From: murray.bbs@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Tanya, Epistle 5, part 3 of 6
Date: 21 Aug 92 18:38:44 GMT
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Tanya Epistle 5   3/619 Part 3 of 6
 
Continued from previous message  
 
[The  form or shape  of the letter hei]  has dimensions of length
and width to indicate the faculty of Binah, [for the upper hei of
the  Divine  Name  denotes the  level  of  Binah,]  which is  the
expansion  of   the  "concealed   intellect"  into  a   state  of
manifestation  and apprehension,  extending  into Daat,  and  its
diffusion - [the diffusion of the flow  of Binah] - culminates in
the heart.   Thus it is written in the  Tikkunim (21) that "Binah
is the heart,  and by means of it  the heart understands." [Thus,
the diffusion of Binah takes place within the heart.]  From there
issues the  breath, the original  manifestation of the  "body" of
the  letters of speech which become revealed from the concealment
of the yud through  the five organs of speech.  The  shape of the
lower  hei which,  in its  written form,  also has  dimensions of
length  and width,  indicates  the extension  of [G-d's]  blessed
Sovereignty, "the sovereignty of  all worlds," (22) which extends
upward  and downward,  and  in the  four  directions, [all  these
directions] extending and  issuing from the letters  of the "word
of  G-d";  as it  is written  in  Kohelet, "The  king's utterance
reigns," as explained elsewhere.   [Just as  a king of flesh  and
blood rules through  his faculty of speech, by  issuing commands,
so  too  does  Supernal speech  extend  G-d's  reign  in all  the
dimensions of the created universe.]   (23) [As for understanding
somewhat  the  concept  and  nature  of  "letters of  speech"  in
relation to Divinity,  inasmuch as [G-d]  has no form of  a body,
nor  of a soul, heaven  forfend, this has  already been explained
comprehensively yet concisely (24)  (in Likkutei Amarim, Part II,
chs. 11 and 12; see there).]  We now come to an exposition of why
our  Sages, of blessed memory, said  that specifically this world
was created by the  hei.  [According to the  explanation provided
above, not only this physical world, but all of creation resulted
from  the  letter  hei, i.e.,  from  the  Sefirah  of Malchut  as
expressed  in  Divine  speech.   The  Alter  Rebbe  resolves this
apparent  anomaly by explaining that  it is indeed  true that all
creation derives  from the  infinite variety of  permutations and
combinations of  the  letters  which  constitute  Divine  speech.
Nevertheless,  the  loftier  and  more spiritual  created  beings
derive from  the internal aspect  of Divine  speech, which  stems
from Chochmah, and they therefore have an intellectual perception
of G-dliness. Physical creation,  by contrast, is of too  lowly a
level  to be  able to  receive its  life-giving Divine  light and
energy from the "soul" (i.e., the internal aspect) of the letters
of G-d's creative speech; it merely receives this from the "body"
(i.e.,  from the external aspect) of these letters.  The creation
of  physicality  thus resembles  the  breath  emanating from  the
heart,  that forms the physical voice. Above, in like manner, the
physical  world is formed from Supernal breath, the "body" of the
letters.   Hence our Sages  teach that this  world was created by
the letter hei  - for this letter  denotes the Divine  breath, as
explained above.  It  is this that the Alter Rebbe now goes on to
say:]  This is known to all the wise of heart (25) concerning the
multitude of  worlds and heichalot, [palaces  or chambers,] which
are  innumerable, as  it  is written,  [with  reference to  these
countless worlds  and heichalot,] (26)  "Do His regiments  have a
number?"    Each heichal  and  regiment comprises  [a  finite but
prodigious number  of]  angels,  [as  it is  written],]  (27)  "A
thousand  thousands [serve  Him]  and myriads  of myriads  [stand
before  Him]."  (28)    Likewise, [incalculable  like  the  above
heichalot and regiments], are the  levels of [souls, belonging to
the five  general categories of] nefesh,  ruach, neshamah, chayah
and  yechidah,  in rungs  to  no  end, [for  each  of  these five
