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Likkutei Torah · Parshas Shir HaShirim · Maamar 32

ששים המה מלכות ושמונים פילגשים כו׳

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines

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  • about 1 h 55 min of study
  • 165 sources

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The big idea

Because there is no comparison at all between G‑d and the worlds, His transcendent light can reach them only by a “leap,” not by a chain of cause and effect, and Torah study is that leap: the words of Torah a Jew speaks are G‑d’s own speech, uniting the Holy One with His Shechinah. That is why the Ten Commandments were given “saying”: after the self-sacrifice of the Shema, every person’s learning renews the voice of Sinai, new each day.

The maamar in brief

The maamar asks two questions: why the Sages call the Mishnayos “queens” and the Baraisos “concubines,” and what “saying” means in the Ten Commandments, which all Israel heard from G‑d Himself. The answer rests on “The voice of my beloved, behold, he comes, leaping”: the voice of Sinai comes again whenever a person studies. The Alter Rebbe first shows that creation is not a chain of cause and effect, as the philosophers held, for then the worlds would be infinite and would change G‑d; there is “no comparison.” G‑d is “holy,” set apart (sovev kol almin), and gives life to the worlds only through His sovereignty, the Shechinah, so His greatness and His humility are one. The union of the Holy One and His Shechinah, the revelation of sovev below, comes through Torah study, for a person’s words of Torah are G‑d’s own speech, ruling like a king’s decree. The Mishnah reveals the Infinite Light openly, the Baraisa discreetly, and the halachos of the Gemara are “maidens,” for the root of their reasons stays hidden; deep study that clarifies them still reveals much that was concealed. All this comes in full only after the self-sacrifice of the Shema, “One is my dove”; then the Torah is said anew every day.

Outline

  1. Two questions and the voice that still comesWhy are the Mishnayos “queens” and the Baraisos “concubines,” and what does “saying” mean when all Israel heard G‑d directly? The present tense of “Behold, he comes” shows that the voice of Sinai comes whenever a person studies.¶1–2
  2. No comparison: creation is not cause and effectThe philosophers acknowledge G‑d but picture creation as cause and effect, where the effect is proportionate to its cause and changes it. King David’s “there is no comparison to You” denies this: G‑d is unchanged by creation, and finite worlds could not unfold from the Infinite by cause and effect, only through a leap and countless contractions.¶3–8
  3. The Holy One, blessed be He“Holy” means set apart: sovev kol almin, an influence hidden from the worlds, which is why creatures feel separate. The worlds live only through G‑d’s Malchus, like a king’s rule or a crown that does not touch his essence; Malchus is His Name, through which He is “blessed,” drawn down into the worlds.¶9–15
  4. Greatness and humility in one placeG‑d desired a dwelling below, possible because before sovev high and low are equal. His providence over the smallest physical details is both His humility and His greatness; Balaam, holding the cause-and-effect view, thought it beneath Him. Like an outer circle that also surrounds from below, the One who is beyond all lowers Himself to see.¶16–22
  5. The union of the Holy One and His Shechinah through TorahThe Shechinah is Malchus, memalei kol almin; their union is the revelation of sovev within it, the dwelling below. It comes through Torah study, for G‑d studies opposite the learner and speaks through his mouth (“I mention My Name”). His rulings of permitted and forbidden, Chesed and Gevurah guided by Chochmah, raise or reject the fallen sparks like a king’s decree.¶23–28
  6. Concubines and maidensThe Baraisa spells out the Mishnah for lesser students, teaching “outside the body,” so the light is concealed in it as a concubine is visited discreetly. The halachos of the Gemara are “maidens,” for their deepest reasons, as with the night garment and tzitzis, remain hidden; deep study that clarifies the halachah reveals the hidden, and all this comes by a leap.¶29–35
  7. One is my dove: self-sacrifice before TorahThe revelation comes in full only after “One is my dove”: contemplation in Pesukei deZimra and the Shema until G‑d’s oneness enters one’s core, love “with all your soul,” possible because the soul is rooted so high, and “with all your might,” fulfilled in charity. Then “these words” of Torah draw down sovev, as in the Kohen Gadol’s count of one upward and seven downward, new every day.¶36–42
  8. “Saying,” and my perfect one“Saying” means the Ten Commandments are said again in every generation, as G‑d speaks through each learner, and the “I” of sovev becomes “your G‑d.” Israel become G‑d’s “perfect one,” His “twin,” completing His union, and darkness turns into light.¶43–44

Key concepts

No comparison (ein aroch)אין ערוך
There is no proportion at all between G‑d and the worlds, not even the partial proportion between a cause and its effect; therefore the worlds make no change in Him.
Cause and effectעילה ועלול
A chain in which each level comes from the one before, is proportionate to it, and changes it, as intellect produces emotion. The maamar shows that creation is not of this kind.
The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין — קדוש ומובדל
Not light located above the worlds, but G‑d’s power acting in them while remaining hidden and beyond them, “holy and set apart.” Before it, high and low are equal.
Malchus, the Name and the Shechinahמלכות, שם, שכינה
G‑d’s sovereignty, through which the worlds receive life, like a king’s rule that does not touch his essence. It is His Name, which reveals Him, and the Shechinah that dwells below as memalei kol almin.
The union of the Holy One and His Shechinahיחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה
The revelation of the transcendent light (sovev) within the light that dwells in the worlds (memalei), brought about by Torah study; it is the dwelling place among the lower realms.
The leapדילוג — מדלג על ההרים
Since there is no comparison between G‑d and the worlds, His light reaches them not by gradual descent but by a leap, as in “leaping over the mountains.”
Queens, concubines and maidensמלכות, פילגשים ועלמות
The Mishnah, in which the Infinite Light shines openly and constantly; the Baraisos, in which it shines discreetly, through concealment; and the halachos of the Gemara, whose deepest reasons remain hidden.
The clarification of the halachah (libun hilchesa)ליבון הלכתא
Deep study that resolves contradictions and uncovers hidden reasons; it reveals what was concealed and draws down the Supernal Whiteness.
One is my dove (achas)אחת היא יונתי
The soul as a recipient of G‑d’s oneness (echad), reached through contemplation in prayer and self-sacrifice; it must precede Torah study for the full revelation.

In the Rebbe’s light · 8

AI research Found by AI reading every place in the Rebbe’s works that cites this maamar, and checked against each source by a second AI reader, the less certain by a third. Only what rated high is shown: the Rebbe’s own words, about this very passage. No person has reviewed it yet, so check the place itself before relying on a detail. See something to correct?

The maamar in the Rebbe’s light

The maamar asks why the Mishnah is a ‘queen’ and what „לאמר” (‘saying’) means at Sinai, and answers that a person’s words of Torah are G‑d’s own speech, drawn down after the self-sacrifice of prayer. The Rebbe’s teachings press on each step. In a sicha of Shabbos Yisro 5751 he draws from it that this speech reaches „בכל המקום” (in every place), even one unfit in itself, because the speaker is G‑d, and on Shabbos Mishpatim that year he ranks it above „הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (the Holy One reads and studies opposite him): here the Holy One is the one who begins. In his maamar for the Alter Rebbe’s yahrzeit, 24 Teves 5732, he shows why „האין מספר” (the ‘without number’) belongs to the Talmud of the exile, and why prayer must come first: it binds Israel to the Holy One, and through them the Torah. In Shabbos Shuvah 5723 he reads the „אחת למעלה” (one upward) of the Yom Kippur sprinklings as the yechidah, and in the maamarim of Shelach 5719 and 15 Shevat 5734 he looks from the other side: a person’s learning causes the Holy One to say the words, and the speech that comes through it is higher than Sinai’s. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the thread is that a person’s prayer and learning are where the speech from above and the service from below meet.

Paragraph by paragraph

  1. ¶25

    The Rebbe explains

    In a talk of Shabbos Parshas Yisro 5751, edited for Sefer HaSichos, the Rebbe asks what a person’s service learns from „אחת דיבר אלקים” (G‑d spoke once), the Ten Commandments said in a single utterance that no human mouth can say; in the talk’s eleventh section he finds the answer in the verse this paragraph reads.

