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Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna
Chapter 2וְהִנֵּה מִכָּאן תְּשׁוּבַת הַמִּינִים וְגִילּוּי שׁוֹרֶשׁ טָעוּתָם, הַכּוֹפְרִים בְּהַשְׁגָּחָה פְּרָטִית וּבְאוֹתוֹת וּמוֹפְתֵי הַתּוֹרָה.
From this understanding is derived a response to the heretics, and the root of the error of those who deny divine providence and the signs and wonders recorded in the Torah is disclosed. In light of the conception of creation presented in the previous chapter, it is possible to understand the reason behind the mistaken assumption of heretics who see the Creator and the creation as two distinct and unconnected entities. As a result of their error, they deny divine providence, which does not only constitute the connection between Creator and creation in general. It also constitutes the divine supervision of each and every individual creation, from the celestial spheres of the Milky Way to a single blade of grass consumed by a tiny worm. The heretics view the cosmos as a static system, originally formed by God and then set in motion to function autonomously. In light of this, the miraculous deviations from nature recorded in the Torah in violation of the laws of science and nature must be inherently impossible.
שֶׁטּוֹעִים בְּדִמְיוֹנָם הַכּוֹזֵב שֶׁמְּדַמִּין מַעֲשֵׂה ה׳ עוֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ לְמַעֲשֵׂה אֱנוֹשׁ וְתַחְבּוּלוֹתָיו.
They err with their faulty analogies, in that they compare the work of God, the Maker of heaven and earth, to the work of man and his schemes. A faulty analogy breeds faulty understanding. Comparing divine creation to human creation generates an error in logic that stems from using the same term to denote two totally distinct concepts. Particular terminology creates the schema for thought; if the schema is not accurate, it distorts and prevents thorough understanding of the subject. The mistaken association of divine creation with human creation, then, implies a difference of degree but not of essential quality.
כִּי כַּאֲשֶׁר יָצָא לַצּוֹרֵף כְּלִי, שׁוּב אֵין הַכְּלִי צָרִיךְ לִידֵי הַצּוֹרֵף, כִּי אַף שֶׁיָּדָיו מְסוּלָּקוֹת הֵימֶנּוּ וְהוֹלֵךְ לוֹ בַּשּׁוּק, הַכְּלִי קַיָּים בְּתַבְנִיתוֹ וְצַלְמוֹ מַמָּשׁ כַּאֲשֶׁר יָצָא מִידֵי הַצּוֹרֵף.
For once the smith fashions a vessel, the vessel no longer requires the hands of the smith. Even when the smith's hands are no longer upon it and he walks about in the market, the vessel continues to exist in the same exact form and image as when it left the smith's hands. To emphasize this point, the author of the Tanya gives the example of a smith who fashions a vessel. Once the smith completes the vessel, even if it is extremely elaborate, there is no longer any connection between smith and vessel. Each exists independently of the other.
כָּךְ מְדַמִּין הַסְּכָלִים הָאֵלּוּ מַעֲשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ.
That is how these fools imagine the creation of heaven and earth. The heretics view the creation of the world exactly like they view the smith's formation of a vessel. They believe that God originally established the structure and laws of the cosmos, and since then, the world exists independently, unfolding according to the parameters set at its inception. They perceive any further involvement by the Creator in His own handiwork as nothing more than destructive to it. What purpose is there in His descending from on high to interfere with the lowly matters of this world? In light of this, they deny divine supervision of the minutiae of existence, because this entails constant divine intervention in creation. This view, of course, is based on an underlying faulty analogy.
אַךְ טָח מֵרְאוֹת עֵינֵיהֶם הַהֶבְדֵּל הַגָּדוֹל שֶׁבֵּין מַעֲשֵׂה אֱנוֹשׁ וְתַחְבּוּלוֹתָיו, שֶׁהוּא יֵשׁ מִיֵּשׁ, רַק שֶׁמְּשַׁנֶּה הַצּוּרָה וְהַתְּמוּנָה מִתְּמוּנַת חֲתִיכַת כֶּסֶף לִתְמוּנַת כְּלִי,
However, they are blind to the major distinction between man's creative work and his schemes, which consist of making one thing out of another, of merely modifying the form and shape of raw material, of fashioning an ingot of silver into the shape of a vessel, The raw material from which the smith fashioned his vessel is not dependent on him for its existence. It existed before him and will continue to exist after he is gone. The smith's act is superficial. He does not create a new entity, but only transforms one form into another, converting one entity into a different one. This is not remotely comparable to God's creation.
לְמַעֲשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ שֶׁהוּא יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן.
and the creation of heaven and earth, which is the creation of existence out of nothingness. The wonder in creating something from nothing is not so much the immense creative power of the Creator, but the radical transformation He engenders in the fabric of existence.
