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Torah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al peh

תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה

The Written Torah and the Oral Torah (Torah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al peh)

The Written Torah: letters, holding everything in concealment, above human understanding. The Oral Torah: its explanation, which reveals the details of the mitzvos and how G‑d wills them done.

The word The terms name the actual texts (Scripture; Mishnah, Talmud and halachah) and also the supernal levels they correspond to; the text means the latter when it says למעלה or pairs them with Sefiros (חכמה, בינה, מלכות, אבא, אימא). Whether the Oral Torah is Chochmah or Binah is set out in the entry torah.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 2, ¶4Above too there are a Written and an Oral Torah, called heaven and earth. The Oral Torah explains the details of the mitzvos, which the Written does not spell out, and is Malchus, “the mouth,” speech (“the word of G‑d is halachah”); but the cantillation, vowels, crowns and letter-shapes of the Written Torah, each alluding to myriads of worlds, are not revealed in it.כי בתשב״כ אינו מפורש היטב פרטי המצות רק התשבע״פ מבאר ומפרש כל פרטי תשב״כ
  2. Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1, ¶11Heaven is the Written Torah (“sham mayim,” from Chochmah) and earth the Oral Torah (eretz, from ratzon, will): grasping the purpose of His will, how and what, such as a sukkah’s height, which the Written Torah does not explain. The Written Torah is letters, His Names, “called” from above downward; the Oral Torah is chiefly from below upward.אבל תורה שבע״פ עיקרה ממטה למעלה ע״י השגת הרצון בנפש תכלל הנפש במקורה למעלה
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶9The two loaves: the Oral Torah is “lachamu,” plural, since its essence is understanding the halachah and each grasps according to his level; the Written Torah is “lachmi,” singular, letters whose allusions are above human intellect, so even an unlearned person who says a verse without understanding is engaged in Written Torah.ותשב״כ נקרא לחמי לשון יחיד דהנה עיקר תשב״כ היא הכתובה תמונת אותיות כפי התמונה כן הוא רמיזתו למעלה
  4. Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8, ¶12All that the Written Torah holds is in concealment and potential, like the seed that contains every limb; the Oral Torah, the lower Chochmah, brings it out into revelation as the mother forms the child, so that one verse about Shabbos becomes a whole tractate. Hence it is called Chavah, a term of revelation, “mother of all life.”וכך הוא עד״מ יציאת ההעלם מתושב״כ שהיא בחי׳ ח״ע לידי גילוי הוא ע״י תושבע״פ
  5. Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶27Like a deer’s skin, which grows with its flesh, the Oral Torah’s letters multiply as comprehension grows: few in the Mishnah, very many in the Talmud, and whatever a seasoned student will innovate belongs to it. So its wording is not fixed as in the Written Torah, whose letters are allusions that do not change.והוא המשל לתורה שבעל פה שהיא מוחין דאימא בחי׳ מוח ההבנה המתלבש בהאותיות בבחי׳ אור וכלי בגילוי

Stated differently

Whether the Oral Torah is only a small glimmer of the Written Torah, or has an advantage over it, reaching higher

Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶17שאינה אלא הארה מועטת מבחי׳ תשב״כ לפי שאינה פירוש אלא רק על עצם המצות שבתשב״כ

The Oral Torah is only a small glimmer of the Written Torah: it explains only the mitzvos themselves, while the cantillation, vowels, crowns and letters of the Written Torah are not revealed in it at all (“give me a little water from your jug”).

Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶35וזאת עוד מעלת התושבע״פ על התושב״כ שתושב״כ מקרא הוא בחי׳ מוחין דאבא בלבד שהוא בחי׳ חכמה

A further advantage of the Oral Torah over the Written: the Written is only the mochin of Abba, Chochmah, from which no ruling can be derived; in the Oral Torah’s rulings (forbidden, permitted) the Supernal Will itself, above Chochmah, is enclothed and revealed.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶52חמורים דברי סופרים מדברי תורה כו׳ וכנודע מענין ערבים עלי דברי סופרים יותר מיינה של תורה ששרשן מבחינת סופר שלמעלה מתשב״כ שהיא בחי׳ ספר

The Oral Torah, with the rabbinic mitzvos and fences, is Malchus, the Nukva, below Zeir Anpin; yet the words of the Scribes are more stringent than words of Torah, for their root is in “sofer” (scribe), above the Written Torah, which is “sefer” (book).

Whether the Oral Torah is Malchus of Atzilus or Binah, Imma

Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12, ¶16כי תשבע״פ היא מל׳ דאצילות דאיהו וגרמוהי חד. אלא ר״ל שמתלבשת לברר עה״ד טו״ר שהיא קליפת נוגה

The Written Torah is the Tree of Life; the Oral Torah, which the Zohar calls the tree of good and evil, is Malchus of Atzilus, where “He and His vessels are one,” and is so called because it enclothes itself to refine kelipas nogah. All of it receives from the Written Torah and explains it.

Torah Ohr, Terumah 1, ¶9והיינו דאורייתא תושב״כ מחכ׳ נפקת הנק׳ אבא. ותושבע״פ הוא בחי׳ בינה הנקרא אמא

The Written Torah is “your father’s instruction,” from Chochmah, Abba, where all is only hinted, like the father’s seed; the Oral Torah is “your mother’s teaching,” Binah, Imma, where the details of the laws are revealed as the child grows in its mother’s womb.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 2, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21, ¶9Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1, ¶11Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8, ¶12Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶27Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶35Torah Ohr, Terumah 1, ¶9

Where it appears

In 283 paragraphs of 126 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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