Ears to Hear 36 | Tzimtzum Is Not Literal - In the Generation of Redemption

00:00 Speaker 1 Hashem has given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, and ears to hear.

00:08 Speaker 2 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the Temimim, from the World Atah organization.

00:14 Speaker 3 So a Jew needs to reflect. The same Rebbe who told us clear things is telling us clear things now. In other words, those things have not changed at all. We cannot say, G-d forbid, that there could be some change in them. It may be that, on the part of the recipient, there is some concealment, because we see other things that appear to contradict them. But the first thing we need to know is that the tzimtzum is not literal. And the second thing we need to know is that the tzimtzum is not in Him Himself.

00:51 Speaker 2 Shalom aleichem to all the Temimim in Chabad yeshivos throughout the Holy Land and the entire world. We’re now beginning a special program in the Ears to Hear audio series, a program steeped in a spirit of firm hiskashrus to the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach shlita, and in his call to intensify the study of Moshiach in actual practice. In this program we’ll discuss a subject unlike any other: tzimtzum, whether tzimtzum is not literal or is literal. It’s a fascinating subject, rooted in the holy writings of the Arizal and explored in the discussions among the great Kabbalists and the luminaries of Chassidus—particularly Chabad Chassidus, and especially the Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach’s teachings on the subject. Since the subject is somewhat obscure, we want to develop it, hear about it from different angles, and of course hear its practical takeaway for this special time, as we stand before the true and complete Geulah, on the threshold of the days of Moshiach. We’ll hear the Rebbe’s message of Geulah on this subject from Rabbi Menachem Mendel Cohen, a teacher at the yeshiva gedolah in Tzfas. We’ll look at the subject from its beginnings through the present day and understand what it means for us. So first of all, shalom aleichem, Rabbi Cohen.

02:11 Speaker 3 Aleichem shalom. May we merit to see the revelation, literally, in all the worlds and at every level, immediately.

02:20 Speaker 2 Amen, amen. With Hashem’s help. So the time really calls for a discussion of tzimtzum, and there’s certainly something especially significant about it ahead of this year’s Yud Shvat.

02:30 Speaker 3 Yes, especially this year, when we have the Basi Legani maamar of [unclear] and the three maamarim from [unclear]. The Rebbe discusses questions of tzimtzum, a point that, as the Rebbe emphasizes, Chassidus has touched on only sparingly. In the Basi Legani maamar of [unclear], particularly section four, the Rebbe goes into tzimtzum at great length—literal and nonliteral tzimtzum—to explain more deeply the point of “filling without end.” For that, we need to explain what concealment means: concealment in the light, concealment in the infinite light. That is why the Rebbe goes into tzimtzum.

03:31 Speaker 2 Beyond the Temimim sitting and studying section [unclear] of the Frierdiker Rebbe’s Basi Legani maamar and the maamar from [unclear], we’d like to understand this more deeply and thoroughly—not just for this year’s Basi Legani maamarim, but to know what the concept means in general. So first we’d like an overview. Where did the whole subject of tzimtzum come from? Where was it first introduced? Where was it first heard? And how did the subject of tzimtzum lead to the question of whether it is literal or not literal? Gradually, we’ll also get to the differences between those views and the evidence for the position Chassidus takes. But first, speaking as Temimim who are only now entering the world of Chassidus—and even those who have been in it for quite a few years may not know the subject thoroughly—we’d like to hear where it all began and understand what these ideas mean.

04:25 Speaker 3 Actually, once you’ve studied the subject, especially in Chassidus, it’s easy to go back and see that the concept of tzimtzum appears in the Rambam’s very first halachah: “The foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a First Being.” And the commentators explain what “there is” means. The Rambam continues: “He brings every being into existence, and all beings, from heaven and earth and everything between them, exist only through the truth of His existence.” To understand that deeply—or even on a simple level—without studying Chassidus and the subject of tzimtzum, without Chassidus’s explanation that tzimtzum is not literal, it’s very hard to understand the Rambam. On the one hand, the Rambam tells us there are all these created beings and One who brings them all into existence. On the other hand, we must know that “there is a First Being.” So seemingly, in more ways than one, if there is a First Being in the literal sense, how can there be other beings? He brings every being into existence. That seems to mean there was a change in the reality of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: at first there was only Him, and then He brought them into existence, so now there is Him and there are the other beings. Without the explanation of literal versus nonliteral tzimtzum, this is very hard to explain. The Rebbe also discusses this point. But once we have the Alter Rebbe’s revelation that tzimtzum is not literal, this halachah reads very smoothly. So when we ask what tzimtzum means, the Rambam presents it.

06:12 Speaker 2 So we could say the earliest source is not the Arizal; it’s actually the Rambam.

06:15 Speaker 3 Once you’ve studied the Arizal as Chassidus explains him.

06:18 Speaker 2 Mm-hmm.

06:18 Speaker 3 Then the Rebbe says that it is, in fact, written in the Rambam. Incidentally, it’s also in the Rambam’s final halachah.

06:23 Speaker 2 That’s the Rebbe’s approach throughout: finding a source in the revealed dimension of Torah for everything in Chassidus.

06:27 Speaker 3 Right. The Rebbe touches on this point several times. But once you see it here, it’s hard to understand how you could read it any other way. And the Rambam calls it “the foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom.” One more point.

06:44 Speaker 2 Okay, and where do we go from there?

06:46 Speaker 3 From there—before we turn to the first discussion of it in the Arizal’s writings—the Alter Rebbe also addresses it in several places in Tanya, even before Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah. He discusses it in chapters 21 and 22, and goes into it at length in chapter 48. And in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, you could say, the Alter Rebbe sets out the foundation and also details the other views. So, in chapter seven of Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, and in Igeres Hakodesh—

07:19 Speaker 2 In other words, when the Alter Rebbe brought it up in chapters 21, 22, and 48, he presented nonliteral tzimtzum directly. But in Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah, he also explained the other side and why we specifically hold that tzimtzum is not literal.

