וְהִנֵּה גַּם עֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת גַּם כֵּן נִקְרְאוּ בְּשֵׁם מַאֲמָרוֹת לְגַבֵּי הַנִּבְרָאִים בִּלְבָד.

And so the ten utterances of Creation, like the sefirot, are also referred to as utterances only in relation to the creations. The creative forces that are the seven emotive attributes are channeled through the ten utterances with which the world was created and then gain even further shape through subsequent permutations of the letters of the utterances. Progressively further detail emerges as the minutest aspects of the universe take shape, each enlivened by the creative forces initially channeled through the ten utterances. The term "utterances of Creation" is not meant to imply that God speaks like humans (in this sense, the expression is meaningless), but rather to cultivate our capacity to relate to the Creator. Expressions such as "God's kindness" and "God's wisdom," like other anthropomorphic expressions such as "God's word" and "God's hand," do not convey God's essence. We use them only because we need to generate some concrete expression for abstract realities. There is no real resemblance between these expressions and the divine essence to which they refer. All words and expressions are intrinsically limited. They are nothing more than descriptions that are unique to the human condition and the confines of human awareness. When applied to God, they are not meant to explain the nature of divine essence but to illustrate the dynamic between supernal realities, offering analogies for the inner workings of the Divine that our limited human intellect can comprehend. The term "ten utterances" and any expression related to them fall under this rubric as well. Speech imagery is uniquely human and therefore has significance only to us. An image or concept attains meaning through the associations it engenders, and speech is most essentially associated with communication, the transmission of meaning from one reality to another. Therefore, the expression "God said" does not mean that God spoke in the sense that humans speak. It means that God transmitted content from His concealed, inner realm to a lower, more concretized dimension of reality.

כִּי כְּמוֹ שֶׁהַמִּדּוֹת שֶׁבְּנִשְׁמַת הָאָדָם, כְּשֶׁבָּאוֹת לְהִתְגַּלּוֹת בְּמַעֲשֶׂה הֵן בָּאוֹת מְלוּבָּשׁוֹת בְּאוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה.

For just as the attributes within the human soul, when they come to be manifest through action, first become clothed in the letters of thought, so too do the divine attributes. Attributes themselves are primary impulses; they are unchanneled, undirected emotions, incapable of internal or external manifestation in that state. Their manifestation, both in human consciousness and in external interaction, is only through letters – through their particular shapes, the words they comprise, and the cognitive conceptions they formulate.

כְּגוֹן מִדַּת חֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים שֶׁבַּנְּשָׁמָה אִי אֶפְשָׁר לָבֹא לִידֵי הִתְגַּלּוּת בְּפוֹעַל מַמָּשׁ כִּי אִם עַל יְדֵי שֶׁמְּחַשֵּׁב בְּדַעְתּוֹ וּמְהַרְהֵר מַעֲשֵׂה הַצְּדָקָה וָחֶסֶד לַעֲשׂוֹתָהּ בְּפוֹעַל מַמָּשׁ,

For example, the attributes of kindness and compassion within the soul cannot become manifest in actuality unless one plans in his mind and deliberates doing an act of charity and kindness actually and literally, The nature of Ḥesed, the attribute of kindness, is expansion – movement from constriction to expansion, from within to without, from the center to the perimeter. Characterized by absolute giving, Ḥesed is incapable of manifesting in the form of action because it lacks the parameters of what and how to give. In order to be actualized, the attribute must undergo varying stages of clarification. The first stage is awareness of the impulse on the most basic level: feelings of love or hate, support or opposition, the desire to give or receive. Through a reciprocal dynamic of sensation and cognition, one's initial nondescript impulse gains shape, definition, and clarity until the nature of the lack that needs to be filled is identified. For example, when a person first realizes that he is hungry, he is aware of the sensation of hunger, but the feeling has not yet been articulated. At this stage, the thought, the awareness, is in its primordial form, as yet unarticulated in the form of letters. But the thought is considered to be comprised of letters in the sense that it represents the initial, elemental conception that forms the basis for articulated cognition. Only in the next phase does the thought crystallize into the letters of the alef-bet. At this stage, wherein the letters combine into words that relate to defined reality, like stones that join to form houses, the initial, vague, universal thought is defined through the linguistic structure of a particular language. Thought becomes a mechanism that clothes the attribute so that it may then be expressed outwardly in speech and action.

