Chapter 5 - Part One

00:01 We’re starting a new chapter, chapter 5 of Tanya. In this chapter, the Alter Rebbe begins to explain the special advantage of Torah study, continuing from what we learned in chapter 4. In chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe spoke about Torah and mitzvos in general. Now, in chapter 5, he adds that there is something special about studying Torah, even beyond fulfilling a mitzvah. In chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe said that thought, speech, and action are, on the one hand, only garments—the more external part of the soul. On the other hand, it is precisely in those garments that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is found. That is where Torah and mitzvos are found, and through Torah and mitzvos a Jew becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. “The Torah and Hakadosh Boruch Hu are one.” The Alter Rebbe asked: After all, you cannot perceive Hakadosh Boruch Hu at all; “no thought can grasp Him.” So he explained that, on the contrary, this itself is the wonder, the novelty of Torah and mitzvos. That is what the giving of the Torah is all about: “Where you find His greatness, there you find His humility.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu placed His entire being and essence, all of His infinity, within the mitzvos, physical halachos, and so on. But there, in chapter 4, we were speaking about Torah and mitzvos as a whole. That is why, whenever a Jew studies a halachah in the Torah, renders a Torah ruling, or fulfills a mitzvah, he is, so to speak, grasping Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. This is the parable the Alter Rebbe used to explain the advantage found in this physical world, which is not found even in the revelations of Gan Eden. The revelations in Gan Eden are all lights and revelations. Here, by contrast, “no thought can grasp Him, except when it grasps Torah and mitzvos.” Through Torah and mitzvos, one can, so to speak, grasp Him Himself. After all, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is enclothed in physical things.

02:13 So, as the Alter Rebbe says, it is like a garment. The main thing is the king. You are holding on to the king. What difference does it make to you whether the king is wearing a garment or not, or whether he is wearing one garment or two? The garments are not the point; it is the king. The King, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, is found in Torah and mitzvos. So this applies to Torah and mitzvos as a whole. Then, in chapter 5, the Alter Rebbe says that when it comes to this grasping, this unity with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Torah study has a special advantage over all the mitzvos, as mentioned. Generally, on a simple level, before studying Chassidus, we speak of Torah and mitzvos as one thing. Torah is also a mitzvah. Just as there is a mitzvah to put on tefillin, a mitzvah of tzitzis, and a mitzvah of tzedakah, there is also a mitzvah to study Torah. Torah study is one of the 613 mitzvos. There are mitzvos performed through action, mitzvos performed through speech, and mitzvos performed through thought. Torah study is a mitzvah of speech and a mitzvah of thought. But they are all mitzvos. Nevertheless, we see that Torah study has a special standing. We see from various teachings of our Sages that Torah study has special value as something in its own right, not just as a mitzvah—apart from Torah study being one of the 613 mitzvos. “You shall speak of them”: there is a mitzvah to study Torah. “You shall speak of them,” and there are various details defining that mitzvah. But there is also Torah study as something in its own right, and we see this even before Chassidus. It is not a novel idea introduced by Chassidus. We see it in many teachings of our Sages. For example, everyone knows the Mishnah we say every morning in the morning blessings: “These are the things that have no prescribed measure,” “These are the things whose fruits a person enjoys”—and what is it?

04:09 There are all kinds of mitzvos, and at the end we say, “And Torah study is equal to them all.” In other words, this emphasizes that Torah study has a special advantage in relation to all the mitzvos. Along the same lines, there are the well-known teachings of our Sages that Torah study takes precedence over all the mitzvos. If a mitzvah can be performed by someone else, Torah study is more important. Likewise, “All your pursuits cannot compare with it”—even pursuits of Heaven. Nothing compares with the advantage of Torah study; even pursuits of Heaven, meaning mitzvos, do not reach the level of Torah study. In other words, we find many teachings of our Sages, in many places, that emphasize a particular distinction in Torah study. So much so that we all know the debate recorded in the Gemara in Kiddushin, which is also cited in the maamarim, between Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon: Which is greater, study or action? That whole discussion. Here, in chapter 5, the Alter Rebbe gives us a deeper understanding of the matter. Following what we have been discussing, our question now is: How do I become united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? That is the point the Alter Rebbe is explaining in these chapters. First, the Alter Rebbe explained the soul’s distinction as “an actual part of G-d above.” Then he explained that the soul has ten faculties, intellect and emotions. After that, he explained the soul’s garments—thought, speech, and action—and that Torah and mitzvos are found in the soul’s garments, giving those garments an advantage over the soul itself. It is in the garments that the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu are found. Continuing from this, chapter 5 tells us that, in this respect, the primary unity of a Jew with Hakadosh Boruch Hu is found specifically in Torah, even more than in mitzvos. Before—

