4th day of Teves

However, unlike the life-forms mentioned at the conclusion of ch. 6, which are derived from the three wholly unclean kelipot, the following life-forms are derived from kelipat nogah: the vitalizing animal soul in the Jew, which is derived from the side of kelipah and which clothes itself in the human being’s blood (providing him with physical life), as stated above,1

and the soul2 of the animals, beasts, birds, and fish which are pure according to the laws of the Torah and are thus permitted for Jewish consumption, as also the existence and vitality of everything in the inanimate and the vegetable world that is permissible for consumption.

So, too, the existence and vitality of every act, utterance, and thought in mundane matters that contain no forbidden aspect

—being neither root nor branch of the 365 prohibitive precepts and their offshoots, prohibited either on the explicit authority of the Torah or by Rabbinic enactment—

yet (when these permitted thoughts, utterances, or acts) are not performed for the sake of heaven (as they ought to be);

instead they serve only the will, desire, and lust of the body;

and even where it is a need of the body and necessary for its very preservation and life (such as eating, which the body requires for its very existence and without which it cannot possibly live. Thus, the act itself cannot be faulted), but the fault lies in that his intention is not for the sake of heaven, i.e., to utilize his body as an instrument in the service of G‑d.

If this spiritual intent is absent, then: All these acts, utterances, and thoughts are no better than the vitalizing animal soul itself;

and everything in this totality of things (i.e., the soul with its actions, utterances, and thoughts) flows and is drawn from the second gradation of kelipot and sitra achara, which is (in the progressively ascending order of kelipot) the fourth kelipah, called kelipat nogah (“kelipah that shines,” for within this kelipah, there is yet found a ray of holiness).

For in this world, called the “World of Asiyah (Action),” most, indeed almost all, of [the kelipat nogah] is evil, with only a little good intermingled within it.

(From this [minute amount of good within kelipat nogah] come the good qualities which are found in the animal soul of the Jew, as is explained above.

Now, kelipat nogah is an intermediate category between the three completely unclean kelipot and the category and order of Sanctity.

Hence, it is sometimes absorbed within the three unclean kelipot (as is explained in Etz Chaim, Portal 49, beginning of ch. 4, citing the Zohar), and at other times, it is absorbed in and elevated to the category and level of Sanctity.

That is, it is absorbed within Sanctity when the good that is intermingled in it is extracted and separated from the evil, prevails [over it], and ascends to be absorbed in Sanctity.

For instance, if one eats fat beef and drinks spiced wine not out of physical desire but in order to broaden his mind for the service of G‑d and for His Torah,

as Rava said, “Wine and fragrance [make my mind more receptive],”3

or in order to fulfill the commandment to enjoy the Shabbat and the festivals.4

When one eats and drinks in the abovementioned manner, then the vitality of the meat and the wine which originated in kelipat nogah is then extracted from the evil and ascends to G‑d like a burnt offering and sacrifice (i.e., the life-force of kelipat nogah that the food and drink contain is absorbed in Sanctity).

So, too, concerning speech: The vitality of words spoken for a sacred purpose ascends and is absorbed in Sanctity. For example: he who makes a humorous remark to sharpen his mind and make his heart rejoice in G‑d and His Torah and service, which should be practiced joyfully,

as Rava was wont to do with his pupils, prefacing his discourse with a humorous remark, whereupon the students became cheerful5 and thereby more receptive and better able to understand the discourse.

On the other hand, if a person is one of those who gluttonously eat meat and quaff wine in order to satisfy their bodily appetites and animal soul, then since, of the animal soul’s four evil elements, this desire belongs to the element of Water, from which comes the appetite for pleasures,

in such case, the vitality of the meat and wine that he ingested is thereby degraded and absorbed temporarily in the utter evil of the three unclean kelipot.

His (the glutton’s) body becomes a garment and a “vehicle” for these kelipot.

But his body remains so [only] temporarily, until the person repents and returns to the service of G‑d and His Torah—whereupon he ceases to be a vehicle for the kelipot; the energy of the food and drink is then released from the kelipot and returns to Sanctity.

For, inasmuch as the meat and wine were kosher and permissible and it was only the person’s desire for pleasure that degraded them, they have the power to revert and ascend with him when he returns to the service of G‑d—at which time, the strength gained from the food and drink are utilized in serving G‑d.

This is implied in the terms hetter (“permissibility”) and muttar (“permissible”). That which may be done or eaten is called “muttar,” literally meaning “released” or “unbound.” In our context, the term means that the permissible object is not “chained” to the kelipot. That is to say, it is not tied and bound by the power of the “extraneous forces,” i.e., the kelipot and sitra achara which are extraneous to the realm of Sanctity,

preventing it from returning and ascending to G‑d.