כִּי אִי אֶפְשָׁר לַעֲשׂוֹת בְּלִי מַחְשָׁבָה.

because it is impossible to act without thought preceding it. It is impossible for a person to perform an action that has not first been articulated in thought, because no direct route connects the attributes of the soul and their initial impulses to outward, directed action. Even spontaneous actions, which seem to occur without forethought, actually undergo the same process, only so swiftly that the conscious mind fails to detect the thought that flashed through it. Thought necessarily articulates each initial impulse, lending it definition and form. The impulse would otherwise remain incapable of any expression or manifestation. Thought channels the impulse toward a defined direction, establishing its trajectory from one point to another, enabling it to be ultimately expressed in a specific external action.

וְאִם מְצַוֶּה לַאֲחֵרִים לַעֲשׂוֹת, כְּמוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ, אֲזַי מִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת מִדַּת הַחֶסֶד וְגַם אוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה בְּאוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר

And if one commands others to act , such as the king, then the attribute of kindness, as well as the letters of the thought behind the command, are clothed in the letters of speech For example, when a king has an impulse to perform an act of kindness, his position does not afford him the ability to personally bestow kindness upon his people. He can only express this impulse by commanding one of his subjects to actualize it for him. In this case, the impulse to do a kindness becomes clothed within thought, which becomes distilled into the letters of speech, thereby enabling the bestowal of kindness onto others.

[וְכֵן כְּשֶׁמְּדַבֵּר דִּבְרֵי חֶסֶד וְרַחֲמִים לְרֵעֵהוּ].

(and likewise when one speaks words of kindness and compassion to his friend). The attribute of kindness also crystallizes into speech when a person speaks loving words of appeasement or conciliation to another. Here too, as in the previous example, an initial impulse to express kindness becomes clothed within thought, formulating the conceptual framework necessary to execute the initial desire to do good. The specific form that the attribute of kindness takes in the thought is in this case distilled into speech, which is then actualized outwardly to others.

כָּךְ עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל מִדּוֹתָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, כְּשֶׁבָּאוֹת לִבְחִינַת הִתְגַּלּוּת פְּעוּלָּתָן בַּתַּחְתּוֹנִים – נִקְרָא גִּילּוּי זֶה וְהַמְשָׁכַת פְּעוּלָּה זוֹ בְּשֵׁם מַאֲמָר וְצֵירוּף אוֹתִיּוֹת.

So too metaphorically, when the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, come to be manifest and actualized in the lower worlds, this manifestation and actualization is referred to as "utterance" and "letter sequence." Divine utterance is not speech like ours; attributing human-like speech to God is meaningless. An utterance of the Divine must be understood conceptually as the emergence of inner energies outward. However, the evolution of the divine attribute can be understood in light of human thought processing and speech. First, the initial impulse determines a direction. Thought then defines and refines that impulse. The articulation lent by speech then forges communication between internal thought and the outside world. Similarly, the divine attribute must undergo stages of constriction and metamorphosis until it becomes compatible with our reality. This expressive stage, called divine utterance, is a frequency of communication that can be understood by human beings. If communication is too general, comprehensive, or abstract, then it bears no external significance and remains inaccessible to the lower worlds. For communication to be successful, the message must be specified into familiar and demarcated units that have meaning in the domain of the receiver. These are the letters of speech. And when the letters combine, they can constitute divine utterance, Godly speech, relaying messages that are meaningful to humans.

