In the previous section we saw that the divine life-force brings into being and sustains even the kelipos and the sitra achra. Now we will learn how that life-force descends through seder hishtalshelus (the chain of worlds), what the two modes of descent are, and why precisely because of this our world is called "the world of the kelipos."
The Alter Rebbe refers here to the descent of the worlds by way of "cause and effect." As is known, there are four worlds, known by the acronym ABiYA: Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. We live in the physical world of Asiyah, with spiritual worlds above us. The entire divine life-force passes through the whole order of hishtalshelus until it clothes itself in our physical world, and this descent happens in two ways.
The two modes of descent:
Cause and effect (ilah ve'alul) - in plain terms: a source and what results from it. The source descends into the result, but a connection and a closeness remain between them, and the relationship between the two is clearly recognizable. The source exists with great intensity and the result with far less, but it is the same kind of reality. An analogy: the electricity reaching a small appliance is essentially the same electricity that is in the power station, only that in the station it is at enormous intensity, and here it has come down to a low one. Even though it changes its form and its name along the way, in the end it is the same kind of energy after it has descended.
Many tzimtzumim (contractions) - here the descent is not proportional at all, but a leap. After the tzimtzum the thing becomes an entirely different reality, so much so that you cannot recognize how one emerged from the other; it is as though it received a completely new face.
The light and the life-force are diminished, one diminution after another, descending and changing again and again, until the divine life-force can clothe itself, in that measure, in a place that is the very opposite of G-dliness, inside a thing that presents itself as separate.
The divine life-force in exile:
When the divine life-force descends and enlivens a separate entity, it is there in a state of exile. Exile is the term for someone who is in a place that is not his own and against his will: he cannot express his talents or his essence, he is not master over himself, like a person held in prison. So too the life-force that has descended cannot express itself, because the place into which it descended will not let it be revealed, and does not cry out that there is divine life within it.
A striking example is Pharaoh. Pharaoh's very existence of course came from G-dliness, and he does not exist on his own, and nevertheless Scripture calls him "the great serpent that crouches in the midst of his rivers," and it was he who said "לי יאורי ואני עשיתיני" ("the river is mine and I made myself"). Pharaoh proclaimed that he had made himself, and he would even go out to relieve himself at the river before dawn so that the Egyptians would not know that he too was flesh and blood. He is the one who said "מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו" ("who is G-d that I should listen to His voice"), and at that very moment he was receiving his life-force from the Holy One, blessed be He. That is the exile of the energy, of the divine life-force: it is compelled to clothe itself in that very Pharaoh who denies it.
The same is true of the Egyptian sorcerers and their magic: these too are powers whose source is in holiness, which descended and clothed themselves in people who used them against holiness. This is the exile, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does this for the sake of His plan in creating the world, because free choice requires that such things exist.
The staff and the snake - the Alter Rebbe's explanation in Torah Or:
In Torah Or the Alter Rebbe explains why the very first sign Moshe Rabbeinu performed before Pharaoh was specifically turning the staff into a snake and the snake back into a staff. On the face of it, what is accomplished by such a sign? The sorcerers did the same with their magic, and if the whole difference is that Moshe could do a bit more and they a bit less, that is no essential difference at all.
The Alter Rebbe explains that with this act Moshe Rabbeinu was telling Pharaoh the very principle we are learning here. "Mateh" (staff) in lashon hakodesh comes from the word hatayah, a bending or inclining downward, and the entire order of hishtalshelus, in which holiness bends and descends from level to level, is called by the name "mateh." And what happens at the end of that process of descent? It descends so far that it becomes a snake, the symbol of the sitra achra and impurity, the primordial serpent through which contamination entered the world, and Pharaoh himself is called "the great serpent."
So Moshe Rabbeinu came to Pharaoh and said to him: do not imagine that you are a reality unto yourself. You too were formed out of the "mateh," for the source of everything is in holiness, only that for a staff to become a snake the descent had to bend all the way down to the lowest place. And then he showed him the end of the process: the snake will yet return to being a staff. Meaning, in the end it too will reconnect to its root and recognize that it is nothing but part of the process, and that is its rectification: that it become batel, nullified, to the truth.
This is exactly what we are learning here: the divine life-force descends, contracts and changes until it clothes itself inside that separate entity, and this clothing is certainly a state of exile, since it is there with no choice. And why does the life-force remain in a place that is opposed to it? To enliven it and sustain it yesh me'ayin, something from nothing, so that it not revert to being null and nothing as it was at first, before it was created.
