In the previous section we began to examine the difference between «shefa» (flow, bestowal) and «ohr» (light). Now we will complete the comparison between the two concepts, and from there we will understand why it is specifically the word «light» that is used for the divine radiance that enlivens all the worlds.
Light involves no engagement with the recipient. The sun is not preoccupied with the question of which cities it is shining on, how many houses will receive more of its light and how many less, who installed a solar collector and who did not. It simply shines. Consequently the quantity and intensity of the light are not calibrated to the recipients: the light goes out and spreads, whether the recipient opened the shutter or not, whether he installed a receiver or not. The luminary is not occupied with the recipient but with the giving, and therefore it gives in great abundance. Shefa, by contrast, is given in measure and with constriction, according to the recipient.
Each of the two has an advantage and a drawback:
The advantage of light: power and abundance. Light comes with expansive spreading and is not measured out according to the recipient, unlike shefa, which is highly constricted.
The advantage of shefa: it does not come by necessity but by will. The giver must want to give; when he wants to, he gives, and when he does not want to, nothing emerges on its own. There may be a teacher and there may be students, and if he decided that he does not wish right now to convey to them the ideas he holds, nothing will come out into revelation. The reins are in the hands of the one who gives.
The drawback of light: it comes by necessity. The moment there is a luminary, light goes forth from it, and this does not depend on the will of the source. The luminary does not hold the reins; the light emerges from it of necessity.
All of this is true in the terms of our world. In our frame of reference you can set «light» and «shefa» side by side and say: this one has this advantage and that one has another, this one has this drawback and that one has another. But with regard to the Creator, what the world receives from Him we call «light» and not «shefa». What is the word «light» meant to emphasize? Its advantage: that it comes by way of spreading forth without limit, and without any engagement with each individual detail.
In the words of the Alter Rebbe: «ואין קץ ותכלית כלל לאור וחיות המתפשט ממנו יתברך ומיוחד במהותו ועצמותו ית' בתכלית היחוד», «there is no end or limit at all to the light and life-force that spreads forth from Him, blessed be He, and is united with His essence and being in perfect unity.» Note the word «spreads», meaning that it spreads from Him on its own, without engagement. Now, in our frame of reference, when something comes by way of spreading forth, the drawback comes along with it: it comes of necessity. On this the Alter Rebbe continues and clarifies that with the Creator it is not of necessity but «ברצונו הפשוט», «by His simple will.» It turns out that with Him both advantages exist together: on the one hand the light spreads from Him endlessly and without limit, and on the other hand one cannot say that because it spreads it is therefore compelled. It is all by His will.
This distinction is especially fitting with regard to the world's existence at every moment, «who in His goodness renews each day continuously the work of creation»: the world goes on existing, and that very existence is by His will. So too in the daily prayer: «Let them praise the name of Hashem, for He commanded and they were created.» What is the difference between the word «bara» (created) in the verse «In the beginning G-d created» and the word «nivre'u» (and they were created)? «Bara» implies that He is engaged in the thing, involved in the process. «Nivre'u» implies that, as it were, there is no engagement here. These are two entirely different expressions, and each is said with regard to the level being spoken about. And in any case, although in «nivre'u» there is no engagement, one must not attribute necessity to it: it is not by necessity but by His will.
It emerges that the mashal of light, as applied to the Creator, is not entirely parallel to the concept of light as we know it in our world. Sunlight has the advantage of breadth and spreading, and that is a good analogy, but not a perfect one. Why? Because sunlight comes by necessity, and the sun has no choice whether or not light will go forth from it. In the nimshal, by contrast, with the Creator, the radiance is by His simple will, His abstract will, and He is united with His essence and being in perfect unity. His will is He Himself, and there is, G-d forbid, no necessity here at all.
Up to here we have explained the concept of «Ohr Ein Sof»: that the light itself is infinite, meaning that the radiance shining forth from the Creator in any realm whatsoever is infinite. And this is not something separate from us but something bound up with us, as will be explained further on.
At this stage the light has not yet descended to the created being. In this chapter the Alter Rebbe opens by speaking first about the source: the divine light from which all the worlds were created, and by whose power they are created, live and exist at every single moment. That source is infinite, without limit. We will reach the created being itself in the lines that follow, since this is a process.