    The Rebbe weighs each word of the verse. „בכל המקום” (in every place), not just ‘in a place’, takes in both a place fit for holiness and a place that by itself is not. That reach is possible because the speaking is not a person’s limited power but G‑d’s: „אזכיר את שמי” (I will mention My Name), not ‘you will mention’, which he explains with this paragraph’s words, that a person’s Torah speech is G‑d’s own speech. And G‑d’s speech has no limit, so it reaches even a place that is unfit in itself, and reaches both kinds of place alike.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו מ״ש בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך כו׳ דהל״ל תזכיר

    The Rebbeובנוגע לדיבורו של הקב״ה (”אזכיר את שמי”) אין הגבלה כלל, שנמשך ”בכל המקום”, גם במקום שמצד עצמו אינו ראוי לכך

    Sefer HaSichos, vol. 5751, vol. 1 (תנש״א ח״א), p. 315 · ש״פ יתרו, ה׳תנש״א

  2. ¶25

    A question the Rebbe raises

    At the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim (Parshas Shekalim) 5751, in an aside on the Minchah prayer (printed in Toras Menachem among the supplements to the edited talk), at which Eliyahu was answered „ענני ה׳ ענני” (Answer me, Havayah, answer me), doubly and in a higher way, the Rebbe says that the calling itself is „שפתי תפתח ופי יגיד תהלתך” (open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise), and that Torah study too is included in ‘Your praise’.

    The maamar brings, side by side, the Sages’ „כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (whoever reads and studies, the Holy One reads and studies opposite him; ¶24, ¶28) and this paragraph’s ‘the speech a person speaks in Torah is truly His speech’. In an aside the Rebbe sets one above the other: in the first „שהאדם הוא המתחיל” (the person is the one who begins), while in the second G‑d truly speaks in him through his mouth, and the Holy One is the one who begins.

    The Alter Rebbeשהדבור שהאדם מדבר בד״ת הוא ממש דיבורו ית׳

    The Rebbeלא רק באופן ש״כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (שהאדם הוא המתחיל), אלא באופן ש״הדיבור שהאדם מדבר בד״ת הוא ממש דיבורו ית׳”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos, vol. 5751, vol. 2 (תנש״א ח״ב), p. 289–290 · ש״פ משפטים, פרשת שקלים, ה׳תנש״א

  3. ¶32

    The Rebbe explains

    In a maamar for the Alter Rebbe’s yahrzeit, 24 Teves 5732, the Rebbe sets out the Alter Rebbe’s discourses on „ששים המה מלכות” (there are sixty queens) to explain why the Torah needs prayer before it; after the queens and the concubines he reaches „ועלמות אין מספר” (and maidens without number).

    The maidens, the Rebbe explains, are the Amoraim’s halachos, including all that a seasoned student will one day innovate, and above all the Babylonian Talmud, of which it is said „במחשכים הושיבני” (He has set me in dark places), the Torah of the exile down to the last one. Their concealment is greater than the Baraisos’, „אבל מ״מ דוקא בהם ישנו ענין האין מספר” (yet only in them is the ‘without number’): through them the refinement of the world is completed, to the point of ‘without number’, a preparation for the time when the number of Israel will be beyond counting.

    The Alter Rebbeועלמות אין מספר הם הלכות שבגמרא ומימרות האמוראים ונקרא עלמות לשון העלם

    The Rebbeאבל מ״מ דוקא בהם ישנו ענין האין מספר, שע״י נעשה תכלית הבירור ועד לאופן דאין מספר

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. א, p. קל · כ״ד טבת, יום ג׳ פ׳ וארא, ה׳תשל״ב

  4. ¶42

    The Rebbe explains

    In the yahrzeit maamar of 24 Teves 5732, having shown that the dwelling below is made through the Torah, the Rebbe asks why the Alter Rebbe nonetheless sets „אחת היא יונתי” (one is she, my dove) above it.

    Although the dwelling below is made through the Torah, the Rebbe explains, „צריך להיות לפני זה ענין התפלה” (before it there must be prayer), the dove: prayer binds Israel to the Holy One, and then, through Israel, the Torah too is bound to the Holy One and draws down from above. This is why this paragraph says that Torah study without the self-sacrifice of the Shema first will not draw down so great a revelation.

    The Alter Rebbeמשא״כ בעסק התורה לבד בלי קדימת בחינת מס״נ הנ״ל לא ימשיך כ״כ גלוי אור א״ס

    The Rebbeצריך להיות לפני זה ענין התפלה בחי׳ אחת היא יונתי, שעי״ז נעשה התקשרות ישראל בקוב״ה

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. א, p. קל–קלא · כ״ד טבת, יום ג׳ פ׳ וארא, ה׳תשל״ב

  5. ¶42

    A question the Rebbe raises

    In a maamar on „ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני” (on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai), the Rebbe asks why the verse says ‘this day’ without naming it, and takes up Rashi’s reading, that the words of Torah should be new to you as if given today.

    The Rebbe raises the question this paragraph answers: how can the Torah be new each day when it was given more than three thousand years ago? He recalls the answer through „לאמר” (‘saying’): the one who learns repeats what G‑d says now. Then he presses further: G‑d’s words stand forever unchanged, so what is added when He says them again as a person learns? His answer is that Sinai was given as the start and the power for the lower beings to rise through their own service, so „הדיבור דהקב״ה שבא ע״י לימוד האדם הוא נעלה יותר” (G‑d’s speech that comes through a person’s learning is higher).

    The Alter Rebbeואף שהתורה ניתנה מכבר זה יותר משלשה אלפים שנה

    The Rebbeולכן הדיבור דהקב״ה שבא ע״י לימוד האדם הוא נעלה יותר

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ד, p. קנה–קנח · יום ה׳ פ׳ יתרו, חמשה-עשר בשבט ה׳תשל״ד

  6. ¶42

    Background from the Rebbe

    In a maamar of Shabbos Shuvah 5723 the Rebbe explains why „וכל אדם לא יהי׳ באוהל מועד” (no man shall be in the Tent of Meeting) when the High Priest enters to atone on Yom Kippur, and why Yom Kippur, the ‘eighth’ after seven days of teshuvah, is above the order of the worlds.

    Of the Yom Kippur sprinklings, „אחת למעלה ושבע למטה” (one upward and seven downward), the Rebbe explains that the one upward is the revelation of the yechidah (יחידה), the soul’s core, one with G‑d’s essence, and the seven after it are that revelation drawn into the soul’s revealed powers. Earlier in the maamar he brings, from the Tzemach Tzedek’s maamar on the verse, that the one upward is ‘one is she, my dove’, as this paragraph says, and his own note sends the reader here.

    The Alter Rebbeוהיינו כי אחת למעלה הוא המס״נ דכנ״י שע״ז נאמר אחת היא לאמה

    The Rebbeאחת למעלה היא גילוי היחידה, שהיא מיוחדת עם העצמות, ושבע למטה (שלאחרי האחת) הוא שגילוי היחידה (למעלה מהשתלשלות שבאדם) יומשך בכחות הגלויים

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ה, p. כא · ש״פ האזינו, שבת תשובה, ה׳תשכ״ג

  7. ¶43

    The Rebbe explains

    In a maamar on Moshe’s plea after the spies, „כאשר דברת לאמר” (as You have spoken, saying), the Rebbe explains how a person’s service draws the light that is above the order of the worlds into it.

    As in the Tzemach Tzedek’s Or HaTorah and the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar on this verse (5678), both cited in his note, the Rebbe reads Moshe’s „כאשר דברת לאמר” (as You have spoken, saying) as pointing also to „וידבר גו׳ לאמר” (and He spoke … saying) at Sinai: Israel are to say all these words, the words G‑d says. He puts it as cause and effect: by saying words of Torah a person „גורם שהקב״ה יאמר דיבורים אלו” (causes the Holy One to say these words), drawing the Infinite Light that is above the order of the worlds into the Torah; through this it comes into all his service, and into the world, until the dwelling below is complete.

