Chapter 4 - Seventh Lesson

00:00 We’re in the middle of chapter 4 of Tanya, on page 8b, near the bottom of the page. We’re at the line “understandings and levels,” and the last word is “And since.” So the Alter Rebbe is explaining the special advantage of the garments. The soul’s garments—thought, speech, and action—have an advantage even over the soul’s powers, though they are only garments. What is that advantage? The 613 mitzvos are found in the garments of thought, speech, and action. And “the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one.” The Torah’s 613 mitzvos are Hashem’s wisdom and will. Hashem Himself, so to speak, is found there. So when a Jew clothes the soul’s powers—his intellect and emotions—in the garments of performing mitzvos, the soul itself is elevated as well. Through this, a person becomes united with and attached to Hashem Himself. The soul, for all its qualities, is ultimately finite and limited; it is a created being. When the soul clothes its powers in the performance of mitzvos, where Hashem Himself is found, the soul becomes united with and attached to Hashem’s Essence and Being. The Alter Rebbe explained this at length through the idea of tzimtzum: Hashem contracted Himself. He placed Himself, so to speak—His entire Essence and Being—within Torah and mitzvos. That is why, when a Jew studies Torah and fulfills physical mitzvos in thought, speech, and action, he becomes united with and attached to Hashem’s Essence and Being. This is also why Torah is compared to water. Water itself descends from a high place to a low place. Where do you find the water? You find it precisely down below. In the same way,

02:15 where do you find the Essence and Being of Hashem’s wisdom and will? Precisely in physical Torah and mitzvos. And why did Hashem bring His Essence and Being down into physical Torah and mitzvos? So that a person could become united with and attached to G-dliness. That is everything we have learned up to now. Here the Alter Rebbe concludes the point. The Alter Rebbe says: “And since the Torah and its mitzvos clothe all ten aspects of the soul.” We have said that the garments—thought, speech, and action—encompass all 613 mitzvos, and that the soul is clothed in those garments, in the 613 mitzvos. So it follows that the Torah and its mitzvos—where are they found? They are found in the garments, in thought, speech, and action. That is where the whole matter of Torah and mitzvos takes place. And this clothes the soul, all ten aspects of the soul and all 613 of its limbs, from its head to its feet, as the Alter Rebbe said at the beginning of the chapter. The Alter Rebbe wants to connect the two sides here: chapter 3 on one side, chapter 4 on the other. On the one hand, we spoke about a person’s soul powers. The divine soul has ten powers: intellect and emotions—Chochmah, Binah, Daas, love, and fear. The Alter Rebbe explained all of that, Chochmah, Binah, Daas, and all the emotions, in chapter 3. Then, in chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe began discussing the garments: thought, speech, and action. We say that the powers are clothed in the garments. In other words, as he explained at the beginning of chapter 4, the power of intellect is clothed in mitzvos performed through thought and speech, while love and fear are clothed in the performance of mitzvos: love relates to positive mitzvos, and fear to prohibitions. So there is a connection here between the soul’s powers and the soul’s garments. And what do we say about that? That, on their own, the soul’s powers cannot be compared

04:27 to the garments. On their own, the soul’s powers are finite and limited; they belong to a created being. A person’s intellect—even if it contemplates G-dliness all day long—is the intellect of a created being. And the emotions are also the emotions of a created being. There is someone who loves. My love, my fear—these are the emotions of a finite, limited person. So intellect and emotions, on their own, cannot be compared to Hashem. But when I use that intellect and those emotions and clothe them in the garments of the 613 mitzvos—the intellect is clothed in fulfilling positive and negative mitzvos through speech and thought, and similarly the emotions are clothed in fulfilling the mitzvos of “turn away from evil and do good”—Hashem’s Essence is present in the fulfillment of mitzvos. Hashem Himself is there. So through this, the whole person, his entire being, becomes united with Hashem Himself. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying: since the Torah and its mitzvos clothe all ten aspects of the soul and all 613 of its limbs, from its head to its feet—the entire soul and all that makes up the soul, its ten powers and 613 limbs. This is something the Alter Rebbe will explain later, in chapter 51: the soul also has 613 powers clothed in 613 limbs, 248 limbs and 365 sinews. So it follows that “it is entirely bound up in the bond of life with Hashem Himself.” Through fulfilling a mitzvah, the whole person, the whole soul—not just the outer garments, but the entire person and his whole being—is bound up, united in the bond of life with Hashem Himself. In other words, what do we understand now? There are two very important points here that we need to grasp in Tanya. First, the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize the advantage of the garments specifically. In simple terms, the special advantage