The world we know is a world that is limited and highly constricted. (The truth, as we shall see, is that even the very highest worlds are limited, but let us not climb that high; let us set the matter in the frame of reference closest to us, the physical world in which we find ourselves.) Out of what was this world created? Out of the divine light, which is unlimited and infinite, while the result is created beings that are limited and constricted. The question arises: how is it possible that out of something unlimited there should emerge, at the end of a process, something limited? Even if there were a million descents, even infinitely many descents, it is impossible that something unlimited should turn, at the end of the process, into something limited. For that, tzimtzum is required, and that is what the Alter Rebbe sets out to explain. But first we must understand why it is indeed impossible.
Take a contractor who puts up a building. Before he comes out to the site, he has studied the science and the concept behind the construction. And the one who studied all that wisdom and invested years in it is not the one who actually lays stone upon stone: the engineer plans and transfers the idea into a blueprint, from him to the site manager, from him to the foreman over the workers, and so on, until it reaches the laborer and he is told what he has to do. The depth of understanding of the engineer who studied is not present in the mind of the simple laborer; he does not grasp all the calculations, he just knows the simple action he has to perform. The idea came down and down, level after level.
But however far it comes down, the descents are not infinite: three, four, ten, fifteen levels. And even if we bring it down further and further, will the multiplication of descents eventually produce a stone out of the mouth of the last instructor? Certainly not. However much the idea is brought down and made more and more concrete, it will always remain within the domain of intellect and logic: there is deep intellect, and there is intellect that is simpler and simpler, down to the very simplest idea, but even the simplest idea remains an idea. It is impossible for the idea to turn into a house, into stone and cement, because one thing does not become something entirely different from itself, even if it descends through a multitude of levels.
On the contrary: one can always trace the connection from the very lowest level back to the beginning, seeing how this came from that and that from the other, until the final point is found to be contained within the first point. If so, in something that is infinite, even if we descend through a great many levels, the final level too will be infinite. It may be different and different again, but infinite it remains. It is impossible that out of the infinite, through a multitude of descents, limit should emerge. That is why a new concept is needed here: tzimtzum.
What is «hishtalshelus»? The word comes from «shalsheles», a chain, a series of links bound one to the next. If we take a thousand links, even the last link has a proportional relationship and a connection to the uppermost link, and one can measure how far it is from it and how close. Therefore, if the thing descends by way of hishtalshelus, then from infinite it came down and down and down, and infinite it will remain. It is impossible that through the multiplication of descents it should suddenly become something else.
And this is what the Alter Rebbe says: «ואילו היתה השתלשלות העולמות מאור אין סוף ברוך הוא בלי צמצומים, אלא בסדר המדרגות ממדרגה למדרגה בדרך עלה ועלול - לא היה העולם הזה נברא כלל כמו שהוא עתה בבחינת גבול ותכלית», «had the chaining down of the worlds from the Ohr Ein Sof been without tzimtzumim, but rather in an order of levels, from level to level, by way of cause and effect, this world would not have been created at all as it is now, in a state of limit and finitude.» «Ilah ve'alul» means cause and effect. That is, had there been here only a descent in an order of cause and effect, without the concept of tzimtzum, a world such as the one we know could not have been created: a world whose entire being is limit and finitude.
This is the idea the Alter Rebbe wishes to explain at length in this chapter: that the Holy One, blessed be He, contracted His light. And we do not study this in order to create worlds and master the blueprint of creation, but in order to recognize the immense kindness the Creator did with us, in contracting His light for our sake, so that we could be created beings and exist in the situation in which we find ourselves. Without the tzimtzum there would be no such world at all.
And what is the purpose of it all? This is explained in the middle of chapter 49: that the Jew should say to himself, I too am prepared to contract my desires, my cravings and my whims for the sake of the will of the Creator. That is the idea to keep in mind throughout the whole process, in all its details.
In summary: in this section we examined the difference between «light» and «shefa». Light involves no engagement with the recipient and comes in abundance and expansion, but by necessity; shefa is given in measured, constricted fashion, but it is by the will of the giver. In the Creator both advantages exist together: «there is no end or limit at all to the light and life-force that spreads forth from Him, blessed be He», and at the same time it is not by necessity but by His simple will, for He is united with His essence and being in perfect unity. We also learned that the divine light, the source of all the worlds which enlivens them at every moment, is infinite. Therefore, as was explained through the mashal from the world of construction and the mashal of the links of a chain, it is impossible that through a multitude of descents by way of cause and effect the unlimited should become limited. Hence the necessity of the concept of tzimtzum, and in it is revealed the kindness of the Creator, who contracted His light so that we could come into being.
In the next section we will continue with the explanation of tzimtzum and the way in which the light descends to the created being, and we will see how the divine radiance is present within a limited world.