Igeret HaKodesh: Epistle 19 - Part 4

Part (i)

In order to “enable” the Ein Sof-light, by definition infinite, to create worlds, which are finite, an intermediary is needed—to bridge the chasm between infinity and finitude. This intermediary, Torah,1 is alluded to in our opening verse, “He enwraps [Himself with] light as [with] a garment….”2

Now any intermediary must itself partake of each of the levels it bridges.3 Torah thus comprises both “light” and “garment.” The “light” of the Torah is its infinite inwardness, “[whose] measure is longer than the earth….”;4 the “garment” of the Torah refers to its finite and revealed exterior, which relates to the finite worlds. In the letter before us, the Alter Rebbe explains how the revealed “garment” (the nigleh) of the Torah has concealed within it the inward “light” (the pnimiyut) of the Torah. He also clarifies the difference between the comprehension of the Torah and prophetic comprehension.

This verse speaks of “light” hidden within a “garment.” The Alter Rebbe will explain here how the “light” of the Torah that transcends revelation is vested in a concealing “garment.”

The degree of Divinity called supernal chochmah is not limited to the sefirah of chochmah in the World of Atzilut: it also possesses a number of levels that transcend it, such as chochmah of keter, chochmah of adam kadmon, and so on. The Alter Rebbe is now explaining that not only were these loftier levels of supernal chochmah beyond Moses’ apprehension, but so, too, was even the pnimiyut of the chochmah of Atzilut (i.e., abba of Atzilut).

For the very name arich anpin (lit., “the long countenance”) implies a level of Divinity of infinite extent and hence is beyond the reach of any soul clothed in a body.

Unlike the internal and essential aspect of chochmah, the exterior aspect of chochmah is capable of descending into lower levels of Divinity, such as the sefirah of binah.

This name implies a level of Divinity which is contracted to within finite dimensions. In this spirit, the seven emotive attributes are termed middot, whose singular form (מִדָה) translates literally as “measure,” for it refers to the [infinite] Ein Sof-light when it is at the stage of having garbed itself in finitude in order thereby to become the source for created worlds.

The manner in which supernal chochmah descends through binah and finds diverse expression within the seven emotive attributes underlies the divergence of halachic rulings within the Torah. For the laws of the Torah—determining what is kasher (valid) versus pasul (invalid), innocent versus guilty, pure versus impure, and so on—derive from these emotive attributes. Rulings of what is kasher, innocent and pure, derive from chesed (the attribute of kindness); rulings of what is pasul, guilty and impure, derive from gevurah (the attribute of severity); and so on.

These latter four emotive attributes are merely the extrinsic offshoots of the first three basic emotive attributes—chesed, gevurah, and tiferet, which they activate and cause to descend.

In his Glosses and Emendations to this work, the Rebbe asks: What does the Alter Rebbe accomplish by repeating that the external aspect of chochmah vests itself in binah and in turn in netzach-hod-yesod-malchut? It will be noted that here, the Alter Rebbe does not mention its being clothed in the other attributes, as he had done earlier, but only its vestiture in binah and in netzach-hod-yesod-malchut.

I.e., the Torah is not the undistilled essence of supernal chochmah; only a paler dilution of this can find actual expression in the revealed aspect of the Torah.

Even Moses could behold no more than the achorayim of supernal chochmah and not its pnimiyut, or essence.

Yet the Arizal writes that Moses’ prophecy did not enable him to grasp the pnimiyut of chochmah of Atzilut!

Likkutei Haggahot (a compilation of glosses to the Tanya)9 quotes here Chiddushei Haritva: “The supernal chariot [not as it appears in the World of Beriah, nor in the World of Atzilut, but at a higher level] was never beheld by the prophets, yet its secrets were known to the mystics of the Kabbalah [lit., ‘to the Masters of Truth’].”10

Seeing something grasps its essence; comprehension merely grasps its externality.

Just as the analogy of physical sight means that the viewer beholds the essence of a thing, so, too, the analogue—prophetic vision—must refer to a spiritual kind of seeing that grasps the essence of the spiritual level that is beheld through prophecy.

