[The reader is referred to Likkutei Amarim, Part I, chs. 39 and 40.] To understand the statement in Shaar Hayichudim, ch. 2, that through Torah without proper intention (kavanah) angels are created in the World1See below, Essay 6, note 3, for references to Four Worlds. of Yetzirah: There he quotes Zohar, ParashatShelach, “There is no voice lost…except the voice of Torah and prayer that ascends and pierces….” Through2Here a contradictory statement is offered. First we learn that lack of kavanah does not completely inhibit Torah, for it attains to Yetzirah. Then we are told that prayer without kavanah is repelled. intention in prayer angels are created in the World of Beriah, as with intention in Torah. Without intention it is repelled, hurled down utterly. So it is stated in Zohar, ParashatPekudei 245b, “In the lowest firmament…that are called invalid prayers…” See also ParashatVayakhel 201b, “If it is a seemly word….”
However, the difference between Torah and prayer without intention is obvious. For in the study of Torah he knows and comprehends what he is learning, for otherwise it is not called study at all. It is only that he is learning simply, without the intention “for its sake,”3In Likkutei Amarim, Part I, ch. 5, Torah “for its sake” is defined as the intention of binding one’s soul with G–d through comprehension of Torah, each man according to his capacities. In ch. 39 we find three categories of intention: a) improper intention, for ulterior motives like becoming a scholar, b) “neutral” intention, resulting from ingrained habit, for example, and c) “for its sake,” through arousing at least the natural love and reverence. (On “natural” love, see above, Essay 1, note 3.) The reparation of the first sort of Torah study is effected through repentance. The second is elevated when he studies again with the proper intention, but repentance is not needed. out of the manifest love of G–d in his heart, but only out of the latent natural love.4See above, Essay 1, note 3. But he does not study with an actual negative purpose, for his aggrandisement….5This is the first category in note 3. See note 11 below. “For this does not ascend higher than the sun,” as stated in ParashatVayechi 223b. That is because his thought and intention are clothed within the utterances of speech and prevent them from ascending.
So, too, with prayer without intention, where he entertains alien thoughts. (But since his intention is for Heaven,6His mind wanders during prayer, but he prays only to G–d. therefore it is easily corrected, that it may still rise when he prays with proper intention, even one full prayer gathered piecemeal from the prayers of the entire year. Thus is written in Mikdash Melech on Pekudei.)
To return to the quotation from Zohar, ParashatPekudei, “in the lowest firmament,” while in Vayakhel the implication is that only “if it is a seemly word does it ascend with it to the atmosphere of the firmaments above….” This seeming contradiction is no problem. The expression in ParashatPekudei, “The inferior firmament of those firmaments that conduct the world,” refers to malchut7Each of the Divine attributes (kindness, severity, etc.) has its unique nature and functions, and each manifests G–d differently. His bounty, for example, is an expression of the attribute of chesed, kindness. The particular attribute is the source of the bounty, to be sure, but the actual performance of the attribute is through malchut (the seventh of the emotive attributes, lit., “sovereignty”). The manifestation of G–d in terms apprehensible to us, i.e., the physical conduct of the world, is through the malchut of the World of Asiyah, our mundane universe. For more discussion of malchut, see The Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskalah Movement, p. 110, note 3. of Asiyah. In ParashatVayakhel the reference is to the Minor Visage of Asiyah.8The term “visage,” like other anthropomorphic expressions, is common in Kabbalah and Chasidut. “Major Visage” (arich anpin) refers to the Divine will, and “Minor Visage” (z’eyr anpin) to the revealed emotive attributes. Generally, the latter term refers to the first six emotive attributes, while malchut, the last, is considered a class unto itself. The “Visages” are on all planes, in all “Worlds,” correspondingly higher or lower in accordance with the World in question. This is supported by Etz Chaim, Shaar Hashemot, ch. 3, in reference to the Minor Visage of Asiyah, see there.
