Following on from what we have learned: when a Jew is elevated, what exactly is it that rises? His soul rises, and certainly the Torah he studies and the mitzvos he performs rise as well. But which rises higher, and where is G-dliness revealed to a greater degree, in the soul or in the Torah and the mitzvah? Based on the entire principle that has been explained, there is a greater Divine revelation in Torah and mitzvos than in the soul, and this is precisely what the Alter Rebbe says in the lines that follow.
Let us read the words inside, page 52b (page 104), fifth line from the top:
«והנה כל זה הוא במדור הנשמות ומקום עמידתן» (And all this is with regard to the dwelling place of the souls and the place where they stand) - everything explained until now, that there is a soul which rises to the world of Yetzirah and a soul which rises higher than that, to the world of Beriah, was said with regard to the soul's dwelling, its station, the level at which it finds itself. In that respect there is indeed a soul that belongs to Yetzirah and a soul that belongs to Beriah.
«אך תורתן ועבודתן נכללות ממש בי' ספירות שהן בחינת אלוקות, ואור אין סוף ב"ה מתייחד בהן בתכלית הייחוד» (But their Torah and their service are actually absorbed into the ten sefiros, which are an aspect of G-dliness, and the Ein Sof light is united with them in perfect union) - the Torah he studies and the mitzvos he performs become united with, and are elevated to, the G-dliness of the world, whether in Yetzirah or in Beriah:
«והיינו בי' ספירות דבריאה על ידי דחילו ורחימו שכליים» (namely, in the ten sefiros of Beriah by means of intellectually generated fear and love) - when his love and fear came as the result of contemplation in the mind, and such love and fear belong to the world of Beriah, then his Torah and mitzvos too are elevated to the G-dliness of the world of Beriah.
«ובי' ספירות דיצירה על ידי דחילו ורחימו טבעיים» (and in the ten sefiros of Yetzirah by means of natural fear and love) - if his service of G-d was with natural love and fear alone, his Torah and mitzvos are elevated to the G-dliness of the world of Yetzirah.
Let us put this in simpler terms:
When a Jew performs a mitzvah he is fulfilling the will of G-d, and through this he connects to the Creator. But this is not identical for everyone, neither in the manner nor in the level:
A small child, who does not understand at all what he is doing, performs a mitzvah: he has fulfilled G-d's will, and G-d's will shines at that moment through his hands and feet.
A person who understands more of the depth of the matter and has feeling in it: G-d's will shines through him too, but at a loftier height.
And the deeper the understanding, the greater the measure of revelation.
On every level the Creator is present in His full Essence, but in revelation there are gradations. Therefore, even if this Jew's elevation reached only the world of Yetzirah, «ובתוכן מלובשות י' ספירות דאצילות ומיוחדות בהן בתכלית, ומאצילן אור אין סוף ב"ה» (and within them are clothed the ten sefiros of Atzilus, united with them in the ultimate union, and their Emanator is the Ein Sof light): within the sefiros of Yetzirah are clothed the sefiros of Beriah, and within them the ten sefiros of Atzilus, and within them the Essence of the Creator. The Creator is everywhere, and there is no «minus» for someone whose mitzvah observance is on a lower level, as though he were not connecting to G-dliness. He is doing the will of G-d and he is connected. It is only that the higher the intensity of soul invested in the observance, the loftier his spiritual and soul-state will be.
Not so the soul itself: «מה שאין כן הנשמות, אינן נכללות באלוקות די' ספירות, אלא עומדות בהיכלות ומדורים דבריאה או יצירה» (whereas the souls are not absorbed into the G-dliness of the ten sefiros, but stand in the chambers and dwellings of Beriah or Yetzirah) - the soul does not rise and does not become of the same rank and level as the Torah he learns and the mitzvos he performs.
These concepts are abstract and lofty. While we are still in the physical world of Asiyah, we read the abstract words written in this chapter, unlike the earlier and later chapters where the letters are more readily grasped, and at times we do not understand at all what is being discussed. The levels are exalted and high, yet it is speaking about every single Jew, about each and every one. In the physical world we do not feel the immense power contained in every act and every mitzvah that a Jew does: a person does not sense in which world he stands, whether in Yetzirah or in Beriah, and does not feel himself ascending levels, because we do not feel the G-dliness within these things.
