וְהִנֵּה הַמְשָׁכַת וִירִידַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֱלֹקִית לָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ בְּגוּף הָאָדָם נִמְשְׁכָה מִבְּחִינַת פְּנִימִיּוּת וּמְקוֹר הַדִּיבּוּר,

And so the drawing down of the divine soul into this world to be enclothed in the human body originated from the internal aspect, or source, of speech. While God created every other aspect of the worlds through the letters of the alef-bet, which are an external expression of His being, the root of the soul lies in the innermost aspect of speech – in the actual breath before it emerges into the letters enunciated by the five organs of articulation.

הוּא הֶבֶל הָעֶלְיוֹן הַמְרוּמָּז בָּאוֹת הֵ״א תַּתָּאָה כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל, וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: ״וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה״ (בראשית ב, ז), וּמַאן דְּנָפַח וכו׳.

This is the divine breath alluded to by the final letter heh of the divine name, as stated above (chap. 4), and as the verse states, "The Lord God... ​blew into his nostrils the soul of life; man became a living creature" (Gen. 2:7), and one who blows, from within himself he blows. The soul of life is the breath that emerges from deep within God's essence. The soul is the extension of God's breath, as it were. Over the course of a person's life, he channels this living soul and divine vitality into the world in which he lives by doing the will of God. Consider CPR, where one person is performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the other. The first infuses his own living spirit into the other. God Himself blows, as it were, into every human golem every day of his life, animating and reviving him with every single breath.

וְזֶהוּ שֶׁכָּתוּב: ״כִּי חֵלֶק ה׳ עַמּוֹ יַעֲקֹב חֶבֶל נַחֲלָתוֹ״ (דברים לב, ט).

This explains the verse cited above, "For the portion of the Lord is His people; Jacob, the allotment [ ḥevel ] of His inheritance" (Deut. 32:9). This verse plays a central role throughout the rest of the book, serving as a key to understanding our relationship with God. "The portion of the Lord is His people," not in the sense of affiliation and acquisition, or in the sense of the Jewish people being His chosen nation, but rather in the literal sense, that every Jew is a portion of Him. The soul of every Jew is part and parcel of God.

פֵּירוּשׁ, כְּמוֹ חֶבֶל עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל שֶׁרֹאשׁוֹ אֶחָד קָשׁוּר לְמַעְלָה וְקָצֵהוּ לְמַטָּה.

The word ḥevel , allotment, also denotes a cord, conveying an analogy of a cord whose upper end is tied above and its lower end is below. "The ḥevel of His inheritance" refers to the vertical lifeline extending from above to below. Its uppermost tip is the final heh of the name of Havaya. Its lower end lies in the root of a person's soul and extends into the most minute details of his life endeavors. Its whole length is continuous and unified, an unbroken chain. Ecclesiastes (12:6) offers a relevant image describing the end of life: "Before the silver cord is severed.... " The Sages correlate this silver cord with the spinal cord. The spinal cord extends from the brain, the primary control center of life, and branches out to every limb and organ in the body. The slightest injury to the spinal cord can cause immense damage: partial or full paralysis, even death. Likewise, "the'cord' of His inheritance," this lifeline, must remain intact so as not to inhibit one's channel of vitality.

כִּי הִנֵּה פְּשַׁט הַכָּתוּב מַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב ״וַיִּפַּח״ הוּא לְהוֹרוֹת לָנוּ, כְּמוֹ שֶׁעַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל כְּשֶׁהָאָדָם נוֹפֵחַ לְאֵיזֶה מָקוֹם אִם יֵשׁ אֵיזֶה דָּבָר חוֹצֵץ וּמַפְסִיק בֵּינְתַיִים אֵין הֶבֶל הַנּוֹפֵחַ עוֹלֶה וּמַגִּיעַ כְּלָל לְאוֹתוֹ מָקוֹם, כָּכָה מַמָּשׁ אִם יֵשׁ דָּבָר חוֹצֵץ וּמַפְסִיק בֵּין גּוּף הָאָדָם לִבְחִינַת הֶבֶל הָעֶלְיוֹן.

