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Lights and vessels

אורות וכלים

Lights and vessels (oros v’keilim)

The two sides of each sefirah: the lights, a radiance of Or Ein Sof, boundless; and the vessels, the defined attributes (Chesed, Gevurah…) that limit that light so it can give life to finite beings.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶3The Tikkunei Zohar’s “His life” and “His vessels” are the lights and the vessels. The middos of Atzilus (“Chesed is the right arm”) are vessels, a body for the light drawn into them from Ein Sof. Unlike a soul, which is itself the light in its body, the Emanator is far above even the light; the lights are only drawn from Him.ענין חיוהי וגרמוהי שהן בחי׳ אורות וכלים פי׳ גרמוהי נק׳ כלים דאצילות
  2. Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2, ¶3In the ten sefiros, Chesed and Gevurah are the vessels; the light is a radiance of Ein Sof, who is none of these attributes. The vessels limit the light, and only through them can it give life to bounded creatures (Michael from Chesed, Gavriel from Gevurah), as a soul gives charity only through the hand.שבע״ס יש אורות וכלים כי בחי׳ חו״ג זהו בחי׳ כלי אבל האור הוא הארה מא״ס ב״ה דלאו מכל אינון מדות איהו כלל
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶12In Atzilus the lights are infinite and the vessels bounded (the “measure of the stature” of the Creator). Sometimes the light prevails over the vessel and sometimes the vessel prevails; the souls come from the inner side of the vessels, and so they are bounded.ענין אורות וכלים דאצי׳ האורות הם א״ס אבל הכלים הם בבחי׳ גבול ותכלית
  4. Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4G‑d’s Names are the vessels of the ten sefiros of Atzilus, united with the Or Ein Sof clothed in them: Kel in the vessel of Chesed, Elokim in Gevurah, Ado-nai in Malchus. Havayah is the inwardness of all of them, the light within the vessels; the next paragraph calls it the intermediary that joins the lights to the vessels.שמותיו של הקב״ה הם הכלים דע״ס דאצי׳ שמתלבש בהן אוא״ס ב״ה ומתייחד עמהן בתכלית היחוד
  5. Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11, ¶8Light shines and is drawn only where it has a vessel to hold it; without a vessel it withdraws to its source, like a flame without a wick. In the soul the vessels are the Torah and mitzvos, so “we will do” comes before “we will hear.” A second reason: the vessels’ root is higher than the lights.וכל אור אינו מאיר ונמשך כ״א כשיש לו כלי במה שיתאחז דוקא

Stated differently

Whether the many vessels of Tikkun bring more light, or Tikkun means many vessels and less light

Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶11חקיקת ותיקון הכלים להיות ריבוי הכלים ועי״ז יהי׳ ריבוי האור

Moshe as “lawgiver” (mechokek) engraves and repairs the vessels so that they become many, and through this the light becomes greater.

Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶4והוא בחי׳ רבוי כלים ומיעוט האור שהאור וחיות אינו בא בהתגברות

Tohu is much light and few vessels; Tikkun is the reverse, many vessels and less light, so that the light does not come with force and the middos can include one another.

Whether the Torah is of the lights and the mitzvos of the vessels

Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶9התורה שהיא בחי׳ חכמה ושכל היינו שהיא מבחי׳ אורות והמצות שהן בחי׳ עשייה היינו שהן מבחי׳ כלים

The Torah, being wisdom and intellect, is of the lights; the mitzvos, being action, are of the vessels (and because the vessels’ root is higher, the mitzvos are sometimes said to be above the Torah).

Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶16המצות נק׳ רמ״ח אברים דמלכא שהם בחי׳ כלים ואברים החיצונים אבל התורה שהיא חכמתו ית׳ היא כלי ואבר הפנימי ממש

The mitzvos are the outer vessels and limbs of the King; the Torah, His wisdom, is itself a vessel, the inner one, since Or Ein Sof is clothed only in Chochmah.

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶13המצות שהם בחי׳ אורות המתלבשים בכלים מתחלקים לתרי״ג בחי׳

The mitzvos are lights clothed in vessels, divided into 613, a light for each vessel; the Torah is an encompassing light, one light above division, the source of the light drawn into them.

Sefer HaErchim Chabad

חילוק הנ״ל שבין ”אורות” ל״כלים” — מה שענינם של האורות הוא הגילוי דאוא״ס, שלכן הם בבחי׳ בל״ג; משא״כ הכלים הם כמו דבר נבדל, שלכן הם בבחי׳ גבול

The difference between lights and vessels: the lights are the revelation of Or Ein Sof, and so they are unbounded; the vessels are like a separate thing, and so they are bounded. (our translation)

Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. ד, entry אורות דספירות — ביחס לכלים, col. לא · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted

Main sources

Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶12Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶9Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶4

Where it appears

In 531 paragraphs of 203 maamarim.

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.

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