Torah Ohr · Parshas Bereishis · Maamar 2
כי כאשר השמים החדשים והארץ החדשה וגו׳
“For as the new heavens and the new earth”
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The big idea
The world’s heaven and earth are sustained by a spiritual “earth” and “heaven” — the soul’s upward rush of longing (ratzo) and the drawing down of G‑dliness through Torah and mitzvos (shov). In the future, the pulse of ratzo and shov will flow from G‑d’s own essence, heaven first, and Israel’s service will be raised to stand before Him with it.
The maamar in brief
The Sages say that heaven and earth were created for the sake of Israel and the Torah; the Alter Rebbe infers that Israel and the Torah contain a spiritual heaven and earth that keep the physical ones in being. Eretz (earth) is linked to ratzon and ratz: the “running” of longing, like the chayos who “ran and returned.” This ratzo is the love of the Shema, prepared for by Pesukei deZimra, a single-minded desire for G‑d’s essence beyond all the worlds that live from His mere “kingship.” The “return” (shov) comes in the Shemoneh Esreh, Torah study and above all the practical mitzvos, which encompass the soul like the heavens around the earth. Now, amid concealment, earth must precede heaven: an arousal from below must precede the response from above. In the Time to Come, with no concealment, the “new heavens and new earth” will come from G‑d alone, heaven first — as the pulse of G‑d’s own flow, like a heartbeat, reaches and withdraws. Yet “your seed and your name” — Israel’s mitzvos and acceptance of G‑d’s yoke — will also stand before Him.
Outline
- Heaven and earth in Torah and IsraelSince the world exists for Israel and the Torah, they must contain a spiritual heaven and earth; eretz means both running and will.¶1–2
- Ratzo: the running of longingThe angels’ and souls’ yearning to be absorbed in G‑d; in prayer it is the love of the Shema, prepared by Pesukei deZimra, reaching past the worlds that live from G‑d’s “kingship” to His essence.¶3–8
- Shov: drawing G‑dliness downThe Shemoneh Esreh, Torah study and practical mitzvos draw the light into vessels; the soul “lives against its will” in the body for this purpose.¶9–11
- Shov is heaven, ratzo is earthTorah and mitzvos encompass the soul as heaven encompasses earth; the throne and footstool, the ladder of prayer, and why earth preceded heaven in creation.¶12–15
- Why the world exists for Torah and IsraelThe Torah (shov) and Israel’s self-sacrifice (ratzo) are the spiritual heaven and earth that sustain the physical ones.¶16
- The new earth of the Time to ComePresent ratzo is a struggle out of concealment; in the future, without kelipah, the revelation will come from above alone, heaven before earth, not through the contractions of Elokim.¶17–21
- Ratzo and shov within the divine flowLike a heartbeat or a flame, G‑d’s own flow expands and withdraws (“reaching and not reaching”); here expansion (heaven) precedes withdrawal (earth).¶22–26
- “So shall your seed and your name stand”Israel’s mitzvos and acceptance of G‑d’s yoke will not be eclipsed by the future revelation but raised to stand before Him.¶27–28
Key concepts
- Ratzo and shovרצוא ושוב
- “Running and returning”: the upward rush of longing to cleave to G‑d, and the return downward to draw G‑dliness into the world. Here ratzo is “earth” and shov is “heaven.”
- Arousal from below and from aboveאתערותא דלתתא ואתערותא דלעילא
- Human initiative that draws a divine response, and divine revelation unprompted by us. Now the first must precede the second; the new heavens and earth come from above alone.
- “King” and “Unique One”מלך ויחיד
- G‑d as “King” — His kingship, merely a “name” and radiance — gives life to all worlds (memalei); as “Unique” He is His essence, unchanged by creation (sovev), and it is to this that Israel is bound.
- Encompassing lightsמקיפים
- Light that surrounds rather than enters; the mitzvos become the soul’s encompassing garments, so the shov of Torah and mitzvos is “heaven” around the “earth” of ratzo.
- Reaching and not reachingמטי ולא מטי
- The Arizal’s term for the pulse of divine light that reaches into the vessels and withdraws, like a heartbeat or a flame; expansion comes first.
- The Name Elokimשם אלקים
- The Name of contraction and concealment through which the present world was made; the soul’s ratzo “sweetens” it until it merges with Havayah.
For children · ages 9–13
Running up and coming back
The big idea
We run toward G‑d with longing in our prayer, and then come back down to bring His light into the world through Torah and mitzvos.
The Torah begins, “In the beginning G‑d created the heavens and the earth,” and our Sages say the world was created for the sake of the Jewish people and the Torah. So the maamar teaches that there is a spiritual “earth” and “heaven” inside our service of G‑d. The Hebrew word for earth, eretz, is connected to running (ratz) and to wanting (ratzon). This is ratzo, “running”: a deep longing to come close to G‑d Himself. We reach it in the Shema, after thinking in Pesukei deZimra about how G‑d made the whole world with a single word. Then comes shov, “returning”: in the Shemoneh Esreh, in learning Torah and in doing mitzvos, we bring G‑d’s light down into our lives. The Torah and mitzvos surround the soul the way the sky surrounds the earth. Now, we must first run up, and only then does G‑d’s light come down, so earth comes before heaven. The prophet Yeshayahu promises “new heavens and a new earth” in the Time to Come, when G‑d’s light will come first. Even then, the mitzvos we do now will stand before G‑d forever.
The mashal
Our heart beats all the time: the life in it spreads out, pulls back, and spreads out again, and we breathe out and breathe in, over and over. This running and returning happens inside us without stopping. In the same way, G‑d’s own light reaches out and then pulls back, again and again.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- What is the difference between “running” toward G‑d and “returning” to bring His light into the world?
- Why does the maamar compare the Torah and mitzvos to the sky that surrounds the whole earth?
- Before davening this week, what could you think about that would help you want to be close to G‑d?
Explanation © likuteitorah.com, CC BY-NC 4.0: retold for children from our translation and explanation, with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by a human editor.
Heaven and earth in Torah and Israel ¶1–2
1כי כאשר השמים12 החדשים והארץ החדשה וגו׳. הנה כתיב בראשית ברא אלקי׳ את השמים ואת הארץ וארז״ל [ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] בראשית בשביל ישראל שנקראו ראשית.3
“For as the new heavens and the new earth,” etc. Now, it is written, “In the beginning (Bereshis) G‑d created the heavens and the earth,” and our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Bereshis — for the sake of Israel, who are called ‘beginning’ (reishis).”
The maamar opens with Isaiah’s promise that the “new heavens and new earth” that G‑d will make will endure before Him, and so will Israel’s offspring and name. Before explaining it, the Alter Rebbe turns to the Torah’s first verse and the Sages’ reading of Bereshis as “for the sake of reishis (the first)”: the world was created for the sake of Israel, who are called “first.”
וגם אמרו בשביל התורה שנק׳ ראשית.4 וא״כ כיון ששמים וארץ נבראו בשביל תורה וישראל מוכרח לומר שיש בחי׳ שמים וארץ בתורה ובעבודת ישראל שבהן ועל ידן יתקיימו שמים וארץ הגשמיים.5
They also said: for the sake of the Torah, which is called ‘beginning.’ If so, since heaven and earth were created for the sake of the Torah and Israel, we are compelled to say that there is a level of heaven and earth in the Torah and in the service of Israel, by which and through which the physical heaven and earth are sustained.
The Sages also read it as “for the sake of the Torah,” which is likewise called “first.” The Alter Rebbe draws the conclusion: if the physical heaven and earth exist for the Torah and for Israel, then the Torah and Israel’s divine service must themselves contain a spiritual “heaven” and “earth,” and it is these that keep the physical ones in existence. The maamar now sets out to identify them.
The paragraph states the maamar’s verse and its first question: since creation exists for the Torah and for Israel, there must be a spiritual “heaven and earth” within them that sustains the physical heaven and earth.
Rashi on Genesis 1:1 brings both readings with their prooftexts: the Torah is “the first (reishis) of His way” (Proverbs 8:22) and Israel is “the first of His produce” (Jeremiah 2:3). The Alter Rebbe takes the Midrash literally as a statement about what holds the world in being.
Marei mekomos
- 1כי כאשר השמים · הנחת כ״ק אדה״א — בסה״מ תקס״ז ע׳ כז, נאמרה שבת פ׳ וארא. ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. הגהות ביאורים וקיצורים באוה״ת כרך ג תעח, א (זהו הנדפס בלקו״ת שה״ש נ, ג). הסיום להגהות הנ״ל בכרך ו תתרמב, ב. ביאור בכרך ג תפא, ב (מלקו״ת לג״פ) תרפה, א. כרך ו תתרמג, א. תתרמד, ב. תתרמט, א. ראה נ״ך כרך ג׳ ע׳ א׳רנא.
- 2כי כאשר השמים · Isaiah 66:22
- 3בשביל ישראל שנקראו ראשית · Rashi on Genesis 1:1:2
- 4בראשית . . וארז״ל . . בשביל ישראל . . התורה שנק׳ ראשית · Genesis 1:1
- 5שמים וארץ הגשמיים · באוה״ת כרך ו תתרמד, ב יש הגה״ה לכאן.
2והענין הוא כי הנה אמרז״ל [אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] למה נק׳ שמה ארץ שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה.1 פי׳ שרצתה היינו ל׳ [לשון] רץ וגם ל׳ [לשון] רצון.24
The explanation is this: our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Why is it called by the name eretz (earth)? Because it ran (ratzsah) to do the will (ratzon) of its Maker.” That is, ratzsah is a term of running (ratz) and also a term of will (ratzon).
The Midrash explains the name eretz (earth) by wordplay: the earth “ran” (ratzsah) to do its Maker’s will. The Alter Rebbe points out that ratzsah carries two meanings at once — running (ratz) and wanting (ratzon) — and both will matter in what follows.
וכמ״ש בכה ארוץ גדוד3 שהוא ג״כ ל׳ [לשון] רץ וגם יש בו ג״כ ענין רצון וכמשי״ת [וכמו שיתבאר].
As it is written, “For by You I run (arutz) through a troop,” which is also a term of running and also contains the idea of will, as will be explained.
David’s words “by You I run through a troop” use the same root for running. The Alter Rebbe adds that the verse also carries the sense of will, which he explains later (paragraph 8), where “by You” is read as “in Your very essence.”
The paragraph links “earth” (eretz) with running and with will (ratzon), preparing to identify “earth” with the soul’s rush of desire toward G‑d.
The verse appears in II Samuel 22:30 with the spelling בכה and in Psalms 18:30 as בך; the maamar quotes the Samuel spelling, which it later expounds (“bechah — in Your essence”).
Marei mekomos
- 1למה נק׳ שמה ארץ שרצתה לעשות רצון קונה · Bereshit Rabbah 5:8
- 2ל׳ רץ וגם ל׳ רצון · ראה סה״מ תקס״ה ח״ב ע׳ תשיב. אוה״ת כרך ג תפא, ב.
- 3בכה ארוץ גדוד · II Samuel 22:30
- 4למה נקרא שמה ארץ · Bereshit Rabbah 5:7
Ratzo: the running of longing ¶3–8
3והענין דהנה כתיב והחיות רצוא ושוב1 בחי׳ רצוא זה הוא ענין תשוקה בלב לדבקה בו יתברך והוא ג״כ ל׳ [לשון] מרוצה
The explanation: it is written, “And the chayos ran and returned (ratzo vashov).” This level of ratzo is a longing in the heart to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and it is also a term of running (merutzah):
Ezekiel’s vision describes the chayos — the angelic “living creatures” who bear the divine chariot — as “running and returning” (ratzo vashov). The Alter Rebbe defines ratzo, the “running,” as the heart’s longing to cleave to G‑d, and notes that it shares the root of merutzah, a run.
כמו הרץ ממקומו להלאה כך הוא ענין תשוקה זו של החיות להיות יוצאים ועולים ממקומם וליבטל וליכלל בא״ס ב״ה וכעין מ״ש שרפים עומדי׳ [עומדים / עומדין] ממעל לו ופי׳ ממעל לשכינת׳.23
just as one who runs from his place onward, so is this longing of the chayos — to go out and rise up from their place, to be nullified and absorbed into the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He. It is akin to what is written, “Seraphim stood above Him (mima’al lo),” which is explained [as] “above His Shechinah.”
As a runner leaves his place and moves beyond it, the angels’ longing drives them out of their own level, rising to be nullified and absorbed in the Infinite. Isaiah’s seraphim who “stand above Him” are similar: they are explained as standing above the Shechinah, rising beyond the level of the Divine Presence that rests upon them.
The paragraph defines ratzo as a longing that carries a being out of its own place and up toward absorption in G‑d, illustrated by the angels in the visions of Ezekiel and Isaiah.
The Talmud (Chagigah 13b) explains “ratzo vashov” as “like the light that comes out of the mouth of a furnace,” a flame that surges and recoils; the maamar later compares the divine flow itself to fire and to the heartbeat (paragraphs 23–24).
Marei mekomos
- 1והחיות רצוא ושוב · Ezekiel 1:14
- 2ממעל לשכינת׳ · ראה לקו״ת ברכה צט, ד. מאמרי אדמו״ר הזקן תקס״ח ע׳ רטז. ובארוכה באוה״ת על נ״ך ישעי׳ ע׳ קנט ואילך. ובביאורי הזהר לכ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי לפ׳ אחרי עט, ב (בדף עח, א). ובביאורי הזהר לכ״ק אדמו״ר הצ״צ ע׳ שנז. בסה״מ תקס״ז ע׳ כח אינו מביא פסוק זה. וליתא עד שו״ה ית׳ — והנה בחי׳ הרצוא הזה הוא בק״ש.