categories branches  out int  o levels of  inexhaustible number.]
And so too [there  are numberless levels]  in all the worlds  and
heichalot, from among the  multitudes of heichalot that  exist in
the  Worlds  of  Atzilut,  Beriah  and  Yetzirah.     [The  three
above-mentioned  worlds are higher than the World of Asiyah ("the
World of Action"), which includes both the spiritual and physical
worlds  of Asiyah.]  All  these hosts [of  created beings], then,
one  multitude beyond another  ad infinitum,  all issue  and flow
from the multitudinous combinations  of the twenty-two letters of
the  "word of  G-d,"  which,  in  turn,  divide  into  a  further
profusion  of combinations,  truly ad  infinitum.   As stated  in
Sefer Yetzirah,  (29) "Seven `stones' [i.e.,  letters] build five
thousand and  forty `houses' [i.e.,  words]; from here  onwards -
[i.e., from the sum of  the factorial of eight and onwards]  - go
ahead and calculate that which the mouth is unable to express..."
[In  this  way the  letters of  Divine  speech may  be multiplied
infinitely by  various permutations and combinations, thus giving
rise  to a correspondingly infinite range of created beings.  But
if  the distinctions between all  these beings lie  merely in the
ways  in which  their respective  letters are  combined, why  are
there also  many and varying qualitative  levels, "one surpassing
the  other"?   This  is  the question  that the  Alter  Rebbe now
proceeds  to address.]  Though among  the rungs and levels of the
angels  and souls there are so many distinct kinds of qualitative
as  well  as quantitative  levels  and  rungs ad  infinitum,  one
surpassing the  other, [these variations of  level exist because]
they all come into being according to permutations in the various
letter-combinations   and   letter-substitutions   of   alef-tav,
beit-shin,  and so  on,  (30) [of  the  twenty-two letters  which
themselves  come  into being  according  to  permutations in  the
various   letter-combinations   and   letter-  substitutions   of
alef-tav, beit-shin [and so on]), (31, 32) as explained in ch. 12
[of  Shaar HaYichud  Veha-Emunah]).  (33)   [Now, although  there
exists  such a  teeming  superabundance of  distinct and  varying
levels  of created  beings:] In  a general  way they  all possess
wisdom and knowledge, and they know their Creator, because  their
life-force stems from the  inwardness of the letters which  issue
from the Supreme Chochmah, as mentioned above.  [We may therefore
truly  say that  the beings  encompassed by  the general  term of
[creatures of]  the World to Come were  all created by the letter
yud, for their vitality stems from the inwardness and radiance of
the  letters of  Divine speech  that derive  from the yud  of the
Four-Letter  Name of G-d.]   This lowly world,  however, with the
life-force that is found  within it, is too small to  contain and
endure  the light and life-force that proceed from the "form" and
"inwardness" of the letters;  [this lowly world is too  small for
this  light and life-force to be able]  to radiate and diffuse in
it without any garment or concealment as they radiate and diffuse
to  the souls and angels,  [which receive the  radiation from the
inwardness  of the letters without the garment and concealment of
the  "matter" and  "body" of  the letters  which consists  of the
"breath" (34)]   Instead, the  radiation and diffusion  comes and
flows to this world from  the "matter", "body", or  "externality"
of the letters. This is called " breath", [just as  the "body" or
external  aspect of  the  letters of  man's  speech derives  from
physical breath,] and it divides into the seven "breaths" of [the
second verse of]  Kohelet, (35)  on which the  world stands;  [as
taught  in the holy Zohar, (36) "The  world exists only by virtue
of the [seven] "breaths" uttered by  King Solomon."  This is "the
utterance that issues forth from G-d's mouth," [i.e., this is the
letter hei,] which  is vested in this world and  all its hosts to
animate them; in  [this utterance]  is vested the  "form" of  the
letters  of   speech  and   thought,  emanating  from   His  holy
attributes, and His will and wisdom, and so on, 
 
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