For if the divine life-force were to withdraw from the thing, the thing would vanish entirely. Take a cup, for example. If the Creator's will were that the cup not exist, it would be enough for Him to cease bringing it into being, and instantly it would not be. So its very existence proves that at this very moment there is energy within it sustaining it. And so it is with the kelipos and with evil: their very existence proves that there is a life-force bringing them into being and sustaining them at every single moment, for the instant the life-force stops contracting and entering into that kelipah, the kelipah returns to being null and nothing as before it came into being.
And this is the whole matter of choice. Although there is a difference between the way the divine life-force is present in something rooted in kelipah and the way it is present in something rooted in holiness, the human eye does not detect that difference. If the difference were visible and tangible, the entire concept of choice would collapse: when you plainly see what is light and what is darkness, walking toward the light is no choice at all. And so the Holy One, blessed be He, created a world in which the difference is not apparent at first glance.
But according to what is explained here, the definition itself is sharp and clear, with no middle ground: holiness means bittul to the Holy One, blessed be He, and whatever does not meet that criterion belongs, by that very fact, to the sitra achra. True, within the sitra achra itself there are levels, but even its highest level is a high level on the other side, not in holiness. There is one level within it, kelipas nogah, which is able to rise and cross over to the side of holiness, but as long as it has not risen it is called sitra achra. Whether something that has fallen into kelipah can be elevated and restored to holiness therefore depends on its level: some things can and some cannot, as will be explained at the end of this chapter and in chapter 7.
This world - the world of the kelipos:
For this reason this world, the physical world of Asiyah, and everything in it, is called "the world of the kelipos and the sitra achra." For the very nature of the world conceals the life-force within it. Chassidus explains that "teva" (nature) comes from the phrase "tub'u b'Yam Suf," they were drowned in the Sea of Reeds: someone who drowns is no longer visible, and so too the divine energy has drowned here and disappeared inside the physicality of the world. That is why the world does not cry out that there is a G-d; it cries out that there is an "I," that there is ego and there is self-interest.
And by the criterion we stated, that holiness means bittul, whatever fails to meet it belongs to the sitra achra, so the entire world receives one clear definition: the world of the kelipos. Even the word "olam" (world) itself comes from he'elem, concealment, for it is a world that conceals and hides.
From this we understand how weighty and how serious a Jew's mission in this world is. He is sent and placed inside a world of kelipos and sitra achra in order to contend with them and to reveal, at every single step, that all of this is nothing but a deception, and that the truth is that the Holy One, blessed be He, is running everything, just as Moshe Rabbeinu revealed to Pharaoh that the snake's source is the staff.
"All the affairs of this world are harsh and evil":
In this light we can also understand why all the affairs of this world are harsh and evil, and why nothing here runs smoothly. In holiness everything flows as it should, but in a place ruled by the kelipos and the sitra achra things do not flow, because they do not exist by reason of the true will of the Holy One, blessed be He, but out of necessity, so that the plan of the world can be carried out.
An analogy: a man builds a large and beautiful home. Within the house there are levels to what he wants: there is the purpose he truly desires, to live in peace and rest properly, and there are things he needs along the way, the outer and inner decor and the various tradesmen. But there is one part of the house that he does not want at all, and he keeps throwing it out again and again: the garbage. A house that is lived in inevitably produces refuse, and if its owner could arrange for there to be no refuse at all, he would be delighted. Since there is no avoiding it, there is a stage at which one lives in the house together with the garbage, for one does not run out to the main bin with every scrap; it accumulates and only afterward is thrown out. So this man, who would not let a stranger into his home, brings garbage into his private house and lives with it inside.
So it is in the soul, and so it is in the great house of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is the world: He created it and He has a goal toward which He is driving, and in the meantime refuse forms and accumulates, and from time to time it is thrown out and forms anew. That is how one should relate to the matter, and that is why all the affairs of this world are harsh and evil.
In summary: in this section we learned about the two modes by which the divine life-force descends: "cause and effect," where the relationship between source and result is preserved, and "many tzimtzumim," where the thing becomes an entirely different reality, until the life-force can clothe itself in a separate entity and be there in a state of exile. We saw this in Pharaoh and in the sorcerers, and in the Alter Rebbe's explanation in Torah Or of the staff that became a snake: "mateh" from hatayah, the entire order of hishtalshelus, at the end of which it becomes a "snake," and which will ultimately return to being a staff. We also saw that the life-force sustains the kelipah yesh me'ayin so that it not revert to nothing, that the concealment is what makes choice possible, and that this world, "olam" from he'elem, whose "teva" is from "tub'u b'Yam Suf," is called the world of the kelipos and the sitra achra, and therefore all its affairs are harsh and evil, like the refuse in a house.
In the next section we will take up the levels within the sitra achra, and the question of which things can be elevated and restored to holiness and which cannot, on our way to kelipas nogah in chapter 7.