Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Libun hilchesa
לבון הלכתא
The whitening (clarification) of the halachah (libun hilchesa)
The Zohar’s reading of the Egyptian “bricks” (levenim): deep study of the halachos of the Oral Torah, resolving questions and contradictions, which “whitens” them, drawing the supernal Chochmah and higher “whiteness” into what looks dark.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1, ¶7“With bricks: this is libun hilchesa,” because we have no clear halachah: every law of the Torah is taught in dispute, some declaring fit and pure, others unfit and impure. As the bondage in mortar and bricks earned the Giving of the Torah, libun hilchesa in our time earns the revelation of the inner Torah in the Time to Come.
שאין בידינו הלכה ברורה ודין ברור כי כל דיני התורה במחלוק׳ שנויה
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1, ¶16The halachos, the sayings of the Amoraim, are “maidens” (alamos): Talmud is in Beriah, where Chochmah Ila’ah of Atzilus is not revealed; they are only vessels ready for it. Libun draws Chochmah Ila’ah into them, from the higher whiteness of Keser and Chochmah, and the service of libun hilchesa now is the work of refining (birurim).
וזהו ענין לבון הלכתא שצריך ללבן ההלכות ולהמשיך בתוכן ח״ע
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶32The reasons of the Talmud’s laws stay hidden in their root. Studying halachah in depth until one derives a new law or grasps the hidden reason of a law brings the concealed into revelation; through this the higher whiteness, Or Ein Sof, is revealed, whiteness meaning the revelation of simple oneness.
הנה זהו בחי׳ הליבון היינו שמה שהיה תחלה בחי׳ עלמות והעלם גמור כעת נמשך בבחי׳ גילוי
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶20“I am black yet comely”: the Oral Torah looks black, with no light seen in it, since it speaks of seeds and of money matters between people; in truth it is comely, for everything in it is founded in the supernal Chochmah. This is why “with bricks” is libun hilchesa.
התורה שבע״פ היא נראית לעין כל בבחי׳ שחורה שאין נראה בה שום אור כלל
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15, ¶17The hidden love in every Jew must be brought out with toil of soul and body, like the hard labor in Egypt “in mortar and bricks,” which the Zohar reads: mortar (chomer) is kal vachomer, bricks (levenim) are libun hilchesa, through study of the Torah in depth.
ואמרו בזהר בחומר דא קל וחומר ובלבנים דא ליבון הלכתא שע״י עסק התורה בעיון ובעומק
Stated differently
What the whitening of the halachah is accomplished by
ולבון הלכתא הוא ע״י קושיות ופירוקיםThrough questions and resolutions, as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did, which draws the depth of Chochmah.
ע״י חדות ה׳ היא השמחה אמתית בה׳ אחד ולהבטל ברצונוThe halachos that look black are whitened with the higher whiteness through true joy in G‑d and self-nullification to His will, which is enclothed in His Torah.
וזהו ענין לבון הלכתא כו׳. וזהו ע״י התפלהThe washing and laundering of the garments of Torah and mitzvos, by transforming the middos through Daas, is libun hilchesa, and it comes through prayer, the time for Daas to be revealed in contemplation.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Shemos 1, ¶7Torah Ohr, Shemos 1, ¶16Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶20Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶21Torah Ohr, Shemos 2, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶32Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶33Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶34
Where it appears
In 18 paragraphs of 10 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2 ¶3 ¶20 ¶21 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32 ¶32 ¶33 ¶34
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 4 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶7 ¶8 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶3
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.