Likkutei Amarim Tanya - Chapter 6 - Part 4

00:01 The Alter Rebbe now comes to explain why this world is called the world of kelipos. We see in Kabbalistic writings in a number of places that this physical world is called, in the language of Kabbalah and Chassidus, the world of kelipos. Why did it get such a lovely name—the world of kelipos? What makes it the world of kelipos? After all, there are many good things in this world. There are Jews here, there are Temimim here, and there are many good things. Yet this world is called the world of kelipos. Why? The Alter Rebbe explains that, based on what we have said, it makes sense. A kelipah does not necessarily mean something evil. It means anything that is not completely nullified to G-dliness. Anything that feels itself to be an independent existence and is not entirely nullified to G-dliness is a kelipah. That is the meaning of sitra achra: another side, not on the side of holiness, not nullified to G-dliness. And since, broadly speaking, there is no bittul in this physical world—when you look at the world as a whole, its things are not nullified—it takes Jewish souls and a great deal of work to bring bittul into the world. Created beings, on their own, are not nullified to G-dliness. That is why it is called the world of kelipos: a world that is not nullified to G-dliness. So, as we have explained, a kelipah means that its G-dly life-force is present in a constricted way because it is not nullified. It is a separate existence in its own eyes—not necessarily evil. A kelipah does not mean evil; it means a sense of independent existence. That is why this world is called the world of kelipos and sitra achra. And so the Alter Rebbe continues:

02:02 “Therefore, all the affairs of this world are harsh and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.” This helps us understand something else: why do we find that things in this world are not easy? What does it mean that “all the affairs of this world are harsh and evil”? We see that things in this world come with difficulty. The things a person wants to do, all kinds of things, involve difficulty—especially the good things a person wants to do. They take tremendous effort. And the world in general always tends toward evil. When there is a choice between good and evil, the inclination is toward evil. We can see it for ourselves. A person constantly faces a choice: “I have set before you life and good, and death and evil.” Will I go toward holiness and good, or toward evil? Usually it is easier to go toward evil. The pull in that direction is much stronger. In other words, the world tends toward evil. Why? Because this world is, at its core, the world of kelipos. The world’s very nature is to be a separate existence. That does not make it outright evil; it is a separate existence. Because of that sense of self, because it is not nullified to G-dliness, it naturally has a greater tendency toward evil. So the fact that the world is an independent existence means that it is drawn more toward evil. Someone who is completely nullified to G-dliness, whose bittul is openly part of his nature, will naturally be drawn more toward holiness. But a person who has a strong sense of self finds it much easier, when there is a choice, to be drawn toward evil. It is like—

04:00 As Chassidus explains, fire naturally rises upward, while earth naturally falls downward. Why is that? Fire rises because it is more spiritual in nature, so it is drawn to become even more spiritual. It wants to rise, to become as nothing, to become still more spiritual. Earth, on the other hand, is physical by nature, and the physical wants to become still more physical. That is why it says, “The spirit of man rises upward, and the spirit of the animal descends downward.” A person who is spiritual by nature is drawn to become still more spiritual, more simple, more like nothing. An animal, by contrast, has a physical nature, a nature marked by a sense of self. Each wants to become more of what it already is. What is spiritual at its core wants to become more spiritual; what is physical at its core wants to become more physical. So a being with a sense of self—even if that sense of self is not outright evil, but simply means that its bittul is not apparent—is drawn to become still more self-centered, to the point of outright evil. That is the reason. So what does it mean that things are “harsh and evil”? It explains why things in this world are so difficult, why the world tends more toward evil, and why “the wicked prevail in it.” We also see that in this world, wickedness and bad things prevail. As it says in Eitz Chaim, Gate 42, chapter 4. There was once a student—and I can mention his name—a very Chassidic young man named Reb Moshe Gorkov, Menny Gorkov’s uncle, from the coupon. Reb Moshe Gorkov was a very Chassidic Jew. As a student at the yeshiva in Saratov, he was the most—

