Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Beyud nivra olam haba
ביו״ד נברא העוה״ב
The World to Come was created with the yud (beyud nivra olam haba)
The World to Come was created with the yud: the souls’ delight there comes through a great contraction, one small point of Or Ein Sof, a mere ziv; this world was created with the hei.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7, ¶9On "כי ביה ה׳ צור עולמים": the World to Come is the souls’ delight in the ziv of the Shechinah. Created, limited souls could not receive from Or Ein Sof itself, so the delight is revealed through a contraction, the yud; the World to Come itself is the hei, a “yesh” brought from absolute nothing, which needs tzimtzum.
והתגלות תענוג זה הוא ע״י צמצום אא״ס ב״ה שהוא בחי׳ יו״ד
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2, ¶2Or Ein Sof is too bright for any created intellect to grasp, like the sun or a torch one cannot look at; only by contracting a glow into a small point can there be grasp and delight. Therefore the World to Come is built on the attribute of judgment, while this world is “built with kindness”.
פי׳ ביו״ד צמצום הארה נקודה קטנה שבא״ס ב״ה
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶17The yud is Chochmah, which is still “ayin”; from it is drawn Binah, the understanding and grasp of G‑dliness, the root of the World to Come where the righteous “sit and enjoy”. This is “yesh” from “ayin”.
פי׳ שמהחכמה נמשך בבחי׳ בינה שהוא הבנת והשגת אלקות שממנה שרש העוה״ב
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4, ¶1All the life of the World to Come, lower and upper Gan Eden and the days of Mashiach through fifty thousand jubilees, is one glow, like one letter of thought beside His essence. That is why one hour of teshuvah and good deeds in this world is better than all of it, and why the soul descends here.
כל חיי עוה״ב ג״ע התחתון וימות המשיח וכו׳ הוא רק זיו השכינה הארה אחת
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1, ¶10The yud divides into all the details of the souls’ delights in the World to Come; the hei into all the creations of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, including upper worlds that are within limited grasp. The World to Come is the hidden world, this world the revealed world, called “this” (zeh) because it can be pointed to.
אלא שביו״ד נברא עלמא דאתכסיא שהוא העולם הבא נהנין מזיו הנ״ל ובה״א נברא עלמא דאתגליא
Stated differently
What the “World to Come” created with the yud is, and what the yud stands for
פי׳ העוה״ב הוא תענוג הנשמות שנהנין מזיו השכינהThe World to Come is the souls’ delight in the ziv of the Shechinah (Gan Eden), and the yud is the contraction through which that delight is revealed.
וביו״ד נברא העוה״ב כנ״ל היינו עלמין סתימין דלא אתגליין עין לא ראתה אלהים זולתךThe World to Come of the yud is the hidden worlds, which are not grasped at all (“no eye has seen”). Even upper Gan Eden, where souls have delight, is a revealed world, called “this world” relative to the upper worlds, of the hei.
אבל היו״ד הוא בחי׳ המעין ולכן אין בו התפשטות כמו בה״א ולכן בו נברא העוה״בThe yud is the spring, Chochmah Ila’ah, which does not spread out; the hei is the broad river from which separation comes. The World to Come is the time when the spring itself will be revealed below (“a spring shall go forth from the house of G‑d”), with no separateness at all.
Whether the souls’ delight created with the yud is in Or Ein Sof itself, or only in a glow (ziv) of it
כי מאא״ס ב״ה בעצמו ובכבודו כביכול לא היו הנשמות יכולים לקבל מאחר שהם בבחי׳ נברא וגבולThe souls, being created and limited, could not receive from Or Ein Sof itself; so the delight is revealed through a contraction, the yud.
כל חיי העוה״ב הוא רק זיו והארה אחת מאור א״ס ב״ה מהותו ועצמותוAll the life of the World to Come is only a ziv, one glow from Or Ein Sof, His essence, which no thought grasps at all.
ע״י הצמצומים הרבים מתגלה אור א״ס ב״ה בעצמו ובכבודו בגילוי למטה. וזהו ביוד נברא העוה״ב תענוג הנשמות באור א״ס ב״ה ממשAs ink only darkens the parchment so that the parchment itself shows the form of the yud, so through the many contractions Or Ein Sof itself is revealed below: the World to Come created with the yud is the souls’ delight in Or Ein Sof itself.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶12Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3, ¶12
Where it appears
In 49 paragraphs of 40 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 11 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 9 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶12 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶6 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶5 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶3 ¶6 ¶10 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶46
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 4 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶6
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.