In the previous part we studied the body of the chapter, where we learned that a mitzvah performed with feeling and Torah studied with feeling rise up to the world to which that feeling belongs, and there the divine will clothed within them is revealed. In this part we turn to the hagahah, the Alter Rebbe's gloss, in which he adds that it is not only the supernal will (ratzon ha'elyon) that is revealed there, but also the yichud ha'elyon, the supernal union, that a Jew effects with every single mitzvah and every session of Torah study.
When a Jew brings about the supernal union through his deeds, through the mitzvos he keeps and through his prayer, a greater flow of divine influence is drawn down into the world. This is the meaning of the words we say before performing a mitzvah: «l'shem yichud kudsha brich hu u'shchintei», for the sake of the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah.
But these words need explaining. «Kudsha brich hu» is the Holy One, blessed be He, and «shchintei» is the Shechinah, which is also the Holy One, blessed be He. Who, then, is being united with whom? In general terms it is explained that «kudsha brich hu» is a name for the six middos (the six emotive sefiros, known as zeir anpin), while «shchintei» is a name for the sefirah of malchus. «Yichud kudsha brich hu u'shchintei» means to unite the two, that is, that the flow of influence should descend from the middos into malchus.
In the works of Kabbalah and in the maamarim of chassidus we find other unions as well:
Yichud abba v'imma, the union of chochmah and binah, for as is known chochmah is called «father» and binah is called «mother».
Yichud zun (zeir anpin and nukva), the union of the six middos (zeir anpin) with malchus (nukva).
So there are different levels of yichudim, and all of them share one purpose: to draw the divine flow down to here below.
In which world does the union take place? There are yichudim in the world of yetzirah, in the world of beriah, and in the world of atzilus. The level a Jew reaches in effecting the union depends on the level at which he performed the mitzvah and studied the Torah, that is, on the feeling he invested in them. If the feeling he put into the mitzvah and into his learning belongs to the world of yetzirah, then it is the divine will as it is in the world of yetzirah that is revealed here, and in the gloss the Alter Rebbe adds that the union effected in the world of yetzirah is revealed here as well.
And what about an act done with no feeling at all? A mitzvah done with a negative feeling belongs to the kelipah, and a mitzvah done flatly, with no feeling whatsoever, does not ascend to G-dliness, so that nothing has been accomplished through it. Still, as we learned in the previous chapter, a single occasion of serving with intention and vitality is enough to elevate all the times it was done by rote as well, and that is the idea underlying this gloss.
[And as we learned in the first gloss of chapter 40, there is nothing a Jew does that has no effect: if the deed is positive he effects something in holiness, and if not, he effects the opposite. Even unworthy thoughts are taken hold of there, and one must do teshuvah for them.]
The words of the gloss: «ושם מאיר ומתגלה גם כן היחוד העליון הנעשה בכל מצווה ותלמוד תורה», “and there too there shines and is revealed the supernal union that is brought about through every mitzvah and every study of Torah.” «And there» means: at that very level to which the person belongs as a result of the level of feeling he has reached, as was explained in the body of the chapter. With every mitzvah a Jew performs and every bit of Torah he learns, he effects and makes a supernal union, and on what level that union takes place depends on the level at which he acted.
«שהוא יחוד מדותיו יתברך שנכללות זו בזו», “which is the union of His blessed middos as they become included one in another”: the middos merge into one another, as in the union of chochmah and binah, the union of zeir anpin and malchus, and the union of chesed and gevurah. And this comes about «על ידי עת רצון העליון אין סוף ברוך הוא, המאיר ומתגלה בבחינת גילוי רב ועצום באתערותא דלתתא, היא עשיית המצוה או עסק התורה שבהן מלובש רצון העליון אין סוף ברוך הוא», “by means of the eis ratzon of the supernal will of the blessed Ein Sof, which shines and is revealed in a great and powerful revelation through the arousal from below, namely the performance of the mitzvah or the engagement in Torah, in which the supernal will of the blessed Ein Sof is clothed.”
When a Jew here below keeps the mitzvos and does so with feeling, he reveals the divine will here, and he also effects a supernal union: the union causes chesed and gevurah to merge together, and through this the gevuros are sweetened, so that the flow which descends as a result is a better one. This act reaches into all the worlds, as we say in the siddur at sefiras ha'omer: «and through this an abundant flow will be drawn into all the worlds».
Within the gloss the Alter Rebbe adds a further comment: «אך עיקר הייחוד הוא למעלה מעלה בעולם האצילות, ששם הוא מהות ועצמות מדותיו יתברך מיוחדות במאצילן אין סוף ברוך הוא, ושם הוא מהות ועצמות רצון העליון אין סוף ברוך הוא», “but the essential union is far above, in the world of atzilus, for there is the very essence and being of His blessed middos, united with their Emanator, the blessed Ein Sof, and there is the very essence and being of the supernal will of the blessed Ein Sof.” In the body of the chapter we learned that a Jew generally belongs to the world of yetzirah or to the world of beriah, and that the world of atzilus is the level of exceptional tzaddikim; nevertheless, the essential union takes place specifically in the world of atzilus.
The Alter Rebbe gives two reasons for this, and we will state the point briefly, since the matter is abstract: uniting the supernal middos is like trying to bring together two of the king's ministers. One minister pulls in the direction of chesed, the other is in charge of gevurah; one holds the treasury and guards it so that not a penny is wasted, the other is appointed to distribute without limit, and there is constant war between them. How do you bring them together, so that the one who does not want to give will give a bit more and work together with the one who wants to spend freely? When the king himself comes down to the field, a way is found to join them, for standing before the king both of them are no more than soldiers, and then it becomes possible to join opposites.
