We have arrived at chapter 41 of Tanya, on page 56a (page 111). This chapter introduces something genuinely new relative to everything we have learned until now, so before we enter the text itself let us preface a point or two. In the previous chapters we learned how important it is that the performance of mitzvos and the study of Torah be accompanied by feeling. Within feeling itself there are two lines: the line of the right and the line of the left, the emotion of love and the emotion of awe, ahavas Hashem and yiras Hashem.
In chapter 4 of Tanya it was explained (and one of the Rishonim writes the same in his commentary on the Rambam) that, broadly speaking, the mitzvos divide into two groups: mitzvos asei, active commandments in which a person is asked to do something, and mitzvos lo saaseh, passive commandments whose whole content is refraining. Yirah is the root required for the mitzvos lo saaseh, and ahavah is the root required for the mitzvos asei. This also makes plain sense: when a person loves someone, the emphasis is on doing things for him; when a person is in awe of someone, the emphasis is on holding back, on not doing anything that goes against him. And so it is in the relationship between a Jew and the Holy One, blessed be He.
Here the Alter Rebbe comes to teach something new: yiras Shomayim is so central and so vital to a life of Yiddishkeit that it is needed not only for matters of «turn away from evil» and for the mitzvos lo saaseh, but equally for the fulfillment of mitzvos asei: putting on tefillin, a tallis, a mezuzah, giving tzedakah, and also for the study of Torah. For the fulfillment to be genuine, it must be accompanied by yiras Shomayim. In this chapter we will see the explanation of why yirah is so essential.
It is worth prefacing that in the collection of thousands of letters the Rebbe wrote to Jews who turned to him with their questions, there are dozens of replies on the most varied subjects, spiritual questions, how to overcome different difficulties, and even matters touching on bodily health, in which the Rebbe directs the person to study chapter 41 of Tanya. For example, a Jew who wrote that he is invited to lecture in various places and sometimes feels dread in front of an audience, and did not know how to overcome it.
That directive refers in particular to the first page before us, up to the second line from the top on the reverse side of the page, ending with the word «hamelech». This is a passage of the first importance, and simply learning it is not enough: contemplating it, thinking it through and becoming absorbed in it strengthens a Jew in almost every area connected to avodas Hashem, and even in physical matters. Many chassidim know these lines by heart, word for word, children too, and repeat them every day and at every opportunity. Here lies the foundation on which the entire rest of the chapter is built.
Let us learn the chapter from within:
«ברם צריך להיות לזכרון תמיד ראשית העבודה ועיקרה ושרשה» - «However, one must always keep in mind the beginning of the service, its essence and its root.» The word «beram» means «but»: despite everything explained until now, a person must constantly remember what the beginning of avodas Hashem is, what its essence is, and what its root is. As is the way of Tanya, every word is precise, and especially here, where the Alter Rebbe uses three different expressions. What does each one add beyond the others?
«The beginning of the service» - this is the start, the opening, and with this one sets out on the road. But had he written only «beginning», one might have thought that it suffices for the start, and that once we have moved further along there is no need to keep remembering it, since further down the road there are other pieces of advice and other directions in avodas Hashem.
«And its essence» - this is the ikar, the main thing. When there is an ikar and a tafel, as we find in the laws of brachos, where one who eats a primary food alongside a secondary food recites the blessing on the primary and thereby exempts the secondary, it is because the ikar contains within it all the other matters. So too here: this is not a matter that belongs only to the beginning. Even when a person reaches stage two, three and four, he must always remember that this is the ikar.
«And its root» - this expression adds something wonderful. In a building, the house stands on the foundation, and the foundation is the main thing: without it there is no house, even the topmost floor cannot stand on its own without being connected to it, and if the foundation is shaky everything is liable to collapse. But the foundation is buried in the ground and is not visible, and someone on the second, third or tenth floor, even on the first floor, does not see it, and seemingly has no connection with it. A tree is different. Although the roots lie deep in the earth, the leaf at the very top receives its life from the root through a living, constant connection, and without it there would be no leaf, no fruit, nothing at all.
So this is not only the ikar but also the root: there is not a single detail in avodas Hashem, from beginning to end and throughout all one hundred and twenty years, large detail or small, central or marginal, that does not have to be connected to the root. We have here something rooted that accompanies a person at all times, and that is why the Alter Rebbe chose all three expressions: beginning, essence and root.
What, then, is this thing that is so important that without it there is no progress in anything at all?
«כי אף שהיראה היא שרש לסור מרע ואהבה לעשות טוב» - «For although yirah is the root of «turn away from evil» and ahavah of «do good».» As we already learned at the beginning of Tanya, yiras Shomayim is the root for matters of «turn away from evil», and ahavas Hashem is the root for matters of «do good». Were we to leave it at that, one might think that yirah is needed only for «turn away from evil», while for «do good» it is enough to have a person with no yiras Shomayim at all who fulfills the mitzvah because it suits him, because he enjoys it and loves the thing, and the absence of yirah does not get in his way.
«אעפ"כ לא די לעורר האהבה לבדה לועשה טוב» - «nevertheless, it is not enough to arouse love alone for «do good».» In matters of «do good» one cannot suffice with love alone and say: I will arouse my love for the Holy One, blessed be He, and my love for the mitzvah, and I will perform it.
«ולפחות צריך לעורר תחלה היראה הטבעית המסותרת בלב כל ישראל שלא למרוד במלך מלכי המלכים הקב"ה כנ"ל, שתהא בהתגלות לבו» - «and at the very least one must first arouse the natural fear hidden in the heart of every Jew, not to rebel against the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, as explained above, so that it be revealed in his heart.» Ideally a person should possess an inner, genuine yirah, but at the very least he must first arouse the natural yirah. In the heart of every Jew, in the innermost part of his soul, there is a natural yiras Shomayim, as was explained in chapter 18, that it is an inheritance from our forefathers, a red line he will not cross. It does not have to be created anew; it is only hidden. If he does not arouse it, it will remain buried and concealed and will not be revealed at all, and therefore he must arouse it until it is «revealed in his heart», until he actually feels it.
This yirah works in both directions: not only fear of transgressing a prohibition, but also fear of failing to fulfill a mitzvah. A person is incapable of not doing the Creator's will, just as he is incapable of transgressing it. For both «turn away from evil» and «do good», he must first arouse yirah so that it is revealed in his heart.
In summary: in this section we learned the novel teaching of chapter 41: although chapter 4 explained that yirah is the root of «turn away from evil» and ahavah the root of «do good», love alone is not sufficient for the fulfillment of mitzvos asei and for Torah study, and one must first arouse the natural yirah hidden in the heart of every Jew so that it be revealed in the heart. We examined the precision of the three expressions «the beginning of the service, its essence and its root»: the starting point, the ikar that accompanies every stage, and the root to which each and every detail must be connected with a living, constant connection. We also mentioned the Rebbe's letters directing a person to study and contemplate this passage as a segulah and a source of strength in spiritual and physical matters alike.
In the continuation of the chapter the Alter Rebbe will explain why yirah is so necessary even for the fulfillment of mitzvos asei, and how one actually arouses it.