Chapter 9 - Part Two

00:00 Yes, we’re here in chapter 9 of Tanya, near the beginning, at the line that starts “the right,” “as it is written, ‘A wise man’s heart is to his right.’” What is the Alter Rebbe saying here? The Alter Rebbe began explaining the difference between the G-dly soul and the animal soul: where each one is located. As we explained in the previous class, this also helps us understand their essence. We want to understand the essence of each one, so we look at where each one is located, where its center is. That tells us what its essence is. And the Alter Rebbe says that the animal soul—where is it located? Its central place is in the heart itself, in the left chamber, which is filled with blood. From there it spreads to all the limbs and also rises to the head. But its main place is the heart itself, in the left chamber, which is filled with blood. The G-dly soul, on the other hand, is the opposite. Its central place is in the brain; that is its central place, and from the brain it spreads to all the limbs and also to the heart. We explained that this expresses the fundamental distinction between the G-dly soul and the animal soul: both have intellect and emotions. They’re studying this right now in yeshiva; they’re also studying the continuation that explains the whole subject—the full structure of the G-dly soul and the full structure of the animal soul. So both the G-dly soul and the animal soul have intellect and emotions. Nevertheless, as the Alter Rebbe says here, the animal soul is primarily about emotions, about the heart. Of course, it also rises to the brain. In other words, it uses the intellect to obtain what it desires. With the G-dly soul it is the reverse. It is primarily about the brain: understanding and knowing the truth. It also spreads to all the limbs and acts in the heart itself, in the right chamber. Okay. There’s another interesting point here

02:18 By the way, we spoke about the difference between the right side and the left side—one has blood, the other doesn’t, and so on. There’s another point we didn’t cover in the previous class, but it relates to the continuation we’re about to study. It’s a very interesting nuance the Rebbe notes in his Reshimos. There are the Reshimos on Tanya that came to light in recent years, after Gimmel Tammuz, right? The Rebbe had written glosses, notes, and source references at the time, and they remained hidden. They were kept out of sight until, after Gimmel Tammuz, the source references on Tanya came to light along with the Reshimos, revealing new insights there as well. So there’s a very interesting nuance there, a fundamental one connected to the difference between the G-dly soul and the animal soul. When the Alter Rebbe speaks about the animal soul, he says, “and it also rises to the brain in the head.” In other words, the animal soul’s place is in the heart, in the left chamber. From the heart it spreads throughout the body and also rises to the brain in the head. When he speaks about the G-dly soul, he says that the G-dly soul’s place is in the brain in the head, and from there it spreads to all the limbs “and also in the heart.” Here he does not say, “and it also descends to the heart.” Right? For the animal soul he says, “and it also rises to the brain in the head.” That’s the wording: “rises to the brain in the head.” But when he speaks about the G-dly soul, he doesn’t say, “and it also descends to the heart”; he says, “and also in the heart.” Even if he doesn’t say “descends,” he could have said “to the heart,” not “in the heart.” A small nuance that says a great deal. Why? The Rebbe says something remarkable, something absolutely fundamental. The distinction, what the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us, is that the animal soul’s dwelling place—meaning where its essence is, where it is primarily found—is only in the heart. The heart is its dwelling place. It has no real connection to the brain. It also rises to the brain, as if it makes use of the brain

04:29 for the sake of the heart. But can you say that the brain is the animal soul’s dwelling place? Certainly not. What interest does it have in intellect? An animal has no interest in intellect. It’s interested in desires, in its own sense of self, in its belly. It’s not interested in knowing things. Rather, it rises, so to speak, to a place that isn’t its own in order to use the intellect to obtain what it desires. With the G-dly soul, by contrast, its dwelling place is also in the heart. True, the G-dly soul’s primary dwelling place is in the brain, but its dwelling place is also in the heart, because the G-dly soul genuinely wants there to be emotions as well. That is part of its avodah. On the contrary: “Know this day and take it to heart.” Working on the emotions is a central part of avodah. That is why, with the G-dly soul, the Alter Rebbe does not say that it also descends to the heart, but “and also in the heart.” The Alter Rebbe means that “also in the heart” refers back to what he said earlier: the G-dly soul’s dwelling place is in the brain and also in the heart. It is found in both places. It’s a remarkable insight that, as far as I know, wasn’t how this was learned before. The mashpi’im didn’t learn this as the plain meaning of Tanya, right? But the Rebbe points it out, and it gives you a foundation for the whole subject. The G-dly soul has a dwelling place both in the brain and in the heart. On the one hand, its place is the brain—comprehension, understanding, knowledge, and all the qualities of the brain, as we discussed in the previous class. It seeks the truth. But at the same time, the G-dly soul also dwells in the heart, because avodas Hashem calls for love of Hashem and fear of Hashem. That is the purpose; that is the whole of man. And more than that. So now the continuation also makes sense. This insight the Rebbe gives us helps