The same is true in the nimshal. When we want to unite the supernal sefiros, which on the face of it stand opposed to one another, in the world of atzilus G-dliness shines in open revelation, and there is no contradiction there between chesed and gevurah. And since there is no contradiction between them, the supernal union can be complete.
«והארתן לבד היא מאירה בבריאה יצירה עשייה, בכל עולם לפי מעלתו», “and only a radiance of them shines in beriah, yetzirah and asiyah, in each world according to its level.” That is: the union itself takes place in the world of atzilus, and only a radiance of it shines in the world of beriah or the world of yetzirah. A Jew whose feeling belongs to the world of yetzirah, because he aroused natural love and awe as we learned, in fact effects a union in the world of atzilus, and the radiance of that union shines in the world to which he belongs, for there is no union that does not begin from the very first point.
From here the Alter Rebbe raises a question: «ואף שנפש האדם העוסק בתורה ומצווה זו אינה מאצילות», “even though the soul of the person engaged in this Torah and mitzvah is not from atzilus.” A Jew who acts here in this world and belongs only to the world of yetzirah, how can he possibly effect a union in the world of atzilus, when his soul is not from atzilus at all?
And his answer: «מכל מקום הרי רצון העליון המלובש במצוה זו, והוא הוא עצמו הדבר הלכה והתורה שעוסק בה, הוא אלקות ואור אין סוף המאציל ברוך הוא, שהוא ורצונו אחד», “nevertheless the supernal will clothed in this mitzvah, which is itself the very halachah and Torah he is engaged in, is G-dliness and the light of the blessed Ein Sof, the Emanator, for He and His will are one.” The Torah a person learns is the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, and the mitzvos he performs are His will, and His blessed will belongs to the highest worlds, to atzilus and higher still. The person himself is indeed not there, but this is what is clothed within the mitzvah he performs. «וברצונו יתברך האציל מדותיו המיוחדות בו יתברך, ועל ידי גילוי רצונו המתגלה על ידי עסק תורה ומצוה זו הן נכללות זו בזו, ונמתקות הגבורות בחסדים בעת רצון זו», “and by His blessed will He emanated His middos, which are united with Him, and through the revelation of His will that is revealed by means of this engagement in Torah and mitzvos they become included one in another, and the gevuros are sweetened in the chasadim at this eis ratzon.”
At first glance this seems to contradict what was explained above, but in fact there is no contradiction. When a Jew performs a mitzvah, the beginning of what he effects is in the world of atzilus; but what is revealed to him and what he feels is only a radiance, and the level of that radiance depends on the level at which he stands. The Alter Rebbe is telling us: know that the matter does not begin in the world of yetzirah, it begins in the world of atzilus.
This can be compared to a teacher and a student. The student receives from his teacher a very simple explanation, on a level a first-grader can grasp. But where does it begin? By the teacher it does not begin at a first-grade level, it begins at the highest intellectual level in his mind, and he then brings the ideas down and simplifies them, and the student is in no position to absorb the original level, only the lowest one. And when the teacher is asked to present an idea to first-graders, he sits and arouses himself and thinks the matter through on his own level, and from there he lowers and simplifies it until he speaks simple words to the children. Who aroused in the teacher that process of thought which began at his highest level? The first-grader. And what will the child ultimately receive? A first-grade level.
The same is true in the nimshal. A Jew who performs a mitzvah with feeling arouses a union in the world of atzilus. He himself does not belong to atzilus, but he arouses from there; and what he will feel is the radiance that descends and shines in accordance with the level to which he belongs. Yet the essence of the matter begins in the world of atzilus, because this is the divine will.
Putting these two points together completes the answer to the question raised in the chapter: what difference does it make whether a person acts with feeling or without it, since in the end it is all divine will and divine wisdom? The answer is that it is indeed all divine will, but since the mitzvah is performed with a physical object, it falls to the person to breathe a spirit of life into that physicality. When he breathes life into it, it is lifted up and becomes spiritual and G-dly, and then it accomplishes what it is meant to accomplish and ascends on high.
In summary: in this part we studied the gloss in chapter 40, in which the Alter Rebbe adds that it is not only the supernal will that is revealed in the world to which the mitzvah ascends, but also the supernal union brought about through every mitzvah and every session of Torah study, the union of His blessed middos as they become included one in another. We explained the phrase «l'shem yichud kudsha brich hu u'shchintei» (the middos and malchus), the union of chochmah and binah, and the union of zeir anpin and nukva, all of whose purpose is to draw the divine flow down below. We saw that the essential union takes place in the world of atzilus, where G-dliness shines in open revelation and there is no contradiction between chesed and gevurah, as in the parable of the king's ministers who are brought together before the king himself, and that only a radiance of that union shines in beriah, yetzirah and asiyah, in each world according to its level. And we saw how a person whose soul is not from atzilus nevertheless effects something there: because the supernal will clothed in the mitzvah and in the Torah is literal G-dliness, and He and His will are one, as in the parable of the teacher who arouses his highest intellect because of a child's question, while the child receives only the radiance that fits his own level.
In the next part we will begin the further topic that the Alter Rebbe takes up in the continuation of the chapter.