Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Klal and prat
כלל ופרט
General and particular (klal and prat)
A Torah pattern: a whole is given in general (klal) and then unfolded in its details (prat); the general holds only what the details spell out, as the Written Torah stands to the Oral.
The word כלל ופרט is first one of Rabbi Yishmael’s rules of exegesis (a general term followed by a specific one: “the general holds only what the specific names”); the maamarim quote the rule and extend the pair to any whole and its details. Elsewhere בכלל / בפרט simply mean “in general / in particular” and carry no doctrinal weight.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10, ¶1The Written Torah is the general and the Oral Torah the particular: the 613 mitzvos are stated in the Written Torah as a whole and their details are explained in the Oral Torah, and all of it counts as one.
אך תורה שבכתב היא בחי׳ כלל ותשבע״פ בחי׳ פרט ואין בכלל אלא מה שבפרט
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9, ¶3Like a purse of gold coins received at once and then counted coin by coin: the mochin d’gadlus revealed on the first nights of Pesach came all at once, by a leap, and the Omer count then draws it in day by day, refining one middah each day.
שמתחלה מקבל המתנה בפעם א׳ בכלל ואח״ז הוא סופר ומונה הזהובים מעט מעט בפרט
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4, ¶10Following the rule “general, particular and general again”: a glimmer drawn each day in the Shema prepares the general revelation of the Ten Days of Teshuvah and Yom Kippur, where what was divided into details is gathered back into the whole.
כי כך הוא מדת התורה כלל ופרט וחזר וכלל להיות חוזר ונכלל מה שנפרט לפרטי פרטיות
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3, ¶7The life of the whole year is drawn on Rosh Hashanah as one general life-force, then divided into twelve months; each month lives from that general light, and each day is a particular of its month. The general life-force itself is the subject of the klalus entry.
וכל חדש מקבל חיות מהארת הכלל והיום הוא הפרט מכלל החדש ומקבל ממנו חיותו
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8, ¶35A general is of the same order as its particulars: Akudim, the source of hishtalshelus, holds all its details as a general holds its particulars, whereas the Essence of Ein Sof cannot be called the general of hishtalshelus; the worlds are included in it only as its perfection, a mere radiance (a note signed Maharil).
כי כל כלל הוא שייך להפרטים
Stated differently
How the particular ranks against the general it is drawn from
כך תורה שבע״פ היא המקבלת מתשב״כThe Oral Torah, the particular, receives from the Written Torah, the general, as the moon receives its light from the sun.
ולכאורה הברייתא היא למטה מן המשנה שנשתלשלה יותר למטה אבל האמת הוא שהברייתא גבוה יותרThe Mishnah is the general and the Baraisa its particular; the Baraisa was drawn further down and so seems lower, but in truth it is higher, for the end of the deed is first in thought. Its details without a stated reason are above reason (3:5).
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4, ¶10Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 4, ¶1Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 4, ¶5Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8, ¶35
Where it appears
In 9 paragraphs of 8 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.