Tanya Illuminated

Key Words and Concepts You Need to Know for this Chapter

Yetzer Hara: Literally, “the bad instinct.” An instinctive impulse for self-gratification. It’s opposed by the yetzer tov, a counter-force to do what is right just because it is right. The yetzer hara arises out of the emotions of the animalistic soul, while the yetzer tov emerges from the emotions of the divine soul.

Mutar and Assur: Anything permissible is called mutar, which literally means “untied,” while anything forbidden is called assur, literally meaning “tied down.” If a thing or activity is untied, you can elevate it to holiness by engaging in it for a higher purpose. But if it’s tied down, then it’s anchored to the completely tamei kelipot, and instead of you pulling it up, it will pull you down – which is why the Torah prohibits it.

Sitra Achra: The “other side.” The realm of anything that is not holy and divine.

Kelipah: Literally a husk, shell, or peel. Used to describe forces that obstruct divine light, much as a shell obstructs access to a fruit.

Enmeshed within kelipat nogah is a glimmer of good, allowing it to be elevated into the realm of holiness. In the lower, three completely tamei kelipot, no good shines at all.

Tumah: A force that occupies any void of holiness. Something infected by tumah is called tamei. Kelipat nogah loses its tumah when it rises into holiness. The three completely tamei kelipot hang on to their tumah no matter what.

Neglect of Torah: In the original Hebrew, this is bittul Torah. Bittul here means to annul or cancel. So this is any activity that wastes time from learning Torah.

Learning Torah is an intimate communion with the Giver of the Torah, as explained in chapters 4–5. And, as we say in the Shema, it is the principal activity of a Jew “at home and on the road, when you get up and when you lie down.” Anything else is either a mitzvah, a necessity, or a distraction. The distractions are called bittul Torah.

Empty Words: In the original Hebrew, these are devarim betailim, meaning distractions that have no utility. Neither are they informative, intriguing, or meaningful. They’re just a way to pass the time.

They might be words that you speak, listen to, read, scroll through, or just passively observe. There may be no words involved at all, but they’re still called empty words, because every human activity somehow engages us as speaking beings.

Introduction

They say you can’t read the label from inside the jar. All the time you live and breathe from within a flask of sinews and veins, you can’t know who you are, where you are, or why you came here. One day, when you leave these earthly bounds to soar back to your true place, you will glance back, if but for a moment. And all these things you learn now in this book will be clear before you, a vivid reality.

You will know who you are – a divine soul. You will see where you were – in a hostile world that challenged you at every turn. And you will see what you attained in this world – because only in such a world could you grasp that which is unattainable even in the highest heavens, a moment of embracing G‑d in your hands, and He embracing you in His, a moment of teshuvah and good deeds.

Why must you know who you are? So that you will remain true to who you are.

Why must you know where you are? So that you will not allow this place to consume you.

Why must you know what you can attain in this place? So that you will take every opportunity to do so.

That’s what this chapter is about: Knowing that this world’s cold indifference to any higher meaning is as foreign and unbecoming to your soul as soot smeared on a bridal gown. And that in every interaction with this world, it is not you that must stoop down to the things of this world, but they that must be carried up into yours.

What’s Up With Kelipah?

A lucid grasp of the flow of ideas until now will make learning this chapter a far richer experience:

Kelipat nogah is mobile. If something is kelipat nogah, you can move it upward into holiness or downward into the completely tamei kelipot. Eat kosher food or tell a joke for the right reasons, and you carry that food or humor up to holiness. Eat that same food for the wrong reasons, and you drag it down into the lower kelipot.

Yet more: Even once it has entered the domain of the lower kelipot, it remains mobile. You can still pull that energy back up and into holiness.

That’s why these foods and activities are called mutar, meaning “untied.” They remain mobile, regardless of where they’ve been.

Not so with things the Torah forbids, things that are assur, meaning “tied down” to the lower, completely tamei kelipot. These live on one-way streets: Once you’ve engaged them the wrong way, they cannot return back from there.

That’s where we left off. Now Rabbi Schneur Zalman is going to ask a question that gets down to the core of the matter:

This is all if you do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. But what if you engage in these completely tamei things innocently, unaware that they are forbidden, and with only good intentions? If you did nothing intentionally wrong with them, perhaps they remain free to rise to holiness through your good intentions or through some mitzvah of yours?

