In the previous section we dealt with the love that is required at the moment one performs a mitzvah. Now let us return to the passage we skipped over, to the line in Tanya that opens with the words «רצון העליון», where the Alter Rebbe explains the nature of the union that takes place through the performance of a mitzvah.
«ויחוד זה הוא רצונו האמיתי» (and this union is His true will) - the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah is the Holy One's true will: that there be a complete joining of the Ein Sof with the Shechinah, that is, with the limited, finite dimension of the world.
«והיינו יחוד העליון שבאצילות הנעשה באתערותא דלתתא» (and this is the supernal union in Atzilus, which is brought about by an arousal from below) - this is a union that takes place in the upper worlds, and its effect certainly reaches all the way down to the lower worlds. And who brings it about? The Jew here below, with every single mitzvah he performs, as an «isarusa diletata», an arousal from below - «על ידי יחוד נפש האלקית והתכללותה באור ה' המלובש בתורה ומצות שעוסקת בהן» (through the union of the divine soul and its absorption into the light of Hashem clothed in the Torah and mitzvos with which it occupies itself). When a person folds his own private divine soul into the Creator, he sets off an entire revolution in the upper worlds and brings about a tremendous supernal union in the world of Atzilus. And all of this happens in the very moment of the mitzvah itself, and then again in the next moment of performance, and so on - «והיו לה' אחדים ממש כמו שנתבאר לעיל» (and they become literally one with Hashem, as was explained above).
And why is this so? «כי על ידי זה מתיחדים גם כן מקור התורה והמצות שהוא הקב"ה עם מקור נפשו האלקית הנקרא בשם שכינה» (for through this, the source of the Torah and mitzvos, which is the Holy One, is likewise united with the source of his divine soul, which is called by the name Shechinah) - for we learned that «Kudsha Brich Hu» is the Torah and the mitzvos, and «Shechinteih» is the source of the Jew's soul. When a Jew performs a mitzvah, a union is made between the source of Torah and mitzvos and the source of his divine soul, «שהן בחינת ממלא כל עלמין ובחינת סובב כל עלמין, כמו שנתבאר במקום אחר באריכות» (which are the levels of «filling all worlds» and «encompassing all worlds», as explained at length elsewhere).
It emerges, then, that a Jew must be immersed in love the whole time he is performing mitzvos. This love, the desire to be bound up with the Creator, exists in every single Jew by nature, and that is why a Jew is even prepared to give up his life for Hashem.
«ועסק התורה והמצוות והתפילה» (and the occupation with Torah, mitzvos and prayer) - here the Alter Rebbe introduces something remarkable: when a Jew learns Torah, and when he prays, there is in this «הוא גם כן ענין מסירת נפש ממש» (also an element of literal mesiras nefesh, actual giving over of the soul). There is no need to wait for a situation in which a Jew is backed into a corner, where he then stands up and declares that he is bound to the Creator to the point of mesiras nefesh and actually gives his life for kiddush Hashem. Rather, every single moment of living Torah and mitzvos is mesiras nefesh.
Why? Because it is «כמו בצאתה מן הגוף» (like when the soul departs from the body). When the soul leaves the body - «במלאת שבעים שנה» (at the completion of seventy years), as the verse says «ימי שנותינו בהם שבעים שנה», the days of our years are seventy years, and up to a hundred and twenty years - it has no body to confuse it and no nefesh habahamis, no animal soul, to inject foolish thoughts into it, and the divine soul remains alone. What does it think about then? «שאינה מהרהרת בצרכי הגוף» (that it does not think about the needs of the body) - it does not think about eating, sleeping and resting, because none of these are relevant to it at all - «אלא מחשבתה מיוחדת ומלובשת באותיות התורה והתפלה» (rather its thought is united with and clothed in the letters of Torah and prayer). True, it cannot perform mitzvos, since only the body performs mitzvos, but its thought cleaves to the letters of Torah and prayer, «שהן דבר ה' ומחשבתו ית' והיו לאחדים ממש» (which are the word of Hashem and His blessed thought, and they become literally one).