שֶׁהֲרֵי אִי אֶפְשָׁר שֶׁתִּהְיֶה שׁוּם פְּעוּלָּה נִמְשֶׁכֶת מִמִּדּוֹתָיו הַקְּדוֹשׁוֹת בְּלִי צֵירוּפִים הַנִּקְרָאִים בְּשֵׁם אוֹתִיּוֹת.

It is impossible for any action to materialize directly from His holy attributes without first being manifest in the sequences referred to as letters. As mentioned, an attribute cannot transition directly into practical action. For example, love is in essence infinite. Although it is limited by its basic character, it has nearly infinite potential avenues of expression. The feeling of love lacks any specific construct, and if it were to transfer directly into action, it would be meaningless. For the attribute to become expressible in a given situation, it must be sculpted into particular dimensions. The transition from a general inner desire to practical, outer-directed action entails a process of breaking down the general impulse into defined, articulate details and then assembling them according to a premeditated blueprint. For example, when a person wants to build a house, he first identifies his general desire and then he must define and detail its constituent parts, such as mapping out a building plan, meeting all the technical and aesthetic demands, and attaining building materials – cement, wood, bricks. Then he pours cement, places brick after brick, until eventually, as all the constituent parts are assembled, the physical house that he originally desired materializes in the world of action. In the process of actualization, the general desire is broken down into many subsidiary elements, so that every action may be specified with extreme detail. Every facet of the vision engenders one small effect on reality, a push here, a pull there. Thus, every detail of the action is defined by a specific combination of letters that could be called an "utterance." A general utterance expresses the global, all-encompassing design of a given plan, while a detailed utterance delineates the specifics of that action. In light of this, the divine act that creates the world is a "speech" action. The word for speech, dibbur, is linguistically related to the word dabar, leader. In this sense, speech entails directing the life forces downward into combinations of letters, words, and sentences that determine the reality of the general and specific aspects of the universe. In this way, the life force that emanates from a general utterance such as "Let the earth sprout grasses" (Gen. 1:11) is channeled into the most minute details of every specific leaf and stem.

כְּגוֹן לִבְרִיאַת הָאוֹר מִמִּדַּת הַחֶסֶד – נִמְשָׁךְ מִמֶּנָּה הַמְשָׁכַת פְּעוּלָּה וְכֹחַ לִפְעוֹל וְלִבְרוֹא בּוֹ אֶת הָאוֹר, וְהַמְשָׁכַת כֹּחַ זֶה וְחַיּוּת זוֹ נִקְרֵאת בְּשֵׁם: מַאֲמָר, וְאוֹתִיּוֹת ״יְהִי אוֹר״.

For instance, in order to create the light from the attribute of kindness, the actualization and power with which to actualize and create the light were first drawn down from the attribute of kindness. The drawing down of this power and this life force is referred to as the utterance and letters of "Let there be light." The divine utterance "Let there be light" draws down the particular potential from within divine Ḥesed capable of creating light. The sefirot, in their primary form as infinitely powerful forces, cannot directly manifest as particular expressions in external reality. They must first be translated from incomprehensive, undefined energy into distinct expression that relays a decipherable, meaningful message. Thus, the drawing down of these forces into our distinctly detailed reality is called an utterance in the sense that, like human speech, it serves to communicate information, to translate undefined forces of energy into detailed created entities. This process, essentially the articulation of the letters of the divine utterances, emerges from the interactions between the sefirot. A letter does not express the entirety of a given attribute in all its infinite essence, but rather one facet of a given dynamic between various sefirot: the point of intersection of one sefira with another, from one angle to another, from one detail to another. While each sefira itself is infinite, its interaction with other sefirot constricts and confines it, forming finite constructs. The letters embody this circumscription. By forming a specific combination of letters, an utterance generates further constriction and definition. Divine speech is therefore a web of combinations, limitations, and constrictions that particularizes all-encompassing divine forces into virtually endless details.