    The Alter Rebbeכי כך הוא באמת הלימוד הוא המשכת סוכ״ע אני המשנה המדברת בפיך

    The Rebbeהיינו שע״י שהאדם אומר דברי תורה, הוא גורם שהקב״ה יאמר דיבורים אלו, המשכת אוא״ס (שלמעלה מהשתלשלות) בתורה (השתלשלות)

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ג, p. קצח · ש״פ שלח, כ״ח סיון, מבה״ח תמוז, ה׳תשי״ט

  8. ¶43

    The Rebbe explains

    In the talk of Shabbos Parshas Yisro 5751, edited for Sefer HaSichos, the Rebbe asks what lesson a person’s service draws from „אחת דיבר אלקים” (G‑d spoke once), the Ten Commandments said in one utterance.

    Following Torah Ohr Yisro, with a note to the question that opens this maamar and that this paragraph answers, the Rebbe reads ‘saying’ as the power given at Sinai that the halachah a Jew speaks is G‑d’s own word, and he quotes this maamar that G‑d truly speaks through the person’s mouth. From this he concludes that the one-utterance quality, positive and negative commands as one, is present in a person’s Torah study too, not by his own power but because G‑d speaks in him.

    The Alter Rebbeובזה יובן פי׳ וענין תיבת לאמר שבתחלת עשרת הדברות

    The Rebbeשתיבת ”לאמר” (שפירושה לומר דבר ה׳, שה׳ מדבר מתוך פיו)

    Sefer HaSichos, vol. 5751, vol. 1 (תנש״א ח״א), p. 303–304 · ש״פ יתרו, ה׳תנש״א

Short quotes only, with the place of each so it can be read in full. The Rebbe’s sichos, letters and maamarim are published by Kehot and by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak (lahak.org).

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Two questions and the voice that still comes ¶1–2

1ששים המה מלכות ושמונים פילגשים כו׳. וארז״ל [ואמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] ס׳ מלכות אלו ס׳ מסכתות ושמנים פיגלשים אלו הברייתות.

“There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,” etc. And our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Sixty queens” — these are the sixty tractates; “and eighty concubines” — these are the Baraisos [teachings of the Sages left out of the Mishnah].

Explanation

The maamar opens with Song of Songs 6:8, which speaks of sixty queens, eighty concubines and maidens without number. The Sages read these as parts of the Oral Torah: the sixty queens are the sixty tractates of the Mishnah, and the eighty concubines are the Baraisos, teachings of the Tannaim that were left out of the Mishnah.

ועלמות קאי על הלכות (היינו מימרות האמוראים. ולשון מדרש שיר השירים רבה ועלמות אין מספר אין קץ לתוספת). וצ״ל למה נק׳ המשניות בשם מלכות וברייתות פילגשים כו׳.

And “maidens” refers to the halachos [laws] (that is, the statements of the Amoraim [the Sages of the Gemara]; and the wording of Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah is: “‘And maidens without number’ — there is no end to the additions”). Now we need to understand why the Mishnayos are called by the name “queens,” and the Baraisos “concubines,” etc.

Explanation

The “maidens” are the halachos, which the Alter Rebbe identifies with the statements of the Amoraim, the Sages of the Gemara; in the parenthesis he notes that Midrash Shir HaShirim Rabbah words it differently, “there is no end to the additions.” Then comes the maamar’s first question: why are the Mishnayos called “queens” and the Baraisos “concubines”?

¶31 Hold this question: paragraph 31 explains queens and concubines.

גם להבין מ״ש בתחלת עשרת הדברות וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים האלה לאמר דמאחר שעשרת הדברות שמעו כל ישראל מפי הקב״ה א״כ איך שייך תיבת לאמר.

We also need to understand what is written at the beginning of the Ten Commandments: “And G‑d spoke all these words, saying.” For since all Israel heard the Ten Commandments from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, if so, how does the word “saying” apply?

Explanation

A second question: the Ten Commandments open, “And G‑d spoke all these words, saying (leimor).” The word leimor normally means “to say on to others,” but all Israel heard the Ten Commandments from G‑d Himself, so there was no one left to say them to. In Torah Ohr, Yisro (67b), the Alter Rebbe raises the same difficulty and explains “saying” as the power given at Sinai to say all the words of the Torah: every halachah a Sage states is the word of G‑d told to Moshe at Sinai.

¶43 Hold this question about “saying”: paragraph 43 answers it.

דבשלמא בשאר מצותיה של תורה שישראל שמעו מפי משה. ומשה הוא ששמע מפי הקב״ה שייך לשון לאמר היינו שהקב״ה אמר למשה לחזור הוא ולאמרו לישראל

Granted, with the rest of the mitzvos of the Torah, which Israel heard from the mouth of Moshe, and it was Moshe who heard [them] from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, the expression “saying” applies: that is, the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moshe that he in turn should repeat it and say it to Israel.

Explanation

With the other mitzvos the word makes sense. G‑d told them to Moshe, and “saying” meant that Moshe was to repeat them to the people.

אבל בעשרת הדברות שכל ישראל שמעו מפי הקב״ה אין לומר כן (וכה״ג [וכהאי גוונא] איתא במשנה פ״ה דסוטה דף כ״ז ע״ב על לאמר שבאז ישיר משה ובנ״י [ובני ישראל] את השירה הזאת לאמר שאין תלמוד לומר לאמר):

But with the Ten Commandments, which all Israel heard from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, this cannot be said. (And something like this is found in the Mishnah, chapter 5 of Sotah, folio 27b, on the word “saying” in “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song, saying”: that there was no need for [Scripture] to say “saying.”)

Explanation

At Sinai there was no go-between, so that explanation does not work here. The parenthesis brings a parallel from the Mishnah in Sotah (27b): in “Then Moshe and the children of Israel sang this song… saying,” the word “saying” also seems unnecessary, and the Mishnah learns from it that Israel answered the song after Moshe, phrase by phrase.

Paragraph 1 in brief

The maamar opens with two questions: why the Sages likened the Mishnah to queens and the Baraisos to concubines, and what the word “saying” means at the start of the Ten Commandments, which all Israel heard directly from G‑d.

Deeper

As the maamar will show, the two questions have one answer. When a Jew studies Torah, G‑d’s own speech is drawn into his words, so the Ten Commandments are “said” again in every generation; and the ranking of Mishnah, Baraisa and Talmudic halachah as queens, concubines and maidens measures how openly the Infinite Light is revealed in each.

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Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ששים המה מלכות · הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי נדפס בסה״מ תק״ע ע׳ א. וראה הערת כ״ק אדמו״ר לעיל בהערות וציונים יט, ד. ולכללות המאמר ראה ד״ה וידבר וגו׳ וארא מכ״ד טבת ה׳תשל״ב (נדפס בקונטרס מאמרים ע׳ קכג). ובד״ה הנ״ל מש״פ וארא ה׳תשל״ב (הנחה). תו״א מט, ב ואילך.
  2. 2
    Song of Songs 6:8–9
  3. 3
    Song of Songs 6:8
  4. 4
    וארז״ל ס׳ מלכות · שהש״ר במקומו.
  5. 5
    ולשון מדרש שהש״ר · פ״ו, ט.
  6. 6
    ועלמות אין מספר אין קץ · Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:9:2
  7. 7
    איך שייך תיבת לאמר · ראה תו״א סז, ב.
  8. 8
    דבשלמא בשאר מצותיה של תורה · ראה לקו״ש ח״ו ע׳ 119 הערה 3.
  9. 9
    אז ישיר משה · Exodus 15:1
  10. 10
    Sotah 27b:11
  11. 11
    וידבר אלקים את כל הדברים · Exodus 20:1

2והנה צריך להקדים פי׳ הפסוק קול דודי הנה זה בא מדלג על ההרים מקפץ על הגבעות. קול דודי קאי על מתן תורה כי במ״ת [במתן תורה] כתיב וכל העם רואים את הקולות.

Now, we must first preface the explanation of the verse, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills.” “The voice of my beloved” refers to the Giving of the Torah, for of the Giving of the Torah it is written, “And all the people saw the voices.”

Explanation

Before answering, the maamar sets out the verse “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains” (Song of Songs 2:8). The “voice” is the voice of Sinai, where “all the people saw the voices” (Exodus 20:15).

