The 117th "cheder" in the palace of Hayom Yom.
Sunday, 11 Tishrei, 5704.
Shiurim: Chumash, Vezot Haberachah, first parashah with Rashi's commentary. We begin again to study Parashat Vezot Haberachah, since this Shabbat falls on Yom Kippur and Parashat Vezot Haberachah was not read; therefore, in the coming week, until Simchat Torah, we study Parashat Vezot Haberachah again.
Tehillim, for the 11th day of the month, from chapter 60 through chapter 65. The takanah of the three chapters no longer applies, having already been completed on Yom Kippur.
Tanya: On this day we begin studying Iggeret 21 of Iggeret HaKodesh. We start from the opening words of the letter following the greeting, and the daily portion concludes on page 266 with the words "bechol yom."
The daily saying before us is a brief Torah thought of the Alter Rebbe. It is related as follows: "On the night following Yom Kippur of 5556, in Liozna, the Alter Rebbe delivered a Torah teaching in public." The Alter Rebbe shared a Torah insight with all the chassidim, "as was customary then — short discourses." In that period the Alter Rebbe's maamarim were called "short maamarim," and here too the maamar is exceedingly brief, containing depth and many details, yet stated concisely.
What was the Torah teaching about? "On the verse 'Who is like Hashem our God whenever we call upon Him'". The complete verse, in the book of Devarim (chapter 4, verse 7), states: "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it as Hashem our God is whenever we call upon Him". The verse contains the expression "to Him" twice — in the first part, "that has God so near to it (elav)", and in the second part, "as Hashem our God is whenever we call upon Him (elav)". And in the saying there will be a reference to both instances of "elav" in the verse.
First he brings the words of Chazal. In the Sifri, Chazal explain the word "eilav" (to Him): "eilav — to Him and not to His attributes." When a Jew prays and calls out to the Holy One, blessed be He, the calling must be "eilav" — to Him and not to His attributes; you do not pray to the sefirah of chesed or to the sefirah of gevurah, but rather "eilav." Who is "eilav," and what is the level of "eilav"?
We will first explain orally, and afterward we will read the text itself. In the saying we will see several approaches to understanding the meaning of the expression: the first approach — the kabbalistic explanation of the Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, in his work "Pardes Rimonim"; the second explanation — the chassidic explanation of the Baal Shem Tov; and the third explanation — the inner elucidation of the Alter Rebbe, which is what he said in that Torah teaching.
How does the Ramak explain "to Him and not to His attributes"? The Ramak says that in each of the attributes, in each of the sefirot, every sefirah has its own designation and definition — chesed, gevurah, tiferet, and so on — yet within each of them the light shines. He brings the well-known analogy for this: clear water flowing through vessels that contain different colors appears colored, as though there were here blue, red, and green water; but in truth the water in itself is clear and colorless, and only appears colored. So too the Holy One, blessed be He, acts by means of the sefirot, by means of the attributes — chesed, gevurah, and the like — but to whom do you turn? Not to the attribute and not to the sefirah, but to Him, to the light that shines within the attribute. This is the explanation of the Ramak in the Pardes.
The Baal Shem Tov offered a deeper interpretation: "to Him" does not refer merely to the level called the light that shines within the vessels, but rather, says the Baal Shem Tov, that in the vessel itself there is also divine vitality, apart from the light that shines within it. The vessel in and of itself, the physical thing in and of itself, likewise contains divine vitality — a proof of this being the statement that when the light withdraws from the vessels they remain "like a body without a soul"; that is, they do not vanish, and they possess, as it were, a source of their own. If so, within the vessels themselves, within the sefirot themselves, there shines Godliness as it is abstract and unlimited, and precisely by virtue of the unlimited it has the power to express itself also in the physical, also in the matter of the vessels. This is the Baal Shem Tov's interpretation of "to Him and not to His attributes."
