Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
He’elem and giluy
העלם וגילוי
Concealment and revelation (he’elem and giluy)
Concealment and revelation: G‑dliness is present everywhere, hidden or revealed; what seems its withdrawal or spreading is explained in several places as only concealment or revelation. The world (olam) is named for concealment (he’elem).
The word גילוי and העלם are ordinary words (גילוי also in halachic terms such as גילוי עריות). In these texts “בבחי׳ העלם” does not mean absent: the thing is present but not felt or shown, like thought in the foot (Balak 5:3) or a spark in a dim coal (Emor 1:37).
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶3The rule: in G‑dliness there is no withdrawing or spreading out, only concealment and revelation. “I fill the heavens and the earth” is true everywhere, but in concealment; between the poles of the Ark it shone in revelation. So too a person’s thought is in the foot as well, but there it is hidden and encompassing, while in the brain it shines openly.
שבאלקות אין שייך כלל ענין הסתלקות והתפשטות כ״א ענין העלם וגילוי
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶18Revelation is preceded by concealment: “first darkness, then light.” Chochmah, found from ayin, is the beginning of revelation, but only after the ayin above it is hidden (“He made darkness His hiding place”); what is revealed is only a point, the Yud, while the source stays concealed.
שמוכרח להיות העלם והסתר תחלה שלא יתגלה מהבחי׳ אין שלמעלה מהחכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1, ¶1“World” (olam) means concealment: the darkness that hides the Or Ein Sof dwelling within it, so that the world looks like a thing in its own right. The purpose of creation, a dwelling below, is that the other side be subdued and this darkness turned to light, through our service in exile; in the Time to Come it will be seen eye to eye.
עולם הוא מלשון העלם שהוא החשך וההסתר שמעלים ומסתיר אור א״ס ב״ה השוכן בתוכו ונראה ליש ודבר בפני עצמו
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1, ¶14The higher a thing is, the lower it must come to be revealed. Torah is rooted in the supernal will, “the most hidden of all,” so its light cannot be received openly until it comes down into physical speech, the breath of those who learn it; there it shines openly and gives life to all the worlds.
שכל דבר עליון מאד אינו בא לידי גילוי אורו אלא למטה בסוף מעשה
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶5In the soul: the love of G‑d is there before prayer, but hidden, and through prayer and contemplation it is revealed. So the love is called ahavas olam, olam meaning concealment: love revealed out of concealment.
שקודם התפלה היתה בהעלם ואחר כך ע״י התפלה נתגלית
Stated differently
What the concealment that makes the world an olam (concealment) stems from
ושרש כל השרשים להעלים זהו מבחי׳ ההעלם דעגולים העליונים שהאור מתעלם בהם ואינו מתגלהThe root of all concealment is the concealment of the higher igulim, where the light is hidden and not revealed. From this come vessels in Atzilus that cover the lights, and through many steps of descent a total concealment, until the world looks like a thing in its own right.
הוא מבחינת עולם מלשון העלם והעלם זה הוא מבחי׳ מלכותו ית׳ שלפי שאין מלך בלא עםThat physical heaven and earth are seen today is from the concealment of olam, and this concealment is from His Malchus: since there is no king without a people, He concealed the revelation of His G‑dliness, so that His Name and kingship would be called upon them. Malchus is a garment that covers.
פני שור שמהשמאל שהוא בחי׳ גבורה המעלים ומסתיר בחי׳ גדולה הנ״לThe worlds receive from “the face of the ox on the left,” Gevurah, which conceals the greatness of G‑d; the love that comes from this is called ahavas olam because it comes through the concealment of the G‑dly life within the worlds, and so it is called olam, from concealment.
Whether withdrawal and spreading (histalkus and hispashtus) apply to G‑dly light, or only concealment and revelation
שבאלקות אין שייך כלל ענין הסתלקות והתפשטות כ״א ענין העלם וגילויIn G‑dliness withdrawal and spreading do not apply at all, only concealment and revelation: “I fill the heavens and the earth” is true everywhere, but in concealment.
אינו כפשוטו לומר שנסתלק ואינו נמצא עוד במקום זה דלא שייך כלל לומר כן באור א״ס ב״ה אלא הוא רק ענין העלם וגילויThis withdrawal and spreading is not literal, as if the light withdrew and were no longer in that place; that cannot be said of the Or Ein Sof at all. It is only concealment and revelation: in the sefiros of Atzilus it shines in great revelation, in those of Beriah not so.
וגם אפי׳ ממש בראשית מראשית ההמשכה מא״ס ב״ה להתלבש בשרש בחי׳ הכלים שהן שרש כל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים שייך ג״כ רצוא ושוב שהוא הסתלקות והתפשטותEven at the very beginning of the drawing from Ein Sof to clothe itself in the root of the vessels, ratzo vashov applies, which is withdrawal and spreading: as soon as the light spreads it must withdraw, or the vessels would cease to be vessels; the spreading comes first.
וכך למעלה בחי׳ רצוא ושוב כמראה הבזק שעבודת הלוים לשאת המשכן שרשם הוא מבחי׳ הדפק העליון שהוא בחי׳ הסתלקות והתפשטותAbove, ratzo vashov is the supernal pulse, which is withdrawal and spreading; the Levites’ service of carrying the Mishkan is rooted in it.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶18Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 5, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Emor 1, ¶37Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9, ¶2Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶5
Where it appears
In 14 paragraphs of 12 maamarim (only where it is the subject: the word is common in its plain sense).
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶18 ¶56
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 5 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶37
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.