Chapter 6 - Part Four

00:00 Yes, we’re in the middle of chapter 6 of Tanya, on page 12. The Alter Rebbe begins explaining here, further down, how the reality of kelipah comes about. The Alter Rebbe explains that G-dliness is the oneness of Hashem. In G-dliness there is no room for anything other than G-dliness. The side of holiness is the indwelling and extension of the holiness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu dwells only in something that is nullified. That is the reality. As the Alter Rebbe explains in the following chapters, “He alone, and there is nothing besides Him”—that is the level of chochmah. G-dliness is revealed only where there is “He alone, and there is nothing besides Him.” Something that sees itself as an independent entity is not nullified. So G-dliness is not revealed in it, and that is the meaning of “the other side,” sitra achra. So how does the sitra achra have life? If G-dliness is not present in it, how does it live? How does it exist? Where does the sitra achra’s life-force come from? That is what the Alter Rebbe began to explain: the way the sitra achra receives its life-force. He explained several details here. We read through them quickly. Today we’ll explain in more detail what the points are that the Alter Rebbe is explaining. First, he says “the back.” We explained that: the aspect of the back. What does “the back” mean? We explained that there is a face and there is a back. In a person, the face is where his inner self is found. In the face you see a person’s inner self; you see his joy or his wisdom—“A person’s wisdom lights up his face.” The back shows a person’s outer side. So when a person gives something face-to-face, that means he gives it with his inner self; he wants it, with intention and forethought. When a person gives something but does not really want to give it, that is called “the back.” That is the difference between holiness and kelipah. Holiness—Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives it life because He wants to give it life. Kelipah—Hakadosh Boruch Hu does not want it. After all, why

02:02 does He give it life? It is not because He wants it. It is needed for free choice, for reward and punishment. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu make room for kelipah? In essence, He does not want it. So that is “the back.” Then the Alter Rebbe goes on and says, after saying “the aspect of the back”: “It descends from level to level, through many levels in the chainlike descent of the worlds, by way of cause and effect, with many contractions.” Here too, there are several expressions, and each one adds another point. First, there is the chainlike descent of the worlds, the descent from level to level of the G-dly light in which the oneness of Hashem shines openly. So there is this descent from level to level, in the form of the chainlike descent of the worlds. As we all know, a chain is made of links. Each link has an upper part and a lower part. The upper part is connected to the link above it, and the lower part is connected to the link below it. Spiritually, this means that each world, each sefirah, is another descent, another step down in level. Of course, Above, “descent” refers to quality. The G-dly light descends from level to level through the chainlike descent. So every descent is another contraction, another concealment: less and less revelation, less nullification, less dancing. Here the Alter Rebbe adds “chainlike descent, cause and effect.” What is the nature of cause and effect? Cause and effect. We see that the effect is on a lower level than the cause. A well-known example of cause and effect is intellect and emotions. The light that shines in the intellect is much stronger, much truer, much deeper. When the light has to descend into the emotions, it becomes more contracted. The same is true of thought and speech. The light in thought is much deeper than when it descends into speech. In other words, by adding “cause and effect,” he adds another point, because there can be many levels,

04:18 but they are not necessarily related as cause and effect. Sometimes there can be many levels, but all the levels are comparable—they are not necessarily such that one level is truly lower than another. Right? Take the power of will in the soul, for example. A person can want many things; he has a desire for a number of things. But you would not say that one desire is inherently lower than another, because the will is present equally in everything. If he wants it, it matters; if he does not want it, it does not matter. And it is hard to say that there are gradations within the will. Right? Because with the will, you either want something or you do not. It is hard to speak of gradations. That is not the case with cause and effect: when you say that the effect unfolds internally from the cause, the effect is on a lower level than the cause, just as the emotions are lower than the intellect. This is not the place to get into all the different schools of thought. I just want to show that here in Tanya, each word of the Alter Rebbe adds another contraction, another kind of contraction. Yes, but all of this can still be within the levels of holiness. Chainlike descent, cause and effect—none of that has yet become kelipah. So the Alter Rebbe continues: after so many successive descents and so many contractions, until there is one diminution after another, what does he add? That it becomes enclothed in an aspect of exile. This is remarkable. Through the many successive descents and contractions, a situation comes about in which the G-dly light becomes enclothed in a state of exile. That is already actual kelipah. That is where kelipah and sitra achra begin. In other words, in Chassidus there is a concept called enclothement. When you say “enclothement,” when one thing becomes enclothed in another, it means that the higher becomes like the lower. This is a subject in Chassidus that the bochurim are studying now too,

