Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Novlos chochmah
נובלות חכמה
The fallen fruit of the wisdom above (novlos chochmah)
The Sages’ name for the Torah: “the novlos (fallen, unripe fruit) of the wisdom above.” The Torah below is drawn from the outer dimension and “back” of supernal Chochmah, not its essence.
The word On its own נובלות means fruit that falls before ripening, and the same midrash calls Shabbos the novlos of the World to Come. Only “novlos of the wisdom above” means the Torah.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶2In every chain of cause and effect, the inner part of the cause stays bound to its own source and only its outer part flows to the effect. So the Chochmah that spreads into the middos, where the revealed Torah rules fit and unfit, pure and impure (six orders of Mishnah for six middos), is only novlos beside the essence of Chochmah Ila’ah.
ומה שנמשך ומתפשט מבחינת חכמה למטה במדות זהו רק מבחינת חיצוניות החכמה וזהו ענין נובלות חכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶2Chochmah Ila’ah of Atzilus is above comprehension, called Ayin, utter bittul. What is drawn from it to form the letters of the Torah is only its back and outer side, the novlos. The Oral Torah in turn reveals only the outer side of the Written Torah, the bodies of the mitzvos.
ומה שנמשך מבחי׳ חכמה עילאה הנ״ל להתהוות אותיות התורה אינו אלא מבחי׳ אחוריים וחיצוניות החכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶16Like the seed drawn from the brain, which becomes physical on its way down yet keeps the brain’s power to beget its like, the Torah came down from the Chochmah that is beyond knowing until it could be enclothed in physical things; so it is called novlos. It is received in the souls who study it in this world.
התורה נמשכה מבחי׳ חכים ולא בחכמה ידיעא ונשתלשלה למטה עד שיוכל להיות מלובשת בגשמיות וע״כ נקרא נובלות
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6, ¶7The Zohar’s “lower Chochmah” is the novlos: light and flow from Chochmah drawn down to refine, the wisdom in the Torah enclothed in physical things to tell impure from pure. (The pair of higher and lower Chochmah has its own entry.)
פי׳ בחי׳ הנובלות הוא בחי׳ אור ושפע מבחי׳ אור החכמה הנמשך למטה כדי לברר בירורים
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶3The souls of Israel are rooted in the very essence and inner part of Chochmah Ila’ah, above the novlos; therefore they are “the first of His produce,” the source and foundation of the Torah, which is novlos.
וכך נש״י שרשן ומקורן מעצמיות ופנימית ח״ע ממש שלמעלה מבחי׳ נובלות וחיצוניות
Stated differently
Which level is “the wisdom above” and which level is its novlos
ואורייתא שהיא חכמה דאצילות נמשכת מח״ס רק מבחי׳ הנובלות שבה דהיינו בחי׳ שערות לבד“The wisdom above” is the hidden Chochmah (Chochmah Stimaah) of Arich Anpin; the Torah, which is the Chochmah of Atzilus, is drawn from it only through its novlos, the hairs. It adds that this may be one with the reading of novlos as the back of Abba.
כי חכמה זו המתלבשת במדות היא בחי׳ נובלות לבד לגבי עצמיות חכמה עילאהThe novlos is the Chochmah enclothed in the middos, compared with the essence of Chochmah Ila’ah, which is far above the middos.
מה שנמשך להתלבש בתורה דבריאה שהיא רק בחי׳ נובלות חכמה שלמעלהThe light drawn into the Chochmah of Atzilus is “the Torah above”; a second descent, enclothed in the Torah of Beriah, is only novlos of the wisdom above.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3, ¶20Torah Ohr, Yisro 6, ¶7
Where it appears
In 48 paragraphs of 29 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶16 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶2 ¶10 ¶16 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶22 ¶24 ¶32 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶6 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶11 ¶25 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶7 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 3 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 1 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 2 ¶4
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.