In the previous section we studied the Ten Commandments engraved in the tablets of stone, and the miraculous nature of that engraving. In this section we will clarify the level of divine revelation that shone in the tablets, the level of Shechinah that rested in the first Beis Hamikdash, and the change that took place in the second.
What emerges from all this? On the one hand the tablets were a physical object. Yet the hishtalshelus (the chain of descent) of the divine light that came down to engrave the letters into physical stone did not follow the ordinary process by which every physical thing descends into the world. The tablets came down into the world and could be seen with physical eyes, but they did not descend into the world's physical framework and they did not operate by the rules of its nature.
We are not speaking, then, of something that simply cannot be seen with physical eyes, like the angels, who exist from the outset on the plane of the world of Yetzirah and therefore are not visible to a human being. The tablets were seen with physical eyes, and at the same time it was seen that they do not function by the rules of this world. That is the first proof: the tablets did not belong to the world of Asiyah, since they did not meet its criteria. Further on we will prove that they did not belong to the world of Yetzirah either.
As we have learned, in every world the Shechinah that rests in the Holy of Holies of that world contains the entire life-force and energy of that whole world. Accordingly, the Shechinah resting in the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies of the spiritual world of Asiyah contains the full life-force of the world of Asiyah, and from the spiritual world of Asiyah light and life-force are drawn down into this physical world, which is included within the spiritual Asiyah. Every law of nature that exists in the world of Asiyah receives its vitality from its Holy of Holies.
With the tablets, however, we see that they were not receiving from the world of Asiyah at all, but from a higher place. Had they received from Asiyah, they would have met the criteria of Asiyah. It is understood, then, that the tablets were above the nature of this physical world, which is sustained by the illumination of the Shechinah in the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah.
«אלא בחינת חכמה עילאה דאצילות, שהיא כללות התורה שבעשרת הדברות» (rather, the level of the supernal Chochmah of Atzilus, which is the whole of the Torah contained in the Ten Commandments): the revelation in the Ten Commandments is the revelation of the Shechinah itself on the level of supernal Chochmah of the world of Atzilus. And in order to descend into physical tablets, «נתלבשה במלכות דאצילות ודבריאה לבדן» (it clothed itself in Malchus of Atzilus and of Beriah alone): it contracted into Malchus of Atzilus and descended into Malchus of Beriah, and from there into the physical tablets, skipping over the world of Yetzirah and the world of Asiyah entirely. In the first Beis Hamikdash one could see with physical eyes something that was a revelation on the level of the world of Beriah.
True, being clothed in stone is certainly a contraction relative to the light shining in the Ten Commandments themselves, and it is precisely because of that contraction that they could be seen with the eyes. But this is not the contraction of the world of Asiyah; it is a contraction that is still above everything that belongs to the creation, above the world of Yetzirah and above the world of Asiyah.
Malchus of Atzilus and of Beriah are the source from which the worlds of Yetzirah and Asiyah come into being, «והן לבדן המיוחדות באור אין סוף שבתוכן» (and they alone are united with the Ein Sof light within them): the revelation of supernal Chochmah that shines in the sefirah of Malchus of Atzilus and of Beriah is united with the divine light within them, and «הן הנקראות בשם שכינה השורה בקודש קודשים דבית ראשון, על ידי התלבשותה בעשרת הדברות החקוקות בלוחות שבארון בנס» (these are what is called the Shechinah that rested in the Holy of Holies of the first Beis Hamikdash, through its being clothed in the Ten Commandments miraculously engraved in the tablets in the ark).
To summarize the level of the first Beis Hamikdash:
From the side of the light: the light of Malchus of Atzilus.
From the side of the clothing: a descent only as far as the world of Beriah, and no lower.
A clarification is in order. There was a revelation of G-dliness throughout the entire Beis Hamikdash. Ten miracles took place there, and some of them extended to all of Jerusalem and not only to the Beis Hamikdash; there were miracles at the altar and many more besides, and one saw tangibly that the place did not operate by the rules of nature. But the great divine revelation called «revelation of the Shechinah», the revelation of that which is above place within a place, existed in that intensity only in the Holy of Holies. That is why only the Kohen Gadol entered there, only on Yom Kippur, and only for a short while.
So far we have proven that the tablets were above the world of Asiyah. How do we know they were above the world of Yetzirah as well? From the continuation: «ומעשה אלקים חיים» (and the work of the living G-d). It is explained in chassidus that the name Elokim Chaim indicates a revelation belonging to the world of Beriah, as the Alter Rebbe notes in parentheses: «הוא עלמא דאתכסייא המקנן בעולם הבריאה כנודע ליודעי ח"ן» (this is the concealed world that nests in the world of Beriah, as is known to those versed in the hidden wisdom). Consequently, by saying of the tablets that they are «the work of the living G-d», we are saying that the revelation in the stone is a revelation of the world of Beriah. This knowledge itself comes from the inner dimension of Torah, which was given at Sinai in the very same event in which the revealed Torah was given, and in it we are shown that Elokim Chaim means the world of Beriah.
What is the difference between the vitality found in a hand, a foot or a mouth, and the vitality found in the brain? The vitality in the brain is a general vitality, one that includes all the limbs, all the commands and all the systems, and therefore its character and its power are of an entirely different order: a slight injury to the brain, G-d forbid, damages many systems, and one sees that the brain governs the whole body. The particular vitality in each limb, by contrast, is a vitality with real power and remarkable functions, writing, walking and the like, and while that power should not be belittled, there is simply no comparison between it and the power of the brain.
