Daily Tanya

Before their creation, nothing whatsoever existed other than Him. After their creation, however, one might erroneously conclude that there now exists something in addition to Him—the various worlds and their denizens. And were this to be so, this would constitute a change in G-d’s absolute unity, heaven forbid. The verse therefore anticipates this by saying, “I, Havayah , have not changed.”

In relation to the Ein Sof -light, which totally transcends time and space, there exists no difference between heaven and earth; G-d is found equally in heaven and upon the earth.

Past, present and future meld into one within the Name Havayah , indicating that Havayah transcends time,

When the Divine creative power of speech, after undergoing a process of tzimtzumim , descends to a level at which it is able to serve as a source for creation, then the term “lower-level Unity” applies. Created beings at this level cannot be said to be completely and utterly nullified. For inasmuch as this level becomes the actual source of created beings, they must perforce have some measure of i...

The body is nullified in relation to the soul to the extent of od , i.e., it is subordinate to it; it is not, however, nullified out of existence in relation to the soul. Before creation, there was no space at all (as it were) for the existence of created beings by virtue of the Divine Ayin , which is ultimately responsible for creation.

The Divine Name Havayah —as mentioned earlier in explanation of the verse, “For a sun and a shield is Havayah Elokim ”—is like the illuminating sun while the Name Elokim conceals its light, as does the sun’s shield, thereby enabling created beings to benefit from it.

In order for created beings to believe that they possess independent existence, there must be the process of tzimtzum , which is an expression of the stern attribute of gevurah . Without it, all of creation would be completely nullified within its source. G-d, however, desired that created beings maintain that they possess independent existence in order for them to be able to serve Him and ultimat...

Just as the five physical organs of speech divide sounds and letters into five separate categories (labial, guttural, etc.), so, too, do the five spiritual levels of gevurah give rise to the twenty-two supernal letters.

Just as this attribute, which is responsible for the creation, is unfathomable, so, too, with regard to the attribute of gevurah , or “contraction.” The function of this attribute is to conceal from created beings the activating force within them, enabling them to exist as tangible entities instead of being utterly nullified within their source.

Just as the sun gives forth illumination, so, too, does the Four-Letter Divine Name Havayah provide us with spiritual illumination. Likewise, just as the sun’s shield protects us from the intensity of its rays, so, too, does G-d shield us with the Divine Name Elokim .

The Alter Rebbe proceeds to demonstrate how this is true of creatures that appear to be tangible by means of an illustration: Although the sun’s rays are surely found within the body of the sun, they cannot be said to “exist” there; they are found there in a manner of “nonexistence,” in a state in which their separate identity is utterly nullified. That which can be deemed to exist within the sun-...

The activating force of the Creator must constantly be vested within creation, ceaselessly recreating and reanimating created beings ex nihilo . This force consists of the creative “letters” which emanate from the five supernal organs of verbal articulation.

The supernal letters descend and are invested within created beings, providing them with life and creating them ex nihilo.

The G-dly Creative Force that has brought everything into existence must constantly recreate them in order for them to exist. Were this force to withdraw for even the briefest moment, creation would revert to nothingness.

The difference in G-dly revelation during the era of the first and second temple is explained. Torah alone (even though it is itself wisdom) does not suffice. For only through the action required by the mitzvot will the light of the Shechinah be drawn down into the wick—the vivifying soul. This is accomplished when the vivifying soul is burned thoroughly in the light of the Shechinah which shines...

During the times of the First and Second Temple, the Shechinah was housed in the Holy of Holies. Today, it finds its abode in a Jew’s study of Torah and performance of the mitzvot

In every World, there is found the “intelligence” of that particular World, namely, the sefirot of chochmah , binah , and daat of that World. They constitute the shrine of the Holy of Holies, in which the Shechinah resides. After the levels of ChaBaD (in which resides the Shechinah ) descend into the level of malchut of a particular World, the creatures of that World are then created.

Since G-d’s will and wisdom as found in Torah and the mitzvot “descended” in the gradations of the Worlds, being able to clothe themselves even in material things, they, therefore, can serve as a “garment” to conceal the light of the Shechinah .

In order for the Shechinah to dwell within the Worlds and their creatures, there must be a “garment” that serves to conceal its light. Only then can creation receive the Shechinah and not be nullified out of existence.

In the present chapter, the Alter Rebbe goes on to further explain how the analogue of G-dliness and its place in the world relates to the analogy, in which the individual’s vitality in its undiffused state resides in the brain.

Were there merely to be a vast quantity of ethereal garments, the Divine life-force would only be capable of creating spiritual beings and not physical ones; in order for this physical world with its corporeal creatures to be created, much denser garments were necessary.

Just as in the analogy, each bodily organ receives vitality from the brain according to its “character and nature,” so, too, does the Alter Rebbe state in the analogue that each creature receives its vitality according to its “capacity and nature.” (—Note by the Rebbe.) This means that each being receives vitality according to its capacity to have the life-force and vitality revealed within it and...

There is a marked similarity between the soul pervading the body and Ein Sof permeating all the worlds: Just as in the analogy, the soul is found within and suffuses the entire body, in a parallel manner, Ein Sof fills and is found in all worlds.

Ch. 51 now explains further the teaching of the Yenuka —that “this light (of the Shechinah ) needs oil.” In the Zohar , “oil” usually refers to the sefirah of chochmah (lit., “wisdom”). Here, though, the Yenuka takes it to refer to good deeds. What is the connection between practical mitzvot and “oil,” which refers to chochmah ? To clarify this, ch. 51 will explain the meaning of the concept that...

When one is consumed with such an incontainable, rapturous love, seeking even at the cost of self-extinction to become attached to G-d, there must now be a deliberate “return to the One.”