Indeed, the literal meaning of the verse "He blew into his nostrils" is intended to teach us that just as, for example, when a person blows air toward a certain direction, any obstruction in the way totally prevents the air of the blower from reaching that place, so too this is exactly the case if there is any obstruction between the human body and the divine breath. By observing the physical act of blowing, one can glean the significance of the relationship between man and God. A gust of wind blows as long as there is no disturbance to interrupt it. Any obstruction halts the flow of air and prevents it from reaching its destination. This physical dynamic offers a window into a spiritual truth: If something obstructs God's breath that enlivens man's soul, God's breath cannot pass through. In Sha'ar HaYiḥud VeHa'emuna, the author of the Tanya described the perpetual act of creation: God breathes together with us as if we are breathing one breath, animating our very existence, our living soul. However, the moment an obstruction presents itself, when our soul does not flow into us from a continuous unity with His soul, we have no breath and no life. For example, the blades of a windmill rotate as long as wind blows through them. The moment the wind stops, they stop as well. To stop the movement of the blades, no action is required other than pausing the wind. Likewise, God's creation exists on condition that He continues to create it – that He does not stop for one instant. The utterance "Let there be a firmament" is not a record of God's onetime command that the firmament came into being so that now it simply exists. Rather, it is the sustaining power that activates the firmament at every moment, as long as God wills it and utters it into existence. Likewise, God's blowing the divine soul into man was not a onetime event that occurred when the first man, Adam, was created. It is a perpetual occurrence that sustains the human species at large and every person individually. This process is actually more intense when it comes to the creation of human beings because God does not just speak man's essence into existence like the rest of creation. He actually blows His essence into him. The divine breath comprises the fabric of the human soul. What passes from the Creator to man does not simply traverse an external medium – speech – that communicates translated information to created reality but rather it is the creative content itself. Consequently, as with physical air, an obstruction between the two directly and immediately halts the connection because the spirit of life itself cannot flow. This is not the case with speech. Sound waves can pass through despite the presence of a wall or some other interference. It does not need a direct pathway. We see then that obstruction between God and reality could affect the flow of vitality into the human soul, but the rest of creation would continue to exist unimpeded. This raises a fundamental question: Is it possible for anything to obstruct the presence of God in the world?

אַךְ בֶּאֱמֶת אֵין שׁוּם דָּבָר גַּשְׁמִי וְרוּחָנִי חוֹצֵץ לְפָנָיו יִתְבָּרַךְ,

In truth, though, nothing physical or spiritual can obstruct God, One object can obstruct only another object that is similar to it. Matter occludes matter; one solid cannot pass through another. However, if the materials are not of the same state, one can infiltrate the other. A liquid can seep through a solid; energy and certainly spirit can penetrate solids and liquids. Therefore, God's presence, which is absolutely unique and distinct from any reality, cannot be obstructed from permeating anything.

כִּי ״הֲלֹא אֶת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲנִי מָלֵא״ (ירמיה כג, כד), וּ״מְלֹא כָל הָאָרֶץ כְּבוֹדוֹ״ (ישעיה ו, ג), וְ״לֵית אֲתָר פָּנוּי מִינֵּיהּ״ (תקו״ז קכב, ב), ״בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת אֵין עוֹד״ (דברים ד, לט), וְ״אִיהוּ מְמַלֵּא כָּל עָלְמִין״ וכו׳ (זהר ח״ג רכה, א).

for, as the verse states, "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" (Jer. 23:24), and it states, "That which fills the entire world is His glory" (Isa. 6:3), and "There is no space devoid of Him" (Tikkunei Zohar 122b), and "The Lord, He is the God in the heavens above and upon the earth below; there is no other" (Deut. 4:39), and "He fills all worlds and encompasses all worlds" (Zohar 3:225a). God always exists everywhere, precluding the possibility of anything else taking up space between Himself and any person. An obstruction necessitates the existence of another thing other than God, and what exists other than Him? Does His being not permeate all of reality? Does not all of reality flow from the truth of His existence alone? What, then, can obstruct or conceal His presence?

אֶלָּא כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בִּישַׁעְיָה (נט, ב): ״כִּי אִם עֲווֹנוֹתֵיכֶם הָיוּ מַבְדִּילִים בֵּינֵיכֶם לְבֵין אֱלֹקֵיכֶם״.