06:08 Before we go into chapter 5, I want to emphasize something very important and relevant. Later in Tanya, we will also learn the reverse: mitzvos have an advantage that Torah does not have. That will come in the later chapters, chapters 35, 36, and 37. When the Alter Rebbe reaches the subject of a dwelling place in the lower realms, the whole perspective is reversed. When it comes to making a dwelling place in the lower realms, mitzvos, on the contrary, accomplish more than Torah, because they are specifically enclothed in physical matters and physical objects. That is the opposite of Torah, and it brings about the making of a dwelling place in the lower realms. In this respect, Torah does not have that advantage. Torah involves only the spiritual garments. So the advantage with regard to a dwelling place in the lower realms lies primarily in mitzvos. But that is one subject; let’s take things one at a time. At the point we have reached in Tanya, the Alter Rebbe has not yet come to the subject of a dwelling place in the lower realms. He is speaking about unity with G-dliness. That is what we are seeking. The soul is truly “a part of G-d above.” The soul wants to become united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. So we tell it: You want to become united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu? That happens through Torah and mitzvos. That is where you grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu—not through [unclear], not through revelations, not through spiritual attachment, not through love and awe. It is specifically through Torah and mitzvos that you grasp His very essence. In this respect, Torah has an advantage over mitzvos: a wondrous unity. That is chapter 5, continuing from chapter 4. And of course, chapter 5 is a very fundamental chapter in understanding what Torah is, grasping the depth of Torah study and what one’s intention should be when studying Torah. It is one of the foundational chapters in Chassidus for understanding the greatness, the distinction, the wonder of Torah study. Let’s begin reading it inside. The Alter Rebbe says, chapter 5: “And to explain further...”

08:01 A thorough explanation of the word “grasp” used by Eliyahu: “No thought can grasp You at all.” First, the Alter Rebbe is continuing from the previous chapter. There he quoted the Zohar, which says, “No thought can grasp You.” This means that no thought—meaning no spiritual level, not the higher worlds, angels, seraphim, or even the sefiros; even, as Chassidus says elsewhere, the primordial thought—no level in the order of creation can grasp Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But He can be grasped through Torah and mitzvos; there, there is a grasp. So the Alter Rebbe takes the word “grasp,” the precise word the Zohar uses, in its deepest sense. The point is that through Torah and mitzvos there is a kind of grasp. It does not simply say “observance,” “doing,” “action,” or “study.” It specifically says “grasp.” At first glance, “grasp” is a physical word. The whole concept of grasping belongs to physical things: you grasp something with your hands. With intellect, we speak of understanding, comprehension, knowledge, and study. Why use the word “grasp”? And with a mitzvah, we speak of observing or doing it. The Zohar is precise in saying “grasp,” because that word expresses a profound principle that the Alter Rebbe is about to explain: the unique connection created between a Jew and Hakadosh Boruch Hu through Torah study. To understand this better, he introduces Eliyahu’s words, “No thought can grasp,” whereas through Torah and mitzvos there is a grasp. What is the significance of that precise wording? “When the intellect understands and comprehends an intellectual idea, the intellect grasps the idea and encompasses it within itself.” The Alter Rebbe is saying that the world of intellect has a distinctive quality found specifically there. We are now going to learn something very special and remarkable

10:22 here: the Alter Rebbe gives us a deeper understanding of intellect. How does intellect work? The Alter Rebbe says that when a person studies an intellectual subject—and here he means genuine study, not merely reading words or learning by rote—he is emphasizing the value of in-depth study. A person immerses himself in it, studying as deeply as he can and truly trying to understand the subject in depth. The Alter Rebbe says: “When the intellect understands and comprehends an intellectual idea, the intellect grasps the idea.” First, the intellect grasps the idea. That is, the person takes the subject, grasps it, and encompasses it in his mind. Say there is a sugya: I take that sugya, bring it into my mind, and encompass it. We are going to study a particular sugya in halachah—documents, the validation of documents, whatever is being studied here. I take the sugya and encompass it with my mind. “And the idea is grasped, encompassed, and enclothed within the intellect that comprehended and understood it.” Yes, a person’s intellect grasps the idea, and as a result, what happens? The idea is grasped within his intellect. So there are two parts here that seem to be the same thing: the intellect grasps the idea, and the idea is grasped within the intellect. The person, using his mind, takes the idea, as it were, and the idea comes to be inside his mind, grasped by it. Seemingly, that is the same thing. Why repeat it? Of course, if you take hold of something, it is with you. The Rebbe writes in a letter that the point the Alter Rebbe wants to make here is that we are talking about the intellect of the Torah. The point the Alter

