As the 10 of Shevat approaches, the Chabad custom is to study B’asi Legani. In the Maimar delivered on ה׳תשכ״ה the Rebbe expounds on the concept of Tzimzum as discussed by the prior Rebbe before him. There is an interesting connection to Parshat Bo (which we read last week).
In the beginning of Parshat Bo, Hashem says to Moshe, “בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה”, come to Pharaoh. There are many commentaries as to why the word come [בא] is used versus לך “go”. However, in the Maimar above, the Rebbe brings down an exposition from the Baal Shem Tov on Bereshit:
The Baal Shem Tov writes there in Keter Shem Tov that the word א״ת is a reference to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and when Hashem created the world, he wrapped the Aleph in the Beit (the Beit in the Gimmel, and so forth). That is each letter is vested in the subsequent letter until the final letter ת (Taf). He writes also that וראשית הבריאה הי׳ ע״י אות א׳ שהוא חכמה, the beginning of creation was through the letter Aleph which is Chochma (Wisdom)…
…and then Hashem created the Heavens and the Earth (the upper and lower worlds, as it were). The word בא is an Aleph wrapped in a Beit (so to say), representing the light of Chochma being vested in Bina. Bina is the concept of Creation, where Creation, represented by fragmentation and division, is the concept of the name Elokim). Chochma, as it is known, represents expansion and the unlimited/undefined expression.
As the Torah is eternal, the fact that Hashem says “בא” or “come” to Moshe is an eternal lesson, an idempotent instruction as to how we should behave. Specifically, it is a reframing of the normal, intuitive paradigm—that nature operates on its own as an independent reality and the medium through which we are dealt a set of events and experiences. That we are limited by the laws of nature and statistics, despite Hashem having created both. In our minds we separate Heaven and Earth as it were, in a very deep sense—believing that things are happening to us and not for us.
And that is the language of בא (come) vs לך (go). בא is the Gematria of 3, representing the three intellectual attributes, which all stem from Chochma (Chochma is also called אבא). לך is the Gematria of 50, representing Bina (i.e. the 50 gates of Bina) and Creation/limitation (the lower 7 attributes inter-included in themselves, (7x7=49) + 1). Furthermore, the 3 intellectual faculties are the connective nexus, whereby, through contemplation on Hashem, we can unify the Supernal expression of expansion with the Supernal expression of constriction. In doing so, we do not leave ourselves, as it were, we come to ourselves—the inner part of the Soul which is a portion of Hashem, reaching to the highest of Infinity, infinitely higher than any created element.
As Carl Jung wrote: “who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”.