ומה שנאמר הנה זה בא שהוא לשון הוה ולא אמר לשון עבר הוא לפי כי באמת קול זה הנה זה בא גם עכשיו

And as for what is said, “Behold, he comes,” which is in the present tense, and it does not say [it] in the past tense: this is because, in truth, this voice “behold, [it] comes” even now.

Explanation

The verse says “he comes,” in the present tense, and not “he came.” The Alter Rebbe takes the tense as precise: the voice of Sinai still “comes,” even now.

בכל עת ובכל זמן שאדם יושב ועוסק בתורה אזי בא ונמשך אותו הקול עצמו שהיה בעת מ״ת [מתן תורה] וכמשי״ת [וכמו שיתבאר] לקמן אי״ה [אם ירצה השם].

At every moment and at every time that a person sits and occupies himself with Torah, that very same voice that was at the time of the Giving of the Torah comes and is drawn down, as will be explained below, G‑d willing.

Explanation

Whenever a person sits and studies Torah, that same voice comes and is drawn down. How this happens, and what “leaping over the mountains” adds, is explained later in the maamar.

¶34 How the voice comes now is explained in paragraph 34.

Paragraph 2 in brief

The verse “The voice of my beloved, behold, he comes” refers to the Giving of the Torah, and its present tense teaches that the voice of Sinai comes again whenever a person studies Torah.

Deeper

This prepares the answer to the question about “saying”: the Ten Commandments were given to be “said” again, because the same divine voice is renewed in every person’s learning. The “leaping” will be explained as a revelation that does not pass through a gradual chain of cause and effect.

TermsDilug+1

Also Torah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    והנה צריך להקדים פי׳ הפסוק · קטע מכאן מובא באוה״ת מג״א (הוצאת תש״נ) ע׳ רנג (הוצאה ראשונה ע׳ ב׳תיג) ע״ש שמציין לכ״מ בדא״ח בענין זה.
  2. 2
    קול דודי הנה זה בא · Song of Songs 2:8
  3. 3
    קול דודי קאי על מתן תורה · ראה אוה״ת מג״א ע׳ ב׳תיג.
  4. 4
    וכל העם רואים את הקולות · Exodus 20:15

No comparison: creation is not cause and effect ¶3–8

3ולהבין כל זה וגם ענין מדלג על ההרים. צריך להבין תחלה ענין ההשתלשלות דהנה כתיב בכל חכמי הגוים ובכל מלכותם מאין כמוך.

To understand all this, and also the meaning of “leaping over the mountains,” we must first understand the matter of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus). For behold, it is written, “Among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.”

Explanation

To explain the verse, and especially “leaping over the mountains,” the maamar first explains hishtalshelus, the order by which the worlds descend from G‑d. It begins with Jeremiah 10:7, “Among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You.”

אמנם דוד המלך ע״ה [עליו השלום] אמר רבות עשית אתה ה׳ אלהי נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך אליך כו׳.

King David, however, peace be upon him, said: “Many things have You done, You, Havayah my G‑d: Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison to You,” etc.

Explanation

King David says something more: “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison to You” (Psalms 40:6). The maamar will show that “no comparison” goes further than “none like You.”

והענין דהנה באמת גם חכמי אומות מודים באלקותו ית׳ וזהו בכל חכמי הגוים כו׳ מאין כמוך.

The explanation is this: in truth, even the wise men of the nations acknowledge His G‑dliness, may He be blessed; and this is [the meaning of] “Among all the wise men of the nations,” etc., “there is none like You.”

Explanation

Jeremiah’s verse grants that the wise men of the nations also acknowledge G‑d’s divinity. They too say that there is none like Him.

ופי׳ בזהר (משפטים צ״ו א׳) דהכוונה שגם הם יודעים שאין כמוך כו׳. רק שאומרים שהבריאה היא בדרך השתלשלות עילה ועלול.

And it is explained in the Zohar (Mishpatim 96a) that the intent is that they too know that “there is none like You,” etc.; only, they say that creation proceeds by way of a chain-like descent of cause and effect.

Explanation

The Zohar (Mishpatim 96a) explains that they too know “there is none like You.” Their error, the Alter Rebbe says, is that they hold that creation came about through a chain of cause and effect, each level producing the next.

וידוע כי לכל עילה יש ערך ויחוס עם העלול איזה ערך שהוא עכ״פ [על כל פנים] עד״מ באדם יש שכל ומדות ומחשבה ודבור וכל א׳ נתהווה מחבירו.

Now it is known that every cause has comparability and relation with its effect, some measure of comparability, whatever it may be, at any rate. For example, in a person there are intellect and emotive attributes (middos), thought and speech, and each one came into being from the other.

Explanation

A cause and its effect always have some proportion, some comparability, between them. The human soul shows this: intellect, emotions, thought and speech each come into being from the one before.

דהיינו מההתבוננות בשכלו נולדה המדה לעשות חסד וכה״ג [וכהאי גוונא]. הנה הגם שאין המדה ממהות השכל. מ״מ יש שייכות זה לזה שכפי ערך השכל איך ומה הוא כך היא המדה בהתגלות לעשות חסד.

That is: from the contemplation in one’s intellect the attribute of doing kindness, and the like, is born. Now, although the attribute is not of the essence of the intellect, nevertheless they have a connection with each other: according to the measure of the intellect, how and what it is, so is the attribute as it is revealed, to do kindness.

Explanation

An emotion, such as the drive to do kindness, is born from contemplation. Though the emotion is something other than the intellect, it matches it: as the understanding is, so is the emotion it produces.

Paragraph 3 in brief

The maamar sets two views of creation side by side: the wise men of the nations, who acknowledge G‑d but picture creation as a chain of cause and effect, and King David, for whom “there is no comparison to You.” It begins to define cause and effect through the example of intellect and emotion.

Deeper

Even a philosophy that acknowledges one supreme Cause leaves G‑d in proportion with His effects, as the first link of a chain. The maamar will argue that this would make Him subject to change through the worlds, and that creation from nothing is rather a “leap” with no proportion at all.

TermsEin arochDilugMachshavah, dibbur, maasehIlah ve’alul+8

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ענין ההשתלשלות · ראה אוה״ת ראה ע׳ תשפא ואילך. ע׳ תשפו ואילך.
  2. 2
    בכל חכמי הגוים ובכל מלכותם מאין כמוך · Jeremiah 10:7
  3. 3
    בכל חכמי הגוים ובכל מלכותם מאין כמוך · Zohar, Mishpatim 3:34–43
  4. 4
    רבות עשית אתה ה׳ אלקי נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו · Psalms 40:6
  5. 5
    Song of Songs 2:8

4ולכן הקטן מתאוה לדברים קטנים לפי עניות דעתו והגדול ששכלו גדול מואס בהן וכמ״ש לפי שכלו יהולל איש.

Therefore a child desires small things, according to the poverty of his mind, while an adult, whose intellect is great, despises them; as it is written, “A man is praised according to his intellect.”

Explanation

Because emotion follows intellect, a child, whose understanding is small, wants small things, while a grown person, whose understanding is greater, finds them worthless. Proverbs 12:8, “A man is praised according to his intellect,” says that a person’s worth follows his mind.

הרי המדה אהוי״ר [אהבה ויראה] וכיוצא היא לפי השכל גם השכל מתלבש אח״כ בהמדה איך לעשות החסד כו׳.

Thus the attribute — love and awe and the like — accords with the intellect. The intellect, too, afterwards enclothes itself in the attribute, as to how to do the kindness, etc.

Explanation

So love, awe and the other emotions follow the measure of the intellect. The relation also runs the other way: the intellect then enters the emotion and directs how the kindness is to be done.

Paragraph 4 in brief

The child and the adult show that an emotion is proportionate to the intellect that produces it, and that the intellect in turn enters the emotion and guides it.

