In the previous section we dealt with the completely impure kelipos, the forces that conceal and deny the Creator's existence. They too receive divine life-force: "ולקבל חיותם וקיומם מדבר ה' ורוח פיו יתברך" ("and to receive their vitality and existence from the word of G-d and the breath of His mouth"), from the divine speech and the divine tzimtzum. Obviously they cannot receive that life-force in a revealed way, since their very existence consists of denying and not sensing G-dliness. And yet nothing at all can exist without the divine power, so they too receive vitality from G-dliness, only "בהסתר פנים ובירידת המדרגות" ("through a concealment of the Divine countenance and a descent through the levels"). The Creator gives them their vitality while hiding Himself from them, and that is why they are called "elokim acherim," other gods.
To understand the next passage in Tanya we need a few preliminary points. Regarding created beings in general, including those on the side of holiness, Scripture uses two different expressions for the relationship between the divine power and the creation:
"כל אשר חפץ ה' עשה בשמים ובארץ בימים וכל תהומות" ("All that G-d desired He did, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all the depths"), from the word chefetz, desire or will.
"בדבר ה' שמים נעשו וברוח פיו כל צבאם" ("By the word of G-d the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host"), from the word davar, speech.
These are not two ways of saying the same thing. Every expression is precise: chefetz and davar are two distinct matters, and each one speaks of a different level. This is explained at length in Chassidus, including in the Tzemach Tzedek's commentary on this very chapter of Tanya.
Chassidus explains that every created being contains, if we divide it simply, two components:
Its bare existence: the sheer fact that it is a being, that it was brought into existence yesh me'ayin, something from nothing, a limited entity, without yet going into any details of what its qualities are, its shape, its color, its capacities. Just the fact of its being.
Its particular individuality: the qualities and details unique to each and every creature. That is already a matter of tzimtzum.
What inanimate matter, plant life and animal life all share is simply that they are creations brought into being from nothing. From that perspective it makes no difference whether we are speaking of a stone or a blade of grass, since in both cases a "something" has come into existence. Only afterward come the particulars: in the plant world there are trees and there are grasses, there are plants with healing properties and there are the opposite, poisonous ones; among inanimate things there are ordinary stones, there are precious stones and pearls, there is water, and so on with every single thing.
The bare existence and materiality comes from chefetz, from the divine will that there be creations in the world. Had creatures come into being from the divine desire alone, in an abstract way, there would be no difference at all between one creature and another; the superiority of one over the other and the distinct character of each would not be apparent. Therefore that divine desire had to contract itself further, to descend into particulars and to enter into each individual creature in a personal and specific way, into its capacities and its vessels. That is what is called "dvar Hashem," the word of G-d.
So every creature contains both: its general existence comes from the divine chefetz, while its individual qualities and particulars come from dvar Hashem. In other words, there is life-force in an encompassing, makif way, the general vitality, which is the aspect of chefetz; and life-force in an inner, penimi way, which is the aspect of davar.
What about creations that are avodah zarah, the kelipos and the sitra achra? They too contain both aspects, the general encompassing vitality and the inner vitality. The difference is that their very existence is in no way a vessel for the revelation of the divine power; on the contrary, it opposes it. The Alter Rebbe therefore explains here that such creations are called "elokim acherim," and he gives two reasons in this chapter for that name: one from the standpoint of the encompassing vitality, and one from the standpoint of the inner vitality. We will take each one in turn.
["Elokim acherim" is a term for those forces of avodah zarah. The Rebbe was once asked how one should pronounce the word when it refers to idolatry, and he derives from one of the Ramban's explanations on the Torah that even there one says "Elokim" with a kuf.]
The word "acherim" has the ring of "achorayim," the back side. And what is the difference between face and back? When a person hands something to his fellow face to face, he is giving with his whole heart, from his innermost self. But when he tosses something to someone over his shoulder, either he is giving it in passing, without paying the recipient any attention, or else he cannot stand him and has no choice, so he throws it to him in a manner of achorayim.
