זאת ועוד אחרת
An additional [virtue] in mitzvot involving action (aside from their function in elevating one's animal soul, mentioned above):
שכח נפש החיונית המתלבש באותיות הדבור בתלמוד תורה או תפלה וכיוצא בהן או מצות מעשיות
the vitalizing soul's energy clothed in the utterance of letters of one's speech in Torah study, prayer or the like, or the energy clothed in the performance of mitzvot involving action
הרי כל גידולו וחיותו מהדם, שמקליפת נוגה ממש
derives its entire growth and vitality from the blood, which is of kelipat nogah itself,
שהן כל אוכלין ומשקין שאכל ושתה, ונעשו דם
meaning all the food and drink that one has eaten and drunk, and which have become blood.
שהיו תחת ממשלתה, וינקו חיותם ממנה
These were under the dominion of kelipat nogah and drew their vitality from it.
ועתה היא מתהפכת מרע לטוב ונכללת בקדושה, על ידי כח נפש החיונית הגדל ממנה, שנתלבש באותיות אלה או בעשיה זו, אשר הן הן פנימיות רצונו יתברך בלי שום הסתר פנים
Now that the person performs a mitzvah with the energy derived from this food and drink this kelipah is transformed from evil to good and is absorbed into holiness, by means of the energy of the animal soul that grows from it (i.e., the energy nourished by those objects that derive their vitality from this kelipah), which has now clothed itself in these letters of Torah and prayer or in the performance of this mitzvah, which actually constitute the unveiled expression of the inner aspect of G‑d's Will.
וחיותן נכלל גם כן באור אין סוף ברוך הוא, שהוא רצונו יתברך
For their vitality (the vitality expended in performing mitzvot) is also absorbed (like the mitzvot themselves) into the blessed Ein Sof-light, which is His Will as expressed in mitzvot,
ובחיותן נכלל ועולה גם כן כח נפש החיונית
and with their vitality the energy of the animal soul is likewise elevated and absorbed into the Ein Sof-light; and since the energy necessary for performing mitzvot was supplied by food and drink, the vitality of the food and drink is likewise absorbed in the Ein Sof-light, together with the mitzvah whose performance it made possible.
ועל ידי זה תעלה גם כן כללות קליפת נוגה, שהיא כללות החיות של עולם הזה הגשמי והחומרי
Thereby, all of kelipat nogah, which constitutes the vitality of this physical and corporeal world as a whole, will ascend as well. When will this come about?
כאשר כל הנשמה ונפש האלקית שבכל ישראל, המתחלקת בפרטות לששים רבוא, תקיים כל נפש פרטית כל תרי׳׳ג מצות התורה
When the whole neshamah, the divine soul1 in all of Israel, which is divided into 600,000 particular offshoots (the standard figure for the members of the Jewish nation, all individual souls being further subdivisions of these 600,000 "general" souls, as will be explained further) will fulfill, each individual soul thereof, the 613 mitzvot of the Torah:
שס״ה לא תעשה, להפריד שס׳׳ה גידים של דם נפש החיונית שבגוף
when they will refrain from transgressing the 365 prohibitions, to restrain the 365 blood vessels of the animal soul in the body,
שלא יינקו ויקבלו חיות בעבירה זו מאת שלש קליפות הטמאות לגמרי, שמהן נשפעים שס׳׳ה לא תעשה דאורייתא, וענפיהן שהן מדרבנן
so that they do not draw nurture or receive vitality by means of such transgression, from any one of the three completely unclean kelipot from which are derived the 365 Biblical prohibitions, and the Rabbinical prohibitions — their offshoots.
Since all that derives its vitality from the three wholly unclean kelipot cannot rise to holiness, were a Jew to transgress any prohibition, and thereby cause the particular blood-vessel associated with that prohibition to receive vitality from these kelipot —
ושוב לא תוכל נפש החיונית לעלות אל ה׳, אם נטמאה בטומאת השלש קליפות הטמאות
the vitalizing soul could not longer ascend to G‑d, having been tainted by the impurity of the three impure kelipot.
שאין להן עליה לעולם, כי אם ביטול והעברה לגמרי
[For] these [kelipot] can never be elevated, but must be nullified and utterly destroyed,
כמו שכתוב: ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר מן האר׳
as it is written,2 "And I shall drive out the unclean spirit from the earth."
Similarly, anything which derives its vitality from them can never ascend to holiness. Therefore, only the observance of all the 365 prohibitions allows the entire vital soul to ascend, without any part of it held back by the impurity of these kelipot.
ורמ״ח מצות עשה, להמשיך אור אין סוף ברוך הוא למטה
When, furthermore, every individual soul will fulfill also the 248 positive commandments, thereby drawing down the blessed Ein Sof-light below,
להעלות לו ולקשר ולייחד בו כללות הנפש החיונית שברמ״ח אברי הגוף ביחוד גמור, להיות לאחדים ממש
to elevate to Him and to bind and unite with Him the entire vital soul, which is in the 248 limbs of the body, in perfect unity, (such is the effect of a mitzvah in uniting the vital, animal soul with G‑d), so that they become actually one [with Him],
כמו שעלה ברצונו יתברך להיות לו דירה בתחתונים, והם לו למרכבה כמו האבות
in accordance with His Will that there be an abode for Him in the lower realms, and so great is this unity that they (the limbs of the body with the vitality of the animal soul invested in them) become a "chariot" for G‑d, as were the Patriarchs — whose every limb was in total submission to the Divine Will, wherefore they are designated as G‑d's "chariots" — and so will every Jew become a chariot by performing the mitzvot.
