Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Chesed olam
חסד עולם
The kindness of the world (chesed olam)
The Chesed of Z”A: kindness within the order of hishtalshelus, in limit and measure, with judgment opposite it that can hold it back. Above it is rav chesed, the Chesed of Arich Anpin.
The word In Isaiah חסד עולם is plainly “everlasting kindness” (“and with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you”), and עולם alone often means forever; as a level it is the kindness of the world, the Chesed of Z”A, set against ורב חסד or חסד עליון.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶4To sweeten and nullify judgments one must draw from the Chesed of Arich Anpin, far above the Chesed of Z”A, which is called chesed olam. Of it is said “Yours is kindness, for You repay each man according to his deed”; so it is in limit and measure.
שהחסד דז״א נק׳ חסד עולם וע״ז נאמר ולך אד׳ חסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 3, ¶3“There is chesed and there is chesed” (Korach 3:2): the kindness drawn through Aharon, rav chesed, is without limit and comes down with no judgment to hold it back, whereas chesed olam has a judgment opposite it that can hold it back.
משא״כ בחסד עולם יש כנגדו בחינת דין המעכבו
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶6Chesed olam belongs to the coming-to-be of hishtalshelus in ordered levels, from cause to effect, where each effect has some relation to its cause, as intellect is clothed in love and awe and the middos in thought and speech. Rav chesed, Aharon’s level, is far above hishtalshelus: the first enclothing of Or Ein Sof in Chochmah and Chesed, from which Chochmah comes to be out of nothing.
כי חסד עולם הוא מבחי׳ התהוות ההשתלשלות בסדר המדרגות דרך עילה ועלול
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5, ¶14In the Zohar’s “there is chesed and there is chesed,” the outer kindness is chesed olam, and Or Ein Sof clothed in it so that “the world is built by kindness” is called Kel Olam. The inner kindness, “chesed elyon,” from sovev, is Kel Elyon, far above chesed olam, and it reaches the lowest, one confined in the prison of the body and the animal soul.
חסד דלבר דאקרי חסד עולם ובהתלבשות אור א״ס להיות עולם חסד יבנה נק׳ אל עולם
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶15The Chesed of Z”A, chesed olam, is the root of ahavas olam; the Chesed of Arich Anpin, rav chesed (“for He desires kindness”), is the source of ahavah rabbah and is called the kindness of truth, that the revelation below be as above.
והנה חסד דז״א נק׳ חסד עולם וממנו שרש בחי׳ אהבת עולם אבל חסד דא״א נק׳ רב חסד
Stated differently
Which kindness answers the arousal from below: chesed olam, or rav chesed
דהיינו לפי ערך מעשה בני אדם וכפי האתעדל״ת כך הוא האתעדל״ע וההמשכה מחסד זהChesed olam, the Chesed of Z”A, is given according to people’s deeds: as the arousal from below, so is the arousal from above and the drawing from this kindness.
ושם אין אתעדל״ת מגיע כלל כ״א החסד יורד ונמשך בתמידות מצד עצמוRav chesed, the Chesed of Arich Anpin, shines from Ein Sof without limit; the arousal from below does not reach there at all, and the kindness comes down constantly of itself.
ואתעדל״ע זו היא מבחי׳ חסד עולם. וכמ״ש וחסד ה׳ מעולם ועד עולםThe arousal from above that comes before any arousal from below, to wake a person’s heart (Tetzaveh 2:4), is from chesed olam, Avraham’s level: the natural love hidden in all the souls of Israel.
אך באתעדל״ת אתעדל״ע הוא שמעורר האדם למעלה בחי׳ ורב חסד שהוא בחי׳ אהרן כהן גדולThrough the arousal from below, a person arouses above the level of rav chesed, Aharon the Kohen Gadol’s, far higher than chesed olam.
Which love chesed olam is: the natural love hidden in every Jew, or the love drawn from the intellect
חסד לאברהם שהיא מדת האהבה הטבעית שבלב כללות נש״י רק שהיא מסותרתChesed olam is Avraham’s level, the kindness to Avraham: the natural love in the heart of all the souls of Israel, only hidden and covered by the sackcloth of the body and the animal soul.
ויש חסד עולם והוא בחי׳ האהבה הנמשכת מן השכל אבל אור קדמאה הוא בחי׳ אה״ר שלמעלה מהשכל ונלקחה מבחי׳ ורב חסדChesed olam is the love drawn from the intellect (ahavas olam, born of contemplation); the hidden love in every Jew is ahavah rabbah, above intellect, taken from rav chesed.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Korach 3, ¶3Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶5Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶8
Where it appears
In 126 paragraphs of 80 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶13 ¶14 ¶15 ¶16 ¶18 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶22 ¶23 ¶24 ¶41 ¶47 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶11 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 40 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶31 ¶42
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 3 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶24 ¶32 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 9 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶31 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶1 ¶14 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶9 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4 ¶4 ¶5 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶14 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶3 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶19 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶9 ¶13 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶9 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶5 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 6 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶17 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 8 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶4 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶17 ¶18 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 14 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 7 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 3 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Noach 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2 ¶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.