In the previous section we looked at the intermediate stage between the soul and the body, the mochin, and at its counterpart in G-dliness. Now we turn to the Alter Rebbe's own words. When you read the passage straight through, it is hard to tell where the names themselves end and the explanation of each name begins; the table before us will make it clear where each name appears and where its meaning is spelled out. Let us begin, then, with the names themselves.
«ומקור זה הוא הנקרא» (and this source is called): the Alter Rebbe writes that this G-dly source, the source of the life-force of every creature and of all the worlds, is called by four names:
«עלמא דאתגליא» (the world of revelation), the first name.
«ומטרוניתא», which in Aramaic means a queen.
«ואימא תתאה» (the lower mother).
«ושכינה - מלשון ושכנתי בתוכם» (and Shechinah, from the expression «and I will dwell among them»).
These are not simply four interchangeable names, that we should call it one thing sometimes and another thing other times. They are four distinct levels: within the intermediate stage itself there are four stages before the matter comes down into actual reality, and each one receives a different title, with every name describing, if we may use a crude expression, as it were a different quality of that stage.
And what is this intermediate stage? The mochin. Just as in the human body the mochin (the brain, the intellect) are the source from which the life-force descends and contracts itself into each and every limb, so too this is the source from which the G-dly life-force descended and contracted itself into each and every world.
And here the Alter Rebbe comes to explain the names:
First, the name «עלמא דאתגליא». In the words of the Tanya: «על שם שמקור זה הוא ראשית התגלות אור אין סוף» (because this source is the beginning of the revelation of the Ein Sof light). The stage above the mochin cannot be called «revelation» at all, since it is abstracted from any definition whatsoever; here, however, at the level of mochin, something of revelation begins for the first time, a revelation of the G-dly light, even though this is only the revelation of the central point of the matter and not yet a descent into particulars. That is why the first name is «the world of revelation»: this is the beginning of revelation, and before this one cannot even apply the term «revelation» to it.
«מטרוניתא», a queen. The king is removed from the people and secluded in his chamber, and it is the queen who brings the king's affairs down to the ministers and to the people, down to the particulars. Such is the function of this intermediate stage: that through it the king's own matter, the essence, the entirely abstract stage, should be drawn down to the stage below it. In the words of the Tanya: «אשר ממשיך ומאיר לעולמות בבחינת גילוי» (which draws down and illuminates the worlds in a manner of revelation). For the worlds to be able to receive particular rays of light and particular measures of life-force, there must be an intermediate station whose entire purpose is to draw the abstract energy downward, and that is «matronisa».
«אמא תתאה». A «mother» is a source from which particulars, children, will later emerge. In the order of the sefiros, Binah is called «mother» (Chochmah is the father and Binah the mother), because once a person contemplates a matter, children are born from that contemplation: the emotions, chesed, gevurah and tiferes, for the mind produces revelation in the heart. But Binah is called «imma ila'ah», the upper mother, because the particulars that come from her are the middos (the emotional attributes); here, by contrast, we are speaking of the source from which the lower physical worlds will come, and therefore it is called «imma tata'ah», the lower mother: a mother, a source for particulars, yet «lower», since the particulars emerging from her are the lowest sefirah, the sefirah of Malchus, from which all the lower worlds will come. In the words of the Tanya: «וממקור זה נמשך לכל אחד ואחד האור וחיות פרטי הראוי לו» (and from this source there is drawn to each and every one the particular light and life-force appropriate to it), like a mother who attends to every single detail according to what that child needs.
What is the difference between the title «matronisa» and the title «imma tata'ah»?
Both titles are in the feminine, and the theme of both is giving to others; yet in the order in which the names unfold, from above downward, «matronisa» comes before «imma tata'ah». The reason: in the title «matronisa» the emphasis is on the king. True, there is a transmission here to the people, but what stands out as primary is the king, whom she conveys to the people. In «imma tata'ah» the emphasis is on the lower one: she is attending to the particulars that are below, and here there is a far greater relationship, concern and significance given to the lower points.
«שכינה» is the lowest stage and title of them all, as the Tanya puts it: «ושוכן ומתלבש בתוכם לחיותם» (and dwells and clothes itself within them to give them life). From this level the life-force descends and actually dwells and clothes itself within created beings: from there came down the power of sight and the power of hearing, and from there the life-force descended into the inanimate and the vegetative. «Dwells» means that it literally takes up residence and comes down to the smallest particulars.
This source is not only the source of the worlds; it is also the source of the souls of Israel, and from that perspective it is called by two additional names: «ולכן נקרא [1.] אם הבנים על דרך משל [2.] וכנסת ישראל» (and therefore it is called, [1.] by way of analogy, «the mother of the children», and [2.] «Knesses Yisrael»). And why? Not because it is the source of the worlds, but «שממקור זה נאצלו נשמות דאצילות, ונבראו נשמות דבריאה וכו'» (for from this source the souls of Atzilus were emanated, and the souls of Beriah were created, and so on).
It emerges that the general name for this level is «Shechinah», and it has particular names according to the aspect under discussion: as the source of the worlds it is called «alma de'isgalya», «matronisa», «imma tata'ah» and «Shechinah»; and as the source of the souls of Israel it is called «eim habanim» and «Knesses Yisrael». All these titles refer to that one intermediate stage which is the source of all the particulars that will emerge from it.
It is worth noting that specifically the name «Shechinah» is the one most familiar to us, even though it is not the highest of these names, precisely because it is the lowest of them and therefore the closest to us. We do not generally call this level «matronisa» or «imma tata'ah» or «alma de'isgalya», but «Shechinah».
And the Alter Rebbe concludes: «וכולן» (and all of them), meaning all the particulars, all the worlds and all the souls, everything found in the stage that follows, «אינן רק התפשטות החיות והאור מהמקור הזה הנקרא שכינה» (are nothing but an extension of the life-force and light from this source, which is called Shechinah). And in what manner do they extend from it? «כהתפשטות האור מהשמש» (like the spreading forth of light from the sun): just as light comes from the sun, so do all created beings receive their life-force from this G-dly source.
In summary: we learned that the intermediate stage between the soul and the body is called «mochin», and so it is in G-dliness: the source in which the light and life-force of all the worlds, all the particulars and all created beings are included in one central concentration from which everything draws, which is Torah and mitzvos, the source of the life-force of the entire world, known by the general name «mochin». This source has four names, each name corresponding to a different aspect of the matter: «alma de'isgalya», the beginning of the revelation of the Ein Sof light; «matronisa», which draws down and illuminates the worlds in a manner of revelation; «imma tata'ah», the source that bestows upon each one the particular light and life-force appropriate to it; and «Shechinah», which dwells and clothes itself within created beings themselves to give them life. And insofar as it is the source of the souls of Israel, it is also called «eim habanim» and «Knesses Yisrael». And all created beings and all souls are nothing but an extension of the light and life-force from this source, like the spreading forth of light from the sun.
In the next section we will continue with the Alter Rebbe's words and examine the meaning of the analogy of the spreading forth of the sun's light with regard to the life-force of created beings.