Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Bris veTorah
ברית ותורה
Covenant and Torah (bris veTorah) · also: כריתת ברית
Covenant (bris, the bond of Yesod) and Torah, named, covenant first, in the Grace After Meals’ blessing for the land: through them the higher unity is drawn down into the lower, Malchus.
The word In the Grace After Meals, “Your covenant that You sealed in our flesh” plainly means circumcision, and “Your Torah” the Torah studied. In these maamarim the covenant is also the sefirah Yesod (and, above it, the mazla and the Yesod of Arich Anpin), the bond that joins giver to receiver, and covenant and Torah together are Zeir Anpin, the middos of Atzilus.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶13The first blessing (“Who feeds”) draws from the higher unity of the higher Chochmah; for this to reach the lower unity, in the blessing for the land, is through covenant and Torah, which is why one who omits them has not fulfilled his obligation.
שיומשך המשכה זו ביחו״ת בברכת הארץ זהו ע״י ברית ותורה
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶18The covenant is Yesod, “that holds heaven and earth” (the Targum of “for all in heaven and earth”), which binds and draws from heaven, the higher unity, to earth, the lower unity; therefore the covenant is named before the Torah. Hence too “as he entered the covenant, so may he enter the Torah.”
שהוא בחי׳ יסוד המקשר וממשיך מבחי׳ שמים שהוא יחו״ע לבחי׳ ארץ שהוא יחו״ת ולכן צריך שיקדים ברית לתורה בברכת הארץ
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶10Covenant and Torah are Zeir Anpin, the middos of Atzilus. Their self-nullification (“Yours, Havayah, is the greatness”) draws bittul hayesh down into Malchus, the “bread from the earth”; without covenant and Torah it would not be drawn.
שהמשכת יחו״ת בחי׳ מל׳ הוא ע״י ז״א ומדות דאצילות הנק׳ ברית ותורה
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶11Every flow of influence is through a covenant. The doubled wording has two levels: “Your covenant” is the covenant above in Atzilus, “that You sealed in our flesh” the covenant of Nukva (Malchus), which carries the bittul down into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah (hence “a woman is as one circumcised”); likewise “Your Torah” is the Torah of Atzilus and “that You taught us” the Torah of the lower worlds, through Malchus.
וכן תורתך היא בחי׳ תורה דאצי׳ ושלמדתנו היא בחי׳ התורה דבי״ע שהוא ע״י בחי׳ מל׳
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1, ¶8A covenant means a bond. In holiness it is the binding of the soul to its root and life, the “covenant” that draws life from sovev kol almin into memalei kol almin; its opposite is attachment to worldly desires, and its repair is a lasting, constant cleaving.
כי ברית הוא ענין התקשרות ובקדושה הוא ענין התקשרות נפשו בשרשו וחיותו
Stated differently
Why the covenant is named before the Torah: as the bond that draws heaven into earth, as the lower step and gateway, or as the higher source the Torah is drawn from
שהוא בחי׳ יסוד המקשר וממשיך מבחי׳ שמים שהוא יחו״ע לבחי׳ ארץ שהוא יחו״ת ולכן צריך שיקדים ברית לתורה בברכת הארץThe covenant is Yesod, which binds and draws from heaven, the higher unity, to earth, the lower unity; therefore it is named before the Torah in the blessing for the land (the explanation Eikev 2:24 calls the main one).
וצריך להקדים ברית לתורה כי כן הסדר ממטה למעלה ועוד כי הברית הוא הפתח ליכנס לתורהCiting Tola’as Yaakov: covenant and Torah are peace and truth; the covenant comes first because that is the order from below upward, and because the covenant is the gateway into the Torah.
וזהו ענין הברית שהוא בחינת מזלא שהוא המשכה מבחי׳ כתר י״ג ת״דExplained another way: the Torah was given with three covenants and the covenant with thirteen. The covenant is the mazla, drawn from the thirteen tikkunei dikna of Keser, through which the Oral Torah receives from the Written by the thirteen hermeneutic rules.
וזהו ענין שמקדימין ברית לתורה כי מבחי׳ ברית ויסוד דא״א נמשך התורה שהיא בחי׳ ז״אThe covenant draws Or Ein Sof into Chochmah through Keser; citing the Arizal’s Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim, the Torah (Zeir Anpin) is drawn from the covenant, the Yesod of Arich Anpin. The same paragraph adds that the explanation of section 3 (Eikev 2:13–18) seems the main and simpler one.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶18Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶24Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶13
Where it appears
In 89 paragraphs of 51 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶13 ¶17 ¶18 ¶19 ¶21 ¶23 ¶24 ¶41 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶1 ¶6 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶15 ¶19 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 1 ¶1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶36 ¶46 ¶49 ¶50 ¶51 ¶52 ¶58 ¶59 ¶60 ¶62 ¶66
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 8 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 3 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 6 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 7 ¶1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 13 ¶12 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶29 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 2 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶1 ¶4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 8 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 4 ¶1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Noach 1 ¶12
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.