Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Zeh le’umas zeh
זה לעומת זה
One opposite the other (zeh le’umas zeh)
“G‑d made one opposite the other”: levels of holiness have matching levels in kelipah, alike in form yet opposite, bittul against yesh; each opposes only its counterpart, and the very highest have none.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶2The ten Sefiros of holiness stand opposite the ten crowns of impurity: Avraham is the Chesed of holiness and Yishmael, who came out of him like dross from silver, the Chesed of the opposite side; Yitzchak’s Gevurah has its own counterpart. Yishmael is not set against Yitzchak, since each attribute of the other side can oppose only the attribute that matches it.
כי אין ביכולת כל מדה שבלעומת זה להיות מנגד רק למדה שכנגדו בקדושה
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶3Alien love opposes holy love because the two are the same attribute, one turned to G‑dliness and one to what is foreign. So alien love can at times prevail over holy love alone, but it has no power at all against holy awe, of which it is not the counterpart; when awe joins the love, it cannot stand.
כי שתיהן הן מדות שוות רק חסד דקדושה הוא אהבה לאלקות
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶6As there is a Livyasan and fish of the sea in holiness, so there are in the side of impurity. Yet the counterpart is the exact reverse: the holy ones are in utter bittul in their source in Or Ein Sof, while the Livyasan of kelipah says “my river is mine,” a yesh, a thing apart.
אלא דזה לעומת זה היינו הפך ממש
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶16As there are heichalos of holiness from which every good thought, word and deed of Torah and mitzvos draws its life, so opposite them are heichalos of the forces of impurity that feed everything evil. Man has free choice: taking on the yoke of Torah and mitzvos, he receives his life, and even his physical needs, from the holy heichalos.
כך לעומת זה יש ג״כ היכלות מכחות הטומאה שמהם נמשך שפע וחיות לכל דבר רע
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1, ¶12The principle works in both directions: just as Pharaoh in kelipah is a harsh kelipah, so opposite it there is a “Pharaoh” in holiness, the revelation of His G‑dliness, from pe’ri’ah, uncovering, brought about through the voice of prayer.
כך זלע״ז פרעה בקדושה הוא בחי׳ גילוי אלהותו ית׳ לשון פריעה
Stated differently
Whether the side opposite holiness has a counterpart to the intellect (Chochmah, Binah, Daas), or only to the seven emotive attributes
וכמבואר מההיכלות שאין בזה לעו״ז רק נגד ז״ת ולא בהיכל ק״ק שהוא כולל כחב״דKelipah has no hold in the bittul of Chochmah, Binah and Daas, only in Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes, the attributes of arousal: there is the male of kelipah opposite Zeir Anpin. As the heichalos show, the counterpart is only opposite the seven lower ones, not in the Heichal of the Holy of Holies, which includes Keser, Chochmah, Binah and Daas.
כמו חכמה דקדושה יש כנגדה חכמה דקליפה חרטומי מצריםAs the G‑dly soul divides into ten powers, three intellectual and seven attributes, so kelipah has the same: opposite holy Chochmah there is a Chochmah of kelipah, the magicians of Egypt, “wise to do evil,” and so with the other powers; holy Chochmah is bittul, the Chochmah of kelipah is yesh.
דכמו שיש חכמה בקדושה והם בחי׳ או״א דמשם נלקח יעקב כך נתהוה בסט״א ג״כ חכמה דקליפהG‑d made one opposite the other: as there is Chochmah in holiness, Abba and Imma, from which Yaakov was taken, so a Chochmah of kelipah came into being in the sitra achra.
הנה ע״ס דקדושה וכנגד זה עשר כתרי מסאבותא והם זה לעומת זהThe ten Sefiros of holiness have the ten crowns of impurity opposite them, one opposite the other.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 4, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3, ¶12Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6, ¶10
Where it appears
In 90 paragraphs of 69 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 2 ¶1 ¶7 ¶8 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 4 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶21 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 3 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶22 ¶24 ¶25 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 9 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 10 ¶13 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Vayishlach 6 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 5 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 1 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶26 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶21 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶36
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶32 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶44
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 1 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 18 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 5 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶28 ¶38
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.