וממלא כל עלמין היא בחינת החיות המתלבש תוך עצם הנברא
And “He fills all worlds” is the life-force that becomes enclothed i.e., is internalized within the essence of the created being.
שהיא מצומצמת בתוכו בצמצום רב, כפי ערך מהות הנברא, שהוא בעל גבול ותכלית בכמותו ובאיכותו, דהיינו מעלתו וחשיבותו
It is powerfully contracted within it according to the intrinsic nature of the created being which is finite and limited in quantity and quality, [“quality”] meaning its significance and importance.
Since the life-force must vest itself within the finite created being and unite with it utterly, it must necessarily be contracted and limited according to the intrinsically finite nature of the created being.
כגון השמש, שגופו יש לו גבול ותכלית, שהוא כמו קס״ז פעמים כגודל כדור הארץ
An example is the sun, whose body is finite and limited quantitatively, being approximately one hundred and sixty- seven times the size of the globe of the earth,23
ואיכותו ומעלתו, הוא אורו, גם כן יש לו גבול עד כמה יוכל להאיר
and whose quality and significance, namely, its light, is also limited as to the extent that it can emit light,
כי לא יאיר לבלתי תכלית, מאחר שהוא נברא
for it cannot illuminate indefinitely since it is a created being, and hence inherently limited. Thus, although the light of the sun illuminates at a prodigious distance, that distance is not without limit.
וכן כל הנבראים הם בעלי גבול ותכלית, כי מהארץ לרקיע מהלך ת״ק שנה כו׳
Likewise, all created beings are finite and limited, for24 “from the earth to heaven is a journey of five hundred years…, and so, too, from one heaven to another is a distance of five hundred years.”
ואם כן, החיות המלובשת בהם היא בבחינת צמצום רב ועצום
Hence, since created beings are limited and finite, the life-force which is invested in them is greatly and powerfully contracted,
כי צריכה תחלה להתצמצם צמצומים רבים ועצומים, עד שיתהוה מכחה ואורה עצם הנבראים כמות שהם בעלי גבול ותכלית
for it must first undergo numerous and powerful contractions until created beings, by nature finite and limited, may be brought into existence from its power and light.
Only after this process of self-limitation will the limitless life-force be able to invest itself within finite created beings and become united with them, as will soon be explained.
כי מקור החיות הוא רוח פיו של הקב״ה, המתלבש בעשרה מאמרות שבתורה
For the source of the life-force is the “breath of the mouth” of the Holy One, blessed be He; it becomes enclothed in the Ten Utterances of the Torah, from which all created beings come into existence.
ורוח פיו יתברך היה יכול להתפשט לאין קץ ותכלית, ולברוא עולמות אין קץ ותכלית לכמותם ואיכותם, ולהחיותם עדי עד
The “breath of His mouth” could have diffused without end and limit, and created worlds infinite in their quantity and quality, and given [them] life forever, unlike their present state, in which they are limited in all these respects,
ולא היה נברא עולם הזה כלל
and this corporeal world, all of whose beings are limited and finite, would not have been created at all.
It was the contraction of the life-force that made possible the creation of this physical, limited world with its finite creatures.
The reason why the “breath of His mouth” — were it not to have been contracted — would have created worlds without end, is now explained by the Alter Rebbe in the parenthesis.
שכמו שהקב״ה נקרא אין סוף, כך כל מדותיו ופעולותיו, דאיהו וגרמוהי חד
(For just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is called “Infinite”, so are all His attributes and actions [infinite], “for He and His attributes are one”;
דהיינו החיות הנמשך ממדותיו, שהן חסד ורחמים ושאר מדותיו הקדושות, על ידי התלבשותן שמתלבשות ברוח פיו
i.e., the life-force that emanates from His attributes, namely, Kindness and Mercy and His other holy attributes, [emanates from them] through their being enclothed in the “breath of His mouth,” which refers to the Sefirah of Malchut.
