Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Chullin she’naasu al taharas hakodesh
חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקדש
Mundane things prepared in the purity of the holy (chullin she’naasu al taharas hakodesh)
Weekday life, work and speech, mundane in themselves, that receive a glow of holiness and bittul, as from Shabbos, or are raised to the soul’s root, through prayer, honest dealing, Torah study and teshuvah.
The word In halachah the phrase means ordinary food eaten with the purity rules of sacred food. In Chassidus it names a level of weekday life and speech; the plain sense is the image it is drawn from.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3, ¶4The mundane has two levels: the wholly mundane, the chambers of Nogah, and the mundane done in the purity of the holy, like chol hamoed, where a glow of holiness and bittul reaches into the mundane, as keeping Shabbos lights up the six weekdays. Havdalah is a blessing that the mundane be done so; yet the weekdays must stay behind a screen, or there would be total bittul, as when bowing in the Amidah.
הב׳ הוא בחי׳ חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקדש חולו של מועד דהיינו שנמשך הארה מקדושה בחי׳ בטול גם בהחול
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4, ¶5Man has the screen of kelipas nogah over weekday life and must repair it, so that the mundane becomes chullin in the purity of the holy by being included in the holiness of Shabbos. This comes through refining Nogah in the six days: dealing honestly for the sake of Heaven, and praying and learning with that strength. Without the screen there would be holiness alone; the intent is a separate, mundane yesh that afterward comes to bittul.
וכוונת הבריאה דירה בתחתונים הוא שיהי׳ יש ונפרד בחי׳ חול רק שיהי׳ אח״כ ביטול היש טהרת הקודש
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5, ¶30Israel, scattered among the nations, speak their languages in commerce. When they afterward pray with mesirus nefesh and learn Torah for its own sake, they raise those letter-combinations to the root of their souls, the supernal purity (tehiru ilaah) before hishtalshelus. The holy tongue comes from the supernal holiness and other tongues are mundane, but once refined they are “in the purity of the holy.” Like bricks fired in a kiln, this needs the burning love of Shema, and the business itself must be done without real desire.
לשרש נשמתם שהיא בחי׳ טהורה היא טהירו עלאה שלפני ההשתלשלות. וזהו הנק׳ חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקדש
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶34On Shabbos the supernal will clothes itself in the lower will, and a glow of it reaches all six weekdays, revealed in weekday prayer when one is stirred with love for G‑d. The added soul-levels of Shabbos do not leave on the weekdays, and one prepares vessels for them through the thought, speech and action of Torah and mitzvos. Weekday prayer is the intermediary, the ladder, that joins the holiness of Shabbos to the weekdays (Vayakhel 1:36).
וזהו ענין חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש היינו כשבימי החול מאיר ג״כ מעין קדושת השבת
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8, ¶11Teshuvah with a broken heart breaks the screen that separates holiness, so that the mundane too is done in the purity of the holy; these are the “lattices.” The “windows” are the revelation as it is in Beriah, above that screen, which comes through the joy that follows the broken heart.
ע״י התשובה ולב נשבר ורוח נשברה משברים מסך הנ״ל שיהיו בחי׳ החולין ג״כ נעשים על טהרת הקדש
Stated differently
Which level the refinement of the mundane works through or reaches
משא״כ בירור דחולין שנעשו עטה״ק הוא ע״י הבינהThe offerings (Kodashim) refine kelipas nogah through Chochmah, whereas the refinement of chullin made in the purity of the holy is through Binah; making the impure pure is through Daas, drawn from Keser.
הרי הם נעשים על טהרת הקדש בחי׳ קדש העליון וטה״עMundane speech refined through prayer is raised to the root of the soul and becomes “in the purity of the holy”: the level of supernal holiness (kodesh ha’elyon) and supernal purity (tehiru ilaah) before hishtalshelus.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3, ¶4Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4, ¶5Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5, ¶30Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶34Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶36Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8, ¶11
Where it appears
In 32 paragraphs of 27 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 11 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶34 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3 ¶4 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶41 ¶49
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶56
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶43
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶1 ¶32
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.