With gratitude we have reached the final chapter of Likkutei Amarim, the first section of the Tanya, chapter 53, and the last passage in it. We stopped on page 74b (page 148), at the very last line of the page, which begins «וזהו שאמר הינוקא».
Back in chapter 35 the Alter Rebbe cited the words of the Yenuka: just as a lamp cannot be lit with a wick alone but needs oil as well (the oil being the ingredient without which the flame will not burn), so too in the analogue. The light of holiness, the Shechinah, rests upon the body of a Jew, and his body is the wick. And just as a wick on its own will not burn with a clear, pure light without oil, so too a kind of «oil» is required for the Shechinah to rest upon a Jew's neshamah, his soul and his body. And the Yenuka's words are that the oil is the good deeds: the mitzvos a Jew performs are what cause the flame to burn and the Shechinah to rest upon him.
In chapter 35 the Alter Rebbe explained at length, and we studied it at length, the unique quality of mitzvos and good deeds. But one detail was left unexplained:
Why does the Yenuka compare good deeds specifically to oil?
Ordinarily, in the Zohar, in Kabbalah and even in the Gemara, oil alludes to chochmah, to wisdom, not to action. By that logic, the analogue of oil should have been Torah study; yet the Yenuka says that the oil is good deeds, that deeds are the oil. It was in order to clarify this point that the Alter Rebbe opened chapter 51 with the words «לתוספת ביאור לשון הינוקא», «to further explain the words of the Yenuka», and here, at the close of the chapter, the matter is explained from within.
«וזהו שאמר הינוקא דנהורא עילאה דאדליק על רישיה אצטריך למשחא», «And this is what the Yenuka said, that the supernal light kindled upon one's head requires oil.» The supernal light burning above a Jew's head is the Shechinah that rests upon every single Jew, and it «requires oil.» That was precisely the question: why compare it to oil? So the Alter Rebbe first clarifies what that «oil» is: «פירוש להתלבש בחכמה הנקראת שמן משחת קודש כמו שכתוב בזהר», meaning that the Shechinah must clothe itself in chochmah, which is called «the oil of holy anointment,» as stated in the Zohar. When the Shechinah clothes itself in chochmah, that chochmah is called oil; and just as oil enables the flame to take hold, so chochmah enables the Shechinah to rest.
This connects to everything we have learned in the recent chapters. We studied at length what the Shechinah is and what it means for the Shechinah to rest: the Shechinah is malchus of atzilus, and in every single world it rests in the «mochin» of that world, which is its «holy of holies,» the chochmah of each world. The same is true in this physical world: in the Beis HaMikdash, both the first and the second, the Holy of Holies is the place where the Shechinah rests, and it corresponds to the mochin. And even for the time of exile we mentioned the substitute: «Since the day the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has nothing in His world but the four cubits of halachah.» Halachah is study, study is mochin, and that is where the Shechinah is found.
So it is clear that the Shechinah rests in a place of mochin and of chochmah, and that is why it is compared to oil. But the Yenuka did not say that this is accomplished through Torah study; he said it is accomplished through good deeds, and deeds are not chochmah, they are mitzvos, which seemingly does not fit. To this the Alter Rebbe continues: «ואינון עובדין טבין», «and these are good deeds,» the very deeds the Yenuka spoke of, «הן תרי"ג מצות הנמשכות מחכמתו יתברך», «they are the 613 mitzvos, which are drawn down from His blessed wisdom.» Since the 613 mitzvos are drawn from chochmah, which is their source, they too can be called oil, for they come from the oil; and that is why the Yenuka likens them to oil.
At first glance, if the entire virtue of mitzvos lies in their being drawn from chochmah and from Torah, it would be better to grasp chochmah itself, which is certainly oil: let a Jew study Torah, and the Torah will cause the Shechinah to rest. Why are mitzvos, the result, specifically needed?
To this the Alter Rebbe answers: «כדי לאחוז אור השכינה בפתילה היא נפש החיונית שבגוף הנקראת פתילה», «in order for the light of the Shechinah to take hold in the wick, which is the vital soul within the body, called the wick.» Just as in the analogy the flame takes hold of the wick, so too in the analogue: for the Shechinah to rest upon the body and upon the nefesh habahamis, one must address it in its own language, the language of action, the world of asiyah, and that means mitzvos. One who only learns Torah also draws down the Shechinah, for as Pirkei Avos teaches, even a single person who sits and occupies himself with Torah has the Shechinah with him; but that resting is upon the neshamah, upon the nefesh ha'elokis. For the Shechinah to rest upon the body, upon the wick, chochmah is not enough and Torah is not enough: mitzvos are specifically required.
