Chapter Seven
Words and Concepts You Need To Know For This Chapter
Kelipah (pl. kelipot): Literally, “shell” or “husk.” In the previous chapter we discussed kelipah as a force that obstructs and distorts divine light, much like a shell obstructs consumption of a fruit. That explains the state of our world, a harsh and difficult place where everything asserts its own existence as though it had created itself – even though, at its very core, it is pure divine energy.
We learned that the three lower kelipot correspond to the stormy wind, great cloud, and flashing fire in the chariot vision of Ezekiel. The very next phenomenon mentioned there is a glimmer (nogah) around it. That corresponds to the higher, glimmering kelipah – Kelipat Nogah – which is discussed in this chapter.
Soul-clothing: A critical component of the two souls. As this chapter will teach us the potency of the animalistic soul’s clothing, let’s recap the basics:
Just as you invest your body in a suit of clothes, your mind and emotions invest themselves in your conscious thoughts, words, and activities. That’s how they emerge from potential into tangible, external reality.
And just as your clothes allow you entry into the outside world, so, too, the clothes of your soul allow her to reach outside herself and enter new and foreign spaces – for better or for worse.
The permissible and the forbidden: When it comes to the dos and don’ts of Torah, assur means forbidden and mutar means permissible. The literal meaning of assur, however, is tied down or bound, as in, “The prisoner bound in chains.” The literal meaning of mutar is the opposite – untied, unbounded.
In what way is a ham sandwich a prisoner bound in chains? In this chapter, Rabbi Schneur Zalman uncovers the connection between the two meanings.
Teshuvah: Typically translated as repentance, but that misses the point. Teshuvah literally means returning. When you realize you’ve left your true place as a divine soul in G‑d’s service, and now return with all your heart, you are doing teshuvah. A person who makes that journey is called a ba’al teshuvah.
Generally, people think of teshuvah as a way to elicit G‑d’s forgiveness. In this chapter, teshuvah is a way of repairing damage – by reclaiming the energies you have invested in the wrong places.
Introduction
Animal Training
If you were to purchase an exotic pet, you would likely do your research beforehand. You would want to know its needs, its habits, and, in particular, the hazards it brings. You would also want to know how to train this pet, what tricks it could do, and whatever other benefits it might bring you.
In the last chapter, you discovered you already have a very exotic pet, a human animal soul. You learned the basics of her psychology – the dynamic of mind and emotions, and how those are expressed through her clothing. You learned that her energy is of the kelipah sort, which tells you that she is innately self-centered. And that her natural clothing is very much about herself – anything under the sun that pleases her, stuff that has nothing to do with anything divine. And that’s a lot of stuff, since almost this entire world is kelipah and sitra achra, a realm that is hostile to the divine.
“Who needs this pet?” you may well be thinking. “I’m a Jew with a divine soul. Why should I be stuck with a life of kelipah? And if I’m stuck with it, best to lock it up in a small cage on a subsistence diet.”
That’s a good reason to learn this coming chapter. Here we get to something that makes this animal unique.
Just like the clothing of your divine soul carries her to heights infinitely beyond herself, so the clothing of your animalistic soul can carry her to layers of kelipah and sitra achra far beneath her. Not only that, but she ends up taking everything else with her on the ride.
Why is this animalistic soul of the Jew so volatile? Because she lives in the volatile zone of the universe. It’s the middle zone called kelipat nogah, a place full of consumables and activities that aren’t locked down to any particular identity. In fact, she herself is made of the same stuff.
Which means this little beast of yours can really go either way. By default, her clothing drags her downward, but they could just as well lift her up into a space of holiness. Instead of manifesting her self-centered qualities, they could express the glimmer of good within her.
And when she does, she takes everything she’s engaged with along with her – your food, your drink, your human relationships, your pleasures of life, and all that makes you happy.
It turns out that, thanks to this unique quality of your exotic pet, and of the permissible things of life, you never have to engage in an ounce of kelipah over an entire lifetime. All her activities can be transformed into holiness.
Indeed, this beast of yours has great divine potential. Just as she can steer you into mud and muck deeper than you ever imagined, so she can come to the aid of your divine soul, contributing her unique energies and modalities to help lift your Torah and mitzvahs to a new level.
So why lock her up? Instead, train her. Keep her mindful, focused on the task at hand – to make this experience another way to connect to the divine. Ensure that everything she does is with meaning and purpose. Let her become the divine, holy pet she was meant to be.
Where This Chapter Is Going
We left the last chapter peering into the universe’s hidden anatomy – divine at its core, broken and conflicted at its surface. That surface phenomenon is called sitra achra – a sense of being something other than the divine. Of course, that’s a lie, something like saying you are something other than your true, inner self. Sitra achra is associated with kelipah, a blockage of the free flow of divine energy.
We described the lower levels of kelipah from which no good is available for your divine soul. Along with a large portion of prohibited consumables, these kelipot offer an endless wardrobe of the animalistic soul’s soul-clothing – all the activities, words, and thoughts that the Torah warns you about.
Now, along with kosher consumables, we get to the higher level kelipah wardrobe. These are the permissible activities that belong to the realm of kelipat nogah.
We’ll be learning more about kelipat nogah in this chapter, but here’s something you should keep in mind: It is definitely not neutral ground. It’s kelipah all the way. Just that, since there’s some good mixed in there, it’s open to change. That’s especially significant when you consider that this is the stuff of which your inner animal is made.
