Chapter 5

The Alter Rebbe continues the discussion begun in the previous chapter, delving deeper into the meaning of the oneness of Hashem and in the mechanisms of contraction.

Our wise men say¹ that Hashem He thought of creating the world with His “Quality” of Justice, but saw that the world would not hold and associated it with His “Quality” of Mercy. We must know that the words Justice, Power, contraction, “Vessels” and letters (din, guevurá, tzimtzum, kelim y otiot in Hebrew) represent the same idea, while the word Mercy is associated with Kindness (Rajamim y Jesed).

This saying from our wise men is yet another way of demonstrating that contraction (tzimtzum) is an entity in itself separate from the “Light”², to the point that Hashem He thought about creating the world with only that quality.

Now, if the “Quality” of Justice refers to the letters of creation, then the “Quality” of Mercy refers to the “Light.” Only, that “Light” is hidden in creation because of contraction.³. So, what did our sages mean when they said that Hashem associated Mercy or “Light” with creation? It sounds like something concrete that can be seen and is woven into creation itself, not something hidden as we've learned so far…

The Alter Rebbe explains that the “Light” associated with creation refers to the miracles that the Righteous (tzaddikimThey already perform the wonders that appear in the Torah. Miracles and wonders mean that something supernatural happened, like the parting of the Sea of Reeds.

In other words, contraction does not remove the "infinite Light" of creation, but merely obscures it. This "infinite Light" is always present, from the very first moment of creation, and is contained within the very words of the creation narrative that create and give life to the entire universe. The Righteous are able to reveal this "Light," thereby generating supernatural events.

After explaining this phrase from our wise men⁴, The Alter Rebbe explains the level of Moses' prophecy: Why does he dwell on this matter? Because, according to everything said so far, a question arises: we, who are ordinary people (and not Righteous), are not capable of perceiving the "infinite Light" of Hashem in creation because, as the Alter Rebbe explained in chapter 3, our eyes were not given permission to see. But Moses, who was on a much higher spiritual level than ours, could see the “Infinite Light” of Hashem in creation.

Therefore, we return to the topic of observance of Torah y Mitzvot⁵Moses did not perceive a “worldly” universe that must be sanctified by revealing the presence of Hashem, Moses perceived the presence of Hashem in everything in the world! What good was it, then, to fulfill Torah y Mitzvot?

To explain this, the Alter Rebbe says that Moses also could not see the presence of Hashem in this world. His prophecy allowed him to see the qualities of Goodness and Severity of the world of Emanation, invested in the qualities of Victory, Splendor, and Foundation of the world of Creation (netzaj, hod y Yesod of the world of briá)⁶.

What a phrase! In other words, this means that Moses also saw the world as an entity created by the letters of the creation story. Only he saw it as much more refined than we do, but even so, he had to fulfill the Torah and the Mitzvot to reveal the presence of Hashem in its highest form, down here on earth.

To end the chapter, the Alter Rebbe explains how Paradise works (gan eden) because, although Moses did not grasp Divine Goodness and Severity in themselves, but through other lower levels, in Paradise these two levels themselves are revealed.

The Alter Rebbe explains in chapter 39 of the first part of the Tanya that there are many levels of Paradise, and each spiritual world has its own paradise. Paradise is the "place" (it is something spiritual, not a physical place) where souls are after death. It is like a "soul hotel," where each soul "lives." In that place, the soul enjoys the presence of Hashem. According to the spiritual level from which the soul arises and the study of Torah and observance of Mitzvot whatever he does in life, that will be the level of his “lodging”.

The main Paradise is in the world of Creation and there Divine Goodness and Severity are revealed, which the souls who "live" there understand and enjoy.

However, since these levels are so powerful that they would nullify any place where they are revealed, souls perceive them through an interface called the "firmament," from where knowledge flows. Torah as if it were a dew with which souls are nourished⁷.

Furthermore, in Paradise, souls are also “clothed” with the Mitzvot that they performed while they were in this world in a body.

The concept of the Mitzvot The concept of "garments" is explained in Chapter 4 of Part One of the Tanya. There, the Alter Rebbe says that there are three garments of the soul: 1. Thought, 2. Speech, and 3. Action. When we think, we speak about Torah y Mitzvot And we observe in practice the commandments of the Torah; the soul is "clothed" with holy garments, directly related to the Will of Hashem. These same “garments” allow the soul to enjoy the presence of Hashem which is revealed in Paradise.

Furthermore, in chapter 39 of the first part of the Tanya, the Alter Rebbe details how the soul perceives the presence of Hashem and which Paradise corresponds to him according to the motivation and concentration with which each was fulfilled Mitzvah while alive.

It emerges that there are two parts to the reward of souls in Paradise: on the one hand, food is the Torah that they studied, that is, they manage to grasp and understand the Divine Goodness and Severity invested in the Torah And, on the other hand, the garments of the soul in Paradise are the Mitzvot that they fulfilled in life.

Here the Alter Rebbe closes the parenthesis begun at the end of chapter 4.

SummaryThe contraction as a separate entity from the “Light.” Divine Mercy associated with creation is represented by the miracles performed by the Righteous. Moses“ prophecy allowed him to ”see” a level of the presence of Hashem in the world, but not the level that is revealed through Torah y Mitzvot. In Paradise, souls perceive as a reward a level of Divine Goodness and Severity invested in the Torah that they studied during their lifetime. Mitzvot that they observed are transformed into “clothing” for the soul in Paradise.