(ענין לך לך וילך למסעיו ממטה למעלה מלמעלה…

A heading listing the verses the maamar will explain: G‑d’s call to Avram, “Go forth,” and Avram’s later journeys, which the Alter Rebbe reads as a movement both from below upward and from above downward. The two altars Avram built, one “to Havayah who appeared to him” and one simply “to Havayah,” will stand for a revealed level of G‑dliness and a higher, unqualified one.

The name Avram is read as av ram, “exalted father”: a level of intellect so deep that no thought can reach it, higher even than Chochmah. Avram’s task is to bring this hidden level into revelation, so that it descends step by step through all the worlds down to the lowest. The Rebbe, in his maamar “Lech Lecha” 5738 as the Kehot note quotes it, gives the reason it is above Chochmah: Chochmah, though the first of the inner faculties, is already a revelation, while av ram is hidden from all thought.

The goal of this descent is that G‑dliness be revealed even in the lower created worlds (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah). There it is the upper and lower Gan Eden, the spiritual Garden of Eden, where souls and created beings receive a revelation of divine delight. A gloss of the Tzemach Tzedek, which the Kehot note quotes, says that drawing down the higher unity, so that the revelation below is as it is above, was new with Avraham.

The Zohar says that Chesed (kindness) is revealed at the “mouth of the amah.” The amah (אמה) is the male organ, the organ of the covenant, which corresponds to Yesod, the channel through which the flow from above is passed on to the one who receives it. Its “mouth” is the opening where that flow comes out (in Etz Chaim, the Arizal’s teachings as Rabbi Chaim Vital recorded them, the drop of the mochin is cast “in the mouth of the amah [the organ of the covenant]” and placed into Imma). So Chesed revealed there is kindness that connects giver and receiver. Avraham, the man of Chesed, embodies this flow; this is why he sits “at the entrance of the tent,” the point where the inside opens outward. In Or HaTorah the Tzemach Tzedek links this “connection” to the end of Iggeres HaKodesh 15, where the Alter Rebbe explains that union is called daas, “knowledge,” because daas means binding and connection.

Yet the revelation of kindness can only reach created beings through contractions and concealment, associated with Yitzchak (Gevurah). The verse of creation, “there was evening and there was morning,” shows darkness, the concealment, coming first, and only then light.

The concealment exists so that there can be a created “something” (yesh) at all. But within that something there should be “one day”: G‑d’s Oneness drawn into it, so that it exists and is at the same time nullified before Him. In Likkutei Torah, Shelach, the Alter Rebbe refers to this reading of “evening and morning, one day” and explains that if the Infinite Light were drawn all the way down, everything would be nullified and no created “something” could exist, so withdrawal and contraction must follow the expansion.

For G‑dliness to be revealed, the mitzvah of circumcision is needed. The foreskin stands for kelipas nogah, the “translucent husk” that covers holiness and draws nourishment from it; while it is there, revelation can come only in the limited measure that sustains it.

The Alter Rebbe asks why, right after the command of circumcision, the Torah calls Avraham “father of a multitude of nations.” What do the nations have to do with circumcision?

He answers that the revelation brought about by circumcision gives the power to refine and elevate. As the Talmud says, the righteous before the Shechinah are like a candle before a torch: the small flame is absorbed into the great one. So too what is near the revealed light is drawn into it. Rabbi Pinchas Reizes’s transcript of this maamar, as the Kehot note quotes it, makes the image explicit: when a candle is brought close to a torch, its oil is drawn off into the torch, and so through the deeds of the righteous the sparks are refined from Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah and absorbed into the Malchus of the Infinite One.

The Sages say that wherever Israel was exiled, even to Edom, the Shechinah went with them, and that Israel was exiled among the nations only so that converts would be added to them. The Alter Rebbe reads this inwardly: the “converts” are the sparks of holiness in kelipas nogah, in the permitted food and drink of this world; when the Shechinah is revealed, these sparks are nullified before it and absorbed into holiness, like a candle before a torch. In Torah Ohr’s discourses on Megillas Esther the Alter Rebbe brings the same saying and explains these converts as the sparks that fell from the World of Tohu, which are refined through eating and drinking.

This is the inner meaning of G‑d’s call to Avram: av ram, the hidden intellect, is to descend by stages into revelation. The purpose is tikkun (rectification) and birur (refinement): repairing the world and sifting out the good in it.

The generations before Avram, up to the Flood, correspond to the Kabbalistic “shattering of the vessels,” when the first vessels, of the World of Tohu (chaos), broke under too much light and their sparks fell into the lower worlds. With Avram the World of Rectification (Tikkun) begins; “Go forth” is read as the going forth of the Name Mah (Havayah spelled out so that its letters total 45), the divine power that rectifies and refines.

