איהו וחיוהי חד

“He3 and His life-giving emanations (chayohi) are one;

I.e., the “lights” (orot) of the Sefirot, which (like souls) animate the “vessels” (kelim) of the Sefirot, are not merely connected to G‑d: they are actually one with Him.

איהו וגרמוהי חד בהון

He and His causations (garmohi; lit., “organs”) are one in them,”

I.e., the “vessels” (kelim) which emanate from G‑d, and which (like bodies to souls4) serve as receptors to the “lights” (orot) of the Sefirot, are one with Him — in them, i.e., in the Sefirot,

(פירוש: עשר ספירות דאצילות

(5 that is,6 in the Ten Sefirot of Atzilut.

חיוהי: הן האורות

“His life-giving emanations” — these are the lights, the orot of the Sefirot,

וגרמוהי: הן הכלים

and “His causations” — these are the vessels, the kelim of the Sefirot;

שכולן אלקות

they are all (one with the [infinite] Ein Sof-light, for they are) Divinity.

מה שאין כן בבריאה יצירה עשיה כו׳

This is not the case in the Worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and so on.)

In these lower worlds, the kelim of the Sefirot as well as a distinct measure of the orot are not Divinity, but created beings.

וצריך להבין היטב איך האין סוף חד עם גרמוהי, הן הכלים

Now it needs to be clearly understood how the Ein Sof is One with His causations, i.e., with the kelim of the Sefirot.

הרי הכלים הן בבחינת גבול ותכלית, כמו שכתוב בעץ חיים

For the kelim are limited and finite, as is stated in Etz Chayim.7

Each of the Sefirot is not only a distinct entity (Chochmah having a separate identity from Binah, and Chesed from Gevurah, etc.), but in addition each Sefirah is inherently finite. How then can they be One with the Ein Sof, Who transcends any such particular identity (such as Chochmah or Chesed) and is moreover infinite?

The Tzemach Tzedek explains in Or HaTorah8 that the limitation that characterizes the kelim of Atzilut is their function as the Ko’ach HaGvul of the Ein Sof, the Power of Limitation whereby there can emanate from the [infinite] Ein Sof something limited and finite.

For it is stated in Avodat HaKodesh9 that “Ein Sof is the most perfect being of all; just as He possesses infinite powers so too does He possess finite powers, for if you were to say that He can only express Himself in an infinite manner and not in a finite manner, then you are diminishing His perfection.”

This means that in truth “infinity” is also “finite”, if it is limited to infinitude and barred from expressing itself finitely. A power that is only “infinite” and not “finite” lacks the capabilities of finitude. Since the Ein Sof is “the most perfect being of all,” hence possessing all qualities, He must possess a power of limitation and finitude just as He possesses infinite powers.

Avodat HaKodesh concludes that the Infinite One’s first expression of self-limitation is the emanation of the Sefirot — more specifically, the kelim of the Sefirot — which possess Ko’ach HaGvul, the Power of Limitation. As a result, the created beings that result from the enclothement of the “lights” in the “vessels” are limited in nature, even though the creative light that flows from the orot is infinite.

To return now to our query, as expressed above: Since the kelim are limited and finite, how can they be One with the Ein Sof, Who utterly transcends all bounds of identity and finitude?

אמנם הכוונה היא לומר, שהן אלקות לברוא יש מאין

However, the intention of the statement that the Ein Sof is One with His kelim is to say that they are Divinity with regard to creating something out of nothing, just as the Ein Sof is capable of doing,10

Creating something out of nothing is a capability hidden only “in the bosom of the Creator.”11 As our Sages, of blessed memory, expressed it,12 “If all the world’s inhabitants were to assemble, they would be unable to create the wing of a gnat and place within it a soul.”

It is with respect to this that the Ein Sof is One with the kelim of the Ten Sefirot of Atzilut: through them something is created out of nothing; in this respect the kelim are Divinity.

ולא בבחינת השתלשלות עילה ועלול לבד

and not merely by way of an evolution from ilah (“cause”) to alul (“effect”), as links in a causal progression wherein a being — the alul, or “effect” — evolves of itself from its ilah, or “cause”.

ומה שכתב הרמ״ק ענין השתלשלות עילה ועלול, וכן הוא בזוהר הקדוש, פרשת בראשית

As for the statement of R. Moses Cordovero13 that creative development in the Sefirot takes place by way of ilah and alul, and so too is it stated in the sacred Zohar, Parshat Bereishit,14

היינו בהשתלשלות הספירות בספירות עצמן

this refers to the evolution of the Sefirot within the Sefirot themselves, whereby one Sefirah evolves from another, e.g., Binah from Chochmah,

(בבחינת הכלים) שנקראות בלי מה, בספר יצירה

(15with respect to the kelim), which are termed beli mah (“without anything”) in Sefer Yetzirah16 (the “Book of Formation”17),

(The text there reads, “Ten Sefirot without anything: their measure is ten….”)

