ומשם יוצא ההבל מקור גילוי גוף האותיות הדבור
From there issues the breath, the original manifestation of the “body” of the letters of speech
המתגלות בה׳ מוצאות מהעלם היו״ד
which become revealed from the concealment of the yud through the five organs of speech.
ותמונת ה׳ תתאה בכתיבתה גם כן בהתפשטות אורך ורוחב
The shape of the lower hei which, in its written form, also has dimensions of length and width,
מורה על התפשטות בחינת מלכותו יתברך, מלכות כל עולמים
indicates the extension of [G‑d’s] blessed Sovereignty, “the sovereignty of all worlds,”22
למעלה ולמטה ולד׳ סטרין
which extends upward and downward, and in the four directions,
המתפשטות ונמשכות מאותיות דבר ה׳, כמו שכתוב בקהלת: באשר דבר מלך שלטון, כמו שכתוב במקום אחר
[all these directions] extending and issuing from the letters of the “word of G‑d”; as it is written in Kohelet, “The king’s utterance reigns,” as explained elsewhere.
Just as a king of flesh and blood rules through his faculty of speech, by issuing commands, so too does Supernal speech extend G‑d’s reign in all the dimensions of the created universe.
[ולהבין מעט מזעיר ענין ומהות אותיות הדבור באלקות, שאין לו דמות הגוף ולא הנפש, חס ושלום
23[As for understanding somewhat the concept and nature of “letters of speech” in relation to Divinity, inasmuch as [G‑d] has no form of a body, nor of a soul, heaven forfend,
כבר נתבאר בדרך ארוכה וקצרה (בלקוטי אמרים, חלק ב׳, פרק י״א וי״ב, עיין שם)]
this has already been explained comprehensively yet concisely 24(in Likkutei Amarim, Part II, chs. 11 and 12; see there).]
* * *
אך ביאור הענין למה אמרו רז״ל שעולם הזה דוקא נברא בה׳
We now come to an exposition of why our Sages, of blessed memory, said that specifically this world was created by the hei.
According to the explanation provided above, not only this physical world, but all of creation resulted from the letter hei, i.e., from the Sefirah of Malchut as expressed in Divine speech.
The Alter Rebbe resolves this apparent anomaly by explaining that it is indeed true that all creation derives from the infinite variety of permutations and combinations of the letters which constitute Divine speech. Nevertheless, the loftier and more spiritual created beings derive from the internal aspect of Divine speech, which stems from Chochmah, and they therefore have an intellectual perception of G‑dliness. Physical creation, by contrast, is of too lowly a level to be able to receive its life-giving Divine light and energy from the “soul” (i.e., the internal aspect) of the letters of G‑d’s creative speech; it merely receives this from the “body” (i.e., from the external aspect) of these letters.
The creation of physicality thus resembles the breath emanating from the heart, that forms the physical voice. Above, in like manner, the physical world is formed from Supernal breath, the “body” of the letters.
Hence our Sages teach that this world was created by the letter hei — for this letter denotes the Divine breath, as explained above.
It is this that the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say:
הנה ידוע לכל חכמי לב
This is known to all the wise of heart25
כי ריבוי העולמות וההיכלות אשר אין להם מספר
concerning the multitude of worlds and heichalot, palaces or chambers, which are innumerable,
כמו שכתוב: היש מספר לגדודיו
as it is written, with reference to these countless worlds and heichalot,26 “Do His regiments have a number?”
ובכל היכל וגדוד, אלף אלפין ורבוא רבבן מלאכים
Each heichal and regiment comprises [a finite but prodigious number of] angels, [as it is written],]27 “A thousand thousands [serve Him] and myriads of myriads [stand before Him].”28
וכן נרנח״י, מדרגות לאין קץ
Likewise, incalculable like the above heichalot and regiments, are the levels of [souls, belonging to the five general categories of] nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah and yechidah, in rungs to no end, for each of these five categories branches out into levels of inexhaustible number.
ובכל עולם והיכלות מריבוי היכלות שבאצילות, בריאה, יצירה
And so too [there are numberless levels] in all the worlds and heichalot, from among the multitudes of heichalot that exist in the Worlds of Atzilut, Beriah and Yetzirah.
The three above-mentioned worlds are “higher” than the World of Asiyah (“the World of Action”), which includes both the spiritual and physical worlds of Asiyah.
הנה כל ריבויים אלו, ריבוי אחר ריבוי עד אין קץ ממש
All these hosts [of created beings], then, one multitude beyond another ad infinitum,
הכל נמשך ונשפע מריבוי צירופי כ״ב אותיות דבר ה׳
all issue and flow from the multitudinous combinations of the twenty-two letters of the “word of G‑d,”
המתחלקות גם כן לצירופים רבים עד אין קץ ותכלית ממש
which, in turn, divide into a further profusion of combinations, truly ad infinitum.
כמו שכתוב בספר יצירה: שבע אבנים בונות חמשת אלפים וארבעים בתים
As stated in Sefer Yetzirah,29 “Seven ‘stones’ (i.e., letters) build five thousand and forty ‘houses’ (i.e., words);
מכאן ואילך, צא וחשוב מה שאין הפה יכול לדבר כו׳
from here onwards — i.e., from the sum of the factorial of eight and onwards — go ahead and calculate that which the mouth is unable to express.”
In this way the letters of Divine speech may be multiplied infinitely by various permutations and combinations, thus giving rise to a correspondingly infinite range of created beings.
