Before we move on to chapter 39, let us review the closing section of chapter 38, since it bears directly on what follows.
We learned that there are two elements in the fulfillment of a mitzvah. There is the act itself, the practical, technical side, and that is the main thing, for it is there that the Divine will is carried out and «hamaaseh hu haikar», the deed is what counts. Alongside it, kavanah (intention) is also required, and kavanah is like the soul of the mitzvah, as in the well known expression that a prayer, a blessing or a mitzvah without kavanah is like a body without a soul. Clearly there has to be kavanah as well, a soul as well.
Two levels of kavanah: neshamas hachai and neshamas hamedaber
Neshamas hachai (the soul of the animal): whatever a living creature does flows from its nature. Its inclinations and emotions are stamped into it (teva, nature, from a root meaning fixed and stamped, as the Gemara says, «a coin that the Sages minted»), and it cannot change them.
Neshamas hamedaber (the soul of the speaker): a human being possesses intellect and choice, «bedaas yedaber», he speaks with knowledge. His power of intellect allows him not to act merely as his fixed, ingrained nature dictates, but to rule over that nature and decide to do even the opposite of it: to do what ought to be done. That is the greatness of one who has the soul of a medaber.
And how does this play out in avodas Hashem?
Kavanah on the level of neshamas hachai: a Jew arouses in his heart the hidden, natural love that exists in every single Jew.
Kavanah on the level of neshamas hamedaber: a Jew contemplates the greatness of Hashem, and out of that hisbonenus he generates an emotion that is deep, lofty and incomparably broader.
«Changing his natural middos» and «changing the nature of his middos»
Let us recall once more the saying we cited in the name of the Alter Rebbe, which will also help us understand the chapter ahead. In working on one's middos (emotional traits) there are two approaches.
Changing his natural middos: a person whose nature inclines toward love, toward giving, toward kindness and patience, and left to itself that nature gets invested in worldly matters. His avodah is to redirect those natural middos away from worldly matters and toward matters of kedushah. This is very important work, but the person remains who he is, with his own character and nature; he is simply steering it in the right direction.
Changing the nature of his middos: doing what needs to be done, whether or not it suits his character. If his nature is chesed and the moment calls for gevurah, he acts with gevurah; and if his nature is gevurah and the moment calls for chesed, he acts with chesed. This is a higher avodah, in which he changes the very nature of his middos.
The difference between the two approaches is the difference between the animal and the speaker. One who serves on the level of neshamas hachai stays within his nature, only that he aims it in the right direction, the Divine and Torah direction. One who serves on the level of neshamas hamedaber changes the nature of his middos and does not do only what lies within his nature. It may certainly be hard for him to do things that run against the nature he was born with, but the difficulty does not sway him, because he does what ought to be done. We expanded on all of this in the previous shiurim on chapter 38.
And from here to chapter 39
Continuing this theme, the Alter Rebbe adds: «ומפני זה גם כן נקראים המלאכים בשם חיות ובהמות, כדכתיב ופני אריה אל הימין וגו' ופני שור מהשמאל וגו'» (And this is also why the angels are called by the names of beasts and animals, as it is written, the face of a lion on the right, and the face of an ox on the left). In the first chapter of Yechezkel, beholding the supernal Merkavah, the prophet saw lofty angels and called them by these names: «the face of a lion on the right» is the camp of Michoel, «and the face of an ox on the left» is the camp of Gavriel. A lion is a chayah (beast) and an ox is a behemah (animal).
Why are lofty angels called beasts and animals? To underscore that everything an angel does is according to its nature. As it was created, so it acts, and no change whatsoever is possible for it. The camp of Michoel, whose nature is love, remains in love, and yirah (awe) simply does not apply to it; the camp of Gavriel, whose essence is yirah, remains in yirah, and ahavah does not apply to it. It is a stamped, fixed nature.
In the Alter Rebbe's words, the angels are so called «לפי שאינם בעלי בחירה» (because they do not possess free choice). An angel has no bechirah; it is created with a particular task, a particular mission and a particular direction, and it cannot change them. «ויראתם ואהבתם היא טבעית להם» (and their fear and their love are natural to them): the yirah and ahavah of an angel are its very nature, and nothing else is possible, as stated in Raaya Mehemna, Parshas Pinchas. For this reason they are called beasts and animals.
This fits precisely with what we learned at the end of the previous chapter: a Jew who serves Hashem only by revealing what is already ingrained in him, his avodah is called, by way of analogy, neshamas hachai, since the animal is the model of a creature that acts according to its nature.
Why does the Alter Rebbe open with the subject of angels?
Why does the Alter Rebbe devote an entire chapter of Tanya to explaining the matter of angels and the names by which they are called, and further on even to explaining which angels are found in one world and which in another? In the course of the chapter we will learn about the upper worlds, Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and yet the chapter opens with angels. On the face of it this does not fit the purpose of the Tanya. It is not a sefer of Kabbalah and not a sefer of hidden wisdom; it is a sefer built on the verse «ki karov eilecha hadavar meod bepicha uvilvavcha laasoso», for the matter is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it. It is a sefer shel beinonim, a book that comes to teach a person his avodah. When lofty matters do appear in it, they appear in order to clarify and assist in understanding the avodah of a person, and here the style makes it sound as though he has come to speak about the angels themselves.