Avos deRabbi Nosson puts it this way on the Mishnah's words "Receive every person with a pleasant countenance": "If a man gives his fellow all the finest gifts in the world but his face is downcast toward the ground, Scripture considers it as though he gave him nothing. But one who receives his fellow with a pleasant countenance, even if he gave him nothing at all, Scripture considers it as though he gave him all the finest gifts in the world." You gave him everything good, but you never looked at his face: it is as though you gave him nothing. "Panim," then, indicates a giving that carries desire and will, pleasure and joy.
All these creations, the kelipos and the sitra achra, were created by the Holy One. Why did He create them? As Tanya explains here, because He wanted there to be free choice in the world, as the verse says, "I have placed before you the good and the evil." So He created in the world both good and the opposite of good. But does He want them? Is there any purpose in them in their own right? In themselves there is no purpose whatsoever; they were created only so that there be a discernible balance in the world, while in them themselves He has no desire at all.
It follows that their creation was in the mode of achorayim: the divine power does not penetrate them in an inner way. We cannot say about the Creator that He acted out of having no choice, since "who can say to Him, what are You doing?" and there is no one who can force Him; but it is not with an inner will.
A parable: a person walks into a store to buy bread, tells the storekeeper "give me a loaf," and pays. Does he want to pay? What he wants is the bread, and since he knows he cannot get it without paying, he pays. You cannot say he does not want to pay, since in fact he is paying; it is just that this will is a kind of against-his-will, an act done not in a mode of panim but in a mode of achorayim.
Another example: Eichmann, may his name be erased, who was held here in Eretz Yisrael until his trial. During that time he was given good care, doctors, food, and his wellbeing was looked after. Did they really want him and want him healthy? In the end they did to him what had to be done. The same applies here: the forces of impurity and the sitra achra exist for the time being, until the fulfillment of "He will swallow up death forever," when the Holy One will abolish all the forces of impurity and the sitra achra from the world. In the meantime, their existence is in a mode of achorayim.
This, then, explains the general encompassing vitality that exists in them as well: it cannot be described as chefetz, an inner will, and therefore they are called "elokim acherim," because it is the aspect of achorayim.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "ולכן נקראים אלקים אחרים מפני שיניקתם וחיותם אינה מבחינת פנים" ("and therefore they are called other gods, because their nurture and vitality is not from the aspect of panim"). The nurture and life-force of those kelipos and the sitra achra does not come in a mode of face and inwardness, "אלא מבחינת אחוריים דקדושה" ("but from the aspect of the achorayim of holiness"). They do receive from holiness, since it is impossible for anything in the world to receive vitality from anywhere else; everything comes from the Creator and there are no other sources. It is only that this receiving is in the aspect of achorayim, in a way that is not the purpose and not the goal.
"ופירוש אחוריים כאדם הנותן דבר לשונאו שלא ברצונו שמשליכו לו כלאחר כתפו" ("and the meaning of achorayim is like a man who gives something to his enemy unwillingly, flinging it to him over his shoulder"). He does not want to give it to him, but he has no choice, so he tosses it to him from behind his back, in passing.
[A point worth noting: this description of achorayim, of a giving done "in passing," might seem to detract from the perfection of holiness, since it is impossible that one side Above should be made in perfection and another side not. But the parable is given for our sake, for created beings, so that we can grasp something; and certainly the aspect of achorayim Above is far deeper and loftier than a literal toss over the shoulder. And this very point is the entire content of chapter 21, which we learned.]
To summarize: in this section we learned that even the kelipos and the sitra achra receive their vitality from the word of G-d and the breath of His mouth, through concealment of the Divine countenance and a descent through the levels. We introduced the distinction between "chefetz Hashem," the encompassing vitality that constitutes a creature's bare existence, and "dvar Hashem," the inner vitality from which each creature's particular qualities come. Both of these aspects exist in the kelipos as well, and on account of both they are called "elokim acherim." We covered the first reason, from the standpoint of the encompassing vitality: "acherim" from the word achorayim, since their nurture is not from the aspect of panim but from the achorayim of holiness, like a man giving something to his enemy unwillingly and flinging it to him over his shoulder.
In the next section we will take up the second reason given in the chapter: why they are called "elokim acherim" from the standpoint of the inner vitality as well.