In the previous section we worked through the Alter Rebbe's analogy of the king, and the distinction between what the eye of the mind sees and what the eye of flesh sees. Now we turn to another angle in the analogy: the power of the act of bowing itself to work on a person, even when he has no recognition at all of the king's greatness.
Even though a person does not recognize the greatness of this particular man, the sight of ministers bending their heads before him affects him. Here too the eye of the mind is involved: the intellect understands that when a person bows with his body, it is because within his soul there is an expression of self nullification toward the one he is bowing to. And when a person sees many ministers in such a state of bittul toward one man, the very sight makes an impression on him.
So too in the nimshal: a person contemplates the hosts of heaven and sees them bowing every single day. The revelation of the Shechinah he does not see, just as in the analogy he does not identify the king, but the act of bowing itself he does see. Contemplating this movement, knowing that it is a bowing toward the King, as Chazal say on the verse «וצבא השמים לך משתחוים», «and the hosts of heaven bow to You», is meant to bring awe and fear upon him. This is another place the Holy One placed in the world where contemplating an event generates yiras Shomayim in a person.
In the psalm «השמים מספרים כבוד א-ל», «The heavens declare the glory of G-d», it is said of the sun: «והוא כחתן יוצא מחופתו ישיש כגיבור לרוץ אורח», «and he is like a groom emerging from his chupah, rejoicing like a hero to run the course». The commentators explain something fascinating here: the sun's actual daily movement is westward, while its own inclination is eastward, two opposite motions at one and the same time. That is what the verse means by «like a groom emerging from his chupah»: the groom leaves his chupah, as it were, against his will, since he is quite content where he is. So too the sun's westward travel runs counter to its own nature, and it goes there like one who is being taken out against his will.
We are not here to study astronomy. What matters for our subject is this: the sun's westward movement is an act of bowing that happens daily, and it is meant to generate yiras Shomayim in us.
The language of the hagahah (the Alter Rebbe's gloss): «וגם נראה בראיית העין שהם בטלים לאורו יתברך בהשתחוואתם כל יום כלפי מערב בשקיעתם, כמאמר רז"ל על פסוק 'וצבא השמים לך משתחוים' שהשכינה במערב, ונמצא הילוכם כל היום כלפי מערב הוא דרך השתחוואה וביטול», «And it is also visible to the physical eye that they are nullified to His blessed light in their bowing every day toward the west as they set, as Chazal say on the verse 'and the hosts of heaven bow to You' that the Shechinah is in the west; it turns out that their travel all day toward the west is a form of bowing and bittul». From the moment of sunrise the hosts of heaven are turning constantly westward, and this is true everywhere in the world: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Therefore, every time a person steps outside and sees the sun, and after an hour or two notices that it has moved further west, he should understand that he is looking at the sun's act of bowing.
And in the body of the text: «והנה גם מי שלא ראה את המלך מעולם ואינו מכירו כלל, אף על פי כן כשנכנס לחצר המלך ורואה שרים רבים ונכבדים משתחווים לאיש אחד - תפול עליו אימה ופחד», «Even one who has never seen the king and does not recognize him at all, nevertheless, when he enters the king's courtyard and sees many distinguished ministers bowing to one man, awe and fear fall upon him».
The emphasis is on the words «the king's courtyard»: this physical world is like the king's courtyard. Had a person been granted vision into the upper worlds, he would see what goes on inside the palace itself; but he stands here below, in the courtyard. And what does he see in the courtyard? «Many distinguished ministers bowing to one man», the sun and the hosts of heaven, who in his eyes are great ministers. Note the Alter Rebbe's precision: «to one man», and not «to the king», for as far as his eyesight goes he does not know who this is; he sees a man, not a king. And even so, the very sight of many distinguished ministers bowing to one man, even when his greatness is unknown, brings awe and fear upon him.
So it is in the nimshal, with a Jew who contemplates creation. According to the body of the text there is no need to go out and look specifically at the sun: it is enough to contemplate any detail of creation, the hosts of heaven and the hosts of earth, in order to understand that the very existence of the thing flows from the divine vitality that enlivens it. In the hagahah the Alter Rebbe adds a further layer: even the movement visible in creation itself, such as the travel of the hosts of heaven, can connect a person to seeing the divine power.