TermsKoach hamisavehAhavah v’yirahDaasChesed+1

Also Hislabshus

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    לפי שכלו יהולל איש · Proverbs 12:8

5וזהו בחי׳ עילה ועלול שהעלול יש לו ערך ויחוס להעילה. וכמ״כ [וכמו כן] המדה לגבי המחשבה שמתלבשת בהמחשבה והמחשבה בדבור וכל א׳ נתהווה זה מזה בהשתלשלות

And this is the aspect of cause and effect: the effect has comparability and relation to the cause. So too the attribute in relation to thought: it enclothes itself in thought, and thought in speech, and each one comes into being from the other in a chain-like descent.

Explanation

This is what cause and effect means: the effect bears a relation and proportion to its cause. The same holds all the way down: emotion enters thought, thought enters speech, each one coming from the one before.

ולכן פועל כל אח׳ [אחד] שינויים בחבירו שיש שינוי בהעילה ע״י שמתלבש בהעלול ואינו כמו שהיה במהותו קודם לזה.

Therefore each one brings about changes in the other: there is a change in the cause through its enclothing itself in the effect, and it is not as it was in its essence before this.

Explanation

Because the cause enters the effect, the cause itself is changed. Once it is clothed in the effect, it is no longer as it was by itself.

כמו כשמתבונן בשכלו באיזו אהבה הרי בהכרח השכל מלובש בזה ואינו יכול להתבונן אז במושכלות לפי ששכלו ממולא מענין המדה.

As when one contemplates some love with his intellect: of necessity the intellect is enclothed in it, and he cannot then contemplate intellectual concepts, because his intellect is filled with the matter of the attribute.

Explanation

For example, when a person turns his mind to some love, his intellect is taken up with that emotion. While it is, he cannot think abstract thoughts.

נמצא יש שינוי בהשכל למה שהיה תחלה בפ״ע [בפני עצמו] בציור המושכלות ובין למה שנמשך אח״כ בהעלול שהוא בענין האהבה כו׳. וכך הוא בכל בחי׳ עילה ועלול.

It follows that there is a change in the intellect, between what it was at first, by itself, in forming the concepts, and what is drawn afterwards into the effect, which is in the matter of love, etc. And so it is with every [instance of] cause and effect.

Explanation

So the intellect itself changes, from its earlier state of forming pure concepts to its state when it is drawn into the love. Every cause and effect works this way: the cause is affected by its own effect.

Paragraph 5 in brief

Cause and effect is a two-way relationship: the effect is proportionate to its cause, and the cause, by clothing itself in the effect, is itself changed.

Deeper

This is the premise of the argument that follows. If G‑d had created the worlds as a cause produces its effects, the worlds would change Him; since “I, Havayah, have not changed,” creation cannot be of this kind.

TermsIlah ve’alulHisbonenusHishtalshelusDibbur elyon+1
  • Ilah ve’alul עילה ועלול explained hereThe effect has proportion and relation to its cause, and each level changes the other: the cause, clothed in its effect, is no longer as it was. One who contemplates a love has his intellect filled with it and cannot then think other intellectual matters; so it is in all cause and effect.שיש שינוי בהעילה ע״י שמתלבש בהעלול ואינו כמו שהיה במהותו קודם לזה
  • Hisbonenus התבוננות
  • Hishtalshelus השתלשלות
  • Dibbur elyon דבור עליון

Also Hislabshus

6והנה מאחר שהעולמות והנבראים נתהוו ממחשבתו ית׳ היה יכול לעלות על הדעת ח״ו [חס ושלום] שגם הם נבראו ע״י השתלשלות עילה ועלול. וכדעת חכמי האומות הקדמונים.

Now, since the worlds and the created beings came into being from His thought, may He be blessed, it could have entered the mind, G‑d forbid, that they too were created through a chain-like descent of cause and effect, in keeping with the view of the ancient wise men of the nations.

Explanation

Since the worlds came into being from G‑d’s “thought,” one might suppose that this too is a chain of cause and effect, like a person’s intellect producing his emotions, as the ancient philosophers of the nations held.

ע״ז אמר דוד המלך עליו השלום רבות עשית כו׳ אין ערוך אליך. כי כל העולמות אין פועלים שום שינוי בו ית׳.

About this King David, peace be upon him, said, “Many things have You done,” etc., “there is no comparison to You.” For all the worlds bring about no change whatsoever in Him, may He be blessed.

Explanation

King David’s “there is no comparison to You” rejects this view, for the worlds bring about no change in G‑d at all, which could not be said of a cause and its effects.

Paragraph 6 in brief

The maamar names the error it is guarding against: the idea that G‑d’s “thought” produced the worlds the way a person’s mind produces his emotions.

TermsIlah ve’alulEin arochHishtalshelus

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    Psalms 40:6

7וכמאמר אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם מ, גואתה הוא משנברא. כו׳ ר״ל [רוצה לומר] בשוה בלי שינוי כמ״ש אני הוי׳ לא שניתי.

As in the saying, “You are He before the world was created, and You are He since it was created,” etc. That is to say: equally, without change, as it is written, “I, Havayah, have not changed.”

Explanation

The morning prayers say, “You are He before the world was created, and You are He since it was created”: G‑d is exactly the same before and after creation. Malachi 3:6, “I, Havayah, have not changed,” says the same.

והיינו משום שהעולמות אין ערוך כלל להבורא ית׳ ואפילו לגבי החיות הנמשך להן ממחשבתו ית׳ והתהוותם ע״י בחי׳ [בחינת] דילוג וצמצום ולא בבחי׳ עילה ועלול ח״ו [חס ושלום] וכמשי״ת [וכמו שיתבאר] אי״ה [אם ירצה השם].

This is because the worlds bear no comparison at all to the Creator, may He be blessed, and not even to the life-force (chayus) that is drawn to them from His thought, may He be blessed; and their coming into being is through a leap and a tzimtzum (contraction), and not by way of cause and effect, G‑d forbid, as will be explained, G‑d willing.

Explanation

This is because the worlds bear no comparison at all to the Creator, nor even to the life-force that flows to them from His thought. They came into being through a leap and a tzimtzum, a contraction that hides the light, and not by cause and effect, as the maamar will explain.

Paragraph 7 in brief

G‑d is not changed by creation, which shows that the worlds came about not through cause and effect but through a “leap” and a contraction.

Deeper

The word “leap” (dilug) looks ahead to “leaping over the mountains”: the revelation that comes through Torah study will be described in the same way, as something that does not pass step by step through the order of levels.

TermsDilugIlah ve’alulEin arochTzimtzum+2

Also ChayusHavayah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם · נוסח ברכת השחר.
  2. 2
    אני הוי׳ לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
  3. 3
    שהעולמות אין ערוך . . המחיה אותן · ראה אוה״ת ראה ע׳ תשפז. ולכאורה כיון שהתהוותן מכלים דאצי׳ אשר הכלים הם מבחי׳ גבול ותכלית . . וא״כ יש להם ערך עכ״פ כטפה באוקיינוס, אך לפי . . יובן שהכח המהווה ומחי׳ אותן הוא א״ס ב״ה הבלי גבול ורק שמהווה ע״י הכלים דאצי׳ ולכן לגבי א״ס אינן ערוך כלל, ע״ש.

8ולכן כלא ממש חשובים קמי׳ [קמיה] ית׳ וכמו קודם שנברא העולם ממש וזהו נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו. פי׳ שע״י מחשבתו ית׳ נעשה התהוות והשתלשלות העולמות.

Therefore they are accounted as truly nothing before Him, may He be blessed, just as [it was] actually before the world was created. And this is [the meaning of] “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us”: that is, through His thought, may He be blessed, the coming into being and the chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of the worlds took place.

Explanation

Because the worlds bear no comparison to G‑d, they are as nothing before Him, exactly as before creation. The Alter Rebbe now reads “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us” as a description of creation: the worlds came into being, and descended in their order, through G‑d’s “thought.”

וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] רבות עשית אתה ה׳ אלהי נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו ר״ל [רוצה לומר] שריבוי העולמות והברואים כולם נתהוו ע״י מחשבתו ית׳.

And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “Many things have You done, You, Havayah my G‑d: Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us”; that is to say, the multitude of worlds and created beings all came into being through His thought, may He be blessed.

