Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Parsa, masach
פרסא ומסך
Partition and screen (parsa, masach)
A partition or screen between worlds, chiefly between Atzilus and Beriah: the higher light passes through it only veiled, in a form the lower world can receive, so that the lower world becomes a yesh.
The word פרסא is the Targum’s word for the Paroches, the curtain of the Mishkan, and the texts build on that image; the plural פרסאות can also mean parasangs, a measure of distance. “מסך מבדיל” is also used in service for what separates a person from his Maker, such as sin.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3, ¶1Creation of something from nothing needs what the verse calls “the curtain shall divide”: the Paroches of the Mishkan, which the Targum renders parsa. Were the flow drawn on in full revelation all would be one; so the whole chain of worlds runs through a screen that divides each world from the next.
שכל ההשתלשלות מעולם ועד עולם הוא ע״י מסך פרסא מפסיק בין כל עולם
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4, ¶2The parsa comes from the Chashmal, the outer side of Binah that wraps the Ten Sefiros of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva so the outer forces cannot draw from them; beneath their feet it is the “shoe” that divides Atzilus from Beriah. It is for modesty: the light of Atzilus is not wholly revealed in Beriah, and Malchus of Atzilus breaks through the screen to become Atik of Beriah. So in every world.
שלא יהיה כל גילוי האור של אצילות בבריאה כ״א בדרך מסך שהמלכות דאצילות בוקע המסך ונעשה עתיק לבריאה
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶6Created delight in Gan Eden bears no comparison to the middos of Atzilus; it can come from them only because a radiance of them, not their essence, passes through the screen between Atzilus and Beriah. This parsa is the “throne” of “The heavens are My throne”: through it the middos of Atzilus are lowered, as a man lowers his stature when he sits.
יש פרסא ומסך המבדיל בין עולם האצילות לבריאה ומה שנמשך מהמדות דאצילות בבריאה היינו הארה שלהם שעובר דרך המסך הנ״ל
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶19Like a teacher’s analogy, drawn from other matters than the idea it teaches: Beriah cannot receive Chochmah as it is in Atzilus, so through the partition a light of Chochmah arises in Beriah suited to its nature, as the student comes to the idea through the analogy.
וזהו ענין פרסא המפסיק בין אצי׳ לבריאה שהוא בחי׳ מסך מבדיל לדבר מענינים אחרים שלא מענין אצי׳
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8, ¶10Because of the screen between Atzilus and Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, what is true bittul in Atzilus becomes a yesh below, though a yesh that is nullified. In the same way another screen divides holiness from the sitra achra, a complete divider that hides the light until there is real separateness.
כמו שיש מסך בין אצי׳ לבי״ע שבאצילות הוא ביטול אמיתי ובבי״ע מחמת המסך נעשה בחי׳ יש
Stated differently
Whether what passes the parsa between Atzilus and Beriah is the very light, only screened, or a new light not of its essence
עצם האור נמשך ומאיר דרך המסךUnlike the tzimtzum between Or Ein Sof and Atzilus, which is a “leap,” the parsa between Atzilus and Beriah is part of the chain of descent: there is no withdrawal of the light first; the essence of the light is drawn and shines through the screen, as an idea itself is clothed in an analogy.
שהרי אין זה מהות ועצמות האור שלפני הפרסא אלא אור של תולדהThe light drawn from Atzilus through the screen is not the essence of the light before the parsa but an “offspring” light, which is ayin relative to it; that is why Beriah is called something from nothing.
היינו הארה שלהם שעובר דרך המסך הנ״ל (ועיין בע״ח שמ״ז פ״א בשם הרר״ג הלוי) ולא העצמיות המדותWhat passes from the middos of Atzilus into Beriah through the screen is their radiance, not the middos themselves.
Whether there is a parsa within Atzilus itself
והנה בעולם הצילות האור בא שלא ע״י מסך כלל כו׳ אבל בא ע״י חלון פי׳ מיסוד דא״א הנק׳ חלוןCiting Etz Chaim: in Atzilus the light comes through no screen at all, only through “windows” (the Yesod of Arich Anpin, then of Abba, then of Z’eir Anpin); only from Beriah down does it come through a complete screen.
כי יש פרסא המפסיק בין חכמה לכתרA parsa separates Chochmah from Keser, so that Chochmah is “found from nothing,” not by cause and effect, and the flow changes into another essence; it is the yud of the Name Havayah.
והקרום היינו הפרסא שמתחלת מהחזה מצד פניםCiting the Zohar’s membrane in the middle of the body: the parsa begins at the chest of Z’eir Anpin, below which Malchus of Atzilus receives as the source of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; from it one understands the parsa between Atzilus and Beriah.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3, ¶1Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3, ¶2Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4, ¶2Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4, ¶4Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶19Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶6
Where it appears
In 166 paragraphs of 94 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶2 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶18 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶8 ¶12 ¶13 ¶15 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶13 ¶27 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶8 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶4 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 9 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶6 ¶7 ¶13 ¶17 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶10 ¶11 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶2 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 10 ¶6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶8 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶8 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶12 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶8 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 28 ¶2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶5 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶17 ¶20 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 6 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶5 ¶6 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 4 ¶8 ¶11 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Noach 4 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1 ¶12 ¶13 ¶17 ¶18 ¶19 ¶20 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶9 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶2 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶13 ¶34
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6 ¶12 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 5 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶13
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.