Further on in the Tanya, after the hagahah, the question is raised: «ואף שהוא על ידי התלבשות בלבושים רבים», «even though this comes about through being clothed in many garments». With a king of flesh and blood, the analogy only seems to match the nimshal: when a person looks at the king, he immediately sees that a king stands before him, recognizes his stature, and his intellect tells him this is the king, and that at once produces fear in him. But in the nimshal, the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He, has covered Himself in many garments, many screens, a multiplicity of things, so that a person has to contemplate one garment after another after another in order to arrive at the understanding that the King is the One enlivening everything, and that is far harder.
To this the Alter Rebbe answers that in principle, «הרי אין הפרש כלל ביראת מלך בשר ודם בין שהוא ערום ובין שהוא לבוש לבוש אחד ובין שהוא לבוש בלבושים רבים», «there is no difference at all in the fear of a king of flesh and blood whether he is naked, or wearing a single garment, or clothed in many garments». With a human king it makes no difference whether you see him in summer or in winter, in one coat or in five, and even when he is seated inside his covered carriage: the very sight of the king is meant to produce fear. By the same token, the multiplicity of garments in the world is not supposed to prevent the fear either.
[There is the well known tale of the king who was naked, and out of sheer awe and deference nobody dared say so, until the children came and announced, «the king is naked!». If with a flesh and blood king, and even in a negative context, fear reaches such a level, we can learn from that just how far these things go.]
Still, in practice the multiplicity of garments does have its effect, so how will a person arrive at genuine recognition and yiras Shomayim while looking at a world full of screens? To this the Alter Rebbe says: «אלא העיקר הוא ההרגל», «rather, the main thing is habit». While learning, it is easy to remember these ideas and connect to them, and when you step outside right after learning you can still call them to mind; but an hour or two later they are forgotten. Hence the need for habit.
«להרגיל דעתו ומחשבתו תמיד להיות קבוע בלבו ומוחו תמיד אשר כל מה שרואה בעיניו השמים והארץ ומלואה הכל הם לבושים החיצונים של המלך הקב"ה», «to accustom his mind and his thought always, so that it be fixed in his heart and mind constantly, that everything he sees with his eyes, the heavens and the earth and all they contain, are all the external garments of the King, the Holy One blessed be He». A person has to train his thinking and his awareness so that it is permanently fixed in his mind, his heart and his consciousness that everything he sees with his eyes is nothing but an outer garment of the King, who has clothed Himself in this garment or that, and that every single detail that occurs in the world is run by the Holy One with hashgachah peratis, individual providence.
[And if you ask: why did the Holy One create in us the capacity to forget this? That is indeed His will, that we toil at it, so that every single moment of avodah becomes precious.]
Do not forget that it is not only the nefesh ha'elokis that is out in the field, learning Tanya and wanting to look at things correctly; at the very same time the nefesh habahamis is at work, pulling constantly in the opposite direction. And if a person does not persist in strengthening the nefesh ha'elokis, the nefesh habahamis will get the upper hand. There are no tricks here and no quick, easy routes, only constant work.
«ועל ידי זה יזכור תמיד על פנימיותם וחיותם», «and through this he will always remember their inner dimension and their vitality». Once a person has trained his thought to hold constantly that everything visible to his eyes is only the outer garments of the King, he will always remember the inner dimension and the vitality within creation. Then creation will no longer conceal the King from him; on the contrary, creation will reveal the King to him. This is work one must toil at constantly, in the mind and in the heart.
In summary: in this section we learned that even someone who does not recognize the king at all is filled with awe and fear simply from seeing many distinguished ministers bowing to one man in the king's courtyard; and in the nimshal, contemplating the bowing of the hosts of heaven, the sun's daily westward travel («like a groom emerging from his chupah»), is meant to generate yiras Shomayim. We looked at the question that the many garments of creation conceal the King, and at the answer that as far as the fear itself goes there is no difference between a naked king and a king clothed in many garments, and that the main thing is habit: training the mind and heart to see in everything in the world the outer garments of the King, and through that to remember always their inner dimension and vitality.
In the next section we will continue learning the Alter Rebbe's words in chapter 42.