Chapter 4 - Sixth Lesson

00:01 We’re continuing here in Tanya, on page 9b, in the middle of chapter 4. In the middle of the page, the Alter Rebbe was speaking about the Torah: “The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one.” The Alter Rebbe explained the special advantage of the soul’s garments: the 613 mitzvos are found in those garments, and therefore their greatness and superiority are infinitely greater than those of the nefesh, ruach, and neshamah themselves. When a person studies Torah and fulfills mitzvos, he becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Alter Rebbe explained that this is a matter of “Where you find His greatness, there you find His humility”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed His entire essence within the 613 mitzvos so that a person could unite with Him by having the soul clothe itself in three garments. Through a Jew’s study of Torah and fulfillment of mitzvos, the Jew himself becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Alter Rebbe now continues: “Therefore the Torah is compared to water.” Based on what we’ve explained—that Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is present in Torah and mitzvos, and that by uniting with the Torah a Jew becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself—the Alter Rebbe says that this is why the Torah is compared to water. Just as water descends from a high place to a low place, so the Torah descended from its place of glory, which is His will and wisdom; and “the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are entirely one,” while “no thought can grasp Him at all.” So the Torah, too, is compared to water. We find that the Torah is compared to water. Where do we find that? For example, it says, “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.” That verse refers to the Torah. The Gemara says several times, “Water means nothing other than Torah.” There are several reasons. One of them is the one the Alter Rebbe brings here: we see that, by its nature, water

02:15 descends from a high place to a low place. Right. Now, the Alter Rebbe explains this. In the Gemara, the comparison to water is brought in connection with bittul, with humility. What does it mean that water descends from a high place to a low place? Water naturally seeks out a low place. Similarly, the Torah is found only among the humble—people who don’t make themselves into some great “I,” some great entity, full of pride. That is the plain meaning of the Gemara. Here the Alter Rebbe gives it a new depth, based on what we’re learning. Just as water naturally descends from a high place to a low place, so too the Torah—Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom and will—which, before the giving of the Torah, was in a high place, its place of glory, as the will and wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. From there it descended at the giving of the Torah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah down here, and it descended here below. As we said earlier, all of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom is present within the Torah. That, too, is what the comparison to water conveys. Water does not remain in a high place; it descends to a low place, and that is where the water is. Similarly, where is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom found? Down below. We’ll explain shortly. First, let’s read a few words. The Alter Rebbe says: “And from there it traveled and descended through hidden gradations, from level to level in the chain of worlds, until it became clothed in physical things and matters of this world—such as virtually all the Torah’s mitzvos and their laws—and in combinations of physical letters, in ink on a scroll: the twenty-four books of the Torah, Prophets, and Writings. This was so that every thought could grasp them.” But why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu bring about this entire descent? What is the Divine purpose in Hashem

04:16 taking the Torah and bringing it down here? It was all for this purpose: “so that every thought could grasp them. And even speech and action, which are below the level of thought, can grasp them and become clothed in them.” That’s the end of the passage. So, on the face of it, the Alter Rebbe seems merely to be continuing what he already said. The question is: What is he teaching us here? What is the Rebbe adding? The Alter Rebbe does not seem to be introducing any new point. He is only explaining what he said earlier. Previously, the Alter Rebbe said that the garments have an advantage because Torah and mitzvos are found in them, and Torah and mitzvos are the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, entirely one with Him. The Alter Rebbe then asked: How can a person grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu? “No thought can grasp Him.” And the Alter Rebbe answered: “Where you find His greatness, there you find His humility.” He resolved the question. He said that Hakadosh Boruch Hu contracted Himself. As we explained in the previous class, “contracted” means that Hakadosh Boruch Hu took all His greatness and placed it within physical objects, physical laws, physical mitzvos. His very self is found there. That settles it. Now the Alter Rebbe comes along and says: Fine, so based on this we understand why the Torah is water. Why bring that in here? Tanya is not a book of Midrashim. It isn’t a book of explanations of Midrashim, either. Tanya is a book of avodah, a Shulchan Aruch. You want to explain the meaning of the Gemara? Why water—what does it add to our explanation to know that the Torah wasn’t compared to water for nothing, that the comparison fits what we’ve been discussing? That is a question the Rebbe asks. In one of the Rebbe’s maamarim, in Melukat Vayikra, the Rebbe asks this question.