In this direct mode of revelation, the recipient of the Divine manifestation is able to absorb and internalize it, just as with visual sense-perception. The above-described manner of spiritually “seeing” a revelation is thus quite different from “hearing,” an inferior level of perception which leaves the recipient with a less tangible impression.

They merely “hear” about these matters rather than truly “see” them.

Since the revelation of prophecy is “visual,” the most sublime levels such as supernal chochmah cannot possibly be revealed and “seen” below.

As explained in the Tanya, Part I, ch. 18, the word chochmah comprises two words: כֹּחַ מַה—“the faculty of the unknown,”22 for it is a faculty that cannot be grasped intellectually.

In a public address,25 the Rebbe once explained why the Alter Rebbe makes the point that even when we have some intelligible reason for a mitzvah, this is not תַּכְלִית הַטַּעַם. This phrase, rendered above as “the ultimate reason,” would more literally mean “the end of the reason”; i.e., the explanation given for a commandment is not the last word in the reason for performing it. Not only does the mitzvah remain in some measure unexplained, even the reason remains in some measure unexplained. For in essence, a mitzvah is a superrational expression of the Divine Will, which is fulfilled through its performance.

At the very beginning of Derech Mitzvotecha (subtitled Sefer Taamei Hamitzvot—“A Book on the Reasons for the Mitzvot”), the Tzemach Tzedek writes similarly26 that what one should chiefly keep in mind during the performance of a commandment is the intent of doing it because G‑d has so commanded us. The fact that we may not understand just why G‑d desired this particular action done is immaterial.

The Tzemach Tzedek goes on to say that whatever modest insight we may have about the purpose of the mitzvot—according to the Kabbalah and Chasidut or according to Jewish philosophy (chakirah) and homiletics (derush)—is not even a glimmer of their true intent. It is a finite drop in an infinite ocean. For no human being, clothed as he is within a corporeal body, can possibly comprehend the infinite domain of spirituality. Even Moses, who has experienced more than three thousand years of constant elevation in Gan Eden, advances constantly in his understanding of the rationale underlying the mitzvot.

Concerning these successive levels of comprehension, the verse states,27 “To every yearning, even to the point of expiry, I have seen an end; Your mitzvah is very wide.” I.e., the comprehension and yearning experienced in Gan Eden are finite, whereas a mitzvah defies limitation: the extent of its inner content is endless.28

One outstanding question: Why, though, does the Alter Rebbe write that intelligible reasons have been given only for “occasional” mitzvot, whereas in fact this would appear to apply to a multitude of commandments (of the categories of mishpatim and eduyot), if not to a majority?

Likkutei Biurim on the Tanya (by R. Yehoshua Korf) quotes the Rebbe as answering this question in the following manner:

In most cases, only a general reason is provided while the details remain unexplained. For example, while the general reason for the mitzvah of tefillin is stated—that it be “a sign upon your hand…”29—no revealed explanation is provided for the myriad details relating to this commandment, such as: why the tefillin must be square; why the four scrolls in the tefillin of the head must be housed in four separate compartments while the Biblical passages in the tefillin of the hand must be inscribed together on one scroll; why the straps of the tefillin must be black; and so on and on.

Every word of prophecy found in the Tanach is applicable not only to the generation that first heard them but to all future generations as well.30

An incident is recorded in the Tanach not only as history but also as an eternal message for all generations.

An example of this would be the verse, “Know that the L-rd is G‑d; He has made us, velo anachnu, His people and the sheep of His pasture.”31 The ktiv form of the word velo ends with an alef (וְלֹא) while the kri form of the word ends with a vav (וְלוֹ). According to the latter form, the verse is readily comprehensible: “Know that the L-rd is G‑d; He has made us, velo anachnu—and we are His….” In the ktiv form, however, the verse reads, “He has made us and not us….” While this has meaning on a more sublime level,32 in the simple sense, the ktiv of this verse seems exceedingly difficult to comprehend.33

The Alter Rebbe had previously said that (a) Moses’ prophetic comprehension of the sefirah of chochmah consisted merely of the achorayim (the hindmost aspect) of chochmah. He then went on to say that (b) the source of the Torah in chochmah is the same, for it too transcends reason. The Alter Rebbe is now saying that (c) even the chochmah vested in the 613 commandments is referred to as no more than the achorayim of chochmah.