06:16 us understand what follows in Tanya. Let’s read on. The Alter Rebbe says, “as it is written, ‘A wise man’s heart is to his right.’” Right? By the way, the Rebbe also notes something here: Why does the Alter Rebbe bring a verse? He doesn’t bring a verse for the animal soul. He brings one specifically for the G-dly soul. After all, the verse says, “A wise man’s heart is to his right, and a fool’s heart is to his left.” Yet the Alter Rebbe brings the verse only when he gets to the G-dly soul, not when he speaks about the animal soul. Why? Because that is the novel point. That the animal soul is in the heart needs no verse. It’s understandable even without one. That is what an animal soul is all about: it is centered in the heart; it is animalistic. It wants what it desires. But the G-dly soul, as we said, dwells primarily in the brain—and the heart is also part of where it dwells. That is why the Alter Rebbe brings the verse, “A wise man’s heart is to his right.” “Wise” refers to the G-dly soul, and “a wise man’s heart is to his right” shows us that the heart, too, is a dwelling place of the G-dly soul. Which side of the heart? The right side, which is a vessel for G-dliness. And more: What is the heart’s role here? What does the G-dly soul do in a person’s heart? The Alter Rebbe says: “And it is the love of Hashem, like flames of fire.” Now the Alter Rebbe appears to be giving examples—examples of how the G-dly soul acts, since it is found in the brain and also in the heart. So he gives examples. One example—two examples. The first is: “And it is the love of Hashem, like flames of fire, blazing in the hearts of those who comprehend, understand, and contemplate with the knowledge in their minds matters that arouse love.” How does that work? A person contemplates G-dliness, right? And he uses all these terms: wisdom, understanding, knowledge—“those who comprehend, understand, and contemplate with the knowledge in their minds.” As we said in chapter 3,

08:13 That it also requires intellectual grasp, understanding, and daas. “Those who grasp” relates to the faculty of chochmah; “those who understand” is the faculty of binah; and “with the daas in their minds” is the faculty of daas. So when a Jew learns and contemplates G-dliness with chochmah, binah, and daas, that awakens love of Hashem within him. And what kind of love of Hashem? He says: “love of Hashem like flames of fire.” So what is the Alter Rebbe trying to tell us? He wants to explain how the mind and heart work in the G-dly soul. There is contemplation, and that contemplation awakens a feeling, a love, so that the heart becomes aflame with love of Hashem. That is one example he gives: love like flames of fire. Now the Alter Rebbe gives another example: “And likewise, heartfelt joy in the splendor of Hashem and the glory of His majesty.” Another example of the mind affecting the heart in the G-dly soul is heartfelt joy. There is love like flames of fire—that is one kind of feeling—and there is heartfelt joy in the splendor of Hashem and the glory of His majesty. A person becomes joyful, with heartfelt joy, when he contemplates the wonders, splendor, and greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “When the eyes of the wise man, which are in his head—in his faculties of chochmah and binah—gaze upon the glory of the King.” When a person—the eyes of the wise man. Meaning, contemplation, and not just any contemplation, but contemplation with the vision of chochmah: “the eyes of the wise man, which are in his head.” What is he contemplating? The glory of the King. Not just contemplation, but contemplation of the preciousness, exaltedness, wonders, and splendor, “beyond all searching, without end or limit.” So all of this is the mind’s influence on the heart in the service of the G-dly soul. And here the question arises: What does the Alter Rebbe want? I don’t understand. What is the Alter Rebbe trying to do here altogether? What are these examples for? What does he add by giving them? Is he just giving an example? Why does he give two examples? Why these two examples in particular? One example is

