We have reached the middle of chapter 33, on page 42a (page 83), at the exact spot where we stopped: the line that begins "mamash, ve'zeh kol ha'adam." We stopped right in the middle of the discussion, so let us begin with a brief review and go back three or four lines, in order to open the subject up again.
In the previous section we learned how a Jew arrives at genuine joy of the soul: through contemplation, through immersing his mind in G-d's true oneness. We explained what "His true oneness" means: a foundational point of emunah, that the only reality, the exclusive, true and absolute reality, is the reality of the Creator alone. Everything we see of the world's existence is nothing but a reality that the Holy One created in such a way that it should appear to be an independent existence, and whoever does not contemplate the truth of the matter imagines the world to be an entity in its own right. But that is merely part of the Divine concealment and tzimtzum (the contraction that hides G-d's infinite light); from the standpoint of truth, from the standpoint of the Creator's true unity, the world is nothing and naught, and the Creator is the only and exclusive reality. This is explained at length in chapters 21 and 28, and G-d willing we will learn it in depth in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah, where twelve chapters are devoted to this subject alone.
Every Jew believes this on the level of emunah, for Israel are "believers, the children of believers." But when a person contemplates the matter and comes to understand it, that contemplation is meant to bring him to genuine joy of the soul. Why?
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "והנה כשיעמיק בזה הרבה ישמח לבו ותגל נפשו אף גילת ורנן בכל לב ונפש ומאד באמונה זו" - "When he will contemplate this deeply, his heart will rejoice and his soul will be glad, with joy and singing, with all his heart, soul and might, in this faith." The more deeply a person delves into the fact that the only reality is the reality of the Creator, and that the world is not an entity to which one must assign independent significance, the more joy is awakened in his heart.
A practical point is worth noting here: the less a person grants the world the status of a significant factor, and the more he understands that everything is G-dliness and everything is run by the Creator, the easier it becomes for him to cope with and push through all the obstacles and delays, personal, general and communal, that come his way day after day, and especially when he is engaged in Torah and mitzvos.
The Alter Rebbe explains that this joy flows from two reasons. First he mentions them briefly, and afterwards he elaborates on each:
"כי קרבת אלוקים ממש" - "for this is true closeness to G-d."
"וזה כל האדם ותכלית בריאתו ובריאת כל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים להיות לו דירה זו בתחתונים, כמו שכתוב לקמן באריכות" - "and this is the whole of man and the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, upper and lower, that He should have this dwelling in the lower realms, as is explained at length further on." That is, this very emunah and contemplation are what bring about dirah betachtonim, a dwelling place for G-d in the lowest world.
"True closeness to G-d":
If we take an analogy from human beings, closeness can exist on many different levels. There is purely physical closeness: one person standing next to another. That is an external, technical closeness, with no significance beyond the mere fact of proximity. There is a more inward closeness: he is not only standing beside you, he is also looking at you, and more than that, he speaks with you. And even within speech itself there are levels: if he speaks with you about worldly matters, the closeness is not so inward; but if he pours out his entire inner world before you, there is no closeness like it. And yet, even that, between human beings, is not absolute, for speech, however much it expresses one's inner self, can never express everything. Speech is a limited vessel, and it conveys only as much as words are able to convey.
In the nimshal, the parallel is immeasurably deeper. The Holy One could have created the world and created human beings in such a way that we would never be able, with our faculties of knowledge, to learn about Him, to understand His oneness, or to know how the world was brought into being. He could have created us in a state of total disconnect in consciousness: we would live our lives, but as for anything G-dly we would have no relationship to it whatsoever. And indeed there are people who find themselves in precisely such a state, which is why a person must rejoice that he has emerged from it.
This is the great joy a person is meant to feel: that the Creator of the world gave us the possibility that He dwell within us by way of our own awareness. We draw close to Him in such a way that He comes to us. After all, a human creature, even the greatest and wisest of men, is small and limited, and relative to the Creator and Former of all there ought to have been an infinite distance, to the point that we would have no capacity at all to study, to understand, or even to speak about the matter. The very possibility that the Creator has granted us is "true closeness to G-d": an immense closeness, in which the Creator has drawn near to us.
The second reason, dirah betachtonim, we will set aside for the moment. First let us read the lines that follow, in which the Alter Rebbe explains what this closeness to G-d actually is.
The parable of the king who lodges in the commoner's home:
"והנה כמה גדולה שמחת הדיוט ושפל אנשים בהתקרבותו למלך בשר ודם" - "How great is the joy of a commoner, of the lowliest of men, when he is brought close to a king of flesh and blood." The king is flesh and blood, and the commoner too is flesh and blood; it is only that one is a simple commoner and the other is a king. A person who merited being brought close to the king will tell the story with excitement for the rest of his life.
However, the degree to which the simple man is brought close to the king can take several forms:
The king invites the simple man to the palace and brings him in, chamber within chamber, to be together with him. On the face of it this is a very lofty level, a tremendous joy and something to long for, yet embedded within it is a message: "You are a simple man. I cannot come to your home, and I am incapable of descending to you. What I am prepared to do is bring you to me."
The king is willing to come to the simple man's own home, to sit on his chair and at his table and to be close to him. This is a far greater closeness, for in doing so the king is telling him: it is not only you as a person whom I value, I do not reject even your surroundings. I take you exactly as you are and come to your house. But here too there are levels: a short visit alone means, "To live with you I cannot; I am prepared to step in for a short while, drink a cup of tea, and leave."
And the highest level: the king comes not for a brief visit but to live in the man's home and to be with him. There is no closeness greater than this.
From here we come to the precision of the language in the Tanya: "המתאכסן" - "who lodges." An achsenai in the language of the Sages is a guest, something temporary. And then more than that: "ודר אתו עמו בביתו" - "and dwells with him, together with him, in his home." Not only does the king lodge with him for a short time, he actually dwells with him. And he does not even ask him to vacate the house; rather, "with him, together with him, in his home," together with the man, in the man's own house.
In the nimshal, this is precisely what the Holy One does with a Jew. He says to him: it makes no difference who you are and it makes no difference what you are. If you will only open your eyes and your mind and begin to contemplate, you will be able to bring into your mind and into your awareness a connection to the Creator's oneness on the highest level. The King comes to dwell with you, inside your house and inside your room, and there is no closeness greater than that.
"וקל וחומר לאין קץ לקרבת ודירת מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא" - "and how infinitely more so with regard to the closeness and the dwelling of the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He." The kal vachomer here is without limit: if the closeness of a king of flesh and blood produces such great joy, then infinitely more so the closeness and the indwelling of the King of kings. A person has merited to bring the Creator in as a permanent resident, even if only to the limited extent that he is able to understand and grasp, and from this comes the great joy he is meant to feel.
In summary: in this section we learned that contemplating G-d's true oneness brings a person to joy of the soul, and for two reasons: "true closeness to G-d," and dirah betachtonim, which is the purpose of the creation of man and of all the worlds. We explained what this closeness means: that the Creator, from whom a limited human creature is separated by an infinite distance, made it possible for man to know Him and to connect to His oneness, and in doing so drew close to us. And we examined the parable of the commoner and the king with all its levels, and the precision of the words "who lodges and dwells with him, together with him, in his home," that this is not a temporary visit at all, but a permanent residence in a person's own home.
In the next section we will take up the second reason the Alter Rebbe mentioned, "and this is the whole of man and the purpose of his creation and of the creation of all the worlds, upper and lower": the subject of dirah betachtonim.