Chapter 6
However, the main factor that causes this level of “Yehuda revealed,” and causes that “your brothers (Reuven, Shimon, Levi) will bring out your ‘הוֹדַָּׁאָּהַׁ-humble submission and devotion,’” regarding this it is says at the end of the same verse “the sons of your father will bow to you.”
The simple meaning of this is that Yehuda’s brothers will accept him as their leader and their descendants (all the Jewish people) will bow down to the kings of the house of David, who are descended from Yehuda. They are called “the sons of your father” since they came from different mothers, Rachel, Leah, Bilha, and Zilpa, but they all came from the same father, Yaakov.
The Alter Rebbe will explain the deeper meaning of this section of the verse, and how it brings about the level of “יְהוּדָּה אַתָּּה-Yehuda revealed.”
כִּּי הִּנֵּה הַהִּש ְ תַּחֲוָּאָּה הוּא בְּחִּינַת הַמְש ָּכָּה , Since, the idea of “bowing” is to bring down.
The idea of “bowing” is to bend down the head and body from an upright position to a bend over position, thus “bringing down” the head and heat to a “lower level.” This corresponds to spiritually bending down, and bringing down, Hashem’s Light from Atzilus, which “Encompasses” all the created worlds of Beriah, Yetzira, and Asiya, into our world and into us.
וְזֶהוּ עִּנְיַן הַהִּש ְ תַּחֲוָּ ו או ת ש ֶבִּּש ְ מו נֶה ־ עֶש ְ רֵ ה , ש ֶהֵן הֵן הַמְש ָּכו ת . This is the idea of all the times we bow in Shemona Esrai, which represent repeatedly drawing down Hashem’s Encompassing Light into us.
וּבְחִּינַת "ךיִבָּא" הַיְינוּ בְּחִּינַת "כְּ ר ח ם אָּב עַל בָּּנִּים" (תְּ הִּלִּּים קג, יג) , "אָּבִּינוּ אָּב הָּ ר חֲמָּן " ; ש ֶהָּרַ חְמָּנוּת הוּא בְּחִּינַת אָּב , וְתו לְדו ת הָּרַ חְמָּנוּת הוּא בְּחִּינַת צְדָּקָּה וָּ חֶסֶד "לְהַחֲיו ת רוּחַ ש ְפָּלִּים" (יְש ַעְיָּה נז, טו) ; ש ֶכָּּל הָּעו ש ֶה חֶסֶד בְּמִּדַּ ת הָּרַ חֲמִּ ים לְרַ חֵם םיִּמ ותיִּו םיִּ נֲע לַע, הֲרֵ י זֶ ה בִּּבְחִּינַת "ב ְנ יַַׁׁ ךיִבָּא" . The idea of “your father” represents “like a father has mercy on his children” (Tehillim 103:13), and “our Father, merciful Father” (blessing before Shema), since mercy is the idea of a “father,” and the result of mercy is charity and kindness, “to give life to the spirt of the lowly” (Yeshaya 57:15), since those who act kindly, using their attribute of mercy to have mercy on the poor an orphans etc., are called “the sons of ‘your father’ (i.e., mercy).”
In other words, in order to have “they will bow,” which is drawing down Hashem’s Light from Atzilus in Shemona Esrai, a person needs to be in the category of “the sons of your father,” meaning a merciful person who acts with kindness to those that need it.
Only when a person goes out of his comfort to give life to others, then Hashem takes His Life “out of its comfort zone” in Atzilus and give you spiritual Life by revealing this Light to you. (This concept is explained in Tanya Igeres Hakodesh chapter 5, chapter 8, and several other places in Igeres Hakodesh.)
Thus, the meaning of the “they will bow to you the sons of your father” according to this would be “the Lights of Hashem will come down to you, if you will act like a merciful person, by giving kindness to those that need.”
Also, an additional explanation, “your father” represents the Torah, since “the Torah comes from Hashem’s Wisdom” (Zohar II, 121a), which is called “a father,” as they (the Sages (see Zohar II, 176b)) explained the verse (Mishlei 1:8): “‘hear, my son, to the discipline of your father’ – this refers to the Written Torah,” and, based on this, “the sons of ‘your father’” refer to those occupied in Torah study.
Chochma-Wisdom is called “a father” and Bina-Understanding is called “a mother,” since they are the source of the emotions and actions of a person, just as the father and mother are the parents of the entire family. The Wisdom of the Torah is thus referred to as “a father,” and in Mishlei the Torah is called “your father.” It follows that the “sons of ‘your father’” refer to those involved in Torah study.
The Mittler Rebbe (Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai, Bereishis, pp. 523-525) asks: The maamar said earlier that the three brothers of Yehuda, which are Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, are all needed to bring out the true revelation of Yehuda. Reuven is love, which is the same idea as kindness and mercy, Shimon is fear, and Levi is Torah study. These three aspects are the three main “channels” of Atzilus, Chesed-Kindness, Gevura-Severity (fear), and Tiferes-Combination of opposites, which is Torah study that connects physical and Divine. Why here in the maamar does the Alter Rebbe say that all we need is merciful kindness, the aspect of Reuven (love), and Torah study, the aspect of Levi, what happened to Shimon (fear)?
He explains that only in the order of prayer leading up to Shemona Esrai is Shimon-fear of Hashem- needed to reach the higher level of Yehuda-bittul. After prayer, the higher level of bittul of Yehuda is drawn down and revealed in the physical world through the action of the mitzvos, which is the idea of kindness (Reuven) and the study of Torah (Levi). However, Shimon, fear of Hashem, is only a prerequisite to drawing down the bittul to Hashem in the world, it itself does not directly reveal Hashem in the world as do mitzvos/kindness and Torah study.
The maamar here which focuses specifically on Reuven and Levi is discussing bring down and revealing Yehuda -the higher bittul to Hashem- in the physical world that takes place after prayer.
This is the idea of “they will bow to you, the sons of ‘your father,’” meaning, that “the sons of your father,” who are those that are occupied in both Torah study and in acts of kindness, according to both interpretations of what “your father” represents, it is they that will “bow to you,” meaning they will draw you down and reveal you, Yehuda, the higher level of bittul, so that “the beginning, the highest level of bittul, should be expressed in the end, in the person here in the physical world.”
Since, it is the Torah study and acts of kindness that give the power in the person’s soul to awaken the love and fear of Hashem in prayer, until he reaches the highest level of ‘הוֹדַָּׁאָּהַׁ-humble submission and devotion’ and bittul, and it is through this (power from Torah and kindness) that “your brothers will bring out your ‘הוֹדַָּׁאָּהַׁ-humble submission and devotion’” so that “Yehuda should be revealed” in experiencing the higher level of bittul in Shemona Esrai.
Based on all the above, we can interpret the verse as follows:
“יְהוּדָּה אַתָּּה-Yehuda, your level is fully revealed, when your brothers – Reuven-love of Hashem, Shimon-fear of Hashem, and Levi-connecting those feeling to Torah study – will bring out and reveal your selfless devotion to Hashem, and this will enable you to overcome your spiritual enemies, the desires of the animal soul, and transform your physicality into Holiness, if you treat your physical needs like “the back of the neck” without inner passion, but you will also need “the sons of your father” – which refers to both acts of merciful kindness and Torah study, since “fathers” refers to both mercy and Torah – to bend down and drawn down your level of selflessness to Hashem to become fully revealed and felt not only in Shemona Esrai but also afterwards throughout the entire day.”