שאינן בבחינת יש ומהות מושג

because they are not in the category of a substance (yesh)18 nor of a nature that is apprehensible to created beings,

וכמו האין סוף, דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל

like the Ein Sof,19 “Whom thought cannot grasp at all”; so too are the kelim of the Sefirot called beli mah, “without anything” tangible and comprehensible by created beings,

Since the Sefirot are not of an apprehensible substance (they are “without anything”), they evolve from one another as ilah and alul, rather than being created as something from nothing.

The Alter Rebbe will now show that the kelim of the Sefirot are not of an apprehensible nature:

וכמו שכתוב: ופני לא יראו

as it is written,20 “And My face (G‑d’s pnimiyut and inner self) shall not be seen.”

The aspect of Divinity termed “My face,” referring as it does also to the pnimiyut of the kelim, remained hidden even from Moshe Rabbeinu, transcending even his vision and comprehension.

ונבואת משה רבינו עליו השלום והשגתו, היתה מפרק עליון דנצח דז״א

The prophecy and apprehension of Moshe Rabbeinu, peace to him, related to the upper rank of Netzach of Z’eir Anpin.

As mentioned in the previous letter (Epistle XIX), the Sefirot of Netzach, Hod and Yesod are merely the conduits by which the flow of life-giving light reaches the recipient; i.e., they are merely the externality of the Sefirot rather than the internal level called panim.

ובהשתלשלות העלול הוא מוקף מהעילה

And in the evolution, the alul (before it emerges as a distinct entity) is encompassed by its ilah,

ובטל במציאות אצלו, כזיו השמש בשמש

and is in a state of utter self-nullification in relation to it, just as a ray of the sun loses any independent identity and is essentially non-existent when it is within the sun,

This is true even after the alul evolves from the ilah and is revealed as a distinct entity: even then it is essentially non-existent in relation to its ilah. And the same holds true with regard to the manner in which one Sefirah evolves from another: that which is drawn down and revealed is totally nullified to the ilah from which it evolves.

כמו שכתוב בפרדס מהרמ״ק

as stated in Pardes21 by R. Moses Cordovero.22

It would thus be impossible to create a substantive being, a yesh, that has a sense of existence independent of its source, through the process of ilah and alul.23

ואף גם צמצומים רבים מאד לא יועילו להיות גשם עב כעפר, מהשתלשלות הרוחניות משכלים נבדלים, אפילו של המלאכים

Thus even numerous contractions, even enough to make the screened light utterly dissimilar to the original light, will not avail to bring about matter dense as earth, by way of an evolution from the spirituality of abstract intelligences, not even [by way of an evolution from the spirituality] [Insertion by the Rebbe: “of the abstract intelligences”] of the angels.

Angels, too, are composed of matter and form. However, since even their matter is composed of spiritual elements, coarse matter such as earth will not result, even after a multitude of contractions, for in the evolving and descending chainlike progression called Hishtalshelut, the lowest link remains connected — i.e., retains some qualitative relationship — to the highest link.

אלא להיות רוח הבהמה מפני שור

There will only come into being — as a result of this gradated evolvement — the spirit of an animal, that derives from the “Face of the Ox” of the Celestial Chariot,

Although the spirit that animates the body of an animal can in no way be compared to its spiritual source in the “Face of the Ox” of the Chariot, by means of Hishtalshelut the “soul” of an animal can eventually evolve from there, since this “soul” too is spiritual in nature. Hishtalshelut, however, cannot result in the innovative creation of a physical entity from something spiritual,

כמו שכתוב במקום אחר, ועיין שם היטב

as explained elsewhere; examine it well.

The Rebbe notes that this may be referring, for example, to the discourse entitled Yaviu Levush Malchut24 in Torah Or.

The Alter Rebbe explains there that in a certain sense even the Supernal Chochmah of Atzilut is an entity, inasmuch as it is designated as Chochmah, as opposed to ayin, the state of “nothingness”. Therefore, it too cannot come into being by means of evolvement from the Ein Sof; it too must come about through the process of “something from nothing.” Indeed, as the verse states,25 “Chochmah derives from ayin” — Chochmah emerges from its source in a manner of “something from nothing.”

Here, however, we are not speaking of creation as it comes about from the Ein Sof, but rather as it results from spirituality in general, even from a spiritual level such as that of the abstract intelligences, i.e., the angels. It is with regard to this that we say that Hishtalshelut can only result in the soul of an animal deriving from the “Face of the Ox” of the Celestial Chariot; it cannot bring into being the physical body of an animal.