We left off in the middle of chapter 19, on daf 24b (page 48), toward the bottom of the page: the passage beginning "וכן הרשעים ופושעי ישראל" ("And so too the wicked and the sinners of Israel"), five lines from the bottom. Let us briefly review what we have learned and then continue from there.
At the beginning of chapter 18 the Alter Rebbe opened a new explanation of "קרוב אליך הדבר מאוד" ("the matter is very close to you"): how keeping the Torah and fulfilling the mitzvos is in fact very close to every single Jew, even to one who "has no heart to grasp the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof." The foundation of the explanation is the hidden love (ahavah mesuteres) that exists in every Jew without exception, and regarding it the Alter Rebbe first raised four questions:
What is its root in the soul.
How it is an inheritance belonging to every single Jew.
What its nature is: what it longs for, what it seeks, and where it is striving to arrive.
How yirah (awe) is also included within it.
Two of these were explained in chapter 18: the root of this love is the level of chochmah in the soul; and it is an inheritance because the Avos are the "merkavah," the chariot, and therefore the hidden love of Hashem can be inherited from them until the end of all generations. The third question, what the nature of this love actually is, opened chapter 19, and that is what we dealt with in the previous shiur.
We learned that this nature is implanted in the soul of every Jew, like the nature of the flame of a candle which constantly strains upward. Even though in rising it separates from the wick and is extinguished, it still seeks to ascend, because its desire is to be absorbed into its source, the element of fire beneath the sphere of the moon. So too the neshamah: it has an inner desire and will to rise, to attach itself to Elokus and be completely absorbed in it, even though it has no taste or reasoning for this and no explanation of the matter at all.
We also looked at the two extremes. Chochmah, "kodesh ha'elyon," the supernal holiness, is by its very nature absolute bittul to Elokus, and in one whom the chochmah of the soul illuminates, his bittul to Elokus is total. Opposite it stands the kelipah, whose entire being is yeshus, self-existence, and distance from Elokus, as expressed in the kelipah's constant demand for itself, "hav hav," "give, give." For this reason, one in whom chochmah is not revealed is called "dead," as the verse says, "ימותו ולא בחכמה" ("they die, and not with wisdom").
Here a question arises: what about a Jew who finds himself in the state of a rasha and a sinner of Israel? He too is a son of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, and this inheritance belongs to every single Jew, so that very point in the soul, the yechidah of the soul, by whose nature a Jew wishes to give up his life for his Creator, exists in him as well. How, then, does this fit with his being a rasha and a sinner of Israel? Has he lost that point? But this is something essential, passed down as an inheritance from father to son until the end of all generations, and it simply cannot be lost.
And more than that: the Gemara says that the wicked in their lifetime are called dead, while the description "dead" is said of the power of kelipah and tumah, as in "ימותו ולא בחכמה." If a rasha does possess the chochmah of the soul, why is he called "dead"?
To this the Alter Rebbe says: "וכן הרשעים ופושעי ישראל קודם שבאו לידי נסיון לקדש השם" ("And so too the wicked and the sinners of Israel, before they come to a test of sanctifying Hashem's Name"). He is speaking of one who has not yet come to the test of kiddush Hashem. Other tests he has already faced and failed: to put on tefillin or not, to say Krias Shema or not, to look at a certain place or not. But to the test of kiddush Hashem he has not yet come.
The explanation lies in the distinction between the root of the chochmah of the soul and its extension outward. In chapter 18 we were given the phrase "החכמה תחיה בעליה" ("wisdom gives life to those who possess it"): the point of chochmah is meant to enliven all the faculties, limbs and senses, until the entire person is in bittul to the Creator of the world. However, this extension can be in a state of concealment: the faculties, the emotions and the thoughts are held in exile by the negative side, and out of that he sins and is called a sinner of Israel. But the point of chochmah itself is never lost.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "כי בחינת החכמה שבנפש האלקית עם ניצוץ אלקות מאור אין סוף ברוך הוא המלובש בה, הם בבחינת גלות בגופם בנפש הבהמית מצד הקליפה שבחלל השמאלי שבלב, המולכת ומושלת בגופם" ("for the level of chochmah of the divine soul, together with the spark of Elokus from the light of the blessed Ein Sof that is clothed in it, are in a state of exile within their body, in the nefesh habahamis, by force of the kelipah in the left chamber of the heart, which reigns and rules over their body"). The exile is not at someone else's hands but at his own: it is the nefesh habahamis within him, by force of the kelipah in the left chamber of the heart, that has put the chochmah of his soul into exile.
Two expressions are used here, "reigns" (molechess) and "rules" (mosheles), and they indicate two levels among the wicked:
Malchus, kingship, which comes by willing acceptance, as we say in davening, "מלכותו ברצון קיבלו עליהם" ("they willingly accepted His kingship upon themselves").
Memshalah, dominion, which is imposed against one's will.
But either way, the point of chochmah in the soul is held in exile, and this is "בסוד גלות השכינה כנ"ל" ("in the mystery of the exile of the Shechinah, as mentioned above"), already explained earlier in chapter 17: there is the general galus of the Shechinah, the exile of the Jewish people as a whole, and there is a personal exile within each and every individual, in that the divine spark within him is in galus.
From here we can also understand why this love is called "hidden." At first glance the two concepts do not go together: if one loves, it should be visible; and if it is hidden, that is a sign that he does not love, for there is no such thing as a "hidden lover." The explanation is that the love itself exists in full force; the concealment comes from an outside factor, from the nefesh habahamis and the yetzer hara within him, which cover it over.
And this is the Alter Rebbe's wording: this love of the divine soul, "שרצונה וחפצה לדבוק בה' חיי החיים ברוך הוא" ("whose will and desire is to cleave to Hashem, the blessed Life of life"), to the point of mesirus nefesh, is called "hidden love" because it is "מסותרת ומכוסה בלבוש שק דקליפה" ("hidden and covered over in the garment of sackcloth of kelipah").
This garment of sackcloth exists specifically by the sinners of Israel. A Jew who keeps Torah and mitzvos, his love is not covered over; it is active in him openly. But one who is called a sinner of Israel, who transgresses the entire Torah and is not moved by anything: his Jewishness has not been damaged, and the point in his soul exists in him exactly as it was, only that right now it is clothed in a garment of sackcloth. "אף על פי שחטא, ישראל הוא" ("even though he has sinned, he remains a Jew"): the point of chochmah in the soul remains in all its strength and is never damaged. The only question is how far the nefesh habahamis has taken control of it and covered it over.
In summary: in this section we learned that even in the wicked and the sinners of Israel there exists the level of chochmah of the soul and the divine spark clothed in it, only that they are held in exile within their body and their nefesh habahamis, by force of the kelipah in the left chamber of the heart which reigns and rules, whether as "kingship" accepted willingly or as "dominion" imposed against one's will; and this is the mystery of the exile of the Shechinah explained in chapter 17. We looked at the distinction between the root of chochmah, which is never lost, and its extension into the faculties and the limbs, where concealment is possible. From here comes the expression "hidden love": a love that is whole and in full force, whose will is to cleave to Hashem to the point of mesirus nefesh, only that it is covered over by the garment of sackcloth of kelipah.
In the next section we will see how, when a Jew comes to the point of friction, the test of kiddush Hashem, that inner point awakens and bursts through the garment of sackcloth that covers it.