Kelipas Nogah (קליפת נוגה) — the translucent husk

Core definition

Kelipas Nogah — the "husk of nogah" (nogah = glow, brightness) — is the neutral, translucent kelipah, distinct from the three kelipos ha'temei'os (the impure husks, which are utter evil and cannot be elevated). Nogah is "half good and half evil": the mixture of good and evil whose good can be refined and elevated to holiness while its evil is rejected [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פב–פג]. The worlds of Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah are "mixed of good and evil" — and it is through Malchus's descent and enclothement in them that the birur (refinement) of Nogah is effected [58846/maamar_011 :: Summary (pp. קלג–קלט)].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Nogah's good and evil in avodah. "Nogah in general is the service in the aspect of 'for oneself' (l'garmei)." One who turns from evil from fear of punishment, or because he does not want to be distant from Divinity — "not from the truth of Divinity, that one must cleave to Him — but from his own feeling": this is nogah's mixture. The rule: "This is why nogah is half good and half evil: i.e., in 'do good,' the l'garmei is evil" — in aseh tov there must be no turning to oneself at all, "no place for yesh/l'garmei" — "the cause must be contemplation of the Creator's greatness and unity"; love's service must be "the lover to the Beloved from the Beloved's perspective." But in sur meira (turn from evil), the l'garmei is good: "the issur is utter evil" and "any rescue from drowning is good — the main thing is leaving darkness for light." Hence "Nogah: half good (sur meira's l'garmei) and half evil (aseh tov's l'garmei)" [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פב–פג].

The yeshus of the vessel. The soul's arousal, chained down into "the vital soul and in the material body, a very material vessel" — "the matter of the serpent's skin (meshicha d'chivya) of klipas nogah" — "then the arousal will be in the aspect of l'garmei, because of the vessel in which the arousal rests: the matter of klipas nogah, where is the yeshus and the l'garmei." This is "not utter falsehood — true at the root; changed by the body's matter." Hence despair is misplaced: "it is only nogah, true of itself, turnable to holiness" — ascending through yiras chet, higher yirah-boshet, and yiras haromemus [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פג–פה].

The nefesh ha'behamis. The animal soul is "from klipas nogah — compounded of the good inclination and the evil inclination" (Remez, Moshe Zacuto): the elemental soul compounded of the four elements and four humors, "from which is drawn the animal soul." Tanya (Sefer Shel Beinonim, ch. 1) first counts the bad middos from its four bad elements, "then says: 'also the good middot in every Israel's nature, in his birth — as mercy and gemilus chasadim, etc.' — for in Israel etc.: it is from klipas nogah." The "nogah-soul is called 'pure' (dachya) because of the good within it, near to holiness"; within it enclothes man's true soul "from the holy Ofanim of Asiyah" [31621/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 683–761]. "In most places, the soul from klipas nogah is called the animal soul" [31621/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 698].

Beriah's root. "The angels of Beriyah (no evil... ) are still 'yesh v'batel' — hence the root of Beriyah's klipas nogah, where the good is mixed with the evil." Beriyah's holy palaces (heichalos) are "the good in nogah, without evil — yet called 'the good in nogah': in the aspect of yesh" — still concealing the light [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פב–פג].

Malchus's refinement of Nogah. Malchus descends into Biyah — "the worlds of Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah — mixed of good and evil" — and "through Atzilus's Malchus's aspect's being clothed" in them, "the birur is done in them": "v'takam b'od laylah v'titen teref l'beisah" — "teref = 288 in gematria, with the kolel: through Malchus's aspect giving them food — even the Nogah's aspect, drawn to her too from Malchus's aspect — through this the kedushah's sparks refined from them." This is "the matter of the heh's fire: ha'tzemah — heh tzemah — the aspect of Malchus's aspect's thirst — in this refining Biyah's kelipas nogah to raise the Tohu sparks that fell in the shevirah." The first birur "separates from the evil, to be in bitul's aspect" — but only bitul hayesh; the second, through Ma"H's revelation, brings bitul b'metzius [58846/maamar_011 :: עב׳ 91–118; Summary (pp. קלג–קלט)].

Rivkah refined from Nogah. "Eliezer's mission — to take a wife for Yitzchak": Yackov is chesed, the main of Atzilus's va"k; his servant Eliezer is Metatron — Malchus clothed in him — "to refine refinements of Biyah's Nogah." Hence Rivkah: "at first in kelipas nogah" — "bas Besuel ha'Arami": Targum is "from kelipas nogah," and she needed refining from Nogah "to raise ma'n to Yitzchak"; "v'hinei Rivkah yotzeis" — she "went out from the place where she was at first — in Nogah's aspect — and the Holy One, blessed be He, brought her out — refined" [58846/maamar_011 :: Summary (pp. קמה–קמז)].

The mitzvah's elevation. Making a thing a mitzvah "raises the physical from kelipas nogah into a vessel for the Supernal Will" [31690/maamar_001 :: Summary (p. קסד)]. The sparks of Tohu that "fell in Nogah of Asiyah" are refined through the korbanos, ascending "from below to above" [58835/maamar_049 :: Chunk summary (עמוד סב)].

Key distinctions

Nogah vs. the three impure kelipos. The three impure husks are utter evil, with nothing to elevate; nogah is the mixture — its good refinable, its evil rejected [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פב–פג].

Nogah's good vs. nogah's evil. In sur meira, l'garmei is nogah's good — any rescue from utter evil is good; in aseh tov, l'garmei is nogah's evil — no place for yeshus [31621/maamar_012 :: Summary — pages פב–פג].

The two birurim. The first birur — through Malchus — separates the evil and makes bitul hayesh; the second — through Ma"H's revelation — brings bitul b'metzius [58846/maamar_011 :: Summary (pp. קלג–קלט)].

Related concepts

Sources