The apparent reference may be drawn from ParashatPekudei that even invalid prayer ascends to the First Chamber,9See above, Essay 1, note 14. from where it is hurled down, and this (chamber) is in the Minor Visage of Beriah. This is no difficulty, for even palpable sins, minor and grave, ascend to there, even to the Fourth Chamber, as noted on page 252a. It is certain, therefore, that the ascensions are not identical, and there can be no comparison or similarity between them except for the common name. This will suffice for the knowing.
This will also aid us in grasping the passage on page 247 that in the Second Chamber are the garments that clothe the soul as a result of performance of mitzvot, though they are in the Lower Gan Eden10After the death of the body, the soul continues to live as a spiritual entity, quite apart from all corporeality. Its earlier mortal life did affect it profoundly though, whether his life was exemplary or not. If man sinned, G–d forbid, his soul suffers a concomitant defect or contamination and must undergo a process we call punishment or purification or correction. Any discussion of this must be cautious, for our experiences and conceptions are physical. We cannot truly conceive the nature of an abstract disembodied spiritual being, nor have we any inkling into its experience of what we would call pleasure or pain. Thus, we can declare, that the soul cannot remain in this state of imperfection, bearing the stains and scars of evil. When the purification is completed, the soul enters into Gan Eden. Here the soul enjoys the pleasant consequences of its good deeds in its physical life. Unconstricted by body, the soul can now have an awareness, an apprehension, of G–d’s being and propinquity, an experience the Talmud describes as “enjoying the radiance of G–d’s presence.” This consciousness of G–d will vary according to the soul and the life it led. A life of intellect, Torah study, will result in an intellectual appreciation of G–d; a life of fervent worship will establish an emotion-relationship; a life of social endeavor will bring its consonant effects, and so on. Then too the soul’s relationship with G–d is not static, for it progresses in its sensitivity to G–dliness. “They shall go from strength to strength,” says the Psalmist (84:8), and the Talmud declares that the righteous have no “rest” in This or the Coming Worlds. In broad terms we may say that there are numerous, if not an infinite, number of planes, categorized as the Higher and Lower Gan Eden. We have noted the existence of “Worlds” on different levels of spirituality or corporeality, ranging from virtually total unity and immersion in the Infinite to the point of nonexistence, down to our physical universe where the spiritual is subordinate and G–d so concealed that He can be denied. As the presence of G–d is concealed, the independent existence of creatures becomes possible, the ultimate being physical creatures. One step above this mundane World, called Asiyah, is its spiritual counterpart and antecedent, the Lower Gan Eden of Asiyah. The soul ascends to the Lower Gan Eden as “reward” for performance of mitzvot and to the Higher Gan Eden in accordance with its kavanah (intention and dedication). of Asiyah, as stated there on page 210.
Invalid prayer is superior to Torah studied with distinctly improper intention, for such Torah attains to a position lower than the sun,11The term “under the sun” is found in Ecclesiastes 1:3—“What gain has man of all his striving under the sun.” The Talmud (Shabbat 30b) comments that man’s labors “under the sun” are vanity, for these are worldly strivings, but there is gain in striving “higher than the sun,” meaning study of Torah. In Likkutei Torah, Ekev 13d, Rabbi Schneur Zalman writes, “If one studies Torah for his own glory, wanting to achieve something, to be considered a person of worth, this study is called ‘under the sun,’ where everything is vanity….” This sort of Torah study is the first category in note 3 of this Essay. while prayer is “in the firmament….” But simple Torah, without negative intention but merely of the latent innate love, is not inferior to the “breath of the mouths of school children”12Shabbat 119b. which ascends because it is “breath untainted by sin.” It ascends, though it may be of clearly negative intention, out of fear of punishment by the teacher. See 255b, (where it states) that the angels elevate the breath of studying children to Atzilut.
