In the previous section we learned that the moment a person truly registers that what is at stake is life or death, connection to the Creator or being cut off from Him, there erupts in him a love and a mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice) that will not allow him to transgress the Creator's will. Who, then, is the one who makes the distinction and says, "It is not so terrible, this is not really a disconnection, you can go on, everything is fine"? That is the ruach shtus, the spirit of folly.
In the Alter Rebbe's words, this very same woman "היתה רוצה לדבקה באמונת השם ויחודו ואחדותו ולא להיפרד ח"ו מאחדותו, אפילו נוטלים את נפשה ממנה לעבוד עבודה זרה ח"ו, ואפילו בהשתחואה לבדה בלי שום אמונה בלב כלל" - "she too would want to cleave to faith in Hashem and to His oneness and unity, and not to be separated, G-d forbid, from His unity, even if her soul were taken from her so that she worship idolatry, G-d forbid, and even for a mere bow without any belief in the heart at all." Were someone to come to that simple woman and say: either you serve idolatry or we kill you, she would answer at once that she does not serve idolatry. And even if they told her merely to bow, just to bend her head, with no belief in the heart whatsoever, her response as a Jewish woman would be: I am ready to die al kiddush Hashem.
So it turns out that she is prepared to accept upon herself the agonies of death, even a cruel death, rather than transgress Hashem's will through idolatry, and she does not deliberate about it for a moment. Yet when it comes to overcoming a desire, which is far easier than the agonies of death, she does not overcome it: "וכל שכן לכבוש היצר ותאות הניאוף, שהם יסורים קלים ממית ה' ישמרנו" - "and how much more so to conquer the evil inclination and the desire for adultery, which are sufferings lighter than death, may Hashem protect us."
Why is she ready to die and yet not ready to restrain herself? "וההפרש שאצלה בין איסור ניאוף לאיסור השתחואה לע"ז" - "and the difference she makes between the prohibition of adultery and the prohibition of bowing to idolatry," as though idolatry were a weighty, severe matter while this prohibition is something light, is nothing but sheer folly. In truth there is no difference between them at all: this is a disconnection and that is a disconnection. And this distinction "הוא גם כן רוח שטות דקליפה המלבשת לנפש האלקית" - "is likewise the ruach shtus of the kelipah that clothes itself in the G-dly soul." The spirit of folly envelops the G-dly soul and confuses it. But it has no power to clothe itself in the soul without limit; rather, only "עד בחינת חכמה שבה ולא עד בכלל, מפני אור השם המלובש בחכמה כנ"ל" - "up to the level of chochmah within it but not including it, because of the light of Hashem clothed in chochmah, as explained above." The ruach shtus grows stronger and stronger, but only until the point of chochmah in the soul, and there it cannot pass.
That point of chochmah in the soul asserts itself when the question becomes one of faith or idolatry. "אבל באמת לאמיתו אפילו עבירה קלה" - "but in absolute truth, even a light transgression." There is no need to arrive at a severe prohibition such as adultery. Even in the lightest transgression, some small half-line clause in Shulchan Aruch, some rabbinic enactment, "הרי העוברה עובר על רצון העליון ב"ה, והוא בתכלית הפירוד מיחודו ואחדותו יתברך, יותר מסטרא אחרא וקליפה הנקראת אלקים אחרים ועבודה זרה ממש" - "one who transgresses it transgresses the Supernal Will, blessed be He, and he is in the ultimate separation from His oneness and unity, more than the sitra achra and kelipah which are called 'other gods' and actual idolatry." One who transgresses Hashem's will, even in something light, is worse than all the forces of impurity and evil in the world, for as we learned, all the forces of impurity do Hashem's will, while he transgresses it.
A transgression means transgressing Hashem's will. It is only that there are matters whose punishment is severe, stoning, burning, lashes, and matters whose punishment is far lighter, a monetary fine, and others where there is nothing more than a warning. And the intent is not specifically the severe transgressions that have no practical reality in our times, but rather things in everyday life. So Rashi expounds on the verse "vehayah ekev tishme'un" - the light mitzvos that a person tramples with his heels. There are things considered light, and each person according to his own situation: getting angry, ignoring someone, talking in shul in the middle of Kaddish, a lack of sensitivity in this or that detail between one person and another. The examples are endless. Anything that falls under the definition of a transgression, even a light transgression, leaves the one who commits it in the ultimate separation from the Creator's oneness and unity, worse than the forces of impurity in the world.
