Chapter 20

So far the Alter Rebbe has explained how “Hidden Love” to Hashem It awakens when we feel our connection with Hashem It is threatened, for example, when we face a test of faith. Now he begins to explain how we can awaken that love to Hashem so as not to commit even a small transgression (the explanation extends to chapter 25).

To do that, he first explains that each Mitzvah It is like a small branch that grows from one of two large branches: The first Commandment that Hashem He gave at the Delivery of the Torah, is “I am God, your Lord”¹. From that great “branch”, all the Mitzvot positive. The second Commandment is “You shall not have for yourself the gods of other peoples [of the earth]”². From that other great “branch”, all the Mitzvot prohibitive. (One Mitzvah positive means that the Torah It says "you have to do such and such," while one Mitzvah prohibitive means that the Torah says “don’t do such and such a thing”).

These two commandments, then, being two great “branches,” are very important! The Alter Rebbe explains that these two commandments actually speak of the fact that there is only one God in the universe. This is called the Oneness of God (ajdut HashemMoreover, not only Hashem There is only one God, and there is no other God, but...Hashem That's all there is! What's more, Hashem He did not change because he created the universe: He is the same and unique after creating the universe, just as he was before creating it.

What do you mean that the only thing there is is Hashem, And how can it be that, if before there was no world and now there is, Hashem Didn't it change?

The Alter Rebbe explains this concept by saying that, in reality, the entire universe is insignificant compared to Hashem. Just as it makes no difference to a human being's life whether an ant walks beside them or not, in the same way, and even more so, the entire universe is insignificant compared to Hashem. If it weren't for the fact that Hashem If it is constantly created, it would return to being nothing, as it was before creation.

To understand this, the Alter Rebbe says that Hashem He creates everything with His word and gives an example of this idea, based on how our soul works. When we speak, the words we say are insignificant compared to our ability to speak, even more insignificant compared to our ability to think, and even more insignificant compared to the ten "Tools" of the soul, from which those words we thought and spoke arose.

It's like a person dressed in many garments, one inside the other. We could say the person is clothed in many garments. In the same way, the "tools" of the soul reside within thought, and thought within speech. That's why one thinks before speaking, and says what one thinks.

Actually, there's a whole process from when we think something until we say it: first, we become aware of a matter that interests us (Intellect of the Soul). Then, that knowledge travels down from the intellect to the heart, where we feel desire for it (Emotions), for example, desiring a delicious meal. Once we desire it, that desire travels back up to the brain to think (the Soul's "Clothing" of thought) about how to obtain that desired thing. This final thought is what ultimately becomes the words we speak (the Soul's "Clothing" of speech) to obtain that delicious meal, for example.

In the same way we can think about how Hashem He creates the world with His word, and His word is insignificant compared to Him; it follows from all this that the world is insignificant compared to Him. Hashem…