- 3שרפים עומדים ממעל לו · Isaiah 6:2
4והיינו שתשוקתם להכלל שם כו׳. וכן בחי׳ כללות נש״י [נשמות ישראל] במקורן ושרשן יש בהן בחי׳ רצוא ברצון ותשוקה לדבקה בו בא״ס ב״ה וכמ״ש ואל אישך תשוקתך.1
That is, their longing is to be absorbed there, etc. Likewise, the souls of Israel as a whole, in their source and root, have a level of ratzo, with will and longing to cleave to Him, to the Infinite One, blessed be He, as it is written, “And your longing shall be for your husband.”
The same yearning exists in the source of all Jewish souls, the Community of Israel, which longs to cleave to the Infinite. The words said to Eve, “your longing shall be for your husband,” are read as the longing of this collective soul, the “bride,” for G‑d.
והיינו מפני השגתה בהיותה בבחי׳ ארץ שהיא בחי׳ המדרגה התחתונה להיות עם ודבר נפרד2 כו׳
This is because of her apprehension, being on the level of “earth,” which is the lowest level — to be a “people” and a separate thing, etc.
Her longing comes from what she perceives in her position as “earth,” the lowest divine level (Malchus), through which there comes to be a “people” — beings who exist as separate from their King. From that lowest place she yearns to be reunited with Him.
וכן הוא ג״כ בנפש האדם למטה המשכלת ומתבוננת בה׳ אחד איך שהוא יתברך מחדש בטובו3 כו׳
So too with the soul of man below, which reasons and contemplates the One G‑d: how He, blessed be He, renews in His goodness, etc.,
The same pattern repeats in the individual soul below: a person reflects with his intellect on G‑d’s oneness and on how He “in His goodness renews [each day the work of creation]” (from the first blessing before the Shema).
ומהווה כל העולמות מאין ליש ממש אשר ע״כ הוא ג״כ בחי׳ ארץ בבחי׳ רצוא ורצון לדבקה בו ית׳ ולאהבה את4 ה׳ כי הוא חייך.
and brings all the worlds into being from nothing into actual something. Therefore it too is on the level of “earth,” in a state of ratzo and will to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and “to love G‑d, for He is your life.”
In this renewal G‑d brings all worlds from nothing into real existence. Through such reflection his soul too becomes “earth”: it is stirred to run toward G‑d with desire and love. The verse “to love G‑d, for He is your life” shows that the love grows from recognizing that G‑d is one’s very life.
The quality of “earth” — a running desire to cleave to G‑d — is found both in the collective root of Israel’s souls and, through contemplation, in each individual soul.
A parallel passage in Likkutei Torah (Bamidbar 5b) explains that Malchus is the lowest level, through which the worlds come into being from nothing, since “there is no king without a people” and a people is separate from its king; therefore Malchus is called “earth,” and from it the souls are drawn.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואל אישך תשוקתך · Genesis 3:16
- 2וכן בחי׳ כללות נש״י . . להיות עם ודבר נפרד · נעתק גם בלקו״ת במדבר ה, ב.
- 3
- 4ולאהבה את ה׳ · Deuteronomy 30:20
5והנה בחי׳ הרצוא הזה הוא בק״ש [בקריאת שמע] ובחי׳ השוב הוא בתפלת שמ״ע [שמונה עשרה] ובת״ת [ובתלמוד תורה] שהוא בחי׳ גילוי אלקות מלמעלה למטה כנודע.
Now, this level of ratzo is in the reading of the Shema, and the level of shov (return) is in the Shemoneh Esreh prayer and in Torah study, which is the level of the revelation of G‑dliness from above to below, as is known.
The Alter Rebbe now maps ratzo and shov onto the morning prayers. The Shema, with its declaration of G‑d’s oneness and its command to love Him, is the soul’s running upward; the Shemoneh Esreh and the Torah study that follows are the “return,” in which G‑dliness is drawn down and revealed below.
ופסוד״ז [ופסוקי דזמרה] שקודם ק״ש [קריאת שמע] היינו לספר בשבחו של מקום כמ״ש רוממות אל בגרונם1 ועי״ז נעשה כמו חרב פיפיות לעשות נקמה2 כו׳ דהיינו לקרוע המסכים המבדילים גילוי אלקות.
The Verses of Praise (Pesukei deZimra), which precede the Shema, are to recount the praise of the Omnipresent, as it is written, “The exaltations of G‑d are in their throat,” and through this it becomes like “a double-edged sword, to execute vengeance,” etc. — that is, to tear apart the partitions that screen off the revelation of G‑dliness.
Pesukei deZimra, the psalms and verses of praise said before the Shema, recount G‑d’s greatness. Psalm 149 speaks of “exaltations of G‑d in their throat and a double-edged sword in their hand to execute vengeance”; the Alter Rebbe reads the praise itself as the sword, cutting through the screens that hide G‑dliness.
וכ״ז [וכל זה] הכנה בלבד לשמ״ע [לשמונה עשרה] כי בשמ״ע [בשמונה עשרה] הוא המשכת גילוי אלקות באמרו ברוך אתה הוי״ה אלקינו שהוא בחי׳ גילוי סוכ״ע בממכ״ע [בממלא כל עלמין].
All this is only a preparation for the Shemoneh Esreh, for in the Shemoneh Esreh there is the drawing down of the revelation of G‑dliness, when one says, “Blessed are You, Havayah, our G‑d,” which is the revelation of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) within the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin).
Everything before it prepares for the Shemoneh Esreh, where the drawing down is explicit in each blessing’s formula. “Blessed are You, Havayah, our G‑d” means that the transcendent light (Havayah, sovev) becomes revealed within the light invested in the worlds (“our G‑d,” memalei).
But in order to come to this, one must first set out the praise of the Omnipresent in the Verses of Praise, as in “Blessed is He who spoke and the world came into being”
Before this can happen, one must first set out G‑d’s praise in Pesukei deZimra, beginning with Baruch She’amar. As the Tzemach Tzedek observes, this seems to repeat the previous point; but here the point is that Pesukei deZimra prepares for the Shema, where the ratzo takes place. A long parenthesis follows, and the sentence resumes in part 9.
(כי עם היות שהנה״א [שהנפש האלקית] היא בחי׳ ארץ שהוא בחי׳ רצוא אך היינו מצד שורשה יש בה בחי׳ השתוקקות תמיד לדבקה בו ית׳
(For although the G‑dly soul is on the level of “earth,” which is the level of ratzo, this is only from the standpoint of its root, [where] it has a constant yearning to cleave to Him, blessed be He.
The parenthesis explains why preparation is needed: the G‑dly soul is by nature “earth,” always yearning to cleave to G‑d — but that is its state in its root, above.
אבל בירידתה למטה להתלבש בגוף ונה״ב [ונפש הבהמית] אשר הן מסתירי׳ על אורה כו׳ וממשיכים אותה אחריהם להמשך בקדרות אופל עניני עוה״ז ואז נסתר ונעלם בה התשוקה והרצוא לאלקות כנודע שלאום מלאום יאמץ וכשזה קם56 כו׳.
But in its descent below, to be clothed in the body and the animal soul, which conceal its light, etc., and draw it after them to be drawn into the murky darkness of the affairs of this world, then the longing and the ratzo for G‑dliness become concealed and hidden within it, as is known: “one nation shall prevail over the other nation,” and when this one rises, etc.
Once it descends into a body and an animal soul, they hide its light and draw it into the darkness of worldly concerns, and its yearning for G‑dliness becomes hidden. The verse about Jacob and Esau, “one nation shall prevail over the other,” read by the Sages as “when one rises, the other falls,” describes this contest: when the animal soul is strong, the G‑dly soul’s longing is concealed.
ואי לזאת כדי שתוכל לבא לבחי׳ הרצוא בשעת ק״ש [קריאת שמע] צריכה הכנה רבה לזה והוא ענין פסוד״ז [פסוקי דזמרה] בסידור שבחו של מקום כו׳ והכל הכנה לבחי׳ השוב דשמ״ע [דשמונה עשרה]7 כי גם הרצוא הוא בשביל להיות שוב כנודע.
Therefore, in order that it be able to come to the level of ratzo at the time of the Shema, it needs great preparation for this, and that is [the purpose of] the Verses of Praise, in setting out the praise of the Omnipresent, etc. And all of it is a preparation for the level of shov of the Shemoneh Esreh, for the ratzo, too, is for the sake of there being shov, as is known,
To reach the ratzo of the Shema, then, the soul needs considerable preparation, and this is the task of Pesukei deZimra. Yet the ratzo itself is not the goal: it exists for the sake of the shov, the drawing down that takes place in the Shemoneh Esreh.
כמו שהלוים היו טפלים לכהנים כו׳ וגם דרך פרט פסוד״ז [פסוקי דזמרה] הוא הכנה לשמ״ע [לשמונה עשרה] ג״כ שהוא המשכה וגילוי למטה שמתחלה צריך לקרוע המסכים המבדילים ע״י פסוד״ז [פסוקי דזמרה] בכדי שיוכל להיות הגילוי למטה)
just as the Levites were subordinate to the Kohanim, etc. And also, in particular, the Verses of Praise are a preparation for the Shemoneh Esreh, which is a drawing down and revelation below, for first one must tear apart the separating partitions through the Verses of Praise, so that the revelation below can take place.)
The ascent serves the descent the way the Levites served as assistants to the Kohanim. More specifically, Pesukei deZimra also serves the Shemoneh Esreh directly: its cutting away of the separating screens is what allows the revelation below to happen.
איך שבדבור א׳ בלבד נתהוו שמים וארץ8 וכל צבאם9 כו׳ וכמו שמסיים בברכה זו בישתבח מלך יחיד חי העולמים10 ובב״ש [ובברוך שאמר] אומרים ג״כ יחיד חי העולמים מלך.
[It recounts] how by a single utterance alone heaven and earth and all their host came into being, etc., and as one concludes this blessing in Yishtabach: “King, Unique One, Life of the worlds,” and in “Blessed is He who spoke” one likewise says, “Unique One, Life of the worlds, King.”
Back to the main sentence: Pesukei deZimra praises G‑d by describing how heaven, earth and all their hosts came into being through a single utterance. Both Yishtabach, which closes this section, and Baruch She’amar, which opens it, call G‑d “Unique One, Life of the worlds” together with “King.”
פי׳ שהוא ית׳ הוא יחיד ומיוחד כמו קודם בריאת העולם וחי העולמים הוא רק מבחי׳ מלך שבחי׳ מלוכה היא
This means that He, blessed be He, is single and unique just as before the creation of the world, and [being] “Life of the worlds” is only from the level of “King,” for the level of kingship is
The Alter Rebbe explains the phrase: G‑d is “Unique” — alone and unchanged, exactly as before creation — while being “Life of the worlds” belongs only to His aspect of “King.”
רק הארה בלבד ממנו יתב׳ [יתברך] שהארה זו נמשכת ממנו יתב׳ [יתברך] להיות חיות כל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים.11
only a mere radiance from Him, blessed be He; this radiance is drawn forth from Him, blessed be He, to be the life-force of all the worlds, higher and lower.
Kingship is only a faint radiance of G‑d. It is this radiance, not His essence, that is drawn down to be the life-force of all the worlds. The contrast between “Unique” (G‑d Himself) and “King” (a mere radiance) prepares for the next paragraphs.
The paragraph places ratzo in the Shema and shov in the Shemoneh Esreh and Torah study, and shows how Pesukei deZimra prepares for both: it cuts through the concealment, and it teaches that all worlds live only from G‑d’s “kingship,” a mere radiance of Him.
The distinction between G‑d as “Unique” and as “King” reflects the Kabbalistic teaching that Malchus, the last of the Sefiros, is the source of the worlds’ existence: the worlds relate only to this outermost radiance, while G‑d Himself remains “as before creation.”
Marei mekomos
- 1רוממות אל בגרונם · Psalms 149:6
- 2לעשות נקמה · Psalms 149:7
- 3אך כדי . . צריך הוא · ראה אוה״ת פ׳ בראשית כרך ו הגהות לד״ה כי כאשר השמים סעי׳ א׳ שלכאורה יש כאן כפל לשון דכבר אמר שפסוד״ז הוא הכנה בלבד לשמו״ע לקרוע המסכים כו׳, אם כן מה בא לחדש שנית באמרו אך כדי כו׳ צריך הוא כו׳, אך הענין הוא דכאן בא לומר, שפסוד״ז הוא הכנה לק״ש כי בחי׳ הרצוא הוא בק״ש כנ״ל.
- 4ברוך שאמר והיה העולם · Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Pesukei Dezimra, Barukh She'amar 2
- 5שלאום מלאום יאמץ וכשזה קם · Genesis 25:23
- 6וכשזה קם · Rashi on Genesis 25:23:5
- 7הרצוא בשעת ק״ש . . השוב דשמ״ע · ראה לקו״ת שה״ש מז, א. שער האמונה לאדה״א עז, ב.
- 8שבדבור א׳ בלבד נתהוו שמים וארץ · אבות ה, א.
- 9שמים וארץ וכל צבאם · Genesis 2:1
- 10בישתבח מלך יחיד חי העולמים · Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Pesukei Dezimra, Yishtabach
- 11ממנו ית׳ · בבוך ביאור על התורה לכן אמור לבנ״י קג, ב נוסף אח״כ תי׳: בשביל.
