16. [A question was asked:] Chapter 53 of Tanya cites the verse, “The Tablets were the work of G‑d, and the writing was the writing of G‑d.”1 However, the Tablets in the Beis HaMikdash were the Second Tablets, for the First Tablets were broken2 – and of the Second Tablets it is written [that G‑d told Moshe], “Hew for yourself two Tablets of stone…”3
[The Rebbe replied:] The question would not have arisen if it had been realized that the basic statement of a concept always precedes its detailed discussion. In this case, the basic statement that the Alter Rebbe wishes to convey is the following: In the First Beis HaMikdash, Supernal Wisdom,4 which is infinitely higher than the revealed world,5 was not revealed by means of a chainlike progression of stages,6 which is the means by which Supernal Wisdom is revealed in this material world. That is why the Alter Rebbe first states that the Ark and the Tablets were in the Beis HaMikdash.
He then proceeds to speak of the sublime spiritual level of the Tablets in general – not specifically of those that were present in the First Beis HaMikdash, for that is one particular aspect of the preceding basic statement. The sublime level of the Tablets comprised two elements: they were “the work of G‑d, and the writing was the writing of G‑d” – and the writing of the Second Tablets, too, was “the writing of G‑d.”
The various views with regard to the Second Tablets in general include the following:7 (a) Rav Saadiah Gaon, (b) Ibn Ezra, and (c) Ramban.
(a) Rav Saadiah Gaon holds8 that the Second Tablets were higher – more elevated – than the First Tablets.
(b) Ibn Ezra (on Shmos 32:16) differs. He holds that the difference concerned the means by which the Tablets matched the dimensions of the Ark: in the case of the First Tablets it was G‑d Himself Who made them match, whereas in the case of the Second Tablets, concerning which it is written, “Hew for yourself [two Tablets of stone],”3 it was Moshe Rabbeinu who made them match.
(c) Ramban holds that once they assumed the form of Tablets and were engraved with “the writing of G‑d,” this very fact made them become “the work of G‑d,” just as a physical object used for the performance of a mitzvah is thereby elevated.
[A further question was asked:] Is Elokus discernible in a material object after it has been used for the performance of a mitzvah, now that Divine vitality is actually vested in it?
[The Rebbe replied:] Generally speaking, it is discernible – as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya,9 “If only the eye were permitted to see,” one would be able to perceive the Divine ayin [lit., the creative “nothingness”] that animates every created entity. And in any case, the Ten Creative Utterances10 are constantly present. Likewise, the Elokus in a material object can be perceived to a different degree after it has been used for the performance of a mitzvah.
17. If there is a point in the above-mentioned chapter11 that does pose a question, it is in the words that appear later in the same passage, concerning the Ten Commandments, “which were engraved by miraculous means in the Tablets reposing in the Ark, and which were the work of the Living G‑d (Elokim chayim).” The question arises: Why the addition of the word “Living”? It is obviously not there for stylistic reasons. The answer is given [in the parenthetical explanation that follows it], namely, that this phrase – “the Living G‑d” – alludes to “the hidden world.”12 And the distinction between the terms Elokim and Elokim Chayim is well known.13
18. Two of the Alter Rebbe’s chassidim, R. Pinchas Reizes and R. Binyamin Kletzker, both scholars of Cheder Alef, used to travel to the annual fair in Leipzig, Germany.14 There they would organize an independent minyan, utterly unfazed by the misnagdim, even though they respected them for their scholarship. And in return they were respected for their yiras Shamayim, their awe of Heaven.
One of the local German Jews, unaware of subtle distinctions, once walked into the chassidisher minyan, and was pleasantly impressed by the tone of the davenen there. In those days, all shuls and informal minyanim were faithful to the rulings of the Shulchan Aruch, with regard to matters such as the location of the lectern of the sheliach tzibbur and the table for the congregational Torah Reading.15 He expressed surprise only at the fact that the amud of the sheliach tzibbur was not crowned by the traditional reminder, ,דַּע לִפְנֵי מִי אַתָּה עוֹמֵד and when R. Binyamin Kletzker asked him whether he knew the meaning of the words, he gave their correct plain translation: “Know before Whom you are standing!”
Reb Binyamin said: “This is what those words mean. [In mystical terms,] the word מִי signifies understanding.”16 (He said that last word in Yiddish, and not in the Holy Tongue, because his listener was utterly unfamiliar with such terms.) “And the message of that phrase is: ‘Know that you are standing in a state that is before – that doesn’t even approach – understanding.’ That is what a person must know before he starts davenen. So what is needed is only that he alone should know that. To display his awareness to others would simply be a disgrace.”
[That was R. Binyamin Kletzker’s spontaneous comment to the stranger. Indeed, as a rule,] one can come to know what a person is, not so much by his intellect or by his character traits as by a mere few words that surface spontaneously, in passing. And it was plain words such as the above that found their way to the lips of vintage chassidim.
19. R. Nachum, the son of the Mitteler Rebbe, once directed his father’s attention to Reb Binyamin Kletzker’s mode of avodah while he was davenen in the big beis midrash. Observing it, the Mitteler Rebbe commented: “The angels who minister on high would gladly exchange their avodah with his!”
(The big beis midrash, by the way, was nicknamed “the Hodu-Aleinu Beis Midrash.” It was so long that it was jokingly said that you could set out at one end while starting to say Hodu, and by the time you reached the other end you would have said Aleinu…)
On another occasion the Mitteler Rebbe observed a certain chassid who was swaying with such intense emotion while davenen, that the table which he clutched in his hands moved back and forth in tandem with him. The Mitteler Rebbe commented: “His swaying while davenen provides nourishment for the supernal angels!”
20. The davenen of the Mitteler Rebbe’s own chassidim was not tumultuous. While davenen they would sing a niggun to themselves, though not loudly.
21. As to R. Pinchas Reizes, the Mitteler Rebbe once remarked: “He is utterly unaware of the wealth he possesses!”
R. Pinchas (May no one know of such woes!) was childless. R. Hillel Paritcher advised him to divorce, but the Mitteler Rebbe disagreed, saying: “By his davenen, he has inspired innumerable individuals to become baalei teshuvah.”17
22. Nachum Nachumovitch, a wagon-driver who lived in Lubavitch, once dropped into the beis midrash, where R. Pinchas was davenen. Overwhelmed by that sight, he opened up a Siddur and read the Avodah that describes the awe-inspiring proceedings in the Beis HaMikdash on Yom Kippur. He then read Al Chet, which is that day’s confessional, and prostrated himself on the floor, as one does on that day – surely the peak of avodah for an unlettered individual, as he was. He later argued that he and his animal couldn’t be on the same level, so he decided that he no longer wanted to be a wagon-driver, and instead became a shammes, a janitor, in a shul.
The Mitteler Rebbe summed him up by saying, “That unpretentious block of wood is superior to a pompous scholar…”
23. After teaching me chapter 53 of Tanya in the course of three weeks, my father instructed me to master the laws of all the avodos, the regular sacred services, that were carried out in the Beis HaMikdash on behalf of the Jewish people at large.
(The personal sacrifices, by contrast, varied with the requirements of the avodah, the divine service, of the individual involved.)
My father then explained how each of those sacred services has a corresponding mode of avodah in the spiritual lifework of every individual Jew. He then said: “A Rebbe does the work of the Kohen Gadol.”18
24. The daily divine service in the Beis HaMikdash began around midnight,19with terumas hadeshen.20In the life of an individual, the corresponding avodah is Tikkun Chatzos.21 We learn that “a person is always liable for his actions…, [whether he is awake or asleep].”22 That is why the individual’s spiritual avodah that corresponds to terumas hadeshen takes place at the time of Kerias Shema before retiring for the night.
The latter avodah does not mean tearing one’s hair or banging one’s head on the wall. It does mean earnestly taking stock of one’s conduct in the course of the day that has passed, looking closely at one’s own behaviors throughout the day just as one looks closely at a picture. That stocktaking should take half an hour, or an hour, or a quarter of an hour, and if one concludes that his conduct was not as it ought to have been, then he should make a firm resolve to act otherwise henceforth. And if he finds that his conduct throughout the day was not bad,23 then the next day should be even better. The above-described earnest stocktaking should be undertaken privately, without weeping to another person, and without seeking to impress anyone.
25. Insistent expectations of intensified efforts in avodah must be directed to oneself exactly as one directs them to another. And when addressing them to another, one is not willing to accept excuses...
In earlier days, before confronting another with spiritual demands, the speaker would do some drastic spiritual surgery on his own heart. The fact that he first made stern demands of himself made a spontaneous impact on his listener. And just as one does not accept excuses from his listener, so should one refuse to accept one’s own excuses.
26. A person should undertake to be a master over himself – over his [conscious] thoughts, his speech, his seeing and his hearing. With regard to what he thinks, says, sees and hears, it’s easy to be a master over himself. True enough, with regard to his thoughts it’s difficult to be a master over himself, but if what he says, sees and hears are monitored as they ought to be, then as a matter of course, his thoughts too will be as they ought to be. In addition, a person should mentally prepare a ready stock of positive [and holy] subjects to think about. Thus, even though the faculty of thought is restless, and thinking takes place automatically, as soon as one becomes aware of a less-than-good thought, he can dismiss it, by displacing it with a food for positive thought that he has held in reserve.
However, thought operates at two levels – the overt and the veiled. The veiled level has both a positive side and a negative side. The positive side is that at the same time that a person’s mind is consciously occupied with an undesirable thought, his unconscious mind can think positive thoughts. The negative side is that even when a person is consciously thinking positive thoughts, his unconscious mind may be involved in undesirable thoughts. Nevertheless, one can cope with that unconscious mind, too – by steeping oneself in the letters that comprise words of Torah.
This, then, is [today’s personal and spiritual counterpart to] the avodah of terumas hadeshen, the removal of ashes from the sacrificial altar, as mentioned above24 – mastering the four faculties listed there. When, in addition, one’s bedtime Kerias Shema is as it ought to be, one then sleeps the uneventful sleep that is appropriate for a Jew. And when morning comes, one’s daily avodah begins with davenen.
27. American-born chassidim are to be pitied. We saw light, whereas they see either darkness or a confusion of the two, and mistake it for light.
28. One night, while saying the bedtime Shema, a wealthy chassid from Yanovitch resolved that for every lie he told, he would donate twenty-five rubles as tzedakah for the poor. He reported his decision to the Torah teacher whom he had hired for himself, and was advised: “Go ahead and lie – and then you’ll be feeding hungry fellow Jews!”
When that melamed eventually visited Lubavitch, the Rebbe Maharash reprimanded him for that advice.
29. Once, at an encounter with R. Hillel of Paritch, an eminent chassid by the name of R. Gershon Dov [of Pahar] bemoaned the fact that he did not care enough about his fellow Jews. (He was not speaking of caring about their material welfare, because he himself was extremely poor; he was speaking of caring about their spiritual welfare.)
R. Hillel answered: “As a rule, regarding such [i.e., spiritual] concerns one should go and visit the Rebbe, but since [lacking ahavas Yisrael] is such a lowly defect, one doesn’t go.”
In the course of their encounter, R. Hillel told him that the davenen of R. Binyamin Kletzker25 used to liberate the minds of any intellectually-gifted scholars who heard him. And when R. Pinchas [Reizes]26 davened, that would defreeze the hearts of all those who heard him, even of unlettered folk.
