In the previous section we learned the Compiler's Foreword: the story of the manuscripts and the copyists, and the matter of the copyright. Now, with good fortune, we open chapter one of Tanya, the chapter in which the "book for beinonim" truly begins. Here the Alter Rebbe turns to the first foundation of the sefer: the oath that is administered to the soul, and the nature of the tzelem (the divine "image") within it.
The opening of chapter one:
The Alter Rebbe opens with these words: "תניא בסוף פרק ג' בנידה, משביעים אותו תהי צדיק ואל תהי רשע. ואפילו כל העולם כולו אומרים לך צדיק אתה, היה בעיניך כרשע" ("We have learned at the end of chapter three of Niddah: they administer an oath to him, 'Be a tzaddik and be not a rasha; and even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, regard yourself as wicked'"). There are several precise points in this wording that call for explanation, for every single detail of it is exact.
The precision of the word "Tanya":
The Alter Rebbe opens with the word "תניא", which means "it has been taught," "we have learned."
"תנן" is used when quoting the language of a Mishnah.
"תניא" is used when quoting a beraisa.
Quoting in the name of the one who said it is used when the teaching was stated by a particular Tanna or Amora; then it is brought in his name.
Yet when we look at the source in Maseches Niddah, we find that the Gemara introduces the passage with the words "דרש רבי סימלאי" ("Rabbi Simlai expounded"). Rabbi Simlai is an Amora, and his exposition begins with a detailed, precise description of the child in its mother's womb. It concludes that "ואינו יוצא משם" ("and he does not leave there") until an oath is administered to him, and on this the verse in Yeshayahu is cited: "כי לי תכרע כל ברך תישבע כל לשון" ("for to Me every knee shall bend, every tongue shall swear"), where "every tongue shall swear" is connected to the day of birth, when the soul is made to swear. At the end of the passage the Gemara asks: and what is the oath administered to the child before he emerges into the world? It then brings the words the Alter Rebbe quotes: "Be a tzaddik and be not a rasha, and even if the whole world tells you that you are righteous, regard yourself as wicked."
The question arises: why does the Alter Rebbe not use the Gemara's own wording and open with "Rabbi Simlai expounded: they administer an oath to him"? Why write "Tanya," when this is not the Gemara's language at all, since the Gemara presents the passage not as a beraisa but as Rabbi Simlai's exposition, and the Alter Rebbe does not even quote Rabbi Simlai's own words?
One could answer, somewhat forcedly, that as is known there are different textual versions in the Gemara, and some passages appear in more than one form. And indeed, among the variant readings of that very passage in Maseches Niddah there is a version in which the wording is not "Rabbi Simlai expounded" but "תניא", as a quotation of a beraisa. It emerges, then, that the Alter Rebbe chose to open his sefer specifically with the less common version, and that too requires explanation.
The allusions in the name "Tanya":
Nullifying the kelipah of the scholars: In the sefer Or HaGanuz by Rabbi Yehuda Leib HaKohen (a disciple of the Maggid and a colleague of the Alter Rebbe, who gave one of the approbations to Tanya) it is brought that there is a kelipah found particularly among those who study Torah, which holds them back from studying the inner dimension of Torah, and thereby strengthens their sense of self-existence precisely through their learning and as a result of it. The name of this kelipah is "Tanya," from the language of study: "we learned," "it was taught." The Alter Rebbe wishes to negate and nullify this kelipah, and therefore he chooses specifically the less common version and opens his sefer with it.
"תניא" has the same letters as "איתן" (eisan): a word denoting strength, firmness and antiquity, corresponding to the three interpretations we mentioned in earlier lessons. There is special significance in choosing this expression to open the sefer, and in the entire sefer being called by its name, Sefer HaTanya.
And why open with the name of a kelipah of all things? One must remember that the word "Tanya" has its origin in holiness, for it is the term used for the beraisos in the Gemara. The kelipah is called by this name because of the place where it takes hold, among those who study Torah, and here it is nullified.
"At the end of chapter three of Niddah":
Citing the source is first of all meant to indicate where the words are taken from, but there is also an interesting allusion in it. It is known that the Jewish people in the time of exile are called by the name "niddah," a term that denotes distance, and today we stand in "chapter three of Niddah," in the exile that followed the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash and the destruction of the second. Sefer HaTanya comes to give a Jew strength and firmness at the end of chapter three of Niddah, at the end of the time of exile, so that he can withstand his difficult trials and go out with them toward the Redemption.
