Chapter 2 - Fourth Lesson

00:00 Speaker 1 Yes, let’s continue with Tanya, chapter 2, page 6, side b. We’re up to the line beginning “as it were.” In his notes on Tanya, the Rebbe explains that the Hebrew word for “as it were,” kivayachol, means “the twenty-two can.” What does that mean? We use the word kivayachol all the time. It seems to mean that something cannot be said literally, that we cannot say it quite as it is. But the Rebbe says that kivayachol means “the twenty-two can.” The twenty-two refers to the Torah, to its twenty-two letters. “The twenty-two can” means that the Torah can say it. In other words, if it were not written in the Torah, we could not say it. Whenever we speak about matters concerning Hakadosh Boruch Hu that seem, as it were, to place a limit on Him, we say kivayachol, because if it were not written in the Torah, we could not say it. So that is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here: Even the least worthy person, even an unlearned person—where does he come from? He comes from the supreme mind, which is supernal Chochmah, as it were. Only the Torah can reveal this to us and tell us just how deeply the souls of the Jewish people are rooted in supernal Chochmah, as it were. The Alter Rebbe continues, and here he is going to give an analogy. Let’s recall the question whose answer we are now learning. What was the Alter Rebbe’s question? We learned that the soul of a Jew is truly a part of G-d above, and we explained the depth of what it means for the soul to be a part of G-d: it comes from His very essence. We used all the examples and analogies, such as the son and the father’s mind. So the question arises: How can there be differences in spiritual level from one extreme to the other? Not just differences in level, but differences from one extreme to the other—a head and a foot, and so on. Here the Alter Rebbe begins to explain. The explanation comes from this very analogy, the analogy of a son and how a child is formed. From it we will understand how both things can be true. On the one hand, all souls are rooted in the same essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and at the same time, there can be differences in level from one extreme to the other. Both can be true together. If we consider the analogy of birth—the idea of “You are children to Hashem your G-d”—we will understand it. This is the analogy the Alter Rebbe now brings. The Alter Rebbe says: “By way of analogy, a son is drawn from the father’s mind, so that even his toenails were formed from that very drop, through its remaining for nine months in the mother’s womb.” There is the drop originating in the father’s mind, and it remains in the mother’s womb for nine months, the nine months of pregnancy. What happens during those nine months? The Alter Rebbe explains: “It descended from level to level, changing until nails were formed from it.” He is speaking throughout about that drop. Over the nine months, it develops until the end of the pregnancy. Today we can actually see this. Science has advanced to the point where we can trace a baby’s entire development in the mother’s womb. And indeed, the last parts—the nails and hair—develop toward the end of the nine months. So what do we see? On the one hand, we say that everything comes from the same essence, the same substance, the very drop originating in the father’s mind. On the other hand, during the nine

02:19 Speaker 1 The examples and analogies, like the son and the father’s brain. So the question arises: How can there be differences in level from one extreme to the other? Not just differences in level, but differences from one extreme to the other—the head and the foot, and so on. Here the Alter Rebbe begins to explain. The explanation comes from this very analogy: the analogy of a son, of how a child is formed. From that, we’ll understand how both things can be true. On the one hand, all souls are rooted in the same essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and at the same time, there can be differences in level from one extreme to the other. Both can be true together. If we look at the analogy of birth—the idea of children, “You are children to Hashem your G-d”—we’ll understand it. And that is the analogy the Alter Rebbe is about to bring. The Alter Rebbe says: “As in the analogy of a son who is drawn from the father’s brain: even his toenails were formed from that very drop, through its remaining for nine months in the mother’s womb.” So there is the drop from the father’s brain, and it remains there for nine months, the nine months of pregnancy, inside the mother’s womb. What happens during those nine months? The Alter Rebbe explains: “It descended from level to level, changing until nails were formed from it.” He is speaking about that same drop throughout. Over the nine months, it develops, until the end of the pregnancy. And today we can actually see this. Today, with advances in science, we can trace the entire development of a baby in the mother’s womb. And indeed, the last parts—the nails and hair—develop specifically toward the end of the nine months of pregnancy. So what do we see here? On the one hand, we say that everything comes from that same essence, that same substance, the very drop from the father’s brain. On the other hand, over the nine months, it goes through

04:39 Speaker 1 [unclear]

04:59 Speaker 2 Nevertheless.