06:07 And it gets even more interesting. The Rebbe gives a wonderful explanation. He says that here, through the comparison to water, the Alter Rebbe adds a deeper explanation of the particular advantage of the Torah down below. And it is specifically the comparison to water that makes this clear. Why? Because, in truth, the idea of something flowing from above to below, as the Torah descended from above to below, is certainly not unique to water. It applies to chessed, too. Any kind of bestowal flows from above to below; that is chessed. Light is bestowed as well: it is in a high place and illuminates a low place too. With chessed, the giver gives to the recipient. What, then, is special about water as the comparison for Torah? Why not light or chessed? Why specifically water? With water, the very same water that was above is now below. If we speak, for example, of chessed, of bestowal, the giver remains in his higher place while also giving. A teacher imparts an idea to a student. Obviously, the idea in its fullness remains with the teacher, and he teaches the student what the student can understand. The student receives some illumination of the idea, some of the idea that the teacher gives him. But the teacher always remains the one above, the student the one below, and the one above bestows upon the one below. We see the same thing with light: it is an illumination, a revelation. And the farther down it reaches, the more it diminishes. With water, there are two things, both very important to the matter at hand—two essential features found specifically in water. First, it is not merely an illumination; it is the very substance of the water, the water itself. Not an illumination, not a part or a detail: the very water that was above is found below. Second, it is now only below; it is not above. There is a phrase sometimes used: they leave the high place. They leave the—now

08:33 The water is not up there; the water is specifically down below now. If you give water a choice, it flows downward and leaves the higher place. These two features are specific to water. The point is that when Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave the Torah at Matan Torah, “Hashem descended upon Mount Sinai,” and “It is not in heaven.” The Torah is not in heaven now. Everyone knows the account in the Gemara in Bava Metzia: there was a dispute among the sages, and they did not rule according to the heavenly voice, because the Torah had now left its higher place and was in a lower place. That is what the analogy of water conveys. But that detail is not relevant here; it would not work here in Tanya. Here, Tanya is making the second point we mentioned: the essence of the Torah, not just the Torah’s light. When we say that water leaves a higher place and goes to a lower one, we mean that the water itself is found in the lower place. Similarly, where is the essence of the Torah found? A person might think: Fine, when you study Torah about physical matters, you are connected to it too. But surely it is even more so if I study in Gan Eden, if I study Torah above, spiritual Torah. That is what the Alter Rebbe comes to rule out here. His whole point here is the advantage of actually performing mitzvos, and specifically of studying Torah as it concerns physical things. This is the insight we learn from water: Where is the water itself found? Specifically below. Similarly, where is the essence of the Torah found? Specifically below. By the essence of the Torah, we mean the essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom. In other words, the Torah has many levels. We know there is the Torah studied here below, the Torah studied in Gan Eden and in the higher Gan Eden, and the Torah of Atzilus. [unclear]

10:37 In Atzilus, and given in Beriah, and in each world, the Torah has its own explanation. In Atzilus, the Torah is the names of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. When the Torah descends into Beriah, it speaks about souls. In Yetzirah, the Torah speaks about lower levels, angels and souls. But when the Torah descends here into Asiyah, it speaks about [unclear]. There are maamarim that discuss this at length, explaining the Torah as it exists in each world. So we might have thought that the greatest Torah is the Torah found in Atzilus. That is where the Torah’s truth is found, where there are revelations and wisdom. Torah is studied there on a certain level, and each time it descends, there is less. To this the Alter Rebbe tells us: the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself is found in the hidden depths of the physical Torah, as we study it here below, studying it in relation to physical things. Specifically here is where the essence of the Torah is found. All the other levels contain revelations of Torah, and as far as revelations go, there are higher levels and loftier explanations. But where is the essence of the Torah found? Specifically in the physical world. There is a similar example in the Rebbe’s sichos on Rashi, when the Rebbe began delivering those sichos. You can see it in Likkutei Sichos: pshat, remez, drush and sod. There are four levels in the Torah. Sod is in Atzilus, drush in Beriah, remez in Yetzirah, and pshat in Asiyah. Nevertheless, the essence of the Torah is specifically in the world of pshat. This is one of the points the Rebbe made. So in the Rashi sichos, it is specifically in pshat, in the world of pshat, the world of Asiyah, in actual practice, that the essence of a word is found. The word’s true depth is found specifically in its plain meaning. The sicha discusses this at great length. This just gives us an understanding that, in Tanya, we have to realize that the Alter Rebbe does not