07:31 Speaker 3 To explain the concept of sovev kol almin—that we can’t say Hakadosh Boruch Hu is confined to any place, or that He simply surrounds the world—he explains concealment. That really stems from the concept of tzimtzum in general, and nonliteral tzimtzum in particular. But the first to address this point—and he is mentioned in this year’s Basi Legani maamarim—is Reb Chaim Vital, a student of the Arizal. He writes that before the emanations were emanated, “the simple supernal light filled all existence. There was no empty place, no space or void.” He continues: “When it arose in His simple will to create worlds and emanate the emanations”—meaning the existence of the worlds, down to a physical human being—“the Ein Sof contracted Himself at this point, the central point within the light itself, and contracted the light, withdrawing it; and then an empty space remained.” He is addressing the point that what we now call the empty space had been filled, and for worlds to have a place to exist, tzimtzum was necessary.

08:52 Speaker 4 So it was, as it were, a necessary step for creating physical worlds.

08:55 Speaker 3 Yes, it’s a step that had to take place for there to be room for the worlds to exist. After all, the goal wasn’t a spiritual world; it was a physical world. Now, to understand this point: already in the period after Reb Chaim Vital, his students disagreed about how to understand this tzimtzum.

09:21 Speaker 4 In other words, the teachings of the Arizal and Reb Chaim Vital did not clarify whether tzimtzum is literal or nonliteral. They established that there is a tzimtzum.

09:28 Speaker 3 There’s no extended discussion of the concept, no discussion of whether it’s literal or not. But if we want to sum up this point, we need look no further than an explicit letter from the Rebbe. As you know, the letter appears right at the beginning of Likkutei Sichos, volume 6, Parshas Bereishis. There are several letters there that address—later it’s detailed in—in Likkutei Sichos it isn’t detailed. There was a chossid named Reb Yerachmiel Binyamin Son[?]. He was one of the Temimim of Lubavitch. He was deeply connected to the Frierdiker Rebbe, and very connected to the Rebbe. After he left Russia, he spent some time in England. He was in contact with R—with, with Reb Shlomo of Ponevezh. As is known, Reb Shlomo of Ponevezh was there for a period, and he formed a very warm, lasting connection with the renowned mashgiach, Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler quotes Chassidus extensively in his books.

10:42 Speaker 4 Even though he was a student of the Vilna Gaon’s school, so to speak—meaning, he followed that path.

10:47 Speaker 3 He comes from the school of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter. He really was one of the great figures of the Mussar movement. He grew up among chassidim—it’s worth noting that he grew up among chassidim from the time he was a small child—but he investigated this very thoroughly. He says himself that he studied the subject for a very long time. That’s what he writes in his book, and he also talks about it a great deal in his teachings. Because this point about tzimtzum—one could say that this is also implied by the Rebbe’s letter—sorry, by the Alter Rebbe’s letter. The Alter Rebbe’s own letter. He notes that this was the point of disagreement between the Vilna Gaon and Chassidus.

11:29 Speaker 4 We really need to establish that as the first concept before we get into everything else.

11:33 Speaker 3 I was glad to hear that. I was glad, but not long ago I met a misnaged and asked him about something he was doing. He said to me, “What? What do you want? We hold that tzimtzum is literal.”

11:43 Speaker 4 It’s interesting that they are aware of it, because we’re always learning Chassidus, so we keep emphasizing to ourselves that tzimtzum is not literal. But when do they get to these subjects? Maybe during a Mussar study session, there—

11:54 Speaker 3 No, but when they want to justify certain transgressions they commit.

11:57 Speaker 4 Yes.

11:58 Speaker 3 That was the point behind what he was doing. I said to him, “Were you eating?” So he told me, “What do you want? I hold that tzimtzum is literal.” Tzimtzum is literal as he understood it, in the school of the Vilna Gaon: Hakadosh Boruch Hu cannot be in filthy places. It’s very difficult to say that Hakadosh Boruch Hu, G-d forbid, is present in very low places—we should also see what the Rebbe says about that. But then, in any case, there is no G-dliness there on the level of G-dliness.

12:23 Speaker 4 As though that would be putting the king’s head into a privy.

12:26 Speaker 3 As he explains it, there is [unclear] there, and so on. But, but, but in general, this was the Vilna Gaon’s point: he found it difficult to accept the words of the Baal Shem Tov and Chassidus. He took this so far that even when the Alter Rebbe’s books were brought to him, he held that they must not be studied and that they should even be burned, G-d forbid. The Alter Rebbe himself writes these things. So the Vilna Gaon, as the Rebbe writes and as we can see, was a kabbalist. He wrote books on Kabbalah. He says that someone who does not study Kabbalah causes the Geulah to be delayed. But on this point, it seems he understood it as a continuation of various negative approaches that had existed before the Baal Shem Tov. That’s how he understood it.

13:17 Speaker 4 A supposed innovation in Judaism. So that’s why he rejected it.

13:20 Speaker 3 And as an aside, it’s clear that if the Alter Rebbe had met him and explained the matter to him, there’s no doubt he would have come to understand and agree, and the dispute would have ended.

13:35 Speaker 4 The Rabbi is saying that on the basis of the supposition that Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin accepted it.

13:39 Speaker 3 Last month, and especially in Ikkar HaIkkarim, we saw how the kelipah fought to prevent that meeting from taking place.

13:45 Speaker 4 Maybe not everyone knows what happened with Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. The Rabbi should tell us.

