Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Nunei yama
נוני ימא
The fish of the sea (nunei yama)
Lofty souls likened to fish that the sea covers: hidden tzaddikim of the concealed world, never separate from their source, who serve through spiritual ascents and unions rather than physical deeds.
The word Fish in the plain sense appear too, as in “if all the fish of the sea” (Likkutei Torah, Beha’alotcha 3:10). As a concept, nunei yama are souls, and in some places angels (Likkutei Torah, Shmini 1:1; Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2:4), that live in the hidden world.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 1, ¶1There are two kinds of tzaddikim. The hidden ones, found in every generation, serve in spirit, uniting supernal unions and rising, as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did in the cave; they connect the worlds to Ein Sof. Like a fish crossing the sea, they reach very high in one sweep, calmly and without fiery excitement. The revealed tzaddikim, who serve through physical mitzvos, are the wild ox (shor habar).
והם נקראים נוני ימא כדגים אלו שהים מכסה עליהם כך הם מבחינת עלמא דאתכסיא
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶1The nunei yama are the souls drawn from the union of Abba and Imma of Atzilus, the Neshamah of Atzilus. The maamar asks how even these will count as “beasts” beside the new souls revealed in the Time to Come.
נוני ימא שהם הנשמות שנמשכו מיחוד או״א דאצילות
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2, ¶3The Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah of Atzilus itself perhaps were not changed into something separate from G‑dliness, like fish that the sea covers and that cannot leave it. The souls created from Malchus of Atzilus into Beriah, called “beasts of the earth,” are a separate yesh, yet they have the advantage of strength, refining the sparks that fell in the breaking (see behemah rabbah).
וזהו כענין נוני ימא שהם בתוך הים והים מכסה עליהם וא״א להם להיות נפרד מהים
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3, ¶2Fish are always absorbed in their source and die when taken from the sea, while land creatures are separate from the earth. So the sea is the higher unity (yichuda ila’ah), where the effect is contained and nullified in its cause, and the land is the lower unity, bringing yesh from ayin.
נוני ימא שהם מובלעים תמיד במקורם ואינו דבר נפרד ממנו שבהפרדם מהים הם מתים
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶6G‑d made one opposite the other: there are a Leviathan and nunei yama of holiness and of impurity. Those of holiness are in utter bittul in their source in Ein Sof; the Leviathan of kelipah, the great serpent who says “my river is mine,” is the very opposite: yesh, a separate thing.
לויתן ונוני ימא דקדושה הם בתכלית הביטול במקורם בא״ס ב״ה
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shemini 1, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3, ¶2
Where it appears
In 26 paragraphs of 13 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 1 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶1 ¶2 ¶4 ¶6 ¶8 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶2 ¶3 ¶5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶14 ¶17 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶67
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 5 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 4 ¶2
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.