And what does «through the wick» mean? Fulfilling a mitzvah is not easy; it comes with struggle and with sacrifice. And who is the one sacrificing? Not the nefesh ha'elokis, which actually feels good performing the mitzvah. The one that sacrifices is the nefesh habahamis, and that sacrifice is what causes the Shechinah to rest. In his words: «על דרך משל כי כמו שבנר גשמי האור מאיר על ידי כליון ושריפת הפתילה הנהפכת לאש», «by way of analogy, for just as in a physical lamp the light shines through the consumption and burning of the wick, which is transformed into fire.» If the wick runs out and there is nothing left to be consumed, the flame vanishes that very instant; for the fire to keep taking hold, the consumption of the wick must continue. So too in the analogue: the consumption of one's animality, the struggle and the sacrifice involved in fulfilling mitzvos, is what causes the Shechinah to rest upon a Jew's body.
Here one clarification is needed. From what has been said so far, one might have thought that mitzvos came for the nefesh habahamis and Torah for the nefesh ha'elokis: that one who learns Torah draws the Shechinah upon his nefesh ha'elokis, while one who performs mitzvos draws it upon his nefesh habahamis. The Alter Rebbe immediately tells us that this is not so. Even the resting of the Shechinah upon the nefesh ha'elokis depends on the consumption of the nefesh habahamis, and without it the nefesh ha'elokis too will not receive that resting. Exactly as in the physical analogy: if there is no consumption of the wick, it is not only the wick that loses out by not burning; the flame itself will not be here at all.
In his words: «כך אור השכינה שורה על נפש האלקית על ידי כליון נפש הבהמית», «so too the light of the Shechinah rests upon the nefesh ha'elokis through the consumption of the nefesh habahamis.» When there is a consumption of the nefesh habahamis, it is not only the nefesh habahamis that receives the resting of the Shechinah, but the nefesh ha'elokis as well.
What is this «consumption» of the nefesh habahamis? It means restraining oneself from its desires and putting its animality to death: transferring all of its traits, its emotions and its capacities to think, to speak and to act over to the side of holiness. This is the bittul of the nefesh habahamis, its transformation from darkness into light, in his words: «והתהפכותה מחשוכא לנהורא וממרירו למתקא», «and its transformation from darkness to light and from bitterness to sweetness.»
And how far does this consumption extend? We learned at the beginning of the Tanya that the soul consists of intellect and middos (chapter 3), and that it also has garments: thought, speech and action (chapter 4). Accordingly there are two levels:
«בצדיקים», in tzaddikim: the transformation is complete. Not only do the garments turn to good, but the very essence of the nefesh habahamis does as well. The complete tzaddik has no feeling for evil and no desire for evil whatsoever, and his middos have been transformed to good; all the more so are his thought, speech and action entirely perfected.
In beinonim: «או לכל הפחות על ידי כליון לבושיה שהם מחשבה דבור ומעשה והתהפכותם מחשך הקליפות לאור ה' אין סוף ברוך הוא המלובש ומיוחד במחשבה דבור ומעשה של תרי"ג מצות התורה בבינונים», «or at the very least through the consumption of its garments, which are thought, speech and action, and their transformation from the darkness of the kelipos to the light of Hashem, the Infinite One, blessed be He, who is clothed and united in the thought, speech and action of the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, in beinonim.» The beinoni does not manage to transform his inner essence, and he still has desires for evil; but his garments, thought, speech and action, he does turn to good.
And from the moment a Jew turns his animality to good, he renews the consumption of the wick and thereby draws down the Shechinah. And what is the fuel? The oil, the good deeds. The consumption of the wick alone is not enough; oil is needed to feed the flame. That is why good deeds are required at every moment and on a constant basis, in order for the light of the Shechinah to take hold. Were there only Torah study, there would be fuel for the neshamah alone; and for there to be fuel for his physicality as well, there are good deeds. And this is why the Yenuka compared good deeds to oil: although oil means chochmah and Torah, it is from chochmah that the mitzvos are drawn, and through both of them together a Jew draws the Shechinah downward, until it rests upon his head.