Altogether, these are three categories that receive their energy through kelipat nogah: Your human-animal soul, the consumables for that soul, and her permissible soul-clothing.
The Glimmering, Intermediate Kelipah
As with any intermediate, it combines something of each – the good of holiness and the bad of kelipah. The good is drawn upward, while the bad is drawn downward.
Rabbi Schneur Zalman now describes three modalities of clothing for the animalistic soul – three ways that she can invest herself into her thoughts, words, and/or activities. One way transports her energy upward, another downward, and a third way permanently entraps it. Those are followed by two exceptions.
For each kind of investment, he provides two examples. The first of each set involves consumption of food or drink, altering its status as well.
Altogether, there are eight instances discussed in this chapter, each adding something new. A chart of these is provided at the end of this chapter.
Upgrading the Energy of Kelipat Nogah
Downgrading Kelipat Nogah
Tied and Untied Energy
Imprisoned Energy and Its Rescue
This is another factor that affects these energies. Aside from considering what energy they are and where they have been invested, you need to consider how firmly they are anchored to that place. In effect, there are upward investments, downward investments, and locked-down investments.
Energy With Nothing to Absorb It
Before continuing, it will help to review the sequence of examples in this chapter:
1. Good investments for a higher purpose. These elevate kelipat nogah into holiness.
2. Bad investments that do not involve any prohibition, just indulgence for no purpose other than self-gratification. These are not assur – tied down – and can be retrieved just by walking yourself back to your true self and purpose.
3. Investments that involve a prohibition, such as prohibited foods or relations. The energies you invested are of the lower kelipot and impossible to retrieve until the messiah comes – or until you return with a teshuvah powered by the kelipah itself.
Now Rabbi Schneur Zalman concludes with two exceptions that demonstrate this notion of tied-down energies in very real and practical ways.
Energy That Is Entirely Absorbed
What Have We Discovered
- You live in the domain of kelipat nogah, the intermediate, switchable kelipah. Your human-animal soul, your kosher food, and all activities permitted by Torah, are powered by kelipat nogah.
- That empowers you to live for a higher purpose, connecting your animalistic soul, the food you eat, and all that you think, speak, and do to holy energy. On the other hand, by only seeking self-gratification, you connect them to bad energy.
- Halachah is real. If the Torah prohibits something, it’s tied down to the lower kelipot. Any energy you invest there won’t be easy to retrieve.
- With the right sort of teshuvah, you can retrieve almost any wasted energies of your life from the kelipot.
Notes
- This understanding of the chapter follows Kitzurim V’Ha’arot L’Sefer Likutei Amarim, p. 4.
- Chapter one.
- Arizal, Mavo Shearim, recorded by R. Chaim Vital, portal 2, sec. 3, ch. 8; R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi, Mishnat Chassidim, Nezikin, Masechet Heichalot HaKelipot 5:1; Likutei Torah, Bamidbar, 58b.
- Translation follows Torat Menachem – Sefer HaMa’amarim Melukat, vol. 4, p. 53, n. 63. See Mareh Mekomot Hagahot V’Ha’arot Ketzarot L’Sefer Shel Beinonim, p. 62; Tanya, Luach HaTikun.
- Chapter one.
- Zohar II, 203b.
- Following Mareh Mekomot Hagahot V’Ha’arot Ketzarot L’Sefer Shel Beinonim, p. 64.
- Tamud, Yoma 76b.
- The Hebrew mentions two sorts of offerings, one of which is burnt in its entirety on the altar, the other not. See Likutei Biurim B’Sefer HaTanya, vol. 1, p. 73; Likutei Levi Yitzchak – Ha’arot L’Sefer HaTanya, p. 2. for an explanation of this nuance.
- Talmud, Shabbat 30b; Berachot 31a.
- Talmud, Shabbat 30b, Rashi ad loc.; Yalkut Shimoni, 2 Kings, no. 227.
- See end of chapter one.
- Mentioned in Rashi on Talmud, Sanhedrin 47b; see Reishit Chochmah, Sha’ar HaYirah, ch. 12.
- Chapter eight.
- During a woman’s menstrual period, marital union is prohibited. She must count seven days of no bleeding and then immerse in a pool of water known as a mikvah. After that she is considered tahorah, and marital intimacy can resume. For more on this mitzvah, see chabad.org/mikvah.
- See Arizal, Ta’amei Mitzvot, recorded by R. Chaim Vital, Bereishit.
- Paraphrased from Isaiah 25:8.
- Zechariah 13:2.
- Talmud, Yoma 86b.
- Following Likutei Sichot, vol. 27, pp. 110–111.
- Paraphrased from Psalms 143:6.
- Paraphrased from Jeremiah 2:6.
- Talmud, Berachot 34b; see Shnei Luchot HaBrit, Toldot Adam, s.v. “Hei Chet.”
- Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Keriat Shema She’al HaMitah, ch. 5.
- Talmud, Berachot 5a.
- See chs. 29 and 42; Igeret HaTeshuvah, chs. 1 and 3. See also Talmud, Nidah 13a.
- This will be explained further in the guide to the marginal note, to be found at the end of this chapter.
- Ecclesiastes 1:15.
- A child born of an incestuous relationship, or a Jewish man’s relationship with a married Jewish woman.
- Mishnah, Chagigah 1:7.
- See Pri Etz Chaim, Sha’ar Keriat Shema She’al HaMitah, ch. 5.