וְהִנֵּה עַל יִרְאָה תַּתָּאָה זוֹ, שֶׁהִיא לְקִיּוּם מִצְוֹתָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ בִּבְחִינַת "סוּר מֵרָע וַעֲשֵׂה טוֹב",

Regarding this lower fear of God, which induces a person to keep God's mitzvot in terms of having the desire to "turn aside from evil and do good" (Ps. 34:15), The lower fear of God is the fundamental force that protects a person by impelling him to "turn aside from evil and do good."

אָמְרוּ: "אִם אֵין יִרְאָה אֵין חָכְמָה" (אבות פרק ג משנה יז).

the Sages said, "If there is no fear, there is no wisdom" (Avot 3:17). However, this mishna then states: "If there is no wisdom, there is no fear." That being the case, where does one begin: from fear or from wisdom? Later on in this chapter, the author of the Tanya will explain that this mishna is referring to two different types of fear: lower fear and higher fear. If there is no lower fear of God, then there is no wisdom; and if there is no wisdom, then there is no higher fear of God. Lower fear consists of a fear of sinning and a powerful awareness of God's presence. A person may elicit that lower fear by accepting the yoke of God's sovereignty in a spirit of self-abnegation. That constitutes the starting point of serving God. Only after he does so is his wisdom, his intellectual awareness, meaningful.

וְיֵשׁ בָּהּ בְּחִינַת קַטְנוּת וּבְחִינַת גַּדְלוּת:

This lower level of fear has two expressions: smallness and largeness: The realm of the lower fear of God has various levels, as does any other emotion. These are principally divided into two: the smaller level of lower fear and the larger level of lower fear. The previous chapter discussed the smaller level of the lower fear of God. That is a sense of God's presence similar to a person's sense that someone is gazing at him and that he cannot hide. This fear of God is not an exalted feeling. It is a sense of apprehension, a person's awareness that "that which fills the entire world is His glory" (Isa. 6:3), in the sense that he cannot hide and the only way to assuage the terror he feels as a result of realizing that he is in God's presence is to accept the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven. The chapter will discuss the larger level of the lower fear of God.

דְּהַיְינוּ, כְּשֶׁנִּמְשֶׁכֶת בְּחִינַת יִרְאָה זוֹ מֵהַהִתְבּוֹנְנוּת בִּגְדוּלַּת ה',

That is to say, when the aspect of this fear of God is drawn into a person as a result of his contemplating God's greatness, This trait of fear is in keeping with a person's contemplation and awareness of God's greatness.

דְּאִיהוּ מְמַלֵּא כָּל עָלְמִין, וּמֵהָאָרֶץ לָרָקִיעַ מַהֲלַךְ ת"ק שָׁנָה וכו', וּבֵין רָקִיעַ לָרָקִיעַ כו‘, רַגְלֵי הַחַיּוֹת כְּנֶגֶד כֻּלָּן וכו',

of his contemplating that "He fills all worlds," and that from the earth to the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and so forth, and a similar distance exists between each of the firmaments, and so forth, and the feet of the ḥayot angels correspond in distance to all the firmaments, and so forth, Now the author of the Tanya will provide a model of how a person may contemplate God's greatness in order to draw this larger level of the fear of God onto himself. God "fills all worlds." A person may appreciate God's greatness by considering the magnitude of these worlds, as described by the Talmud: "From the earth to the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and the thickness of the firmament is a journey of five hundred years, and so too the journey between each firmament, and above them are the holy ḥayot. The feet of the ḥayot correspond in distance to all these [below], the ankles of the ḥayot correspond to all of these," and so forth (Ḥagiga 13a). This description is of course not a physical one, as evident from the fact that angels are spiritual beings. Rather, it is a way of describing God's greatness. Although the earth and the firmament are immense, they are dwarfed by the levels above them, each of which is as large as all the levels and worlds below it.

וְכֵן הִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלוּת כָּל הָעוֹלָמוֹת לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה עַד רוּם הַמַּעֲלוֹת.

and likewise the succession of all the worlds rising upward to the highest heights. The Talmud continues its description of the worlds up to the throne of glory, which corresponds in size to all of them, above which dwells "God the King, alive and eternal, lofty and exalted" (Ḥagiga 13a). A person contemplates the greatness of the physical world and its component parts, and then he contemplates the concealed, spiritual worlds, one higher than the next, relative to which the entire physical cosmos is less than a drop in the ocean. When a person contemplates this intensely and experiences its beauty, when he considers that all of this is God's handiwork and how infinitesimally small he is in relation to it, he experiences the fear of God, which in its refined state is a type of exalted awe. As Rambam writes, "When a person contemplates [God's] works and His great and wonderful creatures…and when he thinks of all these matters, he will immediately be overwhelmed and stricken with awe, and he will realize that he is an infinitesimal creature, humble and dark" (Rambam, Sefer HaMadda, Hilkhot Yesodei HaTorah 2:2).

אַף עַל פִּי כֵן נִקְרָא יִרְאָה זוֹ יִרְאָה חִיצוֹנִית וְתַתָּאָה, מֵאַחַר שֶׁנִּמְשֶׁכֶת מֵהָעוֹלָמוֹת, שֶׁהֵם לְבוּשִׁים שֶׁל הַמֶּלֶךְ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֲשֶׁר מִסְתַּתֵּר וּמִתְעַלֵּם וּמִתְלַבֵּשׁ בָּהֶם לְהַחֲיוֹתָם וּלְקַיְּימָם, לִהְיוֹת יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן וכו'.