05:53 The most Chassidic student. He was a living example of what a Chassidic young man should be. He worked on himself, learned how to daven, involved himself in the Rebbe’s affairs, and truly showed what a young chossid should be. He davened and worked on himself in his service of Hashem; he was an exceptional young man. Once he approached the Rebbe. I heard the details of the story once, but I do not remember now exactly what happened—perhaps the Rebbe had arrived and was going into his room, and he followed him. I am not sure. In any case, he approached the Rebbe, deeply troubled and distressed, and asked: “Why is it so hard to serve Hashem? Why does it have to be this way? Why are there so many challenges? Why is it so hard?” Apparently, he had worked very hard on himself in his service of Hashem, yet each time there was the yetzer hara and another challenge. So he asked the Rebbe, “Why does serving Hashem have to be so hard?” The Rebbe answered him in a singsong tone with two lines of Tanya: “After all, it says in Tanya, ‘All the affairs of this world are harsh and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.’” And the Rebbe went inside. That was the Rebbe’s entire answer: two lines of Tanya—“All the affairs of this world are harsh and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.” In other words, the Alter Rebbe does not write this here merely to make us despair. On the contrary, there is a certain comfort in it. We know that it is already written in Tanya. Sometimes a young man has difficulties in his service of Hashem; he faces a challenge, and it does not let up—

07:40 He sees that things are not working out, and he might think there is something wrong with him—that he is not capable of being someone who serves Hashem, that serving Hashem is not for him, that he cannot be what he needs to be. He thinks the problem lies with him. But we know this is already written in Tanya. This is simply the reality. It does not mean it is your fault, that something is wrong with you, that you are so bad that you suddenly have a stronger yetzer hara. This is the reality: this world is the world of kelipos. Therefore, “all the affairs of this world are harsh and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.” That is why serving Hashem is not easy. Simply knowing that this is how things are—that this is the reality—already helps. As the Alter Rebbe goes on to say in chapter 36, Hakadosh Boruch Hu did not make it this way for no reason, just to make our lives harder. After all, Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not make unreasonable demands of His creations. Why did Hashem make it difficult? So that we would practice iskafya and self-sacrifice in serving Him. Knowing that this is how it is meant to be already makes the whole task easier. Now, in a note, the Alter Rebbe makes what seems to be the opposite point. He has been speaking about how bad the world is, how far it is from good. But in this note he turns the whole matter around. Look inside at the note. The Alter Rebbe says—as I have been saying all along, there in chapter 4. Sorry, the Alter Rebbe says in the note: “Although within it are the ten sefiros of Asiyah of holiness.” Here, too, the Alter Rebbe comes to explain in the note that, in truth, the fact that this world is called

09:13 The world of kelipos is not only something negative. There is also a positive side to it, the other side of the matter. “Although within it are the ten sefiros of holy Asiyah.” Within this world there is an inner life-force. What is present in this world? The ten sefiros of holy Asiyah. That itself is not a kelipah. Within the reality of this world are the ten sefiros of holy Asiyah, which are an expression of holy G-dliness. “And as it is written in Eitz Chayim, within these ten sefiros of Asiyah are the ten sefiros of Yetzirah.” You see what is being brought in here: the entire order of hishtalshelus. There are the ten sefiros of holy Asiyah, but it is not only the ten sefiros of holy Asiyah. Asiyah is the lowest level. Within the sefiros of holy Asiyah are also the ten sefiros of Yetzirah, and within them the ten sefiros of Beriah, and within them the ten sefiros of Atzilus, within which is the light of the Infinite One, blessed be He. So what is present within the reality of this world? The true inner reality of this physical world is the light of the Infinite One, blessed be He. “Thus the light of the Infinite One, blessed be He, fills this entire lower earth through its enclothement in the ten sefiros of the four worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah,” as he explains later there, in chapter 36. In other words, what is the Alter Rebbe explaining here? This is the positive side of the world of kelipos. When I say that this world is a world of kelipos, you hear “kelipos”: a matter of selfhood, of concealment and obscurity that hides G-dliness. That is why this world is difficult and bad. On the other hand, the very fact that this world is called a world of kelipos actually emphasizes something good. What is a kelipah? A kelipah means something external. A kelipah means that it is not the thing itself. When I look, I