6ונודע שיש רבוי עולמות למעלה עד אין קץ ולמטה עד אין תכלית. וזהו פי׳ בשכמל״ו [ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד] כי ועד אין לו הפסק.1
It is known that there is a multitude of worlds, above without end and below without limit. This is the meaning of “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever (le’olam va’ed)”: for va’ed has no break.
Kabbalah teaches that there is an endless multitude of worlds, both above and below. The Alter Rebbe finds this in the response to the Shema, “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever”: the Talmud teaches that wherever va’ed is used it means without interruption, so G‑d’s kingdom extends endlessly.
והיינו שבחי׳ כבוד מלכותו נמשך להחיות עולמות ונבראים אין קץ וכמ״ש היש מספר לגדודיו2 כו׳ וכתיב אלף אלפין3 ישמשוניה ורבו רבבן קדמוהי יקומון וזהו מספר גדוד4 א׳ כו׳.
That is, the glory of His kingdom is drawn forth to give life to worlds and creations without end, as it is written, “Is there any number to His troops?” etc., and it is written, “A thousand thousands serve Him, and myriads of myriads stand before Him” — and this is the number of one troop, etc.
It is His kingship, “the glory of His kingdom,” that flows into all these endless worlds and creatures to give them life. Job speaks of G‑d’s countless “troops,” and Daniel of “a thousand thousands” and “myriads of myriads” of angels — yet the Talmud says Daniel’s staggering figure is only the count of a single troop.
The paragraph describes the endless extent of creation, all of which lives from G‑d’s “kingship.”
The words of “Blessed be the Name of the glory of His kingdom” — “Name” and “kingdom” — are exactly the levels the next paragraph calls “merely a name.”
Marei mekomos
- 1ועד אין לו הפסק · Eruvin 54a:14–15
- 2היש מספר לגדודיו · Job 25:3
- 3אלף אלפין · Daniel 7:10
- 4מספר גדוד אחד · Chagigah 13b:13
Yet with all this multitude, they are nonetheless all drawn only from the level of “King,” which is merely the level of a “name,” as the saying goes, “for the sake of His Name, with love. King,” etc.
Yet this entire endless multitude draws its life only from the level of “King,” which is merely G‑d’s “Name.” A name exists for others to call a person by and does not touch his essence; so too kingship is how G‑d relates to others, not what He is. The first blessing of the Shemoneh Esreh places “for the sake of His Name, with love” directly beside “King.”
והוא בחי׳ ממכ״ע [ממלא כל עלמין] ומזה נולדה בחי׳ התפעלות האהבה בלבבו באמרו ואהבת את2 ה׳ אלקיך פי׳ את ה׳ אלקיך היינו כמש״ל [כמה שכתוב לעיל] שמע ישראל3 ה׳ אלהינו כו׳
This is the level of memalei kol almin. And from this is born the stirring of love in one’s heart when he says, “And you shall love Havayah your G‑d.” The meaning of “Havayah your G‑d” is as stated above, “Hear, O Israel, Havayah is our G‑d,” etc.
This life-giving kingship is the light that fills all worlds (memalei), the divine energy within each creature. Contemplating this arouses love when one says “And you shall love Havayah your G‑d,” and “Havayah your G‑d” means what was explained for “Havayah is our G‑d”: the transcendent Havayah revealed within “your G‑d.”
והוא מה שמעלה יתירה נודע׳ [נודעת] לנו מכל גדודי מעלה שקרבנו לשמו הגדול שהוא בחי׳ סוכ״ע ועצמיות אלקותו יתברך הוא בחי׳ יחיד שלמעלה מעלה מבחי׳ חי העולמים שהוא רק מבחי׳ מלך כו׳
And this is the added superiority that is known to us over all the troops on high: that He has brought us near to His great Name, which is the level of sovev kol almin and the very essence of His G‑dliness, blessed be He — the level of “Unique One,” which is far, far above the level of “Life of the worlds,” which is only from the level of “King,” etc.
Israel’s special advantage over all the angelic hosts is that G‑d “brought us near to His great Name” (from the blessing before the Shema): to sovev, His very essence, the level of “Unique One,” far above “Life of the worlds,” the mere level of “King” from which the angels draw.
וזהו שנק׳ כנ״י [כנסת ישראל] אחת כמ״ש אחת היא יונתי4 כו׳ שהיא מקבלת מבחי׳ ה׳ אחד ממש.
And this is why the Community of Israel is called “one,” as it is written, “One is she, My dove,” etc., for she receives from the level of “Havayah is One” in the fullest sense.
That is why the Community of Israel is called “one,” as in the Song of Songs, “One is she, My dove”: she receives from “Havayah is One” — from G‑d’s oneness itself, not merely from His kingship.
All the endless worlds live from G‑d’s “kingship,” merely His “Name” (memalei); Israel is bound to His essence, the “Unique One” (sovev), and is therefore called “one” — and this is what arouses the love of G‑d in the Shema.
The verse from the Song of Songs continues, “she is one to her mother,” which the next paragraph reads as the soul’s single-minded will to cleave to G‑d.
Marei mekomos
- 1למען שמו באהבה מלך · Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Amidah, Patriarchs 3
- 2ואהבת את ה׳ · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 3שמע ישראל ה׳ אלהינו · Deuteronomy 6:4
- 4אחת היא יונתי · Song of Songs 6:9
That is, by her being in the state of “She is one to her mother”: that through contemplation she comes to a state of oneness, having
The verse “One is she, My dove” continues, “she is one to her mother.” The Alter Rebbe explains how the soul reaches this oneness: through contemplation it comes to have a single will.
רק רצון א׳ לדבקה בו יתב׳ [יתברך] והוא בחי׳ רצוא הנ״ל לבחי׳ סוכ״ע לדבקה בעצמות אלקות וכמאמר מי לי בשמים כו׳.
only one will — to cleave to Him, blessed be He. This is the above-mentioned level of ratzo toward the level of sovev kol almin, to cleave to the very essence of G‑dliness, as in the saying, “Whom do I have in heaven,” etc.
That single will is to cleave to G‑d Himself. This is the ratzo described above, now directed to sovev — G‑d’s transcendent essence — rather than to the life-force within the worlds; as the Psalmist says, “Whom do I have in heaven [but You]?”
וזהו ענין ואהבת שבק״ש [שבקריאת שמע] ופי׳ וענין הרצוא היינו כמ״ש בכה ארוץ גדוד3 בכה דוקא בעצמותך וארוץ גדוד היינו בחי׳ אלף אלפין ישמשוניה ורבו רבבן קדמוהי יקומון4
And this is the meaning of “And you shall love” in the Shema. The meaning and nature of the ratzo is as it is written, “For by You (bechah) I run through a troop”: “bechah” specifically — in Your very essence; and “I run through a troop” refers to the level of “A thousand thousands serve Him, and myriads of myriads stand before Him”
This is the love of “And you shall love” in the Shema. David’s verse “by You I run through a troop” now receives its full meaning: bechah, “by You,” means in G‑d’s very essence, and the “troop” is the countless angelic hosts of Daniel’s vision.
(ועמ״ש במ״א ע״פ ורב כח לתבונתו אין מספר56 איך ששרש כל גדוד הוא בו״ק [בו׳ קצוות] דאצי׳ יעו״ש [יעויין שם]) שבכולם לא יחפוץ רק בה׳ לבדו.
(and see what is explained elsewhere on the verse “Great in power, His understanding is beyond number,” how the root of every troop is in the six extremities (vav ketzavos) of Atzilus; see there) — that among all of them he desires nothing but G‑d alone.
In a parenthesis, the Alter Rebbe refers to another discourse that traces the root of every angelic “troop” to the six emotive Sefiros of Atzilus. The soul runs past all these hosts because it desires nothing but G‑d alone.
ואדלג שור היינו גם בחי׳ כל המקיפים עליונים כי שור הוא חומה כמ״ש בנות צעדה7 עלי שור.
“I leap over a wall (shur)” refers also to the level of all the supernal encompassing lights (makifim), for shur means a wall, as it is written, “Daughters strode upon the wall (shur).”
The second half of David’s verse, “by my G‑d I leap over a wall,” refers to something higher still: the encompassing lights (makifim), levels too lofty to enter the worlds, which surround them as a wall surrounds a city. Shur means “wall,” as in Jacob’s blessing of Joseph.
ועד״מ החומה הוא מקיף לעיר גם הם אדלג כי התשוקה היא רק למהו״ע [למהותו ועצמותו] ית׳ ממש
By way of analogy, a wall encompasses a city; these too “I leap over,” for the longing is only for His very essence and being, blessed be He
Even these lofty surrounding levels the soul “leaps over,” because its longing is not for any revelation, however high, but for G‑d’s essence itself.
(שגם כל המקיפים כלא חשיב אצלו ית׳ וכמ״ש במ״א בפי׳ אדון הנפלאות8 כו׳ ולכן נק׳ שור כמו שהחומה נעשית מאבני׳ [מאבנים] שהם רק בחי׳ דומם כך כתיב עשה פלא9 שבחי׳ פלא ומקיפי׳ [ומקיפים] עליונים הוא רק כמו בחי׳ עשייה אצלו ית׳)
(for all the encompassing lights, too, are considered as nothing before Him, blessed be He, as is explained elsewhere on the meaning of “Master of wonders,” etc. That is why they are called “wall”: just as a wall is made of stones, which are merely inanimate, so it is written, “He does (oseh) wonders,” for the level of “wonder” and the supernal encompassing lights are only like the level of “doing” (asiyah) before Him, blessed be He).
A second parenthesis: before G‑d even the highest encompassing lights count as nothing. That is why they are called a “wall” — a wall is built of stones, inanimate matter — and why the verse says “He does wonders”: from G‑d’s perspective even the “wonders,” the supernal makifim, are a mere “doing,” the lowest kind of activity.
וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] מי לי בשמים1011 ועמך לא חפצתי בארץ כו׳ שמים הם בחי׳ מקיפים וארץ הם בחי׳ פנימיים שזהו בחי׳ שור ובחי׳ גדוד הנ״ל וארוץ ואדלג אותם בכח התשוקה שלי בכה ממש בעצמותך:12
This is the meaning of “Whom do I have in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing on earth,” etc.: “heaven” is the level of the encompassing lights and “earth” is the level of the inner lights — that is, the level of “wall” and the level of “troop” mentioned above — and I run past them and leap over them by the power of my longing, “bechah,” truly in Your essence.
The Psalm verse sums it up: “heaven” stands for the encompassing lights (the “wall”) and “earth” for the inner lights that enter the worlds (the “troop”). The soul runs past both by the strength of its longing for bechah — G‑d’s very essence.
The ratzo of the Shema is a single-minded longing for G‑d’s essence, which runs past all the angelic hosts (the “troop”) and leaps over even the lofty encompassing lights (the “wall”), as in “Whom do I have in heaven.”
Or HaTorah on the Song of Songs cites this passage, summarizing that here “leaping over a wall” is explained through “Whom do I have in heaven.” The soul’s desire reaches past every level of light, inner or encompassing, to G‑d’s essence itself.
Marei mekomos
- 1אחת היא לאמה · המשך הפסוק אחת היא יונתי.
- 2אחת היא לאמה · Song of Songs 6:9
- 3בכה ארוץ גדוד · II Samuel 22:30
- 4אלף אלפין ישמשוניה ורבו רבבן קדמוהי יקומון · Daniel 7:10
- 5ע״פ ורב כח ולתבונתו אין מספר · סידור עם דא״ח ס, א ואילך. וראה בליקוט פי׳ לאגה״ק סי׳ כ בתחלתו.
- 6ורב כח לתבונתו אין מספר · Psalms 147:5
- 7בנות צעדה · Genesis 49:22
- 8
- 9עשה פלא · Exodus 15:11
- 10ואדלג שור . . וז״ש מי לי בשמים · באוה״ת שה״ש כרך א ע׳ 107 מציין לכאן. ושם ”ובד״ה כי כאשר השמים החדשים בלקו״ת פ׳ בראשית פי׳ מדלג שור היינו כמ״ש מי לי בשמים”.
- 11מי לי בשמים · Psalms 73:25
- 12שו״ה אותם — ממש בעצמותך · באוה״ת כרך ו תתרמה, א. יש הגה״ה לכאן.
Shov: drawing G‑dliness down ¶9–11
9והנה מבחינת רצוא הנ״ל בק״ש [בקריאת שמע] נעשה שוב אח״כ בתפלה. ולכן גם בסוף הק״ש [הקריאת שמע] הוא מסיים אני ה׳ אלהיכם
Now, from the above-mentioned level of ratzo in the Shema, there afterward comes about shov in the prayer. Therefore at the end of the Shema, too, one concludes, “I am Havayah your G‑d,”
The Shema’s upward ratzo leads into the shov of the Amidah prayer. That is why even the Shema itself ends with a descent: “I am Havayah your G‑d.”
meaning literally “your G‑d”: that there be a revelation of G‑dliness in each and every one, from above to below, “to become one with the One,” etc.
“Your G‑d” is meant literally: G‑dliness is to be revealed within each individual, from above to below. The Zohar’s phrase “to become one with the One” describes this unity, when the One above is revealed within the one below.
The closing words of the Shema already point to the shov: G‑d revealed as “your G‑d,” within each person.