13:48 Speaker 3 So we’ll see now in this letter. What I’m saying is that this letter was written by the Rebbe to Reb Yerachmiel Binyamin Son[?], who wrote to the Rebbe that Rabbi... had told him he was in contact with Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler. Rabbi Eliyahu’s aim, in fact, was to explain—and this is what he writes—that there is no disagreement between the Gaon of Vilna and the Alter Rebbe, or the Baal Shem Tov in general. Essentially, they are both saying the same thing; only the explanation differs. And the Rebbe immediately—

14:26 Speaker 4 That the Vilna Gaon also holds that tzimtzum is literal?

14:29 Speaker 3 Yes.

14:30 Speaker 4 Okay.

14:31 Speaker 3 Wh-why would one say that? The Vilna Gaon also understands tzimtzum to be literal.

14:35 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

14:35 Speaker 3 The Rebbe rejects that immediately.

14:37 Speaker 4 Meaning, the Rebbe says that yes, there is a disagreement, and...

14:40 Speaker 3 He presents the letter and what was written: “Now, the tzimtzum, which is one with everything...” [unclear] says that all the approaches on this lead to the same place. “I was most surprised...” [unclear]. He doesn’t elaborate, but the point the Rebbe sums up so wonderfully is why one should say that there are, in fact, four approaches here. There is the approach that tzimtzum is literal, even in Atzilus. They take the words of Rabbi Chaim Vital literally. The first approach is that tzimtzum is literal—an actual withdrawal—even in Atzilus.

15:18 Speaker 4 Hakadosh Boruch Hu left certain places in the world.

15:20 Speaker 3 Yes, there are places. The world as a whole cannot even accommodate the concept of Atzilus.

15:24 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

15:25 Speaker 3 There is a second approach: tzimtzum is literal, but only in the light.

15:31 Speaker 4 In the Essence, of course, there was no tzimtzum.

15:32 Speaker 3 There was no tzimtzum in the Essence, and the Essence remained, but the tzimtzum was only in the light. There is a third approach—which, incidentally, is Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin’s approach—that tzimtzum is not literal, but it applies to the Essence as well. Meaning, from the standpoint of the Essence, the Essence is also present, but it is not revealed.

15:52 Speaker 4 But then there was no tzimtzum. There was no tzimtzum, neither in the light nor in the Essence?

15:56 Speaker 3 The tzimtzum is not literal, but the tzimtzum affected even the Essence, so to speak.

16:02 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

16:03 Speaker 3 And there is the approach of Chassidus, that tzimtzum is not literal and applies only to the—only, only to the light. Meaning, the Vilna Gaon held like the first approach.

16:15 Speaker 4 That the tzimtzum is both in the light and in the Essence.

16:17 Speaker 3 In the Essence too. It emerges from several places that, if I’m not mistaken, Rabbi Yonasan Eibeshitz held like the second approach. Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin—in this letter, the Rebbe says, “It appears that Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin saw Chabad works, particularly the Tanya, and was influenced by them.” Look at what the Rebbe wrote during his doctoral studies in Paris: “Although I do not know whether there is conclusive proof of this.”

16:47 Speaker 4 Meaning, the Rebbe’s supposition, so to speak, is that Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin encountered the Tanya, and that’s what led him a step beyond the Vilna Gaon’s approach.

16:56 Speaker 3 You could say he disagreed completely with his teacher. It’s really not the same as Chassidus, but he disagreed completely with his teacher. Interestingly, at a farbrengen, the Rebbe spoke about this point wonderfully. It’s very hard to cover it in a few minutes, but there the Rebbe says it without—without—without the reservation he had expressed earlier.

17:20 Speaker 4 Maybe when the Rebbe said it during his doctoral studies, it was before he became Rebbe, so he was still uncertain. After he became Rebbe, he could state it as—

17:26 Speaker 3 But, but in any case.

17:29 Speaker 4 Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin encountered the Tanya.

17:31 Speaker 3 That’s clear. The Rebbe cites there that Chassidus influenced him, and so on. So in that sicha, the Rebbe no longer expresses any doubt. But Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin also explains that one must say this. And, in general, the disagreement—

17:47 Speaker 4 That’s the third approach, and the fourth approach is the Alter Rebbe’s.

17:50 Speaker 3 Yes, the Alter Rebbe’s. Interestingly, the approach of Chassidus—the Alter Rebbe is, in fact, revealing and explaining the Baal Shem Tov’s approach, which is the approach of the Arizal. Because, as an aside, one could say that the Gaon of Vilna argues that not everything in the Arizal’s writings was actually received by the Arizal from Eliyahu Hanavi. That’s a point in its own right.

18:32 Speaker 4 So it’s not far-fetched that the Vilna Gaon did not simply follow what was written.

18:37 Speaker 3 He also has considerable doubts about what is written—whether it was recorded correctly. That is mentioned in the Alter Rebbe’s letter as well.

18:43 Speaker 4 The Baal Shem Tov’s perspective—with that, you have...

18:45 Speaker 3 Yes, every word of the Arizal—every line he wrote—is the absolute truth, because these are the words of Eliyahu Hanavi. Now, even among the Arizal’s students, we already find this disagreement. It’s interesting to note that there is an early book called Shomer Emunim. There’s also a Shomer Emunim from a later generation, by a dear Jew from Jerusalem—but here we mean the earlier Shomer Emunim. Its author was a student of a student of the Arizal, and he too explains explicitly that the tzimtzum is not literal, and that the tzimtzum applies only to the light. He brings strong proofs, and even his teacher, who disagreed with him, gave an approbation to the book. But he says that we must say it this way; otherwise, there would be many questions about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. He does not, however, explain how both things can be true. On the one hand, there is a world, and the world conceals G-dliness so thoroughly that a person can, G-d forbid, reach a state of denying Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And yet we say that there is no change whatsoever in G-dliness, no change in the Divine.

20:06 Speaker 4 Even in a house of idol worship, He is there.