Still and all, this fear is called only an external and lower fear, since it is drawn into a person as a result of his contemplating the worlds, which are merely garments of the King, the Holy One, blessed be He, who conceals, hides, and clothes Himself within them in order to grant them life and sustain them so that they may come into existence from nothingness, and so forth. This fear is external and on a lower level because it results not from contemplating God Himself but from contemplating His world, which comprises His garments. Great and lofty though they be, they are only an external appearance; they are God's world and not God Himself. Thus, the fear of God that results from this contemplation is superficial, albeit on a relatively high level, and so it is the lower fear of God. By way of analogy, when a person enters the king's palace, if he behaves properly because he is afraid of the guards, that is the smaller form of lower fear. However, if he behaves properly because he senses the grandeur and splendor of the palace and apprehends his own smallness, that is a larger form of fear. Still, it remains a lower type of fear, because it does not relate to the king himself but only to his chambers, to the external rather than to the internal.

רַק שֶׁהִיא הַשַּׁעַר וְהַפֶּתַח לְקִיּוּם הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוֹת.

However, this lower fear is the gate and entranceway to keeping the Torah and mitzvot. Lower fear precedes all other stages of serving God. It is the starting point, the gateway to the central work of keeping the Torah and commandments. This relates to the talmudic statement "Rabba bar Rav Huna said: A person who has Torah but does not have the fear of Heaven is like a treasurer who was given the keys to the inner [doors but] was not given the keys to the outer [doors]. With what [key] will he enter?" (Shabbat 31a–31b). The Torah is the inner key, but without the fear of God, a person cannot reach it. The Talmud then states, "Rabbi Yannai [would] proclaim: Woe to [a person] who does not have a courtyard, yet who makes a courtyard fence." This refers to a person who has no fear of Heaven but who engages in studying Torah. When a person studies Torah without the fear of God, he and the Torah remain separate. He remains "a basket filled with books" (Megilla 28b), and he cannot understand what he has learned. Although he knows Torah, he is not connected to it; it is not his. When he will depart this world, he will leave his Torah knowledge buried together with his body. Conversely, when a person who has acquired Torah dies, Heaven proclaims, "Praiseworthy is the person who arrives here with his studies in his hand" (Pesaḥim 50a, and elsewhere). The lower, external fear of God serves as the doorway that leads from this world, the external reality in which we live, to the world of the Torah.

אַךְ הַיִּרְאָה עִילָּאָה 'יְרֵא בֹּשֶׁת' וְ'יִרְאָה פְּנִימִית', שֶׁהִיא נִמְשֶׁכֶת מִפְּנִימִית הָאֱלֹהוּת שֶׁבְּתוֹךְ הָעוֹלָמוֹת,

But the higher fear of God, which is called fear out of shame and inner fear, which is drawn down to a person as a result of his contemplating the internal aspect of the Divine within the worlds, In contrast to lower, external fear, which is drawn down to a person when he contemplates the worlds, which are God's garments and handiwork, the higher fear of God is drawn down to a person from his contemplation of the inner being, i.e., God Himself.

עָלֶיהָ אָמְרוּ: "אִם אֵין חָכְמָה אֵין יִרְאָה" (אבות שם).

the Sages said regarding this higher fear of God, "If there is no wisdom, there is no fear" (Avot 3:17). A person requires the lower fear of God in order to acquire wisdom. He must then contemplate that wisdom deeply in order to attain the higher fear of God.

דְּחָכְמָה הִיא כֹּ"חַ מַ"ה.

That is because the letters of the word for "wisdom," ḥokhma , may be rearranged to spell koaḥ ma , "the power of what." The author of the Tanya explains elsewhere that "what," ma, is an expression of humility, which Moses and Aaron expressed when they said, "And what are we?" (Ex. 16:7), meaning, "We are nothing." In this sense, wisdom is a person's capacity to make himself a nothing. Wisdom is the initial ability to absorb from another. It links a person to a state higher than himself that he cannot conceive. Therefore, in his mind that higher state is a nothingness and that nothingness becomes within him a wisdom. Therefore, that wisdom must in itself be a "nothingness." In later stages of perception – i.e., in the stages associated with understanding, which involve analysis and interconnections, the stages of unpacking information from existent information – there is an advantage to having much information and the ability to relate to it. But at the stage of wisdom, the more a person knows, the less he can absorb. This does not mean that a wise person is necessarily one who does not know. However, at this stage, as he absorbs he is able to nullify his knowledge and his existence. That is why it is said that an arrogant person is a fool. His "I" fills him entirely and he cannot nullify it, as a result of which he cannot receive any wisdom. Such a person may travel all over the world but never see anything new. That is because in order to see something new a person must be able to receive, and he can receive only when he can nullify his own being. Thus, young children, who are more open to novel experiences, are able to learn new things easily.

"וְהַחָכְמָה מֵאַיִן תִּמָּצֵא" (איוב כח, ב).

This concept is expressed in the verse "But wisdom, where [me'ayin ] will it be found?" (Job 28:12), which may be translated, "And wisdom is found from ayin, nothingness." A person's capacity to attain wisdom depends on his ability to nullify himself. Therefore, it may be said that the two are one and the same: ḥokhma is koaḥ ma. Wisdom comes from "nothingness." It draws down from the unknown realm higher than intellect into the realm of the known, from the realm that we relate to as nothingness to the realm that we relate to as existence. Therefore, the more a person is able to nullify himself, the more he is able to apprehend wisdom.