06:28 those studying [unclear]. There is an entire subject in Chassidus about two ways of giving life. There is life-force through enclothement, and there is life-force that is not through enclothement—through something happening on its own, or by way of a cause, and so on. For example, we illustrate all these things with an example from the soul—we have not gotten there yet, right? Sometimes one person influences another person without enclothement. For example, in a yeshivah there is a bochur who sits and learns, davens, and conducts himself as he should. He is a living example, and another bochur learns from him. He watches him and wants to learn from him how to behave. So he influences him, but not through enclothement. The bochur may not even know that he has an influence. He goes about his own business: he comes, he learns, he is involved in what he is doing, and another bochur learns from him how to behave. So there is influence here without enclothement. The higher one—let us now call him the one exerting the influence—did not descend, did not contract himself, did not take action. He remained where he was. He was merely the cause of the other one changing: the other one learned from him and drew inspiration from him. That is not called enclothement. Enclothement, by contrast, is when one bochur works with the other bochur. He learns with him, farbrengs with him, talks with him, draws him close, has an effect on him, and influences him to change his ways. That is called influence through enclothement. When you act through enclothement, it necessarily requires you to change. You cannot remain as you are. You have to come down into his world, as Chassidus always illustrates with the example of a teacher and student: the teacher has to come down into the student’s world and relate to the student’s world. And for the student to understand, that requires a great contraction on the part of both the student and the teacher. He is now in

08:33 In the student’s world, not the teacher’s world. A question—and someone asks that we speak about it at even greater length. There is an analogy used in Chassidus: throwing a stone. When you throw a stone, the soul is spiritual, the act of throwing is physical, and the stone is inanimate. So when a person needs to throw a stone, there is an investment in something entirely out of proportion to the soul. Certainly, then, this is an even greater descent. This is what the Alter Rebbe is saying here: as the G-dly light descends and becomes invested through many contractions and descents, it becomes invested according to the nature of the yesh—the entity in which it is invested. It becomes invested in something that is not a vessel for G-dliness, and its investment takes on the terms of what it is invested in. When it is invested in that way, it becomes as though—this is called exile. What does exile mean? What is the concept of exile? Exile means being in a place where you are not in charge; you cannot do what you want. That is exile. The Frierdiker Rebbe, for example, was in exile. What was the exile in Kostroma? What was its purpose? To break him. What did it mean? That he would be in a place where he could not do what he wanted, where others would control him and tell him when to get up, when to go, and when to act. There is exile, and captivity is an even more extreme form of it. But in general it is the same idea: you are in a place where the place controls you instead of you controlling the place. If you are in charge, you are free; but if the place is in charge of you, you are in exile. So the Alter Rebbe says that because of the many contractions, one reduction after another, as the G-dly light descends and becomes invested in the reality of the yesh, in physicality, a situation arises in which physicality dominates the G-dly light, and we no longer sense

