Chapter 17

On the cover, the Alter Rebbe said that the Tanya is based on the verse¹ “Because it’s very close to you (it’s easy) this thing (to fulfill) Torah y Mitzvot with love to Hashem), in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.” However, after studying the Tanya from the beginning to this chapter, we can see that it is not so easy to feel love in the heart for Hashem, So, how does it say the Torah Is it easy to feel something in your heart?

For the Righteous, it may be easy, because he has control of his heart and his feelings, but for the "Average Man," it is not so easy.

To answer this, the Alter Rebbe explains that when the Torah It says “close to you… in your heart”, referring to love for Hashem that motivates us to achieve Mitzvot (“Thought of the heart”, explained in chapter 16), which is a love that is thought with the brain, but not felt with the heart.

Reaching this level of love is within reach and possible for anyone with a brain! Because the brain naturally governs the heart in all people. It's simply a matter of spending time reflecting on the greatness of Hashem, how much he loves us, etc. This "Heartfelt Thought" will motivate us to fulfill Mitzvot Without wasting time, because if not now while we are alive, when are we going to do them?

The Mitzvot They are almost all made with material things, tzitzit woolen, tefillin made of leather, etc., and a body is needed to put them on. tzitzit and the tefillin. After death, the soul separates from the body and can no longer fulfill its purpose. Mitzvot. So, let's not waste any time and get on with it! MitzvotThat's how an "Average Man" thinks.

But an evil one, our wise men² They say he's under the control of his heart, meaning that even thinking about it... Hashem He finds it difficult. That's why he won't be able to love either. Hashem of the “Heartfelt Thought” type that leads him to fulfill Mitzvot. So, before it can serve Hashem, He must repent of the bad things he did and commit to not doing them again in order to break the separation that his transgressions created between him and Hashem (as the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 14).

Why can't an evil person control their heart? The Alter Rebbe explains that it's a kind of punishment. Hashem for having transgressed so much. With each transgression, the Divine Soul in the Wicked One becomes more and more hidden, and it becomes increasingly difficult for it to emerge and express itself.

It's like someone who's in prison and can't get out. And inside the prison, they keep putting him in the innermost, darkest cells, behind more and more doors, in increasingly deeper darkness, to the point where he can neither be seen nor heard, even if he screams! To get him out, they have to open all those doors and take him from the innermost cells to those closest to the prison exit, until he's completely out of the prison.

The same is true of the Divine Soul of the Wicked; it is imprisoned within the Wicked, to the point that the Wicked doesn't even feel he is a Jew! When the Wicked repents, he begins to free his Divine Soul from prison. He will achieve this by breaking the desires and passions of his Animal Soul, allowing his Divine Soul to express itself and enabling him to become an "intermediate Man.".