Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Alma deperuda
עלמא דפרודא
The world of separation (alma deperuda)
The world of separation: the worlds below Atzilus, where creations appear to exist as separate things, unlike Atzilus, where “He and His life are one.” Some passages place it below holiness, in kelipah.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16, ¶7“Le’alam” (singular) is Atzilus, where He, His life and His vessels are one; “le’almei almaya” (plural) is Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, the world of separation. The lower the descent, the more yesh, until truly separate worlds come about; the revelation of Or Ein Sof from above hishtalshelus makes them bittul again.
ולעלמי עלמיא לשון רבים היינו בי״ע שהם בבחי׳ עלמא דפרודא כמ״ש ומשם יפרד
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶12The “river” (Binah) is itself still in complete unity and bittul, but it is the source from which separation comes in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, since Beriah receives from Binah alone. The “spring,” Chochmah Ila’ah, is no source for separate things; when it is revealed below in the future there will be no world of separation at all.
אך עכ״ז הוא בחינת מקור שיומשך משם ולמטה בבי״ע יפרד
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18, ¶12Atzilus is the “private domain” (reshus hayachid), where He and His life are one; from there the levels divide from world to world into the “public domain,” the “mountains of separation.” Even so, no level of holiness lacks bittul, each according to its rank.
כי רה״י הוא עולם האצילות איהו וחיוהי חד ומשם יפרד בריבוי התחלקות המדרגות מעולם עד עולם להיות בחי׳ רה״ר טורי דפרודא
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5, ¶7“And Yaakov separated the lambs”: Yaakov draws the kesavim from their level in their source down into separation, where they are called kevasim, so that bittul reaches the world of separation too, in the morning and evening tamid.
כדי שיהי׳ נמשך בחי׳ הביטול גם בעלמא דפרודא
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2, ¶14The Holy One’s tefillin bind Or Ein Sof to Chochmah, and His other mitzvos likewise draw Or Ein Sof into the higher worlds, where it clothes itself in Chochmah and Chesed so that “He and His life are one, He and His vessels are one”; but this world is a world of separation, as “from there it separates.”
אבל האי עלמא עלמא דפרודא כמ״ש ומשם יפרד וגו׳
Stated differently
Where the world of separation begins: right below Atzilus (already in Beriah), or below the end of holiness, in Nogah and the sitra achra
שעולם הבריאה הוא בבחי׳ פירוד טורי דפרודאBy the natural order of the worlds one below the other, the world of Beriah is already in separation, the “mountains of separation”; a new light must be drawn from above for Beriah to be included in Atzilus.
ושם מסתיים ואינו נמשך בבי״ע לכך הם עלמא דפרודאThe “river” reaches as far as Malchus of Atzilus and ends there, not reaching Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; therefore they are the world of separation.
עד שנמשך למל׳ דעשיה שהיא סוף הקדושה ונכללת בבחי׳ בטול ומשם יפרד להיות עלמא דפרודאBittul reaches down to Malchus of Asiyah, the end of holiness, which is also included in bittul; from there separation begins: the world of separation, of yesh standing by itself, of those who call Him “G‑d of gods.”
שנעשה בחינת ההתחלקות והיש ממש בחי׳ טורא דפרודא משא״כ למעלה הגם שיש בחי׳ ההתחלקות המדרגות מ״מ כיון שהם בבחי׳ ביטולReal division and yesh, the “mountain of separation,” come about in Nogah through its harsh gevuros; above it, though the levels are divided, they are in bittul and so are united.
הרי הוא נופל בעלמא דפרודא שמסט״אOne who considers himself separate and above his fellow falls into the world of separation that belongs to the sitra achra, while holiness has no “head and end.”
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Emor 5, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3, ¶5Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3, ¶13Torah Ohr, Yisro 2, ¶14
Where it appears
In 59 paragraphs of 39 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶3 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 2 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 4 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶24 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 10 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶2 ¶3 ¶7 ¶8 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 35 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶13 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 1 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶10 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 10 ¶30 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶5 ¶18 ¶21 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶38 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶14 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶27
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶3
Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.