Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Kachasheichah kaorah
כחשיכה כאורה
“As darkness, so light” (kachasheichah kaorah)
Psalms 139:12: before G‑d as He transcends the worlds, darkness and light, concealment and revelation, high and low are equal: darkness does not darken, and even the brightest light counts as darkness.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6, ¶9The verse’s double kaf: “darkness is as light” alone would mean only that darkness does not darken; “as darkness, so light” adds that light too equals darkness, for all lights are darkened before Him and even Keser Elyon, a pure light, is black. So there is no joy of grasping there, only the bittul of grasp (“He made darkness His hiding place”).
אבל כחשכה כאורה בשני כפי״ן משמע דלא זו שגם החשך לא יחשיך והחשך שוה לאור אלא אף האור שוה לחשך
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6, ¶8The joy of rising from very low to very high belongs to mochin d’Imma, revelation of the Infinite as grasped; in mochin d’Abba, the revelation of what is above grasp, high and low do not apply at all.
אבל מוחין דאבא שהם בבחי׳ גילוי מה שלמעלה מהשגה שם לא שייך מעלה ומטה כלל ומעלה ומטה שוין וכחשכה כאורה
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6, ¶21Why the revelation of Havayah could reach Israel in physical Asiyah, in Egypt: the matzah drew down mochin d’Abba, above the order of hishtalshelus, where darkness is as light.
ע״י המצה נמשך מוחין דאבא שהחכמה מאין תמצא שהיא למעלה מסדר ההשתלשלות עד ששם נאמר כחשכה כאורה
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1, ¶7The revelation of Gan Eden is only a radiance from a person’s Torah and service; Or Ein Sof itself, sovev kol almin, makes small and great equal, and before it darkness is as light.
ואור א״ס ב״ה עצמו הסוכ״ע הוא השוה ומשוה קטן וגדול ולפניו כחשכה כאורה
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6, ¶7The other side of the equality: kelipah’s brazenness above is that it wants to draw from Or Ein Sof itself, where bittul counts for nothing, rather than through the bittul that Israel draws down. In 5:3 the same equality before the Emanator, sovev, is why “the spider is in the king’s palaces”.
אלא רוצים שיושפע להם אוא״ס ממש שלפניו כחשכה כאורה שאין בחי׳ הבטול תופס מקום כלל לפניו
Stated differently
Whether Chochmah (Abba) is a level where darkness and light are equal, or only what is above it
בחי׳ חכמה שהוא אצילות הנה לגבי אצילות שוה בריאה ויצירה וכחשכה כאורהChochmah, Atzilus within Atzilus (mochin d’Abba), is above the hishtalshelus of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, so relative to it the concealment and revelation of Beriah and Yetzirah are equal.
משא״כ בחינת כתר שלמעלה מחכמה הוא רחמים פשוטים וכחשיכה כאורהChochmah also holds gevuros and judgment, through which evil is sorted out and separated; it is Keser, above Chochmah, that is simple mercy where darkness is as light.
אנכי מי שאנכי הוא עצמות א״ס ב״ה שהוא למעלה מעלה מבחי׳ אבא ומעלה ומטה שוין אצלו ולפניו ית׳ כחשכה כאורה ממש“Anochi mi she’Anochi” is the Essence of Ein Sof, far above the level of Abba; with Him high and low are equal and before Him darkness is truly as light.
Whether the level is sovev kol almin itself or above sovev and memalei
ואור א״ס ב״ה עצמו הסוכ״ע הוא השוה ומשוה קטן וגדול ולפניו כחשכה כאורהOr Ein Sof itself, sovev kol almin, is the level before which darkness is as light.
למעלה גם מבחינת ההעלם למעלה מבחינת סובב וממלא כי אין ערוך כו׳ קדוש ומובדל וקמיה כחשכה כאורה“Dodecha” is above hishtalshelus, above concealment, above both sovev and memalei; before His Essence even the revelation that follows concealment equals the earlier darkness.
Whether the equality belongs to the inner dimension of His will or to the outer (so whether sin separates there)
אבל בבחי׳ פנימי׳ רצונו ית׳ הרי לפניו כחשיכה כאורהSins separate only “between you and your Elokim”; in the inner dimension of His will, aroused on Yom Kippur, darkness is as light and sin takes up no place.
מבחי׳ פנימיות רצונו ית׳ ובבחי׳ זו עוונותיכם מבדילים ביניכם דוקאAsked how sin can separate if “darkness does not darken” (4:4): in the outer dimension, which creates and enlivens all creatures, nothing separates or conceals; it is in the inner dimension of His will that sins separate.
האוחז בעורף דא״א אשר שם כחשכה כאורה אבל בגילוי הפנימיות אז ויוציאנו ה׳ אלקינוDarkness is as light in the outer dimension of Adam Kadmon and at the back of the neck of Arich Anpin, from which Pharaoh drew; when the inner dimension is revealed, the foreskin covers and Israel is taken out.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Tzav 10, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2, ¶2Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1, ¶4
Where it appears
In 79 paragraphs of 62 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶13 ¶15 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶17 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 35 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 10 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Bo 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 6 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 8 ¶12 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 5 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶3 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶26 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶8 ¶9 ¶21 ¶22 ¶23 ¶25 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶4 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 1 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2 ¶12 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶18 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 10 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 5 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32 ¶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.