Dear Rabbi Lamm, I hope you are well, and enjoyed your summer. Just a brief fax regarding our discussion on the sefirot: I hope you received my letter dated 17th Tammuz, to which a serious reply I await. (Unfortunately, in many circles, especially those which I mentioned in my first letter, there is no serious discussion of anything, since the mere possibility that the rabbi may have erred will destroy their entire world view. Of course, the Torah does not have this problem, and in fact in Avot, ch. 5, the Mishna brings intellectual honesty as a necesarry prerequisite for a Hacham – and dishonesty for a Boor).One further source which I came upon, which I trust will be the final nail in the pantheistic coffin of the Tanya, is a book entitled "Hoqer U Mequbal” by the peerless Ramchal. The Vilna Gaon described this sage as having acquired the highest understanding of Torah which is humanly possible.It is quite coincidental that the opening discussion between the philosopher and the kabbalist is precisely the subject of our discussion – the sefirot, and their deification. The Ramchal states that if the sefirot were divine, they would be "Elohim Acherim" – a position which is antithetical with that of the Tanya, and which you mistakenly claim is shared by everybody. Furthermore, Rabbi J. David Bleich, your esteemed Rosh Yeshiva, has also argued in favor of Ramchal's position, in his book "With Perfect Faith," stating that praying to the sefirot [which are other than G-D] would be tantamount to idolatory.Dr Dale Gottlieb, now at Ohr Someach claims that "G-D is identical to each of the sefirot" even though he concedes that in our world view they are ten distinct entities. One only has to open a Siddur to see that they are in fact distinct and different – by very definition. There are even trinities eg. Habad, which are euphemistically referred to as triads "Partsufim".You have on many occasions bemoaned Rav Chaim Volozhiner's "intellectual ascetism." I put it to you that …