The Zohar phrase comes from the passage on the mystery of Shabbos (Zohar 2:135a), which describes the unity below that parallels the unity above so that they become “one with the One.”
Marei mekomos
- 1למהוי אחד באחד · Zohar II, 135a
- 2אני ה׳ אלהיכם · Numbers 15:41
10ואח״כ בשמ״ע [בשמונה עשרה] בח״י ברכאן נמשך זה הגילוי אור בבחי׳ שוב ממש בח״י ברכות באמרו בא״י [ברוך אתה ה׳] מברוך לאתה בגילוי לנוכח כידוע.
Afterward, in the Shemoneh Esreh, in the eighteen blessings, this revelation of light is drawn down in a state of actual shov — in the eighteen blessings, when one says, “Blessed are You, Havayah”: from “Blessed” to “You,” in revelation, in direct address, as is known.
In the Shemoneh Esreh the revelation is drawn down in full shov through its eighteen blessings. Each begins “Blessed are You”: the movement from “Blessed” (understood in Chassidus as a drawing down) to “You” addresses G‑d directly, as present and revealed.
ואחר שמ״ע [שמונה עשרה] בלימוד התורה נמשך גילוי זה בתורה כמ״ש ותורה אור1 כו׳ כי רוח אייתי רוח כו׳
After the Shemoneh Esreh, in the study of Torah, this revelation is drawn into the Torah, as it is written, “and the Torah is light,” etc., for “spirit brings spirit,” etc.
After prayer comes Torah study, and the same revelation is drawn into the Torah, which Proverbs calls “light.” The principle “spirit brings spirit” explains the link: the spirit a person arouses in prayer brings a corresponding spirit from above into his learning.
וע״י בחי׳ הרצוא הנ״ל נמשך בחי׳ רוח המשכה מלמעלה למטה וכמ״ש אם ישים אליו לבו רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף2 כו׳
Through the above-mentioned level of ratzo, the level of “spirit” is drawn down — a drawing from above to below — as it is written, “If he sets his heart toward Him, His spirit and His soul He gathers to him,” etc.
It is the ratzo of the Shema that draws this “spirit” down. Job’s words “If he sets his heart toward Him, His spirit and His soul He gathers to him” are read as: when a person turns his heart to G‑d, G‑d’s spirit is drawn to him.
ואח״כ במעשה המצות נמשך בחי׳ שוב זה יותר וכידוע בשרש ענין המצות שהוא להמשיך האור בכלי דוקא וכמ״ש כי נר מצוה כו׳.
Afterward, in the practical performance of the mitzvos, this level of shov is drawn down further, as is known concerning the root of the mitzvos: it is to draw the light into a vessel specifically, as it is written, “For a mitzvah is a lamp,” etc.
The shov goes further still in the practical mitzvos. The root purpose of the mitzvos is to draw the divine light into a vessel — physical objects and deeds — as “a mitzvah is a lamp” suggests: a lamp is the vessel that holds the light.
The shov unfolds in stages: in the Shemoneh Esreh, then in Torah study, and most fully in the practical mitzvos, which bring the light into a physical vessel.
The verse “For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light” pairs the two: the mitzvah is the vessel (the lamp) and the Torah is the light within it, matching the maamar’s point that the mitzvos draw the light into a vessel.
Marei mekomos
- 1ותורה אור · Proverbs 6:23
- 2אם ישים אליו לבו רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף · Job 34:14
11ועל קיום המצות ארז״ל [אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] בע״כ [בעל כרחך] אתה חי12 פי׳ לפי שאחר האהבה והתשוקה במס״נ [במסירות נפש] בבחי׳ רצוא הנ״ל אח״כ נעשה בחי׳ שוב להיות בע״כ [בעל כרחך] אתה חי בגוף כדי להיות גילוי אור האלקי מלמעלה למטה במעשה המצות.
Concerning the fulfillment of the mitzvos, our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Against your will you live.” That is: after the love and longing with self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), in the above-mentioned state of ratzo, there afterward comes about the state of shov — “against your will you live” in the body — so that there be a revelation of the G‑dly light from above to below through the performance of the mitzvos.
The Mishnah’s “Against your will you live” is applied to the mitzvos. After the soul’s ratzo — a love so intense that it would give itself up entirely — it must “return” and go on living in the body against its will, because only there can the G‑dly light be revealed below through the practical mitzvos.
וזהו פי׳ בכל לבבך3 במס״נ [במסירות נפש] תחילה בבחי׳ הרצוא ואח״כ ובכל נפשך היא בחי׳ שוב לקשר מחדו״מ [מחשבה דבור ומעשה] במחדו״מ [במחשבה דבור ומעשה] של התורה ומצות כו׳.
This is the meaning of “with all your heart” — with self-sacrifice first, in the state of ratzo — and afterward, “and with all your soul,” which is the level of shov: to bind thought, speech and action with the thought, speech and action of the Torah and mitzvos, etc.
Two phrases of the Shema match the two movements: “with all your heart” is the self-sacrificing ratzo, and “with all your soul” is the shov, in which a person binds his thought, speech and action to the thought, speech and action of the Torah and its commandments.
The soul’s longing to leave the body in ratzo must give way to a willing “return” to life in the body, since the mitzvos, which reveal G‑d below, can only be done there.
The Mishnah (Avos 4:22) lists “against your will you were created… against your will you live”; the Alter Rebbe reads the second phrase as describing the soul after its ratzo, which remains in the body for the sake of the mitzvos.
Marei mekomos
- 1בע״כ אתה חי · אבות ד, כב.
- 2בע״כ אתה חי · Pirkei Avot 4:22
- 3בכל לבבך · Deuteronomy 6:5
Shov is heaven, ratzo is earth ¶12–15
12והנה בחי׳ השוב נק׳ שמים כי הנה בבחי׳ השוב הזה בתומ״צ [בתורה ומצות] נמשך האור למעלה בבחי׳ מקיף כידוע שהמצות הן בחי׳ מקיפי׳ [מקיפים] וע״כ נעשו המצות לבושים לנשמה בג״ע [בגן עדן] כי הלבושים והמקיפי׳ [והמקיפים] ענין א׳ הם כו׳.
Now, the level of shov is called “heaven,” for in this level of shov, through Torah and mitzvos, the light is drawn above in the manner of an encompassing light, as is known that the mitzvos are encompassing lights (makifim). Therefore the mitzvos become garments for the soul in the Garden of Eden, for garments and encompassing lights are one thing, etc.
Now the shov is identified with “heaven.” Through Torah and mitzvos a light is drawn that encompasses the soul (a makif), as the heavens encompass the earth. This is why the mitzvos become the soul’s “garments” in the Garden of Eden: a garment is a kind of encompassing.
וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] צרורה בצרור החיים12 כו׳ צרור זה היינו המצות כידוע והתורה אע״פ [אף על פי] שנק׳ מזון3 מ״מ היא ג״כ בחי׳ לבוש
This is the meaning of “bound up in the bond of life,” etc.: this “bond” is the mitzvos, as is known. And the Torah, although it is called “food,” is nevertheless also a garment,
Abigail’s blessing that David’s soul be “bound up in the bond of life” is read as referring to the mitzvos, which wrap the soul. The Torah is called “food,” which is absorbed within like an inner light; yet it too is a garment.
כמ״ש עטה אור כשלמה4 (ועיין דבר זה במ״א ע״פ כי ביום הזה יכפר56 כו׳ בענין כך היא דרכה של תורה כו׳ אשריך וטוב לך.7 וע״פ וראיתם אותו וזכרתם89 כו׳ וע״פ את שבתותי תשמרו)10
as it is written, “He wraps [Himself in] light as a garment” (and see this matter elsewhere, on the verse “For on this day He shall atone,” etc., on the theme “This is the way of the Torah… happy are you, and it is good for you”; and on the verse “And you shall see it and remember,” etc.; and on the verse “My Sabbaths you shall keep”).
The verse “He wraps [Himself in] light as a garment” shows light — the Torah — as a garment. The parenthesis points to other discourses (on Yom Kippur’s atonement, on the tzitzis, and on keeping Shabbos) where this is developed.
ע״כ נק׳ בחי׳ שוב זה ע״י תומ״צ [תורה ומצות] בשם שמים כי כמו שהשמים מקיפי׳ [מקיפים] לארץ כך בחי׳ השוב הזה הוא בחי׳ מקיף לבחי׳ הרצוא דארץ הנ״ל.
Therefore this level of shov, through Torah and mitzvos, is called by the name “heaven”: for just as the heavens encompass the earth, so this level of shov encompasses the above-mentioned level of the ratzo of “earth.”
So the shov achieved through Torah and mitzvos is called “heaven”: it surrounds the “earth” of the soul’s ratzo as the heavens surround the earth.
ועוד זאת עד״מ מארץ ושמים הגשמיים הרי אנו רואים שהארץ אינה רק כגרגיר חרדל לגבי מרחב הכדור של השמים המקיפי׳ [המקיפים] עליה מכל צדדיה בהשואה אחת.
Moreover, by way of analogy from the physical earth and heavens, we see that the earth is only like a mustard seed compared with the expanse of the sphere of the heavens, which surround it on all sides equally.
A second point from the physical world: compared with the vast sphere of the heavens surrounding it equally on every side, the whole earth is no larger than a mustard seed.
כך ערך בחי׳ הרצוא הזה דארץ לגבי בחי׳ השוב דתומ״צ [דתורה ומצות] שנק׳ רצונו וחכמתו ית׳ הוא רק כערך גרגיר חרדל לגבי מרחב הגדול דשמי׳ [דשמים].
So the proportion of this level of ratzo of “earth” to the level of shov of Torah and mitzvos — which are called His will and His wisdom, blessed be He — is only as the proportion of a mustard seed to the great expanse of the heavens.
The same proportion holds spiritually. The soul’s ratzo, however intense, is tiny compared with the shov of Torah and mitzvos, because Torah and mitzvos are G‑d’s own will and wisdom, while the ratzo is only a creature’s longing.
The shov of Torah and mitzvos is called “heaven” because, like the heavens, it surrounds the “earth” of the soul’s ratzo and vastly exceeds it: the Torah and mitzvos are G‑d’s will and wisdom and become the soul’s encompassing garments.
The Talmud (Shabbos 152b) reads “bound up in the bond of life” as the souls of the righteous stored beneath the Throne of Glory; the Alter Rebbe identifies the “bond” itself with the mitzvos that clothe the soul there.
Marei mekomos
- 1צרורה בצרור החיים · I Samuel 25:29
- 2צרורה בצרור החיים · Shabbat 152b:6–7
- 3התורה . . שנק׳ מזון · Chagigah 14a
- 4עוטה אור כשלמה · Psalms 104:2
- 5ע״פ כי ביום הזה יכפר · לקו״ת אחרי כז, ג.
- 6כי ביום הזה יכפר · Leviticus 16:30
- 7כך היא דרכה של תורה כו׳ אשריך וטוב לך · Pirkei Avot 6:4
- 8ע״פ וראיתם אותו וזכרתם · ראה לקו״ת שלח מד, ב.
- 9וראיתם אותו וזכרתם · Numbers 15:39
- 10את שבתותי תשמרו · Leviticus 19:30
13וזהו השמים כסאי1 והארץ הדום רגלי פי׳ הדום רגלי הוא ע״ד השרפרף לכסא שמגביה הרגלים כך הנשמות שנק׳ ברא כרעא דאבוה23 מתעלים ע״י בחי׳ ארץ הוא בחי׳ הרצוא.
This is [the meaning of] “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool.” The meaning: “My footstool” is like the footrest of a throne, which raises the feet; so the souls, which are called “the son is the leg of his father,” are elevated through the level of “earth,” which is the level of ratzo.
Isaiah’s verse, “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool,” is now read through ratzo and shov. A footstool raises the feet; the souls are called G‑d’s “feet” (“a son is his father’s leg”), and they are raised through “earth,” the upward ratzo.
ודרך פרט כל זמן שיש עליי׳ [עלייה] לבחי׳ ארץ העליונה היא כנס״י [כנסת ישראל] כמו בשבת ויו״ט [ויום טוב] דכתיב אם תשיב משבת רגלך4 וכן הג׳ י״ט נק׳ ג׳ רגלים.567
And in particular, whenever there is an elevation for the level of the supernal “earth,” which is the Community of Israel — as on Shabbos and festivals, as it is written, “If you turn away your foot (raglecha) because of the Shabbos,” and likewise the three festivals are called the three regalim (“feet”).
In particular, the supernal “earth” is the Community of Israel, and it ascends at special times: on Shabbos, as in “If you turn away your foot because of the Shabbos,” and on the three festivals, which are called regalim, “feet.”
“The earth is My footstool” refers to the ratzo that raises the souls — G‑d’s “feet” — especially on Shabbos and the festivals.
The previous maamar in Torah Ohr develops why the Community of Israel is called G‑d’s “foot”: the feet carry the head, and in the upward return of light (or chozer) the lowest becomes the highest.
Marei mekomos
- 1השמים כסאי · Isaiah 66:1
- 2ברא כרעא דאבוה · נסמן לעיל א, ב.
- 3כרעא דאבוה · Eruvin 70b:2–3
- 4אם תשיב משבת רגלך · Isaiah 58:13
- 5הג׳ יו״ט נק׳ ג׳ רגלים · ראה לקו״ת להאריז״ל ס״פ משפטים, לקו״ת פ׳ ברכה צד, ג. ד״ה נחמו נחמו תרכ״ו.
