In the previous section we finished chapter 6, where we learned about the lowest level within the kelipos: the three completely impure kelipos. In this section we will sharpen the central point toward which the Alter Rebbe is driving in chapter 6, and then begin chapter 7, which deals with the second level within the kelipos: kelipas nogah.
First, a reminder of what we learned in chapter 4: the divine soul of every Jew has three "garments", thought, speech and action. The novel point stressed there was that even though the garments are seemingly external to the soul itself, when a person uses them for matters of holiness, actually fulfilling Torah and mitzvos in practice, they lift him to levels the soul cannot reach on its own, holy as its very essence is.
On this foundation, chapter 6 opens: "G-d made this one opposite that one." Just as on the side of holiness there is a soul with its own powers and garments, so too on the opposite side there is an animal soul whose source is in kelipah. Kelipah, as was explained, is by definition sitra achra, "the other side", everything that is not holiness. And just as on the positive side the garments raise a person above the level of his own soul, so it is on the negative side: when a person stumbles in a thought, a word or a deed that is not according to Torah, he lowers himself to a level even beneath the animal soul as it is in itself.
We also learned that within the kelipos themselves there are two levels, one below the other. At the end of chapter 6 the lower level was explained, the three completely impure kelipos, together with a detailed list of what draws its vitality from them among the inanimate, the vegetative, the animal and the human. Chapter 7 opens with the second, higher level, called kelipas nogah, which is an intermediate level between holiness and the three impure kelipos.
Let us turn to the words of chapter 7:
The Alter Rebbe lists the things whose vitality is drawn from kelipas nogah, in all four categories of creation:
From the human category: "אך נפש החיונית הבהמית שבישראל שמצד הקליפה, המלובשת בדם האדם" - "However, the vital animal soul in a Jew, which is from the side of kelipah, and is clothed in a person's blood." This is the soul we already learned about in chapter 1: every Jew has two souls, one from the side of holiness and one from the side of kelipah, and the latter is clothed in the person's blood. Its source is in kelipah, but in the higher category of kelipah.
From the animal category: "נפשות בהמות וחיות ועופות ודגים טהורים ומותרים באכילה" - "the souls of the kosher domestic and wild animals, birds and fish that are permitted to be eaten." The very fact that they are permitted as food shows that their vitality does not come from the three impure kelipos, with which there is no possibility of involvement at all, but from a higher level.
From the vegetative and inanimate categories: "קיום וחיות כל הדומם וכל הצומח המותר באכילה" - "the existence and vitality of all inanimate matter and of all vegetation that is permitted to be eaten." This is in contrast to vegetation forbidden as food, such as orlah, which we learned about.
Action, speech and thought: "קיום וחיות כל מעשה דיבור ומחשבה בענייני עולם הזה שאין בהם צד איסור, לא שורש ולא ענף משס"ה מצוות לא תעשה וענפיהן דאורייתא ודרבנן" - "the existence and vitality of every action, word and thought in worldly matters in which there is no aspect of prohibition, neither a root nor a branch of the 365 prohibitions and their branches, whether from the Torah or from the Rabbis." That is, everything a person thinks, says or does in worldly matters in a neutral way.
The rule is this: if there is any aspect of prohibition in something, it is immediately bound up with the three impure kelipos, as was explained at the end of chapter 6. And it makes no difference whether the prohibition is from the Torah or from the Rabbis, since the Torah itself asked the sages of Israel to make a fence for the Torah and to establish safeguards. Here, however, we are speaking of something in which there is no aspect of prohibition whatsoever, "neither a root nor a branch".
"רק שאינם לשם שמיים" - "except that they are not for the sake of Heaven":
If an act is a mitzvah, obviously it is holiness; if it is forbidden, obviously it belongs to the three impure kelipos. The entire deficiency of the neutral act lies in the fact that it is not done for the sake of Heaven. And since holiness, as defined in chapter 6, is something upon which the Shechinah rests, an act not directed toward Heaven cannot be holiness. Within this, two situations are distinguished:
"רצון הגוף וחפצו ותאוותו" - "the will of the body, its desire and its craving." This is the worse of the two. Even if the food is kosher, and even if he made a blessing over it, since the act was done out of craving it descends to the level of the three impure kelipos. Even a craving for kosher food is included in this, as will be stated explicitly later in the chapter.
"צורך הגוף וקיומו וחיותו ממש" - "the need of the body, its actual survival and vitality." Here it is not a craving but a genuine necessity: if he does not eat and drink he will not be able to survive and to concentrate. The whole problem is "שאין כוונתו לשם שמיים כדי לעבוד את ה' בגופו" - "that his intention is not for the sake of Heaven, in order to serve G-d with his body," but simply that he should have strength. Of such acts the Alter Rebbe says "לא עדיפי" - they are "no better" than the vital animal soul itself, which is kelipas nogah, and therefore they too remain on the level of kelipas nogah.
It is worth being precise about the expression "לא עדיפי": they are not better, but they are also not worse. The person remains where he was. This stands in contrast to an act done out of craving, about which it is not said "no better" but rather that it is worse, since it descends below the level of the animal soul itself.
From here a practical question arises: most of a person's daily occupations are with worldly matters, and as was said at the end of chapter 6, "this world and all that fills it" is the world of the kelipos. The answer is that the choice is placed in a person's hands to elevate these very acts to holiness through his intention, as the Mishnah says, "Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven." A person who drinks a glass of water or eats so that he will have the strength to pray, to learn and to fulfill mitzvos, his act is literally holiness; whereas one who does the same neutrally, even though he made a blessing, remains on the level of kelipas nogah.
The Alter Rebbe sums up: "והכל כאשר לכל" - "and all of it, everything without exception," meaning all the things listed, from the four categories of creation through to action, speech and thought done for genuine need, "נשפע ונמשך ממדרגה שנית שבקליפות וסטרא אחרא, שהיא קליפה רביעית הנקראת קליפת נוגה" - "is influenced and drawn from the second level of the kelipos and sitra achra, which is the fourth kelipah, called kelipas nogah." Their vitality comes, of course, from the Holy One, blessed be He, except that it descends, contracts and conceals itself until it is clothed in kelipas nogah, and through it is drawn down to them.
A summary of the levels:
Holiness: the divine soul, and with it Torah and mitzvos. And as said in chapter 4, the garments, the thought, speech and action of Torah and mitzvos, lift a person even higher than the soul itself.
Kelipas nogah: the intermediate level. This includes the animal soul of a Jew as it is in its essence; the animal, vegetative and inanimate that are permitted as food; and action, speech and thought in worldly matters that contain no prohibition, done for a genuine need and not out of craving, even though they are not for the sake of Heaven.
The three completely impure kelipos: everything forbidden, whether by the Torah or by the Rabbis, and also permitted things done out of the will of the body, its desire and its craving. Within this level itself there are two grades, as will be explained further on.
In summary: in this section we sharpened the principle of "this one opposite that one" from chapter 6, and began chapter 7, which deals with kelipas nogah, the second and higher level within the kelipos, intermediate between holiness and the three impure kelipos. We saw that from it are drawn the animal soul of a Jew, the living creatures, and the vegetative and inanimate that are permitted as food, as well as action, speech and thought in worldly matters that contain no aspect of prohibition. We noted the distinction between an act done out of craving, which descends to the three impure kelipos, and an act done for a genuine need but not for the sake of Heaven, about which it is said "no better" and which remains within kelipas nogah; and we saw that an intention for the sake of Heaven raises the act to literal holiness.
In the next section we will go deeper into the definition of kelipas nogah as an intermediate level, and into the two grades within the three impure kelipos.