In the previous chapters we raised a question: how is it possible that precisely in our physical world, a world that is dark and devoid of any Divine revelation, the very highest revelation will be revealed? How will created beings be able to receive it without being nullified out of existence altogether?
To sharpen the question, let us first bring a passage from our Sages. The Midrash relates the complaint the angels lodged against the giving of the Torah, and what the Holy One did in response: «he took His little finger among them and burned them».
On the simple level this sounds like literal burning, a punishment for the angels' complaint. But Chassidus explains it beautifully: the Holy One said to the angels, you want revelation? Let us give you the little finger, and we will see whether you can withstand it. The ten fingers correspond to the ten sefiros, and the little finger is the last of them, the sefirah of Malchus. And what happened to them once that revelation was given? They were burned, meaning: they could not withstand its intensity.
From here emerges a rule that applies in every world: when a light shines into a given world that is even slightly greater than that world's capacity to absorb it, that world is nullified and ceases to exist. An angel that receives such a revelation is nullified; the plant kingdom that receives it is nullified.
And hence the question: in this physical world there is no revelation at all, it is utter darkness, and precisely here the greatest revelation of all is destined to be revealed. How will created beings withstand so great a revelation, a revelation that even the higher worlds cannot receive, without being nullified?
The Alter Rebbe's answer:
We are on page 46a (page 91), at the line beginning «yibatlu bimetzius». The Alter Rebbe writes: «ולזה נתן הקב"ה לישראל את התורה שנקראת עוז וכוח, כמאמר רז"ל שהקב"ה נותן כוח בצדיקים לקבל שכרם לעתיד לבוא» («And for this reason the Holy One gave Israel the Torah, which is called strength and power, as our Sages said, that the Holy One grants power to the tzaddikim to receive their reward in the time to come»). In other words: so that they would be able to receive the revelation and still remain standing, they were given the Torah, which is called «strength and power», for a special power is required «שלא יתבטלו במציאות ממש באור ה' הנגלה לעתיד» («that they not be nullified out of existence entirely in the light of G-d that will be revealed in the future»). For if they lack the power to receive it, they will be nullified out of existence.
The light that will be revealed in the time to come comes with no garment whatsoever, and by its own nature it would reduce created beings to utter nothingness. From here to the end of the chapter the Alter Rebbe develops two lines of thought: what kind of light is it that nullifies a creature, and what is special about this particular light, that not only does it not nullify the creature, but on the contrary, it gives the creature the power to withstand it.
«Unlimited light» and «undefined light»:
Let us introduce two expressions that do not appear in the chapter itself, but which will help us understand it. To light up a room an ordinary candle is enough; but in a dark, airless underground cellar a small candle will simply go out and accomplish nothing. There you need a torch or a powerful floodlight. The darker the place, the stronger the light required to illuminate it.
Unlimited light: an infinite light, which has the capacity to travel from its source down to the lowest, darkest, most downtrodden places and illuminate them. But although it is unlimited, it is defined: its definition is that it is infinite, and when it comes into a limited place it does not contract itself, it arrives in its full expanse. Therefore it does indeed reach all the way down, but the lower place cannot absorb it.
Undefined light: a higher level, a light that has no definition at all. It is not bound to come only in an infinite expanse that shatters every place it enters; it can also come within limitation, reach down to the very lowest place, and fit itself to that place in a way that the place can bear it and contain it.
An analogy: an electrical appliance built for low voltage, plugged into a socket whose voltage is higher than it can take, burns out. And note the precision here: we are not even speaking of an unlimited light, but of a power only slightly greater than the appliance's capacity to absorb it. The power itself remains exactly as it was, nothing happened to it, and it even entered the appliance in the usual way; it is the appliance that burned out. How much more so with an unlimited light, which as far as it is concerned reaches every place, except that the place cannot absorb it.
In this physical world there is no example of an undefined light, since anything of great intensity introduced into a place not prepared to receive it explodes. But here something fascinating happens: the light is great and immense, it comes into every place, and the place contains it, because it is not defined as having to come specifically in an infinite expanse.
Where is the greater power of the light evident: in the fact that it shatters the place, or in the fact that it is able to enter into the place?
It is precisely in entering inside that the greater wisdom is evident. Of King Solomon it is said that he was the wisest of all men, and the novelty and superiority of his wisdom was that he was wiser even than the fools. What does that mean? An average person is also wiser than a fool, but he has no common language with him and the fool does not understand him. King Solomon, by contrast, could speak even to a fool, and the fool understood what he was saying. The wisdom of an average person is defined: it is suited only for speaking with the wise. King Solomon's wisdom was undefined, and so he could speak with the wise, with the foolish, and with every single person. That is why it is said of him that he could explain any matter with three thousand parables. This is the illustration of undefined light, whose power is the higher of the two.
With this we understand why precisely in this world there will be so great a revelation and we will be able to bear it. In the higher worlds the light is indeed unlimited, but it is defined according to the measure of that particular world, and therefore a light too great for a small world nullifies it. In this world, however, there is «the superiority of light that comes from darkness», a unique light that has no parallel in any world, a light that comes out of the darkness itself. Seemingly darkness is the opposite of light, so how can darkness be turned into light? The answer is that this light is undefined, and therefore it has the ability to transform even darkness into light, to make the lowest place a vessel for the greatest light, and to teach the fool the language of King Solomon. This is the power the Holy One gave Israel in the Torah, which is called «strength and power».
The precision of the words «with no garment whatsoever»:
The Alter Rebbe writes that G-d's light will be revealed in the future «בלי שום לבוש» («with no garment whatsoever»), and not simply «with no garment». There is a precision here, for there are two kinds of garments: garments that conceal and garments that reveal.
A garment that conceals: the king can come out to his people with a curtain or a screen closed in front of him. Once the curtain is drawn, he cannot be seen at all.
A garment that reveals: the king can come out to his people wearing the royal crown, in magnificent robes and jewels, «a king in his beauty», and the people see him in all his splendor. This too is a garment, but it is a garment that reveals him. And even so it does not reveal him completely, for within his own home the king removes even these garments.
To summarize: in this section we learned from the Midrash about the burning of the angels that a revelation greater than a given world's capacity to absorb it nullifies that world, and from this arose the question of how this world will be able to receive the great revelation of the time to come. We explained the Alter Rebbe's answer, that the Holy One gave Israel the Torah, which is called «strength and power», and we clarified the difference between «unlimited light», which is indeed infinite but is defined as coming in its full expanse and therefore shatters the place, and «undefined light», which can fit itself to the lowest place, like the wisdom of King Solomon who could speak even with fools. This is the «superiority of light that comes from darkness» found in this world. Finally we noted the precision of the words «with no garment whatsoever», and began to distinguish between garments that conceal and garments that reveal.
In the next section we will continue to explain the distinction between garments that reveal and garments that conceal, and what it means for the revelation of the time to come.