From here it follows naturally: if now, while a person is still alive, he learns Torah and prays and does not think about the needs of the body but about words of Torah, that itself is mesiras nefesh. There is no need to wait for the soul to leave the body in order for it to stop thinking about the body's needs and think instead about Torah and prayer. At every single moment a person can give over his soul to Hashem.
On this line in Tanya the Tzemach Tzedek said that the Alter Rebbe is referring to the period from the moment the soul separates from the body until the burial: during that time between passing and burial, the soul reviews all the letters of Torah and prayer that it knew by heart from its days in this world. And every word of Torah that a person committed to memory is included in this, for the Alter Rebbe's expression is precisely «the letters of Torah and prayer».
The Tzemach Tzedek said this to one of the great Torah figures of the generation and one of his great chassidim, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lublin, author of «Toras Chesed», who went up to the Land of Israel and is buried in Jerusalem. He told him that the Alter Rebbe is referring to the time from passing until burial, so that the neshamah should have something to occupy itself with, and that it is therefore worthwhile to know Mishnayos by heart - for when one knows Mishnayos by heart, the soul will have something to review and something to do.
Rabbi Shneur Zalman took the task upon himself, and set aside time every day to learn Mishnayos by heart, until he was fluent in them; and in general he was fluent in the entire Torah. When he passed away in Jerusalem, all the great rabbis of Jerusalem came to his funeral. One of the rabbis got up and said that he could not eulogize him, since that would be against the wishes of the departed, for chassidim, as is known, are not eulogized. «I only want to tell you whom you are about to bury here,» he said, and he began to list: the Gemara, the whole Shas, Bavli and Yerushalmi, the poskim, and so he went through all the sefarim there are.
That tzaddik passed away on a Friday, right before Shabbos came in, and it was impossible to bury him until after Shabbos. Then they understood the words of the Tzemach Tzedek, that one should know Mishnayos by heart, so that from the time of passing until the time of burial the neshamah should have something to review.
From here there is a directive for every one of us: to express one's love for the Creator at every single moment. For what is ahavas Hashem? To love the Creator to the point of mesiras nefesh. And in what is that expressed? In the actual giving over of the soul - and there is no need to wait for a moment of trial in which one literally gives up one's life. Every moment that a person goes and learns Torah, he is handing his soul over to Hashem instead of handing it over to the needs of the body, to eating, drinking, sleeping and all sorts of empty matters. That is what is called mesiras nefesh.
The Alter Rebbe continues: «שזהו כל עסק הנשמות בגן עדן» (that this is the entire occupation of souls in Gan Eden) - the occupation of souls in Gan Eden is the study of Torah, «אלא שמתענגים בהשגתם והתכללותם באור ה'» (except that there they delight in their comprehension and in their absorption into the light of Hashem): there, their entire pleasure is in this alone. In this world, by contrast, a person takes pleasure in other things as well - and if this were already his only pleasure, there would be no need to tell him so here in Tanya - and therefore he needs to know what is primary and what is secondary.
«וזהו שתקנו בתחלת ברכות השחר» (and this is why they instituted, at the beginning of the morning blessings) - here the Alter Rebbe explains the first blessing a Jew makes in the morning. Clearly the point of this passage is not merely to thank Hashem for returning the soul to him, for if that were the purpose, the short formula «מודה אני לפניך שהחזרת בי נשמתי» would have sufficed. Rather, in «Elokai Neshamah» we mean to say something additional and very important. Let us note two precise points in it:
«אלוקי, נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא», My God, the soul You placed within me is pure - and only immediately afterward, «אתה בראתה», You created it. If its creation is only told of here, which soul was being spoken of earlier as being pure? Seemingly the text should have said «a soul that You created is pure» - first its creation, and then its purity.
«אתה בראתה, אתה יצרתה, אתה נפחתה בי, ואתה משמרה בקרבי», You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me, and You preserve it within me - so why does it go on, «ואתה עתיד ליטלה ממני», and You will eventually take it from me? The blessing comes to give thanks for the soul that is present in the body, not to describe the Creator's capabilities; and if we were describing His capabilities, we might as well add that He will bring rain, and the like. And what sense does it make to say in the morning that in a hundred and twenty years He will take my soul from me? That belongs in the night, in the language of «בידך אפקיד רוחי», into Your hand I entrust my spirit.
