Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Shem Mem-Beis
שם מ״ב
The Name of forty-two (Shem Mem-Beis)
The Name of forty-two, the forty-two words of Ana Bekoach: seven attributes of six each, without the revealing seventh; a Name of Gevurah, through which all ascents rise. The forty-two journeys correspond to it.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶3The forty-two journeys in the desert, which subdued the kelipos there, correspond to the Name of forty-two words, Ana Bekoach: the seven supernal attributes, Chesed through Malchus, each including only six, Chesed through Yesod. So it has seven lines of six words, while the Omer counts forty-nine days.
והנה מ״ב מסעות הם כנגד שם מ״ב תיבות דאנא בכח גדולת כו׳ שהוא שבעה מדות עליונות
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶6Each attribute in this Name has only six aspects, its essence, which is what rises; the seventh, the attribute’s revelation, is left out, since the ascent is into Or Ein Sof, where the attributes are nullified. The Omer, a drawing-down into the worlds and the soul, counts all seven.
שהם בחי׳ העצמיות של כל מדה והם המתעלים משא״כ הבחינה שביעית שבכל מדה שהוא ענין גילוי המדה
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 12, ¶14The Name of forty-two is in Gevurah, and every ascent is through it. So it is said in the Shema at bedtime, to raise the soul; its seven lines of six words are like the seraphim’s six wings, “with two it flies,” rising and departing from the vessel.
והנה הסתלקות זו הוא בחי׳ שם מ״ב בגבורה כנודע שכל העלאות הוא ע״י שם מ״ב
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 12, ¶2The lights exchanged vessels: the light of Chesed rests in the vessel of Gevurah and the light of Gevurah in the vessel of Chesed. So the first paragraph of the Shema, “And you shall love,” is a vessel of Chesed, and the Name of forty-two, in Gevurah, is the light of Gevurah within it; the second paragraph is the Name of seventy-two, light of Chesed in a vessel of Gevurah.
ושם מ״ב בגבורה הוא אור הגבורה השורה בכלי החסד
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶14All forty-two journeys correspond to the Name of forty-two, an ascent from level to level, Chesed of Chesed, Chesed of Gevurah, and so on, all through Moshe.
ועד״ז היו כל המ״ב מסעות שהם כנגד שם מ״ב הוא בחי׳ עלייה ממדרגה למדרגה
Stated differently
How forty-two is made up: seven attributes, each of six; or six attributes, each of seven
וכל אחת מהן כלולה מששה בחי׳ חג״ת נה״י לבד לכן הוא שבעה פסוקים וכל פסוק יש בו רק ששה תיבותThe Name of forty-two, and the forty-two journeys, are seven attributes, Chesed through Malchus, each including only six aspects; the seventh, Malchus of each, is not counted.
א״כ הם מספר מ״ב היינו ששה מדות שכל מדה כלולה משבעהIn the journeys, an ascent, Z”A is included in Imma and is only the vav, its Malchus being only a “step outside” within these six attributes; so forty-two is six attributes, each including seven. The paragraph refers to the later maamar that explains seven attributes of six.
והוא אינו כמש״כ שהם ז׳ מדות כ״א כלול מששהNotes that the earlier explanation (six attributes of seven) is not as stated here, and suggests that it follows Pri Etz Chaim’s Name of forty-two of the Havayos, three “hands” each twice seven, not Ana Bekoach.
How high the Name of forty-two and its ascent reach: Or Ein Sof itself; Adam Kadmon, the first source; or the head of Z”A, its Keser, Chochmah and Binah
הרי משמע דהעלייה ע״י שם מ״ב היא בא״ס ממשThe ascent of the journeys back to their source may reach the first three Sefiros of Adam Kadmon; and since the Zohar says the Name of forty-two letters is crowned in Ein Sof and “rises and does not descend,” its ascent is into Ein Sof itself. The paragraph then cites Pri Etz Chaim that the Name of forty-two is in Keser, Chochmah and Binah of Z”A.
שכולם מתעלות עד מקורם הראשון שהוא בחינת א״קThe forty-two journeys, seven attributes of six, all rise to their first source, Adam Kadmon, the Supernal Will, like fire rising as high as it can; there they are nullified, which may be why the Zohar says it rises and does not descend.
מבואר דשם מ״ב הוא בראש ז״א בכח״בCiting Pri Etz Chaim on the first paragraph of the Shema: the Name of forty-two is in the head of Z”A, in Keser, Chochmah and Binah. The same paragraph also says the ascents are into Or Ein Sof and cites the Zohar.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Masei 2, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Masei 8, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 12, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 12, ¶14Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2, ¶14
Where it appears
In 85 paragraphs of 52 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶7 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2 ¶2 ¶4 ¶7 ¶8 ¶20 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶27 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶1 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶6 ¶9 ¶12 ¶13 ¶14 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶12 ¶13 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶22 ¶26 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 11 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶1 ¶2 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶3 ¶5 ¶6 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶51
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶9 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶4 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶24 ¶25 ¶26 ¶27 ¶32 ¶41
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶1 ¶2 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶7 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶47
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.