תשרי כ"ו - אגרת הקודש פרק כה

The Alter Rebbe now brings a teaching from the Baal Shem Tov, based on the verse, לעולם ה' דברך נצב בשמים—"Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens." The Baal Shem Tov explains that the very צירוף אותיות—the combination of letters—with which the heavens were created, specifically the words of the Divine utterance יהי רקיע—"Let there be a firmament," are not just a one-time event in creation.

Rather, these letters and words are נצבות ועומדות—standing and enduring, constantly present and enclothed within the heavens themselves. They are there לעולם—forever, at every moment, to להחיותם ולקיימם—to give the heavens life and to sustain their existence.

This means that the creative force of Hashem's word is not something that happened in the past and then left the world to run on its own. Instead, the Divine speech is continuously present, actively giving existence and vitality to the heavens at every instant.

This concept stands in direct contrast to the view of the philosophers who כופרים בהשגחה פרטית—deny Divine providence. These philosophers imagine, in their mistaken way, that Hashem's act of creating the heavens and the earth is comparable to the actions and ingenuity of a human being.

In other words, they think that just as a person can make something and then leave it to function on its own, so too, Hashem created the world and then left it to run independently, without ongoing involvement or supervision.

To illustrate their mistaken view, the Alter Rebbe gives an example: When a צורף—a smith or craftsman—produces a vessel, once the vessel is completed, it no longer needs the hands of the smith. Even though the craftsman's hands are now removed from the object, the vessel continues to exist on its own.

This is how the philosophers imagine creation: Hashem, so to speak, made the world like a craftsman makes a vessel, and now the world can exist independently, without needing Hashem's constant involvement.

The Alter Rebbe points out that these philosophers are blind to the הבדל הגדול—the great difference—between the act of a human being and his ingenuity, and the act of Hashem in creating the heavens and the earth.

When a person makes something, it is always יש מיש—something from something. The person is only changing the הצורה והתמונה—the form and the appearance—of material that already exists. He is not bringing something into existence from absolute nothingness.

In contrast, the creation of the heavens and the earth is יש מאין—something from nothing. This is a fundamentally different process, and it requires a completely different kind of ongoing involvement.

The Alter Rebbe emphasizes that this creation of something from nothing is an even greater wonder than the miracle of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds (קריעת ים סוף), which is often used as the classic example of a supernatural event.

At the splitting of the sea, Hashem brought about the miracle by sending a strong east wind all night, as the verse says: אשר הוליך ה' ברוח קדים עזה כל הלילה ויבקעו המים—Hashem drove a strong east wind all night, and the waters split. This was a wondrous event, but the creation of something from nothing is even more wondrous.

The Alter Rebbe explains further: If the wind that Hashem sent to split the sea had stopped for even a moment, the waters would have immediately returned to their natural state, flowing downward as they always do. The waters would not have remained standing as a wall.

This shows that the miracle required a constant, ongoing force to maintain it. The moment that force was removed, nature would reassert itself and the miracle would cease.

But even the natural tendency of water to flow downward is itself a creation, something that was brought into being יש מאין—from nothing. Who says that water must flow and not stand upright like a wall of stones? A wall of stones stands on its own without any wind holding it up, simply because that is its nature as created by Hashem. Water, on the other hand, was created with a different nature, and that too is a result of Hashem's creative act.

So, the very fact that water flows is not self-evident; it is a product of Hashem's will and ongoing creation, just as much as the miracle of the splitting of the sea.

All the more so, and as a קל וחומר—an a fortiori argument, when it comes to the creation of existence from nothing (בריאת יש מאין), which is completely beyond the natural order. This is a wonder of wonders, even more so than the splitting of the sea.

Therefore, if—G‑d forbid—the creative power of the Creator that brings something from nothing were to be withdrawn from the created being, the creation would immediately revert to absolute nothingness and nonexistence (ישוב הנברא לאין ואפס ממש).

It must be, then, that כח הפועל בנפעל תמיד—the power of the one who acts is always present in the thing acted upon, constantly giving it life and sustaining its existence. The ongoing vitality and being of every created thing depends on the continuous creative force of Hashem.

The Alter Rebbe now explains what is the actual force that constantly brings everything into existence. He says it is the word of Hashem and the breath of His mouth—דבר ה' and רוח פיו—that are found in the ten utterances with which the world was created.

These עשרה מאמרות—ten sayings—are the specific statements in the Torah, like "Let there be light," "Let there be a firmament," and so on, through which Hashem brought the world into being. The Alter Rebbe is emphasizing that it is not just a one-time act of creation, but that these words of Hashem are continuously present, constantly infusing every created thing with existence and vitality.

This is a foundational idea in Chassidus: that the דבר ה'—the word of Hashem—is not something that happened once in the past, but is ongoing. Every moment, the world is being recreated through these utterances. If, for even a moment, the דבר ה' and רוח פיו would cease, the world would return to nothingness.

The Alter Rebbe continues and says that this principle applies even to our physical earth—ארץ הלזו הגשמית—and to the inanimate aspect within it—בחי' דומם. Even things that seem to have no life at all, like rocks, dust, and water, their very existence and their ability to remain in existence comes from דבר ה'—the word of Hashem—spoken in the ten utterances, which is enclothed within them and sustains them.

The Alter Rebbe is teaching that even the most physical, lifeless objects are not just "left over" from creation, but are being actively sustained by Hashem's word at every instant. The מי' מאמרות המלובש בהן ומקיימן—the ten sayings that are enclothed within them and keep them going—are what allow them to be inanimate objects and to exist as something from nothing—יש מאין.

If, for even a moment, this divine energy would stop, these things would immediately revert to nothingness and absolute void—לאין ואפס ממש—just as they were before creation. This is a radical idea: the world is not self-sustaining, but is dependent every moment on Hashem's creative force. The very fact that a stone exists, that the earth is here, is only because Hashem's word is constantly giving it existence.

To support this, the Alter Rebbe brings the words of the Arizal, who writes that even in the inanimate—such as stones, dust, and water—there is a level of soul and spiritual vitality—בחי' נפש וחיות רוחניית.

This means that even though we don't see any signs of life in these objects, they too possess a kind of soul. What is this soul? It is the word of Hashem that created them and continues to sustain them. The spiritual energy that keeps them in existence is their "soul."

The Alter Rebbe is teaching us that the concept of a soul is not limited to living creatures or things that grow. Even the most lifeless, unmoving objects are alive in a certain sense, because they are being constantly recreated by Hashem's word. This is the deeper meaning of the verse, "דברך נצב בשמים"—"Your word stands firm in the heavens"—that the very words Hashem used to create the world are still present, still active, and still giving life to everything, even the inanimate.