לְהָבִין מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בְּשַׁעַר הַיִּחוּדִים פֶּרֶק ב׳, דְּעַל־יְדֵי תּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא בְכַוָּונָה נִבְרָאִים מַלְאָכִים בְּעוֹלַם הַיְצִירָה, וְשָׁם הֵבִיא מֵהַזֹּהַר פָּרָשַׁת שְׁלַח: ״דְּלֵית קָלָא דְּאִתְאֲבִיד כוּ׳ בַּר קָלָא דְּאוֹרַיְיתָא וּצְלוֹתָא דְּסָלִיק וּבָקַע כוּ׳״. וְהִנֵּה, מִכַּוָּונַת הַתְּפִלָּה נִבְרְאוּ מַלְאָכִים בְּעוֹלַם הַבְּרִיאָה כְּמוֹ מִכַּוָּונַת הַתּוֹרָה, וּבְלֹא כַוָּונָה – נִדְחֵית לְמַטָּה לְגַמְרֵי, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בַּזֹּהַר פָּרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי דַּף רמ״ה עַמּוּד ב׳: ״גּוֹ רָקִיעַ תַּתָּאָה כוּ׳ דְּאִקְּרִין צְלוֹתִין פְּסִילָאן כוּ׳״, וְעַיֵּין שָׁם פָּרָשַׁת וַיַּקְהֵל דַּף ר״א עַמּוּד ב׳: ״אִי הִיא מִלָּה כִּדְקָא יָאוּת כוּ׳״.
[The reader is referred to Likkutei Amarim, Part I, chs. 39 and 40.]
To understand the statement in Shaar Hayichudim, ch. 2, that through Torah without proper intention (kavanah) angels are created in the World1See below, Essay 6, note 3, for references to Four Worlds. of Yetzirah: There he quotes Zohar, Parashat Shelach, “There is no voice lost…except the voice of Torah and prayer that ascends and pierces….” Through2Here a contradictory statement is offered. First we learn that lack of kavanah does not completely inhibit Torah, for it attains to Yetzirah. Then we are told that prayer without kavanah is repelled. intention in prayer angels are created in the World of Beriah, as with intention in Torah. Without intention it is repelled, hurled down utterly. So it is stated in Zohar, Parashat Pekudei 245b, “In the lowest firmament…that are called invalid prayers…” See also Parashat Vayakhel 201b, “If it is a seemly word….”
אַךְ הַהֶפְרֵשׁ בֵּין תּוֹרָה לִתְפִלָּה שֶׁלֹּא בְכַוָּונָה, מוּבָן מֵאֵלָיו, כִּי לִימּוּד הַתּוֹרָה הוּא מֵבִין וְיוֹדֵעַ מַה שֶּׁלּוֹמֵד, דִּבְלָאו הָכֵי לָא מִיקְרֵי לִימּוּד כְּלָל, רַק, שֶׁלּוֹמֵד סְתָם, בְּלֹא כַּוָּונָה לִשְׁמָהּ מֵאַהֲבַת ה׳ שֶׁבְּלִבּוֹ בִּבְחִינַת גִּילּוּי, רַק מֵאַהֲבָה הַמְסוּתֶּרֶת הַטִּבְעִית, אַךְ אֵינוֹ לוֹמֵד שֶׁלֹּא לִשְׁמָהּ מַמָּשׁ לְהִתְגַּדֵּל כוּ׳, דְּהָא לָא סָלִיק לְעֵילָּא מִן שִׁמְשָׁא, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּפָרָשַׁת וַיְחִי דַּף רכ״ג עַמּוּד ב׳, וְהַיְינוּ מִשּׁוּם שֶׁמַּחֲשַׁבְתּוֹ וְכַוָּונָתוֹ הֵן מִתְלַבְּשׁוֹת בְּאוֹתִיּוֹת הַדִּבּוּר וְאֵינָן מַנִּיחוֹת אוֹתָן לְסָלְקָא לְעֵילָא.
