תניאTanya Explained

פרק נ

Chapter 50: Silver and gold: the love that wants to leave, and the return

In short

Every love described so far draws a person close to G‑d, and so leads naturally to Torah and mitzvos. Now the Alter Rebbe reveals a higher love, like fire, in which the soul longs to leave the body altogether and be swallowed up in G‑d. Such a love cannot lead to Torah and mitzvos by itself; it does so only through the “return”: coming back to live in the body, because that is where G‑d wants His oneness revealed.

1.Silver: the loves that draw near

וְהִנֵּה כָּל בְּחִינוֹת וּמַדְרְגוֹת אַהֲבָה הַנַּ"ל הֵן מִסִּטְרָא דְּיַמִּינָא, וּבְחִינַת כֹּהֵן אִישׁ חֶסֶד. וְנִקְרָאוֹת "כֶּסֶף הַקֳּדָשִׁים", מִלְּשׁוֹן "נִכְסֹף נִכְסַפְתָּה לְבֵית אָבִיךָ".

Translation

All the kinds and levels of love described above come from the “right side”, from the quality of “the kohen, a man of kindness” (chesed). They are called “holy silver” (kesef hakodashim), a word that means longing, as in “For you longed (nichsof nichsafta) for your father’s house” (Bereishis 31:30).

Explanation

Over the last chapters the Alter Rebbe has described many kinds and levels of love for G‑d. Now he sums them all up with one name: silver.

Silver (kesef) is related to the word for longing (nichsaf). These loves all belong to the right side, chesed, the side of the kohen: in the Temple, the silver given for holy purposes was handed to the kohanim (II Melachim 12:5). In each of them the person wants G‑d in his life: to be near Him, to bring holiness down into his world. Like water, which flows downward and joins things together, these loves draw closeness. That is why they lead straight to Torah and mitzvos, which are how a person is joined to G‑d.

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2.Gold: a love like fiery coals

אַךְ יֵשׁ עוֹד בְּחִינַת אַהֲבָה הָעוֹלָה עַל כֻּלָּנָה, כְּמַעֲלַת הַזָּהָב עַל הַכֶּסֶף, וְהִיא אַהֲבָה כְּרִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ, מִבְּחִינַת גְּבוּרוֹת עֶלְיוֹנוֹת דְּבִינָה עִלָּאָה.

Translation

Yet there is still another love, standing above all these the way gold stands above silver: a love like burning coals of fire. It flows from the supernal gevuros (forces of might) of binah ila’ah, the higher understanding.

Explanation

Gold is not just more silver. It is a different kind of thing: the finest gold has a glow that catches the eye, and silver has none. This love is like that. It comes from the left side, gevurah, which is related to fire, as chesed is related to water. Water runs down; fire leaps up. Chesed means drawing down; gevurah means rising up.

Chesed and gevurah are both holy. Gevurah is not “bad”; it is a different direction. Chesed in the emotions is rooted mainly in chochmah, wisdom, and gevurah mainly in binah, understanding.

So the silver loves are like water: they bring G‑d close to the person. The gold love is like fire: it carries the person up to G‑d.

Sources

3.The flame that wants to leave the wick

דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁעַל יְדֵי הִתְבּוֹנְנוּת בִּגְדֻלַּת אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא דְּכֹלָּא קַמֵּיהּ כְּלָא מַמָּשׁ חָשִׁיב, תִּתְלַהֵט וְתִתְלַהֵב הַנֶּפֶשׁ לִיקַר תִּפְאֶרֶת גְּדֻלָּתוֹ וְלְאִסְתַּכָּלָא בִּיקָרָא דְּמַלְכָּא, כְּרִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ שַׁלְהֶבֶת עַזָּה הָעוֹלָה לְמַעְלָה, וְלִפָּרֵד מֵהַפְּתִילָה וְהָעֵצִים שֶׁנֶּאֱחֶזֶת בָּהֶן. וְהַיְינוּ עַל יְדֵי תִּגְבֹּרֶת יְסוֹד הָאֵשׁ אֱלֹהִי שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֱלֹהִית. וּמִזֶּה בָּאָה לִידֵי צִמָּאוֹן, וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "צָמְאָה לְךָ נַפְשִׁי". וְאַחַר כָּךְ לִבְחִינַת "חוֹלַת אַהֲבָה". וְאַחַר כָּךְ בָּאָה לִידֵי כְּלוֹת הַנֶּפֶשׁ מַמָּשׁ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "גַּם כָּלְתָה נַפְשִׁי".

Translation

It comes about when a person reflects on the greatness of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, in whose presence all things are reckoned as truly nothing. Then the soul ignites and blazes up toward the splendor of His greatness, longing to behold the King’s glory, like the sparks of a mighty fire that leap upward, breaking away from the wick and the wood that hold them. This is the work of the element of divine fire within the soul.

From this it comes to thirst, as it is written, “My soul thirsts for You” (Tehillim 63:2). After that it comes to lovesickness (Shir HaShirim 2:5), and after that to kelos hanefesh, the very expiring of the soul, as it is written, “Indeed, my soul expires” (Tehillim 84:3).

Explanation

The earlier loves came from thinking how close G‑d is to us. This love comes from thinking how far beyond us He is: before Him all the worlds, and I myself, are as nothing. Instead of feeling warmly held, the person feels tiny and far away, and the soul blazes up to reach Him.

The picture is a candle. The flame always reaches upward, as if trying to tear free of the wick and return to its source. The wick and wood are the body that holds the soul down. This flame does not want G‑d in its life; it wants to leave the body and be absorbed in its Source.

Heat brings thirst; thirst unquenched becomes sickness; and the end is kelos hanefesh, the soul’s yearning to leave the body and be absorbed in G‑d. The verses are King David’s: even a soul as holy as his, still in this world, feels like it is in a desert, far from home.

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4.The Levites: running and returning

וְהִנֵּה מִכָּאן יָצָא שֹׁרֶשׁ הַלְוִיִּים לְמַטָּה. [וְלֶעָתִיד, שֶׁהָעוֹלָם יִתְעַלֶּה, יִהְיוּ הֵם הַכֹּהֲנִים. וּכְמוֹ שֶׁפֵּרֵשׁ הָאֲרִ"י זַ"ל עַל פָּסוּק "וְהַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם", שֶׁהַלְוִיִּים שֶׁל עַכְשָׁו יִהְיוּ כֹּהֲנִים לֶעָתִיד]. וַעֲבוֹדַת הַלְוִיִּים הָיְתָה לְהָרִים קוֹל רִנָּה וְתוֹדָה בְּשִׁירָה וְזִמְרָה בְּנִגּוּן וּנְעִימָה, בִּבְחִינַת רָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב, שֶׁהִיא בְּחִינַת אַהֲבָה עַזָּה זוֹ כְּשַׁלְהֶבֶת הַיּוֹצֵא מִן הַבָּזָק, כִּדְאִיתָא בִּגְמָרָא [פרק ב דחגיגה].

Translation

Here lies the root of the Levites below. [In time to come, once the world is elevated, they will serve as the kohanim, as the Arizal explained on the verse “And the kohanim, the Levites” (Yechezkel 44:15): those who are Levites today will become kohanim then.] The Levites’ task was to raise their voices in song and praise, with joy, with music and instruments, with tune and sweetness, moving in the pattern of “running and returning” (ratzo vashov). That pattern is the nature of this blazing love, like the flame that darts out of the bazak, as the Gemara relates (Chagigah, chapter 2).

Explanation

The kohanim served the Temple in silence, bringing the offerings. The Levites sang. Song is the voice of a soul rising, and the Levite soul comes from gevurah, the fire.

Why then are the kohanim above the Levites today? Because the world is not yet ready for so high a love. When the world is raised up, the Levites’ kind of service will lead. The Torah does not change: the kohanim will still be descendants of Aharon. The words “of now” mean that the souls of today’s Levites will be born into kohen families.

Their song moved in “running and returning”, like the angels in Yechezkel’s vision who “ran and returned like the appearance of the bazak.” One reading takes bazak to be the furnace in which gold is purified: so fierce is its heat that the flame shoots out and immediately pulls back. That is this love: it bursts upward, and returns.

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5.Beyond writing, and the first step

וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לְבָאֵר עִנְיָן זֶה הֵיטֵב בְּמִכְתָּב, רַק כָּל אִישׁ נִלְבָּב וְנָבוֹן הַמַּשְׂכִּיל עַל דָּבָר וּמַעֲמִיק לְקַשֵּׁר דַּעְתּוֹ וּתְבוּנָתוֹ בַּה', יִמְצָא טוֹב וְאוֹר הַגָּנוּז בְּנַפְשׁוֹ הַמַּשְׂכֶּלֶת, כָּל חָד לְפוּם שִׁעוּרָא דִּילֵיהּ, [יֵשׁ מִתְפַּעֵל וכו' וְיֵשׁ מִתְפַּעֵל וכו'], אַחֲרֵי קְדִימַת יִרְאַת חֵטְא לִהְיוֹת סוּר מֵרָע בְּתַכְלִית, שֶׁלֹּא לִהְיוֹת עֲווֹנוֹתֵיכֶם מַבְדִּילִים וכו' חַס וְשָׁלוֹם.

Translation

This cannot be explained well in writing. But every person with a heart and with understanding, who thinks things through and goes deep to bind his mind and understanding to G‑d, will find the good and the hidden light in his thinking soul, each according to his own measure [“one is moved one way, and another is moved another way”]. This comes after first having fear of sin, so as to be completely turned away from evil, so that it should not be that “your sins separate” [between you and your G‑d], heaven forbid.

Explanation

Some things can be described; this one has to be felt. The Alter Rebbe does not say it belongs only to the great. Every person who has a heart and a mind, and who truly binds his thoughts to G‑d, will find this hidden light in his own soul. People are moved in different ways, each according to his own capacity.

There is one condition first: fear of sin, turning away from evil completely, so that sins do not stand between a person and G‑d. One way to understand this: strong spiritual feelings can fool a person. He cannot claim “I want only G‑d” and keep doing what separates him from G‑d. Once that separation is removed through teshuvah, the soul’s own fire can show itself.

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6.“If your heart runs, return to the One”

וְהִנֵּה סֵדֶר הָעֲבוֹדָה בְּעֵסֶק הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְווֹת הַנִּמְשֶׁכֶת מִבְּחִינַת אַהֲבָה עַזָּה זוֹ הִיא בִּבְחִינַת שׁוֹב לְבַד, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר בְּסֵפֶר יְצִירָה: "וְאִם רָץ לִבְּךָ, שׁוּב לְאֶחָד". פֵּרוּשׁ, "וְאִם רָץ לִבְּךָ", הִיא תְּשֻׁקַּת הַנֶּפֶשׁ שֶׁבַּלֵּב בֶּחָלָל הַיְּמָנִי, כְּשֶׁמִּתְגַּבֶּרֶת וּמִתְלַהֶבֶת וּמִתְלַהֶטֶת בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד עַד כְּלוֹת הַנֶּפֶשׁ מַמָּשׁ, לְהִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ אֶל חֵיק אָבִיהָ חַיֵּי הַחַיִּים בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְלָצֵאת מִמַּאֲסָרָהּ בַּגּוּף הַגּוּפָנִי וְגַשְׁמִי לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ, אֲזַי זֹאת יָשִׁיב אֶל לִבּוֹ מַאֲמַר רַזַ"ל, כִּי עַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה חַי בַּגּוּף הַזֶּה לְהַחֲיוֹתוֹ, כְּדֵי לְהַמְשִׁיךְ חַיִּים עֶלְיוֹנִים מֵחַיֵּי הַחַיִּים בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמַטָּה עַל יְדֵי תּוֹרַת חַיִּים, לִהְיוֹת דִּירָה בַּתַּחְתּוֹנִים לְאַחְדוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ בִּבְחִינַת גִּלּוּי, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר לְעֵיל. וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּזֹּהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ, "לְמֶהֱוֵי אֶחָד בְּאֶחָד", פֵּרוּשׁ, שֶׁהַיִּחוּד הַנֶּעְלָם יִהְיֶה בִּבְחִינַת עָלְמָא דְּאִתְגָּלְיָא.

Translation

Now, the way of serving through Torah and mitzvos that grows out of this blazing love takes the form of “returning” alone, as Sefer Yetzirah (1:8) says: “If your heart runs, return to the One.” “If your heart runs” refers to the yearning of the soul housed in the heart’s right chamber, once it intensifies and flares and burns with tremendous force, until the soul is literally spent with desire to spill itself into the arms of its Father, the Life of all life, blessed be He, and to break out of its confinement in the coarse physical body so as to cling to Him, blessed be He.

At that moment a person has to remind himself of what the Sages, of blessed memory, taught: “Against your will you live” (Avos 4:22). He lives in this body, and gives it life, against his will, so as to bring higher life from the Life of all life, blessed be He, downward by way of the living Torah, so that His oneness, blessed be He, may have a home among the lowest creations, openly and visibly. This was explained above, and the holy Zohar puts it this way: “That there be One in one” (Zohar II:135a): the hidden oneness is to become the “revealed world”.

Explanation

Here is the problem this love raises. Every other love leads to Torah and mitzvos, because a person who wants G‑d near does what brings Him near. But this love does not want to be at all. What place do mitzvos have for a soul that wants to leave?

The answer is the “return”. At the very peak of the running, the person stops and asks: not what do I want, but what does G‑d want of me? He wants me here, alive in this body, so that through Torah and mitzvos His life and His oneness will be revealed in this lowly world. The love itself does not produce the mitzvos; the return does.

“The One” is G‑d’s oneness as it should be seen down here. Above, in the hidden worlds, He is plainly One. The task is that the same oneness be revealed in this world: “One in one.”

Sources

7.Come, my Beloved: against your will you live

וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאוֹמְרִים: "לְכָה דּוֹדִי" וכו'. וּבָזֶה יוּבַן מַאֲמַר רַזַ"ל: "עַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה חַי וְעַל כָּרְחֲךָ" וכו'; וְאֶלָּא אֵיךְ יִהְיֶה רְצוֹנוֹ? וּכְמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר בַּאֲרִיכוּת עַל מִשְׁנָה זוֹ: עַל כָּרְחֲךָ אַתָּה חַי בְּעֶזְרַת חַיֵּי הַחַיִּים בָּרוּךְ הוּא.

Translation

This is the meaning of the words we say, “Come, my Beloved [to greet the bride]…” It also sheds light on the Sages’ teaching, of blessed memory: “Against your will you live, and against your will [you die]” (Avos 4:22). What, then, ought a person to want? This Mishnah is discussed at length in another place: “against your will you live”, and this is achieved with the aid of the Life of all life, blessed be He.

Explanation

Every Friday night we sing “Come, my Beloved, to meet the bride”. The bride (kallah) is the soul in kelos, longing to go up. But the song does not ask the bride to go up; it asks the Beloved to come down. The yearning ends in drawing G‑d into this world.

The Mishnah seems to contradict itself: if you live against your will, you want to die; if you die against your will, you want to live. So what should a person want? The answer, explained elsewhere, is a cycle. First comes the running: a person longs to leave, and lives only because G‑d wants it. Then, back in the world, he must again rouse the longing, so as not to sink into the world. That is “against your will you die”.

No one can hold both by himself. It is “with the help of the Life of all life” that a person can live this way.

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The Yesod: The fire is real, and the return is the point

Chapter 50 reaches the highest love in the Tanya, and then, in the same breath, sends the person back to ordinary life. That is the whole lesson.

The fire is real. Somewhere in every Jewish soul there is a flame that does not want comfort or closeness; it wants G‑d Himself, and before Him it feels like nothing. When a person thinks deeply enough about how everything is as nothing before G‑d, that flame wakes up, and the soul would gladly leave this world. This is not a sickness. It is the soul remembering where it comes from.

But G‑d did not send the soul down to escape. He wants a dwelling place here, in the lowest world, where His oneness is revealed. So the highest love does not end in leaving. It ends in “return to the One”: back into the body, the day, the work, the mitzvah, because this is where He wants to be found. The love that wanted to rise becomes the power that brings Him down. The test of the fire is not how high it burns, but what it brings back down.

This changes how a person sees himself. The longing is not a distraction from serving G‑d, and the daily mitzvah is not a step down from the longing. The mitzvah done by someone who could have wanted to leave, and chose to stay because G‑d asked, carries the fire inside it.

And the cycle does not stop. Someone who only runs is lost to the world. Someone who only returns is swallowed by it, and his mitzvos lose their fire. Picture a Jew as an ambassador sent to a foreign country on a mission. If he grows comfortable there and stops longing for home, the mission is in danger. If he only longs for home, he stays detached and cannot do the mission.

So a person runs and returns, again and again, like the Levites’ song and the flame in the crucible. He longs for G‑d, and lives here for G‑d. Living this way is beyond a person’s own strength, which is why the chapter closes: “with the help of the Life of all life”.

Sources

Points to ponder

  1. Do I know the feeling of wanting G‑d Himself, not just a good spiritual life? When have I come closest to it?
  2. When I feel inspired, do I let it carry me away from my duties, or do I bring it back into the next mitzvah?
  3. Where have I grown so comfortable in the world that I no longer feel any longing for home?
  4. Is there a sin I am holding onto that stands between me and this hidden light?
  5. What would it mean for me to live “against my will” today, because G‑d wants me here?