Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Havayah dil’eila and dilsata
שם הוי׳ דלעילא ודלתתא
The higher and the lower Name Havayah (Havayah dil’eila and dilsata)
Two levels of the Name Havayah: the lower brings all worlds into being through contraction and spreading; the higher, above hishtalshelus, is the Supernal Will that the lower be, not grasped but believed in.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶1Asking why “they feared Havayah” comes before “they believed in Havayah,” it notes that “Havayah, Havayah” is said twice because there are two Names Havayah; the first is the lower Name, which brings all the worlds into being from nothing.
כי הנה יש ב׳ בחי׳ שמות הוי״ה. א׳ הוא בחי׳ שם הוי״ה דלתתא המהוה כל העולמות מאין ליש
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶3As the lower Name needs contraction and spreading, so the higher Name also has a yud of contraction. It is the will, risen in thought, that the lower Havayah be and the worlds be, as a person’s work is pictured in his mind before he carries it out.
והוא בחי׳ רצון עלה במחשבה להיות הוי״ה דלתתא להיות העולמות
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶7“The people feared Havayah” is the lower Name, the revealed world, which is grasped, so awe applies to it, as one who sees the king. “They believed in Havayah” is the higher Name, the hidden world, which is not seen or grasped, so only faith applies.
ויאמינו בה׳ הוא הוי״ה דלעילא עלמא דאתכסייא שאינו נראה ומושג ולא שייך בו בחי׳ יראה כ״א אמונה
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶7The lower Name is hishtalshelus itself: yud Chochmah, hei Binah, and so on, and sins blemish its letters. The higher Name is above hishtalshelus, the Supernal Will far above Chochmah, so the cantillation divides the two. Teshuvah from the depth of the heart, and the shofar, draw from the higher Name to fill the blemishes.
אבל שם הוי׳ דלעילא עם היות שנקרא ג״כ הוי׳ ע״ש התהוות שממנו ית׳ מ״מ הוא בחי׳ גילוי אור עליון שלמעלה מהשתלשלות
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶21“He called: Havayah, Havayah” means calling and drawing from the higher Name, above the order of hishtalshelus, into the lower Name within it: where a pause had divided them, the two are bound and joined. It likens this to the Time to Come, when the Name will be read as written and the hidden will join the revealed, “on the eighth.”
שקורא וממשיך מהוי׳ דלעילא שלמעלה מסדר ההשתלשלות להוי׳ דלתתא שבסדר ההשתלשלות
Stated differently
Where the two Names stand: the lower in Z”A and the higher in Atik, or the higher in Arich Anpin; or the lower as the ten Sefiros of all four worlds and the higher as Adam Kadmon
זאת חקת התורה אשר צוה הוי׳ היינו שם הוי׳ דעתיקCiting the Idra: where Havayah appears twice in one verse, one Name is in Z”A and the other in Atik, memalei and sovev; so in “Havayah spoke to Moshe” it is Z”A, and in “which Havayah commanded” it is Atik.
שיש ב׳ הויות א׳ בז״א להיות עולמות הברואים כו׳. והא׳ בא״א להיות חנון ורחוםThere are two Names Havayah: one in Z”A, to bring the created worlds into being, and one in Arich Anpin, to be gracious and merciful.
ושם הוי׳ דלעילא היינו בחי׳ רצון עליון א״ק שכולל בתוכו ע״ס דאבי״עThe lower Name is the ten Sefiros of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, from the yud, Chochmah of Atzilus, to the final hei, Malchus of Asiyah. The higher Name is the Supernal Will, Adam Kadmon, which includes them all.
In “Havayah, Havayah” and similar verses, whether the first Name is the higher, above hishtalshelus, or the second
היינו שהוא ית׳ קורא וממשיך מבחי׳ שם הוי׳ הראשון שלמעלה מהשתלשלות“He called: Havayah, Havayah”: He calls and draws from the first Name, above hishtalshelus, to be revealed in the Name within it. The paragraph notes that some commentators on the Idra take the first Name as above hishtalshelus, and that another reading implies it is the second.
והוא הוי׳ הראשון שהוא לרצון לפני הוי״ה הב׳ ונק׳ רעוא דרעויןOf the two Names in “Havayah, Havayah,” the source and root of His will to bring all things into being is the first Name, the will before the second, called “the will of wills.”
שבכל מקום שנמצא שם הוי׳ ב׳ פעמים בפסוק אחד הפי׳ הוא דהשם הראשון הוא בז״א והב׳ הוא בעתיקCiting the Idra: wherever Havayah appears twice in one verse, the first Name is in Z”A and the second in Atik, the first memalei and the second sovev; a gloss of R. Tzemach adds that the rule holds only where the verse bears it.
Who calls and draws from the higher Name into the lower in “He called: Havayah, Havayah”: G‑d, the first Havayah drawing the second; or Moshe
אך ענין ויקרא הוי׳ הוי׳ היינו שהוא ית׳ קורא וממשיך“He called: Havayah, Havayah” means that He, blessed be He, calls and draws from the first Name, above hishtalshelus, to be revealed in the Name within it; through teshuvah we too call and draw from it.
שהוי׳ הא׳ קורא וממשיך הוי׳ הב׳The first Havayah calls and draws the second, so that the thirteen attributes of mercy, the sources of all beings and all hishtalshelus, are emanated and revealed.
ויקרא קאי על משה שמשה קורא וממשיך מהוי״ה דלעילא להוי״ה דלתתא“He called” refers to Moshe: Moshe calls and draws from the higher Name to the lower, which had been divided by a pause; through Moshe the two Names are joined and bound.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶1Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶7Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Masei 8, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶21
Where it appears
In 38 paragraphs of 26 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶5 ¶17 ¶19 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶20 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶1 ¶3 ¶7 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4 ¶9 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶21 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 14 ¶16 ¶17
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.