- 6ג׳ רגלים · Exodus 23:14
- 7דארץ . . גרגיר חרדל . . לגבי השמים · ראה תו״ח בראשית נא, ד ובהנסמן במ״מ שם.
14והשמים כסאי היינו בחי׳ שוב שהוא ירידה והמשכה ה״ז [הרי זה] כמו היושב על הכסא שמשפיל קומתו. וזהו ואתה קדוש1 יושב תהלות ישראל.
And “The heavens are My throne” is the level of shov, which is descent and drawing down; this is like one who sits on a throne, who lowers his stature. This is [the meaning of] “And You, Holy One, sit [enthroned] upon the praises of Israel.”
“The heavens are My throne” refers to the shov, the descent: one who sits on a throne lowers his height. So too “You, Holy One, sit upon the praises of Israel.”
פי׳ שהוא ית׳ קדוש ומובדל מכל העולמות רק ע״י תהלות ישראל נמשך להיות יושב ונשפל למטה וכמאמר שהקב״ה יושב ועוסק בתורה2 כו׳.
The meaning: He, blessed be He, is holy and separate from all the worlds; only through the praises of Israel is He drawn to be “sitting,” lowered below, as in the saying that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and occupies Himself with Torah, etc.
G‑d is “holy” — separate and beyond all worlds; only through Israel’s praises is He drawn to “sit,” lowering Himself to be revealed below. The Talmud’s image of G‑d “sitting and occupying Himself with Torah” reflects this same descent into the Torah.
The heavens as G‑d’s “throne” stand for the shov: G‑d’s descent into the worlds, brought about by Israel’s praises and Torah.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואתה קדוש · Psalms 22:4
- 2שהקב״ה יושב ועוסק בתורה · Avodah Zarah 3b:7
This is why prayer is called “a ladder set upon the earth, and its top reaches to heaven.” The meaning: the ladder is the ascent in the state of ratzo,
The Zohar calls prayer the ladder of Jacob’s dream, “set upon the earth with its top reaching heaven.” The ladder itself — the climb upward — is the ratzo.
אך ראשו מגיע השמימה שבשמו״ע [שבשמונה עשרה] מתחיל השוב כנ״ל ועיקרו אח״כ ע״י תומ״צ [תורה ומצות]. וזשארז״ל [וזהו שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] לחד מ״ד [מאן דאמר] דארץ קדמה3 לשמים בבריא׳ [בבריאה / בבריאת].
but “its top reaches to heaven,” for in the Shemoneh Esreh the shov begins, as mentioned above, and its main part comes afterward through Torah and mitzvos. This is what our Sages, of blessed memory, said, according to one opinion, that the earth preceded the heavens in creation.
But “its top reaches heaven”: the shov begins at the peak of prayer, in the Shemoneh Esreh, and is completed through Torah and mitzvos. This explains the Talmudic view that the earth was created before the heavens.
כי הרי מבואר למעלה בענין ק״ש [קריאת שמע] וש״ע [ושמונה עשרה] ותורה דבחי׳ הרצוא צ״ל קודם לבחי׳ השוב וכך היא המדה כי מאתעדל״ת [מאתערותא דלתתא] דוקא נעשה אתעדל״ע [אתערותא דלעילא]
For it has been explained above, concerning the Shema, the Shemoneh Esreh and Torah, that the level of ratzo must come before the level of shov. And this is the rule: specifically from an arousal from below is an arousal from above brought about,
As shown above, in the order of the Shema, the Shemoneh Esreh and Torah study the ratzo comes before the shov. This is a general rule: an arousal from above (the divine response) comes about only through an arousal from below (human initiative).
וכמ״ש אם ישים אליו לבו4 ואז אח״כ רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף וע״כ ארץ שהוא ל׳ [לשון] רצוא קדמה לשמים שהוא בחי׳ שוב.
as it is written, “If he sets his heart toward Him,” and only then, afterward, “His spirit and His soul He gathers to him.” Therefore “earth” (eretz), which is a term of ratzo, preceded “heaven,” which is the level of shov.
Job’s verse shows the order: first “he sets his heart toward Him,” then “His spirit and His soul He gathers to him.” So eretz, “earth,” the running, came before “heaven,” the return.
Prayer is a ladder from “earth” to “heaven”; because human initiative (ratzo) must precede the divine response (shov), the view that earth preceded heaven in creation mirrors this order.
The Talmud (Chagigah 12a) records the dispute: Beis Shammai hold that the heavens were created first (“G‑d created the heavens and the earth”), and Beis Hillel that the earth came first (“on the day Havayah Elokim made earth and heaven,” Genesis 2:4) — the verse the maamar expounds in paragraphs 20–21.
Marei mekomos
- 1שנק׳ התפלה סולם · Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 45
- 2סולם מוצב ארצה וראשו מגיע השמימה · Genesis 28:12
- 3לחד מ״ד דארץ קדמה · Chagigah 12a
- 4אם ישים אליו לבו · Job 34:14
Why the world exists for Torah and Israel ¶16
16ובכ״ז [ובכל זה] יובן משארז״ל [מה שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] בראשית בשביל ישראל שנק׳ ראשית וגם בשביל התורה שנק׳ ראשית. ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ הגשמיים.
With all this, one will understand what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Bereshis — for the sake of Israel, who are called ‘beginning,’ and also for the sake of the Torah, which is called ‘beginning’ — G‑d created the heavens and the earth,” the physical ones.
The Alter Rebbe returns to the question of paragraph 1: why did the Sages say that the physical heaven and earth were created “for the sake of” Israel and the Torah?
דהנה בתורה ובישראל יש בחי׳ שמים וארץ רוחניים. בתורה הוא בחי׳ שוב שהוא בחי׳ שמים כנ״ל. ובישראל בעבודתם במס״נ [במסירות נפש] הוא בחי׳ רצוא בחי׳ ארץ.
For in the Torah and in Israel there is a spiritual heaven and earth. In the Torah it is the level of shov, which is the level of “heaven,” as explained above; and in Israel, in their service with self-sacrifice, it is the level of ratzo, the level of “earth.”
The answer: the Torah and Israel each embody one of the two spiritual movements. The Torah is shov — G‑d’s will and wisdom drawn down — and so it is “heaven”; Israel, in their self-sacrificing service, embody ratzo, the upward rush, and so they are “earth.”
וע״כ על ידי תורה וישראל דוקא יתקיימו שמים וארץ הגשמיי׳ [הגשמיים] דהיינו ע״י בחי׳ שמים וארץ הרוחניי׳ שהוא בחי׳ רצוא ושוב שע״י תורה וישראל
Therefore it is specifically through the Torah and Israel that the physical heaven and earth are sustained — that is, through the spiritual heaven and earth, which are the ratzo and shov that come through the Torah and Israel
Therefore it is precisely through these spiritual counterparts — the ratzo and shov that come about through Israel and the Torah — that the physical heaven and earth continue to exist.
(וזהו ואשים דברי בפיך1 כו׳ לנטוע שמים וליסוד ארץ. וגם י״ל [יש לומר] שבתומ״צ [שבתורה ומצות] עצמן יש בחי׳ שמים וארץ כי המצות מעשיות הן בחי׳ ארץ כי הארץ הדום רגלי2 שרפרף.
(and this is [the meaning of] “And I have put My words in your mouth,” etc., “to plant the heavens and to lay the foundations of the earth.” One may also say that within the Torah and mitzvos themselves there is a level of heaven and earth: the practical mitzvos are the level of “earth,” for “the earth is My footstool,” a footrest.
A parenthesis offers support and a refinement. G‑d tells the prophet, “I have put My words in your mouth… to plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth”: Torah establishes heaven and earth. Alternatively, Torah and mitzvos themselves contain heaven and earth: the practical mitzvos are “earth,” the “footstool” that raises one up.
וכך צדקה תרומם גוי.3 ותורה היא בחי׳ שמים והמשכה. ועי׳ [ועיין] על מאמר מזוזה מימין4 כו׳. וזהו ואשים דברי בפיך הוא בחי׳ תורה.
And so, “Charity exalts a nation.” And the Torah is the level of “heaven” and drawing down. And see on the saying “The mezuzah on the right,” etc. And this is [the meaning of] “And I have put My words in your mouth” — this is the level of Torah;
So too “Charity exalts a nation”: a practical mitzvah lifts up, like the footstool. The Torah is “heaven,” a drawing down. The reader is also referred to another discussion, on the saying “the mezuzah on the right.” In Isaiah’s verse, “I have put My words in your mouth” refers to the Torah.
ובצל ידי כסיתיך הוא בחי׳ מצות שעי״ז לנטוע שמים וליסוד ארץ. וא״ש [ואתי שפיר] דבראשית היינו בשביל התורה שנק׳ ראשית שיש בה עצמה בחי׳ שמים וארץ תומ״צ [תורה ומצות].
“and in the shadow of My hand I have covered you” — this is the level of mitzvos; and through this, “to plant the heavens and to lay the foundations of the earth.” It thus fits well that Bereshis means “for the sake of the Torah, which is called ‘beginning,’” for it itself contains the level of heaven and earth: Torah and mitzvos.
In the same verse, “in the shadow of My hand I have covered you” refers to the mitzvos, which surround a person like a covering; together they “plant the heavens and found the earth.” So the Torah, which itself contains heaven and earth — study and mitzvos — is fittingly the “beginning” for whose sake the world was created.
לכן עי״ז מתקיימים שמים וארץ וכן בשביל ישראל כו׳ שיש בהן בחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב]. ועיין מ״ש ע״פ הזוהר פרשה שופטים5 שמים וארץ אינון סהדין6 כו׳):7
Therefore through it heaven and earth are sustained; and likewise “for the sake of Israel,” etc., who have within them the level of ratzo and shov. And see what is explained on the Zohar, Parshas Shoftim, “Heaven and earth are witnesses,” etc.).
Israel likewise contain ratzo and shov, so the world exists for their sake too. The parenthesis closes with a reference to the explanation of the Zohar’s statement in Parshas Shoftim that “heaven and earth are witnesses.”
The paragraph answers the opening question: the Torah (shov, “heaven”) and Israel’s self-sacrificing service (ratzo, “earth”) are the spiritual heaven and earth that sustain the physical ones; indeed, Torah and mitzvos themselves are “heaven” and “earth.”
Isaiah 51:16 has G‑d placing His words in the prophet’s mouth and sheltering him “in the shadow of My hand” in order “to plant the heavens and found the earth”; the Alter Rebbe reads the two clauses as Torah and mitzvos, each with its share in sustaining creation.
Marei mekomos
- 1ואשים דברי בפיך · Isaiah 51:16
- 2הארץ הדום רגלי · Isaiah 66:1
- 3צדקה תרומם גוי · Proverbs 14:34
- 4מזוזה מימין · Shabbat 22a:2
- 5ע״פ הזהר פרשה שופטים · [זח״ג ערה, א] ביאה״ז לאדה״א קכא, ד. אוה״ת שופטים ע׳ תתמז.
- 6שמים וארץ אינון סהדין · Zohar, Shoftim 3:11–4:20
- 7החושך יכסה ארץ · Isaiah 60:2
The new earth of the Time to Come ¶17–21
17והנה כ״ז [כל זה] הוא ענין שמים וארץ דעכשיו שצ״ל תחלה בחי׳ ארץ רצוא. ואח״כ מקבלת מבחי׳ שמים השוב כו׳.
Now, all this concerns the heaven and earth of the present, in which there must first be the level of “earth,” ratzo, and afterward it receives from the level of “heaven,” the shov, etc.
Everything so far describes heaven and earth as they are now: first the “earth” of ratzo, and then the “heaven” of shov received in response.
אבל לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] כתיב הנני עושה חדשה1 בארץ.2 ופי׳ וענין התחדשות זו בבחי׳ ארץ. היינו משום דלע״ל [דלעתיד לבוא] לא יהיה שייך בחי׳ רצוא דארץ
But of the Time to Come it is written, “Behold, I am making a new thing in the earth.” The meaning and substance of this newness in the level of “earth” is that in the Time to Come the ratzo of “earth” will not apply
The prophets speak of “a new thing in the earth” in the Time to Come (the Alter Rebbe’s wording joins Isaiah’s “Behold, I am making a new thing” with Jeremiah’s “a new thing in the earth”). The novelty will be in “earth” itself: ratzo as we know it will no longer apply.
ע״ד שהוא עכשיו שהוא ענין הרצוא והתשוקה לצאת מההפך אשר החושך יכסה ארץ3 כו׳ כנ״ל בענין פסוד״ז [פסוקי דזמרה] שהוא בחי׳ רוממות אל בגרונם4
in the way it does now — which is the ratzo and longing to go out of the opposite, where “darkness covers the earth,” etc., as explained above regarding the Verses of Praise, which are the level of “the exaltations of G‑d in their throat,”
Today’s ratzo is a longing to break out of its opposite, a state where “darkness covers the earth.” That is why, as explained above, Pesukei deZimra — “the exaltations of G‑d in their throat” — are needed.
כדי שעי״ז נעשה חרב פיפיות לעשות נקמה בגוים5 הוא נה״ב [נפש הבהמית] והגוף כו׳ דהיינו שע״י הרצוא נעשה בטול רצון בחי׳ אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא.
so that through this it becomes “a double-edged sword to execute vengeance upon the nations” — which are the animal soul and the body, etc. — that is, through the ratzo there comes about a nullification of will, the level of “transforming darkness into light.”
