ט' חשון – אגרת הקודש פרק כ"ו

Someone who is truly discerning will understand something even more wondrous than what we have discussed until now. The Alter Rebbe says that if you are perceptive, you will grasp a very great wonder: what actually takes place in the supernal realms when a person delves into and clarifies a definitive halachic ruling, working through the גמרא—the Talmud—and the rulings of the early and later codifiers.

Consider: before this process of study and clarification, what was the state of that halacha? What was hidden before this insight was achieved? The answer is that the halacha was concealed, its truth not yet revealed or established. Through the act of learning, analyzing, and clarifying—figuring out the correct ruling and its reasoning—something transformative happens above. The halacha is elevated and revealed in a way that was not present before this effort.

Through this process, you are actually raising up this halacha from the קליפות—the spiritual shells or blockages—that had been concealing and covering it. Before your study, the halacha might not have been known at all, or perhaps it was not properly understood in terms of its reasoning and depth.

By working through the sources and clarifying the logic, you remove those blockages. You uncover the halacha, making it clear and accessible. This is the essence of what happens: the act of learning and clarifying is a spiritual elevation, a removal of concealment, so that the truth of the halacha can shine forth.

The reason for this concealment is rooted in the secret of the ספירת חכמה עילאה—the supernal sefirah of Chochmah (wisdom). Sparks fell from this level into the קליפות during the shattering of the vessels, and those sparks remain there in a state of exile.

What does this mean practically? Sometimes you know a halacha or a ruling, but you do not know the reason behind it. That means there is a spark of holiness present, but it is trapped and in exile—it is not revealed. The reasoning, the inner wisdom, is hidden because the spark is still within the kelipah, not yet elevated or clarified.

In this state, the קליפות—the spiritual shells—dominate over these sparks and conceal the wisdom of Torah from both the higher and lower worlds. The blockage is not just below, but also above: the wisdom is hidden from all levels.

As long as the reasoning or the halacha is not clarified and revealed, the kelipos continue to obscure the divine wisdom. This is why, at times, a halacha is not known, or its reason is not understood—because the kelipos are actively concealing it, preventing its revelation.

This is the meaning of what is stated in the ר"מ—the Zohar, Ra'aya Mehemna—that a קושיא—a difficulty or unresolved question—is from the סטרא דרע—the side of evil.

In other words, when there is a kushya, a difficulty in understanding or a blockage in Torah study, it is because the kelipos are not allowing the revelation to come through. The concealment and confusion are a result of the spiritual forces that obscure the truth, and the process of learning and clarifying is the work of removing those barriers and elevating the sparks.