Chapter 3 - Third Lesson

00:00 We’re in the middle of chapter 3, at the line beginning, “And fear of Hashem in his heart, and then.” Here the Alter Rebbe is discussing intellect and emotions. The soul has ten faculties: intellect and emotions. Intellect is the father and mother, and the emotions are their offspring. The Alter Rebbe explains how this birth takes place. He explains that first there is the point of chochmah. Chochmah then becomes clothed in binah, with length, breadth, and depth, and through this the children—the emotions—are born. He describes this in terms of avodah, within the G-dly soul, the soul’s intellectual faculty. When a person contemplates the greatness of Hashem—how He fills all worlds, encompasses all worlds, and all is considered as nothing before Him—then through this contemplation, the Alter Rebbe says, the first thing that happens is that “the quality of awe of His exaltedness is born and awakened in his mind and thought.” The first response to contemplating Hashem’s greatness is awe of His exaltedness. We’re not talking here about fear of punishment, or even awe of His kingship. We’re talking about awe of His exaltedness, because the Alter Rebbe is speaking of deep contemplation: contemplating how Hashem fills all worlds, encompasses all worlds, and all is considered as nothing before Him. That kind of contemplation awakens awe of His exaltedness. In chapter 41, for example, the Alter Rebbe does not mention the idea that all is considered as nothing before Him. He mentions only that Hashem fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds. And there, the Alter Rebbe is not speaking about deep contemplation either. He writes only that one should contemplate it “in his thought, at least.” So in chapter 41, where he is discussing the beginning of avodah, the Alter Rebbe is speaking about a person who is just starting out: “The beginning of avodah, its essence and root.” Deep contemplation is not needed there, and consequently one does not reach contemplation of how all is considered as nothing before Him. There, the entire contemplation

02:37 concerns Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s kingship: a King, my King. That is why the Alter Rebbe speaks there mainly about Hashem’s greatness as He encompasses and fills all worlds. From there, a person proceeds to the thought that He sets aside the upper and lower worlds and unites His kingship with the Jewish people as a whole and with each individual. That contemplation is more suited to someone at the beginning of avodah: “The beginning of avodah, its essence and root”—awe of the King. Here, by contrast, the Alter Rebbe is discussing how far the G-dly soul can reach. He is not yet discussing where a person stands in avodah. He is discussing the soul’s potential: the G-dly soul can contemplate and reach the loftiest levels of love and awe. That is why he speaks here of contemplation—deep contemplation, not just any contemplation. The three expressions in this contemplation represent three levels: He fills all worlds, He encompasses all worlds, and all is considered as nothing before Him. Through this, a person develops not just ordinary awe: “The quality of awe of His exaltedness is born and awakened.” This is awe of His exaltedness—an awe inspired by His greatness—which Chassidus sometimes calls “awe of shame.” It arises “in his mind and thought, to stand in awe and feel ashamed before His blessed greatness, which has no end or limit.” After that comes “fear of Hashem in his heart.” We discussed this in the previous class: awe in the mind, fear in the heart. Then the Alter Rebbe continues: “And then his heart will blaze with an intense love, like flames of fire.” After the awe comes the second response: the heart blazes with an intense love, like flames of fire. Not just any love. As we said, the Alter Rebbe is speaking here about high levels. Just as, with awe, he speaks of awe of His exaltedness, awe of shame, so too with love. What kind of love is he describing? An intense love, called in the language of Chassidus ahavah rabbah. “An intense love, like flames of fire, with yearning, desire, longing, and a soul that thirsts for the greatness of the Infinite One,

04:39 blessed be He.” These are several expressions, which Chassidus sometimes explains as distinct levels. Even within love like flames of fire, there are many levels, different kinds of attachment: yearning, desire, longing, and a soul thirsting for the greatness of the Infinite One, blessed be He. “And this is the soul’s expiring.” A person can reach such love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu—even the greatest love, the love in which the soul expires. By the way, these expressions—yearning, attachment, all these terms, the soul’s expiring—are based on the holy Or Hachayim. There is a well-known Or Hachayim on Parshas Acharei that explains what happened with Nadav and Avihu. What was their sin? “When they drew near before Hashem.” The Or Hachayim uses these terms there: yearning, desire, attachment, a thirsting soul, until they reached the point where their souls expired. In other words, these were the levels of love that Nadav and Avihu reached. As is known, there are maamarim—one of the early maamarim of the Rebbe [unclear], I can’t remember now whether it’s in [unclear] or one of the early books, I don’t remember—one of the early maamarim of the Rebbe [unclear] on what the Or Hachayim says. The Rebbe [unclear] explains this Or Hachayim. So this is an Or Hachayim that is cited in Chassidus; the Rebbe [unclear] discusses it, and the wording here is also very similar to that of the holy Or Hachayim. So what is the Alter Rebbe saying here? He is saying that when a person contemplates, each and every one of us has the capacity, by virtue of the G-dly soul, to contemplate the deepest levels with concentration. This contemplation is the father and mother that give birth to love and awe in their deepest form: awe of His exaltedness, awe of shame, and not just ordinary love, but love like flames of fire, to the point of the soul’s expiring. Of course, one must not remain in that state. Afterward, it has to be brought into Torah and mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe

06:36 discusses that in the following chapters; this is not the place for it. Later, of course, the Alter Rebbe will explain that when a person reaches the point where the soul expires, there must be a return—shov. The Alter Rebbe returns to this in chapter 50 of Tanya. My point here is only to explain how far the soul can reach. There is a well-known question: Why did the Alter Rebbe put awe before love? Seemingly, the order is first chesed and then gevurah, so in avodah, too, love should come before awe. It is not only that this is the order of the sefiros; it is also the order in avodah. As is well known, maamarim that discuss love and awe explain that the higher awe is loftier than love. They explain the order of the levels, corresponding to the four levels. First comes awe—lower awe, the lesser awe. Then comes love, the lesser love, ordinary love. After that comes ahavah rabbah, love like flames of fire, and only then does one reach the higher awe, the yud of Hashem’s name. The order of the levels in serving Hashem is awe, love, love, awe. The higher awe is the loftiest awe, awe of shame; it is utter self-nullification. So seemingly, in the order of avodah as well, awe comes after love. Why, then, does the Alter Rebbe put awe first here, and only afterward speak of love? The Alter Rebbe himself was asked this question. As related among the early chassidim, there was a well-known chossid, Reb Yosef Rivlin. He was one of the great chassidim, and later he went up to Eretz Yisroel. He built the Tzemach Tzedek shul. If you’ve ever been to the Tzemach Tzedek shul, there’s a sign outside. He was the one who founded it. In any case, he had already been with the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe,

08:28 The Tzemach Tzedek. At any rate, during the Tzemach Tzedek’s time, he went to Eretz Yisroel. There are stories about why he went. In any case, one of the stories he told concerned this question. He said that the Maharil had asked the Alter Rebbe this question. The Maharil was the Alter Rebbe’s brother; both were great men. He asked the Alter Rebbe this question, and the Alter Rebbe answered: “If you look carefully at the words of the Tanya, you’ll see that I didn’t write that a person first has fear and then love. I wrote, ‘Fear of G-d’s exaltedness is born and awakened.’” That is the precise wording. In other words, the Alter Rebbe wanted to explain something very interesting about the nature of the soul. When a person contemplates the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, when he contemplates the greatness of Hashem in a genuine way, with deep concentration, then the first feeling that arises naturally from contemplating Hashem’s wondrousness and exaltedness is fear. That is human nature. The first feeling is fear. An example that can bring this a little closer to our understanding is a chossid traveling to the Rebbe. When a chossid stands face to face with the Rebbe—when you first see the Rebbe and stand before him—the first thing a chossid feels is certainly a kind of fear, a sense of utter self-nullification. Afterward, once you’re there and begin reflecting on his greatness and kindness, on all the wonderful things about the Rebbe—“as water reflects a face back to a face,” and so on—then love can arise. But by human nature, when you stand near a righteous, great, wise, extraordinary, exalted person, the first response will certainly be fear. That is why the Alter Rebbe says “is born and awakened.” That is the reality; it is the nature of the thing. The first feeling

10:33 is fear, because of the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. As you continue contemplating it, a thirst awakens within you: you want to draw close to Him, receive from Him, and unite with Him. Then comes love, and afterward there is the higher fear. In other words, it’s true that in the established order of avodah, the order of inner avodah, higher fear comes after love, just as Shemoneh Esrei comes after Shema. Shema is meant to awaken love—“And you shall love”—while Shemoneh Esrei is higher fear in inner avodah, as Chassidus explains in the maamarim. So certainly, in the established order of avodah, fear comes after love. But by the nature of the soul, it “is born and awakened”: the first response to contemplation is fear. Then comes love, and afterward comes fear—the higher fear that normally follows it. This is an interesting nuance in the wording attributed to the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe continues: “As it is written, ‘My soul longs, indeed it pines…’; and it is written, ‘My soul thirsts for G-d…’; and it is written, ‘My soul thirsts for You….’” He speaks of reaching a fiery passion. The Alter Rebbe brings three verses. In various places in Tehillim, King David, the sweet singer of Israel, expresses the thirst a Jew has for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He brings three verses, all of which speak of love like a fiery flame. Love like a fiery flame is love accompanied by thirst, much as in the physical world. Fire naturally rises upward, and fire also dries things out, unlike water, which is moist. Fire is dry; that is the thirst. He feels dry, he feels distant, and so he wants to run toward Him, out of longing and thirst. He wants to unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But there are three verses here, and that too is precise. Why did the Alter Rebbe bring three verses? Because, as is known, the first verse says “the courtyards of Hashem.” The courtyards refer to memalei kol almin.