Explanation

The opening of the verse, “Many things have You done,” refers to the multitude of worlds and creatures. All of them came into being through that divine thought.

אך אעפ״כ [אף על פי כן] אין ערוך אליך ממש היינו שהתהוות העולמות ממחשבתו ית׳ אינו בבחי׳ עילה ועלול רק שהם אין ערוך ממש לגבי מחשבתו ית׳ המהווה ומחייה אותן מאין ליש.

Yet even so, “there is no comparison to You,” truly. That is, the coming into being of the worlds from His thought, may He be blessed, is not in the manner of cause and effect; rather, they bear truly no comparison to His thought, may He be blessed, which brings them into being and gives them life from nothing to something.

Explanation

Yet the same verse goes on, “there is no comparison to You.” The worlds come from His thought, but not as an effect comes from its cause: that thought brings them into being from nothing and sustains them, while they bear no proportion to it at all.

אגידה ואדברה עצמו מספר פי׳ כי מאחר שהוא ית׳ אין סוף א״כ אם הי׳ [היה] התהוות העולמות ממחשבתו ית׳ ע״י השתלשלות עילה ועלול לא היה כלל העולמות בבחי׳ גבול ותכלית כמו שהן עתה אלא הי׳ [היה] הכל א״ס ובלי גבול

“Were I to tell and speak [of them], they would be beyond number.” The meaning is: since He, may He be blessed, is infinite, if so, had the coming into being of the worlds from His thought, may He be blessed, been through a chain-like descent of cause and effect, the worlds would not be in a state of limit and end at all, as they are now; rather, everything would be infinite and without limit.

Explanation

The verse ends, “Were I to tell and speak, they would be beyond number.” If the worlds had come from the Infinite One by a chain of cause and effect, they could not have any limit: an effect that unfolds step by step from an infinite cause would itself be infinite. The Alter Rebbe makes the same argument in Tanya, chapter 48.

וזהו עצמו מספר דהיינו שהיו בבחי׳ בלי גבול וזהו נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך אליך אגידה ואדברה. שההמשכה ממחשבתו ית׳ אלינו הוא ע״ד שאין ערוך ממש ולא בבחי׳ עילה ועלול ח״ו [חס ושלום]

And this is [the meaning of] “beyond number,” that is, that they would be in a state without limit. And this is [the meaning of] “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison to You; were I to tell and speak [of them]”: that the drawing down from His thought, may He be blessed, to us is in the manner of there being truly no comparison, and not in the manner of cause and effect, G‑d forbid.

Explanation

That is what “beyond number” means: without limit. Read this way, the verse says that the flow from G‑d’s thought to us is one of “no comparison,” not of cause and effect, and the limits of the worlds show it.

(או י״ל [יש לומר] הפי׳ כי הנה נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך היינו בחי׳ סוכ״ע וכדלקמן בפי׳ קדוש ומובדל

(Or it may be said that the meaning is: “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison” is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), as [explained] below in the explanation of “holy and set apart”;

Explanation

A parenthesis offers a second reading: “no comparison” refers to sovev kol almin, the light that encompasses all worlds, which the maamar will soon explain as “holy and set apart.”

¶9 “Holy and set apart” is explained in paragraph 9.

אך להיות נמשך הארה בתוך העולמות ע״ז אמר אגידה ואדברה עצמו מספר הצמצומים רבוא רבבות מדרגות עד אין מספר כו׳ עד שנמשך הארה להתלבש בהעולמות ועמ״ש בפי׳ פסוק זה בד״ה כי ביום הזה יכפר בפ׳ אחרי ובד״ה ויהי מקץ כו׳):

but for a glimmer to be drawn into the worlds — about this he said, “Were I to tell and speak, they are beyond number”: the contractions (tzimtzumim), myriads of myriads of levels, without number, etc., until a glimmer is drawn down to be enclothed in the worlds. And see what is written in the explanation of this verse in the discourse beginning “For on this day He shall atone,” in Parshas Acharei, and in the discourse beginning “And it came to pass at the end,” etc.)

Explanation

On this second reading, “beyond number” describes how a glimmer of light enters the worlds: through countless contractions (tzimtzumim), level after level without number. The Alter Rebbe refers to his fuller treatment of the verse in the discourse “For on this day He shall atone” in Parshas Acharei and in the discourse “And it came to pass at the end.”

Paragraph 8 in brief

Reading Psalms 40:6 phrase by phrase, the Alter Rebbe shows that the worlds came from G‑d’s thought, yet not as effects from a cause: had they unfolded from the Infinite One by cause and effect they would be infinite, and their limits come only from countless contractions.

Deeper

The Kehot note points to Tanya, chapter 48, which makes the same argument: were the worlds to descend from the Infinite Light level by level, as cause and effect, without contractions, this finite world could never have been created. The parenthesis’s second reading prepares the next section, where “there is no comparison” becomes the name of a level, sovev kol almin.

TermsEin arochIlah ve’alulYesh me’ayinTzimtzum+7
  • Ein aroch אין ערוך explained hereThe worlds came into being through His thought, yet not as effect from cause: had they come by a chain of cause and effect from the Infinite, they too would be without limit, not bounded as they are now.שהתהוות העולמות ממחשבתו ית׳ אינו בבחי׳ עילה ועלול רק שהם אין ערוך ממש לגבי מחשבתו ית׳
  • Ilah ve’alul עילה ועלול
  • Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
  • Tzimtzum צמצום
  • Kadosh קדוש
  • Ein Sof אין סוף
  • Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
  • Yesh and ayin יש ואין
  • Hishtalshelus השתלשלות

Also HislabshusHaalaah vehamshachah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    Psalms 40:6
  2. 2
    אם הי׳ התהוות העולמות . . ע״י השתלשלות עילה ועלול · ראה תניא פרק מח. אוה״ת ואתחנן ע׳ קצח.

The Holy One, blessed be He ¶9–15

9ב והנה לכן קראו חז״ל [חכמינו זכרונם לברכה] הבורא ית׳ בשם הקב״ה היינו שהוא קדוש ומובדל מכל העולמות ואין העולם ומלואו פועלים בו שום שינוי והיינו משום שאין להם כלל ערך ויחוס אליו ית׳.

2. Now, this is why our Sages, of blessed memory, called the Creator, may He be blessed, by the name “the Holy One, blessed be He”: that is, He is holy and set apart from all the worlds, and the world and all that fills it bring about no change whatsoever in Him; and this is because they have no comparability or relation to Him, may He be blessed, at all.

Explanation

Section 2 begins. The Sages’ usual name for G‑d, “the Holy One, blessed be He,” expresses what has just been shown: “holy” (kadosh) means set apart, and G‑d is set apart from all the worlds, which make no change in Him because they bear no relation to Him at all. In an earlier discourse of Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim (21b, “Go forth and see”), the Alter Rebbe asks why the Sages chose this name over G‑d’s other names.

¶8 This explains “holy and set apart” from paragraph 8.

Paragraph 9 in brief

The name “the Holy One, blessed be He” is introduced as the expression of G‑d’s utter transcendence: the worlds do not affect Him because they bear no relation to Him.

Deeper

Later in the maamar the two words of the name are taken separately: “holy,” His essence set apart from the worlds, and “blessed” (baruch), His being drawn down into them through His sovereignty (paragraph 15).

TermsKadosh

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    הבורא ית׳ בשם הקב״ה · ראה לעיל כא, ב ובמ״מ לשם.

10וזהו ענין שנק׳ סובב כולא עלמין וידוע דאין הפי׳ סובב ומקיף מלמעלה דהא את השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא כתיב.

And this is the meaning of what is called “the light that encompasses all worlds” (sovev kol almin). Now it is known that the meaning is not that it encompasses and surrounds from above, for it is written, “The heavens and the earth I fill.”

Explanation

This transcendence is what is called sovev kol almin, “the light that encompasses all worlds.” It cannot mean that the light surrounds the worlds from above, like a dome, for G‑d says, “The heavens and the earth I fill” (Jeremiah 23:24).