The parable of the wagon:
A group of chassidim was traveling to the tzaddik, and the whole way they sat in the wagon discussing the very subjects of this chapter: the upper worlds, the angels of the world of Yetzirah, the souls that rise to the world of Beriah. They understood what they were talking about, they belonged to it, they debated it and they lived it. Right beside them, a meter away, sits the wagon driver, traveling to that same destination and taking them there, and all that turns in his head is the money he will receive at the end of the trip. And another meter forward is the horse, traveling to exactly the same place, and all that is on its mind is the hay it will finally get when they reach the inn. Within a radius of two or three meters: chassidim discussing the world of Atzilus, a driver occupied with money, and a horse occupied with hay, and they are all on the same surface, traveling and advancing at exactly the same pace.
Says the saying: because the horse is thinking about hay and the driver is absorbed in money, are the angels no longer angels?! The chassidim in the wagon are angels, and this is the absolute truth; they are there and they are living it. And the horse, since it is a horse, has nothing in its world but hay. We too are sometimes like the driver or like the horse, each one where he happens to be, and all we see is that up in front there is a wagon where they are speaking about worlds, about angels and about sefiros. But at the very least we have permission to peek into the wagon, to turn our heads and see what is being discussed there.
The point is that the mitzvos we perform today, even though we are in the world of hay, connect to the upper worlds on a far higher level. It is only that as long as the soul is in the body, the body obstructs and confuses; and when the soul leaves the body it can rise and connect to those levels to which it essentially belongs. And in great tzaddikim, whose bodies do not conceal and do not interfere so much, even while their soul is in the body they belong to a higher world.
«And they derive pleasure from the radiance of the Shechinah»:
The soul itself cannot rise to the high level at which the Torah stands. It does indeed rise to the level of Yetzirah or Beriah, but in the Alter Rebbe's words they «עומדות בהיכלות ומדורין דבריאה או יצירה ונהנין מזיו השכינה» (stand in the chambers and dwellings of Beriah or Yetzirah and derive pleasure from the radiance of the Shechinah), which is the language of our Sages in the Gemara: «The righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and derive pleasure from the radiance of the Shechinah.» And what is that radiance? «הוא אור אין סוף ב"ה המיוחד בי' ספירות דבריאה או יצירה» (it is the Ein Sof light that is united with the ten sefiros of Beriah or Yetzirah) - they have the recognition, the grasp and the connection to G-dliness on the very level at which they stand.
And why only from the radiance?
Someone who sees a room from which a wondrous light shines out will not stay outside in order to enjoy only the glow; he will go inside. But souls cannot connect into the thing itself, they are not a vessel for it: the soul is a created being, and a created being cannot become one with G-dliness. All it can do is derive pleasure from the radiance of the matter.
And who produced that radiance? The soul itself, through its service. In the Alter Rebbe's words: «והוא זיו תורתן ועבודתן ממש» (and it is literally the radiance of their Torah and their service) - the Torah and mitzvos a Jew performs here in this physical world, even though he does not feel the power of it. He took tefillin and put them on his arm, he took a page of Gemara and learned a few lines, and it seems to him a technical, ordinary, simple matter, and it is the will of G-d, it is literally G-dliness. Only that while we are in this world we perform, and we do not see the radiance in it and do not grasp its power at all, and nevertheless the thing takes effect and exists.
When the soul ascends above, it can only gaze at the mitzvos it fulfilled: it cannot perform them, and it cannot even be like them, for the mitzvah is the Divine Will, literally G-dliness, while the soul is a created being. But what can it do? Derive pleasure from the Divine power contained in the mitzvah it fulfilled. And with this the Alter Rebbe concludes: «כי שכר מצווה היא מצווה עצמה» (for the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself).
«The reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah»:
A Jew who goes out to work in a factory does not produce his wages and his salary by his work; through his work he produces the product, depending on the factory he works in, and at the end of the month he receives his pay. The pay is not a direct, practical outcome of the work he did; he did not create the money. In spiritual matters it is not so: the reward a Jew receives, the «reward of a mitzvah», is the mitzvah itself. What is the reward of a mitzvah? The mitzvah. Performing a mitzvah in this physical world is itself the reward, and it is precisely that from which the soul will receive radiance and pleasure.
