In the previous section we learned that the entire Torah is contained within the two commandments "Anochi" ("I am the L-rd your G-d") and "Lo yihyeh lecha" ("You shall have no other gods"), which the Jewish people heard "mipi haGevurah," "from the mouth of the Gevurah." Now we need to look closely at that phrase: why did the Sages say "from the mouth of the Gevurah" rather than "from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He," or "from the mouth of Hashem"?
Rashi, too, when he cites this expression, brings support from the verse "Elokim spoke one thing." And as is known, the Name "Elokim" denotes the attribute of judgment, which corresponds to the attribute of gevurah. So what is gevurah doing here?
In a maamar in Likkutei Torah on Parshas Matos, the Alter Rebbe explains the meaning of this term "gevurah." Let us first put it in our own words: the whole Torah is indeed contained in "Anochi" and "Lo yihyeh lecha," but not in a revealed way, rather in an immense tzimtzum, a tremendous contraction and concealment. And the entire concept of tzimtzum belongs to the Name "Elokim" and to the attribute of gevurah, as opposed to the attribute of chesed, whose nature is abundant revelation without limit. Therefore, when we speak of the compression of the entire Torah into these two commandments, the hearing is described as "from the mouth of the Gevurah."
And in the Alter Rebbe's own words in Likkutei Torah: "kol bechinas isgalya", every revealed dimension, both the Oral Torah and Mishneh Torah, "hakol nichlal ba'aseres hadibros, vekulam 'vayedaber Elokim' beSinai, shenitzamtzem Ohr Ein Sof Baruch Hu mibechinas Elokim", all of it is included in the Ten Commandments, and all of them are "and Elokim spoke" at Sinai, in that the Ohr Ein Sof contracted itself through the aspect of Elokim, which is the attribute of tzimtzum, by means of which He compressed all these matters, "ki mipi haGevurah shamanu", "for from the mouth of the Gevurah we heard." So the Alter Rebbe himself points out and explains that the term "gevurah" (or "Elokim") indicates tzimtzum.
In any case, what emerges is that "Anochi" and "Lo yihyeh lecha" include everything, and this connects back to what we learned in the previous chapter: when a Jew faces a test regarding "Anochi" or "Lo yihyeh lecha," that is, regarding faith itself, he is ready to give up his life al kiddush Hashem rather than transgress them. And since we have now explained that these two commandments include the entire Torah, it follows that every single test a person faces is nothing other than a test in something contained within "Anochi" or in something contained within "Lo yihyeh lecha." And if we compress it further: "Anochi" itself includes "Lo yihyeh lecha," and indeed it is all contained in the single letter alef, as was explained. This is the meaning of "because they are the whole Torah in its entirety."
This point is really the heading for the chapters that follow: how to connect every single mitzvah to "Anochi Hashem Elokecha," and to see in every test a question of "Anochi" or "Lo yihyeh lecha."
But this requires explanation. In a person's ordinary consciousness, which is the consciousness of the yetzer hara, these things are kept apart: he believes with complete faith in "Anochi Hashem Elokecha," and at the same time he is struggling with whether to put on tefillin or keep Shabbos, and he sees no contradiction between the two. How is a person to internalize that every single thing written in the Torah is a question of connection to "Anochi," or, G-d forbid, of being severed from it? That is what the coming chapters will address.
In order to make this understood, the Alter Rebbe opens a subject that is among the foundations every Jew must know and internalize, and among the strongest foundations of faith: chapters 20 and 21 of Tanya, which deal with the unity of Hashem, and with a very lofty level of that unity.
To grasp the concepts presented here, we will need to introduce a few points from the next section of Tanya, Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, where a further explanation of this subject appears. The explanation before us is in fact built upon the explanation there, which seemingly we should have learned first. Perhaps this is connected to the fact that the Alter Rebbe originally wanted Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah to be the first part and the opening of the Tanya, with Likkutei Amarim as the second part, as he hints in two places in the introduction to Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah (although I have not found this stated explicitly in this context).
Let us read the Alter Rebbe's words: "ulevaer heitev inyan zeh", "and to explain this matter well," the matter just explained, that every mitzvah is "Anochi Hashem Elokecha" and every transgression is "Lo yihyeh lecha," "tzarich lehazkir techilah bekitzur inyan umahus achduso shel HaKadosh Baruch Hu", "one must first mention briefly the matter and essence of the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He." And why "briefly"? Because he is not coming here to explain the preliminary foundations, such as that the world is not eternal but was certainly created by a divine power, and that there is a Divine providence that gives the world life. These basic matters are known and clear, and once they are clear to a person, he must then understand and have explained to him, at least briefly, the matter and essence of the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He.
