In the previous section we studied at length the Alter Rebbe's words in chapter 18: that the Or Ein Sof, the infinite light of the Holy One blessed be He, rests in the soul on the level called chochmah - "בחינת החכמה שבנפש שבה אור אין סוף ברוך הוא", "the aspect of chochmah in the soul, in which the Or Ein Sof rests." Since we are speaking of the chochmah of the soul, which from the outset stands above comprehension and above the realm of intellect, it becomes clear why it gives birth to things that are not logical at all. Kelos hanefesh, the soul's yearning to expire into its Source, is not a logical matter; it is a desire with no reasoning behind it, and one cannot pose questions to it, because it is not measured by the rules of the mind. That is precisely why it bursts forth with no restraints.
If we translate this into daily life, as the Alter Rebbe will go on to explain: what does such a love for the Holy One blessed be He actually mean? When this love breaks through in a Jew, it is simply not possible for him to do anything against the will of Hashem. The entire essence of this love is the desire to flee even from the body itself, so how much more so from anything that stands in the soul's way. When the aspect of chochmah in the soul is revealed, there is no obstacle and no hindrance in the world that can stop a person, neither something logical nor anything else. It is like the wick trying to hold on to the flame: it does not help, the flame is always in a motion of escape. In this, "כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאוד... ובלבבך לעשותו", "for this thing is very close to you... and in your heart, to do it," is fulfilled.
The problem, as we will see, is that the chochmah of the soul is not revealed at all times, and therefore the Alter Rebbe will call it further on "ahavah mesuteres", a hidden love. On the face of it this is a contradiction in terms: love is a revealed movement of the soul, while "hidden" means something that is in concealment. If it is love, it is not concealed; and if it is concealed, it is not love. How do the two go together? The answer is that from the side of the Jew himself this is a love without limit, and the concealment comes only from the coverings and screens that lie upon us and prevent it from being revealed.
"וזהו כלל בכל סטרא דקדושה שאינו אלא מה שנמשך מחכמה שנקרא קודש העליון" - "And this is a general rule in all of the side of holiness, that it is only that which is drawn from chochmah, which is called the supernal holiness." This is a rule in everything connected to the side of kedushah. What is kedushah? Kedushah is the chochmah of the soul at its very peak: total bittul, complete self-nullification before the Creator. And anything in which that absolute bittul to the Creator is missing already begins with a deviation from the side of holiness.
We can picture this as a curve. At the starting point the deviation is slight, but by the end of the curve one finds himself very far away. It is enough that the direction is not the right direction, meaning that there is no absolute bittul to the Creator, for the end of the process to be far off. In the early stages it may still be within the realm of kedushah, as the Gemara says of the satan that even he intends for the sake of Heaven. But since the direction is not one of absolute bittul to G-dliness, the end of the curve arrives very far away. The same is true of one who serves "al menas lekabel pras," in order to receive a reward, as Pirkei Avos puts it: it means that the person is concerned for his own existence, for his ego, on one level or another. It may be a lofty level, but since it is a concern for his private personality, then even if right now he stands in a world of good and holiness, matters of the opposite may eventually emerge from it, for the slight deviation from holiness is a deviation from bittul to the Infinite. That is why the Mishnah says, "Do not be like servants who serve the master in order to receive a reward": even if at a certain stage it looks good, this is not the way, because what is not good may come out of it. And even with a Jew, a "holy ego" is, in the end, still an ego.
Why is chochmah called "kodesh"? Kedushah comes from kodesh, and "kodesh" means absolute separateness, set apart from every domain of ego, of materiality, and of distance from G-dliness. Therefore chochmah is "kodesh ha'elyon," the supernal holiness, "הבטל במציאות באור אין סוף ברוך הוא המלובש בו, ואינו דבר בפני עצמו כנ"ל", "which is nullified in reality within the Or Ein Sof that is clothed in it, and is not a thing unto itself, as explained above." Chochmah is absolute bittul; it has no independent existence and no ego, "ולכן נקרא 'כח מ"ה'", "and therefore it is called 'koach mah'" - a power that is in the category of "mah," "what," something that cannot be described and cannot be grasped.
"והוא הפך ממש מבחינת הקליפה וסטרא אחרא שממנה נפשות אומות העולם" - "and it is the very opposite of the aspect of kelipah and sitra achra, from which come the souls of the nations of the world." Chochmah is the absolute opposite of kelipah and of impurity. The defining trait of kelipah and impurity is ego, on every level. The root of evil begins even higher up, in the upper worlds, except that there it appears, at first glance, to be holiness.
An illustration of this from the Mishnah in Pirkei Avos: "What is the difference between the students of Avraham Avinu and the students of Bilam the wicked?" At first glance the Mishnah is puzzling. Why does it not ask what the difference is between Avraham Avinu himself and Bilam the wicked? One of the explanations: Bilam was utterly wicked, yet he was a prophet, on a level parallel to Moshe Rabbeinu on the side of impurity. As is brought, just as the Holy One blessed be He established Moshe Rabbeinu for the people of Israel, so He established a prophet for the nations of the world, so that they would not say in time to come, "Why did You not establish a prophet for us?" On his own level he is entirely impurity, but when you look at him it is sometimes hard to detect the impurity in him: you see words of prophecy and lofty matters, and for a moment one could mistakenly think there is something of holiness and good in him. Where, then, does the difference become visible? In his students, in what comes out of him in the next generation, and there the difference is extreme. And what is the difference? The students of Avraham Avinu have "nefesh shefalah," a humble soul, while the students of Bilam the wicked have "ruach gevohah," a haughty spirit, which is to say, the ego.
