Tanya/ Iggeres Ha’Kodesh – The Holy Epistle, Epistle 19, Class 2

_____

And a fortiori, not the sefirah of keter, called arich anpin, that transcends [chochmah].

וְכָל שֶׁכֵּן בִּסְפִירַת הַכֶּתֶר שֶׁלְּמַעְלָה מִמֶּנָּה, הַנִּקְרָא “אֲרִיךְ אַנְפִּין”,

For the very name arich anpin (lit., “the long countenance”) implies a level of Divinity of infinite extent and hence is beyond the reach of any soul clothed in a body.​

Rather, [Moses apprehended as far as] the achorayim (the exterior levels) of chochmah, which are vested in binah,

כִּי אִם בִּבְחִינַת אֲחוֹרַיִים דְּחָכְמָה הַמִּתְלַבְּשִׁים בְּבִינָה,

Unlike the internal and essential aspect of chochmah, the exterior aspect of chochmah is capable of descending into lower levels of Divinity, such as the sefirah of binah.

which in turn is vested in the seven lower sefirot, [collectively] called z’eyr anpin (lit., the “small countenance”)—

הַמִּתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּז’ סְפִירוֹת תַּחְתּוֹנוֹת שֶׁנִּקְרָאִים “זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין”,

This name implies a level of Divinity which is contracted to within finite dimensions. In this spirit, the seven emotive attributes are termed middot, whose singular form (מִדָה) translates literally as “measure,” for it refers to the [infinite] Ein Sof-light when it is at the stage of having garbed itself in finitude in order thereby to become the source for created worlds.

the mystic principle of the Torah.

סוֹד הַתּוֹרָה,

The manner in which supernal chochmah descends through binah and finds diverse expression within the seven emotive attributes underlies the divergence of halachic rulings within the Torah. For the laws of the Torah—determining what is kasher (valid) versus pasul (invalid), innocent versus guilty, pure versus impure, and so on—derive from these emotive attributes. Rulings of what is kasher, innocent and pure, derive from chesed (the attribute of kindness); rulings of what is pasul, guilty and impure, derive from gevurah (the attribute of severity); and so on.

,

וּמִתְפַּשֶּׁטֶת עַד סוֹף ד’ סְפִירוֹת הַתַּחְתּוֹנוֹת, שֶׁהֵן נֶצַח־הוֹד־יְסוֹד־מַלְכוּת,

These latter four emotive attributes are merely the extrinsic offshoots of the first three basic emotive attributes—chesed, gevurah, and tiferet, which they activate and cause to descend.

There, [Moses’] prophecy apprehended the pnimiyut, i.e., the inner dimension of netzach, hod, yesod, and malchut, whose function is to bring about the descent of the loftier sefirot within the worlds that are below Atzilut.

וְשָׁם הָיְתָה הַשָּׂגַת נְבוּאָתוֹ בִּבְחִינַת פְּנִימִיּוּת, דְּהַיְינוּ מִבְּחִינַת פְּנִימִיּוּת דְּנֶצַח־הוֹד־יְסוֹד־מַלְכוּת.

However, his apprehension did not extend to the Pnimiyut of the levels [of Divinity] transcending netzach-hod-yesod-malchut but only to the achorayim (the external aspect) of chochmah which is vested in binah, which in turn is vested and extended within the pnimiyut of netzach-hod-yesod-malchut.

אֲבָל לְמַעְלָה מִנֶּצַח־הוֹד־יְסוֹד־מַלְכוּת לֹא הָיְתָה לוֹ שׁוּם הַשָּׂגָה בִּפְנִימִיּוּת, כִּי אִם בִּבְחִינַת אֲחוֹרַיִים דְּחָכְמָה הַמְלוּבָּשִׁים בְּבִינָה, הַמְלוּבֶּשֶׁת וּמִתְפַּשֶּׁטֶת תּוֹךְ פְּנִימִיּוּת דְּנֶצַח־הוֹד־יְסוֹד־מַלְכוּת,

In his Glosses and Emendations to this work, the Rebbe asks: What does the Alter Rebbe accomplish by repeating that the external aspect of chochmah vests itself in binah and in turn in netzach-hod-yesod-malchut? It will be noted that here, the Alter Rebbe does not mention its being clothed in the other attributes, as he had done earlier, but only its vestiture in binah and in netzach-hod-yesod-malchut.

This is the mystic principle underlying the teaching of the Midrash⁶ that “The novlot (withered vestige) of supernal chochmah is Torah,”

בְּסוֹד “נוֹבְלוֹת חָכְמָה שֶׁלְּמַעְלָה – תּוֹרָה”,

I.e., the Torah is not the undistilled essence of supernal chochmah; only a paler dilution of this can find actual expression in the revealed aspect of the Torah.

on the level of z’eyr anpin, i.e., diminished and finite, as explained above.

שֶׁהִיא בִּבְחִינַת “זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין”,

Thus, it is written that G‑d said to Moses, “You shall see My back (the Heb. achorai suggesting the hinder or external aspect of Divinity), but My face (the Heb. panai suggesting pnimiyut, the frontal or inward aspect of Divinity) shall not be seen.”⁷

וּכְדִכְתִיב: “וְרָאִיתָ אֶת אֲחוֹרָי, וּפָנַי לֹא יֵרָאוּ”,

Even Moses could behold no more than the achorayim of supernal chochmah and not its pnimiyut, or essence.

See there (in Likkutei Torah of the Arizal), and in Shaar Hanevuah, ch. 1.

עַיֵּין שָׁם וּבְשַׁעַר הַנְּבוּאָה פֶּרֶק א’.

______

FOOTNOTES

_____________

6. Bereishit Rabbah 17:7.

7. Exodus 33:23.