We have arrived at chapter 37 of the Tanya. Before we take up the chapter itself, let us briefly review the flow of what we have learned until now, and from there continue onward.
Summary of chapter 35:
The Alter Rebbe opened chapter 35 by announcing that he intends to explain the word «la'asoso» («to do it») in the verse «For this thing is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it,» and by raising a question: what is the purpose of the descent of the souls of the beinonim to be clothed in a physical body in this world, and why specifically in a body?
The explanation came at the close of chapter 35: the Holy One placed the soul of the beinoni precisely inside a body, because it is His will that there be a refinement and a drawing down of divine light specifically within the physical body. There is a purpose that lies specifically in the physical, in the lower realm, and it cannot be achieved through Torah study alone, since Torah study takes place in the spiritual layer of a person, whereas the performance of mitzvos takes place in his lowest, physical layer.
Summary of chapter 36:
Why is it so essential to draw G-dliness and the Shechinah specifically into the physical layer of a person? That is what we learned in chapter 36: the purpose of the creation of the entire world is that «the Holy One desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms,» a dirah betachtonim. This principle holds true both in general and in particular:
On the macro level: there are many worlds, but the world that is the goal of them all is this physical world.
On the micro level: within the person himself, the primary part into which he must draw G-dliness is his lowest part, the dimension of action, the body.
The Alter Rebbe also mentioned there that the revelation of all this avodah, that He be a dirah betachtonim, will come in the days of Moshiach, and in particular at the resurrection of the dead.
How did they look at it before the Tanya?
Let us sharpen a point we have already touched on, since it bears on the understanding of the whole matter. In the Tanya the Alter Rebbe presents a new way of looking at this physical world, different from the view accepted in earlier generations. In earlier generations the outlook was: the spiritual is what matters, the higher realm is what matters, and the only role of the physical is to reveal the higher.
Let us illustrate this with two examples from the soul of a person. In the soul, as we learned at the beginning of the Tanya, there is the essence of the soul and there are the garments of the soul:
The essence of the soul: intellect and emotion, the ten faculties of the soul, which divide into two groups: the first three are the intellect, and the lower seven are the emotions.
The garments of the soul: thought, speech and action.
First example, speech: speech is a matter of letters, and letters have one function: to reveal what is hidden and concealed within the essence. A person expresses matters of logic and intellect, or matters of feeling, through letters, and conveys them outward. It turns out that the letters have no significance of their own; they are merely a bridge for revealing the inner thing, for revealing the intellect and revealing the emotion.
Second example, action: when a person is happy, the joy is in his heart, which is the seat of emotion. But when the joy is very intense, it finds expression in laughter, in dancing, in the motion of hands and feet. These physical movements have no significance in themselves: there is nothing meaningful about stamping one's feet; its whole value lies in the fact that the emotion becomes revealed through the action. The action is nothing but a servant of what is present within the heart; whereas someone who is not truly joyful and simply waves his hands and feet about has accomplished nothing at all.
The conclusion that emerges: action has no significance of its own and speech has no significance of its own; their entire purpose is to reveal what is present in the inner essence. The spiritual is primary, and the usefulness of the physical is only to carry the spiritual and serve it. And that is how this world was viewed as well: a world through which matters of G-dliness can be revealed.
The Alter Rebbe's new teaching in the Tanya:
Along comes the Alter Rebbe and teaches something new in his sefer: the Holy One wants the deed as a deed. The act itself has a purpose; the deed itself is the goal of the entire creation. One should not think that the goal is the upper worlds and that this physical world exists only to express them. The opposite is true: all the upper worlds exist to serve this physical world, and the lower realm is the goal and the destination. It is the lower realm that He desires. This is an entirely different way of looking at the whole matter.
«Berasiv, yetzartiv, af asisiv»:
In the sixth chapter of Pirkei Avos, which was said this past Shabbos, the closing words are the verse «Berasiv, yetzartiv, af asisiv» («I created it, I formed it, I even made it»). Chassidus explains that this verse alludes to the three worlds: Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. But notice that the order in the verse is not simply «I created it, I formed it, I made it»; the word «af» («even») interrupts between «berasiv yetzartiv» and «asisiv.» Why does it interrupt? Because in Asiyah there is no continuity with what came before. This is not just another world resembling the worlds that preceded it; there is a break here. The purpose of Asiyah is not to reveal the higher realm. It has a purpose of its own, and that is the goal and the ultimate intent.
Of course, when we look at the lower realm today we see nothing in it: it is dark and dry and seems empty. That is what the Alter Rebbe addressed in chapter 36, that this purpose of the world will be openly revealed in the days of Moshiach and at the resurrection of the dead. Today we do not see it, but the correct way to look at creation is that the Holy One wants a dwelling here below, because the act itself carries the primary purpose, and it is the final destination of the entire matter.
And all this follows directly from the question raised in chapter 35: what is the «la'asoso» in the verse «For this thing is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.» The «la'asoso» is, as the expression goes, the bottom line that is the main thing. That is the purpose of everything, for the will of the Holy One is that we sanctify, refine and infuse G-dliness into physical action.
In summary: in this section we reviewed the sequence of the chapters before us. In chapter 35 the question was asked: what is «la'asoso,» and what is the purpose of the descent of the beinoni's soul to be clothed in a physical body? The answer: the will of the Holy One is that there be refinement and a drawing down of divine light specifically in the physical body, something accomplished not through Torah study alone but through the performance of mitzvos. In chapter 36 the reason was explained: «the Holy One desired to have a dwelling place in the lower realms,» both among the worlds and within the person himself, and the revelation of this will come in the days of Moshiach and at the resurrection of the dead. From here we came to appreciate the Alter Rebbe's novel teaching: whereas earlier generations viewed the physical merely as a means for revealing the spiritual, like speech and action serving the essence of the soul, the Tanya teaches that action itself is the purpose and the destination, as hinted in «Berasiv, yetzartiv, af asisiv.»
In the next section we will turn to chapter 37 itself, and continue from there.