06:29 of actually fulfilling mitzvos. If a person spends all day having intentions, thinking, contemplating, and developing love and fear, he does not connect with Hashem. Hashem’s Essence is found specifically in the actual fulfillment of mitzvos. So this emphasizes the advantage of fulfilling a mitzvah in practice. At the same time, the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize that the intention is for the soul to be there too. The goal is not merely to fulfill mitzvos while I am somewhere else. I might put on tefillin, but my mind is somewhere else. I might say the words of the prayers, but not think about what I am saying. In practice, then, I have fulfilled mitzvos. As the Alter Rebbe will explain later, in chapters 36 and 37, the chapters about a dwelling place in the lower realms, the very fulfillment of a mitzvah brings about the drawing down of Hashem’s Essence. But the soul was not there. A person is his intellect and emotions. The point of a person’s union with G-dliness is for the whole person to be there. So a person takes his intellect and emotions and clothes them in the 613 mitzvos. He studies a topic in depth and contemplates in order to develop love and fear, and he performs the mitzvos with his intellect and emotions. Through this, the entire person, his whole soul, also becomes one with Hashem’s Essence. In other words, two things are achieved here. The connection with Hashem itself comes about through the mitzvah itself, through the act itself. And then, through this, the whole person also becomes united with G-dliness, because he fulfills the mitzvah with the powers of his soul, with his inner powers. This is what the Alter Rebbe goes on to say: “It is entirely bound up in the bond of life with Hashem Himself.” The whole

08:21 A person—the entire soul, his whole being—becomes bound and united in the bond of life, becoming one. What is “the bond of life”? It is the wording of a verse: “May my lord’s soul be bound in the bond of life with Hashem.” But what does it mean here, in our maamar? In the verse, these are Abigail’s words to King David in the account of Nabal in Tanach. She told him that because he would not kill Nabal, and so on, “my lord’s soul” would be “bound in the bond of life with Hashem”—above, in Gan Eden, among the souls. But the Alter Rebbe uses it here in our maamar to emphasize “bound in the bond of life”: like a bundle, where you put several coins into a cloth and tie them together in one bundle, so that they become one entity. So his whole being is bound in the bond of life with Hashem: the entire person, both the powers of the soul and the soul’s garments, become truly one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In other words, the Alter Rebbe applies this specifically to us down here, to a soul in a body. “And the light of Hashem truly surrounds and clothes him from head to foot.” Here the Alter Rebbe makes another point: there are two sides to this, the person’s side and Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s side. When a person serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu in this way, clothing the powers of his soul in the observance of mitzvos through thought, speech, and action, the bond is formed on both sides. The person becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—his whole being is bound in the bond of life with Hashem. That is a movement from below upward: the person becomes one with G-dliness. And conversely, the light of Hashem Himself—Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s wisdom and will—clothes the person, surrounding and clothing him from head to foot. That