Rather, the only possible obstruction is stated in Isaiah (59:2): "Your iniquities have been separating between you and your God." There is something that obstructs, says the prophet, not in the fabric of the actual worlds, but rather between you and God. Yet the Sages say that "even a barrier of iron does not separate between the Jewish people and their Father in Heaven." This statement, however, refers to that which is physically or spiritually external to the essence of a person. In the internal realm, that meeting place between you and your God, there exists one thing capable of causing a separation: breaching the will of God, or sin.

וְהַטַּעַם לְפִי שֶׁהֵם נֶגֶד רָצוֹן הָעֶלְיוֹן בָּרוּךְ הוּא הַמְחַיֶּה אֶת הַכֹּל,

The reason for this is that iniquities are contrary to God's supernal will, which sustains everything, God gives life to all, from the supernal angels to the tiny spider. He wills them into existence in all their particulars at every moment. What reality, then, exists counter to His will? What is sin? What, for that matter, is evil? Evil does not apply to an objective phenomenon but rather to what man does with it. The spider is not bad. It is bad only when a Jew eats it because in that moment he breaches the will of God that dictates, "This do not eat." At that moment, a vacant space is made in reality, a space empty of God's animating will, like a short circuit in the all-encompassing divine communication, a pause of the divine will that permeates every atom of existence. This is the simple explanation of the concept of desecrating that which is holy. The word for desecration, ḥilul, comes from the word ḥalal, void or cavity. When a person desecrates God's will, he creates a gap, a void, in holiness, as it were. Reality is not hollow or riddled with cavities; it is entirely permeated with the divine being. It is only transgression that can create a vacant space in reality. To comprehend how this happens, we must distinguish between the internal and external aspects of the divine will. The previous chapter explored how man, specifically his divine soul, receives his vitality from the internal aspect of the divine will, that which God breathes into man from deep within His essence. The rest of creation receives its vitality from an external place of influence, from divine speech. A person who exists in a physical body in this world therefore lives with two systems of divine vitality and will: His body and animal soul are sustained from the same fabric of divine vitality as the rest of creation, from the external aspect of the Divine, while his divine soul enjoys sustenance from the internal aspect of the Divine. In this way, it retains a personal, unique bond with God that does not exist in the rest of creation. It would seem that this deeply inner connection originally was not expressed in the external system, that it remained internal. However, from the time of the giving of the Torah, the internal aspect of the Divine has found expression in the external worlds through the Torah and mitzvot. This unique situation forges the singular possibility in which man, who lives in the external world, can transgress a commandment, which is the expression of the inner will. This transgression causes an obstruction between the divine vitality and his divine soul, essentially disconnecting it from its source. Yet the person will continue to exist by way of the external will even though he has been cut off from the internal one. Consider a child who hides his face with his hands. He is not actually hiding himself, since his hands are a part of him. However, he does conceal his face. Similarly, it is impossible to truly conceal or erect an obstruction that blocks God. After all, He permeates everything. But it is possible for a person to inhibit God's inner essence from shining through into his own.

כְּמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב: ״כֹּל אֲשֶׁר חָפֵץ ה׳ עָשָׂה בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ״ (תהלים קלה, ו)

as it is written, "Whatever the Lord desires to do, He does in the heavens and on the earth" (Ps. 135:6). The heavens and the earth and everything therein are the expression of God's desire. They were born directly of His will. He wills their existence, and therefore they exist.

(וּכְמוֹ שֶׁנִּתְבָּאֵר לְעֵיל, שֶׁהוּא מְקוֹר הַשְׁפָּעַת שֵׁם הֲוָיָ״ה,

(As explained above [chap. 4], the supernal will is the source of the life-giving sustenance that emanates from the name of Havaya , The name of Havaya is the name that gives existence to all of reality and, more specifically, expresses the internal life force relative to the external flow of vitality transmitted through the name Elokim. The channeling of the inner vitality to the divine soul, blown from God's inner being, flows from the name of Havaya, as explained in the previous chapter. Therefore, the divine soul is built from the same ten faculties that are embodied by the name of Havaya.

