Holy Doubt

 

In the soul, Da'at stands opposite the attribute of Doubt, which cries: nothing can be known for sure, we can not really count on anything.

The Klippa corresponding to doubt is the Klippa of Amalek--the nation we are commanded (today) to obliterate completely, leaving no trace. In Chassidus, Amalek is the "head of Da'at"--as Da'at includes all the sefirot, Amalek is the general klippa which contains all klippot.

However the Zohar teaches that the tree of life of the Other Side, the Klippa, does not have the sefirah of Da'at. Evil does not have the inner connection of knowing to what it professes; its very nature is the suppression of the possibility to truly know.

In Gematria, Amalek עמלק is Safek ספק, Doubt. Doubt stands between the head and the heart, disconnecting mind's understanding from the heart's awakening and real character transformation. When doubt enters, the inner world is cooled and the soul becomes split in two: the mind doubts the possiblity of true good-heartedness, and the character traits become numb to external influence, leaving the personality in its original, unrectified nature.

The other klippot, which represent the other nations, can be rectified; every fallen attribute contains within it a holy spark, a core of holiness encased in a klippa of externality, and after the proper clarification one can access the essential goodness of a particular negative inclination. Amalek, pathological skepticism, however, undermines the very basis of this process--the ability to discern a point of truth in reality and to bond with it. This pathological cynicism has no place in holiness and should be entirely uprooted from the soul.

Still, the ability to doubt and the experience of doubt, are not entirely foreign to the rectified soul. Doubt is actually an important element of correction, when it is directed to the right purpose. Pathological skepticism doubts the existence of anything, the absolute value of any idea, and is based on the assumption that the only stable thing is my (ego's) ability to raise doubt, i.e. the power of my own mind.

Constructive skepticism "doubts" this very assumption: it threatens the solid walls around the "I" and advances my awareness that without changing, without truly bonding with otehrs, I cannot be at peace within my own walled existence. Holy doubt is the key to the entire process of Teshuva and Tikkun, as I begin to doubt my old assumptions and practices. Thus holy doubt is stronger than Amalek because it can doubt the doubt itself, and by way of doubt arrive at absolute certainty.