Having explained in general terms why the creation of a substantial yesh from spirituality can only come about in a manner of ex nihilo (and not in a manner of ilah and alul), the Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain that the first stage of the created yesh is the kelim of the Ten […]

וקרוב לומר שגם האלפים ורבבות עלמין דיתבא בגולגלתא דאריך אנפין וזעיר אנפין It is reasonable to assume that also35 the thousands and myriads of worlds that are in the Gulgalta of Arich Anpin and Z’eir Anpin (abbreviated in the original Hebrew text as א״א and ז״א, respectively), as stated in the Kabbalah,36 אינן עלמין ממש, […]

As we have seen, the objective creation of the yesh takes place through the investment of the [infinite] Ein Sof-light in the kelim of all Ten Sefirot of Atzilut. However, as the Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain, the subjective yeshut of created beings — their self-perception as entities distinct and separate from their […]

וזה שכתוב: נעוץ תחילתן בסופן And this is the meaning of the statement in Sefer Yetzirah41 regarding the Ten Sefirot, “Their beginning is wedged in their end.” In the scheme of the Sefirot, the very beginning (signifying a level that transcends even the “head”) is to be found in the culmination of the series to […]

ובזה יובן היות המצוות במלכות, ה׳ של שם הוי׳ It will now be understood — in terms of the Sefirot and the corresponding letters of the Divine Name — why the mitzvot are in Malchut, the [latter] hei of the Four-Letter Name of G‑d, והתורה בזעיר אנפין, וא״ו של שם הוי׳ while the Torah is […]

והנה כמו כן מזיווג זו״ן דבי״ע, נבראו מאין ליש כל הנבראים והנוצרים והנעשים Similarly, by the union of Za and Nukva of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, there were created — as yesh from ayin — all the beings that were created in the World of Beriah, formed in the World of Yetzirah and made in […]

וכן גם הקו בעצמו, המלובש בסיום וסוף נצח הוד יסוד דאדם קדמון The same is the case (not only with the ray of the Kav that is vested within the kelim of Atzilut, but) also with the Kav itself, which is vested in the conclusion and end of the Netzach, Hod and Yesod of Adam […]

ולא התפשטות והתלבשות החיות, להחיותם ולהוותם מאין ליש As to the presence in the worlds of the very essence and nature of the [infinite] Ein Sof-light, this is not by way of an extension and investment of the life-force, thereby animating them and bringing them into being from ayin to yesh. For even creation ex […]

ואין זאת אלא משום דרגלי דאדם קדמון מסתיימים בתחתית עשיה This is so only because the “feet” of Adam Kadmon culminate at the lowest level of Asiyah, The “feet” (i.e., the last and lowliest levels) of Adam Kadmon, the Primordial Thought that encompasses all the levels of creation, concludes in the lowest degrees of the […]