Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Lishmah
לשמה
For its own sake (lishmah)
Torah study “for its own sake”: explained as for the sake of the Torah itself, to draw Or Ein Sof into the Torah’s wisdom, which needs the learner’s bittul and freedom from other wants.
The word לשמה is the Sages’ plain phrase “for its sake”; לשם שמים (“for the sake of Heaven”) is the broader phrase used for any act done with that intent, such as eating or vows. In these books עוסק בתורה לשמה is mostly glossed לשם התורה עצמה, “for the sake of the Torah itself.”
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4, ¶11Torah study must also be in bittul (“and you shall speak of them” is next to “with all your soul and all your might”); through this one draws Or Ein Sof, from above Chochmah, into the Torah. That is lishmah: for the sake of the Torah itself. Not blessing the Torah first means not drawing Or Ein Sof into it.
ונק׳ עוסק בתורה לשמה ר״ל לשם התורה עצמה להמשיך בה גילוי אור א״ס שלמעלה מהחכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5, ¶14Now only a line (kav) of Or Ein Sof is clothed in the Torah’s wisdom. When a person’s soul, with its intellect and garments, is in bittul in his study, he brings about the revelation of the light above the kav; and this depends on his heart truly wanting that bittul.
שהרי עכשיו מלובש בה רק קו מאור א״ס וע״י עסק האדם בתורה לשמה גורם התגלות אור א״ס שלמעלה מהקו
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3, ¶10Through lishmah Or Ein Sof clothes itself in the Torah, so that the Holy One and the person studying are, as it were, covered by one garment, as two under one tallis; but only when the person is stripped of foreign wills.
וכמ״כ עי״ז אור א״ס ב״ה נמשך ומתלבש בהתורה שזהו ענין עוסק בתורה לשמה לשם התורה
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶27Study shelo lishmah, to grasp the Torah’s laws for himself, rises from below like rain from vapor. The lishmah that comes from it afterward is “dew,” which comes from above: the Holy One “reads and studies opposite him,” and the word of G‑d in that halachah is revealed in his soul as it was given at Sinai.
אבל מה שאח״כ מתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה הוא בחי׳ הנק׳ טל
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶15Studying the Torah, His wisdom, below draws the supernal love so that Or Ein Sof is revealed in Chochmah; that is lishmah, for the sake of the Torah, since the Torah comes from Chochmah.
וזהו ענין עסק התורה לשמה לשם התורה דהיינו להיות גלוי אוא״ס בחכמה
Stated differently
What study lishmah draws, and whose “sake” it means (the Torah itself, the hei, or both)
וזהו ענין עוסק בתורה לשמה. ופי׳ לשם התורה עצמה. כי על ידי זה הוא קורא וממשיך גילוי אור א״ס בתורהLishmah is for the sake of the Torah itself: through it one calls and draws revelation of Or Ein Sof into the Torah (“as if you made Me”).
שע״י עסק התורה נמשך הוי״ו של שם הוי״ה ב״ה שהוא ת״תOf study lishmah it was said “as if they made Me”: Torah study draws the vav of Havayah, Tiferes, while the mitzvos, chiefly tzedakah, draw the hei.
פי׳ בשביל התורה עצמה להמשיך בה בחי׳ האל״ףLishmah is for the Torah itself, to draw into it the aleph, His unity, even on earth; one who says “I have only Torah” is Amalek, who separates the aleph.
ועוד פי׳ לשמה לשם ה״א להמשיך הארה היוצא מיסוד דאבא להמתיק דיני לאהAnother explanation: lishmah is “for the sake of the hei,” to draw the light from Yesod of Abba to sweeten the judgments of Leah (the letters of thought), through study in depth that brings intellect into the letters.
וזהו עוסק בתורה לשמה לשם התורה עצמה וגם לשמה לשם ה׳ יען שעי״ז נעשה חיבור אותיות י״הThrough study the Holy One, the essence of Or Ein Sof, clothes Himself in the Torah: that is lishmah for the Torah itself, and also lishmah “for the hei,” since it joins the letters yud and hei (Chochmah and Binah); so the Torah is called peace.
What study shelo lishmah is
פי׳ שלא לשם התורה עצמה אלא כמארז״ל מעיקרא כי קעביד אינש אדעתיה דנפשיה קעבידShelo lishmah means not for the Torah itself but for oneself: studying to grasp its laws, which still binds his soul to G‑d’s wisdom and will; it is “rain” from below, and lishmah comes from it.
אבל לפי שאפשר להיות העסק בתורה שלא לשמה להתגדלTorah study can be shelo lishmah, to make oneself great; so one must first leave the “mountains of separation” through contemplation in prayer, and then the study lifts the soul higher.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Masei 4, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Matos 3, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶27Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25, ¶4Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2, ¶15
Where it appears
In 49 paragraphs of 38 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶13 ¶16 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 40 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶3 ¶4 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶1 ¶4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 35 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶8 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶27 ¶28 ¶30 ¶41
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶15 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8 ¶20
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶30
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 7 ¶2
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.