10:22 the self-nullification; we do not sense the G-dly light. This is what the Alter Rebbe adds here in the words: “Like an exile within a separate entity, to give it life and sustain it from nothing into something, so that it not revert to nothing and naught as it was originally, before it was created.” What does the Alter Rebbe want to explain? This is not the discussion of [unclear], but the Alter Rebbe wants to explain just how severe this exile is. The G-dly light is within the created being and brings it into existence at every moment. And why must the G-dly light be there? Because without it, the created being cannot exist. In other words, the entire existence of the created being is only due to the G-dly power. Without that power it has no existence at all. It would revert to nothing and naught; it would become absolutely nothing. The created being needs the word of Hashem in order to exist and live. Without it, it has no existence at all. And yet it does not sense G-dliness; it is a yesh, a separate entity. That shows how profound the exile is. On the one hand, its entire being is the G-dly power; and yet the yesh dominates that power, so that no self-nullification is felt. That is one explanation of what the Alter Rebbe means by this wording. Sometimes the question is asked: Why does the Alter Rebbe add the line, “so that it not revert to nothing and naught as it was originally, before it was created”? He wants to emphasize the other side. He wants to emphasize what the exile consists of. He says that the G-dly vitality is within the created being. In what respect is it within the created being? To keep it from becoming nothing and naught. In other words, the created being’s entire connection to the word of Hashem concerns only

12:23 its ability to exist, because without the word of Hashem it cannot exist. But it has no bond, no attachment, no unity with it. In other words, the entire relationship, the entire connection between the word of Hashem and the created being is to sustain it so that it will not become nothing and naught. Beyond keeping it from becoming nothing and naught, there is nothing else to that connection. And so the created being is a yesh, a separate entity. It does not sense the G-dly light. All the G-dly light does here is keep it from becoming nothing and naught. In any case, from all this we understand how great the distance is, how far the G-dly light must descend and contract through so many kinds of contractions in order to give life to kelipah. That is how such a reality as kelipah and sitra achra comes into being—the opposite of holiness. As we said, what is holiness? Holiness means that the created being senses G-dliness and is nullified to it, and that it feels that its entire existence is G-dliness. That shines within it and is openly felt. That is called holiness. But when the G-dly light has to be concealed, contracted, and invested until it is, in effect, in exile—so that what is openly seen is the yesh, not its self-nullification—that is what defines kelipah and sitra achra. The Alter Rebbe continues: “Therefore.” So here we return to the last two lines below: “The world is called”—sorry—“this world is called the world of kelipos and sitra achra,” the Alter Rebbe says. Now we understand why we call this world the world of kelipos and sitra achra. The point is everything in this world—all the created beings, all the things in it. That is what is called the world of kelipos and sitra achra. In other words, not just certain things. The Alter Rebbe wants to emphasize

14:19 here in Tanya that it is not only the forbidden things in this world, not only the bad things in this world. This world, its entire reality—the whole world and everything in it, including things that are not bad, things that are permitted—every detail of the world, by its very nature, lacks openly revealed self-nullification. The unity of Hashem does not shine openly within it. So what is it called? The world of kelipos and sitra achra. This is like what the Alter Rebbe already said in chapter 1. He explained there what the word kelipah means. What defines kelipah? In light of what we have just learned, we understand it much better. What is a kelipah? A kelipah is a shell that covers the fruit. When I see the shell, what do I see? I see something covering the fruit; I do not see the fruit. I see something that does not look like fruit. I see something inert, something that grew, something that is not the fruit—it is refuse. The fruit is inside, but you have to break the shell to see it. So this world is called the world of kelipos because it covers what is within. As we said, through all the contractions, descents, and stages of the chain of creation that we discussed earlier, a situation has arisen in which G-dly light is present. More than that: G-dly light brings it into existence and gives it life at every moment. Yet the world covers that light. What do I see? I see a shell; I do not see G-dliness. That is the meaning of “the world of kelipos and sitra achra.” The Alter Rebbe has just explained sitra achra as well: it is not on the side of holiness; it has no self-nullification. “Therefore”—that is why, in Kabbalah,

