Chapter 8

In this chapter, the Alter Rebbe continues explaining about "Shells." Another thing that happens when you eat food that isn't... kosher Even if the person didn't know they couldn't eat it, and even if they prayed and studied afterwards, it still didn't happen. Torah With the strength that food gave him, the strength of that food remains "tied" to the "impure shell" and cannot be raised to holiness.

To conclude the topic of the “Shells,” the bright and the impure, the Alter Rebbe explains that these two types of “Shells” create two types of “inclination to evil” within us.

To lean forward is like when we hear two friends talking from afar; we lean forward, we get closer to them, to hear better. We all have inclinations within us. And there are two: “Inclination to good” (ietzer tov) and “Inclination to evil” (yetzer will).

1) The “inclination to evil” that receives vitality from the “shining shell” is called the “Jewish inclination to evil,” which wants to do things that, while not transgressions of the Torah, They are not made to serve Hashem.

2) The “inclination to evil” that receives vitality from the “impure shell” is called the “inclination to gentile evil,” which wants us to commit transgressions of the Torah.

If a person listens to their “Jewish evil inclination”, and, for example, eats something permitted by the Torah but without thinking about using the energy that food provides to serve Hashem, He must repent and receive a “special cleansing” of Hashem, Because until he repented, that energy had fallen into the "impure shell" and left a mark on his soul, which Hashem Erase it with that "special cleaning".

The Alter Rebbe brings the story¹ From Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, a great rabbi in the history of our people. Before passing away, he raised his hands to heaven and said that he had never profited from this world—not even with his little finger! Although he was very wealthy and had many meals fit for kings, everything he did was to serve God. Hashem. This means that she did not need any "special cleansing," because she had no "Jewish evil inclination.".

The same thing happens when someone talks nonsense, like about football or some other silly thing, or when someone knows nothing about Torah, who, invariably, spends all day saying things that are not helpful to Hashem, It also needs a "special cleansing" in addition to repentance.

In addition to the actions permitted by the Torah But when used senselessly, there are words a Jew is forbidden to say, such as slander, insults, and gossip. This stems from the "inclination toward evil Gentiles" and does not reach the "special purification" of Hashem to erase the mark made on the soul, but a “deep cleansing” is needed.

The same applies to people who could study Torah Because they know and have the time, and instead they engage in foolishness, they receive two "cleansings," one for the foolishness they said and another for neglecting their studies. Torah.

At the end of the chapter, the Alter Rebbe says that we must be careful not only with our words, thoughts, and actions (the “Garments” of the soul), but also with what we feel (Emotions) and know (Intellect).

If we think, say, or do foolish things, we are defiling the "Garments" of the Divine Soul. If we feel love for football, for example, instead of love for Hashem, We are impure the Emotions of the Divine Soul.

But there is something even worse… to corrupt the Intellectual “Tools” of the Divine Soul (Chokhmah, biná y daatThese are “Tools” that Hashem He gave us the means to understand Him and His Torah. If the intellect is used to study and learn about things that are not Torah Without any useful reason, we are surely impure the Intellect itself.

But there is an exception: if that knowledge is used that is not of Torah to support the family and serve Hashem calm, or if they are used directly for service to Hashem, like the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 1135-1204, great sage of the Torah and doctor) or the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, 1194-1270, also a great sage of the Torah and doctor) who, through their age-old knowledge, were able to bring the wisdom of the Torah to other people.