ולכן גם הארץ ומתחת לארץ הן אין ואפס ממש לגבי הקב״ה
Therefore, even the earth and that which is below it are naught and utter nothingness in relation to the Holy One, blessed be He,
ואינן נקראות בשם כלל, אפילו בשם עוד, שהוא לשון טפל
and are not called by any name at all, not even by the name od (“else”), which would indicate a subordinate status,
כמאמר רז״ל: יהודה ועוד לקרא
as in the statement of our Sages, of blessed memory:7 Yehudah ve‘od likra — “Does a verse in the Torah require secondary (od) substantiation from [the customs of] the Land of Judah?!”
We thus see that the term od signifies secondary status.
וכגוף שהוא טפל לנשמה וחיות שבתוכו
This too is the case with the body, which is subordinate to the soul and life-force within it, for which reason it is referred to as od.
וזהו שכתוב: אהללה ה׳ בחיי, אזמרה לאלקי בעודי
(8And this is the meaning of the verse,9 “I will praise Havayah with my life, i.e., with my soul; I will sing to Elokai (”my L‑rd“) be‘odi, i.e., with my body.”
We thus see that the body is termed od, inasmuch as it is subservient to the soul. The reason the term Elokai is used in connection with the body’s song is this:
שהחיים נמשכים משם הויה, והעוד, שהוא הגוף הטפל, משם אלקים
For the life, i.e., the soul, is derived from the Name Havayah, and the od, which is the body, its subordinate, from the Name Elokim.)
We thus see that the body is nullified in relation to the soul to the extent of od, i.e., it is subordinate to it; it is not, however, nullified out of existence in relation to the soul. The reason for this:
לפי שהנשמה אינה מהוה הגוף מאין ליש
For the soul does not bring the body into existence ex nihilo: it only provides it with life. The body is therefore called od, i.e., secondary to the soul, inasmuch as it is the soul that provides the body with life.
אבל הקב״ה, המהוה את הכל מאין ליש, הכל בטל במציאות אצלו, כמו אור השמש בשמש
But as to the Holy One, blessed be He, Who brings everything into existence ex nihilo, everything is absolutely nullified in relation to Him, just as the light of the sun is absolutely nullified in the sun.
ולכן הוצרך הכתוב להזהיר: וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך וגו׳
This is why it was necessary for the Torah to warn, “Know this day and take it unto your heart” [that “in the heavens above and upon the earth below there is none other],”
שלא תעלה על דעתך שהשמים וכל צבאם והארץ ומלואה הם דבר נפרד בפני עצמו
so that it should not enter your mind that the heavens and all their host, and the earth and all it contains, are separate entities in themselves, i.e., distinct and apart from their Creator and the Provider of their life,
והקדוש ברוך הוא ממלא כל העולם כהתלבשות הנשמה בגוף
and that the Holy One, blessed be He, fills the whole world in the same way as the soul is invested in the body,
ומשפיע כח הצומח בארץ
and that He causes the flow of the “vegetative force” into the earth, this being the life-force revealed within the earth,
וכח התנועה בגלגלים, ומניעם ומנהיגם כרצונו
and the power of motion into the celestial spheres, and moves them and directs them according to His Will,
כמו שהנשמה מניעה את הגוף ומנהיגתו כרצונה
just as the soul moves the body and directs it according to its will.
Though the body is a totally separate and different entity from the soul, the soul is nevertheless able to direct it according to its will, because it provides it with life. One might mistakenly believe that G‑d animates and conducts the world in a similar manner, and conceive of the world as being separate from Him, just as the body is separate from the soul. Anticipating this, the verse therefore points out that the relation between the soul and the body is entirely unlike the relation between G‑d, and His creation and vivification of created beings.
אך באמת אין המשל דומה לנמשל כלל
In truth, however, the analogy of soul and body bears no similarity whatsoever to the object of comparison — G‑dliness and the world,
כי הנשמה והגוף הם באמת נפרדים זה מזה בשרשם
since the soul and the body are actually separate from each other at their sources.
כי אין התהוות שורש הגוף ועצמותו מנשמתו, אלא מטפות אביו ואמו
The source of the body and its essence comes into being not from the soul,10 but from the seed of one’s father and mother;
וגם אחרי כן, אין גידולו מנשמתו לבדה, אלא על ידי אכילת ושתיית אמו כל תשעה חדשים
and even afterwards — after its creation — its growth is not from the soul alone, but through the mother’s eating and drinking throughout the nine months [of gestation],
ואחר כך, על ידי אכילתו ושתייתו בעצמו
and subsequently, through his own eating and drinking.
The body is thus a truly separate entity from the soul, inasmuch as the soul only provides it with life.
