In the previous installment we completed the explanation of the nature of the nefesh ha'elokis, and now we arrive at chapter 6 and begin learning it from its opening words. In a sense, this chapter opens the second part of the sefer: the other side of the human soul.
Already in chapter 1 the Alter Rebbe taught us that every single Jew has two souls, and in just a few lines he mentioned the soul that comes from the side of kelipah and sitra achra. Immediately afterward, from the beginning of chapter 2, he turned to explain at length the "second soul in Israel," the pure neshamah, the nefesh ha'elokis. That explanation continued through chapters 2 to 5: in chapter 3 we studied its ten faculties, divided into two groups, intellect and emotion, and in chapter 4 its three garments, thought, speech and action. Now that the side of kedushah has been fully defined, the Alter Rebbe turns to introduce us to the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, which is likewise found in every single person.
"והנה זה לעומת זה עשה אלוקים" ("And behold, G-d made one opposite the other"):
With these words, taken from Shlomo HaMelech in Koheles, the Alter Rebbe opens the chapter. The Holy One created His world in such a way that corresponding to every matter on the side of kedushah there is a parallel matter on the side of kelipah and evil, one that outwardly looks just like it.
A striking example: of the Jewish people it is said, "there arose no prophet again in Israel like Moshe," and correspondingly there was set up on the side of kelipah Bilaam the wicked, so that the nations of the world should not be able to claim: had we been given a prophet like Moshe, we too would have straightened out our ways. In every single thing there is the side of kedushah and, facing it, the side of kelipah.
The same is true of the two souls within a person. After the wondrous qualities of the nefesh ha'elokis have been laid out, that it possesses an intellect which gives birth to emotion, and that it possesses garments whose stature is even greater than the soul itself, since they are what bind the Jew to Elokus, the Alter Rebbe now informs us: "zeh le'umas zeh asah Elokim." On the other side there will be found an identical structure, and on the face of it, it will look like exactly the same thing. Obviously the difference between the two souls is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth, since one is kedushah and the other its very opposite; but first we must define the faculties of the nefesh habahamis.
In his words: "כי כמו שנפש האלוקית כלולה מעשר ספירות קדושות ומתלבשת בשלושה לבושים קדושים" ("For just as the divine soul is composed of ten holy sefiros and clothes itself in three holy garments"):
"Ten holy sefiros": as explained in chapter 3, the ten holy sefiros of the upper worlds are the source of the ten faculties of the nefesh ha'elokis; in his language there, they "devolved from them" (nishtalshelu mehen). And since the sefiros are their source, the soul's faculties resemble them exactly.
"Three holy garments": as explained in chapters 4 and 5, the ten faculties clothe themselves in thought, speech and action, and on the side of kedushah these are the holy garments, the 613 mitzvos of the Torah, as was spelled out there with respect to each of the three garments.
Opposite this structure, and in that very same pattern (though with the most fundamental of differences), the corresponding soul is built: "כך הנפש דסטרא אחרא מקליפת נוגה המלובשת בדם האדם כלולה מעשר כתרין דמסאבותא" ("so too the soul of the sitra achra, from kelipas nogah, which is clothed in the blood of a person, is composed of ten crowns of impurity").
Let us look at each expression:
"Sitra achra": two Aramaic words, "sitra" meaning side and "achra" meaning other. This soul comes from the other side. This definition itself, and why precisely such a name was fixed for it, will be explained at length later in the chapter.
"From kelipas nogah": "kelipos" is a general term for the side that is the opposite of kedushah, and within it there are different levels: a higher level called kelipas nogah, and a lower level called the three impure kelipos. We already met this concept in chapter 1, where it was said that a Jew's animal soul comes from kelipas nogah. The difference between kelipas nogah and the three impure kelipos, and the reason for the name "nogah" (glow), will be explained later in this chapter and in chapter 7.
"Clothed in the blood of a person": an expression that likewise appeared in chapter 1.
The nefesh habahamis is what gives a person his sense of "I," his ego, and thereby diminishes his sense of bittul, of self-nullification, before the Creator; for the more a person feels himself to be a "yesh," an independent something, the further removed and cut off he is from the truth.
Why "kesarin dimsa'avusa" and not "sefiros"?
On the side of kedushah the language was "ten holy sefiros," whereas here the Alter Rebbe changes his wording and says "ten kesarin dimsa'avusa", "misa'avusa" in Aramaic meaning impurity, the opposite of kedushah. But the change from "sefiros" to "kesarin" (crowns) also needs explaining. "Sefiros" derives from even sapir, a luminous stone, a fine gem, and this title expresses that we are speaking of luminous attributes. The very fact that the faculties of kelipah are not called "sefiros" teaches that they lack that light. And why specifically "kesarin," which would seem to be a title of honor? There are several reasons:
Selfhood and separation: a crown sits on the head of a king or a great officer, and through it he feels his own existence and importance, while the other person remains separate and cut off from him: who am I and who are you. So Pharaoh said to Yosef, "without you no man shall lift his hand," and at the same time, "only in the throne will I be greater than you." A crown means separation. And this is one of the fundamental differences between kedushah and kelipah: among the faculties of kedushah there is blending, one faculty merges with its fellow, completes it and assists it; whereas among the faculties of kelipah each one is a "crown" unto itself, a separate entity set against its fellow and refusing to blend with it. In kedushah, unity; in kelipah, selfhood and separation.
Life-force in an encompassing manner: the kelipos too receive their power and vitality from the Holy One, for "everything is from You." But there is a great difference between the life-force bestowed upon the side of kedushah and that bestowed upon the side of kelipah and evil. In kedushah, which is His true will and the ultimate purpose, the life-force comes in an inner manner, in the aspect of "panim," face, which denotes innerness and closeness. The kelipos, by contrast, are indeed brought into being and enlivened by the Creator so that there should be in the world "one opposite the other", but they are not the purpose at all. On the contrary, the intent is that they be pushed away and nullified, as will happen in the time to come: "and I shall remove the spirit of impurity from the earth." Therefore the life-force does not penetrate into them inwardly, but remains upon them merely as a makif, an encompassing light. Later in the sefer (in chapters 21 and 22) the Alter Rebbe compares this to a person who gives something to one he hates only because he must, and gives it in the manner of "achorayim," the back, as one who tosses it over his shoulder. "Kesser," a crown, is a term for something that encompasses from without, and it is for this reason that these faculties are called "kesarin": the life-force they receive is external and encompassing, not the inner life-force found in kedushah.
In summary: in this installment we opened chapter 6, in which the Alter Rebbe moves from the nefesh ha'elokis to the nefesh habahamis, on the basis of the principle "zeh le'umas zeh asah Elokim": corresponding to every matter of kedushah there exists a parallel on the side of kelipah, outwardly resembling it even though the difference between them is as vast as the distance between heaven and earth. We saw that just as the divine soul is composed of ten holy sefiros and clothes itself in three holy garments, so too the soul of the sitra achra, from kelipas nogah, clothed in a person's blood and giving him his sense of "I," is composed of ten kesarin dimsa'avusa. We examined the meaning of the terms "sitra achra" and "kelipas nogah," and two reasons for the change of wording from "sefiros" to "kesarin": selfhood and separation as opposed to the blending and unity of kedushah, and an encompassing, external life-force as opposed to an inner one.
In the next installment we will expand on the definition of "sitra achra" and on the difference between kelipas nogah and the three impure kelipos.