Tanya Part 2 Chapter 4
by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash and William Schecter, MD
April 26, 2022
This draft has neither been edited nor approved by Rabbi Potash
Because here it is written that “because the L-rd G-d is the sun and shield”. (Psalms 84:12)
Comment: The exact quotation is:
כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨מֶשׁ וּמָגֵן֮ יְהֹוָ֢ה אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֣ן וְ֭כָבוֹד יִתֵּ֣ן יְהֹוָ֑ה לֹ֥א יִמְנַע־ט֝֗וֹב לַֽהֹלְכִ֥ים בְּתָמִֽים׃ For the LORD God is sun. and shield;
the LORD bestows grace and glory;
He does not withhold His bounty from those who live without blame.
Rabbi Potash commented that the Elter Rebbe is making an analogy between the Tetragrammaton and the sun (that is the Source of Energy) and comparing another Name for G-d—Elohim -- אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים with the shield. What does this mean? The Divine Energy (the Tetragrammaton) is so powerful that it must undergo contraction (Tsimtsum) (by the shield or sheath) in order for creation to occur. Otherwise, all of the created entities and beings would be consumed by the Infinite Power of the Divine which has not undergone contraction. Think of a stepdown transformer which reduces the power of a high voltage line allowing it to be used for domestic purposes.
The Elter Rebbe explains in his own words that this means that the shield is like a sheath for the sun to protect the earth from the powerful solar energy so that the creations can withstand the power of the sun.
Comment: Earth’s atmosphere, including the ozone layer, functions like the shield reducing the power of solar energy.
The Rabbis of the Talmud said in the world to come, G-d will extract the sun from its sheath the evil ones will be judged in it etc.
This passage refers to Malachi 3:18-19 which says:
וְשַׁבְתֶּם֙ וּרְאִיתֶ֔ם בֵּ֥ין צַדִּ֖יק לְרָשָׁ֑ע בֵּ֚ין עֹבֵ֣ד אֱלֹהִ֔ים לַאֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֥א עֲבָדֽוֹ׃ {פ}
And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served God and him who has not served Him.
כִּֽי־הִנֵּ֤ה הַיּוֹם֙ בָּ֔א בֹּעֵ֖ר כַּתַּנּ֑וּר וְהָי֨וּ כׇל־זֵדִ֜ים וְכׇל־עֹשֵׂ֤ה רִשְׁעָה֙ קַ֔שׁ וְלִהַ֨ט אֹתָ֜ם הַיּ֣וֹם הַבָּ֗א אָמַר֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא־יַעֲזֹ֥ב לָהֶ֖ם שֹׁ֥רֶשׁ וְעָנָֽף׃
For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the LORD of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs.
Just as the sheath protects against the sun, so does the name Elohim provide protection from the power of the Tetragrammaton. The Tetragrammaton creates everything from nil bringing everything into existence. The yud serves convert the noun hoveh (הוה - existence) into a verb (יהוה ) making it mean continually creating. The Elter Rebbe now supports this interpretation by citing Rashi’s interpretation of the passage from the book of Job 1:5
וַיְהִ֡י כִּ֣י הִקִּ֩יפוּ֩ יְמֵ֨י הַמִּשְׁתֶּ֜ה וַיִּשְׁלַ֧ח אִיּ֣וֹב וַֽיְקַדְּשֵׁ֗ם וְהִשְׁכִּ֣ים בַּבֹּ֘קֶר֮ וְהֶעֱלָ֣ה עֹלוֹת֮ מִסְפַּ֣ר כֻּלָּם֒ כִּ֚י אָמַ֣ר אִיּ֔וֹב אוּלַי֙ חָטְא֣וּ בָנַ֔י וּבֵרְכ֥וּ אֱלֹהִ֖ים בִּלְבָבָ֑ם כָּ֛כָה יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אִיּ֖וֹב כׇּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃ {פ}
When a round of feast days was over, Job would send word to them to sanctify themselves, and, rising early in the morning, he would make burnt offerings, one for each of them; for Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and blasphemed God in their thoughts.” This is what Job always used to do.
Comment: Stop! What is the Elter Rebbe talking about? We must look at the Hebrew in order to understand. The Tetragrammaton is written as יהוה. Now, let’s drop the י from the beginning of the Tetragrammaton. We now have the word הוה which has several meanings including “being” and “existence”. If we put a י in front of הוה we create the third person singular verb יהוה meaning One who continually brings into existence. Of course, יהוה is also the written form of the Tetragrammaton which we are forbidden to utter. Many people avoid writing יהוה substituting the term “יקוה” or ה׳ to avoid even writing out the Tetragrammaton. The Elter Rebbe is pointing out that the act of creation is not a one-time event but the Divine Spirit must be constantly present. He makes the point that G-d is continually creating by comparing the Tetragrammaton to the verb “One who continually creates”.