However, the difference between Torah and prayer without intention is obvious. For in the study of Torah he knows and comprehends what he is learning, for otherwise it is not called study at all. It is only that he is learning simply, without the intention “for its sake,”3In Likkutei Amarim, Part I, ch. 5, Torah “for its sake” is defined as the intention of binding one’s soul with G–d through comprehension of Torah, each man according to his capacities. In ch. 39 we find three categories of intention: a) improper intention, for ulterior motives like becoming a scholar, b) “neutral” intention, resulting from ingrained habit, for example, and c) “for its sake,” through arousing at least the natural love and reverence. (On “natural” love, see above, Essay 1, note 3.) The reparation of the first sort of Torah study is effected through repentance. The second is elevated when he studies again with the proper intention, but repentance is not needed. out of the manifest love of G–d in his heart, but only out of the latent natural love.4See above, Essay 1, note 3. But he does not study with an actual negative purpose, for his aggrandisement….5This is the first category in note 3. See note 11 below. “For this does not ascend higher than the sun,” as stated in Parashat Vayechi 223b. That is because his thought and intention are clothed within the utterances of speech and prevent them from ascending.
וְהָכֵי נַמֵי בִּתְפִלָּה שֶׁלֹּא בְכַוָּונָה, שֶׁמְּחַשֵּׁב מַחֲשָׁבוֹת זָרוֹת (אֶלָּא מִפְּנֵי שֶׁכַּוָּונָתוֹ לַשָּׁמַיִם, לְכָךְ יֵשׁ לָהּ תִּיקּוּן בְּקַל לַחֲזוֹר וְלַעֲלוֹת, כְּשֶׁמִּתְפַּלֵּל בְּכַוָּונָה אֲפִילוּ תְּפִלָּה אַחַת מְלוּקֶּטֶת מִתְּפִלּוֹת כָּל הַשָּׁנָה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּ״מִקְדַּשׁ מֶלֶךְ״ פָּרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי).
So, too, with prayer without intention, where he entertains alien thoughts. (But since his intention is for Heaven,6His mind wanders during prayer, but he prays only to G–d. therefore it is easily corrected, that it may still rise when he prays with proper intention, even one full prayer gathered piecemeal from the prayers of the entire year. Thus is written in Mikdash Melech on Pekudei.)
וּמַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בְּפָרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי: ״גּוֹ רָקִיעַ תַּתָּאָה״, וּבְפָרָשַׁת וַיַּקְהֵל מַשְׁמַע דְּדַוְקָא ״אִי אִיהִי מִלָּא כִּדְקָא יָאוּת סָלְקִין עִמָּהּ״ עַד אֲוִירָא דְּרָקִיעַ דִּלְעֵילָּא כוּ׳ – לֹא קָשֶׁה מִידֵי: דְּרָקִיעַ תַּתָּאָה מֵאִינּוּן רְקִיעִין דְּמִדַּבְּרֵי גּוֹ עָלְמָא שֶׁבְּפָרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי – הֵן דְּמַלְכוּת דַּעֲשִׂיָּה, וּדְפָרָשַׁת וַיַּקְהֵל – הֵן דִּ״זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין״ דַּעֲשִׂיָּה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּעֵץ חַיִּים שַׁעַר הַשֵּׁמוֹת פֶּרֶק ג׳ גַּבֵּי ״זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין״ דַּעֲשִׂיָּיה, עַיֵּין שָׁם.
