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Keser

כתר

Keser (the Crown)

The Crown over the Sefiros: intermediary between Or Ein Sof and the emanated, holding the lowest level of the Infinite; the Supernal Will and source of delight, beyond grasp; Chochmah emerges from it.

The word כתר is also a king’s crown (the parable in Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6:11), and the text uses כתר for the top level of any Sefirah, partzuf or world (Keser of Z’eir Anpin, Keser of Asiyah, Keser Malchus). The Keser over all of Atzilus is written כתר עליון / כ״ע or identified with Arich and Atik.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶22Keser is the intermediary between the essence of Or Ein Sof and the emanated, and has in it the lowest level of the Infinite (called Atik); it is “the great Name” drawn from Malchus of Ein Sof, never grasped, whereas Chochmah is the beginning of revelation. Its other aspect, the root of the emanated, is counted among the Ten Sefiros.הכתר הוא בחי׳ ממוצע בין עצמות אא״ס לנאצלים ויש בו מבחי׳ תחתונה שבא״ס
  2. Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶11Chochmah, Binah and the middos have a relation to one another, but Chochmah has no relation at all to Keser, the “ayin” from which it is found; Keser is Gulgalta of Arich, Malchus of Ein Sof, above the chain of worlds, like a crown that sits on the head without being part of it.והחכ׳ מאין (ממש) תמצא שהוא בחי׳ כתר שהוא למעלה מהשתלשלות כלל
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶1Will is Keser and higher than the intellect of Chochmah; yet within Keser, Mocha Stima’ah, the hidden intellect where delight is, is the inner side of the will (Gulgalta). When the outer side of the Sefiros is counted, Keser (the will) is counted among the ten; its inner side is not.כי הרצון הוא בחינת כתר והשכל הוא בחינת חכמה
  4. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶1Keser is above the Ten Sefiros, the source of delight and the level of sovev kol almin; the chain of Atzilus as memalei kol almin begins from Chochmah.הנה הכתר הוא למעלה מכל הע״ס והוא מקור התענוג בחינת סכ״ע
  5. Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2, ¶22At every level Keser is the go-between of an upper and a lower world, as Malchus of Atzilus is Keser for Beriah; the word means silence, that is bittul, through which a world can rise. Keser comprises two partzufim, Atik and Arich Anpin: the lowest level of the Emanator and the root of the emanated.הכתר הוא הממוצע בין עולם העליון לעולם התחתון שהוא סוף בחי׳ עליונה ומקור וראש לבחי׳ תחתונה

Stated differently

Whether an arousal from below (isarusa dilesata) reaches Keser

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

Since Keser has no relation to Chochmah, an arousal from below cannot arouse it at all; it is revealed of itself, as at the splitting of the Sea and on Shavuos.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27, ¶5אתעדל״ת אינו יכול להגיע רק לבחי׳ חכמה ראשית ההשתלשלות

An arousal from below reaches only as far as Chochmah; the flow from Keser comes of itself, like the doorless entrance of the Ulam, though it shines only after a person has done all he can with his intellect and middos.

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

To draw the flow from Keser (“He made darkness His hiding place”), the arousal from below, bitterness over the darkness that hides His light, rises up to the supernal darkness above the light of Chochmah.

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

What we can draw by arousal from below through the mitzvos is from the lower aspect of Keser, the root of the emanated; its aspect that is the lowest level of the Emanator we cannot draw, and it comes afterward from above as a gift.

Whether Keser is sovev kol almin, or only its lower aspect is

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶1הנה הכתר הוא למעלה מכל הע״ס והוא מקור התענוג בחינת סכ״ע

Keser is above all the Ten Sefiros; it is the source of delight and the level of sovev kol almin, while Atzilus as memalei kol almin begins from Chochmah.

Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12, ¶10שהוא מובדל ומרומם גם מהיות נק׳ סוכ״ע שזה אינו רק הבחי׳ השנית שבכתר הנק׳ שרש הנאצלים

The Supernal Will, called Keser, is sovev kol almin, but that is only Keser’s second aspect, the root of the emanated. Atik, the inner side of Keser and lowest level of the Infinite, is exalted even above being called sovev; the supernal delight of the righteous comes from above sovev.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶22Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶1Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶19Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2, ¶22

Where it appears

In 614 paragraphs of 189 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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