We are in chapter 51 of Tanya, on daf 71a (page 141), at the bottom of the first page. Let us review what we have learned so far, and let us again preface a general introduction to the sequence of the three chapters 51, 52 and 53. As we mentioned, all three deal with one and the same subject, but the subject itself is not an easy one: it is deep and abstract. A great many maamarim of chassidus were written to clarify these three chapters at length, page after dense page to explain a few lines. We will learn the material in a general way, and from time to time we will pause to sharpen a particular point, so that we will have at least the overall picture. So let us summarize what we have learned from the beginning of chapter 51, and add a few points that we did not expand on in the previous lesson.
The Alter Rebbe opens chapter 51 with a question about the very concept of hashroas haShechinah, the indwelling of the Divine Presence. What is difficult about it? Since it is written «מלא כל הארץ כבודו», «the whole earth is full of His glory», and the Holy One is found in every place, and «לית אתר פנוי מיניה», «there is no place devoid of Him», what room is there to say that in a particular place there is hashroas haShechinah? In every place there is the revelation of the Creator, so what sense does it make to say that it is here and not there?
Some people, encountering this question, want to answer that the difference is between revelation of the Shechinah and concealment of the Shechinah. Let us say at the outset that this is not the correct answer, but here is how the explanation goes: true, the Holy One is found everywhere and equally, «מלא כל הארץ כבודו», but there are places where He is found in greater revelation, such as the Holy of Holies in the Beis Hamikdash, or other places that are designated as having kedushah, and there are places where His presence is concealed. In other words, according to this explanation there is no real difference between one place and another, only an external difference relative to the way creations perceive: here they see more and here they see less. Like the analogy of the sun, whose light is revealed in one place and blocked in another, while from its own side it is present everywhere.
What is the difficulty with this explanation? According to it there is no genuine difference between places, and that is hard to say, since it is the Torah, the Torah of truth, that defines the levels of kedushah. This is proven from three matters:
The ten levels of kedushah: the Mishnah enumerates ten gradations of holiness, from the whole world to Eretz Yisrael, and within Eretz Yisrael Yerushalayim, and within Yerushalayim Har Habayis, and so on up to the Holy of Holies. And who defines these levels of holiness? The Torah. According to the above explanation there are not ten levels of kedushah here but one single kedushah, and the entire difference lies in people's perceptions and not in anything real.
Consecrating a korban: in the time when the Beis Hamikdash stands, a Jew who consecrates an object to the Beis Hamikdash, for example an animal about which he declares «הרי זה קורבן», «this is a korban», brings about that from the moment of consecration various laws apply to it: what may be done with it, what is forbidden, and how it is to be used, in all sorts of details. Before the consecration it was chullin, ordinary, and now it has become holy. Is this an external difference? This is a real difference, one that the Torah establishes.
The days of Moshiach: in the future «ונגלה כבוד ה' וראו כל בשר יחדיו כי פי ה' דיבר», «the glory of G-d will be revealed and all flesh together will see that the mouth of G-d has spoken». There will be a revelation of G-dliness throughout the entire world. Does that mean there will no longer be a difference between a Jew and a non-Jew, nor between the Holy of Holies and an ordinary place, and everything will be the same? Certainly not. Even in the days of Moshiach it is clear that there is a difference between one place and another, between the kedushah of a Jew and that of a non-Jew, and between an animal consecrated to the Beis Hamikdash and an animal that remained chullin in the barn, and all this at a time when there is a revelation of G-dliness throughout the whole world.
From all these proofs it is clear that the differences between one place and another, in the language of the Tanya here, that in the Holy of Holies there is hashroas haShechinah while in other places there is no indwelling of this level, are a real difference, and not a sleight of hand or some external, imaginary matter. It is a genuine difference between the kedushah that rests and is present in the Holy of Holies and the kedushah that is present, or not present, in other places.
Because of this the question becomes sharper: how can one say such a thing, when «מלא כל הארץ כבודו» and «לית אתר פנוי מיניה»? If the Torah of truth establishes that there are differences, then these differences are real, and how does that square with the verse?
[One could press the question even further. After all, there is also a difference between one person and another, between one who keeps mitzvos and one who does not, and between a tzaddik like Moshe Rabbeinu, by whom the revelation of G-dliness is far greater, and a simple person. But in the comparison between one person and another the difference lies mainly in conduct, how much he overcame his yetzer and how much he did not, whereas here we are speaking about the revelation of something abstract and spiritual, which in this place exists and in another place one can say does not exist at all. So what exactly are we talking about? That is the question.]
The answer does not come in chapter 51 but later on, and in order to arrive at it a long introduction is required, which we began in the previous lesson. The Alter Rebbe prefaces a mashal from the soul of man: before we speak about the Holy One in the world, let us learn how this works within ourselves, «מבשרי אחזה אלוקה», «from my own flesh I envision G-d». A person can learn, understand and internalize how things exist in G-dliness from the way they exist within himself. To this an entire lengthy discussion is devoted, about half a chapter, and even there the discussion is still not about G-dliness but about the soul of man, about the relationship between the soul and the body, and about the various levels in the soul's revelation. The mashal itself is also full of length, abstraction and fine distinctions, and with G-d's help we will try to learn it and understand it.
So that things should be clear, let us begin with the two extremes, the very highest and the very lowest, and from there we will come to what lies between them. This is said with regard to the relationship between the soul and the body:
The lower extreme: this is the most tangible, clear and comprehensible extreme, one you can practically touch, the faculties of the soul as they are revealed in the body. In the body there are various faculties of the soul, each different from the other, and the soul's vitality is revealed in the body differently from limb to limb. A person looks at the eye and sees and senses that here there is a power and an energy of sight, and in the ear the power of hearing, and in the mouth speech, and in the legs walking. The faculties themselves are of the soul and spiritual, yet they are defined and rest in different limbs in a revealed way, and one literally sees the difference between one faculty and another. Here there is no need to delve deeply; this is something clear, simple and tangible even to a child: a particular faculty revealed in a particular limb.
The upper extreme: the soul as it is from the side of its true essence, which cannot be defined at all. From the side of its true essence it is abstracted from every description, every definition, every faculty and every form, entirely abstract. There is no way to define the soul and say «the soul is such and such», for it is something utterly abstracted from any form whatsoever and from any description.
We thus have before us two extremes. On one side, the soul, the soul of each and every person, which is a G-dly soul, lofty and abstract. And on the other side, out of that very same abstract soul, which cannot be defined at all, there emerge faculties that are highly defined, highly limited and highly concentrated in specific places. How does the abstract upper extreme descend into a defined faculty, one that enters into a physical, defined limb? How does this bridging exist between the very highest extreme and the very lowest? That is what we will learn in this chapter, and primarily about the bridging between them.
To summarize: in this section we reviewed the opening question of chapter 51: how is it possible that in a particular place there is hashroas haShechinah, when «מלא כל הארץ כבודו» and «לית אתר פנוי מיניה». We saw that one cannot be satisfied with the explanation that the difference is merely between revelation and concealment, since the Torah, the Torah of truth, establishes real differences, as proven from the ten levels of kedushah, from the consecration of a korban, and from the differences that will remain even in the days of Moshiach. Afterward we began the introduction of the mashal from the soul of man, and we identified the two extremes: the particular faculties revealed in particular limbs in a tangible and revealed way, and the soul from the side of its essence, abstracted from every description and definition.
In the next section we will deal with the bridging between the two extremes and with the various levels in the soul's revelation within the body.