רק הענין שאין ההשפעה ממנו באה בבחי׳ גילוי בהעולמות כמו בחי׳ עילה ועלול הנ״ל כי בהשתלשלות עילה ועלול הנה העלול יודע ומשיג איזה השגה בעילתו ובטל אצלו ע״י השגה זו

Rather, the point is that the influence from Him does not come in a revealed manner into the worlds, as with cause and effect mentioned above. For in a chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect, the effect knows and attains some comprehension of its cause, and is nullified before it through this comprehension;

Explanation

“Encompassing” describes how the influence comes: it is not revealed within the worlds. In a chain of cause and effect the effect knows something of its cause and is nullified before it through that knowledge. The wording comes from Iggeres HaKodesh 20, as the Kehot note says.

והיינו ששפע העילה בעלול היא בבחי׳ גילוי ממש משא״כ בנבראים לגבי האור והכח השופע בו מא״ס ב״ה להוותו מאין ליש שהכח השופע בו אינו מושג אצלו כלל וכלל.

that is, the flow of the cause into the effect is in a truly revealed manner. This is not so with created beings in relation to the light and the power that flows into [each of] them from the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, to bring it into being from nothing to something: the power that flows into it is not grasped by it at all, whatsoever.

Explanation

With cause and effect, the cause’s flow into the effect is openly revealed. A created being, however, does not grasp at all the power from the Infinite One that brings it into being from nothing.

Paragraph 10 in brief

Sovev kol almin does not mean light placed above the worlds; it means divine power that creates the worlds while remaining entirely hidden from them, unlike a cause, which is known to its effect.

Deeper

The wording of the second part comes from Iggeres HaKodesh 20, where the Alter Rebbe contrasts cause and effect, where the effect grasps something of its cause, with creation from nothing, where the power that creates is wholly beyond the creature’s grasp. Because the source is hidden, the creature can feel itself to be a separate existence, as the next paragraph says.

TermsIlah ve’alulYesh me’ayinHasagahOr Makif+4
  • Ilah ve’alul עילה ועלול explained hereIn cause and effect the flow of the cause is truly revealed in the effect: the effect knows something of its cause and is nullified to it through that knowledge. Creatures do not grasp at all the power that brings them from nothing to being, and this is why it is called sovev kol almin.כי בהשתלשלות עילה ועלול הנה העלול יודע ומשיג איזה השגה בעילתו ובטל אצלו ע״י השגה זו
  • Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
  • Hasagah השגה
  • Or Makif אור מקיף
  • Ein Sof אין סוף
  • Yesh and ayin יש ואין
  • Hishtalshelus השתלשלות

Also Bittul

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    את השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא · Jeremiah 23:24
  2. 2
    הנה העלול יודע . . השגה זו · לשון אגה״ק סי׳ כ (קכט, ב).

11ולכן הנברא הוא יש ודבר נפרד בעיני עצמו מחמת הסתר זה רק שבאמת הוא כמו דקמי׳ [דקמיה] ית׳ כולא כלא חשיבי

Therefore the created being is something existent and a separate thing in its own eyes, because of this concealment; only, in truth, it is as [it is said], “Before Him, may He be blessed, all is accounted as nothing.”

Explanation

Because the creative power is hidden, a creature sees itself as something that exists in its own right, separate from G‑d. In truth, “before Him all is accounted as nothing.”

וזהו בחי׳ סוכ״ע שההשפעה ממנו ית׳ באה בבחי׳ הסתר כי אלו היה בבחי׳ גילוי לא הי׳ [היה] יכול להשתלשל ולהיות כלל עלמין אלא הי׳ [היה] הכל בחי׳ א״ס כנ״ל

And this is the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin): the influence from Him, may He be blessed, comes in a concealed manner. For were it in a revealed manner, it could not descend in a chain and become worlds at all; rather, everything would be in a state of infinity, as mentioned above.

Explanation

This hiddenness is what sovev kol almin means. Had the influence come openly, it could not have descended in stages and become worlds at all; everything would have remained infinite, as explained above.

אבל באמת לית אתר פנוי מיני׳ כמו קודם שנברא העולם.

But in truth, “there is no place devoid of Him,” just as before the world was created.

Explanation

Yet in truth “there is no place devoid of Him,” now just as before the world was created.

Paragraph 11 in brief

The hiddenness of sovev kol almin is what allows finite worlds, and creatures with a sense of their own existence, to come about, while in truth G‑d fills everything and nothing exists apart from Him.

Deeper

The creature’s sense of being a separate “something” (yesh) is the direct result of the light being hidden. Later the maamar shows how Torah study, in which G‑d’s wisdom is present without concealment, reveals the truth that this yesh is nullified (paragraphs 25–26).

TermsEin SofSovev kol almin

12וזהו שנק׳ הקב״ה דהיינו שהוא ית׳ קדוש ומובדל מהעולמות. והבריאה היא יש מאין ממש שהאור וחיות המתלבש בהעולמות היא כלא חשיבא קמי׳ [קמיה] ית׳

And this is why He is called “the Holy One, blessed be He”: that is, He, may He be blessed, is holy and set apart from the worlds. And creation is truly something from nothing, for the light and life-force (chayus) that is enclothed in the worlds is accounted as nothing before Him, may He be blessed;

Explanation

So “the Holy One” means that G‑d is set apart from the worlds. Creation is therefore truly something from nothing, because the light and life-force within the worlds is as nothing before Him.

דהיינו שעיקר התהוות העולמות הוא ע״י מדת מלכותו ית׳ כמאמר יחיד חי העולמים מלך היינו שבאמת הוא יחיד ומיוחד כמו קודם בריאת העולם.

that is, the coming into being of the worlds is principally through the attribute of His sovereignty (Malchus), may He be blessed, as in the saying, “The Only One, Life of the worlds, King”: that is, in truth He is the Only One and unique, just as before the creation of the world.

Explanation

The worlds come into being mainly through G‑d’s attribute of Malchus, sovereignty. The phrase from the prayers, “The Only One, Life of the worlds, King,” says this: G‑d remains the Only One, unique, exactly as before creation.

Paragraph 12 in brief

The name “the Holy One” expresses G‑d’s separateness, and the worlds come into being through His attribute of sovereignty (Malchus), which leaves Him as alone and unique as before creation.

Deeper

The phrase from the prayers is read as a sequence: “the Only One” describes G‑d Himself, while “Life of the worlds” applies to Him only by virtue of “King,” as the next paragraph explains.

TermsYesh me’ayinKadoshBeriahMalchus+2

Also HislabshusChayus

13וחי העולמים הוא רק מבחי׳ מלך. כמו עד״מ מלך בשר ודם שבחי׳ היותו מלך על המדינה אינו בחי׳ ממהותו ועצמותו

And [He is] “Life of the worlds” only from the level of “King.” As, by way of analogy, with a king of flesh and blood: his being king over the country is not something of his being and essence,

Explanation

G‑d is “Life of the worlds” only as “King.” A human king offers an analogy: his being king over the country is not part of his own being and essence.

כי מהותו ועצמותו הוא מה שהוא חכם ונבון ורק ענין מלכותו הוא מה ששמו נקרא עליהם שמולך על הארץ.

for his being and essence is that he is wise and understanding, and his kingship is only a matter of his name being called upon them, in that he reigns over the land.

Explanation

His essence is his wisdom and understanding. His kingship is only that his name is called upon the people, since he rules over the land.

Paragraph 13 in brief

The analogy of a human king shows that sovereignty is a relation to others, outside one’s essence; this is how G‑d gives life to the worlds without their touching His essence.

TermsAtzmus u’mahusMalchus

14וכך יובן למעלה שהתהוות ובריאת כל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים הוא רק ע״י מדת מלכות שאין לכל העולמות ערך ושייכות למהותו ועצמותו ית׳ שהוא רם ומתנשא מהם

So it can be understood Above: the coming into being and creation of all the worlds, upper and lower, is only through the attribute of Malchus (sovereignty), for all the worlds have no comparability or connection to His being and essence, may He be blessed, since He is exalted and uplifted above them.

Explanation

In the same way, all the worlds, higher and lower, come into being only through the attribute of Malchus. They have no proportion to G‑d’s being and essence and no connection with it, for He is exalted above them.