In other words: Is it you, through your illicit behavior, that hammers these things down? Or are these things intrinsically immobile?

Answering this question brings a richer understanding of your relationship with this world. Are prohibitions imposed upon you just so you will be good and not bad, or are they consequences of realities, hard facts on the ground? Are permissible things just lifestyle choices, or are they intrinsically foreign to your soul in their current state, until you will lift them into holiness?

פרק ח'

Chapter Eight

It’s Not You

Engaging in forbidden relations and eating forbidden foods are called assur because these activities are tied down to the completely tamei kelipot.

וְעוֹד זֹאת בְּמַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת, שֶׁלְּכָךְ נִקְרָאִים בְּשֵׁם "אִיסּוּר",

But when it comes to forbidden foods, these are called assur not only because of what you do and how you do it, but from another perspective, as well.

מִפְּנֵי שֶׁאַף מִי שֶׁאָכַל מַאֲכַל אִיסּוּר בְּלֹא הוֹדַע – לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, לַעֲבוֹד ה' בְּכֹחַ אֲכִילָה הַהִיא,

Because, even if someone ate some forbidden food unknowingly – eating it for a higher purpose, to use that meal’s energy to serve G‑d,

וְגַם פָּעַל וְעָשָׂה כֵּן, וְקָרָא וְהִתְפַּלֵּל בְּכֹחַ אֲכִילָה הַהִיא,

and even if he actually carried that out – he spoke Torah and said his prayers with the energy of that meal,

אֵין הַחַיּוּת שֶׁבָּהּ עוֹלָה וּמִתְלַבֶּשֶׁת בְּתֵיבוֹת הַתּוֹרָה וְהַתְּפִלָּה כְּמוֹ הַהֶיתֵּר,

nevertheless, the energy of that meal won’t rise from its kelipah state to infuse the words of Torah and prayer as would permissible food.

מִפְּנֵי אִיסּוּרָהּ בִּידֵי הַסִּטְרָא אָחֳרָא מִשָּׁלֹשׁ קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת.

Why not? Because that energy itself is assur, inherently tied down to the sitra achra of the three tamei kelipot.

This is unlike kosher food that you can elevate or degrade according to how and why you consume it. The energy of this unkosher food is tied down to sitra achra regardless of how and why you eat it. It’s a different type of energy altogether, an energy that cannot fuse with holiness.

וַאֲפִילוּ הוּא אִיסּוּר דְּרַבָּנָן, שֶׁחֲמוּרִים דִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים יוֹתֵר מִדִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה כוּ'.

This is true even with food forbidden by rabbinic injunction, since “the instructions of the scribes are taken even more seriously than the instructions of the Torah.”

Now that you know that the energy of these foods is inherently tamei, how does that affect your attitude towards them?

Your animalistic soul is of kelipat nogah, capable of ascending to holiness and merging with it. These foods are incapable of merging with anything holy. You and these foods are fundamentally incompatible.

וְלָכֵן, גַּם הַיֵּצֶר הָרָע וְכֹחַ הַמִּתְאַוֶּה לִדְבָרִים הָאֲסוּרִים, הוּא שֵׁד מִשֵּׁדִין נוּכְרָאִין,

That being so, just as assur food fundamentally differs from mutar food, so too the yetzer hara and the appetite for such food is, in the language of our sages, a “non-Jewish demon” within a Jew.

שֶׁהוּא יֵצֶר הָרָע שֶׁל אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁנַּפְשׁוֹתֵיהֶם מִשָּׁלֹשׁ קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת.

This yetzer hara belongs to the other peoples of the world. They are naturally attracted towards these things because their souls are of the three tamei kelipot.

The Kelipah Effect: Body

מַה שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן הַיֵּצֶר הָרָע וְכֹחַ הַמִּתְאַוֶּה לִדְבָרִים הַמּוּתָּרִים לְמַלֹּאת תַּאֲוָתוֹ, הוּא שֵׁד מִשֵּׁדִין יְהוּדָאִין,

Not so when it comes to permissible foods. The yetzer hara and the appetite for these is a “Jewish demon.” Being of kelipat nogah, it is naturally attracted towards foods of kelipat nogah.

