Likkutei Sichos, Vol. 20: Parshas Toldos (Part 9)
The Alter Rebbe's actual reason for Yitzchak's wish to bless Esav, and an opening dive into what 'the vessels broke' in Olam HaTohu really means.
Part of Likkutei Sichos: Volume 20 · 16:49
Lays out the Torah Or explanation of why Yitzchak wanted to give the berachot to Esav — not a mistake, but a deliberate attempt to draw Esav back to his root in the lofty, if unstable, Olam HaTohu, and why Rivka saw that this could not work. Turns from there to a foundational question in Chassidus: what does it actually mean that 'the vessels broke' in Tohu, opening an extended discussion of ohr and keli, tzimtzum, and the order of hishtalshelus that carries into the next shiur.
Audio Transcript
You could say a new maamar. Chasidim could only chazar a maamar, could be מבאר a maamar. He says these are maamarim. So once someone asked him, \"Where did you get this inyan that you're saying? It's a whole biyur.\" So he opened up Likkutei Torah and showed him one line, and he said, \"This one line contains everything that I said, and I took it from here. I didn't make up my own.\" And the Rebbe the same thing. He says this ביאור הנ\"ל is massive, fits, but נלמד. נלמד means it's learned from, I took it from, from the biyur of the אלטער רבי, הטעם פארוואס יצחק האט געוואלט געבן די ברכות לעשו. The Alter Rebbe explains in Torah Or, what was the reason why Yitzchak wanted to give the brachos to Esav? And the she'eilah is a very big she'eilah. What's the pshat he wanted to give the brachos to Esav? Pashut pshat in Chumash is not understood. Pashut pshat in Chumash seems to be saying that he made a mistake, pashut. And that's how you learn without chasidut. Yitzchak made a mistake, Yitzchak thought Esav was a tzadik, Rivka realized the truth, but Yitzchak made a mistake, so that's why he wanted to give him the brachos. It's very hard to understand that. How could you say that? Beside we know that there's no such thing as tzadikim make a mistake, Yitzchak, a merkavah, should make a mistake? But beside, אפילו בגשמיות, יצחק was a smart man. As much as Esav was smart and were trying to trick him and trying to make it, could it takeh be true that Yitzchak didn't know? So the answer is, chasidut says that Yitzchak surely knew. So what was the reason he wanted to give him the brachos? So we're going to learn what the reason was, and from that we'll see how that fits to what the Rebbe explained the sicha before. So it says, and the Alter Rebbe writes like this, אז דאס איז דער פאר, why did he want to give him the brachot, this is because וואס יצחק האט געקוקט אויף עשו ווי ער איז מצד שרשו. Yitzchak looked at Esav as Esav is in his שורש, וואס דארטן דערהערט זיך גענוי דער טבע עילוי פון די מנין מסדר עבודה אין וועלט. In the shoresh you see how it's, the velt is even higher, and to work with the velt is even a higher madreigah than working just beruchniyut. See, it's all taken from, what does the Alter Rebbe explain in Torah Or? In חסידישע שפראך, here it's already the Rebbe brings it down, waters it down to simple simple meaning. In Torah Or the Alter Rebbe says that down here Esav was lower than Yaakov. In שורש, Esav is higher than Yaakov. Esav's shoresh is from where? עולם התוהו. Yaakov's shoresh is from עולם התיקון, from אצילות. עולם התוהו is higher than עולם התיקון. And because the things that came from עולם התוהו, which is higher, came down lower, came down, anything that comes from higher falls lower. So when there was שבירת הכלים of תוהו, it came down lower, and down here it became lower. So all the inyanim of gashmiyut, which are lower than the inyanim of ruchniyut, come from a higher shoresh. They come from עולם התוהו. Esav, which is lower than Yaakov, pashut, Esav harasha, came from עולם התוהו. The problem is, who cares what in shoresh he is? Down here he's bad, so he's bad! But what happens if you take this guy who's bad and you elevate him back to his shoresh? Then he's higher than the other one. And that's what Yitzchak wanted. Yitzchak wanted through giving him the brachos, he would bring him back to the שורש the way he is, and then he would have even more than Yaakov. So Yitzchak knew what Esav is, but he wanted to bring him back. He wanted to elevate him back to the שורש. Yeah? No, it was, I think in the sichah he also mentions it. So Rivkah didn't want that because she knew that ain't going to work. She knew that you can't, and the Eibershter's תכלית is that Yaakov should have both ענינים. So that was the מחלוקת, basically a מחלוקת between Yitzchak and Rivkah. Not the מחלוקת was that Yitzchak loved Esav because he thought Esav is a tzaddik, and Rivkah was smarter. It was because they had a different שיטה. Yitzchak's שיטה is we could be מברר עשו, and we'll give him a brachah, it will ממשיך his שורש and it'll bring him back. And Rivkah saw that this is not going to work, or she felt that this is not his תכלית, it's not going to be the way she saw Esav, and she... So it's not a mistake, it's two different ways of of approaching it, and Rivkah was the stronger one. And it's so because Esav comes from שבירת הכלים דתוהו. Which, by the way, I mean this is not the time, this has nothing to do with the sichah, it has to do, but not to explain what is ענין of תוהו and תיקון, I'm sure everyone knows that. But in תוהו there was שבירת הכלים. The dishes broke. Like there was a story once in Newark,
