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Likutei Amarim
Chapter 7אַךְ נֶפֶשׁ הַחִיּוּנִית הַבַּהֲמִית שֶׁבְּיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁמִּצַּד הַקְּלִיפָּה הַמְּלוּבֶּשֶׁת בְּדַם הָאָדָם כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל, וְנַפְשׁוֹת בְּהֵמוֹת וְחַיּוֹת וְעוֹפוֹת וְדָגִים טְהוֹרִים וּמוּתָּרִים בַּאֲכִילָה, וְקִיּוּם וְחַיּוּת כָּל הַדּוֹמֵם וְכָל הַצּוֹמֵחַ הַמּוּּתָּר בַּאֲכִילָה,
However, the vital animal soul within a Jew that stems from kelippa, which is embodied in a person's blood, as stated above kelippot, nor do the souls of domesticated animals, undomesticated animals, birds, and fish that are deemed pure and permitted for consumption, nor the existence and life force of all inanimate matter and all vegetation that is permitted for consumption. The animal or vital soul that the author of the Tanya discussed in chapter 1 is not animalistic in the base sense of the word. Rather, it is referred to as animal soul because it is a part of the world of all living creatures, of animals both domesticated and undomesticated. The drives and desires of this soul, like those of all other living creatures, are not inherently evil; they are simply part of the biological stratum of creation: The animal soul in man is the life force that vivifies the human being, infusing him with the same basic vitality he shares with all other living things. It is only that a human being's brain is larger (relative to his body) and more highly developed than that of other animals. As a result, what we might call the animalism in him differs from that which is inherent in other creatures, even though he is part of the same stratum.
וְכֵן קִיּוּם וְחַיּוּת כָּל הַמַּעֲשֶׂה דִּבּוּר וּמַחֲשָׁבָה בְּעִנְיְנֵי עוֹלָם הַזֶּה שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶם צַד אִיסּוּר, לֹא שֹׁרֶשׁ וְלֹא עָנָף מִשס״ה מִצְוֹת לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה וְעַנְפֵיהֶן דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא וּדְרַבָּנָן, רַק שֶׁאֵינָן לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, אֶלָּא רְצוֹן הַגּוּף וְחֶפְצוֹ וְתַאֲוָתוֹ,
The same is true with regard to the existence and life force of each action, word, and thought pertaining to matters of this world that contain no trace of prohibition, neither a root nor an offshoot of one of the 365 prohibitions and their corollaries, whether prohibited by Torah law or by rabbinic law, yet are not performed for the sake of Heaven but rather are the will, desire, and passion of the body. The author of the Tanya is differentiating between that which stems from the utterly impure kelippot – the animal souls of non-Jews and the life force of animals that are prohibited for consumption – and that which stems from the fourth type of kelippa: kelippat noga. Included in this category, along with the animal soul of a Jew and the sustaining force of animals permitted for consumption, are all things or actions in existence that have no moral fault or prohibited aspect, but also do not possess, in and of themselves, any aspect of mitzva, of divine service. This broad spectrum is not the domain of the dark, the prohibited, or the corrupt, but the sphere of the nonholy and the neutral, that which is neither mitzva nor sin. Yet since those actions or things do not belong to the realm of holiness, they fall under the category of kelippa. There is no middle ground between the holy and the profane, no gray area that is neither one nor the other. A thing is either holy and devoted to God, or it is profane. So all the acts listed, though kosher and permissible, are kelippa, because they are not directly and solely committed to the fulfillment of God's will but to the fulfillment of the will and desire of the body. The difference is that they do not belong to the purely evil kelippot but to kelippat noga and can potentially be rectified.
וַאֲפִילּוּ הוּא צוֹרֶךְ הַגּוּף וְקִיּוּמוֹ וְחַיּוּתוֹ מַמָּשׁ, אֶלָּא שֶׁכַּוָּונָתוֹ אֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, כְּדֵי לַעֲבוֹד אֶת ה׳ בְּגוּפוֹ,
Even when an action, speech, or thought is necessary to literally sustain and vivify the body, yet one does not have the intention that it is for the sake of Heaven, in order to serve God with one's body, Kelippat noga includes not only luxuries or superfluous pleasures but even the slice of bread that keeps one alive so that he will not die of starvation. If a person eats it as an animal would, just to sustain the body, that act of eating does not belong to the side of holiness and by definition belongs to the other side. A person can live in utter conformity with Torah law, even modestly and ascetically, but entirely for himself. He can be a glutton, for instance, even while leading a most simple and modest existence. He need not feast like a king but eat only a dry crust of bread followed by a sip of water while wearing sackcloth, and still that act would belong to the realm of kelippa, because any action that is not expressly directed toward holiness belongs to the other side. On the other hand, a person can wear clothes of silk and gold, consume the finest meats, and drink the most exquisite wines, and in so doing be serving God.
לָא עֲדִיפֵי מַעֲשֶׂה דִּבּוּר וּמַחֲשָׁבוֹת אֵלּוּ מִנֶּפֶשׁ הַחִיּוּנִית הַבַּהֲמִית בְּעַצְמָהּ.
then these actions, words, and thoughts are no better than the vital, animal soul itself. As explained above, the nature of the animal soul does not imply that man is reduced to the moral level of animals, but merely places man in the category of a creation. Just as the animal soul itself is neither good nor evil, so too its thoughts, speech, and deeds, whether sophisticated or simple, elevated or base, whether connected with essential needs or mere desires, are neither good nor evil in and of themselves. Yet since these deeds, speech, and thoughts do not constitute the fulfillment of a mitzva, since they are not done for the sake of serving God, they are as neutral as the animal soul itself.