The Alter Rebbe, however, explains what he calls "the simple meaning" — the inner meaning of all the preceding interpretations: the inner meaning of the Pardes and the inner meaning of the Baal Shem Tov (the Baal Shem Tov speaks of the Divine vitality within the vessels themselves, while the Pardes speaks of the lights that illuminate within the vessels). The Alter Rebbe says that all of this — where does it come from? From His Essence, blessed be He, which is beyond any description and any expression. As the Tzemach Tzedek puts it in "Derech Mitzvosecha," in the root of the mitzvah of prayer, that the Kabbalists contemplate this Name or that, and one of the Kabbalists said: "I pray with the awareness of this infant" — I pray like an infant; for when an infant says "Baruch atah Hashem" or "Elokeinu" or any other Name, what is he thinking of? Of His Essence, blessed be He; he is not thinking of levels. And this is the innermost dimension of everything. This is a summary of the root of the views that will appear here.
Now let us read the words of the saying. On the verse "Who is like Hashem our G-d whenever we call upon Him — upon Him and not upon His attributes," it states: "The 'Pardes' says: 'Upon Him' refers to the lights that become enclothed within the vessels of the Ten Sefirot of Atzilut" — the Pardes (this is the work of the Ramak, "Pardes Rimonim") says that the reference is to the abstract light that becomes enclothed within the vessels of the Ten Sefirot of Atzilut. This is the meaning of "upon Him and not upon His attributes."
"The Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, says: 'Eilav' refers to the Elokus that is within the keilim of the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus" — the Baal Shem Tov adds, according to the teachings of Chassidus, a deeper point, and says: this is not the ohros that illuminate within the keilim, but rather the Elokus within the keilim in and of themselves, which comes from the infinite Divine light that can express itself even in something physical, even in the matter of the keilim.
And then the Alter Rebbe comes and offers his interpretation — "the simple meaning is". And what is the simple meaning, that is, the inner core of all the preceding interpretations? He says it in Yiddish: "'to Him' — the Essence of the Ein Sof that is within one's very self-awareness — which comes through the simple faith — of every simple Jew" — the reference is to the Essence of the Ein Sof, which is present within every Jew in a simple manner, in self-awareness; that is, his soul in its innermost core feels this with simple faith. A Jew speaks directly to the very Essence of the Creator, without entering into these levels.
"And this is 'near to Him,' and 'whenever we call upon Him' — the Essence of the Ein Sof and the essence of the soul." Through this it becomes understood why the verse states "to Him" twice — "for what nation is so great, that has G-d so near to it," and afterward "whenever we call upon Him." And what are these two expressions? "Near to Him" and "whenever we call upon Him": here we have "to Him" twice — the Essence of the Ein Sof and the essence of the soul; the essence of the soul is connected to the Essence of the Creator, and this operates both from above to below and from below to above: there is the nearness of the Holy One, blessed be He, to the Jew, and there is, from below to above, the drawing-near of the soul to G-dliness.
He concludes: "prayer with simple faith." When a Jew prays to Hashem with simple faith, without even grasping all the categories and levels, this "joins the very essence of the soul with the Essence of the Ein Sof" — through his prayer with simple faith, the Jew unites the very inner core of his soul with the Essence of the Ein Sof. And when this finds expression in such a manner, then "the Essence of the Ein Sof" is what "will be the Healer of the sick and the Blesser of the years" — when he asks in the Shemoneh Esreh prayer that the Holy One, blessed be He, be the Healer of the sick and the Blesser of the years; the very simplest Jew, what lies within him in simplicity? Who will bring healing to the sick and who will bless his livelihood — everything comes from the Essence of the Ein Sof, without his contemplating at all any of the lofty levels of which the Pardes and the Baal Shem Tov spoke.
In the explanation the Rebbe gave at the farbrengen, it is clarified why the Alter Rebbe said this Torah teaching specifically on the night following Yom Kippur. Seemingly, we are speaking of such lofty levels — so why was this not said on Yom Kippur itself? The explanation is that since the Etzem expresses itself in actual physicality, therefore it was specifically on the night following Yom Kippur — when one says to a Jew "Go, eat your bread with joy," after he had been entirely immersed in lofty matters, now go and eat physical things — that specifically in this physicality the Alter Rebbe said this Torah teaching. For the Etzem, the essence of the Ein Sof light, expresses itself specifically in the lowest and most physical matters.