Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Ra’aya Mehemna
רעיא מהימנא
The faithful shepherd (Ra’aya Mehemna)
The faithful shepherd: Moshe, who “feeds” the souls of Israel by drawing down Daas, felt knowledge of G‑d, which sustains their faith; his extension in every generation does the same.
The word Aramaic for “faithful shepherd,” Moshe’s title in the Zohar. The text reads מהימנא both as “faithful” (רועה נאמן) and as “of the faith” (מפרנס את האמונה). The same name is also a section of the Zohar; when the text cites רע״מ or ברע״מ with a parsha and folio, it means that section, not Moshe’s level. For Moshe as “the King’s groomsman” beside Aharon see shushvina-dematronisa; for Daas itself see daas, and for faith see emunah.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶3Moshe, the one unique among the seven shepherds, pastures and feeds the souls by imparting to them the brain of Daas, even to the souls called “seed of animal”: that is the meaning of “the faithful shepherd,” that he feeds the faith. So he is the first redeemer, who brought “you shall know that I am Havayah” after “the people believed,” and the last, when “the earth will be full of knowledge.”
שזהו פירוש רעיא מהימנא שמפרנס את האמונה
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶8Moshe is the level of Daas and bonding; as one of the seven shepherds he draws faith down to all the souls of Israel, as written “in all My house he is faithful,” and he joins the two Names Havayah, the higher and the lower.
ולכן נק׳ רעיא מהימנא רועה נאמן שרועה ומפרנס וממשיך בחי׳ אמונה
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4, ¶6The drawing-down from Atzilus into Beriah is through Moshe: as a shepherd pastures his flock in good pasture and gives it food, Moshe draws down the “grass.” He is Mah, Chochmah, from the illumination of the forehead of Atik, and from the Daas Elyon above hishtalshelus, even above Atzilus; so he alone can draw Daas into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.
והוא ע״י משה רע״מ כרועה עדרו ירעה במרעה טוב ונותן מזון
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4, ¶8Moshe, the King’s groomsman, draws the unity of Or Ein Sof down to dwell in the soul. His extension in every generation is Daas: knowing that G‑d is the life of all life, felt in the heart as if seen with the eyes. Every soul has this power through nurture from Moshe’s soul, though it takes great toil.
ואתפשטותא דמשה בכל דרא שהוא משבעה רועים כו׳ הוא בחי׳ משה דעת ה׳
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29, ¶1Souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and the angels, are called “animal” (behemah); “I will give grass in your field for your animals” is the drawing of Daas to them, through Moshe the faithful shepherd, like a shepherd washing his flock.
וע״ז נאמר ונתתי עשב בשדך לבהמתך שהוא המשכת הדעת והיינו ע״י משה רעיא מהימנא
Stated differently
In which level Moshe, the faithful shepherd, is rooted
ובמשה עבדו משה הוא בחי׳ דעת והתקשרותMoshe is the level of Daas and bonding, who draws faith to all Israel.
מאיר רק בחכמה עילאה שמשם בחי׳ משה כי חכמה כח מה והוא מ״ש במשה ונחנו מ״הThe revelation at Sinai shines only in the higher Chochmah, from which the level of Moshe comes, for Chochmah is koach mah (“and we are what,” said by Moshe); it was hard for the 600,000 souls rooted in the middos below Chochmah to receive.
אבל בחי׳ נוצר חסד בחי׳ משה הוא בשער החמשים שהוא הכתרAvraham’s “doing kindness” is drawn only within Atzilus, from the seven Names that may not be erased, the forty-nine days of the Omer; “preserving kindness,” the level of Moshe, is in the fiftieth gate, Keser, the 620 pillars of light, a pillar joining above and below, so he drew even into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Every generation’s heads of yeshivos are the level of Moshe.
שבחי׳ משה הוא אחוריים דאבא ופנימי׳ דאימאThe level of Moshe is the back of Abba and the inner dimension of Imma (184 and 161); so the pulse of the heart, running from the Gevuros of Binah and returning from the bittul of Chochmah clothed there, is “counted by the mouth of Moshe.”
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4, ¶6Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶8Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4, ¶32Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29, ¶1
Where it appears
In 80 paragraphs of 59 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 1 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶1 ¶12 ¶15 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶30
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 4 ¶15 ¶32 ¶38
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 1 ¶26 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶1 ¶3 ¶46
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶21 ¶24 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 1 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 4 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶10 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶50 ¶58
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶6 ¶11 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶3 ¶4 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 4 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶1 ¶8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶8 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶34
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 5 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 5 ¶9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 5 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 5 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶27
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 3 ¶12
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.