The Alter Rebbe will now answer another question which he himself had posed earlier.
The Ra’aya Mehemna had stated that so long as the bipolar influence of the Tree of Knowledge of [both] Good and Evil is dominant in the world, Torah scholars (who are likened to the Shabbat and festivals) are supported only by their unlettered (“weekday”) brethren, whose food is sometimes pure but sometimes not. This is why the scholars engage in the study of the correspondingly bipolar laws of issur vs. hetter (ritual prohibition vs. permission), and the like.
Concerning this statement the Alter Rebbe asked above: Even though the Sages in Second Temple times tilled their own fields and vineyards, did they not mainly study the very same laws of issur and hetter, and the like?
In reply, the Alter Rebbe now explains the meaning of this passage from Ra’aya Mehemna.
During the present era of exile, when the world is dominated by the influence of the Tree of Knowledge of [both] Good and Evil, the Divine Presence grants life-force to the chitzonim. These negative forces belong to the ambivalent realm of kelipat nogah, which veils the holy potential embedded in the material things of this world. (Torah scholars are nourished only by the distilled essence of the Divinely-endowed life-force.)
In order to extract and refine the sparks of holiness hidden in this material world during this era of exile, scholars study the laws of prohibition and permission, and the like. Through painstaking debate and deliberation, they isolate and salvage that which is permitted from that which is prohibited, and that which is pure from that which is impure. Ultimately, their Torah study removes the Divinely-imposed veil, so that a clear adjudication of the law results.
This is what the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say:
וזהו שכתוב ברעיא מהימנא: ובזמנא דאילנא דטוב ורע שלטא כו׳, אינון כו׳
And this is the meaning of the statement in Ra’aya Mehemna: “While the Tree of Good and Evil dominates [the world],… these [Sages, who are likened to the Sabbaths and festivals, have nothing except what is given to them by those who are called ‘unsanctified ones,’…].”
דהיינו: בזמן גלות השכינה, שמשפעת לחיצונים שהם בקליפת נוגה, שהערב רב יונקים משם
This means that at the time of the exile of the Shechinah — which grants life-force to the chitzonim that belong in the realm of kelipat nogah, from which the “mixed multitude” derive their life-force,57
ומתמציתו ניזונין תלמידי חכמים בגלות
and from whose distilled essence the Torah scholars are nourished during the exile, —
ואז, עיקר עבודת האדם, ועיקר עסק התורה והמצות, הוא לברר הניצוצות, כנודע מהאריז״ל
at this time the main spiritual task of man, and the main purpose of being engaged in Torah and the commandments, is to disencumber and elevate the sparks, as is known from the teachings of R. Isaac Luria, of blessed memory.
לכן, עיקר ענין הלימוד הוא בעיון ופלפול הלכה, באיסור והיתר, טומאה וטהרה
For this reason, study chiefly involves deliberation and argumentation on the laws of issur and hetter, impurity and purity,
לברר המותר והטהור מהאסור והטמא, על ידי עיון ופלפול הלכה, בחכמה בינה ודעת
in order to disencumber the permitted and the pure from the forbidden and the impure by means of deliberation and argumentation on the law — with wisdom, understanding and knowledge, with all the three intellective faculties of the soul that clarify the law.
כנודע, דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת, ובחכמה דייקא אתברירו
For as is known,58 the Torah derives from Chochmah. Hence, [the sparks of holiness hidden in a legal question] can be extracted and elevated only through Chochmah.59
והיינו חכמה עילאה דאצילות, המלובשת במלכות דאצילות
Specifically: the Supernal Chochmah of Atzilut which is vested in Malchut of Atzilut —
סוד תורה שבעל פה
this being the Kabbalistic principle of the Oral Torah
(בסוד אבא יסד ברתא)
(60according to the Kabbalistic principle by which61 “the ‘father’ (i.e., Chochmah of Atzilut) begat (lit., ‘founded’) the ‘daughter’ (i.e., Malchut of Atzilut)”) —
המלובשת במלכות דיצירה
which, in turn, is vested in Malchut of Yetzirah.
[סוד] המשניות (וברייתות המלובשות בקליפת נוגה, שכנגד עולם היצירה
[62This accords with the Kabbalistic principle of] the Mishnayot (63and the Beraitot that are vested in the kelipat nogah, which corresponds to the World of Yetzirah;
ששם מתחיל בחינת הדעת [נ”א הרע] שבנוגה)
for there begins the Knowledge [of Good and Evil] [64or: “[for there begins] the evil”] which is inherent in nogah), for the kelipat nogah in the World of Yetzirah is equally good and evil.
[נוסח אחר: והברייתות המלובשות בקליפת נוגה שכנגד עולם העשיה, ששם מתחיל בחינת הרע שבנוגה]
[65A variant reading: “and the Beraitot that are vested in the kelipat nogah which corresponds to the World of Asiyah, from where there begins the evil of nogah”], for the kelipat nogah of Asiyah is mostly evil and minimally good.
כנודע מהאריז״ל
The above is known from the teachings of R. Isaac Luria, of blessed memory.
* * *
והמשכיל יבין ענין פלא גדול מזה מאד, מה נעשה בשמים ממעל, על ידי עיון ובירור הלכה פסוקה, מן הגמרא ופוסקים ראשונים ואחרונים
Now, the intelligent will understand something far more remarkable, namely, what happens in heaven above through the deliberation and elucidation of an adjudged ruling — of the Gemara and of the earlier and latter codifiers66 —
מה שהיה בהעלם דבר קודם העיון הלז
which, before this deliberation, had been concealed.