The descent is gradual, level after level: from av ram, identified with Yesod of Abba (the outlet of Chochmah), down to “the land,” which stands for Malchus, the lowest Sefirah. “That I will show you” then introduces the goal of this journey.

In the verse, “that I will show you” describes the land; the maamar reads it as “I will show you,” that is, I will reveal you yourself: the hidden intellect of Avram will itself come to be revealed, through the mitzvah of circumcision. Hence the Torah joins circumcision to the new name Avraham, “father of a multitude of nations.”

By what was just said, becoming Avraham is a descent from the lofty av ram. But the hei added to his name is the “upper hei,” which stands for Binah, and the Zohar’s reading of a verse about the Levites shows what that hei brings.

The Zohar reads the word “he” (hu) in that verse as Atika, the “Ancient One,” the innermost level of Keser. Its revelation is specifically in Binah, not in Chochmah, which is called “Eden” and has no revelation of Atik.

Atik is the source of all delight, and delight is above wisdom. In Chochmah, which is only a “point,” an undeveloped flash, delight cannot yet show itself. In Iggeres HaKodesh 5 the Alter Rebbe explains that supernal Chochmah is the beginning of intellect while it is still hidden, flowing only a little into Binah to be understood, and that is why it is called “a point in a palace” and “Eden.”

Delight shows itself only in Binah, where the point of insight is spread out in a “palace” and understood. The verse “a female shall encompass a male” hints that Binah, the receiving “female,” encompasses and receives the light of Atik. The rule behind it: every expansion and descent comes from a level higher still. In Torah Ohr, Terumah, the Alter Rebbe cites this same Zohar, refers back to the hei of Avraham, and explains that the main revelation of delight from intellect is in Binah, when one understands a thing thoroughly.

¶8 Why expansion needs a higher level: paragraph 8 explains, through Shlomo's parables.

To clarify the principle, the Alter Rebbe turns to King Shlomo, who “spoke three thousand parables.” Knowing an idea is not the same as being able to explain it to someone else.

Before explaining, a teacher must concentrate intensely and work out how the idea can be brought down into simpler terms and dressed in an analogy, finding the same wisdom present in lower things.

This takes a truly great mind. Shlomo’s vast understanding let him find three thousand parables for a single idea. In Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan, the Alter Rebbe makes the same point and refers here: finding a parable for an idea takes a depth of wisdom above the wisdom of the idea itself, which is why many wise men cannot explain what they know.

The three thousand parables are three thousand descending levels; at each one Shlomo could still find and show the very same wisdom he knew.

The lesson: for an idea to come down and spread out into broad, detailed understanding (Binah), the power must come from a source higher than the original insight (Chochmah).

¶7 This explains the principle stated in paragraph 7: expansion comes from a higher level.

Binah cannot simply flow out of Chochmah. Its root is the revelation of Atik, above Chochmah, within it, and through that it develops and spreads out in breadth.

The same holds in the letters of the Divine Name: the yud, a mere point, stands for Chochmah; the hei, with length and breadth, for Binah. The yud can expand into the hei only through its “tip” (kotz), which stands for Atik, a level above Chochmah.

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s Pardes explains that the yud has three tips; the hei is drawn from the lower tip, and the lower tip holds within it something of the upper tip. In Likkutei Torah, Matos, the Alter Rebbe repeats this teaching of the Pardes, refers to this maamar, and brings the view of Rabbi Chaim Vital that the lower tip is Daas, which joins Chochmah and Binah.

So Binah, the hei, carries a light from the upper tip, Keser. That is why the descent from av ram to Avraham is really a great elevation: through it the light of Keser is drawn down. This is also hinted in Avram’s journeys “from the Negev.”

The stations of the journey are mapped onto the Sefiros: the Negev (south) is Chesed, Beis El is Malchus. The journey runs from above downward and from below upward, from the altar “to Havayah who appeared” (a revealed level) to the altar simply “to Havayah” (the higher, unqualified level).

Now the Alter Rebbe applies this to a person’s divine service. The Sages call the Torah the “fallen fruit” (novlos) of supernal wisdom: what has dropped down from above. Yet the Torah, clothed in physical things, comes from the very highest level of wisdom, “wise, but not with a knowable wisdom.” In Torah Ohr, Yitro, the Alter Rebbe explains the “fallen fruit” as light drawn down from supernal Chochmah, “wise, but not with a knowable wisdom,” to refine the world: the wisdom of the Torah clothed in physical things, such as the laws of pure and impure and the wool of tzitzis.

Supernal wisdom as it is cannot be grasped at all; only when it is clothed in physical things can we take hold of it. So when a person takes the esrog on Sukkos, since G‑d’s wisdom is clothed in it, it is as if he is holding the supernal wisdom itself. Bringing this passage in his Hemshech “Matzah Zu” 5640, the Rebbe Maharash adds an analogy: letters engraved on a brilliant gem cannot be read because of its brilliance, but they can be read once they are stamped into wax.

