Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Bittul
ביטול
Self-nullification (bittul) · also: ביטול בעצם
Self-nullification before G‑d, the condition for the Or Ein Sof to rest. Its lower degree is a “something” that bows; its higher, Chochmah’s “what are we,” takes up no place at all.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2, ¶9The Or Ein Sof rests only on what is nullified; the Name Mah is complete bittul, “and what are we.” Atzilus is where this is fullest; the angels and souls of Beriah count as bittul only relative to their own world.
כי אין אור א״ס שורה אלא במי שבטל דייקא ומ״ה הוא בחי׳ ביטול גמור ונחנו מ״ה
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Chochmah is “the power of mah.” Grasping G‑dliness through Binah, and the love it arouses, are still yesh, since there is one who grasps and one who is moved; the revelation of Chochmah, above grasp, brings bittul: ceasing from existence.
ההתפעלות מזה הוא בבחי׳ הביטול והוא שמתבטל מן המציאות כמ״ש ונחנו מה
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 11, ¶13Two degrees: the lower unity is bittul hayesh, bowing and acknowledging, where even the bittul is “someone who is nullified”; the higher unity is the bittul of supernal Chochmah, which truly takes up no place.
שאפילו בחי׳ ביטול שלהם נק׳ יש מי שבטל כו׳. משא״כ יחודא עילאה בחי׳ ביטול חכמה עילאה
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3, ¶27Love, fear, and ratzo vashov are still yesh (there is someone who loves); bittul is above them, and when it is drawn down, love and fear are absorbed into it.
שהאוי״ר ורצוא ושוב הם עדיין בחי׳ יש מי שאוהב כו׳ אבל הביטול הוא למעלה מזה
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7, ¶6At the Giving of the Torah the people reached bittul of their very existence (their souls flew out at each utterance), and through that nullification of yesh to ayin a new light from the Or Ein Sof was drawn into them.
באו לבחי׳ בטול במציאות ממש לאור א״ס ב״ה. ועל כל דבור ודבור פרחה נשמתן וע״י בטול היש לאין נמשך להם אור חדש
Stated differently
Where “bittul hayesh” stands: the lower unity, below the true bittul of Chochmah, or the union of Chochmah and Binah, Moshe’s “what are we”
ח״ע היא הביטול האמיתי אשר בו ועל ידו שורה ונמשך אור א״ס באצילות יחו״ע. וח״ת היא ביטול היש והוא מקור הביטול דבי״ע יחו״תSupernal Chochmah is the true bittul (the higher unity); lower Chochmah, Malchus, is bittul hayesh, the source of the bittul of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah (the lower unity).
בחי׳ יחוד דאו״א הוא בחי׳ ביטול היש שיהיה בטל לאור אין סוף ב״ה עד שאינו תופס מקום כלל וכענין שאמר משה ונחנו מהThe union of Abba and Imma (Chochmah and Binah) is called bittul hayesh: nullified to the Or Ein Sof until it takes up no place at all, as Moshe said, “what are we.”
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shelach 11, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶19Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3, ¶27Torah Ohr, Yisro 7, ¶6
Where it appears
In 1,237 paragraphs of 329 maamarim: part of the language of nearly every page.
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.