Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Shamayim va’aretz
שמים וארץ
Heaven and earth (shamayim va’aretz)
Heaven and earth as spiritual levels in every world and in the soul: Mah and Ban, Z’eir Anpin and Malchus, ratzo and shov (in either order); through them Torah and Israel sustain the physical ones.
The word Often שמים וארץ means the physical heaven and earth, created yesh from ayin, which hide G‑d’s light now and will give way to “the new heavens and the new earth.” The text marks the difference itself with רוחניים (spiritual) against גשמיים (physical), or by naming the level (Mah and Ban, Z’eir Anpin and Nukva).
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2, ¶16The physical heaven and earth were created for the sake of Torah and Israel, which hold a spiritual heaven and earth: shov and ratzo. Through these the physical heaven and earth endure. Torah and mitzvos themselves are heaven and earth too: Torah is heaven, a drawing down; the practical mitzvos are earth, “the earth is My footstool.”
דהנה בתורה ובישראל יש בחי׳ שמים וארץ רוחניים
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41, ¶14Heaven and earth are Mah and Ban, Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, the ratzo and shov in every world. The soul born of their union holds both: the makifim (Yechidah, Chayah) and the inner levels (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah), which are “body” beside them. Some souls are mainly from Z’eir Anpin, some the reverse; so Moshe, in his humility, did not know whether his soul would go “to heaven or to earth.”
והנה שמים וארץ הם מ״ה וב״ן והיינו כמ״ש במ״א דהרצוא ושוב שבכל עולם הם בחי׳ מ״ה וב״ן
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16, ¶17Moshe’s doubt whether his soul goes to heaven or to earth cannot mean the physical heaven and earth. They are Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus; earth is Malchus: “the earth is My footstool,” “they shall inherit the earth forever.”
דשמים וארץ אינן שמים וארץ גשמיים אלא הן זו״נ דאצילות שנקרא שמים וארץ
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1, ¶1The unity “Havayah is Elokim in heaven above and on earth below” is why the Shema is read twice, evening and morning. As the world has heaven and earth, so does the soul: intellect and thought, which are one with the soul, are heaven; speech and action, which are separate from it and used only at times, are earth. All four must be G‑d’s alone.
והנה כמו שיש בעולם שמים וארץ כך יש בנפש האדם ב׳ בחינות אלו
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶25On “Who lowers Himself to look in heaven and earth”: the higher heaven and earth are boundless love, “with all your might” (a makif), and bittul of one’s will, making oneself like dust; through them Or Ein Sof is lowered to bring Keser into Atzilus. The lower heaven and earth are Z’eir Anpin and Nukva of Atzilus, in which the light is clothed through Torah and mitzvos.
וכמ״ש במ״א שיש שמים וארץ עילאין. ויש שמים וארץ תתאין
Stated differently
Whether heaven is the ratzo and earth the shov, or the reverse
בחי׳ יחידה שלמעלה מהשכל בכל מאדך בחי׳ רצוא שבחי׳ זו נק׳ השמיםHeaven is the Yechidah above intellect, “with all your might,” ratzo; earth is the drawing down below, shov.
הרצוא נמשך משם מ״ה בחי׳ ביטול ליבטל ולהכלל באור א״ס ממש והשוב נמשך מבחי׳ ב״ןHeaven and earth are Mah and Ban: ratzo, the bittul that would be absorbed in Or Ein Sof, comes from Mah; shov comes from Ban, “the earth is My footstool.”
בתורה הוא בחי׳ שוב שהוא בחי׳ שמים כנ״ל. ובישראל בעבודתם במס״נ הוא בחי׳ רצוא בחי׳ ארץIn Torah is shov, which is heaven; in Israel’s service with self-sacrifice is ratzo, which is earth.
Which level of the soul is heaven
השכל והמחשבה הם בחינת שמים והדיבור והמעשה הם בחי׳ ארץIntellect and thought are heaven; speech and action are earth.
כי השמים שהוא בחי׳ יחידה זהו בחי׳ ישראל ויעקב הוא בחי׳ נר״נ המתלבשים בכלים וזהו בחי׳ והארץ הדוםHeaven is the Yechidah, above intellect (Yisrael); Nefesh, Ruach and Neshamah, clothed in vessels (Yaakov, the intellect that grasps G‑dliness and enlivens the body), are earth.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2, ¶16Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3, ¶26Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶25Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1, ¶1
Where it appears
In 122 paragraphs of 86 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 5 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶19 ¶21 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 10 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 11 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶1 ¶5 ¶16 ¶17 ¶20 ¶25 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 5 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶3 ¶9 ¶10 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶14 ¶22 ¶25 ¶27 ¶28 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶10 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶16 ¶18 ¶19 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 7 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶14 ¶18 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶4 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶26 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶2 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶10 ¶12 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 5 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶2 ¶4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 32 ¶17 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶25 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶17 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Va’eira 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 5 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶6 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 4 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶45
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 3 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶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.