshuvah, a person’s avodah will be performed with greater care and beauty. If someone serves only so as not to be separated from Hashem, he will do what he has to do. But hiddurim? Going beyond measure, beyond what he is used to? Why would he? If you also have love and attachment, though, you will do more than usual. That is the idea of the vav of Hashem’s Name. All this still falls within avodah. There is the avodah of “turn away from evil” and the avodah of “do good,” but you are still a distinct entity. There is the servant and there is the Master. You can serve Him out of awe, and you can serve Him out of love. If you serve Him out of awe, [unclear], but you can serve Him out of love. That explains “turn away from evil” and “do good.” But the servant still has an existence of his own. That is the whole idea of lower teshuvah. Lower teshuvah means

17:40 Speaker 1 that there is still a person who serves Hashem, unlike higher teshuvah. Higher teshuvah is Torah—sorry, it is binah, and its avodah is the avodah of Torah. So the Rebbe continues in chapter 16. After discussing teshuvah, he explains the whole idea of higher teshuvah: studying Torah, through which a person cleaves to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is a matter of self-nullification, and it is the greatest teshuvah. Why? Torah is not like a servant working for his master. In Torah, a person becomes completely nullified; there is absolute union. So the Rebbe says that when you study Torah, you become one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “I am the Mishnah speaking through your mouth.” In other words, it is not the servant speaking; it is the King Himself. That is the distinction. There is a deep idea here in Torah study, and that is why this is a much higher teshuvah. Here teshuvah is already on a far higher level. We said that teshuvah means connecting with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. On the first two levels, “turn away from evil” and “do good,” there certainly is a connection, but the person still exists as a distinct entity. There is someone who loves and someone who fears. He is a person serving Hashem, not yet truly nullified. In Torah, though, there is genuine self-nullification. Therefore, in higher teshuvah the connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is real: one becomes completely one with Him. Then the Rebbe adds in the sicha that there is an even higher level. The yud and hei relate to Torah. The Rebbe cites the expression, “Hakadosh Boruch Hu and the Jewish people are entirely one.” That is higher even than Torah study: the yechidah, the union of a Jew with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This relates to the story

19:44 Speaker 1 of Matti. So what is the essence of the sicha? We have already said it. I just want to add something about the four levels. They certainly are four distinct levels: turning away from evil, doing good, Torah study, and holiness itself. Each level brings further self-nullification and further union. The novel point here in Tanya, based on the beginning of chapter 4, is what the Baal Shem Tov wanted to say: all four aspects are, in essence, one point, one reality. In other words, even when you are at the beginning of your avodah, even when you are at the stage of kabbolas ol, you need to know that your kabbolas ol is only the beginning of reaching the all-encompassing level of the yud of Hashem’s Name. Everything is fundamentally based on this point: He is the only true existence. This shines in the yud of Hashem’s Name, where chochmah shines—koach mah, the power of self-nullification—and the truth that “there is nothing besides Him” shines forth. That truth, present in the yud of Hashem’s Name, then becomes enclothed in the hei, the vav, and the final hei, descending through them. But on every level there is… These are not separate levels. That same point is felt in every aspect. So even when you are at the very beginning of avodah, at the stage of kabbolas ol, you feel that your kabbolas ol is not superficial. Superficial kabbolas ol is when that is all a person has, and nothing more. No: this kabbolas ol rests on the fact that, in essence, I am connected with the yud. At my core is the chochmah of the soul; I have a part of G-d above. My connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is an essential bond, connected with the yud of Hashem’s Name, true self-nullification. It is just that, in practice, I have not yet reached that level. So in practice I follow the order of avodah: I have to begin from the bottom and work upward. So

