Chapter 4

However, all we have said refers to the culmination of the atonement—to polishing the soul clean before G‑d so that no vestige of former sin remains after repentance,

as cited above1 from the Talmud, ch. 1 of Zevachim, where the olah sacrifice brought for transgressing a positive command is described as the gift offered to the offended party after an intercessor’s successful plea.

But the beginning of the mitzvah of teshuvah and its core

is a true and wholehearted return to G‑d.

This must now be explained thoroughly and comprehensively.

Let us begin with the Zohar’s interpretation2 of teshuvah according to sod, the mystical interpretation of the Torah:

“[Teshuvah is] tashuv hey (‘the hey shall return’);

[the reconnection of] the latter hey [to the preceding letter vav] is teshuvah tataah (lower-level teshuvah);

[the reconnection of] the former hey [to the preceding letter yud] is teshuvah ilaah (higher-level teshuvah).”

We must also note that the Zohar states several times3 that teshuvah is ineffective for violation of the covenant and for the wasteful emission of semen.

This is most astonishing, for “nothing can stand in the way of teshuvah,”4 even idolatry, incest, and so on.

The Reishit Chochmah explains5 that the intention of the Zohar is that though teshuvah tataah (the conventional level of repentance) is not effective, teshuvah ilaah is.

To grasp even a minute glimmer6 of this,

we must preface what Scripture and our Sages say about [what is entailed by] excision and death by Divine agency.

A violator of a sin punishable by excision would actually7 die before his fiftieth year.8

In the case of death by Divine agency, he would actually9 die before sixty,

like the prophet Chananiah ben Azur in Jeremiah.10

(11Indeed, there have been instances in which the punishment of death by Divine agency was also meted out instantly, as with Er and Onan.)

However, in every generation, there are so many individuals liable to excision and death who nevertheless enjoy extended and pleasant13 days and years!

The key to this will be found in the phrase, “For [G‑d’s] people are part of G‑d…”14;

[they are] part of the Four-Letter Name of G‑d.

Thus, describing G-d’s infusion of a soul into the body of Adam, it is written: “And He blew into his nostrils a soul of life,”15

and, as the Zohar comments,16 “He who blows does so from within him, etc.”17

Now, [G‑d] has no bodily form, and so on,18 G‑d forbid.

However, the Torah “speaks as in the language of men,”19 i.e., anthropomorphically.

By way of analogy: There exists a vast difference in the case of mortal man between the breath issuing from his mouth while speaking and the breath of forceful blowing.

The breath that issues with his speech embodies the soul’s power and life-force only minimally,

and that is only from the superficial aspect of the soul that dwells within him.

But the breath that issues when he blows forcefully, from deep within himself,

embodies the internal power and life-force of the vivifying soul….

Precisely so in the analogy [of Creation], allowing for the infinite differentiations involved [between Creator and created],

there exists a prodigious difference Above,

between all the hosts of heaven, even the spiritual beings like angels, who were created ex nihilo, [and the soul of man].

They derive their life and existence from the external aspect of the life-force issuing forth from the Infinite One to vitalize creation.

This [external] aspect of the life-giving power is called the “breath of His mouth,” as it were, as the verse states: “By the breath of His mouth, all their hosts [were created].”20

This is the creative power embodied in the letters of the ten utterances

(21these letters being in the nature of vessels, and a drawing down and so forth of the life-force, as explained in Likkutei Amarim, Part II, ch. 11).

In contrast, the soul of man derives initially from the innermost dimension of the life-force and flow issuing from the Infinite One,

as in the verse quoted above, “And He blew….”

It then descended through ever more concealing planes, also (like the angels who were created by means of “letters”) by means of the letters that comprise the Divine utterance, “Let us make man…,”22

in order that it could eventually be invested in a body in this inferior, [physical] world.

For this reason, Scripture calls the angels “Elokim,”

as23 in the phrase, “For the L-rd your G‑d, He24 is the G‑d of G‑ds (Elokim)…,”25 the last word here referring to angels,

[and likewise], “Praise the G‑d of G‑ds (Elokim)…,”26 once again referring to angels by the name “Elokim,”

and (in yet another reference to angels), “The sons of G‑d (Elokim) came to present themselves….”27

Because they derive their nurture from the external degree [of G‑dliness], which is merely the state of “letters.”

Similarly, the Name Elokim is an external state relative to the Tetragrammaton.

But the soul of man, deriving from the internal aspect of the G‑dly vivifying power, is a part of the Tetragrammaton,

for the Tetragrammaton indicates the innermost dimension of the life-giving power, which far transcends the state of letters.