And at what level will the soul receive the radiance? The mitzvah that was done could have been elevated all the way to the world of Atzilus, and it depends on the person himself: it is in his power to raise it and in his power to leave it below, all according to the manner of its performance. The radiance is not given for free; the Holy One blessed be He gives it in accordance with what was done. If he exerted himself and invested the mitzvah with a higher vitality belonging to the world of Beriah, his mitzvos are elevated to the world of Beriah, and when his soul enjoys the radiance of the mitzvah it will be a radiance belonging to the world of Beriah, for it was the Jew who raised it there at the time of its performance. And if he performed the mitzvah with the feeling of the world of Yetzirah, a lower feeling, there he raised it and from there he will receive. It emerges that through his service the Jew literally creates the outcome, and this is the meaning of «the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah»: he determines his own reward, according to the level of his service and the intensity he invested.
And where does a Jew receive more, here below or there above? Here one receives more than there, because here is where the true connection to the Creator's will is formed, here is where His will is carried out. The soul above can no longer fulfill the Creator's will, since the Creator's will is here in this physical world, and there one receives only the results of the deed. And the soul's true delight is its connection to the Creator, and where does one connect to the Creator? In a mitzvah, here. A person connects to the Creator and does not feel it, and that is the problem the body causes.
It emerges that two things must be emphasized, from the two extremes:
On the one hand: there is pleasure from the radiance of the Shechinah, a soul-sensation of the delight of G-dliness. Here in this world a person cannot feel it, and the soul feels it above; and from which level will it feel it? In accordance with its service here below.
On the other hand: the essence of a Jew's connection to the Creator is here below, as we learned in chapter 36, dirah betachtonim, a dwelling place for G-d in the lower realms. Here below a Jew connects to the Creator at every single moment.
«Against your will you live and against your will you die»:
Why does Pirkei Avos say «against your will you live and against your will you die»? On the face of it the two statements contradict one another: if «against your will you live», it means the soul did not want to descend and was brought here against its will, and if so it should spend its whole life here below begging to escape from here; and on the other hand, when it is told that the time has come to ascend, it does not want to, «against your will you die».
The answer is that before its descent the soul enjoys the radiance above, and it knows that down here it is utterly dry, and therefore it does not want to descend. But once it has come down here, it notices that here below it is possible to fulfill the will of G-d, and then it remembers that all that radiance above actually comes from the observance that takes place here, and for that reason it does not want to leave. As much as possible to be here, as much as possible to fulfill here, for here is the greatest delight, even though a person does not feel it, because here he is connecting to the thing itself.
And what about physical reward?
The Torah also speaks of physical reward: «If you will indeed listen to My commandments... I will give your rains in their season», «Honor your father and your mother... so that your days may be lengthened». Physical reward certainly exists, but it is not the essence of the reward and it is not the purpose of the matter. Most of the physical reward written in the Torah, which rings in our ears as reward, falls under the category of «working conditions»: like a person who comes to a job and receives good conditions, a company car, a phone, an air-conditioned office. These are not his wages but the conditions of his employment; and if he works properly he receives a promotion, and even the promotion is nothing more than more comfortable working conditions, not the wage itself. So too in this physical world: since we need the body not to confuse us and not to interfere, the Holy One blessed be He promises comfortable living conditions, so that we can fulfill the mitzvos better. But the true reward, the reward of a mitzvah, is the mitzvah itself.
In summary: in this section we learned that the levels of Beriah and Yetzirah were stated with regard to the dwelling place of the souls and the place where they stand, but a person's Torah and service are literally absorbed into the ten sefiros which are an aspect of G-dliness, in Beriah through intellectually generated fear and love and in Yetzirah through natural fear and love, and within them are clothed the ten sefiros of Atzilus, whose Emanator is the Ein Sof light. The soul itself is not absorbed into G-dliness, but stands in the chambers and dwellings and derives pleasure from the radiance of the Shechinah, which is literally the radiance of its own Torah and service, according to the level to which it elevated them at the time of their performance: «for the reward of a mitzvah is the mitzvah itself». We dwelt on the parable of the wagon, on the point that the main connection to the Creator is here below in fulfilling His will, on the explanation of «against your will you live and against your will you die», and on the place of physical reward as nothing more than «working conditions»: the very performance of the mitzvah is the greatest reward, and the pleasure from the radiance of the matter is above, in the upper worlds.
Until now, from the beginning of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe has been speaking about two levels in the soul: those whose ascent is to the world of Yetzirah and those whose ascent is higher, to the world of Beriah. In the next passage he goes on to discuss those who reach a still loftier level, who belong to the world of Atzilus, and with G-d's help we will take that up in the next lesson.