Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Seed of man and the seed of animal
זרע אדם וזרע בהמה
The seed of man and the seed of animal
Two levels of Jewish souls (Jeremiah 31): “man” (adam = Mah), souls of Atzilus with felt knowledge (Daas) of G‑d; “animal” (behemah = Ban), souls of the lower worlds, who understand without it.
The word “Animal” here names a level of the G‑dly soul (one without felt Daas), not the animal soul (nefesh habehamis), and not behemah rabbah, a “beast” said to be greater than “man.”
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶2“I will sow the house of Israel with the seed of man and the seed of animal”: there are two levels of souls. The seed of man, drawn from the supernal Adam on the throne, are the souls of Atzilus, few even in the early generations, with great Daas of G‑dliness, a felt sense as if seeing. The seed of animal, the souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, almost all souls in our generations, may grasp G‑d’s greatness deeply, but not as Daas felt in the soul: like an animal, which sees and hears but has no Daas. Chochmah, sight, dwells in Atzilus; Binah, hearing, in Beriah.
אך שאין זה בבחי׳ דעת והרגשה בנפשו לכן נק׳ בהמה
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4, ¶2Behemah has the numerical value of Ban (52): the souls of Beriah; adam that of Mah (45): the souls of Atzilus. Beriah, the world of the throne, is where the “animal” faces (the face of the lion) are; the camp of Michael counts as without Daas compared with what is above it, though compared with what is below its Daas is great.
בהמה בגימטריא ב״ן נשמות דבריאה. אדם מ״ה נשמות דאצי׳
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶1Atzilus is “man,” “I will be likened to the Most High,” since it is only a passage from concealment to revelation, while Beriah is a new creation, something from nothing. The terms are relative: souls drawn from the union of Abba and Imma of Atzilus are counted as “animals” compared with the new souls of the time to come.
כי אצילות הוא בחי׳ אדם אדמה לעליון שאינו רק מהעלם אל הגילוי
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2, ¶4Only the spark drawn down below is called the seed of animal; its root is “beyond the river,” above hishtalshelus, where man and animal are equal and the Patriarchs are rooted. So (2:5) to bring Daas into these souls needs only an “acquisition,” drawing from concealment into revelation the very great Daas they have at their root.
רק מה שירדו הנשמות אח״כ עד שנק׳ זרע בהמה זהו רק בחי׳ הנצוץ הנמשך למטה
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29, ¶1The souls of Atzilus are called man and the souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah animal, as the angels too are called animal (the faces of the lion and the ox). “I will give grass in your field for your animal” is the drawing of Daas into them, through Moshe, the faithful shepherd.
וע״ז נאמר ונתתי עשב בשדך לבהמתך שהוא המשכת הדעת והיינו ע״י משה רעיא מהימנא
Stated differently
Whether the seed of man and the seed of animal are two kinds of souls, two aspects within every G‑dly soul, or a person who makes himself like an animal
שיש ב׳ מדרגות בנש״י. הא׳ הם הנשמות הגבוהות מאד במעלה ומדרגה והם הנק׳ זרע אדםTwo levels of souls of Israel: the seed of man are the very lofty souls of Atzilus, few in number; the seed of animal are the souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, almost all the souls of our generations.
דהיינו שגם בנה״א עצמה יש מבחינת בהמה שהוא שם ב״ןReading “of the animal” (Vayikra 1:2) with the Sifra deTzniusa, the G‑dly soul itself, though chiefly “man,” the Name Mah, also contains “animal,” the Name Ban, since the souls are born from the union of Zeir Anpin and Nukva, Mah and Ban, and so include both: this is “the seed of man and the seed of animal.”
זרע אדם וזרע בהמה שמשים עצמו כבהמה שמהלך אחר שיחה נאהKnesses Yisrael includes all souls, from the greatest tzaddikim to the least: man mixed of good and evil, the seed of man and the seed of animal, one who makes himself like an animal that follows pleasant talk. One who wants to leave the evil must beat himself into shape like the Menorah.
What makes a soul “man” rather than “animal”: felt Daas of G‑dliness, or Torah as against love
ויש שנק׳ זרע בהמה שאין בו בחינת דעת והיינו כמו נשמות שלנו דבי״עSouls called the seed of man have strong Daas, the souls of Atzilus such as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s; those called the seed of animal, like our souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, lack Daas: not that they do not know and understand, but no true stirring comes from it and they are not nourished by their contemplation.
והנה בחי׳ אדם הוא כמ״ש ועל דמות כו׳ כמראה אדם כו׳. דהיינו מארי דאורייתאThere are two kinds of souls, man and animal. The love the worlds receive from the face of the ox, born of contemplating how G‑dliness is hidden in the world (ahavas olam), is called behemah; “man” is the masters of Torah, for like a man’s 248 limbs and 365 sinews the Torah has 248 positive and 365 negative mitzvos, and it is higher than love and awe, which are only wings.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶2Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2, ¶4Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2, ¶5Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4, ¶2Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29, ¶1
Where it appears
In 20 paragraphs of 14 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶5 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2 ¶4 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 4 ¶5 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶3 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶23
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.