Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Zeriah
זריעה
Sowing (zeriah)
Mitzvos done in physical things, souls sent into bodies, and Israel in exile, pictured as seed sown in earth: hidden, like a rotting seed, they sprout a manifold revelation of G‑dliness.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1, ¶1On “I will sow her for Me in the land” and “one who sows a kor brings out many kors”: as a person sows grain for the sake of the increase, so G‑d, wishing His G‑dliness to be revealed in the world in abundance, sows Israel, His produce. Their sowing in the land in the time of exile brings them to the high rank of the Time to Come, as one seed grows many, or one pit a whole tree.
זורע את ישראל שהן הם תבואתו ושע״י יתגלה כבודו ברבוי ותוספת
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶2“Light is sown for the tzaddik”: the souls are light sown below, into a physical body, so that through the Torah and practical mitzvos they do in this world there be growth with great increase, the revelation of Or Ein Sof below, as one seed rots in the earth and many seeds grow from it.
שהנשמות הנקראים בשם צדיק הם בחי׳ אור הנזרע למטה להתלבש בגוף בשר ודם הגשמי
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7, ¶16All mitzvos, called tzedakah, are likened to sowing: the seed has no smell or taste, and the mitzvos are clothed in physical things, yet they raise mayin nukvin to the supernal earth, Malchus of Atzilus, the root of the souls, where they are sown; since Malchus is rooted in Keser, each mitzvah sprouts a revelation of the supernal delight that is its source. The kavanah sows growth in the higher Gan Eden, the deed in the lower.
נמשלה לזריעה שהגרעין אין בו ריח וטעם כלל וכך כל מעשה המצות הם מלובשים בדברים גשמיים
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶6As the earth must first be plowed or the seed is lost, so before the sowing of the souls through the mitzvos (“do good”) must come “turn from evil,” plowing the animal soul: turning over its bad traits and nullifying every will not for G‑d. Kayin, who lacked this plowing, could not draw G‑d’s light down through his offering; Hevel could. In the Time to Come there will be no more need for plowing.
צ״ל מקודם לכן בחי׳ סור מרע שהוא בחי׳ חרישה לנפש הבהמית
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶39Sowing yields two kinds of growth: grain, where what grows is the very kind of seed sown, only greatly multiplied; and fruit from a planted pit, which bears no comparison to the pit, a true new thing. So above: an arousal from above that resembles the arousal from below, multiplied; or one from a far higher level, which sprouts only because the supernal earth’s power of growth is rooted so high. In Torah study, Mishnah is the first, Talmud, which brings forth new law, the second.
שיש ב׳ מיני צמיחות הצומחי׳ מהארץ ע״י הזריעה
Stated differently
When and where the growth from what is sown appears
בחי׳ היום לעשותם הוא בחי׳ זריעה שזורעים בארץ העליונה ע״י קיום המצות והצמיחה יהיה לע״לFulfilling the mitzvos in this world adds lights above that will be revealed in the Time to Come: “today, to do them” is the sowing, and the growth will be in the Time to Come; the longer the seed stays in the earth, the greater the growth.
שאור תורה ומצות הוא כעת בבחי׳ זריעה ולעתיד יהי׳ בבחי׳ גילוי בבחי׳ פריThe light of Torah and mitzvos is now in the state of sowing; in the future it will be revealed, as fruit.
היינו בחי׳ הצמיחה שממעשה המצות ומכוונת המצות. הנמשך בכל השנהThe growth from the deed and the kavanah of the mitzvos is drawn throughout the year, as Israel amass Torah and mitzvos; a higher growth and revelation comes on Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur and the Ten Days of Teshuvah.
הרי התורה אור זרוע בארץ עליונה ומשם תצמיח צדקה ורב חסדEven when one learns the plain Torah and no love or awe reaches him at the time, the Torah is light sown in the supernal earth, and from there sprouts ahavah rabbah, shining upon the souls of Israel in these garments, the Torah and mitzvos of each day.
Where teshuvah stands in the image of sowing
שלצדיקים כבר נזרע האור. אבל הבע״ת הם הזורעים עתהOf tzaddikim it says “light is sown for the tzaddik,” for them the light is already sown; of ba’alei teshuvah it says “fortunate are you who sow,” for they are the ones sowing now, and to them the prophet promises “so shall your seed endure.”
ועל זה נאמר ימצאהו בארץ מדבר. שהוא מקום שאינו ראוי לזריעה כללOne who transgresses a prohibition draws nurture to the outside forces and is a desert, a place not fit for sowing at all. Yet there is a remedy: the revelation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy through teshuvah, above all in the Ten Days of Teshuvah, when the arousal from above comes of itself, not, as all year, only through an arousal from below.
והיינו ע״י התשובה וכמבואר לעיל שבחי׳ שברים זהו בחי׳ חרישהThe growth on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur comes through teshuvah: the shevarim are the plowing, and this growth is from a higher level.
Whether what grows from a planted fruit pit is of the pit’s own kind, or a wholly new thing beyond comparison to it
מ״מ הרי הוא עכ״פ ממהות הפרי ההוא ויש בו בכחו מלובש ומוסתר כל כחות הטעמים והגוונים והריח שבפרי ההואThough the pit shows no taste or smell, it is of the very essence of that fruit, holding all its tastes, colors and smell hidden in it; so when it rots, the force of growth brings forth fruit like the pit, apples from an apple pit, grapes from a grape pit, only multiplied.
שהגרעין הנטוע אין לו ערך כלל לגבי הפירות הנצמחים ממנו. והוא התחדשות ממשGrain grows as the very kind of seed sown, only greatly multiplied; but the planted pit bears no comparison at all to the fruit that grows from it, a true new thing.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41, ¶23Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41, ¶24Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶39
Where it appears
In 135 paragraphs of 77 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶1 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 8 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8 ¶16 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶31
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 8 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 9 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶5 ¶18 ¶19 ¶35 ¶36 ¶39 ¶47
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶3 ¶16 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 6 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶13 ¶21 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶14 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶2 ¶3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶1 ¶2 ¶5 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 2 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶27
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 9 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 1 ¶7 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12 ¶15 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶2 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 30 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶6 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶13 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶1 ¶2 ¶9 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 2 ¶1 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 6 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 2 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 7 ¶5 ¶9 ¶10 ¶15 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 7 ¶2 ¶3 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶23 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 1 ¶1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶4 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1 ¶29 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 5 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 7 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 1 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 14 ¶20
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2 ¶26
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.