וְהוּא פֶּלֶא גָּדוֹל יוֹתֵר מִקְּרִיעַת יַם סוּף, עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל, שֶׁהוֹלִיךְ ה׳ אֶת הַיָּם בְּרוּחַ קָדִים עַזָּה כָּל הַלַּיְלָה, וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמַּיִם, וְנִצְּבוּ כְמוֹ נֵד וּכְחוֹמָה.
This is a greater marvel than the splitting of the Red Sea, for instance, where God caused the sea to recede with a strong east wind all night long, and the waters were split and stood upright like a mound and a wall. In order to understand this comparison of creation out of nothingness to the miracle of the splitting of the sea, it is necessary to first distinguish between actions that are effected in accordance with the natural order and those that act against it. Someone who places an object on the ground need not continue to hold it in place, since the laws of nature themselves maintain its position. Conversely, if one lifts an object into the air, it must be continuously held aloft as it will not remain there on its own. The person must continuously exert force to keep the object in place since he is acting counter to the natural force of gravity. The act of creation must be viewed in the same light. It is not an act performed within nature but one that profoundly defies nature, even more than the wonder of splitting the Red Sea. At the splitting of the sea, a wind blew the waters of the Red Sea so strongly that they stood upright as a wall,
וְאִילּוּ הִפְסִיק ה׳ אֶת הָרוּחַ כְּרֶגַע, הָיוּ הַמַּיִם חוֹזְרִים וְנִיגָּרִים בַּמּוֹרָד כְּדַרְכָּם וְטִבְעָם, וְלֹא קָמוּ כְּחוֹמָה בְּלִי סָפֵק, אַף שֶׁהַטֶּבַע הַזֶּה בַּמַּיִם גַּם כֵּן נִבְרָא וּמְחוּדָּשׁ יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן, שֶׁהֲרֵי חוֹמַת אֲבָנִים נִצֶּבֶת מֵעַצְמָהּ בְּלִי רוּחַ, רַק שֶׁטֶּבַע הַמַּיִם אֵינוֹ כֵּן.
If God would have stopped the wind even for an instant, the waters would have reverted and flowed downward in their natural way. They would undoubtedly not have stood like a wall, even though this natural tendency of water to flow downward is also a novel phenomenon created from nothingness. For a stone wall stands upright by itself without the support of the wind, but that is not the nature of water. Suspending the waters was contrary to nature, and therefore constant intervention had to be applied anew every moment for this phenomenon to continue. If the wind retaining the waters' upright position would have ceased for even one instant, the waters would have reverted to flowing naturally as usual. The miracle of the splitting of the sea was not only in God's altering the water's flow in order to propel it in a different direction. It was also in sustaining the water in an inherently unnatural and unstable formation. The miracle continued as long as force was exerted on the waters to counter the laws of nature therein.
וְכָל שֶׁכֵּן וְקַל וָחוֹמֶר בִּבְרִיאַת יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן שֶׁהִיא לְמַעְלָה מֵהַטֶּבַע, וְהַפְלֵא וָפֶלֶא יוֹתֵר מִקְּרִיעַת יַם סוּף, עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה שֶׁבְּהִסְתַּלְּקוּת כֹּחַ הַבּוֹרֵא מִן הַנִּבְרָא חַס וְשָׁלוֹם יָשׁוּב הַנִּבְרָא לְאַיִן וְאֶפֶס מַמָּשׁ.
All the more so with regard to the creation of existence from nothingness, which transcends the laws of nature and is an even more astonishing wonder than the splitting of the Red Sea, that certainly upon the withdrawal of the Creator's power from the creation, God forbid, the creation would literally revert to absolute nothingness. Our perception of reality stems from a familiarity with a relatively stable existence. Having been born into it, we take it for granted as self-evident and natural. However, that is not the case at all. The most primal, natural reality is actually nothingness and void. Nothingness is the existential backdrop of reality; it is the fundamental nature of things. The universe is constantly flowing toward entropy, the cessation of existence. Accordingly, existence itself should actually be regarded as an unnatural wonder. It is a miracle requiring constant intervention to sustain. In order to exist, the cosmos must be constantly created and reborn. The existence of the universe inherently runs counter to the ultimate natural order, which steadily moves toward non-being without outside intervention. A poetic expression of this conception is conveyed by the verse "An abode is the God of eternity, and below, eternal arms" (Deut. 33:27), which is interpreted by the Talmud to mean that the universe hangs upon God's arm. If He would relax his support for even an instant, the cosmos would plunge into the void of nothingness.
