In this maamar, as well as in several other places in Likutay Torah, the Alter Rebbe mentions that in order to transform the animal soul while reciting the Shema, we need to reconnect him to his source in the angels. This is described in the blessings before Shema.
Besides mentioning the fact that the angels have a great passion and awe for Hashem, many maamarim explain the contemplation of the angels that brings them to such love and fear for Hashem. When we reflect on similar ideas as those that the angels contemplate, this is what really gets our animal soul awakened.
For this reason, I would like to briefly mention a few points regarding the contemplation of the angels, so that if someone wishes to actually try it out, he will have the basic information necessary to do so:
- What are “malachim/angels,” anyway? They are described as “שכלים נבדלים-beings of pure intelligence.” This means that they are completely spiritual beings, whose entire existence is just to know about Hashem and to come to appreciate Him. Our souls were completely spiritual before they entered the body, and were only involved in learning Torah and contemplating about Hashem.
Similarly, angels are spiritual beings that are not limited to the time and space we know of, and their entire occupation is to learn about Hashem and appreciate His Exaltedness.
- Imagine that you had no bodily needs whatsoever. You didn't need to eat or drink or sleep etc. You had an unlimited supply of teachings of Chassidus to learn. You live in a reality where there is no time or space, only knowledge about Hashem. All of your friends are also beings of pure intelligence. Each one has a slightly different way of understanding Hashem and a different type of recognition and feeling for Hashem. You get together with your friends by communicating directly through thought, without using physical words. (In this reality no one ever lies, since thought is the only form of communication.) By communicating through thought with your friends, you come to an even deeper understanding of Hashem than you would have on your own. In the spiritual world, everything you see has a "link" to see what its source is. Nothing exists by itself, independent of anything. All of the reality expresses how ultimately it came from Hashem, the Original Source, but through many stages of the descent of His Light.
This is a very oversimplified description of the life of an angel.
- In the daily prayer, we focus in on two verses to describe the contemplation of the angels that gets them so excited about Hashem. The first verse (Yeshaya 6:3): "וְקָרָא זֶּה אֶּל זֶּה וְאָמַר קָדוֹש קָדוֹש קָדוֹש ה' צְבָאוֹת מְלֹא כָל הָ אָרֶּ ץ כְּבוֹדוֹ -And the angels called out one to another saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, is Hashem of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.”
Chassidus explains this as follows (see Likutay Torah Parshas Emor; Maamar Parshas Shemos 5666): The idea of “קָדוֹש -holy” is that Hashem is removed and exalted beyond their perception. They say three times that Hashem is “Holy,” since Hashem is beyond the perception of all three worlds of the angles, Beriah, Yetzira, and Asiya. They say that Hashem is “צְבָאוֹת” which is a combination of two words צְבָא-army and אוֹת-letter, implying that all that is expressed from Hashem in His army of angels is just one letter of His Name. Hashem is so exalted that the entire spiritual world of the angels is created from just one letter of His Name, but His Essence is totally removed from the category of existence.
The verse ends that "the whole world is full of His 'glory,'" 'glory,' meaning a radiance of His Light. I.e., all that is present in their world is a glimmer of His Light, called His 'glory,' but His Essence remains totally beyond them.
On the one hand, they realize Hashem Himself is a completely different type of existence than their limited, finite existence, and "no thought can grasp Him at all."
But at the same time, He is their Creator, and whatever exists in the created beings must exist in the Creator, just on a completely higher level.
In fact, the angels are aware of the fact that the way they exist in their source in Hashem is their real existence, infinitely more real than how they exist as created beings. This knowledge ignites in them a deep yearning to return to their source in Hashem, the Infinitely True Existence.
- The second verse (Yechezkal 3:12): “וַתִּּש ָּאֵנִּי רוּחַ וָאֶּש ְמַע אַחֲרַ י קוֹל רַ עַש גָּ ה דֹובְּכ
ְ
ךּורָּב לֹוד' מִּמְּקוֹמוֹ -and I [Yechezkal] was lifted by a spirit, and I heard behind me a great roaring sound saying: 'Blessed be the glory of Hashem from its place.'"
Chassidus explains this verse (see series of maamarim from Rosh Hashana until after Sukkos 5661): The word “
ְ
ךּורָּב-blessed” comes from the word for “drawing down.” The idea of saying that Hashem’s glory is “
ְ
ךּורָּב" is that it is drawn down from a very high source, called "its place." This is referring to how Hashem's glory, in this case, Malchus of Atzilus that creates everything, comes from 'its place' in Hashem's Essence. The power to create something from nothing derives from Hashem's very Essence.
Even though this Essential power is hidden in Malchus, if it were to be revealed, then any created being would be able to connect to Hashem’s Essence.
So even though, on a revealed level, Hashem is totally removed from perception, by recognizing the source of the creative power invested in every creation, everyone can actually relate to Hashem's Essence the way He is higher than revelation.
After getting excited about the first verse “קָדוֹש ” to want to return to their source in Hashem and leave behind all limitation, they get excited about the second verse “
ְ
ךּורָּב,” to realize that Hashem's Essence that is even higher than revelation is actually found in them where they are already. This is because His Essence is expressed in the creative power behind everything. By revealing the source of Hashem's creative power, they can connect to His Essence without having to return their source and leave their whole existence.
- These two types of contemplation described above can relate to the animal soul: It can recognize that Hashem’s Existence is a much more real existence than the reality we perceive. The way we exist in our source in Hashem’s World of Atzilus is an incomparably deeper and truer form of existence than the way we exist focused on purely physical needs and desires.
However, by revealing Hashem in our lives through the Torah and Mitzvos, we actually connect to Hashem’s Essence on an infinitely deeper level than in our source in Atzilus or any other level. This is because Hashem’s Essence is totally beyond any revelation or levels at all, and can only be ‘grasped’ by fulfilling His Will in this world.