"They administer an oath to him":
Who is "him"?
This is the child in its mother's womb, who does not yet have a yetzer hara. In the preceding passage in that same Gemara, before the matter of the oath, it is described that they teach him the entire Torah, and he sees from one end of the world to the other, and a candle is lit above his head, and there are no days as good as those days. We are speaking, then, of a child in a state in which he has no yetzer hara.
When does the yetzer hara arrive? It is stated at the beginning of Bereishis, "כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו" ("for the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth"), and Rashi explains: "from his youth" means from the moment he stirs to leave his mother's womb. From the hour he emerges outside, the yetzer hara enters him; but as long as he is in his mother's womb, he has only a yetzer tov. And in fact, even the yetzer tov proper comes at the age of thirteen, so that at this stage there is nothing here but a holy soul in its pristine purity, with no hold whatsoever for anything negative. It is this soul that is made to swear, and it is told: "Be a tzaddik and be not a rasha."
Questions about the oath:
All the souls of Israel stood at the Giving of the Torah at Har Sinai, and there the Holy One administered a general oath to the Jewish people. Why, then, is a separate oath needed for each and every individual soul?
The soul is pure; it has no connection to sin at all and stands entirely above it. What room is there to make it swear "and be not a rasha," concerning something that does not pertain to it? And if the intent is to administer the oath to the part of a person that is connected to sin, one cannot impose an oath on a part that does not yet exist and is not yet relevant, making it responsible for what will come afterward; in that case, it would have been fitting for the oath to come at a later stage.
Therefore it is explained that the meaning of the oath is not only the ordinary sense familiar to us, a warning to the one under oath to guard himself and beware of transgressing because of the great severity of an oath. There is a further and broader dimension here: the word "משביעים" can be read not with a shin but with a sin, "masbi'im," from the root sova, satiation, meaning strength and fullness.
That is, the soul is told before its descent into this world: as long as it is in the state of a child in its mother's womb there is nothing standing in its way. They teach him the entire Torah, and he has no struggle with anything that interferes. But once he emerges into the air of the world he will encounter interfering forces both from within and from without, obstacles and hindrances of every kind, and therefore he must be given special strengths in order to stand up to these tasks. This is "mashbi'im oso": the granting of powers of sova, of fullness, so that he can stand with the strength required at the time of his descent into this world.
In one of the Rebbe's maamarim it is brought that the word "mashbi'im," besides being read from the language of an oath and from the language of sova, has a third meaning as well: from the word "sheva," seven. The three interpretations are bound up with one another. The special powers granted to the soul while it is in its mother's womb have their origin in the root of the soul. It is known that not the whole soul descends below, but only a part of it, while the main part remains above. From this higher root the soul receives the special powers it will need while it is below, and this higher root is connected to the number seven.
The allusion in "tzelem":
Of Adam HaRishon, the first soul to descend into the world, it is said: "בצלם אלוקים עשה את האדם" ("in the image of G-d He made man"). "Tzelem" refers to the powers of the soul, which are divided up and alluded to in its letters:
Tzaddi is the part of the soul that descended and became invested in the body, the part familiar to us: nefesh, ruach and neshamah, the faculties that clothe themselves in the limbs of the body.
Lamed and mem are the loftier levels, chayah and yechidah, which do not descend into the body. In gematria by the full count they equal seventy, and by the reduced count (mispar katan) they equal seven.
From here we see that the loftier powers of the soul are alluded to in the number seven. The lamed-mem that remains above grants strength to the tzaddi that descends below, and the two of them together combine to form the word "tzelem."
In summary: in this section we learned the opening of chapter one of Tanya. We dwelt on the precision of the word "Tanya": why the Alter Rebbe chose the less common version, thereby alluding to the nullification of the kelipah of the scholars, which is called "Tanya," and also on the significance of the letters spelling "eisan," a term of strength and firmness. We saw the allusion in "the end of chapter three of Niddah": the end of the time of exile, on the threshold of the Redemption. We further explained the meaning of "mashbi'im oso": not only an oath in the ordinary sense, but also a term of sova, fullness and strength, and a term of "sheva," seven, the powers the soul receives from its higher root, as alluded to in "tzelem": the tzaddi that descends into the body, and the lamed-mem (seven in gematria by the reduced count) that remains above and grants strength to the part that descends.
In the next section we will take up the continuation of chapter one, the matter of the oath upon the soul: its nature, its purpose, and how it gives the soul the strength to withstand its descent into this world.