How does supernal wisdom come down into physical things? Through the light of Keser, which is above wisdom. The Zohar’s saying that the Torah “comes forth from Chochmah” describes only its revealed level.

Its source is higher: the 613 Torah commandments and seven Rabbinic ones make 620, the numerical value of keter (Keser), and are called 620 “pillars of light.” They come from the “paths of whiteness” of the Gulgalta, the “skull” of Keser, which is the Malchus of the Infinite One; because they come from so high, they can reach so low.

“Kadesh” is one of the Torah passages written on the parchment of the tefillin. Because G‑d’s wisdom reaches that parchment through Keser, which is above wisdom, its revelation there is greater than the revelation of wisdom in its own lofty place.

That is why physical mitzvos can bring about a “supernal unification,” a joining of divine levels, high in Atzilus. Giving charity, for example, has an effect above Gan Eden, where souls enjoy the radiance of G‑dliness.

Gan Eden is in the World of Beriah, whose innermost source (its Atik) is the lowest level of Atzilus, Malchus. Through charity, Malchus is raised and completed: tzedek (צדק, justice), ending in dalet, becomes tzedakah (צדקה), gaining a hei. The Zohar says that before Malchus receives from the masculine, giving level, she is a poor dalet. In Torah Ohr, Miketz, the Alter Rebbe explains this: the Keser of Beriah has in it something of the lowest level of Atzilus, just as Malchus of Adam Kadmon, called the Malchus of the Infinite One, becomes the Atik and Keser of Atzilus.

The Torah praises Avraham’s hospitality only after he reached the Land of Israel, although he was already seventy-five when he arrived. This suggests that his kindness before that did not have the same effect.

Before G‑d’s call, his good deeds did not draw G‑dliness down or affect the supernal unification. Only with “And Havayah said to Avram, Go forth” did the supernal Emanator draw the power of descent into av ram.

From then on the unification above could depend on the deeds of people below. The main way this unification is revealed is the Torah.

The Patriarchs prepared the way for the Torah. In the psalm, “He placed Torah in Israel” means that G‑d gave the Torah to the people Israel; the maamar reads “in Israel” as “through Israel,” the Patriarchs themselves, and through Avraham the “right line” of the Sefiros, Chesed, was drawn down. The Rebbe Maharash, bringing this passage in his Hemshech “Matzah Zu” 5640, points to the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 63:3), which shows from verses that Yitzchak and even Avraham are called “Israel.”

This explains why the book of Bereishis has almost no commandments: it tells the stories of Avraham and Yitzchak, who lived before the Torah was given, but who drew down what made the Torah possible.

A question: if the Patriarchs had already prepared the Torah, why did Israel receive it only after the hard slavery of Egypt, with its “mortar and bricks”?

¶15 Hold this question about the Egyptian exile: paragraph 15 answers it.

A second question: Avraham was circumcised only at ninety-nine. How could he bring about unifications above before that, if circumcision is what makes revelation possible?

The Mishnah says Avraham kept the whole Torah, yet tefillin mention the Exodus, which had not yet happened. The answer: mitzvos have an inner and an outer dimension, and Avraham kept them in their inner, spiritual dimension.

“And Havayah said” to Avram means G‑d’s infinite light, from Keser, was drawn down to him in the inner dimension. But for G‑dliness to be revealed in the outer dimension, in physical objects such as the parchment of tefillin, something more is needed.

That cannot happen through the ordinary step-by-step descent of the worlds. It came only through the bitter slavery of Egypt, which drew down a revelation from a level above the whole chain of worlds.

¶14 This answers the question from paragraph 14: why the Torah waited for Egypt.

A level above the chain can be revealed even below it, because for it high and low are the same. So the verse “You made (asisa) them all with wisdom (chochmah)” joins Chochmah to the word of Asiyah, action: from that height, the highest Sefirah and the lowest world are equal.

A Kabbalistic saying: the “circles” (encompassing lights) of Arich Anpin (the “Long Face,” the outer configuration of Keser, the divine will, beneath Atik, Keser’s inner level) surround even the “feet” of Asiyah, the lowest world. The revelation comes from an encompassing light that includes all four worlds equally, so G‑d’s will can come down even into parchment and similar physical things.

Avraham drew G‑dliness down only in the inner dimension. So in his time there was not yet a revelation through the actual physical performance of mitzvos; his keeping of the Torah was inward.

At ninety-nine Avraham received circumcision as a physical mitzvah, a “gift” from above. Its purpose was that Yitzchak be born, and from him Yaakov “the wholehearted,” all of whose sons were righteous and would receive the Torah as mitzvos done in physical deed. In Likkutei Torah, Tazria, the Alter Rebbe explains that Avraham was a prophet even before his circumcision because the light of Atzilus comes clothed in vessels, which the kelipos cannot block; but for the unclothed light of Adam Kadmon, the level before Atzilus, to shine on him, he had to cut away the foreskin that covers it.