כִּי אַף שֶׁאֵינָן כְּאוֹתִיּוֹת מַחְשָׁבָה שֶׁלָּנוּ, חַס וְשָׁלוֹם,

For although they are not like our letters of thought in our human minds, God forbid, As mentioned, divine speech is essentially different from human speech since God does not have an instrument of vocalization, nor does He broadcast any sound in the familiar audial sense. Divine thought, too, is equally dissimilar to human thought. God Himself, as it were, attests, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8). Human thoughts, conceived by a physical brain, bear no relevance to His mode of thought.

מִכָּל מָקוֹם, הֵם עִנְיָן הַמּוֹרֶה עַל הִתְהַוּוּת הָאוֹר מֵאַיִן לְיֵשׁ.

nevertheless, they are similar to the letters of thought in that the letters of the utterance "Let there be light" convey this concept of bringing the light from nothingness into existence. The utterance "Let there be light" functions as the transition from the general attribute to one specific form of its expression. This force sets in motion a certain trajectory of manifestation, like a program code, whose creative power generates light and not other creations.

שֶׁלָּכֵן נִבְרָא הָאוֹר מֵהַמְשָׁכַת כֹּחַ זֶה וְלֹא נִבְרְאוּ מִמֶּנּוּ דְּבָרִים אֲחֵרִים שֶׁנִּבְרְאוּ גַּם כֵּן מִמִּדַּת חֶסֶד, כְּמוֹ מַיִם וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָּהֶם, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנִּתְלַבְּשׁוּ בָּהֶם כֹּחוֹת בִּבְחִינַת צֵירוּפִים אֲחֵרִים הַמּוֹרִים עַל הִתְהַוּוּת הַמַּיִם וְכַיּוֹצֵא.

This is why light was created from the drawing down of this specific force, whereas other entities, such as water and the like, which were also created from the attribute of kindness, were not created from it, because other forces were embodied within them, comprising different letter sequences that represent the bringing into existence of water and the like. The attribute of divine Ḥesed manifests in our reality in different ways. Light and water are just two of the virtually infinite manifestations of this attribute. As in every decimal system of delineation, the ten sefirot serve as primary conduits of categorization in which each unit defines an entire field of one category. Built upon the basis of the sefirot is an additional expressive layer: the utterances of Creation. Each utterance, too, comprises a broad-reaching category. For example, the utterance "Let there be light" brings into existence every physical and spiritual manifestation of light. In the physical realm alone, the classification of light includes a virtually infinite number of colors and types of light. While the utterances in their full original form are all-encompassing, they filter down into letters and combinations of letters. Sefer Yetzira explains that there is a nearly infinite number of letter permutations that emerge from the original utterances, and these permutations determine the essence and function of each element of creation.

וְנִמְצָא כִּי כָּל חַיּוּת וְכוֹחוֹת הַנִּמְשָׁכוֹת מִמִּדּוֹתָיו הַקְּדוֹשׁוֹת לַתַּחְתּוֹנִים לְבָרְאָם מֵאַיִן לְיֵשׁ וּלְהַחֲיוֹתָם וּלְקַיְּימָם,

Accordingly, all the life forces and powers that are drawn down from His holy attributes to the lower worlds to create these worlds from nothingness and sustain and maintain them To "maintain" the creation does not mean to retain the status quo. Kiyum, the maintenance of existence, constitutes the process of constant recreation and renewal. Nothing exists if it is not perpetually renewed at every moment.

