Seven Teachings of the Baal Shem Tov #3 תורת הבעל שם טוב #3 -התהוות תמידית וביטול העולמות

Shaar Hayichud Vehaemunah

Let us understand [at least] in a small measure, the statement in the Zohar that Shema Yisrael,.. . is Yichudah Ilaah ("higher level Unity") and Baruch Shew K'vod Malchuto Leolam Vaed isYichudah Tataah ("lower level Unity").

"Know this day and take unto your heart that Hava'ye is Elokim(G‑d is the Lord) in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is no other." This requires explanation. For would it occur to you that there is a god dwelling in the waters beneath the earth that it is necessary to negate it so strongly [as to say,] "Take unto your heart?"

It is written: "Forever, O G‑d, Your word stands firm in the heavens." The Baal Shem Tov, of blessed memory, has explained that "Your word" which you uttered, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters.. .", these very words and letters stand firmly forever within the firmament of heaven and are forever clothed within all the heavens to give them life, as it is written, "The word of our G‑d shall stand firm forever" and "His words live and stand firm forever. ..." For if the letters were to depart [even] for an instant, G‑d forbid, and return to their source, all the heavens would become naught and absolute nothingness, and it would be as though they had never existed at all, exactly as before the utterance, "Let there be a firmament." And so it is with all created things, in all the upper and lower worlds, and even this physical earth, which is the "Kingdom of the silent" (inanimate). If the letters of the Ten Utterances by which the earth was created during the Six Days of Creation were to depart from it [but] for an instant, G‑d forbid, it would revert to naught and absolute nothingness, exactly as before the Six Days of Creation.

This same thought was expressed by the Ari, of blessed memory, when he said that even in completely inanimate matter, such as stones or earth or water, there is a soul and spiritual life-force— that is, the enclothing of the "Letters of speech" of the Ten Utterances which give life and existence to inanimate matter that it might arise out of the naught and nothingness which preceded the Six Days of Creation.

Now, although the name even (stone) is not mentioned in the Ten Utterances recorded in the Torah, nevertheless, life-force flows to the stone through combinations and substitutions of the letters which are transposed in the "Two hundred and thirty-one gates," either in direct or reverse order, as is explained in the Sefer Yetzirah, until the combination of the name even descends from the Ten Utterances, and is derived from them, and this is the life-force of the stone. And so it is with all created things in the world— their names in the Holy Tongue are the very "letters of speech" which descend, degree by degree, from the Ten Utterances recorded in the Torah, by means of substitutions and transpositions of letters through the "two hundred and thirty-one gates," until they reach and become invested in that particular created thing to give it life. [This descent is necessary] because individual creatures are not capable of receiving their life-force directly from the Ten Utterances of the Torah, for the life-force issuing directly from them is far greater than the capacity of the individual creatures. They can receive the life-force only when it descends and is progressively diminished, degree by degree, by means of substitutions and transpositions of the letters and by Gematriot,their numerical values, until the life-force can be condensed and enclothed and there can be brought forth from it a particular creature. And the name by which it is called in the Holy Tongue is a vessel for the life-force condensed into the letters of that name which has descended from the Ten Utterances in the Torah, that have power and vitality to create being ex nihilo and give it life forever. For the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are one.

Chapter 2
From the foregoing [exposition] the answer to the heretics [is deduced], and the root of the error of those who deny individual Divine Providence and the signs and miracles recorded in the Torah is revealed. They err, making a false analogy, in comparing the work of G‑d, the Creator of heaven and earth, to the work of man and his schemes. For, when a goldsmith has made a vessel, that vessel is no longer dependent upon the smith, and even when his hands are removed from it and he goes away, the vessel remains in exactly the same image and form as when it left the hands of the smith. In the same way, these fools conceive the creation of heaven and earth. But their eyes are covered [and they fail] to see the great difference between the work of man and his schemes— which consists of making one thing out of another which already exists, merely changing the form and appearance from an ingot of silver to a vessel— and the making of heaven and earth, which is creatio ex nihilo.

Indeed, this is an even greater miracle than, for example, the splitting of the Red Sea. For then, G‑d drove back the sea by a strong east wind all the night and the waters were divided and stood upright as a wall. If G‑d had stopped the wind, the waters would have instantly flowed downward, as is their way and nature, and undoubtedly they would not have stood upright as a wall, even though this nature of water [to flow downward] is also created ex nihilo, for a stone wall stands erect by itself without [the assistance of] the wind, but the nature of water is not so.

[Thus, if for the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea the continuous action of G‑d was necessary] how much more so is it in the creation of being out of nothing which transcends nature and is far more miraculous than the splitting of the Red Sea, that with the withdrawal of the power of the Creator from the thing created, G‑d forbid, it would revert to naught and complete non-existence. Rather, the Activating Force of the Creator must continuously be in the thing created to give it life and existence. [These Forces] are the "letters of speech" of the Ten Utterances by which [beings] were created.

And that is the meaning of the verse: ואתה מחי' את כולם . Read not מחי' , give life, but מהוה bring into being, i.e., ex nihilo. The word אתה , You, indicates all the letters from Aleph to Tav, and the letter Hot, the five organs of verbal articulation, the sources of the letters. Although He has no bodily likeness, yet, Scripture itself ascribes to Him [anthropomorphic terms such as] "And G‑d spoke" or "And G‑d said," which denote the revelation of the twenty-two Supernal Letters to the Prophets and the enclothing [of the letters] in their intellect and comprehension in the prophetic vision, as well as in their thought and speech, as it is written, "The spirit of G‑d spoke in me, and His word is upon my tongue," as has been explained oy the Ari, of blessed memory, (in the Shaar HaNevuah). Similar to this is the investment of the letters in created things— as it is written, "By the word of G‑d were the heavens made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host,"— only [the enclothing of the letters in created beings] is through numerous and powerful descents until [the letters! reach the corporeal [world of] Asiyah;whereas the comprehension of the Prophets is in [the world of] Atzilut as it becomes clothed in the world of Beriah.

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