the ישיבה before it was Morristown was in Newark. So once, the בחורים used to go חזר חסידות in different שולס. in Newark. Was one שול that this one shul had alte mentshen, half of them probably were deaf, they couldn't even hear this, this was a practice shul really. They used to come practice to speak public speaking and chazar, so they used to go. So, one bochur came once and he spoke about תהו and תיקון. And he spoke about שבירת הכלים of תהו. As he finished speaking, and they knew this a bochur from the yeshiva, as he finished speaking the gabbai gives a patch, \"rabosai, we're making an appeal for the yeshiva.\" They asked, \"Why all of a sudden?\" \"We just heard from the bochur that the dishes in the yeshiva broke, and they need some money, so we're gonna make an appeal.\" Cause he said שבירת הכלים. The guy doesn't know, the guy didn't understand the word he was saying. But the truth is, do we understand what it means? What do you mean there were dishes in תהו and the כלים of תהו broke, and they fell down? It needs a little bit ביאור. And then there's another shaila. The אויבערשטער made עולם התהו, didn't work. So they broke. Then he decided, okay, make a different world, make it a different way, and the second one worked. The אויבערשטער made a mistake, pashut? Thought this is gonna work, and it turned out that it didn't work. How's that possible? Well, concerning this question, it's not the pshat the אויבערשטער made a mistake. This is סדר השתלשלות. The סדר of the way things go from one מדרגה to another till it turns into coming into עולם הבריאה, יצירה, עשיה, till עולם הזה, it has to go through an order of things. Part of the סדר השתלשלות is there has to be a שבירת הכלים. There has to be a מדרגה of אורות and in such a way of of the way it's there and then that's the way it's possible to have the next, the next מדרגה. But what is the pshat? I don't think we're gonna get into this, but you know maybe we could start and get to start from a different thing which is to the whole, pashut to understand ענינים in Chassidus. What's bichlal the pshat in Chassidus, אורות וכלים? We said that in עולם התהו there was אורות and כלים, the כלים broke. The אורות didn't break. The אורות went back to the שורש, it says. And in and תיקון, in אצילות it didn't break, the כלים. What is the פשט אורות וכלים? So, I'm not even talking about what's the פשט אורות, which is also in itself we have to understand. What's the פשט אורות? We think of אור אין סוף there's a light bulb you see giving out light, so you have the Oibershter and he shoots out light, what does that mean, אורות? But certainly what does it mean אורות וכלים? And where do they come from? Now, it's so many things.
When we say there are אורות in אצילות or אורות in עולם התהו, it comes from early. There is עצמות אין סוף, I mean I'm sure everyone knows as what we call the map of סדר השתלשלות, although I'm not gonna call on anyone to say, but the map of סדר השתלשלות you have עצמות אין סוף, after that what comes the next step? אור אין סוף שלפני הצמצום. You have the אור אין סוף with its אור before the צמצום. Then you have the צמצום. Then after the צמצום you have the No one wants to tell me? Then you have the קו. And what happens after the קו? What's the first thing afterwards? אדם קדמון. א\"ק. After א\"ק? עקודים. עקודים, נקודים, ברודים. What's נקודים? I know, not that. Which עולם is, what other name is for נקודים? Another name for נקודים is עולם התהו. And ברודים is עולם התיקון, which is אצילות. And after that you have בריאה, יצירה, עשיה. So you have a סדר השתלשלות. So from the אור אין סוף שלפני הצמצום, there was a צמצום, and the אור אין סוף was not there anymore. Then the Oybershter was ממשיך a קו, and that's how the אור continued, the קו is a קו of אור מצומצם and it went down and it turned into then א\"ק, and then then all the מדרגות. Where did the כלים come from? Did the כלים have a separate line? Like we're saying כלים are separate, you have the אורות and the אורות come into the כלים. Now you know there's a סדר השתלשלות. So the סדר השתלשלות of the אור אין סוף, there was a צמצום and then the Oybershter made a קו, and the קו is the קו the המשכה of אור אין סוף, it's a קו that comes from לפני הצמצום and is נמשך further. It's מצומצם, but it's and from there it goes even less and less. It's מצומצם, but still it's a high מדרגה. Then it goes into א\"ק is highest, then it goes עקודים, נקודים. Where did the כלים come from? They have a separate line? They have a separate like סדר, there's a סדר השתלשלות of אורות and a סדר השתלשלות of כלים? העלם? אה? העלם is are the כלים? What do you mean? I don't know what you exact what you mean, but let's say it is. So they have their own, so they have their own line. So they have the כלים come and then the אורות come and then they meet up. The אור falls into the כלי. Where did the כלים come from? The כלים is, we're saying that if there are אורות, there are אורות and then... And the כלים don't even start in אצילות. The כלים