וְ"אֵיזֶהוּ חָכָם הָרוֹאֶה אֶת הַנּוֹלָד" (תמיד לב, א), פֵּירוּשׁ, שֶׁרוֹאֶה כָּל דָּבָר אֵיךְ נוֹלָד וְנִתְהַוֶּה מֵאַיִן לְיֵשׁ, בִּדְבַר ה' וְרוּחַ פִּיו יִתְבָּרַךְ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כָּל צְבָאָם" (תהלים לג, ו).

Similarly, the Sages taught, "Who is wise? A person who sees that which is born" (Tamid 32a). This means that he sees how every entity is born and brought into existence from nothingness via the word of God and the breath of His mouth. As the verse states, "By the breath of His mouth, [He created] all their hosts" (Ps. 33:6). One explanation of this talmudic statement is that a wise person anticipates the future, understanding what will happen before it actually occurs. However, the author of the Tanya explains this differently: The wise person can see the process by which everything is formed and created. He sees how the entirety of reality, from the highest worlds down to this world, emerges from nothingness into existence. Just as speech and the breath of the mouth are merely an external expression of the speaker, so too, all that exists is merely an expression of the divine speech that speaks it into being.

וְאִי לָזֹאת, הֲרֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל צְבָאָם בְּטֵלִים בִּמְצִיאוּת מַמָּשׁ בִּדְבַר ה' וְרוּחַ פִּיו, וּכְלָא מַמָּשׁ חֲשִׁיבֵי, וְאַיִן וְאֶפֶס מַמָּשׁ, כְּבִיטּוּל אוֹר וְזִיו הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ בְּגוּף הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ עַצְמָהּ.

It follows that the heavens, earth, and all their host are actually nullified in God's word and the breath of His mouth. They are considered literally nothing, literally absolute nothingness, in the same way that the light and rays of the sun are nullified within the body of the sun itself. Since all the worlds are products and outcomes of "the breath of God's mouth," in relation to that breath they are void, no more than shadows. Just as there is no independent sunlight in the sun because everything there is one, so too there are no separate entities within the divine essence.

וְאַל יוֹצִיא אָדָם עַצְמוֹ מֵהַכְּלָל, שֶׁגַּם גּוּפוֹ וְנַפְשׁוֹ וְרוּחוֹ וְנִשְׁמָתוֹ בְּטֵלִים בִּמְצִיאוּת בִּדְבַר ה' וְדִבּוּרוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ מְיוּחָד בְּמַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ כו', וְכַנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל [פְּרָקִים כ' וכ"א] בַּאֲרִיכוּת, בְּדֶרֶךְ מָשָׁל מִנֶּפֶשׁ הָאָדָם, שֶׁדִּבּוּר אֶחָד מִדִּבּוּרוֹ וּמַחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ כְּלָא מַמָּשׁ כו'.

A person should not exclude himself from this principle, for his body and the elements of his soul – his nefesh , ruaḥ , and neshama – too are nullified in the word of God, and God's word is united with His thought, and so on, and as mentioned above at length (in chaps. 20–21) by way of analogy to the human soul: that a single utterance of a person's speech and his thought are truly like nothing compared to his soul, and so forth. By way of analogy: A person imagines a world, he populates it with creatures of his own invention, and he gives these creatures permission to think, speak, build, destroy, fight, and so on. How would one of these creatures view itself and its existence? Its entire world is the result of one thought, and it exists only within that thought, which exists within the person who thought it. This view of reality leads to the higher fear of God, because it is not a fear of ceasing to exist, which is the basis of all forms of lower fear, but the opposite. A being created by the word of God and who exists by virtue of His breath is not God's creation but God's word. A being created by God is liable to cease to exist. That fact is the basis for the lower fear of God. But God's word is inseparable from God. Therefore, the existence and reality of a person who is the word of God is part of God's reality. If a person tries to establish his existence on a basis separate from God, he is absolute nothingness, but as "the word of God," he is part of God's truth. A person who has the profound insight that all existence including himself is an existence that God brings into being with His word has a corresponding type of fear of God, with a corresponding understanding of himself and God and the relationships between himself and God. This is not yet an aspect of love of God. It is still an aspect of the fear of God, but it is a higher fear, in which a person's existence, seen in the light of the supreme, divine being, in which a person realizes, in the light of his awareness of the supreme, divine being, that his existence has more dimensions than he had previously conceived.

וְזֶהוּ שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב: "הֵן יִרְאַת ה' הִיא חָכְמָה" (איוב כח, כח).

That is the meaning of the verse "Behold, the fear of the Lord, it is wisdom" (Job 28:28). Higher fear is wisdom. That is because, like wisdom, it is a sense of the nullification of the self and of all reality within the divine essence. It is not a person's instinctive fear as his ego faces the universe. Rather, it is an awareness that comes to a person only after he exerts himself in studying Torah and serving God. Before reaching this awareness, a person must climb to the highest level of wisdom, in which he no longer sees the physical world as existence and the divine as nothingness, but the opposite: he sees that the divine alone is existence and this world is nothingness. This is the highest degree of enlightenment, which only the greatest people achieve.

אַךְ אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַשִּׂיג לְיִרְאָה וְחָכְמָה זוֹ, אֶלָּא בְּקִיּוּם הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוֹת עַל יְדֵי 'יִרְאָה תַּתָּאָה' הַחִיצוֹנִית. וְזֶה שֶׁאָמְרוּ: "אִם אֵין יִרְאָה – אֵין חָכְמָה" (אבות פרק ג משנה יז).

