In the previous lesson we reached page 52a, the line beginning with the words «גן עדן העליון» (the upper Gan Eden), at the end of which the Alter Rebbe opens with the words «אך היינו דווקא» (but this applies specifically). Before we continue, let us first review and summarize the points that were explained in the previous lessons.
It is worth noting at the outset that the concepts in this chapter are expressed in a loftier language than the one we have grown accustomed to until now in Tanya. The subject matter is the very same, only it is formulated in a more elevated style, and at times that makes it harder to grasp what is being said. Therefore, just as we did in the previous lesson, we will mention each concept by the name it carries in the chapter, and then immediately translate it into the concepts familiar to us, so that the matter will not remain foreign and abstract but close and understandable.
Avodah on the level of «medaber» and avodah on the level of «chai»:
In chapter 38 we learned about the difference between serving Hashem on the level of «medaber» (the speaking creature, man) and serving Hashem on the level of «chai» (the living creature, the animal). The difference between them in reality is this: in an animal, all the emotions are natural and its entire conduct follows its instinct; whereas man, who possesses intellect, choice and understanding, has emotions that are intellectual, and all his actions are meant to flow from contemplation and comprehension.
These two levels exist in avodas Hashem as well:
Avodah on the level of «medaber»: the service of great tzaddikim, built upon contemplation and understanding of deep concepts, where their expansive contemplation arouses the emotions of the heart with an intensity that corresponds to their comprehension. This service resembles the «medaber», for the very essence of man is conduct guided by knowledge and intellect.
Avodah on the level of «chai»: the service of those who are not on the level of the great tzaddikim. The feeling they manage to arouse is that same natural feeling present in every Jew simply by virtue of being a Jew, which is called «ahavah mesuteres», the hidden love. It is a powerful feeling, yet it is part of the Jew's nature, and therefore this service resembles the service of the animal, whose conduct and whose service flow from its nature.
The very same ideas in the language of the worlds:
In chapter 39 these matters are stated in the language of worlds. The difference between a service of intellect and a service of middos and feeling is the difference between the world of Beriah and the world of Yetzirah. Beriah is the higher world, and although all ten sefiros shine within it, it belongs primarily to the sefirah of Binah; Yetzirah, by contrast, is the world of the middos, the emotions.
The world of Beriah: the tzaddikim whose service is based on contemplation, intellect and understanding belong to this stratum.
The world of Yetzirah: the angels, whose service corresponds to the nature of their particular emotion, for that is how they were created and they have no power to rise beyond it, belong to this world, the world of the middos.
[Although it is certainly true that there are loftier angels who belong to the world of Beriah.]
It emerges that this is the very same language as chapter 38: there the discussion was in terms of «chai» and «medaber», and here exactly the same idea is presented in terms of Beriah and Yetzirah. Sometimes, when one hears concepts of worlds that are far removed from everyday speech, the matter seems abstract and ungraspable. And indeed it is beyond our grasp, yet it can be brought down in a way that we understand a little more of what is being spoken about, so that it will not be foreign to us, and we will be able to study these concepts and feel close to them and connected to them.
All the worlds exist within the soul of every single person:
Just as we said that the animal's world is the world of feeling and man's world is the world of intellect, it is self evident that within man himself there is both feeling and intellect. It follows that within a person's soul all the worlds and all the strata are present. This is what is meant by the teaching that every soul has several names, which are several levels, as in the expression «חמישה שמות נקראו לה» (five names were given to it): nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, yechidah. To one who is not familiar with the distinctions, these appear to be synonyms for one and the same thing, but that is not so; they are distinct levels:
Nefesh: that spiritual dimension of the soul which is expressed primarily in matters of deed and action. (We are speaking here of the nefesh ha'elokis, the divine soul, since there is also a nefesh habahamis, an animal soul.)
Ruach: the level that is expressed in matters of feeling and emotion.
Neshamah: a higher level, expressed in matters of intellect, as it says in Iyov, «ונשמת שדי תבינם» (the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding), so that the matter of understanding is attributed to the neshamah.
It emerges that these very same concepts are stated in each realm in its own language: intellect and emotion, medaber and chai, Beriah and Yetzirah, neshamah and ruach. In the soul of the Jew: the level of ruach and the level of neshamah, that is, feeling and intellect; in the broader sense: the world of Yetzirah and the world of Beriah; and in avodas Hashem: the service of the middos, which is the natural love, and the service of the mochin, the intellect, which is the intellectual love. It is all one idea.
The Alter Rebbe's words:
Continuing from what was explained in the previous passage, that the difference between souls and angels is that the angels belong to the world of Yetzirah while the souls, the souls of the tzaddikim, belong to the world of Beriah because their service proceeds by way of contemplation, the Alter Rebbe now adds that even within this itself the matter is not always so; it depends on whether what is revealed in the tzaddik is the level of neshamah within him or the level of ruach within him.
In his words: «אך היינו דווקא נשמות ממש» (but this applies specifically to actual neshamos). Everything stated above was said specifically regarding actual neshamos, that is, when we are speaking of the level of neshamah within them, which is «בחינת מוחין» (the dimension of mochin, intellect), meaning contemplation, comprehension and recognition of the greatness of the blessed Ein Sof. But «בחינת הרוח של הצדיקים» (the dimension of the ruach of the tzaddikim): the level of ruach belongs to the world of feeling and middos, and when what is revealed in the tzaddik is the level of ruach rather than the level of neshamah, he does not belong at that moment to the world of Beriah, which pertains to intellect and contemplation, but to the world of Yetzirah.
In other words: great tzaddikim generally belong to the world of Beriah, but at the moment when the level of ruach within them is revealed, that is the world of Yetzirah.
In summary: in this section we reviewed the difference between avodah on the level of «medaber», which is the service of the great tzaddikim through contemplation and understanding, and avodah on the level of «chai», which is the arousal of the natural hidden love; and we translated that distinction into the language of worlds: the world of Beriah, the world of Binah and intellect, and the world of Yetzirah, the world of the middos, to which the angels belong, whose service follows their nature. We noted that all these strata exist within the soul of every single person, in the levels of nefesh (deed), ruach (feeling) and neshamah (intellect), and in that light we explained the Alter Rebbe's words: «actual neshamos», the dimension of mochin, belong to the world of Beriah, whereas the dimension of ruach of the tzaddikim belongs to the world of Yetzirah.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words in chapter 39 and with the further explanation of these matters.