Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Teshuvah ila’ah and teshuvah tata’ah
תשובה עילאה ותשובה תתאה
Higher and lower teshuvah (teshuvah ila’ah and teshuvah tata’ah)
Two levels of teshuvah, the lower and higher hei: the lower turns from evil and does good; the higher, from the depth of the heart, lifts the soul beyond its limits to its source.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1, ¶22Fear of sin comes after humility and holiness, and these only after the stages of separation (perishus): separating the evil in the animal soul, from kelipas nogah, “sanctify yourself in what is permitted to you.” That is the lower teshuvah, which must come first (“teshuvah and good deeds”), for without it the deeds do not shine.
מדרגות הפרישות שהוא להפריד הרע שבנפש הבהמית מקליפות נוגה וקדש את עצמך במותר לך והוא בחינת תשובה תתאה
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶36The lower teshuvah, the return of the lower hei, has two levels: turning from evil, which repairs the lower hei that sins had clothed in kelipas nogah, and doing good, which draws added light from Or Ein Sof, sovev kol almin, from above to below.
בבחינת תשובה תתאה שהוא ענין תשוב ה׳ תתאה יש שני מדריגות והיינו התשובה דסור מרע והתשובה דועשה טוב
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6, ¶28The forgiveness that sprouts on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur comes through the lower teshuvah, in the Name Adnus (אד׳), and the higher teshuvah, in the Name Havayah voweled as Elokim: the inner aspect of the lower and the higher “land.” It is measured by the Torah and mitzvos of the whole year.
על ידי תשובה תתאה שהיא בבחי׳ שם אד׳ וע״י תשובה עילאה שהיא בבחי׳ שם הוי׳ בניקוד אלקים
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶8The higher teshuvah, “with all your might,” is the will of the depth of the heart, the Keser of Knesses Yisrael, yechidah: like a man on trial for his life, it fills mind and heart so that no other will can enter. Through it “the heavens are My throne” is drawn down; so the higher teshuvah is called sometimes Binah and sometimes Keser (Tiferes of Imma, which becomes Keser for Zeir Anpin), and “teshuvah reaches the Throne of Glory.”
הוא ע״י תשובה עילאה בכל מאדך רעותא דליבא שזהו בחי׳ הכתר דכנ״י שהוא בחי׳ יחידה
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8, ¶25“Israel went out with a high hand”: going out of vessel and limit, the lifting of the soul (“to You, Havayah, I lift my soul”). This is the higher teshuvah, of which it is said that “teshuvah preceded the world”: through teshuvah from the depth of the heart and mesirus nefesh, the spirit rises to its very source.
שיוצאים מן הכלי וגבול והוא בחי׳ נשיאות נפש לקיים מה שכתוב אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא והוא בחי׳ תשובה עלאה
Stated differently
Whether the higher teshuvah is the higher hei (Binah) within the Name Havayah, or rises above the whole Name
כי תשובה היינו תשוב ה׳ ויש ה׳ תתאה ה׳ עילאה והן ב׳ תשובות הנ״לTeshuvah is tashuv hei, “the hei returns”: there is a lower hei and a higher hei, and these are the two teshuvos, the lower and the higher.
והה׳ הוא ענין ההתפשטות באורך ורוחב ממלא וסובב הוא בחי׳ בינה תשובה עילאהThe hei is expansion in length and breadth; it is Binah, the higher teshuvah: the expansion in the heart that follows the flash of Chochmah, as burning love and joy.
ובחינת תשובה עילאה עולה למעלה מבחינת י״ה ומבחינת ו״ה וכמ״ש גבי יום הכפורים לפני הוי׳ תטהרו למעלה מבחינת שם הוי׳The higher teshuvah rises above yud‑hei (the prohibitions) and vav‑hei (the positive mitzvos): as on Yom Kippur, “before Havayah you shall be purified,” above the Name Havayah on which the mitzvos depend.
ובחי׳ תשובה עלאה עולה למעלה מבחי׳ י״ה ומבחי׳ ו״הThrough the wine that intoxicates, the nullification of grasp, the higher teshuvah rises above yud‑hei and vav‑hei; on Purim it is revealed in every soul, and a glimmer of it each day in the Shema, in mesirus nefesh in “One.”
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶34Likkutei Torah, Matos 1, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6, ¶28Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶48Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8, ¶25Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8, ¶33
Where it appears
In 48 paragraphs of 27 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶2 ¶34 ¶36 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶12 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶8 ¶21 ¶29 ¶34
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶7 ¶10 ¶11 ¶17 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶1 ¶8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶9 ¶13 ¶14 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6 ¶27 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 8 ¶25 ¶31 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 4 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 1 ¶7 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶22
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.