In the previous section we examined the level called «Shechinah», the principal revelation of the general life-force that shines into the worlds. To understand how this life-force actually reaches the worlds, we turn to the analogy of the sun and its light. The full treatment of this analogy belongs to Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah; here the Alter Rebbe mentions it only briefly.
The analogy of the sun and its light:
The light outside the sun: the light spread throughout the world, which everyone feels and benefits from.
The light inside the sun: if there is light outside the sun, then all the more so there is light within the body of the sun itself. Except that light as it exists inside the sun cannot be called «light» at all, because it has no independent existence there; it is simply part of the body of the sphere itself.
Which brings us to a question: does the sun itself illuminate the world, or is it the light contained within it that goes out and shines below? The sun itself does not shine down here. It is the light within it that descends and reaches the world.
And another important detail: even that light within the body of the sun does not shine upon the world directly. A shield and covering are required, and only afterward does the world enjoy the light. So what we benefit from is the sun's light after it has been screened by that shield. And what is said about Avraham Avinu, that Hashem will «take the sun out of its sheath», means nothing other than the removal of that shield.
The nimshal: the level called Shechinah, the source of the life-force of all the worlds, corresponds in the analogy to the sun. The Shechinah itself does not clothe itself in created beings, in a cup, in a table, in any creature, because such an exalted divine intensity is something creatures simply cannot receive, just as the world could not absorb the sun itself. The world receives only from the radiance of the Shechinah, and even that it does not receive directly, but through a garment and a covering.
It is worth noting that this level has four names, each one a subject in itself: «Matronisa», «Imma Tata'ah» (the lower mother), «Alma D'isgalya» (the revealed world), and the general, familiar name, «Shechinah». Wherever the term Shechinah appears, this level is what is meant.
And where is this source called Shechinah to be found? As has been explained: in Torah and mitzvos. Torah and mitzvos are the source of this level of life-force.
From here comes an expression the Rebbe repeated many times and wrote in countless letters, in answer to Jews who claim that the world gets in the way of their keeping Torah and mitzvos: the world cannot interfere with Torah and mitzvos, since the world draws its very life from Torah and mitzvos, and it is impossible for something to interfere with its own source of life. The Aibershter sets up all sorts of tests in which it seems as though right now the Torah's will cannot be fulfilled, as though there is no way forward, and that is precisely what a test is. But when the truth comes to light, that the entire world lives from Torah and mitzvos, it turns out there was no interference here at all: the moment a person steps up to do exactly what is asked of him, all the obstacles vanish as if they had never been.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: «וכולן אינן רק מהתפשטות החיות והאור מהמקור הזה הנקרא שכינה, כהתפשטות האור מהשמש», «and all of them are only from the spreading forth of the life-force and the light from this source called Shechinah, like the spreading forth of light from the sun». Just as light spreads out from the sun, so too the life-force is drawn down from the source called Shechinah.
«אבל השכינה עצמה, שהיא ראשית הגילוי ועיקרו, מה שאין סוף ברוך הוא מאיר לעולמות בבחינת גילוי», «but the Shechinah itself, which is the beginning of the revelation and its essence, that the Ein Sof blessed be He illuminates the worlds in a manner of revelation». This is that intermediate level described at the opening of the chapter as the principal revelation of the general life-force. «והיא מקור כל המשכות החיות שבכל העולמות, שכל החיות שבהם אינו רק אור המתפשט ממנה כאור המתפשט מהשמש», «and it is the source of all the drawings down of life-force in all the worlds, for all the life-force in them is nothing but light spreading forth from it, like light spreading forth from the sun». The source itself cannot shine into the worlds, because the world is no vessel for it.
«אי אפשר לעולמות לסבול ולקבל אור שכינתה שתשכון ותתלבש בתוכם ממש בלא לבוש המעלים ומסתיר אורה מהם, שלא יתבטלו במציאות לגמרי במקומם», «it is impossible for the worlds to bear and receive the light of His Shechinah, that it should literally dwell and clothe itself within them, without a garment that conceals and hides its light from them, so that they not be utterly nullified out of existence in their place». Without a garment to regulate and conceal, the light cannot shine into the worlds, for then it would be shining in them as it is inside the sun itself, «כביטול אור השמש במקורו בגוף השמש, שאין נראה שם אור זה, רק עצם גוף השמש בלבד», «like the nullification of the sun's light in its source in the body of the sun, where this light is not visible at all, only the very body of the sun itself». Inside the sun one does not call the light «light» at all, only «sun».
And in the nimshal: if the worlds were to receive directly, with no garment, there would be no world here at all, only G-dliness, only Shechinah. No worlds, no creatures, no reality whatsoever. The entire existence of reality is due to one thing alone: that this overpowering light called Shechinah does not bring the worlds into being directly, but through a concealing garment.
And exactly as in the analogy: only once the light leaves the sun, after the shield and the concealment, does it become a separate reality, something that can be captured by instruments, converted into energy, used to make all sorts of things, enjoyed as an entity standing on its own, as if disconnected from the sun. And all of this only after it has emerged from there. Without that shield it would never have emerged at all, and it would have had no separate existence, since it would have remained nullified in its source and in its essence. So too in the nimshal: without the garment there would be no room for any reality at all, not a physical world, not any world whatsoever.
And what is that garment, that protection?
This will be explained in the next section; here we will note only the general direction. The Alter Rebbe says that this very regulation and protection are themselves Torah and mitzvos. In Torah and mitzvos two opposites are joined. On the one hand they are the greatest intensity there can possibly be, the source of life-force for all the worlds. On the other hand, the Aibershter clothed Torah and mitzvos in physical things and contracted His Shechinah within them, so that those same Torah and mitzvos should also serve as the regulator and the shield, enabling the world to survive and endure.
At first glance this seems absurd: if the world cannot receive from the source because the source is too lofty, how can the source itself become the garment that makes receiving possible? How can one and the same thing be both source and garment? This will be explained in the next section.
In any case, here is the conclusion that emerges: in every moment of Torah study and in every mitzvah performed, a person connects to the highest divine source there is, the source from which the life of all the worlds flows. And the very ability to learn, to survive, to exist in a physical body, and the continued existence of one's whole environment, all of this is precisely because Torah and mitzvos were clothed in physical things. With His all-encompassing power the Aibershter joined these two opposites and clothed them in letters written on paper and in physical objects: the parchment of seforim, tefillin and mezuzah. In these physical objects lies hidden the energy of the entire world, and the whole world lives from them.
To summarize: in this section we learned from the analogy of the sun and its light how life-force reaches the worlds. Light as it is inside the sun is not called «light» at all; only the light that emerges from it, and even that only after a shield and covering, illuminates the world. So too the Shechinah, which is the beginning of the revelation and its essence and the source of life-force for all the worlds: it does not clothe itself in created beings on its own, and the worlds cannot receive its light except through a garment that conceals and hides, for otherwise they would be utterly nullified out of existence and there would be no room for any reality at all. We also noted the names of this level, and that Torah and mitzvos are the source of the world's life-force, which is why the world cannot possibly interfere with keeping them.
In the next section we will take up how Torah and mitzvos themselves also serve as the garment and the shield, and how these two opposites are joined: source and garment as one.