וככה ממש, על דרך משל, אין סוף ברוך הוא ממלא כל עלמין להחיותם

In a truly similar manner, figuratively speaking, does the blessed Ein Sof fill all worlds so as to animate them.

There is a marked similarity between the soul pervading the body and Ein Sof permeating all the worlds: Just as in the analogy, the soul is found within and suffuses the entire body, in a parallel manner Ein Sof fills and is found in all worlds.

ובכל עולם יש ברואים לאין קץ ותכלית, רבוא רבבות מיני מדרגות מלאכים ונשמות כו׳

And in each world there are creatures without limit or end, myriads upon myriads of various grades of angels and souls, and so on,

וכן ריבוי העולמות אין לו קץ וגבול, גבוה על גבוה כו׳

and so, too, is the abundance of the worlds without end or limit, one higher than the other, and so on.

In the realm of the spirit separate and distinct entities are the result of their being on different spiritual grades and levels. Thus, a multitude of worlds implies a multitude of varying levels of spirituality. Hence the sheer numerousness of worlds and created beings: each differs from the other in its spiritual gradation.

Earlier on, when explaining his analogy, the Alter Rebbe pointed out that despite the vast differences that exist between one bodily organ and the other, the soul’s essence is equally to be found in them all. He now goes on to explain that in the analogue of the Ein Sof as well, the essence of the Ein Sof is found in a hidden manner equally within all worlds.

והנה מהותו ועצמותו של אין סוף ברוך הוא שוה בעליונים ותחתונים, כמשל הנשמה הנ״ל

Now, the core and essence of the blessed Ein Sof is the same in the higher and lower worlds, as in the example of the soul mentioned above, wherein the Alter Rebbe explained that the soul’s core and essence is not divisible, and thus it cannot be said of it that it is found in the brain to a greater extent than it is found in the feet,

וכמו שכתוב בתיקונים: דאיהו סתימו דכל סתימין

and as it is written in the Tikkunim that “He is hidden from all the hidden.”

פירוש: דאפילו בעלמין סתימין דלעילא הוא סתום ונעלם בתוכם, כמו שהוא סתום ונעלם בתחתונים

This means to say, that even in the higher, hidden worlds He is hidden and concealed within them, just as He is hidden and concealed in the lower worlds.

Thus, the intent of the Tikkunei Zohar is not that G‑d is more concealed than are all other hidden things, but that He is concealed even from the hidden worlds. The reason for this being:

כי לית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל, אפילו בעולמות עליונים

for no thought can apprehend Him at all, even in the higher worlds.

Because G‑d is equally concealed from all worlds, no distinction can be made between higher and lower; He defies the comprehension of the higher worlds to the same degree that He cannot be apprehended in the lower worlds.

ונמצא: כמו שמצוי שם, כך נמצא בתחתונים ממש

And he is found, i.e., with regard to where G‑d is to be found: just as He is found there — in the higher worlds — so is He to be found in the very lowest worlds.

וההבדל שבין עולמות עליונים ותחתונים הוא מצד המשכת החיות אשר אין סוף ברוך הוא ממשיך ומאיר בבחינת גילוי מההעלם

The difference between the higher and lower worlds is with regard to the flow of vitality which the blessed Ein Sof causes to flow and illumine in a manner of “revelation out of concealment,”

The Alter Rebbe will soon conclude that this revelation is intended for the purpose of vitalizing the worlds and their inhabitants, for the vitality of all worlds and creatures derives from the revelation of G‑dliness within them. Thus, the difference between the higher and lower worlds lies in the varying degrees of Divine revelation within them.

With regard to “revelation out of concealment,” the Alter Rebbe now states parenthetically that this manner of revelation is one of the reasons why the G‑dly vitality found within the worlds is called “light”.

שזה אחד מהטעמים שההשפעה והמשכת החיות מכונה בשם אור, על דרך משל

(which is one of the reasons why the influence and flow of this vitality is figuratively called “light”),

In Kabbalistic literature the flow and vitality of G‑dliness is termed “light” rather than shefa (“flux”), as it is termed in Jewish speculative philosophy (chakirah). “Light” signifies “revelation out of concealment”: previously the light had been concealed within the luminary, the source of the light, and subsequently it is drawn forth from this source and is revealed as light. Thus, in the case of “revelation out of concealment,” only a minute illumination of the source is drawn down into a revealed state. Not so shefa, where it is the actual “flux” and “stream” of the source that flows down and is revealed. Hence the phrase ושפעת מים (“a flow of water”; Iyov 22:11): the selfsame water that was previously in one place flows to another place.

The above-mentioned “revelation out of concealment” of light serves the purpose of:

להחיות העולמות והברואים שבהם

thereby animating the worlds and the creatures therein.

Herein lies the difference between the higher and lower worlds:

שהעולמות העליונים מקבלים בבחינת גילוי קצת יותר מהתחתונים

For the higher worlds receive this vitality and light in a somewhat more revealed form that do the lower;

I.e., even in the higher worlds this light and vitality is not manifestly revealed.

וכל הברואים שבהם, מקבלים כל אחד כפי כחו ותכונתו

and all creatures therein — in the higher worlds — receive the revealed aspect of vitality, albeit each according to its capacity and nature,

Just as in the analogy each bodily organ receives vitality from the brain according to its “character and nature,” so too does the Alter Rebbe state in the analogue that each creature receives its vitality according to its “capacity and nature.” (- Note of the Rebbe.) This means that each being receives vitality according to its capacity to have the life-force and vitality revealed within it, and according to the manner in which this vitality is to be revealed — whether as a revelation of intellect and comprehension, or in an emotive manner.

(“But this is not to say that the ‘nature’ conceals the revelation; rather ‘it imbues and illumines it.’” – Note of the Rebbe.)

שהיא תכונת ובחינת המשכה הפרטית אשר אין סוף ברוך הוא ממשיך ומאיר לו

which is the nature and form of the particular flow with which the blessed Ein Sof imbues and illumines it.

והתחתונים, אפילו הרוחניים, אינם מקבלים בבחינת גילוי כל כך

But the lower worlds and creatures, even the spiritual ones, do not receive the Divine life-force in quite such a revealed form as it is received in the higher worlds,

רק בלבושים רבים, אשר אין סוף ברוך הוא מלביש בהם החיות והאור אשר ממשיך ומאיר להם להחיותם

but only by means of many garments, wherein the blessed Ein Sof invests the vitality and light which He causes to flow and shine on them in order to animate them.

The Divine life-force is garbed in many garments so as not to be revealed. This concealment involves not only a multitudinous profusion of garments — a quantitative manner of concealment — but a qualitative one as well: There is vast difference between the insubstantial garments that conceal the vitality in the higher worlds and the much denser garments necessary to conceal the G‑dly vitality to the degree that creation of the physical becomes possible.