In the previous section we were left with a question: why should it matter so much what a Jew has in mind while he learns Torah or prays? Torah is Torah, so what difference does it make whether he was thinking anything or not? Now we will see the Alter Rebbe's answer, which turns on the distinction between hester (concealment) and tzimtzum (contraction).
Here is the core of the explanation. In words of Torah that leave a person's mouth there is no concealment at all: these are holy letters, a revelation of the Holy One's will. That concealment was removed by the Holy One Himself when He gave the Torah, and it is not the person's job to remove it. But although there is no concealment in them, they still remain contracted, in tzimtzum, because a physical human being produced them, and physicality means tzimtzum. Removing the tzimtzum is precisely what was placed in the person's hands: when he invests his learning with feeling, with chayus (vitality) and love, the second obstacle falls away too, and the words can rise upward. Without feeling, the thing stays contracted and remains down here below.
Inner vitality gives an act an entirely different flavor. Someone brings his friend a glass of water: the act was done, yet when it is done with no vitality whatsoever, it is simply not the same act. And the same holds on the positive side. Our Sages said of one who gives tzedakah to a poor man that one who «appeases him» is blessed with eleven blessings. Two people gave the poor man a coin: one simply handed it over, and the second gave it with a smile, with an expression of sympathy and of pain for the man's plight, investing his giving with chayus. It is he who merits the eleven blessings, and it has nothing at all to do with the sum he gave. Because the vitality a person puts into something changes the thing itself.
Let us begin reading the Alter Rebbe's own words. First the question: «ואף דאורייתא וקודשא בריך הוא כולא חד שהוא ורצונו אחד», «Even though the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one, for He and His will are one.» If so, how could it possibly be relevant what the person feels or does not feel?
And the answer: it is true that «הרי קודשא בריך הוא איהו ממלא כל עלמין בשוה», «the Holy One, blessed be He, fills all worlds equally.» But does that mean He is present in all the worlds in the same manner? Certainly not: «ואף על פי כן אין העולמות שוים במעלתם, והשינוי הוא מהמקבלים», «and nevertheless the worlds are not equal in their rank, and the difference comes from the recipients.» From the side of the Creator there is no difference at all; the entire variation is in the created beings, in the way they sense and receive His existence.
«בב' בחינות» - in two respects the upper worlds differ from the lower ones:
«הא' שהעליונים מקבלים הארה יותר גדולה לאין קץ מהתחתונים», «the first, that the upper worlds receive an infinitely greater illumination than the lower.» In the upper worlds there is no tzimtzum, or only a slight tzimtzum, each according to its level; the lower worlds receive little, the upper worlds receive much.
«והשנית שמקבלים בלי לבושים ומסכים רבים כל כך כבתחתונים», «and the second, that they receive without as many garments and screens as in the lower worlds.» The illumination reaches them revealed, without screens that dim it.
An analogy: one person lights his room with a twenty watt bulb, another with a thousand watt floodlight (and that is not the maximum either; it could be five thousand). One has received a great illumination and one a small illumination. And there is a further difference: once the measure of light has been set, in what manner is it delivered? Is the light given directly, or do you hang curtains and screens over it and dim it until it is barely felt at all? That is the second difference.
«ועולם הזה», this world in which we find ourselves, «הוא עולם השפל בב' בחינות», «is the lowly world in both respects.» Its lowliness lies in both of these things at once:
«כי ההארה שבו מצומצמת מאד עד קצה האחרון», «for the illumination in it is contracted to the utmost extreme.» The illumination here is truly minimal, «ולכן הוא חומרי וגשמי», «and therefore it is coarse and physical.» That is the first minus.
And having received a minimal illumination, at least we might have been able to identify its source, so that we would not become confused and imagine the world exists on its own. But that too is absent. The drop that we do have is given «וגם זאת היא בלבושים ומסכים רבים», «and even this comes clothed in many garments and screens,» and the Holy One conceals and conceals «עד שנתלבשה בקליפת נוגה», «until it has become clothed in kelipas nogah.»
«להחיות כל דברים הטהורים שבעולם הזה», «to give life to all the permitted things of this world.» Kelipas nogah animates everything permitted in this world, and in these things one sees no direct connection to the Creator or to holiness at all. That very same food could sit on the table at a Shabbos desecration party, and it could also go up on the altar as a korban. In a cow wandering around the barn one sees no revealed G-dliness. These are things that can also fall downward, and it all depends on the person. Included in kelipas nogah is also «ובכללם הוא נפש החיונית המדברת שבאדם», «and among them is the vital, speaking soul in man,» his power of speech, for the words that leave his mouth sim, automatically, are not holy. (The Alter Rebbe does not mention the three impure kelipos here, because he is discussing a Jew who keeps mitzvos and learns Torah; but if a person brings his speech lower than this, it is already in the three impure kelipos.)
Now we arrive at the answer: «ולכן כשמדברת דברי תורה ותפלה בלא כוונה», «and therefore, when it speaks words of Torah and prayer without intention.» When a person learns or prays and has nothing in mind and no feeling at all, it is like an act or a speech with no vitality whatsoever. «אף שהם אותיות קדושות ואין קליפת נוגה שבנפש החיונית מסך מבדיל כלל להסתיר ולכסות על קדושתו יתברך המלובשת בהן», «even though these are holy letters, and the kelipas nogah of the vital soul is in no way a dividing screen to hide and cover over His blessed holiness that is clothed in them.» The minus of concealment does not exist here, for the words leaving his mouth are holy words, words of Torah and of prayer, and kelipas nogah does not cover them.