נִקְרָאוֹת בְּשֵׁם אוֹתִיּוֹת הַקְּדוֹשׁוֹת, שֶׁהֵן בְּחִינַת הַמְשָׁכַת הַחַיּוּת מֵרְצוֹנוֹ, וְחָכְמָתוֹ, וּמִדּוֹתָיו לְהִתְהַוּוֹת עוֹלָמוֹת וּלְהַחֲיוֹתָם, וְהֵם שְׁנֵי מִינֵי עוֹלָמוֹת: עָלְמִין סְתִימִין דְּלָא אִתְגַּלְּיָין הֵם הַמִּתְהַוִּים וְחַיִּים וְקַיָּימִים מִכֹּחוֹת וְהַמְשָׁכוֹת נֶעְלָמוֹת כְּמוֹ אוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה שֶׁבְּנִשְׁמַת הָאָדָם עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל; וְעָלְמִין דְּאִתְגַּלְיָין נִבְרְאוּ וְחַיִּים מֵהִתְגַּלּוּת שֶׁנִּתְגַּלּוּ כֹּחוֹת וְהַמְשָׁכוֹת הַנֶּעְלָמוֹת הַנִּקְרָאוֹת בְּשֵׁם אוֹתִיּוֹת הַמַּחֲשָׁבָה, וּכְשֶׁהֵן בִּבְחִינַת הִתְגַּלּוּת לְהַחֲיוֹת עָלְמִין דְּאִתְגַּלְיָין נִקְרָאוֹת בְּשֵׁם ״מַאֲמָרוֹת״ וּ״דְבַר ה׳״ וְ״רוּחַ פִּיו״, כְּמוֹ אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר בָּאָדָם עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל שֶׁהֵן מְגַלּוֹת לַשּׁוֹמְעִים מַה שֶּׁהָיָה צָפוּן וְסָתוּם בְּלִבּוֹ.

are referred to as the holy letters, which represent the drawing down of the life force from His will, wisdom, and attributes in order to bring worlds into existence and sustain them. They consist of two types of worlds: First, concealed worlds that are not manifest; they are brought into existence and exist and are maintained by hidden forces and channels that are metaphorically analogous to the letters of thought in the human soul. The second type, revealed worlds, were created and exist from the manifestation of the hidden forces and channels referred to as the letters of thought. When those letters are manifest in order to sustain the revealed worlds, they are referred to as "utterances" and "the word of God" and "the breath of His divine utterance." These are metaphorically analogous to the letters of speech in humans, which disclose to listeners that which was hidden and concealed in one's heart. Within each level of "world" there is a distinction between a concealed world and a realm that is revealed. Concealed worlds remain in an unrevealed state because their very existence stems from concealed letters – letters that manifest exclusively in God's thoughts, so to speak, within the inner realms of the Divine. These supernal letters are analogous to the letters that constitute human thought. In contrast to the letters of speech, which forge a connection with the outer world, the letters of thought formulate internal communication with oneself. While the letters of speech represent communication to the outside world, the letters of thought are concealed letters relative to the external environment, and the worlds that are created from them are, in the words of the Tanya, "concealed worlds that are not manifest."

אֲבָל בֶּאֱמֶת בְּחִינַת אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר שֶׁל מַעְלָה הִיא לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה מִמַּדְרֵגַת וּמַהוּת חָכְמָה וְשֵׂכֶל הַנִּבְרָאִים.

Nevertheless, in truth, the letters of divine speech are above and beyond the level and essence of wisdom and intellect of created beings. Divine speech does not resemble human speech at all. While human speech entails physical breath and the oscillation of soundwaves, divine speech obviously has no affiliation with soundwaves or physical breath. Divine speech does not depend on any particular physical or spiritual conditions at all. On the contrary, divine speech creates every material and spiritual entity alike and therefore transcends both to the same degree. Divine speech transcends not only human speech but even man's highest faculties, his wisdom and intellect. Since this Godly "action" transcends all wisdom and intellect, we are at a total loss to grasp or describe it. Therefore, the Torah borrows the concept of speech from the human realm, not to indicate that we can literally hear God speaking reality into existence, but rather to convey that when God reveals something of His inner world in a realm that relative to Him is external and lower, it parallels the human speech process.

