The Alter Rebbe will now explain that since this love of G‑d is such that the soul is on the verge of expiring, it cannot inspire one directly to serve G‑d through Torah and mitzvot.
והנה סדר העבודה בעסק התורה והמצות, הנמשכת מבחינת אהבה עזה זו, היא בבחינת שוב לבד
The order of one’s divine service through occupation with Torah study and mitzvot, a service deriving from this intense love, is possible only in a manner of retreat, i.e., when the soul withholds itself from expiring in order to fulfill the Divine intent, which can only be realized when the soul remains within the body.
כמו שכתוב 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 החיים ברוך הוא
As it is written in Sefer Yetzirah: “If your heart hastens, return to One.” “If your heart hastens” refers to the craving of the soul that is in the right side of the heart (the abode of the Divine soul), when this craving predominates and bursts into flame, and glows in such rapture that the soul is consumed with a desire (klot hanefesh) to pour itself out into the embrace of its Father, its Source, Who gives one life,
ולצאת ממאסרה בגוף הגופני וגשמי, לדבקה בו יתברך
and to leave its confinement in the corporeal and physical body to attach itself to Him, blessed be He.
When one is consumed with such an incontainable, rapturous love, seeking even at the cost of self-extinction to become attached to G‑d, there must now be a deliberate “return to the One.”
אזי זאת ישיב אל לבו, מאמר רז״ל: כי על כרחך אתה חי
Then one must take to heart the teaching of our Sages, of blessed memory:18 “Despite yourself you must live” — despite your craving for expiry in klot hanefesh, you must nevertheless remain alive,
בגוף הזה, להחיותו, כדי להמשיך חיים עליונים מחיי החיים ברוך הוא למטה, על ידי תורת חיים
in this body, to keep it alive, for the purpose of drawing down the higher life-force from the Life of life, blessed be He, through the life-giving Torah.
להיות דירה בתחתונים לאחדותו יתברך בבחינת גילוי
Through this, there will be a dwelling-place in the lower worlds and created beings for His blessed Oneness in a revealed state,
Just as in an ordinary dwelling, a person’s identity is totally revealed, so will the true essence of the Divine Oneness be then revealed among the beings of this lower world.
כמו שנתבאר לעיל
as explained above, that this is the ultimate Divine intent — that a human being’s service of G‑d should make of the world a dwelling-place for Him. And this is the meaning of “Return to the One”: retreat from your love of G‑d in a state of klot hanefesh, for the sake of the “One”, for the sake of revealing G‑d’s Oneness in the world.
וכמו שכתוב בזהר הקדוש: למהוי אחד באחד, פירוש: שהיחוד הנעלם יהיה בבחינת עלמא דאתגליא
And, as is explained in the holy Zohar: “That there be One in one,” meaning that the unity which is hidden — the “One” of a higher spiritual world or level — shall become an aspect of the “revealed world,” becoming manifest in the Oneness of a lower world or level.
וזהו שאומרים: לכה דודי וכו׳
And this is the meaning of the text:19 “Come, my Beloved, to meet the bride (kallah)” — denoting klot hanefesh (kallah and klot being etymologically related). In this form of the love of G‑d, one’s klot hanefesh should be expressed through causing “my Beloved” to “come” — i.e., through drawing down the Beloved One, G‑d Himself, so that G‑dliness will be revealed in this nether world.
ובזה יובן מאמר רז״ל: על כרחך אתה חי ועל כרחך וכו׳
With this one will be able to understand the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: “Despite yourself, even against your will, you must live, and despite yourself you must die.”
From this saying, “Despite yourself you must live,” we learn that, in our service of G‑d, we should in the first instance desire the opposite of staying alive (klot hanefesh), and that remaining alive within the body has to be perforce, against our will. On the other hand, from the second saying, “Despite yourself you must die,” we learn that we should desire to remain alive, and that the opposite of life, klot hanefesh, should be against our will. If so, the question arises:
ואלא איך יהיה רצונו
What then should one’s desire be?
We can understand this according to what has been explained above: First one must come to the point where one can arouse within oneself such an intense love of G‑d that one desires klot hanefesh, while remaining alive is “despite oneself” — only for the purpose of fulfilling G‑d’s Will that one reveal G‑dliness and His Oneness in the world. This is the meaning of “Despite yourself you must live.”
