In the previous section we established that the divine life-force brings into being and sustains even the kelipos and the sitra achra. Now we will learn how that same life-force descends through the order of hishtalshelus (the chain of worlds), what the two modes of descent are, and why it is precisely because of this that our world is called the "world of the kelipos."
The Alter Rebbe speaks of the descent of the worlds by way of "cause and effect." As is well known, there are four worlds, known by the acronym "ABiYA": Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. We find ourselves in the physical world of Asiyah, with progressively higher spiritual worlds above us. The entire divine life-force passes through the whole order of hishtalshelus before it clothes itself in our physical world, and within that descent there are two distinct modes.
The two modes of descent:
Cause and effect - in plain language: a source and what issues from it. The source descends into the result, yet a connection and a closeness remain between them, and the relationship between the two is clearly recognizable. The source exists at great intensity and the result at a low intensity, but we are dealing with the same kind of reality. An analogy: the electricity that reaches a small appliance is essentially the same electricity that is in the power station, only that in the station it is at enormous intensity and here it has come down to a low intensity. Even though it changes its form and its name along the way, in the end it is the same kind of energy after it has descended.
Many tzimtzumim - here the descent is not proportional at all but happens by a leap. After the tzimtzum (contraction and concealment) the thing becomes an entirely different reality, to the point that one cannot recognize at all how this emerged from that; it is as though it has taken on a completely new face.
The light and the life-force are diminished, diminution after diminution, descending and changing again and again, until the divine life-force can clothe itself in such a measure in a place that is the very opposite of Godliness, inside that separate entity.
The divine life-force in exile:
When the divine life-force descends and enlivens something separate, it is there in a state of exile. Exile is a term for one who finds himself in a place that is not his own and against his will: he cannot express his talents or his own essence, and he is not master of himself, like a person held in prison. So too the life-force that has descended cannot express itself, because the place into which it has come down does not allow it to be revealed, and does not cry out that there is divine life-force within it.
A striking example of this is Pharaoh. Pharaoh's existence of course came from Godliness, and he did not exist on his own; nevertheless Scripture calls him "the great crocodile that crouches within his rivers," and it was he who said "לי יאורי ואני עשיתיני" ("the river is mine and I made myself"). Pharaoh proclaimed that he had made himself, and he would even go out to relieve himself at the river before dawn so that the Egyptians should not know that he too was flesh and blood. He is the one who said "מי ה' אשר אשמע בקולו" ("Who is God that I should listen to His voice") - and at that very moment he was receiving his life-force from the Holy One, blessed be He. This is the exile of the energy, of the divine life-force: it is compelled to clothe itself inside that very Pharaoh who denies it.
The same is true of the "magicians of Egypt and their sorceries." These too are powers whose source is in holiness, powers that descended and clothed themselves in people who used them against holiness. This is the exile, and the Holy One, blessed be He, does it for the sake of His plan in creating the world, because free choice requires that such things exist.
The staff and the snake - the Alter Rebbe's explanation in Torah Or:
In Torah Or, the Alter Rebbe explains why the very first sign Moshe performed before Pharaoh was specifically turning the staff into a snake and then having the snake become a staff again. On the face of it, what is accomplished by such a sign? The magicians did the same with their sorceries, and if the whole difference is that Moshe could do a bit more and they a bit less, that is no essential difference at all.
The Alter Rebbe explains that through this act Moshe was telling Pharaoh the very principle we are learning here. "Mateh" (staff) in the holy tongue comes from the root meaning "to bend, to incline," and the entire order of hishtalshelus, in which holiness bends and descends from level to level, is called "mateh." And what becomes of it at the end of that process of descent? It descends so far that it becomes a snake, the symbol of the sitra achra and of impurity, the primordial snake through which contamination entered the world; and Pharaoh himself is called "the great crocodile."
So Moshe came to Pharaoh and said to him: do not imagine that you are a reality unto yourself. You too came into being from the "mateh," for the source of everything is in holiness; only that in order for a staff to become a snake, the bending had to descend to the lowest of places. And then he showed him the end of the process: the snake will in the end become a staff again. That is to say, ultimately it too will reconnect to its root and recognize that it is nothing but part of the process, and that is its rectification: that it become nullified before the truth.
This is precisely what we are learning here. The divine life-force descends, contracts and changes until it clothes itself inside that separate entity, and this clothing is certainly a state of exile, since it is there with no choice in the matter. And why does the life-force continue to remain in a place that is its very opposite? To enliven it and sustain it something from nothing, so that it should not revert to being null and void as it was at first, before it was created.
For if the divine life-force were to withdraw from the thing, the thing would vanish entirely. Take a cup, for example: if it were the Creator's will that the cup not exist, it would be enough for Him to stop bringing it into being, and instantly it would not be. From this we see that its very existence proves that at this very moment there is energy within it sustaining it. And so too with the kelipos and with evil: their very existence proves that there is a life-force bringing them into being and sustaining them at every single moment, for if that life-force were to stop contracting and entering into that kelipah, the kelipah would revert to being null and void as before it came into being.