The Elter Rebbe supported this concept by quoting Rashi’s explanation of the verb עשה (do) as it appears in the quotation above. By putting a י in front of עשה, forming ,יעשה the meaning is changed to “used to do continually” according to Rashi.
The Elter Rebbe diverged to quote Rashi’s explanation of the passage from Job in order to emphasize that the vitality flows down continually to all G-d’s creations from the utterances of His mouth and His breath (spirit) gives life to them bringing them into existence from nil at each moment because their initial creation in six days was insufficient and they require the continual flow of the Divine Force to maintain their existence as it is written above.
Now the Elter Rebbe quotes a passage in the Siddur:
מְבָרְ֒כִים וּמְשַׁבְּ֒חִים וּמְפָאֲרִים וּמַעֲרִיצִים וּמַקְדִּישִׁים וּמַמְלִיכִים:
and they (the angels) bless, and praise, and glorify, and revere, and sanctify, and proclaim
אֶת שֵׁם הָאֵל הַמֶּֽלֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר וְהַנּוֹרָא קָדוֹשׁ הוּא.
the Name of the Almighty, the King, the Great, the Mighty, the awesome One;
Comment: This passage appears in the first blessing preceding the recitation of the Sh’ma in the Shacharit Service. The Elter Rebbe will now interpret the words Gadol (Great) and Gibor (Mighty—referring to discipline)
The meaning of “the Great” is the attribute of Loving Kindness (Chesed) and the dispersion of the vitality in all the infinite worlds and the creations. The end point is creation from nil to existence and to be established in free loving kindness. This is called Great because it comes from the Greatness of G-d in His Glory and Essence because G-d is Great and His Greatness is beyond measure. Therefore, the vitality and creation also flows from nil to existence to the infinite worlds and creations. The nature of goodness is to do good and here this attribute is the praise of G-d alone for no created being is able to create existence from nil and to give life to it. This attribute is above the intellect of all creations which lack the intellectual power to comprehend this attribute and its ability to create existence from nil and to give life. The creation of existence from nil is an act above the intellect of created beings because it comes from the attributed of G-d’s Greatness. G-d’ Greatness and his attributes are all one simple unified entity as explained in the Zohar “He and His Light are One” (דאיהו וגרמוהי חד). Just as it is beyond the ability of a created entity to understand its Creator, It cannot understand its Creator’s attributes. It is beyond the created entity’s capacity to understand the attribute of G-d’s Greatness which is the ability to create existence from nil and to give it life. As it is written:
כִּֽי־אָמַ֗רְתִּי ע֭וֹלָם חֶ֣סֶד יִבָּנֶ֑ה שָׁמַ֓יִם ׀ תָּכִ֖ן אֱמוּנָתְךָ֣ בָהֶֽם׃ I declare, “Your steadfast love is confirmed forever;
there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.” (Psalm 89:3)
So, really, the created being lacks the ability to understand the attribute of G-d’s Gvurah (discipline) which is the attribute of Tsimtsum (contraction) which prevents the dissemination of the vitality of G-d’s Greatness (with its full power). This allows it to descend and be revealed to the created beings, to give them life and existence with His revelation. Rather G-d is concealed. The vitality is hidden in the body of the created being, as if the created body is the thing itself and is not the result of the dissemination of G-d’s vitality and spirituality. This is similar to the light of the sun which is disseminated rather than being a thing unto itself. Even though in truth the vitality is not a thing unto itself but rather resembles the dissemination of the light from the sun. These are G-d’s Gvurot (Disciplines) which can contract the vitality and spirituality flowing down from the breath of His mouth to conceal it so that it does not nullify the body of the created being in reality. This process is beyond the intellectual comprehension of any created being -- the essence of Tsimtsum and the concealment that will occur even though the body of the created being is created from nil to existence. (Here the attribute of Tsimtsum and concealment of the vitality is called by the name of “vessels” and the vitality itself is called “light”. Just as the vessel conceals its contents so too the attribute of Contraction conceals and hides the light and the flowing vitality. The vessels are the letters whose roots are the five letters מנצפ"ך which are the 5 gvurot which separate the chaos from the sound of the five utterances of the mouth which create the 22 letters.
Comment: There are five letters in Hebrew which have two written forms, one at the beginning and the middle of words and a second at the end of a word. They are:
מ-ם ; נ-ן ; צ-ץ ; פ-ף ; כ-ך
The Elter Rebbe is saying that the vessels containing the Divine Light are in fact the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the root of the remaining 17 letters is the five letters which have the two forms listed above. He does not provide a source for this statement.
The five utterances of the mouth refer to the sounds created by the teeth, lips, palate, tongue and throat.
