Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Katnus and gadlus
קטנות וגדלות
Smallness and maturity of mind (katnus and gadlus)
Smallness and maturity of mind, in a person and in Z’eir Anpin: in katnus a narrow Daas leaves the middos small and quickly roused; in gadlus a broad Daas governs them.
The word קטן and גדול are also plain “small/young” and “great/grown”; the texts build the term on the child and the adult, so a reader tells the technical sense by its pairing with mochin, Daas or Z’eir Anpin (מוחין דקטנות, קטנות הדעת).
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶5A child is upset, angry and weeps over the smallest thing against his will, because his Daas is in katnus and spreads at once into the middos. With mochin of gadlus a grown person can hold in mind what is against his will without anger; there are many grades of this.
פי׳ מוחין דקטנות הוא עד״מ כמו קטן מתפעל מאד ממה שהוא נגד רצונו
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶9The middos follow the Daas: a child longs for nuts and play, and as his Daas grows he longs for clothes, then money, then honour, until a strong Daas turns the middos toward G‑dliness. Daas is what sustains the middos.
נמצא שמחמת קטנות הדעת נמשך שהמדות הם בקטנות מאד
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶11Above, the middos are the “vegetative” level, which grows; so Z’eir Anpin has katnus and gadlus: mochin of katnus, mochin of nursing, first gadlus and second gadlus.
כך בז״א שנק׳ צומח יש בו קטנות וגדלות
- Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶10In the throat the mochin are contracted into katnus so as to turn into middos; this is Mitzrayim, the narrow place, narrow and small beside the mochin as they are in the head.
ועתה בגרון נתצמצם בבחי׳ קטנות המוחין בכדי להתהפך למדה
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶39Katnus belongs to the receiver: at the Exodus the revelation came from very high, but Israel, before receiving the Torah, held it only in katnus, as a father’s love for a small son shows in hugs and small things, and for a grown son in teaching him wisdom.
אמנם לא היה הארה זו מאיר ומתגלה בהם כ״א בתכלית הקטנות
Stated differently
Whether on the first night of Pesach Israel was in katnus or received mochin of gadlus
כי ביצ״מ היה עדיין בבחי׳ קטנות כצמח השדה בתחלתוAt the Exodus Israel was still in katnus, like a plant just sprouting, with only the lesser love; matzah was commanded so that they would reach the higher revelation of the first night of Pesach.
נמשך בפסח ע״י אכילת מצה שהוא קטנות אבאEating matzah on Pesach draws the katnus of Abba: the mochin of Abba, above grasped Daas, drawn in katnus, as a child knows to call “Abba” without knowing what his father is.
שבלילות הראשונות של פסח נתגלה בחינת מוחין דגדלות כידועOn the first nights of Pesach the mochin of gadlus were revealed, but only for the moment, by a leap beyond the natural order; hence the counting of the Omer draws them in little by little.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶39Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶40Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶9Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶10Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶11
Where it appears
In 175 paragraphs of 91 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶10 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶21 ¶22 ¶23 ¶41 ¶53
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶1 ¶2 ¶7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶7 ¶9 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶18 ¶24 ¶39 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 6 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶24 ¶28 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 14 ¶2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶6 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶7 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶3 ¶16 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶6 ¶9 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶2 ¶6 ¶8 ¶11 ¶12 ¶13 ¶14 ¶21 ¶25 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 9 ¶1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶12 ¶20 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶3 ¶7 ¶11 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶6 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶2 ¶3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶10 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶6 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶12 ¶25 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 2 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Metzora 1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶8 ¶12 ¶13 ¶14 ¶15 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶52
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶5 ¶6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶13 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 13 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶21 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶11 ¶25 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶3 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 4 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶10 ¶11 ¶17 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 5 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶19 ¶20 ¶26 ¶27 ¶32 ¶35 ¶43
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶14 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 3 ¶4 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶6 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶6 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶7 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶25
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.