Chapter 1

The Alter Rebbe begins by saying that the goal of this part of the Tanya is to understand that there are two ways of perceiving the oneness of Hashem¹: the “Higher Unity” (ijuda ilaá) and the “Lower Unity” (ijuda tataá). This whole part of Tania revolves around explaining these two concepts.

And to begin the explanation, the Alter Rebbe quotes a verse²“And you will know today, and take it to heart that Hashem "He is the Lord, in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other." Would anyone even think that there is a god above the heavens and another below the earth? That's nonsense! So, what is this verse warning us about? (We will understand the answer in chapter 6.).

The key to the answer is understanding that the very words with which Hashem He created the universe in the Six Days of Creation³, Those same words continue to create and give life to the entire universe, at every moment. That is, unlike what other cultures think, we know that the creation of Hashem It is a constant process: if Hashem If creation of the universe were to cease for even an instant, everything would revert to absolute nothingness, as it was before creation. It's as if we were to say that Hashem He is constantly “uttering” the words of creation.

Our mystical sages explain that there are many spiritual worlds that Hashem It creates. Not worlds like Earth and Mars. The word "world" represents a level. Let's think about a map. A map is a graphic representation of a particular territory. The map of a country or province shows what that country or province is like. The rivers, the mountains, the different regions, etc. By observing the map, we can get an idea of what that place is like.

The same applies to many of the ideas in the deeper part of the Torah (cabala), are like a map of how Hashem It creates the universe. Just as on a map one identifies rivers that cross a land and cities of a country, so too in that part of the Torah, one identifies levels of creation. These levels are called worlds, celestial spheres, and many other names that represent something we cannot see or touch. They are very profound and complex things, and our sages gave names to each of them and taught us what they mean.

The worlds our wise men speak of are generally four: Emanation (atzilut), Creation ( ),briá), Training ( ), Training ( ),Yetzirah) and Action (Asia). In that order, the world of Emanation is the highest, then the world of Creation, and so on.

Another classic concept of Jewish mysticism is that of “Celestial Spheres” or “Qualities” (sefirotEach “Quality” is an expression of Hashem. The sages of mysticism speak of ten “Qualities”: Wisdom (Chokhmah), Understanding (biná), Comprehension (daat), Goodness (Jesed), Severity (guevurá), Beauty (Tiferet), Victoria (netzaj), Glow (hod), Foundation (Yesod) and Reign (Maljut).

Any place where the “Qualities” of are discussed Hashem Without specifying which world is being referred to, we assume it is the world of Emanation. Because, in reality, each of these “Qualities” is found in each of the worlds mentioned. Of course, in each world in a different way, but, to a certain extent, the same. There is the Goodness of the world of Emanation and the Goodness of the world of Creation, and so on with each “Quality” and world.

Each quality, in turn, is basically composed of a Divine energy that fills it, which we call “Light” (or) and a “Container” (keli), which expresses that “Light” in a particular way. The “Qualities” express the “Light” that fills them in a specific way. The “Quality” of Goodness expresses the goodness of Hashem, The “Quality” of Severity expresses the severity of Hashem, and so on, as will be explained in Chapter 4).

Getting back to the topic, inside Within every creature, from the spiritual worlds to this physical and material earth, lies the energy of words. Hashem creating it and giving it life moment by moment, and it is the soul of that creature. It then emerges that even stones have a soul!

But, if we read the creation story in the Torah, We didn't find the word "stone," so how can we say that the words of Hashem In the creation story, do they "create and give life" to a stone? Where did the stone come from? Should only the things mentioned in the creation story exist?

The Alter Rebbe explains that the letters of the words in that story combine and rearrange themselves to form the word "stone," creating and giving life to all the stones in the universe. And the same applies to all creatures, from the highest to the lowest, those mentioned in the story, and those not mentioned there as well.

What are combinations and exchanges about? Hebrew is a holy language with which Hashem It creates the universe, and allows you to add letters together (yes, add letters, because each letter corresponds to a number) and change one for another, with certain rules, of course, to form different words. (The Alter Rebbe will explain this concept in chapters 7 and 12).

The Torah tells⁴ that the First Man, Adam, gave names to each of the creatures of creation. We might think that Adam chose arbitrary names, that is, he used whatever word came to mind at the moment to name the object in front of him. But this idea is incorrect: our sages say⁵ Adam was able to see in each creature the name that corresponded to it; that is, Adam saw the letters that create and give life to each thing, so that the name he gave it was, in reality, the combination of letters with which Hashem Create that creature.

With this idea we can understand that the Biblical Hebrew name of each creature is its vital energy, and that energy arises from the letters of the creation story.

Combinations and exchanges cause letters to decrease in level. This means that each combination and exchange generates new letters, different from the original ones in the creation story, so that these new letters contain less life energy (the very fact that they are not the original letters makes their energy lower), in order to be able to vitalize things of a lower level than creatures that receive their life force from the original letters, without any combination or exchange.

For example, one of the exchange systems is known as “at-bash”where the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is changed to the last, and the second letter to the second-to-last, and so on. Where there was a letter Aleph (א), now there is a Taf (ת), where there was a Bet (ב), now there is a Shin (ש).

These changes are necessary because the words of Hashem They are so powerful that, in order to create lower things, such as this material world, it is necessary to reduce their energy.

What is the power of words? HashemTheir power lies in the fact that they are the words of the creation story in the Torah, And our wise men explain that Hashem it is unified with the Torah⁶, It then emerges that these words have within them the power to create something from nothing because Hashem is itself attached to them.

The reduction of the power of words Hashem This is achieved through combinations, exchanges, and sums of letters, to the point that the energy of the original letters of the creation story in the Torah It decreases and, thus, the new letters, produced by these combinations, exchanges and sums, are able to create and give life to the entire universe and everything that fills it.

(Towards the end of chapter 7, the Alter Rebbe explains more fully the incredible power of the letters in the creation story.).

Summary: two types of “Uniqueness” of Hashem: upper and lower. Question about the verse: Is there a god above in the heavens and another below on the earth? The words of Hashem They are always present in creation, creating it and giving it life. Combination and exchange of letters to form different creatures. The power of the Torah's phrases gradually diminishes.