The praises of Pesukei deZimra become the “double-edged sword” taking “vengeance on the nations,” now identified as the animal soul and the body. Through ratzo, a person’s own will is nullified and “darkness is transformed into light” — the forces of concealment themselves are turned to holiness.
שזה אינו שייך רק עכשיו שיש קליפות המסתירים עד שהחשך יכסה ארץ והוא בחי׳ לבושים המלבישים ומסתירים וכמ״ש אלביש שמים קדרות6 כו׳.
This applies only now, when there are kelipos that conceal until “darkness covers the earth”; this is the level of garments that clothe and conceal, as it is written, “I clothe the heavens in blackness,” etc.
All this belongs only to the present, when the kelipos conceal G‑dliness like garments covering it, as “I clothe the heavens in blackness” describes. Where there is no darkness, there is nothing to break out of.
The ratzo of the present is a struggle to escape concealment and turn darkness into light; the “new earth” of the Time to Come will be different because this concealment will no longer exist.
The phrase “transforming darkness into light” (and, in paragraph 20, “bitterness into sweetness”) comes from the Zohar and describes the highest form of service, in which the opposing force is not merely overcome but turned into holiness.
Marei mekomos
- 1הנני עושה חדשה · Isaiah 43:19
- 2חדשה בארץ · Jeremiah 31:22
- 3החושך יכסה ארץ · Isaiah 60:2
- 4רוממות אל בגרונם · Psalms 149:6
- 5לעשות נקמה בגוים · Psalms 149:7
- 6אלביש שמים קדרות · Isaiah 50:3
18ולכן הוזהרנו בק״ש [בקריאת שמע] השמרו לכם1 פן יפתה לבבכם וסרתם כו׳ והשתחויתם פי׳ שכל קליפה המסתר׳ נק׳ אלהים אחרים ועבודת כוכבים וההשתחואה
Therefore we were warned in the Shema, “Beware, lest your heart be seduced and you turn aside,” etc., “and bow down.” The meaning: every concealing kelipah is called “other gods” and idol worship, and the bowing down
Because concealment exists now, the Shema warns: “Beware lest your heart be seduced… and you bow down [to other gods].” In Chassidic terms every concealing kelipah is “other gods”: anything that hides G‑dliness is a kind of idolatry.
היינו בחינת המשכה כמו ע״י השתחואה בקדושה בכריעה בברוך2 שממשיך גילוי אלקות. כך את זלעו״ז [זה לעומת זה]3 כו׳.
is a drawing down — just as through bowing in holiness, in the bowing at “Blessed,” one draws down a revelation of G‑dliness. So too, “one opposite the other [G‑d made],” etc.
Bowing means drawing down. In holiness, bowing at “Blessed” in the Amidah draws down divine revelation; and since “G‑d made one opposite the other,” bowing to the “other side” draws life-force down to it.
The Shema’s warning against “bowing to other gods” is read as a warning against drawing life-force into the kelipos that conceal G‑dliness.
The Talmud (Berachos 12a) rules that one bows at “Blessed” and straightens up at the Name; the maamar treats this bowing as a channel of drawing down, and its mirror image in kelipah as a channel that nourishes the forces of concealment.
Marei mekomos
- 1השמרו לכם · Deuteronomy 11:16
- 2בכריעה בברוך · Berakhot 12a:24–26
- 3את זלעו״ז · Ecclesiastes 7:14
19וזהו מארז״ל [מאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] ישראל שבחוץ לארץ1 עובדי ע״ז בטהרה הם. דהיינו כשהוא ח״ו [חס ושלום] לגמרי חוץ לארץ העליונה שהוא בחי׳ הרצון לה׳ ית׳ בחי׳ ארץ שרצתה2 כו׳
This is [the meaning of] what our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Jews who live outside the Land are idol worshipers in purity.” That is, when one is, G‑d forbid, entirely “outside the land” — the supernal “land,” which is the level of will for G‑d, blessed be He, the level of “earth, which ran,” etc. —
The Talmud says that Jews living outside the Land of Israel “worship idols in purity” — innocently. The Alter Rebbe reads “the Land” as the supernal “earth,” the will and longing for G‑d (“earth, which ran to do its Maker’s will”). One who is wholly “outside” this land has lost all ratzo for G‑d.
רק שנמשך לגמרי אחרי הבלי עוה״ז הגם שהם דברים המותרים מבחי׳ טוב שבנוגה עי״ז גורם יניקה והמשכה לבחי׳ נוגה.
and is drawn entirely after the vanities of this world, even though they are permitted things, from the good within nogah, through this he causes nourishment and a drawing down to the level of nogah.
Such a person is drawn entirely after worldly pleasures. Even if they are permitted things, which come from the good within nogah (the intermediate kelipah that can be raised to holiness or fall), pursuing them for their own sake feeds nogah instead of elevating it.
A person without any longing for G‑d who pursues even permitted pleasures for their own sake is “outside the land” and “worships idols in purity,” nourishing the kelipah of nogah.
In Tanya (Likkutei Amarim, ch. 7), permitted things are said to derive from kelipas nogah; they are elevated when used for the sake of heaven and otherwise add vitality to nogah, as described here.
Marei mekomos
- 1ישראל שבחוץ לארץ · Avodah Zarah 8a:17
- 2ארץ שרצתה · Bereshit Rabbah 5:8
20וזה נקרא השתחואה והמשכה לבחי׳ אלהים אחרים כו׳ דהיינו תוס׳ [תוספת] יניקה לחיצונים. ועי״ז ועצר את השמים1 ולא יהיה מטר שלא יהיה ההמשכה בקדושה מבחי׳ שוב דשמים עליונים כו׳
This is called bowing down and drawing down to the level of “other gods,” etc. — that is, additional nourishment for the external forces. And through this, “He will close up the heavens and there will be no rain”: there will be no drawing down in holiness from the shov of the supernal heavens, etc.
Pursuing worldly things for their own sake is “bowing down to other gods”: it gives added nourishment to the external forces (the kelipos). The consequence stated in the Shema — “He will close up the heavens and there will be no rain” — means that the shov, the drawing down of holiness from the supernal “heavens,” is withheld.
ובהיות כן צריך כ״א [כל אחד / כל אחת] לעורר בחי׳ רצוא אם ישים אליו לבו2 לאהפכא חשוכא לנהורא ומרירו למתיקו כו׳
That being so, each person must arouse the level of ratzo — “If he sets his heart toward Him” — to transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness, etc.,
Therefore each person must arouse ratzo, setting his heart toward G‑d, in order to transform darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness.
and “to serve Him with all your heart,” etc., which is the level of “earth”; and through this, “I will give the rain of your land,” etc., which is the level of shov.
This is “to serve Him with all your heart,” the “earth” of ratzo; and in response comes “I will give the rain of your land,” the shov from heaven. The second paragraph of the Shema thus describes both the problem and its remedy.
משא״כ לעתיד לבא דכתיב ואת רוח הטומאה5 אעביר כו׳ ולא יהיה כלל בחי׳ קליפה המסתרת גילוי אלקות וכן נאמר ולא יכנף עוד מוריך6 והיו עיניך רואות כו׳.
This is not so in the Time to Come, of which it is written, “And I will remove the spirit of impurity,” etc.: there will be no kelipah at all concealing the revelation of G‑dliness. And it is also said, “Your Teacher will no longer be hidden, and your eyes shall see,” etc.
In the Time to Come it will be different: G‑d promises to “remove the spirit of impurity,” so no kelipah will conceal G‑dliness, and “your Teacher will no longer be hidden; your eyes will see.”
א״כ א״צ [אין צריך / אינו צריך] כלל ענין בחי׳ הביטול של היש שזהו בחי׳ הרצוא דעכשיו לצאת מבחי׳ ההפך המנגד כו׳. וזהו הנני עושה חדשה בארץ.
If so, there will be no need at all for the nullification of the “something” (yesh), which is the ratzo of the present — to go out from the opposing contrary, etc. And this is [the meaning of] “Behold, I am making a new thing in the earth.”
Then there will be no need to nullify one’s sense of self (yesh), which is what today’s ratzo does as it breaks out of its opposite. This is the “new thing in the earth”: “earth” will no longer be a ratzo of this kind.
פי׳ שלא יהיה כמו עכשיו בחי׳ רצוא ואתעדל״ת [ואתערותא דלתתא] שעי״ז יהיה ההמשכה שאז כיון שיהיה הגילוי למטה כמו למעלה א״כ אין שייך רצוא כו׳
That is, there will not be, as now, ratzo and an arousal from below through which the drawing down comes; for then, since the revelation below will be as it is above, ratzo does not apply, etc.
Now the drawing down depends on our ratzo, the arousal from below. Then, because G‑dliness will be revealed below as openly as above, there will be nothing to “run” toward.
(ובזה י״ל [יש לומר] מ״ש כי ההרים ימושו7 כו׳ כי הר היינו בחי׳ רצוא כנודע מענין לא כאברהם שקראו הר8 כו׳ ואז יתבטל בחי׳ זו כיון שגם למטה יהיה הגילוי ממש עין בעין יראו9 כו׳)
(With this one may explain what is written, “For the mountains shall depart,” etc., for “mountain” is the level of ratzo, as is known from the matter of “not like Abraham, who called it a mountain,” etc.; and then this level will be annulled, since below too there will be actual revelation — “eye to eye they shall see,” etc.)
A parenthesis: this explains “the mountains shall depart.” A “mountain” stands for ratzo, the climb upward (the Talmud says Abraham called the Temple site a “mountain”). When G‑dliness is seen “eye to eye” below, the climb is no longer needed.
וע״כ אמר שיהיה אז בחי׳ השמים החדשים והארץ החדשה אשר אני עושה10 אני דוקא דהיינו מצד אתעדל״ע [אתערותא דלעילא] בלבד ולא מצד אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] כלל כי א״צ [אין צריך / אינו צריך] אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] רק לברר ולהפך מחשוכא לנהורא כנ״ל
Therefore He said that there will then be “the new heavens and the new earth that I make” — “I” specifically, that is, from an arousal from above alone and not from an arousal from below at all; for an arousal from below is needed only to refine and to transform from darkness to light, as explained above.
Hence G‑d says “the new heavens and the new earth that I make” — “I,” by an arousal from above alone. An arousal from below is needed only to refine the world and turn its darkness into light.
אבל לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] שא״צ [שאין צריך / שאינו צריך] לזה יהי׳ [יהיה] בחי׳ אתעדל״ע [אתערותא דלעילא] לבד ע״כ אמר אשר אני עושה והיינו שקורא אותן בשם שמים חדשים וארץ חדשה.
But in the Time to Come, when this will not be needed, there will be an arousal from above alone. Therefore He said, “that I make,” and that is why He calls them “new heavens” and “a new earth.”
In the Time to Come, when there is no darkness to transform, everything will come from above alone; that is why they are called “new” heavens and a “new” earth.
פי׳ שבאים בבחי׳ גילוי מלמעלה למטה מצד עצמות המאציל אשר לא היה עדיין בחי׳ כזו בבחי׳ גילוי בראשית ההשתלשלות.
The meaning: they come as a revelation from above to below, from the very Essence of the Emanator, a level such as has not yet been in a state of revelation at the beginning of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus).
They are new because this revelation comes from G‑d’s very essence, “the Emanator,” a level never revealed even at the very start of the chain of worlds.
כמו דכתיב ביום עשות11 ה׳ אלקים ארץ ושמים ענין אלקים זה היינו בחי׳ הצמצום וההסתר.
By contrast, the present heaven and earth were made, as Genesis 2:4 says, by “Havayah Elokim,” and “Elokim” is the Name of tzimtzum — contraction and concealment.
ששמים וארץ דעכשיו נמשכו על ידי שם אלקים כמ״ש בראשית ברא אלקים12 כו׳ וע״י ארץ שהוא בחי׳ רצוא נמתק הדין והצמצום דשם אלקים המעלים והמסתיר.
For the present heaven and earth were drawn forth through the Name Elokim, as it is written, “In the beginning Elokim created,” etc.; and through “earth,” which is the level of ratzo, the judgment and the tzimtzum of the Name Elokim, which obscures and conceals, are sweetened.
The present world came into being through the Name Elokim (“In the beginning Elokim created”). The ratzo of “earth” is what softens — literally “sweetens” — the judgment and concealment of Elokim.
Now, because concealment exists, the drawing down from “heaven” depends on our ratzo; in the Time to Come, with no concealment, the “new heavens and new earth” will come from G‑d’s essence alone, by an arousal from above, unlike the present world made through the contracting Name Elokim.
“Sweetening” judgment (hamtakas hadinim) is a Kabbalistic term for softening the constricting power of Gevurah by joining it to its source; here the soul’s ratzo does this, leading to the union of Elokim with Havayah described in the next paragraph.
Marei mekomos
- 1ועצר את השמים · Deuteronomy 11:17
- 2אם ישים אליו לבו · Job 34:14
- 3ולעבדו בכל לבבכם · Deuteronomy 11:13
- 4ונתתי מטר ארצכם · Deuteronomy 11:14
- 5ואת רוח הטומאה · Zechariah 13:2
- 6ולא יכנף עוד מוריך · Isaiah 30:20
- 7כי ההרים ימושו · Isaiah 54:10
- 8לא כאברהם שקראו הר · Pesachim 88a:4
- 9עין בעין יראו · Isaiah 52:8
- 10השמים החדשים והארץ החדשה אשר אני עושה · Isaiah 66:22
- 11ביום עשות ה׳ אלקים · Genesis 2:4
- 12בראשית ברא אלקים · Genesis 1:1
21וזהו ביום עשות1 ה׳ אלקים שנכלל אלקים זה בהוי״ה וזהו פי׳ עשות ה׳ אלקים. היינו יחוד והתכללות שמות אלו יחד.
