Tanya: Chapter 35 - Part 1

Let us elucidate still further the term “that you may do it” in the verse, “For the matter is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it,” where, as mentioned, the climax of the verse is its emphasis on action.

Let us also understand, in a very small measure, the purpose in creating beinonim—to be and remain forever on the level of beinonim, for, as explained in ch. 14, the souls of the beinonim are usually incapable of rising to the level of tzaddik through their own will and effort: they were created to be beinonim;

also, [the purpose of] their souls’ descent to this world, being clothed within an animal soul deriving from the kelipah and sitra achara, the very antithesis of the (divine) soul.

Since they will not be able to banish [the animal soul] throughout their lives, nor [even] dislodge it from its place in the left part of the heart,

so that no [evil] imaginings rise from it to the brain,

inasmuch as in the beinonim, the essence of the animal soul derived from the kelipah remains in its full strength and potency as at birth,

except that its “garments,” i.e., its forms of expression as evil thought, speech, and action, do not clothe themselves in their body, as mentioned above in ch. 12, where the Alter Rebbe explains that by means of constant battle with his animal soul, the beinoni prevents the budding evil of this soul from expressing itself in his thought, speech, and action.

Why then did their souls descend to this world, to strive in vain, G‑d forbid, waging war all their lives against their evil inclination yet never being able to vanquish it?

Let this forthcoming explanation be their solace, to comfort them in a double measure of aid and to gladden their hearts in G‑d, Who dwells among them in their Torah and [divine] service. I.e., the explanation will show them how to find comfort and joy in the G‑dly light that abides within them when they study the Torah and when they engage in the service of G‑d.

[The abovementioned difficulties will be resolved] by clarifying first the comment of the Yenuka (quoted in the Zohar, Parashat Balak1) on the verse: “The wise man’s eyes are in his head.”2

The Zohar comments: “Where else are a man’s eyes?… Surely, then, the meaning of the verse is as follows:

We have learned that a man must not go four cubits while bareheaded. Why? Because the Shechinah (the Divine Presence) rests upon his head.

[Therefore] every wise man has his eyes, i.e., his interest and concern, and hence also his speech [concentrated] “in his head,” i.e., in that light of the Shechinah which rests and abides above his head.

Now, when his “eyes” i.e. his interest and his concern are there, he must know that this light kindled above his head i.e., the light that shines upon his soul requires oil,

for man’s body is the wick that retains the luminous flame, and the light is kindled above it,

and [thus,] King Solomon cried out, saying, “Let there be no lack of oil above your head,”3

for the light over his head requires oil, meaning good deeds—the good deeds that man performs are the oil which supplies the light illuminating his soul,

and for this reason, “the wise man’s eyes are in his head”—to ensure that he never lacks oil (good deeds) for this light.

The quotation from the Zohar ends here.

The meaning of this analogy, comparing the light of the Shechinah to the light of a candle, “is clear…to every intelligent person,” as the Alter Rebbe will conclude shortly after a closer examination of its details. Just as it is true of the candle’s flame

that it does not shed light nor is it retained by the wick without oil,

similarly, the Shechinah does not rest upon man’s body, which is compared to a wick, except through man’s performing good deeds.

It is evident from the Zohar, however, that one’s soul, although a part of G‑d above, is insufficient to serve as oil for the wick.

But the reason for this—the Alter Rebbe now concludes the sentence begun earlier with the words “The meaning of this analogy”—is clear and understandable to every intelligent person.

For the soul of a man, even if he be a perfect tzaddik who serves G‑d with fear and with a pleasurable love i.e., his love consists of delighting in the experience of G‑dliness—a most lofty form of love,

is nevertheless not utterly nullified out of existence so that it might be dissolved into and absorbed within G‑d’s light to be merged with it in perfect unity.

It is, rather, a separate entity, which fears G‑d and loves Him. Since it is not absorbed within G‑dliness, as oil is absorbed within a flame, the soul cannot serve as oil for the light of the Shechinah.

Not so with mitzvot and good deeds, which are G‑d’s will—each commandment representing G‑d’s desire that a particular act be performed.

Now, G‑d’s will is the source of life for all the worlds and the creatures—they live only because G‑d so desires.

The difference between the Divine will expressed in mitzvot and that same will as expressed in creation lies in the latter’s descending to them by means of many contractions (tzimtzumim) and by concealment of the “Countenance” i.e., the internal aspect of the supernal will, with only the external, superficial aspect of G‑d’s will expressing itself in creation and through a descent from level to level.

All these steps were necessary so that it would be possible for [the worlds and creatures] to come into being and to be created ex nihilo as separate entities without becoming nullified out of existence, as mentioned above.4 Without the previously enumerated forms of concealment of G‑dliness, all created beings would be so completely nullified before the Divine will that created them that they would have no independent identity. Thus, the Divine will expressed in creation can come about only through its seeming contraction, occultation, and descent.

The mitzvot, on the other hand, are the internal aspect of the Divine will. There, the “Countenance” is not hidden at all, for, on the contrary, mitzvot are the underlying purpose (the “inner aspect of will”) of creation in its entirety.

Because the mitzvot represent G‑d’s true, inner will, and because in them there is no concealment of this will (unlike the case in creation), therefore, the [G‑dly] life-force within them is by no means a separate entity,

but is united with and contained within G‑d’s will, and they (the mitzvot) are truly joined in perfect unity with G‑d’s will.

