In the previous section we saw that there has to be a match between the force being given and the vessel receiving it. Now we add a more abstract illustration, the mashal of electricity, and from there we will move on to explain what the tzimtzum accomplished, and what the word «value» even means when you set something next to the Infinite.
The mashal of electricity: electrical current comes at different levels of intensity. Connect a device to a current stronger than it is built to hold, and it burns out on the spot, because it simply cannot contain the power flowing into it. There are endless examples of this: energy at a given level demands a vessel suited to it, and if the vessel is not suited, or the energy is too great, there is no match between them at all.
And all of this is when both the energy and the vessel are limited, and the gap between them is only slight. Even though the upper limit exceeds the lower limit by just a little, already the one cannot exist inside the other. How much more so when we are speaking of the Source, of the light that has no limit at all: there is no possibility whatsoever that a limited creation could contain it, and it makes no difference on which level that creation stands, as we will see in the lines ahead.
Therefore, in order for there to be a limited creation of the sort we know, and in order for it to be able to exist at all, it was, as it were, «necessary» that the infinite G-dly light not shine openly within the creation. (Of course the Holy One is not compelled by anything; this is simply how He decided things should be.) Had the G-dly light shone in its full expanse and full intensity, there would have been no possibility of limited creations existing, and so the Holy One made a tzimtzum, a contraction.
What did the tzimtzum accomplish? After the tzimtzum something does indeed shine, for if nothing at all shone, nothing would have been created. But what shines after the tzimtzum is, in the language of the Tanya, «כי אם מעט מזער אור וחיות», nothing but the tiniest trace of light and life force: a small light, a light that is, as it were, limited.
How limited? It limited itself, and limited it certainly is: there is a light suited to the inanimate, a light suited to the vegetative, a light suited to the animal and a light suited to the human. The light in a plant is not the light in an animal, and the light in an animal is not the light in a plant. Each has its own boundaries, and so, as it were, the light became limited.
The Alter Rebbe does not spell out here the many levels of tzimtzum, for there are contractions after which the light still remains unlimited; he is speaking here only in general terms. The tzimtzum brought it about that the light shining afterward would be «בכדי שיהיו בבחינת גבול ותכלית», so that things should be in a state of limit and finitude: so that the creation receiving this life force could be a limited being, one that has an end, a boundary, a definition, «שהיא הארה מועטת מאוד», an exceedingly small radiance.
And it is worth noticing the precision of the phrase «me'at mizeir». In Aramaic, zeir means small, and saying «zeir» alone would still not sufficiently convey how little is meant. So the Alter Rebbe says «me'at mizeir», the smallest of the small, less than small.
«Exceedingly small» does not mean that this radiance is necessarily weak in its power; it may well be a tremendous force. Let us climb the ladder:
In our own world there is inanimate, vegetative, animal and human. Compare the energy in an animal to the energy in a plant or in a stone: the distance between them is enormous.
Go a step higher: the energy and intellect in a human being compared with what is in a rock; the gap is greater still.
And higher yet: the life force in souls, in Gan Eden, in angels, and in the world of Atzilus.
And nevertheless, all of these levels together are called «me'at mizeir». Relative to what? Relative to what was there before the tzimtzum. Before the tzimtzum it was light without limit, and the tzimtzum brought it about that the light shining afterward be an exceedingly small radiance, «וממש כלא חשיבי לגבי בחינת הארה בלי גבול ותכלית», literally reckoned as nothing next to a radiance that has no limit and no end. This «little» counts as nothing; it has no significance whatsoever and is considered as zero.
If we try to measure the worth of the radiance that follows the tzimtzum against the light that preceded it, there is no comparison to be made at all. The Alter Rebbe brings an illustration for this; let us first put it in our own words:
Set out a million coins, and beside them a single coin. Does that one coin have any value relative to the million? Certainly it does: a small value, but a value. Add a second coin and we have moved a notch closer to the million; with a thousand coins we are closer still. The more there are, the greater the worth of each individual unit. And why does the individual unit have value at all? Because the total we are trying to reach is itself limited. A million is a number, and once the total is finite, every single unit, even the smallest of the small, carries some value.