Light that merely “radiates” and “extends” does not necessarily contract according to the limitations of the recipient of the light; it may “radiate” and “extend” in an encompassing manner (makif) and thus not be subject to them. However, when the illumination is “vested” within a receptor, this implies adjustment to its limitations.

Hence, a light that becomes vested within finite created beings cannot possibly be infinite, as would be the case if the actual sefirah as united with its Emanator—and thus as infinite as its Emanator—would descend into created beings. Therefore, the life-giving force which is vested within creation—

The external aspect of chochmah—chochmah here being an allusion to the World of Atzilut—is termed the level of Asiyah within Atzilut,35 i.e., that level of Atzilut that is capable of descending below.

I.e., the soul manifests itself in action to a much lesser degree than it does in the other four levels.

The latter three faculties are always united with the soul. Even the faculty of thought, which is merely a “garment” of the soul (i.e., one of its means of expression), is always united with it, and therefore, like the soul itself, always in a manifest state. Speech and action, however, are “garments” that are separate from the soul. Thus, insofar as speech is concerned, there is “A time to speak and a time to refrain from speech,”36 while action is even more distant from the soul than speech.

Since “You have made them all through chochmah,”38 it follows that this sefirah must be vested in all nether beings. However, this is merely the external level of chochmah.

I.e., better had he never been born.

The Tzemach Tzedek makes the following comment48 on the above epistle:

Although the Alter Rebbe opens this letter with the verse, “He wraps [Himself with] light as [with] a garment…,” he does not explain it here. However, it can be understood from his introduction that the achorayim of chochmah, also known as the novlot of the supernal chochmah, which is Torah, is the “garment” (i.e., the revealed aspect) of the Torah while the pnimiyut of abba, the inward aspect of chochmah, is the esoteric depths of the Torah.

(The latter aspect of the Torah will be revealed mainly by Mashiach, as Rashi notes in his comment on the verse, “He kisses me with the kisses of His mouth.”49 Even now, however, a foretaste of the innermost dimensions of the Torah may be savored in the teachings of Chasidut. The present revelation of its insights serves as a preparation for the coming of Mashiach, in the spirit of the Friday afternoon custom of sampling the delicacies prepared for Shabbat,50 since the time of Mashiach is known as “a day that is entirely Shabbat.”51)

The Tzemach Tzedek concludes: This is the “light” that is vested within the “garment”: it was created on the First Day and later hidden in the Torah—ultimately to be revealed to the righteous.52

Part (ii)

The epistle that follows, beginning “The letters that are revealed,” is one of the epistles that was appended to the edition of the Tanya published in Vilna in the year 5660 (1900), these additions being noted by R. Asher of Nikolayev in his introductory declaration there.53

This relevance of this epistle to the previous one may be found in the following parallel: The previous epistle explains how only the netzach-hod-yesod-malchut (i.e., the lower sefirot) of the Emanator extend to the recipient. The conclusion of the present epistle likewise explains54 that only the hindmost aspect and externality of the netzach-hod-yesod of the higher realm enter the lower one.

The very validity of the scroll depends on the scrupulous observance of the numerous detailed laws governing the writing of these twenty-two letters. As is explained in the Note to ch. 12 of Shaar Hayichud VehaEmunah, each letter reflects the flow of a unique life-force and spiritual energy: its distinct shape suggests the form taken by the flow of light and energy revealed in that letter.

In general terms, thought, speech, and action correspond to Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, respectively. More particularly, “action in thought” corresponds to “Asiyah within Beriah,” “speech in thought” to “Yetzirah within Beriah,” and “thought in thought” to “Beriah within Beriah.”

This would tend to indicate that the letters of speech do not receive their life-force from the letters of thought.