That is why Avraham himself did not receive the Torah: Yishmael was born to him before his circumcision. Only after the circumcision was Yitzchak born, leading to Yaakov, whose children received the Torah of practical mitzvos.

Circumcision drew down a light from the encompassing “circles” even into the outer dimension, because before G‑d, above the chain of worlds, above and below are one.

The verse “He made us, and we are His” has a word, lo, that is read with a vav (לו, “His”) but written with an alef (לא, “not”). How could created beings become “His people” through the ordinary chain of worlds? Only through the alef, which stands for Keser. In Torah Ohr, Yitro, the Alter Rebbe explains a word written and read the same two ways, lo in Chanah’s song, “and by Him actions are weighed” (I Samuel 2:3): lo with an alef stands for the negative commandments and lo with a vav for the positive ones, which together make the lower unity equal to the higher.

Alef, the first letter, is the “head of the letters,” Keser. Because Keser is above the chain of worlds, its light can reach below it too, and so we can truly be “His.”

So when the Torah was given as commandments to be done physically, the very first commandment began with alef: “Anochi” (“I am”). Carrying out the mitzvos in physical deed and bringing about unifications through them...

...is possible only if a light from Keser is revealed. Hence the first commandment opens with alef, which stands for Keser, the light of the “whiteness” of Keser.

Avram’s leaving Charan at seventy-five is read inwardly. Between the mind (mochin) and the emotions (middos) there is a passage, the “throat”: the stage after thought has left the mind but before it has become feeling in the heart. This in-between stage is called Charan.

Seventy-five is seven times ten (the seven middos in their outer aspect) plus five, the five chasadim (kindnesses) in their inner aspect. Leaving Charan at that age means that light from Chochmah finally came through into the middos.

The Targum says Eisav’s head was buried in Yitzchak’s lap: something of Eisav was rooted in holiness. So too Lot, before he was sifted out, was contained within Avraham in holiness. In Torah Ohr, Toldos, the Alter Rebbe calls Eisav the “dross of gold,” the waste of Yitzchak’s Gevurah from which Eisav came forth, while “the head of Eisav” lay in Yitzchak’s lap.

He was like dross mixed with gold before refining. Lot (לוט) has the numerical value 45, the same as Mah, the Name of rectification; he is its “back,” its outermost aspect. The Rebbe remarks, in his notes to Rabbi Pinchas’s transcript, that “gold” is written so in many places, but it seemingly should say “silver,” since silver is Avraham’s level.

Lot is also the root of the Chochmah and Binah of kelipah, the intellect of the side opposed to holiness; his name, Lot, is read as a term of curse (in Aramaic, lut means to curse). That is why he went along with Avraham before the refining took place.

From Lot came Ammon and Moav, and from them Rus (Ruth) the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite, both ancestresses of the house of David. Moav is the Chochmah of kelipah, and Naamah, from noam (pleasantness), corresponds to Binah, where Atik is revealed. In Likkutei Torah, Chukas, the Alter Rebbe explains Moav as the Chochmah of kelipah, the wisdom of those “wise to do evil,” and teaches that just as Rus was refined out of Moav, the Torah and mitzvos turn the intellect of the animal soul to holiness.

Through refinement, Rus and Naamah, holy souls, were drawn out from that intellect of kelipah. Once the good had been sifted out, the dross of Lot separated from Avraham.

Avram’s route through the land is mapped onto the Sefiros of Nukva (Malchus as a full configuration): Shechem, which also means “shoulder,” is her Chesed and Gevurah, the two arms; Elon Moreh is her Tiferes. Everything Avraham drew down from the hidden intellect reached Malchus, and this is why he could plead for Yishmael, hoping to elevate him too.

Once Avram became Avraham, with the added hei, and received circumcision, he could draw revelation into Malchus and raise the sparks of holiness around him, absorbing them like a candle into a torch. The verse about “the souls they had made” in Charan, the people Avraham and Sarah brought close to G‑d, is read in this light. The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos, vol. 15) infers from these words that only after he was called Avraham could he raise sparks, and refers to another talk explaining that the converts Avraham made did not endure.

Sarai’s name likewise changed: its yud, a small point, signified contraction; when she was to bear Yitzchak she became Sarah with a hei, a broad letter, signifying expansion and revelation.

“Avram called there in the Name of Havayah” is read as drawing down: from av ram, the hidden intellect (Yesod of Abba), to the ten Sefiros of Nukva, which are called “the Name of Havayah.” This is the maamar’s theme in brief: the hidden made revealed, all the way down to Malchus.