Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Miut hayareach
מיעוט הירח
The diminution of the moon (miut hayareach)
Malchus, the “moon,” created equal to the sun (Z’eir Anpin) and then diminished: she receives through him and descends to enliven Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; in the future the two will be equal again.
The word ירח and לבנה also name the physical moon (as in the worship of sun and moon, or “the yield of the months”) and ירח a month (ירח האיתנים). The concept is the moon as Malchus: its diminution beside the sun, Z’eir Anpin.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶13At creation the two great lights were made, then the moon was diminished; each month her light darkens and is renewed, like a bride who separates from her husband and then is purified and reunited. In the future she will be as before the diminution, the two equal in stature, “the groom with the bride.”
והנה בתחלת הבריאה כתיב ויעש אלקים את שני המאורות הגדולים ואח״כ נתמעטה הלבנה
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7, ¶8Malchus of Atzilus is the supernal speech, rooted in Chochmah. The light of Chochmah clothed in the letters of speech revealed in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah is only a contracted glimmer: this is the diminution. In the future she will receive from Chochmah itself, from Imma and not through Z’eir Anpin, as the middos do.
וזהו מיעוט הירח שמתלבשת המל׳ באותיות הדבור המתגלים לחוץ
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶28Citing Etz Chaim, Shaar Miut HaYareach: Malchus of Atzilus was emanated as a root of only a single point; her nine Sefiros come to her as an addition from the Malchus of each of the nine upper Sefiros. At the Temple’s destruction those nine were clothed in the kelipos.
שהמלכות דאצי׳ נאצלה בסוד שרש רק בחי׳ נקודה אחת
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8, ¶2“Go and diminish yourself”: Malchus becomes “head to the foxes” to give life to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Her Keser stays “in heaven” with Z’eir Anpin, her husband; only her nine lower Sefiros go down into Beriah.
לכי ומעטי א״ע שנעשית ראש לשועלים להחיות בי״ע
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6, ¶6Malchus, the Name Elokim, is contraction and concealment, where the light of Havayah stops spreading. That concealment produces reflected light (or chozer), which rises higher than its source, like a covered mirror: “a woman of valor is her husband’s crown,” “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun.”
ומחמת צמצום והעלם זה נעשה אור חוזר שהוא חוזר ועולה למעלה מעלה יותר מכפי ערך כח מקור ההארה
Stated differently
What the diminution consists of
וזהו מיעוט הירח שמתלבשת המל׳ באותיות הדבור המתגלים לחוץThe diminution is Malchus clothed in the outwardly revealed letters of speech, receiving only a contracted glimmer of Chochmah.
כי מיעוט הירח היינו ג״כ הסתלקות הט״ס מהמלכותThe diminution is also the withdrawal of the nine Sefiros from Malchus, as in Etz Chaim; in the future she will have constant light without change.
וה״ע מיעוט הירח כשאין יחוד שמשא וסיהרא ואזי הג״ק יונקים ממנהThe diminution is the absence of union between sun and moon, that is, of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, of Atzilus with Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; then the three impure kelipos draw nourishment from her.
Which part of Malchus goes down into Beriah when she diminishes herself
שכתר דרחל הוא בשמים ז״א בעלה וט״ס אחרונות דילה הם לבדם שירדו למטה בעולם הבריאהThe Keser of Rachel stays above with Z’eir Anpin; only her nine lower Sefiros went down into Beriah.
שהכתר שלה יורד להיכל ק״ק העליון דבריאה והט״ס נכללים בלאהThe paragraph holds, with Pri Etz Chaim, that her nine Sefiros go down and her Keser stays in Atzilus, and records that the Ramaz takes it plainly, as Pri Etz Chaim writes at first, that her Keser goes down to the upper Holy of Holies of Beriah; how this fits Etz Chaim, Shaar Miut HaYareach, on the clothing of her nine Sefiros, it says, is not for here.
והנה סוד ע״י דבריאה הוא סוד נקודת מלכות דאצי׳ שאמר לה הקב״ה לכי ומעטי והוי ראש לשועליםCiting Etz Chaim: the point of Malchus of Atzilus, told to diminish herself, became the head, Atik, of Beriah. It also cites Likkutei HaShas that Malchus of Atzilus does not go down.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶28Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶33Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9, ¶15Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6, ¶6
Where it appears
In 42 paragraphs of 34 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶15 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 11 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2 ¶23 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5 ¶10 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶14 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 2 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶13 ¶28 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 10 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2 ¶18
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.