12:37 A courtyard is an outer courtyard. This appears in Megillas Esther. Chassidim explain that the entire story of Megillas Esther, with all its details, is about the soul. So when Megillas Esther speaks of “the courtyard of the garden of the king’s palace,” it refers to contemplation of memalei kol almin, where the soul contemplates the outer aspect, focusing on the lower levels. That is why they are called courtyards. Then there is the second level: “My soul thirsts.” It is written, “My soul thirsts for G-d,” and later in that verse, “for the living G-d.” Chassidus explains—the Alter Rebbe explains in Likkutei Torah—that this also includes contemplation of sovev kol almin. “G-d” refers to memalei, while the continuation, “the living G-d,” refers to contemplation of sovev kol almin. Afterward he says, “My soul thirsts for You,” referring to contemplation of how “all is considered as nothing before Him.” That is the meaning of “for You”—for Him Himself. This is the greatest thirst, the soul’s thirst for His Essence. It corresponds to the three concepts mentioned earlier: memalei, sovev, and His Essence. These correspond to the three words—excuse me, the three levels, three kinds of contemplation. The Alter Rebbe continues, “As the natural philosophers wrote”—sorry, sorry. “And the thirst comes from the element of fire in the G-dly soul.” The Alter Rebbe says that the thirst we are discussing is connected to the element of fire in the G-dly soul, “as the natural philosophers wrote.” By “natural philosophers,” he means scholars of the natural world. It is interesting that the Alter Rebbe cites them: “As the natural philosophers wrote, and so it is stated in Eitz Chaim, the element of fire is in the heart, while the source of water and moisture is in the brain.” What is the Alter Rebbe trying to tell us here? At first glance, how are all these details relevant? They seem completely incidental. Why does it matter to us that one is fire and the other water, or that fire is in the heart and water is in the brain? There is a lengthy explanation here. I don’t want to… I’m

14:53 just going through a few points. There is a simple, fundamental point that is important to understand here in Tanya. First, there is something very straightforward. In chapter 1, we learned that the animal soul has four elements. The Alter Rebbe said that the animal soul is composed of four evil elements: water, fire, air, and earth. So the Alter Rebbe wants to say that the G-dly soul also has these elements. Just as they exist in the animal soul, one opposite the other, the G-dly soul too has the element of water and the element of fire. Why doesn’t he mention the elements of air and earth here? Well, first of all, earth seemingly doesn’t pertain to the G-dly soul. Earth is… it’s imaginary. Earth isn’t… But he doesn’t mention air here either. Later in Tanya, though, the Alter Rebbe does discuss the element of air in connection with the emotions. I don’t know exactly where right now; I don’t remember which point later in Tanya brings up air. At any rate, the Alter Rebbe wants to say that just as there are elements in the animal soul, they exist in the G-dly soul as well. That is the general point. More specifically, the Alter Rebbe wants to say something stronger here. He wants to point out the difference between the G-dly soul and the animal soul. Regarding the animal soul, we say that all its emotions are in the heart. Fire and water alike—everything is in the heart. The desire for pleasures, says the Alter Rebbe, comes from the element of water in the heart. But regarding the G-dly soul, we say no: only the fiery passion is in the heart. The element of fire is in the heart, but the element of water is in the brain. In the G-dly soul, water is in the brain, not the heart. Why does that matter? It matters to the overall point that the Alter Rebbe

16:58 He will explain later, in the coming chapters of Tanya, the difference between the G-dly soul and the animal soul. The animal soul is centered in the heart; its dwelling place is in the heart, as the Alter Rebbe will explain in chapter 9. So its entire reality is in the heart. The fire, the water—everything is in the heart. The desire for pleasures is all an emotion of the heart. By contrast, in the G-dly soul, the element of water, which is pleasure, is in the mind. The G-dly soul is centered in the intellectual faculties. That is the advantage of the G-dly soul: contemplation, which then gives the mind the ability to rule over the heart, to control the animal soul, as the Alter Rebbe will explain later. So that is one explanation for why the Alter Rebbe brings up the subject as a whole here. There is also another way to understand what the Alter Rebbe wants to say. We spoke here about flames of fire. The Alter Rebbe spoke about love like flames of fire. But as we know, there is another kind of love too: love like water, love that takes the form of delight. So the question arises: If the Alter Rebbe wants to discuss the loftiest levels the soul can reach, why did he speak about love like flames of fire? Why didn’t he speak about love that takes the form of delight? The Alter Rebbe answers this by explaining that fire is in the heart and water is in the mind. Since the discussion here is about the emotions of the heart, he spoke about love like flames of fire. Love that takes the form of delight, by contrast, does not belong to the heart; it belongs to the mind. In any case, the Alter Rebbe says here, “The source of water and moisture is in the brain,” as it says in Eitz Chaim, Shaar 50, “which is the aspect of Chochmah, called water, in the G-dly soul.” This refers to the level of Chochmah. In Chochmah there is koach mah, attachment and bittul; that is the water in the G-dly soul. In other words, in general,