וְנִרְמָז בְּקוֹצוֹ שֶׁל יוֹ״ד).

alluded to by the tip of the letter yod .) Crowning the four letters in the name of Havaya is the tip of the yod, which signifies the sefira of Keter, which transcends the sefirot. Keter, which expresses the supernal will that defies representation in the form of letters, corresponds to the soul's power of will. This inexplicable, hidden quintessential point can be hinted at only by the tip of the yod. The four letters of the name of Havaya are a seamless sequence, from the point of the yod down to the lowest tip of the last heh, and embody the attributes with which the world came into existence, from Keter to Malkhut. When a person acts contrary to God's will, he hinders the name from being written, cutting it off in its nascent form, encapsulated in the point of the yod. Without that Havaya, without that existence, a vacuum is formed in the fabric of reality. In this light, when a person transgresses the divine will, the damage he inflicts does not only blemish Ḥokhma or Bina and the rest of the lower attributes. He actually severs himself from the tip of the yod  – from the root of his existence, that which willed him into reality. That is why evil is equated with death, destruction, and entropy, all that God does not desire.

וְזֶהוּ עִנְיַן הַכָּרֵת: שֶׁנִּכְרָת וְנִפְסָק חֶבֶל הַהַמְשָׁכָה מִשֵּׁם הֲוָיָ״ה בָּרוּךְ הוּא שֶׁנִּמְשְׁכָה מֵהֵ״א תַּתָּאָה, כַּנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל.

This explains the concept of karet : The "cord" drawn from the final heh of the name of Havaya is severed and detached, as stated above (chap. 4). The final heh of the name of Havaya corresponds to Malkhut, the Divine Presence, and Kenesset Yisrael, or the Assembly of Israel, where all the souls of Israel are assembled and gathered at their source. A cord channeling the life force is drawn from this heh to every individual soul that occupies a corporeal body in this world. This cord of inner vitality and will expresses the desire for this divine soul to exist exactly as it is. When a person breaches the divine will, he introduces a flaw in his divine soul and corrodes his cord of vitality. When the severance becomes total, when the cord snaps – this is karet. The punishment of karet entails a spiritual death of sorts, when a person totally severs himself from divine will, and therefore no longer receives it. When the divine will is extracted from something, it no longer exists. An individual who does not identify with the will of God, with the divine breath that is blown into him, will suffocate in the vacuum of his own personal will. His soul will virtually die. As will be further explained, the repercussions of karet are complicated. If sin causes total and utter severance, leaving in its wake a void where the person used to be, then as soon as a person sinned, he would die. The fact that a person can sin and continue to live even another instant demonstrates the complexity of this issue. One cannot say that a person's sin causes total occlusion and utter oblivion, because then he would instantaneously disappear. After all, anything that lacks the presence of the Divine is not just undesirable – it is impossible. If there were anything mutually exclusive with the Divine in every aspect, it would not exist at all. It follows that total falsity does not exist either, since something that is a negation in every aspect cannot exist. Therefore, when a person sins, even if it is a transgression that warrants karet, and he continues to live, he necessarily lives with God. In the deepest sense, "whatever He desires, He does" (Ps. 115:3). God's will enlivens everything, including the possibility for evil, of that which contradicts His will. Otherwise, the existence of evil would be an impossibility. Everything that exists is a mixture of front and backside, of desired and not desired. This mixture is intrinsic to life and existence in this world, as will be explained further on in the chapter, and therefore God wills it. We see that when a person transgresses a sin punishable by karet, he does not cease to exist. Both his body and his soul still live.

וּכְמוֹ שֶׁכָּתוּב בְּפָרָשַׁת אֱמוֹר: ״וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִיא מִלְּפָנַי אֲנִי ה'״ (ויקרא כב, ג), מִלְּפָנַי דַּיְיקָא.

This is indicated by the verse in Parashat Emor that states, "That person shall be excised from before Me: I am the Lord" (Lev. 22:3), specifically emphasizing "before Me." The author of the Tanya highlights the seemingly extraneous word milfanai, "before Me," in the verse from Parashat Emor. This word shares the same Hebrew root as the word for internality, penimiyut. With this understanding, we can read the verse as saying, "That person will be excised from My inner will and desire." Karet happens when an individual acts contrary to God's will, which is articulated in the Torah, and excises himself from being bound to that inner divine will. However, he can still be bound (at least for a period of time) and receive some level of vitality from the external aspect of His will, like everything else in the world. Of course, when a person's vitality stems solely from the side of holiness, as was the case in Temple times, he will literally die the moment that internal connection ceases, as the author of the Tanya will go on to explain.