05:00 Speaker 1 “Nevertheless, it remains bound and united.” “It remains”—pay attention: every letter in Tanya is precise. Here the word odanah, “it remains,” is written without a yud. It is singular and feminine, so the Alter Rebbe is speaking about the drop. Some people mistakenly think “it remains” refers to the nails. It does not refer to the nails; it refers to the drop originating in the father’s mind. “Nevertheless, it”—the drop originating in the father’s mind—“remains bound and united in a wondrous and powerful unity.” He means the drop as it has become nails. This drop, which has now taken the form of nails, a part of the body, still remains essentially connected to its own source, the drop originating in the father’s mind. That is true even during its formation, at the time of birth. So, once again, we have the drop originating in the father’s mind. The entire essence, the entire substance, is there. At that point it is a single point, with no head or end. It is the essence; the entire child is contained in that drop. Then come the nine months of pregnancy, during which it changes and develops into everything from the highest organs to the lowest, down to the nails. And the nails—that is, the drop as it has become nails—are still essentially connected to the drop originating in the father’s mind. It has not changed in that respect. Now he adds another point, a third point: “And even now.” Here he means after the baby is born and becomes a human being with a separate existence. Even now, when the son has an existence of his own, “the nourishment and vitality of the nails are drawn from the mind in the head.” Even when the son exists in the world as an individual, where do the nails get their vitality? Fingernails and toenails grow. They have vitality; they grow. Where do the nails

07:20 Speaker 1 get their vitality from, even now? From the mind. Whose mind? Obviously, the meaning here is the son’s mind. There is a letter from the Rebbe addressing whether this means the son’s mind or the father’s mind, since the Alter Rebbe does not state it explicitly. The Rebbe makes a very important point, which I will also come to as we examine the text itself. On the plain level, when we speak of a person who has already been born into the world, who has come out of his mother’s womb and become a separate being, and the Alter Rebbe says that even now the nails are connected to the mind, he means the son’s mind. The mind supplies vitality to all the organs. It is the son’s mind, and the nails too receive vitality from the son’s mind. What is the Alter Rebbe saying here on the plain level? He is saying that there is always a connection between the nails and the mind, even after the son becomes a being in his own right. So what was our question? Our question has two sides. On the one hand, we say that all Jewish souls come from the drop originating in the father’s mind. On the other hand, we say that there are differences from one extreme to the other. The Alter Rebbe wants to say that this is not a contradiction. Despite the differences from one extreme to the other, it is still all one point. The Alter Rebbe says that there are three stages. First, everything is present in the drop originating in the father’s mind. It is one essence; everything there is a single point. Second, as it develops in the mother’s womb, it takes on all kinds of distinct forms: head, foot, nails. Even then, we say that the nails are essentially the drop originating in the father’s mind, which has become nails, so it remains connected to that drop. Then comes the third point: Even when the baby becomes a separate being, and then

09:20 Speaker 1 He is already a separate being, a child in the world, and even then the fingernails are connected to the brain—but that is the child’s brain. That is one explanation. After that, the Rebbe adds another explanation, which is certainly relevant to understanding the Tanya: we can say that the Alter Rebbe also means the father’s brain. The child’s fingernails are connected not only to the child’s brain, but also to the father’s brain. That is a major insight, and it makes the Tanya much more satisfying to understand. Because even after the child has become a separate being in the world, his fingernails remain connected to the brain. That is how they grow—from the child’s brain. Now, within the child’s brain is a drop from the father’s brain. After all, that drop from the father’s brain is what developed into the entire child. The part that became the brain is essentially unchanged. In other words, there is this point originating in the father’s brain, and that point has now become the child’s brain. So even after a person has come into the world and become a person in his own right, living an independent life, there is always a point within the child’s brain, a certain drop from the father’s brain, that remains with him. This is explained in Chassidus. Why is there the concept of honoring one’s parents? The Rebbe brings this in the maamarim on Margala [unclear] B’fumei d’Rava [unclear]. Why honor one’s parents? What is the underlying reason for the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents? It is not only because your father gave you money, gives you clothes, gives you food, so you have to honor him—though that is true too. The real reason for the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents is that a part of the father is always present within the child. That is the idea of an intrinsic connection to one’s father. This whole subject is discussed

11:31 Speaker 1 at length. So when the Alter Rebbe says here that even now, after the child is born, the fingernails receive vitality from the brain in the child’s head—and in that brain there is always a point from the father’s brain—there is always a connection between the child’s fingernails and the father’s brain. That is certainly relevant to what the Alter Rebbe is discussing. Now he is going to explain that this is the idea of a Rebbe. When we speak about—and we will get to the subject of a Rebbe—he is the brain of the child. On the one hand, the Rebbe is the brain of the Jewish people, the head of the thousands of Israel. And just as the child’s brain is part of the child’s own being, the Rebbe is a soul, meaning that he is part of the structure of the Jewish people. And the Rebbe is always connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is the idea of a Rebbe, the head of the thousands of Israel. Just as, physically, a drop from the father’s brain is present in the child’s brain, so it is with the Rebbe. Divine wisdom is always revealed within the tzaddik, because a tzaddik is connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the most direct, deepest way. And because we are all part of and connected to the nasi, we too are connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu now. That is the aspect of a Rebbe here in Tanya. According to what the Rebbe explains in his letter, there is another explanation that the Rebbe gives in a different way. But we will learn it this way, which gives a much richer, much more satisfying understanding of all the spiritual work discussed here in Tanya. The Alter Rebbe continues: “As stated in the Gemara.” How do we know that the fingernails come from the brain? He says that the fingernails specifically come from the brain. “As stated there in the Gemara, Niddah: the white substance, from which come sinews, bones, and fingernails.” The Gemara says in Tractate Niddah that there is a white substance, something white that comes from the father’s brain, and that white substance produces sinews,

