In the previous section we learned that in order to create a world, tzimtzum (a contraction and concealment of the divine light) is necessary. Here the Alter Rebbe goes on to describe the order of hishtalshelus, the chain of worlds descending one from the other, and the purpose for which all these tzimtzumim were made.
In the world of Beriah there are very lofty angels, "אשר עבודתם להשם" (whose service is to God). What does their service consist of? "בבחינת חכמה בינה ודעת המתלבשים בהם" (the aspect of Chochmah, Binah and Daas that is vested in them): the level of Chochmah, Binah and Daas of the world of Atzilus shines within them. But it does not shine in them on the same level as it is in Atzilus itself, for if it did, this would not be the world of Beriah at all, it would be Atzilus. "והם משיגים ומקבלים מהם היה תחלה צמצום עצום כנ"ל" (and their grasping and receiving from them came about only through an immense tzimtzum, as above): it happens by means of a tzimtzum, and not an ordinary tzimtzum but an immense one, and only after that contraction does this level shine in them so that they can apprehend it and receive from it. In other words, an enormous tzimtzum is required just so that the highest angels and the souls should be able to grasp something of the level of Atzilus.
"וכן" (and so too) in the transition "מבריאה ליצירה" (from Beriah to Yetzirah): that "אור מעט מזער" (very scant light) of Atzilus which penetrated into Beriah after the tzimtzum cannot descend into Yetzirah as it is, for "המתלבש בעולם הבריאה, עדיין הוא בבחינת אין סוף לגבי עולם היצירה" (that which is vested in the world of Beriah is still of an infinite quality relative to the world of Yetzirah), and Yetzirah cannot receive it, "ואי אפשר להתלבש בו אלא על ידי צמצום והעלם, וכן מיצירה לעשיה" (and it can be vested in it only through contraction and concealment, and so too from Yetzirah to Asiyah).
"וכמ"ש במ"א ביאור שלשה צמצומים אלו באריכות לקרב אל שכלינו הדל" (as is explained elsewhere at length, these three contractions, in order to bring the matter closer to our feeble intellect). The Alter Rebbe notes in a general way that in order to produce this physical world three kinds of great contractions were needed, and that the lengthy explanation of them, written «to bring it closer to our intellect», is found elsewhere. (We will not take up here the differences between the worlds and their elaboration, so as not to stray from the line of thought the Alter Rebbe is developing in these chapters.)
A person might imagine that the world of Asiyah in which we find ourselves is simply one more of the Creator's projects: there is a world of Atzilus, and there is also a world of Asiyah. But it is not so. The whole order of hishtalshelus, the entire descent and all the contractions, have their final destination and their main purpose right here below. "ותכלית כל הצמצומים הוא כדי לברוא גוף האדם החומרי" (and the purpose of all the contractions is to create man's material body): not a refined, spiritual body, but a coarse, lowly body, full of desires, "ולאכפייא לסטרא אחרא" (and to subdue the sitra achra). The entire goal is that a person should take the sitra achra with which he shares his very living quarters, and bend it to holiness.
From this a Jew should reflect: the Holy One contracted the entire order of hishtalshelus, concealed His light, created world after world, angels and souls, and for what moment is He waiting? For the moment when an inner battle is being waged inside a person, whether to act on this desire or not. In that moment let him remember that all the contractions were for the sake of this very moment, in which he will subdue the sitra achra.
The Holy One contracted Himself for man's sake, and therefore He asks of man that he contract his desires for the sake of the Creator's will, in the manner of «as water reflects a face back to a face». On the face of it this is very simple, and indeed it is: already in chapter 46 the Alter Rebbe established that this is an easy conclusion to reach.
"ולהיות יתרון האור מן החושך" (and so that there be the superiority of light that comes out of darkness): the greatest advantage is precisely that from within a dark, lowly, material situation a person is not swayed, he pushes away all the desires, overcomes them, and shines light. This advantage is greater than it would have been had he remained in the world of Atzilus or in Beriah and illuminated things there, for the superiority of light comes specifically out of darkness.
[A nice hint in this connection: in the nusach of «אנת הוא מלכא» (You are the King) said in the opening, there are chassidic groups whose pronunciation differs from the common one, and some say it as «anti malka». Where is the King found? Precisely in the «anti», in the place that is hardest, darkest and lowest, there the King is found and there He shines the great light.]
When a Jew manages to overcome, what happens then? "בהעלות האדם את נפשו האלקית" (when a person elevates his divine soul): every time he overcomes the sitra achra, his divine soul is lifted and elevated, for that is exactly why it came down here, so that we would succeed in making the divine soul dominant over the nefesh habahamis. And not only that, but also "והחיונית" (and the vital soul): the vital soul that animates the body, which is not divine, is also elevated when a person performs a mitzvah with his physical body. And likewise "ולבושיה" (and its garments), thought, speech and action, "וכל כוחות הגוף כולם להשם לבדו כנ"ל באריכות" (and all the powers of the body, all of them to God alone, as explained above at length), "כי זה תכלית השתלשלות העולמות" (for this is the purpose of the chaining down of the worlds).