This is [the meaning of] “On the day that Havayah Elokim made”: that this Elokim is absorbed into Havayah. This is the meaning of “Havayah Elokim made” — the union and merging of these Names together.
The pairing “Havayah Elokim” in the verse expresses that the Name Elokim (contraction) is absorbed into Havayah (the infinite). “Havayah Elokim made” thus refers to the union and blending of these two Names.
וכ״ז [וכל זה] הוא ע״י ארץ ושמים בחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב]. אך צ״ל ארץ קדמה דוקא בחי׳ רצוא תחלה.
All this comes through “earth” and “heaven,” ratzo and shov; but “earth” must come first — the level of ratzo first.
This union is achieved through “earth” and “heaven,” ratzo and shov; and in the present order “earth” must come first, as the verse says, “earth and heaven.”
אבל לעתיד שיהיו שמים חדשים וארץ חדשה הוא בחי׳ אשר אני עושה ולא ע״י צמצומים דשם אלקים ואז יהיו שמים קודם
But in the Time to Come, when there will be new heavens and a new earth, it is the level of “that I make,” not through the contractions of the Name Elokim, and then the heavens will come first,
In the Time to Come, the new heavens and earth will be “that I make,” without the contractions of Elokim, and so “heaven” will come first.
כי א״צ [אין צריך / אינו צריך] לבחי׳ קדימת הרצוא כו׳ וזהו ויצא כברק חצו2 שהוא בחי׳ גילוי מלמעלה למטה:
for there will be no need for the ratzo to come first, etc. And this is [the meaning of] “And His arrow shall go forth like lightning,” which is the level of revelation from above to below.
No prior ratzo will be needed then. Zechariah’s “His arrow shall go forth like lightning” describes such a revelation, flashing from above to below.
Now the union of Elokim with Havayah comes through ratzo and then shov, earth before heaven; in the future the revelation will come directly from above, heaven before earth.
The two verses the maamar contrasts differ in order: Genesis 2:4 says “earth and heaven” (the present order, ratzo first), while Isaiah 66:22 says “the new heavens and the new earth” (the future order, revelation from above first).
Marei mekomos
- 1ביום עשות ה׳ אלקים · Genesis 2:4
- 2ויצא כברק חצו · Zechariah 9:14
Ratzo and shov within the divine flow ¶22–26
22אך הנה צריך להבין בענין השמים החדשים וארץ החדשה דאם הם באים רק בבחי׳ אתעדל״ע [אתערותא דלעילא] לבד שזהו
But we must understand, concerning the new heavens and the new earth: if they come only through an arousal from above alone, which is
The Alter Rebbe raises a difficulty with the maamar’s verse itself. The new heavens and earth are said to come purely from an arousal from above; this is what “that I make” means.
פי׳ אשר אני עושה1 כו׳ א״כ איך יתכן בזה בחי׳ ארץ בחי׳ רצוא מלשון רץ כנ״ל
the meaning of “that I make,” etc., then how can there be in this [a level of] “earth,” the level of ratzo, from the term “running” (ratz), as explained above?
If so, how can the future include an “earth” at all, if “earth” means ratzo, a creature’s running upward toward G‑d?
(והרי לעתיד לא שייך בחי׳ רצוא כלל אפי׳ [אפילו] מלמטה כמשנת״ל [כמו שנתבאר לעיל]. וכ״ש [וכל שכן] לכאורה דלא שייך בחי׳ זו בהגילוי שמלמעלה שהוא בחי׳ אשר אני עושה).
(For in the Time to Come ratzo will not apply at all, even from below, as explained above; and all the more so, it would seem, this level does not apply to the revelation from above, which is the level of “that I make.”)
The parenthesis sharpens the question: it was just shown that in the future even creatures below will have no ratzo; surely, then, ratzo has no place in a revelation that comes from G‑d above.
ולמה אמר והארץ החדשה אשר אני עושה לא היה לו להזכיר רק בחי׳ שמים לבד.
Why, then, did He say “and the new earth that I make”? He should have mentioned only the level of “heaven” alone.
So why does the verse speak of “the new earth that I make,” and not only of new heavens?
אך הענין הוא דגם בבחי׳ אתעדל״ע [אתערותא דלעילא] בלבד יש ב׳ מדרגות הללו דרו״ש [דרצוא ושוב] רק שהשמים קדמו לארץ.
But the explanation is that even in an arousal from above alone there are these two levels of ratzo and shov, except that the heavens precede the earth.
The answer in brief: even a flow that comes purely from above has both movements, ratzo and shov — only there, “heaven” comes before “earth.” The next paragraphs explain how.
The paragraph asks how a purely divine revelation can include an “earth” (ratzo) and answers in brief that ratzo and shov exist even within G‑d’s own flow, in reverse order.
Marei mekomos
- 1אשר אני עושה · Isaiah 66:22
23ולהבין איך יתכן בחי׳ רצוא בעצמות המאציל מאחר שאין דבר מסתיר לפניו כלל.
To understand how there can be a level of ratzo in the very Essence of the Emanator, since nothing at all conceals before Him:
Until now ratzo was described as a creature’s longing to escape concealment. How can anything like it exist in G‑d’s own essence, where nothing hides anything?
הנה יובן עד״מ שאנו רואים בחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב] בגוף האדם הגשמי ברוח החיים אשר בקרבו שדופק בלבו ונק׳ בזוהר דפיקו דלבא שהחיות שבלב הוא בא בנשימה דוקא רו״ש [רצוא ושוב] בהתפשטות והסתלקות
It will be understood by way of analogy. We see a level of ratzo and shov in the physical human body, in the breath of life within it, which beats in his heart and is called in the Zohar “the beating of the heart” (defiku deliba). For the life-force in the heart comes specifically by way of breathing — ratzo and shov, in expansion and withdrawal —
An analogy from the human body: the breath of life in the heart pulses; the Zohar calls it “the beating of the heart.” The heart’s vitality works like breathing — it expands and withdraws, which is ratzo and shov.
וכן חוזר חלילה שמתפשט וחוזר ומסתלק וחוזר ומתפשט כדפק שביד שהחיות נמשך ומתפשט וחוזר ומסתלק וחוזר ומתפשט.
and so it repeats over and over: it expands, then withdraws again, then expands again, like the pulse in the hand, where the life-force is drawn forth and expands, then withdraws again, then expands again.
The pulse in the wrist shows the same rhythm: the life-force spreads out, pulls back and spreads out again, continuously.
וכן הוא ממש בדפיקו דלבא1 שהוא ענין התפשטות והסתלקות והתפשטות של רוח החיים שבלב והיינו ממש כמו בחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב].
And so it is exactly in the beating of the heart, which is the expansion, withdrawal and expansion of the breath of life in the heart; and this is exactly like the level of ratzo and shov.
The heartbeat is exactly this rhythm of expansion and withdrawal of the life-breath, and it matches ratzo and shov.
ונמצא רו״ש [רצוא ושוב] כזה הוא הכל בגוף האדם עצמו עדיין ולא מזולתו אליו (ור״ל [ורוצה לומר] שרו״ש [שרצוא ושוב] זה2 הוא כענין המשכת חיות הנפש בהגוף שסדר המשכה זו הוא ע״י התפשטות והסתלקות כו׳ שזהו בחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב]) וגם
Thus such ratzo and shov is still entirely within the person’s body itself, and not from something else toward it (that is to say, this ratzo and shov is like the drawing of the soul’s life-force into the body, the order of this drawing being through expansion and withdrawal, etc., which is the level of ratzo and shov). And also,
Crucially, this ratzo and shov takes place entirely within the body itself; nothing outside it blocks the life-force or draws it away. It is simply how the soul’s vitality flows into the body — by expanding and withdrawing.
הנה יובן עוד במשל זה שבדפיקו דלבא שאין הרצוא קודם לשוב אלא אדרבה השוב קודם לרצוא כנראה בחוש שבראשונה הוא ההתפשטות והמשכת החיות בלב שזהו כמו בחי׳ שוב המשכת האור בהכלי.
it will further be understood from this analogy that in the beating of the heart the ratzo does not precede the shov; on the contrary, the shov precedes the ratzo, as is plainly observed: first there is the expansion and drawing of the life-force into the heart, which is like the level of shov, the drawing of the light into the vessel.
The analogy shows a second point: in the heartbeat, shov comes before ratzo. First the life-force expands into the heart, like shov, the light entering a vessel.
ואמנם תכף ומיד חוזר ומסתלק והוא בחי׳ רצוא והסתלקות האור מהכלי וחוזר ומתיישב וכן חוזר חלילה.
But immediately it withdraws again, which is the level of ratzo and the withdrawal of the light from the vessel; and it settles again, and so on over and over.
Immediately it withdraws — like ratzo, light leaving the vessel — and then settles back again, over and over.
וכדמיון הנשימה מהבל הפה שבתחלה יתפשט ההבל והרוח ומיד יחזור בחזרה וחוזר ומתפשט. וכדוגמא הזאת יובן למשכיל למעלה בבחי׳ רצוא ושוב3 שמלמעלה למטה
It is like breathing, the breath of the mouth: at first the breath and air go out, and immediately they come back, and go out again. And after this pattern the discerning will understand above, regarding ratzo and shov from above to below
Breathing is similar: first the breath goes out, then it comes back, then it goes out again. From this the thoughtful reader can understand ratzo and shov in the flow from above to below.
(ולא בבחי׳ רו״ש [רצוא ושוב] שוהחיות רצוא ושוב של הנבראי׳ [הנבראים] כו׳. כ״א אדרבה ג״כ בהשפעה עליונה של א״ס ב״ה בכלים ועולמות.
(and not [only] regarding the ratzo and shov of “and the chayos ran and returned,” of the creatures, etc.; but, on the contrary, also in the supernal flow of the Infinite One, blessed be He, into vessels and worlds.
A parenthesis: ratzo and shov exist not only in creatures, like the chayos of Ezekiel’s vision, but also in the flow of the Infinite into the vessels (the Sefiros) and the worlds.
וגם אפי׳ [אפילו] ממש בראשית מראשית ההמשכה מא״ס ב״ה להתלבש בשרש בחי׳ הכלים שהן שרש כל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים שייך ג״כ רצוא ושוב שהוא הסתלקות והתפשטות.
And also, even at the very beginning, from the very start of the drawing forth from the Infinite One, blessed be He, to be clothed in the root of the vessels, which are the root of all the worlds, higher and lower, ratzo and shov — which are withdrawal and expansion — also apply.
Even at the very first stage, when the Infinite light is drawn to clothe itself in the root of the vessels — the source of all worlds — there is withdrawal and expansion.
כי מיד שנמשך ומתפשט צ״ל הסתלקות שאל״כ [שאם לא כן] יתבטלו הכלים מהיות בחי׳ כלים כו׳ רק שההתפשטות הוא קודם. והוא כמו בחי׳ השוב ואח״כ הוא בחי׳ הסתלקות ורצוא וכן חוזר חלילה. ועמ״ש במ״א ע״פ ויקחו לי תרומה45 כו׳)
For as soon as it is drawn forth and expands, there must be withdrawal; otherwise the vessels would be nullified from being vessels, etc. Only, the expansion comes first. It is like the level of shov, and afterward comes the level of withdrawal and ratzo, and so on over and over. And see what is explained elsewhere on the verse “And let them take for Me an offering,” etc.),
The reason: if the light kept expanding without withdrawing, the vessels would be overwhelmed and cease to be vessels. So the flow must pulse. Still, the expansion comes first (shov), then the withdrawal (ratzo). The Alter Rebbe refers to his discourse on “And let them take for Me an offering” for more.
דשייך ג״כ בחי׳ רצוא. רק שהתפשטות האור קודם לבא ואח״כ מיד חוזר ומסתלק וחוזר ומתפשט.
that a level of ratzo applies as well; only, the expansion of the light comes first, and afterward it immediately withdraws again, and expands again.
Back to the main sentence: ratzo applies even in the flow from above; only there the expansion of the light comes first, and then it immediately withdraws and expands again.
וזהו ענין קול דודי דופק6 שהקול וההמשכה מלמעלה למטה הוא ג״כ כמו בחי׳ הדפק הנ״ל.
And this is the meaning of “The voice of my beloved knocks” (dofek): the voice and the drawing down from above to below is also like the pulse (dofek) mentioned above.
This is the meaning of “The voice of my beloved knocks (dofek)” in the Song of Songs: the divine “voice” flowing down to us pulses like a heartbeat (dofek).
Using the heartbeat and breathing as analogies, the paragraph shows that ratzo and shov exist even in the divine flow itself, as a pulse of expansion and withdrawal that keeps the vessels intact — with the expansion (shov) first.
The withdrawal here is not a concealment imposed from outside, like the kelipos of the present world; it is the inner rhythm by which infinite light can dwell in finite vessels without dissolving them.
Marei mekomos
- 1הוא ממש בדפיקו דלבא · נתבאר בלקו״ת פ׳ פקודי ה, ד ואילך ובביאור שם ז, ד ובכ״מ.
- 2ור״ל שרו״ש זה · ראה לקו״ת פ׳ חקת סה, א.