שֶׁהֲרֵי בְּמַאֲמַר וְאוֹתִיּוֹת ״נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵינוּ״ וגו׳ (בראשית א, כו) נִבְרָא הָאָדָם בַּעַל חָכְמָה וְשֵׂכֶל,

For through the utterance and letters of "Let us make man in our image... " (Gen. 1:26), man, possessor of wisdom and intellect, was created. The utterance of the sixth day of Creation, "Let us make man," formulated all of man's being: his body and his soul, which encompasses his highest faculties, his intellect and wisdom. Divine utterance is surely on a lower level than the divine attributes, which are certainly on a lower level than divine wisdom and intellect, yet a person's entire being, including his wisdom and intellect, were created from speech, the most negligible expression of God's essence.

אוֹ אֲפִילּוּ בְּהֶבֶל הָעֶלְיוֹן לְבָד, כְּדִכְתִיב (בראשית ב, ז): ״וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים״.

In fact, the intellect itself was created solely through the divine breath, as it is written, "And He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). The divine breath corresponds to the breath emitted from the mouth when a person speaks, comprising the lower and more physical component of speech. Even this aspect of divine speech transcends the highest human faculty, the intellect.

וְאִם כֵּן הַדִּבּוּר וְהֶבֶל הָעֶלְיוֹן הוּא מְקוֹר הַחָכְמָה וְהַשֵּׂכֶל שֶׁבְּנִשְׁמַת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, הַכּוֹלֶלֶת כָּל נִשְׁמוֹת הַצַּדִּיקִים שֶׁהֵם גְּדוֹלִים מִמַּלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת.

Therefore, the divine speech and breath are the source of the wisdom and intellect within the soul of Adam, which encompasses all the souls of the future tzaddikim, who are even greater than the ministering angels. The lofty soul of Adam, which originated from the breath, represents the paradigm of the heights that any human being can achieve. The author of the Tanya thus emphasizes that Adam's soul encompasses "all the souls of the tzaddikim," because they in particular exemplify and manifest the soul's uniqueness and superiority. They are "greater than the ministering angels," because the ministering angels were created through divine speech, while the souls of tzaddikim, the paradigm of man, originated in the inner breath that precedes speech. The angels are limited by the words and particular letter combinations that create them, while the souls of tzaddikim are not limited to any specific utterance and therefore have the intrinsic capability to descend to this world and function within any realm of letter combinations. Adam's all-encompassing soul actually included within it the entirety of the human species. His wisdom, as well as his actions and failings, are part of the human condition experienced by all of mankind, even such extremely lofty souls as our forefathers and Moses. The wisdom and intellect embedded in Adam's soul are thus the source and root of all human wisdom. When God created man's spirit with the breath of divine speech, He thus infused him with the highest aspect of man's essence: the faculty of wisdom.

וְהַיְינוּ לְפִי שֶׁאוֹתִיּוֹת דִּיבּוּרוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ הֵן בְּחִינַת הַמְשָׁכוֹת כֹּחוֹת וְחַיּוּת מִמִּדּוֹתָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ הַמְיוּחָדוֹת בְּמַהוּתוֹ וְעַצְמוּתוֹ בְּתַכְלִית הַיִּחוּד,

This is due to the fact that the letters of God's speech constitute the flow of powers and life force from His attributes, which are united with His essence and being in the ultimate unification, Divine speech, which is a relatively low formulation of the Divine compared to divine wisdom or will, can even bring into existence the most lofty and spiritual of creations, such as the souls of the tzaddikim, which were the ultimate purpose of the Creation. (As the Sages taught, God Himself even consulted these souls regarding the creation of the world.) The divine utterance is, after all, a conduit that channels the power of the divine attributes into the world. Those attributes themselves are not independent from their source. Rather, they are nothing other than manifestations of the actual divine essence, in one form or another. In this way, divine speech encapsulates and manifests the actual divine essence within the universe, man, and the Torah, each in a different manner.

