Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Ein aroch
אין ערוך
No comparison (ein aroch)
“No comparison”: not as one to a myriad, which share number, but as the finite to the Infinite. All worlds are as nothing before G‑d and do not come from Him as effect from cause.
The word ערך is also plain “value” or “measure” (the valuations of Arachin, “according to the measure of”); as a term the texts take it from proportion in number. אין ערוך אליך is also simply the verse “none can be compared to You” (Tehillim 40:6), which the maamarim read as this term.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2, ¶6The meaning of the word: even one beside thousands of thousands is called a proportion, since both fall under number. To the Or Ein Sof, which has no end, proportion does not apply at all; hence the countless contractions before the Torah’s light could be clothed in physical things.
וכמו שנודע פי׳ ערך במספר שאפילו אחד לגבי אלף אלפים ורבבות נקרא בשם ערך שהם מסוג א׳
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶8The worlds came into being through His thought, yet not as effect from cause: had they come by a chain of cause and effect from the Infinite, they too would be without limit, not bounded as they are now.
שהתהוות העולמות ממחשבתו ית׳ אינו בבחי׳ עילה ועלול רק שהם אין ערוך ממש לגבי מחשבתו ית׳
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1, ¶18In cause and effect the substance of the cause is held in the effect, as intellect is held in the middah born of it, and the effect grasps its cause. He is sovev kol almin, not held in the worlds, so there is no comparison to Him at all.
שא״א להיות המשכת החיות ממנו ית׳ בבחי׳ סדר ההשתלשלות עילה ועלול
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2, ¶4Even the very highest level, the root of all coming into being, has no comparison to His being and essence, since it is created or emanated and has a beginning of limit. Before Him the first level and the last are equal; the countless levels exist only so that the worlds are not nullified.
שאפי׳ בחי׳ הגבוה מאד שהוא שרש התחלות התהוות מ״מ לגבי מהותו ועצמותו ית׳ אין לו ערך כלל
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶11Within the chain of worlds, Chochmah, Binah and the middos are higher and lower but have proportion to one another. Chochmah beside Keser Elyon has none, like a crown resting on the head, so an arousal from below cannot reach Keser; it is revealed of itself.
עכ״ז יש להם ערך זה לזה אבל בחי׳ חכמה לגבי בחי׳ כ״ע נאמר אין ערוך לך
Stated differently
Whether the physical has some proportion to the spiritual
וכן גשמיות לגבי רוחניות יש ערך שהרי הרוחניות מתלבשת בגשמיותThroughout the chain of worlds there is proportion from one level to the next, and so too the physical to the spiritual, since the spiritual is clothed in it: the power of intellect in the brain, of sight in the eye, linked to it by vapours. Only to the Emanator Himself is there no comparison.
שאין התהוות הגשמיות מן הרוחניו׳ דרך השתלשלות עו״ע לפי שאין ערוך בין רוחניות לגשמיות כללThe physical does not come into being from the spiritual by a chain of cause and effect, because there is no comparison at all between spiritual and physical; it comes from the radiance of sovev kol almin.
והרי עכ״ז נראה בחוש שאין להם ערך ודמיון לגבי מדת חסד וגבורה רוחניים שבנפש האדםPhysical white and red, silver and gold, though drawn from Chesed and Gevurah through many stages of descent, plainly have no proportion or likeness to the spiritual Chesed and Gevurah in a person’s soul.
Whether speech (and Malchus, the letters) stands in proportion to the level above it, as effect to cause
באדם יש שכל ומדות ומחשבה ודבור וכל א׳ נתהווה מחבירוEvery cause has some proportion to its effect; in a person, intellect, middos, thought and speech each come into being from the one before it, and though the middah is not of the substance of the intellect, the two are related.
כי התהוות המל׳ שהיא בחי׳ אותיות דבר ה׳ אינן מסוג וערך הבחינה שלמעלה ממנהFrom Chochmah down to Malchus, but not including it, is cause and effect. Malchus, the letters of the word of G‑d, is set apart in proportion from what is above it and is not drawn by cause and effect, as spoken letters are not of the measure of the middos and intellect; they come from the essence of the soul.
Whether the levels of Beriah have some proportion to those of Atzilus
הרי חכמה דבריאה אע״פ שהיא אור חדש מ״מ כבר יש לה איזה ערך ויחוס עם חכמה דאצי׳Chochmah of Atzilus, clothed in the parsa, brings Chochmah of Beriah into being; so Chochmah of Beriah, though a new light, already has some proportion and relation to Chochmah of Atzilus. Not so the tzimtzum of the Or Ein Sof that brought Atzilus into being.
ואין ערוך כלל המדות שבנבראים דבי״ע לגבי המדות דאצילותThe middos in the created beings of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah have no proportion at all to the middos of Atzilus, as physical colours have none to the spiritual middos in the soul, and even more so.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Emor 1, ¶18Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2, ¶4Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶11
Where it appears
In 236 paragraphs of 143 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶8 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶19 ¶49
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶3 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶16 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶10 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶5 ¶7 ¶8 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶1 ¶14 ¶21 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32 ¶3 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶19 ¶20 ¶22 ¶34 ¶37 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 4 ¶1 ¶3 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Noach 3 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶9 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶18 ¶24 ¶28 ¶30 ¶33 ¶39 ¶49
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 4 ¶2 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶4 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶3 ¶15 ¶30 ¶55
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶8 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶5 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 7 ¶5 ¶7 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶10 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶7 ¶9 ¶11 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶6 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶4 ¶6 ¶16 ¶19 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2 ¶2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 1 ¶1 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 4 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶1 ¶5 ¶7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶2 ¶4 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶14 ¶28 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶23 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 1 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Noach 4 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 5 ¶3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶11 ¶12 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶15 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 11 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 5 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Bo 1 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶3 ¶7 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Noach 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶2 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1 ¶6 ¶7 ¶11 ¶22 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶27 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶47
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶5 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶7
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.