כי הוא אמר ויהי
For creation results from G‑d’s speech and the “breath of His mouth,” as Scripture states,25 “For He spoke — and it came into being.”
ועולם על ידי חסד יבנה
Moreover, creation came about through Chesed, as it is written,26 “The world is built through Chesed,”
But how is it that the world is created both through Chesed and Malchut (the “word of G‑d”)? This means: the attribute of Chesed vests itself within Malchut,
בדבר ה׳ ורוח פיו, הנעשה כלי ולבוש לחסד זה
so that creation takes place through “the word of G‑d and the breath of His mouth,” which becomes a vessel and “garment” for this creative attribute of Chesed,27
כהדין קמצא דלבושיה מיניה וביה
“like the snail, whose garment is an integral component of his body.”)
The “word of His mouth” is thus a garment and vessel that unites with the attribute of Chesed, from which the world was created. The life-force emanating from the “breath of His mouth” is thus capable of creating worlds which are infinite both quantitatively and qualitatively.
אלא שצמצם הקב״ה האור והחיות שיוכל להתפשט מרוח פיו
The Holy One, blessed be He, however, contracted the light and life-force that could diffuse from the “breath of His mouth,”
והלבישו תוך צירופי אותיות של עשרה מאמרות וצירופי צירופיהן
and invested it in the combinations of the letters of the Ten Utterances, and the combinations of their combinations,
בחילופי ותמורות האותיות עצמן, ובחשבונן ומספרן
by substitutions and transpositions of the letters themselves and their numerical values and equivalents.
שכל חילוף ותמורה מורה על ירידת האור והחיות ממדרגה למדרגה
For each substitution and transposition indicates the descent of the light and life-force degree by degree,
דהיינו שיוכל לברוא ולהחיות ברואים, שמדרגת איכותם ומעלתם היא פחותה ממדרגת איכות ומעלת הברואים הנבראים מאותיות ותיבות עצמן שבעשרה מאמרות
so that it will be able to create and give life to creatures whose quality and significance is lower than the quality and significance of the creatures created from the very letters and words of the Ten Utterances
שבהן מתלבש הקב״ה בכבודו ובעצמו, שהן מדותיו
within which is enclothed the Holy One, blessed be He, in His Glory and Essence — which are His attributes, since they are one with G‑d Himself.
והחשבון מורה על מיעוט האור והחיות, מיעוט אחר מיעוט
The numerical value — even when it is not calculated through the substitution and transposition of letters — indicates the progressive diminution of the light and life-force,
עד שלא נשאר ממנו אלא בחינה אחרונה, שהוא בחינת החשבון ומספר כמה מיני כחות ומדרגות כלולות באור וחיות הזה, המלובש בצירוף זה של תיבה זו
until there remains from it only the final level, which is that of the sum and number of kinds of powers and grades contained in the light and life-force invested in a particular letter-combination of a particular word.
The extent of the remaining life-force is indicated by the sum, which reflects the progressive descent and the constant diminution of the life-force.
ואחר כל הצמצומים האלה וכיוצא בהן, כאשר גזרה חכמתו יתברך
(28It is only after all these contractions and others like them, as [G‑d’s] Wisdom has ordained,
הוא שהיה יכול האור והחיות להתלבש גם בתחתונים, כמו אבנים ועפר הדומם
that the life-force could invest itself even in the lower created beings, such as inanimate stones and dust in which no life-force at all is revealed, inasmuch as they represent the lowest levels of the nether created beings.
כי אבן, דרך משל, שמה מורה כי שרשה משם העולה ב״ן במספרו
For example, the name אבן (“stone”) indicates that its source is in the Divine Name ב”ן which numerically equals fifty-two (נ”ב) i.e., the numerical value of the Divine Name Havayah when spelled out phonetically in a particular way,
ועוד אלף נוספת משם אחר (לישעם) [נראה שצריך להיות: לטעם] הידוע ליוצרה
with an alef added to it from another Name, for a reason known to its Creator.
