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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 nethermost world, the World of Asiyah, and specifically, in the lowly Element of Earth within it.
ותחת רגליו מאיר אור אין סוף ברוך הוא, הסובב כל עלמין
And “below His feet,” i.e., below the lowest levels of Adam Kadmon, radiates the [infinite] Ein Sof-light which encircles (i.e., transcends) all worlds,
At the very “place” at which there ceases the indwelling Divine illumination that permeates all the worlds, there begins the “encompassing” degree of Divine light that transcends all the worlds.
בלי הפסק רב ביניהם, רק עיגולי א״ק לבדו
without any great interruption between them, except for the Iggulim of Adam Kadmon alone.
The Primordial Thought of Adam Kadmon consists of two modes of illumination — Yosher (lit., “straightness”, i.e., a permeating mode) and Iggulim (lit., “circles”, i.e., a transcendent mode). Where the former mode ceases and there remains only the latter (which is not absolute infinity like the Ein-Sof light that transcends all worlds), there is found the absolutely infinite illumination of the Ein-Sof light that transcends all worlds equally.
וגם הקו מאור אין סוף, המסתיים בסיום רגלי א״ק, מאיר ממטה למעלה, בבחינת אור חוזר
Also, the Kav of the Ein Sof-light, culminating at the end of the “feet” of Adam Kadmon, radiates from below upwards, in a mode of Or Chozer, a reflected light.
As mentioned above, this is a light that rebounds upward with increased intensity from a surface which blocks its further downward progress. Hence, for example, the atmosphere closest to the earth’s surface is warmer than the atmosphere in altitudes which are nearer to the sun. In the same way, when the beam of the Kav, whose function is to infuse the inner reaches of all created beings with Divine light, reaches the furthest stages of the Divine thought that encompasses all worlds and created beings, it bounces back with sharper impetus: it is now an Or Chozer.
כמו שהמלובש באריך אנפין, ואבא ואמא, וז״א ונוקבא דאצילות, מאיר באור חוזר ממלכות דאצילות
This is like the investment [of the Kav] in Arich Anpin, Abba and Imma, and Za and Nukva of Atzilut, which radiates as an Or Chozer from Malchut of Atzilut,
ומלכות דאצילות, היא בחינת כתר ממטה למעלה
and Malchut of Atzilut, [if the Sefirot are considered] from below upwards, is [thus] a category of Keter, as mentioned earlier in this Epistle,
ונעוץ תחלתן בסופן
and “their beginning is wedged in their end.”
With regard to Malchut this means that the “beginning” of Keter which is loftier than Chochmah is to be found within Malchut. With regard to the Kav it means that the “beginning” of the Kav is wedged in the culmination of the “feet of Adam Kadmon” which ends in the nethermost levels of the World of Asiyah, in the Element of Earth.
Since the purpose of the Kav is to reveal Divinity, the Element of Earth best reveals that aspect of G‑d’s infinity which expresses itself in creating yesh from ayin, as the Alter Rebbe now concludes.
וככה הוא בסיום הקו דאור אין סוף, המסתיים בסיום היושר דרגלי אדם קדמון
It is likewise at the culmination of the Kav of the Ein Sof-light, culminating at the ending of the Yosher of the “feet” of Adam Kadmon:
I.e., when the “feet” of the lowest levels of Adam Kadmon descend into the interior of the various levels all the way down to the very lowest level, the Element of Earth at the lowest level of Asiyah, —
מאיר ממטה למעלה לבחינת אור הנשמה דמלכות דמלכות דעשיה
it (i.e., the Kav) [then] radiates from below upwards, from the glimmer of a glimmer of a glimmer that is found within the physical earth, to the category of the light of the Neshamah of the Malchut of the Malchut of Asiyah,
This light, the Or HaNeshamah, is in fact the lowest level of spirituality within Asiyah. For Asiyah is the lowest of the worlds; Malchut is the final Sefirah within Asiyah; and of the ten component Sefirot that comprise Malchut, “Malchut of Malchut” is the lowest.
Nevertheless, since it is, after all, the “light of the Neshamah,” it is actual Divinity, as the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say.
שהוא אלקות ממש, מחיצוניות הכלים דמלכות דאצילות
which is actual Divinity, originating in the chitzoniyut (the exterior aspect) of the kelim of Malchut of Atzilut, which, as said above, becomes the “light of the Neshamah of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.”
