Chapter 7 - Part One

00:00 We’re starting a new chapter today, chapter 7. In the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe began discussing “this opposite that.” He spoke about kelipah and the sitra achra, and first explained the three impure kelipos. Now the Alter Rebbe comes to explain kelipas nogah, which is what he will discuss at length. The main avodah we’re discussing here in Tanya is the avodah of the beinoni. The beinoni’s struggle is primarily connected with permitted things. This is also a central innovation of the Alter Rebbe in Tanya: he explains how serving Hashem applies to permitted things—“All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven.” That is what the Alter Rebbe begins explaining now in chapter 7. He will explain at length what kelipas nogah is, and afterward discuss how the sparks are refined in each category—kelipas nogah and the three impure kelipos. He will explain that later in the chapter. First, continuing what we discussed earlier: in chapter 6, the Alter Rebbe explained that there are two levels among the kelipos. There are the three impure kelipos, which include everything that is entirely evil. That includes forbidden plants—even plants forbidden by rabbinic law—as well as animals, people, and so on. And when it comes to a person, to a Jew, this includes actions, speech, and thoughts that involve any element of prohibition. The Alter Rebbe continues in chapter 7 and says: “But the vital animal soul of a Jew, which derives from the kelipah and is clothed in the blood of a person, as mentioned above; and the souls of kosher animals, beasts, birds, and fish permitted for consumption; and the existence and vitality of all inanimate objects and all plants permitted for consumption.” Here the Alter Rebbe describes the other side. What things do not belong to the three impure kelipos? He begins with

02:17 the animal soul. The Alter Rebbe already discussed this in chapter 1: the difference between a non-Jew and a Jew is that the non-Jew’s animal soul comes from the three impure kelipos, whereas a Jew’s comes from kelipas nogah. A Jew’s animal soul is kelipas nogah because it also contains good, as we discussed in chapter 1. Then he moves on—first he speaks about a person, the animal soul of a Jew. After that he speaks about animals: all kosher animals and creatures permitted for consumption. Then he speaks about inanimate objects and plants. Here he says, “all inanimate objects and all plants permitted for consumption.” The precise wording is clear: “all inanimate objects.” The Alter Rebbe simply says “all inanimate objects,” without qualifying which ones. Then he says, “and all plants permitted for consumption.” In other words, “permitted for consumption” refers to the plants. With inanimate objects, the Alter Rebbe does not say “permitted for consumption,” because all inanimate objects are permitted. As we discussed in the previous chapter, the difference between inanimate objects and plants is that among plants, some are forbidden and some are permitted. There are forbidden plants, such as orlah and produce grown in a vineyard with forbidden mixtures, and there are permitted plants—all the plants one may eat. With inanimate objects, on the other hand, nothing is inherently forbidden. That is why the Alter Rebbe simply says “all inanimate objects,” and then “all plants permitted for consumption.” So all inanimate objects belong to kelipas nogah. There is no inanimate object that inherently belongs to the three impure kelipos. Only through a person’s actions can it become something forbidden—for example, if he turns it into an object of idol worship or uses it for some sin, thereby bringing it into the three impure kelipos. But if you’re

04:22 speaking about what sustains its physical existence, about its essential nature, then every inanimate object belongs to kelipas nogah. Among plants, all those permitted for consumption belong to kelipas nogah. It is interesting that here the Alter Rebbe does not write “the existence of their bodies.” Earlier, in chapter 6, when speaking about the three impure kelipos, the Alter Rebbe did say “the existence of their bodies.” When speaking about kelipas nogah, he does not say that. The Rebbe Rashab writes that the reason is that the body derives from sovev kol almin. As is known, the body derives from sovev. But with the three impure kelipos, the body itself becomes completely evil, and sovev kol almin does not shine there. It is the ultimate concealment. That is why he wrote “the existence of its body” when discussing the three impure kelipos. With kelipas nogah, on the other hand, there is no such concealment as there is with the three impure kelipos. It is something permitted, even though it is not holy. The Alter Rebbe therefore did not want to say that the body’s existence comes from kelipas nogah, because the body itself actually comes from a holy source. What makes it kelipah is connected with its soul, not its body. That is what the Rebbe Rashab writes. In any case, the Alter Rebbe continues: “And likewise, the existence and vitality of every action, word, and thought concerning matters of this world that contain no element of prohibition—not a root or a branch of the 365 negative commandments and their offshoots, whether Biblical or rabbinic.” Now he is speaking specifically about each person’s thoughts, speech, and actions in matters that are not forbidden by the Torah. On the one hand, these are permitted activities: thoughts, speech, and actions involving things permitted according to halachah, with no