[A question asked in the shiur: surely the highest level is to serve Hashem naturally and without any personal stake, not for the pleasure or the satisfaction of clinging to Him, but naturally and purely for the purpose itself. Answer: at every level there is something below it and something above it. Indeed, serving Hashem naturally and without personal stake, with the person gaining nothing from it, is a great quality. That was the avodah of the simple folk in the time of the Baal Shem Tov, who did what they did with temimus and simplicity, and we should be so fortunate as to have such temimus and simplicity. But here we are speaking of a person who wants his avodas Hashem to contain feeling and vitality, and within that there are two levels: feeling that comes from his nature, and a Divine feeling that is incomparably loftier. The difference between them is the difference between the world of middos and the world of intellect. The world of middos asks, how am I drawn to this, and the truth of the matter does not interest it; the world of intellect asks, what is correct and what does the matter demand. Obviously avodah from intellect is loftier than avodah from the middos, and of course it depends on the context being discussed.]
The Rebbe's explanation
The Rebbe raises this very question in one of his talks, and gives a fascinating answer. In these lines the Alter Rebbe is addressing two kinds of people:
Those lofty tzaddikim who have managed to reach the arousal of the heart called neshamas hamedaber, which comes as a result of hisbonenus.
And primarily, those simpler people who have not managed, and are not in a position, to reach that level of comprehension, and whose feeling comes from revealing the hidden love in their heart.
Let us begin with the higher level. The Alter Rebbe is telling us that one whose avodah is on the level of neshamas hamedaber, who has succeeded in arousing love through the power of hisbonenus, stands very high indeed, higher than the level of the angels. He mentions the angels here not because he wants to discuss angels, but as an introduction to the next line: «ולכן מעלת הצדיקים גדולה מהם» (and therefore the level of the tzaddikim is greater than theirs). His intent is to speak of the greatness of those Jews who have reached a feeling born of deep understanding. The angel serves Hashem according to its nature, while they serve not merely according to their nature but according to what ought to be, through the power of deep contemplation, and that level is far loftier.
But the greatness of these tzaddikim is not the main concern of the Tanya, which is a sefer shel beinonim, addressed to the majority of people who are not in that league. What, then, does the Alter Rebbe come to say to them? Here the Alter Rebbe tells such Jews something truly wonderful.
We learned in the previous chapter that the feeling is like a soul to the deed, that a deed without feeling is like a body without a soul, and that feeling gives the deed force and vitality. A person who has not managed to arouse a lofty feeling, and for whom it comes from his nature, is liable to sense that his deed is not strong enough, since it was not hisbonenus that aroused him but the natural hidden love in his heart. So the Alter Rebbe comes and tells him: know that this feeling too is very strong and carries great force. You are literally like an angel. Just as the avodah of the angels comes from their nature, so too, if you have succeeded in arousing the natural love within you, you are like an angel, whose force is exceedingly lofty, whose intensity is powerful, and whose avodah never wavers.
This is what the Alter Rebbe is conveying by noting that angels are called beasts and animals. His words are aimed chiefly at those people who stand on the level of «chai», a level that is strong, excellent and good, for this Jewish nature is very powerful, and one who has it is like an angel. [And of course, when angels are spoken of here, the reference is to the holy angels.]
The continuation of the chapter: the abode of souls and the abode of angels
«ולכן מעלת הצדיקים גדולה מהם» (and therefore the level of the tzaddikim is greater than theirs), greater than the angels, and this is because among the four worlds, Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, which we will expand upon be'ezras Hashem in this chapter, the abode of the souls of the tzaddikim is in the world of Beriah, while the abode of the angels is in the world of Yetzirah, and Beriah is loftier than Yetzirah.
In summary: in this portion we reviewed the end of chapter 38, that a mitzvah consists of the deed (the main thing) and kavanah (like a soul to a body), and that within kavanah there are two levels: neshamas hachai, in which a Jew arouses the natural hidden love in his heart, and neshamas hamedaber, in which he generates feeling through contemplating the greatness of Hashem. We also reviewed the two approaches in working on the middos: «changing his natural middos», steering one's nature toward kedushah, as opposed to «changing the nature of his middos», doing what ought to be done even against his nature. From there we moved to the opening of chapter 39: the angels are called beasts and animals («the face of a lion on the right and the face of an ox on the left») because they have no free choice, and their yirah and ahavah are natural to them and do not change. We asked why the Alter Rebbe opens with the subject of angels in a sefer shel beinonim, and brought the Rebbe's explanation that his words are addressed to two kinds of people: to the tzaddikim whose avodah is on the level of neshamas hamedaber, whose level is greater than that of the angels who serve according to their nature; and chiefly to those Jews whose feeling comes from the natural love, to tell them that their avodah too is strong and forceful, for they are like angels. Finally we began the language of the chapter itself, that the level of the tzaddikim is greater than that of the angels because the abode of the souls is in the world of Beriah and the abode of the angels is in the world of Yetzirah.
Here we spoke of this in the language of worlds; further on we will explain the matter in the language of a person's own avodah, where it will come through with far greater clarity.