In the previous lesson we began chapter 42, which starts on folio 59a (page 117), and we covered the first third of the page. Let us review the topic and the idea, and open the matter from its beginning.
Chapter 42 takes one of the central points of chapter 41 and comes to explain how it actually comes down into practice. The first half of chapter 41 explained at length that one of the most important matters in avodas Hashem, and in fact the very thing that creates avodas Hashem, is yiras Shomayim, the fear of Heaven. The Alter Rebbe called it «the beginning of the avodah», «the essence of the avodah» and «the root of the avodah», and he brought the sharpest expressions from the Zohar: that without yirah, holiness does not rest, and it is not avodas Hashem at all.
We examined various levels of yirah, and what they all share is that they fall under the general heading of yirah tata'ah, the «lower» fear. When we reach chapter 43, with Hashem's help, we will learn what yirah ila'ah, the «higher» fear, is. But for now we are dealing with the lower level, yirah tata'ah, which is itself a most basic and most important matter in avodas Hashem.
In chapter 42 the Alter Rebbe comes to explain how this yirah actually penetrates a person's soul. For a human being is limited, and his knowledge is limited; even if his understanding is broad and deep and his talents are many, he is still a limited creature, while the Holy One is unlimited. How can a limited creature recognize, grasp and feel the Infinite? And in order to have yiras Shomayim, he needs recognition, comprehension and some grasp of the Limitless. What is it that joins and connects a Jew to the Creator's limitlessness?
In this chapter the Alter Rebbe explains the wondrous assistance that the Holy One gave to the Jew, which makes it possible for his own awareness and comprehension to contain a grasp of the Creator's infinity, and out of that, yiras Shomayim. The heading for all of this is Moshe Rabbeinu: Moshe Rabbeinu is the one who joins the Jew to the Holy One.
The Alter Rebbe builds the matter on the words of the Gemara regarding the verse «And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you but to fear». The Gemara asks: is yiras Shomayim a milsa zutarta, a small and minor thing? And it answers: «Yes, with regard to Moshe it is a minor thing.» On this the Alter Rebbe raises a difficulty: seemingly the answer does not answer the question. The question was whether yiras Shomayim is a minor matter for every Jew, and the answer is that for Moshe Rabbeinu it is a minor matter. What has one to do with the other?
For Moshe Rabbeinu yirah is indeed a simple thing, since he dwells with G-dliness constantly, and for him it comes easily and naturally. But that very same thing, which is «minor» for him, is something we struggle to reach. And we have not come now to study Moshe Rabbeinu's level, but to ask how we can connect to that great thing which, relative to Moshe Rabbeinu, is minor.
Here, in the fifth and sixth lines from the beginning of the chapter, a new passage opens: «אלא הענין הוא כי כל נפש ונפש מבית ישראל יש בה מבחי' משה רבינו ע"ה» (« Rather, the explanation is that every single soul of the house of Israel contains an aspect of our teacher Moshe, may he rest in peace »). In every single Jew, even one who is on the lowest level, the level of nefesh alone (out of nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, yechidah), and even one who finds himself in a low and fallen state, there is an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu gives himself to each and every one of Israel.
«כי הוא משבעה רועים» (« for he is one of the seven shepherds »). This is not said of every tzaddik, but of the seven shepherds, the seven ushpizin familiar to us from Sukkos. And why are they called «shepherds»? A shepherd provides his flock with pasture and with food; the flock's entire vitality and existence depend on him, and he sustains their very life. So too the seven shepherds: their bond with the Jewish people is the bond of a shepherd to his flock, and this holds for the Jewish people throughout the generations. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe and so on, all of them are called «the seven shepherds» to this very day.
And what is their function? «הממשיכים חיות ואלקות לכללות נשמות ישראל שלכן נקראים בשם רועים» (« who draw down vitality and G-dliness to the totality of the souls of Israel, and are therefore called shepherds »). The seven shepherds draw vitality down to every Jew, so that his avodas Hashem will have life in it, and more than that, so that he will feel the G-dliness in it, the truth and the infinity within it. From where does a simple creature have any contact with G-dly matters? Because he receives from the seven shepherds the strength, the capacity and the power, so that even in his small avodah there will be vitality and there will be G-dliness.
Although all seven shepherds are present in every Jew, we come now to single out Moshe Rabbeinu from among them, for he is the one who gives the unique thing, and he is the one who will connect us back to the matter with which we opened: how yiras Shomayim penetrates each and every person. In the Alter Rebbe's words: «ומשה רבינו ע"ה הוא כללות כולם ונקרא רעיא מהימנא» (« and Moshe Rabbeinu, may he rest in peace, is the all-inclusive one of them all, and he is called the faithful shepherd »). Moshe Rabbeinu is the shepherd who includes all of them. Without what Moshe Rabbeinu gives, even what Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov give will not produce the true connection; Moshe Rabbeinu gives the most central and most general thing of all seven shepherds.
And where do we see that he is the all-inclusive one of them all? In that he is the only one of the seven shepherds whom the Zohar calls raya mehemna, the faithful shepherd. This is his name, and therefore this is his essence in a unique way.
And what is it that he draws down? «דהיינו שממשיך בחי' הדעת לכללות ישראל» (« that is, he draws down the aspect of daas to the totality of Israel »). Daas does not mean mere knowledge, but recognition, feeling and attachment to G-dliness: that a Jew should feel that the Holy One is with him, that he belongs to Him, that he is bonded to Him and senses Him. This is «לידע את השם» (« to know Hashem »), to be joined to Hashem, and this is the uniqueness of Moshe Rabbeinu.
However, the result is not identical in everyone, and three things determine this:
«כל אחד כפי השגת נשמתו» (« each one according to the comprehension of his soul ») - according to his soul's capacity to comprehend: one has a greater capacity for comprehension and another less. And the body into which the soul descended also plays a part: the brain and the bodily vessels, the distractions, the givens he received from his parents, and a thousand and one other components that determine what his comprehension will be.
«ושרשה למעלה» (« and its root above ») - from which root his soul comes. One who comes from a higher root will have greater contact, access and recognition in this matter; one who comes from a lower root will reach a certain level accordingly.
«ויניקתה משרש נשמת משה רבינו ע"ה» (« and the nurture it draws from the root of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu, may he rest in peace ») - and this is the main thing. It is not enough for a person to have a lofty soul and good givens; everything depends on how connected he is to Moshe Rabbeinu, who is the channel through which one receives daas and attachment to G-dliness. And the more the soul draws its nurture from the root of Moshe Rabbeinu's soul, the greater will be its attachment, recognition and feeling of G-dliness.
The Holy One handed over the flock, the Jewish people, to Moshe Rabbeinu, the faithful shepherd, and charged him with drawing down to them daas in G-dliness.
To sum up: in chapter 42 the Alter Rebbe comes to explain how yiras Shomayim, which is the beginning of the avodah and its root, actually penetrates the soul of a limited human being, until he has a grasp of the Creator's infinity. The Gemara's answer, «with regard to Moshe it is a minor thing», is explained by the fact that in every single soul of Israel there is an aspect of Moshe Rabbeinu. The seven shepherds draw vitality and G-dliness down to the totality of the souls of Israel, and Moshe Rabbeinu is the all-inclusive one of them all, the raya mehemna, who draws down the aspect of daas, the recognition, the feeling and the attachment to G-dliness, to the totality of Israel: each one according to the comprehension of his soul, according to its root above, and according to the measure of nurture it draws from the root of the soul of Moshe Rabbeinu.
In the next section we will take up the question: why specifically Moshe Rabbeinu, and what is his uniqueness among the seven shepherds.