והרי דבורו ומחשבתו כביכול מיוחדות עמו בתכלית היחוד, דרך משל כמו דבורו ומחשבתו של אדם בעודן בכח חכמתו ושכלו
Thus, G‑d’s speech and thought are united with Him in absolute union, just like the speech and thought of man before he actually expresses them as speech and thought, rather as they are while still in his faculty of wisdom and intellect,
או בתשוקה וחמדה שבלבו קודם שעלתה מהלב למוח, להרהר בה בבחינת אותיות
or
as they exist
in a desire or craving that are still in the heart, before they rise
from the heart to the brain, there to be meditated upon with the letters
of thought.
1
שאז היו אותיות המחשבה והדבור הזה, הנמשכות מחמדה ותשוקה זו, בכח בלב
At that point before one speaks or thinks, the letters of his speech and thought, which evolve from the aforementioned longing and desire, were still in a potential state in the heart,
ומיוחדות שם בתכלית היחוד בשרשן, שהן החכמה ושכל שבמוח, וחמדה ותשוקה שבלב
where
they were absolutely unified with their source, namely, the wisdom and
intellect in the brain, and the longing and desire in the heart.
In the case of a mortal, his thought and speech are completely unified with him before
he speaks; at that point the letters which constitute his thought and
speech are still telescoped within their source. In the case of the
Creator, however, His “thought” and “speech” remain unified with Him
even after He “thinks” and “speaks”: they are always within their source — the omnipresent G‑d, as the Alter Rebbe now concludes:
וככה
ממש, דרך משל, מיוחדות דבורו ומחשבתו של הקב״ה בתכלית היחוד במהותו
ועצמותו יתברך גם אחר שיצא דבורו יתברך אל הפועל בבריאות העולמות, כמו שהיה
מיוחד עמו קודם בריאת העולמות
Precisely so, by way of analogy, are G‑d’s “speech” and “thought” absolutely united with His essence and being even after
His “speech” has already become materialized in the creation of the
worlds, just as it was united with Him before the worlds were created.
ואין שום שינוי כלל לפניו יתברך אלא אל הברואים המקבלים חיותם מבחינת דבורו יתברך בבחינת יציאתו כבר אל הפועל בבריאת העולמות
Thus, for G‑d, nothing whatever was changed by the revelation of His creative power in Creation. The change wrought by Creation exists only with regard to the created beings, who receive their life-force from G‑d’s Word when it proceeds (from concealment) to actualization, with the creation of the worlds.
For
the created beings, the revelation of the creative power contained in
G‑d’s Word represents the greatest possible change — the passage from
nonexistence to existence, since they come into being only when the
Divine Word begins to actually create worlds.
שמתלבש בהם להחיותם
at which time it clothes itself in these worlds, to give them life.
על ידי השתלשלות מעלה לעלול, וירידת המדרגות בצמצומים רבים ושונים
This process takes place through a gradual descent from level to level (with the higher level referred to as the עילה, the “cause”, and the lower level — the עלול, the “effect”), and a downward gradation by means of numerous and various contractions (tzimtzumim, i.e., a progressive decrease in the intensity of the revealed Divine powers).
עד שיוכלו הברואים לקבל חיותם והתהוותם ממנו ולא יתבטלו במציאות
G‑d’s Word descends and is contracted to the point where the created beings can derive their life-force and existence from it, without losing their identity.
An
undimmed revelation of the G‑dly life-force would create beings whose
identity would be utterly nullified within their life-force. It was
G‑d’s intention that His creations perceive themselves to be separate
from Him, and that through their own efforts they achieve a spirit of
self-nullification vis-à-vis their Creator. To this end, G‑d
revealed His creative power only through a series of contractions, whose
effect the Alter Rebbe now goes on to explain:
