Chapter 10 - Part Five

00:00 We’re holding today at the end of chapter 10, at the top of page 15b. The Alter Rebbe is in the middle of explaining the level of a tzaddik—not just a tzaddik, but a complete tzaddik, a tzaddik who has good. The Alter Rebbe points out that when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai speaks about tzaddikim, he calls them “bnei aliyah”: “I have seen bnei aliyah, and they are few.” Why are tzaddikim called bnei aliyah? The Alter Rebbe gives two explanations here, corresponding to the two aspects we’ve discussed in this chapter. The Alter Rebbe said that a tzaddik has two aspects, reflected in his two names: “a complete tzaddik” and “a tzaddik who has good.” We explained that these are two different things. What are they? A tzaddik transforms evil into good. For him, evil is utterly out of the question; he utterly despises evil. That is the tzaddik’s work of “turn away from evil.” He doesn’t merely turn away from evil; he despises it. Evil is completely out of the question for him, and he hates it. On the other hand, in the path of “do good,” he has love—not just love, but a love of delights. The Alter Rebbe explained that the two depend on each other: the greater his love, and the stronger his love for Hashem, the more absolute his hatred of evil will be. In continuation of this, the Alter Rebbe says that this is also expressed by the name bnei aliyah. The name reveals the depth of the tzaddik’s service. These aren’t just names; the name expresses the service and the way it is carried out—what the tzaddik’s service should be. He says that the first meaning of bnei aliyah is from the word “elevation”: they elevate the evil. This follows what we said about the tzaddik’s evil—that he rejects it completely. So now he says that not only

02:14 does he reject evil and despise it; more than that, he elevates it through his service of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He transforms evil, turning it completely into good. This is what is meant by “transforming darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness,” the soul-work of tzaddikim. So bnei aliyah means elevation: they elevate evil and turn it into good. Now the Alter Rebbe brings the second explanation. The Alter Rebbe says: “And therefore they are called bnei aliyah.” What is the second reason they are called bnei aliyah? Because their service in the realm of “do good” is also an ascent. Earlier we spoke about “turn away from evil”: the tzaddik elevates evil, refines it, and raises it into good. Now he speaks about “do good” as well. Why is he called one of the bnei aliyah? “For their service in the realm of ‘do good,’ in observing the Torah and its mitzvos, is for the sake of the One Above, ascending higher and higher, to the loftiest heights.” So, in the path of “do good,” the tzaddik’s entire service of Hashem makes him one of the bnei aliyah. What does bnei aliyah mean? That he serves Hashem for the sake of the One Above. Bnei aliyah are people whose motivation, what draws them, their entire aspiration and goal in serving Hashem, is ascent. Ascent means for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, for the sake of the One Above, not for themselves. “For the sake of the One Above, ascending higher and higher, to the loftiest heights.” All their service is solely for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to the loftiest heights. These words, “for the sake of the One Above,” are well-known words found in the Sifrei. There’s a well-known discussion, already found there, about a question asked in Chassidus: Is a Jew’s service for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu or for the sake of the person? Is it called service for the sake of the One Above, or

04:25 service for the sake of the person? For whom do we observe Torah and mitzvos? There’s the well-known maamar Lishi Mashkeh[?]; many people know it. It addresses this subject, and there are quite a few other maamarim on it as well. When we ask what “You shall serve Hashem your G-d” means—when we serve Hashem, whom are we serving? Are we serving Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Are we serving ourselves? Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need our service? After all, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is complete, the perfection of everything; He lacks nothing. “If you are righteous, what do you give Him?” Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need us? So perhaps all this service isn’t for Him, but for the person. “The mitzvos were given only to refine people through them.” The whole purpose of the Torah is to refine a person. On the other hand, we find that serving Hashem is also for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The verse says, “You shall serve Hashem your G-d.” So in Chassidus this is an entire subject. There are several explanations, and explanations of those explanations, each reaching higher and clarifying exactly what this means. This is discussed in Chassidus and Kabbalah. It isn’t only in Chassidus; it begins in the works of Kabbalah, which explain that Torah and mitzvos are certainly for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu as well, not just for the person. Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs our Torah and mitzvos. Why does He need them? There are several explanations and several profound points of emphasis here, but Chassidus takes this idea very, very high. Does our service reach a level above all the worlds, or higher still, up to His very Essence, blessed be He? That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here: Why does the tzaddik serve Hashem? He serves Hashem for the sake of the One Above, ascending higher and higher to the loftiest heights. He serves Hashem not for himself, but for the sake of Hakadosh

