The root of unity that purifies impurity

במדרש חקת מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד כו'.

In the Midrash on Chukas: "Who can produce a pure thing from an impure one? Is it not the One?" etc.

The Sefas Emes begins from the verse (Iyov 14:4) that only the One — Hashem — can bring purity out of impurity, which the Midrash applies to the parah adumah.

דאיתא בזוה"ק בפסוק ונטמתם בם בלא א' על ידי השקצים נדבק הטומאה בלא א' ע"ש.

As is brought in the Zohar HaKadosh on the pasuk "and you shall become defiled through them" — read as "without an alef" — that through the creeping creatures the tumah clings "without the alef" (see there).

The Zohar reads "v'nitmeisem" (you shall be defiled) as "v'nitamtem," "without the alef," hinting that this kind of impurity is a defilement that has become severed from the alef — the One — the root of Divine unity.

דיש מ"ט פנים טמא.

For there are forty-nine "faces" of impurity.

There are forty-nine "gates" or facets through which tumah can express itself.

ופן הנ' נראה שהוא האחדות ששם אין הפרש בין טומאה לטהרה והכל אחדות אחד רק בהתפשטות אח"כ חל עליו שם טומאה.

And the fiftieth "face" appears to be the unity, where there is no distinction between tumah and taharah, and all is one single unity; only through subsequent extension does the name "tumah" come to rest upon it.

Above the forty-nine gates is a fiftieth, the level of pure unity, where impurity and purity are not yet differentiated — only as reality spreads out and descends does a thing become labeled "impure."

ונקודה מזה השורש נמצא בכל השערים לכן נק' טמ"א מ"ט פנים ונקודה מאחדות שע"י זה נמצא טהור וטמא.

And a point of this root is found in all the gates; therefore it is called "tamei" — the forty-nine "faces" plus a point of the unity — through which there is "pure and impure."

A spark of that fiftieth root of unity is embedded in every one of the forty-nine gates (alluded to in the letters of "tamei"), and it is precisely this hidden point that makes it possible for something impure to be turned pure.

ויכולין ליטהר מן הטומאה ע"י התשובה אל השורש.

And one can become purified from the tumah through teshuvah, returning to the root.

Because that point of unity is never entirely lost, teshuvah — returning to the root — can draw the impure thing back to purity.

אך נטמתם הוא כשנעשה רע בלא תערובות השורש כלל.

But "v'nitmeisem" ("without the alef") refers to when evil is done without any admixture of the root at all.

The defilement "without the alef" is a deeper level: evil that has wholly cut itself off from any spark of the root of unity.

וזה החילוק בין טומאה של היתר לטומאה של איסור.

And this is the distinction between the tumah of the permitted and the tumah of the forbidden.

Impurity contracted through permitted things still retains a thread of the root, whereas impurity from forbidden things is the kind that severs from it entirely.

ובגמ' ב"מ המעלה אתכם מארץ מצרים כו' אלמלי לא הוצאתי אתכם אלא שאין מטמאין בשרצים די כו'.

And in the Gemara Bava Metzia: "who brought you up from the land of Mitzrayim" — etc. — even if I had taken you out only so that you would not become impure through creeping creatures, it would have been enough, etc.

The Gemara says the redemption from Mitzrayim would have been worthwhile even just to grant Bnei Yisrael the ability not to be defiled by sheratzim — showing how great this gift is.

פי כי זה ניתן לבנ"י ביצ"מ שהיו קרובים למ"ט שערי טומאה כדאיתא בשם האר"י ז"ל.

The explanation: this was given to Bnei Yisrael at the Exodus, for they had been close to the forty-nine gates of tumah, as is brought in the name of the Arizal.

In Mitzrayim Bnei Yisrael had sunk to forty-nine gates of impurity (as the Arizal teaches), and the Exodus rescued them from that descent.

והוא הגאולה לדורות שיהי' לבנ"י תמיד אחיזה בשורש שער הנ'.

And this is the geulah for all generations — that Bnei Yisrael should always have a grip on the root, the fiftieth gate.

The lasting redemption is that Bnei Yisrael forever retain a hold on that fiftieth gate, the root of unity above all the gates of tumah.

שמצד זה כל המ"ט פנים טומאה שלהם אינם נפרדים משורש האחדות ועי"ז זוכין לטהור מטמא.

For by virtue of this, all forty-nine "faces" of their tumah are never separated from the root of unity, and through this they merit "pure from impure."

Because of that hold on the fiftieth gate, even when Bnei Yisrael fall into impurity it never becomes wholly severed from the root, so they can always be drawn back to purity.

ואין מטמאין בשרצים שהוא נטמתם בלא א' כנ"ל:

And they do not become defiled through creeping creatures — which is the defilement "without the alef," as above.

Their bond with the root protects them from the deepest defilement, the "tumah without the alef" that would cut them off from the One entirely.

Summary: Above the forty-nine gates of tumah stands a fiftieth gate of pure unity, and a spark of that root is embedded in every form of impurity — which is why teshuvah can turn the impure pure. The Exodus gave Bnei Yisrael a permanent grip on that root of unity, so their impurity is never fully severed from Hashem and they can always return to taharah.