06:25 element of prohibition. But the Alter Rebbe adds: “no element of prohibition—not a root or a branch of the 365 negative commandments and their offshoots, whether Biblical or rabbinic.” Some wanted to understand “root” as referring to a Biblical prohibition and “branch” as referring to a rabbinic one. That would be the distinction between root and branch: Biblical versus rabbinic. The Rebbe did not accept this. The Rebbe pointed out that the Alter Rebbe himself explicitly says afterward, “whether Biblical or rabbinic.” So, plainly, the Alter Rebbe means that there are roots and branches within Biblical prohibitions themselves, and roots and branches within rabbinic prohibitions themselves. In other words, some things are actual Biblical prohibitions—those are called roots, matters rooted directly in a Biblical prohibition. Other things are only branches of a Biblical prohibition: details and the like that are not explicitly prohibited in the Torah, but are derived from verses and similar sources. They, too, are Biblical, but within Biblical law they are details relative to the general principle. In any case, what is the Alter Rebbe saying? When something involves no prohibition at all, neither Biblical nor rabbinic—whether in thought, speech, or action—then these permitted matters all come from kelipas nogah. The Alter Rebbe continues: “But only when it is not for the sake of Heaven.” What defines kelipas nogah? The thing is not forbidden according to halachah or the Torah, neither Biblically nor rabbinically. On the other hand, it is not an act of holiness either: it is “not for the sake of Heaven.” The person is not using it to serve Hashem. That is called a permitted thing; that is kelipas nogah. Rather, it is “for the will, desire, and craving of the body.” These are things a person does

08:25 That is because the body wants it. It is the body’s will, desire, and craving. In other words, these are things the body wants or desires. Desire is not just an ordinary want; it is a strong desire, sometimes called in Chassidus the inner dimension of the will. It is a deeper kind of wanting. And there is craving, too. Here we have to say that the Alter Rebbe is not speaking about a craving that is actually materialistic, because the Alter Rebbe would say that such a craving belongs to the three unclean kelipos. It descends into the three unclean kelipos. So here, by “craving,” the Alter Rebbe means that these may be things the body needs, but since they are not for the service of Hashem, the body craves to preserve itself. It craves to eat in order to be healthy. Even in that, there can be a kind of craving: a person craves to be healthy not for the sake of serving Hashem, or craves to eat because he is hungry. That, too, is a kind of craving. In any case. “And even for the body’s actual needs, sustenance, and vitality”—the Alter Rebbe adds this here. There can be things that are, in fact, necessities. Some of the body’s needs are necessities; they are needed for its sustenance and actual vitality. A person eats things that are essential. In eating, for example, there are things a person eats because without them he would die—he has to eat. And there are things he eats not because the body absolutely needs them, but because they help his health and make him feel better. When it comes to eating, there are many different levels. One person eats only what his body absolutely needs, the essentials. Another eats a little more than the essentials. Yes, sometimes a person adds something; he eats

10:28 a few more things. You could eat only the bare essentials—meager bread and scant water—and still live on that. In practice, a person does not eat only meager bread and scant water. He also eats cooked food and other things, but that still is not called eating simply for the sake of craving. These are things the body needs, too. They contribute to the body’s health. They are also healthy things a person eats. But what they have in common is that this is not connected to serving Hashem. So even when he eats things that are absolutely essential to sustain his body, he does not have an intention for the sake of Heaven. His intention is straightforward: he is simply hungry, so he wants to eat. There is no G-dly purpose here. Rather, “his intention is not for the sake of Heaven, so that he may serve Hashem with his body.” He has no such intention. The person is not seeking to serve Hashem with his body. We know what the Rambam writes—the well-known Rambam that the Rebbe speaks about often. In Hilchos De’os, chapter 4, halachah 1, the Rambam says: “Keeping the body healthy and sound is among the ways of Hashem,” or “among the ways of serving Hashem.” There are two versions of the Rambam’s wording, but in any case, there is such a thing as serving Hashem with one’s body. A person must serve Hashem with his body, too. That is the whole point the Rambam discusses at length there in the halachos: taking care of the body, keeping it healthy and sound so that one can serve Hashem. This is called serving Hashem with one’s body. In particular, according to the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, we know that the Baal Shem Tov said, “You shall surely help along with him”—that serving Hashem should not be about breaking the body. On the contrary, it should be done with the body, so that the body, too, becomes part of the service of