And this is the whole matter of choice. Although there is a difference between the way the divine life-force is present in something whose source is kelipah and the way it is present in something whose source is holiness, the human eye does not detect the difference between them. Were the difference visible openly and tangibly, the entire matter of choice would be void: when you can clearly see what is light and what is darkness, walking toward the light is no choice at all. This is why the Holy One, blessed be He, created a world in which, at first glance, one does not see the difference.
Yet according to what is explained here, the definition itself is sharp and clear, with no intermediate level: holiness means bittul, self-nullification before the Holy One, blessed be He, and whatever does not meet that criterion belongs of itself to the sitra achra. True, within the sitra achra itself there are levels, but even its highest level is a high level on the other side, not in holiness. There is one level within it, kelipas nogah, which is capable of rising and crossing over to the side of holiness, but as long as it has not risen it is called sitra achra. The question of whether something that has fallen into kelipah can be elevated and restored to holiness therefore depends on its level: some can and some cannot, as will be explained at the end of this chapter and in chapter seven.
This world - the world of the kelipos:
For this reason this world, the physical world of Asiyah, and all that fills it, is called "the world of the kelipos and the sitra achra." For the very nature of the world conceals the life-force within it. Chassidus explains that the word "teva" (nature) comes from the phrase "tub'u b'yam suf," "they were drowned in the Sea of Reeds": one who drowns is no longer seen, and so the divine energy has drowned here and disappeared inside the physicality of the world. That is why the world does not cry out that there is a God; it cries out that there is an "I," that there is ego and that there is self-interest.
And according to the criterion we stated, that holiness means bittul, and that whatever does not meet it belongs to the sitra achra, the world as a whole receives one clear definition: the world of the kelipos. Even the word "olam" (world) itself comes from "he'elem," concealment, for it is a world that conceals and hides.
From this we can appreciate how weighty and how responsible a Jew's mission in this world is. He was sent and placed inside a world of kelipos and sitra achra in order to contend with them and to reveal, at every single step, that there is nothing here but a deception, and that the truth is that the Holy One, blessed be He, directs everything - just as Moshe revealed to Pharaoh that the snake's source is in the staff.
"All the affairs of this world are severe and evil":
In this light we can also understand why all the affairs of this world are severe and evil, and why nothing here runs smoothly. In holiness everything flows as it should; but in a place ruled by the kelipos and the sitra achra things do not flow, because they do not exist by virtue of the true will of the Holy One, blessed be He, but out of a lack of alternative, so that the plan of the world can be carried out.
An analogy: a person builds a large, beautiful home. What he wants in that home comes in gradations. There is the purpose he genuinely desires, to live in peace and to rest properly; and there are things he needs along the way, such as the exterior and interior decor and the various tradesmen. But there is one component of the home that he does not want at all, and he keeps throwing it out again and again: the refuse. A home that is lived in inevitably produces refuse, and if its owner could arrange for there to be no refuse at all, he would be delighted. Since it cannot be avoided, there is a stage at which one lives in the house together with the refuse, for one does not run out to the main bin with every scrap; it accumulates and only afterward is thrown out. So this person, who would not let a stranger into his home, brings refuse into his own private house and lives with it inside.
So it is in the soul, and so it is in the great home of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is the world: He created it and He has a destination toward which He is driving, and in the meantime refuse comes into being and accumulates, and from time to time it is thrown out and produced anew. This is the way one has to relate to the matter, and it is for this reason that all the affairs of this world are severe and evil.
It is worth noting that the example of refuse appears in one of the maamarim of the Mitteler Rebbe, and alongside it a further analogy: a person who runs a business and wants to profit from it. All sorts of processes go on around the business, and at times there are even financial losses. The investor knows in advance that every investment carries risk and that he may lose; and although he does not want the loss at all, he accepts it as an unavoidable part of the process and continues on toward his goal. So too in creation: there are processes that the Creator does not desire in and of themselves, and they occur as part of the overall plan.
For this reason "all the affairs of this world are severe and evil, and the wicked prevail in it" - in this world the upper hand is given to the wicked, because this is the world of the kelipos, and the strength here is given to the side of kelipah more than to the side of holiness, as brought in Etz Chaim (Shaar 42, end of chapter 4).
In summary: in this section we learned about two modes in the descent of the divine life-force: "cause and effect," in which the relationship between source and result is preserved, and "many tzimtzumim," in which the thing becomes an entirely different reality, so that the life-force can clothe itself in the separate entity and be there in a state of exile. We saw this in Pharaoh and in the magicians, and in the Alter Rebbe's explanation in Torah Or of the staff that became a snake: "mateh" from the root meaning to bend, which is the entire order of hishtalshelus, at the end of which it becomes a "snake" - and in the end the snake becomes a staff once more. We also saw that the life-force sustains the kelipah something from nothing so that it should not revert to being null and void; that it is the concealment which makes choice possible; and that this world, whose very name means concealment and whose "nature" comes from "they were drowned in the Sea of Reeds," is called the world of the kelipos and the sitra achra, from which it follows that all its affairs are severe and evil, like the refuse in a home.
In the next section we will deal with the levels within the sitra achra, and with the question of which things can be elevated and restored to holiness and which cannot, on our way to kelipas nogah in chapter seven.