To return to the quotation from Zohar, Parashat Pekudei, “in the lowest firmament,” while in Vayakhel the implication is that only “if it is a seemly word does it ascend with it to the atmosphere of the firmaments above….” This seeming contradiction is no problem. The expression in Parashat Pekudei, “The inferior firmament of those firmaments that conduct the world,” refers to malchut7Each of the Divine attributes (kindness, severity, etc.) has its unique nature and functions, and each manifests G–d differently. His bounty, for example, is an expression of the attribute of chesed, kindness. The particular attribute is the source of the bounty, to be sure, but the actual performance of the attribute is through malchut (the seventh of the emotive attributes, lit., “sovereignty”). The manifestation of G–d in terms apprehensible to us, i.e., the physical conduct of the world, is through the malchut of the World of Asiyah, our mundane universe. For more discussion of malchut, see The Tzemach Tzedek and the Haskalah Movement, p. 110, note 3. of Asiyah. In Parashat Vayakhel the reference is to the Minor Visage of Asiyah.8The term “visage,” like other anthropomorphic expressions, is common in Kabbalah and Chasidut. “Major Visage” (arich anpin) refers to the Divine will, and “Minor Visage” (z’eyr anpin) to the revealed emotive attributes. Generally, the latter term refers to the first six emotive attributes, while malchut, the last, is considered a class unto itself. The “Visages” are on all planes, in all “Worlds,” correspondingly higher or lower in accordance with the World in question. This is supported by Etz Chaim, Shaar Hashemot, ch. 3, in reference to the Minor Visage of Asiyah, see there.
וְהָא דְּמַשְׁמַע לִכְאוֹרָה בְּפָרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי, דְּגַם תְּפִלָּה פְּסוּלָה עוֹלָה עַד הֵיכָל הָרִאשׁוֹן שֶׁמִּמֶּנּוּ נִדְחֵית לְמַטָּה, וְהוּא בִּ״זְעֵיר אַנְפִּין״ דִּבְרִיאָה – לֹא קָשֶׁה מִידֵי: שֶׁהֲרֵי אֲפִילוּ כָּל הָעֲווֹנוֹת מַמָּשׁ, קַלּוֹת וַחֲמוּרוֹת – עוֹלוֹת לְשָׁם אֲפִילוּ עַד הֵיכָל הַד׳, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב דַּף רנ״ב עַמּוּד א׳, אֶלָּא וַדַּאי, שֶׁאֵין מַהוּת הָעֲלִיּוֹת שָׁווֹת, וְאֵין עֲרוֹךְ וְדִמְיוֹן בֵּינֵיהֶם – אֶלָּא בְּשִׁיתּוּף הַשֵּׁם בִּלְבַד, וְדַי לַמֵּבִין.
The apparent reference may be drawn from Parashat Pekudei that even invalid prayer ascends to the First Chamber,9See above, Essay 1, note 14. from where it is hurled down, and this (chamber) is in the Minor Visage of Beriah. This is no difficulty, for even palpable sins, minor and grave, ascend to there, even to the Fourth Chamber, as noted on page 252a. It is certain, therefore, that the ascensions are not identical, and there can be no comparison or similarity between them except for the common name. This will suffice for the knowing.
וּבָזֶה יוּבַן גַּם כֵּן מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב שָׁם דַּף רמ״ז, שֶׁבְּהֵיכָל הַב׳ [אולי צריך להיות: אִזְדַּמַּן הַמְמוּנֶּה. ואולי צריך להיות: קַיָּימִין הַלְּבוּשִׁים] מְמוּנֶּה עַל הַלְּבוּשִׁים שֶׁמַּלְבִּישִׁים הַנְּשָׁמָה מִמַּעֲשֵׂה הַמִּצְוֹת, אַף שֶׁהֵן בְּגַן עֵדֶן הַתַּחְתּוֹן דַּעֲשִׂיָּה, כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב שָׁם דַף ר״י.