"Shenikra yachid umeyuchad", "who is called yachid umeyuchad," singular and unique. The unity of the Holy One, blessed be He, means that He is "yachid umeyuchad." This expression appears in Yalkut Shimoni in a striking form: "The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, everything I created, I created in pairs. Heaven and earth are a pair, sun and moon are a pair, Adam and Chava are a pair, this world and the World to Come are a pair. But My glory is yachid umeyuchad in the world." That is: with Me there are no pairs, I am singular and unique.
This concept has several meanings, on several levels:
The simple level: there is one Creator and not two. The Rambam writes this at the beginning of his work and proves it in a straightforward, logical way.
A higher level: the Creator is not like us. When you see one person, that "one" is composed of many parts, 248 limbs and 365 sinews; everything in the world is composed of elements and details. The Holy One, blessed be He, is yachid umeyuchad, and He is not composed of details that combine to form the divine wholeness.
The depth that chassidus adds, and especially here in Tanya: "yachid" means that He is the only existence, and apart from Him there is nothing at all, no reality whatsoever.
And what does "nothing at all" mean? Here is a whole world in front of us, vast and bustling. The answer is that one must know that this entire world is in essence an absolute zero, and its nothingness is so absolute that relative to the Creator we say that He is yachid. The meaning is not that there is the Holy One, blessed be He, and He also has a world, and He is busy all day dealing with the world and putting it in order. Rather He is yachid, and this world is a zero and a nothing, with no significance whatsoever. That is the meaning of "yachid umeyuchad."
And this needs to be understood. The first two points, that He is one and there is no second, and that He is not composed of parts, can be accepted and grasped, even though the second is more abstract. But the understanding that the world is essentially a zero and a nothing, at that point a person's ego is wounded and he protests: the world stands before us in all its force! And a question arises as well: if there is nothing, why does He need to run the world? All these questions we will learn, with G-d's help, in this chapter, and they will continue into the next one. This is a very fundamental topic, and it contains abstract points, so we will learn it slowly and patiently.
"Vechol maaminim shehu levado Hu", "and all believe that He alone is He." This is a quote from the piyut recited in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: "and all believe that He alone is He." And what does "He alone is He" mean?
The Alter Rebbe continues: "kemo shehayah kodem shenivra ha'olam mamash, shehayah Hu levado", "just as He was before the world was created, literally, when He alone existed." Before the world was created it is obvious that He alone existed, for there was as yet no world. One might think to say: before creation He was indeed alone, but now, after He created the world, even though He is the Creator, He is no longer alone, since there is also a world. To this comes the answer: no. Even after the world was created, everything remains exactly the same. This is "and all believe that He alone is He": that very same "He" that was before the creation of the world remains the very same "He" after the world was created.
And so we say every morning in the text of the prayers, in the passages before "Hodu": "Atah Hu before the world was created, Atah Hu since the world was created." On the face of it there are two superfluous words here; it would have been enough to say "You were before the world was created and You are since the world was created." What does the word "Hu" add? The repetition of "Hu" teaches that it is the very same "He."
There is a parallel to this from something everyone knows, even though it lies entirely on the negative side: "And it was in the days of Achashverosh, he is the Achashverosh." What is being added by that? Rashi and all the commentators explain: the same Achashverosh, wicked from beginning to end, with nothing about him changing. Wherever the word "hu" is emphasized, the intent is to say that it is the same thing and nothing has changed. And, with a thousand distinctions between them, when we speak of the Holy One, blessed be He, and say "Atah Hu before the world was created, Atah Hu since the world was created," the meaning of "Hu" is that nothing has changed. And this emphasis is something we say every single morning.
In summary: in this section we learned why the Sages said "from the mouth of the Gevurah," because the entire Torah was compressed into these two commandments by way of tzimtzum, and tzimtzum is the Name "Elokim" and the attribute of gevurah, as explained in Likkutei Torah on Parshas Matos. From here it follows that every test that comes to a person is a test in "Anochi" or in "Lo yihyeh lecha," and this is the heading of the coming chapters. To that end the Alter Rebbe opens with the foundation of the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He, who is "yachid umeyuchad": not only that He is one and there is no second, and not only that He is not composed of parts, but that He is the only existence, and the entire world is a zero and a nothing relative to Him. This is "and all believe that He alone is He," literally as He was before the creation of the world, with no change at all.
In the next section we will go deeper into the explanation of the unity of Hashem and the questions it raises: how the world stands before us if there is nothing besides Him, and what it means that the Creator underwent no change in creating the world.