Chassidus explains that this passage carries a far deeper meaning: every morning a Jew is told that his entire day must be built on these words, and in them he gives himself his provisions for the road and the purpose of the whole day.
«אתה בראתה», You created it - «creation» is already the description of a world, and in this creation there are many creatures, many needs and many concerns. But know: your soul begins long before creation. In its essence it is above creation, it does not belong to it, it is not bound by its limitations and it is not interested in its interests. That is why the Jew opens by saying «נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא», the soul You placed within me is pure - «pure» meaning that it has nothing whatsoever to do with this whole process of creation.
Only afterward do we continue: «אתה בראתה, אתה יצרתה, אתה נפחתה בי ואתה משמרה בקרבי», You created it, You formed it, You breathed it into me and You preserve it within me - the Creator placed the soul into the churning cauldron of the world. But immediately we say «ואתה עתיד ליטלה ממני», and You will eventually take it from me - that it is destined to return to the state in which it does not belong here. In other words, its essence is not here: it was not here and it will not be here, because in its essence it belongs not to the affairs of the world but to «pure» - and if so, it belonged to that before, and it will belong to that afterward.
And from here comes the task laid upon us: at every single moment of the middle, to connect the soul to its purity and to its eternity. For if a person does not connect it at every moment to its own truth, he does it an injustice, since its essence is not in the needs of the body, and every moment that he drags it into the needs of the body he is doing something to it that is the opposite of its essence. And this is what a Jew tells himself: give over your soul at every moment, because your soul itself wants this, and it belongs to nothing else.
And in the Alter Rebbe's own words in the text: «וזהו שתקנו בתחילת ברכות השחר קודם התפלה: אלקי נשמה וכו' ואתה נפחתה כו' ואתה עתיד ליטלה ממני כו' - כלומר מאחר שאתה נפחתה בי» (and this is why they instituted at the beginning of the morning blessings, before prayer: My God, the soul... and You breathed it into me... and You will eventually take it from me... that is to say, since You breathed it into me) the soul, and in truth it does not belong here but is above all of this, «ואתה עתיד ליטלה ממני» (and You will eventually take it from me), meaning that in its essence it is not spoiled by the world and does not belong here, therefore the conclusion is: «לכן מעתה אני מוסרה ומחזירה לך לייחדה באחדותך» (therefore, from now on I give it over and return it to You, to unite it in Your oneness). Every single moment that the soul is reviewing the letters of Torah and prayer and not the needs of the body, a person is returning it to its source and handing it over to the Creator.
«וכמו שכתוב אליך ה' נפשי אשא» (as it is written, to You, Hashem, I lift up my soul) - I raise my soul up to You. And how is this done? «והיינו על ידי התקשרות מחשבתי במחשבתך ודיבורי בדיבורך באותיות התורה והתפילה, ובפרט באמירה לה' לנוכח» (namely, by binding my thought to Your thought and my speech to Your speech, in the letters of Torah and prayer, and especially when addressing Hashem directly in the second person) - particularly in those parts of the prayers where a person turns to the Creator in the language of direct address, «כמו ברוך אתה וכהאי גוונא» (such as «Blessed are You» and the like): he is not speaking about Him in the third person, but saying to Him «You», which means that He is truly close. A person must reflect on what he is saying, connect himself to it and become part of it. And this is the true expression of the love that must be present every single moment that a Jew is engaged in Torah and mitzvos.
To summarize: In the first part of the chapter we learned that without yiras Shamayim, fear of Heaven, holiness does not rest upon a person; and in this part we learned that without ahavas Hashem there is no elevation and no connection to the Creator. Within ahavas Hashem itself there are two levels:
The basic level: the love that exists in the nature of every single Jew, to want to be bound to the Creator, even to the point of mesiras nefesh.
The higher level: not to think only about one's own private attachment to the Creator, but about all of Israel, that they should all be included in the Creator - in the language of the Zohar quoted earlier, a son who exerts himself for his father and mother and takes no thought for himself and his own soul.