12:16 Hashem. But this person eats and drinks what is essential to sustain his body without thinking about serving Hashem. He is thinking about the body’s survival. He simply wants to be healthy, but he does not intend to be healthy so that he can serve Hashem. “His intention is not for the sake of Heaven, so that he may serve Hashem with his body.” About this the Alter Rebbe says: “These actions, words, and thoughts are no better than the vital animal soul itself.” The Alter Rebbe is saying that even in a case like this, when a person eats essential foods or things needed for his health, and so on—the food is only an example; of course, this includes obtaining food and clothing and all such things—the point is that these are things the body needs. But if he does not intend them for the sake of Heaven, then they, too, the Alter Rebbe says, are no better. They are on the same level as the animal soul itself. This is the Alter Rebbe’s wording here: “These actions, words, and thoughts are no better than the vital animal soul itself.” He does not say that the person here remains at the same level as the animal soul, which belongs to kelipas nogah, like the animal soul itself. As we said, what is a Jew’s animal soul? A Jew’s animal soul comes from kelipas nogah. So all these needs, what are called physiological needs, the essential things the body needs in order to survive, are also on the same level as the animal soul. Why does the Alter Rebbe use the expression “no better” here? What is he trying to emphasize? It relates to what we discussed in chapter 6. There we discussed two kinds of thought, speech, and action. Thought, speech, and action are garments. We discussed how, among the garments of kelipah, there are two kinds. There are garments that clothe the

14:19 animal soul but do not bring it down very far. They are garments of the animal soul, but they do not cause it to descend very far. And there are garments that bring the animal soul down to a lower level. In chapter 6, we noted the precision of the Alter Rebbe’s wording when he speaks of “all the deeds done under the sun, which are all vanity and striving after wind,” and, as it says in the Zohar in Beshalach, that they are “a breaking of the spirit.” We discussed two levels here. There are things that are, in themselves, vanity. That is, they are not forbidden things. They do not help a person become more refined, but they do not bring him down to a lower level either. By contrast, there are things that break the spirit, that cause a break—these are the forbidden things. We also discussed that in certain places in Chassidus it says that physical things, although they do not bring the soul down into the three unclean kelipos, still cause a certain descent. This is true even of things a person eats for the body’s health and needs, although it is not stated explicitly here in Tanya. The Alter Rebbe’s wording here is only “no better,” meaning that they are on the same level. But there are places in Chassidus where the Rebbe Rashab writes that, nevertheless, they cause a certain coarsening, even when we are speaking about things the body needs. If you use them without intending to serve Hashem, then ultimately the garment makes one more coarse, along the lines of what the Alter Rebbe says later. In chapter 13, when speaking about the beinoni, the Alter Rebbe says: “On the contrary, it grows stronger over time, as he makes much use of it in eating and drinking.” In other words, even with beinonim, eating and drinking are said to cause coarsening; they cause the body to become

16:22 Stronger, and so over time he has to work harder. Even though we are speaking here about beinonim, using something still has an effect. That use brings about a certain decline in a person. All the more so in the case we are discussing, where a person has no intention of serving Hashem. He is not eating out of desire either; he eats only what is necessary. But because he has no G-dly intention, ultimately it brings about a certain coarseness, a certain materiality. It has that effect. Even so, it is still not the three impure klipos. That is what the Alter Rebbe means by “no better.” In other words, it is on the same level as the animal soul. But of course there are many different levels within the animal soul. The Alter Rebbe says: “And all of it, without exception”—everything we have discussed here, all these matters, both the things we said are connected with desire and the things needed for the body’s actual sustenance—all of it “receives its vitality and is drawn from the second level of the klipos and sitra achra, which is a fourth klipah called klipas nogah.” So the Alter Rebbe is saying: Where does the vitality of all these things come from? It comes from the second level of the klipos. First of all, the Alter Rebbe stresses that this is a second level. There are the three impure klipos, which are absolute evil, and there is klipas nogah, a second level. It is a subtler, more refined level than the three impure klipos. This is similar to what we discussed in chapter 2 about the wording used for the soul: there is the G-dly soul, and the Alter Rebbe calls it “the second soul.” That is, there are two levels, two kinds; one is called the first and one the second. So with klipah too, on a different plane, we say that there are the three

18:18 impure klipos and there is klipas nogah. Klipas nogah is called the second level. When we speak of klipos, the primary klipos are, of course, the three impure klipos. There, the evil is absolute. The second level is also a klipah, but it is not quite so utterly evil; it still has a certain refinement, as the Alter Rebbe is about to explain. It is a different kind of klipah: klipas nogah, the fourth klipah, called klipas nogah. What does klipas nogah mean? The Alter Rebbe does not explain it here, but it is explained in the books. Why is it called nogah? It comes from Ezekiel’s vision of the Divine Chariot. All of this is based on that vision, as we discussed. See chapter 6, where the Alter Rebbe quotes Ezekiel’s vision. It says there: “A storm wind came from the north, a great cloud and a flashing fire.” And afterward it says, “and a glow surrounded it.” That is the source of the term nogah. The word nogah means light—a kind of light. What kind? A faint light, a glow. What does that mean in practical terms? In the physical world, we know that near the moon there is a planet called Nogah. In Spanish, of course, it is called Venus, if I am not mistaken. I do not know what it is called in English—something like that, something similar. In any case, that is Nogah, the planet closest to the moon. On the one hand, Nogah has a strong light. When you go outside at night, you can see it. It is one of the brightest points in the sky; you can see it very clearly near the moon. It is actually more visible during the day. Yet because it is near the moon, its light is faint in comparison with the moon. In any case, that is the idea of nogah: on the one hand there is light, and on the other hand

