Daily Tanya – Chapter 21 Part 1: Understanding G-d’s speech & How everything Remains nullified to G-d (Sunday 7th Shevat)

Chapter 21: Understanding G-d’s speech & How everything Remains nullified to G-d

1. Hashem’s speech does not separate from Him

• Man’s speech is separate from his soul: G-d’s attributes are not the same as that of man’s. When man speaks, the breath of his speech which comes out of his mouth is recognizably felt and seen as a separate entity, separate from its root which are the 10 aspects of the soul itself.
• G-d’s speech does not separate from Him: However G-d’s speech does not separate from Him, G-d forbid, as there is nothing outside of Him and there’s no place devoid of Him. Accordingly, G-d’s speech cannot be compared to our speech, G-d forbid.
• G-d’s thought is not like our thought: This is similar to the idea that G-d’s thought is unlike our thought and is rather much higher than our thought.
• Why G-d’s speech is called speech at all: The only reason why G-d’s speech is even called speech at all is due to its similarity in the fact that it reveals the concealed as does the speech of man. Just as the speech of man reveals to the listeners that which was hidden and concealed within his heart, so too above the speech of the infinite G-d expresses and reveals the light and energy of G-d from its concealed state, in order to create and enliven the world’s. This is what’s referred to as His speech.

2.      The 10 utterances and the Torah are the speech of G-d:

• The 10 utterances with which the world was created is the speech of G-d which revealed the concealed energy of G-d into creation to bring about its existence.
• The Torah: Likewise, the words of the Torah and books of the prophets and Scripture [i.e. Tanakh], which are the words of the prophets expressing what they comprehended through prophecy, is likewise a revelation of the concealed light and energy of G-d.

3.      G-d’s speech and thought is completely unified with him even after it is spoken:

• The speech and thought of G-d is completely united with Him.
• The unity of man’s speech and thought prior to its expression: The speech and thought of man while it is still contained within his intellect and mind, or within his emotion and craving of the heart prior to it being sent from the heart to the mind to contemplate it with letters of speech, is completely united with him and his soul.
• In this stage, the letters of thought and speech which derive from the lust and craving of his heart is only in a state of potential within the heart, and is therefore united within the heart and its root and source with an absolute unity. This means that at this stage the letters of speech and thought are united with the wisdom and intellect found in the brain, and with the lust and craving within the heart.