Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Or shivas hayamim
אור שבעת הימים
The light of the seven days (or shivas hayamim)
Isaiah’s phrase, read as the first, hidden light: the light and life of the “seven days” (Atik’s seven lower sefiros), that is, Atik’s first three sefiros. Elsewhere, the great lights of Tohu.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4, ¶1On “the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of the seven days” (Isaiah 30): the Midrash reads it as the light G‑d created at the start and hid in Gan Eden; and the seven days of creation are the seven lower sefiros of Atik.
כאור שברא הקב״ה בתחלה וגנזו בגן עדן, והנה שבעת ימי בראשית הם ז״ת דעתיק
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4, ¶2The light of the seven days is the light and life of those seven, so it is above the seven days themselves: the first three sefiros of Atik, since Chochmah is called light. Of them it is said “exalted above the days of the world.”
ואור שבעת הימים פי׳ האור והחיות של ז״ת והיינו בחי׳ ג״ר דעתיק כי חכמה נק׳ אור
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶6The light of sun and moon, the shining of Atzilus into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, bears no comparison to the light of the seven days, the Emanator’s shining in Arich Anpin and all of Atzilus. In the Time to Come, when the worlds rise, sun and moon will surpass it: “sevenfold.”
לגבי אור שבעת הימים שהוא הארת המאציל א״ס ב״ה בא״א דאצילות ובכל הע״ס דאצילות
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3, ¶3Here the light of the seven days is the light of the seven lights of Tohu, before creation, where the lights were greater than the vessels and shattered; in Tikkun the vessel is great and the light small. When the vessel is refined in the Time to Come, the light will again be great, and even the body will see Or Ein Sof.
וזהו כאור שבעת הימים פי׳ אור ז׳ הימים כמו שהיתה קודם הבריאה בעולם התהו
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶21Applied to the seven days of the Miluim (the Mishkan’s inauguration): there the seven days are in Binah, so their light, the “supernal oil,” is the light of Chochmah shining in Binah; the eighth day is Chochmah itself.
וכן אור שבעת הימים היינו הארת חכמה שנמשך בבינה
Stated differently
What the light of the seven days is: the first three sefiros of Atik, above the seven days of creation, or the seven great lights of Tohu before creation
ואור שבעת הימים פי׳ האור והחיות של ז״ת והיינו בחי׳ ג״ר דעתיקIt is the light and life of the seven lower sefiros of Atik (the seven days of creation): the first three sefiros of Atik, above the seven days themselves.
רק שהיה בבחי׳ ז׳ אורות להיות האורות גדולים מהכליIt is the light of the seven days as it was before creation in the world of Tohu, seven lights greater than their vessels, which shattered.
Sefer HaErchim Chabad
הכוונה ב״שבעת הימים” היא לבחינה רוחנית [המאירה בז׳ הימים כפשוטם], והתואר ”אור שבעת הימים” הוא — לבחינה שלמעלה מהמדריגה ד״שבעת הימים”“The seven days” refers to a spiritual level that shines in the seven days as such, and “the light of the seven days” to a level above the level of “the seven days.” (our translation)
Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. ג, entry אור שבעת הימים, col. תפד · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3, ¶3
Where it appears
In 20 paragraphs of 10 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶10 ¶16 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶1 ¶2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶22
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.