06:12 Boruch Hu—and within that itself, for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the highest way. “And not merely to cleave to Him, blessed be He, to quench the thirst of his own soul.” If only! He doesn’t serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu just to quench his own thirst. No, that isn’t his main goal. As it says, “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water,” as explained elsewhere. What is the Alter Rebbe ruling out? As we know, there are two broad aspects of serving Hashem. Both are service for the sake of Heaven. G-d forbid, the Alter Rebbe isn’t talking at all about someone who serves Hashem entirely for his own reward, for his personal interests, to gain something in return. He serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, but even within that there can be two approaches. One is: I love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, and I have a thirst. I have a thirst—“My soul thirsts for You.” He thirsts for G-dliness; he longs to come close to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He knows that this happens through Torah and mitzvos, as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, as we learned earlier in chapter 4: he loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu and wants to cleave to Him. How can one cleave to G-dliness? Through Torah and mitzvos. So Torah and mitzvos quench the soul’s thirst. That is what the verse means: “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.” What does that mean? “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.” It certainly isn’t speaking about physical thirst; we don’t need a verse to tell us that. Obviously, it’s speaking in spiritual terms. So what does it mean spiritually? “Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water.” “Water means nothing other than Torah.” But what is he thirsty for? If he thirsts for water—for Torah—we don’t need a verse for that either. If he thirsts for Torah, let him study Torah. Rather, it means that he thirsts for G-dliness, as the Alter Rebbe

08:12 The Rebbe will explain in the coming chapters—in chapter 40, the Alter Rebbe will explain—that his thirst, friends, is a thirst for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He thirsts for and loves Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He longs for the love of Hakadosh Boruch Hu; he wants to be attached to Him. So he is told: If you thirst for G-dliness, how can you quench that thirst? Through Torah and mitzvos. The Alter Rebbe says this is a great form of service. He serves Hashem because he thirsts for G-dliness and knows that through Torah and mitzvos he will satisfy that thirst. But that is not the tzaddik. The tzaddik does not serve Hashem for that reason. He does not serve Hashem because he thirsts for G-dliness, because of his own experience; he serves Hashem for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does it mean to serve Hashem for the sake of Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Not for my own thirst, but for a higher purpose. So now the Alter Rebbe explains: “Rather, as explained in the Tikkunim.” What does it mean to serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu for His sake? The Alter Rebbe says it is what is written in the Tikkunim. The Tikkunim are the Tikkunim. This wording is brought in the Zohar: “Who is a chossid? One who acts kindly toward his Maker, toward His nest.” The Zohar says, “Who is a chossid? One who acts kindly toward his Maker.” That is how the Zohar puts it. What defines a chossid? Someone who acts kindly toward his Maker. In other words, what does chossid mean at this level? Simply, a chossid is a person who does kindness. But the Zohar teaches that kindness is not only something a person does for other people. Kindness toward people is also part of being a chossid. Here, though, the Alter Rebbe means what the Zohar says: a chossid is someone who does kindness for Hakadosh Boruch

