Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Leishtaava begufa demalka
לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא
To be absorbed into the body of the King (leishtaava begufa demalka)
The Zohar’s phrase for the soul’s complete inclusion in the Or Ein Sof, like food turned into blood, one with the soul’s blood; above Gan Eden’s radiance; reached through Torah, prayer, teshuvah and mitzvos.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26, ¶13The Zohar’s term means actual bittul and inclusion in the Or Ein Sof, as food becomes blood that is one with the very blood of the soul; so all of a person’s powers are for G‑d alone (“Whom have I in heaven”), and the powers of the animal soul are subdued and transformed (iskafya and is’hapcha).
דהיינו להיות בבחי׳ ביטול והתכללות ממש באור ה׳ א״ס ב״ה כמו המאכל שנעשה ממנו דם
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3, ¶2The delight of souls in Gan Eden reaches only “with You,” the radiance of the Shechinah, not Him. Ahavah rabbah wants none of it, but to be nullified and included in the Or Ein Sof itself, far above radiance: not sitting and enjoying, but bittul of existence, like a candle in a torch, even if it ceases to exist there entirely.
אלא האהבה רבה היא ליבטל וליכלל באור א״ס ב״ה ממש ולאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא שלמעלה מעלה מבחי׳ זיו והארה
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4, ¶2The soul’s descent into a body is not only for its reward in the World to Come, which is enjoying the radiance of the Shechinah; teshuvah and good deeds in this world are what the Zohar calls being absorbed into the body of the King. Its main revelation will be in the future, but a glimmer of it shines in Gan Eden as “the radiance of their Torah and service.”
משא״כ תשובה ומע״ט נק׳ בזוהר לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 1, ¶9How can a soul, a created yesh, be absorbed? Through the Torah, which is higher than the souls. As bread gives life by being absorbed into a person’s limbs, the Torah, food of the soul, must be absorbed into the soul’s limbs; through this the soul returns to G‑d and is swallowed into the body of the King (“Come, eat of my bread”).
וע״י זה הנפש תשוב אל ה׳ לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא להיות נבלע בגופא דמלכא ממש
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7, ¶13The soul descends to rise from the level of “He and His vessels” to “He and His life,” which the Zohar calls absorption into the body of the King: a union like that of body and soul, where the soul feels every pain of the body, closer than the union of intellect with its letters of thought. This is reached only through the soul’s being clothed in a body and animal soul.
דהיינו להעלותה מבחי׳ איהו וגרמוהי לבחי׳ איהו וחיוהי ונק׳ בזוה״ק לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא
Stated differently
What “the body of the King” is
ועל ידי בחינת לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא שהוא ע״ס דז״א הרי מתאחדים ג״כ בהקו מאור אין סוף שבז״אThe body of the King is the ten Sefiros of Zeir Anpin, the supernal Adam. Souls that give themselves over in “One” of the Shema are included in it, and through it are united also with the line of Or Ein Sof within Zeir Anpin.
רק לאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא שהוא מהותו ועצמותו ית׳One who loves “with all your might” wants not Gan Eden, which is only radiance, but only to be absorbed into the body of the King, which is His very essence and being.
ולאשתאבא בגופא דמלכא שזהו ע״י לבושים אלו הנעשים מהתומ״צ ששרשן מאד נעלה מבחי׳ גופא דמלכא ממשThe soul’s garments, made day by day from Torah and mitzvos, let it enjoy the radiance of the Shechinah and be absorbed into the body of the King; the root of those Torah and mitzvos is far above the body of the King itself, but they came down to be garments.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Behar 1, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3, ¶1Torah Ohr, Yisro 7, ¶13Torah Ohr, Noach 2, ¶4Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7, ¶7
Where it appears
In 32 paragraphs of 24 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶14 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Noach 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶10 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Noach 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Noach 2 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 7 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶4
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.