20:08 Speaker 3 Yes, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present there and shines there—only He does not shine in a way visible to the eye, to our eyes. That is the tzimtzum. It applies only to the light, is not literal, and involves no change. Chassidus comes to explain this at length, placing great emphasis on the fact that these things do not contradict each other. There are, seemingly, greatness and might. There is greatness and there is might, and both come from Hakadosh Boruch Hu together. The Rebbe also touches on this in our Basi Legani maamar: the point that extends “above, above without end” and “below, below without limit.” Above and below mean revelation and concealment. When you bring the two together, you understand that they really do not contradict each other. To our eyes, we truly do not see G-dliness, because there was a tzimtzum. But because the tzimtzum is not literal, from His own perspective—from the perspective of G-dliness, of the Divine—there is absolutely no change. The change is only in the concealment, so that we feel as though there is no G-dliness, so that we can love Hakadosh Boruch Hu, so that there can be a physical world, and so on. The concealment can be so great that it can even lead to states that are the very opposite of His Name. But from the perspective of the light, there is no change. What the holy Zohar says is literally true: there is no change whatsoever.

21:34 Speaker 4 Not just from the perspective of the Source of light—from the perspective of the light.

21:36 Speaker 3 Yes, from the perspective of the Source of light, of the Source of light.

21:39 Speaker 4 According to the Alter Rebbe, it is not affected at all, in essence.

21:41 Speaker 3 Yes.

21:41 Speaker 4 Not affected at all.

21:42 Speaker 3 Not affected at all, G-d forbid.

21:43 Speaker 4 The light. The light is affected by the tzimtzum, but—

21:47 Speaker 3 The tzimtzum itself is not literal.

21:49 Speaker 4 Okay, so if I’m trying to formulate a definition here, to give the Temimim the point in one sentence, could we say that any change here is in those receiving, not in the One giving?

21:59 Speaker 3 Yes, clearly. And it says so in Tanya.

22:01 Speaker 4 Good. So perhaps another definition, a heading we could give it, is: the tzimtzum takes the form of concealment, not withdrawal.

22:11 Speaker 3 Correct.

22:11 Speaker 4 What does that mean? How do we develop that definition?

22:15 Speaker 3 When we say—and this is what all the proofs the Rebbe brings, including in our Basi Legani maamar, show—that when a teacher wants to impart a point to a student, he conceals that point within himself to make room for the student to build up the understanding himself. That is how he imparts it to the student, but nothing has ever changed in the teacher himself.

22:41 Speaker 4 In other words, his wisdom has not left him.

22:43 Speaker 3 His wisdom has not left him. And when the student receives wisdom from the teacher, he understands that the teacher is making room for the student’s own existence so that he can teach him. That is, so to speak, “below, below without limit” and “above, above without end.” But from the perspective of the Source of light—from the perspective of the teacher—there is no change.

23:08 Speaker 4 And if you were to say “withdrawal,” that would mean a change in the One giving.

23:11 Speaker 3 If I say the withdrawal is literal, then G-dliness, on the level of the Divine, has truly disappeared.

23:22 Speaker 4 So with this introduction—with everything you’ve given us in this special program so far—as a Tamim encountering the question of whether tzimtzum is literal or not, can I now grasp the point? Is this the basic understanding I need to take with me, or is there more to explain?

23:38 Speaker 3 There is a great deal more to explain about each approach.

23:41 Speaker 4 Let’s talk about the fundamentals.

23:43 Speaker 3 The fundamentals—yes, these are the fundamentals. But there is also a great deal of wisdom behind each one.

23:52 Speaker 4 Let me ask, though: if I go to Bnei Brak now and speak with [unclear], or walk into the Ponevezh yeshiva—would the definitions I have let me discuss the subject with someone who understands the question of whether tzimtzum is literal or not?

24:07 Speaker 3 But—

24:07 Speaker 4 What main definitions do I need to know to make the case for the Chassidus view that it is not literal?

24:15 Speaker 3 First, we need to look at what the Alter Rebbe discusses at length in Tanya: the verse, “I, Hashem, have not changed,” and what the holy Zohar says, “There is no place devoid of Him.” If we read those words as they are, without dressing them up, there is no explanation other than that the tzimtzum is not literal and applies only to the light.

24:40 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

24:42 Speaker 3 As an aside, we should mention something the Rebbe brings—one could say he dropped a bombshell with those words of Torah. The Rebbe Rashab asked the Rebbe, saying that he had never quite understood the approach of those who held that the tzimtzum is literal. And then the Rebbe says, “To me, that approach is actually very understandable.” This also relates closely to [unclear], where you explain that the tzimtzum comes to prevent the relationship of cause and effect.

25:09 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm. In other words, the Rebbe says that the literal-tzimtzum approach has—

25:13 Speaker 3 It makes sense.

25:14 Speaker 4 It’s easier to understand, let’s put it that way.

25:15 Speaker 3 Intellectually, it is much easier to understand.

25:16 Speaker 4 Where did you see that...?

25:17 Speaker 3 It’s there in the sicha, in that same place.

25:20 Speaker 4 In connection with maamar three as well.

25:22 Speaker 3 Yes.

25:22 Speaker 4 It says that, seemingly, it is easier and more understandable to explain tzimtzum as literal.

25:27 Speaker 3 It is easier to explain, because the light does descend from level to level until a physical reality comes into being in this world, and within the physical, the body descends further still. But the Rebbe brings a very powerful point. It is very hard to decide. Yet once the Alter Rebbe has explained it this way, then indeed—

25:48 Speaker 4 That is the truth.

25:48 Speaker 3 That is the truth. And it is not only that the Alter Rebbe says so; the Alter Rebbe received this as a tradition from his teacher [unclear]. But when we are speaking of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, of levels where He is omnipotent, then from the perspective of Atzmus, things could also be different. There could be a literal tzimtzum and still be a world.

26:08 Speaker 4 There are those who—

26:08 Speaker 3 But what? Why?

26:09 Speaker 4 Who did hold that way.

