Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Shushvina dematronisa
שושבינא דמטרוניתא
The Queen’s groomsman (shushvina dematronisa) · also: שושבינא דמלכא
Title of Aharon, the Kohen Gadol (once also of Binyamin): as a groomsman escorts the bride, he raises Knesses Yisrael, the souls of Israel, to their source; Moshe, the King’s groomsman, draws G‑dliness down.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1, ¶2The Matronisa (Queen) is the source of the souls of Israel. A groom and bride need a groomsman to walk with them and support them, since out of bashfulness they cannot go by themselves; so the souls have no power of their own to be included in their source in Or Ein Sof, except through Aharon, their groomsman.
ואהרן הוא השושבין להם כמו עד״מ חתן וכלה שצריכין שושבין לילך עמהם לפי שא״א להם לילך בעצמם מחמת הבושה
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3, ¶22Aharon raises the souls of Israel as a whole, so he must stand above them: he bestows on them from Abba and Imma, so that their ascent is in bittul, not as yesh. He is the intermediary between the princes, who raise from below with the fire of Binah in Beriah, and Moshe, who draws Or Ein Sof down from above.
ואהרן נקרא שושבינא דמטרוניתא שהוא המעלה כללות נשמות ישראל ומאחר שהוא המעלה אותם מוכרח שהוא למעלה מהם
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶33The Kohen Gadol raises the souls to their source in Or Ein Sof by drawing ahavah rabbah down to them from “abundant in kindness,” above the order of the worlds. It comes through Aharon’s beard, since what is above that order can be drawn down only through “hairs”; this is what Korach envied.
ענין כה״ג נקרא שושבינא דמטרוניתא שהוא המעלה נש״י במקורם באור א״ס ב״ה והיינו על ידי שממשיך להם אהבה רבה
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶7Moshe, the King’s groomsman, draws Or Ein Sof enclothed in the supernal Chochmah; Aharon, the Queen’s groomsman, draws the light of Binah into Malchus, so that Malchus rises from below upward through the five Gevuros of Binah.
ואהרן הוא שושבינא דמטרוניתא שממשיך אור הבינה למל׳ שעי״ז יהיה עליית המל׳ ממטה למעלה ע״י ה״ג דבינה
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 5, ¶1Here the pair of titles is given to the two tzaddikim, Yosef and Binyamin: Yosef, the King’s groomsman, works from above downward (the higher unity), and Binyamin, the Queen’s groomsman, from below upward (the lower unity).
יוסף שושבינא דמלכא מלמעלה למטה ובנימין שושבינא דמטרוניתא ממטה למעלה
Stated differently
Whether the Queen’s groomsman works from below upward, arousing longing through prayer, or from above downward, with love that comes from above
ובחינת אהרן שושבינא דמטרוניתא שמביא ומוליד תשוקה להש״י שהוא התעוררות תשוקה ממטה למעלה שהוא ע״י תפלהAharon, the Queen’s groomsman, brings about longing for G‑d, an arousal from below upward, through prayer: contemplation in Pesukei deZimrah and the Shema, kindling the hidden love in every soul.
אבל בחי׳ אהרן הוא בחי׳ אחרת שהוא שושבינא דמטרוניתא בבחי׳ מלמעלה למטה דהיינו שכל חפצו ותשוקתו להיות נגלה כבוד ה׳ לעיני בשרAvraham’s ahavas olam is “from below upward,” man’s service rising level by level; Aharon, the Queen’s groomsman, is of another kind, “from above downward”: all his desire is that G‑d’s glory be revealed below as above.
בהעלות אהרן את הנרות אהרן שושבינא דמטרוניתא שהיא אהבה הבאה מלמעלה באתעדל״ע וממנו הדליקו כל הח׳ ימיםAharon, the Queen’s groomsman, is love that comes from above through an arousal from above, without arousal from below; from it the eight days of Chanukah were kindled.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶33Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Masei 1, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5, ¶19
Where it appears
In 35 paragraphs of 26 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 1 ¶3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶58 ¶66
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 5 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 3 ¶19 ¶21 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶26 ¶28 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 3 ¶3
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.