וְהַכֹּל כַּאֲשֶׁר לַכֹּל נִשְׁפָּע וְנִמְשָׁךְ מִמַּדְרֵגָה הַשֵּׁנִית שֶׁבַּקְּלִיפּוֹת וְסִטְרָא אָחֳרָא שֶׁהִיא קְלִיפָּה רְבִיעִית הַנִּקְרֵאת קְלִיפַּת נוֹגַהּ,
The totality of all these actions issues forth and stems from the second level of the kelippot and sitra aḥara , which is the fourth kelippa referred to as the kelippa of noga . In Ezekiel's vision of the divine chariot, we find a description of the kelippot: "a storm wind coming from the north, a great cloud and fire igniting, and an aura surrounding it" (Ezek. 1:4). "Storm wind," "great cloud," and "fire igniting" refer to the three impure kelippot, while the fourth kelippa is alluded to by the words "an aura [noga ] surrounding it," indicating that this kelippa is not entirely dark but contains a glimmer of light.
שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה הַנִּקְרָא עוֹלַם הָעֲשִׂיָּה – רוּבּוֹ כְּכוּלּוֹ רַע, רַק מְעַט טוֹב מְעוֹרָב בְּתוֹכָהּ
In this physical world, referred to as the world of Asiya , the kelippa of noga is mostly evil, apart from a modicum of good intermingled within it The kelippa of noga is the luminescent husk, a veil of darkness that nevertheless contains a glimmer of light. It is a kelippa that is not entirely evil but also has some good in it.
[שֶׁמִּמֶּנָּה בָּאוֹת מִדּוֹת טוֹבוֹת שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ הַבַּהֲמִית שֶׁבְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר לְעֵיל].
(from which stem the positive attributes that are in the animal soul of a Jew, as explained above [chap. 1]). As the author of the Tanya discussed above, the Jewish people possess the traits of bashfulness, compassion, and kindheartedness. These traits do not stem from their divine souls but rather are intrinsic to their nature, deriving from the animal soul. Just as a certain family or race might pass down the trait of aggression or a talent for writing poetry to its members, the Jew possesses these traits as a part of his natural, genealogical composition and not as a result of the holiness of his divine soul.
וְהִיא בְּחִינָה מְמוּצַּעַת בֵּין שָׁלֹש קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת לְגַמְרֵי וּבֵין בְּחִינַת וּמַדְרֵגַת הַקְּדוּשָּׁה, וְלָכֵן פְּעָמִים שֶׁהִיא נִכְלֶלֶת בְּשָׁלֹשׁ קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת [כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּעֵץ חַיִּים שַׁעַר מ״ט רֵישׁ פֶּרֶק ד׳ בְּשֵׁם הַזֹּהַר], וּפְעָמִים שֶׁהִיאנִכְלֶלֶת וְעוֹלָה בִּבְחִינַת וּמַדְרֵגַת הַקְּדוּשָּׁה.
Kelippat noga is the intermediate category between the three completely impure kelippot and the category and level of holiness. Consequently, at times it is incorporated in the three impure kelippot (as stated in Etz Ḥayyim 49, beginning of chapter 4, citing the Zohar incorporated in and elevated to the category and level of holiness. ), and at times it is Note the precise terminology used here. The author of the Tanya does not say that the kelippa of noga is the intermediate category between impurity and holiness but rather between "the three completely impure kelippot " and the "category and level of holiness." By definition, that which is not holy is kelippa and impure. A thing is either one or the other, and there is no intermediate level between holiness and kelippa. The kelippa of noga is an intermediate level not because it contains both holy and unholy elements but only in the sense that the elements in its domain can be transferred from one side to the other. A person may, with the proper preparation and focused action, elevate that which is in the domain of kelippat noga to the "category and level of holiness." In light of this, the difference between the kelippat noga and the three impure kelippot lies in the potential of those elements that are in the province of kelippat noga to be rectified by man and thus redirected and transferred to the province of holiness. That which is in the realm of the three impure kelippot, on the other hand, is off-limits to such efforts and entirely unrectifiable.
דְּהַיְינוּ כְּשֶׁהַטּוֹב הַמְּעוֹרָב בָּהּ נִתְבָּרֵר מֵהָרַע וְגוֹבֵר וְעוֹלֶה וְנִכְלָל בַּקְּדוּשָּׁה.
That is, when the good intermingled within it is distilled from the evil and overpowers that evil, it then ascends and becomes incorporated in the level of holiness. The elevation of the kelippat noga to the level of holiness is achieved by extracting the good implicit within it. Extracting the good means, first of all, achieving a distinction between good and evil, because in the realm of kelippat noga, the boundary between good and evil is blurred, which leaves room for error. The next stage, after defining what is good and what is evil, is to intensify the good so that it separates from the evil and ascends to the level of holiness.