However, a person cannot achieve this fear and wisdom without keeping the Torah and mitzvot as a result of his having attained the lower, external level of fear. This is what is meant by the Sages' statement "If there is no fear, there is no wisdom" (Avot 3:17). As stated at the beginning of this chapter, the present section of the Mishna is speaking of the lower fear of God. If a person does not possess the simple, external fear of punishment, he cannot possess wisdom. Without this fear, he cannot attain the wisdom of the Torah and its commandments, and so he certainly cannot achieve the higher fear of God, which is wisdom. Until now, this chapter has dealt with the lower and higher fear of God. The author of the Tanya has written significantly less about the higher fear of God than about the lower fear of God. This is understandable in light of the purpose of this work and the nature of the people to whom it is addressed. The Tanya is not concerned with abstract theories, but with the issues that people face, and it is addressed to beinonim, as indicated by the book's alternative title, Sefer shel Beinonim. For a beinoni, the higher fear of God is something that can be considered and perhaps understood, but it is not part of his being and not among his experiences. The beinoni lives and struggles on planes where the lower fear of God exists, in its smaller or larger form, but in general the higher fear of God is not there. Hasidim related that alongside the Sefer shel Beinonim, the author of the Tanya wanted to write, and perhaps even did write, a book called Sefer shel Tzaddikim. In that book, the relationship between higher and lower fear would certainly have been presented differently. The complete structure of serving God is not comprised of fear alone, but of love as well. From this point on, until the end of the chapter, the author of the Tanya will discuss the love of God. Similar to his analysis of the fear of God, he will begin by differentiating between two fundamental levels of the love of God.

וְהִנֵּה בָּאַהֲבָה יֵשׁ גַּם כֵּן שְׁתֵּי מַדְרֵגוֹת: 'אַהֲבָה רַבָּה' וְ'אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם'.

With regard to the love of God, there are also two levels: ahava rabba , "great love," and ahavat olam , "world-centered love." The Talmud (Berakhot 11b) presents two versions of the opening words of the blessing before the recitation of the Shema: "You have loved us with ahavat olam " and "You have loved us with ahava rabba." A number of Ge'onim and Rishonim (Tosafot, Rosh ) reconciled these two texts in various ways. Some ruled that we should say ahava rabba in the morning prayer and ahavat olam in the evening prayer. Others ruled that we should say ahavat olam on weekdays and ahava rabba on the Sabbath. Here the author of the Tanya will explain that these two readings refer to the two levels of the love of God. Ahava rabba expresses the "great" love of God, and ahavat olam expresses the "worldly" love of God.

אַהֲבָה רַבָּה הִיא "אַהֲבָה בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים" (שיר השירים ז, ז).

Ahava rabba is the higher level of love. It is a "love of delights" (Song 7:7). The "love of delights" is a love that does not involve any anguished longing to attain what one loves. That anguished longing involves a person's need for something that he lacks, as described in the verse "My soul thirsts for You; my flesh yearns for You" (Ps. 63:2). Moreover, as he draws closer to what he loves, his thirst and longing only increase. But the "love of delights" is solely pleasure. There is no sense of lack. A person does not need or expect anything. He does not need the object of his love to make any kind of gesture, nor to remain with him always. It is enough for him that his loved one exists. That itself provides him with all the happiness he needs. His love satisfies him in itself. The more he knows and understands the object of his love, the more content he is. Usually, when a person sees a beautiful flower in the field, he wants to pick it. But for a person who possesses the "love of delights," it is enough for him that the flower exists. This kind of love contains a trace of the World to Come, because in heaven the tzaddik loves God and does not need anything else. Likewise, even in this world a person who possesses the "love of delights" has everything he needs. As the verse states, "Whom else do I have in heaven? With You, I desire nothing on earth…God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73:25–26). God is present, and that is enough.

וְהִיא שַׁלְהֶבֶת הָעוֹלָה מֵאֵלֶיהָ

It is a fiery flame that rises on its own This love is not something that a person creates or cultivates. It is like a flame that a person does not need to light or fan. This image, which is used to describe the lighting of the candelabrum, is also connected to the Sages' words about the fire on the altar: that even in a case when fire descends from heaven, it is still a mitzva for a person to bring fire (see Yoma 21b; Torah Or 32b). In the case of ahava rabba, however, the fire comes from above regardless of the human effort from below.

וּבָאָה מִלְמַעְלָה בִּבְחִינַת מַתָּנָה לְמִי שֶׁהוּא שָׁלֵם בְּיִרְאָה.

and comes from above as a gift to a person who is perfect in his fear of God. This love that comes on its own does not result from the work that a person has performed in this world, but it is a gift from above that comes when a person is perfect in his fear of God. When a person has perfected his fear of God – which means that he has perfected himself, because, as the verse states, "What does the Lord your God ask of you? Only to fear the Lord your God" (Deut. 10:12) – he receives the gift of the "love of delights."

כַּנּוֹדַע עַל מַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז"ל: דַּרְכּוֹ שֶׁל אִישׁ לְחַזֵּר אַחַר אִשָּׁה (קידושין ב, ב), שֶׁאַהֲבָה נִקְרֵאת 'אִישׁ' וְ'זָכָר', כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "זָכַר חַסְדּוֹ" (תהלים צח, ג). וְ"אִשָּׁה יִרְאַת ה'" (משלי לא, ל) כַּנּוֹדַע.

