In the previous section we learned about things that fall into the category of kelipas nogah, the intermediate realm, where a person, by his conduct and his intentions, can either elevate them to holiness or, G-d forbid, drag them down into the three impure kelipos. Now, in chapter 7, we open a new section dealing with a more severe situation: things that are found within the domain of the three impure kelipos.
Here we have to distinguish between two situations: things whose source is kelipas nogah and which descended into the three impure kelipos as a result of a person's deeds and intentions; and, as opposed to them, things that belong to the three impure kelipos from the outset. How far down these things have fallen, and under what conditions they can be raised up, is the subject before us.
"אך מי שהוא בזוללי בשר וסובאי יין" - "But one who is among the gluttons of meat and the guzzlers of wine":
This follows directly from what we learned in the previous section. There is a case where a person eats meat or drinks wine so that his mind should be settled and he should understand his learning better, and then the eating of the meat and the drinking of the wine are actual holiness. Here the Alter Rebbe speaks of someone who uses meat and wine in the opposite way, and he describes him with the words of Shlomo HaMelech in Mishlei: "Do not be among the guzzlers of wine, among those who gluttonously devour meat."
We are speaking of a person whose meat and wine are perfectly kosher, with no question of kashrus whatsoever, yet he eats and drinks in order to satisfy the craving of his body and of his nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, a craving that comes from the element of water among the four elements of the soul, which is the source of the trait of taavah, desire (as we learned in chapter 1). The element of water in the soul is what arouses the desires, and when it dominates, the craving to eat or to drink is awakened, and the person eats out of the craving itself.
Three stages take place in such eating:
"הנה על ידי זה יורד חיות הבשר והיין שבקרבו ונכלל לפי שעה ברע גמור שבשלוש קליפות הטמאות" - "Through this, the vitality of the meat and the wine within him descends and is absorbed, for the time being, into the utter evil of the three impure kelipos." The vitality he took into himself has its source in kelipas nogah, since the meat and wine are kosher; but because the motive was craving, his thoughts and intentions brought that vitality down into the utter evil of the three impure kelipos.
"וגופו נעשה להן לבוש ומרכבה לפי שעה" - "and his body becomes for them a garment and a chariot, for the time being." Instead of the person being in control of the situation, deciding what he will eat, how much he will eat, and with what intentions, the craving rules over him. The meat beckons to him until he loses his judgment and runs after his desire, and thereby his body becomes a chariot dragged along after it.
"עד אשר ישוב האדם ויחזור לעבודת ה' ולתורתו" - "until the person repents and returns to the service of G-d and to His Torah." This is the repair: the person does teshuvah and resolves to use all the strength he has received, his body and his vigor, for the service of G-d and for His Torah alone.
The emphasis on the words "לפי שעה," "for the time being," teaches us that the situation is temporary, and that the way to restore the vitality to its proper place is relatively easy. The meat, while it sat on the shelf, was in kelipas nogah, an intermediate stage; the person who ate it out of craving brought it down into the three impure kelipos; and when he turns his powers to the service of G-d, the vitality he received rises along with him and returns to holiness.
It is worth emphasizing: when the eating is done from the outset for the sake of a mitzvah, such as the Shabbos foods eaten as part of the mitzvah of oneg Shabbos, or a seudas mitzvah, the food rises to holiness from the outset, and no later elevation is needed.
Why is it possible to elevate this vitality?
"כי לפי שהיה בשר היתר ויין כשר" - "because it was permitted meat and kosher wine." In its origin this was a kosher food, that is, from kelipas nogah, and therefore it retains the capacity to rise to holiness. Its descent into the three impure kelipos does not stem from its own essence, but from the act of the person who brought it down there. For this reason, "יכולים לחזור ולעלות עמו בשובו לעבודת ה'" - "they can rise up again together with him when he returns to the service of G-d": the vitality within it ascends with the person and returns along with him.
This is also the precise meaning of the language: "וזהו לשון היתר ומותר, כלומר שאינו קשור ואסור בידי החיצונים" - "and this is the meaning of the terms heter and mutar (permitted), namely, that it is not bound and tied in the hands of the external forces." "Assur" (forbidden) literally means bound, and something bound within a kelipah cannot be released except under certain conditions; whereas "mutar" means that it is not bound within the three impure kelipos. Its essence is free, and everything depends on the person: he is the one who brings it down and he is the one who raises it up. Were it bound in the hands of the external forces, it could not rise up again to G-d and to His service.
The residue that remains in the body:
Nevertheless, "רק שהרשימו ממנו נשאר בגוף" - "only that a trace of it remains in the body." When a person takes food into his body, part of it becomes part of the body itself, and that part remains within him. Since it was formed as a result of craving, whose source is in the three impure kelipos, teshuvah does not help for it: teshuvah elevates the energies the person received, but the residue absorbed into the body remains. "ועל כן צריך הגוף לחיבוט הקבר כמו שכתוב לקמן" - "and therefore the body requires chibut hakever, as will be explained later." With G-d's help we will expand on the concept of chibut hakever and the ways of its rectification in chapter 8.
It is worth noting the saying in Hayom Yom for the 5th of Shevat, that one who is generous with the letters of Torah in his prayer becomes purified and is spared chibut hakever; but we will leave the main discussion of the matter for chapter 8.
For completeness we should add a line that appears in the list of corrections at the end of the Tanya (in the edition before us, on page 189, letter 12), and which is not printed in the body of the Tanya: "וכן החיות שבטיפות זרע שיצאו ממנו בתאווה בהמית שלא קידש עצמו בשעת התשמיש עם אשתו טהורה" - "and so too the vitality in the drops of seed that issued from him with animal craving, when he did not sanctify himself at the time of intimacy with his ritually pure wife."
In summary: in this section we learned about one who eats kosher meat and drinks kosher wine in order to satisfy the craving of his nefesh habahamis, which stems from the element of water among the four evil elements. The vitality of the food descends and is absorbed, for the time being, into the utter evil of the three impure kelipos, and his body becomes for them a garment and a chariot, until he returns to the service of G-d and to His Torah. Since we are dealing with permitted food, which is not bound in the hands of the external forces, the vitality can rise up again together with the person when he returns; only that the residue remaining in the body requires chibut hakever. We also added the line from the list of corrections regarding the vitality in the drops of seed that issued with animal craving.
In the next section we will deal with a case where the food or drink themselves were forbidden, and we will see that there the process is entirely different from the one we have learned here.