כְּגוֹן דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל, הָאוֹכֵל בִּשְׂרָא שְׁמֵינָא דְּתוֹרָא וְשׁוֹתֶה יַיִןמְבוּשָּׂם, לְהַרְחִיב דַּעְתּוֹ לַה׳ וּלְתוֹרָתוֹ,
For example, to illustrate: One who consumes marbled beef and drinks spiced wine to expand one's mind for the service of God and His Torah, For every individual, there are certain conditions, dictated by his particular nature, that enable him to make the most of his potential. When a person is hungry or thirsty, or experiencing some bodily or psychological torment, his ability to function is obviously impaired. But some individuals require special foods, things commonly regarded as luxuries, for their peace of mind. If they lack these things, their concentration and clarity of mind are adversely affected.
כִּדְאָמַר רָבָא: "חַמְרָא וְרֵיחָא״ כו׳,
as Rava said, "Wine and good scents make me wise" (Yoma 76b), The effect that these ostensible luxuries had on Rava was to open his mind to Torah study. A person such as Rava, who was extremely sensitive so that even something minor disturbed him to the extent that he could not continue studying Torah, can "eat marbled beef and drink spiced wine" and elevate them to holiness, since he does this in order to "expand his mind [for the service of] God and His Torah." This extreme example illustrates the extent to which proper intentions can elevate elements that are in and of themselves kelippa. The person is not only partaking of the material world but of luxuries, of things that are not meant to serve the body's basic needs but whose only purpose is to give pleasure. Yet because he is doing this for a particular and expressly intended goal, for the purpose of serving God, he raises these elements to the level of holiness.
אוֹ בִּשְׁבִיל כְּדֵי לְקַיֵּם מִצְוַת עֹנֶג שַׁבָּת וְיוֹם טוֹב,
or in order to fulfill the commandment of delighting in the Sabbath and festivals, Eating three meals on the Sabbath may be a mitzva and a holy act in itself, but intent plays a crucial role in elevating the food to the realm of holiness. The mitzva entails delighting in the Sabbath, not simply experiencing physical pleasure. If a person who indulges in meat and fine wine without a constant awareness and intent that the enjoyment he is experiencing is for the sake of the Sabbath rather than for the pleasure of filling his stomach, it remains a pleasure for the stomach and does not ascend to holiness. A person eats and enjoys his food because it is his nature, as a biological creature, to eat. In this sense, he is no different from other animals, regardless of his advanced level of development. The point of transfer to holiness, the point at which a person truly differs from other creatures, depends on his awareness: Why am I doing this? What is the significance of my actions? Eating is unequivocally a permitted act, but a person who eats for himself, who is thinking only of his own pleasure, belongs at that moment to kelippa. He has not transcended his material and biological nature. To emerge from that realm to that which is holy requires more than cleverness and feeling good. Holiness is not cleverness nor a feeling of inspiration. Holiness is attachment to God. In the realm of holiness, there is no concept or sense of self, only self-abnegation. The person who negates himself before God and cleaves to Him transfers himself and everything in his life into the realm of holiness. A person – any person – who does not do so belongs to the other side, to the sitra aḥara. If the eating is intended to serve as an instrument of holiness, then not only the food but even the pleasure it provides become part of what ascends to the Divine, to God Himself.
אֲזַי נִתְבָּרֵר חַיּוּת הַבָּשָׂר וְהַיַּיִן שֶׁהָיָה נִשְׁפָּע מִקְּלִיפַּת נוֹגַהּ וְעוֹלֶה לַה׳ כְּעוֹלָה וּכְקָרְבָּן.
then the life force within the meat and the wine, which stem from the kelippa of noga , will become distilled from the evil and will then ascend to God like a sacrificial offering. An offering to God is something that is taken from the domain of the ordinary and nonholy and elevated to the realm of holiness. In this sense, any ordinary act involving a mundane object that is done with the intent of elevating it to the realm of holiness is an offering, since it elevates a mundane resource and makes it a part of the holy realm, like the sacrifices that were offered in the Temple. An act of eating may not be intrinsically holy (when it is not a mitzva act), but it is mutar, permitted and "unbound" to the realm of kelippa, and is therefore freely transportable by the intent of the person to wherever he directs it, whether to holiness or impurity.
וְכֵן הָאוֹמֵר מִילְּתָא דִּבְדִיחוּתָא לְפַקֵּחַ דַּעְתּוֹ וּלְשַׂמֵּחַ לִבּוֹ לַה' וּלְתוֹרָתוֹ וַעֲבוֹדָתוֹ,
The same applies to one who says something humorous in order to sharpen his mind and make his heart rejoice for God, His Torah, and His service, Even something that appears to be closer to the realm of evil than eating, such as telling a joke, can be an offering to God. If a person tells a joke for his own enjoyment, because he cannot resist displaying his wit, then his act indeed belongs to a very lowly kelippa. But if he does it for God, to raise his spirits and open his heart the better to serve Him, and he is conscious of this at the time, he elevates the very words of the joke to a level of holiness.
שֶׁצְּרִיכִים לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה,
which must be done with joy, In addition to the pragmatic performance of a mitzva, it must be accompanied by joy. Extraordinary things have been said, by both the talmudic Rabbis and later sages, with regard to the virtue of engaging in Torah study and the performance of mitzvot with joy. In several places, the author of the Tanya cites the novel interpretation suggested by the Arizal regarding the verse stated in the context of the punishments that would be incurred if the people failed to serve God: "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and with gladness of heart, due to the abundance of everything" (Deut. 28:47).
וּכְמוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה רָבָא לְתַלְמִידָיו, שֶׁאָמַר לִפְנֵיהֶם מִילְּתָא דִּבְדִיחוּתָא תְּחִלָּה – וּבַדְחֵי רַבָּנָן.
as Rava demonstrated for his disciples by first saying something humorous to them, and the students would be cheered. The Talmud relates that it was Rava's custom to preface his discourse with a joke, and after his disciples had laughed in merriment, he would wrap himself in his tallit and begin teaching them in a most solemn and awe-inspiring manner.
אַךְ מִי שֶׁהוּא בְּזוֹלְלֵי בָשָׂר וְסוֹבְאֵי יַיִן לְמַלֹּאת תַּאֲוַת גּוּפוֹ וְנַפְשׁוֹ הַבַּהֲמִית, שֶׁהוּא בְּחִינַת יְסוֹד הַמַּיִם מֵאַרְבַּע יְסוֹדוֹת הָרָעִים שֶׁבָּהּ, שֶׁמִּמֶּנּוּ מִדַּת הַתַּאֲוָה,
However, someone who is among those who devour meat and guzzle wine to satisfy the lusts of his body and animal soul, behavior that embodies the element of water, one of the four evil elements in the animal soul, from which the trait of lust originates, As the author of the Tanya discussed above,
הִנֵּה עַל יְדֵי זֶה יוֹרֵד חַיּוּת הַבָּשָׂר וְהַיַּיִן שֶׁבְּקִרְבּוֹ וְנִכְלָל לְפִי שָׁעָה בְּרַע גָּמוּר שֶׁבְּשָׁלֹש קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת,
then due to this the life force of the meat and wine that is now inside this person's body descends and is temporarily incorporated in the utter evil of the three impure kelippot . The vital essence of permitted food derives from kelippat noga, but when a person eats merely to satisfy his desire for food, he degrades himself, as well as the food he has eaten, to the level of the utterly impure kelippot. In this sense, he descends even lower than the food itself. A man who, possessing the potential to transcend the level of an animal, chooses to eat like an animal is worse than the animal, which can only be what it is, and he imposes this sub-animal status upon the flesh of the animal that he has eaten.
וְגוּפוֹ נַעֲשֶׂה לָהֶן לְבוּשׁ וּמֶרְכָּבָה,
This person's body becomes a garment and vehicle for the forces of evil, One who eats and drinks merely to satisfy his bodily desires, or acts similarly in other respects, becomes a vehicle, an instrument and expression, for the forces of evil.
לְפִי שָׁעָה, עַד אֲשֶׁר יָשׁוּב הָאָדָם וְיַחֲזוֹר לַעֲבוֹדַת ה׳ וּלְתוֹרָתוֹ, כִּי לְפִי שֶׁהָיָה בְּשַׂר הֶיתֵּר וְיַיִן כָּשֵׁר, לְכָךְ יְכוֹלִים לַחֲזוֹר וְלַעֲלוֹת עִמּוֹ בְּשׁוּבוֹ לַעֲבוֹדַת ה׳.
at least temporarily, until the person repents and returns to the service of God and His Torah. Since the meat was permitted and the wine was kosher, therefore they are able to return and ascend with him to a state of holiness, when he returns to the service of God. The meat one eats and the wine one drinks, even if not for the sake of serving God, become part of his body, part of the vital force that empowers him to function and achieve. When he subsequently engages in Torah study and mitzvot, he does this with the body and the energy that the meat and wine generate. Thus, when a person elevates himself to the realm of holiness, all that has sustained his life is elevated along with him. Just as he previously served as a garment and vehicle for kelippa when he ingested the food like an animal, he can now revert to being a garment and vehicle for holiness, redirecting the material substances he had previously ingested to serve his Torah study, prayer, and performance of mitzvot. This can be done even though he did not ingest those substances for this purpose, provided that the food was permissible for consumption.
שֶׁזֶּהוּ לְשׁוֹן הֶיתֵּר וּמֻתָּר, כְּלוֹמַר שֶׁאֵינוֹ קָשׁוּר וְאָסוּר בִּידֵי הַחִיצוֹנִים, שֶׁלֹּא יוּכַל לַחֲזוֹר וְלַעֲלוֹת לַה׳.
This is the meaning of the Hebrew expressions for permitted, heter and mutar, literally "unbound." That is, the consumed food is neither tied nor bound by the power of the external forces of impurity, so that it would not be able to return and ascend to God. The permissible is that which is not bound to kelippa, that which can be freed and separated from kelippa. The permissible may serve as an instrument of kelippa, as a vehicle of expression for evil, but it is not bound to it and is always free to move and change direction from the realm of the impure to that of the holy and vice versa. For this reason, although a person who lives like an animal, only to satisfy his desires, becomes a part of the realm of kelippa, he can subsequently transfer himself and all his eating, drinking, and other worldly pleasures to the realm of holiness.
רַק שֶׁהָרְשִׁימוּ מִמֶּנּוּ נִשְׁאָר בַּגּוּף,
However, a trace of evil still remains in the body. When a person eats like an animal, for no other purpose than to sustain his physical existence, he belongs to the other side, to the universal order of the profane. At that moment (or hour or day), he is part of the other, nonholy world. This moment creates a vacuum in his holy existence, a vacuum that leaves its mark even when he subsequently returns to the service of God. The lapse can be put right, the wound can be healed, but the scar it leaves behind can never be erased, or, at least, only with great difficulty. Practically everything can be repaired – a broken dish can be fixed, a torn limb reattached – but it is much more difficult, if not impossible, to remove all traces of the fact that, sometime in the past, something had been in a state of disrepair.
