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Tohu and Tikkun

תהו ותקון

Tohu and Tikkun (chaos and rectification) · also: עולם התהו, שבירת הכלים

Tohu: the world before Tikkun, great lights in small vessels, sefiros as points; its vessels shattered and fell, though its lights are higher. Tikkun: partzufim, lights enclothed in vessels nullified to them.

The word Tikkun also means simply repair or rectification (of a blemish, a sin, the world); it names the world of Tikkun when paired with Tohu or written עולם התיקון / דתיקון. Tohu in the verse “the earth was tohu” means emptiness.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶11In Tohu the light drawn into the middos was so great that the vessels (Chochmah, Chesed and the other middos that receive and limit it) could not contain it; they broke and fell into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. After refinement, angels came from them, and from the angels the life of animals. Their root in Tohu, where the lights are many, is higher than Tikkun.כי הנה בבחי׳ התהו הי׳ האור גדול והכלים קטנים שלא יוכלו להכיל את האור ולכן נשברו ונפלו
  2. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶11Tikkun means the light enclothed in vessels and garments (the Targum renders “shall not wear” as “shall not yetakken”). In Tohu the ten sefiros were points; in Tikkun they became partzufim, whose garments let the light be borne and limit it to its proper place. Because Tohu lacked these garments, its flow reached the outside forces, the kings “who reigned in the land of Edom.”וזהו הענין שבתוהו היו הע״ס בבחי׳ נקודות ובתיקון נעשו בבחי׳ פרצופים שעיקר ענין בחי׳ פרצוף היינו תיקוני הלבושים והכלים
  3. Likkutei Torah, Matos 2, ¶5In the ten sefiros of Tikkun the vessels are nullified to the light, “He and His vessels are one,” so no separate existence could come from them. In Tohu the vessels broke and the lights left them, like a broken vessel that becomes a shard of its own; the separated letters became yesh, the source of the separate existence of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.כך ע״י שבירת הכלים שהם האותיות שנתפרדו נעשו בבחי׳ יש עד שמהן נמשך התהוות היש ודבר נפרד דבי״ע
  4. Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶12The lights of Tohu, which withdrew into the Emanator’s essence, are far higher than those of Tikkun; only their strength was too much for the vessels. When the vessels are refined and included in Tikkun, which has inter-inclusion, Tikkun gains both: lights as great as Tohu’s, with inter-inclusion. The offerings raised the animal’s spirit, which had fallen in the shattering, to its root, and so revealed the lights of Tohu.האורות דתהו שנסתלקו ונכללו בעצמות המאציל הם גבוהים הרבה מאורות דתיקון
  5. Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 1, ¶1Yaakov is rooted in the Name Mah of the world of Tikkun, Eisav in Tohu. The lights of Tohu were too great to enclothe in vessels, withdrew and became makifim, and the vessels broke and fell. So Eisav below was wicked, yet his root of roots, in the makifim of Tohu, is above the lights of Tikkun.יעקב שרשו הוא מבחי׳ שם מ״ה דעולם התקון ושרשו של עשו הוא מבחי׳ עולם התהו

Stated differently

Whether the shattering reached Chochmah: only the seven middos (with Daas) broke and Chochmah did not, or Chochmah of Tohu also fell into kelipas nogah

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 9, ¶4ששם היה השבה״כ דהיינו בשם ס״ג שבבינה ז׳ מלכין דתהו משא״כ בחכמה לא היה שבה״כ

The shattering was in the seven lower sefiros of Imma, the Name SaG in Binah, the seven kings of Tohu; in Chochmah there was no shattering, “they die, but not in Chochmah.”

Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3, ¶12כי בז׳ מלכין דתהו בלע הוא מבחינת דעת שנפל בשבירת הכלים כו׳ משא״כ בחכמה שלמעלה מהדעת כתיב ימותו ולא בחכמה שהוא למעלה משבה״כ

Among the seven kings of Tohu, Bela is Daas, which fell in the shattering; Chochmah, above Daas, is above the shattering, the Tree of Life.

Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9, ¶2ונמצא שהמ״ן שרשו מחכמה דעולם התהו שהזמ״ל הם מבחי׳ המוחין שהם החכמה

The mayin nukvin are sparks of the seven kings of Tohu sunk in the kelipos, and the seven kings are of the level of mochin, Chochmah; so the mayin nukvin are refinements of Chochmah of Tohu raised from kelipas nogah, and Keser of Tohu shines in them.

Whether the angels are rooted in Tohu or came into being from Tikkun

Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶5משא״כ המלאכים שרשם מבחי׳ עולם התהו מחנה מיכאל מחנה גבריאל כל א׳ קו בפ״ע

The human soul is from Atzilus, the world of Tikkun, and includes all the middos; the angels are rooted in the world of Tohu, the camps of Michael and Gavriel each a separate line, love alone or fear alone.

Likkutei Torah, Matos 2, ¶7הפנימיות דבי״ע הן הנשמות והמלאכים שיש בהן בחי׳ הביטול לפי שנתהוו מבחי׳ התיקון

The inwardness of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah is the souls and the angels, which have bittul because they came from Tikkun, where Ban was already rectified by Mah; the outwardness is the chambers of nogah, from the 288 sparks and the shattering not yet rectified.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Matos 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Matos 2, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9, ¶2Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 1, ¶1Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶5

Where it appears

In 336 paragraphs of 134 maamarim.

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.

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