Chapter 5 - Part Four

00:00 We’re in the middle of chapter 5, on page 9b, near the bottom, in the discussion of Pardes. The Rebbe is describing the great advantage of studying Torah in depth. The central point of the chapter so far is that when you study Torah in depth, something special happens: the intellect, the person understanding, and the subject being understood become united. A Jew and the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu are joined in a wondrous union, unlike any union found in the physical world, becoming truly one and united from every side. The person is clothed in the wisdom of Torah, and the wisdom of Torah surrounds him on every side. He both encompasses and is encompassed by the wisdom of Torah. At the end, the Rebbe says: “And therefore, whatever he is able to grasp and comprehend of Torah knowledge, each person according to his intellect and his capacity for knowledge and comprehension in Pardes.” Each person, according to the abilities, strengths, and talents Hakadosh Boruch Hu has given him, studies in depth on the levels of pshat, remez, drush, and sod, and becomes united with Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a wondrous union. Now I want to emphasize something interesting. The Rebbe writes pshat, remez, drush, and sod. In other words, he’s speaking not only about the revealed dimension of Torah, but also about sod, the inner dimension. The question is whether everything we’ve discussed so far applies both to the revealed and the inner dimensions of Torah, or only to the revealed dimension. Because until now, it would seem that the Rebbe has used examples from the revealed dimension. He spoke about a case where Reuven makes one claim and Shimon another. He’s talking about things clothed in this physical world, which would seem to apply only to the revealed dimension of Torah. There you have a physical reality in which the Torah’s ideas are clothed in something physical, and a person grasps them. There is a grasp of the subject, and through this wondrous union, a union with Torah takes place. He

02:26 isn’t speaking about the inner dimension of Torah. And logically, it would seem that only the revealed dimension of Torah has this advantage. But here, at the end, the Rebbe says Pardes, which implies that sod, the inner dimension of Torah, has this quality too. So this is very interesting; there really are two sides to it. In Likkutei Torah there is a well-known maamar. Many yeshivah students have studied it, and perhaps there’s also an explanation in [unclear] of Sos Asis. Have you learned it here? Is it studied here? It’s one of the maamarim studied in yeshivos. There’s a well-known maamar in Likkutei Torah, Sos Asis, particularly the explanation of Sos Asis. It’s a long and very interesting explanation in which the Rebbe discusses the difference between the revealed and hidden dimensions of Torah. What is the difference between studying the revealed dimension and studying the hidden dimension? It’s a very, very foundational maamar on this whole subject. There he explains that there is a major difference. One of the differences he explains is that in the revealed dimension, you grasp the essence of what you’re studying. When you study the revealed dimension of Torah, you grasp the actual thing; you know what the discussion is about. If you say “an ox that gored a cow,” you know what an ox is and what a cow is. “Two people holding a tallis”—you know what a tallis is and what it means for two people to be holding it. We have a grasp of the actual thing, so the mind grasps its reality as something tangible, and consequently the reasoning, too, is grasped tangibly in the mind. By contrast, in the inner dimension of Torah, we speak about matters of G-dliness, matters of infinity, things whose essence we really cannot comprehend at all. We can only know that they exist. He explains several points there on that basis. Yes, it’s a foundational maamar explaining the difference, and on the one hand, it shows a particular advantage in studying the revealed dimension of Torah: that there is a grasp

04:16 So, in connection with what we’re learning here in this chapter, the Alter Rebbe there cites what is written in Tanya. And this maamar—the Alter Rebbe delivered it at the conclusion, within [unclear], at the conclusion—is based on Tanya. He writes this explicitly; he explains passages in Tanya. So he says that, seemingly, what is discussed in Tanya... After all, it’s known that the Alter Rebbe studied Tanya himself. There’s the famous story: when the Alter Rebbe’s brother entered the room and saw him studying Tanya, he asked him, “Do you also need to study Tanya?” The Alter Rebbe himself was studying Tanya. So he told him, “I find insights here that I didn’t hear even in Mezritch.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe himself studied Tanya. In any case, in this maamar you can see plainly that the Alter Rebbe is interpreting Tanya. There are several foundational points of Tanya there, and it’s very important for understanding a number of details in Tanya. One of them is this point: he writes there that what chapter 5 says—that a true grasp of G-dliness comes only through studying Torah—applies primarily to the revealed dimension of Torah. Since we’re speaking here about the advantage of grasping something, of a wondrous union, that applies to the revealed dimension. There, you know what you’re studying. You grasp the subjects tangibly, as physical things that the mind can take hold of and understand thoroughly, and the wisdom of Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present within them. Hakadosh Boruch Hu has contracted Himself into these matters. So there is a wondrous union here with the wisdom and will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. But with the inner dimension of Torah, since we don’t know what these things are in their essence, we’re speaking about abstract matters, matters of G-dliness. So it doesn’t really have this advantage. It has other advantages, but not this one. That is what’s written in Likkutei Torah. But look at the Alter Rebbe’s wording at the end

