לעולם ה' דברך ניצב בשמיים – ביאור הבעש"ט | הרב מנחם מיידנצ'יק, כ"ו תשרי | אגרות הקודש סימן כ"ה

Tishrei 10. We continue with Letter 25 in Iggeret HaKodesh. What we discussed is that everything that happens to a person in life comes from the Holy One, blessed be He. Even Shimei ben Gera who cursed David, even then; King David says: The Holy One, blessed be He, told him to curse.

Of course, it doesn't mean the Holy One literally told him to curse; it means, as we said yesterday, that the Holy One gave him the power to speak. If He hadn't, he couldn't have cursed the King. A person must remember that everything that happens in life comes from the Holy One, blessed be He. As is known, the Alter Rebbe quotes what the Baal Shem Tov said on the verse: "Forever, O Lord, Your word stands in the heavens." The Baal Shem Tov explained this verse at length, that the combination of letters used to create the heavens—the words "Let there be a firmament," or that combination of letters—yes, which we are just now reading in the portion of Bereishit this Shabbat.

They stand and remain clothed within the heavens, forever giving them life and sustaining them. Those same letters. And not like the philosophers who deny Divine Providence. Yes?

They think that "God has abandoned the earth." As if the Holy One does not watch over His creations, and in their false imagination, they compare the work of the Creator of heaven and earth to human work and schemes. When a silversmith makes a vessel, the vessel is independent of the smith once finished, for even if his hands are removed, it exists on its own. When the Holy One created the world, how did He create it? He created it from nothingness into being.

When you create something from nothing, you must constantly sustain and animate it. Like when a person throws a stone into the air; as long as the force is in the stone, it will fly upward. The moment the force ends, the stone falls back down. It is the same with the creation of the world: the Holy One is constantly sustaining and bringing the world into being, because He created it from nothing.

But the silversmith, for example, who makes a vessel—the material already existed; he only changed its form. Everything produced in the world today is just taking existing material, so the material does not need the creator—the flesh and blood—to sustain it, right? It exists by itself without the creator. This shows the great difference between human work, which is "something from something" just changing shape and form , and the work of heaven and earth, which is "something from nothing." Meaning, before the creation of the world, there was nothing, absolutely nothing.

So there is something entirely new here. As the Alter Rebbe will explain later, it is necessary that there be a new thing here, since He created a new thing. It must be renewed constantly and always. Otherwise, the thing would be nullified, and that is a greater wonder than the parting of the Red Sea.

It is, metaphorically speaking , a greater miracle than the parting of the Red Sea. "And the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind all night." Yes. The Divine power that split the sea at the parting of the Red Sea was clothed in a strong east wind. "And the waters were divided, and they stood up like a wall." If the wind had ceased for a moment, the water would have flowed back down as it naturally does, instead of standing like a wall.

Meaning, the divine power must constantly hold back the water so that it does not overwhelm the people of Israel. Yes, as we discussed in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah; there is no doubt about it. In other words, there was never a situation where the water would have remained still; the moment the force holding it back ceased, it would have flowed. Even though this nature of water is something the Holy One, blessed be He, imbued in it—that it is always moving—it is also created, it is renewed ex nihilo.

Before that, it was wine, but after it was transformed, now there is something produced that is what it is called. That is to say, this is a change of " something from something," but the creation of the world and the vitality of the world is "something from nothing ." For a wall of stones stands on its own without wind, but the nature of water is not so. And all the more so in the creation of "something from nothing ," which is above nature, far more miraculous than the parting of the Red Sea. How much more so, that if the Creator's power were to depart, Heaven forbid, the creation would return to absolute nothingness.

If the divine power were to vanish, at that very moment, the entire world would become absolute nothingness. Rather, the active power of the Holy One, blessed be He, must be within the created being at all times to enliven and sustain it; this is the aspect of the "word of G-d" and the "breath of His mouth" from the Ten Utterances through which the world was created. There are the Ten Utterances with which the Creator creates the creature, and He stands within this creature always, and there are

all the combinations of letters that make up the word of G-d, as discussed in Shaar HaYichud VeHaEmunah. Even this physical earth is a form of inanimate matter, even the soil that has the power to grow plants and trees; yes, and even the inanimate matter that doesn't seem to have vitality actually does, though it is not visible.

Especially today, with all the progress of science, we see that everything has vitality, even if we don't see it. What is their vitality and existence? What is the vitality and existence of inanimate matter? It is the word of G-d , the Ten Utterances clothed within them, sustaining them to be inanimate matter and "something from nothing," so they do not return to absolute nothingness as they were.

And this is what the Arizal wrote, that even in inanimate things, like stones, earth, and water, there is an aspect of a soul and spiritual vitality. But the Arizal himself writes that although we do not see vitality in the inanimate, there is vitality within it. The Holy One, blessed be He, sustains and brings them into existence. Yes, so that they will not disappear and become absolute nothingness.

And further on, the Admor HaZaken explains that the word of G-d which enlivens all creatures is the Shechinah. And when we contemplate this , we see the divine providence in everything in the world; the Holy One, blessed be He, oversees everything individually, and everything depends on divine vitality, and the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over everyone individually, giving them vitality and life, and we must remember that nothing that happens in the world is just by chance.