11:06 see a fruit—an orange, a nut, or some other fruit with a peel or shell. So I see the peel, but is the peel the thing itself? The peel is only an external layer that conceals the real thing inside. I need to break the shell, tear the peel, or remove the peel, depending on what kind it is, and then I will discover a good, tasty fruit inside that can be eaten. The same is true of this physical world. The fact that this physical world is called a world of kelipos actually emphasizes that everything about this world that appears to be concealment and obscurity, something that hides G-dliness and makes it seem alien, is only an external kelipah. It is the outside of the world. It is the kelipah. You look at the world from the outside—well, you are looking at the world from the outside. So in this world you see a kelipah; you see selfhood. But if you go deeper, into its inner reality, you will see that there are the ten sefiros of holy Asiyah here. And once you get past that, you will see that even that is a kelipah. There is something deeper: the ten sefiros of Yetzirah. Deeper still are the ten sefiros of Beriah. Deeper still is Atzilus. And within all of that is G-dliness. We will not go into this whole subject here; these are all levels in serving Hashem. And a person—the four worlds. Maybe we should say something about this, because it is a general point. When people study Chassidus, sometimes they do not understand and think we are talking about levels and concepts in the abstract. When Chassidus speaks about the four worlds, some people think they really are four separate worlds: our world is one world, and there are another four worlds above ours. This is the world of physical Asiyah. There is a higher world of spiritual Asiyah.

12:57 There is a still higher world of Yetzirah, then the world of Beriah and the world of Atzilus—different worlds. If that were so, then how many sefiros would there be? Each world has its sefiros. Well, we can stop right there. If that were so, since each world has ten sefiros and there are four worlds, there would have to be forty sefiros. I do not think anyone has ever seen a maamar that speaks of forty sefiros. Nowhere in Chassidus does it say that there are forty sefiros. There are ten sefiros! There are ten sefiros, and those same ten sefiros are in the world of Atzilus, those same ten sefiros are in Beriah, and those same ten are in Yetzirah. What does that mean? Essentially, we are talking about the same world throughout. The four worlds are not four different worlds. All of reality is the same world, but that same world exists on four levels, in four ways. Our world, as we see it with our eyes—we are lowly souls, flesh and blood, and we see everything through very physical eyes. Most souls in our generation are lowly souls. So when we look at the world with our eyes, we see it as it appears on the level of the ten sefiros of physical Asiyah. But if we rise a little in our service of Hashem and look at the world on a higher level, we see that this physical world is not so physical. We see its true form, the life-force within it, and then it becomes the ten sefiros of spiritual Asiyah. In other words, this world is elevated to a level of spirituality—the spirituality of Asiyah. Then we rise to a higher level and reveal something deeper in the world: the ten sefiros of Yetzirah. The same applies to Beriah and to Atzilus. That is—and this is not the place to discuss it in detail.

14:49 What is the difference between one world and another? Each of the four worlds is a particular way of seeing the world in relation to G-dliness. There is a way of seeing the world in relation to G-dliness on the level of Atzilus, where the world cries out, “There is nothing else besides Him.” The world cries out, “All is one, and He...” You look at the world and see nothing but G-dliness. There is also a way in which you see the world as a reality, but at least as a reality that is nullified; that corresponds to the world of Beriah. In other words, as I said, [unclear] Chassidus. These are four levels of the world’s relationship to G-dliness and its expression of that relationship. That is what lies in the background of what we are discussing. So it is a kelipah. You look at the world and see a kelipah. What we see is only an external kelipah, only something on the outside. If we go a little further and refine ourselves, we will discover that within the kelipah are the ten sefiros of holiness, and deeper and deeper, the Infinite One, blessed be He. All of that is present here. So this is the positive side, the advantage of the concept of kelipos, of the kelipah aspect. On the contrary, it emphasizes the good within the world: we need to reveal its inner reality, which is G-dliness. Chassidus actually brings a metaphor for the order of hishtalshelus. The more accurate metaphor for the hishtalshelus of the four worlds becomes clear here from what is explained in Tanya, and it is brought in several places in Chassidus. The metaphor for the order of hishtalshelus is an onion. An onion, [unclear]. Several places in Chassidus mention it, even the layers of an onion. The order of hishtalshelus is like an onion. An onion has this quality: every layer is a kelipah around what lies further inside. There is one layer; you remove it, and there is another layer, and another, and another. It is layers upon layers, and that is how the vegetable is formed. So Chassidus gives this example.

