Tanya Chapter 20
by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Saturday March 13, 2021
Translation and commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash and William Schecter, MD
This draft has neither been edited nor approved by Rabbi Potash
In Chapter 19, The Elter Rebbe taught that the G-dly Soul of every Jew desires to break the material bonds of the body and ascend to its Source even though this will result in the nullification of the material evidence of its existence. The Supernal Wisdom in the G-dly Soul is formless and at the highest spiritual level. Even the transgressors of Israel have the Hidden Love concealed in the recesses of their heart and brain. In their case, their Animal Soul overcomes the control normally exercised by the G-dly Soul. The Hidden Love is asleep but can be aroused by the natural Faith present in each Jew. When asked to become an apostate, the Hidden Love will arouse from its slumber and cause the Jew to return to his roots even to the point of Mesirat Nefesh (sacrifice their lives for the sake of G-d)
The Elter Rebbe begins Chapter 20 by saying: “It is well known that the first two of the Ten Commandments are 1. “I am the Lord thy G-d and 2. There shall be no other G-ds before me” (forbidding idol worship).
Rabbi Potash commented that all of the Children of Israel gathered at the base of Mount Sinai heard these two commandments but the intensity was such that they all fainted and did not here the rest of the commandments given to G-d. Forty days later, on the 17th of Tammuz, Moses descended with the Two Tablets with the entire Ten Commandments engraved upon them, but broke them because of the Sin of the Golden Calf.
The Elter Rebbe continues: these first two commandments actually contain the entire teachings of the Torah. Why? Because the first commandment (I am the Lord thy G-d) contains all 248 positive commandments whereas the second commandment (There shall be no other G-ds before me) includes all 365 negative commandments. This is the reason why we heard only the first two commandments at Mount Sinai from the mouth of G-d (the rest being transmitted by Moses to the Children of Israel and not directly from G-d), because they encompass the entirety of the Torah.
To explain this further, we must recall in brief the very essence of the concept of the Divine as a single entity which brings together (unites) all other entities.
Remember in the last chapter there was an analogy of the G-dly Soul in each Jew to the flame of a candle which ascends leaving the wick. In the process, the energy has left the wick and the physical evidence of the flame has disappeared. So too, the Soul (which contains a G-dly spark, i.e., is part of G-d) desires to leave the corporeal body and ascend to the place from which it came and cleave unto G-d—losing itself in the Divine Light and leaving no trace of its previous physical entity (the body).
And all believe that He is One, that He is the One who existed prior to the creation of the World and that He is the One who created the World. (Shacharit morning Prayer: אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם אתה הוא משנברא כו) and that the process of creating the World absolutely no change in G-d occurred as it is written “I am the Lord, I have not changed” (Malachi 3:6).
Rabbi Potash commented here that our entire world, indeed all the Worlds in the Kabbalistic Cosmology, are infinitesimal compared to G-d and so the creation of these Worlds is so trivial that it could not possibly have changed G-d.
For this world, and in fact all of these supernal worlds, do not cause any change in His oneness and uniqueness by their creation. Just as He was One, Unique and Alone prior to the Creation of the Worlds from nil, so He is One, Unique and Alone after their creation. How is this possible given all the creatures that He has created? The Elter Rebbe answers this question by saying Compared to Him everything else is naught, as if they didn’t exist. Because the creation of all the Worlds, both Upper and Lower, from nil to existence, with their vitalization was such that they will not return to the nil as it was, for it is none other than the Word of G-d and the Breath of His mouth which is invested with them.
For example, just as the Soul of Man, when he speaks one word, this one word alone is insignificant compared to the entirety of the Soul which is speaking. This word is the attribute of the middle garment of the Soul, the power of its word that can speak an infinite number of words but source of the words, thought, is the internal garment from which the words draw their vitality, and, it goes without saying, the Soul draws its essence which is the 10 attributes derived from the 10 Sefirot: Wisdom, Understanding and Knowledge (the three intellectual attributes) and the remaining seven emotional attributes.
Recall from previous chapters that the Elter Rebbe says that the Soul has three “garments”: thought, speech and action”. The external garment is action, the middle garment is speech and the internal garment is thought.
The letters derived from the Ten Attributes are clothed in this speech. Thought also has the attribute of letters, like Speech, but the letters of Thought are more spiritual and refined. They do not have the attribute of letters yet prior to being clothed in the garment of thought. But the 10 attributes (Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, etc.) are the root and source of Thought but they do not have the attribute of letters yet prior to being clothed in the garment of thought.
For example, when any love or delight falls into the heart of man, before it arises from the heart to the brain to stimulate thought and contemplation, it does not yet have the attribute of letters, only simple desire and yearning in the heart for this delightful thing. Similarly, before this desire and delight fell, there was only the amorphous potential in his wisdom, intellect and knowledge which knew that this very thing was delightful, pleasant, good and beautiful desiring to achieve it, and cling to it, such as studying a certain wisdom or eating a certain delicious food. Only after the delight and passionate desire have fallen into his heart, in the power of his Wisdom, his Intellect and his Knowledge, and afterwards returned and ascended from the heart to the brain where it is thought out and contemplated—how to extract the potential of the passionate desire and execute an action to achieve the desired food or study of desired wisdom, then here the attribute of letters in his brain is born. These are the letters of the languages of the world with which each person speaks and contemplates his desires.