This is true even when you are just indulging your food-cravings, bringing yourself and the food down into the lower kelipot.

לְפִי שֶׁיָּכוֹל לַחֲזוֹר לִקְדוּשָּׁה כְּדִלְעֵיל.

Even then, it’s still a “Jewish demon” – since its appetite is for permissible food that can always return to holiness, as explained earlier.

For a Jew, the world of kelipat nogah is more natural, but still not healthy. You may be attracted to these things, but they nevertheless compromise your true identity. As we see:

אַךְ מִכָּל מָקוֹם, קוֹדֶם שֶׁחָזַר לִקְדוּשָּׁה, הוּא סִטְרָא אָחֳרָא וּקְלִיפָּה.

Although this food’s energy could potentially be carried back to holiness, nevertheless, until that happens, it is sitra achra and kelipah.

וְגַם אַחַר כָּךְ, הָרְשִׁימוּ מִמֶּנּוּ נִשְׁאָר דָּבוּק בַּגּוּף,

And even then, a trace of that kelipah energy remains clinging to your body.

לִהְיוֹת כִּי מִכָּל מַאֲכָל וּמַשְׁקֶה נַעֲשָׂה תֵּיכֶף דָּם וּבָשָׂר מִבְּשָׂרוֹ.

After all, as soon as you consume any food or drink, your body begins to metabolize it. Immediately, while still in its kelipah state, some of it becomes your blood and flesh. So a trace remains.

A Jewish body is designed for holiness. Anything else is like a stain on an elegant gown and needs to be washed away.

וְלָכֵן צָרִיךְ הַגּוּף לְחִיבּוּט הַקֶּבֶר, לְנַקּוֹתוֹ וּלְטַהֲרוֹ מִטּוּמְאָתוֹ

That’s why the body will need the “thrashing in the grave” process after burial to cleanse and purify it from its state of tumah.

שֶׁקִּיבֵּל בַּהֲנָאַת עוֹלָם הַזֶּה וְתַעֲנוּגָיו מִטּוּמְאַת קְלִיפַּת נוֹגַהּ וְשֵׁדִין יְהוּדָאִין.

This is because any personal benefit you take from this world and its pleasures infects your body with the tumah of kelipat nogah and Jewish demons. That needs to be washed away.

אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן מִי שֶׁלֹּא נֶהֱנָה מֵעוֹלָם הַזֶּה כָּל יָמָיו כְּרַבֵּינוּ הַקָּדוֹשׁ.

Unless you are one of those people who never took any personal benefit from this world their entire life, like Rabbi Yehudah, who was called “our holy rebbe.”

The Kelipah Effect: Soul

Just as the kelipat nogah of unelevated foods doesn’t belong in your body, so the kelipah nogah of unelevated words doesn’t belong in your soul.

“Empty words” (see Key Words and Concepts, above) are of this kind of kelipah. While there is no prohibition banning you from empty words, they do become an issue if you are capable of learning Torah at that time.

וְעַל דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים בְּהֶיתֵּר, כְּגוֹן עַם הָאָרֶץ שֶׁאֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לִלְמוֹד,

What about empty words that you spoke permissibly? For example, empty words are permissible if you lack the education necessary to learn Torah.

צָרִיךְ לְטַהֵר נַפְשׁוֹ מִטּוּמְאָה זוֹ דִּקְלִיפָּה זוֹ,

Your soul will need to be purified of the tumah of the kelipah of these words.

עַל יְדֵי גִּלְגּוּלָהּ בְּכַף הַקֶּלַע, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּזֹּהַר פָּרָשַׁת בְּשַׁלַּח דַּף נ"ט.

That purification comes after your soul leaves your body. As described in Zohar, Parshat Beshalach, folio 59, the turbulence of that very chatter itself swings your soul in circles up and down like a stone in a slingshot.

This is what’s necessary for permissible talk of kelipat nogah.