16:35 This serves as an analogy for the idea—this is the real analogy for it. In other words, every world is a shell around the world within it. The innermost point is G-dliness, blessed be He; that is the inner essence of everything, above the sefiros altogether. Then there is a kind of shell around it, and each world is a shell around the world that follows it. Through our avodah, then, we need to reveal this: to reveal the world’s bittul to G-dliness. The Alter Rebbe continues: “And they…” After explaining in general what a kelipah means—that it is a state in which G-dliness is so contracted, concealed, and hidden that one does not see the Divine life within it. One sees exile; one sees an independent existence, but not the Divine life within it. G-dliness is there in a state of exile. That is the general idea of kelipah. Now the Alter Rebbe begins to explain it in detail: “And they”—the kelipos—“are divided into two levels, one lower than the other.” The Alter Rebbe is telling us that the kelipos are divided into two levels, one lower than the other. So within kelipah itself there are two levels. Chassidim would give an analogy of three people looking at a picture. There is a picture, a very beautiful painting—sorry, there is a painting. A certain painting is hanging on the wall, and three people stand looking at it. One looks at the painting and says, ah… Say it is a small child looking at it casually: he sees a pretty picture, a person walking. Someone older sees some content in the painting. It conveys a particular message that the painter wants to communicate.

19:12 And someone on a still higher level, an artist who understands the art of painting, looks at it and says: There is profound skill in the art of this painting. In other words, they are all looking at the same painting, but each sees something different in it. One sees only its entirely external aspect, the image itself. The second sees some moral content, a lesson, an event or a story it is meant to tell. And the third sees the profound skill of painting. Each discovers something particular in it. There are many details: one sees the art in the painting, another sees the artist’s skill in painting it. There are many, many levels. I don’t remember all the details of the analogy as Chassidim explain it in relation to the world. We see that the world is the same world. People look at it, but each sees it differently. One looks at the world and sees Asiyah. Another looks at it and sees Yetzirah. Another sees Beriah. Each looks at the world according to his own level. They are all standing in the same place, within the same four cubits, looking at the same painting, yet each sees it in an entirely different way. But that is not what the Alter Rebbe is explaining here. Here he begins to explain that within kelipah itself—what do we mean by kelipah? A kelipah is something that conceals what is essential. It has Divine life within it in an extremely contracted form, but it nevertheless conceals what is essential. The Alter Rebbe says that the kelipos themselves have two levels, one lower than the other. In general, when speaking of holiness, we always emphasize “one higher than the other,”

20:46 while with kelipah we always emphasize “one lower than the other,” because that is the difference between holiness and kelipah. In holiness, the natural order is that each successive level is higher. With kelipah, as we said earlier about the difference between the physical and the spiritual, the spiritual rises higher and higher, while the physical becomes more and more physical. So here too, when the Alter Rebbe comes to explain kelipah, he puts it this way: one lower than the other. He explains the better kelipah first, and then descends to explain the worse one, one lower than the other. “The lower level…” Yes, that is, here he explains it in the reverse order, but the wording is “one lower than the other.” “The lower level consists of the three kelipos that are completely impure and evil, and contain no good at all.” So there are the three kelipos—that is more… That is why he brings it first. Afterward he goes on at greater length to explain kelipas nogah. “The lower level consists of the three kelipos that are completely impure and evil.” What is the very lowest level of kelipah? It is what is called “the three kelipos that are completely impure and evil, and contain no good at all.” “They are called, in Yechezkel’s vision of the Divine Chariot, ‘a stormy wind,’ ‘a great cloud,’ and so on.” The three completely impure kelipos contain no good at all, the Alter Rebbe says. They are referred to in the vision of the prophet Yechezkel: “a stormy wind” and “a great cloud.” He does not quote the third one here; it says there, “a flashing fire.” These are the three impure kelipos. The prophet Yechezkel saw the Divine Chariot. What does “Divine Chariot” mean? It means the spiritual reality of everything in this world. That is exactly what we said earlier: the prophet Yechezkel saw the reality of the world as it exists in the world of Yetzirah. He saw everything that is here, everything that we

