In the previous section of chapter 2 we learned how every single generation contains the full span from one extreme to the other: souls on every level, from the very highest to the very lowest, and all of them are literally a chelek Eloka mimaal mamash, an actual part of G-d above. Now we go deeper into the analogy the Alter Rebbe brings, the analogy of the son who is drawn from his father's brain, in order to understand how all the details emerge from one single point.
The analogy of the son drawn from his father's brain:
The Tanya's words: "כמשל הבן הנמשך ממוח האב, שאפילו ציפורני רגליו נתהוו מטיפה זו ממש" ("like the analogy of the son who is drawn from his father's brain, in that even his toenails came into being from that very drop"). The Alter Rebbe deliberately chooses the lowest level there could be. Not the fingernails, but specifically the toenails, and he states that even they came into being from that very same drop. The same word "mamash" that appears in "a part of G-d above, mamash" appears here in the analogy too: from that very same source from which the important parts came, the nails came as well.
But with that, the question has simply moved from the souls to the human body: how is it possible that from one single point, from one drop, all the details were formed, even the nails? The Alter Rebbe does not explain here the mechanics of how they came into being; he explains the process that causes the change, whereby part of the drop remains lofty, that very drop from the brain, while another part descends and is transformed.
The drop comes from the father's brain, and from that very same drop two opposite extremes emerge:
The son's brain: the highest level in the son, because it is the most similar to its source. The son's brain remains literally like the source of the drop, that is, like the father's brain, and one can say of it that it stayed the very same thing.
The nails: the other extreme, the lowest part, which also came into being from that very same drop.
What caused the change?
The Alter Rebbe says it in a single phrase: because the drop remained for nine months in the mother's womb. That period of gestation is what causes the change of state and the coarsening of certain parts. Even though the formation of the heart, for example, does not need to wait nine months but a very short time, the heart waits for the entire process, because the process has to reach the nails too, and the hair, and the very last parts. There is a process here, and every detail of it matters, because in the nimshal, in the souls, there is a parallel to each and every detail.
And what is it that creates a process lasting nine months? On this the Alter Rebbe says: "וירדה ממדרגה למדרגה" ("and it descended from level to level"). Over those nine months the drop descends from level to level and is transformed; there are parts that change and do not remain like their source, they are no longer brain but become other things, such as nails.
So far we have two details in the analogy:
Every part of the son's body has its source in the father's brain.
What causes the division and the change: the drop remaining nine months in the mother's womb.
A connection in the present, not only in the past:
Now the Alter Rebbe adds an extremely interesting sentence. The statement that the son's nails originate in the father's brain is seemingly a purely historical statement, a statement about what once was. But once the son has been born and come out into the world, the question arises: is there still a connection between the son's nails and his father's brain? To this the Alter Rebbe adds that this is not only history. Even now, when the son lives as a seemingly separate entity and looks like a reality detached from his father, and he has within him a low part called nails, the nourishment and the life-force of those nails are drawn from the brain in the head.
The nails are always growing, and from where do they draw their vitality? From the brain, which sends its instructions to every place, including to them. It emerges that the nails are bound up with the son's brain at every moment, and about that there is no argument. And the son's brain is the part closest to his father's brain: both because it resembles it, and because it originates in it, and because his line of thinking is to a great degree similar to his father's mind. So the son's nails are indeed connected to the father, but by way of the son's brain. This is a crucial detail to remember for the nimshal.
All the souls on the lowest level are likewise connected to the higher level by way of the brain. And who is the brain in the nimshal? The tzaddikim of the generation, the souls of the roshei bnei Yisroel, the heads of the Jewish people in our generation. We will expand on this point, with G-d's help, in the next lesson.
Inviting the Rebbe to the chuppah:
In the early years of his nesius, the Rebbe spoke about this in connection with chassanim on their wedding day, from whom children and grandchildren are destined to be born. At the time of the chuppah, the ones who come to be with each person are not only the parents who merit in their physical lifetime to lead their children to the chuppah, but also the generations who have passed on; it is written that three generations back come to take part in a person's wedding.
A chossid has a desire that the source too should take part in the wedding, that the Rebbe should be present at the chuppah; and for him to come, he has to be invited. The Rebbe explained how that invitation is issued: it is known that among chassidim the chosson sits on his wedding day, in the minutes just before the chuppah, and recites a maamar of Chassidus of the Previous Rebbe, a maamar in which the Previous Rebbe wove in sayings and teachings from each one of the Rebbeim of Chabad. By repeating their words, the chosson is inviting them to his chuppah.
And then the Rebbe added that this is not a matter that belongs to chassidim alone. Any person who has an awareness of what the bond between a soul and its root is, that it runs by way of the head, has to invite the head. The Rebbe brought this very chapter of Tanya: since the souls of all Israel are connected by way of the roshei bnei Yisroel, every single Jew belongs to that same point, and every single one must invite the heads of the Jewish people. It is known that the word "Rebbe" is an acronym for Rosh Bnei Yisroel.
This point is brought here because every Jew, no matter who he is, does not need to receive a label, a heading and a stamp declaring that he is affiliated with a particular party, group or chassidus. Every Jew belongs to this. And we will see, with G-d's help, at the end of the chapter, that it does not depend at all on a person's choice, and that one cannot detach oneself from it, because it is something essential.
In summary: in this section we learned the analogy of the son drawn from his father's brain: how from one single drop all the parts of the body came into being, even the toenails; how the nine month process in the mother's womb brought about a descent from level to level and the coarsening of various parts; and above all, that this is not merely a historical connection, but that even now the nourishment and vitality of the nails are drawn from the brain in the head, and through it they are bound to the source. And from here to the nimshal: that all souls, even the lowest among them, are connected to their root by way of the roshei bnei Yisroel of the generation.
In the next section we will deal with the hishtalshelus of the root through the worlds, and we will see how that same connection is drawn down from the highest source, and how it belongs to every single Jew regardless of his own choosing.