The Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain how a Jew can achieve a total lack of yearning for the physicality of things, even things that are essential. According to the explanation that follows, it will be seen that one can go beyond this, and even not be pained by their absence. Indeed, this equanimity in the face of deprivation proves that he derives no pleasure from these things when he does have them.

For it is possible for a person not to derive (conscious) pleasure from something7 and still delight in it subconsciously; the proof of this is that he grieves mightily at its loss, and pain is the exact counterpart of pleasure.

וביאור הענין

The clarification of this matter, how one can achieve a state of not desiring the physicality of even those things most crucial to his existence, [is as follows]:

הוא רק אמונה אמיתית ביוצר בראשית

This [can be achieved] only [when there is] an absolute belief in the Yotzer Bereishit.

Literally, as in the opening words of the Aleinu prayer,8 this phrase refers to G‑d as “the One Who formed the first beginnings of Creation.” In the Kabbalistic lexicon, however, reishit also connotes the Sefirah called Chochmah (lit., “wisdom”). The Alter Rebbe hence uses this phrase here to allude to G‑d as “the One Who created [everything] by means of reishit,” i.e., by means of the Sefirah of Chochmah.

דהיינו שהבריאה יש מאין, הנקראת ראשית חכמה

This means that the creation of yesh (“that which exists”) out of the state of ayin (lit., “nothingness”) which is called reishit Chochmah,

Loosely, the phrase yesh me’ayin means “something from nothing,” i.e., creation ex nihilo. Here, however, the meaning of ayin is not “non-being” or “non-existence”, for we cannot say that the source of creation is “non-being” when9 “Everything is from You”: all of creation comes from G‑dliness, the only entity that has true existence. Rather, ayin here means “incomprehensible”, for that which a created being understands he terms “existing” while that which totally transcends his understanding he denotes as “non-existing”, inasmuch as it does not exist within the world of his understanding.

Yesh me’ayin thus describes the creation of something that comes into existence from the ayin of Chochmah. Chochmah in turn is known as reishit (lit., “first”), as in the verse,10 “Reishit chochmah….” The level of emanation called Chochmah is deemed to be “first” because it is the first of the Sefirot and as such serves as a source of creation, unlike the levels of Divinity preceding it which are too high, so to speak, to emanate down to the level of creation.

והיא חכמתו שאינה מושגת לשום נברא

i.e., the Divine [Sefirah of] Chochmah which is not apprehensible to any created being, and which is the level of Divinity described above as Yotzer Bereishit, that refers to G‑d as “the One Who created [everything] by means of reishit,” i.e., by means of the Sefirah of Chochmah, —

הבריאה הזאת היא בכל עת ורגע

this creation occurs at every time11 and moment

שמתהוים כל הברואים יש מאין

at which all created beings come into being ex nihilo (yesh me’ayin)

מחכמתו יתברך המחיה את הכל

through G‑d’s wisdom which animates everything.12

G‑d not only vitalizes all beings but also creates them, and since creation takes place ex nihilo it must occur constantly.

For it is explained at length in the teachings of Chassidut that the relationship between Creator and created differs from the ilah ve’alul (“cause and effect”) relationship of, for example, intellect and emotions. Once emotions are brought about by the intellect, they can then continue to exist independently, because in truth the intellect merely serves to reveal pre-existing emotions; it does not actually create them.

Creation ex nihilo however, involves creating a being that previously did not exist at all. The ayin that creates must therefore continuously vest itself within the created being, so as to constantly effect the phenomenon of creation. (This is explained in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah,13 a priori from the splitting of the Red Sea.)

This is also the meaning of the statement,14 “He Who in His goodness renews each day, continuously, the work of creation….” G‑d constantly creates the universe anew from the ayin of Chochmah.