אֶלָּא צָרִיךְ לִהְיוֹת כֹּחַ הַפּוֹעֵל בַּנִּפְעָל תָּמִיד לְהַחֲיוֹתוֹ וּלְקַיְּימוֹ.
Rather, the force of the Creator must constantly be within the creation to grant it life and sustain it. The continued existence of nature on a daily basis is in itself the ongoing miracle of creation. We should view the universe as a continuous anomaly relative to the ultimate nature of existence. As with any system that is essentially unnatural, the universe requires constant active intervention to sustain its very existence, not merely supervision to guard against glitches. The continued existence of the universe, and certainly its unfolding evolution, are an ongoing, miraculous process of creation, preventing existence from slipping back into nothingness. In light of this, the creation of the universe should not be considered an event that happened in the past. God continues to constantly create in the present. Divine supervision should not be viewed as interference by the deity in an independently stable natural order, because the natural order in itself is a function of divine intervention. The natural order is the greatest miracle of all. Any change in nature is minute and insignificant relative to the grand wonder of existence itself, which is constantly renewing every moment in every entity.
וְהֵן הֵן בְּחִינַת אוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר מֵעֲשָׂרָה מַאֲמָרוֹת שֶׁבָּהֶם נִבְרְאוּ.
This force is none other than the letters of the ten utterances through which heaven and earth were created. The force acting to sustain existence against its inclination toward non-being is the divine word manifest as the ten utterances that created the universe.
וְעַל זֶה נֶאֱמַר ״וְאַתָּה מְחַיֶּה אֶת כּוּלָּם״ (נחמיה ט, ו), אַל תִּקְרֵי ״מְחַיֶּה״ אֶלָּא מְהַוֶּה, דְּהַיְינוּ יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן.
Regarding this, the verse states, "You made the heavens... the earth and everything that is on it... and You sustain them all... " (Neh. 9:6). Do not read "sustain" but rather "cause to be," that is, bring into existence from nothingness. The words "You sustain them" in the verse can be understood in the biological sense, as adding life force to an already existing entity. However, the author of the Tanya rejects this interpretation, reading "sustain" as "cause to be." The life granted by God is the very existence of all beings, constantly created anew from nothingness.
וְ״אַתָּה״ הֵן בְּחִינַת הָאוֹתִיּוֹת מֵאָלֶ״ף וְעַד תָּי״ו,
The letters alef and tav in the word ve'ata , "and You," in the verse represent the totality of the Hebrew letters from alef to tav, By deconstructing the word ve'ata, "and You," to represent all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the author of the Tanya reframes the relationship between God and His creations. To say that "And You sustain them all" refers to God Himself shows not only a lack of deference toward Him but establishes a direct relationship between God, who transcends all of existence, and creation, which is minuscule and limited. Not only man but also the cosmos in its entirety are insignificant in light of the infinite vastness of God. By emphasizing that the "You" who sustains existence refers to a limited number of utterances spoken by God, the author of the Tanya creates a more accurate frame of reference. The ten utterances of Creation spoken by God are analogous to the relationship between ten sentences spoken by a person relative to his entire ability to speak and think and to his very essence. The entire cosmos is but one manifestation of the ten utterances spoken by God. This perspective grants a more accurate picture of the relationship between God and the universe.
וְהַהֵ״א הִיא ה׳ מוֹצְאוֹת הַפֶּה מְקוֹר הָאוֹתִיּוֹת.
and the numerical equivalent of the final letter of the word ve'ata, the letter heh , which is five, represents the five organs of articulation, the origins of the letters. The letters are pronounced as a result of air being pushed through one of the five organs of articulation: the throat, palate, tongue, teeth, and lips. Each of these organs modifies sound waves in a distinct way, bringing about the articulation of one of the letters. Accordingly, the word ve'ata represents the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet from alef to tav and the five organs of articulation (represented by the letter heh, whose numerical equivalent is five), which serve as the instruments of speech, the origins of the letters, and the basis for their formation.
וְאַף שֶׁאֵין לוֹ דְּמוּת הַגּוּף,
Although God has no bodily form, The five organs of articulation are bodily structures. They function in the same way as any sound-producing mechanism by constricting sound waves on a certain wavelength, thereby producing the articulation of a specific sound. How can such a mechanism be attributed to an incorporeal God, to whom we do not ascribe bodily functions?
