In the previous section we looked at the teaching of our Sages that the Holy One desired a dirah betachtonim, a dwelling place in the lower realms. And we asked: even the world of Atzilus can be called «lower,» since it contains a certain measure of concealment, so which «lower realms» are we actually talking about? To understand this, we first need to explain the concept of hishtalshelus ha'olamos, the chain-like unfolding of the worlds.
What is «hishtalshelus ha'olamos»:
The word hishtalshelus comes from the image of a shalsheles, a chain, and it pays to look closely at the details of the metaphor, because they will help us understand what it represents. In a physical chain, every link is attached to the link above it, and that attachment is reflected in how the link experiences itself: it is not the starting point; above it there is something higher; it comes from that higher link, it hangs from it, it receives from it, and it is held up by it. The lower ring feels that the upper one is above it and that it is below.
The same is true in spiritual terms. The order of hishtalshelus is that from a higher world, a world in which there is more revelation, a lower world comes into being, and so on through many worlds. After the world of Beriah comes the world of Yetzirah, and the angels and divine creations of Yetzirah feel their own lowliness: they sense that above them is a loftier world, with intensity and revelation greater than their own, and that their entire existence depends on what is above them.
The very fact that a created being feels itself «small» means that it recognizes that everything did not begin with it, that it is one link in a chain. It feels its own limitation, and it feels that above it there is something higher. This awareness exists in every one of the worlds.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: «וירידתם ממדרגה למדרגה על ידי ריבוי הלבושים המסתירים האור והחיות שממנו יתברך» (their descent from level to level comes about through the multiplication of garments that conceal the light and life-force that come from Him). Every descent adds another covering, another concealment, another hiddenness. But this is not the kind of hiddenness that says «I have no awareness at all that there is anything above me.» Despite the concealment, there remains a sense that a higher light exists in the world above. That is what hishtalshelus means: another layer of hiddenness and concealment, and another, and yet the bond between lower and higher is preserved, and the lower one feels that it is only «B,» and that before it stands «A,» and so on up the chain.
«Until this physical world was created»:
Up to here we have a chain. And here something drastic happens. This physical world is not one more link in the chain, and it is not part of the hishtalshelus at all. It is created. Something entirely new comes into being, in which there is no trace at all of being the continuation and outgrowth of something that preceded it: «עולם הזה הגשמי והחומרי ממש» (this world, literally physical and material).
And what we are discussing here is how the creations themselves experience it. When you look at the world, at a table or a tree, is it obvious to physical eyes that it is nothing more than the result of something higher than itself? Of course a Jew who learns Torah knows this intellectually, but we are not speaking about intellectual knowledge. The question is what the world, by its very nature, cries out. And the entire being of the world, by its natural makeup, declares: «I am, and there is nothing else.» It does not feel it, does not recognize it, does not admit it, and in fact kicks against it. It has no wish to be told that it is one link in a chain with something higher above it.
Had the world been just one more link in the chain, it would not look the way we know it. It would be more divine, more refined, more imbued with bittul, with self-nullification, because then it would have to recognize that above it is another world and another world, until it would arrive at the point of truth. The very recognition that something stands above me is a recognition of my own limitation. It works that way in any hierarchy, in a factory or in a government: when the one at the bottom knows that he is only the last link in the whole process, recognizes his limitation, and knows that above him stands someone else, he is in a constant state of bittul. In this world that awareness simply does not exist. In its place there is ego, absolutely.
And we must distinguish between the spiritual dimension of the world and its material dimension. With the mind a person can grasp that nothing makes itself, that the Holy One brings the world into existence at every single moment, and what hashgachah peratis, individual Divine providence, means. All of that the intellect will tell us. The spiritual part of the world is prepared to concede the truth, because it genuinely is a link in the chain, and therefore it recognizes its own connection to something spiritual above it. But the material, physical part of the world does not recognize any belonging to something higher. The worlds above us are spiritual; this world is the only one that is physical, and physical means cut off, completely severed from everything that came before it.
This is why here the whole picture flips from one extreme to the other. In the upper worlds you can say that here there is more revelation and here less, and even the last link in the chain still has some revelation, not as lofty as the link above it, but something. In this physical world, by contrast, there is no revelation whatsoever: absolute darkness, self-existence, independent activity, and ego.
«The lowest in rank, with nothing lower beneath it»:
From here we return to the language of the Sages, that the Holy One wants a dwelling in the lower realms. When the Sages say «in the lower realms,» they mean the absolute lowest there is. The worlds above us cannot be called lower in any absolute sense. Why not? Because the very recognition and awareness that something exists above me removes them from the category of «lowest»: they are somewhat spiritual, somewhat elevated, and there is bittul in them. But the physicality of this world is the lowest of all, because everything it cries out is total concealment: «והוא התחתון במדרגה שאין תחתון למטה ממנו בעניין הסתר אורו יתברך וחושך כפול ומכופל» (it is the lowest in rank, with no level lower than it in terms of the concealment of His light, and a darkness doubled and redoubled).
The point is not that there is no galaxy lower than ours, but that there is nothing lower than it in terms of concealment. The most absolute concealment there is, is found right here, and there is no concept, no place, and no level of total darkness, darkness doubled and redoubled, like it.
In what does this darkness express itself?
In the fact that the world does not concede the truth. The world does not need to shout «there is no G-d.» It is enough that it does not shout «there is a G-d,» enough that it does not say that its entire existence hangs on something beyond it. The very fact that it does not admit its own dependence, that itself is darkness doubled and redoubled.
«And full of kelipos and sitra achra»:
And the Alter Rebbe adds a further point. It is not only that the world is dark and does not reveal the truth, but «עד שהוא מלא קליפות וסטרא אחרא שהן נגד ה' ממש לומר: אני ואפסי עוד» (to the point that it is full of kelipos and sitra achra, which are literally opposed to G-d, declaring «I am, and there is nothing besides me»). The Holy One began creating the physical world on the first day of creation, but at the end of the six days of Bereishis, after the sin of Adam, the world absorbed an additional blow and became filled with kelipos and sitra achra, the forces of concealment and the «other side.» Their meaning: not only does the world fail to reveal the truth, it actually shouts «there is nothing here, what are you even talking about?» That is a lowliness worse still, for these forces stand literally opposed to G-d.
It is worth noting the difference between these two matters:
The kelipos and sitra achra: these came at a later stage, on the sixth day of creation, and of them we are destined to be rid. The true and complete redemption means that the kelipos and sitra achra will vanish.
The physicality and materiality: of these we will not be rid. What will happen is that the physical itself will become a dwelling for Him. But as long as a dwelling for G-d is not revealed within the physical, the physical remains a darkness doubled and redoubled.
To summarize: in this section we examined the meaning of hishtalshelus ha'olamos, a chain in which every link feels that it is not the beginning and that its entire existence depends on what is above it, where each descent adds another garment and another concealment without severing the bond to what is higher. This physical world, by contrast, is not a link in the chain but a new creation, in which no connection to what preceded it is at all evident, and whose entire being declares «I am, and there is nothing else.» From here the definition of «lower» becomes clear: even a world that recognizes itself as a link in the chain is called lower, since it contains covering and concealment relative to what is above it; but the very recognition that it is not the beginning and that it is bound to what precedes it removes it from the category of the lowest of all. The lowest place is the physical, material world, and its lowliness expresses itself in its failure to reveal the Creator, and more than that, in being full of kelipos and sitra achra that cry out «I am, and there is nothing besides me.»