A review of what we have learned until now:
The Tanya is a book about the soul of the Jew. Already in chapter 1 the Alter Rebbe established, on the basis of the sifrei Kabbalah, that every Jew has two souls: one soul that comes from the side of kedushah (holiness), and a second soul that comes from the side of the kelipah. This is זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים ("God made this one opposite that one"): exactly as a person has faculties on the side of holiness, so too he has parallel faculties on the opposite side.
And what is a "soul"? In chapters 3 and 4 it was explained that every soul contains within it two things:
Ten faculties - intellect and emotion: three faculties belonging to the world of the mind, and seven faculties belonging to the world of feeling.
Three garments - thought, speech and action, the three modes through which the soul actually operates and expresses itself.
Chapters 3 through 5 developed at length the ten faculties and the three garments of the nefesh haElokis, the divine soul. Chapter 6 opens with that same principle of זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים: the second soul as well, the lower one that comes from the side of the kelipah, has a parallel system of its own, ten faculties and three garments. The Alter Rebbe does not elaborate on it the way he elaborated on the side of holiness, precisely because it is built as an exact counterpart to it.
What is a "kelipah" and what is the "sitra achra":
"Sitra achra" means in Aramaic "the other side." As was explained in the previous lesson, there is no way to define kelipah and evil in positive terms. Their definition is purely a negative one: first you have to know what the correct side is, and once its definition is clear, it follows that whatever does not meet that criterion is found on the other side.
So what is the definition of the correct side, the side of kedushah? A simple definition: a place, a matter or a thing that is botel (nullified) to the Holy One, to the point that one can say that it represents Him and that holiness rests upon it. In contrast, anything, any word, any thought, any object that runs contrary to the will of the Creator cannot be called holy, because it is not nullified to Him but opposed to Him.
And what is bittul, nullification? We can illustrate it on two levels:
A servant to his master: the servant is nullified to his master's will and acts according to it.
A car to its driver: an even greater bittul. The car has no desires of its own about where to go; wherever the driver takes it, that is where it goes. That is absolute bittul.
Bittul, then, means having no agenda of one's own, no will of one's own, no ego and no self-interest. Kedushah is bittul before the Creator.
"Whatever is not nullified to Him, blessed be He":
Here the Alter Rebbe continues: anything that is not botel to the Holy One. And how do we know what the Holy One wants? He gave us Torah and mitzvos, and they are the clear menu of the divine will. Anything that does not conform even to one small clause of halachah, but stands opposed to it, is not nullified to Him; it is a separate entity, separate from the Holy One.
And of course, God forbid to say that anything truly exists apart from Him, for He creates everything and forms everything, everything is Him and He is present everywhere. "Separate" refers only to how the created being feels: the creature feels as though it is independent, as though there is no authority over it, no responsibility and no obligation, and it does as it pleases.
In that very moment in which a person feels separate from the Holy One, he is not receiving his life-force from the aspect of God's holiness. He lives, he exists, he functions, but he is not drawing from the direct divine channel. (It will be explained further that this does not apply only to that moment; there are things whose very essence is such from the outset. For now, though, we are speaking in terms of a person's conduct.)
This does not mean that there is, as it were, some other channel. There is no other creator and no other source, and the verse כי ממך הכול ("for everything is from You") teaches that everything comes from Him. The meaning is that it does not receive from the inner dimension of holiness.
Life-force from the aspect of "achorayim":
In chapter 22 of Tanya, which we will reach with God's help, the Alter Rebbe gives an illustration for this point: a person who hates his fellow and is forced to give him something. How does he give it? Not with a shining face and not while looking him in the eye, but like someone tossing the item to him from behind his back. He does give, but not in an inward, open way; he gives under compulsion.
The face is the revealed part of a person, the part that reflects his inner self, as the verse says, חכמת אדם תאיר פניו ("a man's wisdom lights up his face"). The achorayim, the back of the head, reflects something entirely external. So when we say that a thing does not receive its life-force from the inner dimension of holiness, from its very essence and being, but rather from the aspect of "achorayim" - the meaning is that it does receive, but not in a manner of closeness and a shining face; the Holy One sustains it for some incidental reason.
For in truth, the moment something separates itself from holiness it should have ceased to exist. Take the simple analogy of a king who has servants, subjects and a nation: whoever opposes him and obstructs him, the king fights until he wipes him out. And when we are speaking of the Holy One who gives life to everything, whoever does not fall into line should by rights vanish from existence.
But in the divine plan the Creator wanted there to be forces in the world that stand opposed to Him, so that there would be free choice, as it says, ראה נתתי לפניך היום את הברכה ואת הקללה, את החיים ואת המות, ובחרת בחיים ("See, I have set before you today the blessing and the curse, life and death; and you shall choose life"). In any case, the mere fact that it exists does not indicate that it is desirable or that it is the purpose; in and of itself there is no need for it at all, and therefore its life-force comes from the aspect of achorayim.
The descent of the divine life-force from level to level:
What, then, happens to the divine life-force when it has to descend into a place that stands opposed to the true will of the Holy One, a place that nevertheless continues to exist for some reason? It cannot remain as it is at its source, authentic, pure and holy, and descend in that state into a place that opposes it, for the two are opposites. In its original intensity it cannot enter a place that is not a vessel for such intensity at all.
An analogy from the physical world: to bring electricity from the power company all the way to a small appliance in the home, transformers are needed, large ones and small ones. The current passes through many stages until it takes on a form that allows it to enter even the smallest device. In a similar way, in abstract spiritual terms, the divine life-force undergoes a process of transformation so that it can enter and clothe itself even in a place that opposes the divine will.
And how does the Alter Rebbe describe this whole process? "שיורדים ממדרגה למדרגה" ("that they descend from level to level") - the divine life-force first descends from one level to a level beneath it, and so on, "רבבות מדרגות" ("myriads of levels"), through countless descents, until it can enter a place that is contrary to truth.
In summary: in this section we reviewed the foundations already learned: the two souls in every Jew, the ten faculties and three garments of each soul, and the opening of chapter 6 with זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים. We saw that kelipah and sitra achra have no positive definition, only a negative one, and that the definition of kedushah is bittul to the Creator. We learned that whatever is not nullified to Him is considered separate - separate only in the creature's own perception - and therefore does not receive life-force from the inner dimension of holiness but from the aspect of "achorayim," as in the analogy of one who gives to his enemy from behind his back; and that the reason for its existence is the need for free choice. Finally we began to explain the descent of the divine life-force from level to level, myriads of levels, so that it can clothe itself in a place that opposes the divine will.
In the next section we will continue with the explanation of those myriads of levels in the descent of the divine life-force, and with the Alter Rebbe's further words in chapter 6.