וְעַל כֵּן צָרִיךְ הַגּוּף לְחִיבּוּט הַקֶּבֶר, כְּמוֹ שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר לְקַמָּן.
Therefore, the body requires torments of the grave, as will be explained below (chap. 8). A dead body is a primary source of impurity, yet the Sages say that the bodies of the righteous do not contaminate.
וְכֵן הַחַיּוּת שֶׁבְּטִפּוֹת זֶרַע שֶׁיָּצְאוּ מִמֶּנּוּ בְּתַאֲוָה בַּהֲמִית, שֶׁלֹּא קִדֵּשׁ עַצְמוֹ בִּשְׁעַת תַּשְׁמִישׁ עִם אִשְׁתּוֹ טְהוֹרָה.
Likewise, this applies to the life force that is within the drops of semen that emitted from the body in a state of animal lust, when one did not sanctify himself during intercourse even with his ritually pure wife. Like eating, this is a permissible act, done when one's wife was in a pure state. Yet if its sole purpose is the satisfaction of one's physical desires, this too is an act that belongs to kelippa. Thus far, the author of the Tanya has explored the permissible realm of kelippat noga. Now he will examine the garments of the animal soul – thought, speech, and action – that are found in the forbidden realm of the utterly impure kelippot.
מַה שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן בְּמַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת וּבִיאוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת, שֶׁהֵן מִשָּׁלֹשׁ קְלִפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת לְגַמְרֵי, הֵם אֲסוּרִים וּקְשׁוּרִים בִּידֵי הַחִיצוֹנִים לְעוֹלָם וְאֵין עוֹלִים מִשָּׁם
This is not the case with regard to prohibited foods and forbidden acts of sexual intercourse, which stem from the three completely impure kelippot and are therefore forever bound and tied to the external forces of impurity and never ascend from there The "external forces" refers to the other side, that which is neither holy nor a true expression of God's inner will in His world. An object that is assur, prohibited – literally, "bound" – is something that cannot break free of its connection with the other side. When a person is tied to the other side, the realm of the external forces, through a permitted act, he can be released from there, as explained above. The possibility of severing this bond and attaining a connection with holiness belongs only to the permitted, which is freely transportable from level to level by the way in which one uses it. But that which is prohibited remains profane. If a person eats a forbidden food, deliberately or accidentally, it remains bound to the other side, regardless of the person's intentions and subsequent actions. A pig remains a pig and cannot be converted into something pure and permissible.
עַד כִּי יָבוֹא יוֹמָם וִיבוּלַּע הַמָּוֶת לָנֶצַח, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "וְאֶת רוּחַ הַטֻּמְאָה אַעֲבִיר מִן הָאָרֶץ״ (זכריה יג, ב),
until their day of release arrives and death will be eliminated for all eternity, as it is written, "And I will remove the spirit of impurity from the land" (Zech. 13:2), One cannot rectify that which is prohibited by having the intent that one is performing the act for the sake of Heaven. The prohibition is bound to evil by definition, and its rectification involves the uprooting of evil from its source. This will occur at the end of time, when God will transform the essence of the entire world so that evil will disappear from existence. Only then, when "I will remove the spirit of impurity from the land," will everything – even those things that were "bound" to utter evil – be rectified.
אוֹ עַד שֶׁיַּעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה גְּדוֹלָה כָּל כָּךְ שֶׁזְּדוֹנוֹת נַעֲשׂוּ לוֹ כִּזְכֻיּוֹת מַמָּשׁ,
or until one achieves such a great level of repentance to the extent that his intentional sins actually become like merits for him. There is one exception to the rule that the positive essence buried within those objects and acts that are expressly prohibited by the Torah cannot be extracted by man. The exception is teshuva, repentance, which, at its highest level, has the power to elevate elements that derive from the three utterly impure kelippot to holiness. The Talmud speaks of two levels of repentance: a level on which one's intentional sins are regarded as unintentional sins and a higher level where one's intentional sins are regarded as merits.
שֶׁהִיא תְּשׁוּבָה מֵאַהֲבָה
This is achieved through repentance out of love How is such repentance achieved? This higher level of repentance, where transgressions are transformed into merits, must be effected specifically through love, as opposed to standard repentance, which is motivated by one of the various levels of awe and fear.
מֵעוּמְקָא דְּלִבָּא
from the depths of the heart, The "depths of the heart" refers to what a person truly desires, as opposed to the things he desires only with the more external aspects of the heart. A person might say, "I want to study," "I want to pray," or "I want to perform mitzvot," but that might not be what he truly desires. The depths of the heart is what a person would do if nothing were compelling him to act in any specific way, if he were truly free to do whatever he wishes. Repentance from the depths of the heart is a teshuva that reaches to the very core of a person's being, transforming his will all the way down to its deepest essence. In its shallower forms, repentance achieves a change in the garments of the penitent's heart, redirecting some of the expressions of his will. With repentance from the depths of the heart, the very essence of his will is transformed.
בְּאַהֲבָה רַבָּה
with a great love, Ahava rabba, "a great love," is love that is greater than life and before which life itself pales into insignificance. This love is greater than any love of this world, greater than reality. It is the soul's striving for the essence of God that transcends creation, the soul's yearning to dissolve its very being within God, its Father, as He is in essence.
