In the previous section we learned that every single act a person does draws his soul downward. When the act belongs to the three impure kelipos, this is obvious: the nefesh habahamis (the animal soul) has its source in kelipas nogah, and when a person takes that soul and uses it for an act belonging to the three impure kelipos, he has dragged it down to a place lower than itself. But what about an act that is itself kelipas nogah, for instance eating not out of craving but simply to sustain the body? Seemingly the soul is nogah and the act is nogah as well, so in what sense has he brought it down at all?
The Tzemach Tzedek's answer: there are levels within kelipas nogah
This question is raised by the Tzemach Tzedek, and he answers that within kelipas nogah itself there are four worlds: atzilus of nogah, beriah of nogah, yetzirah of nogah and asiyah of nogah. Nogah itself has levels. A Jew's animal soul stands at a high level within nogah, and every act a person does lowers it to a lower rung within nogah; an act belonging to the three impure kelipos brings it down further still.
It emerges that every action, at every moment, demands a reckoning. There is no free space here. Every single action a person does has to be connected to kedushah.
The mitzvah of Achdus Hashem
This connecting is included in the mitzvah of Achdus Hashem, one of the six constant mitzvos that rest upon a Jew twenty four hours a day. These mitzvos do not depend on a festival or a particular season, they do not depend on place, and they do not depend on whether one is male or female: to believe in Hashem, to fear Hashem, to love Hashem, and among them the mitzvah to declare His oneness, Achdus Hashem. Its meaning is "ein od milvado," there is nothing that exists apart from Him, and therefore in every thought, every word and every action a person is asked to know this, to see it, and to connect it back to Him.
This is one of the foundations of the Baal Shem Tov, who taught at length that from everything a Jew sees or hears he must derive a lesson in avodas Hashem. The meaning is one and the same: there is nothing in the world that does not belong to kedushah. There are, however, two categories:
Things that themselves become kedushah: The Holy One created animals, and it is His will that the hide of an animal, after shechitah, become parchment for a Sefer Torah. The material itself has turned into actual kedushah.
Things that assist kedushah: the accessories of a mitzvah. They do not themselves become kedushah, but they serve as training wheels for kedushah.
From here we learn that with every object a person brings into his home, even a bottle of water, it is upon him to look for the way it will become an aid to kedushah. And if it is not assisting kedushah, where is it? In kelipah. There is no in between state, and so it is with each and every thing.
Timtum halev
This principle also explains a phenomenon the Alter Rebbe discusses in Likkutei Torah, and in the Tanya itself in chapter 28: a person wants to learn or to daven, he has already made up his mind that this is what he wants, and suddenly nothing stirs inside him and all the channels are blocked. This is a state of timtum halev, a dulled heart. The explanation is brought from the Zohar: in the laws of Krias Shema and in the laws of tefillah it is established that one must keep a distance of four amos from foul places; and when the soul has clothed itself in soiled garments, kedushah too does not attach itself to it but rather distances itself and cannot clothe itself in it. For every act that is not kedushah creates a "garment" that is unfit.
"And these are all the deeds that are done under the sun"
The Alter Rebbe goes on to explain what those impure deeds, words and thoughts are that he called "soiled garments," and he uses the wording of the verse in Koheles: "והן הם כל המעשים אשר נעשים תחת השמש, אשר הכל הבל ורעות רוח", "and these are all the deeds that are done under the sun, of which all is vanity and a breaking of the spirit." Shlomo HaMelech said: "And I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a breaking of the spirit."
What does "re'us ruach" mean? It is not from the word ra, evil. "Ruach" here refers to the spirit of kedushah, and "re'us" comes from the word for breaking. So Rashi explains there in Koheles: a breaking of the spirit; and so it is brought in the Zohar on parshas Beshalach, "tevirו d'rucha," the breaking of the spirit of kedushah. A Jew has a spirit of holiness, a nefesh Elokis, and every act he does under the sun that is not kedushah breaks it. Picture what a nefesh Elokis looks like when at every moment it receives another break and another blow: it is weakened, and it loses its ability to act afterward in matters of kedushah and yiras Shamayim.
There is no in between state here, since there is no other domain besides the domain of the Creator. If something is not Elokus, one cannot call it good in its own right, for there is no good that is not connected to the Creator of the world. Therefore anything that cannot be clearly pointed to as kedushah is the opposite of kedushah. This does not refer only to theft, murder or desecrating Shabbos, which are certainly the opposite of kedushah, but even to something far lighter than those: since it is not kedushah and it does not serve as a training wheel for kedushah, it is the opposite of kedushah.
