The explanation is as follows: The Patriarchs were truly the “chariot” of G-d, i.e., they were completely subservient to Him and had no other will but the Divine will, just as a chariot has no will of its own but is directed solely by the will of the rider.2
וְהָעִנְיָן, כִּי הָאָבוֹת – הֵן הֵן הַמֶּרְכָּבָה,
Therefore, they merited the privilege of drawing down, for all subsequent generations of their descendants, forever, a nefesh, ruach, and neshamah from the ten holy sefirot of the Four Worlds of Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah.3 In which of the Four Worlds, and from which sefirah within these Worlds, does the soul originate? Each individual—according to his level and according to his deeds.
וְעַל כֵּן זָכוּ לְהַמְשִׁיךְ נֶפֶשׁ־רוּחַ־נְשָׁמָה לִבְנֵיהֶם אַחֲרֵיהֶם עַד עוֹלָם מֵעֶשֶׂר סְפִירוֹת דִּקְדוּשָּׁה שֶׁבְּאַרְבַּע עוֹלָמוֹת אֲצִילוּת־בְּרִיאָה־יְצִירָה־עֲשִׂיָּה, לְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד כְּפִי מַדְרֵגָתוֹ וּכְפִי מַעֲשָׂיו.
At any rate, even the unworthiest and most sinful Jews draw down, by their marital union, a nefesh from the level of nefesh of malchut d’Asiyah (“the Attribute of Royalty in the World of Action”).
וְעַל כָּל פָּנִים, אֲפִילוּ לְקַל שֶׁבְּקַלִּים וּפוֹשְׁעֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נִמְשָׁךְ בְּזִיוּוּגָם נֶפֶשׁ דְּנֶפֶשׁ דְּמַלְכוּת דַּעֲשִׂיָּה,
This means to say that the union of every Jewish couple, no matter how low their spiritual level, brings forth a soul from, at the very least, the lowest level of holiness. This lowest level is nefesh d’malchut d’Asiyah, for Asiyah is the lowest of the Four Worlds, and malchut is the lowest sefirah within that World. Malchut itself is further composed of three levels—nefesh, ruach, and neshamah, nefesh being the lowest of the three. In addition, as we have seen in the previous chapters, the soul itself consists of the three levels of nefesh, ruach, and neshamah. Thus, one who has been given only a nefesh which stems from nefesh d’malchut d’Asiyah has the lowest order of soul deriving from the lowest level in the spiritual hierarchy—as the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say.
This is the lowest level of holiness in the world of Asiyah.
שֶׁהִיא מַדְרֵגָה הַתַּחְתּוֹנָה שֶׁבִּקְדוּשַּׁת הָעֲשִׂיָּה.
Yet, since [malchut] is one of the ten holy sefirot, and since holiness is the realm of unity, where every level is comprised of all the other levels, perforce
וְאַף־עַל־פִּי־כֵן, מֵאַחַר שֶׁהִיא מֵעֶשֶׂר סְפִירוֹת קְדוֹשׁוֹת,
it (the lowest level in Asiyah) is compounded of all the other levels in Asiyah, including chochmah d’Asiyah (“Wisdom of the World of Action”), the highest sefirah in Asiyah.
הִיא כְּלוּלָה מִכּוּלָּן, גַּם מֵחָכְמָה דַעֲשִׂיָּה,
Within [chochmah d’Asiyah] is clothed chochmah d’malchut d’Atzilut (“Wisdom of Royalty in the World of Emanation”).
שֶׁבְּתוֹכָהּ מְלוּבֶּשֶׁת חָכְמָה דְּמַלְכוּת דַּאֲצִילוּת,
As the author explains in ch. 52, the sefirah of malchut d’Atzilut clothes itself in, and illuminates, the World of Asiyah. Since malchut d’Atzilut contains all the sefirot of Atzilut, the illumination of Asiyah by malchut thus means that each sefirah of Atzilut as it is contained in malchut d’Atzilut garbs itself in the corresponding sefirah of Asiyah—chochmah d’malchut d’Atzilut in chochmah d’Asiyah, binah d’malchut d’Atzilut in binah d’Asiyah, and so forth.