22:38 see in physical form, at its source in the world of Yetzirah. So what did he see? Where did he see the reality of kelipah? He says that he saw it. He speaks there about the angels and the seraphim and all the things he saw. And when he speaks about the kelipos, he says he saw them around the Divine Chariot. He saw “a stormy wind,” then “a great cloud.” After that he saw “a flashing fire,” and then he said, “a radiance surrounding it.” That is what the prophet Yechezkel saw. If you look at the account of the Divine Chariot, these things are not inside the Chariot. The Chariot itself includes the face of an ox, the face of an eagle, and the face of a lion. Those are things he saw in the Chariot itself. But what did he see around the Chariot, outside it? He saw “a stormy wind,” “a great cloud,” and “a flashing fire.” After that came “a radiance surrounding it.” That surrounding radiance is kelipas nogah, which we will study later. But those first three things, in that order, are the three impure kelipos. So first we need to understand two things: What are those three things? And why does Tanya say here that they “are called, in Yechezkel’s vision of the Divine Chariot…”? Every word in Tanya is precise. Why does Tanya specify that they are called that in Yechezkel’s vision of the Divine Chariot? What difference does it make that it is in Yechezkel’s vision? Let us turn to the first question. What, in general, are those three things? They are “a stormy wind,” “a great cloud,” and “a flashing fire.” These correspond to the three elements of fire, wind, and water. A stormy wind is wind, the element of wind. A great cloud—a cloud is water, the element of water. And a flashing fire is fire. Fire, wind, water: those are the three elements. Water is the element

24:32 Earth. So Chassidus explains that earth is not an element in its own right. Maamarim of Chassidus explain in several places that the element of earth is not an element in its own right; it receives from the other three elements. The elements, at their root, are really only three: fire, air, and water. And there are also three completely impure kelipos. Some of these kelipos are associated primarily with fire, some primarily with water, and some primarily with air. In other words, this is the same explanation, just put a little differently. There are three lines. In all the worlds, in everything—in a person and in the middos—there is the right line, the line of chesed; the line of gevurah; and the middle line, tiferes. The kelipos also have these three aspects. Water, the “great cloud,” is chesed. These are the completely impure kelipos associated more with the line of chesed: desires, pleasures, everything connected with that line. Then there are aspects associated with the line of gevurah, such as anger and murder—all the kelipos associated with gevurah. And there are aspects connected with tiferes. Tiferes is beauty; it can involve a desire for clothing and, as is sometimes written, pride. Yes. So these are the three aspects, the three lines within the three completely impure kelipos. These are the three aspects in the merkavah. Why does he write that they are “in Yechezkel’s merkavah”? The Rebbe gives a very interesting explanation. Earlier, the Rebbe said that the entire

26:29 existence of the kelipos has vitality from holiness. Yet here the Rebbe says that the completely impure kelipos have no good in them at all. That would seem to mean that the three completely impure kelipos have no good in them whatsoever. But earlier we said that a kelipah, too, has vitality from above. This is what the Rebbe explains here with the words “and they are called, in Yechezkel’s merkavah…” After all, a merkavah is a merkavah. The expression indicates that the three completely impure kelipos have a connection to the merkavah. In other words, at their source, they too are aspects that are elevated to G-dliness—even the three completely impure kelipos. As they exist at their source in Yechezkel’s merkavah, they too have a connection there to G-dliness, albeit in a more restricted way. So even when we say that the three completely impure kelipos have no good in them at all, that is only as they develop from their source.