10:31 love, and the second example is heartfelt joy. Interesting examples. What exactly is this? And why doesn’t he give an example of awe? What is going on here? What does it mean? So, as we’ll see, the overall point relates to what the Alter Rebbe is going to explain later in the chapter. We’ll learn that, when speaking about the service of the G-dly soul, the G-dly soul comes to make a person’s service of Hashem his entire reality: his intellect, his emotions, his thought, speech, and action. Later in the chapter, the Alter Rebbe will speak about two kinds of love of Hashem. There is love like flames of fire and love like water. These are familiar concepts in Chassidus. There is love like flames of fire, and there is love like water, which is called love of delights. That is why the Alter Rebbe brings these two ideas here. First, there is love like flames of fire, as he says at the beginning: a person contemplates in a way that gives rise to love like flames of fire in his heart. After that he brings the second idea, heartfelt joy, which is love of delights. Yes, heartfelt joy is more in the mode of love of delights. That is why it is connected with seeing. Chassidus explains that the difference between love like flames of fire and love of delights is that love like flames of fire is more connected with binah. A person contemplates, and love like flames of fire is born from it: contemplation of the greatness of Hashem through the faculty of binah. Binah is associated with the left side, and so it awakens thirst. That is why it is love like flames of fire. Flames of fire mean a love accompanied by thirst, a love that awakens thirst in a person. By contrast, when contemplation is not only in the mode of binah but in the mode of chochmah, that is called seeing. There are two modes of contemplation. Sometimes you contemplate through reflection, explanation, and understanding. Sometimes contemplation takes the form of seeing. That is much deeper contemplation, as though you see

12:36 the thing itself. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying: as though you see it. Seeing belongs to the intellect. Of course, there is a very great difference between merely learning about something and understanding it, and seeing it. When you understand something, understanding is very deep, very tangible: “I understand.” But ultimately, understanding is from a distance. You are at a distance and understand what is being discussed. By contrast, when you see something, it is revealed before your eyes, and it takes hold of your entire being. So when love comes through binah, through contemplation, what it produces in a person is thirst. When you are distant from something, thirst is awakened within you. You want to reach it. You are not there; you want to get there. But when it comes through seeing, when a person sees something wondrous, sees something—then, when he is in a state of love of Hashem, his intellect shines within him; he contemplates. These are not two separate worlds. It is not a feeling disconnected from the intellect, because in the G-dly soul, contemplation of G-dliness is central. So even when he is in a state of love, the contemplation is felt in that love. These are not two separate worlds; they come together as one. The bochurim who are now learning the maamar [?] know that the Rebbe Rashab discusses this at length there: the whole subject of revealed love and awe, and concealed love and awe. How much are the emotions influenced by the mind? And to this the Alter Rebbe adds the second point. Heartfelt joy goes even deeper: heartfelt joy in the splendor of Hashem and the glory of His majesty. Here is the wise man. Here the mind’s influence on the emotions is much stronger.