26:10 Speaker 3 They held that way, but in practice it is not so, because this is what the Alter Rebbe received. And the Alter Rebbe did not merely receive it; he also brought it down into deep analysis and understanding. But we must not forget that we are speaking about points where there is no limitation of any kind. There is no limitation. Even two things that look opposite to us today can be brought together. But once we have received the Torah, and the Torah says, “I, Hashem, have not changed,” and “There is no place devoid of Him,” then to understand how these statements fit together—as the Alter Rebbe says—if I explain that the tzimtzum applies only to the light, not to the Source, and is not literal, the pieces fit together much better. So when we come to a Jew who does not study Chassidus, who has not yet been touched by the light of Chassidus, and ask him what it means that “You are the same before the world was created, and You are the same after the world was created”—after all, there is “You,” and there is the world.

27:24 Speaker 4 How does that fit together?

27:25 Speaker 3 You look at yourself; you touch your hands and your feet; you feel that you exist. Even if you are on a level where you serve Hashem perfectly and are utterly nullified to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, you cannot ignore your own existence when you feel it. So what does “I, Hashem, have not changed” mean? What does “You are the same before the world was created, and You are the same after the world was created” mean? Only You, only You? There is You, and there is me. There is You, and there is the chair I’m sitting on. Only when we study Chassidus and understand the concept of tzimtzum—that tzimtzum is not literal—can I understand that the world’s existence is real. This is what the Rebbe explains at length in the first Basi Legani maamar: the world’s existence is real, a genuine existence. I do not have to deny its existence in order to say that there is only Hakadosh Boruch Hu.

28:22 Speaker 4 The Rebbe said it’s not as though he has no teeth.

28:24 Speaker 3 That he is not missing teeth. So I can understand this once I understand that the tzimtzum is not literal and applies only to the light.

28:32 Speaker 4 In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is present in my own existence and in the chair.

28:35 Speaker 3 Because my existence—the chair and the entire reality of the world—is G-dliness. So what’s the difference?

28:41 Speaker 4 That the G-dliness is concealed.

28:42 Speaker 3 Right?

28:42 Speaker 4 Yes.

28:43 Speaker 3 And that’s why I can feel the chair and feel myself. But in truth, it’s G-dliness. And that’s the meaning of “I, Hashem, have not changed.” That’s the foundation. Yes, that’s the foundation of emunah, and the principal foundation of the unity of Hashem.

28:58 Speaker 4 And “there is no place devoid of Him”—does that go further, or is it along the same lines?

29:01 Speaker 3 It’s the same idea. “There is no place devoid of Him.” Now, those who didn’t hold this way explained it differently: that “there is no place devoid of Him” doesn’t mean of Him Himself, but of His providence.

29:13 Speaker 4 In other words, like a homeowner who is above the world and watches over it from above.

29:16 Speaker 3 Yes, watches over it from above, like a king sitting in his room who sees and senses—

29:23 Speaker 4 What’s happening in the courtyard, but isn’t there.

29:25 Speaker 3 Yes. But once you learn the concept of the unity of Hashem, that everything is one, [unclear]—and even the way the unity of Hashem is explained in the holy Zohar—it’s very hard to understand how, on the one hand, “Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One,” everything is one, while on the other hand, tzimtzum is literal. That’s why the question of tzimtzum not being literal, and applying only to the light, is one of the central topics in Chassidus.

29:59 Speaker 4 In other words, if you don’t tell me that tzimtzum isn’t literal, and that Hakadosh Boruch Hu—if, so to speak, according to the view of literal tzimtzum, Hakadosh Boruch Hu is not present in filthy places and so on—that could leave a person feeling that Hakadosh Boruch Hu isn’t everywhere, and certainly not in my filthy places. Then that sense of His presence can’t take a person to the deeper places within himself at all.

30:22 Speaker 3 Hakadosh Boruch Hu as infinite light. Yes. And that’s why that sense of His presence—

30:27 Speaker 4 So the demand, the revelation of Chassidus, is both a revelation and a demand.

30:31 Speaker 3 Right. And that’s why something is demanded of us, too: our davening has to look different, because the idea of standing before the King takes on an entirely different dimension. When fulfilling a mitzvah, we see the G-dliness within the mitzvah differently. So, really, this follows directly from the point that tzimtzum isn’t literal. And that’s essentially the point guiding us in this year’s maamarim, because the Rebbe wants to explain the idea of the tzimtzum above. You can sum up the tzimtzum above as the point that tzimtzum isn’t literal; it applies only to the light. Because, in truth, the greatest revelation of memalei, filling without end, is not concealment at all. It leads us to the greatest revelation. So it’s true that with memalei there’s concealment after concealment, but that’s concealment for the recipient. For there to be a recipient with an existence of its own, there has to be concealment after concealment. Now, there are places in Chassidus that say it a little differently from what we’re learning this year: sovev is revelation and—sorry—sovev is concealment and memalei is revelation. But that turns on this point: the created being has to come to feel its own existence, to feel that the world is a physical world with a beginning and an end.

32:12 Speaker 4 So, Rabbi Kahn, when we understand this whole idea so precisely and in such detail, it really gives us a very broad, well-grounded understanding of [unclear], of the idea of literal tzimtzum and why, specifically, it isn’t literal. As we began to discuss, how does this actually play out in serving Hashem, in more detail? In other words, what’s the difference between a Jew who serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu with a literal understanding of tzimtzum and a Jew who lives with Chassidus’s approach that tzimtzum isn’t literal? How does this come down to the details, [unclear]? Where does it enter into serving Hashem?

32:52 Speaker 3 Of course, like everything in Chassidus, it requires what we call study and effort—avodah. It’s not enough just to learn it; we have to bring it into the heart, to contemplate the point. To contemplate that this is how it is, and not otherwise. But we also have to understand that this is the path that leads us to pure service of Hashem: when I do a mitzvah, I understand why—with what—I’m doing the mitzvah. But I think we need look no further than the continuation of the explanation I mentioned.