אֲבָל לְדִיבּוּרִים אֲסוּרִים, כְּמוֹ לֵיצָנוּת וְלָשׁוֹן הָרָע וְכַיּוֹצֵא בָהֶם, שֶׁהֵן מִשָּׁלֹשׁ קְלִיפּוֹת הַטְּמֵאוֹת לְגַמְרֵי – אֵין כַּף הַקֶּלַע [לְבַדּוֹ] מוֹעִיל לְטַהֵר וּלְהַעֲבִיר טוּמְאָתוֹ מֵהַנֶּפֶשׁ,

But then there is forbidden talk, such as scorn, malicious gossip, and the like, that belongs to the three completely tamei kelipot. For these, the slinging process (alone) cannot purify your soul and rid her of their tumah.

רַק צְרִיכָה לֵירֵד לְגֵיהִנֹּם.

To do that, she will have to descend to Gehinom, a spiritual domain for the cleansing of souls.

וְכֵן מִי שֶׁאֶפְשָׁר לוֹ לַעֲסוֹק בַּתּוֹרָה וְעוֹסֵק בִּדְבָרִים בְּטֵלִים – אֵין כַּף הַקֶּלַע לְבַדּוֹ מוֹעִיל לְנַפְשׁוֹ לְמָרְקָהּ וּלְזַכְּכָהּ,

So, too, if you are capable of engaging in Torah study, but instead fill that time engaged in empty words – the slinging process alone won’t help to purge and refine your soul, since there is the additional issue of neglecting Torah.

The empty words are still kelipat nogah, unlike forbidden words. But neglecting Torah brings its own stain that requires deeper cleaning.

רַק עוֹנָשִׁים חֲמוּרִים שֶׁמַּעֲנִישִׁים עַל בִּיטּוּל תּוֹרָה בִּפְרָטוּת,

To do that, the soul requires the severe punishments prescribed specifically for Torah neglect.

מִלְּבַד עוֹנֶשׁ הַכְּלָלִי לְכָל בִּיטּוּל מִצְוַת עֲשֵׂה מֵחֲמַת עַצְלוּת בְּגֵיהִנֹּם שֶׁל שֶׁלֶג, כִּמְבוֹאָר בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר.

That’s aside from the standard punishment for neglect of any mitzvah out of laziness: the “Gehinom of Snow,” as explained elsewhere.

וְכֵן הָעוֹסֵק בְּחָכְמוֹת אוּמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם – בִּכְלַל דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים יֵחָשֵׁב לְעִנְיַן עֲוֹן בִּיטּוּל תּוֹרָה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּהִלְכוֹת תַּלְמוּד תּוֹרָה.

The same cleansing processes become necessary when you engage in secular studies. They contain wisdom, but, as stated in Hilchot Talmud Torah, when it comes to an opportunity to engage in Torah, there’s no difference between them and empty words.

The Kelipah Effect: Mind

Rabbi Schneur Zalman now discusses how secular studies, when devoid of any higher purpose, immerse the intellect of the divine soul in tumah. He will cite a kabbalistic teaching to explain how these studies could have such an impact. This insight illuminates the entire endeavor of intellectual inquiry.

וְעוֹד זֹאת יְתֵרָה טוּמְאָתָהּ שֶׁל חָכְמַת הָאוּמּוֹת עַל טוּמְאַת דְּבָרִים בְּטֵלִים,

And then there is another issue with secular studies, aside from the Torah neglect: Although they are both kelipat nogah, the tumah of secular studies reaches beyond the tumah of empty words.

שֶׁאֵינוֹ מַלְבִּישׁ וּמְטַמֵּא רַק הַמִּדּוֹת מִיסוֹד הָרוּחַ הַקָּדוֹשׁ שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹהִית

Empty words envelop your divine soul only at an emotional level, infecting those emotions that emerge from her holy element of air.

בְּטוּמְאַת קְלִיפַּת נוֹגַהּ שֶׁבִּדְבָרִים בְּטֵלִים, הַבָּאִים מִיסוֹד הָרוּחַ הָרָע שֶׁבִּקְלִיפָּה זוֹ בְּנַפְשׁוֹ הַבַּהֲמִית כְּדִלְעֵיל,

That’s because these empty words emerge from the animalistic soul’s bad, kelipah element of air, as explained earlier. That enables them to infect emotions of the divine soul related to her holy element of air with their tumah of kelipat nogah.