17:17 Because, as we said, here it is as though the person’s emotions become completely united with the mind. Vision through chochmah. That means there is a perception of the wonder and exaltedness of G-dliness. The person contemplates and delves deeply into the wonder and exaltedness of G-dliness. “The glory of His majesty” is not contemplation of the worlds or of created beings. The contemplation is of wonder; it is of the precious splendor of His greatness, of matters beyond limitation, matters of utter simplicity. Chassidus has entire discussions of these subjects in maamarim. Of course, the Alter Rebbe is brief in Tanya too. There are maamarim that discuss this at length. For example, this subject of “the precious splendor of His greatness” appears in the Pesach maamarim of 5674. Before that, it appears at length in 5655, where the Rebbe Rashab explains it. “The precious splendor of His greatness” means contemplation of aspects of G-dliness connected with the limitless: the eternity of created beings, matters of infinity, and matters of memalei, measure, and limitation. And when a person’s mind—when his intellect can be a vessel for such a thing, so that simplicity, limitlessness, and the loftier matters shine within it—that is vision within the intellect. Consequently, the emotions become completely united with the mind. At that level, there is heartfelt joy: it is as though the person suddenly loses his sense of self. The emotions are not a subtle form of selfhood; there is a subtle bittul within the emotions. These are a different kind of emotions, emotions that take you beyond measures and limits. So that is what the Alter Rebbe wants to say here. This is the unique quality of the G-dly soul. On the one hand, its dwelling place is the mind. On the other hand, as we said, it also acts upon the heart. Not merely in a passing way, but as a dwelling place: it dwells in the heart. But how? So that the heart is thoroughly permeated, so that the heart is suffused with the G-dliness in the mind. The Alter Rebbe concludes: “And likewise, the other holy emotions in the heart come from the Chabad faculties in the mind.” These are all examples, but in fact, all the emotions in the heart are

19:34 In such a way that the mind penetrates the heart, and the heart becomes like the mind. That is everything we have explained until now. Here we should add the well-known saying of the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe was asked why he spoke... Chassidus discusses many levels of love and awe, and so on. As is well known, they asked the Alter Rebbe why he so often spoke in Chassidus about lofty levels, contemplation, and elevated matters, and high levels of love and awe, when seemingly these things are beyond us. So there is the well-known story. The Rebbe also told it several times: the Alter Rebbe cited the verse, “I will remove the heart of stone.” It is written about the coming of Moshiach that when Moshiach comes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will remove the heart of stone from us. So the Alter Rebbe said: What about a mind of stone? Huh? “I will remove” is written only about a heart of stone; it says nothing about the mind. So the Alter Rebbe said that each person has to deal with the mind of stone himself. Our work is to “remove the mind of stone.” That is what Chabad Chassidus is about: learning, contemplating, engaging with it, and exerting ourselves as much as our minds allow. As for the heart, a person should influence his heart as much as he can. But we know that, ultimately, as the Alter Rebbe will explain later, a beinoni does not have that much control over his heart. About that, the verse says, “I will remove the heart of stone.” When Moshiach comes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu will circumcise the heart, and then everything a person learned in Chassidus will actually affect the heart. That is one explanation known in the name of the Alter Rebbe. There is a second explanation in the same vein, which the Rebbe also spoke about several times. Misnagdim came and complained to the Alter Rebbe that the chassidim were lying, deceiving, pretending. It was not real. It could not be. They were not... just

21:44 making themselves out to be great people. They did not truly belong to the levels they spoke about. That is what you call hypocrisy. It is not genuine avodah. And the Alter Rebbe said—this, this, this is exactly it; this was the tune the Alter Rebbe sang—so that the teaching of the Mishnah would come true. What teaching of the Mishnah? The Mishnah in Peah says that a person who pretends to be something will not die before becoming that way. If a person pretends to be lame, then in the end he will be lame. If a person pretends—G-d forbid—to have some other affliction, that is in regard to negative things. But the measure of good is greater. If a person acts like a chossid, in the end he will be a chossid. In other words, the Alter Rebbe wanted to tell them that a person may not yet truly belong to certain things, but the very fact that a young chossid applies himself, tries, and works hard will ultimately have an effect on him, so that he will truly become that way. And that is the point [unclear]. Although a person may feel that these things are still beyond him, the Alter Rebbe says several times that habit becomes second nature. Through effort, when a person works and exerts himself as much as he can, contemplation ultimately affects the heart. Most importantly, it also has an effect in practice—in thought, speech, and action—as the Alter Rebbe will explain in the coming chapters. So, to this point, we have learned, as we said, about the dwelling place of the G-dly soul and the dwelling place of the animal soul: how the G-dly soul operates and how the animal soul operates. Now that we understand all these points, the Alter Rebbe will begin to explain the battle, continuing the chapter’s discussion of “one nation shall prevail over the other”:

23:30 what exactly the G-dly soul wants, what the animal soul wants, and how the battle between them works.