וַחֲשִׁיקָה וְנֶפֶשׁ שׁוֹקֵקָה לְדָבְקָה בּוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ.
longing, and a soul yearning to cleave to God. The love of God that this level of repentance requires constitutes the longing and yearning of the soul to cleave to God in the same way that a person craves material things, with the same fervor that he lusts for physical pleasures.
וְצָמְאָה נַפְשׁוֹ לַה' כְּאֶרֶץ עֲיֵפָה וְצִיָּה לִהְיוֹת כִּי עַד הֵנָּה הָיְתָה נַפְשׁוֹ בְּאֶרֶץ צִיָּה וְצַלְמָוֶת, הִיא הַסִּטְרָא אָחֳרָא, וּרְחוֹקָה מֵאוֹר פְּנֵי ה' בְּתַכְלִית, וְלָזֹאת צָמְאָה נַפְשׁוֹ בְּיֶתֶר עָז מִצִּמְאוֹן נַפְשׁוֹת הַצַּדִּיקִים, כְּמַאֲמָרָם ז״ל: "בְּמָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִים״ כו׳ (ברכות לד, ב).
One's soul thirsts for God as a parched and thirsty land thirsts for water, for until now his soul had been in a thirsty and shadow-ridden land, namely, the sitra aḥara , and had been tant from the light of God's countenance. That is why his soul possesses a more intense thirst utterly dis for God than the thirst of the souls of the righteous, as the Sages state, "In the place where penitents stand, even the full-fledged righteous do not stand" (Berakhot 34b). The tzaddik too yearns and craves to cleave to God, but the penitent who attains a love for God experiences this desire far more intensely. The tzaddik, who is immersed in holiness all his life and can, at all times, satiate his desire to cleave to God, cannot truly thirst for God. He cannot feel the acute craving that is born of lack. Only one who traverses a spiritually arid land, who knows true thirst, can experience the full intensity of the soul's thirst for God. The penitent's love for God is the product of his distance, the result of his having been in "a thirsty and shadow-ridden land." One who undergoes such repentance, then, has his sins transformed into merits. The very sin he committed, his very disconnection and alienation from God, is what now fuels his greater and more intense love of God. If a person wants to do teshuva simply in order to fulfill his obligation to repent for his sins or to become an accepted member of the community, the rules for this sort of repentance are found in the Shulḥan Arukh. On the other hand, repentance of the sort that transforms sins into merits does not give a person any certificate of respectability. On the contrary, it only deepens his awareness of his sins, rousing him to yet a higher level of repentance and a greater yearning to cleave to God. And the lower he sunk in committing the transgression, the greater – by the same ratio – his desire for God. The higher a dam is built, the greater the pressure of water accumulating behind it. The greater a person's sins, the higher a dam it is, stymieing his soul's desire to cleave to God and increasing its pressure and intensity. The desire for God that in a tzaddik's life finds instant and immediate realization accumulates in the soul of the penitent for ten, twenty, or fifty years of sin, and the pressure of the accumulation of sins is so great that he can never alleviate it, until this unceasing pressure becomes a part of the structure of his soul and is transformed into an incessant striving toward holiness.
וְעַל תְּשׁוּבָה מֵאַהֲבָה רַבָּה זוֹ אָמְרוּ שֶׁזְּדוֹנוֹת נַעֲשׂוּ לוֹ כִּזְכֻיּוֹת, הוֹאִיל וְעַל יְדֵי זֶה בָּא לְאַהֲבָה רַבָּה זוֹ.
It is regarding this level of repentance out of a great love of God that the Sages stated that one's intentional sins become like merits for him, since it was specifically through this place of distance that he came to this level of great love of God. Through this level of repentance, through this endless love and intense yearning, a person's entire life is transformed. His sojourn in the "thirsty and shadow-driven land" has become a lever that lifts him to a more profound awakening and greater closeness to God. All his past failings become the instruments of his attainments in holiness. Such repentance is not merely a good deed to counteract past evil but leads to the employment of the evil in such a way that each past sin is now an impetus to a greater desire and a greater love for God. When intentional sins become the instrument for a love of God that is more powerful than the love of a tzaddik, the very laws of reality are transformed. Evil becomes a force for good; a deliberate sin becomes a merit. This person has undergone a process akin to that of the end of days. Though he has not brought redemption to the entire world, he achieves redemption in his own private world, removing the "spirit of impurity" from his individual pathway through life.
אֲבָל תְּשׁוּבָה שֶׁלֹּא מֵאַהֲבָה זוֹ, אַף שֶׁהִיא תְּשׁוּבָה נְכוֹנָה וַה׳ יִסְלַח לוֹ, מִכָּל מָקוֹם לֹא נַעֲשׂוּ לוֹ כִּזְכֻיּוֹת,
But repentance that is not done through this great love, although it is proper repentance and God will forgive him, nevertheless his intentional sins do not become like merits for him, Not everyone merits nor possesses the spiritual capacity to effect such repentance. A person may repent, and God may pardon him for his sins, but his repentance will not necessarily entail the transformation of those sins into merits. As the author of the Tanya explains in the first chapter of Iggeret HaTeshuva, "The mitzva of repentance [as stipulated] by the Torah consists of no more than abandoning the sin…. That is, one must wholeheartedly decide to never again revert to the folly of rebelling against God's kingship." Such a penitent truly severs himself from his past deeds and is no longer responsible for the evil he has perpetrated in the world. But even if his past can no longer cast a shadow on his present, he cannot transform and sublimate it. The evil deed remains evil and has not been transformed into good.
