Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Nesirah
נסירה
The sawing (nesirah)
The “sawing” from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur: the middos, joined back to back, are separated and returned face to face; in the soul, separating the G‑dly soul’s middos from the animal soul’s.
The word נסר plainly means to saw, as in the Talmud’s account that G‑d sawed Chavah from Adam. In LT the word also appears as the name of Sha’ar HaNesirah in Etz Chaim and Pri Etz Chaim, cited for other matters (the two unions of Abba and Imma, the two crowns); there it names the chapter, not the concept.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2, ¶1On Rosh Hashanah Nukva receives mochin from Binah itself, not through Z”A (“G‑d cast a deep sleep upon the man”). In the Ten Days of Teshuvah a light shines from afar upon the middos only to repair them and return them face to face; this is the nesirah. Below, it is “Return to Me and I will return to you,” face to face.
שהארה שבו אינו רק לתיקון המדות להחזירם פנים בפנים. וזהו ענין הנסירה
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶23The nine days of fasting match the nine middos, one sawn each day. In the soul, the nesirah separates the middos of the G‑dly soul from those of the animal soul so they do not cleave to and follow them; fasting weakens the animal soul. This arouses above that the Gevuros are sawn off and the good Chasadim remain, and then the Gevuros too are sweetened.
ופי׳ נסירה היינו להפריד מדות הנה״א מהנה״ב שלא תהיינה דבוקות ונמשכות אחר מדות הנה״ב
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶1Citing Pri Etz Chaim: there is a nesirah on Yom Kippur, in the inner aspect, and on Rosh Hashanah, in the outer aspect; for Yom Kippur too is called “Rosh Hashanah” in Scripture, the inner side of the head.
וכ״כ בפע״ח שנסירת יוהכ״פ בסוד הפנימית ובראש השנה בסוד החיצונית
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5, ¶16The five Gevuros are back to back; when the five Chasadim come they separate them to be face to face. So in a person: the vital soul desires the matters of this world, back to back, but in the intellect the will toward Havayah is nesirah, face to face; worldly matters should be only “back.”
אבל בשכל הרצון אל הוי״ה היא בבחי׳ נסירה פב״פ
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8, ¶11The source image, from the Talmud: Adam was first created alone, two-faced, and afterward G‑d sawed Chavah off; the first two wedding blessings match these two formations, explained as the Written and the Oral Torah.
תחלה נברא האדם לבדו בדו פרצופין ואח״כ נסר הקב״ה את חוה
Stated differently
Whether the nesirah is the withdrawal of the inner mochin from the middos on Rosh Hashanah, or the repair that returns the middos face to face
והוא ענין הנסירה בר״ה שהוא הסתלקות פנימיות המוחין מהמדותThe nesirah on Rosh Hashanah is the withdrawal of the inner mochin from the middos, a concealment meant to be sought out through the Ten Days and revealed on Sukkos.
שהארה שבו אינו רק לתיקון המדות להחזירם פנים בפנים. וזהו ענין הנסירהIn the Ten Days of Teshuvah the light shines upon the middos to repair them and return them face to face; this is the nesirah.
How many middos are sawn until Yom Kippur
שהם כנגד ט׳ מדות כידוע והוא ענין הנסירה שבכל יום ננסר מדה א׳Nine: the nine days of fasting match nine middos, and each day one middah is sawn.
שהוא ענין נסירה להחזירה פב״פ ו׳ מדות עד יוה״כLove and fear face to face, born of contemplating “You are our Father,” is the nesirah that returns her face to face, six middos until Yom Kippur.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4, ¶11Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5, ¶14Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5, ¶16
Where it appears
In 13 paragraphs of 11 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶19 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5 ¶14 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶11
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.