In the previous section we looked at the essence of the Avos. Because their very being was united with the Creator constantly, without interruption, one can say «Elokei Avraham», the G-d of Abraham: Hashem's Name rests upon them permanently.
And what about each and every one of us? Here the Alter Rebbe writes: «וככה הוא בכל נפש מישראל», «and so it is with every soul of Israel». Of every single Jew too one can use the expression «Elokei», my G-d, except that by each of us this happens «בשעת עסק התורה והמצות», «while he is engaged in Torah and mitzvos». When a Jew learns Torah and is absorbed in the Torah, the Creator is with him in complete union, and at that moment the Holy One is the «G-d» of that learner; and when he performs a mitzvah, at the moment of performance the Holy One rests upon him. That is why we do not attribute this expression to a person permanently: one second he is inside and the next second he is not there, and there is no way to attach the expression to him on a constant basis. The Avos were different: their essence was always united with the Creator.
«ולכן חייבו רבותינו ז"ל לקום ולעמוד מפני כל עוסק במצוה», «and therefore our Sages obligated us to rise and stand before anyone engaged in a mitzvah». There is a striking passage on this in the Talmud Yerushalmi, in its description of how the bikkurim, the first fruits, were brought up to Jerusalem. At the festival seasons each person would set out with the fruits he had brought from his own region, from the north of the land down to Be'er Sheva, and arrive with them in Jerusalem. The order of events is described like this:
When they drew near to Jerusalem, they sent ahead to announce their arrival, and they adorned their bikkurim, beautifying and decorating the fruits.
The Mishnah in Maseches Bikkurim describes: «הפחות והסגנים והגזברים יוצאים לקראתם», the officers, the chiefs and the treasurers went out to meet them. The great and distinguished figures of the Mikdash came out to greet them.
Once they entered and passed through the markets of Jerusalem, all the craftsmen of the city, sitting in their shops at their work, would rise and stand before them and greet them.
And why should they stand? Because a Jew is passing by with bikkurim in his hands, on his way to perform a mitzvah, and at that very moment the Creator is together with him. Therefore one must rise before him.
We find the same idea in Shulchan Aruch: when the infant is brought into the shul for a bris milah, everyone present must stand. Stand for whom? Not for the one carrying the child, but because a mitzvah is being carried in here. And this is precisely the language the Alter Rebbe uses in Tanya.
«אף אם הוא בור ועם הארץ», «even if he is a boor and an ignoramus». It may well be that this man walking along with his bikkurim is a boor and an ignoramus:
A bur, a boor: an empty person. Even if he once learned something, he never reviewed it at all, and nothing remained with him.
An am ha'aretz: a step above a bur, but still a simple, unlearned person.
So why rise before him? It is entirely possible that the craftsman sitting at his work is a great talmid chacham, like Rabbi Yochanan the sandal maker, sitting and repairing shoes, and passing before him is a boor and an ignoramus with a few figs in his hand, and the scholar must rise and stand before him. What difference does it make whether the man is an ignoramus or not? He is not standing for the man. He is standing for the Creator who is with this man at this moment, for right now he is performing a mitzvah.
This is what the Alter Rebbe writes: «והיינו מפני השם השוכן ומתלבש בנפשו בשעה זו», «and this is on account of the Name that dwells and clothes itself in his soul at that moment». While he performs the mitzvah the Creator is together with him, and therefore one must rise before the Creator who is dwelling right now within this Jew.
«רק שאין נפשו מרגשת», «it is only that his soul does not feel it». Every one of us knows that when we do a mitzvah we do not exactly feel that we are now in the innermost chamber with the King; we do not feel the King's embrace, and we do not sense the divine light resting upon us at that moment exactly as it rested upon Avraham Avinu. But does the fact stop being a fact just because the soul does not feel it? This is the fact, and this is what is actually taking place at that moment.
And why does the soul not feel it? «מפני מסך החומר הגופני שלא נזדכך», «because of the screen of the physical matter that has not been refined». The material body sets up a screen, and it is a thick screen. A person can be standing in a hall where wondrous things are happening and see nothing at all; and because he does not see them, are they not happening? «ומחשיך עיני הנפש מראות מראות אלקים כמו האבות וכיוצא בהן שראו עולמם בחייהם», «and it darkens the eyes of the soul from seeing visions of G-d, as did the Avos and others like them, who saw their world in their lifetime». The physicality of the body does not merely block sight; it erects a screen so that the soul does not feel either. The Avos saw divine visions, meaning they actually felt what was happening when they connected to the Creator; we do not feel it, but the reality is certainly there.
This is the point of the well known saying: chassidim are sitting in a wagon talking among themselves about angels; a meter away sits the wagon driver, thinking about the money he will be paid at the end of the trip; and another meter ahead walks the horse, thinking about the hay waiting for it at the end of the road. And because the horse is thinking about hay, do the angels the chassidim are discussing stop being angels? Angels are angels, and the horse thinks about hay.
