In the previous section we looked at the contemplation of G-d's wisdom and understanding, which through da'as gives birth to love in the heart, and at the two chambers of a person's heart. Now the Alter Rebbe continues and explains why Israel are compared to a "kallah" (bride) in Shir HaShirim, how love spreads from the right chamber of the heart into the left chamber, and what the difference is between love like fire and love like water.
Why Israel are called "kallah":
Throughout Shir HaShirim the Jewish people are addressed again and again as "kallah," and there are two ways to explain the word:
Kallah from the root kilayon - consumption, destruction, as the word is used in Scripture in the sense of something being finished off. This is a person's work of consuming and destroying the evil within himself.
Kallah from the root hiskalelus - to be uplifted and included within holiness, to occupy oneself mainly with the good, G-dly side within.
These two movements of the soul are bound up with one another and share a single root. This is the meaning of "כלתה נפשי" ("my soul pines"): there is within the soul a consuming yearning and desire for the Creator, and out of that very desire it also consumes and destroys the side of itself that is not good.
This love longs and desires to cleave to Him, the Ein Sof, blessed be He. "Chafetz" is not simply "want"; it is a synonym for ratzon that points to its inner layer, an inner, essential will to cleave.
This is the program of the G-dly soul, whose entire aim is to take control of the "small city," which is the body. What does it want to actually happen? That a person should have a love burning like fire, and that it should encompass all of him: "בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך" ("with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might"), from the depths of the heart in the right chamber.
For the right chamber of the heart is the place of the G-dly soul, and the left chamber is the place of the nefesh habahamis, the animal soul. It is therefore understandable that love for G-dliness does not begin from the animal side, since an animal by its very nature loves the affairs of this world. The love begins from the G-dly soul, which is the first to be swept up by the power of contemplation into connecting with the Creator of the world. The whole difficulty is the nefesh habahamis, which gets in its way. The final goal is that "with all your heart" be fulfilled in both inclinations, and to get there things move forward in stages.
The stages by which love spreads:
"תוכו רצוף אהבה" ("its interior is inlaid with love") - "ratzuf" is not only from the word for a continuous sequence but also from the word for a floor: the floor of the right chamber fills up with love. This is the initial stage.
"מלא" ("full") - like a cup filled to its brim. But as long as it is merely full, the surroundings receive nothing from it.
"וגדוש" ("and overflowing") - the cup runs over and spills outward, and in this way the love influences and spreads into the left chamber as well.
Although the image is technical and physical, its meaning is inward: a person becomes so filled with his love for G-dliness that he sweeps the animal side along with him, and this comes l'ichpaya l'sitra achara, to subdue the other side, the element of "evil waters" within it, which is the desire that stems from kelipas nogah.
"L'ichpaya l'sitra achara":
Anyone who learns chassidus meets the terms "iskafya" and "is'hapcha" many times. Usually "iskafya," from the word for coercion, refers to the level of action: even though the heart craves something forbidden, a person coerces his heart and in practice does what is required of him. Here we are speaking of a deeper layer, one that is not about action at all but about the emotion itself: the coercion of the feelings of the nefesh habahamis.
And what does it mean to coerce a feeling? It is comparable to what is said about Israel standing at Mount Sinai, "כפה עליהם הר כגיגית" ("He overturned the mountain upon them like a vat"). Chassidus explains why this is called coercion: the Holy One took them out of Egypt, showed them all the miracles and the splitting of the sea, stood them at the mountain and revealed to them a G-dly revelation and open love. A person standing before a love like that simply cannot help being swept along by it. The very fact that he is swept along shows that, as it were, it was forced upon him, because had they not shown him all of this, he would never have done so on his own.
The same is true within the soul. In the end the nefesh habahamis also wants, also loves, also is drawn, but that love is not credited to it. The love belongs to the G-dly soul, which burns like fire, while the nefesh habahamis is dragged along and drawn after it. Such a love is called a love of ichpaya, and this is love like fire.
What is the difference between love like fire and love like water?
Both levels appear in Shir HaShirim. Love is described as "רשפי אש" ("flashes of fire"), and immediately afterward it says "מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה" ("many waters cannot extinguish the love"), where "many waters" carries a negative sense, waters that seek to extinguish the love of G-d. By contrast, "שפכי כמים לבך נכח פני ה'" ("pour out your heart like water before the face of G-d") is something else entirely: love like water.
Put simply, the difference between fire and water is the difference between a human being and an animal:
Human love: it begins in the head and from there influences the heart. A person is not drawn after something merely because he craves it, but because he understood and became convinced that it is true, fitting and good. His love is therefore measured and limited, since the intellect restrains and bounds it, all according to his level.
Animal love: it begins immediately in the heart. It needs no explanations and no persuading, because what it loves it loves of itself, and the love is part of what it is. For that reason its love is enormously powerful and utterly simple, and for the animal it could not possibly be otherwise.
A further point in understanding fire: when a log burns there is a great deal of noise, while lighting a match makes no sound at all. The source of the noise is the resistance within the log, the moisture and dampness in it, which the fire is as it were struggling against and slowly overcoming. Even a match that has been soaked in water and then partly dried will produce the same crackling, because resistance has been created in it.
This is love like fire: a love that has noise in it, because there is someone who resists. The nefesh habahamis still exists and is still active, and little by little it is dragged along, agrees, or tries to be convinced, but there is a labor of war going on here. This is the service of the beinoni, the intermediate person, whom we are dealing with.
Love like water, by contrast, is when the nefesh habahamis itself has changed and has begun to love G-d as well. Water flows gently, "על מי מנוחות ינהלני" ("He leads me beside still waters"), and not with noise the way fire does. No noise is heard because there is no war: a person is drawn and pulled toward G-dliness simply and naturally. This love, which comes from the nefesh habahamis itself, is powerful, intense and utterly simple, and it could not possibly be otherwise. This is the level of the tzaddik.
So what is the G-dly soul asking for at this stage? First, that there be a love of the G-dly soul itself. And what kind of love will that be? Love like fire, since the change in the nefesh habahamis has not yet taken place. The person loves, but his love is like fire, and little by little it grows stronger and spreads.
In summary: in this section we learned that Israel are called "kallah" in two senses, from the root of consuming and from the root of being included, two movements of the soul that are bound up with one another. We looked at the program of the G-dly soul to take control of the "small city," at the stages of love, "ratzuf," "malei" and "gadush," until it spills over from the right chamber into the left chamber l'ichpaya l'sitra achara, and at the deeper meaning of ichpaya as the coercion of feeling, on the model of "He overturned the mountain upon them like a vat." We also explained the difference between love like fire, which carries noise and war because of the resistance of the nefesh habahamis, and love like water, which comes gently and simply once the nefesh habahamis itself has changed.
In the next section we will continue with the words of the Alter Rebbe, and in chapter 10 we will expand on the levels of tzaddikim and how they differ from the service of the beinoni.