Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Hearas panim
הארת פנים
The illumination of the face (hearas panim) · also: נשיאת פנים
The shining of G‑d’s face (“May Havayah make His face shine”): His flow given from His inner will, gladly, as to a beloved, not grudgingly; drawn “with us,” as our joy and bittul arouse it.
The word In plain speech הארת פנים is a person’s beaming, friendly face, and the maamarim use exactly that as the analogy (a face that glows on seeing a friend, or from a new insight). Said of G‑d, it is the drawing down of His inner will and light; it is distinct from “face and back” (panim and achor) as a general pair, which has its own entry.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4, ¶3The illumination of the face is like a person giving to his true friend: he gives generously and willingly, his face beaming with light and joy; to his enemy he gives unwillingly, “as one who throws it over his shoulder.” The next paragraph adds that it comes “with us,” when we too have a shining face, “as water reflects face to face.”
בחי׳ הארת פנים הוא כמשל אדם הנותן לאוהבו האמיתי איזה דבר הוא נותן בעין יפה ורצון הטוב וצהבו פניו מרוב אורה ושמחה
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶22The supernal whiteness is aroused above and revealed as the illumination of the face, the arousal of joy (“His face beamed”). “May He make His face shine with us”: it shines with us and through us, to the measure in which we arouse the revelation of G‑dliness.
שהארת פניו היא אתנו ועל ידינו כפי מה שאנו מעוררים בחי׳ התגלות אלהותו
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13, ¶17The light of Keser is the illumination of the face: the inner dimension revealed through the vessel without the vessel interposing. It is a gentle glow, like the shining of the forehead, unlike the fuller revelation “through an opening” from the mouth. At first it came of itself, as it arose in His will; now it depends on the arousal from below, serving with joy.
ועי״ז נמשך אור הכתר והוא הארת הפנים גילוי הפנימי׳ דרך הכלי שלא יהיה הכלי מפסיק
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 10, ¶2In Elul one goes out to greet “the light of His face” in the field. “May Havayah make His face shine” is the illumination of the Thirteen Attributes, face to face: His inner will shines on the source of Israel’s souls when one’s own inner will is to cleave to Him with self-sacrifice. It comes from “Kel,” first of the Thirteen Attributes, the Or Ein Sof itself, as the glow of a fire is one with the fire.
כך כביכול הארת פנים המאיר לכללות ישראל הוא מבחי׳ אל שהוא בחי׳ אור א״ס ב״ה עצמו ממש
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20, ¶26In a person, the glow of a face that comes from wine is the inner blood rising upward, with fiery heat. The illumination that comes from wisdom (“a man’s wisdom makes his face shine,” as R. Yehudah answered, and as R. Abahu’s face shone when he found a new teaching) comes from above downward, without fire, because Chochmah is bittul; it is “oil,” above wine.
אבל בחי׳ הארת פנים שמאיר מן החכמה מאיר ובא מלמעלה למטה ואין בזה שום רשפי אש
Stated differently
What level the illumination of the face comes from: Chochmah, or what is above Chochmah
וזהו יאר ה׳ פניו בחינת הארת פנים היא בחי׳ חכמה כמ״ש חכמת אדם תאיר פניו“May Havayah make His face shine”: the illumination of the face is Chochmah (“a man’s wisdom makes his face shine”), the revelation of koach mah, seeing that there is nothing besides Him; it comes down from above, in response to the arousal from below, and is found in the Torah, which comes from Chochmah.
יאר ה׳ פניו אליך הארת פנים מרצון העליון שלמעלה מהחכמהThe “face” above is the Or Ein Sof that is above Chochmah, compared to which even the supernal Chochmah counts as inanimate; “May Havayah make His face shine” is an illumination from the supernal will above Chochmah, for Chochmah is the yud, a point of contraction.
שהוא תיקון השביעי מי״ג תקונים דא״א תיקון ואמת שהוא הארת פנים שהפנים פנוי משערות“May Havayah make His face shine” is the seventh of the thirteen tikkunim of Arich Anpin, “and truth,” where the face is free of hair, above the hairs and contractions; “a man’s wisdom makes his face shine” here means the essence of Chochmah within Keser.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Reeh 10, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶22Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶22
Where it appears
In 77 paragraphs of 52 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶11 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶26 ¶30 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 10 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 6 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶15 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶4 ¶5 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶2 ¶7 ¶9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶17 ¶18 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 4 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶3 ¶7 ¶8 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 28 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4 ¶4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶15 ¶20 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶46
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶38 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 4 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶26 ¶32
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2 ¶22
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.