Nevertheless, even when this energy reverts to Sanctity through the person’s return to the service of G‑d, a trace [of the evil] remains in the body.

For this reason, the body must undergo the “Purgatory of the Grave,” as will be explained later.6

So, too, with regard to the vitality of the drops of semen emitted from the body with animal lust by he who has not conducted himself in a holy manner during intimacy with his wife during her state of purity. Here, too, the vitality is temporarily absorbed in the total evil of the three unclean kelipot until the person repents.

Such is not the case, however, with forbidden foods and illicit coition, which inasmuch as they are prohibited acts derive their vitality from the three entirely unclean kelipot.

These are tied and bound by the “extraneous forces” (the kelipot) forever.

They (the vitality of these prohibited acts) are not elevated from [the kelipot] until “their day comes” (the time when evil will totally disappear from the world), when ‘‘death (i.e., the kelipot, called “death” because they oppose G‑dliness, which is life) will be swallowed up i.e., eradicated forever,” as it is written:7 “And I (G‑d) will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth.” Then, when the kelipot cease to exist, the sparks of holiness will of themselves be freed from them.

Or, until the sinner repents in the manner presently described, in which case the sparks of holiness need not remain in the clutches of the kelipot until the End of Days, they may even be freed, and restored to holiness, when he (the sinner) repents so earnestly that his premeditated sins become transmuted into veritable merits.

This is achieved through “repentance out of love (of G-d),” coming from the depths of the heart, with great love and fervor, and from a soul passionately desiring to cleave to the blessed G‑d,

and thirsting for G‑d, like a parched and barren soil thirsts desperately for water.

For inasmuch as until now—until he repented—his soul had been in a barren wilderness and in the shadow of death, which is the sitra achara, and had been far removed from the light of the Divine Countenance, in the greatest possible measure,

therefore, now that he “repents out of love,” his soul thirsts for G‑d even more intensely than the souls of the righteous who have never sinned.

As our Sages say: “Where penitents stand…[not even the perfectly righteous can stand].”8 For, as explained earlier, the tzaddik lacks the penitent’s intense yearning for G‑d.

[Only] concerning repentance out of such great love has it been said that “[the penitent’s] premeditated sins become, for him, like virtues,”9 since through them (through the sins which previously had distanced him from G‑d), he attained when he repented to this great love. Thus, his sins affected him in the same way as mitzvot: they brought about within him a greater love of G‑d.

But in the case of repentance that does not come from such love, though it be proper repentance, and G‑d will surely pardon him, nevertheless, [his sins] are not transformed for him into the equivalent of virtues.

They are not released and hence do not completely ascend from the kelipah so that no trace of the sin remains “until the end of time,”10 when “death will be swallowed up forever.”11

However, the vitality in the drops of semen that one issued wastefully, even though it has been degraded and incorporated in the three unclean kelipot, can nevertheless ascend from there by means of true repentance and intense concentration and devotion (kavanah) during the recital of the Shema at bedtime, as is known from the teachings of our master, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, of blessed memory.

This is implied in the Talmudic saying: “He who recites the Shema at bedtime is as if he held a double-edged sword…,”12

meaning one edge wherewith to slay the bodies of the “extraneous forces” (the kelipot) that have become garments for the vitality in the drops of semen and another edge by which the vitality ascends from them (from the kelipot), as is known to the students of the Kabbalah.

Therefore, the sin of wasteful emission of semen is not mentioned in the Torah among the list of forbidden coitions,

even though in one respect it is more heinous than they, and [the individual’s] sin is greater with regard to the enormity and abundance of the impurity and of the kelipot; he begets and multiplies them to an exceedingly great extent through wasteful emission of semen, even more so than through forbidden coitions. I.e., when measured by the “quantity” of kelipot that sin creates, this sin is graver than the forbidden coitions.

It is only that when measured qualitatively, this sin is different. For in the case of forbidden coitions, one contributes additional strength and vitality to a most unclean kelipah, from which he is powerless to raise up the vitality by means of ordinary repentance,

unless he repents with such great love that his willful wrongs are transformed into merits.

From the above explanation, that the vitality of the forbidden coitions can be released through “repentance out of love,” we will understand that which our Sages say: “Which is ‘a fault that cannot be rectified’?13—Having incestuous intercourse and giving birth to a bastard,”14

for then, once the bastard is born, though the sinner undertakes such great repentance as “repentance of great love,” he cannot cause the vitality to ascend to Sanctity,

since it has already descended into this world and has been clothed in a body of flesh and blood.