LikuteiTorah.comThe Chassidishe Parsha
Sign in

Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah

Yesh and ayin

יש ואין

Something and nothing (yesh and ayin)

Yesh: what exists and is grasped, ultimately a being felt as separate. Ayin: what is beyond grasp, the G‑dly source. Creation brings yesh from ayin; the service of mitzvos turns yesh into ayin.

The word יש and אין are also ordinary words (“there is,” “there is not”); they are the concept when the text says בחי׳ יש, בחי׳ אין, מאין ליש, מיש לאין, or ביטול היש לאין.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶5The terms are relative. Looking upward, whatever is higher is called ayin because it is not grasped, so the main ayin is sovev; looking downward, the reverse: what is lower is called ayin because it counts as nothing before Him.שממטה למעלה כל מה שהוא למעלה יותר נק׳ אין לפי שאינו מושג
  2. Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Yesh is what is seen and felt as a thing: in Binah’s grasp and the love it arouses there is someone who grasps and someone who is moved. Chochmah, above grasp, is ayin, and its effect is ceasing from existence.הכל בבחי׳ יש ודבר נראה ונרגש שהרי יש מי שמשיג ויש מי שמתפעל
  3. Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3, ¶2Coming into being from ayin to yesh is creation, down to this physical world, the fully separate yesh; turning yesh back into ayin is something new, a change of nature, and is the purpose of the descent. Relative to what is above it, even the spiritual is yesh.שהתהוות מאין ליש הוא ענין הבריאה. כמ״ש והחכמה מאין תמצא. וחכמה היא ראשית הגילוי מהשתלשלות העולמות. משא״כ התהוות מיש לאין הוא דבר חדש ושינוי הטבע
  4. Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶19The purpose of every mitzvah (offerings, charity, Torah study) is turning yesh into ayin. That human bittul is not yet true ayin, since he still exists and nullifies himself, but as an arousal from below it brings a revelation of true ayin.אמנם ביטול זה אינו אמיתי שהרי מ״מ יש הוא אלא שמבטל א״ע
  5. Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2, ¶18The worlds were created from ayin to yesh, through the concealment of Elokim, so that yesh would be turned into ayin; in the time to come the world will no longer be a separate yesh.כי זהו תכלית בריאת העולמות מאין ליש כדי לאהפכא מבחי׳ יש לבחי׳ אין

Stated differently

Whether Chochmah itself is ayin, over against Binah’s yesh, or is still yesh together with Binah, with ayin above it

Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5כי החכמה הוא בחי׳ אין כמ״ש והחכמה מאין תמצא וגם חכמה היינו כח מה, ובינה הוא בחי׳ יש

Chochmah is ayin (reading “Chochmah is found from ayin” as naming Chochmah ayin) and Binah is yesh; their union is the union of ayin and yesh.

Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶13קנה חכמה קנה בינה ב״פ קנה גימטריא יש וכתיב והחכמה מאין תמצא. מכלל שהיא עצמה אינה עדיין בחי׳ אין

Chochmah and Binah are both called yesh; the verse shows that Chochmah comes from ayin and is itself not yet ayin. The true ayin is the light of Keser, what thought cannot grasp.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶19Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶13Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2, ¶18

Where it appears

In 677 paragraphs of 266 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.

Text size

Theme

How I learn

Calendar

Language

English

This page is in English only for now. Also in, so far:

العربية72 maamarim so farDeutsch72 maamarim so farEspañol72 maamarim so farفارسی72 maamarim so farFrançais72 maamarim so farעברית72 maamarim so farItaliano72 maamarim so farPortuguês72 maamarim so farРусский72 maamarim so farУкраїнська72 maamarim so far中文（简体）72 maamarim so far中文（繁體）72 maamarim so far

Send us a suggestion

Corrections, ideas, questions. Leave your email so we can answer.

We send it by email to the editor, with the page you’re on. Nothing is published.
Ask Freg about any paragraph