וְאֵין עוֹלִים מֵהַקְּלִיפָּה לְגַמְרֵי עַד עֵת קֵץ, שֶׁיְּבוּלַּע הַמָּוֶת לָנֶצַח.
and they will not completely ascend from kelippa until the end of time, when death, or evil, will be eliminated for eternity. Only at the end of time, when evil will be obliterated, will every element of creation be rectified: the permissible and the prohibited, the repented sins and the unrepented sins. Until that time, the prohibited and bound remain prohibited and bound. A person can alleviate the gravity of his offense against God by changing his relationship with evil and even setting his iniquitous life on an opposite course, but the evil remains evil. Only repentance done out of such great, driving, and potent love can transform reality in the manner of the messianic era, when death will forever be eradicated. To illustrate, the author of the Tanya now cites an exception to this rule that illuminates the general rule.
אַךְ הַחַיּוּת שֶׁבְּטִפּוֹת זֶרַע שֶׁיָּצְאוּ מִמֶּנּוּ לְבַטָּלָה, אַף שֶׁיָּרְדָה וְנִכְלְלָה בְּשָׁלֹשׁ קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת, הֲרֵי זוֹ עוֹלָה מִשָּׁם בִּתְשׁוּבָה נְכוֹנָה
However, the life force in the drops of semen that were wastefully emitted from him, although it has descended and become incorporated in the three completely impure kelippot , can nevertheless ascend from there by means of proper repentance The wasteful emission of semen is a grave prohibition that, like other prohibitions, causes a descent into the three impure kelippot. Nevertheless, this particular sin is the exception to the rule, since the wasted semen can indeed be rescued and released from the clutches of the three kelippot through "proper repentance." This type of repentance, though regarded as a higher level of repentance,
וּבְכַוָּונָה עֲצוּמָה בִּקְרִיאַת שְׁמַע שֶׁעַל הַמִּטָּה, כַּנּוֹדַע מֵהָאֲרִ״י ז״ל וּמְרוּמָּז בַּגְּמָרָא: "כָּל הַקּוֹרֵא קְרִיאַת שְׁמַע עַל מִטָּתוֹ כְּאִלּוּ
and by reciting the bedtime Shema with intense concentration, as is known from the teachings of the Arizal. This is hinted at in the Talmud (Berakhot 5a), which states, "Anyone who recites the Shema on his,
אוֹחֵז חֶרֶב שֶׁל שְׁתֵּי פִיּוֹת״ כו׳ (ברכות ה, א),
bed it is as if he holds a double-edged sword…" The Talmud goes on to quote the verse "Let the devoted ones exult in honor; let them sing for joy in their beds. Exaltation of the Almighty is in their throats, and a double-edged sword in their hand" (Ps. 149:5–6). Those who not only sing the praises of God in their beds by reciting the Shema before retiring for the night, but do so with intense concentration, have a double-edged sword in their hands.
לַהֲרוֹג גּוּפוֹת הַחִיצוֹנִים שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ לְבוּשׁ לַחַיּוּת שֶׁבַּטִּפּוֹת, וְעוֹלָה הַחַיּוּת מֵהֶם כַּיָּדוּעַ לְיוֹדְעֵי ח״ן.
with which to slay the bodies of the external forces of impurity that have become garments for the life force in the drops of semen. The life force then ascends from them, as is known to those initiated in the esoteric wisdom of Kabbala. The Sages teach in reference to the verse "These are the descendants of Noah" (Gen. 6:9) that "a person's descendants are his mitzvot and good deeds" (Rashi). The same is true of his sins and evil deeds. A person generates deeds that translate into realities both good and evil, all of which are his "children." The spiritual essence of a good deed is an angel, a person's emissary on high; the spiritual essence of a sin is a demon, a corrupter and agent of destruction. Angel or demon, they remain bound to him and dependent on him. They pursue him and call after him, "You are our father! You created us, and it is your responsibility to sustain us!" All afflictions of man, all his suffering and ills, are demons of his creation. He made them, and he is the source of their vitality. They leech on to him, suck out his life, and destroy him step by step. Teshuva, proper repentance, helps to sever this link, and in certain cases, it even kills these demons and blots them entirely out of existence.
וְלָכֵן לֹא הוּזְכַּר עֲוֹן זֶרַע לְבַטָּלָה בַּתּוֹרָה בִּכְלַל בִּיאוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת,
Therefore, the sin of wasteful emission of semen is not mentioned in the Torah among the illicit acts of sexual intercourse, The Torah contains a detailed list of prohibited unions but does not mention the wasteful emission of semen among them. The only reference is in the story of Judah's sons Er and Onan,
אַף שֶׁחָמוּר מֵהֶן וְגָדוֹל עֲוֹנוֹ, בִּבְחִינַת הַגַַּדְלוּת וְרִבּוּי הַטּוּמְאָה וְהַקְּלִיפּוֹת שֶׁמּוֹלִיד וּמַרְבֶּה בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד בְּהוֹצָאַת זֶרַע לְבַטָּלָה יוֹתֵר מִבִּיאוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת, רַק שֶׁבְּבִיאוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת מוֹסִיף כֹּחַ וְחַיּוּת בִּקְלִיפָּה טְמֵאָה בְּיוֹתֵר עַד שֶׁאֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לְהַעֲלוֹת מִשָּׁם הַחַיּוּת בִּתְשׁוּבָה.
though it is more egregious than them , and his sin is far greater in terms of the magnitude and enormity of the impurity and kelippot that he produces and causes to increase exponentially through the wasteful emission of semen more so than through illicit acts of sexual intercourse. It is only that illicit acts of sexual intercourse add power and life force to an extremely impure kelippa to the extent that one is unable to elevate the life force from there through ordinary repentance. Waste, destruction, and death are fundamental characteristics of evil, and these elements are present in every forbidden union. In this sense, every forbidden union is a destruction of life, and the sin of wasteful emission is worse than any forbidden union because it entails utter waste. The vital potential in the drops is completely wasted, so this sin possesses a negativity that is greater and more profound than any prohibited relations.