10:14 Hu. “One who acts kindly toward his Maker.” He does kindness for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What does it mean to do kindness for Hakadosh Boruch Hu? Does Hakadosh Boruch Hu need our kindness? What does it mean? So he explains: “Toward His nest”—the nest of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “To unite Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah in the lower realms.” To unite Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah here below. Let’s explain what the Alter Rebbe is saying here. What does it mean? The Alter Rebbe is saying this: For a tzaddik, the entire purpose of serving Hashem is not for himself—not just for his physical, material self, but not even for his spiritual self. He is not looking to satisfy his own thirst, either. His whole purpose in serving Hashem is for G-dliness. What does “for G-dliness” mean? For this he cites the Zohar’s statement: “Who is a chossid? One who acts kindly toward his Maker, toward His nest.” The simple meaning of “his Maker” refers to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “Blessed is He Who formed, blessed is He Who created, blessed is He Who acquired.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu is called “his Maker,” the One Who possesses everything. So “his Maker” is Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He does kindness for his Maker, for Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What kindness can one do for Hakadosh Boruch Hu? We know that Hakadosh Boruch Hu has a desire. His desire is that “Hakadosh Boruch Hu desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to be here below. That is His will, and in the language of Kabbalah it is called the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. Kudsha Brich Hu is the aspect of “his Maker”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu as He is above, truly above. “His Shechinah” is the Shechinah. We learn in Basi Legani

12:16 what the Shechinah is. The Shechinah is the aspect of G-dliness that is enclothed in the world. Within that itself there are many levels. So the meaning of “Who is a chossid? One who acts kindly toward his Maker, toward His nest”—“His nest” means a nest, a bird’s nest. A nest is a place. As we say, the place where those birds are found: “Even a bird has found a home, and a swallow a nest for herself.” The nest—“If you come upon a bird’s nest”—is the idea of a home. The dwelling place is the Shechinah; it is the dwelling in the lower realms, the place where Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to reveal Himself. That is what “his Maker” means. “His Maker” comes from the phrase “possessor of all,” referring to the aspect of Kudsha Brich Hu. But “his Maker” also alludes to “His nest,” the dwelling place where Hakadosh Boruch Hu wants to reveal Himself—the dwelling in the lower realms, the Shechinah. So that is what it means to unite Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah in the lower realms. That is the intention, the will, of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. This is the level of the tzaddik, who is called a “child of the Most High.” What does “child of the Most High” mean? That all his service is for a higher purpose. Everything he does is for Hakadosh Boruch Hu, to fulfill the intention of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. What is that intention? That there should be a union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. That is his goal. Later in Tanya, in chapter 41, the Alter Rebbe will continue discussing this. Here he writes about it briefly; in chapter 41 he discusses it at length. There, after explaining the whole approach to serving Hashem motivated by awe, the Alter Rebbe goes on to discuss service motivated by love. He explains that within service motivated by love there are two levels. There is love arising from a desire to be attached to G-dliness. That is a level available to everyone. It is also

14:19 the service of the beinoni. It is the service of every Jew: to be attached to G-dliness. Then there is the service described here, in which one works to unite Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. That is primarily the service of tzaddikim. But although it is the service of tzaddikim, we also say it in the wording of our prayers. According to our custom, Chabad custom, when we pray each morning, before Baruch She’amar we say, “For the sake of the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah.” That is what the Alter Rebbe is discussing here. When a Jew begins the day—among Sephardim, and also among Ashkenazim who follow the Baal Shem Tov, though not in Chabad, some say this before every mitzvah. There is such a custom among a number of those who follow Kabbalah: before every mitzvah they say, “For the sake of the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah.” The Alter Rebbe also mentions this custom in Likkutei Amarim. In practice, we do not follow that custom. In his siddur, the Alter Rebbe included “For the sake of the union” only once. As the Rebbe explained on one occasion, this is because the Alter Rebbe is telling us that we do not need to say it again and again. You say it at the start of the day, when you begin the service of prayer, and that “for the sake of the union” applies to everything you do. So the Alter Rebbe says in chapter 41 that every Jew, even though we are not tzaddikim, naturally wants the supernal will to be fulfilled. A Jew wants the will of Hakadosh Boruch Hu to be fulfilled, even if he is not a tzaddik. That is why every Jew says, “For the sake of the union.” But for the tzaddik, of course, this is his whole purpose. That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying. Why is a tzaddik called a “child of the Most High”? Because for the tzaddik, this is his whole life. And that is why we say, “Who is a chossid? One who acts kindly toward his Maker, toward His nest,” as it is written in Parshas Ki Seitzei:

16:05 “Like a son who strives for his father and mother, whom he loves more than himself.” The Zohar says that this level of the tzaddik—serving Hashem solely to fulfill the supernal intention, solely for a dwelling in the lower realms, thinking not of himself but only of Hakadosh Boruch Hu—is like a son who loves his father so much that, out of his great love, he loves his parents more than himself, more than his own life, spirit, and soul. To such an extent that he is ready to give himself up to death for them, to rescue them. Because of his great love for his father, he is ready to give up his life, to give up his body, to risk his life to save, to rescue, his parents. That is what it says there. The Zohar there is speaking about Moshe Rabbeinu, telling us that this was Moshe’s level. Moshe Rabbeinu’s love for Hakadosh Boruch Hu was so great that he was ready to give up everything. Moshe Rabbeinu risked his life to the very end. In all sorts of events we find involving Moshe Rabbeinu, at different times and in different accounts in the Torah, he devoted himself completely to the Divine intention. That was his level: he was like a son who loves his father and is ready to give up everything, to sacrifice everything for his father. Why? Because what mattered to him was that his father’s concerns be fulfilled. This is the highest expression of a Jew’s bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Now, again, as we said, seemingly the Alter Rebbe is speaking here about the level of tzaddikim. All this, on the face of it, concerns a level that the Alter Rebbe is describing here.

18:01 An exceedingly high level, the level of tzaddikim. But as the Rebbe explains in many places, since the Alter Rebbe wrote this in Tanya, even though it speaks about lofty levels, a tiny measure, some trace of it, is relevant to every single person. That is why we see that the Rebbe asked these things of chassidim—not on the level of a tzaddik, for whom this is his whole life, but nevertheless, to contemplate it so that we have something of this approach in certain matters. The Rebbe asked this of chassidim too. And this is what the Alter Rebbe says about it in Tanya: Because Moshe Rabbeinu gives every Jew a spark, every Jew has a spark of Moshe Rabbeinu, as it says, “An extension of Moshe exists in every generation to illuminate them.” In other words, Moshe Rabbeinu shines within every soul, within every Jew. So because Moshe Rabbeinu was on this level, every Jew has a connection to it as well. Again, of course, not in any way comparable to Moshe, but every Jew can have at least a drop in the ocean, some small element of this approach. That is why we see the Rebbe speaking to us about these things throughout his sichos. We see so often in the Rebbe’s teachings that the Rebbe asks chassidim not to think about ourselves, not to think about our own spiritual or material needs, but to devote ourselves to the glory of Hashem. That applies to everything a person does, to so many things the Rebbe asks of us: that a young man go on mivtzoim, help another Jew do a mitzvah, go on shlichus. All kinds of things in which you give up something of your own—not only materially, but spiritually too. The whole concept of shlichus that the Rebbe built is founded on this passage in Tanya: you put yourself aside, your material and spiritual concerns and everything of your own, for the sake of Hashem’s glory, to make a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms. Or, in the language the Rebbe used in later years, to bring