don't start in עולם התהו either. What's taytsh עקודים? What's עקודים? Oh, I don't mean what the taytsh of the word. What happens in עקודים? What's the difference עקודים and נקודים? עקודים and עולם התהו? עולם התהו you have עשר אורות ועשר כלים. In עקודים you have עשר אורות עקודים בכלי אחד. עקודים means אריינגעשטעקט, stuck. So the עשר כלים עקודים בכלי- עשר אורות עקודים בכלי אחד. So you already have one כלי there. So the כלי we already have there. Then in in תהו it's 10 כלים. And in תיקון it's also 10 כלים, but the difference is, in תהו it's אורות מרובים וכלים מועטים, even though you have 10 כלים, but there's little כלים. The אורות are too big, so it platzt it. And in תיקון, it's אורות מועטים and כלים מרובים, so that's why it was able to stay. But the musag of כלים started not in תיקון, not even in תהו, it started even it started in עקודים. So where did they come from? Where did the כלים come from? So, I mean I'm not going to this this the whole thing is so, I'm sure in chassidus you learn about this, you get the shiurim, so I don't want to. But I don't want, before I explain it, it's it's not simple. I just want to say you have to understand it. You have to want to understand it. You can't take things for granted, especially when it comes to chassidus, which is so easy to take thing things for granted, you know? Yeah. כלים, it's כלים, אורות, כלים, אצילות, בריאה, יצירה, it's all words. Where is אצילות? Fourth floor, because there's four floors, אצילות, בריאה, יצירה, עשיה. So you have to understand all these inyanim. What's the פשט אין סוף? It's all one big kashya, one big mishmash. What's אורות? What's כלים? Where do they come from? How is it? What's אור? Before we even try to understand what's כלי, what's אור? Eibershter shines. And even after you have hasbara, it's not enough. You have to sit down and think about it. That's why they always an expression, darft trachten Chassidus. Trachten Chassidus. What's that, trachten Chassidus? What about trachten? You learn Chassidus. You ever hear darft trachten nigleh? Ever heard trachten nigleh? You got to learn nigleh. If you don't understand, you think about it. In Chassidus, the whole way of thinking is no way unless you think about it. You have to spend time. That's what chassidim used to do before davenen. They would sit down and think these inyanim. What's the פשט אצילות? Where does it come from? What does this all mean? Tracht. Okay, nowadays I don't know how many people do it. Actually, I have to tell you, Rabbi Korf was upset that he says, \"Why they start davenen 15 minutes earlier? You don't give the bachurim enough time to trachten Chassidus.\" Till 8:00, I guess you would have 15 minutes of trachten Chassidus, and if you daven so so soon right after seder, you don't have enough time to trachten Chassidus. No, we told him that they could tracht Chassidus after davenen, that this, that some people, after they finish davenen, they get a yishuv hadaat, they can tracht better. So we decided to give you the 15 minutes afterwards, that really, after davenen, they can trachten. So it's a good it's a good idea, me zol trachten Chassidus. You still have the same 15 minutes. אלא מאי, it's after davenen. Good, nu, so after davenen take these 15 minutes from before and tracht Chassidus. It's a good idea. Aha? Not more? Can later, yeah, it's more than that. If you טראכט חסידות after davenen and you miss breakfast, okay. And if you'll טראכט חסידות אריין into nigleh five minutes, you won't get a קנס if you'll sit and טראכט חסידות for that time. It's a good idea. But this is the idea. The idea in a so in a smaller in elementary way you טראכט חסידות, you טראכט פשוט what what you learned. You sit down, that's what bachurim used to sit, bachurim would sit before davenen and think over the maamar you learned this morning. In a higher level, when older So here we were talking about the עולם התוהו now so, no no time, but אם ירצה השם, next shiur if you remind me, if you remind me sure, maybe we'll go into this inyan of trying to explain what's the inyan of orot and kelim and tohu and tikkun and atzilut, and the how all these kushiyot, where does it come from, how is there two is there two sedarim, two סדר השתלשלות. I'll just give you one vort, not even a ביאור to answer that question. Okay, where do the kelim come from? So the לשון החסידות is, מהתעבות האורות נעשה הכלים. The kelim come from the or themselves. There is no such thing as another line. The orot themselves have in themselves the kelim. What's the taitch a kli? A dish? A kli is the כח ההגבלה that you have in the or. The or is giluy, and giluy without a limit, and the or has in it because of the tzimtzum, I'm just saying words now which is no הסברה, because of the tzimtzum, it has in it also a quality of being מגביל itself. So when the or is מגביל itself, that's called a keli. And that כח הגבלה in תוהו was was not working and whatever that should mean. Anyway, I just hope you guys will sleep at night because sometimes if this is too overwhelming and I I I can't sleep at it's bother gonna bother you like anything, so and think about it, tracht them, tracht arayn, and we'll see what will happen afterwards.