הֲרֵי מִקְרָא מָלֵא דִּבֵּר הַכָּתוּב: ״וַיְדַבֵּר ה׳״, ״וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳״.
the Torah categorically states about Him, "The Lord spoke" and "The Lord said." Inevitably we use some form of imagery to make the abstract more accessible, so that we can relate to it and comprehend it. Although there are other images that express this same essential idea of constricting a general force into smaller, more specific forces, the use of the speech metaphor by the author of the Tanya is not arbitrary. The Torah itself employs speech imagery in relation to God. In modern terms, speech denotes communication, that is, relaying information. The biblical expressions "the Lord spoke" and "the Lord said" express the flow of information from level to level, from the hidden to the revealed.
וְהִיא בְּחִינַת הִתְגַּלּוּת הַכ״ב אוֹתִיּוֹת עֶלְיוֹנוֹת לַנְּבִיאִים, וּמִתְלַבְּשׁוֹת בְּשִׂכְלָם וְהַשָּׂגָתָם בְּמַרְאֵה הַנְּבוּאָה וְגַם בְּמַחְשַׁבְתָּם וְדִיבּוּרָם, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: ״רוּחַ ה׳ דִּבֶּר בִּי וּמִלָּתוֹ עַל לְשׁוֹנִי״ (שמואל ב׳ כג, ב), וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתַב האר״י ז״ל [בְּשַׁעַר הַנְּבוּאָה].
This divine speech represents the revelation of the twenty-two supernal letters to the prophets, which become enclothed in their intellect and their comprehension in the form of the prophetic vision, and also in their thoughts and speech, as it is written, "The spirit of the Lord spoke through me, and His word is on my tongue" (II Sam. 23:2), as interpreted by the Arizal (in Sha'ar HaNevua ). The phrase "the Lord said" is used not only in the context of the utterances of Creation, but, along with other similar phrases, it also serves as a classic expression of prophetic revelation. The twenty-two supernal letters of divine speech originate in an indefinable realm that transcends both matter and spirit. The letters of divine speech that are manifest in the world as physical entities, such as animals, grass, and grains of sand, are revealed to the prophet in his intellectual conception through a prophetic vision in the form of symbols, images, and words, as described in the books of the Prophets.
וּכְעֵין זֶה הִיא הִתְלַבְּשׁוּת הָאוֹתִיּוֹת בַּבְּרוּאִים, כְּדִכְתִיב: ״בִּדְבַר ה׳ שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כָּל צְבָאָם״ (תהלים לג, ו).
In a similar fashion, the letters become enclothed in the creations, as it is written, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; by the breath of His mouth, all their hosts" (Ps. 33:6). The divine speech emanating into the world is manifest in various forms. It assumes one form in the Torah and in prophetic oration and a different form in the physical world. This is analogous to the different ways sound can be recorded. It can be written in the form of musical notes, or it can be imprinted on a magnetized cassette tape or on a compact disk as indentations on the aluminum coating. The various formats represent the same sound waves; they are merely recorded in different media. None of them are the sound itself. Divine speech itself far transcends any form, physical and spiritual. It evades all intellectual constructs and schema. The letters of divine speech assume their form according to the medium they encounter. When they are revealed through a prophet, they are refracted to form words and images. When they resonate in the physical world, they crystallize into entities, such as mountains, skies, or stars. However, the specific form that divine speech takes is not just a function of the media it encounters. It also depends on that media's level of existence. For example, that which is expressed as the face of the ox in the dimension of the divine chariot described in the first chapter of Ezekiel is manifest in the lower world as the four-legged ox that eats grass. That ox, translated into the limited dimensions of this physical world, is expressed as a holy angel in a higher world.
רַק שֶׁהִיא עַל יְדֵי הִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלוּת רַבּוֹת וַעֲצוּמוֹת עַד שֶׁיּוֹרְדוֹת לַעֲשִׂיָּה גּוּפָנִית, מַה שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן הַשָּׂגַת הַנְּבִיאִים הִיא בָּאֲצִילוּת הַמִּתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּעוֹלַם הַבְּרִיאָה.
However, this enclothing of the letters in the creations only comes about through many immense transmutations until they descend to the corporeal world of Asiya (Action), whereas the comprehension of the prophets is in the world of Atzilut (Emanation), which becomes clothed in the world of Beria (Creation). The revelation of divine speech in the prophet's vision and its revelation within the physical world are intrinsically the same. Nevertheless, the prophetic revelation is expressed at a higher and purer level. It reflects God's intention more clearly and has decipherable divine content and comprehensible significance. For the same revelation to manifest in the physical world, it must first undergo descent after descent, constriction after constriction, until it assumes a tangible form that can be physically measured, weighed, and quantified. The prophet's perception transpires in the world of Atzilut and is then manifest in the world of Beria, which is still unfathomably higher than the level of our sensory perception in this world of Asiya, both in a physical and spiritual sense.