In the previous section we studied the ten sefiros and how they divide into three and seven: the three upper sefiros, and, corresponding to them, the seven days of building. In this section we will see how that very same structure exists within the soul of a person, and we will dwell in particular on the faculty of chochmah as the source of the intellect.
The Same Structure in the Human Soul:
Just as the divine conduct Above, in the ten sefiros, divides into three and seven, so too in the soul of a person. It is worth emphasizing that we are not studying the ten sefiros themselves here; we are studying the human soul. The subject of the sefiros was brought only to show how the matter works Above, that there too the sefiros are ten, and that they divide into groups of three and seven.
The ten faculties in the soul of every single person likewise divide into two groups:
Intellect: chochmah, binah and daas. These are not three synonyms for one idea; each one describes an entirely different reality, and explaining the differences between them will require a full discussion further on. What the three share is that they all fall under the heading of "intellect."
Middos: these are the seven "doubles," which in the soul are called middos (emotional attributes). Chesed is love of Hashem; gevurah is "פחדו ויראתו" ("fear of Him and awe of Him"); tiferes is "ולפארו" ("and to glorify Him"); and so on with netzach, hod, yesod and the rest.
Why ChaBaD Are Called "Mothers and Source of the Middos":
On the face of it, the explanation is already complete: the soul has ten dimensions, exactly as it is Above, and they divide into two groups. Yet the Alter Rebbe adds a line: "וחכמה בינה ודעת נקראו אמות ומקור למידות, כי המידות הן תולדות חב"ד" ("chochmah, binah and daas are called the mothers and source of the middos, for the middos are the offspring of ChaBaD"). This looks like a sentence that simply repeats itself: if ChaBaD are called "mothers," then obviously the middos are their offspring. What, then, is the sentence coming to teach us?
But an interesting question is hiding here. If the soul divides into two levels, intellect and middos, why should one of them be dependent on the other? Had we been told that the soul has only intellect, and that the intellect produces results, that would be understandable. But if the soul in its very essence contains two groups, why are the first three called "mothers"?
To this the sentence comes to answer: the middos do indeed have a root in the soul independent of the intellect, and they exist in its essence. It is only that the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged the order of things so that in a human being the middos would not be revealed directly from their source. In an animal, feeling comes out directly; the animal needs no intellectual hisbonenus (contemplation) in order to give birth to an emotion. In a human being, by contrast, even though the middos have an essential root of their own, it was nonetheless established that the way the middos come to expression would be specifically through hisbonenus. This is the meaning of what is said here: the middos are the offspring of ChaBaD, that is, their birth, meaning their revelation, comes about through hisbonenus, while in their essence they have a separate root of their own.
And what about the ruach and the neshamah?
In each person a different level shines with full force: in one it is the nefesh, in another the ruach, in another the neshamah. But every one of these levels is a complete structure in its own right: in whichever level shines within a person, the full structure of intellect and middos is present. It is not that the ruach contains one part, the neshamah another, and the nefesh another, leaving the person somehow incomplete. Whichever level shines in a person, it is whole.
Why the Middos Are Called "Doubles":
Soft and hard (rafeh and dagesh): every middah has two modes of expression, just as in the letters of the alef-beis there is a letter with a dagesh and a letter that is rafeh (like the beis and the veis). At first glance it would seem that the rafeh is the weak, lesser form and the dagesh is the higher achievement, but the truth is the reverse. In a small child, whose intellect is not yet in force, the middos come out with a dagesh: when he wants something, he wants it with a great commotion, and when he is angry, he is angry with a great commotion. Once the intellect matures, the middos come out rafeh: he wants, but with self-control and restraint. The rafeh, then, is the loftier form.
Kedushah versus kelipah: in every middah the principle of "זה לעומת זה עשה האלוקים" ("God made this one opposite that one") holds true. If a person has a love of Hashem that belongs to kedushah (holiness), there is also a parallel side standing opposite it. "אלה תולדות אברהם" ("these are the offspring of Avraham"): Avraham also has a Yishmael. Avraham is the chesed of kedushah, and Yishmael is the chesed of kelipah (the side of impurity). For this reason one must know how to steer the middos properly, so that a middah whose source is in kedushah does not unfold in an unchecked way and descend to the side of kelipah.
The Difference Between Pachad and Yirah:
When the middos were listed as they exist in the soul, chesed was called "love," and gevurah was called "פחדו ויראתו" ("fear of Him and awe of Him"). Seemingly pachad and yirah are one and the same, but there is an essential difference between them, even though both belong to the same family and are connected to the same line: pachad is in the heart, and yirah is in the mind.
Here is an illustration. A person knows that something bad is liable to happen in his area: the statistics say so, the experts say so, the signs point that way. He begins to fear the thing in his thoughts. That is yirah alone, an intellectual fear.
But when he sees the thing, God forbid, right in front of his eyes, when a whistling sound passes over his head, that is already pachad, tangible and far closer. Therefore, when we are speaking of the middos as they are in the heart, the verse first says "pachdo," His fear, as it exists in the heart, and only afterward "v'yiraso," His awe, which is still more distant, in the mind, prior to the heart.
The Soul in Its Essence Is Utterly Abstract:
Up to this point we have summarized in a general way the essence of the human soul and its two levels. Even so, an important point must be kept in mind, as the Tzemach Tzedek brings in one of the Alter Rebbe's maamarim on Parshas Vayeira, the maamar on the first hagahah (gloss) to Pasach Eliyahu. There the Tzemach Tzedek refers to this very chapter in Tanya and explains that the soul in its essence is entirely abstract, and it is impossible to assign it any description whatsoever.
Even the intellect and the middos that we are dealing with here are ultimately nothing more than levushim (garments) of the soul. It is only that Tanya does not call them "garments" at this point (in chapter four we will speak about levushim), because intellect and emotion become so completely fused with the essence of the soul, and because they are the only expression of the soul that we know: the soul comes to expression either through intellect or through emotion. That is why we speak of them as the essence of the soul, even though in truth they are external relative to the essence of the soul itself.
The Power of Chochmah as the Source of Intellect:
From here we turn to study the first three: what chochmah is, what binah is, what daas is, and what the difference is between chochmah and binah. This understanding will also help us understand davening, in which we ask the Holy One, blessed be He, for chochmah and binah, since every word has meaning. In the Alter Rebbe's language: "כי הנה השכל שבנפש המשכלת" ("for behold, the intellect within the intellective soul"), meaning the soul of man, the nefesh hasichlis mentioned at the end of chapter two. The soul of a person in its essence has the capacity to comprehend, and the word "intellect" includes, as we said, chochmah, binah and daas. The intellect with which a person comprehends any given thing is called chochmah.
In summary: in this section we learned that just as in the sefiros Above the structure divides into three and seven, so the human soul divides into two groups: intellect (chochmah, binah, daas) and middos (the seven "doubles"). We saw why ChaBaD are called "the mothers and source of the middos": even though the middos have an essential root of their own, it was established that their revelation in a person comes through hisbonenus. We explained the meaning of the "doubles," dagesh and rafeh, kedushah and kelipah, and the difference between pachad (in the heart) and yirah (in the mind). We also learned the words of the Tzemach Tzedek that the soul in its essence is abstract, and that even the intellect and the middos are only in the category of garments for it.
In the next section we will take up the fundamental difference between chochmah and binah: what the faculty of chochmah is as the source of the intellect, and how binah develops and deepens what chochmah gives birth to.