In the Parsha of Vaeira, the Torah tells us about the miracles Moshe and Aharon performed in Mitzrayim (Egypt). The first set of miracles performed weren’t intended to punish Pharoh; their purpose was to prove to Pharoh that Hashem had actually sent them, and Hashem’s infinite might. The first of these “signs” occurred when Hashem told Moshe to relay to Aharon to throw down his staff and it will transform into a snake. When Aharon did so, not only it transformed into a snake, but it also (1) turned back into a staff and then (2) swallowed up all the other snakes Pharoh’s magicians had made from their own staffs, while still remaining a wooden staff. The Alter Rebbe will analyze the significance behind the details of this particular miracle:
Part 1
“And Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon saying: When Pharoh will ask for a sign, then tell Aharon: take your staff and throw it down before Pharoh and will become a snake...then Pharoh called to his magicians and they also turned their staffs into snakes...but then the staff of Aharon swallowed up their staff-snakes...” (Shemos 7:8-12)
We need to understand: (1) What is the significance of the miracle that the staff was transformed into a snake, and then was transformed back into a staff?
Also: (2) Why was this was the first “sign” that they showed to Pharoh, and came as a prerequisite for all of the Ten Plagues?
Now, it is written (Shemos 12:36): “And they (The Jewish People) emptied Mitzrayim (from their gold and silver and possessions when they left) ,” regarding which our Sages have said (Pesachim 119a): “They made it (Mitzrayim) like a pond lacking its fish”.
This means: They collected all of the “Sparks of Holiness” that “fell down” from the “shattering of the Keilim” into their land (of Mitzrayim), and after the Jewish People gathered these “sparks of Holiness,” the land of Mitzrayim was emptied from them until it remained like “a pond without fish”, and the Jewish People didn’t leave behind even one “spark”.
Now, we need to understand the idea of these “Sparks of Holiness” that fell down with the “shattering of the Keilim” and how they are elevated:
The idea is: It is known that the “shattering of the Keilim” is the “death” of the “Seven Primordial Kings of Tohu”, meaning the Keilim of the seven emotional attributes from Chesed to Malchus of the World of Tohu, that broke and fell down in the worlds of Beriah, Yetzira, and Asiya into the realm of unholiness referred to as Kelipa and Sitra Achra.
Preface: The Spiritual Worlds and the Shattering of the Keilim
Before Hashem created the physical world, He created a system of spiritual worlds where the Truth of Hashem’s Oneness is more apparent. These spiritual worlds contain the souls and angels that are greatly more aware of Hashem than people in the physical world are. These spiritual worlds are referred to as Beriyah (Creation), Yetzirah (Formation), and Asiya (Action). They correspond to different levels of the how the creative energy of Hashem descends until it reaches the physical world.
Before Hashem created the spiritual worlds, He created an interface system limiting His Infinite Light to definable manners so as to create and interact with finite beings. This interface is comprised of two components: The “Light” of Hashem expresses Hashem’s indivisibility and limitlessness, and the “Keilim” of the 10 Sefiros, or 10 manners of how Hashem chose to ‘express’ Himself.
The word “Keilim” literally means “vessel” or “instrument”. In this context, it refers to Hashem’s ability of limiting His infinite revelation in specific expressions and attributes, e.g. wisdom, kindness. Therefore, these expressions are able to act as a source for creating specific and limited beings, and the manner in which Hashem interacts with them.
Now, this ‘interface’ of the 10 Sefiros imbued with Light, came in two ‘stages’ known as “Tohu” and “Tikun”.
The word “Tohu” means “wild” or “unlimited,” and refers to a system of Sefiros of Light and Keilim unable to function together properly. The Light was so infinite and intense that it was not able to be properly defined and channeled through the Keilim in a way that could be directly given over to the created beings. In addition, each of the Keilim only had the capacity of expressing Hashem in one particular manner to the exclusion of the other Keilim. Thus, the Keilim weren’t able to merge into one cohesive system properly expressing Hashem. For these two reasons, the Keilim of this system of Sefiros “shattered”, meaning broke down into myriads of fragmented “sparks.” Each “spark” is an expression of a particular Kli (sing. of Keilim) of Tohu.