In this lowest level of “light of the Neshamah,” that which is in Asiyah, there is found the illumination of the final degrees of Asiyah (i.e., that which in created beings is the final level), and this “enables” the Ein Sof to reveal its capacity for creating yesh from ayin as demonstrated in the above-described constant power of growth.
ולפי מה שכתוב בספר הגלגולים, פרק כ׳, הובא בלקוטי אמרים
According to the statement in ch. 20 of Sefer HaGilgulim, cited in Likutei Amarim,56
מתלבשת תחלה הארה זו של הקו דאור אין סוף, באור האצילות שבעשיה
this radiation from the Kav of the [infinite] Ein Sof-light vests itself first in the light of Atzilut in Asiyah,
וממנה לבריאה ויצירה שבעשיה
and from there to the Beriah and Yetzirah in Asiyah,
ומהן לבחינת אור הנשמה, דמלכות דמלכות דעשיה
and from them to the category of the light of the Neshamah of the Malchut of the Malchut of Asiyah.
ועל ידי זה יש כח ועוז בסיום הכלי דמלכות דמלכות דעשיה, שביסוד העפר
From this derives the [creative] power and force in the culmination of the keli of the Malchut of Malchut of Asiyah, i.e., the lowest degree and Sefirah of Asiyah, within the Element of Earth.
והוא מאמר תדשא הארץ וגו׳, להיות פועל בקרב הארץ, תמיד לעולם ועד
This is the constant and everlasting effect, throughout the earth, of the creative utterance,57 “Let the earth bring forth herbs…,” this fiat being the source of the power of vegetative growth
בחינת אין סוף
Not only is the capacity for growth an instance of yesh me’ayin and a result of G‑d’s infinitude: the same is true of its constant recurrence.
ולא בלבד בששת ימי בראשית, כמאמר: ישרצו המים, ומאמר: תוצא הארץ נפש חיה
and not only during the Six Days of Creation, as with the fiat,59 “Let the waters bring forth [an abundance of creeping creatures],” and the fiat,60 “Let the earth bring forth living beings.”
Ever since these one-time creative utterances, every living being derives from another, and not ex nihilo from the earth or water.
מחכמה דמלכות דמלכות דעשיה
[These fiats derive] from the Chochmah of the Malchut of the Malchut of Asiyah.
שבשבעת ימי בראשית האיר בעולם הזה הארה מאור אין סוף בחסד חנם
For during the Seven Days of the Beginning there shone in this world a radiation from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light in a mode of gratuitous kindness,
בלי העלאת מיין נוקבין כלל
without any [prior] elevation of mayin nukvin at all.)
During those days there was no spontaneous arousal initiated from the world below, in the form of divine service on the part of the “female” or recipient element, in order to elicit a reciprocal arousal from above. (After these seven days, however, G‑d ordained that henceforth there must first be an arousal initiated from below.) By virtue of the gratuitous and unearned Di-vine kindness of those first seven days, each of the above-quoted fiats (“Let the water bring forth…” and “Let the earth bring forth…”) effectively brought about an instance of creation ex nihilo, of yesh from ayin.
The fiat “Let the earth sprout forth…,” by contrast, operates constantly:
להצמיח עשבים ואילנות ופירות מאין ליש תמיד, מדי שנה בשנה
to make grasses and trees and fruits sprout ex nihilo into substantiality, constantly, year by year.61
שהוא מעין בחינת אין סוף
This [constancy] is a kind of infinity,
שאם יתקיים עולם הזה ריבוי רבבות שנים, יצמיחו מדי שנה בשנה
for if this world were to exist for myriads of myriads of years, they would still sprout forth from year to year.
אלא שיש מהן על ידי העלאת מיין נוקבין, והם הזרועים והנטועים
There are, though, some [plants, trees and fruit] that result from a [prior] “elevation of mayin nukvin,” i.e., whose seeds serve as the above-mentioned arousal from below which calls forth the power of vegetative growth within the earth, namely, those which are sown and planted.
ואף על פי כן, הם כמו יש מאין
Nevertheless, these [too] are like yesh me’ayin,
שהגרעין הנטוע, אין לו ערך כלל לגבי הפרי, וגם נגד כל האילן עם הענפים והעלין
for the planted seed is of no estimation whatever in relation to the fruit, nor in relation to the whole tree with the branches and leaves.
Whereas the difference between the fruit and its source in the kernel is mainly qualitative (as in the taste, for example), the difference between the kernel and the resultant tree is more quantitative. By both of these criteria, then, the growth of a tree from a seed possesses an element of yesh me’ayin.