10:16 is to say, the person unites with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu unites with the person. Now, in any case, we know from Chassidus that these two sides relate to what we have just discussed. Generally, as we will also learn later—the Alter Rebbe will speak about this again—the two sides go together. When I perform a mitzvah, I unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu unites with me. Mitzvah means “togetherness and connection.” What does that mean? That the person becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu becomes one with the person. Both happen through the same act. But here the Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize the two sides we discussed. There is the person’s union with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—his whole being is bound in the bond of life with Hashem, his entire soul involved in it. And there is Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s union with the person. Generally, this is the distinction Chassidus draws between the act of performing a mitzvah itself and performing it with inner intention as well. A person can perform a mitzvah without really being present in it. He does it in practice, intending to do it: he puts on tefillin, wears tzitzis, and observes the mitzvah only because Hakadosh Boruch Hu said to. But he has no vitality in it, no feeling in it. Even so, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed within him, because he has in fact performed a mitzvah. He did what Hakadosh Boruch Hu said. So there is a bond, a togetherness and connection. But here that connection is more from above downward, from the side of the supernal will. The person himself is not united with Him. By contrast, when the soul is also present in it—when his intellect and emotions are involved, with love and awe—then his performance of the mitzvah comes from an inner vitality. Then the person, his entire being, also unites with G-dliness. In the language of Chassidus, this is called a union from below upward and from above downward. So this is what the Alter Rebbe says here with the two expressions: “His entire soul is bound in the bond of life with Hashem Himself.” On the one hand, the person unites with G-dliness; and on the other, “the light of Hashem truly surrounds and clothes him from head to foot.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed, clothes Himself in the person, and surrounds him—union from both sides. And since the Alter Rebbe speaks here of both aspects, from the person’s side and from above, he also brings two verses: “My rock, in Whom I take refuge,” and “You crown him with favor as with a shield.” The Alter Rebbe cites two verses—not just two verses for no reason, but because these really are two distinct aspects. The first verse says, “My rock, in Whom I take refuge.” What do the words mean? A Jew says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “My rock”—You, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, are my rock, my strength, and I take refuge in You. I cover myself, so to speak, and am protected. You shield me; I hide, as it were, behind the rock of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who protects me. So the first verse emphasizes the movement from below upward: because You are my rock, I take refuge in You. I give myself over to You; I place my trust in You. That is the person’s union with G-dliness. The second verse, though, speaks of a movement from above downward: “You crown him with favor as with a shield.” A shield—the word used here refers to a type of shield soldiers use. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, shields us: when we observe Torah and mitzvos, He protects and surrounds us. “You crown him with favor”: “favor” here refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s will, which surrounds the person and protects him. So the first verse emphasizes the person’s service, his giving himself over

12:07 From an inner vitality. So the person, too, becomes entirely united with G-dliness. In the language of Chassidus, this is called oneness from below upward and from above downward. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here with these two expressions: “She is entirely bound in the bond of life with Hashem Himself.” On the one hand, the person becomes united with G-dliness. On the other hand, “the light of Hashem Himself surrounds and clothes her from head to foot”—Hakadosh Boruch Hu is revealed, clothes Himself in the person, and surrounds the person from both sides. And since the Alter Rebbe is speaking here about both aspects, both from the person’s side and from Above, he also brings two verses: “As it is written, ‘My Rock, in Him I take refuge,’ and it is written, ‘As with a shield, You crown him with favor.’” The Alter Rebbe gives two verses. You see, he does not simply bring two verses for no reason; they really describe two different things. The first verse says, “My Rock, in Him I take refuge.” What do those words mean? The Jew says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “My Rock”—You, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, are my rock, my strength, and “in Him I take refuge.” I cover myself, so to speak; I am protected. You are a shield, and I—I hide, as it were, within the rock, within Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who protects me. So the first verse emphasizes the movement from below upward: because You are my Rock, I take refuge in You; I give myself over. I trust in You. In other words, it is the person’s union with G-dliness. But the second verse speaks of the movement from above downward: “As with a shield, You crown him with favor.” A shield—like a shield. This refers to a type of shield soldiers use. Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, shields us: through our fulfillment of Torah and mitzvos, He protects us and surrounds us. “You crown him with favor.” “Favor” here means the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, which surrounds and protects the person. So the first verse emphasizes the person’s avodah, that he gives himself over

14:04 to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. That is a movement from below upward. The second verse places more emphasis on what comes from above: Hakadosh Boruch Hu surrounds the person with His will. That is His blessed will and wisdom as they are clothed in His Torah and mitzvos. Good—that is the idea of “will.” What does “will” mean here? It means Torah and mitzvos. As we discussed earlier, Torah and mitzvos are Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s will. Where is that will found? In Torah and mitzvos. So it follows that the person in his entirety is united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu also surrounds and protects the person and unites with him. This is union from both sides. Based on what we have just learned, there is a very fundamental point here in what Chabad Chassidus brings to light. When we learn chapter 4, we find two emphases that come together. We see this throughout Chassidus: it always stresses two things. On the one hand, Chassidus places the greatest possible emphasis on actual practice. The whole emphasis is on action. Yes, “action is the main thing”: the importance of performing a mitzvah in practice, making a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower realms, doing, kabbolas ol, putting “we will do” before “we will hear.” At the Giving of the Torah, the innovation was specifically the physical act of the mitzvah, its actual performance. That is essentially what became possible at the Giving of the Torah: a Jew performs a mitzvah in practice and connects with Atzilus. This is a whole theme in Chassidus, and it comes through very strongly in Tanya. The Alter Rebbe emphasizes it often in discussing the beinoni: the main thing is action, what one does with the soul’s garments. On the other hand, Chabad Chassidus is, as its name says, Chabad—Chochmah, Binah, and Daas. There must be [unclear]. There must be inner service, and throughout Tanya the Alter Rebbe insists that it must be “in your heart.” In other words, action alone is not enough; the action must be permeated with feeling, with love and awe. Only then is it called a higher form of service. All the things that the Alter Rebbe