13:43 Speaker 1 bones, and fingernails. The Gemara says there is a white substance and a red substance. There is a white part and a red part. The white part comes from the father, and the red part comes from the mother. From the white part come sinews, bones, and fingernails—those three things—and from the red part comes the flesh. There are other things too; I don’t remember them right now. It is written in the Gemara. We need to understand the Gemara. I don’t know, but as far as what I’m getting at here, what the Alter Rebbe wants to bring here is proof that fingernails have a special connection to the brain. And here there is a wonderful explanation that chassidim give. It is very interesting. Seemingly, the Alter Rebbe does not specifically want to talk about fingernails here. Seemingly, he wants to talk about the entire Jewish people. Fingernails are just an example. His point is that even fingernails—the coarsest part, the most self-contained, with the least vitality—are nevertheless connected to the brain. All the more so all the other limbs: the hands, the feet, the heart, and the brain. Certainly they all come from one brain. But we see that the Alter Rebbe specifically emphasizes fingernails, and that is why he cites the statement of our Sages that mentions three things: sinews, bones, and fingernails. In other words, there is something special about fingernails in particular. What is the explanation? There is an explanation that chassidim give, one that was passed down among chassidim, by the way. I heard Reb Mottel Kozliner say that this was how they learned Tanya in earlier generations as well. As is known, they did not offer interpretations of Tanya; they would learn the Tanya, and they would always add this explanation here. I also heard it from Reb Gringol [unclear]. In other words, it was accepted among chassidim that the emphasis on fingernails specifically relates to everything explained in Chassidus about the special quality of simple people. Fingernails represent their spiritual service in the analogy. What I mean is, as the Alter Rebbe

15:47 Speaker 1 says, “the lowest of the low”—that is, simple people. As is known, there is something found specifically in simple people. On the one hand, they are simple people, and that can mean simple in all sorts of ways. Nevertheless, not only are they connected too, but it is precisely in them that we find the spiritual service of mesirus nefesh. It is specifically in simple people that the yechidah shines, that mesirus nefesh shines. They have more, more, more faith, more mesirus nefesh. As we see, it is specifically in the footsteps of Moshiach that the power of mesirus nefesh is revealed more strongly. That is why the example is specifically fingernails. Reb Mottel Kozliner added that they saw this in Russia too. And before that, they say it happened during the expulsion from Spain, during the Inquisition. When they wanted to do something—may Hashem spare us—they would try to, how do you say it, break a person? They would subject him to all kinds of, what is the word? Torture, yes. They would torture him. And one of the forms of torture always mentioned in the stories involved the fingernails. In other words, they would inflict all kinds of torture on the fingernails, and that caused the greatest suffering. So on the one hand, fingernails would seem to be the least sensitive part. But on the other hand, there is some particular connection to the fingernails, a deeper connection there to the soul, which is why in certain ways they can cause more pain. What does that tell us about this subject? That specifically in souls that are considered among “the lowest of the low” of the Jewish people, simple people, something deeper in the soul is revealed that is not revealed in people of higher spiritual standing. In any case, the Alter Rebbe says: “And as it is written in Etz Chaim, Shaar HaChashmal, concerning the secret of Adam Harishon’s garments in Gan Eden, which were fingernails, from the aspect of the intellect of Tevunah.” Here too, he brings this to emphasize, once again, the special quality of fingernails. So he brings it from