12:42 Rebbe wants to make is that we are talking about the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, not just any intellectual idea. We are talking about His wisdom. The Alter Rebbe is speaking here about Divine wisdom. And the remarkable thing is that even with Divine wisdom, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so to speak, has given Himself over. He gives Himself and says to a person: whoever you may be, regardless of who you are, you do not have to be a tzaddik or be on a lofty level. Any person—even a wicked person. It says that even regarding a wicked person who studies Torah, the Shulchan Aruch cites, “What right have you to speak of My statutes?” Yet, on the other hand, he grasps the Torah. He now takes possession of the Torah; he takes it, and the Torah enters his mind and resides with him. True, there is what the Shulchan Aruch says and so on, and the Tanya also says that the Torah is then in a state of exile, which is why he needs to do teshuvah. But in practice, this is the Oral Torah. In other words, the Alter Rebbe is expressing the remarkable extent to which a person can take possession of it. The unique thing about Torah is that it descended below and can become one with a person, so that a Jew takes possession of the Torah. “The Torah is not in heaven.” There is the famous Gemara in Bava Metzia: Rabbi Eliezer ben Horkenus wanted to prove that the halachah followed his opinion, and he asked for a heavenly voice to emerge, but they did not accept it. Why? Because now the Jew is the one who determines Torah law. Hakadosh Boruch Hu gave over His wisdom and clothed it in human intellect, so that when a person grasps the idea, the idea is grasped by him and becomes part of his mind. In other words, what does this mean, everyone? What is going on here? This is the foundation of chapter 5. In other words, there is

14:46 something special about intellect: when you understand something, it becomes part of who you are. Simply put, when I study a subject and understand something, it is not like something outside me. It does not remain outside me. You have friends; you connect with a friend, you like talking to him and being with him, but you always remain two people, one receiving from the other. There is a giver and a recipient, a teacher and a student, friends. In any such relationship, there is you and there is the other thing. What is unique about intellect is that if I understand something, it becomes part of me. I understand it. It is not something outside me. Understanding means that this is my outlook, the way I see things. This is how I live. This is me. You cannot separate the two. It is as though this is simply how things are; this is the truth. It cannot be otherwise. That is real understanding. If I say, “The maggid shiur said it this way, and then the rabbi asked a question, and Tosafos asked a question, and Tosafos answered differently,” that is not you. No, no, those are not yet your own conclusions. You and the subject are not yet one. When is it called real understanding? When a person grasps the subject and it becomes part of him. It becomes the way I understand it.

16:15 It is like when someone studies a Tosafos or a sugya and says, “How could anyone think otherwise? This is the reasoning; this is the way to think about it.” That reasoning becomes his way of thinking. This is called becoming one. That oneness is something special to the world of intellect. In practice, the Alter Rebbe divides this into several parts here, but that is the first point. The Alter Rebbe continues: “There is a further aspect: the intellect is enclothed within the idea while it comprehends and grasps it.” There is another aspect as well. When I delve into an idea, into a subject, I am inside the sugya. So what does that mean? The person’s mind is within the subject, and the subject encompasses it. We have two opposite things here. On the one hand, I grasp the idea, so the idea is within me. Who encompasses whom? The intellect encompasses the idea, and the idea is encompassed. The intellect grasps a sugya. On the other hand, the reverse is also true. When I study a sugya, my mind enters it, so my mind is inside and the sugya encompasses me. Simply put, a sugya is broad. You begin studying a new sugya: first a Mishnah, then Gemara, the sugya, a dispute between Rabbah and Rav Huna, and so on. You need to take in the sugya as a whole. It contains many details, and you enter into it, especially when studying in depth. You want to delve into the details. So who encompasses whom? In fact, the sugya encompasses you, because you have entered it. Two things are happening here: on the one hand, my mind encompasses the sugya; on the other, the sugya encompasses my mind. Both happen at the same time. There is both encompassing and being encompassed, both together. And this, the Alter Rebbe says, is the remarkable oneness, the remarkable innovation.

18:25 That’s what happens with the intellect. Yes. For example, when a person understands and comprehends a halachah in the Mishnah and Gemara thoroughly and accurately, his mind grasps and encompasses it, and at the same time his mind is also clothed in it. He grasps the idea, and the idea grasps him. Both things happen together. Now, there are several explanations here. This is only the taytsh, as they say—the simple meaning of the words. There are several explanations needed to understand what the Alter Rebbe means here, in every word. It looks as though he’s repeating himself, but there’s depth to these words. With Hashem’s help, we’ll talk about it in the next class.