12:41 write things casually. There is a whole subject here, a whole discussion, and it gives us depth. Now there is another very interesting point. The Alter Rebbe’s wording is: “It descends from its place of honor.” The Torah descended from its place of honor. The Alter Rebbe’s choice of “its place of honor” is precise. He means the Torah as it exists in Atzilus. That is the significance of “its place of honor.” As the Gemara in Shabbos says—everyone knows this—the Torah was a “hidden treasure” before Hashem. The Torah was in the higher worlds, and afterward it descended below. That is why the angels wanted the Torah: they wanted the Torah of Atzilus. They did not want the physical Torah; they wanted spiritual Torah. They invoked the claim of bar metzra, saying they were closer, because the Torah is essentially spiritual Torah. They were looking at the Torah as it exists above. That is why the Alter Rebbe says “from its place of honor”—the Torah in Atzilus. [unclear] Try to listen. “From its place of honor” means that when the Torah is above, in the higher worlds, that is not its essence. It is its place of honor. When you call something a “place of honor,” it suggests that honor is one thing, but it is not the thing’s true place. It is only its honor, a kind of encompassing presence, not the essence. That is “its place of honor.” It is there in an encompassing way. Its true place is specifically below. And then, of course, there is also the Alter Rebbe’s wording, “through hidden steps.” The Alter Rebbe says that the Torah descends from level to level. His wording is that the Torah descends through “hidden steps.” What is the significance of “hidden steps,” rather than simply “from level to level”? Here too, the Alter Rebbe means this same point. The idea of hidden steps is that when you go down from one part of a house to another, sometimes there are concealed steps, steps you cannot openly see—

15:04 the steps. Those are called hidden steps. Like a winding staircase, what is called a shvindl trep. A person goes down and down, and suddenly he is up above or down below. If he goes down, he is below; if he goes up, he is above. These are called hidden steps. In other words, they are not visible; they are concealed. But the Alter Rebbe is hinting here that for the Torah to reach this physical world, it has to pass through the entire order of Seder Hishtalshelus. Yes, the Torah has to pass through the entire order of Seder Hishtalshelus, and its descent through Seder Hishtalshelus is through hidden steps. This means that the essence of the Torah is not found there. That is what “hidden steps” means. It is as though, on those levels, the Torah is not revealed as it is here below. Specifically down here is where the essence of the Torah is found; at all the levels through which the Torah descends, it is hidden. It is concealed there, not revealed. In other words, the essence of the Torah is not revealed on any of those levels. Only when it descends here below does the Torah’s essence become present. There is a maamar of the Tzemach Tzedek in which he gives an analogy for the Torah. It is an interesting analogy. He says that there is water, then the water becomes ice, and afterward it becomes water again. How does the verse put it? We say it every day in davening: “He gives snow like wool,” “He scatters frost,” and “He melts them.” Afterward it says, “He declares His words to Yaakov, His statutes and judgments to Yisroel.” He explains that this is exactly the point we are making here. At its source it is water. Then it becomes snow. As it descends, the cold turns it into snow. When it becomes snow, you do not see the water; the water is hidden, because the snow conceals it. You see snow—something solid, something soft, but not a liquid. Afterward, when it descends below, it turns back into

17:41 water—“His words to Yaakov.” There is the Torah as it exists in the Essence. Then there is the entire order of Seder Hishtalshelus, which is like snow: it conceals the essence. When the Torah becomes clothed in a person, in Yaakov and Yisroel, it returns to the way it was at its source. In other words, the essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom is found specifically as it exists in a person down below. That is where the essence of the Torah is found.