We are learning chapter 37 of Tanya. We stopped on page 48 (page 95), seven lines from the bottom of the page, at the passage beginning «וכל ניצוץ». Before we continue, let us review the main points of what has been explained so far in this chapter.
The chapter deals with the purpose of creation: the Holy One's desire for a dirah betachtonim, a dwelling place for Him in the lowest realms. That purpose will reach its full expression in the days of Moshiach and in the resurrection of the dead, when it will become openly visible that every single thing in the reality of the physical world reveals the Creator, and that the dwelling of the Holy One is here below.
And who produces that great revelation that will shine in the days of Moshiach and at the resurrection? Here the Alter Rebbe lays down a major principle at the beginning of the chapter: that state is brought about by each and every one of us. In the words of the Tanya, it is «תלוי במעשינו ועבודתנו כל זמן משך הגלות», dependent on our deeds and our avodah throughout the entire duration of the exile. Every single act a Jew does over the years of galus builds the dirah betachtonim and creates the revelation of the future.
How does the entire world become a dwelling for Him?
At first glance a Jew is involved only with specific, limited things, yet we are speaking about an entire world, filled with details and details within details. The answer is that this happens in two ways:
Through direct contact: those things a Jew handles directly in the performance of a mitzvah, the physical object through which that mitzvah is carried out. And it is not only the object that is sanctified, but also the life force and the energy at work within it: once they have been used for holiness, that portion becomes a vessel for the revelation of the Creator in the world.
Through wider circles: when one reflects, it emerges that every act a Jew performs has an effect and a ripple reaching into very broad areas. A simple example: the strength invested in performing the mitzvah came from the blood flowing through the body, and the blood was produced from eating and drinking, and the food itself passed through many processes before it reached the table. It turns out that using it for good elevates to holiness not only those few grams of food, but all those processes that had a share in bringing it to the plate.
Reflecting this way, it becomes clear that vast portions of the world, including factories employing thousands of people, even non-Jews, producing things that indirectly provide support for Torah and mitzvos and for the revelation of the Creator in the world, all of it is sanctified and elevated. In this manner the entire world becomes a dwelling for Him, blessed be He.
To complete the point we mentioned in the previous section: the world as a whole divides into six hundred thousand parts, and corresponding to them the Jewish people divides into six hundred thousand general souls, from which the individual souls branch out. This means that every Jew has his own portion in the world, and that portion is waiting for him and for him alone. He, and specifically he, is the one who can rectify it, and nothing will help him until he reaches that point and accomplishes its tikkun there, for this is his mission in the world. And if he does not know where his portion lies, let him rely on Divine providence to bring him there even without his knowing. All that is asked of him is to use his powers throughout his life in the right directions and for good deeds, and in that way he will rectify his portion in the world.
«וכל ניצוץ לא ירד לעולם הזה»:
Having explained that every spark must rectify its particular portion in the world, the Alter Rebbe goes on to ask: why did the Holy One arrange such a descent, to take a soul and bring it down into this world? In his words: «וכל ניצוץ לא ירד לעולם הזה, אף שהיא ירידה גדולה ובבחינת גלות ממש», and no spark descends to this world, though it is a tremendous descent and literally a state of exile. For the soul to come down and be clothed in a body is genuine exile.
But one could ask: if a Jew lives his life as a complete tzaddik, where is the exile here? The soul can rejoice in fulfilling mitzvos, in serving Hashem, in loving Him and fearing Him. To this the Alter Rebbe continues: «כי גם שיהיה צדיק גמור עובד ה' ביראה ואהבה רבה בתענוגים, לא יגיע למעלות דביקותו בה' בדחילו ורחימו בטרם ירידתו לעולם הזה החומרי, לא מינה ולא מקצתה, ואין ערך ודמיון ביניהם כלל», for even were he to be a complete tzaddik serving Hashem with fear and with a great love of delights, he would not reach the level of his cleaving to Hashem with dechilu urchimu as it was before his descent into this material world, not that level and not even a fraction of it, and there is no comparison or resemblance between them at all. Even if he reaches the highest rung a complete tzaddik can reach in this world, with love and fear of Hashem in their greatest intensity, there is no resemblance whatsoever between what the soul is capable of Above and the very most it can attain here below.
A precision in the wording: «אהבה ויראה» as against «דחילו ורחימו»:
The Alter Rebbe wants to say that the maximum of this world does not reach even the minimum of Above. Where is this hinted at in his language? In a precise change of style. When he describes the soul's avodah below he uses lashon hakodesh, Hebrew: «עובד ה' ביראה ואהבה רבה בתענוגים». But when he describes the soul's cleaving Above, he switches to Aramaic: «בדחילו ורחימו», which is simply the Aramaic translation of love and fear.
Now, the Alter Rebbe, who is so exacting in his language, should have kept one consistent style, either «אהבה ויראה» in both places or «דחילו ורחימו» in both. But the switch is deliberate. As is known, the difference between lashon hakodesh and the language of Targum is in the very name: lashon hakodesh is holy, while the other languages stand on a lower level. Therefore, when he describes the maximum a person has reached down here, he uses lashon hakodesh, «אהבה ויראה», to express that he has reached levels worthy of being named in the holy tongue. And when he describes the lowest rung the soul had Above, he uses Aramaic, to express that we are speaking of a low level there. And this is his point: the soul's maximum here below is «לא מינה ולא מקצתה», it bears no resemblance even to the minimum it had Above.
[As for the order of the terms themselves, which comes first, fear or love, there is no doubt that the wording is precise, but I have not seen an explicit explanation for it; the explanation I have seen relates only to the change of language.]
With this we can understand why an infant begins to cry the moment he emerges into the air of the world: he is descending into such a world from so lofty a level down to so low a state, and that is a tremendous descent.
The Alter Rebbe continues: «כנודע לכל משכיל, שהגוף אינו יכול לסבול כו'», as is known to every thinking person, that the body cannot bear it, and so on. The physical body, even the refined body of a tzaddik, is incapable of containing the elevated levels of feeling that the soul possesses. Once the soul is clothed in a body, the body limits and constricts it, and does not leave it the space it longs for. The soul finds itself inside the body in a state of measure and limitation, a kind of imprisonment and exile.
If so, why did the Holy One do this? The Alter Rebbe concludes: «אלא ירידתו לעולם הזה להתלבש בגוף ונפש החיונית הוא כדי לתקנם בלבד», rather, its descent to this world to be clothed in a body and in the nefesh hachiyunis, the vital soul, is solely in order to rectify them: to rectify the body, the vital soul and the world. This purpose, and this purpose alone, is the reason the soul was sent here.
To summarize: in this section we reviewed the principle that the purpose of creation, a dirah betachtonim, is brought about «במעשינו ועבודתנו כל זמן משך הגלות», through our deeds and avodah throughout the exile, both in the things a Jew sanctifies through direct contact (the physical object and the life force within it) and in the wider circles, until vast portions of the world are lifted into holiness. We saw that every Jew has his own portion in the world awaiting his tikkun. We then learned that the soul's descent into this world is literally exile, that even a complete tzaddik does not reach, through his avodah below, the level of the soul's cleaving Above, as is indicated precisely by the shift in language from «אהבה ויראה» in lashon hakodesh to «דחילו ורחימו» in Aramaic, and that the entire purpose of the descent and the clothing in a body and in the vital soul is «כדי לתקנם בלבד», only in order to rectify them.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words and go deeper into how the body and the vital soul are rectified.