And not only that, he is worse even than those things that draw their vitality from kelipah: "ויותר מכל הדברים הנשפעים ממנה בעולם הזה" - "and more than all the things that flow from it into this world." There are things in the world whose energies are negative and evil, for example "שהם בהמות טמאות" - "which are impure animals." An impure animal is forbidden to eat because it receives its vitality from kelipah and the sitra achra. And likewise "וחיות ועופות טמאים, ושקצים ורמשים" - "and impure beasts and birds, and creeping and crawling things." All of these live in the world and contain forces of impurity, and a Jew who commits a light transgression is worse than they are.
This is stated explicitly in the Gemara, which asks why Adam was created last, on the sixth day of creation, after every creature in the world, from the greatest to the smallest, had already been created. Several answers are given there, among them two that are the opposite of each other:
Like a king entering his palace: the king is brought into the palace only once everything is ready and polished. One does not bring the king in and tell him to stand to the side and wait while they install a lamp and paint the walls.
And the reverse: that if a person sins and becomes arrogant, he is told "a gnat preceded you" - the tiny gnat was created before you.
So it emerges that if a person does Hashem's will he is told that he is like a king, and if he transgresses Hashem's will he is told, "a gnat preceded you."
The Alter Rebbe explains the phrase "a gnat preceded you" in a deeper sense. On the simple level, "preceded you" means in time: the gnat was created before you. But the Alter Rebbe adds that "preceded you" also means in rank: the tiny gnat stands on a higher level than the sinner. And why did they specifically choose a gnat and not some other small creature?
In his words: "וכמאמר יתוש קדמך, פירוש דאף יתוש שמכניס ואינו מוציא" - "as in the saying 'a gnat preceded you,' meaning that even the gnat, which takes in and does not give out." The gnat sucks blood and puts nothing back. It gives nothing and nourishes nothing in its surroundings; it only takes. This is the very emblem of egoism: everything for myself, and I set aside nothing for anyone else. Therefore it "שהיא קליפה היותר תחתונה ורחוקה מבחינת הקדושה המשפעת בתכלית הריחוק" - "is the lowest kelipah, utterly distant from the level of holiness which bestows." For holiness stands at the very opposite end: it bestows upon all and gives to all, even to one who is in the most distant place. For one who is bound up with holiness there is no such thing as "far," and every person, even the simplest and the lowest, receives.
And nevertheless, the gnat did not choose to be this way; the Creator made it so. Whereas the one who transgresses Hashem's will chose it himself. Who, then, is worse: one who was created that way, or one who chose it? The one who chose it is worse. That is why the sinner is told that the gnat comes before him, "קודמת לאיש החוטא" - "it precedes the sinful man," and this precedence is in rank: "בהשתלשלות וירידת החיות מרצון העליון ב"ה" - "in the hishtalshelus and descent of vitality from the Supernal Will, blessed be He." The farther a creature is from G-dliness, the more remotely it receives its vitality, and a person at the moment of sin receives his vitality from the very bottom of the bottom, farther away than the sitra achra and kelipah, and lower even than the gnat.
"וכל שכן שאר בעלי חיים הטמאים ואפילו חיות רעות" - "and how much more so the other impure living creatures, and even the predatory beasts." There are impure animals that harm no one, and there are wild, predatory beasts, which would seem to be worse than the impure ones that do not prey. And the sinner is worse even than they are. And what is the common denominator among all of them, the kelipah and the sitra achra, the impure animals and the predatory beasts? "שכולם אינם משנים תפקידם ופקודתו יתברך שמרה רוחם" - "that they all do not change their function, and His command, blessed be He, has guarded their spirit." The very spirit pulsing in the predatory leopard keeps the Creator's command and does not alter its assigned role.
In summary: in this section we learned that that same simple woman is ready to give up her life rather than bow to an idol, even with no belief in her heart at all, and yet she does not conquer her desire in a matter far lighter than the agonies of death. The distinction she draws between the two is nothing but the ruach shtus of kelipah, which clothes itself in the G-dly soul up to the level of chochmah within it but not including it, because of the light of Hashem clothed in chochmah. In truth there is no difference at all: every transgression, even the very lightest, is a transgression of the Supernal Will and the ultimate separation from His oneness and unity, more than the sitra achra and kelipah, and more than everything that flows from it into this world: impure animals, impure beasts and birds, creeping and crawling things. Of this it is said, "a gnat preceded you": the gnat, which takes in and does not give out, is the lowest kelipah, utterly distant from holiness, and even so it precedes the sinner in rank, since that is how it was created, and it does not change its function, and His command has guarded its spirit.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words and with the explanation of the standing of one who transgresses the Creator's will relative to all the creatures that keep His command.