This will also aid us in grasping the passage on page 247 that in the Second Chamber are the garments that clothe the soul as a result of performance of mitzvot, though they are in the Lower Gan Eden10After the death of the body, the soul continues to live as a spiritual entity, quite apart from all corporeality. Its earlier mortal life did affect it profoundly though, whether his life was exemplary or not. If man sinned, G–d forbid, his soul suffers a concomitant defect or contamination and must undergo a process we call punishment or purification or correction. Any discussion of this must be cautious, for our experiences and conceptions are physical. We cannot truly conceive the nature of an abstract disembodied spiritual being, nor have we any inkling into its experience of what we would call pleasure or pain. Thus, we can declare, that the soul cannot remain in this state of imperfection, bearing the stains and scars of evil. When the purification is completed, the soul enters into Gan Eden. Here the soul enjoys the pleasant consequences of its good deeds in its physical life. Unconstricted by body, the soul can now have an awareness, an apprehension, of G–d’s being and propinquity, an experience the Talmud describes as “enjoying the radiance of G–d’s presence.” This consciousness of G–d will vary according to the soul and the life it led. A life of intellect, Torah study, will result in an intellectual appreciation of G–d; a life of fervent worship will establish an emotion-relationship; a life of social endeavor will bring its consonant effects, and so on. Then too the soul’s relationship with G–d is not static, for it progresses in its sensitivity to G–dliness. “They shall go from strength to strength,” says the Psalmist (84:8), and the Talmud declares that the righteous have no “rest” in This or the Coming Worlds. In broad terms we may say that there are numerous, if not an infinite, number of planes, categorized as the Higher and Lower Gan Eden. We have noted the existence of “Worlds” on different levels of spirituality or corporeality, ranging from virtually total unity and immersion in the Infinite to the point of nonexistence, down to our physical universe where the spiritual is subordinate and G–d so concealed that He can be denied. As the presence of G–d is concealed, the independent existence of creatures becomes possible, the ultimate being physical creatures. One step above this mundane World, called Asiyah, is its spiritual counterpart and antecedent, the Lower Gan Eden of Asiyah. The soul ascends to the Lower Gan Eden as “reward” for performance of mitzvot and to the Higher Gan Eden in accordance with its kavanah (intention and dedication). of Asiyah, as stated there on page 210.
וְהִנֵּה, תְּפִלָּה פְּסוּלָה עֲדִיפָא מִתּוֹרָה שֶׁלֹּא לִשְׁמָהּ מַמָּשׁ, שֶׁהִיא תַּחַת הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ, וְהַתְּפִלָּה הִיא גּוֹ רָקִיעַ כוּ׳. אֲבָל תּוֹרָה סְתָם, שֶׁאֵינָהּ שֶׁלֹּא לִשְׁמָהּ רַק מֵאַהֲבָה מְסוּתֶּרֶת טִבְעִית, לָא גָרְעָא מֵהֶבֶל פִּיהֶן שֶׁל תִּינוֹקֹת־שֶׁל־בֵּית־רַבָּן, דְּסָלִיק לְעֵילָּא מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהוּא הֶבֶל שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ חֵטְא, וְסָלִיק לְעֵילָּא, אַף אִם הוּא שֶׁלֹּא לִשְׁמָהּ מַמָּשׁ, מִיִּרְאַת הָרְצוּעָה שֶׁבְּיַד הַסּוֹפֵר, וְעַיֵּין שָׁם דַּף רנ״ה עַמּוּד ב׳, שֶׁהַמַּלְאָכִים הֵם מַעֲלִים הַהֶבֶל שֶׁל תִּינוֹקֹת־שֶׁל־בֵּית־רַבָּן עַד אֲצִילוּת:
Invalid prayer is superior to Torah studied with distinctly improper intention, for such Torah attains to a position lower than the sun,11The term “under the sun” is found in Ecclesiastes 1:3—“What gain has man of all his striving under the sun.” The Talmud (Shabbat 30b) comments that man’s labors “under the sun” are vanity, for these are worldly strivings, but there is gain in striving “higher than the sun,” meaning study of Torah. In Likkutei Torah, Ekev 13d, Rabbi Schneur Zalman writes, “If one studies Torah for his own glory, wanting to achieve something, to be considered a person of worth, this study is called ‘under the sun,’ where everything is vanity….” This sort of Torah study is the first category in note 3 of this Essay. while prayer is “in the firmament….” But simple Torah, without negative intention but merely of the latent innate love, is not inferior to the “breath of the mouths of school children”12Shabbat 119b. which ascends because it is “breath untainted by sin.” It ascends, though it may be of clearly negative intention, out of fear of punishment by the teacher. See 255b, (where it states) that the angels elevate the breath of studying children to Atzilut.