Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Sha’ashu’im
שעשועים
Delights (sha’ashu’im)
The King’s delight in His own self, in which He and His delight are one. It is the root of the Torah and mitzvos, and through them it is drawn down.
The word שעשועים in plain Hebrew is fond play, as a father with a child he sees (Torah Ohr, Bereshit 10:4; "אם ילד שעשועים"). As a term it is the supernal delight of "ואהיה שעשועים": the King’s delight in His own self, of which taanug (delight) in general is the wider category.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶2A person receives delight from something outside him; nothing is outside Him and He is the source of delights, so He and His delight are one, as He is the knower and the knowledge. This is “the King’s delight in His own self.” His delight with the tzaddikim is not a receiving: He delights in what He gives them, which can be only when their Torah and mitzvos make garments for the soul.
הוא והתענוג שלו יתברך כביכול דבר אחד כמו שהוא היודע והוא הדעה עצמה כו׳ וזהו ענין שעשוע המלך בעצמותו
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1, ¶13The root of the mitzvos is the inner supernal delight, the King’s self-delight, the source of all delights. For it to pass from concealment to revelation in souls (“My delights with the sons of man”) requires Torah and mitzvos, the “essential delights”; one who studies Torah lishmah draws them into revelation in a matter of halachah.
ששרש המצות הוא בבחי׳ פנימית העונג העליון כמ״ש בתורה ואהיה אצלו כו׳ שעשועים פי׳ בחי׳ שעשועי המלך בעצמותו
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2, ¶6The Torah is G‑d’s own delight, as a person delights in his wisdom when he says a wise thing, and infinitely more: He delights in His supernal wisdom, which cannot clothe itself in worlds at all. This is far above the Torah’s role as the source of the worlds’ life, for which alone David praised it as “songs.”
ואהיה שעשועים שהיא שעשועים של הקב״ה כביכול בכבודו ובעצמו ולמשל כמו שאדם משתעשע בחכמתו כשאומר דבר חכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20, ¶18Sha’ashu’im are the revelation of the inner side: the supernal delight clothed in the mitzvos, the inner side of the will; “songs” are the back, the will itself. “I was” is in the present tense: the delights must be drawn down anew, and this depends on arousal from below.
בחי׳ שעשועים הן הן בחי׳ גילוי בחי׳ פנימי׳ דהיינו בחי׳ עונג העליון המלובש במצות שהיא פנימית הרצון
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 11, ¶4Delight differs from joy: a rich man rejoices in treasure far away that he does not see, but delight and sha’ashu’im come only when one sees the thing with one’s own eyes, as a father delights in his son when he sees him.
אבל ענין התענוג והשעשועים אינו אלא דוקא כשרואה הדבר שמתענג ממנו בעיניו ממש כמו שעשוע האב עם בנו
Stated differently
What the two “days” are in “I was delights, day by day” (ואהיה שעשועים יום יום)
ממשיכים מלמעלה גילוי התענוג עליון והתלבשותו בנאצלים כתר וחכמה. והם הנק׳ יום יוםThrough Shema with mesirus nefesh each day the supernal delight is revealed and clothed in the emanated Keser and Chochmah; these are called “day by day.”
וכמ״ש ואהיה שעשועים ים יום פי׳ יום יום או״א“Day by day” is Abba and Imma; the supernal delight is drawn as Keser into Chochmah through Torah studied after prayer.
פי׳ יום יום תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה הם בחי׳ שעשועים אצלו ית׳“Day by day” is the Written and the Oral Torah, which are delights to Him, the supernal delight drawn below by uttering words of Torah.
וזהו יום יום נגד ב׳ בחינות שהם נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך“Day by day” corresponds to two levels of the supernal Pele: “Your wonders and Your thoughts.”
Whether the King’s self-delight drawn by Torah and mitzvos is revealed to souls, or stays before Him beyond what creatures can receive
כדי שיתגלה עונג זה מן ההעלם לגילוי בנשמות בגן עדן וכדומה והיינו מ״ש ושעשועי את בני אדםFor this delight, the King’s self-delight, to pass from concealment into revelation in souls in Gan Eden (“My delights with the sons of man”), Torah and mitzvos are needed.
ואין הנבראים יכולים לקבל העונג הגדול הזה אלא העונג הוא לפניו ית׳ כביכול שעשועי המלך בעצמותוMitzvos draw the supernal delight, the revelation of Or Ein Sof itself, which is not according to the creatures’ grasp: creatures cannot receive it, and it is before Him, the King’s self-delight. This is more than all the life of the World to Come, whose delight souls enjoy.
כך אין ערוך גילוי התענוג ושכר מצוה הנמשך ומתגלה לנשמות לגבי עצם תענוג העליון שהיא עצם המצוהThe delight and reward of a mitzvah revealed to souls is secondary to the King’s self-delight; it is no more comparable to the essence of the supernal delight, the essence of the mitzvah, than hair to the brain.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1, ¶13Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20, ¶18Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21, ¶19Torah Ohr, Bereishis 11, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1, ¶9
Where it appears
In 49 paragraphs of 30 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶9 ¶11 ¶13 ¶14 ¶19 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶2 ¶4 ¶5 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶8 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶9 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶2 ¶5 ¶18 ¶19 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 21 ¶9 ¶19 ¶20 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 35 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶54 ¶55
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 3 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 11 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 22 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 1 ¶11
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.