Tanya Chapter 50
by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi
Translation and Commentary by Rabbi Gedalia Potash and William Schecter, MD
Saturday January 29, 2022
This draft has neither been edited nor approved by Rabbi Potash
All of the attributes and levels of love referred to above are from the right side with the attribute of Kohen, a man of loving kindness (Chesed).
Comment: This sentence refers to the type of love we have been studying in the previous chapters—the love which draws down to our netherworld the Infinite Divine Light through engagement in Torah Study and the performance of Mitzvot
And they (the Kohanim) are called the longing of the holy things from the expression “וְעַתָּה֙ הָלֹ֣ךְ הָלַ֔כְתָּ כִּֽי־נִכְסֹ֥ף נִכְסַ֖פְתָּה לְבֵ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ לָ֥מָּה גָנַ֖בְתָּ אֶת־אֱלֹהָֽי׃ Very well, you had to leave because you were longing for your father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” (Genesis 31:30)
Comment: This passage quotes Laban speaking to Jacob after he absconded with his family and flocks. It employs the term נִכְסַ֖פְתָּה—you longed for”
The root of the Hebrew words for “longing” and silver is the same כסף. The passage could be translated as “the longing silver of holy things” but the Elter Rebbe is referring to longing and desire.
But there is another attribute of love which supersedes all others, just as gold supersedes silver, and it is the attribute of love similar to the flames of a fire which has the attribute of supernal disciplines (Gvurot- גבורות) of supernal understanding (Binah בינה.) Meaning that through contemplation of the greatness of the Infinite, blessed be He, everything else that exists is insignificant, the soul will be ignited and inflamed by the precious beauty of His Greatness to gaze into the dearness the King, like the flames of a fire, a mighty blaze that ascends on high, separated from the wick and the wood in which the fire is held. Meaning that this occurs through building up the base of the Divine Fire that is in the G-dly Soul. This leads to a Thirst, and as it is written “My Soul thirsts for You” (Psalm 63:2). And afterwards, it leads to the attribute Love Sickness. And then it comes to the true expiration of the Soul (כלות הנפש) as it is written “And also my soul[WS1] also expired-- yearns for the courts of the L-rd”. (Psalm 84:3)
Comment: The Elter Rebbe is now giving a Kabbalistic explanation of the two types of love. The first, which we have discussed previously in the book, is a love derived from Hochma (wisdom) through Chesed (Loving Kindness). It is manifested by a desire to draw G-d down into our netherworld which we prepare for His dwelling by transforming darkness to light, physicality to spirituality through Torah Study and Mitzvot.
The second type of love, which we are now discussing, is a passionate love sickness, a desire to lose ourselves entirely, by becoming truly united and one with the object of our passionate desire—G-d. This love sickness progresses to the point of kalut hanefesh (כלות הנפש)—an expiring of the Soul.
The Levites descended from their “root” in the Heavens to our world (and in the future, the world will arise and the Levites will be Kohanim (Priests). And as the Ari explained when discussing the passage about the Cohanim and the Levites – the current Levites will be the future Kohanim.) The service of the Levites was to raise their voices in joy, thanksgiving, song and singing with a pleasant tune with the attribute of רצוא ושוב (Ratzo ve Shuv- running and returning - constant motion to and fro) which is the attribute of this great love when the blaze leaves the igniting spark is explained in the Gemorrah (Hagigah 7: b). It is impossible to explain this issue well in writing. But every wise man who is enlightened about the issue thinks deeply in order to connect his Da’at (Deep emotional knowledge of G-d implying an intimate connection with the Divine) and Understanding with G-d and will find the goodness and light stored in his enlightened soul, each person according to his ability. Different people are affected in different ways. The fear of sin must precede this contemplation to achieve the goal of turning away from evil. “But your iniquities have been a barrier between you and your God,” (Isaiah 59:2), G-d for bid that this situation should occur when contemplating the Divine.
And here the order of service in engagement in Torah study and the performance of Mitzvot is drawn from the attribute of this powerful love which has only the attribute of “Shuv – return” as explained in Sefer HaYitzirah (a part of the Zohar): “If your heart is running, return to One. The interpretation of the expression “If your heart runs” means is the passionate desire in the right chamber of the heart, which, when it matures, is ignited and greatly inflamed until the soul truly expires (becomes nullified) in the breast of its Father (G-d), the Life of Lives, Blessed be He, to leave the imprisonment of the physical body and to cleave to G-d and so will return to his heart said the Talmudic Sages, because you must live in this body (despite your desire to be nullified to G-d) in order to draw down the supernal Life from G-d (the Source of Life) by way of engagement in the Torah of Life, so that our netherworld world will become a dwelling place for His Unity with the attribute of revelation as explained above.
And as it is written in the Holy Zohar: “to be One with One” meaning the concealed Unity of G-d will have the attribute of the revealed world
Comment: That through Torah Study and the performance of Mitzvot the Concealed (G-d) will be revealed in our netherworld--Asiyah
“Go my Beloved” etc.
Comment: This phrase refers to the 16th century liturgical poem “Lecha Dodi” written by the Safed kabbalist, Shlomo Alkabetz. It is the centerpiece of the Kabbalat Shabbat Service, the service that introduces Shabbat on Friday evenings. The first two lines are:
לְכָה דוֹדִי לִקְרַאת כַּלָּה.