כי על ידי זה, מעלה הלכה זו מהקליפות שהיו מעלימים ומכסים אותה, שלא היתה ידועה כלל, או שלא היתה מובנת היטב בטעמה
For by means of this [clarification] one elevates this ruling from the kelipot that were hiding and covering it in such a way that it was not known at all, or that its reasoning was not clearly understood.67
שהטעם הוא סוד הספירה חכמה עילאה, שנפלו ממנה ניצוצות בקליפות, בשבירת הכלים
For the reason68 [underlying a particular halachah] derives mystically from the Sefirah of Supernal Chochmah, from which sparks fell into the kelipot as a result of the primordial “breaking of the vessels.”
והם שם בבחינת גלות, שהקליפות שולטים עליהם, ומעלימים חכמת התורה מעליונים ומתחתונים
[As to these sparks of Chochmah which constitute the reasons,] they are there in a state of exile, because the kelipot rule over them and hide the wisdom of the Torah from both the higher and lower beings — both from the created beings of the higher worlds, such as angels and souls, and from man situated here in this lowly world.
וזהו שכתוב ברעיא מהימנא, שהקושיא היא מסטרא דרע
This is why it is stated in Ra’aya Mehemna, as quoted at the beginning of the present letter, that “a problematic query … emanates from the side of evil.”
Since it creates difficulty in the comprehension of a Torah concept, it derives from the evil kelipot which conceal the Chochmah of the Torah.
* * *
והנה העליונים, אין להם כח לברר ולהעלות מהשבירה שבקליפת נוגה
Now, the celestial beings (i.e., the souls and angels in the higher worlds) do not have the power to disencumber and elevate that which is in kelipat nogah (i.e., the sparks that are exiled there) as a result of the “breaking of the vessels.”
אלא התחתונים לבד
Only the terrestrial beings, the souls situated in this world, [can do this],
לפי שהם מלובשים בגוף חומרי, משכא דחויא, מקליפת נוגה
for they are vested in a material body that is known as the “hide of the serpent,” which derives from kelipat nogah.
As explained above, when this concept appeared in ch. 31 of Tanya (quoting the Zohar69), the “serpent” refers to the “three utterly impure kelipot,” while the body that derives its vitality from kelipat nogah is called the “hide of the serpent.”70
והם מתישים כחה, בשבירת התאוות
These [embodied souls] weaken its strength, the strength of this kelipah, by crushing the passions,
ואתכפיא סטרא אחרא, ויתפרדו כל פועלי און
thereby subjugating the sitra achra, so that71 “all the workers of evil (i.e., the kelipot) will be dispersed.”
Thus, only souls in this world are able to extract the holy sparks from the kelipot and elevate them. For this reason, they alone are able to elevate the Chochmah of Torah which the kelipot obscure.
ולכן באים העליונים לשמוע חידושי תורה מהתחתונים
This is why the celestial beings, the souls of the higher worlds, come to hear innovative insights into the Torah from the terrestrial beings,72 from the souls here in this world —
מה שמחדשים ומגלים תעלומות החכמה, שהיו כבושים בגולה עד עתה
[to hear] the secrets of wisdom which they innovate and reveal, and which until this time had been in bondage in exile.
וכל איש ישראל יוכל לגלות תעלומות חכמה, (לגלות) ולחדש שכל חדש
Every Jew is able to reveal secrets of wisdom, (73to reveal) and to discover a new insight,
הן בהלכות הן באגדות, הן בנגלה הן בנסתר
whether it be in the laws or in homiletics, in the revealed or in the mystical [planes of the Torah],74
כפי בחינת שרש נשמתו
according to the nature of his soul’s root, and its consequent affinity with each of the above categories of the Torah.
ומחוייב בדבר
Indeed, one is obliged to do so — to uncover hitherto-concealed insights into the Torah, and to reveal the secrets of wisdom,
להשלים נשמתו, בהעלאת כל הניצוצות שנפלו לחלקה ולגורלה, כנודע
in order to perfect his soul by elevating all the sparks that have been allotted to it, as is known.75
(וכל דברי תורה, ובפרט דבר הלכה, היא ניצוץ מהשכינה, שהיא היא דבר ה׳
(76Moreover, every Torah teaching, and especially a halachic teaching, is a spark of the Shechinah, which is the word of G‑d.
כדאיתא בגמרא: דבר ה׳, זו הלכה
In the words of the Gemara,77 “The phrase ‘word of G‑d’ denotes the Halachah.”
סוד מלכות דאצילות, המלבשת לחכמה דאצילות, ומלובשים במלכות דיצירה
This accords with the Kabbalistic principle regarding Malchut of Atzilut which garbs the Chochmah of Atzilut, [both of] which are vested in Malchut of Yetzirah,
וירדו בקליפת נוגה בשבירת הכלים
and with the “breaking of the vessels” they descended into kelipat nogah.)
The words of Torah in general, and particularly the halachic “word of G‑d,” are thus exiled within the kelipot that conceal them. Accordingly, a scholar who brings to light a teaching long hidden in the Torah or who resolves a problematic query and thereby clearly articulates a particular law, releases the pertinent spark of the Shechinah from the kelipot.
וזהו שכתוב בגמרא: כל העוסק בתורה, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, מעלה אני עליו כאלו פדאני ואת בני מבין האומות העולם
Thus the Gemara teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, says of whoever engages in the study of the Torah…,78 “I account it as if he had redeemed Me and My children from among the nations of the world.”
For Torah study redeems the sparks of the Shechinah — the sparks of the “word of G‑d” — from their exile within the kelipot.
* * *
