Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Marei dechushbena
מארי דחושבנא
Masters of the reckoning (marei dechushbena) · also: חשבון גדול
Masters of the reckoning: those who take account of their thoughts, words and deeds that were not for G‑d, and of the soul’s distance from Him, bringing bitterness, lowliness and compassion on the soul.
The word חשבון also appears in a different sense: “every perutah adds up to a great reckoning” (חשבון גדול), and Malchus called חשבון, refer to the sum of the mitzvos drawing down Or Ein Sof, not to a person’s reckoning with himself. “Come to Cheshbon” (Bamidbar 21:27) is read in both senses.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9, ¶7Before G‑d’s light can shine openly in the heart (“open for Me”), one must “soil the feet”: be among the masters of the reckoning, recalling every thought, word and deed that was not good since birth, even sins of youth. Regret already felt is not enough; they must stay before his eyes always, so that he is lowly in his own eyes.
אטנפם הוא להיות ממארי דחושבנא לחשוב כל מחשבה דיבור ומעשה אשר לא טובים מיום היותו ואפי׳ חטאת נעורים
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶33“Come to Cheshbon”: every night one makes the reckoning, tasting bitterness over all deeds, words and thoughts not for G‑d since birth, and over having sunk into the desires of this world, the truth forgotten amid the vanities of the time.
להיות ממארי דחושבנא בכל לילה כנ״ל לטעום מרירות בנפשו
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18, ¶11A foreign thought, even one not joined to a deed, is a garment of impurity enveloping the soul and separating it from G‑d’s unity. So one should reckon each day the many thoughts that passed through him, since thoughts are the soul’s garments (“days were formed, and not one among them”).
ויהיה ממארי דחושבנא לחשוב בכל יום ויום ממש כמה וכמה מחשבות שעברו בו ביום שהמחשבות הם לבושין
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2, ¶10For the lower to rise toward union with the higher, a person reckons how far his soul has fallen from G‑d’s glory: once included in its Emanator, now made physical and far from the light of His face. This arouses great mercy, and his soul weeps.
בהיות האדם ממארי דחושבנא איך שירד פלאים ממקום כבודו ית׳
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7, ¶18The darkness of the body and vital soul keeps the light of love from shining even when one contemplates G‑d’s greatness. So “turn from evil” must come first, through reckoning the deeds, words and thoughts not for G‑d, each according to the plague of his own heart.
וצ״ל תחלה סומוע״ט ע״י שיהי׳ ממארי דחושבנא ממעשים ודבורים ומחשבו׳ אשר לא לה׳ המה
Stated differently
What the reckoning counts, especially for one who has not sinned
לחשוב כל מחשבה דיבור ומעשה אשר לא טובים מיום היותו ואפי׳ חטאת נעוריםThe reckoning is of every thought, word and deed that was not good since birth, even sins of youth already repented.
או אפי׳ לא חטא כלל מ״מ ישים לנגד עיניו תמיד להיות ממארי דחושבנא על מחשבה דבור מעשה אשר לא לה׳ המהEven one who never sinned should always reckon the thoughts, words and deeds that were not for G‑d.
אף שלא חטא אעפ״כ הוא נתגשם ונפרד ממהותו ועצמותו בתכלית הריחוק וצריך להיות ממארי דחושבנאEven one who has not sinned has become physical and utterly distant from G‑d’s essence; that descent is what he must reckon, arousing compassion on his soul.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶33Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4, ¶2Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1, ¶18Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7, ¶18
Where it appears
In 33 paragraphs of 26 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9 ¶7 ¶9 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶11 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 7 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶8 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 1 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶33
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.