The “resting” of the Shechinah means, i.e., when we single out a specific object from a world filled with the Shechinah by saying that the Divine Presence “rests” upon that object, its uniqueness lies in

the revelation of G‑dliness and the Ein Sof-light in that particular object.

This means to say that this object is comprised within G‑d’s light and is nullified out of existence toward Him (i.e., it has no separate identity),

for [only] then can the One G‑d rest upon it (upon that object) and reveal Himself in it.

But anything not completely nullified out of existence toward [the G‑dly light] cannot have G‑d’s light rest and reveal itself within it.

Even a perfect tzaddik, who cleaves to Him with “abundant love”—a most lofty level of love and attachment to G‑d—even in the case of such a tzaddik, “no thought can truly grasp Him at all.”

For the true implication of the phrase “G‑d is the true L-rd” is His Unity and Oneness, that He alone exists, and there is absolutely nothing besides Him.

If so, this person i.e., the abovementioned tzaddik who loves [G‑d] and who is a [separate] “being” in his own self-perception (as is evident from the very fact that he loves G‑d) rather than a “nonentity,” no thought of his can grasp Him at all.

Even the tzaddik cannot grasp G‑d and thereby become one with Him through the faculties of his own soul; therefore, G‑d’s light does not abide or manifest itself in him except through the fulfillment of the mitzvot, which constitute His actual will and wisdom without any “concealment of Countenance.” Since the inner aspect of the Divine will stands revealed only in the mitzvot, it is only by means of them that the light of the Shechinah rests upon man, not through spiritual devotion alone.

When a person studies Torah, using his powers of thought and speech, his neshamah, his divine soul with its two inner “garments” only, viz., the faculties of speech and thought—

are absorbed within the light of G‑d, the Ein Sof, blessed be He, and are merged within it in perfect unity.

This constitutes the “resting of the Shechinah” on his divine soul; as our Sages have said: “When even one person applies himself diligently to Torah study, the Shechinah is with him,”6 meaning, in this case, that the Shechinah rests upon his divine soul and upon its faculties of thought and speech, which are engaged in the mental and oral study of the Torah.

However, in order to draw the light and radiance of the Shechinah upon his body and animal soul as well, i.e., upon the vitalizing soul actually clothed in the body and providing for it a corporeal life-force,

one must fulfill the practical mitzvot (i.e., commandments involving the faculty of action), which are performed with the body itself.

In this way, the actual power of the body engaged in this act e.g., when one dons tefillin, it is the physical strength in his arm that impels the motions that constitute the fulfillment of the mitzvah, and therefore, this bodily power is absorbed in the Divine light and will and merges with it in perfect unity.

This (power of the body) constitutes the third garment of the divine soul. As mentioned in ch. 4, the divine soul expresses itself in the faculty of action through performing the mitzvot.

When the faculty of action is absorbed within the Divine will, then in addition, the power of the vitalizing soul actually clothed within the body, the power of that soul derived from kelipat nogah,

is transformed from evil to good and is actually absorbed into holiness exactly like the divine soul,

for it is the [power of the animal soul] that implements and performs the act that constitutes the mitzvah.

For without this power of the animal soul, the divine soul would not affect the body at all, since it is spiritual and the body physical and corporeal, so that body and divine soul are antithetical, as are the spiritual and material dimensions generally.

The intermediary between them is the vitalizing animal soul clothed in man’s blood, which is in his heart and throughout his body.

Although the substance and essence of the animal soul in his heart, i.e., its evil middot (its evil emotional character), have still not been absorbed into holiness—

yet, because they (the evil middot) are subjugated to holiness and “against their will they say Amen,” agreeing and acceding to the performance of the mitzvah,

through the strengthening of the divine soul in the brain, which masters the heart,

and [the evil middot] are at such time when one exercises the natural mastery of brain over heart by contemplating G‑d’s greatness, in a state of “exile” and “sleep” i.e., impotent as mentioned above in ch. 12,

therefore, this incorrigible nature of the animal soul’s evil middot does not prevent the Shechinah from resting on one’s body at this time.

This “resting of the Shechinah” means that the power of the animal soul clothed in the act that constitutes the mitzvah, e.g., the power in the hand donning tefillin,

is actually absorbed into the divine light and merges with it in perfect unity.

Thereby, one draws down a “ray” of the light, wherein the particular power has been absorbed upon the totality of the animal soul throughout the body and upon the [entire] body as well.

This “ray” of divine light illuminates one’s animal soul and his body in a manner of “encompassing from above,” surrounding them from head to foot.

This explains the expression (appearing in the passage from the Zohar quoted at the beginning of this chapter): “The Shechinah rests upon his head,”7 specifically “upon” i.e., encompassing him “from above”;

and in a similar vein, the expression “upon every [assembly of] ten [Jews], the Divine Presence rests” means that the light of the Divine Presence does not permeate them but illuminates them “from above.”8

None of these various forms in which the light of the Shechinah is manifested, meaning the ways in which the Ein Sof-light is revealed,

can be construed as a change in Himself or as a plurality.

As we find in the Tractate Sanhedrin,10 where it is recorded that a certain heretic said to Rabban Gamliel: “You say that the Shechinah rests on every assembly of ten. How many Shechinahs have you?”

And Rabban Gamliel replied with an analogy of the sun’s light, which enters through many windows, etc.

And the intelligent will understand—and, as Chasidim would add, “The devout will perceive.”