Afterwards, though, when one is already in a state of “retreat”, then one should once more arouse within oneself the love of G‑d that surges ever forward in klot hanefesh. In this way, one injects into this state of “retreat” into the world a higher spiritual quality. Furthermore, in this state of withdrawing back into the world, one can possibly become drawn down into lowly mundane affairs. To forestall this possibility, one should once more arouse within oneself the sensation of “running forward,” loving G‑d to the extent of klot hanefesh. This is the meaning of “Despite yourself you must die” — i.e., against your will which is now in a state of “retreat”, the very opposite of klot hanefesh, which denotes expiring and leaving the body.
וכמו שנתבאר במקום אחר באריכות על משנה זו: על כרחך אתה חי, בעזרת חיי החיים ברוך הוא
[This is] explained elsewhere at length with reference to this Mishnah: “Despite yourself you must live” — with the help of the “Life of life,” blessed be He, Who enables one to cope with this “compulsion” to live “despite yourself.”
This means that when one’s love of G‑d is surging forward in klot hanefesh, one forces oneself against one’s will to remain “alive” within the body, in order to reveal down here in this world the “Life of life,” that divine force which gives life to the world.20
Footnotes
1.“See also Pelach HaRimon, Vayeira (119); conclusion of Biur Tanya (mimeo) of R. Shmuel Gronem [Esterman].” (— Note of the Rebbe.)
2.Zohar I, 256b; 258b.
3.The Rebbe cites II Kings 12:5, which states: “All silver (kesef) donated for sacred purposes, is to be brought to the house of the L‑rd” — and the following verse says that this silver is to be entrusted to the Kohanim. In spiritual terms this means to say that “sacred silver” (kesef), which as mentioned above is etymologically related to longing, is the province of the Kohanim.
The Rebbe also cites Torah Or, at the end of the Torah portion of Ki Tisa, where reference is made to the “sacred shekel,” which was a silver coin.
4.Bereishit 31:30.
5.Zohar II, 148a.
6.The Rebbe comments that this appears to contradict a statement of the Alter Rebbe in ch. 9. He speaks there of one who has attained “a love of G‑d, burning in his heart like a flame,…[and] his soul will…pine with desire,…rising to attain to the level of ahavah rabbah (‘abundant love’),” — and this higher level of love stems from “the element of Water.”
Here, however, the Alter Rebbe says that the superior form of love is that which “burns in one’s heart like a flame,…his soul pining with desire” — “as gold is superior to silver.”
The Rebbe answers his question by citing the response of the Tzemach Tzedek (in Or HaTorah, Parshat Achrei, pp. 95-96) to a similar question. The Tzemach Tzedek explains that there are two kinds of silver, ordinary silver and silver which has been refined sevenfold. This latter form of silver is even more valuable than gold. The same is true regarding the various forms of love: When the love is on the level of ordinary silver, then love which is like “flaming fire” and likened to gold is superior to it. However, “the great love of delights” is similar to that form of silver which is superior to gold.
7.“I.e., within the body itself this differentiation is between action and speech — and thought. (See Likkutei Torah, beginning of Parshat Achrei.)” (— Note of the Rebbe.)
8.Tehillim 63:2.
9.The Rebbe comments that we cannot simply say that the Alter Rebbe quotes this verse in order to prove that a soul longs for G‑d. (a) This is self-evident. (b) If proof is nevertheless needed, the Alter Rebbe should also have supported his statement that the soul reaches the point of “love-sickness” by citing the verse, “…for I am sick with love.” (c) If it is indeed necessary to prove that the soul thirsts for G‑d, why does he not cite the verse in all the previous places in Tanya where he speaks of the soul’s thirst for G‑dliness?
The Rebbe therefore explains that proof is specifically necessary here, for in this instance we are speaking of the divine soul’s longing for G‑d, as opposed to the longing of the body and animal soul. For even when the divine soul finds itself in this world it still remains “truly a part of G‑d above.” Since thirsting after and longing for G‑d generally results from the person’s distance from Him, and the divine soul is not distant from Him, what is the reason for its longing?
In the case of a penitent this longing would be understandable. For as explained in ch. 7, the penitent’s soul thirsts for G‑d like the parched desert soil thirsts for water. Here, however, we are speaking of an individual who has transcended even the level of “longing exceedingly for his Father’s house.” How, then, can we say that a person so close to G‑d longs and thirsts for Him?
The Alter Rebbe therefore cites the verse which says that “my soul thirsts after you.” This was spoken by King David, who was of such a superior spiritual level that he had completely vanquished his evil inclination and had transformed his animal soul into holiness. Our Sages attest to this, when in commenting upon the verse, “My heart is slain within me,” they note that King David completely eradicated his evil inclination through fasting. When a person like King David who was totally devoid of any evil inclination states that his soul thirsts for G‑d, he is surely referring to his divine soul. Thus we see from this verse that it is indeed possible for the divine soul of a totally righteous individual to thirst after G‑d.
But the question still remains: How is it that someone so close to G‑d still longs for Him?
This is answered in the concluding section of the verse which states: “…in a land of barren wilderness.” Since King David composed this psalm in the Judean Desert, while exiled from Jerusalem, he was in a state of longing. Spiritually as well: when a divine soul finds itself in this world it is in a desert. While it may attain a lofty degree of comprehension of G‑dliness, thus finding itself in a Judean desert, its present spiritual state cannot at all compare to its former spiritual state, before its descent into this world. Hence its thirst for G‑d.
In addition, writes the Rebbe, it may be said that the quoted verse also serves to show that the very contemplation itself leads to this thirst, for the phrase, “My soul thirsts after You,” is preceded by the words, “L‑rd, You are my G‑d: I shall seek You.” Thus, meditating upon G‑d’s greatness, whereby the person seeks G‑d, leads to “thirsting after You.”
This is also shown by the verse, “My soul expires [with rapture for G‑d],” wherein King David — a completely righteous individual, not a penitent — demonstrates his soul’s longing for G‑d.
10.Shir HaShirim 2:5.
11.Tehillim 84:3.
12.Parentheses are in the original text.
13.The Rebbe notes that by saying that the Levites of today will become Kohanim in the future, the Alter Rebbe anticipates the following question:
Earlier on it was stated that the love which is like “flaming fire” is superior to the degree of priestly love. The Alter Rebbe now states that the love likened to “flaming fire” is related to the Levites. However, since the Levites are on a lower level than the Kohanim, how can it be that their love is superior to priestly love?
This is answered by saying that the Levites‘ love is indeed superior; the world, however, is in need of elevation. When this shall come to pass, the present-day Levites will indeed become the Kohanim of the future, and will cease being subservient to them.
14.Bamidbar 18:2.
15.Yechezkel 44:15.
16.The Rebbe notes that the Alter Rebbe adds the words “of today” (“the Levites of today will become the Kohanim of the future”) in order to forestall the following question: The Torah was given “unto us and unto our children, forever” (Devarim 29:28). Rambam comments that we learn from this verse that one of the foremost principles of the Torah is that it remains immutable (Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah, ch. 9). How then can we possibly say that one of the laws of the Torah will (heaven forbid) be changed, so that the Levites become Kohanim, with all the changes in Torah law that such a transformation entails?
The Alter Rebbe therefore writes that this does not mean that those Levites born in the future will become Kohanim. Rather, it means that those Jews who are presently Levites will be born in the future into priestly families, thereby making them lawful Kohanim.
This, however, lead to another question: If this is the case, then there is nothing novel about it; it goes without saying that any child born to a Kohen is himself a Kohen.
The answer to this, says the Rebbe, lies in the fact that Levites are born as such because their soul’s spiritual source and therefore their divine service – both in the Temple as well as now – is that of Gevurah. So, too, with regard to Kohanim: their source is Chesed. Since in the time after Mashiach’s coming the service prompted by Gevurah will surpass that of Chesed, those who today are Levites will be born into priestly families so as to attain their superior spiritual level.
17.13b.
18.Avot 4:22.
19.Liturgy, Prayer for Welcoming the Sabbath.
20.”For a brief explanation and reason for all the above, see Torat Chayim, Vayishlach, discourse beginning Vayikach, ch. 4; based on Torah Or 25b. See also Achrei Mot 5649, p. 25ff.” (- Note of the Rebbe.)