Come my Beloved Friend to greet the bride,
פְּנֵי שַׁבָּת נְקַבְּ֒לָה:
let us welcome the Sabbath.
Now we must explore the etymology of the phrase used earlier “My soul expired—כלות נפשי” referring to the love sick passionate desire to completely unite with G-d and lose all sense of self. Compare the word כלות meaning to end or expire with the word for bride כַּלָּה. You can see that both words have the same shoresh or root which forms the basis of all semitic languages. So, one could easily compare the passionate desire of a bridegroom to unite and be as one with his bride to the passionate love and desire of the soul to unite with G-d.
This explains the expression of the Talmudic Sage “against your will you live, against your will you will die” (Pirkei Avot 4:22)
Comment: This Mishnah can be interpreted as follows. The G-dly Soul does not want to leave its Source in Heaven, descend through the processes of Hishtalshalut (השתלשלות) and Tsimtsum (צמצום) to be enclothed in the corporeal sheath of materialism. So, the G-dly Soul “lives” against its will. However, once the G-dly Soul is encased in its corporeal sheath (the body), it no longer wishes to die. It does not want to allow the corporeal sheath to decay and the G-dly Soul to ascend back to its Source. “Against your will you will live and against your will you will die”.
Which raises the question: What should be one’s desire? (To live or to die?) This Mishnah (Pirkei Avot 4:22) will be explained at length elsewhere: “Against your will you live”—with the help of the Life of Lives (חיי החיים), Blessed be He (G-d).
והנה כל בחינות ומדרגות אהבה הנ"ל הן מסטרא דימינא, ובחינת כהן איש חסד. ונקראות כסף הקדשים, מלשון "נכסוף נכספת לבית אביך". אך יש עוד בחינת אהבה העולה על כולנה, כמעלת הזהב על הכסף, והיא אהבה כרשפי אש, מבחינת גבורות עליונות דבינה עילאה. דהיינו שעל ידי התבוננות בגדולת אין סוף ברוך הוא דכולא קמיה כלא ממש חשיב, תתלהט ותתלהב הנפש ליקר תפארת גדולתו לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא, כרשפי אש שלהבת עזה העולה למעלה, וליפרד מהפתילה והעצים שנאחזת בהן. והיינו על ידי תגבורת יסוד האש אלהי שבנפש האלהית. ומזה באה לידי צמאון, וכמו שכתוב: "צמאה לך נפשי". ואחר כך לבחינת "חולת אהבה". ואחר כך באה לידי כלות הנפש ממש, כמו שכתוב: "גם כלתה נפשי".
והנה מכאן יצא שורש הלויים למטה. [ולעתיד, שהעולם יתעלה, יהיו הם הכהנים. וכמו שפירש האר"י ז"ל על פסוק "והכהנים הלוים", שהלויים של עכשיו יהיו כהנים לעתיד]. ועבודת הלויים היתה להרים קול רינה ותודה בשירה וזמרה בניגון ונעימה, בבחינת רצוא ושוב, שהיא בחינת אהבה עזה זו כשלהבת היוצא מן הבזק, כדאיתא בגמרא [פ"ב דחגיגה]. ואי אפשר לבאר עניין זה היטב במכתב, רק כל איש נלבב ונבון, המשכיל על דבר ומעמיק לקשר דעתו ותבונתו בה', ימצא טוב ואור הגנוז בנפשו המשכלת, כל חד לפום שיעורא דיליה, [יש מתפעל וכו' ויש מתפעל וכו'], אחרי קדימת יראת חטא להיות סור מרע בתכלית, שלא להיות עוונותיכם מבדילים וכו' חס ושלום.
והנה סדר העבודה בעסק התורה והמצוות הנמשכת מבחינת אהבה עזה זו, היא בבחינת שוב לבד, כמו שנתבאר בספר יצירה: "ואם רץ לבך, שוב לאחד". פירוש, "ואם רץ לבך", היא תשוקת הנפש שבלב בחלל הימני, כשמתגברת ומתלהבת ומתלהטת במאד מאד עד כלות הנפש ממש, להשתפך אל חיק אביה חיי החים ברוך הוא, ולצאת ממאסרה בגוף הגופני וגשמי לדבקה בו יתברך, אזי זאת ישיב אל לבו מאמר רז"ל, כי על כרחך אתה חי בגוף הזה להחיותו, כדי להמשיך חיים עליונים מחיי החים ברוך הוא למטה על ידי תורת חיים, להיות דירה בתחתונים לאחדותו יתברך בבחינת גילוי, כמו שנתבאר לעיל. וכמו שכתוב בזוהר הקדוש, "למהוי אחד באחד", פירוש, שהיחוד הנעלם יהיה בבחינת עלמא דאתגליא. וזהו שאומרים: "לכה דודי" וכו'. ובזה יובן מאמר רז"ל: "על כרחך אתה חי ועל כרחך" וכו'; ואלא איך יהיה רצונו? וכמו שנתבאר במקום אחר באריכות על משנה זו: על כרחך אתה חי בעזרת חיי החיים ברוך הוא.