To explain:

There is a well-known statement of Eliyahu, in the passage entitled Patach Eliyahu, in the introduction to Tikkunei Zohar: “You are He Who elicited the ten tikkunim (lit., ‘garments’), which we call the ten sefirot, by which to conduct the concealed worlds…[and the revealed worlds…].28

You are wise but not with a knowable attribute of wisdom;

You understand but not with a knowable attribute of understanding; and so on”—with regard to the remaining sefirot.

All the ten sefirot are included and represented in their source, the Tetragrammaton.

The yud, which is a simple point, extending in neither length nor breadth, indicates G‑d’s wisdom, the sefirah of chochmah,

which is the state of concealment and obscurity before it develops into a state of expansion and revelation in comprehension and understanding.

(29The “thorn” above30 the yud indicates the supreme will, this being the level of keter, which transcends by far the level of chochmah ila’ah, supernal wisdom, as is known.)

When [the seminal “point” of chochmah] is eventually amplified and revealed as something comprehensible to the concealed worlds, i.e., when it descends to the level and sefirah of binah,

it is then contained and represented in the letter hey of the Tetragrammaton. This letter extends in breadth, implying a breadth of explanation and understanding, which is the function of binah.

[The letter hey] also extends in length to indicate extension and flow downward into the concealed worlds.

In the next stage, when this extension and flow are drawn still lower into the revealed worlds,

which may be compared, by way of analogy, to one who wishes31 to reveal his thoughts to another through his speech,

this extension is contained and represented in the [final] letters vav and hey [of the Tetragrammaton],

for the letter vav, which is shaped like a vertical line, indicates downward extension.

Also, this downward flow into the revealed worlds is effected through the Divine traits of benevolence and goodness and [G‑d’s] other holy traits, included in general terms in the six attributes, the numerical equivalent of vav, in the verse, “Yours, O G‑d, is greatness…”32 until “Yours, O G‑d, is sovereignty…,” but not including it.

For His attribute of sovereignty is called the “Word of G‑d” (and speech is not one of the middot, the spiritual emotive attributes),

as in the verse, “Wherever the word of the king holds sway.”33

This [attribute of sovereignty] is contained and represented in the final hey of the Tetragrammaton, in the following manner:

The internal aspect and the source of speech is the breath that rises from the heart, then is particularized into the five oral articulations (five being the numerical equivalent of the letter hey). [One of these produces the bracket of letters] alef, chet, hey, and ayin from the throat, another produces the bracket of letters beit, vav, mem, and pey from the lips, and so on.

In particular, the enunciation of the letter hey is solely unvocalized breath,

as in the phrase, “A light letter without substance.”34

Now “He has no corporeal form,” G‑d forbid.

Nevertheless, “the Torah speaks as in the language of men.”

Moreover (i.e., there is yet another reason why this analogy is apt, notwithstanding the fact that G‑d has no corporeal form):

for G‑d’s speech as well consists, as it were, of twenty-two letters that separate into the five articulations that produce the Divine speech from which all beings were created.

(35For a discussion of these letters and their significance, see Likkutei Amarim, Part II, ch. 11.)

Analogously, exactly the same applies to the soul of man, again keeping in mind the infinite separation between the Creator and the created soul,

which is the divine soul which “He blew from within Himself.”

There is [the initial state of chochmah,] the hidden concept alluded to by the letter yud,

possessing the potential of being revealed and thereby understanding and conceiving G‑d’s true existence and greatness,

in each person according to his measure, according to the breadth of his intellect and understanding.

As a man deepens his intelligence, as he broadens his mind and comprehension to contemplate G‑d’s greatness,

his now developed understanding, the faculty of binah, is alluded to by the letter hey, that has breadth, indicating the breadth of his understanding.

[The hey] also has length, to indicate downward extension,

so that from his understanding and contemplation of G‑d’s greatness, he arouses love and fear and their offspring, i.e., the other emotive attributes, which are termed the offspring or branches of love and fear,

in his mind and in the recesses of his heart,

until ultimately, they find overt expression in his heart.

These [spiritual emotions] lead to the true service of G‑d, in Torah study and mitzvah observance, with voice and speech or with deed.

This is the import of the [final] letters vav and hey [of the Four-Letter Name, Havayah]…, for vav alludes to voice and speech while hey alludes to action.

Furthermore, contemplation that endeavors to understand and conceive of G‑d’s true being also derives from the Torah,

for “Torah proceeds from chochmah,”36 which is the yud of the Tetragrammaton.