(They are also referred to as “Sparks of Holiness”. In their source in Tohu, these sparks were originally connected to an unlimited level of Holiness, namely the Light of Hashem expressed in Tohu. After these “sparks” fell, they still retain a residual degree of that original holiness, except its trapped in unholiness, as the maamar will further explain.)
For example, when a person desires to eat a particular food, that urge is a “spark” of the Kli of Chesed-Kindness-Love from the world of Tohu.. In this case, it is manifest in a particular person who has a ‘love’ or desire for this particular food. When the person does not naturally see any connection between his desire for this food and Hashem’s Infinite Light, this ‘‘spark’’ of the Kli of Chesed of Tohu has been far removed from its original source. This process is referred to as the “Sparks of Holiness” falling into unholiness of Kelipa and Sitra Achra.
Kelipa means a “peel” or “shell”, referring to how the physicality or ego conceals the inner Divine intent in something. For example, in this case, the Divine intent in a person eating is to energize himself to serve Hashem, but the person feels he is eating in order to have pleasure or to energize himself for purely physical life.
Sitra Achra means “the other side”, meaning not the Side of Holiness. The Side of Holiness is only whatever is dedicated to fulfilling Hashem’s plan and true desire for its existence.
In the “shattering of the Keilim of Tohu”, the main shattering occurred in the seven Sefiros of the ‘emotional attributes of: 1-Chesed/Kindness 2-Gevura/Severity 3-Tiferes/Compassion 4- Netzach/Victory 5- Hod/Submission 6- Yesod/Connection 7- Malchus/Kingship. These seven Sefiros of Tohu are referred to as “the 7 Primordial Kings of Tohu”. Each of these Sefiros was only expressing Hashem in its particular manner, but with unlimited energy, like a king who is the only one in charge of his country and has unlimited pride for his particular kingship.
After Hashem made the system of Tohu, whose Keilim “shattered” and whose sparks fell into unholiness, Hashem created a second interface of Sefiros called Tikun.
The word Tikun means to “fix” or “build up”, and this set of Sefiros has the power to fix the “shattering” of the Keilim of Tohu, and to “build up” those sparks into something productive and holy. In the world of Tikun, the Light is limited enough to properly adapt to the parameters of the Keilim. Also, the Keilim are able to merge with each other and into a cohesive system, unlike the Sefiros of Tohu.
The system of Tikun is generally expressed in the Sefiros of “Atzilus”, but in particular in the Divine soul of every Jew. This is especially true of the souls of Tzadikim, like Moshe and Aharon for example. They initiated the process of “redeeming the sparks of holiness” that fell into Mitzrayim through the Ten Plagues and the service of the Jewish People in general, as the maamar will continue to explain.
Analogy: The Soul and the Body
This is similar, by way of analogy, to the soul of a person: Before the soul came into the body it was completely absorbed in experiencing Hashem’s Infinite Light, as it is written (Melachim II 5:16): “As Hashem lives, that I have stood before Him”, meaning that the soul of every Jew has previously stood “before Hashem”, completely absorbed in His Truth.
This is because then there was nothing covering over and concealing the revelation of Hashem, therefore it was completely absorbed in experiencing its source in Hashem’s revealed Presence.
However, after it descends below to become invested in a physical body, at that point the body conceals this revelation from the soul, so that the soul should perceive the world and all therein as though they are separate and independent of Hashem, and it doesn’t perceive how all of the worlds are totally dependent upon Hashem’s Infinite Light to constantly give them existence and life.
Similarly, by way of analogy, is the case regarding the “shattering of the Keilim (of Tohu)”: The “Sparks of Tohu” fell down until they became invested in the Kelipos of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah, these Kelipos cover over these “sparks” and bring concealment to them from all sides, so that they will not be able to experience the revelation of Hashem’s Infinite Light, until these “sparks” are able to feel themselves as being totally separate and independent of Hashem.
Like Pharoh said (Yechezkal 29:3): “I own the river, and I made myself.”
The spiritual Kelipos believe that they also have independent power, it is just that Hashem is greater than them. However, the physical Kelipos, like Pharoh, deny Hashem completely, which is why he claimed to have created himself.
