Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Netzach
נצח
Netzach (victory, endurance)
The Sefirah below Chesed on the right line, its branch: giving carried through by resolve after its reason has gone. With its partner Hod it is “outside the body,” yet rooted in Keser.
The word נצח also means forever (לנצח, “not passing away”) and victory (ניצוח, מנצח); the text reads “Netzach Yisrael will not lie” in both senses together. The Sefirah is meant in נו״ה, נה״י, נצח שבחסד, נצח דז״א / דא״ק, היכל הנצח, and wherever it stands beside הוד.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶9Netzach is the branch of Chesed: Chesed gives because its nature is to do good, Netzach gives because it was so decided. Of the three joints of giving within Chesed (Chochmah, Chesed and Netzach of Chesed), Netzach of Chesed gives not from the attribute of love but by a kind of stubbornness, and comes to action alone; though it is the lowest level, its root is higher, above reason, like Israel’s stiff-neckedness, and the force of “Netzach Yisrael will not lie” comes from “for He is not a man,” above hishtalshelus.
ונצח הוא ההשפעה מצד שכך עלה במוסכם והוא ענין נתינת ההשפעה בלבד
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶20Netzach does kindness because it resolved to, though the reason has departed and the heart is not in it (“willow branches” without taste or fragrance); Hod is likewise the branch of Gevurah on the left line. So Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes are higher in level, yet Netzach and Hod are rooted in Keser (“Kel Elyon gomel chasadim”: new Netzach, Hod and Yesod of Z”A from Arich Anpin), as the legs carry the head, and only one who grasps wisdom at its depth can teach another.
הרי מבואר דנו״ה שרשם מהכתר שהוא למעלה מאו״א וכ״ש מחג״ת
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2, ¶16In service, Netzach is the resolve that remains from the contemplation during prayer. Israel are bold by nature in the attribute of nitzuach, to love G‑d with great love even without contemplation, like a decided halachah given without reason; metzach (forehead) and Netzach are one level. G‑d showed Yaakov that the last generations, whose minds are too small for broad contemplation, would have this attribute of nitzuach.
כי בחי׳ הנצח זהו ההסכם שנשאר מההתבוננות שבשעת התפלה
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18, ¶9Israel draw down Netzach and Hod above, the “two legs” (trein shokin), through their nitzuach: acting even against their will and reason by iskafya, all day after prayer, when the love has passed but the resolve remains; with it comes Hod, the acknowledgment of “Modim.” “Netzach Yisrael will not lie”: Netzach does not pass away.
ובחי׳ נצח והוד תרין שוקין ממשיכים ע״י בחי׳ ניצוח שבישראל דהיינו שעושה גם נגד רצונו ושכלו
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5, ¶20All the prophets are from Netzach and Hod of Atzilus. Netzach and Hod are the two halves of the body, the kidneys that counsel how the drawing from Yesod will be, and they are “outside the body”: not of the body’s essence, the middos Chesed and Gevurah, but messengers sent to carry a word from them.
פי׳ שאינם מעצמות הגוף שהם המדות חו״ג רק שלוחים לשלוח דבר מפניהם
Stated differently
Whose branch Netzach is: Chesed or Chochmah
והנה נצח הוא ענף החסד שהוא בחי׳ גילוי האהבה מסותרת להתחזק בהאהבה כל היוםNetzach is the branch of Chesed: revealing the hidden love, strengthening oneself in it all day even without any reason; Hod is the branch of Gevurah.
ואפ״ל כי נצח הוא ענף החכמה שהוא בחי׳ ראיה שמזה נמשך השתחואה וביטולOffered as a possible explanation of why the Zohar puts prostration in the chamber of Netzach: Netzach is the branch of Chochmah, which is sight, from which come prostration and bittul; Hod is the branch of Binah, which is hearing.
תשב״כ איהו בנצח שהוא נקודת חיר״ק בחי׳ נקודה וביטול כי נצח ענף החכמהThe Written Torah is “he in Netzach,” the chirik vowel, a point and bittul, because Netzach is the branch of Chochmah; Moshe is the Netzach of Abba.
Whether Netzach and Hod are among the essential middos or only their bestowal outside the body
חג״ת הם עצם המדות ונה״י הם השפעות המדות לזולתו ולכן נק׳ לבר מגופאChesed, Gevurah and Tiferes are the middos themselves, lit by the reasoning of the intellect; Netzach, Hod and Yesod are the middos’ bestowal to another, so they are called “outside the body.” In Netzach and Hod one prevails to carry out the middah after its reason has gone, because the resolve remains.
הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת והנצח וההוד. שהן עצמיות המדותThe five middos of the verse “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness, the might, the glory, the victory (netzach) and the splendor (hod)” are the essential middos; the sixth, “for all” (Yesod), is the bestowal that includes the five.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶19Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶20Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Masei 2, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18, ¶9Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5, ¶20
Where it appears
In 183 paragraphs of 111 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶10 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶7 ¶15 ¶16 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶2 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶26 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶12 ¶15 ¶17 ¶21 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶2 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶16 ¶21 ¶23 ¶29 ¶30 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5 ¶12 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶1 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶16 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶8 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 11 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 9 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶22 ¶23 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶42 ¶43
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶16 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶14 ¶15 ¶18 ¶20 ¶24 ¶25 ¶26 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶18 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶11 ¶12 ¶17 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 11 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶8 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶1 ¶2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶16 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶20 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶5 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶37 ¶38 ¶40
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 5 ¶8 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 1 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8 ¶30
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 8 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶9 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10 ¶4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 7 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶55
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 2 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶3
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.