והנה שם ב״ן בעצמו הוא בעולמות עליונים מאד
Now, the Name ב”ן, itself relates to very high worlds, and in its pristine state it can in no way serve as the source of physical stone,
רק שעל ידי צמצומים רבים ועצומים ממדרגה למדרגה, ירד ממנו חיות מועטת במאד מאד, עד שתוכל להתלבש באבן
yet through numerous and powerful contractions, degree by degree, i.e., from higher to lower levels, there descended from it a life-force so exceedingly diminished that it could clothe itself in a stone.
וזו היא נפש הדומם, המחיה ומהוה אותו מאין ליש בכל רגע, וכמו שנתבאר לעיל
And this very greatly condensed life-force is the soul of the inanimate being, which gives it life and brings it into existence ex nihilo at every instant, as has been explained previously — in ch. 1, where it is stated that even inanimate creatures possess a soul that brings them into existence at every instant.
וזו היא בחינת ממלא כל עלמין, מה שאין כן בחינת סובב כל עלמין
This greatly condensed life-force is the level of “He fills all worlds,” as opposed to the level of “He encompasses all worlds”),29 wherein the life-force is not contracted in proportion to the spiritual capacity of created beings.
In summary: The Divine life-force is capable of creating worlds that are infinite both in quantity and in quality. Finite beings are created only when this life-force garbs itself in the letters and transpositions of the letters of the Ten Utterances and in their numerical values.
וכל כח ומדרגה יכול לברוא ברואים כפי בחינת מדרגה זו, גם כן לאין קץ ותכלית בכמותם ואיכותם, להחיות עדי עד
Each power and grade [of the life-force] — after it has descended and undergone contractions, so that there remains only the numerical equivalent of the letters of the Ten Utterances — would be able to create beings according to its own level, even unlimited in quantity and quality, giving [them] everlasting life,
מאחר שהוא כח ה׳ המתפשט ונאצל מרוח פיו, ואין מעצור כו׳
since it is the power of G‑d that diffuses and emanates from the “breath of His mouth,” and there is no restraint [to His ability to create unlimited worlds].
אך שלא יהיה איכותם במעלה גדולה כל כך, כאיכות ומעלת ברואים שיוכלו להבראות מבחינת כח ומדרגת האותיות עצמן
Their quality, however, would not be on a level as high as the quality and level of the creatures which could be created from the power and degree of the letters themselves.
I.e., the created beings resulting from the transposition of letters, and surely from the numerical value of the letters, would be inferior to the beings which could be created from the letters themselves
Commentary of the Rebbe On Chapter Seven
1. Among the explanations and innovative interpretations of the Alter Rebbe in Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, two major points stand out:
(a) The explanation of the “comment of the Baal Shem Tov” on the verse,30 “Forever, O G‑d, Your word stands firm in the heavens”; namely, that31 “‘Your word’ which You uttered, [viz.,32] ‘Let there be a firmament…,’ these [very] words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven…to give them life…. For if the letters were to depart [even] for an instant, G‑d forbid, and return to their source, all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as though they had never existed at all,…exactly as before the Six Days of Creation.”
From this it will be understood33 “that each creature and being is in reality considered to be naught and nothingness in relation to the activating force and the ‘breath of His mouth’ which is within it, continuously calling it into existence and bringing it from absolute non-being into being.”
(b) The tzimtzum is not to be understood34 “literally — that the Holy One, blessed be He, removed Himself and His Essence, G‑d forbid, from this world, and only guides from above, with individual Providence, all the created beings which are in the heavens above and on the earth below.”
It could be argued (see below) that this statement — that tzimtzum is not to be understood in its literal sense — proceeds from the explanation of the Baal Shem Tov’s comment by way of corollary.
2.What is novel about the comment of the Baal Shem Tov is not only that the word of G‑d must constantly create all beings, but that the words “Let there be a firmament” must be35 “forever clothed within all the heavens to give them life.”