וּבִשְׁאָר עֲבֵירוֹת שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶן כָּרֵת עַל כָּל פָּנִים הֵן פּוֹגְמִין הַנֶּפֶשׁ כַּנּוֹדָע,

Other transgressions, although not punishable by karet , still blemish the soul, as is known, Although the cord is not severed entirely when a person commits those other transgressions, it is nonetheless negatively affected. Even a transgression that is not punishable by karet creates an obstruction, an empty space between the sinner and God, though it is a partial severance that harms a particular aspect of the connection.

וּפְגָם הוּא מִלְּשׁוֹן פְּגִימַת הַסַּכִּין.

the term "blemish" being used in the same sense as a blemish or nick that invalidates a slaughtering knife. Jewish law dictates that the blade of the knife used for ritual slaughter must be smooth, without any nicks or grooves, that there should be no deficiency on its edge whatsoever. The author of the Tanya refers to this halacha as an analogy for the flaw in the soul that is caused by transgression. Some transgressions cut off the overall life force of the soul, while there are sins that have less of a negative effect and chip away at only a part of the soul's vitality.

וְהוּא עַל דֶּרֶךְ מָשָׁל מֵחֶבֶל עָב שָׁזוּר מִתרי״ג חֲבָלִים דַּקִּים, כָּכָה חֶבֶל הַהַמְשָׁכָה הַנִּזְכָּר לְעֵיל כָּלוּל מִתרי״ג מִצְוֹת.

This is analogous to a thick cord interwoven with 613 thin strands: So too the "cord" that is drawn down from above, mentioned previously, is comprised of 613 mitzvot. This lifeline is the "cord of His inheritance," the rope that represents God's inner will, that expresses God's desire for us. This cord is not made of one piece of twine but rather is woven from 613 strands of inner will that is drawn down to us. These are the 613 mitzvot that express to us God's inner will.

וּכְשֶׁעוֹבֵר חַס וְשָׁלוֹם עַל אַחַת מֵהֵנָּה, נִפְסָק חֶבֶל הַדַּק וכו׳.

When someone transgresses one of these mitzvot, God forbid, that thin strand is detached and so forth. When a person transgresses one of these mitzvot, one of the 613 strands breaks and the "cord of His inheritance" is no longer intact. The more strands he cuts, one after another, the weaker the rope becomes, until he becomes disconnected entirely.

אַךְ גַּם בְּחַיָּיב כָּרֵת וּמִיתָה

Yet even someone liable to karet or death at the hand of Heaven In view of all this, that transgression disconnects a person from his source of vitality, an individual who transgresses a serious prohibition punishable by karet or death at the hand of Heaven should die immediately. But the reality is that he does not.

נִשְׁאָר עֲדַיִין בּוֹ הָרְשִׁימוּ מִנַּפְשׁוֹ הָאֱלֹקִית,

still has within him a remnant of his divine soul. Karet affects the divine soul, whose sole source of vitality stems from holiness. But man's divine soul does not simply leave him as if it were never there. It leaves a remnant of its essence that continues to vivify the person even though its connection to its life source has already been disconnected. Imagine a dam that was constructed in a river midstream. The water on the other side of the dam continues to flow downstream. The flowing water does not come from the live source because it has been disconnected from it, but for a given amount of time the flow continues, powered by its prior connection. Similarly, even when the divine soul becomes severed from its source, it continues to function for a period of time, until the void that the transgression created in reality prevails entirely. Excision and death of the physical body are the byproducts of the even more intense process of excision of the soul. From the time that the vitality of the soul is cut off, it is only a question of time until the body becomes cut off as well. There is a similar phenomenon, also discussed by the Sages, of the convulsing lizard tail. When it senses danger, a lizard will shed its tail. As soon as the tail is cut off, the tail is, for all intents and purposes, dead, but for a period of time it continues to convulse, bouncing and twisting as if it were alive. Nevertheless, in the aftermath of karet, the soul is not completely like the convulsing tail of a lizard. For one thing, a person who transgresses a sin punishable by karet can under certain circumstances, albeit with extreme difficulty, reconnect and restore his soul. Man's ability to repent and repair every situation exists as long as he is alive. In fact, this is the vital significance of the "remnant" of the divine soul that remains even after a person has incurred karet: It grants a person the chance to actually restore and renew that spiritual bond.

