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Isarusa dilesata

אתערותא דלתתא

An arousal from below (isarusa dilesata)

A stirring that begins with the person (love and awe won by toil, self-nullification, the deed of the mitzvos) which, “as water reflects a face,” awakens a matching arousal from above.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶12Defines the arousal from below as the stirring of a person’s heart, which, like a face reflected in water, awakens a matching arousal from above from the level of the “supernal Adam”; there is a level (“for He is not a man”) it does not reach at all. The same paragraph adds that the arousal from below itself needs an arousal from above first, as the blessing comes before the mitzvah.ענין אתעדל״ת הוא כמ״ש כמים הפנים כו׳ כן האתעדל״ת של לב האדם מעורר אתעדל״ע מבחי׳ אדם העליון
  2. Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3, ¶5The love and awe a person labors to bring forth through contemplation are an arousal from below for the love and awe that come from above. When it comes first (“the woman seeds first”), the response comes from a higher, inner level and produces ahavah rabbah, a love beyond the soul’s own grasp.שהאוי״ר שהאדם מעורר בנפשו הם רק אתעדל״ת לאהוי״ר הבאים מלמעלה בבחי׳ אתעדל״ע
  3. Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2, ¶9A real arousal from below, through toil of soul and body, lasts: the arousal from above it calls forth shines inwardly in the soul and gives strength for further arousal. Feeling that was stirred only from above passes when that light withdraws (“the man seeds first, she bears a female”).כאשר יש אתעדל״ת ממש ע״י יגיעת נפש אזי הוא דבר שיכול להתקיים לעד
  4. Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶10Sets the limit of the arousal from below: Malchus of Atzilus, rising through it, reaches only Chochmah of Atzilus, its source (“Abba founded the Daughter”), and draws the flow from there; it cannot arouse anything above Chochmah.אין האתעדל״ת יכול לעורר כלל למעלה מבחינת חכמה דאצי׳
  5. Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12, ¶24Applies the principle historically: at Sinai the self-nullification came through an arousal from above (the mountain held over them), while in the days of Achashverosh it came from Israel’s own side first; therefore the light drawn at Purim came from a higher place.בימי אחשורוש היה הבטול מצד עצמם בחינת אתעדל״ת תחלה

Stated differently

How high an arousal from below reaches: only up to Chochmah of Atzilus, into Keser and Atik, or to the Essence of Ein Sof

Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶11ע״כ אין אתעדל״ת יכול לעורר כלל לבחי׳ כתר רק הוא דבר שחל ממילא

Above Chochmah, Keser has no relation to what is below it; the arousal from below cannot arouse it at all, and Keser is revealed of itself (as at the splitting of the sea and on Shavuos).

Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1, ¶21אתערותא דלתתא זו עולה עד בחינת החושך העליון שלמעלה מהאור דח״ע

This arousal from below, the bitterness over the darkness that hides G‑dliness (“a mist went up from the earth”), rises to the supernal darkness above the light of Chochmah Ila’ah, “He made darkness His hiding place,” and so draws the flow from Keser.

Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 14, ¶9שמה שיש בכחנו להמשיך ע״י אתעדל״ת בקיום המצות זהו מבחי׳ התחתונה שבכתר

What we are able to draw through an arousal from below in keeping the mitzvos comes from the lowest aspect within Keser, the root of the emanated beings; the aspect of Keser that is the lowest level of the Emanator we cannot draw, and it comes afterward as a gift.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶12השמים כסאי כו׳ שנמשכים ע״י אתעדל״ת וא״א להמשיך רק מחיצוניות עתיק

The present heavens and earth, drawn through an arousal from below, can draw only from the outer aspect of Atik; the inner aspect of Atik is an arousal from above entirely beyond the arousal from below, for the new heavens and earth.

Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12, ¶25באתעדל״ת ובטול זה הגיעו למעלה מעלה בעצמות א״ס ב״ה שלמעלה מעלה מגדר ההשתלשלות

Through the self-sacrifice of the days of Achashverosh, beyond reason and understanding, their arousal from below and bittul reached the very Essence of Ein Sof, far above the bounds of hishtalshelus and beyond sovev and memale.

Whether an arousal from below draws a higher arousal from above than one that comes without it

Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶12שהוא בחי׳ אתעדל״ע שנעשית שלא ע״י אתעדל״ת כלל מפני שהיא למעלה מעלה מאתעדל״ת

The level of Anochi, drawn through Torah, is an arousal from above that comes about without any arousal from below because it is far above it; the arousal from below does not reach there.

Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3, ¶5אם האתעדל״ת קדמה תחלה שמייגע א״ע להוליד אהוי״ר מרוח בינתו כו׳ אזי נמשך האתעדל״ע מבחינה ומדרגה גבוה

When the arousal from below comes first, the arousal from above is drawn from a higher level, from the inner light; when the arousal from above comes first to awaken the person, the result is lower (“she bears a female”).

Whether what Torah study draws comes without any arousal from below, or is brought about by the deeds of those below

Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶11תלמוד תורה הוא רק המשכה מאתעדל״ע וכמ״ש ודברי אשר שמתי בפיך והמשכה זו נעשית שלא ע״י אתעדל״ת

Torah study is only a drawing-down from an arousal from above, which the arousal from below cannot attain; it comes about through the study itself, not through an arousal from below.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶24ההמשכות שע״י מצות ותורה הרי שניהם הם ע״י מעשה התחתונים ולא כמו אתעדל״ע הנמשך מעצמו ממש

The drawings-down through mitzvos and through Torah are both brought about by the deeds of those below, unlike the arousal from above that comes entirely of itself.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶24Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27, ¶5Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶10Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12, ¶24

Where it appears

In 401 paragraphs of 185 maamarim.

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.

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