Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Partzuf
פרצוף
Partzuf (configuration)
One Sefirah or several built into a full configuration like the human form: head, middle and end, its own mochin, each Sefirah in it including all ten. Tikkun has partzufim; Tohu had only points.
The word In plain Hebrew פרצוף is a face; the text uses that sense too (פרצוף פנים עם החוטם, from the Mishnah in Yevamos, in Shir HaShirim 19:14). As a term it means a whole configuration of Sefiros (פרצוף אבא, פרצוף ז״א, פרצוף הנוק׳). It is often paired with “adam”: the Sefiros of Tikkun in three lines are “the partzuf of adam” above. Related: nekudos and Tohu are in tohu-vetikkun, inter-inclusion in hiskallelus, the three stages in akudim.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3, ¶5In Tohu each Sefirah was a single general point, one beneath the other and unmixed. In Tikkun the Sefiros became partzufim: Abba is built from Chochmah and Z’eir Anpin from the six middos, each Sefirah spreading into fine particulars with head, middle and end, growing to 248 limbs, and the Sefiros also include one another, like the soul’s powers clothed in the body’s limbs.
משא״כ עולם התקון הוא שנעשו הספי׳ בבחי׳ פרצופי׳ מחכמה נבנה פרצוף אבא ומו״ק פרצוף ז״א
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶3Man is a partzuf, comprising all ten Sefiros and every level of creation, unlike the other creatures, each fixed in one attribute because they are rooted in Tohu, where the Sefiros were not partzufim and lines. Citing Etz Chaim: a point is the Asiyah of a Sefirah, a Sefirah is the whole Sefirah from Atzilus to Asiyah, and a partzuf is the binding of ten Sefiros, each whole; a partzuf also has mochin that come in greatness and smallness.
ופרצוף הוא קשר ע״ס וכל ספירה כלולה מע״ס
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3, ¶7The soul’s powers clothed in the limbs are the analogy for the partzufim of yosher, clothed in vessels, while Tohu is like the encompassing circles (igulim). Because in Tikkun the Sefiros were divided into particulars as partzufim, they gained what Tohu lacked: “their beginning is wedged in their end,” an advantage in the end not found in the head.
והנה ענין התלבשות הכחות באיברים הוא משל לבחי׳ פרצופים דיושר שמתלבשי׳ בכלים
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶11The partzuf of Nukva, the Malchus of Atzilus, is built from the Malchus within each of Z’eir Anpin’s middos, and only after their birth and revelation. While the middos are still included in the intellect, Malchus is only an aspect inside each of the six, not yet a partzuf of its own.
ולכן בנין זה שיהיה הנוק׳ פרצוף בפ״ע זה נעשה דוקא אחר הלידה והתגלות המדות
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶14The ten Sefiros of Atzilus coming down in three lines, Chesed-Chochmah-Netzach on the right, Binah-Gevurah-Hod on the left, Daas-Tiferes-Yesod in the middle, are what is called the partzuf of adam above. In man below, too, the main partzuf of the face is from the nose down, where the life divides into paired organs that serve as vessels for the ten powers.
הוא הנקרא פרצוף האדם למעלה ועל זה נאמר ועל דמות הכסא דמות כמראה אדם
Stated differently
What makes the Sefiros of Tikkun into partzufim: division into particulars, inter-inclusion, or garments and vessels
שנתחלק׳ הספי׳ בהתפשטו׳ לפרטי פרטיו׳ טפ״ט ובכל א׳ ראש תוך סוףBecoming partzufim means each Sefirah divides as it spreads into fine particulars, with head, middle and end in each, grown to 248 limbs; and the Sefiros also come to include one another.
שנעשו בבחי׳ פרצופים שהוא להיות בחי׳ התכללותBecoming partzufim is inter-inclusion: Chochmah is not on its own but includes all ten, and so it is called the partzuf of Abba, and likewise Z’eir Anpin; this comes through the name Mah of Adam Kadmon, which is bittul.
שעיקר ענין בחי׳ פרצוף היינו תיקוני הלבושים והכליםThe main point of a partzuf is the tikkunim of the garments and vessels: Tikkun is the light clothed in vessels and garments, which let it be borne and limit it to its proper place, so that it does not flow to the outside forces as it did in Tohu.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Shemos 3, ¶5Torah Ohr, Shemos 3, ¶7Torah Ohr, Noach 4, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶11
Where it appears
In 77 paragraphs of 50 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶12 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 4 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶4 ¶10 ¶11 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶28 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶14 ¶15 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3 ¶5 ¶7 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 10 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Metzora 1 ¶3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶9 ¶12 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Noach 4 ¶6 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31 ¶1 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 5 ¶16 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 5 ¶8 ¶17 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶21 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 8 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶40
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶3 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶8 ¶13 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 9 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Noach 3 ¶26
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.