This letter addresses a profound question in Kabbalah.
The Zohar says:
โืืืื ืืืืืื ืื, ืืืื ืืืจืืืื ืื ืืืืโ
โHe and His lights are one; He and His vessels are one.โ
The Alter Rebbe focuses on an apparent contradiction:
If the kelim (vessels) of Atzilut have definitions and limitations, how can they be truly one with the Ein Sof, which is infinite?
- The Question: How Can the Infinite Be One with the Finite?
The ten sefirot of Atzilut consist of:
- Orot (lights)
- Kelim (vessels)
The lights are easier to understand as Divine.
But the vessels seem to possess:
- Structure
- Definition
- Boundary
So how can the Zohar say:
โHe and His vessels are oneโ?
- The Alter Rebbeโs Answer
The point is not that the vessels are infinite in the same way the Ein Sof is infinite.
Rather, the vessels of Atzilut possess a uniquely Divine power:
The power to create yesh meโayin (something from nothing).
That power belongs only to God.
Since the kelim of Atzilut participate in this creative power, they are still considered:
Elokus (Godliness),
and not merely created beings.
- Two Different Processes
The Alter Rebbe distinguishes between:
Hishtalshelut (Cause and Effect)
A higher level produces a lower level.
The lower level remains connected to and dependent upon its source.
Creation Ex Nihilo
Bringing a genuinely distinct existence into being.
This cannot arise merely from a chain of causes and effects.
Only Divine power can accomplish this.
- The Rambakโs Discussion of Cause and Effect
When the Ramak and Zohar describe sefirot as:
Cause and effect (ilah vโalul)
they are explaining how the sefirot develop from one another within Atzilut itself.
They are not explaining the creation of independent existence.
That requires a deeper Divine power.
- Why the Sefirot Are Called โBli Mahโ
The Alter Rebbe cites Sefer Yetzirah, which calls the sefirot:
โืืื ืืโ
They are not independent entities that can be fully grasped or defined.
They remain beyond ordinary comprehension.
Even Mosheโs prophetic attainment did not penetrate their innermost essence.
- The Example of Cause and Effect
In a genuine cause-and-effect relationship:
The effect remains enveloped by its cause.
The Alter Rebbe cites the Ramakโs analogy:
Like the ray of sunlight within the sun.
The effect possesses no independent existence relative to its source.
This describes the relationship among the sefirot themselves.
- Why Hishtalshelut Cannot Produce Physical Matter
The Alter Rebbe then makes an important point.
Even an endless chain of spiritual descent cannot itself produce:
Physical matter.
No amount of spiritual refinement descending level after level could eventually become a lump of earth or a physical object merely through cause-and-effect progression.
A spiritual being can produce a lower spiritual being.
But true physicality requires something more.
- The Example of the Angelic Source of Animals
He references a theme discussed elsewhere in Tanya:
The spiritual source known as:
โืคื ื ืฉืืจโ (โthe Face of the Oxโ)
can generate the spiritual life-force of animals,
but this alone cannot explain the emergence of gross physical matter.
Creation of matter itself requires the Divine power of yesh meโayin.
- How This Resolves the Original Question
Now the earlier statement becomes understandable.
The kelim of Atzilut may be defined and limited.
Yet they are still Elokus because they possess and express:
Godโs creative power.
The ability to generate existence from non-existence is not a created capability.
It is an expression of Divinity itself.
Therefore:
โIhu veโgarmohi chadโ
โHe and His vessels are one.โ
Key Takeaway
The Alter Rebbe explains that the vessels of Atzilut are not merely finite spiritual containers. Although they possess definition and limitation, they remain Divine because they participate in the uniquely Godly power of creating existence from nothing. Ordinary chains of spiritual cause and effect can explain how one spiritual level emerges from another, but they cannot explain the existence of a physical world. That requires the direct creative power of Elokus, which is why the kelim of Atzilut are still considered one with the Ein Sof.