שֶׁהוּא לְמַעְלָה מַעְלָה לְאֵין קֵץ מִמַּדְרֵגַת חָכְמָה שֶׁבַּנִּבְרָאִים.

which is infinitely above and beyond the level of wisdom in created beings. The unification of the attributes with God's essence and being transcends the bounds of our rational ability to think or articulate. The assertion that human wisdom is incapable of comprehending the unification of God and His attributes is itself not a comprehensible item of information, but rather an assertion of the outer limit of our capacity to think or speak about Him. The parameters of human schema confine our thought constructs. We are incapable of referring to that which surpasses those parameters as anything but impossible to grasp. Far from an accurate definition, this characterization instead grants a faint glimmer of that which is supremely lofty and unfathomably immense. When we discuss these truths, we are like children speculating about adult issues, unable to establish another frame of reference because we lack any semblance of context. With this admittance, we assert that the unification of God's attributes with His essence and being infinitely transcends the wisdom of created entities, not as a definition of the object of inquiry, but rather as the severe limitation of the inquirer.

וְלֹא נִקְרְאוּ בְּשֵׁם אוֹתִיּוֹת לְגַבֵּי הַנִּבְרָאִים אֶלָּא לְגַבֵּי מִדּוֹתָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ בִּכְבוֹדָן וּבְעַצְמָן.

And they are not referred to as letters in relation to the created beings but rather only in relation to God's attributes, in all their glory. The term "divine utterance" conjures up the familiar concept of speech composed of words and letters. Yet the purpose of the comparison is not to superimpose human speech on divine speech but rather to illustrate the progression of the divine attributes. The "letters" of divine speech are in no way to be regarded as entities in the same sense as the letters of human speech. In making this comparison, we are liable to falsely draw too close of a parallel between our own inferior and limited powers (as our sole frame of reference) and God's abstract and lofty life forces – His divine attributes. Human speech and divine speech do not share qualitative similarities. Terms such as "speech," "utterance," and "breath" are simply meant to weave a web of associations in our perspective of the Divine. The familiar dynamic between one's personal spiritual faculties and his speech are projected onto the interplay between the divine attributes and divine speech. In truth, the concept of divine utterance and divine speech in the broad sense must be understood, with all of its ramifications, as relating to God and not to us. In his commentary on the Torah, Ramban challenges the approach of Rambam with regard to his description of Onkelos, the renowned translator of the Torah. Rambam proposes that Onkelos consistently avoided anthropomorphisms by translating, for example, the words vayered Hashem  – conventionally translated as "God descended" – as "God revealed." Ramban asks: If that is so, why didn't he translate the more frequent phrase, "God said," in a similar way? Ramban's question itself portrays how expressions employing the image of Godly speech and divine utterance are anthropomorphic to the same degree as phrases such as "God descended" or even "God's feet." The concept of divine speech connotes a certain manner of revelation, analogous to the function of human speech. However, divine speech bears no real semblance to the human speech with which we are familiar.

וְהִנֵּה הֵן כ״ב מִינֵי הַמְשָׁכוֹת חַיּוּת וְכוֹחוֹת שׁוֹנִים זֶה מִזֶּה שֶׁבָּהֶן נִבְרְאוּ כָּל הָעוֹלָמוֹת עֶלְיוֹנִים וְתַחְתּוֹנִים וְכָל הַבְּרוּאִים שֶׁבְּתוֹכָם.

And so they constitute twenty-two types of flows of life force and powers, each different from the other, through which all the worlds, both higher and lower, and all the creatures within them were created. The twenty-two divine letters, the foundation stones of creation, are projected and manifest in the Torah as the letters that constitute our written and spoken word. Each of the twenty-two letters represents a supernal divine letter and reveals a particular creative force.

שֶׁכָּךְ עָלָה בִּרְצוֹנוֹ וְחָכְמָתוֹ יִתְבָּרַךְ לִבְרוֹא הָעוֹלָם בְּכ״ב מִינֵי הַמְשָׁכוֹת שׁוֹנוֹת דַּוְקָא, לֹא פָּחוֹת וְלֹא יוֹתֵר.