- 3רצוא ושוב · Ezekiel 1:14
- 4ועמ״ש במ״א ע״פ ויקחו לי תרומה · ראה אוה״ת תרומה ע׳ א׳שסח ואילך.
- 5ויקחו לי תרומה · Exodus 25:2
- 6קול דודי דופק · Song of Songs 5:2
24ונק׳ זה בע״ח [בעץ חיים]1 בשם מטי ולא מטי2 שהאור מטי ומתפשט וחוזר ומסתלק ולא מטי. שבחי׳ מטי הוא בחי׳ ההתפשטות קודם לבחי׳ לא מטי. והכל בבחי׳ אלקות עצמו.
In Etz Chaim this is called “reaching and not reaching” (mati velo mati): the light reaches and expands, and then withdraws again and does not reach. The level of “reaching,” the expansion, precedes the level of “not reaching.” And all of it is within G‑dliness itself.
Etz Chaim, the Arizal’s classic, calls this pulse “reaching and not reaching” (mati velo mati): the light reaches into the vessel, then withdraws and does not reach. “Reaching” comes first. And all of this takes place within G‑dliness itself, not through any outside concealment.
וזהו כי ה׳ אלקיך אש אוכלה הוא.34 ענין דמיון שפע האלקות לאש. הוא מפני שהאש טבעו בבחי׳ הסתלקות אחר ההתפשטות כדמיון דפיקו דלבא.
And this is [the meaning of] “For Havayah your G‑d is a consuming fire.” The reason the divine flow is likened to fire is that the nature of fire is to withdraw after expanding, like the beating of the heart.
This is why the Torah calls G‑d “a consuming fire.” The nature of fire is to flare out and then pull back — it flickers — like the beating heart, and so it is an apt image for the divine flow.
The Kabbalistic “reaching and not reaching” and the image of G‑d as fire both express the pulse of expansion and withdrawal within G‑dliness itself.
Elsewhere in Chassidus fire’s upward pull toward its source is the model of the soul’s ratzo; here the point is the flame’s rhythm, which begins with the outward flare and only then withdraws, matching “reaching” before “not reaching.”
Marei mekomos
- 1ונק׳ זה בע״ח · שער מטי ולא מטי. וראה לקו״ת פ׳ מסעי צה, ג. סה״מ תרס״ו ע׳ מג ואילך.
- 2מטי ולא מטי · Sefer Etz Chaim 7:1–3
- 3כי ה׳ אלקיך אש אוכלה הוא · ואתחנן ד, כד.
- 4כי ה׳ אלקיך אש אוכלה הוא · Deuteronomy 4:24
25וזהו ענין השמים החדשים והארץ החדשה. שהוא בחי׳ ההמשכה העליונה אשר נמשך באתעדל״ע [באתערותא דלעילא] לבד בזה יש ג״כ בחי׳ שמים וארץ.
And this is the meaning of the new heavens and the new earth: in the supernal drawing forth, which is drawn by an arousal from above alone, there are also the levels of heaven and earth.
This resolves the question of paragraph 22: the new heavens and new earth, drawn purely from above, also contain “heaven” and “earth.”
ההמשכה בחי׳ מטי נק׳ שמים ובחי׳ ההסתלקות האור מהכלי הנק׳ לא מטי זהו בחי׳ ארץ מל׳ רצוא.
The drawing forth, the level of “reaching,” is called “heaven”; and the level of the withdrawal of the light from the vessel, which is called “not reaching,” is the level of “earth,” from the term ratzo.
In G‑d’s own flow, the drawing of light into the vessel (“reaching”) is “heaven,” and the withdrawal of the light from the vessel (“not reaching”) is “earth” — ratzo, a running back upward.
Within the purely divine flow of the future, “heaven” is the light’s reaching into the vessel and “earth” its withdrawal.
26ולכן כאן קדם שמים לארץ בהיות בחי׳ מטי קדם לבחי׳ לא מטי. משא״כ ברצוא ושוב דנבראים צ״ל תחלה ארץ בחי׳ רצוא ואח״כ שמים בחי׳ שוב. וכמ״ש והחיות רו״ש [רצוא ושוב]1 וכתיב ביום עשות כו׳ ארץ ושמים2 כנ״ל.
Therefore here “heaven” precedes “earth,” since the level of “reaching” precedes the level of “not reaching.” This is not so with the ratzo and shov of created beings, where there must first be “earth,” the level of ratzo, and afterward “heaven,” the level of shov — as it is written, “And the chayos ran and returned,” and it is written, “On the day [Havayah Elokim] made,” etc., “earth and heaven,” as explained above.
That is why the verse says “new heavens and new earth,” with heaven first: in the divine pulse, reaching precedes not reaching. In creatures, by contrast, ratzo comes first — “the chayos ran and returned,” and “earth and heaven” — as explained above.
The order of the words reflects the source: in the divine flow, heaven (expansion) precedes earth (withdrawal); in creatures, earth (ratzo) precedes heaven (shov).
Marei mekomos
- 1והחיות רו״ש · Ezekiel 1:14
- 2ביום עשות כו׳ ארץ ושמים · Genesis 2:4
“So shall your seed and your name stand” ¶27–28
27וזהו ענין כאשר השמים החדשי׳ [החדשים] והארץ החדשה כו׳ עומדים לפני. לפני דייקא דהיינו בבחי׳ הפנימיו׳ ועצמיות מה שאין אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] מגעת לשם כלל. כן יעמוד זרעכם ושמכם.1
And this is the meaning of “For as the new heavens and the new earth,” etc., “stand before Me”: “before Me” (lefanai) precisely — that is, in the level of the innermost dimension and essence, where an arousal from below does not reach at all. “So shall your seed and your name stand.”
The verse continues: the new heavens and earth “stand before Me.” Lefanai, “before Me,” shares its root with penim, “inner,” and so points to G‑d’s innermost essence, a level that no human arousal can reach. And yet: “so shall your seed and your name stand.”
פי׳ זרעכם ושמכם הוא בחי׳ אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] וההמשכה הנמשך ע״י אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא]. כי הנה המצות נק׳ בשם זריעה כמ״ש זורע צדקות.2
The meaning: “your seed and your name” is the level of the arousal from below and the drawing forth that is drawn through the arousal from below. For the mitzvos are called “sowing,” as it is written, “He sows charity,”
“Your seed and your name” represent the arousal from below and what it draws down. The mitzvos are called “sowing,” as in the blessing before the Shema, where G‑d “sows charity.”
ועי״ז מצמיח ישועות בגילוי אלקות מבחי׳ ש״ע [ש״ע (370)] נהורין כו׳. ושמכם הוא בחי׳ קבלת עומ״ש [עול מלכות שמים] ויעש דוד שם.3
and through this “He causes salvations to sprout,” in the revelation of G‑dliness from the level of the 370 lights, etc. And “your name” is the level of accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, as it is written, “And David made a name.”
That blessing continues that G‑d “causes salvations to sprout”: like a seed, the mitzvah yields a growth far greater than itself, a revelation from the “370 lights” (a Zohar term for a very lofty level of divine light). “Your name” is accepting the yoke of Heaven, as in “David made a name,” David being the model of kingship.
The verse’s second half promises that “your seed and your name” — Israel’s mitzvos and acceptance of G‑d’s yoke, the arousal from below — will also “stand before Me.”
The seed image implies that what grows is far greater than what was sown: the mitzvos, small acts below, bring about “salvations,” a revelation from levels far above the acts themselves.
Marei mekomos
- 1כן יעמוד זרעכם ושמכם · Isaiah 66:22
- 2
- 3ויעש דוד שם · II Samuel 8:13
28והנה כבר מבואר שבחי׳ שמים וארץ החדשים הוא גילוי מבחי׳ שאין אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] מגעת לשם כלל שגילוי זה יהי׳ [יהיה] לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא].
Now, it has already been explained that the level of the new heavens and earth is a revelation from a level that an arousal from below does not reach at all, and that this revelation will be in the Time to Come.
The Alter Rebbe restates: the new heavens and earth are a future revelation from a level that no arousal from below can reach.
וא״כ סד״א [סלקא דעתך אמינא] שההמשכה שע״י אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] בתומ״צ [בתורה ומצות] בבחי׳ ארץ ושמים שלנו רו״ש [רצוא ושוב] תהי׳ [תהיה] בטילה לגמרי מחמת גילוי העצום ההוא שמבחי׳ אשר אני עושה.
If so, one might have thought that the drawing forth through an arousal from below, in Torah and mitzvos — in the level of our “earth and heaven,” ratzo and shov — will be entirely nullified because of that tremendous revelation from the level of “that I make.”
One might conclude that our present service — Torah and mitzvos, the “earth and heaven” of ratzo and shov that we bring about — will be swallowed up and lose all significance before that overwhelming revelation.
לזה אמר כן יעמוד זרעכם ושמכם.1 שגם בחי׳ זו דאתעדל״ת [דאתערותא דלתתא] יתעלה להיות עומדים לפני בבחי׳ הפנימית ממש כמו בחי׳ שמים החדשים וארץ החדשה כו׳.
To this He said, “So shall your seed and your name stand”: this level of the arousal from below, too, will be elevated to “stand before Me,” in the innermost level itself, just like the level of the new heavens and the new earth, etc.
The verse answers: “so shall your seed and your name stand.” Our arousal from below will itself be raised to “stand before Me,” in the innermost level, just like the new heavens and earth.
וכמ״ש הנה ישכיל עבדי2 ירום ונשא וגבה מאד דהיינו עבדי הוא בחי׳ אתעדל״ת [אתערותא דלתתא] בחי׳ לעבדה ולשמרה3 כו׳. הנה בחי׳ זו ממש תתעלה בעילוי אחר עילוי עד כי גבה מאד:
As it is written, “Behold, My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up and be very high.” That is, “My servant” is the level of the arousal from below, the level of “to work it and to guard it,” etc. This very level will be elevated from ascent to ascent, until “very high.”
Isaiah’s “My servant shall prosper… and be very high” says the same: “My servant” is the service of the arousal from below, like Adam’s charge “to work it and to guard it.” This service will rise from level to level until it is “very high.”
The maamar concludes that Israel’s own service will not be eclipsed by the future revelation from above; it will be raised to stand in G‑d’s innermost presence as well.
The ending brings the maamar full circle: the Torah and Israel, for whose sake heaven and earth were created (paragraph 1), are the “seed and name” that will stand forever alongside the new heavens and earth.
Marei mekomos
- 1כן יעמוד זרעכם ושמכם · Isaiah 66:22
- 2הנה ישכיל עבדי · Isaiah 52:13
- 3לעבדה ולשמרה · Genesis 2:15
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
In one’s avodah
Through contemplation in Pesukei deZimra and the Shema a person must arouse a longing for G‑d Himself, beyond anything in the worlds, and so overcome the animal soul’s concealment. That longing must then “return” into Torah study and the practical mitzvos, living in the body for their sake. One who pursues even permitted pleasures for their own sake, without any longing for G‑d, is “outside the land” and feeds the kelipah. And this service, done now through an arousal from below, will itself stand forever before G‑d.
Questions for discussion
- Why must the physical heaven and earth have spiritual counterparts in the Torah and Israel, and which is which?
- How does the contrast between G‑d as “King” and as “Unique One” shape the love of the Shema?
- Why is the ratzo of prayer only a preparation for shov, and how does “against your will you live” express this?
- If ratzo belongs to creatures escaping concealment, how can there be ratzo within G‑d’s own flow? What do the heartbeat and fire illustrate?
- Why does the verse put heaven before earth in the future, and what does “so shall your seed and your name stand” promise about our service now?
Key terms in this maamar
- Willרצון
- Desire; in G‑d, the level above intellect. ×8
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- G‑d's own boundless essence.
- The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
- G‑d's presence as it dwells in the world.
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Tetragrammaton: G‑d as transcending time and bringing all into being.
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- Divine light too great to enter the worlds; it 'surrounds' them and affects them from beyond.
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- Divine light that enters each world and gives it life according to its measure.
- The G‑dly soulנפש האלקית
- The soul that is 'a part of G‑d above'.
- The animal soulנפש הבהמית
- The soul that animates the body and its drives.
- Life-forceחיות
- The divine vitality that sustains every creation. ×9
- The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
- The highest world, still one with G‑d.
- Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
- Giving oneself over entirely to G‑d.
- Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
- The first flash of insight.
- The Holy One, blessed be Heקב״ה
- ×1
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human initiative that draws down a divine response.
- An arousal from aboveאתערותא דלעילא
- Divine initiative, unprompted by us.
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The forces of concealment that oppose holiness. ×2
- The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
- The step-by-step descent of divine light from the highest level down to this world. ×1
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- The self-concealment of the Infinite Light that makes room for finite worlds. ×2
- The Name Elokimאלקים
- G‑d as concealed within nature, measuring and limiting. ×10
- Accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol)קבלת עול
- Submission to G‑d's will beyond understanding.
- Yesod (foundation)יסוד
- The channel that connects and transmits. ×2
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Setting aside one's own sense of self before G‑d. ×1
- The general and collective expression (klalus)כללות
- That which encompasses the particulars as one: their general and collective expression (the klal, as against the prat). Never “sum”, “sum total”, “totality” or “general principle”, as if the particulars were added up (וכללותן היא מצות הצדקה is “their general and collective expression is the mitzvah of charity”). Render by sense: “their general and collective expression”, “that which encompasses them all”, “X in general”, “X as a whole”. Keep התכללות as “inclusion” / “inter-inclusion”. ×1