In chochmah d’malchut d’Atzilut is clothed chochmah d’Atzilut, since all the sefirot of Atzilut incorporate each other, which, in turn, is illuminated by the actual light of the blessed Ein Sof,
שֶׁבְּתוֹכָהּ חָכְמָה דַאֲצִילוּת, שֶׁבָּהּ מֵאִיר אוֹר־אֵין־סוֹף בָּרוּךְ־הוּא מַמָּשׁ,
as it is written, “G-d, in His wisdom, founded the earth”4; the words “G-d in His wisdom” show that the light of the Ein Sof illuminates the sefirah of chochmah, while the words “wisdom founded the earth” indicate that chochmah is clothed in malchut, which is called “earth” (for, like the earth, malchut is the lowest level in its hierarchy); and it is further written, “In wisdom you have made them all”5 (the word “made” indicating that chochmah is clothed in Asiyah—action).
כְּדִכְתִיב: "ה' בְּחָכְמָה יָסַד אָרֶץ", וְ"כּוּלָּם בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ".
Thus, we see that the light of the blessed Ein Sof is garbed in the faculty of wisdom in the human soul of whatever sort of a Jew he may be. (Further in the chapter, the Alter Rebbe explains why it is the faculty of wisdom in the soul that receives the illumination of the Ein Sof.)
וְנִמְצָא, כִּי אֵין־סוֹף בָּרוּךְ־הוּא מְלוּבָּשׁ בִּבְחִינַת חָכְמָה שֶׁבְּנֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם – יִהְיֶה מִי שֶׁיִּהְיֶה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל,
In turn, the soul’s faculty of wisdom, together with the light of the blessed Ein Sof that is garbed in it, suffuses all the levels of the soul in its entirety, from head to foot, as it were, i.e., from the highest level of the soul to the lowest, to animate them with G-dly vitality,
וּבְחִינַת הַחָכְמָה שֶׁבָּהּ, עִם אוֹר־אֵין־סוֹף בָּרוּךְ־הוּא הַמְלוּבָּשׁ בָּהּ, מִתְפַּשֶּׁטֶת בְּכָל בְּחִינוֹת הַנֶּפֶשׁ כּוּלָּהּ, לְהַחֲיוֹתָהּ מִבְּחִינַת רֹאשָׁהּ עַד בְּחִינַת רַגְלָהּ,
as it is written, “Wisdom gives life to those who possess it”6—the soul, which possesses the faculty of wisdom, receives its life by means of this faculty, as stated above.
כְּדִכְתִיב: "הַחָכְמָה תְּחַיֶּה בְעָלֶיהָ".
(7At times, the sinners of Israel may even bring down for their children very lofty souls which had been in the depths of the kelipot, as is explained in Sefer Gilgulim.8)
[וְלִפְעָמִים מַמְשִׁיכִים פּוֹשְׁעֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְשָׁמוֹת גְּבוֹהוֹת מְאֹד שֶׁהָיוּ בְּעִמְקֵי הַקְּלִיפּוֹת, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר גִּלְגּוּלִים]:
A soul that has fallen captive in the hands of the kelipot remains in this state until the kelipot release it of their own will. Anything in the hold of the kelipot cannot be wrested from them against their will, for the principle that “G-d does not make unjustifiable demands of His creations”9 holds true even with regard to kelipot. In the case of a child to be born to sinful parents, the kelipot willingly release the soul in the hope that such a child will be influenced by its parents and will become a sinner like them. In this way, the kelipot stand to extract an even greater measure of vitality from the holiness of the soul by means of its eventual sins. However, having such a lofty soul, the child is able to overcome the obstacles imposed by its parents’ wickedness and may rise to the level of a tzaddik. In this way, paradoxically, it comes to pass that a tzaddik may be born to wicked parents because of their wickedness.10
“His level” refers to the level of the root of his soul; “his deeds” refers to one’s efforts toward refining himself—as the Zohar states: “When one betters himself, he is given a higher order of soul.”