וכן במיני זרעונים וירקות, וגם במיני תבואה, להתהוות מאות גרעינין מגרעין אחד, הוא כמו יש מאין
The same applies to the various species of seeds and vegetables, and to the various species of grain: that hundreds of kernels should come into being from a single kernel, resembles yesh me’ayin;
ומכל שכן, הקשין והשבלים
and how much more so, with respect to their straw and spikes, which are so much more different from the parent kernel, and thus even more conspicuously come into being as if “from nothing.”
והנה הפירות על ידי העלאת מיין נוקבין, היא הזריעה והנטיעה, הם משובחים מאד מאד מהעולים מאליהן, מכח הצומח לבדו שבארץ
Now,62 these fruits that [grow] by means of an “elevation of mayin nukvin,” i.e., by sowing and planting, are far, far superior to those that come up independently, only from the vegetative property in the soil.
ומזה נשכיל המשכות אורות עליונים באצילות, בריאה, יצירה, עשיה
And from this we will be able to understand [the concept of] the elicitation of the Supernal orot, the Divine illuminations, [that are drawn down] in the Worlds of Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah,
The lights that are drawn down to this world in response to man’s divine service surpass by far the lights that are granted through “an arousal from above” as an unearned gift.
שהוא תכלית בריאת האדם
(63which is the ultimate purpose for the creation of man),
כמו שכתוב במקום אחר
as is explained elsewhere.
***
ומזה
And from this, from the earlier explanation of the paradox of Or Chozer, whereby it is specifically in the lowest levels of Asiyah that the light of Sovev Kol Almin and the light of the Kav rebound most intensely,
יובן היטב בענין סדר המדרגות: דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר
we can clearly understand the subject of the order of the levels [of created beings] — the inorganic, the vegetative, the animal, and the articulate being (i.e., man),
שהן בחינת עפר, מים, אש, רוח
which correspond to and are expressed within the composition of all created beings as the Elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air.
שאף שהחי הוא למעלה מהצומח, והמדבר למעלה מהחי
For though the animal [level] is higher than the vegetative [level],64 and the articulate being is higher than the animal,
אף על פי כן, החי ניזון וחי מהצומח, והמדבר מקבל חיותו משניהם
nevertheless, the animal is nourished and lives by the vegetative, and the articulate being receives his vitality from them both,
וגם חכמה ודעת
and even wisdom and knowledge.
שאין התינוק יודע לקרות אבא ואמא, עד שיטעום טעם דגן כו׳
For, as the Gemara states,65 “A child does not know how to call ‘father’ and ‘mother’ until it has tasted grain.”
ועדיין לא אכילנא בישרא דתורא כו׳
[It is likewise written,]66 “I had not yet eaten the meat of oxen….”
This was the explanation which R. Nachman gave to Rava, as to why the previous evening he had been unable to give the better answer to his query that he had now given. Thus we see that the meat of a mere animal is able to stimulate the mind of man.
The key to this paradox, whereby the animal kingdom is nourished by the inferior vegetative kingdom, and man needs both of these inferior orders of creation, has been explained above:
כי הוא בחינת אור חוזר ממטה למעלה, מתחתית העשיה
For this is an instance of Or Chozer, the light that is reflected from the lower levels to the higher, from the lowest level of Asiyah,
שמתגלית שם ביתר עז, הארה דהארה כו׳
where there is an exceedingly strong manifestation of the radiation of the radiation, and so on, of the glimmer of a glimmer of a glimmer that is found within the physical earth,
מאור אין סוף, הסובב כל עלמין
from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light that encircles all worlds, i.e., from the degree of Sovev Kol Almin that transcends all worlds equally,
ומהקו אור אין סוף, שבסיום רגלי היושר דאדם קדמון
and from the Kav from the Ein Sof-light at the culmination of the “feet” of the Yosher of Adam Kadmon — the final level of the internalized illumination that is found in all worlds. This illumination shines there:
בבחינת אור חוזר, כנ״ל
in a mode of Or Chozer, as stated above.
***
ויובן היטב בזה, טוב טעם ודעת
This will enable one to gain a reasoned understanding
מה שהמלאכים עליונים שבמרכבה: פני שור ופני נשר
how it is that the Supernal angels of the Merkavah, the “Celestial Chariot,” namely, the “Face of the Oxen” and the “Face of the Eagle,”
נהנים מאד, וניזונים ומסתפקים
derive great enjoyment, and are nourished and content,
מרוח הבהמה והעוף, העולה אליהם מהקרבנות שעל גבי המזבח
from the spirit of the cattle and fowl that ascends to them from the sacrifices on the altar.