«כמו שהיא מסתרת ומכסה על קדושתו יתברך שבנפש החיונית כשמדברת דברים בטלים», «as it does hide and cover over His blessed holiness within the vital soul when it speaks idle words.» Over idle talk there is a covering of kelipah, and there is no holiness in it. And likewise «ושבנפש החיונית שבשאר בעלי חיים הטהורים», «and the holiness within the vital soul of other kosher animals.» In the soul of a kosher animal one sees no holiness, and there is a concealment of kelipah upon it. «דאף דלית אתר פנוי מיניה», «for although there is no place devoid of Him.» Heaven forbid to say that the Holy One is absent from such places; He is everywhere. «מכל מקום איהו סתימו דכל סתימין», «nevertheless He is the Hidden of all hidden,» the most concealed of all that is concealed, «ונקרא 'אל מסתתר', וגם ההארה והתפשטות החיות ממנו יתברך מסתתרת בלבושים ומסכים רבים ועצומים עד שנתלבשה ונסתתרה בלבוש נוגה», «and He is called a G-d who hides Himself, and even the illumination and the spreading forth of vitality from Him is hidden in many mighty garments and screens, until it became clothed and hidden in the garment of nogah.»
«מה שאין כן באותיות הקדושות של דברי תורה ותפילה, דאדרבה קליפת נוגה מתהפכת לטוב ונכללת בקדושה זו כנ"ל», «which is not the case with the holy letters of words of Torah and prayer, for on the contrary, kelipas nogah is transformed to good and becomes absorbed into this holiness, as mentioned above.» The moment a person brings words of Torah out of his mouth, there is no kelipas nogah here at all but actual holiness, and there is no concealment in it.
But can we say that there is no tzimtzum in them? Certainly not. The Torah that the Tannaim learn in Gan Eden is revealed, with no tzimtzum and no concealment whatsoever, and that is nothing like the words this person has produced with his physical mouth. «מכל מקום ההארה שבהן מקדושתו יתברך היא בבחינת צמצום עד קצה האחרון, מאחר שהקול והדבור הוא גשמי», «nevertheless, the illumination in them from His blessed holiness is in a state of tzimtzum to the utmost extreme, since the voice and the speech are physical.» It is holiness, of that there is no doubt, but it is the greatest tzimtzum that could be, for the voice is part of this physical world, and anything physical is contracted. It emerges that removing the concealment does not automatically remove the tzimtzum, and therefore the words do not ascend on their own.
«אבל בתפלה בכוונה ותורה בכוונה לשמה», «but in prayer with kavanah and Torah with the intention of lishmah.» When a person invests his learning and his prayer with kavanah, meaning a feeling of love of G-d and fear of G-d, it is no longer physical. The kavanah becomes the chayus within the words, and the physical words cease to be physical and become spiritual.
An analogy from the laws of Shabbos. The Rebbe brings, on many occasions, a beautiful halachic illustration of this. One who carries an object on Shabbos from a private domain into a public domain has performed a melachah and is liable. But there are minimum measures, and every object has its own measure according to its size and its usefulness, as the Mishnayos in tractate Shabbos list various items and foods and their measures. One who carries out less than the measure, which has no usefulness at all, is exempt. One who carries out a utensil, a cup and the like, is liable, since a utensil is something useful. But one who carries out a quarter of a dried fig is exempt, since he carried out less than the measure.
Now what is the law regarding a person who wanted to carry out half a dried fig on Shabbos, and because it was awkward to hold in his hand he carried it on a plate? Halachah says that this person is exempt even for the plate. Had he carried out an empty plate he would have been liable, since he carried out a utensil; but since his entire intent is the half fig, the plate loses its substance, its significance and its very existence, and it is as though he never carried it out at all.
Says the Rebbe: this is a beautiful illustration of what happens in the study of Torah. A Jew brings out of his physical mouth a voice of Torah, and he invests it with love of G-d, and his entire intent is the love. Once the love and the vitality have become the essence of the matter, the physical voice is nullified and does not exist; it no longer functions as an obstacle and a contracting factor. All that is here is the kavanah, and there is no tzimtzum.
In summary: in this section we learned the Alter Rebbe's answer. Although the Torah and the Holy One are one, and He fills all worlds equally, the worlds are not equal in their rank, and the difference comes from the recipients: the upper worlds receive an infinitely greater illumination and without screens, whereas this world is lowly in both respects, its illumination is contracted to the utmost extreme, and even that is hidden in garments and screens down to kelipas nogah. Accordingly, in words of Torah and prayer there is no concealment, for they are holy letters and kelipas nogah is transformed in them to good; but since the voice and the speech are physical, the illumination in them is in a state of tzimtzum to the utmost extreme. When a person adds kavanah, love of G-d and fear of G-d, the physical voice is nullified to the kavanah, just as the plate is nullified to the half fig, the tzimtzum is removed, and the words rise to G-dliness. But in the absence of kavanah and feeling, they remain in their tzimtzum and do not ascend above.
In the next section we will return to this point and continue from where we stopped, with G-d's help.