16:25 He explains here. You see in Tanya, and then throughout the teachings of Chassidus, that they constantly approach things from both sides. On the one hand, they demand action, actual practice; on the other hand, Chassidus demands inner work. You can see that here. The explanation is here, in chapter 4, in what the Alter Rebbe explains. On the one hand, everything is the soul’s garments, and it is specifically in the soul’s garments that Atzilus is found, that the whole point of making a dwelling for Hashem in the lower realms is found, that the whole... The Alter Rebbe isn’t yet speaking about a dwelling in the lower realms, but the bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is primarily through action, because that is what Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted. At the same time, though, we want the soul to become united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And for the soul to become united with Him, Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought Torah and mitzvos down into physical garments so that the soul could unite with them through those garments. As we learned at the beginning of the chapter, a person studies and contemplates, and has love and awe, and he clothes all of that in the garments of performing mitzvos. So it isn’t only the garments; the entire soul becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Those are the two points we just mentioned, which he speaks about at the very, very end of this passage. The Alter Rebbe continues and says: “And it was not for nothing that they said...” Up to this point, the Alter Rebbe has explained the basic idea of what the garments are. After all of that, after the Alter Rebbe has explained this foundation, he now says: On this basis, we can understand the greatness, the superiority, of actual service in this physical world. From this perspective, service in this physical world is higher than all the life of the World to Come. Here the Alter Rebbe introduces a major principle in Chassidus: performing mitzvos in this world has an advantage that does not exist in the World to Come.

18:25 In the World to Come. So let’s read it inside. The Alter Rebbe says: “And it was not for nothing that they said, ‘One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come.’” There is a Mishnah in Pirkei Avos, a famous Mishnah, that everyone needs to understand. The Mishnah says in Pirkei Avos: “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come.” There is a difficulty in that Mishnah. On the one hand, the Mishnah says, “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come.” On the other hand, the Mishnah says, “One hour of spiritual delight in the World to Come is better than all the life of this world.” So as chassidim, are we more familiar with the first part of the Mishnah? Maybe not so much, but there are two parts to the Mishnah. On the one hand, it says there that one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come. That means this world is greater than the World to Come. Then it says that one hour of spiritual delight in the World to Come is better than all the life of this world. So in some respects the World to Come is greater, and in others this world is greater. How is that explained? How do you explain it without Chassidus? Without Chassidus, the meaning is clear. How? How would a Jew who doesn’t study Chassidus understand it? Without Chassidus, after all, the World to Come is seen as the ultimate goal. I mean a Jew who hasn’t yet studied Chabad Chassidus. For him, the ultimate goal is the World to Come: the soul, the whole concept of reward, the soul coming to unite with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What could be greater than that? So what does the Mishnah mean? It means that to attain the World to Come, you need Torah and mitzvos. The World to Come is the ultimate goal. But in the World to Come, when you arrive there and want to receive your reward, then

