Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Loven ha’elyon
לובן העליון
The supernal whiteness (loven ha’elyon)
The supernal whiteness (in the name Lavan): the source of simple mercy and kindness above the chain of worlds, or the essence of Or Ein Sof, as white is the thing itself, not a dye.
The word לבן is also Lavan, Yaakov’s father-in-law, and לובן is also plain whiteness (as in “the father gives the white, from which come bones”). The supernal sense is meant where the text says לובן העליון or “Lavan of holiness,” or ties it to “the hair of His head like pure wool.”
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3, ¶1Lavan is the supernal whiteness, the source of kindness, all simple mercy, “no left side in this Atika”; below it fell into the physical Lavan. “Lavan rose early in the morning”: each morning the light of the supernal kindness grows stronger and is drawn down.
כי לבן הוא בחי׳ לובן העליון מקור החסדים שכולו רחמים פשוטים דלית שמאלא בהאי עתיקא
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 5, ¶8For the arousal from above to answer man’s arousal, there must be a drawing from the source of the supernal mercies, far above the chain of worlds. Lavan of holiness is the light of the very essence of Or Ein Sof: white, unlike colors made by a dye, is the thing itself, unchanged.
לבן דקדושה הוא בחי׳ לובן העליון דהיינו בחי׳ אור עצמותו ומהותו של אא״ס ב״ה
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4, ¶2The Kohen Gadol serves on Yom Kippur in white linen, entering “the world of unity”: white is not a color added to a thing but the thing itself. So the lights before the vessels limit them are neither Chesed nor Gevurah, above the middos and even above Chochmah, Binah and Daas.
כי בחי׳ הלובן אינו כשאר הגוונים. כי הוא בחי׳ עצמיות של הדבר
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6, ¶5The positive mitzvos, which raise physical things and bind them to G‑d’s light, are the white hairs drawn from “the hair of His head like pure wool,” the supernal whiteness and supernal Chesed called “abundant in kindness”; the black hairs are the halachos of the prohibitions, which separate evil from good.
שער רישיה כעמר נקא שהוא לובן העליון וחסד עליון דאקרי רב חסד
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 1, ¶4“I have sojourned with Lavan”: Yaakov, master of the world of Atzilus, drew his main power to refine and rectify everything from the supernal whiteness. Once the rectification was complete, the encompassing lights of Tohu could rest there.
בחי׳ לובן העליון שמשם הי׳ עיקר כח השפע ליעקב בעל עולם האצילות לברר ולתקן הכל
Stated differently
What the supernal whiteness is: the source of Chesed in Atik, Keser and Chochmah, or the essence of Or Ein Sof above any attribute
לבן הוא בחי׳ לובן העליון מקור החסדים שכולו רחמים פשוטיםThe supernal whiteness is the source of kindness, all simple mercy, in Atika, where there is no left side.
וזהו בחי׳ לבון שממשיך מבחי׳ לובן העליון שהוא בחי׳ כתר וחכמהThe supernal whiteness is Keser and Chochmah; “whitening” a halachah through questions and answers draws from it the depth of Chochmah.
לובן העליון דהיינו בחי׳ אור עצמותו ומהותו של אא״ס ב״הThe supernal whiteness is the light of the very essence of Or Ein Sof, as white is the thing itself rather than a dye.
לא שייך לומר על שפע אור א״ס שהוא קרוב לחסד יותר מחכמהWhite stands for the thing itself: the flow of Or Ein Sof before the vessels cannot be said to be closer to Chesed than to Chochmah.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3, ¶1Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 5, ¶8Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 1, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32, ¶32Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37, ¶12Torah Ohr, Shemos 1, ¶16
Where it appears
In 42 paragraphs of 27 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶25 ¶42 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶24 ¶25 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 5 ¶8 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 1 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2 ¶21 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3 ¶1 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 9 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶3 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶5 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶35 ¶36 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 8 ¶8
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.