So too in the analogue, although it is hard to illustrate, since we have no grasp of divine revelation, neither small nor great: «revelation of the Shechinah» means the revelation of the general vitality that contains within it all the particulars that come from it. Which particulars? That depends on which level of Shechinah is being discussed. Shechinah on the level of Malchus of Atzilus contains all the creatures of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; the Shechinah of a lower world contains the creatures of that world, and so on down.
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This chapter divides into three stages: the revelation of the Shechinah in the first Beis Hamikdash, its revelation in the second, and its revelation during the exile, «Shechinta begalusa», how we reveal it in our own time. Until now we have dealt with the first Beis Hamikdash; now we move on to the second.
It is known that the second Beis Hamikdash lacked five very significant things, one of which is relevant to our subject: the ark and the tablets were not in the second Beis Hamikdash. The ark and the tablets were hidden away. The Gemara discusses where the ark is, and there is a testimony that it was taken to Babylon. The Rambam writes that it was hidden by King Yoshiyahu at the end of the first Beis Hamikdash, in deep and winding underground chambers. In any case it is clear that in the second Beis Hamikdash there was neither ark nor tablets.
It is worth noting that even after the ark was hidden away, the Kohen Gadol continued to perform the very same services in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur. One cannot say that since there was no ark there, the Holy of Holies was opened to the public and anyone was permitted to enter. As we will see shortly, the revelation there was indeed not of the intensity of the first Beis Hamikdash, but it was certainly a revelation far greater than that of the world at large.
In the Alter Rebbe's words: «ובבית שני שלא היה בו הארון והלוחות אמרו רז"ל שלא היתה שכינה שורה בו» (and of the second Beis Hamikdash, which did not contain the ark and the tablets, our Sages said that the Shechinah did not rest in it). Was there then no Shechinah in the second Beis Hamikdash at all? On this the Alter Rebbe explains: «פירוש - מדרגת שכינה שהיתה שורה בבית ראשון שלא כדרך השתלשלות העולמות» (meaning, the level of Shechinah that rested in the first Beis Hamikdash, which came not by way of the chain of descent of the worlds). In other words, what was absent in the second Beis Hamikdash was that particular level of Shechinah that had been present in the first, which came not in the manner of hishtalshelus: a revelation of the light of Malchus of Atzilus clothed in the world of Beriah alone.
But a revelation did rest in the second Beis Hamikdash: «אלא בבית שני היתה שורה כדרך השתלשלות והתלבשות מלכות דאצילות במלכות דבריאה, ודבריאה במלכות דיצירה, ודיצירה בהיכל קודש קודשים דעשיה, וקודש קודשים דעשיה הרוחנית היה מתלבש בקודש הקודשים שבבית המקדש שלמטה» (rather, in the second Beis Hamikdash it rested by way of the chain of descent and the clothing of Malchus of Atzilus in Malchus of Beriah, and of Beriah in Malchus of Yetzirah, and of Yetzirah in the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, and the Holy of Holies of the spiritual Asiyah was clothed in the Holy of Holies of the Beis Hamikdash below).
It emerges that in the second Beis Hamikdash the revelation descended as far as Malchus of Yetzirah, and from there to the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, but it did not descend into Malchus of Asiyah. In every world, for the creatures of that world to come into being, the revelation must descend from the level of its Holy of Holies into its Malchus; and in the second Beis Hamikdash it was enough that the revelation reached only as far as the level of the Holy of Holies of the spiritual world of Asiyah. The Shechinah that was there was Malchus of Yetzirah clothed in the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, that is, one level higher than the world at large.
And since this was a revelation higher than the creation as a whole, the Alter Rebbe concludes: «ולכן לא היה רשאי שום אדם ליכנס שם» (and therefore no person was permitted to enter there). It was not a place like any other place in the world, but a place whose revelation was greater, and therefore not every person could enter it, «לבד כהן הגדול ביום הכיפורים» (except the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur), him alone and no one else. And if the Kohen Gadol was not worthy, he would not survive the year. That is in fact what happened in the second Beis Hamikdash: most of the Kohanim Gedolim were unworthy, since they had purchased the priesthood, and they were replaced every year. From this one sees that the holiness that was there was beyond the creation as a whole.
To summarize: the difference between the first and second Beis Hamikdash is enormous, so much so that our Sages said of the second that the Shechinah did not rest in it. In the first Beis Hamikdash, from the side of the light it was the light of Malchus of Atzilus, and from the side of its drawing down and clothing it descended only as far as Malchus of Beriah, not by way of the chain of descent of the worlds but skipping over Yetzirah and Asiyah. Hence one could see with physical eyes letters engraved in stone that did not behave according to the rules of nature, and the tablets were called «the work of the living G-d», a revelation of the world of Beriah. In the second Beis Hamikdash, which lacked the ark and the tablets, there was neither that light nor that clothing, but an orderly hishtalshelus: from Malchus of Atzilus to Malchus of Beriah, from there to Malchus of Yetzirah, and from there to the sanctuary of the Holy of Holies of Asiyah, which was clothed in the Holy of Holies below. This was a revelation above the world at large, yet incomparably lower than the revelation of the first Beis Hamikdash.
In the next section we will reach the third stage of the chapter: «Shechinta begalusa», what the state of the revelation of the Shechinah is in our own time, and how we reveal it today.