Act VI — The ReturnSection 45 of 74
Dirah Betachtonim Is a Malchutic Doctrine
Chabad Chassidus places dira betachtonim at the centre of creation.
This means the lowest world is not an unfortunate by-product of spiritual descent.
It is the destination.
The Alter Rebbe in Tanya chapter 36 takes the Midrashic teaching that Hashem desired a dwelling in the lower realms and builds an entire theology of mitzvos from it.
The purpose is not simply that the soul rise.
The purpose is that the physical become G-dly.
The leather of tefillin.
The wool of tzitzis.
The coin of tzedakah.
The food of Shabbos.
The body that dances at a wedding.
The mouth that learns Torah.
The house that becomes a place of mezuzah, hospitality and peace.
Malchus is therefore the Sefirah most intimately aligned with the Chabad insistence that the lowest is not discarded.
The lowest is illuminated.
The Chavah Kadmonah reading adds: the lowest place is not merely the passive location in which higher light triumphs. The lowest place responds. It receives light and actualises intention.
The dwelling is made not only because light descended.
It is made because the house became a home.