Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Machshavah hakedumah
מחשבה הקדומה
The primordial thought (machshavah hakedumah) · also: מחשבה עלאה
G‑d’s first thought to bring the worlds into being, including all equally, Atzilus and physical Asiyah alike; it is “I will reign,” identified variously with Adam Kadmon and with Malchus of Ein Sof.
The word מחשבה is also plain “thought” and the soul’s garment of thought (see machshavah-dibbur-maaseh); above, Binah is often called מחשבה עילאה (LT Bechukotai 2:26). The primordial thought is meant when it is called הקדומה or קדומה, or tied to “I will reign” (אנא אמלוך) and to Onkelos’s “bekadmin.”
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶4All the worlds, higher and lower, draw their life from one thought that arose before Him to bring them into being, and before Him they are as nothing, as one thought is nothing next to the whole soul. On Rosh Hashanah, when all returns to its beginning, we ask Him to “remember” that thought and clothe Himself in it again.
כי כל עיקר חיותם הוא ממחשבה א׳ שעלה במחשבה לפניו להיות התהוות ואצילת העולמות ונק׳ מחשבה הקדומה
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16, ¶14The particular worlds cannot come straight from the essence of Or Ein Sof; they come through the primordial thought, a general light that includes all of hishtalshelus at once. It is Adam Kadmon, the Keser of all four worlds, and so the intermediary between the Emanator and the emanated.
והיינו כי מחשבה הקדומה היינו בחי׳ א״ק והוא בחי׳ כתר דאבי״ע
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16, ¶7Israel arose in the primordial thought. Because it encompasses all the worlds together, Atzilus and Asiyah are equal before it; that is why, when Israel do physical mitzvos, they bind spiritual Atzilus to physical Asiyah, making a dwelling below.
לפי שבחינת מחשבה הקדומה הוא מבחינת סוכ״ע דאצילות ועשייה שוין נגד בחי׳ זו
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6, ¶17“I will reign”: the will that arose in the Emanator’s primordial thought to be King over a separate people. That will is the source of Malchus and of the tzimtzum that lets creations seem separate to themselves, though before Him all is as nothing; so it must be drawn anew each year.
זהו בחי׳ רצון שעלה במחשבה הקדומה של עצמות המאציל להיות בחי׳ מלך על עם נפרד
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1, ¶3“The end of the deed is first in thought”: in the order of the worlds the heavens came first and earth, the inanimate, is lowest, but in their root in the primordial thought earth came before all. So earth has the power to bring forth plants, and the growing, living and speaking all receive from it.
ומ״מ מצד שרשן במחשבה הקדומה הרי ארץ דוקא קדמה לכולם במחשבה
Stated differently
The thought in which Israel “arose”: the primordial thought above Chochmah, Chochmah Stima’ah of Arich Anpin, Chochmah Ila’ah of Atzilus, or Chochmah and Binah
אבל באמת ישראל עלו במחשבה שהיא בחי׳ מחשבה הקדומה שלמעלה מהחכמהIsrael arose in thought, which is the primordial thought, above Chochmah.
אמנם ענין עלו במחשבה הוא בחי׳ ח״ס דא״א שלמעלה מעלה מח״ע דאצי׳In Atzilus even “supernal thought” is Binah, the river that flows from Eden; but “they arose in thought” is the hidden Chochmah of Arich Anpin, above Chochmah and Binah of Atzilus.
והיינו לפי שנש״י עלו במחשבה דהיינו בעצמיות חכמה עילאה דאצי׳The souls of Israel arose in thought, that is, in the very essence of Chochmah Ila’ah of Atzilus; so through their descent into bodies they can reveal Chochmah Ila’ah in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.
משא״כ קודם ירידתן היו עלו רק במחשבה שהיא חו״בBefore their descent the souls were rooted only in “thought,” which is Chochmah and Binah; through the descent and the birurim they reach Keser, above them.
Which level the primordial thought is: Adam Kadmon, the Keser of all four worlds, or Malchus of Ein Sof
והיינו כי מחשבה הקדומה היינו בחי׳ א״ק והוא בחי׳ כתר דאבי״עThe primordial thought is Adam Kadmon, the Keser of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, the intermediary between the Emanator and the emanated.
כי ענין א״ק הוא בחי׳ מחשבה אנא אמלוךAdam Kadmon is the thought “I will reign,” which held the whole purpose of hishtalshelus down to the end of Asiyah; so it can clothe itself in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.
והיינו במחשבה הקדומה אנא אמלוך כו׳ בחי׳ מל׳ דא״ס“The end of the deed is first in thought”: in the primordial thought “I will reign,” which is Malchus of Ein Sof, since the purpose of creation was a yesh that is bittul to Him.
שמו היינו בחי׳ מלכותו שהיא מחשבה הקדומה אנא אמלוך שממנו נבראו העולמותThe worlds’ coming into being is a glimmer of a glimmer: “His Name” is His Malchus, which is the primordial thought “I will reign,” from which the worlds were created.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15, ¶3Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1, ¶3Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3, ¶9
Where it appears
In 75 paragraphs of 50 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6 ¶4 ¶17 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶4 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10 ¶13 ¶14 ¶15 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶5 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶9 ¶25 ¶26 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 8 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 4 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 1 ¶4 ¶5 ¶10 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12 ¶4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 9 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 10 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶30
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.