The theme of this treatise, as the Rebbe notes, is stated in its subtitle:
להבין מעט מזעיר מה שכתוב בזהר, דשמע ישראל כו׳ הוא יחודא עילאה, וברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד הוא יחודא תתאה
Let us understand [at least] in a small measure, the statement of the Zohar,2 that3 Shema Yisrael… is yichuda ila‘ah (“higher-level Unity”) and4 Baruch shem kvod malchuto leolam vaed is yichuda tata’ah (“lower-level Unity”). For vaed equals echad through the substitution (and thereby the descent) of letters,5 as stated in the Zohar.
Thus, the object of Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah will be to understand how it is possible to speak of two different levels of Divine Unity.
Footnotes
1.I.e., “The Gate to [the Understanding of] G‑d’s Unity and the Faith.”
2.I, 18b.
3.I.e., “Hear, O Israel, G‑d (Havayah) is our L‑rd (Elokim), G‑d is one”; Devarim 6:4.
4.I.e., “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever”; Pesachim 56a.
5.Zohar II, 134a. Hebrew grammar classifies the letters of the alphabet according to their syntactic functions, their respective sources in the organs of speech, and so on. Within each group, the letters are interchangeable. The letters alef and vav both belong to the group of “connective letters” (otiyot hahemshech), and may thus be interchanged. The letters chet and ayin fall into the category of guttural letters (otiot groniyot), and may likewise be interchanged. Hence אחד is the equivalent of ועד.
וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך כי ה׳ הוא האלקים בשמים ממעל ועל הארץ מתחת, אין עוד
It is written:1 “Know this day and take it unto your heart that G‑d is the [mighty and just] L‑rd in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is none other.”2
The verse, if understood simplistically, seems to declare that there are no other gods dwelling in heaven or earth.
וצריך להבין. וכי תעלה על דעתך שיש אלקים נשרה במים מתחת לארץ
This requires explanation. For would it occur to you that there is a god dwelling in the waters beneath the earth,
שצריך להזהיר כל כך: והשבות אל לבבך
so that it is necessary to caution so strongly [and negate this thought by stating that one should] “take it unto your heart,” and come to the realization that this is indeed not so?
הנה כתיב: לעולם ה׳ דברך נצב בשמים
It is written:3 “Forever, O G‑d, Your word stands firm in the heavens.”
ופירש הבעל שם טוב ז״ל
The Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, has explained this concept at length, and made it widely known4 that this means:
כי דברך שאמרת: יהי רקיע בתוך המים וגו׳
that “Your word” which you uttered, viz.,5 “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters…,”
תיבות ואותיות אלו הן נצבות ועומדות לעולם בתוך רקיע השמים
these very words and letters through which the heavens were created stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven
ומלובשות בתוך כל הרקיעים לעולם להחיותם
and are forever clothed within all the heavens to give them life,
Note of the Rebbe: “The fact that these words were uttered thousands of years ago presents no problem, — ”
כדכתיב: ודבר אלקינו יקום לעולם
as it is written,6 “And the word of our L‑rd shall stand firm forever,”
ודבריו חיים וקיימים לעד כו׳
and as it is likewise written,7 “And His words live and stand firm forever….”
This refers not only to those creations such as the heavenly firmament which enjoy a permanent existence, but also to those creatures which perish as individuals, with only their species continuing to exist. In all instances, the Divine life-force which created a particular creature must constantly be vested within it, incessantly creating and vivifying it anew, just as it ceaselessly recreates the heavenly firmament, as shall soon be explained.
כי אילו היו האותיות מסתלקות כרגע, חס ושלום, וחוזרות למקורן
For if the creative letters were to depart even for an instant, G‑d forbid, and return to their source, that source being the degree of G‑dliness from whence they emanate,
היו כל השמים אין ואפס ממש, והיו כלא היו כלל
all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as though they had never existed at all,
וכמו קודם מאמר: יהי רקיע כו׳ ממש
exactly as before the utterance, “Let there be a firmament.”
Before that Divine utterance the firmament did not exist at all. Were the letters that constitute the Divine utterance to depart from the firmament, it would revert to the state of never having existed at all.
The Alter Rebbe now concludes that this is true not only of the firmament, but of all created beings.
וכן בכל הברואים שבכל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים
And so it is with all created things, in all the upper and lower worlds,
ואפילו ארץ הלזו הגשמית, ובחינת דומם ממש
and even this physical earth and the realm of the completely inanimate.
Even immobile beings that show no signs of animation or spirituality, not even the degree of animation observed in the process of growth in the vegetative world, — even this extremely low life-form constantly harbors within it the Divine life-force that brought it into being.
אילו היו מסתלקות ממנה כרגע, חס ושלום, האותיות מעשרה מאמרות שבהן נבראת הארץ בששת ימי בראשית
If the letters of the Ten Utterances by which the earth was created during the Six Days of Creation were to depart from it but for an instant, G‑d forbid,
היתה חוזרת לאין ואפס ממש, כמו לפני ששת ימי בראשית ממש
it would revert to naught and absolute nothingness, exactly as before the Six Days of Creation.
וזה שאמר האריז״ל, שגם בדומם ממש כמו אבנים ועפר ומים יש בחינת נפש וחיות רוחנית
This thought was expressed by the AriZal,8 when he said that even within that which appears to be utterly inanimate matter, such as stones or earth or water, there is a soul and spiritual life-force.
דהיינו: בחינת התלבשות אותיות הדבור מעשרה מאמרות המחיות ומהוות את הדומם
That is, i.e, although they evince no demonstrable form of animation, [within them] are nevertheless enclothed the letters of speech from the Ten Utterances which give life and existence to inanimate matter,
להיות יש מאין ואפס שלפני ששת ימי בראשית
enabling it to come into being out of the naught and nothingness that preceded the Six Days of Creation.
The Ten Utterances usher inanimate matter into a state of existence, in contrast to its former state of non-being, prior to the Six Days of Creation. Thus, the letters of the Ten Utterances which cause inanimate matter to be created are its soul and life-force.
ואף שלא הוזכר שם אבן בעשרה מאמרות שבתורה
Now, although the name אבן (“stone”) is not mentioned in the Ten Utterances recorded in the Torah, — how, then, can we say that letters of the Ten Utterances are enclothed within a stone?
אף על פי כן נמשך חיות לאבן על ידי צירופים וחילופי אותיות
nevertheless, life-force flows to the stone from the Ten Utterances by means of combinations and substitutions of their letters,
whereby an alef, for example, may take the place of a hei, since both letters are articulated by the same organ of speech, and so on,
המתגלגלות ברל״א שערים פנים ואחור, כמו שכתוב בספר יצירה
which are transposed in the “two hundred and thirty-one gates,” either in direct or reverse order,9 as is explained in Sefer Yetzirah,10