Except that in the parable, the one discussing angels is one person, the driver is a second person, and the horse is a third entity; whereas in us they are all packed into one body. There is a horse in us, walking along and thinking about hay all the time, and there is the nefesh ha'elokis in us, occupied with the loftiest matters, and all of them together. The horse is thinking about hay, and therefore it does not feel what is happening right now in the divine soul. But because the horse is thinking about hay, do the angels stop being angels?
Of the Avos it says that they saw «עולמם בחייהם», «their world in their lifetime». «Their world» is a term for the World to Come, as in the expression «עולמך תראה בחייך», «may you see your world in your lifetime». The Avos saw their world here in this world: they lived in this physical world, and at the same time they were living in the World to Come as well. Certainly they live in the World to Come today too, but even here in the physical world they felt that very intensity as it exists at its true peak.
The Alter Rebbe continues: «וזהו שאמר אסף ברוח הקדש בעד כל כנסת ישראל שבגולה», «and this is what Asaf said through ruach hakodesh on behalf of the entire community of Israel in exile». And what did Asaf say? In Tehillim chapter 73: «ואני בער ולא אדע, בהמות הייתי עמך, ואני תמיד עמך», «I was boorish and I did not know, I was like a beast with You, yet I am always with You».
The Alter Rebbe brings verses as proof for all sorts of points, and usually he gives no reference at all for the quotation. He relies on our knowledge, since of course we are fluent in all of Tanach and all the sefarim and know exactly where everything is written. We had an example of that in this very lesson a few lines back: «and this is what is written, 'והייתם לי קדושים'»; and likewise at the beginning of the lesson, the quotation from the wording of the brachah, «אשר קדשנו במצוותיו». In a handful of cases he does cite the source, and there is a reason for it. Here, in one of those rare cases, he does not merely cite it, he cites it and elaborates:
«שאמר אסף», «that Asaf said»: it matters to us to know that it was Asaf who said this, just as Tehillim chapter 73 opens with the words «מזמור לאסף».
«ברוח הקודש», «through ruach hakodesh»: he adds that Asaf said this by divine inspiration.
«בעד כל כנסת ישראל», «on behalf of the entire community of Israel»: he did not say it about himself, but on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael.
«שבגולה», «in exile»: and at which time? The people of Israel in exile.
This stands out all the more when you note that this very verse is brought in Tanya elsewhere as well (if I recall correctly, in chapter 18), and there the Alter Rebbe adds none of these descriptions. From all this elaboration it is clear that he wants to explain the verse in a way somewhat different from what we would have understood from its plain meaning.
Who was Asaf, and when did he live? Asaf was one of the singers in the time when the Beis Hamikdash stood, and as we will see later in the chapter itself, he says that he is in the Beis Hamikdash. Asaf was not a prophet: in Maseches Megillah, on daf 14, there is a Rashi that lists all the prophets in order, and Asaf does not appear there. Nevertheless, though he was not a prophet, he merited that his psalms were included in Sefer Tehillim.
And although Asaf was not a prophet, and the plain sense of the chapter speaks of the era of the Beis Hamikdash, anyone who reads the chapter in full will see that its subject, on the simple level, is the familiar question of «רשע וטוב לו», the wicked man who prospers. Asaf says there in one of the verses: «עד אבוא אל מקדשי קל, אבינה לאחריתם», «until I came into the sanctuaries of G-d, and understood their end». That is, he is speaking about himself: he has questions, and right now «ואני בער ולא אדע», I am boorish and do not know, but he will come to the Beis Hamikdash, and there he will understand, he will see, he will connect. That is how the chapter can be read on its plain level. In the next section we will take up the Alter Rebbe's explanation of Asaf's words, and see how he explains them differently from their plain meaning: as words spoken on behalf of the entire community of Israel in exile.
In summary: in this section we learned that the term «Elokei» applies to every soul of Israel, except that for an ordinary person it applies only while he is engaged in Torah and mitzvos, whereas for the Avos it applied permanently. For this reason our Sages obligated us to rise before anyone engaged in a mitzvah, as we saw in the description of bringing the bikkurim to Jerusalem and in bringing the infant in for a bris milah, and this holds even if he is a boor and an ignoramus, since the standing is not for the person but for «השם השוכן ומתלבש בנפשו בשעה זו», the Name that dwells and clothes itself in his soul at that moment. We do not feel it because of the screen of unrefined physical matter, which darkens the eyes of the soul from seeing visions of G-d as the Avos did, who saw their world in their lifetime; but the fact remains a fact, as in the parable of the chassidim in the wagon and the horse thinking about hay. We also noted the Alter Rebbe's unusual elaboration in citing Asaf's words: «through ruach hakodesh», «on behalf of the entire community of Israel», «in exile».