מה שאין כן השמים והארץ, שכל עצמותם ומהותם נתהוה מאין ואפס המוחלט
This is not so, however, in the case of heaven and earth, for their very being and essence was brought into existence from naught and absolute nothingness,
Before creation there was no space at all (as it were) for the existence of created beings, by virtue of the Divine Ayin which is ultimately responsible for creation.
רק בדבר ה׳ ורוח פיו
solely through the “word of G‑d” and the “breath of His mouth.”
וגם עדיין נצב דבר ה׳ לעולם, ושופע בהם תמיד בכל רגע
And now, too, the word of G‑d still stands forever in all created things, and flows into them continuously at every instant,
ומהוה אותם תמיד מאין ליש, כהתהוות האור מהשמש תוך גוף כדור השמש עצמו, דרך משל
constantly creating them anew from nothing, just as for example, the coming into existence of the light from the sun within the very globe of the sun.
It has already been explained that the light of the sun as it is found within the sun-globe does not possess true existence, for it is completely nullified within the sun. Only after it leaves the sun-globe can it be said to possess independent existence. Created beings likewise are always wholly nullified in relation to their source, since they are constantly found within it, i.e., within the Divine life-force that creates them.
ואם כן הם בטלים באמת במציאות לגמרי לגבי דבר ה׳ ורוח פיו יתברך, המיוחדים במהותו ועצמותו יתברך
Hence, in reality they — created beings — are completely nullified out of existence in relation to the “word of G‑d” and the “breath of His mouth,” which are unified with His Essence and Being,
כמו שיתבאר לקמן
as this union will be explained later,
Thus, created beings are completely nullified to the “word of G‑d” and the “breath of His mouth,” as well as to G‑d Himself,
כביטול אור השמש בשמש
just as the light of the sun is nullified in the sun.
Why, then, are created beings unaware of this, considering themselves instead as possessing independent and true existence? The Alter Rebbe answers this by saying:
רק שהן הן גבורותיו, במדת הגבורה והצמצום, להסתיר ולהעלים החיות השופע בהם
Yet these are His restraining powers, to hide and conceal, through the attribute of Gevurah and tzimtzum, the life-force that flows into them,
שיהיו נראים השמים והארץ וכל צבאם כאילו הם דבר בפני עצמו
so that heaven and earth and all their host should appear as if they were independently existing entities.
The effect of tzimtzum is to conceal from created beings the source of existence continuously found within them. This is why they are able to think of themselves as possessing independent existence.
אך אין הצמצום וההסתר אלא לתחתונים
However, the tzimtzum and concealment is only for the lower [worlds],
אבל לגבי הקב״ה, כולא קמיה כלא ממש חשיבי, כאור השמש בשמש
but in relation to the Holy One, blessed be He,11 “Everything before Him is considered as actually naught,” like the light of the sun within the sun.
ואין מדת הגבורה מסתרת חס ושלום לפניו יתברך
The attribute of Gevurah does not, heaven forfend, conceal for Him,
כי איננה דבר בפני עצמו, אלא ה׳ הוא האלקים
for it is not an independent entity; rather, Havayah is Elokim.
The concealment resulting from the Divine Name Elokim and the attribute of Gevurah are one with the Divine Name Havayah, the attribute of Chesed and revelation. Thus, from the Divine perspective there is no concealment, for “an entity cannot conceal its own self.”
Footnotes
1.Tehillim 52:3.
2.Note of the Rebbe: “As distinct from that [Gevurah] of Part I, end of ch. 6.”
In this brief note, the Rebbe explains why the Alter Rebbe stresses here that specifically “this [manner of] Gevurah and tzimtzum is also a quality of Chesed.” His intention is to exclude thereby the Gevurah and tzimtzum discussed earlier, in the sixth chapter of the first part of Tanya. When he says there that the life-force of holiness descends through many degrees of tzimtzum that enable it to be invested within the kelipah and sitra achra so as to provide them with life, it is clear that there the tzimtzum is truly one of Gevurah and concealment, and by no means a quality of Chesed. For the Divine intent there is that there should be no revelation whatever.
3.Tehillim 89:3.
4.The Rebbe explains why the Alter Rebbe states that “this is the quality of Gevurah which is included in Chesed,” after having already said that “this quality of Gevurah and tzimtzum is also a quality of Chesed.”
The Alter Rebbe’s purpose here is to introduce a basic new point, and thereby to forestall a powerful question, which because of its apparent simplicity — says the Rebbe — seems to be overlooked.
The question is as follows: We are speaking here of G‑d’s infinite attributes. Just as the effect of His Chesed is limitless, creating as it does an infinite multitude of beings (see above, ch. 4), so too should the infinite effect of Gevurah be an infinite degree of concealment. This concealment should therefore only allow (heaven forfend) such creation of which it may be said (as the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, ch. 36) that “there is none lower than it in terms of concealment of His light.” Accordingly, it would seem that the infinite concealment of Gevurah should only allow for the creation of an infinite multitude of creatures which are of the lowest level of this gross and material world, “the lowest in degree,” inasmuch as only within this lowest level is there to be found the utmost concealment — the infinite effect of Gevurah. How, then, did the rest of creation come about?