06:04 of the chapter itself. The Alter Rebbe writes—not above, but below—when he discusses how, through knowing Torah, the mind grasps and comprehends whatever it can grasp and comprehend of Torah. The Alter Rebbe does include sod: pshat, remez, drush, and sod. So there is some element of grasping even in sod. Now, there are maamarim—not by the Alter Rebbe, but later, in the Rebbe Rashab’s Kuntres Umaayan and Kuntres Eitz Hachayim. The Rebbe Rashab speaks very highly of the study of Chassidus in relation to the study of the revealed dimension of Torah in these kuntreisim, which he wrote especially for Tomchei Temimim. He explains this at length in Kuntres Umaayan and also in Kuntres Eitz Hachayim. There he explains that this applies to the inner dimension of Torah as well as to the revealed dimension. This is especially so after Chabad Chassidus revealed the idea of “From my flesh I perceive G-dliness,” bringing matters of G-dliness into analogies and examples drawn from the human soul. That gives them a tangible aspect too. In other words, today, when we study the inner dimension of Torah as it is clothed in the analogies and examples of Chassidus, we have the advantage of “From my flesh I perceive G-dliness.” A person can understand matters of G-dliness from his own body and soul, through effort, extensive contemplation, study, and grasping the matters through physical examples as he studies the inner dimension of Torah. So a person’s intellect can become united with the inner dimension of Torah as well. And he says something more: on the contrary, in one respect the inner dimension of Torah even has an advantage over the revealed dimension. Precisely because the inner dimension of Torah speaks openly about G-dliness, it refines a person even more. The understanding through which a person becomes united with the Torah’s wisdom in its inner dimension brings about an elevation and refinement of the soul, a certain eidelkeit. He becomes much more refined. This is one of the things that the Rebbe Rashab, after all,

08:16 The whole reason he founded Tomchei Temimim—he discusses this at length in the kuntreisim, particularly in Kuntres Umaayan—is that when a person studies only the revealed dimension of Torah, he can, Heaven forbid, be full of Torah, yet instead of becoming refined, elevated, and united with G-dliness, he does not become refined. Heaven forbid, the opposite of the intended result happens: he brings the Torah down into exile, because he lacks bittul, a feeling for G-dliness. So instead of being refined through Torah study, on the contrary, he becomes more coarse, and he brings about further concealment and obscurity with regard to the Torah, and so on. That is not the case with the inner dimension of Torah, which speaks openly about G-dliness. There, certainly, the effect is the opposite. It elevates the soul and refines the soul. It does not merely enable a person to become united with Torah—that wondrous union we are discussing—but also brings about an inner refinement in him. He becomes a more refined person, more spiritual; all his feelings become more refined. His sense of self diminishes, until, over time, his natural senses become senses attuned to G-dliness. So this is a special quality of the inner dimension of Torah, more than of the revealed dimension. It is interesting, then, that the Alter Rebbe in Likkutei Torah specifically emphasizes the advantage of the revealed dimension of Torah, while the Rebbe Rashab also emphasizes the advantage of the inner dimension of Torah. How do we reconcile what is written in Likkutei Torah with what the Alter Rebbe says here about Pardes? We need to look into whether they are speaking about the same things. That is a subject in its own right. It is interesting to understand this point we are studying here: Torah has the power to unite a person with it, so that his whole being becomes connected to Torah. There is a story about Reb Chaim Brisker and the Rebbe Rashab, a story the Rebbe even tells in one of his sichos. As is well known, the Rebbe Rashab and Reb Chaim Brisker

10:17 met many times over matters concerning the rabbinic gatherings, when there were various decrees and so on. They had a very good relationship, as is well known. Although Reb Chaim Brisker was not a chossid, they worked together, and there was a great deal of respect and admiration between them. There are many stories about this. The Rebbe Rashab praised Reb Chaim Brisker, and Reb Chaim Brisker praised the Rebbe Rashab. There are several stories connected with this. So one of the stories is that they were at a meeting that... that... it was the year, as the story is told, when there was an important rabbinic gathering. They stayed at the same hotel for a long time, so they spent a lot of time sitting together and talking. Among other things, it is told that Reb Chaim Brisker asked why they spent so many hours studying Chassidus. The Rebbe Rashab explained the point we were just discussing: the advantage Chassidus has over the revealed dimension of Torah. Study of the revealed dimension can lead to a sense of self and pride; instead of the learning elevating a person, the opposite happens—he does not become refined. The Rebbe Rashab explained to him that the inner dimension of Torah speaks about G-dliness, and so it brings about bittul. Reb Chaim Brisker said to him, “What, a young man who studies Chassidus cannot become proud? Is it only the revealed dimension of Torah that can lead to pride? Couldn’t a young man study Chassidus and become proud because he understands it?” So the Rebbe Rashab told him that it is like a halachah in the laws of Pesach: if a person finds chametz on Pesach, he does not transgress the prohibitions of having chametz seen or found in his possession, because he is occupied with burning it or nullifying it. Since he is occupied with nullifying it, he does not transgress the prohibition of having it seen. For we say