16:11 this entire world is called the world of kelipos. It is not only bad things that are called kelipos. This whole world is called a kelipah because, in general, the world conceals G-dliness. That is also why Chassidus says that the word olam, “world,” is related to he’elem, “concealment.” Concealment defines the world. “Therefore, all the affairs of this world are difficult and evil, and the wicked prevail in it, as stated in Eitz Chaim, Shaar 42, end of chapter 4.” Now look: he continues and says that this helps us understand another point. Because down here, in this physical world, we have the world of kelipos and sitra achra, it also explains why the affairs of this world are difficult and evil. That is a question many people ask—in fact, everyone asks it sometimes. Sometimes they ask it in a different way, in different words, but we all have this question. Sometimes we hear the news, hear things, see what is happening in the world. And we do not even have to look outside: each of us knows the concealments and obstacles within ourselves, the yetzer hara, the animal soul, and the challenges. Many people ask: Why are the affairs of this world difficult and evil? What does that mean? Things in this world do not go easily. A person wants to do good things, but there are always difficulties, challenges, concealments and obstacles, confusion and problems. Things do not go smoothly. Sometimes a young man asks himself: I want to do good things, so why isn’t it working? Why? Why doesn’t Hakadosh Boruch Hu help me? I want to be a good person; I want to do good. I can see that I have good intentions and good plans. Why does something always get in my way? Why doesn’t it work out? So, “all the affairs of this world are difficult.” First of all,

18:11 Difficult—things come in a difficult way. That is what it says in Koheles, and “evil” is even more than that. It is not only difficult, but evil. There is, as it were, a tendency for evil to be stronger than good. “All the affairs of this world are difficult and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.” This is also a very well-known question that many people ask: Why do the wicked have more power? At least, that is how it appears. We see in this world that “the way of the wicked prospers.” It is the famous complaint that the prophet Yirmiyahu already cried out to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?” Why do wicked people succeed in life while righteous people suffer? It is a well-known question. So the Alter Rebbe says that the real reason is what we have learned here. Because this physical world comes about through many tzimtzumim, to the point that G-dliness is in a state of exile. And when G-dliness is in exile, exile is simply exile—exile of the Shechinah, in which the reality of the world seemingly holds sway over G-dliness. That itself is the definition of exile: when physicality, this world and materiality, seemingly hold sway over G-dliness. And that gives rise to all the things we see. It is simply the exile of the Shechinah. Now, of course, in the deeper intent there is an order to this, there is a secret to it. The fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives power to the kelipah of the world is all for the sake of a purpose: refinement and avodah, and so on. It has a goal. That is another subject. The Alter Rebbe does not explain it here, but it is explained later in Tanya. We will learn that he also tells us that the ultimate goal is for a person to overcome it, and so on. But the way the reality of the world manifests itself—because it comes about through many tzimtzumim, through a withdrawal of the light to the point of exile—explains this whole matter. So there is the well-known story. I have told it

20:21 several times in this chapter. Yes, I heard it. I no longer remember whom I heard it from, but I heard it from a trustworthy person. I am trying to remember now when I heard it, and from whom. But the story was about Reb Moshe Gorkov, who passed away a little while ago. He was a chassidishe bochur in 770, a bochur who truly worked on himself, who learned and davened and toiled in the fear of Hashem. He was a truly chassidishe bochur. I mean, I heard many chassidim speak about him. Reb Moshe Gorkov was one of the genuine chassidishe bochurim in 770 from the early years. Once, when the Rebbe came into 770, he took the liberty of approaching the Rebbe—not in yechidus or anything like that. He went up to the Rebbe. This was something bochurim did not do, but it touched him deeply. He asked the Rebbe: “Why is it so hard to serve Hashem? Why does it come with such difficulty?” It pained him. That is how he said it. So the Rebbe told him: “You are a student of Tanya. It says in Tanya: ‘All the affairs of this world are difficult and evil, and the wicked prevail in it.’” In other words, it is not your problem; it is the reality. You think it is a personal problem of yours, that things are not working for you? It is not your problem. It is the reality of this physical world and of the human condition. Hashem created the world, and the Alter Rebbe was not dismayed by it. He wrote it in Tanya, and nevertheless wrote a book that gives us a path in avodah for overcoming it. So we understand that this reality is real, but we have the strength to overcome it. The Alter Rebbe continues and says, in a note. Do we have time? Oh.