We have seen how essential this consumption is: just as a lamp without the consumption of the wick has no flame (and even if fuel is available, without a wick being consumed it will not burn), so too with a person, Torah without the consumption of the nefesh habahamis does not bring the resting of the Shechinah. In the physical world we see with our own eyes that this is how a lamp works; but what is the reason for it, and why did the Holy One, blessed be He, establish that specifically consumption draws down the Shechinah?
With this the Alter Rebbe concludes: «כי על ידי התהפכות נפש הבהמית הבאה מקליפת נוגה מחשוכא לנהורא וכו'», «for through the transformation of the nefesh habahamis, which comes from kelipas nogah, from darkness to light, etc.» When a person transforms his animality from darkness to light, that is, when he effects a consumption in the wick, restraining himself and struggling in all matters that are forbidden, in the mode of «turn away from evil,» the fulfillment of the negative commandments, and carrying out all that he is obligated in, the 248 positive commandments, then «נעשה בחינת העלאת מ"ן», «there is made an elevation of mayin nukvin.»
Mem-nun stands for «mayin nukvin,» the «feminine waters,» as we have learned many times in Tanya. It is known that the Holy One, blessed be He, and Israel are compared to a husband and wife, the Holy One as the husband and Israel as the wife; and the Holy One established a rule that in order for influence to be drawn down from above, there must be someone below who arouses that drawing down. When a Jew arouses, he draws down. And with what does he arouse? With the consumption of the wick below: with the performance of mitzvos, in which his thought, speech and action are consumed and become united with the divine light, «להמשיך אור השכינה היא בחינת גילוי אור אין סוף ברוך הוא על נפשו האלהית שבמוחין שבראשו», «to draw down the light of the Shechinah, which is the revelation of the Ein Sof light, blessed be He, upon his nefesh ha'elokis that is in the mochin in his head.»
There is no possibility of drawing down from above without a consumption below, and that is the reason that even physically a flame does not take hold without the wick being consumed: because that is how it works spiritually. As the saying goes, «Open for Me an opening like the eye of a needle, and I will open for you an opening like the entrance of a hall.» Even though above there is an opening «like the entrance of a hall,» it does not open until a person opens from below his own small «eye of a needle.» This is the elevation of mayin nukvin: an elevation from below, in whose wake comes the drawing down from above.
«ובזה יובן היטב מה שכתוב כי ה' אלהיך אש אוכלה הוא», «and with this one can well understand the verse, for Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire.» And what exactly becomes «well understood»? There are two precise points in this verse:
«אלוקיך», «your G-d»: the verse does not say «for Hashem is G-d,» but «your G-d»: if you want Him to be yours, to be drawn down to you.
«אש אוכלה», «a consuming fire»: the verse does not say simply «fire,» but «a consuming fire,» a fire that causes consumption, a fire that devours something. When there is a consumption of the wick, a consumption of the nefesh habahamis, then there is «Hashem your G-d»: the drawing down will be yours, and it will be drawn down to you from above.
«וכמו שיתבאר במקום אחר», «as will be explained elsewhere.» The Alter Rebbe notes that in another place, in one of the maamarim in Likkutei Torah, he explains this matter at much greater length.
In summary: in this section we completed the conclusion of chapter 53. We explained why the Yenuka compared good deeds to oil: because the 613 mitzvos are drawn from His blessed chochmah, which is called «the oil of holy anointment.» We learned that Torah alone draws the Shechinah upon the nefesh ha'elokis, whereas for the light of the Shechinah to take hold in the «wick,» the vital soul within the body, good deeds are specifically required, and on a constant basis, for they are the fuel. We saw that the resting of the Shechinah, even upon the nefesh ha'elokis, depends on the consumption of the nefesh habahamis, its transformation «from darkness to light and from bitterness to sweetness»: in tzaddikim even in its essence and its middos, and in beinonim at the very least in its garments, thought, speech and action. And the reason is that every drawing down from above requires an elevation of mayin nukvin from below, and this is the precise meaning of «for Hashem your G-d is a consuming fire.»
«נשלם חלק ראשון בעזרת השם יתברך ויתעלה», «The first part is completed, with the help of G-d, blessed and exalted be He.» This is the end of chapter 53 and the end of the section called Likkutei Amarim. It is worth noting: the Tanya opens with the letter tav, while its main section concludes with the letter alef. Before a person has merited to study Tanya he may think that he has already reached tav, that he is complete and already knows everything; and only after he has learned these 53 chapters does he understand that he has arrived at alef, that only now is he beginning the avodah, and that in truth he has not yet begun at all. And with G-d's help, he will reach that alef.