The phrase,67 את קרבני לחמי לאשי (“My sacrifice, the bread of My burnt offerings…”), may be understood on a non-literal level to mean that the sacrifices provide sustenance for G‑d’s “fires”, i.e., for the angels.
וכדקדוק לשון הזהר הקדוש: ואתהניין מיסודא ועיקרא דילהון
As the holy Zohar expresses it precisely,68 “They derive enjoyment from their element and essence”: the spiritual root (as opposed to the animal component) of the sacrifices is reflected back to its angelic source in a mode of Or Chozer.
***
ואחרי הדברים והאמת האלה, דעת לנבון נקל
Now, after these words and this truth, knowledge comes easily to the discerning,
להבין על ידי כל הנ״ל, גודל מעלת המצות מעשיות
to understand through all the above the sublime worth of the practical commandments, those performed with physical objects and with man’s physicality.
אשר הן תכלית ירידת הנשמות לעולם הזה הגשמי
For [these commandments] are the ultimate purpose for the descent of souls to this physical world,
כמו שכתוב: היום לעשותם
as it is written,69 “Today [is the time] to do them.”
I.e., specifically “today”, in this world of action, are we provided with the opportunity to perform mitzvot with physical objects whose creation came about from G‑d’s very essence, and which contain the concealed power of His very being. By performing mitzvot with these objects we release this concealed power.
ויפה שעה אחת בתשובה ומעשים טובים בעולם הזה, מכל חיי עולם הבא
[It is likewise written,]70 “Better one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the World to Come.”
***
עד כאן מצאנו מכתב יד הקודש
At this point the first publishers of Iggeret HaKodesh wrote: Until here we found of his holy writing.
Footnotes
1.Derech Mitzvotecha, p. 170a.
2.Acharon shel Pesach, 5694.
3.Note of the Rebbe: “Etz Chayim, Shaar 47, ch. 12, et al.”
4.Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction II (beginning Patach Eliyahu).
5.Parentheses are in the original text.
6.Note of the Rebbe: “Chayohi and garmohi can also be interpreted otherwise.”
7.Shaar II, ch. 3 et passim.
8.Vayeitzei, p. 182b.
9.Part I, beginning of ch. 8.
10.Note of the Rebbe: “This is not to say that the Ein Sof is one with the kelim of the Sefirot; rather, that they unite in an action that can only come about through the Ein Sof or through uniting with the Ein Sof, with the action coming about by the Ein Sof and through the kelim.”
11.Note of the Rebbe: “And for the reason provided below, on p. קל, ע״ב [i.e., p. 260 of the standard Hebrew text].”
12.See Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 7:13; Bereishit Rabbah 39:14; Vayikra Rabbah 19:2; et al.
13.Pardes Rimonim, Shaar VI, ch. 6, et al.
14.I, 19b ff.
15.Parentheses are in the original text.
16.1:2, et passim.
17.Note of the Rebbe: “Including the formation (Yetzirah) of the Sefirot.”
18.Note of the Rebbe: “Not even of the yesh of Beriah, the proof of this being — and to the extent that — they are not [even of an apprehensible nature to created beings].”
19.Cf. Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar, p. 17a.
20.Shmot 33:23.
21.Pardes Rimonim, Shaar VI, ch. 6, et al.
22.Note of the Rebbe: “This is why even the creation of the kelim of the Ten Sefirot of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah — which are not One, but separate entities — cannot come about through the process of ilah and alul.”
23.Note of the Rebbe: “So, too, regarding the yesh of Asiyah.”
24.P. 90b.
25.Iyov 28:12.
26.On Bereishit 1:1.
27.Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch.3.
28.Note of the Rebbe: “[Not only from the perspective of the yesh, but] also according to the truth.”
29.Iyov 4:18.
30.The last word of the Hebrew quotation is vocalized with a kamatz, kamatz katan, and kamatz.
31.In the Hebrew text, the letters זו״נ are an abbreviation for ז״א (itself an abbreviation for זעיר אנפין, representing the six “male” middot) and נוקבא (the “female” or recipient element, viz., the Sefirah of Malchut).
32.Parentheses are in the original text.
33.Tikkun 70 (p. 124a).
34.Yeshayahu 49:2.