17:56 Speaker 1 It says in Eitz Chaim that Adam Harishon had it. What were Adam Harishon’s garments in Gan Eden? We know that Adam Harishon was in Gan Eden without garments. Afterward, after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, he received garments of skin. But what was there before the garments of skin? The verse in the Chumash says, “They were both naked.” But it says in Kabbalah, in the Zohar and in Eitz Chaim, that Adam Harishon had a garment that was like part of his body. That garment was his fingernails. This is one of the reasons we look at our fingernails—that is the custom; at any rate, it is one of the reasons according to Kabbalah. Why do we use our fingernails during Havdalah? Because the whole matter of Havdalah is connected with Adam Harishon. The Gemara says in Pesachim that the whole matter of Havdalah began with Adam Harishon. When he was created, there had been no darkness, and there was no darkness on Shabbos either, because there was the hidden light. There was light all the time. Only on Motzaei Shabbos did it suddenly become dark, and Adam Harishon did not know what it was. He thought the world was being destroyed. Then he discovered that you could take stones and make fire. In short, fire was first produced on Motzaei Shabbos, and that is why we make Havdalah on Motzaei Shabbos. So looking at the fingernails is connected with the fingernails Adam Harishon had. Eitz Chaim says that Adam Harishon’s garment was fingernails, as we said, because fingernails derive from the moach of tevunah. Fingernails have a very deep, very lofty source, and they were Adam Harishon’s garment in Gan Eden. At any rate, that is another point. So all of this is the analogy. What do we see in the analogy? We see three parts, three points. The first point is that there is a drop of seed, and everything is contained within it.

19:55 Speaker 1 That is the first point. The second point is that this drop develops into all kinds of parts, even parts at opposite extremes. But it is all that same drop, not something else. It actually changes. And the third point is that there is always a connection between the fingernails and the father’s brain through the son’s brain. As we said, the fingernails remain connected to the son’s brain even after he has become a grown person in the world, and through it there is always a connection to the father’s brain. What do these three ideas mean here? Now the Alter Rebbe will explain. All souls come forth from Chochmah Ila’ah by virtue of the very essence of a Jew. There is that well-known saying, the famous expression of Reb Levi Yitzchak, the Rebbe’s father: Moshe Rabbeinu is no more Jewish than the lowest of the low, and the lowest of the low is no less Jewish than Moshe Rabbeinu. The essence of a Jew is the same essence in Moshe Rabbeinu and in a simple person, even the lowest of the low. No one is more Jewish or less Jewish. A Jew is a Jew. That’s it. As he always says, a minyan requires ten people. If you have nine Moshe Rabbeinus, you cannot say Kaddish or recite a davar shebikdushah. And if you have ten of the lowest of the low, you can say Kaddish and Kedushah. In other words, what makes up the essence of a Jew—and this is the point of the father’s brain—is the essence itself. On the other hand, there is the descent through the order of levels. What does the mother’s womb mean? You will see: he is now going to explain that the mother’s womb represents the four worlds. The soul descends from the Chochmah of Atzilus and becomes enclothed in the order of hishtalshelus. In that order there are Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, until there are souls that are like fingernails. And yet there is a connection: as we say, the fingernails always have a connection to Chochmah Ila’ah, because it passes through the brain. The fingernails are connected to

22:08 Speaker 1 the son’s brain, and the son’s brain connects them to the father’s brain. Who is the son’s brain that makes this connection? It is the Rebbe, the nasi. That is what the Alter Rebbe is now going to explain. The Alter Rebbe says—let’s read it and finish the point: “And precisely so, as it were, is the root of all the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah of the Jewish people as a whole, above, as it descends from level to level through the hishtalshelus of the worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah.” In other words, the four worlds—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah—are, as it were, the mother’s womb. The nine months in the mother’s womb are a period of time, nine months. For the soul, it is hishtalshelus: worlds and levels in the order of hishtalshelus—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah. “From His blessed wisdom, as it is written, ‘You made them all with wisdom.’” Here the Alter Rebbe applies the verse “You made them all with wisdom” to the soul. “Until they became the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah of the unlearned and those of lesser stature.” Through this entire order of hishtalshelus, then, souls came to be that are on the level of the heels—the souls of the unlearned and those of lesser stature, like fingernails. “And nevertheless, they still remain bound and united in a wondrous and mighty union with their original essence and being, which is an extension of Chochmah Ila’ah.” The soul remains connected even if it has become like fingernails. And here the word for “they still remain” is written in the plural. Before this, it was written without a yud; here it is written with a yud. That is because here it refers to the unlearned and those of lesser stature. So he uses the plural: they still remain connected, “in a wondrous and mighty union with their original essence and being, which is an extension of Chochmah Ila’ah.” They still have a connection. How does that connection work? Through the son’s brain. Who is the son’s brain in this context? The Alter Rebbe continues and explains the concept of a Rebbe: “For the nourishment and vitality of the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah of the unlearned come from the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah of the tzaddikim and sages, the heads of the Jewish people in their generation.” This is the concept of a Rebbe—the initials of rosh bnei Yisroel, “head of the Jewish people.” He is the son’s brain,

24:04 Speaker 1 in which the father’s brain shines. By connecting ourselves to the son’s brain, the Rebbe, we thereby connect ourselves with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Of course, this needs explanation. With Hashem’s help, we will discuss it in the next class.