It is only when Hashem’s revelation is drawn down through “channels,” i.e., specific and defined modes of expression, that there are differences between aspects, that the “channel” of the “right side” is kindness and the “channel” of the “left side” is severity.
The same ten attributes are presented in the following chart as three “channels.” The right “channel” has kindness and then wisdom and victory. The left “channel” has severity and then understanding and loyalty. The middle “channel” has compassion, and then knowledge, connection, and rulership. Each attribute has a specific place in this arrangement, and there is a chainlike hierarchy where one attribute is an extension of a previous one. Wisdom is expressed in kindness, which is then expressed in victory. Understanding is expressed in severity, which is then expressed in loyalty. Knowledge is expressed in compassion, which is then expressed in connection and rulership.
Circles and Channels
Which is not the case in the level of “Circles,” on that level there are no differences at all, and all the aspects that are separate below in the more revealed realm, are all connected and bound up with each other in the more hidden realm, called “Circles.” And on that level, there is no apparent division or difference between these attributes.
A person’s soul-powers operate on two levels: on a conscious level, and on a sub-conscious level. On the conscious level, his intellect flows into his emotions, which then flow into his practical mode of conduct. In addition, the different aspects of intellect work together so that his abstract thinking flows into his logic and data-processing, which then flows into his perception of reality. In his emotions, kindness is the opposite of severity, and the desire for victory is the opposite of submission to authority.
However, in the subconscious, these defined rules of how the soul-powers interact do not apply. All of his soul-powers exist in potential at the same time. There, they are all together and do not contradict one another.
So too in Hashem’s revelation, there are these two levels:
The level called “Channels” is like the conscious level, which is the more revealed level. Hashem’s ten attributes work together in an exact and defined manner, and some attributes act in opposition to other attributes.
However, the level called “Circles” is like the sub-conscious level, which is more hidden, where all the attributes exist equally at the same time, like a circle, in which there is no top or bottom.
However, for this higher level of “Circles” to be revealed below in this physical world, it is only possible through the idea of “sleeping” and the withdrawal of the intellect back to its source in the “subconscious” level of Divine Revelation in the time of Exile.
Regarding this process, it was said by the Navi, (Yeshaya 50:3) “I will clothe the heavens with darkness.”
The term “heavens” is referring the level called “Circles,” which are “clothed” and invested in “darkness,” meaning the concealment and hiding of Divine Revelation.
At that time of spiritual concealment, there shines and glimmers from Above an expression of the high spiritual world called “Circles.” This high level is expressed as a “dream” that has the power of imagination to combine opposites together as if they were one thing.
This is because, in truth, the source of everything in this physical world is ultimately in that high spiritual world where they are combined as one. That world is called “Circles” that have no top or bottom, as explained above.
Hashem creates everything with His speech and thought. However, prior to being individual and detailed thoughts, Hashem’s thoughts exist on a more abstract level, analogous to the subconscious level that precedes one’s revealed thoughts and feelings. In the subconscious, all the soul powers coexist and are interrelated, as in a circle, where all points are equally distant from the center and each point has direct access to every other point without needing to go through another. This means that everything that Hashem created in this world has a source in the abstract spiritual level called "Circles," where even opposites can be together.
It is possible for opposites to coexist even as they are in this physical world, because in their source in Hashem’s abstract thought, they coexisted without contradiction. So, when we see opposites together in this world, we really see an expression of their spiritual source, where they were together.
It is only below in this world where there are “channels” divided by Hashem’s wisdom and knowledge so that each “channel” has its own specific manner, then creations that come through them will appear opposites, one opposing the other, e.g., fire and water appear as opposites that counteract each other. And then they are distinct and removed from each other.
Therefore, it is impossible for this interconnectedness to be revealed in the level of Chochmah-wisdom, which is the beginning of these distinct “channels.”
Only in the aspect of “sleep,” when the “intellect,” i.e., the revelation of awareness of Hashem withdraws back into its source during the time of Exile, at that time the Light from Above in the world called “Circles” shines and glimmers into this world.
But it comes hidden in “darkness” and concealment, meaning clothed in various types of concealment and not openly revealed.