18:53 that is the difference between the mind and the heart. The heart is primarily fire. In the heart there is more of an element of being moved, of excitement. So the heart’s main quality is fire. The mind, the intellectual faculties, are primarily water: there is unity and attachment, and that is the mind’s advantage over the heart. In the mind, things are cooler—not the coldness of Amalek; on the contrary, the coolness of delight. That is the mind’s advantage over the heart. So love that takes the form of delight belongs more to the mind, while love like flames of fire belongs more to the heart. And similarly with love and awe: awe belongs more to the mind, whereas love—love like flames of fire—belongs more to the heart. But here the Alter Rebbe adds that within the mind itself, he means Chochmah. Because the difference between water and fire is also the difference between Chochmah and Binah. On a subtler level, that is the difference between Chochmah and Binah. Binah already has a movement of fire as well. In Binah there is already differentiation, separation and distance. Binah also has elements of distance, of dealing with distance from the yetzer. The true quality of water, which is attachment, is specifically in Chochmah. Chochmah is koach mah; that is where you have... That is what he means by the Chochmah of the G-dly soul. “All the other attributes are branches of awe and love and their offshoots, as explained elsewhere.” The Alter Rebbe does not go into explaining all ten attributes here; he speaks only about the principal emotions. He says there are branches, what extends from them afterward in detail: the branches of awe and love, including Tiferes. Tiferes combines love and awe, and so he calls it compassion. Then there are Netzach and Hod, which are branches, and so on. The Alter Rebbe is not trying to explain here what the seven emotional attributes are. That is not the purpose here. Here the Alter Rebbe mainly wants to explain how

20:43 the G-dly soul, besides having the essence of the soul, which is truly a part of G-d above, also has intellect and emotions that make up its structure. These derive, through the chain of descent, from the intellect and emotions above. And therefore a Jew has the ability to reach all these levels of love of Hashem and awe of Hashem in the loftiest way. Now, the question every yeshiva student asks after learning a passage of Tanya like this is: Really? After learning this, every student asks: What does this have to do with us? What connection do we have to these levels? A person knows himself; we are very, very far from them. Tanya is for beinonim. The Alter Rebbe is talking about ordinary people. How can that be? We are talking here about such lofty levels; they have nothing to do with us. So this, of course, is the place to bring the well-known answer. This very question was asked of the Alter Rebbe himself. The Rebbe related it in the early years, in [unclear]: People asked the Alter Rebbe why he spoke about lofty matters when we have no connection to them. The Alter Rebbe answered them: It is written that when Moshiach comes, “I will remove the heart of stone.” Moshiach will remove our heart of stone, and then we will have a heart of flesh, and every single person will have love of Hashem and awe of Hashem in the deepest and loftiest way, as is well known. So that is the heart of stone. But where does it say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu will remove our brain of stone? It only says “heart of stone.” Regarding the brain, it does not say, “I will remove it,” because each person has to deal with his brain of stone himself. And how do we get rid of the brain of stone? By learning about these matters now, during the time of exile. By learning about

22:45 them now, contemplating them and studying them, you get rid of the brain of stone. That we have to do ourselves. Then, the moment Moshiach is revealed—immediately, right now—when Moshiach is revealed, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will circumcise our hearts: “Hashem your G-d will circumcise your heart.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu will remove the coarseness covering the heart, and then everything a person learned in Chassidus will shine in the heart. Then we will have love like flames of fire, love that takes the form of delight, fear of Heaven and awe born of shame. Everything we learned in Chassidus will be revealed; it will shine, it will shine within us. That is why we need to learn these things even if we have no connection to them yet. That is the answer; that is another advantage. The Alter Rebbe—this is an important point. There is also another aspect to the matter itself. There is also the well-known question, which is somewhat similar and somewhat different, but I am bringing it to complete the point. There is the well-known story that the Alter Rebbe was asked: Seemingly, chassidim have no connection to all the things they talk about, learn and occupy themselves with. The misnagdim said to the Alter Rebbe that chassidim were bluffers, hypocrites, deceiving themselves. What does “deceiving themselves” mean? That is another matter. The Alter Rebbe said to them: It says in the Mishnah, in Peah, a famous Mishnah, “One who pretends to be... will not die before becoming like one of them. One who pretends to be blind will not die before becoming like one of them.” When a person pretends to be something, in the end it happens to him. So, along those lines, the Alter Rebbe told them that in our case we need to learn these things and try to engage with them. In the end, they will happen to us too.