This is known to be alluded to in our Rabbis' statement "It is the way of a man to pursue a woman" (Kiddushin 2b). Love is referred to as "man" or zakhar , male, as the verse states, "He recalled [ zakhar ] His kindness" (Ps. 98:3), whereas "a woman fears the Lord" (Prov. 31:30), as is known. This statement of the Rabbis alludes to serving God. Kindness and love are "male" attributes, whereas fear is a "female" attribute. The phrase "a woman fears the Lord" may be translated as "'woman' is [the level of] the fear of the Lord." The sefira of Ḥesed, Kindness and Love, is identified with the right side, which in kabbalistic thought is male, the side of the giver. Conversely, the sefira of Gevura, Restraint and Fear, is identified with the left side, which in kabbalistic thought is the female side, the side of the receiver. When a person perfects his ability to be a receiver, which is the level of fear, then supernal love pursues him in order to give to him. When a person has attained all the necessary stages to experience prophecy, "the Holy Spirit immediately rests upon him." Likewise, when a person perfects his fear of God, he is ready to receive ahava rabba.

וּבְלִי קְדִימַת הַיִּרְאָה אִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַגִּיעַ לְ'אַהֲבָה רַבָּה' זוֹ, כִּי אַהֲבָה זוֹ הִיא מִבְּחִינַת אֲצִילוּת, דְּלֵית תַּמָּן קִיצּוּץ וּפֵירוּד חַס וְשָׁלוֹם.

Without first experiencing the existence of the fear of God, a person cannot attain this ahava rabba , since this love is on the level of the world of Atzilut , where there is no severing or separation, God forbid. The world of Atzilut is a realm of unity and wholeness, and this is where ahava rabba belongs. Ahava rabba is a gift from a higher world, given in rare cases to people who have reached a level tantamount to the level of a higher world. This love is inherently connected to the person's soul. Therefore, it is unrelated to, and independent of, his desires, which take on various forms. Ahava rabba does not relate in any way to our split-off, finite world. Rather, it relates to the world of Atzilut, where there are no limits or barriers. There, the various forces (and their interactions) of the sefirot are not distinct from one another as they are in our world, but they function as a single unit. Just as the author of the Tanya did not say a great deal about the higher fear of God, neither does he say a great deal about ahava rabba for several reasons: first, because it is a very rare state; second, because it is a gift, and this book is not concerned with what a person receives but with what he must do; and third, because a person who is on this level certainly does not need to read about it in a book. The description here comes only to complete the picture outlined in these chapters of serving God via all the aspects of fear and love, from the lowest to the highest.

אַךְ 'אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם' הִיא הַבָּאָה מֵהַתְּבוּנָה וְדַעַת בִּגְדוּלַּת ה' אֵין סוֹף בָּרוּךְ הוּא, הַמְּמַלֵּא כָּל עָלְמִין וְסוֹבֵב כָּל עָלְמִין, וְכוֹלָּא קַמֵּיהּ כְּלָא מַמָּשׁ חֲשִׁיב, וּכְבִיטּוּל דִּבּוּר אֶחָד בַּנֶּפֶשׁ הַמַּשְׂכֶּלֶת, בְּעוֹדוֹ בְּמַחֲשַׁבְתָּהּ אוֹ בְּחֶמְדַּת הַלֵּב, כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

However, ahavat olam , the lower level of love, is the love of God that comes from a person's understanding and knowledge of the greatness of the infinite God, blessed be He, who "fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds," before whom everything is literally considered nothingness, just as a single utterance within the rational soul is nullified while it is still in its thought or in the desire of the heart, as explained above (chaps. 20–21). Ahavat olam, world-centered love, is the love of God that comes from the world, i.e., from understanding God's greatness as it relates to the world. That is because it is specifically in the world that His greatness appears. Divine greatness has meaning only as it is revealed in the worlds and in relation to them, that is to say, in the divine light that fills and surrounds all worlds, before which everything is as nothing. This is comparable to how a person's utterance is subsumed within the totality of all the possible words that he could potentially speak before he does so, while that word is still in his thought or the desire of his heart.

אֲשֶׁר עַל יְדֵי הִתְבּוֹנְנוּת זוֹ מִמֵּילָא תִּתְפַּשֵּׁט מִדַּת הָאַהֲבָה שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ מִלְּבוּשֶׁיהָ. דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁלֹּא תִּתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּשׁוּם דְּבַר הֲנָאָה וְתַעֲנוּג גַּשְׁמִי אוֹ רוּחָנִי לְאַהֲבָה אוֹתוֹ, וְלֹא לַחְפּוֹץ כְּלָל שׁוּם דָּבָר בָּעוֹלָם בִּלְתִּי ה' לְבַדּוֹ מְקוֹר הַחַיִּים שֶׁל כָּל הַתַּעֲנוּגִים,

When a person engages in this contemplation, the attribute of love within his soul will shed its garments. That is to say, it will no longer clothe itself in anything that provides pleasure or delight, whether physical or spiritual, in order to love that thing, and it will not at all desire anything in the world but God alone, who is the source of vitality of all delights, Contemplation does not mean mere thought about something, but deep reflection and an effort to have the object of one's contemplation permeate one's very being. Then the trait of love in the soul will remove its garments. The attribute of love within the soul, like any other attribute, is not defined by the objects of the person's love, but it only clothes itself in them. The objects in which love clothes itself are only an expression of the love, which depends on many factors, both internal and external, in a person's life. When a person engages in contemplation, he can remove these outer garments, as will be explained. When this is accomplished, the attribute of love within the soul no longer craves anything in this world. The word "crave" refers to the innermost aspect of desire, which relates to the innermost aspect of entities and not to their outer garments. Then the soul will only want God, the source of all delights. A person desires something that he believes to be worthy of desire. When he finds something that he believes to be even more worthy, he revokes his previous love and desire. And this goes on until a person has revoked all other loves before the great Beloved, God Himself, who is the source of all life and existence.

