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Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah

Sefiros

ספירות

The Sefiros

Ten emanated powers, Keser (or Daas) and Chochmah through Malchus, each a light in a vessel; through them G‑d conducts the worlds, His essence unchanged; they recur in every world and in man.

The word ספירה also means counting, as in ספירת העומר (ספה״ע), whose days the texts match to the middos; context and the usual pairing with ע״ס or a Sefirah’s name tell them apart.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶3Descriptions such as merciful or avenging belong only to the vessels of the Ten Sefiros, “to show how the world is conducted,” not to His essence. They are still truly His, through the light that shines from Him into the vessels and is one with them; yet that light is only a radiance, and His essence is unchanged. Keser is the intermediary through which Or Ein Sof brings the Sefiros into being.אך עכ״ז הם שייכים רק בבחינת הכלים דע״ס לבד וכמאמר הת״ז כולא לאחזאה איך מתנהג עלמא
  2. Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4The Names of G‑d are the vessels of the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus, in which Or Ein Sof is clothed and wholly united: Kel in the vessel of Chesed, Elokim in that of Gevurah, Ado-nai in Malchus. The Name Havayah is the inner side of all of them, the light clothed within the vessels.והנה שמותיו של הקב״ה הם הכלים דע״ס דאצי׳ שמתלבש בהן אוא״ס ב״ה ומתייחד עמהן בתכלית היחוד
  3. Torah Ohr, Noach 4, ¶6Following Etz Chaim: in Akudim the ten are bound in one vessel with no division at all (the Pardes’s “ten Sefiros hidden in their Emanator,” far above the known Chochmah and Binah of Atzilus); in Nekudim they divide into ten separate points; in Berudim, the world of Tikkun, they become partzufim.שבעקודים כל הע״ס הם עקודים בכלי א׳ ואין שם שום התחלקות כלל לע״ס ובנקודים הוא שנחלקו לעשר נקודות וברודים הוא עולם התקון בחי׳ פרצופים
  4. Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶3Man, made in the image of the supernal Adam, is a partzuf: he has all ten Sefiros, three of intellect and seven middos, each included in the others. Every other creature has one attribute alone, being rooted in Tohu, where the Sefiros stood one beneath another without inclusion; so too each angel. Citing Etz Chaim: a point, a Sefirah and a partzuf differ; a partzuf is a binding of ten Sefiros, each complete.שאדם הוא בחי׳ פרצוף כלול מעשר ספירות וכל המדרגות של כל הברואים
  5. Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2, ¶21When it arose in His will to emanate the Ten Sefiros, first their roots were engraved in the simple light: the Ten Sefiros in Keser, like engraving in a stone, are not a separate thing but united with Or Ein Sof; the Ten Sefiros of Atzilus are compared to written letters.פי׳ בעלות הרצון לפניו להאציל הע״ס אזי מתחלה גליף גליפו הוא עד״מ התהוות בחי׳ חקיקה בהאור הפשוט לחקוק שרשי הע״ס

Stated differently

Whether Daas is counted among the Ten Sefiros

Likkutei Torah, Balak 3, ¶20בענין הדעת שאינו במנין ע״ס כי אין אנו מונין אלא מה שיש בו כלי אבל הדעת בחי׳ נשמה בלי כלי

Citing Etz Chaim: Daas is not in the count of the Ten Sefiros, since only what has a vessel is counted, and Daas is a soul without a vessel; so prayer, the soul of the mitzvos, is not counted among them.

Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶3אעפ״כ הוא נמנה במנין ע״ס כי המשכתו משם הוא ע״י כמה השתלשלות וצמצומים רבים

Though the root of the higher Daas of Atzilus is above what is counted, Daas is counted among the Ten Sefiros, because it is drawn from there through many stages and contractions (and, by Sh’lach 17:2, it completes the ten when Keser is not counted).

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶3Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4Torah Ohr, Noach 4, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶3

Where it appears

In 333 paragraphs of 148 maamarim.

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.

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