Even though before the “shattering of the Keilim” these same “sparks” were totally absorbed and unified with Hashem’s Infinite Light, this is because then the Infinite Light was completely revealed to them and therefore united with them, however, after the “shattering of the Keilim,” these same “sparks” fell and became invested in the Kelipos, which envelope them and hide from them the revelation of Hashem, just like the body covers over the soul and conceals from it the revelation of Hashem, as described above, therefore, these “sparks” are not able to become absorbed in Holiness like they were originally.
It is for this reason that unholiness is called “קְּלִיפ וֹּת-shells/peels”, since they are like a peel that encompasses and surrounds the fruit that is hidden inside of it and conceals it, and like the shell of a nut, and there is no remedy to extract the fruit without breaking the shell or peel.
So too, in order to remove the “Sparks of Holiness” from the Kelipos that conceal them, there needs to be the process of breaking these Kelipos.
This was the purpose of the of the “signs”, “wonders”, and Plagues that were performed in Mitzrayim, as will be further explained with Hashem’s Will.
The Four Rivers: Mystical Interpretation
Now, it is written (Bereishis 2:10-11): “And a river came flowing out from Eden to give water to the Garden, and after it passed through the Garden, from there it splits up into four riverheads. The name of the first of these four rivers was Pishon (the Nile river) ...”.
Here the Alter Rebbe will give a mystical interpretation of these verses. To better understand this, we will go through how these verses are understood on a literal level, then on a mystical level:
When Hashem first made the world, He created a place called “Eden”, and to the east of this place He created a place called “the Garden”. There was a river that flowed from Eden to the Garden, which watered all the plants and trees in the Garden. After this river passed through the Garden, it submerged underground and resurfaced as four different rivers.
One river, Pishon, was the Nile (White Nile) that flows through Mitzrayim, the second river was Gichon (Blue Nile) that surrounds Ethopia, the third river was Chidekel (Tigris) near Assyria, and the fourth river was Pras (Euphrates).
On a mystical level, this “river from Eden” is a “river” of Divine Light that “flows” from the highest level of Atzilus called Chochma/Wisdom all the way until the lowest level of Atzilus known “the Garden” which is Malchus/Kingship of Atzilus. (Chochma/Wisdom is also called “Eden/Pleasure” since Hashem’s Pleasure is expressed in this Chochma.) While this “river” of life-giving Divine Light flows through Atzilus it is still “one river” since this Light is united with the Sefiros of Atzilus, and the Sefiros with each other. This is analogous to a body that has one soul flowing through it, since the various body parts form one cohesive entity.
However, after this “river of Light” flows through Malchus (the Garden) it becomes “submerged” into a different level of existence where Hashem’s Oneness is not openly revealed. In that level, the created beings do not feel united with the Divine Light, nor with each other. This “river” of Light “resurfaces” there as four different “rivers”, meaning that it becomes expressed differently in different aspects of creation, for example in the four “elements” of fire, air, water, and earth, which represent different tendencies and aspects manifest throughout all levels of creation.
After this “river of Light” flows through the various aspects of the spiritual worlds and into the physical world, it further descends to give life to an even lower dimension of existence known as “Kelipa” or unholiness.
In Kelipa itself, there are four kingdoms that tried to enslave the Jewish People, or at least stop them from serving Hashem. These were: Mitzrayim (Egypt), Bavel (Babylonia), Greece, and Rome.
These four kingdoms of unholiness receive their life from the “four rivers of Light” flowing through the spiritual worlds, which correspond to the four physical rivers that came from “the Garden”. The kingdom of Mitzrayim received their life from the spiritual “river” called Pishon/Nile, which also was manifest in the physical river Nile that flowed through their land.
After the Sin of the Tree of Knowledge by Adam the First Man, the “Sparks of Tohu” fell from him into the physical and spiritual river that flowed out of the Garden where he was. They later became expressed in all the unholiness in the world, but primarily in the four kingdoms that enslaved the Jewish People.
More of these “Sparks of Tohu” that fell into these “rivers” fell into the spiritual river of “Pishon/Nile” that gives life to Mitzrayim than in the other spiritual rivers. These sparks were redeemed through the Jewish People’s self-sacrifice and the miracles and plagues in Mitzrayim.
“And a river came out of Eden” is the drawing down and radiance that extends from the supernal Chochma/Wisdom of Atzilus, in which is invested the Infinite Light of Hashem...
