Tanya/Iggeres Ha’Teshuvah - The Epistle on Repentance,Chapter 6, Class 2
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However, as the Alter Rebbe now goes on to say, once they had fallen from that spiritual height and thereby diverted the flow of the Divine life-force from its accustomed course, even deliberate transgressors can now receive their vitality as freely as do mere creatures.
But they then fell from their estate, and through their actions brought about the mystic exile of the Divine Presence,
אַךְ לְאַחַר שֶׁיָּרְדוּ מִמַּדְרֵגָתָם, וְגָרְמוּ בְּמַעֲשֵׂיהֶם סוֹד גָּלוּת הַשְּׁכִינָה,
That the Divine Presence should be in a state of exile among the forces of unholiness is indeed an inconceivable mystery.4
as the verse5 states, “Through your sins was your mother banished.”6
כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "וּבְפִשְׁעֵיכֶם שׁוּלְּחָה אִמְּכֶם",
“Your mother” refers to the Divine Presence, the “mother of the children” (as explained in Part I, ch. 52), also known as Knesset Yisrael, the source of Jewish souls—the level of malchut of Atzilut. In the context of the letters that constitute the Tetragrammaton, this corresponds to the final hey, from which proceeds the “rope” or “lifeline” to the soul.
דְּהַיְינוּ, שֶׁיָּרְדָה הַשְׁפָּעַת בְּחִינַת הֵ"א תַּתָּאָה הַנִּזְכֶּרֶת לְעֵיל, וְנִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלָה מִמַּדְרֵגָה לְמַדְרֵגָה לְמַטָּה מַטָּה,
until it became enclothed in the ten sefirot of nogah,
עַד שֶׁנִּתְלַבְּשָׁה הַשְׁפָּעָתָהּ בְּי' סְפִירוֹת דְּנוֹגַהּ,
Inasmuch as the kelipah called nogah includes an admixture of goodness, it is composed of ten sefirot, corresponding to the ten sefirot of holiness.8
which transmit9 the benevolence and vitality through the hosts of heaven and those charged over them
הַמַּשְׁפִּיעוֹת שֶׁפַע וְחַיּוּת עַל־יְדֵי הַמַּזָּלוֹת וְכָל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהַשָּׂרִים שֶׁעֲלֵיהֶם,
to every living physical being in this world, even to all vegetation,
לְכָל הַחַי הַגַּשְׁמִי שֶׁבָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, וְגַם לְכָל הַצּוֹמֵחַ,
as our Sages state: “There is no blade of grass below that has no spirit ”10
כְּמַאֲמַר רַבּוֹתֵינוּ־זִכְרוֹנָם־לִבְרָכָה: "אֵין לְךָ כָּל עֵשֶׂב מִלְּמַטָּה שֶׁאֵין לוֹ מַזָּל וְכוּ'".
Thus, the life-force of all living beings—even of vegetation, which expresses its vitality through growth—derives from the kelipah of nogah.
Hence, even the sinful and deliberate transgressors11 of Israel may receive vitality [from it] for their bodies and animal souls,
וַאֲזַי, יָכוֹל גַּם הַחוֹטֵא וּפוֹשְׁעֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְקַבֵּל חַיּוּת לְגוּפָם וְנַפְשָׁם הַבַּהֲמִיוֹת
exactly as other living creatures do,
כְּמוֹ שְׁאָר בַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים מַמָּשׁ,
as Scripture states that there exists a state wherein human beings are “likened and similar to beasts.”12
כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: "נִמְשַׁל כַּבְּהֵמוֹת נִדְמוּ".
In fact, not only is it possible for the sinner to receive his nurture from kelipah as do animals and other living beings, but indeed,
וְאַדְּרַבָּה,
with even greater emphasis and force,
בְּיֶתֶר שְׂאֵת וְיֶתֶר עֹז,
as explained in the holy Zohar, Parashat Pekudei, that all the benevolence and vitality granted mortal man,
עַל פִּי הַמְבוֹאָר מִזּוֹהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ פָּרָשַׁת פְּקוּדֵי, שֶׁכָּל שֶׁפַע וְחַיּוּת הַנִּשְׁפָּעוֹת לָאָדָם הַתַּחְתּוֹן
while he commits evil in the eyes of G‑d, in deed or speech, or by musing on sin, and so on,13 i.e., through any of the three soul-garments of thought, speech, and action—
בְּשָׁעָה וְרֶגַע שֶׁעוֹשֶׂה הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי ה' בְּמַעֲשֶׂה אוֹ בְּדִיבּוּר אוֹ בְּהִרְהוּרֵי עֲבֵירָה וְכוּ',
all [this life-force] issues to him from the [various] chambers of the sitra achara described there in the holy Zohar.
הַכֹּל נִשְׁפָּע לוֹ מֵהֵיכְלוֹת הַסִּטְרָא אָחֳרָא הַמְבוֹאָרִים שָׁם בַּזּוֹהַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ.
וְהָאָדָם הוּא בַּעַל בְּחִירָה, אִם לְקַבֵּל הַשְׁפָּעָתוֹ מֵהֵיכְלוֹת הַסִּטְרָא אָחֳרָא, אוֹ מֵהֵיכְלוֹת הַקְּדוּשָּׁה שֶׁמֵּהֶם נִשְׁפָּעוֹת כָּל מַחֲשָׁבוֹת טוֹבוֹת וּקְדוֹשׁוֹת וְכוּ'.
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FOOTNOTES
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11. Note by the Rebbe: “It would seem that the text should read ‘transgressor,’ in the singular.”