Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Reshimu
רשימו
The reshimu (impression)
The impression left after the tzimtzum: the letters that remained without the light revealed through them. Also any impression a light leaves after it passes, as of love after prayer.
The word רשימו (also רשימה) is any impression or trace a thing leaves behind. In the order of the worlds it is the reshimu of the tzimtzum; in the service of the soul it is what remains once a revealed love or light has passed, as after prayer. The context shows which is meant; see also tzimtzum and kav.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶1“Vacated space” is not meant literally: a reshimu of the light remained, and only relative to Ein Sof is it called a void. Following Emek HaMelech, the reshimu is the letters of the 231 gates: the tzimtzum means the light is hidden and no longer revealed through the letters, which remain alone, as letters are only a garment for an idea.
רק האותיות לבד נשארים בלי גילוי האור וזהו ענין הרשימו
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶6Relative to the Emanator even the highest levels of Chochmah are called “creation,” since they came into being from the reshimu, the letters left after Or Ein Sof withdrew from them.
רק שנמשכו ונתהוו מבחי׳ הרשימו שהם האותיות שנשארו אחר שנסתלק מהן האור א״ס
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶11The reshimu in the hidden brain (Mocha Stima’ah) is from Malchus of Ein Sof, the “King of kings”; from it comes the great awe, which is Chochmah Stima’ah.
כי הרשימו הוא מבחינת מלכות דא״ס כמ״ש בביאור האדרא מהאריז״ל
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3, ¶28In the soul: after prayer the love passes, yet a reshimu remains on the “forehead,” the outer side of the intellect: a simple will to cleave to G‑d and the heart’s consent, without the depth of contemplation, so that one’s work stays secondary and Torah primary.
שגם אחר התפלה שחולפת ועוברת האהבה מ״מ נשאר רשימו על בחי׳ מצח שהוא כיסוי שעל הדעת
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9, ¶18The Torah taught to the soul before birth is forgotten so that a person must choose good, but a reshimu of that great light remains, and from it the light of love and awe shines and gives strength to turn darkness into light.
כי הרשימו נשאר מהארה הנ״ל שיאיר לו אור האהוי״ר מתוך הרשימו שנשאר אחר השכחה
Stated differently
Whether the levels of hishtalshelus come into being from the reshimu or are drawn from the kav, and which of the two is higher
שהתהוות א״ק ואפילו בחי׳ חכמה שלמעלה מא״ק הוא מן הרשימו שנשאר אחר הצמצום והסתלקות האורAdam Kadmon, and even the Chochmah above Adam Kadmon, come into being from the reshimu left after the tzimtzum and the withdrawal of the light.
דשרש כל ההשתלשלות דאבי״ע הוא נמשך מבחי׳ הקו״חThe root of all the hishtalshelus of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah is drawn from the kav and thread, which comes after a tzimtzum and vacated space.
דהנה הארת הקו מאיר בכל עולם לפי ערכו אך הרשימו היא בחי׳ הכוללת לכל העולמותThe light of the kav shines in each world according to its level, while the reshimu is the level that includes all the worlds; the paragraph adds that this needs study, since in several places the kav is explained as far higher than the reshimu.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶11Torah Ohr, Noach 4, ¶10Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3, ¶28Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9, ¶18
Where it appears
In 31 paragraphs of 21 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶6 ¶18 ¶20 ¶21 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 1 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶16 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 10 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Noach 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶6
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.