That is what arose in God's will and wisdom, to create the universe with twenty-two types of distinct flows exclusively, no more and no less. Underlying the various kabbalistic explanations as to why the letters amount to exactly twenty-two lies the fundamental answer: that it arose in the will and wisdom of the Creator the desire to create the universe specifically in this way. No rational explanation can surmise why in the source of the primal divine will God desired to create a world through these twenty-two particular types of creative forces.

וְהֵן הֵן כ״ב אוֹתִיּוֹת הַקְּבוּעוֹת בַּפֶּה וְלָשׁוֹן, כְּדִתְנַן בְּסֵפֶר יְצִירָה (פ״ב מ״ב ועוד)

These are the very same twenty-two letters that are implanted in the mouth and tongue, as it is taught in Sefer Yetzira (2:2) This idea, "letters that are implanted in the mouth and tongue," seems to be self-understood, yet the author of the Tanya cites a proof text from Sefer Yetzira, conveying the point that the letters do not originate in a person's mouth and tongue. They are "implanted" there, acting through these oral mechanisms. In their source, though, the letters are unified with the supernal attributes, which themselves are unified with the essence and being of God. Therefore, this idea appears here in chapter 11 rather than at the beginning of the book, since this chapter deals with the unity of the letters in their source, in God's essence and being. The proof from Sefer Yetzira conveys that these supernal letters are the very same letters fixed in the mouth and on the tongue.

[וּתְמוּנָתָן בִּכְתָב הִיא מוֹרָה עַל צִיּוּר הַהַמְשָׁכָה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁיִּתְבָּאֵר לְקַמָּן],

(and their written form depicts the pattern of the flow, as will be explained below [gloss to chap. 12]), In contrast to a numerical digit, which is one-dimensional, conveying only the quantitative value and nothing more, a letter of the alef-bet is a multidimensional, composite symbol. Its dimensions include pronunciation, meaning, and the shape of the written form. There are simple shapes like those of the letters yod and vav, and there are composite shapes like that of the letter ḥet, which is composed of two zayin s or a vav and a zayin, or the letter heh, which is composed of a dalet and a yod. The very shape of the letter possesses significance, unlike the shape of a written number. This idea appears in the Talmud which records the homiletic interpretation offered by young students wherein the letters become personified. For example, the Talmud states that the gimmel is the letter that bestows (gomel ) kindness, whereas the dalet is poor (dal ). The dalet does not face the gimmel, because it is embarrassed but nevertheless extends one hand behind it to receive. The gimmel has an outstretched leg forward, to run after the dalet to give to it, fulfilling its raison d'être. Both the shape and names of these letters convey meaning beyond just their pronunciation. Kabbalistic teachings deal extensively with the shapes of the letters in specific detail and the esoteric meaning of their form. The shapes of the letters possess great import in the realm of halakha as well. Any deviation in their printed form invalidates an entire Torah scroll. Even an aberration in the very tip of a yod may render the whole Torah unfit for use. Supernal truth finds its expression not just in the general sense of each letter that is written in the Torah, but also in the detailed subtleties of each letter's expression. Every curve, angle, and line – each point of convergence – expresses a facet of the supernal letter's essence and therefore reflects the corresponding content and character of the particular supernal force represented therein.

שֶׁגַּם אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר וְהַמַּחֲשָׁבָה שֶׁבְּנֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם הֵן הַמְשָׁכוֹת מֵהַשֵּׂכֶל וְהַמִּדּוֹת שֶׁבַּנֶּפֶשׁ מִמַּהוּתָן וְעַצְמוּתָן, כְּמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר.

for also within the human soul, the letters of speech and thought flow from the essence and being of the soul's intellect and emotive attributes, as explained elsewhere (Iggeret HaKodesh, epistle 5). Despite the vast difference between the two, familiar written and spoken letters can, to a certain degree, serve as operative models for understanding the inner workings of divine speech, of the drawing down of supernal powers and the internal dynamic between them. Continuing the theme of the previous chapter, which discussed the revelation of God through the