וְלֹא בְּחִינוֹת חָכְמָה־בִּינָה־דַּעַת שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ, מֵאַחַר שֶׁהֵם דִּבְרֵי שְׁטוּת וּבוּרוּת, שֶׁגַּם הַשּׁוֹטִים וְעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ יְכוֹלִים לְדַבֵּר כֵּן.

They do not, however, affect your divine soul’s intellectual modalities of chochmah, binah, and da’at. After all, they are just stupid, meaningless words that idiots and ignoramuses could also speak.

מַה שֶּׁאֵין כֵּן בְּחָכְמַת הָאוּמּוֹת, הוּא מַלְבִּישׁ וּמְטַמֵּא בְּחִינוֹת חָכְמָה־בִּינָה־דַּעַת שֶׁבְּנַפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹהִית בְּטוּמְאַת קְלִיפַּת נוֹגַהּ שֶׁבְּחָכְמוֹת אֵלּוּ,

Not so secular studies. Studying them means investing your divine soul’s faculties of chochmah, binah, and da’at within the tumah of kelipat nogah that these wisdoms contain, thereby infecting those faculties with that tumah.

As ingenious as some secular studies may be, they remain the product of a human mind. How could they have such an impact upon the wisdom of a divine soul?

שֶׁנָּפְלוּ שָׁמָּה בִּשְׁבִירַת הַכֵּלִים מִבְּחִינַת אֲחוֹרַיִים שֶׁל חָכְמָה דִקְדוּשָּׁה, כַּיָּדוּעַ לְיוֹדְעֵי חֵן.

This is known to those familiar with kabbalistic teachings: During the process of creation, when the containment of divine light shattered, these wisdoms detached from the externalities of chochmah of holiness and fell into kelipah.

אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן

They remain there and cause tumah unless you elevate them back to holiness.

עוֹשֶׂה אוֹתָן קַרְדּוֹם לַחְתּוֹךְ בָּהֶן, דְּהַיְינוּ כְּדֵי לְהִתְפַּרְנֵס מֵהֶן בְּרֶיוַח לַעֲבוֹד ה',

One way to do that is to treat them as “a hatchet to chop wood” – a means to earn ample income for more time and resources to serve G‑d.

אוֹ שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ לְהִשְׁתַּמֵּשׁ בָּהֶן לַעֲבוֹדַת ה'

Or you know how to use them to connect to G‑d with love, with fear, and through prayer.

אוֹ לְתוֹרָתוֹ,

Or, another way, you are able to bring them into your study of His Torah.

וְזֶהוּ טַעֲמוֹ שֶׁל הָרַמְבַּ"ם וְרַמְבַּ"ן זִכְרוֹנָם לִבְרָכָה וְסִיעָתָן שֶׁעָסְקוּ בָּהֶן:

This was the rationale of Rambam, Ramban, and their colleagues who engaged in these studies.

WHAT HAVE WE DISCOVERED

Unkosher food is inherently unkosher. Even if it’s only prohibited rabbinically, it’s intrinsically tied down and can’t be elevated.
Anything of kelipah, even unelevated kelipat nogah, is unnatural and foreign to the Jew. It compromises the spiritual health of your divine soul, your body, and even your natural soul.
Eat, speak, and live to elevate. Make every activity you engage in, everything you consume, and every word you speak or digest holy.
That includes everything you learn. It doesn’t matter how smart the ideas are, they still need a higher purpose.

Notes

Deuteronomy 6:7.
See Talmud, Eruvin 21b; Sanhedrin 88b.
See Zohar III, 253a.
Chapter seven.
Talmud, Ketubot 104a.
See Kitzurim V’Haorot L’Sefer Likutei Amarim, p. 4.
Arizal, Likutei Torah, recorded by R. Chaim Vital, Parshat Shemot.
3:7, citing Sifrei, Vaetchanan 6:7. Hilchot Talmud Torah is an earlier work of Rabbi Schneur Zalman.
Chapter One.
Kitzurim V’Haorot L’Sefer Likutei Amarim, p. 4.
Paraphrasing Mishnah, Avot 4:5.
The Rebbe’s notes on Tanya.
See She’elot U’Teshuvot HaRambam, vol. 2 (Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 2017), p. 220, cited by the Rebbe in his notes on Tanya and in Igrot Kodesh, vol. 3, p. 126; Kitvei HaRamban, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1963), p. 155.