Yet More on Tzimtzum

S & R Coffer wrote:

> Before I make the following comment, I wish to state that essentially,
> I agree with RYGB that Toras Chabad regarding Tzimtum is limited to
> 'Or' rather than 'Maor' chs'v but I have a problem. The way I remember
> the sicha of the LR, he stated (Shoftim 5711 I think) regarding his
> father in law that he was (in Yiddish) "atzmus u'mahus azoi vee ess
> iz areingishtelt in a guf" (as opposed to utilizing terminology such
> as OES). This was one of his first (his first?) sichos and was stated
> regarding his father-in-law who had recently (one year?) departed. IIRC,
> he mentioned that this doctrine was not obligatory on his followers
> and IIRC he defended his position (in the footnotes) by referring to
> a Zohar regarding the fulfilment of the mitzvah of re'iy'yah on Yom
> Tov by appearing in front of RSBY. I would have liked to have seen
> something more definitive in the direction of RYGB's interpretation but
> unfortunately I have not encountered such throughout my exposure to
> the modern day explication of Toras Chabad. Perhaps RYGB can discuss
> this with his eminent uncle and report back to us (I am aware of the
> sefer Al haTzadikim...I am looking for a clear explanation from RYGB,
> not a pass the buck reference...)

The exact source is in Likutei Sichos vol. 2 p. 511. If you look
there, beginning the previous page with Os #40 you will find a very
interesting - and IMHO dubious - chiddush, that since a Rebbe is a
"memutzeh ha'mechaber" instead of a "memutzeh ha'mafsik," one may make
requests of a deceased Rebbe, even though it is normally heretical to
make requests of the dead, and even of malachim.
But this specific expression has never bothered me as much as it
has others. It is supported by the citation (in the Sicha, not in the
notes!) of the Zohar that states "Man pnei ha'Adon - zeh Rashbi;" and the
fact that a malach is called b'shem Havayah when speaking b'shem Hashem,
and that Moshe spoke of Hashem's commandments in first person.
And this bechinah is one of OES - see, for example,
or

I am cc'ing one of our greater Chabad scholars to ask for additional
marei-mekomos.
YGB