What is the Elter Rebbe saying here? Rabbi Potash explains. Remember, of the 10 Sefirot, Chochma, Wisdom, has the highest spiritual energy. This Wisdom is reflected in all the other 9 Sefirot. Last week we learned that the letters of Chochmah can be manipulated חכמה-----כח מה the later, Koach Mah, Power What, meaning potential energy. This flash of insight, desire, passion or whatever is formless. It is just an idea. It flows down through the other attributes until it reaches Malchut (Kingdom), the lowest attribute where much of the Divine Energy is filtered so that the pure Desire within Chochma descends down to our world where it enters the heart of man. If it is a G-dly desire, it is located on the right side of the heart. Here it is clothed in the garment of thought. Once clothed in the garment of thought, this desire acquires the letters and leaves the right side of the heart ascending to the brain where the desire is contemplated and descends back to the heart where the emotional attributes residing in the heart act upon the thought and then it reascends back to the brain where the letters corresponding to all the languages of the world are used to convert the potential of the desire into speech and action in order to achieve it—in whatever language is spoken by the person.
והנה, מודעת זאת לכל, כי מצוות ואזהרת עבודה זרה, שהם שני דיברות הראשונים - "אנכי" ו"לא יהיה לך", הם כללות כל התורה כולה. כי: דיבור "אנכי" כולל כל רמ"ח מצות עשה. ו"לא יהיה לך" כולל כל שס"ה מצות לא תעשה. ולכן שמענו "אנכי" ו"לא יהיה לך" לבד מפי הגבורה, כמאמר רז"ל, מפני שהם כללות התורה כולה. ולבאר היטב ענין זה, צריך להזכיר תחילה בקצרה ענין ומהות אחדותו של הקב"ה, שנקרא יחיד ומיוחד, וכל מאמינים שהוא לבדו הוא, כמו שהיה קודם שנברא העולם ממש שהיה הוא לבדו, וכמו שנאמר (תפילת שחרית): "אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם אתה הוא משנברא כו'", פירוש, הוא ממש בלי שום שינוי, כדכתיב (מלאכי ג ו): "אני ה' לא שניתי", כי עולם הזה, וכן כל העולמות העליונים, אינן פועלים שום שינוי באחדותו יתברך בהבראם מאין ליש, שכמו שהיה הוא לבדו הוא יחיד ומיוחד קודם הבראם, כן הוא לבדו הוא יחיד ומיוחד אחר שבראם, משום ד"כולא קמיה כלא חשיב", וכאין ואפס ממש. כי התהוות כל העולמות, עליונים ותחתונים, מאין ליש וחיותם וקיומם המקיימם שלא יחזרו להיות אין ואפס כשהיה, אינו אלא דבר ה' ורוח פיו יתברך המלובש בהם. ולמשל: כמו בנפש האדם, כשמדבר דבר אחד, שדיבור זה לבדו כלא ממש אפילו לגבי כללות נפשו המדברת, שהוא בחינת לבוש האמצעי שלה, שהוא כח הדיבור שלה, שיכול לדבר דיבורים לאין קץ ותכלית, וכל שכן לגבי בחינת לבוש הפנימי שלה, שהוא המחשבה, שממנה נמשכו הדבורים והיא חיותם, ואין צריך לומר לגבי מהות ועצמות הנפש, שהן עשר בחינותיה הנ"ל - חכמה, בינה, דעת וכו', שמהן נמשכו אותיות מחשבה זו המלובשות בדיבור זה כשמדבר, כי המחשבה היא גם-כן בחינת אותיות כמו הדיבור, רק שהן רוחניות ודקות יותר, אבל עשר בחינות חב"ד כו' הן שורש ומקור המחשבה, ואין בהם בחינת אותיות עדיין קודם שמתלבשות בלבוש המחשבה. למשל, כשנופלת איזו אהבה וחמדה בלבו של אדם, קודם שעולה מהלב אל המוח לחשב ולהרהר בה, אין בה בחינת אותיות עדיין, רק חפץ פשוט וחשיקה בלב אל הדבר ההוא הנחמד אצלו, וכל שכן קודם שנפלה התאוה והחמדה בלבו לאותו דבר, רק היתה בכח חכמתו ושכלו וידיעתו, שהיה נודע אצלו אותו דבר שהוא נחמד ונעים וטוב ויפה להשיגו ולידבק בו, כגון ללמוד איזו חכמה או לאכול איזו מאכל ערב; רק לאחר שכבר נפלה החמדה והתאוה בליבו, בכוח חכמתו ושכלו וידיעתו, ואחר-כך חזרה ועלתה מהלב למוח לחשב ולהרהר בה, איך להוציא תאותו מכח אל הפועל להשיג המאכל או למידת החכמה בפועל, הרי בכאן נולדה בחינת אותיות במוחו, שהן אותיות כלשון עם ועם המדברים והמהרהרים בהם כל ענייני העולם.