וזהו שאמרו רז״ל: אין בידינו לא משלות הרשעים וכו׳

Hence the statement of our Sages,19 of blessed memory: “It is not within our hands (i.e., it is not given us) to understand the reason for either the tranquillity of the wicked [or the suffering of the righteous].”

בידינו דוקא, כלומר: בזמן הגלות אחר החורבן

The quotation specifies “in our hands,” i.e., in this time of exile after the Destruction, when the wicked receive added vitality through the kelipot and sitra achra.

וזוהי בחינת גלות השכינה, כביכול

This is an expression of the “Exile of the Divine Presence,” as it were, during which time the life-force emanating from the latter hei flows into the kelipot,

להשפיע להיכלות הסטרא אחרא אשר שנאה נפשו ית׳

viz., [G‑d’s] granting [supplementary measures of] life-force to the chambers of the sitra achra that He despises.

וכשהאדם עושה תשובה נכונה, אזי מסלק מהם ההשפעה שהמשיך במעשיו ומחשבותיו

But when the sinner repents appropriately, he then removes from them the life-force that he had drawn into them through his deeds and thoughts,

כי בתשובתו, מחזיר השפעת השכינה למקומה

for by his repentance he returns the flow issuing from the Shechinah to its proper place.

וזהו תשוב ה״א תתאה מבחינת גלות

This, then, is the meaning of [the teaching of the Zohar, quoted in ch. 4, that “teshuvah is] tashuv hei, the return of the lower hei from exile” — that the lower level of repentance consists of returning the Shechinah, which is represented by the latter hei of the Tetragrammaton, from its state of exile.

וכמו שכתוב: ושב ה׳ אלקיך את שבותך

As the verse states,20 “The L‑rd, your G‑d (the source of your soul), will return (i.e., bring back) those of you who return”;

כלומר: עם שבותך

regarding the verb as being intransitive, this means [that G‑d Himself will return] with your return.

וכמאמר רז״ל: והשיב לא נאמר וכו׳

As our Sages have commented21 on this verse, “Scripture does not say, ‘He shall bring back,’ [but that He Himself will return].”

The verse is thus telling every Jew: When through repentance you extricate yourself from your own spiritual exile, you will thereby liberate “your G‑d” — the Shechinah, the source of your soul — from His exile too.

Footnotes

1.Note of the Rebbe: “This indicates the level of the Jewish people at that time.”

2.Note of the Rebbe: “This applies to the world as a whole and to the Divine Presence. Specifically, with regard to man, there is yet another aspect.”

3.Note of the Rebbe: “I.e., also with regard to each and every individual.”

4.Note of the Rebbe: “See below, p. 140b.” [I.e., Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 25, para. beg. VeHinei Zeh Leumat Zeh….]

5.Note of the Rebbe: “At first glance it is incomprehensible that man’s actions should cause the exile of the Divine Presence. The Alter Rebbe therefore provides proof and also an explanation: (a) proof — that it is indeed so; (b) an explanation — for the Divine Presence is ‘your mother.’”

6.Yeshayahu 50:1.

7.Note of the Rebbe: “In ch. 4 — on a cosmic scale; in ch. 5 — in each individual soul.”

8.Note of the Rebbe: “Cf. Part I, ch. 6.”

9.Note of the Rebbe: “They do so in any case (and not necessarily because of the state of exile discussed here; rather, as a result of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge; see below, beg. of p. 140a).”

10.Bereishit Rabbah 10:6.

11.Note of the Rebbe: “It would seem that the text should read ‘transgressor’, in the singular.”

12.Tehillim 49:13.

13.The Rebbe notes that the Alter Rebbe may have added the words “and so on” for the following reason. In Part I, ch. 11, the Alter Rebbe differentiates between two situations: (a) contemplating the commission of a sin, (b) “and even where one does not actually contemplate committing a sin, but indulges in contemplation on the carnal union of male and female in general.” The term “and even” seems to imply that the latter form of contemplation is not an entirely distinct form of sin (for which reason no distinct mention of it is made in Iggeret HaTeshuvah). Nevertheless some reference to it must be made here, and this the Alter Rebbe does by adding the words “and so on.”

14.The Rebbe comments that it seems to be entirely superfluous for the Alter Rebbe to state that “the choice is man’s.” He goes on to provide two possible explanations.

(a) Paradoxically, this statement is indeed novel: The Alter Rebbe desires to emphasize that even in times of exile, when “through your sins was your mother banished,” and the benevolence flowing forth from the latter hei is enclothed in the kelipah of nogah, man can still choose to receive his vitality from the chambers of holiness.

This is possible because the garment of nogah becomes nullified to its wearer — to holiness, and is thereby itself transformed to goodness and absorbed within holiness. This recalls the statement in Part I, early in ch. 40, that in the case of the holy letters of Torah and prayer, the kelipah of nogah is converted to good and is absorbed into holiness.

(This explanation, that the Alter Rebbe wished to tell us that even in times of exile man can choose to derive his nurture from the chambers of holiness, does not accord with the explanation given in Likutei Biurim BeSefer HaTanya, by Rabbi Yehoshua Korf.)

(b) Another possible explanation (which would also go a long way in explaining why it is specifically here that the Alter Rebbe states that “the choice is man’s”): The Alter Rebbe means to tell us that it is specifically during the times of exile, when they “fell from their estate,” that Jews can choose to receive their vitality from the chambers of sitra achra. This, however, could not be done during the time of the Beit HaMikdash, as explained at the end of ch. 5 above. [For at that time, if the “rope” connecting a person to his spiritual source was severed — if, for example, he committed a sin punishable by excision — he could not live at all; during that period Jews truly could not receive their vitality from the kelipah of nogah.]

15.Kohelet 7:14.

16.Devarim 32:9.

17.The Rebbe observes that the analogy of the rope is introduced here in terms that suggest that it is a novel thought, when in fact it occupied the whole of the previous chapter. By way of explanation, the Rebbe writes that the Alter Rebbe is indeed introducing a thought that is not only novel but even contrary to what was written in the previous chapter; moreover, this approach will explain much of the variance between the two chapters.

In brief: The Alter Rebbe explained in ch. 4 how a soul is part of the Tetragrammaton. He went on to explain in ch. 5 how this soul-level descends into the body by way of “Jacob, …the rope of His inheritance, …whose upper end is bound above and the lower end below.” In ch.6, however, the Alter Rebbe emphasizes that the movements of the lower end of the rope also affect the upper end. Furthermore, as the Alter Rebbe goes on to say here, this rope not only descends as far as “Jacob” but even provides additional life-force to the chambers of unholiness; i.e., the effect of the rope is able to descend even lower than the level of “Jacob” which it itself embodies.

This is the anomaly that the Alter Rebbe resolves, when he repeats that a person’s sins make him descend so sharply that he reaches the lowly level of the very kelipot and sitra achra “from which he receives his thoughts and deeds.” Since the sinful individual sinks to such a low level that in this respect he is a recipient from the kelipot, his “rope” descends there as well, and the kelipot and sitra achra are able to receive their life-force from its lower extremity.

18.Kuntres Uma‘ayon [English translation by Rabbi Zalman I. Posner; Kehot, N.Y., 1969], Discourse 8.

19.Avot 4:15.

20.Devarim 30:3.

21.Megillah 29a.