שֶׁכּוּלָּם בְּטֵילִים בִּמְצִיאוּת וּכְלָא מַמָּשׁ קַמֵּיהּ חֲשִׁיבֵי וְאֵין עֲרוֹךְ וְדִמְיוֹן כְּלָל בֵּינֵיהֶם חַס וְשָׁלוֹם,

because all delights are subsumed and are considered as literally nothingness before Him. There is no basis for comparison or similarity between them whatsoever, God forbid, Since God is the source of life, and life means pleasure, He is the source of all delights. There is no comparison between the desired objects of this world and the divine essence, which is the inner essence of everything.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁאֵין עֲרוֹךְ לְאַיִן וְאֶפֶס הַמּוּחְלָט לְגַבֵּי חַיִּים נִצְחִיִּים.

just as there is no value to absolute nothingness compared to eternal life. All worldly realities and delights, which are transient, seem trivial and unworthy of attention compared to the one eternal object of love, God Himself.

וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "מִי לִי בַשָּׁמָיִם וְעִמְּךָ לֹא חָפַצְתִּי בָאָרֶץ כָּלָה שְׁאֵרִי וּלְבָבִי צוּר לְבָבִי" וגו' (תהלים עג, כה-כו), וּכְמוֹ שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר לְקַמָּן.

As the verse states, "Whom else do I have in heaven? With You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Ps. 73:25–26), as will be explained below (chap. 48). Ahavat olam, "world-centered love," is so called because it is essentially a love of the world. When a person's love of this world grows more intense, that experience is transformed into a love of God. A person's contemplation teaches him that he should desire God and nothing else. That is not because desiring other things is forbidden, but because there is not enough in heaven and earth to satisfy a person's love, since heaven and earth are insignificant compared to the supreme essence. It is said of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah: "His heart was elevated in the ways of the Lord" (II Chron. 17:6). There is an approach to serving God in which a person should never be satisfied with what he has. Should he be satisfied with his lot in this world and in the World to Come, he will be unable to truly serve God. Unlike divine service that stems from contraction, from a sense of one's smallness, this divine service stems from expansion, from the fact that a human being is great and wants more. He is unsatisfied with anything limited. Some people have a burning desire for a life in which they must reach God, who is the essence of life. They are not willing to settle for anything less. Only when a person's heart is elevated above the heavens, when he wants more, when he thinks, "Whom else do I have in heaven? With You, I desire nothing on earth," and he desires only God, then "God is…[his] portion forever."

וְגַם מִי שֶׁאֵין מִדַּת אַהֲבָה שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ מְלוּבֶּשֶׁת כְּלָל בְּשׁוּם תַּעֲנוּג גַּשְׁמִי אוֹ רוּחָנִי, יָכוֹל לְהַלְהִיב נַפְשׁוֹ כְּרִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ וְשַׁלְהֶבֶת עַזָּה וְלַהַב הָעוֹלֶה הַשָּׁמַיְמָה עַל יְדֵי הִתְבּוֹנְנוּת הַנִּזְכֶּרֶת לְעֵיל, כְּמוֹ שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר לְקַמָּן.

Even a person in whose soul the attribute of love is not clothed at all in any physical or spiritual delight can kindle his soul like sparks of fire, a fierce conflagration and a flame that rises heavenward through the contemplation mentioned above, as will be explained below (chap. 44). Some people possess a cold nature, and they never uncover love in themselves for any other being, material or spiritual, for any matter, holy or mundane. In these people, the attribute of love appears to be dormant. They know that love exists. But their relationships lack passion and pleasure. It would appear that ahavat olam, which cultivates a person's existing faculties of love, cannot develop in such people. Nevertheless, when even such a person engages in contemplation, he can set his soul ablaze. When a person engages in contemplation of the love of God, he not only shifts love for some smaller object of love with the love of God. Rather, this contemplation transforms the essence of a person's soul, because he is focusing on God, who is the life force within the soul, the "I" within a person's "I." Therefore, when even a person whose soul does not clothe itself in the love of small things engages in this contemplation, he realizes that the divine essence is the only reality from which he cannot hide, which he cannot avoid relating to. At that moment, for perhaps the first time in his life, the entire attribute of love in his soul is ignited, and its object is the divine essence. "With my soul, I desired You" (Isa. 26:9); this may be interpreted to mean, "You are my soul, and therefore I desired You" (as will be stated in chap. 44). This concludes the Tanya's description of the four aspects of the love and fear of God. The chapter goes on to end with a comment on the order in which a person implements these in his service of God. The normative order is in concert with the text of the kabbalistic statement recited before performing a mitzva, "For the sake of uniting the Holy One, blessed be He, with His Divine Presence, with fear and love and love and fear." The order is: (a) the lower fear of God, which is the fear of God's presence; (b) ahavat olam, "world-centered love"; (c) an additional level of love, ahava rabba, "great love"; and finally, (d) the higher fear of God. That is the appropriate order for a person who is mapping out his path in advance. He begins with the lower fear of God because, as mentioned in chapter 41, that is "the beginning of divine service and its core and root." The correct and surest way to rise to God is to begin with the fear of God at the foundation. However, the author of the Tanya adds that in reality the order may be different.

וְהִנֵּה בְּחִינַת אַהֲבָה זוֹ

This aspect of love "This aspect of love" refers to ahavat olam, "world-centered love." "Love of delights" – that being ahava rabba, "great love" – is, on the other hand, essentially unrelated to anything of this world. It is a connection between an individual and God, an individual who is alone with God, so to speak. Therefore, it barely has any connection to the other aspects of serving God.

