In the previous section we dealt with a person who wastes time that could have been spent on Torah and fills it instead with idle talk. We saw that several things are involved: bittul Torah (the loss of Torah study), the failure to fulfill the positive mitzvah of "vedibarta bam" ("and you shall speak of them"), and beyond that, the tumah (impurity) that his soul absorbs from those idle words themselves.
Now, as the chapter closes, the Alter Rebbe arrives at an interesting question: what about a person who does not squander his time on nonsense, but sits and studies the wisdoms of the world during that time, chemistry, physics, astronomy, astrology and the like? Is this too counted as wasted time, and is there some kelipah bound up with it? After all, on the face of it we are dealing with real content, with genuine wisdom.
Studying the wisdoms of the nations as bittul Torah:
The Alter Rebbe writes: "וכן העוסק בחכמות העולם, חכמות אומות העולם, בכלל דברים בטלים יחשב לעניין ביטול תורה" ("Similarly, one who occupies himself with the wisdoms of the world, the wisdoms of the nations of the world, is included among idle matters as far as bittul Torah is concerned"). When we come to examine what a person did with his time, whether he fulfilled "vedibarta bam" or whether he was guilty of bittul Torah, there is no difference between empty chatter and the most profound wisdoms, even those that require several university degrees to master. Relative to Torah, studying them is bittul Torah, and consequently his soul has taken on that very same kelipah, and it must go through that very same process, even though what he was engaged in was genuine wisdom.
The source for this is in Hilchos Talmud Torah, where it is stated explicitly that for as long as a person is not learning Torah, whether he was busy with nonsense or with the wisdoms of the nations, this is bittul Torah.
Its impurity is even greater:
The Alter Rebbe goes further and adds a novel point: not only is there no advantage to studying these wisdoms over speaking idle words, but "יתרה טומאתה" ("its impurity is even greater"), that is, the tumah the soul absorbs from studying the wisdoms of the nations is more severe and more far reaching than the tumah it absorbs from idle talk. Why?
The explanation lies in identifying which part of the soul is damaged in each case. The soul is built of intellect and emotions, as was explained in chapter 3, and everything a person says, thinks or does is an expression of one of these faculties:
Idle words: "אינו מלביש ומטמא, רק המידות מיסוד הרוח הקדוש שבנפשו האלוקית, בטומאת קליפת נוגה שבדברים בטלים, הבאים מיסוד הרוח הרע שבקליפה זו שבנפשו הבהמית" ("he clothes and defiles only the middos that stem from the holy element of ruach in his divine soul, with the impurity of kelipas nogah contained in idle words, which come from the element of evil ruach of this kelipah in his nefesh habahamis"). Already in chapter 1 it was explained that the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul, is composed of four elements, fire, air (ruach), water and earth, and that idle words come from the element of ruach; therefore they defile the middos that stem from the element of ruach in the divine soul. But "ולא בחינת חכמה בינה ודעת שבנפשו, מאחר שהם דברי שטות ובורות" ("and not the faculties of chochmah, binah and daas in his soul, since they are words of foolishness and ignorance"). The intellect plays no part in them at all, for one needs no wisdom to speak empty words; even fools and the simplest of people can speak them. And so the ChaBaD of his soul, his intellectual faculties, remains clean.
The wisdoms of the nations: "מה שאין כן בחכמת האומות" ("which is not the case with the wisdom of the nations"). One who studies them must bring his intellect into the study, and therefore they clothe and defile the faculties of chochmah, binah and daas of his divine soul with the impurity of kelipas nogah contained in these wisdoms. The divine soul is not detached from a person's activities; whatever a person does, he does with his whole soul, and it is drawn along with him wherever he goes. And the more inner and refined the part that is damaged, the deeper and harder the damage. It is like an item sold as second rate because of a defect: if the defect is at the edges, the price drops only slightly; but if the defect is in the "brain" of the item, sometimes it is fit for nothing but scrap. So too in the soul: a blemish in the middos is not like a blemish in the intellect, and therefore the tumah here is far more painful and far more significant.
In passing, in just two words, the Alter Rebbe hints at where the very possibility of wisdom in matters that are not holy comes from in the first place, for all the concepts of wisdom, of middos, of vessels and faculties, have their source in holiness. On this he writes that these wisdoms "נפלו שם בשבירת הכלים מבחינת אחוריים של חכמה דקדושה, כידוע ליודעי חן" ("fell there through the shattering of the vessels, from the aspect of the 'back' of the chochmah of holiness, as is known to those versed in the hidden wisdom"). Those who know Kabbalah know that true wisdom has its source in holiness, and that from the aspect of achorayim, the "back" or external dimension of the chochmah of holiness, there devolved the possibility of wisdom even in matters that have nothing to do with holiness.
How, then, did the great ones of Israel engage in them?
Anyone who studies the Gemara and the Midrashim finds many accounts of great Torah figures, Tannaim and Amoraim, who were tremendous experts in all sorts of wisdoms. How does this square with the Alter Rebbe's ruling that such study defiles the mind, and that seemingly one should not touch it at all?
On this the Alter Rebbe writes that the only circumstance in which a person of our stature may engage in them is "אלא אם כן עושה אותן קרדום לחתוך בהם" ("unless he makes of them an axe with which to chop"), meaning that he uses these wisdoms as a means of earning a livelihood. An axe is the tool with which one hews and cuts, and the point is that if the wisdoms serve him as a tool for his livelihood, there is no blemish in it. More than that, the Alter Rebbe adds a further leniency: "דהיינו כדי להתפרנס בהם ברווח" ("that is, in order to earn a comfortable living from them"). Even if he could have found a livelihood without them, and his knowledge of them merely makes his livelihood easier, more comfortable and with greater peace of mind, this too is permitted. But only on condition that the ultimate purpose be "לעבוד ה'" ("to serve G-d"), for if the intent is not the service of G-d, the whole matter descends back into kelipah.
In summary: in this section we learned that one who occupies himself with the wisdoms of the world instead of Torah is considered guilty of bittul Torah just like one who speaks idle words, as stated explicitly in Hilchos Talmud Torah. Moreover, the tumah of the wisdoms of the nations is more severe: idle words defile only the middos, since they are words of foolishness and ignorance in which the intellect has no part, whereas the wisdoms of the nations clothe and defile the chochmah, binah and daas of the divine soul, and the more inner the blemish, the harder it is. The source of these wisdoms is in the achorayim of the chochmah of holiness, which fell through the shattering of the vessels. The only permission to engage in them is by making them "an axe with which to chop," earning a comfortable living from them for the sake of serving G-d.
In the next section we will go deeper into the analogy of the axe that the Rebbe uses, in two different ways, and we will examine a further situation in which there is permission to make use of the wisdoms of the nations of the world.