33:28 Speaker 4 Part 27.

33:29 Speaker 3 Part 27. So the Rebbe apparently brings it there for that same chossid, Reb Yerachmiel Binyamin [unclear]. This is already a letter from [unclear]: “Your honor surely remembers your letter to me concerning tzimtzum.”

33:46 Speaker 4 Fourteen years earlier.

33:47 Speaker 3 “[Unclear].” Frightening words. “And at every moment, right there with him.” In other words, at any given moment a person should contemplate this: the Alter Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, the Arizal, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai are there with him, each in his gathering of sages. A gathering of sages meant sitting with a small group of students. Rabbi Akiva in his gathering of sages, discussing the workings of the Divine Chariot, as the Gemara says. The Kohen Gadol as he stands in the Holy of Holies, and so on. Our master Moshe Rabbeinu, peace be upon him, at the moment of the Giving of the Torah—surely he had no sense of his own significance or independent existence whatsoever. In other words, at that point he was completely connected to G-dliness. He is together with him now—

34:34 Speaker 4 That’s generally known.

34:35 Speaker 3 And then Chassidus came and ruled that tzimtzum applies only to the light. The tzimtzum is only in you. The tzimtzum is in you, the created being—in you—and not, G-d forbid, in His essence. Even the tzimtzum in you isn’t literal, and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is right here with you, just as He is in the Holy of Holies above, at the moment of the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, in the World of Atzilus, in the infinite worlds, as He was before the first tzimtzum. These are words. In other words, when a Jew contemplates this point, the very same Essence that was present at the Giving of the Torah is present when I say the morning blessings. What’s the difference? The recipient, the created being, feels it less, doesn’t see it, doesn’t experience it. And I think this is the point we need today, as the Rebbe brings in the maamar—in fact, the Rebbe brings it in the maamar Basi Legani 5708. Moshe Rabbeinu is here. The soul of Eretz Yisroel is here. What’s missing is the body. Prophecy is here. There is no change in prophecy itself between the time of the first Beis Hamikdash and 5781. The difference is in the recipients: today we need a vessel in which that very same light can be revealed. But the light is here. In other words, there is no tzimtzum in the holy thing called prophecy, or in Moshe Rabbeinu. When the Rebbe comes and says that the Geulah is here, the Geulah is here. What’s missing is the final touch that will let us feel the Geulah that is here—to sense in our physical bodies that this is the light. Because the tzimtzum is in the light. But we have to remember that it isn’t literal.

36:23 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

36:24 Speaker 3 In other words, even as far as the body is concerned, if the Rebbe says the Geulah is here, it is here. But we still need what the Rebbe called “opening our eyes.” Opening our eyes means grasping that the tzimtzum doesn’t effect a real change. And that’s the point of Basi Legani: we look forward to what will come through our hard work in the darkness of galus. We have this quality called netzach, for which the greatest treasures are expended. Through our work in galus, we have to internalize this and not be swayed by the darkness of galus. And the darkness of galus, so to speak—as the Rebbe brings in the maamar—the greater the darkness, the greater we understand the revelation to be, because it fills without end. So we serve Hakadosh Boruch Hu in a way that leaves us only needing to open our eyes. Because if the Rebbe says the Geulah is here, it is here.

37:27 Speaker 4 So this whole concept of tzimtzum not being literal leads us to this period, when we’re on the threshold of the Geulah. And our program deals with matters of Geulah and Moshiach: seeing how the whole point that tzimtzum isn’t literal leads us to the service of Hashem of the days of Moshiach. Because what the Rebbe asks of us is not to see galus as galus, but to see how it’s part of the process of Geulah. As the Rebbe explains in his sichos, it all began at the very start of creation, when [unclear], and everything is already here and already exists. It’s just that there is always a descent for the sake of an ascent, and [unclear], and there are things that, outwardly, don’t appear that way—they look like galus. But if you hold that tzimtzum isn’t literal, you can recognize that we are actually in a state of Geulah. That’s essentially what the Rebbe wants to say.

38:15 Speaker 3 And you could explain that this is why, quite simply, the revelation began in the time of the Arizal. I saw—because it’s known that the Rebbe always says that the revelation of Moshiach began in the time of the Arizal. But I saw something interesting worth mentioning. In yeshiva I saw a book by a student of the Munkatcher Rebbe. I believe it was Orach Chayim Veshalom.

38:38 Speaker 4 Mm-hmm.

38:38 Speaker 3 The Munkatcher Rebbe, you know, was the Rebbe in—

38:40 Speaker 4 Kahn, for the Jews of Munkatch.

38:42 Speaker 3 Yes, in your history, in—

38:45 Speaker 4 In the programs.

38:45 Speaker 3 On the programs, they mentioned him a lot. A very, very, very interesting Jew—fascinating, even—someone who brought different worlds together. But in the additions to his book, his student attests to something remarkable: “My teacher and Rebbe would not say in bentching, ‘May the Merciful One grant us the days of Moshiach.’ He would say that we have already been in the days of Moshiach since the time of the Arizal.” That’s how he—

39:13 Speaker 4 Who?

39:13 Speaker 3 The Munkatcher.

39:14 Speaker 4 Which book?

39:15 Speaker 3 Orach Chaim VeShalom, I believe, in the additions there. “My teacher and Rebbe” maintained that since we have already been in the days of Moshiach from the time of the Arizal, we don’t say “may He grant us”; we have already been granted the days of Moshiach. Now, the Munkatcher was, at heart, a man of halachah. His grandson, too, wrote books on halachah, and he fought over every last detail of halachah.

39:37 Speaker 4 Reb Menachem [unclear].

39:38 Speaker 3 Yes, Reb Menachem [unclear].

39:40 Speaker 4 Mm, yes.