פְּעָמִים שֶׁקּוֹדֶמֶת לְיִרְאָה, כְּפִי בְּחִינַת הַדַּעַת הַמּוֹלִידָה, כַּנּוֹדַע

will occasionally precede the fear of God, in accordance with the quality of the Da'at – the "knowledge" – that engenders that love, as is known. This change in order, of love preceding the lower fear of God, is in accordance with the nature of the sefira of Da'at, Knowledge, which engenders both love and fear. As is explained in several places, among all the sefirot involving the cognitive faculties, it is the sefira of Knowledge that engenders the sefirot of emotion. Contemplation in itself, as it takes place in the sefira of Bina (Understanding), is abstract and objective; it has no valence or any preferences. Therefore, contemplation can create various responses to the object of contemplation: distance, closeness, excitement, and so forth. Only in the next sefira down, Da'at, Knowledge, are the matters being contemplated connected to the soul's attributes, which dictate the form of the person's response to the topic being contemplated. Accordingly, everything that is formed inside a person, everything that is connected and set down within him, everything he knows and feels – attraction or repulsion, love or fear – depends mainly on his faculty of knowledge.

[שֶׁהַדַּעַת כּוֹלֵל חֲסָדִים וּגְבוּרוֹת, שֶׁהֵם אַהֲבָה וְיִרְאָה,

( That is because the attribute of Da'at encompasses the aspects of ḥasadim and gevurot , which constitute love and fear, Love and fear are the essence of, respectively, Ḥesed and Gevura. As is explained elsewhere, the sefira of Knowledge, which has the character of attachment and relationship, contains the two modes of response: for and against. Since knowledge includes these two opposites, different reactions can result from the same instance of contemplation: either a feeling of love and desire to approach that which it is "for," or a feeling of fear and moving away from that which it is "against."

וּפְעָמִים שֶׁהַחֲסָדִים קוֹדְמִים לֵירֵד וּלְהִתְגַּלּוֹת].

and occasionally the aspects of ḥasadim are first to descend and become manifest.) Generally, fear precedes love. That is because in many ways it is a simpler and more preliminary feeling. In order to feel fear, a person need only be uncertain about something, whereas in order to feel love, a person requires a clear and tangible picture about something. A person who enters a dark place fears what might be there. No one enters a dark and unfamiliar place with a sense of love for something good that might be there. The feeling of fear requires less connection to the object and less contemplation, and the object need not be especially tangible. Thus, it is natural for fear to precede love. All that is required is an indefinable sense of unease, the sense of some other presence, of no longer being free to do whatever one wishes. The person need not have a clear awareness of what that entity is. Conversely, in order to love, a person must have a clear, tangible picture. Nevertheless, since a person's faculty of knowledge is linked to the structure of his soul (since it is one of the sefirot that comprise his soul), and it is linked to the particular circumstances of time, place, societal influence, and environment, it is possible that his contemplation will first yield love, and only afterward fear.

וְלָכֵן אֶפְשָׁר לְרָשָׁע וּבַעַל עֲבֵירוֹת שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה מֵאַהֲבָה

For this reason, it is possible for a person who is wicked and a transgressor to repent out of love In general, repentance is a movement that does not proceed in a step-by-step order. Therefore, it is possible for repentance to begin with love.

הַנּוֹלָדָה בְּלִבּוֹ בְּזָכְרוֹ אֶת ה' אֱלֹהָיו.

engendered in his heart when he remembers the Lord his God. Ideally, in repentance, fear should come first. An evildoer should first arrive at the feeling that he is on the wrong path. He should fear what may happen to him if he will continue in this way, and as a result he should experience regret and repentance. And only afterward should he experience the love of God. However, in reality, a person who is far from God will, in addition to realizing what he has done and where he is, become aware of God, and his heart will yearn for Him. It is even possible that a wicked person, someone who has committed transgressions, will reach the state of ahava rabba, and his soul will depart his body, as occurred to Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya (as will be mentioned below).

וּמִכָּל מָקוֹם, הַיִּרְאָה גַּם כֵּן כְּלוּלָה בָּהּ מִמֵּילָא,

At any rate, the fear of God is automatically encompassed in this love as well, Regarding the love of God that precedes the fear of God, the author of the Tanya states that fear is embedded within that love. Any love that has no fear within it whatsoever – whether love between man and God or between man and man – is not love but self-gratification. It is comparable to a person who "loves" a steak and tears into it without restraint.

רַק שֶׁהִיא בִּבְחִינַת קַטְנוּת וְהֶעְלֵם, דְּהַיְינוּ יִרְאַת חֵטְא שֶׁלֹּא לִמְרוֹד בּוֹ חַס וְשָׁלוֹם,

except that this fear is present in a minor, hidden form: namely, as fear of sin so as not to rebel against Him, God forbid, This love of God is not removed from the reality of life in this world. This love too influences a person so that he does not sin. Like any genuine love, it keeps a person from harming and saddening his beloved. This is not the fear of God, but it is at any rate the fear of sin. The person does not reach the full understanding that a particular act comprises a sin and is forbidden, but he will not do something that transgresses God's will.

וְהָאַהֲבָה הִיא בְּהִתְגַּלּוּת לִבּוֹ וּמוֹחוֹ.

whereas the love is manifest consciously in a person's heart and mind. The person's dominant, tangible emotion is love, whereas his emotion of fear is ancillary and parallel to it. Because he loves God so much, he will not do anything against His will. However, his active and vibrant feeling is not fear but love.