20:02 Moshiach. It is the same idea: what do you live for? What is the purpose of your life? “All the days of your life”—to bring about the days of Moshiach. There is the well-known sicha of 5752, Parshas Shemos. In that Dvar Malchus, the Rebbe spoke at length about the Mishnah in which Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah says, “I am like a seventy-year-old man, yet I did not merit to have the Exodus from Egypt mentioned at night.” There, Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah taught that even when a Jew is in the darkness of exile, “at night,” the entire purpose of his life is the Exodus from Egypt. “All the days of your life”—to bring about the days of Moshiach: the purpose of life is to bring about the days of Moshiach. And this is really the foundation of being a nasi. Elazar ben Azaryah was, after all, a nasi. So the Rebbe explains in that sicha that this is what a nasi does. The nasi raises the Jews, his students, his chassidim, to this level, so that their whole lives are devoted to bringing about the days of Moshiach. This is really another way of expressing what is written here in Tanya: to be on the level of bnei aliyah, where one does not think about oneself; one thinks about Hakadosh Boruch Hu, about the goal, about Hashem’s purpose. Now, at the end of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe concludes with a passage in parentheses that connects the two explanations. We said there are two explanations of bnei aliyah. Bnei aliyah are those who elevate evil and transform it into good, turning darkness into light—that is one aspect. That is the tzaddik’s “turn away from evil.” And then there is the aspect of “do good”: he works to make a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower realms. Seemingly these are two different explanations, but here the Alter Rebbe connects them again. As we discussed regarding this chapter, at the beginning of the chapter too, the Alter Rebbe connects the two descriptions of a tzaddik: the tzaddik’s hatred of evil is related to the degree of his love for Hashem. His hatred corresponds to that love. So here too,

21:59 when the Alter Rebbe speaks in positive terms about bnei aliyah, the two explanations of bnei aliyah are connected to each other. The Alter Rebbe says, “And both accord with one another.” The two explanations are connected; they go hand in hand. This means that they come together through the birurim, the refinement of what comes from nogah. When the tzaddik works to elevate evil, to elevate what is being refined, to raise the spark within the material things, within the evil and the darkness of the world—when he does the work of birurim to raise a spark from nogah—he raises mayin nukvin. This is the concept of mayin nukvin. In Chassidus there is a discussion, a concept, called mayin nukvin and mayin duchrin. Mayin nukvin is the pleasure of the recipient, and mayin duchrin is the pleasure of the giver. Water, in general, represents pleasure. We learned that in chapter 1. That is the idea of water: water itself represents pleasure. Mayin nukvin is the recipient’s pleasure. The recipient takes pleasure; he shows that he is interested, that he wants it, that he is thirsty for it. This is called the recipient’s pleasure. This is called raising mayin nukvin. The recipient shows his pleasure, his desire, and through this he raises something from below upward—an awakening from below. Then there is mayin duchrin, the giver’s pleasure: what the giver bestows with pleasure. So he says that doing birurim is called mayin nukvin. Raising the spark from below upward is mayin nukvin, and this brings about supernal unions above, drawing down mayin duchrin. It draws down the pleasure, the water, the flow from above—from mayin duchrin, from the male, the giver. These are the acts of kindness within each and every mitzvah. This is a revelation of kindness. We said: What kindness? The mitzvos are acts of kindness, intended to draw down kindness, to draw down revelations, to draw down G-dliness—the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah. In other words, it is to draw down further revelations from above. Within each and every mitzvah

23:57 of the 248 positive mitzvos, all of which are expressions of kindness, each mitzvah is a form of kindness, a form of revelation of G-dliness and of mayin duchrin. That is, it draws down the holiness of His G-dliness from above to below, to be clothed in the lower realms, as explained elsewhere. So this is the union of Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah: drawing down the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu from above to below. This is the drawing down of kindness brought about by every mitzvah—to draw G-dliness into the world and make a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms. It follows, then, that the two explanations come together. It begins from below upward, raising sparks from below: refining evil, turning darkness into light. Through this, he brings about an ascent from below upward, which then brings about a drawing down from above to below—to bring a revelation of G-dliness here below in the world, to unite Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His Shechinah, and to make a dwelling place for Him in the lower realms. That is the entire purpose of the tzaddik’s life.