39:41 Speaker 3 So he also wrote books on halachah, but he also studied Kabbalah and dealt with many other things. It’s not... So one can say that this concept of tzimtzum—the first to reveal the concept that leads us to what the Baal Shem Tov, and then the Rebbe, bring out—there’s no doubt that it really lets us at least sense and understand the revelation of G-dliness that will be in the time of Moshiach.

40:09 Speaker 4 Mm. Essentially, it gives you the ability—and, in a way, raises the demand—to live in a world whose outward signs are still signs of galus, while you are a Jew for whom “it’s already Moshiach now.” The demand to—

40:23 Speaker 3 You mentioned the word “ability.” So that’s really the revelation of the light of [unclear] Geulah.

40:28 Speaker 4 As a result.

40:29 Speaker 3 Yes, that ability is a new teaching of the Alter Rebbe. The concept of ability, as the Tzemach Tzedek brings it. So yes, the concept of ability, which also explains the words of the Zohar and the whole concept of tzimtzum. It’s also found in [unclear].

40:45 Speaker 4 “Do all that is in your ability”—that’s part of our ability. It’s not—

40:48 Speaker 3 Okay, good—that’s abilities. So the Rebbe really sees the ability within us, hidden by the concealment of tzimtzum, and he comes and says—as the Rebbe often puts it—“You can; you don’t want to.” It’s hard to say that, because who today doesn’t want to see the Geulah already? But truly wanting it means, first of all, meeting the Rebbe’s demands in every area, particularly for the Temimim, who are on the Rebbe’s wings. That is, a person really just needs to bring himself, to give himself over, and he sees that he is truly lifted higher and higher, and the Rebbe helps him. Giving himself over means investing himself in Chassidus, in avodah of davening, and in Nigleh and halachah. He simply puts himself into it. Once he does, it’s as the Rebbe says: the light is already present among the Temimim. The Rebbe just comes and tells you to connect your body to it: come to the study sessions and make use of them. Then you’ll really see the connection. For one person it’s a little harder, for another it’s less hard, but among the Temimim the light is present, because they are called the soldiers of Beis Dovid, and it is specifically on them that the attribute of netzach is expended. Those who are already occupied with other ranks—officers, commanders and chiefs of staff—that attribute of netzach is not found with them. That’s the point the Rebbe emphasizes in the maamar [unclear]: the soldiers are the ones on the front line. The word there is always “armies.” The name Tzvaos was revealed specifically in connection with an army, with the soldiers—not the chiefs of staff. So may it be Hashem’s will that we merit to see the Rebbe’s revelation immediately, right now.

42:40 Speaker 4 Amen.

42:41 Speaker 3 And then we’ll look at the whole concept of tzimtzum from above, because everything will look different. And the Rebbe will take us out of galus immediately, right now, and redeem us with joy and gladness of heart.

42:55 Speaker 4 Amen. Amen. As we approach the end, Rabbi Kahn, before you leave the program, there are quite a few sichos in which the Rebbe spoke about going out on the Rebbe’s campaigns and bringing the Rebbe’s light—and the Rebbe’s lights—to the world at large, in all the work of the Rebbe’s campaigns. Sometimes we meet resistance from the world to what the Rebbe says. In several sichos, the Rebbe explains that when you know tzimtzum is not literal, you know the resistance isn’t real resistance, and through all of that you can move forward and act fully in everything that’s required. As you know, on this program we always like to hear something of our guest’s personal life as well. So when you were in yeshivah gedolah at Toras Emes, in your first, second and third years there, back in those years, before [unclear], what the Rebbe was saying often reached unfriendly ears, and perhaps even led to more difficult situations. How did you, as Temimim, approach bringing the Rebbe’s words to everyone in a genuine, sincere way, with the understanding that tzimtzum is not literal? Did it work, or did you get burned?

44:17 Speaker 3 Well, first of all, um—

44:19 Speaker 4 More personally. On a personal level.

44:21 Speaker 3 It’s very hard to say that back then I knew what literal or nonliteral tzimtzum meant. Generally, a Tomim who, in his simplicity, doesn’t know all that much—tzimtzum hasn’t affected him so much, because he—

44:37 Speaker 4 He acts, he acts in a way that he later discovers, in hindsight, reflects the fact that it isn’t literal.

44:39 Speaker 3 He doesn’t know any differently until he starts getting confused. But there’s no doubt that the concept of tzimtzum in avodah, particularly for someone who meets people who understand things differently and serve Hashem differently—he needs to know the story the Rebbe often brings about the Tzemach Tzedek, who cried—sorry, about the Rebbe Rashab, who cried because he wanted to see G-dliness. He wanted to see G-dliness. That is, he wanted to see G-dliness without tzimtzum. The Tzemach Tzedek told him, “When a Jew is ninety-nine years old, he circumcises himself.” The story is well known. But the point the Rebbe brings in volume [unclear] is: what, in fact, was the Tzemach Tzedek answering him? The Rebbe also brings this in Dvar Malchus. What kind of answer would it be to say, “You’re not ninety-nine, and you’re not having a bris at that age, so what are you crying for? There’s nothing to be done”? No. He was telling him what circumcision means: there is a foreskin covering things over. If you truly remove your foreskin, you’ll be able to see G-dliness. And then the Rebbe applies this to how you educate a child. You teach a child: don’t be daunted by the world’s foreskin. You meet someone who opposes you; you encounter something that opposes you. Don’t be daunted. Remove the foreskin. What does it mean to remove the foreskin? Keep going.

46:00 Speaker 4 It isn’t literal.

46:01 Speaker 3 Tzimtzum isn’t literal. Keep going. You really will see G-dliness.

46:05 Speaker 4 Mm. So what did you manage to accomplish in Jerusalem?

46:08 Speaker 3 Baruch Hashem, there were many, many Tanya classes. And an interesting story from 5751 comes to mind.