The Alter Rebbe uses three expressions to define the essence of the kelipah and sitra achra from which the souls of the nations of the world come:
"דעבדין לגרמייהו" - "who act for themselves," an expression already brought at the end of chapter 1 of Tanya: "and all the good that they do, they do for themselves." All the good that the nations of the world do is nothing but "legarmaihu," which in Hebrew means for themselves, for the ego and for their own interests.
"ואמרין הב הב" - "and who say 'give, give.'" This is the language of the verse in Mishlei, "The leech has two daughters: Give, give." The Zohar explains that this refers to those who pray only for themselves: they stand in prayer and ask only that things should be good for them, and they do not ask for the redemption of the Shechinah and for the revelation of G-dliness in the world. "Hav" means bring, give me.
"והלעיטני" - "and 'pour into me.'" This is what Esav said to Yaakov when he asked him for "this red stuff": I open my mouth and you pour it in, give me. That is kelipah: only to receive, and never to give a thing.
All of these are "להיות יש ודבר בפני עצמו כנזכר לעיל", "to be a 'yesh' and a thing unto itself, as mentioned above," which is "הפך בחינת החכמה", "the opposite of the aspect of chochmah." For chochmah is bittul: a person seeks nothing for himself, only to be nullified. One in whom chochmah shines is ready to give up his own existence, like the flame attached to the wick, which has no ego but the very opposite: it cries out constantly to tear itself away and go out.
"ולכן נקראים מתים" - "and therefore they are called dead." This explains what is said of the wicked, that in their lifetimes they are called dead. On the face of it we see them walking about and going around, so why are they called dead? The answer is "כי החכמה תחיה", "for chochmah gives life," as in the verse quoted in the previous chapter as well, "and chochmah gives life to those who possess it." Chochmah is what grants life, "וכתיב ימותו ולא בחכמה", "and it is written, 'they die, but not with chochmah'": where there is no revelation of chochmah, there "they die."
The point of all this: when the point of chochmah in the soul is revealed in a Jew, it leads him to absolute bittul before the Infinite, to kelos hanefesh and to connection with the Holy One blessed be He at every moment and at any price, with no temptation able to bring him down. All of this on condition that the chochmah of the soul is shining. Then there is truly nothing in the world that can bring a person down, for he stands at the peak of revelation.
Further on in the chapter the Alter Rebbe will explain how it can be that in a Jew the chochmah of the soul is in a dormant state, a state of sleep. (This is in keeping with the verse, "When Hashem returns the returnees of Zion, we were like dreamers." What does "we were like dreamers" mean? With it we understand how we were capable, during the time of exile, of doing foolish things. Did we not see the truth? Rather, we were like dreamers: in a dream a person can join opposites with no difficulty at all, rising and falling in the same second without sensing any contradiction in it. The moment we awaken from the sleep, that is the geulah; and the private geulah of each and every individual, too, is his awakening from his sleep and the revelation of the chochmah in his soul.)
This is what is unique about this section of Tanya. From chapter 18 onward the Alter Rebbe comes to give a Jew the tools for how to wake up and how to arouse the chochmah of his soul, and then he will see that "this thing is very close to you." He is not being asked to invent anything new. Until chapter 18 we learned the path a person must walk, to contemplate and to delve deeply, and only after real effort to generate an emotion, a labor that takes time. From here onward he is told: the power of chochmah already exists within you and everything is active, it is only that you are asleep. Throw cold water on yourself and wake up. The moment he wakes up, he will see that the neshamah is active and longing to connect to the Holy One blessed be He, and that "this thing is very close to you."
In summary: in this section we learned that the Or Ein Sof rests in the chochmah of the soul, which is above intellect, and therefore when it shines there is no restraint on a Jew's love for the Holy One blessed be He; and because of the coverings and screens it is called "ahavah mesuteres," a hidden love. We took up the rule that all of the side of holiness is only that which is drawn from chochmah, which is called "kodesh ha'elyon," nullified in reality within the Or Ein Sof and not a thing unto itself at all. Against it stands the kelipah and sitra achra, whose entire essence is ego and self-existence: "legarmaihu," "hav hav," and "hal'iteini." Therefore they are called dead, since "chochmah gives life." We also saw the difference between the students of Avraham Avinu and the students of Bilam the wicked, "a humble soul" as against "a haughty spirit," and the state of exile as a dream in which opposites are joined together.
In the next section we will take up the continuation of the chapter: how it can be that the chochmah of the soul is found in a Jew in a dormant state, and how a person awakens from sleep and reveals it in actual fact. And may it be His will that from the private geulah of each and every one of us we merit, with G-d's help, the general and complete geulah of all of the Jewish people.