The root of the 5 Gvurot (disciplines) is the Light of the Crown (בוצינא דקרדוניתא) which is the supernal Gvurah of olden days (the six days of creation) The root of the loving kindnesses is also the Chesed (Loving Kindness) of the six days of creation as is known to the Kabbalists).
Final Comment: The Elter Rebbe is saying that the world was created from Chesed (Loving Kindness) but Gvurah (Discipline) was required to reduce (Tsimtsum) the power of the Divine Energy (Light) through the process of Hishtalshalut (flowing down) to allow the created entities to come into and maintain existence without being consumed by the power of the unfiltered (unsheathed, unshielded) Divine Light.
כי הנה כתיב כי שמש ומגן ה' אלהים פי' מגן הוא נרתק לשמש להגן שיוכלו הבריות לסבלו כמארז"ל לעתיד לבא הקב"ה מוציא חמה מנרתקה רשעים נידונין בה כו' וכמו שהנרתק מגין בעד השמש כך שם אלהים מגין לשם הוי"ה ב"ה דשם הוי"ה פירושו שמהוה את הכל מאין ליש והיו"ד משמשת על הפעולה שהיא בלשון הוה ותמיד כדפרש"י ע"פ ככה יעשה איוב כל הימים והיינו החיות הנשפע בכל רגע ממש בכל הברואים ממוצא פי ה' ורוחו ומהוה אותם מאין ליש בכל רגע כי לא די להם במה שנבראו בששת ימי בראשית להיות קיימים בזה כמ"ש לעיל. והנה בסידור שבחיו של הקב"ה כתיב הגדול הגבור כו' ופי' הגדול היא מדת חסד והתפשטות החיות בכל העולמות וברואים לאין קץ ותכלית להיות ברואים מאין ליש וקיימים בחסד חנם ונקראת גדולה כי באה מגדולתו של הקב"ה בכבודו ובעצמו כי גדול ה' ולגדולתו אין חקר ולכן משפיע ג"כ חיות והתהוות מאין ליש לעולמות וברואים אין קץ שטבע הטוב להטיב והנה כמו שמדה זו היא שבחו של הקב"ה לבדו שאין ביכולת שום נברא לברוא יש מאין ולהחיותו וגם מדה זו היא למעלה מהשכלת כל הברואים והשגתם שאין כח בשכל שום נברא להשכיל ולהשיג מדה זו ויכלתה לברוא יש מאין ולהחיותו כי הבריאה יש מאין הוא דבר שלמעלה משכל הנבראים כי היא ממדת גדולתו של הקב"ה והקב"ה ומדותיו אחדות פשוט כדאיתא בזה"ק דאיהו וגרמוהי חד וכשם שאין ביכולת שום שכל נברא להשיג בוראו כך אינו יכול להשיג מדותיו וכמו שאין ביכולת שום שכל נברא להשיג מדת גדולתו שהיא היכולת לברוא יש מאין ולהחיותו כדכתיב עולם חסד יבנה כך ממש אין ביכלתו להשיג מדת גבורתו של הקב"ה שהיא מדת הצמצום ומניעת התפשטות החיות מגדולתו מלירד ולהתגלות על הנבראים להחיותם ולקיימם בגילוי כ"א בהסתר פנים שהחיות מסתתר בגוף הנברא וכאילו גוף הנברא הוא דבר בפני עצמו ואינו התפשטות החיות והרוחניות כהתפשטות הזיו והאור מהשמש אלא הוא דבר בפני עצמו ואף שבאמת אינו דבר בפני עצמו אלא כמו התפשטות האור מהשמש מכל מקום הן הן גבורותיו של הקדוש ברוך הוא אשר כל יכול לצמצם החיות והרוחניות הנשפע מרוח פיו ולהסתירו שלא יבטל גוף הנברא במציאות וזה אין בשכל שום נברא להשיג מהות הצמצו' וההסתר ושיהיה אעפ"כ גוף הנברא נברא מאין ליש כמו שאין יכולת בשכל שום נברא להשיג מהות הבריאה מאין ליש. [והנה בחי' הצמצום והסתר החיות נקרא בשם כלים והחיות עצמו נקרא בשם אור שכמו שהכלי מכסה על מה שבתוכו כך בחי' הצמצום מכסה ומסתיר האור והחיות השופע והכלים הן הן האותיות ששרשן ה' אותיות מנצפ"ך שהן ה' גבורות המחלקות ומפרידות ההבל והקול בה' מוצאות הפה להתהוות כ"ב אותיות ושרש הה' גבורות הוא בוצינא דקרדוניתא שהיא גבורה עילאה דעתיק יומין ושרש החסדים הוא ג"כ חסד דעתיק יומין כידוע לי"ח: