Tanya: Chapter 43 - Part 1

The Alter Rebbe explained in the previous chapter that every Jew has the ability to attain yirah tataah, the lower level of fear of G‑d. This enables him to perform all the positive commandments and refrain from transgressing all the negative commandments. In the present chapter, the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain the two levels of fear of G‑d, yirah tataah and yirah ilaah, the lower and higher levels of fear, respectively.

This distinction clarifies a seeming contradiction. The Mishnah first states:1 “If there is no wisdom, there is no fear [of G‑d].” Wisdom must precede fear. But the Mishnah then goes on to say: “If there is no fear [of G‑d], there is no wisdom.” Fear must precede wisdom!

The explanation is as follows: The Mishnah refers to the two abovementioned levels of fear. “If there is no fear, there is no wisdom” refers to the lower level of fear, yirah tataah. Without this level of fear, it is impossible to attain wisdom, i.e., the performance of Torah and mitzvot. (This is deemed wisdom, since the ultimate purpose of wisdom is repentance and good deeds.) “If there is no wisdom, there is no fear” refers to the higher level of fear, yirah ilaah. This level of fear must be preceded by wisdom, i.e., the performance of Torah and mitzvot. Only thus is one able to attain the higher level of fear.

The Alter Rebbe also explains in this chapter that just as there are two general levels of fear of G‑d, there are also two general levels of love of G‑d.

The quality of “smallness” describes the fear which is experienced as a result of a Jew’s innate fear of G‑d and which is merely revealed through meditating upon matters that lead to the fear of G‑d. Since it does not result from contemplating G‑d’s greatness, it is deemed “small.” The quality of “greatness” characterizes the fear of G‑d that results from contemplating G‑d’s greatness as it can be discerned from creation.

G‑d provides all worlds with vitality by vesting Himself in them. This life-force is attuned to the innate spirituality of the particular world or created being in which it is vested; the higher the world or created being, the loftier its life-force.

The lowest level of the Chayot transcends all the other levels.

When a person contemplates and gains a deep understanding of the divine life-force that provides life to all worlds and spiritual levels and hence attains a fear of G‑d, then this understanding may be described by the term “greatness.” However, if this is the case, why then is this level considered part of yirah tataah, the lower level of fear?

The Alter Rebbe answers this by explaining that since this fear derives from contemplation of G‑dliness as it “fills all worlds” and thus is bound up with them, it is necessarily a lower level of fear. For this life-force is concealed in the worlds in such a way that they are still able to be aware of their own existence and being. At this level, the worlds merely nullify their being and existence in deference to their life-force. This is termed bittul hayesh, the self-nullification of a being that is aware of its own existence.

The fear which results from this contemplation can only belong to the level of bittul hayesh and not the higher form of nullification known as bittul bimetziut, which is total and complete nullification of self. It is for this reason that even the fear which has the quality of “greatness” is still only on a level of yirah tataah, the lower level of fear. And this is what the Alter Rebbe now says:

Before the worlds were created, they did not exist at all; they were in a state of non-being. Through their creation, they became “beings,” entities whose existence could be experienced. This is the manner in which the divine life-force animates (and clothes itself in) creation: that created beings should be able to perceive themselves as existing entities which, nevertheless, are nullified to their divine life-force. Therefore, as explained earlier, this contemplation can only result in the level of bittul hayesh and not in bittul bimetziut, which is the level of yirah ilaah, the higher level of the fear of G‑d.

For, as mentioned earlier, yirah tataah leads to the performance of Torah and mitzvot. And it is concerning this lower level of fear that our Sages have said, “If there is no fear, there is no wisdom”; fear of G‑d must precede the performance of Torah and mitzvot.

Fear of G‑d stemming from a sense of shame is similar to the shame and total sense of abnegation a person feels when he is in the presence of a truly outstanding tzaddik.3 His shame is not from that great man’s external and revealed powers as would be the case when one fears a king.

Fearing a king only involves fear of his externality, which finds expression in his rule. (Generally, the more extensive the king’s domain, the greater will be the fear of him.)

The same is true of the fear of G‑d which results from contemplating the “garments” and revelation of G‑dliness in all worlds. It is therefore termed yirah tataah, a lower level of the fear of G‑d, inasmuch as it does not evoke the same degree of shame and self-nullification as is evoked by recognizing the greatness of a truly righteous person. There, the shame and fear is prompted by the great man’s essence; the nullification and shame will therefore be total. Thus, yirah ilaah is a fear which stems from a sense of shame when one is confronted by G‑d’s greatness.

wherein the person is cognizant of the inward and essential aspects of G‑dliness and not only of the external qualities of G‑dliness which are clothed in all the worlds. The worlds are wholly nullified before this inward aspect of G‑dliness with a complete and total nullification, bittul bimetziut. Awareness of this higher level of nullification leads to the higher level of fear, yirah ilaah.

Once sunlight has left the sun, one can perceive actual rays and illumination. However, when the light of the sun is found in its source, the body of the sun itself, it is completely nullified and does not exist in a luminous state; all that exists there is the source of light, the sun itself.

So, too, are all created beings nullified in their source, the Word of G‑d that creates them ex nihilo. When a person ponders this matter, it will so affect him that his nullification to G‑d will be at the level of bittul bimetziut.

Surely, one word pales utterly in comparison to man’s thought, which is the source of speech. Even more so when a single utterance is compared to the source of thought—the power of intellect or emotion, depending on whether the individual is thinking about intellectual or emotional things. Surely, then, this spoken word cannot in any way be compared to the soul itself.

There is, however, a difference between man’s speech and G‑d’s. When a human being speaks, the sound emitted from his mouth departs from its source and becomes a separate entity. G‑d’s creative speech, however, never departs—heaven forbid—from its source, that source being G‑d Himself, Who is omnipresent. Thus, divine speech is always found within its source.

It now becomes even more clear that G‑d’s Word, the source of creation, is truly and totally nullified to and unified with G‑d. Thus, all of creation is completely nullified to G‑d.

For as explained earlier, the level of yirah ilaah and bittul bimetziut is the same as “wisdom”; it, too, is essentially bittul bimetziut.

First must come yirah tataah and the resulting performance of Torah and mitzvot; only then can one attain “wisdom”—yirah ilaah and bittul bimetziut.

The Alter Rebbe now explains that there are also two general levels in the love of G‑d. The higher level is called ahavah rabbah (“great love”). It is a gift from above, granted to an individual after he has fully attained the level of yirah ilaah. This love is so lofty that one cannot hope to achieve it unaided.

The second and lower level of love is attained by contemplating G‑d’s greatness. It is called ahavat olam (“eternal love” and more literally, “love of the world”), because it emanates from one’s comprehension of the world, i.e., from one’s appreciation of the G‑dly life-force that animates the world.

The second letter of the verb (זָכַר) is vocalized with a patach; changing this vowel to a kamatz makes it mean “male.” Thus, love is alluded to as “male,”

The connection between a female and the fear of G‑d is alluded to by the verse that says “a G‑d-fearing woman.”13 This, then, is the spiritual meaning of the statement of the Sages, “The way of a man is to search for a woman”: the level of love (“man”) is revealed from above (“to search for”), where the level of fear (“woman”) is already present and complete.

In the World of Atzilut, nothing exists which is separate from G‑dliness; nothing at that level feels that it exists independently of G‑d, and everything in Atzilut is totally nullified to G‑dliness. Understandably, the love that emanates from such a level cannot light upon one whose fear of G‑d is imperfect and who still perceives himself as existing independently of Him. Complete self-abnegation is a prerequisite for this level of love.

This means to say that the individual will cease loving those things he had previously loved (this love having previously led him to vest himself in those things), and all his love will be directed to G‑d alone.

Reflecting on this matter will lead the person to desire G‑d alone and not to desire any worldly pleasures at all, seeking as he will the Source of all pleasures, which is G‑dliness.

This means to say that anything “with You”—that is subjugated and nullified to G‑d—is not desired as well.

All the above refers to a person who has a love for worldly matters and divests himself of this love because of his contemplation of G‑d’s greatness. His love will then be felt for G‑d rather than for mundane things.

However, he who by nature is cold and removed from any feelings of love, whether to G‑d or otherwise, cannot simply transfer his love. It is much more difficult for such a person to awaken a feeling of love for G‑d. Nevertheless, the Alter Rebbe goes on to say, even he can arouse within himself a fiery love for G‑d through the abovementioned contemplation.

It has previously been noted that the higher level of love can come about only after one’s fear of G‑d is total. However, the lower level of love may sometimes come about, as shall soon be explained, even without being preceded by the fear of G‑d.

The Chasadim may sometimes precede the Gevurot; this means that daat may sometimes evoke love before fear.

Although up to the point of his repentance, he was wicked and lacked a fear of G‑d, still there may be born in him a love for G‑d that will lead him to repent.

This was an “emergency prescription” required for that occasion. For it is written19 that Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya was a gilgul—the reincarnated soul—of Yochanan the High Priest, who served in that office for eighty years and then became a Sadducee.20 All the Torah and mitzvot fulfilled by Yochanan were elevated through the transmigration of his soul into the body of Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya, whose life story followed the reverse course, that of a sinner who ultimately repented out of his love for G‑d.21

Thus, first must come the illumination earned by the fulfillment of Torah and mitzvot, and only then can one be granted the illumination of experiencing a love of G‑d.