וְעַל יְדֵי זֶה יָכוֹל לִחְיוֹת עַד נ׳ אוֹ ס׳ שָׁנָה וְלֹא יוֹתֵר

Through this he can live up to fifty or sixty years, but no more. The Talmud states that fifty years is the maximum life span of a person who is liable for karet, while someone who is liable for death at the hand of Heaven can live up to sixty years. This means that a person living a life of spiritual excision eventually hits a limit, and when he does, he dies physically as well. This was applicable in former times when a person received his vitality solely from the inner aspect of holiness, as the author of the Tanya will explain in the next chapter. Nowadays, however, in the post-Temple age, a person who transgresses a sin punishable by karet can live even longer than fifty or sixty years.

(וּמַה שֶּׁכָּתוּב בְּשֵׁם האריז״ל שֶׁנִּכְנְסָה בּוֹ בְּחִינַת הַמַּקִּיף וכו׳,

(The statement made in the name of the Arizal, that the encompassing light enters such an individual and imbues him with vitality, The author of the Tanya adds a parenthetical comment regarding this question of how a person who transgresses a sin punishable by karet continues to live. The Arizal taught that although a person who warrants the punishment of karet no longer receives vitality from the inner illumination, he continues to receive life force from the "encompassing light." This light refers to divinity that transcends the entire world, that of the infinite that transcends any measurement or definition. It points to the aspect of God far beyond His role as Creator and Director of the world – to His very essence.

אֵינוֹ עִנְיָן לְחַיֵּי גַּשְׁמִיּוּת הַגּוּף,

does not pertain to the body's physical life span The author of the Tanya presents the teaching of the Arizal as a parenthetical idea since this statement does not strengthen his point that the remnant of the divine soul can sustain a person who is liable for karet only up to a life span of fifty or sixty years. Rather, it simply delineates the parameters of the concept that he is addressing: a person's life span in his corporeal body, the instrument with which he performs mitzvot, transgresses, and repents. By contrast, the Arizal refers to a higher, more abstract reality within the soul. Based on the teachings of the author of the Tanya elsewhere, one can gather that the Arizal is referring to higher levels of the divine soul that do not manifest in the life of the corporeal body. That is, it is the person's soul that may continue to exist since it is imbued with vitality from the encompassing light. A Jew's divine soul ascends to the loftiest heights on high. After all, it is literally a portion of God above. Only its lower levels, nefesh, ruaḥ, and neshama (the last of which does not even reside in every person), descend and enter the body to enliven it and influence its endeavors in this world. Its higher levels, ḥaya and yeḥida, surround and encompass the life of the physical body, not permeating or influencing it on an internal or direct level. Thus the vitality harbored in the encompassing light, to which the Arizal refers, is not the physical life span of the body that is addressed here in Iggeret HaTeshuva. Physical vitality, that which animates a person's body and gives him life, must be internalized within the parameters of the body, while the encompassing light hovers over and surrounds a person's physical life, only every so often piercing through to illuminate it. The encompassing light is not totally abstract. It does interact with the practical life of the soul to some degree, by shaping one's unconditional, fundamental values and truths. A Jew's love for God is an example of that which exists on the level of makif, encompassing and surrounding the soul. It shines on the soul from above but does not touch it, so to speak. It is a mystery, a latent, concealed love, bearing with it the potential to be palpably felt and manifest. But the encompassing light transcends the effects of transgression, even that which is punishable by karet. In the wake of sin, it is not blemished; it merely recedes upward, becoming less relevant to one's daily life and making it harder to connect to the source and receive vitality from it. But it embodies the person's unconditional connection to God that is always there no matter what.

וּמַיְירֵי עַד נ׳ שָׁנָה אוֹ בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה כְּדִלְקַמָּן).

and applies only for up to fifty years or to our times, as will be explained below [chap. 6].) The illumination from the encompassing light discussed by the Arizal only plays a role in the spiritual nourishment of a person liable for karet in cases where his physical life is sustained by one of the two conditions outlined here in the Tanya. Namely, he has not yet reached the age of fifty and the remnant of his divine soul continues to grant him life, or he is living in the post-Temple era, in which there is no limit to how long he can survive, as will be explained in the next chapter. This chapter addressed the divine flow of vitality that is channeled from the name of