Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Merirus
מרירות
Bitterness of soul (merirus)
Bitterness of soul over one’s distance from G‑d and the darkness that hides Him; not sadness. Through it and the cry it brings, Ahavah Rabbah and abundant mercy are aroused from above.
The word מרירות is plain bitterness of taste (the olive, maror), used as the analogy: the olive is crushed to yield its oil (Beha’alotcha 2:9). It is also used of things, not the soul: in "מירא דכיא" (Torah Ohr, Megillat Esther 1:23) the bitterness is the coarse physical world in which the halachos of the Torah are clothed.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶9In the contemplation of Shema one becomes bitter over the darkness hiding G‑dliness, since place and time come only from His Malchus and are utterly far from His essence, and over the soul’s descent; he cries out for G‑d’s light within the darkness. This arousal from below, with its tears, draws from above the revelation “eye to eye” and the love called Ahavah Rabbah.
כאשר ישים מרירות בנפשו על החשך המסתיר אלהותו שלא נראה לעיני בשר כ״א בחי׳ מקום וזמן
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13, ¶15Abundant mercy (rachamim rabim) is aroused through bitterness: one contemplates that the life of all worlds is only radiance and “name” while His essence is unchanged and beyond relation, and comes to great bitterness at how far he is from G‑dliness. This is maror in the middle line, and through it one comes to matzah, the nullifying of one’s will.
ולעורר בחינת רחמים רבים הוא על ידי בחי׳ מרירות כשמתבונן בשכלו איך שחיות כל העולמות הוא רק בחינת זיו ושם בלבד
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6, ¶9The worry and bitterness that come from contemplation are not sadness, which the masters of truth kept far away: the heart worries and is bitter that the revelation of His very G‑dliness cannot be grasped. This belongs to prayer; afterwards Torah study, in which the soul does grasp Him, gladdens the heart.
דבודאי אין ר״ל עצבות ח״ו שהעצבות הרחיקו מאד חכמי האמת
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1, ¶6Merari is bitterness: making an accounting of one’s days spent mostly in darkness, since the soul shines in him only rarely. It belongs to the Levites, root of the Gevuros; bitterness is of the element of fire and arouses warmth, and through it one comes to Kehas, where the bitter is turned to sweet and the soul rises to its source.
ובחינה זו היא ג״כ מבחי׳ לוים שרש הגבורות שהמרירות הוא מיסוד אש ושעי״ז הוא מתעורר כח החמימות
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1, ¶19One fixes his thought deeply in bitterness of soul until he forgets his own affairs, like intoxicating wine, and then can pray “Blessed are You” from the depth of the heart. Bitterness concerns the past: the soul is bitter over the hiding of His face, since G‑dliness is not revealed even as the awe of a human being.
כי ענין המרירות הוא על העבר כי מר נפשו על הסתר פניו ית׳
Stated differently
What the bitterness is over
ואזי תשתפך במר נפשו ויבא לידי מרירות גדולים איך שהוא רחוק מאלקותOver how far one is from G‑dliness, on contemplating that the life of all worlds is only radiance and “name” while His essence is beyond them.
אלא ר״ל מה שידאוג לבו ויתמרמר ממה שא״א להשיג גילוי עצמיות אלקותו ית׳Over the impossibility of grasping the revelation of His very G‑dliness, since even the revelation in the higher worlds is only a drop.
בהיות ממארי דחושבנא על ימי חלדו אשר רובם ככולם בחשך ילךOver one’s own days spent mostly in darkness: because one’s sins separate, or the sitra achra is not yet subdued, or one has clothed the soul in the soiled garments of idle words and worldly thoughts.
שהתשובה אינה על עבירות דייקא רק המרירות על ריחוקו מה׳The teshuvah of the baalei teshuvah is not over sins specifically but is the bitterness over one’s distance from G‑d; through this bitterness the thirteen attributes of mercy are aroused.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1, ¶6Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1, ¶19
Where it appears
In 69 paragraphs of 47 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶16 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 10 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶11 ¶19 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶14 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶14 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 7 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 7 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶21 ¶23 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶11 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶29 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 2 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶32
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶27 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 7 ¶20 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶23 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 6 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 5 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶49
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶8 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶33 ¶34
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶14
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.