And so the Alter Rebbe continues: "וכן כל הדיבורים וכל המחשבות אשר לא לה' המה ולרצונו ולעבודתו", "and likewise all words and all thoughts that are not for Hashem, for His will and for His service." A person let out a word about the weather; seemingly he harmed no one, but this is not kedushah. Yet that very same speech can be kedushah: a teacher who wants to take his class out on a nature trip, or to teach them something in class, and calls the weather service to find out what the weather will be that day, is asking in order to teach them Torah better, and his speech is literally kedushah.
This is exactly what kelipas nogah is: it is in a person's hands to raise it up to kedushah. But if the speech is not "for Hashem, for His will and for His service," it is not kedushah.
What is "sitra achra"?
The Alter Rebbe explains the meaning of the term: "סטרא אחרא", "meaning the other side, which is not the side of kedushah." It has no self definition of its own; its only definition is that it is the other side. Therefore, in order to understand what sitra achra is, one must first define what kedushah is, and whatever does not meet that criterion is sitra achra.
A parable: a person knows that the road leading to his home runs down a certain street, and he chooses to walk down a different road. There is not necessarily anything negative about that road in itself, but he will not reach his home. And if it does not arrive at the destination, then it is a place that is not good. There is a road that leads to a place of wild beasts, and there is a road that does not lead to wild beasts but also does not lead home.
What is kedushah?
"וצד הקדושה אינו אלא השראה והמשכה מקדושתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא", "and the side of kedushah is nothing other than the indwelling and drawing down of the holiness of the Holy One, blessed be He." "Nothing other than" means exclusively; there is no escape here and no alternative route. Kedushah means that one can say about the thing that the Holy One rests within it: as it were, He looks at the deed and says, this is exactly My deed, it represents Me, and this thought is exactly Me. About every single thing a person needs to feel that it is a drawing down of the holiness of the Holy One, that it expresses Him and represents Him.
True, the Creator is everywhere, and kelipah too comes from Him, since everything comes from Him. But kelipah receives from Him by way of achorayim (the "back") and by way of tzimtzum, and it does not express Him but the very opposite; it exists only because "zeh le'umas zeh asah Elokim," God made one corresponding to the other. The question, then, is where the Creator of the world is found in a way that constitutes a true expression of Him.
For this the Alter Rebbe states the threshold condition, without which nothing is possible: "ואין הקדוש ברוך הוא שורה אלא על דבר שבטל אצלו יתברך", "and the Holy One rests only upon something that is nullified before Him." The Holy One rests only in a place about which one can say that it is batel to Him.
What is bittul?
A parable from the physical world: someone lights a torch at midday, on a day of strong sunshine, and stands with it outside. An onlooker will hardly be able to tell whether there is a torch there at all and whether it is burning. That is, the torch exists, but against the light of the sun it is batel, nullified. As the expression goes, "sheraga betihara mai ahani," a lamp at midday serves no purpose; it is there, yet it is as though it is not there. This is bittul: the person is present and exists, but he is nullified to the will of the Holy One, and so too his deeds and his thoughts, everything is batel to His will.
And should someone claim that such a demand for completeness is beyond reach, one must know: had it not been within a person's ability, it would not have been demanded of him; and since it is demanded, that means a person can meet it. It is not easy, but every single thing is a person's responsibility to connect to kedushah, and there is no free space in this. This recognition fundamentally changes how one looks at everything that happens in the world.
To summarize: In this section we learned that even an act that is itself kelipas nogah brings the soul down, since within nogah itself there are levels, as the Tzemach Tzedek explains. We looked at the mitzvah of Achdus Hashem and at the foundation taught by the Baal Shem Tov, that there is nothing in the world that does not belong to kedushah: either it becomes kedushah itself, or it assists kedushah, and if not, it is in kelipah. We saw that "all the deeds that are done under the sun" that are not for the sake of Heaven are "vanity and a breaking of the spirit," from the word for breaking the spirit of kedushah, and that this is also the root of timtum halev. We also explained the meaning of "sitra achra," the other side, which is not the side of kedushah, and opposite it the side of kedushah, which is "nothing other than the indwelling and drawing down of the holiness of the Holy One," which rests only upon something that is batel to Him.
In the next section we will continue and go deeper into the subject of bittul to the Creator and into the Alter Rebbe's further words in this chapter.