The same is true of all other created beings: the words and letters of the Ten Utterances which create them and provide them with life must be continuously vested within them.
(Thus indeed the Alter Rebbe explains at length36 how within every creature there is “a soul and spiritual life-force.” For even those beings not specifically mentioned in the Ten Utterances in the Torah also receive a spiritual life-force which descends from them by stages “by means of substitutions and transpositions of the letters, and by gematriot…until [the life-force] can be condensed and enclothed, and a particular creature can be brought forth from it.”)
Hence, rather than the Divine Utterance constantly creating a creature, which then becomes sundered from it, the Divine Utterance is actually vested within the particular creature itself — within its “space”, so to speak — to the point that the life-force (and soul) of every individual created being is the Divine Utterance that is clothed within it.
It may thus be understood how “every creature and being is in reality considered to be naught and nothingness in relation to the activating force and the ‘breath of His mouth’ which is within it, continuously calling it into existence and bringing it from absolute non-being into being.”
Accordingly, it would seem that the nullification of the created being is not total, for the life-force that permeates and enclothes itself within the created being is attenuated and limited (to suit each individual creature). As such, it “allows for a being’s existence.” Consequently, the nullification resulting from this life-force is also not complete.37
However, according to what the Alter Rebbe goes on to explain — that tzimtzum is not to be understood in its literal sense, G‑d forbid — this difficulty is resolved. For even in the “place” (i.e., level) in which the light and life-force contracts and enclothes itself within created beings,38 “There is no place devoid of Him,” and39 “His Essence and Being…completely fills the whole earth temporally and spatially.”
Thus the following two opposites coexist within each created being: Every created being possesses its own “soul and spiritual life-force” which it receives through the tzimtzum and vesting of the Divine Utterance within it; at the same time, every created being is bound up with the very Essence of G‑d, for in the same “place” in which it is found, G‑d’s “Essence and Being” is also to be found.
And the fact that G‑d’s Essence utterly transcends the world makes it possible for one to perceive that the existence of the world itself is G‑dliness (as in the classic phrase,40 “The created being is True Being”) —41 “There is none else apart from Him.”
From Likkutei Sichot, Vol. 25 (Kehot, N.Y., 1987), p. 193 (Parshat Vayeishev, Yud-Tet Kislev, 5744)
Footnotes
1.“A letter of mine dealing with this substitution appears in Kovetz Lubavitch.” ( — Note of the Rebbe). This letter has since been reprinted in Teshuvot U‘Biurim (Kehot, N.Y., 1974; Heb.), Section 13, p. 62.
2.“As stated in Zohar II, 135a.” ( — Note of the Rebbe).
3.Emek HaMelech, Shaar HaMitzvot, beginning of ch. 1; Rabbeinu Bachaye, Parshat Vayeishev, 38:2. Cf. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer, ch. 3.
4.Mishlei 14:28.
5.Liturgy, Morning Prayer.
6.Parentheses are in the original text.
7.Parentheses are in the original text.
8.Malachi 3:6.
9.Liturgy, Morning Prayer; Yalkut, Parshat Va-etchanan, Remez 835.
10.Note of the Rebbe: “Knowledge being merely a descriptive term, just as (though keeping in mind a thousand and more distinctions) man’s knowledge is far inferior to the essence of his soul — with regard to its simplicity (פשיטות), being (עצמות), and so forth.”
11.Note of the Rebbe: “Inasmuch as [knowledge] is only one of His descriptive terms, which surely does not cause a change in His Essence.”
12.Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 2:10, et passim; Moreh Nevuchim I, ch. 68.
13.Iyov 32:7.
14.Note of the Rebbe: “[‘The smallest of all creatures’ — Rashi on Chullin 40a] of the sea [according to the text of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, Section 4].”
