The well-known statement of the Midrash tells us that «נתאווה הקב"ה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים», the Holy One desired a dwelling place in the lower realms. The Creator, as it were, wants a home for Himself. And what is that home? That His presence be revealed absolutely, with no covering whatsoever, not even the thinnest covering, because even that is still a covering. His will is to be revealed completely.
And where does the Creator want that complete revelation to take place? Astonishingly: not in Gan Eden, not in the World to Come, not in the world of Atzilus and not in any of the higher worlds, but specifically in this lowest world where we find ourselves. Here is where He wants His revelation in its fullest form. (Later in the chapter we will see that such a revelation already occurred once, at Mattan Torah.) This is the purpose of everything, and this is what we are striving to reach.
What does «lower» mean in relation to the Creator?
We have understood the word «dwelling», but we have not yet understood the words «in the lower realms». After all, how can one speak of «lower» in relation to the Creator? Is there anything that is higher or lower with respect to Him, such that one could say He wants a dwelling specifically in the lower realm? (This question has to be settled first; only afterwards can we discuss how this world could possibly contain such a revelation.) And this is precisely the question the Alter Rebbe raises immediately.
In his words: «והנה לא שייך לפניו יתברך בחינת מעלה ומטה», with regard to Him, blessed be He, the categories of higher and lower do not apply. Certainly not in a physical sense, and not even in the sense of a higher level and a lower level. Up and down are terms that apply only to limited things: when something is defined at a certain level and within a certain domain, one can say that there is something above it and something below it. But where there is no definition and no boundary at all, it makes no sense to speak of what is above Him and what is below Him.
And the reason: «כי הוא יתברך ממלא כל עלמין בשווה», He fills all worlds equally. From His standpoint He is present in every place and in every world the same, there is no higher and lower with Him at all; everything is one single point.
If so, why do we nevertheless call this «lower»? Relative to whom is it being said? To this the Alter Rebbe continues: «אלא ביאור העניין, כי קודם שנברא העולם היה הוא לבדו יתברך יחיד ומיוחד, וממלא כל המקום הזה שברא בו העולם», before the world was created He alone was, one and unique, filling the very space in which He created the world. «Before the world was created» means: before there existed any state of concealment and hiddenness, before there were creations relative to whom the Divine reality is hidden. Then He alone was, one and unique, with no concealment and no hiddenness at all.
But at first glance, is He not one and unique after the world was created as well? We learned at length in chapters 20 and 21 that even now He is one and unique, as in the familiar words, «You are the same before the world was created, You are the same after the world was created.» On this the Alter Rebbe says: «וגם עתה כן הוא לפניו יתברך, רק שהשינוי הוא אל המקבלים חיותו ואורו יתברך, שמקבלים על ידי לבושים רבים המכסים ומסתירים אורו יתברך», even now it is so before Him; the change is only with respect to those who receive His life force and His light, who receive it through many garments that cover and conceal His light.
In other words, even now there is no difference, from His standpoint, between before creation and after it; it is all one point. The entire change is only relative to the creations who receive the Divine life force, and this is where the differentiation begins: what sort of creation is it, what is its capacity, how much of the Divine vitality is hidden from it and how much is revealed to it. Here countless levels and worlds came into being, higher and lower, and the difference between them is purely the measure of revelation and the measure of concealment. A creation for whom the revelation is greater is called «above», and a world in which there is another covering and another screen that prevents it from seeing is called more «lower».
Every garment is one more concealment, one more world of hiddenness. It is like a person who cannot look at the sun in the full intensity of its light: he hangs a curtain, lowers a blind, looks for sunglasses, because he needs a covering in order to be able to bear the light. So too the Divine covers itself in accordance with the type of creation at each level: a higher creation, which can receive more, does not need so many coverings, and the lower the creation, the more coverings it requires.
And yet even the loftiest and highest creation of all has a certain covering relative to it as well, because if there were no covering whatsoever there would be no existence of a creation at all. The very concept of «an existence» tells us that some covering is already present. A creation is called «higher» because its covering is minimal and slight, but a covering there is. And so it is from the very first point onward: whether we are speaking of the world of Atzilus, or of the hidden sefiros, or of levels higher still, every Divine level we can speak about is already the beginning of a covering.
As proof that a covering exists even at the very highest level, the Alter Rebbe brings a verse. Moshe Rabbeinu asked the Holy One, «Show me, please, Your glory,» and the Holy One answered him, «כי לא יראני האדם וחי», for no man shall see Me and live. On the simple level, the way one learns it with a child in cheder: it is impossible for a human being to see Me and go on living, for his soul would fly from his body and could not withstand the intensity.
But our Sages give it a deeper reading: the word «וחי», «and live», refers to the angels, who are called «chayos», as in the words of the prayer, «the ofanim and the holy chayos». According to this, the Holy One is telling Moshe Rabbeinu: neither does man see Me, nor does the «chai» see Me. Even an angel, who stands at what seems to be a lofty Divine level, does not see. True, he sees more than a human being does, but one cannot say that he sees the Divine in its purity; over him too there is a covering.
It emerges, then, that the definition of «lower» is the measure of covering and concealment, and that it is said only relative to creations. Relative to the Creator there is no concept of lower at all, for with Him everything is equal.
Where, then, does the Holy One want His dwelling?
One has to know that every expression in the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, in Gemara and in Midrash, is absolutely exact down to the last word. So when the Midrash says that the Holy One desired a dwelling in the lower realms, then according to what we have explained, «lower» already begins at the very first point where there is a covering, and from there onward everything is lower, only that there is covering upon covering. If so, which place did the Midrash mean? Perhaps a «dwelling in the lower realms» means the world of Atzilus, which is itself included in «lower realms»?
To this the Alter Rebbe continues: «וזהו עניין השתלשלות העולמות וירידתם ממדרגה למדרגה», and this is the matter of the hishtalshelus of the worlds and their descent from level to level. «Hishtalshelus» comes from the word shalsheles, a chain. Just as a chain is made up of links, and each link is joined to the link after it and leads into it, and the lowest link stands where it stands only because the link above is holding it, while it itself is nothing more than one more link in the chain, and so link after link, in a long chain-like process, so it is with the worlds.
In summary: in this portion we learned that a «dwelling» means absolute revelation with no covering at all; that relative to the Creator there is no higher and lower whatsoever, since He fills all worlds equally, and even now He is one and unique exactly as before creation. The entire change is only on the side of the recipients, who receive His light through many garments that cover and conceal, and therefore «higher» and «lower» are measured by the degree of revelation and concealment. Even the loftiest creation is not free of a covering, as is proven from the verse «כי לא יראני האדם וחי», that even angels, who are called «chayos», do not see.
In the next portion we will continue with the explanation of the hishtalshelus of the worlds and their descent from level to level, and we will see which «lower» precisely the Midrash has in mind when it says «a dwelling in the lower realms».