All these worlds chained down for the sake of those moments in which a person says: it is hard, it is dark, this is a temptation, just once and only now. For that moment the Holy One came down, so that a person should shine light out of the darkness. And the greater the darkness and the difficulty, the more the subduing he accomplishes in that moment becomes the greatest delight, and it was for that delight that the whole order of hishtalshelus took place.
"והנה כמים הפנים לפנים" (and behold, as water reflects a face back to a face). This is the sentence that sums up chapter 46: the face a person shows the water is the face he gets back. The Holy One contracted Himself, and from our side we are asked to show Him the very same thing.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: "כמו שהקב"ה הניח וסילק לצד אחד את אורו הגדול הבלתי תכלית" (just as the Holy One set aside and removed to one side His great, infinite light), and according to the corrections it should read «to the sides», the divine light that is infinite and without limit. This does not mean that He removed it so that it is not there, God forbid, for «there is no place devoid of Him» and «Do I not fill the heavens and the earth», as we learned in the previous chapter. Rather, «removed» means contracted, so that it should not be discernible and felt by our eyes, in the manner of «He sees and is not seen».
"וגנזו והסתירו" (and He stored it away and concealed it). Where did He conceal it? "בשלושה מיני צמצומים שונים" (in three different kinds of contractions): He concealed it in the world of Beriah, in the world of Yetzirah, and in the world of Asiyah. It is not that He hid it away entirely, for the light exists, and the Creator's infinity is present in every single detail, as we discussed at length in the recent lessons, only that it is hidden.
"והכל בשביל אהבת האדם התחתון" (and all this out of love for lowly man). All these contractions were made for one purpose: the Holy One loves us and wants to create us just as we are, with our limitations, with all our tzimtzum, our physicality and our materiality. And because He loves this limited being, He contracted everything, "להעלותו להשם" (in order to raise him up to God), for His will is that we elevate this very limited existence to Him.
But are love and tzimtzum not two opposite movements of the soul?
When a person loves, the movement of his soul is to shine outward and to expand: in a moment of joy and elevation he gives freely, he is open and gives without limit. By contrast, when he is contracted and without love he draws in, restricts himself and does not give. And here we are told that precisely because the Holy One loves us, therefore He contracted Himself.
On this the Alter Rebbe says: "כי אהבה דוחקת הבשר" (for love presses the flesh aside). This expression appears in the Gemara in tractate Bava Metzia: when two people must get through an opening that has no room for both of them, or when a person is fleeing an enemy in wartime and the only place he can escape to is a tiny opening. Reality proves from actual cases that people have passed through places which, when they came back to look at them, they could not understand how they had managed to get through. Because love, in that moment his love for his own life, presses the flesh aside, and suddenly it is possible to get in. So too, as it were, the Holy One pressed Himself aside, that is, He concealed Himself, out of His great love for the Jewish people.
[A joke told in several versions illustrates this: a man was driving a small car, an old «Susita» into which two or three people barely fit, and a policeman caught him with fifteen people inside and brought him to court. The defendant argued: «Bring fifteen people here and let them try to fit into a Susita. If they fit, the policeman is right.» They brought them, and with great difficulty they managed to fit in five. The judge acquitted him. On their way out the policeman asked: «Between us, how did fifteen people fit in there?» He answered: «Because they wanted to get in. When you want to, you get in; when you do not want to, it cannot be done.»] When there is love, it presses the flesh aside.
The Holy One loves the Jewish people, and therefore He concealed and contracted Himself again and again, until this small contraction that is the physical world came into being. And from here, "על אחת כמה וכמה בכפלי כפליים לאין קץ" (how much more so, in infinitely multiplied measure), it falls upon a person to respond to the Holy One, to contract himself for the sake of the Creator without limit, as in the parable we learned in chapter 46: when a simple commoner sees the great king contracting himself for his sake, he responds to the king with a great love.
In summary: in this section we learned that the service of the angels in the world of Beriah is the Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Atzilus shining within them by way of an immense tzimtzum, and so too at every transition from one world to the next down to the world of Asiyah, until three kinds of contractions were required for the creation of the physical world. The purpose of all the contractions is not some additional project, but to create a material, lowly body in which a person will subdue the sitra achra, so that there be «the superiority of light that comes out of darkness», and thereby he elevates his divine soul, his vital soul, its garments and all the powers of the body to God alone. And all of this is in the manner of «as water reflects a face back to a face»: the Holy One set aside and removed His great light, stored it away and concealed it in three kinds of contractions, and all of it out of love for lowly man, to raise him up to Himself, for «love presses the flesh aside», and therefore it falls upon a person to answer that love in infinitely multiplied measure.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words, and go deeper into the parable of the king and the love a person is asked to return to his Creator.