The following is a free translation of a section from the Alter Rebbe’s Torah Ohr for Parshas Vayechi which is quoted in our Maamor above.
יְהוּדָה אַתָה יוֹדוּךָ אַחֶיךָ וְגוֹ׳ Yehuda as for you, your brothers will praise you acknowledge you. Why does his mother Leah call him Yehudah? because she said this time I thank and praise HaShem (because they all knew that Yaakov was to have twelve sons with his four wives, so each wife was to bear three sons and here Leah was having a fourth son so she says: “This time I thank and praise HaShem.” This signifies a level of Bittul and self-nullification). This symbolises the thanks and praises which every Jew praises HaShem with the words מוֹדִים אֲנַחְנוּ לָךְ We bow, we prostrate, and we thankfully acknowledge HaShem. So, what does the words ‘This time’ symbolise? (In the narrative it is specifically after having her first three children ‘Reuven’ ‘Shimon’ and ‘Levi’ which is her allocation of the twelve sons that she has her fourth son which triggers this statement of thanks). Because everything in this world is governed by the constraints of time so the thanks and praise are attributed to ‘this time’ because not all times in this world are the same. (In other words giving praise and thanks to HaShem and having Bittul and self-nullification might only be periodic in this world) Whereas in the spiritual realms above in the place whence Jewish Neshomos are hewn that place transcends time and there he is continuously called ‘Yehudah’ with the first letter being a ‘Yud’ which alludes to the present-continuous and has a meaning akin to the Possuk in ‘Iyov’ (1:5) כָכָה יַעֲשֶה אִיוֹב כָל הַיָמִים “This is what Iyov used to do all the time”. So (The reason why she calls him ‘Yehudah’ and not ‘Odeh’ is because) the name ‘Yehudah’ means that he always admits, is always in a state of Bittul and self-nullification from the word יוֹדָה but with an extra letter ‘ה’ which makes it יְהוּדָ ה. (This word with the extra ‘ה’ is used in the Possuk Nechemia (11:17) to mean ‘thanksgiving’).
The concept of ‘This time’ is once the birth which is the revelation of the previous three systems of Avodas HaShem have been achieved which is the Avodah of ‘Reuven’ ‘Shimon’ and ‘Levi’ then they lead on to this fourth system of Avodah which is being thankful and having the ‘Bittul’ of admission. In other words, how does one come to a level of Bittul and self-nullification - יוֹדוּךָ אַחֶיךָ from your brothers ‘Reuven’ ‘Shimon’ and ‘Levi’ they make you יוֹדוּךָ they bring you to the level of being thankful and having the ‘Bittul’ of admission. So, Reuven symbolises the Avodah of seeing G-dliness as Leah says: “see a son” – see how different my first born is to my father-in-law’s (Yitzchok’s) firstborn. So, we see that Reuven symbolises the Avodah of ‘seeing’. This act of seeing is what causes an awakening of the ‘Ahavoh’ the ‘love’ for HaShem. When a person sees G-dliness when he has a vision of G-dliness that causes him to love G-dliness. This is as the Possuk states that the lion is on the right, a lion is an אַרְ יֵה which is the same letters as רְ אִיָה which means to see. And the lion is on the right-hand side of the Supernal Chariot (The right represents Chessed – kindness which is Ahavah - love) likewise we see the flag of the tribe of Reuven is to the south (when facing east south is to the right). Seeing is a closeness in love as the Possuk says: “like a fig that ripens in the beginning I see your father” in other words, I love your father. This is the same as Leah says “When HaShem saw etc... Now my husband will love me”.
How does this relate to the Jewish people? This is looking at and studying the glory of the King HaShem that arouses the love to want and to recognise and to connect to HaShem. For this purpose, the ‘Pesukei DeZimrah’ and blessing of ‘Yotzer Ohr’ which is about looking into and studying HaShem’s glory was instituted to be said before reciting ‘Krias Shemah’ in order to have the love in the recital of ‘Krias Shemah’ because it needs the ‘visual’ which comes from reciting the songs of praise of HaShem. Because the primary intention in saying over HaShem’s praises is because it is not enough just to know that HaShem is great and that HaShem is infinite and that HaShem creates everything, (that we know already from yesterday’s Davenning, so why do we need to do it again? Because it is not enough just to know) because ‘Knowing’ is concealed (sometimes it is apparent and sometimes it is not, in other words, it could be that someone has the knowledge but it does not impact his life) as we see from the example of a thief who before he attempts a break in cries out to HaShem to ensure he is successful and that he should not get caught. (This is incongruent if he is praying because he believes in HaShem, so why is he stealing? He knows that HaShem can give him his sustenance in a Kosher way. It is because although he knows HaShem, the knowledge is not enough and does not impact his action). The knowledge will only bring him to connect on a level of "וְאָהַבְתָ אֵת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ ‘Loving HaShem’ when the knowledge comes out of this state of concealment and enters into revelation, which is coming from knowing to actually seeing which is a level of revelation which comes from deeply looking into something and contemplating it deep in one’s mind.
This is achieved through Davening in which one relates a lot of HaShem’s praise and through deep contemplation into the greatness of HaShem. To contemplate how HaShem’s Kingdom is the Kingdom of all the worlds of a thousand times a thousand and ten thousand times ten thousand (worlds) .... And HaShem is by Himself alone individual and is one and only is exactly how He was before the world was created. As in the statement יָחִיד חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים מֶלֶךְ “You are unique, granting life to the worlds, the King”. The true name of ‘Yochid’ means that He is alone and that there is nothing else. Whereas the word ‘Echod’ alludes to the fact that the Aleph is drawn into the ‘Ches’ and into the ‘Daled’ which represent the seven heavens and the earth etc, that they shall all become nullified to the unity of HaShem that the vitality of the heavens and earth revert heavenwards to become once again incorporated within their source and so ascends even the spiritual dimension as the Possuk states לְךָ ה' הַגְדוּלָה וְכוּ' (See what is written about this topic at the Possuk וארא אל אברהם). With regards to ‘Boruch Shem Kevod Malchuso Leolom Voed’ “Blessed be the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever” being that the worlds are separate they only come from HaShem’s level of Malchus, but when one extends his contemplation and meditations on this concept and brings it into his mind in a revealed sense as opposed to just knowing it through which he will give birth to a revealed love in his heart with a yearning and longing desire to the extent of expire, which will bring him to fulfil the וְאָהַבְתָ אֵת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ which literally means to cleave to the infinite light of the ‘Ein Sof’ Blessed be He as the Possuk states: מִי לִי בַשָמָיִם . There is nothing in the heavens that will satisfy him because he wants what is higher than what is in the heavens, and this comes from seeing.