20:16 that’s it. It’s over. As they say, the shop is closed. Whatever you didn’t do, you’ve lost the chance to do. If you want to receive the World to Come, you need this world. That is why they say, “One hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better”—because here in this world, in one hour, you can attain the World to Come. But during the life of the World to Come, nothing you do will help, because you cannot attain it there. That, that’s the Mishnah; that’s its meaning without Chassidus. Yes, the goal is the World to Come. But if you want to attain the World to Come, you have to work in this world; there’s nowhere else. This is where you work, and the reward is in the World to Come. Then Chassidus comes along, and the Alter Rebbe says here: No. From what we’ve discussed until now, it’s clear that the meaning is entirely different. It means just what it says: one hour in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come. For a Jew to perform a mitzvah in this physical world is worth more than all the life of the World to Come. There is something in this physical world that does not belong to the World to Come; it belongs specifically down here. A Jew’s true bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is brought about specifically down here, not above. That is what the Alter Rebbe is about to explain. Based on what we’ve just learned, where is the Essence found? Specifically where does water go—to a low place? Where are His wisdom and will? Where does “the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one” apply? Where is Hakadosh Boruch Hu found? Specifically in physical Torah and mitzvos. So if you want Hakadosh Boruch Hu, you can find Him only through actually performing mitzvos. In the World to Come, where mitzvos are not actually performed, there is a kind of revelation, but it is not the Essence. Let’s see the Alter Rebbe’s wording: “And it was not for nothing that they said, ‘One hour of good deeds

22:05 in this world is better than all the life of the World to Come,’ for the World to Come is where one enjoys the radiance of the Shechinah.” The Gemara says that this is what the World to Come is about: enjoying the radiance of the Shechinah. Radiance is light, not the Essence. “The radiance of the Shechinah, which is the delight of comprehension.” Chassidus explains that the World to Come is associated with the sefirah of Binah, and that the higher Gan Eden is the World of Beriah. There, it is the sefirah of Binah. Binah—the supernal mother—dwells in the World of Beriah. The higher Gan Eden is the world of souls, where there is Binah. What is Binah? Comprehension of G-dliness, and that comprehension brings the soul delight. The soul comprehends G-dliness, and from that comprehension it experiences tremendous delight. “But no created being, not even the highest, can comprehend anything but a certain radiance from the light of Hashem.” Comprehension can apply only to light. Comprehension belongs to a created being. What is comprehension? Understanding, grasping something. A created being can grasp only revelations, only things that can be comprehended: G-dliness as it has been contracted and clothed in something comprehensible, the light that is clothed in comprehension. That is why it is called the “radiance of the Shechinah.” Radiance means light. But “no thought can grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself at all.” Even the very highest levels of thought—Chassidus speaks in the maamarim about the primordial thought of Adam Kadmon, and thought at various higher levels that are called “thought”—even the highest levels of thought cannot grasp the Essence. They grasp only lights, revelations. So where can the Essence be grasped? When thought “grasps and is clothed in His Torah and mitzvos,” then it grasps them—or “grasps Him through them,” depending on the version—and becomes clothed in Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, for “the Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one.” Here a Jew has a real bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself, as we said before. So consequently, what the Alter Rebbe

24:19 The Rebbe comes and tells us here: Friends, what is the wondrous thing we have in this world? How is it that a Jew has the ability to unite with Hashem’s very Essence? Through grasping. Grasping means uniting, connecting. Where does that union and connection happen? When a Jew unites with the very Essence of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It cannot happen through spiritual pursuits. In a spiritual pursuit, you can attain only lights and revelations. However lofty they may be, they will always be lights and revelations; they’re in the heavens. But with Torah and mitzvos, you cannot say that. It doesn’t depend on us; it depends on Him. Hakadosh Boruch Hu chose Torah and mitzvos, so He placed Himself in Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, the moment a Jew performs a mitzvah, he grasps His very Essence. And this connects to the well-known story told about the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal Shem Tov passed away on Shavuos, the time of the Giving of the Torah. It is known that before he passed away, he said something—one of the last things he is known to have said, at the time of his passing. He took his tzitzis and said that an angel, for all his greatness, though he is a vehicle for G-dliness and so on, envies a Jew who has tzitzis. He would be willing to give up all his service and everything he does for a single tzitzis belonging to a single Jew. That was more or less how the Baal Shem Tov described it beforehand. The Rebbe gives an explanation of this: What does that saying mean? A single tzitzis? What was he trying to convey with that, and so on? The Rebbe has an interesting explanation of it. But the main point—and this brings us to our subject—is what the Baal Shem Tov wanted to emphasize: the wondrous thing found specifically here in this physical world, which cannot be attained in the World to Come, the world of souls. That is the actual performance of mitzvos through physical action, because it is specifically through this that there is a grasping, through which a Jew

26:26 unites with His Essence and Being.