The Expression of Circles in Our World
The expression of the reality of the higher world of “Circles” into our world is mainly in the fact that opposites can exist together at the same time, whether in our physical reality or in our feelings and perceptions. The fact that opposites can co-exist is expressing the reality where everything exists together in Hashem, even opposites.
However, this is not a direct revelation of that higher level in a way that we can understand and internalize. Even though we see opposites co-existing, we don't know that this is because, in their source in Hashem, they co-exist. All we see is the way they are in this world co-existing in a way beyond our comprehension.
So, even though in the time of Exile, there is an expression of the higher reality of the world of "Circles," it is only an indirect expression of the way we see its effect in combining opposites. This is the meaning of saying it comes "clothed in darkness", meaning we see it only indirectly in a way we can't understand.
Because revelation that we can understand directly is only through the Wisdom and Knowledge of Hashem as it comes to us through the “channels.”
The knowledge of Hashem that we can understand is the way it comes down from level to level through the system of “channels” until it comes down to a level that we are capable of understanding.
This is similar to the analogy of the conscious and the subconscious:
From our subconscious, we receive the ability to do things that we might think are impossible, like the power for self-sacrifice that every Jew naturally has. However, this power for self-sacrifice is not something we can necessarily understand and define, even though it is very important for us to use.
Only in our conscious intellect do we have the ability to process and internalize deep ideas and integrate them into our life. However, the conscious intellect is inherently limited.
So too, in the levels of Divine Revelation, there is a difference between how we receive from the “conscious” level of “channels” and the “subconscious” level of “Circles”:
From the level of "Circles," we see opposites coming together, which is why we feel the love of Hashem during prayer and love of our body after prayer, and it gives us the power that even if someone experiences love of material things, he can also experience real love for Hashem. However, we can't understand and internalize the real source of this ability.
From the level of "channels," we receive the ability to understand that Hashem is creating and guiding the world and our life. However, our understanding is very limited due to the concealments on Divine Revelation in the time of Exile.
The Future Revelation
However, regarding the Future Time after Moshiach comes, it is written in the Navi, (Yeshaya 30:20) “And your Master (Hashem) will no longer hide Himself in His ‘Clothing,’” meaning that He will no longer hide his true revelation in ‘clothing’ and ‘garments.’
Meaning, that the expression of His true Oneness and Infinity will be openly revealed, not like it is now that we only see it indirectly through the combination of opposites.
Therefore, it is specifically “On that day (when Moshiach comes) that Hashem will be One and His Name will be One.” This is because His Name, meaning His ultimate revelation, will not be clothed and concealed in a “covering” of the natural order and unholiness that exists in the time of Exile. Instead, “His Name will be read the same way it is written,” meaning it will be openly revealed, and, like it says in Yeshaya, (52:8) “With our physical eyes we will see that Hashem is here watching us.”
Meaning, not just intellectually, will we understand that Hashem is here, but we will see Hashem's revelation with our physical eyes since the Infinite revelation of Hashem allows impossibilities to happen, like physical objects seeing Divinity.
Regarding that time, it is said, (Tehilim 126:1) “When Hashem returns the Jewish People who were captives from Eretz Yisroel and Yerushalayim, called Tzion, and brings them back to Eretz Yisroel, we will look back and consider ourselves as dreamers.”
Meaning that at that time the level of “dreams” will become revealed to the extent that everyone will recognize, know, and understand the G-dly lifeforce that enlivened the Jewish People throughout the time of Exile. This level comes from the level of “dreams,” and therefore, they will all say “we were like dreamers,” meaning that we all received life from the “subconscious” level of Divine revelation called “circles” which is the source of “dreams,” where opposite ideas and forces can co-exist.
The Spiritual Level of Yaakov and Yosef
And with this, we can understand the great spiritual level of Yaakov and Yosef, who served Hashem with dreams.
Yaakov had a dream of a ladder reaching to the heavens, and later, he had a dream of an angel that came to him when he was taking care of sheep and told him that Hashem wanted him to return home.
Yosef had dreams of stars and the moon bowing to him, and sheaves of wheat bowing to him, and later he interpreted dreams for Pharoh and for his officers.
We see that they served Hashem using dreams, which is why these dreams are recorded in the Torah. This shows that they were connected to the high spiritual world, which is the source of dreams, the world of "circles."