הַגָּהָה: מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנִּקְלְטָה בִּיסוֹד דְּנוּקְבָא דִּקְלִיפָּה הַמְקַבֶּלֶת וְקוֹלֶטֶת הַחַיּוּת מֵהַקְּדוּשָּׁה. מַה
Gloss: This is because semen emitted during an act of illicit intercourse is absorbed in the level of Yesod by the feminine element of kelippa , which receives and absorbs the life force from the place of holiness. This is not
שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן בְּזֶרַע לְבַטָּלָה שֶׁאֵין שָׁם בְּחִינַת נוּקְבָא דִּקְלִיפָּה רַק שֶׁכֹּחוֹתֶיהָ וְחֵיילוֹתֶיהָ מַלְבִּישִׁים לַחַיּוּת שֶׁבַּטִּפּוֹת, כַּיָּדוּעַ לְיוֹדְעֵי חֵן.
so with regard to wastefully emitted semen, in which case there is no feminine aspect of kelippa to receive the life force. It is only the kelippa's forces and battalions that clothe the life force that is in the drops of semen and not the kelippa itself, as is known to those initiated in the esoteric wisdom of Kabbala. That it is possible to rectify the sin of wasteful emission is not because it is less serious a sin. On the contrary, the impurity engendered by this sin is more profound than that of other sexual sins, and it touches on the very essence of evil. Yet precisely because this sin entails such utter destruction, precisely because there is no vessel that receives it, it can more readily be rectified. Because it was not absorbed by another being, it also does not become part of any other reality. Its severity lies in the fact that it is wholly one-directional, being an emission of life that is not received by any vessel (that is, any female element), yet it is for that very reason that it does not become rooted in reality. On the other hand, since other prohibited unions do not entail utter destruction, because the life force is received by a female element, the sin is etched in reality. There remains a black hole, a blot of evil, and this blot cannot be eradicated with ordinary repentance. In light of this, a person can, with proper repentance, entirely obliterate the negative embodiment of this sin, which is spiritual rather than physical. He cannot transform it and redirect it (as repentance performed out of great love transforms sins into merits), but he can destroy it and render it utterly nonexistent, as if it never was.
אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן יַעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה מֵאַהֲבָה רַבָּה כָּל כָּךְ עַד שֶׁזְּדוֹנוֹת נַעֲשׂוּ לוֹ כִּזְכֻיּוֹת. וּבָזֶה יוּבָן מַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ ז״ל (חגיגה פרק א משנה ז):(קהלת א, טו) – זֶה שֶׁבָּא עַל הָעֶרְוָה
One cannot elevate an illicit act of sexual intercourse unless one repents out of a great love for God, so much so that one's deliberate sins become like merits for him. In light of this, one can understand our Rabbis' statement "Who is'warped that cannot be mended' (Eccles. 1:15)? One who
וְהוֹלִיד מַמְזֵר. שֶׁאָז גַּם אִם יַעֲשֶׂה תְּשׁוּבָה גְּדוֹלָה כָּל כָּךְ, אִי אֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לְהַעֲלוֹת הַחַיּוּת לִקְדוּשָּׁה מֵאַחַר שֶׁכְּבָר יָרְדָה לָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְנִתְלַבְּשָׁה בְּגוּף בָּשָׂר וָדָם.
engaged in illicit sexual intercourse and fathered a mamzer " (Ḥagiga 1:7). Then, even were one to achieve such a great level of repentance, it is not possible for him to elevate the life force to a place of holiness, since it already descended into this physical world and became clothed within a body of flesh and blood. When it is said of a particular sin that a person cannot repent for it, this does not mean that he cannot repent and be forgiven for his wrongdoing. A person can always repent so that his sins will no longer be recalled to his detriment, and he can always wrench himself from the vicious cycle where "one sin leads to another," but the sin itself is not blotted out. Thus the Talmud speaks of sins such as theft and robbery as a warped act that can be mended, since that which was stolen can be restored, whereas murder and begetting a mamzer (illegitimate child) are examples of what King Solomon calls "that which is warped that cannot be mended." The existence of a mamzer implies that the sin has become rooted in reality, and the sinner cannot uproot it. However lofty his repentance, however it might elevate him to holiness, the reality of his sin cannot be undone. His deed has taken on a physical, living form and has assumed an objective reality of its own. The more spiritual a sin is, the uglier and more negative it is likely to be and the more likely to reach to the very essence of evil. At the same time, repenting for such a sin is easier, as nothing physical has to be changed. On the other hand, a sin whose consequences are physically recognizable within our reality remains "that which is warped that cannot be mended." Even if the sinner achieves rectification and is absolved of all responsibility for the deed, the deed itself is not rectified. The focus of the author of the