According to the analogy of the sun’s shield and sheath, as well as the above explanation that the purpose of the concealment is not concealment alone, but also that creation not be totally nullified within the Divine light, the question is resolved as follows.
The sun not only operates by means of its shield; being a luminary, it also shines — and may be seen — through it. Thus, the effect of the shield is also to allow the revelation of the sun.
The same is true of the infinite degrees of creation which emanate from the “sun” of Chesed and the infinite degrees of concealment emanating from the “shield” of Gevurah. Every level of the infinity of creatures created by Chesed is protected from being nullified in relation to its source, by the corresponding level of the infinity of shields brought into being through the infinite attribute of Gevurah.
This, then, is the new and basic point the Alter Rebbe indicates when he says that “this is the quality of Gevurah which is included in Chesed”: Within each of the infinite degrees and levels of creatures generated by Chesed, there is to be found the quality of Gevurah which is included in Chesed, so that they will not be nullified in relation to their source.
We thus have two novel points explained here by the Alter Rebbe: (a) The quality of Gevurah is not only an expression of concealment and tzimtzum, but also a quality of Chesed, for it makes creation possible; (b) this quality of Gevurah is included in Chesed.
This latter point finds expression in the fact that each level of creation and each creature was brought into being through a manner of tzimtzum that is likened to “individual droplets” of rain that are channeled and phased, rather than descending all at once like “the floodgates of heaven.” The “channeling” effect is thus twofold. On the one hand, it negates and limits the unbridled “floodgates of heaven”; at the same time, it causes the droplets to descend individually, so that they may be utilized in a profitable manner.
Another analogy: Smoked glass is used to protect one’s eyes from the sun’s rays by blocking the free passage of light that a lighter-colored glass would admit; at the same time, this same protective glass does permit some degree of light to enter, so that benefit may be derived from the sun’s rays.
The same is true in the analogue, regarding the two characteristics of tzimtzum and Gevurah. On one hand, tzimtzum makes it possible for the created being not to become totally nullified in relation to its source — something that would be certain to occur if creation were to derive from the attribute of Chesed alone; on the other hand, tzimtzum at the very same time is a partner in creation — an act of Chesed, as the verse states, “For I declared that the world be built through Chesed.” This is what is meant by “the quality of Gevurah which is included in Chesed”; i.e., that Gevurah which creates beings.
5.An example of this, notes the Rebbe, is the rainfall as described in note 4, above. So too, as discussed there, one can look at the sun only by using a darkened glass, which thus serves a function of Gevurah as included in Chesed. And the same is true in the analogue: Since the world is created by virtue of the concealment effected by Gevurah, this attribute thereby becomes a component of the attribute of Chesed.
6.Devarim 4:39.
7.Kiddushin 6a.
8.The parentheses are in the original text.
9.Tehillim 146:2.
10.The following question was asked of the Rebbe: What does the Alter Rebbe add by saying that [“the soul and the body are actually separate from each other at their sources” inasmuch as] “the source of the body and its essence comes into being not from the soul, but from the seed of one’s father and mother,” after having already stated that the soul merely animates the body but does not bring it into existence?
The Rebbe replied: As stated explicitly in the beginning of ch. 3, here, too, the intent of the Alter Rebbe is to demonstrate that the created being is naught and absolute nothingness in comparison to the “breath of His mouth” which is found within it. This is because the “breath of His mouth” derives from the Divine Name Havayah, while the concealment of the created being derives from the Name Elokim. Since Havayah and Elokim are truly One, the concealment is not a true concealment: Elokim does not conceal Havayah.
However, it has just been stated here that the life of the body — the soul — derives from the Name Havayah, and the body itself derives from the Name Elokim. This being so, why is the body considered to be secondary and subordinate to the soul; why is it not considered to be totally nullified in relation to it (since the soul — the life of the body — derives from the Name Havayah)?
The answer to this lies in the fact that the body and soul are separate from each other not only in their manifest existence, but also in their sources. For the creation of the body’s source and the essence of its being — the level of the Name Elokim within the body — does not derive from the soul (and the level of Havayah of his soul), but from the seed of the father and mother.
These particularized levels of Havayah and Elokim (as found in soul and body) are indeed not truly one (although the general aspects of Havayah and Elokim are one), except in a “secondary” and “subordinate” manner, as it were.
The same applies to the sun’s shield, or sheath, each part of it being subordinate to the entire sun. However, the shield actually obscures only those rays that shine through each individual portion of it, and likewise, only with those particular rays is it unified.
11.Zohar I, 134a.
