Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Tevunah
תבונה
Tevunah (understanding)
The comprehended intellect (paired with Yisrael Sava), below Chochmah: in it the middos are still included in understanding and unfelt, from it they take their divided form, and in it delight is chiefly revealed.
The word תבונה is also a person’s own understanding ("שכלו ותבונתו", "מוח תבונתו"), the faculty one contemplates with. As a level above it is named with Yisrael Sava (ישסו״ת) or set beside Chochmah and Daas ("בחכמה ובתבונה ובדעת"). For Binah as the Sefirah (Imma), see binah.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶2Tevunah is the revelation of contemplation, from which comes the delight of the higher and lower Gan Eden: the delight of Keser is not yet revealed in Chochmah (Eden) but chiefly in Tevunah, as a person’s delight comes at the end of understanding an idea. Souls rooted in Yisrael Sava and Tevunah draw Chochmah below.
כי תבונה היינו גילוי ההתבוננות שמזה נמשך בחינת עונג הגן עדן עליון ותחתון
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 5, ¶16“He established the heavens with tevunah”: the comprehended intellect is called Tevunah, and in it the middos (heavens) are formed. Their source is in Chochmah, a point above division that gives them only in general, like the father’s drop; their coming into being divided, like the limbs formed in the mother’s womb, is from Tevunah.
שבחי׳ ארץ נמשכת מהחכמה דוקא שהיא למעלה משכל המושג הנק׳ תבונה שבו כונן שמים שהם המדות
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶14When the middos are included in intellect and contemplation, the love is covered by understanding and not felt as a yesh at all; then it is called Tevunah, the letters of “son and daughter” (בן ובת) included in it. Therefore the external forces draw nothing from it, only from the middos once revealed in the heart.
רק הם כלולים באור אימא ואינם בבחי׳ הרגשה וישות כלל ואז נק׳ בשם תבונה אותיות בן ובת
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2, ¶9The outer side of thought, the letters of thought felt apart from the intellect, is called above Malchus of Tevunah, which is Leah, the outer side of Binah; the letters included in the intellect itself are the inner side of Binah.
ונק׳ למעלה בחי׳ מלכות דתבונה שהיא בחי׳ לאה חיצוניות הבינה שהיא בחי׳ אותיות המחשבה
Stated differently
What “His tevunah” (תבונתו) in the verses refers to
כי חכ׳ עלאה הוא בחי׳ א״ס וכמ״ש ולתבונתו אין חקר שהוא היודע והוא הדעה“His tevunah is unsearchable” is said of Chochmah Ila’ah, which is Ein Sof, He being the knower and the knowledge.
ובתבונה יתכונן הוא מ״ש ולתבונתו אין חקר ובדעת חדרים ימלאוןChochmah is “wise, but not with a known wisdom”; “with tevunah it is established” is the level of “His tevunah is unsearchable”, followed by Daas, which fills the rooms.
אבל לתבונתו היינו במקום שהחו״ג מכוסים ביסוד אימא הם בבחי׳ אחדות והתכללות“His tevunah is without number” is where Chesed and Gevurah are covered in Yesod of Imma, in unity, the hidden world above number; number begins below the chest of Z’eir Anpin, where they are revealed and divided.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶2Torah Ohr, Bereishis 5, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7, ¶13
Where it appears
In 66 paragraphs of 46 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶7 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶18 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶4 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 40 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 3 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11 ¶14 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶11 ¶13 ¶14 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 5 ¶16 ¶17 ¶18 ¶20
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶38
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 10 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶13 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 4 ¶10 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 2 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶29 ¶34 ¶38
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶4 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 6 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶27
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.