20:25 that light is not strong. That is what we mean, and we will come to the idea of klipas nogah. We discussed the three impure klipos in previous classes. The three impure klipos are like a piece of non-kosher carcass: utter darkness. Their evil conceals and obscures; it has descended and become something opposed to holiness, something forbidden. There is no light there. With klipas nogah, by contrast, the spark is such that it still has light. As the Alter Rebbe will soon say, it still has a good side, and that is why it is classified as nogah. On the one hand, its light is faint compared with holiness; there is an element of darkness and concealment. On the other hand, it also has a positive element, an element of light and goodness—the good within nogah. Of course, there are many levels within this itself. When it comes down into this physical world, there are permitted things that lean more toward the side of the forbidden, toward darkness, and there are things with a greater connection to the good side. Yes, of course, when it comes to the good and evil within nogah, you can see it in this world: some things are more closely connected to the good within nogah, and some to the evil within nogah. This is explained in Chassidus, and it is also readily understood. You can look at all kinds of things in the physical world. Take food, for example. There are many kinds of food. Some are certainly simpler—bread, water, oxygen, the more basic things we need—and there are foods that more readily stir a person’s appetite and arouse that side of him. All these things are permitted; we are talking about kosher, permitted things. Even so, among permitted things themselves, there are some in which the evil of nogah is more dominant and some in which the good of nogah is more dominant. That is to say, these things... But in any case,

22:23 because these are not inherently forbidden things, they are called klipas nogah. They are not completely forbidden, and one can elevate them, as the Alter Rebbe will now explain. “Which is a fourth klipah called klipas nogah, in this world, known as the world of Asiyah.” The Alter Rebbe emphasizes here the klipas nogah of this world. Klipas nogah exists in every world. There is klipas nogah in all four worlds: in Atzilus, in Beriah, in Yetzirah, and in Asiyah, as well as in physical Asiyah, this world. The Alter Rebbe says that here we are speaking about the klipas nogah in this world, known as the world of Asiyah: “almost entirely evil, with only a little good mixed in it.” As we said, the Alter Rebbe explained in the previous chapter that holiness is bittul, self-nullification. Holiness is unity. Anything completely nullified to holiness is holy; something that is not nullified to holiness is klipah. Where does the absence of bittul begin? Outside Atzilus. The world of Atzilus itself is entirely holy. Atzilus is the world of unity, the world of spiritual levels. Atzilus is certainly completely holy. Yes, Atzilus is entirely holy. But where does klipah begin? Chassidus explains that there is a klipah called “See how.” In several maamarim, teachings attributed to the Baal Shem Tov speak of a klipah of the most subtle kind, beginning with what is called “See how”—“See how nullified I am.” There is bittul, but the person wants others to notice his bittul. That is the beginning of klipah, the most distant root of klipas nogah. Then, in the world of Beriah, we say there is a minority of evil. In Yetzirah it is half and half. In Asiyah, evil is the majority, and in physical Asiyah, this world, it is almost the entirety. That is why the Alter Rebbe is precise here in saying “almost entirely.”

24:37 Since we are speaking about this physical world, here evil has become dominant even within klipas nogah. So it is almost entirely evil, with only a little good mixed in it. Where do we see that little bit of good mixed in? The Alter Rebbe says that it is the source of the good character traits in a Jew’s animal soul, as stated above. This is what we said in chapter 1: a Jew has good character traits within his animal soul. Jews are compassionate and perform acts of kindness. We said in chapter 1 that this compassion and kindness are also present in a Jew’s animal soul. Because the good within nogah is present in his animal soul, he has an inclination toward good as well. Those are the good character traits of the animal soul. But this is not the good of holiness; it is the good of the animal soul. He likes to do kindness because that is his nature, not because of G-dliness. Still, it is the good within nogah. Similarly, there are other things in the world that have some point of goodness in them. But because this is the physical world, which, as the Alter Rebbe said earlier, is primarily filled with and ruled by klipah and sitra achra, even klipas nogah here is almost entirely evil, with only a small point of good mixed in it.