21:42 Speaker 1 Now I’m at another stage, but that stage is really just a detail. It’s all a continuation; it’s all one essence. So even at the beginning of teshuvah, you’re already connected to its ultimate goal. This is the basis of the explanation in Igeres Hateshuvah: why teshuvah ila’ah matters even when a person is still at the beginning of the work, with kabbolas ol in teshuvah and so on. The Rebbe was precise about what Reb Levi said. Reb Levi says that the wording of Tanna D’vei Eliyahu—[unclear]—alludes here to the four letters of Hashem’s name. Yes, [unclear]. There is something here corresponding to every level of teshuvah. Not just [unclear], because that needs no allusion to the yud; it is the true reality. These are already matters of Kabbalah, but the explanation in Tanya simply gives a person a better understanding of teshuvah as a whole. We need to know that teshuvah ila’ah and teshuvah tata’ah are not two different things. They are really one essence. In practice, there is an order: you have to begin with teshuvah, but teshuvah tata’ah must be connected to teshuvah ila’ah. This also explains, of course, what he brings here from the Zohar concerning the bris. It says that teshuvah cannot be done for a blemish of the bris. So the Reishis Chochmah asks: How can that be? After all, nothing stands in the way of teshuvah. How can you say that teshuvah is impossible? And what does he answer? That it has to be teshuvah ila’ah. Yes—not teshuvah tata’ah, but teshuvah ila’ah. And the Rebbe asks: It says, “Nothing stands in the way of teshuvah.” It just says teshuvah; it doesn’t specify which kind. So how can you say that means teshuvah ila’ah? It just says

23:54 Speaker 1 teshuvah. How does that fit? But according to this explanation, we can understand it. From what we’re learning here in the sicha, in Tanya, we can explain that teshuvah tata’ah and teshuvah ila’ah are not really two different things. Already at the beginning of teshuvah, in teshuvah tata’ah, its ultimate goal must be contained within it: to reach teshuvah ila’ah. Because they are all part of the same essence of Hashem’s name. So if your teshuvah tata’ah is illuminated by its connection to teshuvah ila’ah, that means you’re in a process of teshuvah, becoming refined and revealing the name of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Then even in the simple teshuvah of teshuvah tata’ah, there is at least some small measure of the yud of Hashem’s name, and so it also repairs a blemish of the bris. An enormous insight! So when the Gemara says that nothing stands in the way of teshuvah, it is speaking about teshuvah even for a blemish of the bris. And the Gemara just says teshuvah, which includes teshuvah tata’ah. That doesn’t contradict the Zohar, which says that teshuvah does not help and that teshuvah ila’ah is needed, because teshuvah tata’ah is really part of the essence of teshuvah ila’ah. Therefore, when teshuvah is done in this way, even simple teshuvah already repairs the blemish of the bris, because it too is connected with the revelation of Hashem’s name. Do you understand the point? Answers...

25:24 Speaker 2 Give us some understanding.

25:34 Speaker 1 There’s another sicha in which the Rebbe also alludes to this: the Alter Rebbe brought four verses in chapter 1 of Tanya. There are four verses there, and they too allude to the four levels of teshuvah we discussed. Why did the Alter Rebbe bring four verses there? They’re also in that same order. First, let’s get the order straight. The order of the verses there follows the order in Tanach. So the Rebbe says something wonderful: when you look at the verses, you’ll see that the order of the four verses corresponds to the four aspects we’ve discussed here. Turning away from evil is the first level. All four aspects are here. “Let the wicked abandon his way”—turning away from evil, which is why that’s the first verse he brings. Then the next verse in Tanach. After that he brings a verse from Chumash. What is the verse in Chumash? “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d.” But that’s the order. “Let the wicked abandon his way” is turning away from evil, so he brings it first. “And you shall return to Hashem your G-d” is already the level... the level of section four. After that, “Bring us back”... “Bring us back”... no, “Return, O Israel.” “Return, O Israel.” Israel is the name of Hashem. That’s the section about Hashem’s name. Israel is teshuvah ila’ah... we reach teshuvah ila’ah... After that comes “Bring us back to You, Hashem, and we shall return.” That is the essential self-nullification of the yechidah of the soul. So the four verses correspond to the four foundations. The Alter Rebbe alludes to this right at the beginning, to tell us that teshuvah has to work in such a way that each level brings you to the next. Because teshuvah is really one essence, extending from kabbolas ol to true self-nullification, so that already in kabbolas ol we sense that it flows from the self-nullification of the yechidah that everyone has.