Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Mazal
מזל
Mazal (the soul’s root above; the source that flows)
From nozel, “flowing”: the soul’s root that stays above the body, encompassing it and making influence flow into it, beyond what merit earns. Above, the beard of Arich Anpin, from which Abba draws.
The word מזל, מזלות also has its plain sense, the stars and constellations through which influence comes to this world: “all things of this world are under the mazalos, mazal makes wise, mazal makes rich” (Torah Ohr, Vayetzei 4:7). Likkutei Torah, Ha’Azinu 1:1 reads “Israel has no mazal” as referring to these, the mazalos of the princes and stars allotted to the nations; the soul’s mazal is its own root above.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1, ¶1Only a ray of the soul comes down into the body; the soul and its source stay above and are called mazal. The word is from nozel, flowing, in the active form: it makes the flow of life, divine influence and thoughts of teshuvah come down to the person. It is the level of ayin above Chochmah, and teshuvah is the soul’s return in self-sacrifice to it.
אבל כל הנשמה ומקורה נשארה למעלה ונק׳ מזל
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18, ¶15Daniel’s companions did not see the vision but trembled “because their mazal saw”: the essence of the soul, which hovers above the person and is not enclothed in the body, received what their grasp, which works through the soul as it is enclothed in the brain, could not contain.
וכל עצמיות הנשמה חופפת עליו מלמעלה והוא נקרא בשם מזל
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5, ¶16“Not on merit does it depend but on mazal”: what comes by merit follows the order of hishtalshelus, what one deserves; what comes by mazal is above that measure and is given even to one who is not worthy, as Yaakov received the blessings without Yitzchak’s knowledge.
ענין בזכותא הוא לפ״ע ההשתלשלות שכך ראוי לו משא״כ במזלא הוא למעלה מלפ״ע אף שאינו ראוי
- Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 6, ¶10“Children do not depend on merit but on mazal”: merit is the spreading of the ten Sefiros of Atzilus as inner light, intellect; mazal is the higher makif, above intellect, the source that makes the flow come down (“yizal mayim”).
ובחי׳ מזלא שהוא בחי׳ מקיף העליון כי פי׳ מזלא היינו המקור שהוא המשפיע ומזיל
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶20Above, the higher mazal is the thirteen features of the beard of Arich Anpin (Keser), from which the higher Chochmah, Abba, draws. In the same way Yesod of Z’eir Anpin, through which the flow passes to Malchus, is called mazal, the lower beard with its thirteen covenants.
והוא בחי׳ מזלא עילאה י״ג ת״ד אבא יונק ממזלא
Stated differently
What of the soul is its mazal: the whole soul that stays above, or its levels chayah and yechidah
וכל הנשמה כולה היא למעלה בבחינת מקיף ונקרא מזלOnly a little light of the soul is enclothed in the body; the whole soul is above as a makif and is called mazal. This is not mazal in the literal sense, since “Israel has no mazal”; it is the soul above.
פי׳ מזלייהו בחינת חי׳ ויחידה שבנפש“Their mazal” means chayah and yechidah: Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah are lights in vessels, while chayah and yechidah have no vessel in the soul and are called mazal.
How high the soul’s mazal stands: ayin, above Chochmah, or the makif (the lamed of the tzelem) drawn from Z’eir Anpin
תשוב הנפש בבחי׳ ביטול במסירת נפש למקורה ושרשה העליון שממנה לוקחה ש הוא בחי׳ אין בחינת מזלThe soul’s root above, its mazal, is ayin: Chochmah, the first spreading of life, flows from what is above intellect (“Lebanon”); in teshuvah the soul returns in bittul to this root, which is far above Chochmah.
ולמ״ד בחי׳ מקיף וזהו בחי׳ מזלא הנז׳ בדרז״ל מזליה חזיThe tzelem divides into the tzadi, G‑dliness within the soul, and the lamed, the makif, which is the mazal of “his mazal sees.” Above, the lamed is the three mochin, Chochmah, Binah and Daas of Atzilus, encompassing Z’eir Anpin, with the mem, Keser, as the makif of the makif; the soul’s lamed, the soul above the body, is “from Z’eir Anpin itself,” above Malchus.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶20Torah Ohr, Toldos 5, ¶16Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5, ¶17
Where it appears
In 152 paragraphs of 93 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶15 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶8 ¶9 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶6 ¶7 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶3 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶2 ¶4 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶23 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Noach 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶6 ¶7 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶2 ¶4 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶43 ¶44 ¶48 ¶53
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶3 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 8 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶1 ¶3 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶7 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶9 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 6 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶52 ¶53
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 5 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶1 ¶2 ¶25 ¶26 ¶28 ¶29 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶8 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶4 ¶20 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶28 ¶29 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶4 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶17 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶22 ¶23 ¶33 ¶34
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Noach 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 8 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶18 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 4 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 13 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 22 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶9
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.