46:18 Speaker 4 Was that your first year in yeshivah gedolah?

46:19 Speaker 3 No, 5751 was when I was in yeshivah ketanah. But since I also live—meaning my parents, may they be well, live in that area—besides distributing Dvar Malchus and the Rebbe’s sichos, I remember a really fascinating story. At the Chabad shul, naturally, since many people lived nearby, including non-Chabad people and even people who were strongly opposed, they would come to the shul. There was one Jew who was opposed and would speak out and shout. His name was Mendel [unclear]. I think he had a kollel or gave a shiur [unclear]; he was an important Jew. And in Shikun Chabad there was a very great Jew named Reb Nachum Rabinowitz.

47:12 Speaker 4 Mm.

47:13 Speaker 3 He knew very well how to answer them, and they didn’t exactly want to fall into his hands. He also had an observant eye. One Friday, when he came to the mikveh, he noticed that this Jew had a Likkutei Sichos—a sicha of the Rebbe—in the pocket of his suit or frock coat. They would always put out all the sichos early on Friday, or on Thursday night.

47:40 Speaker 4 By then there was already Dvar Malchus.

47:41 Speaker 3 I think there was.

47:43 Speaker 4 Mm.

47:44 Speaker 3 He decided not to say anything to him right away, but to keep an eye on him. He thought maybe he was taking it to throw it out. The following Friday, he put one out again and watched. He saw a sicha of the Rebbe go into the man’s pocket. This happened three or four times, and then he confronted him: “So you’re learning the Rebbe’s sichos? You’re learning the Rebbe’s sichos?” The man begged him not to tell anyone, because they would throw him out. “Then what are you—what are you playing at?” “I’ll tell you the truth. I had a difficult question. I don’t remember the details, but I had a serious grievance against Hakadosh Boruch Hu, against the way He runs the world. It gave me no peace. It got to the point where I would do a mitzvah but feel no connection to it.” How did he put it? “I make Kiddush, but I feel no connection at all to my family. I don’t understand what it means. I’m just going through the motions. I came to shul for Minchah on Shabbos, and there was a sicha of the Rebbe lying there. I opened it, and right before my eyes was the very question that had been troubling me and causing me doubts. The Rebbe raises the question, analyzes it, and answers it. The Rebbe gave me back my entire Yiddishkeit.” In other words, someone leaves a sicha of the Rebbe somewhere and thinks, “No one’s interested. No one picks it up or looks at it.” No. You have to do what you need to do. There may be concealment, or what looks like concealment to you. You do what you need to do, and leave it to Hakadosh Boruch Hu to determine how it will reach someone and be revealed.

49:42 Speaker 5 But if your approach is that tzimtzum is not literal, things will generally work out as they should. And Rabbi, to close the program: we’ve spoken about tzimtzum not being literal in relation to living with the days of Moshiach, as you explained at length, and about how to spread the Rebbe’s teachings in general and the teachings about the Geulah in particular. Is there something specific to clarify about applying that approach to the Rebbe’s announcement of the Geulah, to “Yechi,” and to our approach to these matters? Because suddenly, so to speak, people adopted a literal view of tzimtzum here. They said, “Perhaps there really is something literal here, and perhaps we do need to take a step back.” How should we relate to that? Ultimately, we need to call things by their name. Let’s speak specifically about the Rebbe’s announcement of the Geulah.

50:35 Speaker 3 I think it’s very clear, especially in light of the letter where the Rebbe discusses this concept. When we learn that tzimtzum is not literal, then if we believe that—in the Rebbe’s view, I’ll put it that way—there is no tzimtzum, the word of Hashem in his mouth is not subject to tzimtzum, G-d forbid. The Rebbe explains that Chassidus teaches us that the very same Atzmus Who was present at the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and Moshe Rabbeinu, are present now as well. So a Jew needs to reflect: the same Rebbe who told us these things clearly is telling us these things clearly. The words themselves have not changed at all. We cannot say, G-d forbid, that the message could have changed in some way. Perhaps there is some tzimtzum on the part of the recipient, because we see other things that appear contradictory to us. But first, we must know that tzimtzum is not literal. Second, we must know that tzimtzum does not affect Atzmus. So as far as the essence is concerned, as far as the word of Hashem conveyed through His emissaries, the prophets, is concerned, nothing can change. This is especially true of a prophecy that brings good news to the Jewish people. No change can affect it, G-d forbid. As the Rebbe points out—what am I saying, from the halachos? The Rebbe brings the fact that no change is possible. So the words mean exactly what they say. When we don’t see it, we continue to believe, to learn, and to live with it. On the contrary, we are called upon to do the difficult work of understanding, more and more, that the concealment contains within it something much higher. And as the Rebbe said, when the Geulah comes in the plainest sense, we will merit to see it openly.

52:42 Speaker 6 Amen. Thank you, Rabbi Kahn, for expanding on and analyzing this whole concept. For many Temimim, and even for many others, this can serve as a starting point for understanding the whole subject of whether tzimtzum is literal or not. With Hashem’s help, may we merit to live with this and to see, in actuality and openly, the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, redeem us.

53:04 Speaker 3 It’s worth knowing that in the letters I mentioned, the Rebbe also cites all the sources in Chassidus that discuss this.

53:11 Speaker 6 So people should look them up and study them.

53:11 Speaker 3 Anyone who wants to explore it further can do so, because this really is just a drop in the ocean. It’s a deep and broad subject, but it can answer a great many questions that come up in the study of it.

53:26 Speaker 6 Thank you, Rabbi Kahn.

53:27 Speaker 3 Thank you. [unclear]

53:29 Speaker 6 Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Va’ed.

53:34 Speaker 7 Ears to Hear. Audio programs for the students of the Temimim from the worldwide At”H, and other programs. Dial *6358. Yechi Adoneinu Moreinu VeRabbeinu Melech HaMoshiach Leolam Va’ed.