Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Yechidah
יחידה
The soul’s single essence (yechidah)
The soul’s fifth, highest level, above Chochmah: a simple will above reason, the soul’s essence and the point of the heart, a surrounding light not held in vessels, longing for G‑d alone.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 6, ¶5Of the soul’s five levels, chayah is Chochmah and neshamah is Binah, comprehension; yechidah is the simple will above Chochmah. The name is feminine, for it receives from the Yachid and longs only to be included in Him. It is the love “with all your might” and the giving over of the soul at “One” in the Shema, and every Jew, even the lowest, has it by nature.
אבל יחידה הוא בחי׳ הרצון פשוט שלמעלה מן החכמה ויחידה הוא לשון נקבה שמקבלת מיחיד
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶6A person is moved slightly by stories that do not concern him, and more by what does; at the extreme is what touches the very point of the heart, for which he would give his life: that is yechidah. When one takes to heart that G‑d is One, the love “with all your heart” comes from this level.
עד שיש דבר שנוגע עד מיצוי הנפש ממש בתכלית נקודת הלב שאליו הוא נושא את נפשו ממש וזהו בחי׳ יחידה שבנפש
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶32“One” (echad) still belongs to number: many parts joined together. The essence of the soul, above its powers spread through the limbs, is not called “one” but yechidah: the simple will above intellect, the inner heart, in which there is no number.
אבל עצמיות הנפש שלמעלה מהתפשטות כחות הנפש באברי הגוף אינה נק׳ כלל בשם אחד כ״א נק׳ בחי׳ יחידה שבנפש
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶1Nefesh, ruach and neshamah are inner lights clothed in vessels (neshamah in the brain, ruach in the heart); chayah and yechidah have no vessels and are only two surrounding lights (makifim), the lamed and mem of the tzelem.
ובחי׳ חיה יחדה אין להם בחי׳ כלים כ״א הם בבחי׳ מקיף לבד
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶27The love not born of contemplation, a simple love above intellect, is the yechidah of the soul, above Chochmah; it is like a desire that touches the very self and makes a person act without regard to reason.
היא אהבה פשוטה שלמעלה מן השכל שזהו בחי׳ יחידה שבנפש שלמעלה מהחכמה
Stated differently
The source of yechidah: from the vessels of the sefiros, or from above Chochmah, rooted in Adam Kadmon
הרי כללות נרנח״י של הנשמות נמשכים רק מניצוץ קטן מאוד והיינו מהכלים דע״סThe souls’ root is at first only from the vessels. Though chayah and yechidah are explained as above vessels, in truth they are only from vessels; all five levels come from a very small spark, from the vessels of the ten sefiros (citing Shaar HaKedushah and Etz Chaim).
אכן באמת בחי׳ יחידה היא נמשכה מלמעלה ממש מהחכמהThe soul is drawn from the vessel of Chochmah, with a radiance of the light clothed in it; but yechidah is drawn from truly above Chochmah, and (citing Shaar HaKedushah) its root is from Adam Kadmon, far above Chochmah.
Whether the sitra achra has a counterpart to yechidah
שגם בסט״א יש בחי׳ יחידה זו שהיא בחי׳ רצון שלמעלה מהשכל והטעםG‑d made one opposite the other: the sitra achra too has this level of yechidah, a will above reason, so a person can have a strong will in worldly things; David asked that his yechidah be saved “from the young lions” and be for the One alone.
וז״ש ומכפירים יחידתי שהוא יחדה ממש שאין לה לעומת זה בקליפותHoliness has two makifim, chayah and yechidah; kelipah has only one makif (a will above intellect) and lacks the second, the true yechidah, called “the hidden things of the heart.” The paragraph presents this as settling discourses that seem to contradict each other.
Which love of the Shema is yechidah: “with all your might” or “with all your heart”
ובחי׳ בכל מאדך הוא בחי׳ יחידה כי מאד הוא בלי גבול“With all your soul” includes the four levels nefesh, ruach, neshamah and chayah; “with all your might” is yechidah, for me’od is without limit.
בחי׳ בכל מאודך בחי׳ תשובה עילאה נק׳ בחי׳ שמים כי הוא מבחי׳ יחידה שבנפש“With all your might,” higher teshuvah, is called heaven because it is from the yechidah of the soul, a surrounding light.
אזי יהיה ואהבת בכל לבבך בבחי׳ יחידה שבנפש שהוא כל לבבךWhen one takes to heart at the Shema that G‑d is One, the love “with all your heart” is at the level of yechidah: “all your heart” is what touches the very point of the heart.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Reeh 6, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶32Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3, ¶12Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶27
Where it appears
In 68 paragraphs of 36 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5 ¶9 ¶43
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶35 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶11 ¶12 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 11 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶15 ¶26 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 2 ¶2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶12 ¶21 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶7 ¶8 ¶10 ¶11 ¶14 ¶15 ¶21 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶1 ¶3 ¶4 ¶8 ¶9 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 4 ¶8 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶14 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶10 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 8 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶27 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 1 ¶2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 3 ¶6
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.