12:03 that since he is entirely occupied with getting rid of it, he certainly will not come to eat it. We are not concerned about that. Similarly, since the inner dimension of Torah itself speaks about bittul, a person is occupied with bittul, and we are not concerned that it will lead him to a sense of self. That was the detailed explanation; that was the Rebbe [unclear]’s explanation of it according to the revealed dimension of Torah: why there is no concern that studying the inner dimension of Torah will lead to pride and a sense of self. In any case, that brings us back to what we have learned so far. Now let us continue. What the Alter Rebbe has said up to this point—okay, we have explained Torah study as a wondrous union. Now, at the end of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe tells us that from the point we have just discussed, we also gain a special insight into Torah study: the distinction between Torah and mitzvos, that Torah is a form of nourishment. This is another point that explains the difference between Torah and mitzvos. From what we discussed in the previous chapter, chapter 4, the Alter Rebbe presented Torah and mitzvos as garments. The entire analogy for Torah and mitzvos was that of garments: embracing the King when He is clothed in one garment or several garments, and Torah becoming a garment for the soul when a person grasps it. All the language of the previous chapter was the language of a garment that surrounds a person. Torah and mitzvos function as a garment. Now the Alter Rebbe comes and says: In light of what we have just learned—that when a person studies Torah there is an inner union, that the Torah is within the person, inside him, and becomes one with him—it follows that Torah is not only a garment. Torah is nourishment. And that is what the Alter Rebbe now comes to explain. The Alter Rebbe says: “And because, in knowing the Torah, the Torah

14:02 is clothed within the human soul.” When we speak of knowing Torah, the Torah is clothed within the soul and the intellect, and is encompassed within them. This is the aspect we discussed: the person’s intellect encompasses the Torah, and the Torah is inside his intellect, deep within it. “Therefore it is called the bread and nourishment of the soul.” That is why Torah is called the bread and nourishment of the soul. We have verses and sayings of our Sages that compare Torah to bread. Torah is called bread: “Come, eat of my bread,” and similarly, “Ho, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water.” How does that verse continue? There is bread and butter and so on. I do not remember the continuation of the verse there, but there are various verses in which we see Torah compared to bread. So from what we have just explained, we understand why. Nourishment becomes one with a person, with his body, and becomes part of him. That happens in Torah study in a particular way, more than with mitzvos. Therefore it is called the bread and nourishment of the soul. “For just as physical bread nourishes the body when it is brought right inside it and becomes there blood and flesh like its own flesh, so that it lives and endures, so too, when Torah is known and comprehended by the human soul—when a person studies it thoroughly, applying his intellect until it is grasped by his intellect and becomes united with him, and they become one—it becomes nourishment for the soul and life within it from the Life of life, the blessed Ein Sof, Who is clothed in His wisdom and His Torah within it. And this is what is written: ‘And Your Torah is within my innards.’” The Alter Rebbe is saying something special here. Torah is the bread and nourishment of the soul. There is a special quality to Torah as bread and nourishment. But what does he add here? An explanation. The Alter Rebbe adds an explanation concerning bread and nourishment. What do we see with bread and nourishment? When a person eats bread, there is something special about the way he eats. We all know that if we eat

16:25 When we eat very quickly, we don’t feel full. A person eats very quickly—he swallows because of his appetite, or for some other reason, or because he wants to get back to learning Gemara. Whatever the reason he eats quickly, when a person eats very quickly, the bread doesn’t become integrated with him. It isn’t absorbed; it doesn’t become part of him. And then, before long, he’s hungry again. It doesn’t work in a healthy, proper way. If you want the bread to satisfy you, a person has to eat slowly and, as they say, chew the bread properly. Then he really swallows it properly, and it becomes integrated with him, becoming his blood and flesh. That’s what the Alter Rebbe is saying here, and it applies to the way we learn as well: we have to learn in depth. If you learn only by reading through the material, it isn’t nourishment. The Torah remains outside you. You don’t really absorb it, really chew it, really take it in. It’s like eating whole chunks of bread; it doesn’t have the right effect on the soul. For it to have the right effect, the learning has to be internal, something you take inwardly. That’s what he means when he says, “He learns it thoroughly, with the depth of his intellect, until it is grasped by his intellect.” It’s like bread that a person chews, eats, and takes in properly, until it becomes his blood and flesh, so that he lives and is sustained by it. That’s what makes a person truly healthy. So if I want my learning to penetrate my life, to become one with me, that happens specifically when I learn Torah in depth, slowly and with a settled mind. As is well known, there is a teaching of the Alter Rebbe:

18:08 “And you will perish quickly”—a person needs to get rid of the “quickly.” Don’t learn in a rush; learn slowly. Learn in a way that the learning becomes part of who I am. “And you will perish quickly from the good land.” For there to be a good desire, it has to be without haste. That’s the meaning of this verse. That’s the whole point.