22:10 Let me just briefly explain what is going on in this note. As is known, a note in Tanya is not... What is a note in Tanya? It is not part of the main text of Tanya, but it is part of Tanya. In other words, it is a side point, but the Alter Rebbe wrote it nonetheless. That means it bears on the general principle; it is relevant to the subject here. And this is a very, very interesting and important note, a very fundamental one. The Alter Rebbe comes and presents the other side of the coin. We have been speaking all this time about the negative side of this world: that it is a world of kelipos and sitra achra, that its affairs are difficult and evil and the wicked prevail in it. That emphasizes just how unbearable our world is—a difficult, troubled world. Then, in this note, the Alter Rebbe turns the matter around. He says: “And yet”—meaning that alongside all this, despite everything we said in the main text, we must know that there is another side—“within it are the ten sefiros of the holy world of Asiyah,” as it says in Eitz Chayim, Gate 43. And within these ten sefiros of Asiyah are the ten sefiros of Yetzirah. Within Asiyah there is also Yetzirah. “And within them are the ten sefiros of Beriah, and within them are the ten sefiros of Atzilus, within which is the light of the blessed Ein Sof. Thus the light of the blessed Ein Sof fills this entire lower earth through its enclothement in the ten sefiros of the four worlds—Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.” As it says in Eitz Chayim, Gate 47, chapter 2, and in Sefer Hagilgulim, chapter 20—Sefer Hagilgulim, chapter 20. What is the Alter Rebbe saying here? He is telling us a wonderful principle. We said that this world is a world of kelipos. So in the main text of Tanya, the Alter Rebbe emphasized its negative side. A kelipah conceals, because here in chapter 6 the Alter Rebbe is trying

24:14 to explain to us what the evil side is, the side of the animal soul. It conceals G-dliness; it hides G-dliness because it presents itself as something important. That is everything we have learned. Then the Alter Rebbe comes and says: But you should know that the word “kelipah” also contains good news. What do we mean? What is a kelipah? There is something positive in it too: it is only a shell. A shell means there is a fruit inside. On the contrary, it tells you not to be foolish: do not look at the shell; do not look at the container, but at what is inside it. Do not just see that it is a shell. See that there is fruit within the shell. What is the fruit? That is what the Alter Rebbe is saying. Within this whole reality of sitra achra there is a spark of G-dliness, of holiness, and within it is the Ein Sof. Chassidus explains that this is like an onion. You have an onion, and there is a layer that you peel away, and then another layer and another and another. Yes, that is how an onion works. “Like the layers of an onion,” as it is described in the books of Kabbalah—this is one way of depicting the order of hishtalshelus. Sometimes hishtalshelus is pictured from top to bottom: Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah. But there is another way, like the layers of an onion, one within another: Asiyah, with Yetzirah inside it; Beriah inside that; Atzilus inside that; and the Ein Sof within. These are two ways of depicting hishtalshelus. In Chassidus they are called iggulim and yosher. This is not the place to go into that at length. But this is what the Alter Rebbe wants to tell us here: if you look at it as it really is, you ultimately know that it is only a shell. And our task—all of a person’s avodah lies in this—is to remove the shell, to transform it, to turn darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness, and to reveal the G-dly light that exists in the world. That, essentially, is the whole purpose the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya:

26:10 that the soul descended into the world for this—to transform the reality of kelipah and sitra achra, to make our world a dwelling place for Hashem in the lower realms, and to reveal the G-dly light in the world.