Now picture an unlimited number. This is hard for us to picture, since everything in our experience is bounded: infinity, and beside it a single coin. Does that coin have any value relative to the infinite? None. Does the million have value? Also none. For if I hold one coin, how much am I missing in order to reach the goal? An infinite amount. And if I hold a million, have I come closer to the goal? No. It turns out that relative to the infinite, neither the one nor the million has any value: no finite quantity has value, and anything that has a number has no value at all.
Now let us translate this into our subject. The light before the tzimtzum is without limit. After the tzimtzum there are levels of staggering greatness: the life force of the world of Atzilus, of angels, of souls, of the inanimate and of every other creation. And what is their relation to the light before the tzimtzum? No value whatsoever. This is what the Alter Rebbe writes, «ואין ביניהם ערך ויחס כלל», there is no value or relation between them at all: one cannot say of any level that follows the tzimtzum that it has worth, significance or weight relative to the light that has no limit.
To understand why there is no relation between them, we have to grasp what the word «value» (erech) means. «כנודע פירוש מלת ערך במספרים, שאחד במספר יש לו ערך לגבי מספר אלף אלפים שהוא חלק אחד מני אלף אלפים אבל לגבי דבר שהוא בבחי' בלי גבול ומספר כלל אין כנגדו שום ערך במספרים», as is known, the meaning of the word «value» with respect to numbers: the number one has value relative to a thousand thousands, for it is one part out of a thousand thousands; but relative to something that is utterly without limit or number, it has no numerical value standing against it at all.
In terms of numbers: the number one does have value relative to a thousand thousands (a million, in our language). How much value? One part out of a million. And if you had a million minus one, the one would be noticeably missing. So there is a defined relationship here. But relative to something that is without limit and without number altogether, if we take the number one and try to assess it against the infinite, there is no value standing against it at all.
[Setting a number against the infinite is not really a mathematical operation; one does not divide by zero. This is simply the way we can make the idea tangible in our own language.]
And it is not only the number one. Even a million, «שאפילו אלף אלפי אלפים ורבוא רבבות», even a thousand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads, billions and trillions, any number you care to name, does not come close. In the Alter Rebbe's words: «אינן אפילו כערך מספר אחד לגבי אלף אלפים ורבוא רבבות», they are not even like the value of the number one relative to a thousand thousands and myriads of myriads. For the number one does have value relative to a trillion, one part in a trillion, whereas relative to the infinite it is nothing, «אלא כלא ממש חשיבי», reckoned as literally nothing, as though it did not exist.
Why did the Alter Rebbe pick a specific number? There seems to be a question here. If relative to the infinite no number has any value, why does the Alter Rebbe choose the example of a particular figure and say «even a thousand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads»? The very act of naming a figure suggests that this figure is a large one, whereas it would seem more fitting to say in general terms that any number is nothing relative to the infinite. This is the question the Rebbe asks.
And the Rebbe gives a fascinating answer: the Alter Rebbe is using the language of Torah. He looked for the largest number mentioned anywhere in Torah, and «a thousand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads» is the largest number that appears in it. And where does it appear? In the words we say every Shabbos in Nishmas Kol Chai, whose source is in the Midrash Sifri. That is why the Alter Rebbe chose this expression: to say that even the greatest of all the numbers mentioned in Torah is nothing relative to the infinite.
In summary: in this section we learned from the mashal of electricity that a force whose intensity exceeds what the vessel can hold cannot enter it at all. And if that is so with two limited things separated by only a small gap, how much more so that no limited creation, on whatever level it stands, can contain the light that has no limit. Therefore the Holy One made a tzimtzum, which brought it about that afterward there shines only «me'at mizeir or vechayus», the tiniest trace of light and life force, «so that things should be in a state of limit and finitude». We saw that even the life force in angels, in souls and in the world of Atzilus is called «me'at mizeir» relative to what was there before the tzimtzum, and from the mashal of the coins we learned that value and relation exist only when the total is finite, whereas relative to the infinite no number has any value or relation whatsoever. We also saw the Rebbe's explanation of why the Alter Rebbe chose specifically the number «a thousand thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads»: it is the largest number mentioned in Torah.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's own words in chapter 48.