15.Note of the Rebbe: “The most insignificant of all creatures; see Rambam, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 2:9; see also Bereishit Rabbah, beg. of ch. 8.”
16.The following paraphrases a note of the Rebbe.
It would seem that the complete subject under discussion has now been concluded. Since it is not within the province of Tanya to expound Scriptural verses, why does the Alter Rebbe now proceed, “The Prophet [Isaiah] therefore said…,” and so on?
One cannot compare this passage with ch. 2, where the verses cited contribute to the explanation of the matter at hand, namely, the limits of man’s comprehension. Here, however, since these verses appear to add nothing, why does the Alter Rebbe quote and explain them?
A solution: By doing so, the Alter Rebbe answers a question which seems to contradict all that has been stated earlier. For the Alter Rebbe had written earlier that a perception of Maimonides’ concept that “He is the Knowledge…,” is the “lower-level Unity” which is applicable to every man (as opposed to the “higher-level Unity” which can be achieved only by select individuals who have attained a singularly exalted spiritual state).
However, Maimonides‘ concluding words on this subject in this very text seem to indicate otherwise, namely, “This is beyond the capacity…of the heart of man to apprehend clearly”: no man, even the most spiritual, is able to comprehend this matter.
This question becomes even more acute in the light of that which Maimonides writes in Hilchot Teshuvah, end of ch. 5: “This is what the prophet states, ’My thoughts are not your thoughts‘”; i.e., this statement is even made by the Prophets. This seems to contradict the Alter Rebbe’s earlier statement that “lower-level Unity” may be achieved by all.
For this reason the Alter Rebbe says: “The prophet [Isaiah] therefore says…,” since this matter is indeed difficult to envisage intellectually. Nevertheless, this manner of spiritual service is indeed within the reach of all, even of those who are only at the level of “lower-level Unity.”
17.Yeshayahu 55:9.
18.Iyov 11:17.
19.Ibid. 10:4.
20.Parentheses are in the original text.
21.Tehillim 139:12.
22.Yeshayahu 55:8.
23.Note of the Rebbe: “Rambam in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 5:8 states ’about 170 times,‘ and in Hilchot Shevuot 5:22 he writes ’170 times.‘”
“This, however, poses no difficulty with the Alter Rebbe’s statement, for in Rambam’s introduction to his commentary upon the Mishnah (s.v. VeHineni Noseh) he is more precise and writes ’166 and three-eighths times.‘”
As to the seeming contradiction between this view and that of present-day astronomy that the sun is 4 or 5 million or more times greater than the earth, the Rebbe has explained as follows:
The view of astronomy applies to the volume of the sun, and that of Maimonides to its diameter. The diameter of the sun, based on present-day astronomy, is about one hundred and ten times that of the earth [not 170], but this measurement takes into consideration only specific layers of the sun and not all of them. For the outermost layers of the sun contract and expand greatly from time to time, and not all the layers are visible to the eye (only their effects are visible). Hence, it is difficult to measure them. Likewise, the protuberance is not taken into account.
24.Chagigah 13a.
25.Tehillim 33:9.
26.Cf. ibid. 89:3.
27.Note of the Rebbe: “As mentioned above, in Part I, end of ch. 21; quoted from Bereishit Rabbah 21:5.”
28.Parentheses are in the original text.
29.Parentheses are in the original text.
30.Tehillim 119:89.
31.See above, ch. 1.
32.Bereishit 1:6.
33.See above, ch. 3, where this is explained at length.
34.See above, ch. 7 (s.v. “In the light…”).
35.See above, ch. 1.
36.See above, ch. 1.
37.See Hemshech Taf-Reish-Samech-Vav (Kehot, N.Y., 1984), p. 224.
38.Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 57, quoted above in ch. 7 (s.v. “In the light…”).
39.See above, ch. 7.
40.Biurei HaZohar, Parshat Beshallach (43c ff.); On the Essence of Chassidus, chs. 15-17.
41.Devarim 4:35.