Because of the great level that is the source of dreams, there are some aspects in which Yosef was on an even higher level than Moshe Rabeinu:
We see this in the fact that Moshe Rabeinu said that Aharon’s two oldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, were on a higher level than them. He said that during the inauguration of the Mishkan when Nadav and Avihu died after offering Ketores without being commanded to by Hashem. Moshe said that Hashem wanted the Mishkan to be sanctified by having completely righteous people pass away at the time of the inauguration, and since Nadav and Avihu were chosen instead of himself, this proves that they were on a higher spiritual level than him (at least in some aspects).
Since Nadav and Avihu had some higher levels than Moshe Rabeinu, that means that Yosef also did, since Nadav and Avihu were a gilgul-reincarnation of the soul of Yosef. Because Yosef was on such a high level, that is why Nadav and Avihu-who each possessed an aspect his soul- were also on such a high level, even higher than Moshe Rabeinu.
Now the Alter Rebbe goes into details of how Nadav and Avihu possessed aspects of Yosef’s soul:
Nadav and Avihu had the levels of ‘nefesh’ and ‘ruach’ of the soul of Yosef.
It says in the Torah that the people who took out the dead bodies of Nadav and Avihu from the Mishkan were not able to bring the Pesach offering (since Pesach was only a few days after the inauguration of the Mishkan) because they became impure through touching a dead body.
However, if we look at the verse carefully it says:
“We are impure by touching the dead body of the nefesh-soul of a man.” (Bamidbar 9:7) This nefesh-soul is referring to Avihu, who had the nefesh level of Yosef.
There are five levels of the soul: 1-nefesh 2-ruach 3-neshama 4-chaya 5-yechida. The lowest is nefesh and the highest is yechida.
We see that the verse uses the singular term soul-nefesh and not plural ‘souls.’ We have a tradition that this is because the people only became impure by touching the dead body of Avihu, who had the level of nefesh. However, Nadav was on an even higher level than Avihu, and his dead body did not transmit any impurity to those that touched it.
However, Nadav had the ruach of Yosef’s soul. Therefore, the people who touched his dead body did not need to be purified by having the ashes of the Para Aduma-Red Cow mixed with water sprinkled on them.
Regarding him (Nadav), it is written, (Tehilim 51:14) “And support me with a nadav-generous ruach-spirit,” meaning that the verse connects the word “Nadav” with the level of “ruach,” since Nadav had the ruach level of Yosef.
This is also the meaning of what is written in Tehilim, (80:2) “He (Hashem) guides like sheep the Jewish People who are called Yosef.” The reason that the entire Jewish People are called Yosef in this verse (even those who are not his descendants), is that the way that Hashem guides the Jewish People during the time of Exile is similar to how Yosef served Hashem, from the level of “dreams” from the world of “Circles.”
Just like Yosef served Hashem with dreams, the entire Jewish People serve Hashem in a way that is likened to dreams during the time of Exile. This is why we are all called Yosef. Yaakov and Yosef had challenging lives and times when Hashem was very concealed from them. Nevertheless, they persevered and served Hashem with self-sacrifice. They served Hashem like a person who is dreaming, but is aware that he is dreaming. Such a person knows that he is connecting to a higher reality. So too, when the Jewish people are in exile, Hashem is in a state of concealment to us, so we serve Him in the manner of a “dream,” with self-sacrifice.
Thus, we have the power to serve Hashem in ways that do not seem to make sense. It is because of this that we are even higher than Moshe Rabeinu in some ways, as the Midrash states, that Moshe Rabeinu was humbled when he saw the self-sacrifice and dedication of the last generations of Exile (including our current generation), who serve Hashem even though they don’t have any understanding and awareness, like one who is in a dream.
Because Yosef was connected to the level of “dreams,” he is referred to in the verse (Bereishis 49:22) as “a son that multiplies,” on a literal level this means that his descendants will multiply, but the word contains the letters that spell two other words: interpret and connect, meaning the ability to connect seemingly random and disconnected things together to infer the correct explanation of dreams. This is why he was able to interpret dreams for Pharoh and his officers, since his soul was connected to the spiritual source of dreams.