אַךְ זֶהוּ דֶּרֶךְ מִקְרֶה וְהוֹרָאַת שָׁעָה, בְּהַשְׁגָּחָה פְּרָטִית מֵאֵת ה' לְצוֹרֶךְ שָׁעָה,

However, this instance of love preceding fear is something irregular and in the nature of a temporary measure, brought about through God's divine providence to meet the need of the hour, In particular situations, for particular people and at particular times, love precedes fear. Normatively, a person learns and progresses step by step on the established, step-by-step path. However, sometimes a person must skip the initial stage of the fear of God because it is not compatible with his level of understanding or with his spiritual character. He does not skip that level forever but only temporarily, and begins instead with love. A man once brought his young son to his Rebbe. The child was intelligent, but his parents had not yet succeeded in teaching him to read the letters of the alef -bet. After the Rebbe spoke to the boy for a few minutes, he advised his parents to teach him Talmud. They did so, and after some time the child also learned the letters. The reason the child had not learned the alphabet was that he had a tremendous capacity for learning, and so learning the letters of the alphabet bored him and he found it meaningless. Therefore, the Rebbe suggested that he skip that stage and immediately begin to learn Talmud, which would fascinate him. Later on, he could go back and learn the letters. The same applies to the love and fear of God. Some people at a particular time in their lives may need to achieve a great love of God before they can achieve a small amount of the fear of God.

כַּמַּעֲשֶׂה דְּרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן דּוּרְדְּיָיא.

such as the case of Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya. Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya became the exemplar of repentance. For many years, he would engage the services of every prostitute he could find. One day, a prostitute told him that he was so degraded that he would never be able to repent. This touched him, and he sought a way to repent. He begged God for mercy and searched for help everywhere, but did not find a pathway. Finally, he realized that this was up to him alone. He placed his head between his knees and wept bitterly until his soul left his body. A divine voice proclaimed, "Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya is destined for life in the World to Come." In a very short time, in a single leap, Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya rose to the level of loving God, of pouring out his soul before God, a level that other people achieve only after many years of hard work, if they achieve it at all. This is why, when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi heard this story, he wept and said, "There is one who acquires his [share in the World to Come only] after many years [of toil], and there is [one who] acquires his [share in the World to Come] in one moment" (Avoda Zara 17a). Some have asked why the author of the Tanya quotes a story of repentance – which presumably is impelled by the fear of God – when he is discussing the love of God. The answer is that this is a story about repentance that was inspired by the love of God. The impetus that led Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya to repent in this way was his love for God, and therefore this is also a tremendous story of the love of God.

אֲבָל סֵדֶר הָעֲבוֹדָה הַקְּבוּעָה וּתְלוּיָה בִּבְחִירַת הָאָדָם, צָרִיךְ לְהַקְדִּים תְּחִלָּה קִיּוּם הַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוֹת עַל יְדֵי יִרְאָה תַּתָּאָה, בִּבְחִינַת קַטְנוּת עַל כָּל פָּנִים, בְּ"סוּר מֵרָע וַעֲשֵׂה טוֹב",

But the normative sequence of serving God, which is determined by and contingent on a person's choice, is of necessity that a person begin by keeping the Torah and mitzvot through the lower fear of God at least in its minor form, by avoiding evil and doing good. Rabbi Elazar ben Durdaya did not plan his repentance in advance. Rather, it came to him. He was driven to such a tremendous awakening and depth of emotion that his love of God preceded everything else. However, when a person plans his campaign of action, the first stage is to keep the Torah and mitzvot as a result of being impelled by the lower fear of God, even if only on its basic level of avoiding evil and performing good deeds. He may even do so not because he fears punishment, but because he fears stepping out of an established framework.

לְהָאִיר נַפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹהִית בְּאוֹר הַתּוֹרָה וּמִצְוֹתֶיהָ,

This enables a person to illuminate his divine soul with the light of the Torah and its mitzvot A person must begin with fear in order for his soul to be illuminated by the light of the Torah and its mitzvot, as he avoids evil and performs good deeds. This is the framework necessary to maintain the likelihood that his soul will proceed on the proper path.

וְאַחַר כָּךְ יָאִיר עָלֶיהָ אוֹר הָאַהֲבָה

and then the light of love will shine on his soul. After a person has conducted himself in the framework of avoiding evil and doing good, the light of the love of God will then shine upon his soul. This is the royal road to educating oneself: A person initially enters the realm of avoiding evil and performing good deeds, of accepting God's kingship on the level of the lower fear of God, illuminating himself in the light of the Torah and mitzvot. And after that, he comes to the love of God.

[כִּי 'וְאָהַבְתָּ' בְּגִימַטְרִיָּא ב' פְּעָמִים 'אוֹר', כַּיָּדוּעַ לְיוֹדְעֵי חֵן].

( That is because the numerical value of the word ve'ahavta , "you shall love," is twice the numerical value of the word or , light, as is known to those who are initiated in the esoteric wisdom of Kabbala [see Pri Etz Ḥayyim, Sha'ar Keriat Shema, e.g., chaps. 23, 35].) This may be explained in several ways. One approach is that the two iterations of "light" refer to the light of the Torah and the light of the mitzvot. When a person combines these two, he can reach the level of loving God: "You shall love the Lord" (Deut. 6:5). Alternatively, the Torah and its mitzvot constitute one light, and "You shall love the Lord" constitutes the other light. The love is itself light, but it can be actualized and receive meaning only when it is preceded by the light of Torah and its mitzvot. The love of God is therefore a double light, because in a person's love of God (even more than in the love of another human being), it is possible that he only thinks that he loves, that he is having a genuine experience, when in fact he is merely experiencing a passing mood, a feeling of inspiration that stems from his love of himself. In order for his love to be true and lasting, a person requires a suitable framework of life to contain it. He requires a suitable light below so that the light of love can truly be absorbed into his inner being.