35.The Rebbe here refers the reader to an explanation of the Tzemach Tzedek in Or HaTorah, Shmot, p. 199, which may be summarized as follows: The “thousands and myriads of worlds” alludes not to actual worlds, but to extremely rarefied spiritual degrees (“letters”) that descend into Asiyah and result in the creation of actual worlds. Hence, the above statement of the Alter Rebbe (“the thousands…yesh”) means that “The created beings that came about from the ‘letters’ are indeed separate entities, while the ‘letters’ themselves are Divinity; they are termed `worlds’ only in relation to Gulgalta; i.e., they are `letters’ that have previously been drawn forth to serve as a source and root for the creation of worlds….”
36.Cf. Zohar III, 128b.
37.Cf. Or HaTorah, loc. cit.
38.Bachaye, Vayeishev 38:30, et al.; Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 7.
39.Tehillim 33:6.
40.Iyov 28:12.
41.1:7.
42.Tehillim 111:10.
43.Note of the Rebbe: “Cf. the Note [of the Alter Rebbe] in ch. 52 of Part I [of Tanya]; also p. קלא, ע״ב [i.e., p. 262 of the standard Hebrew text].”
44.II, 52b.
45.See Likkutei Torah, Parshat Tzav, p. 16b, and sources listed there.
46.Shabbat 1:2.
Note of the Rebbe: “It will be observed that this entire discussion appears earlier in the Yerushalmi, in Tractate Berachot (1:2), except that there the sukkah precedes the lulav, whereas in Tractate Shabbat the lulav precedes the sukkah. It would therefore appear reasonable to assume that [the Alter Rebbe] preferred to cite specifically this tractate (presumably because the law at hand applies primarily to Shabbat). Somewhat problematic, however, is the fact that the expression used in both discussions (as recorded in current editions of the Talmud) is ‘to make a lulav and to make a sukkah,’ whereas the difference between these cases is self-evident. See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, begining of sec. 641. At any rate, this is not the forum for a lengthy discussion.”
See also Likkutei Sichot, Vol. XX, p. 267, footnote 10, and the sources listed there.
47.Nechemiah 9:6
48.Yirmeyahu 23:24
49.Tikunei Zohar 57:91b.
50.Tanya, ch.48.
51.Note of the Rebbe in his Glosses and Emendations: “Both the language and the intent [of the seemingly repetitious Hebrew introductory phrases] invite attention.”
52.Parenthese are in the original text.
53.Bereishit Rabbah 10:6.
54.On Bamidbar, p. 196.
55.Op. cit., p. 786.
56.Note of the Rebbe: “See ch. 6 (in the Alter Rebbe’s Note); ch. 18; see also end of ch. 51 and end of ch. 52.”
57.Bereishit 1:11.
58.Parentheses are in the original text.
59.Bereishit 1:10.
60.Ibid. 1:24.
61.“Coming after ‘constantly’, the phrase ‘year by year’ suggests something of a contradiction. This is not the case in the text above (foot of Hebrew p. 132a), where תמיד לעולם means ‘constant and everlasting,’ as is evident from the continuation there (‘in a mode of infinitude’). Our text should therefore be understood in the spirit of the similar text at the end of Epistle 14, above: ‘And this is the meaning of Forever…; …rather, every year….’”
62.Note of the Rebbe: “The relevance here of this passage (regarding the superiority of fruits that are planted) is not immediately apparent.“
It could be seen as being connected with the above discussion of the superior quality of those mitzvot that come at the ‘end’ (and likewise as being connected with the conclusion of this Epistle, on the sublime worth of practical mitzvot). For even with regard to all the things that now, too, are bestowed upon us by way of gratuitous kindness, if they are [earned] by means of the performance of a mitzvah or through mortal prayer, they too are ‘far, far superior’ משובחים מאד מאד.“
Compare the explanation in Likkutei Torah of how the Spies’ complaint was negated by the response that the Land was ‘very, very’ good טובה הארץ מאד מאד.”
63.Parentheses are in the original text.
64.Note of the Rebbe: “[It is superior] also with regard to its creation; ‘nevertheless [it] is nourished…[by the vegetative].’ (This enables us to understand why the Element of Earth is not mentioned here, for everything comes from the Earth. It may likewise be said that for this reason, even after having been created, [everything] depends on it and is nourished by it.)”
65.Berachot 40a.
66.Bava Kama 71a.
67.Bamidbar 28:2.
68.III, 341a.
69.Devarim 7:11; Eruvin 22a.
70.Avot 4:17.
