In this lowest level of the light of the neshamah, that which is in Asiyah, there is found the illumination of the final degrees of Asiyah (i.e., that which in created beings is the final level), and this “enables” the Ein Sof to reveal its capacity for creating yesh from ayin as demonstrated in the above-described constant power of growth.

According to the statement in ch. 20 of Sefer Hagilgulim, cited in Likkutei Amarim,⁵³

וּלְפִי מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בְּ”סֵפֶר הַגִּלְגּוּלִים” פֶּרֶק כ’, הוּבָא בְּלִקּוּטֵי אֲמָרִים –

this radiance from the kav of the [infinite] Ein Sof-light vests itself first in the light of Atzilut in Asiyah,

מִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת תְּחִלָּה הֶאָרָה זוֹ שֶׁל הַ”קַּו” דְּאוֹר־אֵין־סוֹף בְּאוֹר הָאֲצִילוּת שֶׁבַּעֲשִׂיָּה,

and from there to the Beriah and Yetzirah in Asiyah,

וּמִמֶּנָּה לִבְרִיאָה וִיצִירָה שֶׁבַּעֲשִׂיָּה,

and from them to the category of the light of the neshamah of the malchut of the malchut of Asiyah.

וּמֵהֶן לִבְחִינַת אוֹר הַנְּשָׁמָה דְּמַלְכוּת דְּמַלְכוּת דַּעֲשִׂיָּה,

From this derives the [creative] power and force in the culmination of the keli of the malchut of malchut of Asiyah, i.e., the lowest degree and sefirah of Asiyah, within the element of Earth.

וְעַל־יְדֵי זֶה יֵשׁ כֹּחַ וָעוֹז בְּסִיּוּם הַכְּלִי דְּמַלְכוּת דְּמַלְכוּת דַּעֲשִׂיָּה שֶׁבִּיסוֹד הֶעָפָר,

This is the constant and everlasting effect, throughout the earth, of the creative utterance, “Let the earth bring forth herbs…,”⁵⁴ this fiat being the source of the power of vegetative growth

וְהוּא מַאֲמַר “תַּדְשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ וְכוּ’”, לִהְיוֹת פּוֹעֵל בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ תָּמִיד לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד

(⁵⁵in a mode of infinitude,

(בְּחִינַת אֵין־סוֹף,

Not only is the capacity for growth an instance of yesh me’ayin and a result of G‑d’s infinitude: the same is true of its constant recurrence.

and not only during the Six Days of Creation, as with the fiat, “Let the waters bring forth [an abundance of creeping creatures],”⁵⁶ and the fiat, “Let the earth bring forth living beings.”⁵⁷

וְלֹא בִּלְבַד בְּשֵׁשֶׁת יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית, כְּמַאֲמַר “יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם”, וּמַאֲמַר “תּוֹצֵא הָאָרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה”,

Ever since these one-time creative utterances, every living being derives from another, and not ex nihilo from the earth or water.

[These fiats derive] from the chochmah of the malchut of the malchut of Asiyah.

מֵחָכְמָה דְּמַלְכוּת דְּמַלְכוּת דַּעֲשִׂיָּה,

For during the Seven Days of the Beginning there shone in this world a radiance from the [infinite] Ein Sof-light in a mode of gratuitous kindness,

שֶׁבְּז’ יְמֵי בְרֵאשִׁית הֵאִיר בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה הֶאָרָה מֵאוֹר־אֵין־סוֹף בְּ”חֶסֶד חִנָּם”,

without any [prior] elevation of mayin nukvin at all.)

בְּלִי הַעֲלָאַת “מַיִּין נוּקְבִין” כְּלָל),

During those days, there was no spontaneous arousal initiated from the world below, in the form of Divine service on the part of the “female” or recipient element, in order to elicit a reciprocal arousal from above. (After these seven days, however, G‑d ordained that henceforth, there must first be an arousal initiated from below.) By virtue of the gratuitous and unearned Divine kindness of those first seven days, each of the above-quoted fiats (“Let the water bring forth…” and “Let the earth bring forth…”) effectively brought about an instance of creation ex nihilo, of yesh from ayin.

The fiat “Let the earth sprout forth…,” by contrast, operates constantly:

to make grasses and trees and fruits sprout ex nihilo into substantiality, constantly, year by year.⁵⁸

לְהַצְמִיחַ עֲשָׂבִים וְאִילָנוֹת וּפֵירוֹת מֵאַיִן לְיֵשׁ תָּמִיד מִדֵּי שָׁנָה בְּשָׁנָה,

This [constancy] is a kind of infinity,

שֶׁהוּא מֵעֵין בְּחִינַת “אֵין־סוֹף”,

for if this world were to exist for myriads of myriads of years, they would still sprout forth from year to year.

שֶׁאִם יִתְקַיֵּים עוֹלָם הַזֶּה רִיבּוּי רִבְבוֹת שָׁנִים – יַצְמִיחוּ מִדֵּי שָׁנָה בְּשָׁנָה.

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FOOTNOTES

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53.  Note by the Rebbe: “See ch. 6 (in the Alter Rebbe’s Note); ch. 18; see also end of ch. 51 and end of ch. 52.”

54.  Genesis 1:11.

55.  Parentheses are in the original text.

56.  Genesis 1:10.

57.  Ibid. 1:24.

58. Note by the Rebbe: “Coming after ‘constantly,’ the phrase ‘year by year’ suggests something of a contradiction. This is not the case in the text above (standard Hebrew Tanya, end of p. 132a), where תמיד לעולם means ‘constant and everlasting,’ as is evident from the continuation there (‘in a mode of infinitude’). Our text should therefore be understood in the spirit of the similar text at the end of Epistle 14, above: ‘And this is the meaning of Forever…nevertheless, it is not…rather, every year….’”