והחיות והתהוות העולמות נמשך להם רק ממה שנק׳ הוא ית׳ מלך עליהם ואין מלך בלא עם

And the life-force and coming into being of the worlds is drawn to them only from His being called King over them, and “there is no king without a people.”

Explanation

The worlds receive life only from His being called their King, and a king needs subjects: “there is no king without a people.”

ולכן נק׳ בחי׳ מלכות בשם כתר מלכות כמו כתר שהיא עטרה על הראש ונעשה מאבנים טובות ואין לה שייכות עם עצם מ, דהלובשה מ״מ בהיות הכתר עליו אז נגלה וניכר בחי׳ מלכותו

Therefore the level of Malchus is called by the name Keser Malchus (the crown of kingship): like a crown, which is a diadem on the head and is made of precious stones, and has no connection with the very essence of the one who wears it; nevertheless, when the crown is upon him, then his kingship is revealed and recognized.

Explanation

That is why Malchus is called Keser Malchus, “the crown of kingship.” A crown of precious stones sits on the head yet has no connection with the essence of the one who wears it; still, when the king wears it, his kingship is revealed and recognized.

מכ״כ [מכל כך] ענין בחי׳ מלכות דאצי׳ הוא שכל העולמות אין שייכים לעצמותו שיהיו פועלים בו איזה שינוי ח״ו [חס ושלום] רק חיות והתהוות העולמות והנבראים הוא מבחי׳ מדת מלכותו ית׳

So too, the matter of the level of Malchus of the World of Atzilus (Emanation) is that all the worlds have no connection to His essence, such that they would bring about any change in Him, G‑d forbid; only, the life-force and coming into being of the worlds and the created beings is from the level of the attribute of His sovereignty, may He be blessed.

Explanation

So too, Malchus of Atzilus means that the worlds have no connection with G‑d’s essence that could bring about any change in Him. They receive life and existence only from His attribute of sovereignty.

שע״י העולמות ניכר מדת מלכותו ונקרא אז מלך עליהם

It is through the worlds that the attribute of His sovereignty is recognized, and He is then called King over them.

Explanation

Through the worlds that sovereignty becomes known, and He is called their King.

כי אין מלך בלא עם הוא מלשון עוממות היינו בחי׳ צמצומים והסתרות שע״י צמצומים אלו אז שייך להיות בחי׳ מלך.

For “there is no king without a people (am),” [and am] is from the expression omemos (dimmed), that is, the level of contractions (tzimtzumim) and concealments; for through these contractions it then becomes possible for there to be the level of King.

Explanation

The word am, “people,” is linked to omemos, “dimmed”: a people is something dimmed and distant from the king. Only through contractions and concealments can G‑d be a King over others.

אבל באמת הוא סכ״ע [סובב כל עלמין] ואני הוי׳ לא שניתי כמו קודם שנברא העולם ואת השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא.

But in truth He encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), and “I, Havayah, have not changed,” [being] just as before the world was created; and “The heavens and the earth I fill.”

Explanation

Yet in truth G‑d Himself remains sovev kol almin, unchanged from before creation, as He says, “I, Havayah, have not changed.” And He fills heaven and earth.

Paragraph 14 in brief

Malchus is like a king’s crown: it reveals his rule without touching his essence, and it requires a “people,” beings made distant through contractions, while G‑d Himself remains unchanged.

Deeper

Calling Malchus a “crown” makes it something worn rather than part of the wearer. The reading of am as omemos makes the very existence of separate beings, the “people” over whom G‑d reigns, a product of concealment.

TermsEin melech bli amMalchusKeser MalchusRomemus+6
  • Ein melech bli am אין מלך בלא עם explained hereAll the worlds come into being only through Malchus, since they have no relation to His essence; they live from His being called King over them. Like a crown of precious stones, it is not of the wearer’s essence, yet through it his kingship is seen. Am means contractions and concealments; only through them is there a king, while in truth He is unchanged.מלשון עוממות היינו בחי׳ צמצומים והסתרות שע״י צמצומים אלו אז שייך להיות בחי׳ מלך
  • Malchus מלכות explained hereAll worlds are created only through Malchus, because they bear no relation to His essence; He is called King over them only through the contractions that make a “people.” Like a crown, Malchus is not part of the wearer, yet through it his kingship is seen.ואין מלך בלא עם ולכן נק׳ בחי׳ מלכות בשם כתר מלכות
  • Keser Malchus כתר מלכות
  • Romemus רוממות
  • Tzimtzum צמצום
  • Atzmus u’mahus עצמות ומהות
  • Keser כתר
  • Atzilus אצילות

Also ChayusHavayah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    אין מלך בלא עם · בחיי וישב לח, ל. ר״פ בלק. כד הקמח ר״ה (ב) ד״ה ועוד (ע׳ שעט). וראה סה״מ תש״ד ע׳ 17 בהערה.
  2. 2
    אין מלך בלא עם · Rabbeinu Bahya, Bereshit 38:30:5
  3. 3
    אין מלך בלא עם · Rabbeinu Bahya, Bamidbar 22:2:2
  4. 4
    אין מלך בלא עם · Kad HaKemach, Rosh HaShanah 2:3
  5. 5
    ואני הוי׳ לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
  6. 6
    ואת השמים ואת הא רץ אני מלא · Jeremiah 23:24

15ולכן בחי׳ מל׳ נק׳ ג״כ שם כי שם מורה על גילוי כי מה שנק׳ מלך הוא רק שנגלה בחי׳ מלך ע״י הסתר והעלם עצמותו. ולכן נק׳ הקב״ה פי׳ שהוא ית׳ קדוש וברוך.

Therefore the level of Malchus is also called “Name,” for a name indicates revelation; for His being called King is only that the level of King is revealed through the hiding and concealment of His essence. And therefore He is called “the Holy One, blessed be He,” meaning that He, may He be blessed, is holy and blessed.

Explanation

Malchus is also called “Name,” because a name expresses revelation: G‑d’s being called King is a revelation that comes about through the hiding of His essence. Hence the double name “the Holy One, blessed be He”: G‑d is both “holy” and “blessed.”

היינו כי הוא במהו״ע [במהותו ועצמותו] קדוש ומובדל מהעולמות ואעפ״כ [ואף על פי כן] הוא ג״כ ברוך פי׳ לשון ברכה והמשכה ונמשך בתוך העולמות ע״י בחי׳ שמו ומלכותו שמבחי׳ מל׳ נמשך התהוות כל העולמות כנ״ל:

That is: in His being and essence He is holy and set apart from the worlds, and nevertheless He is also “blessed” (baruch), meaning an expression of blessing (berachah) and drawing down; and He is drawn down into the worlds through the level of His Name and His sovereignty, for from the level of Malchus the coming into being of all the worlds is drawn, as mentioned above.

Explanation

“Holy” means that in His being and essence G‑d is set apart from the worlds. “Blessed” (baruch) is read as berachah in the sense of drawing down, for He is drawn into the worlds through His Name and sovereignty, from which all the worlds come into being.

Paragraph 15 in brief

The two words of “the Holy One, blessed be He” name the two sides of creation: G‑d’s essence remains holy and set apart, while through His Name, Malchus, He is “blessed,” drawn down into the worlds.

Deeper

A name is not the person himself but the way others know him; so Malchus, the Name, reveals G‑d to the worlds without being His essence.

TermsKadoshBerachahAtzmus u’mahusMalchus+1

Also Haalaah vehamshachah

Greatness and humility in one place ¶16–22

16וזהו שאמרו נתאוה הקב״ה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים דהיינו שיהיה התהוות עולמות תחתונים ע״י ריבוי הצמצומים אשר עצמו מספר

And this is [the meaning of] what they said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have a dwelling place among the lower realms.” That is: that the lower worlds should come into being through the multitude of contractions (tzimtzumim), which are “beyond number.”

Explanation

This is what the Midrash means by “The Holy One, blessed be He, desired to have a dwelling place among the lower realms”: the lower worlds were to come into being through countless contractions, “beyond number.” In Likkutei Torah, Balak (70c), the Alter Rebbe uses the same saying to explain what our service gives G‑d, who is unchanged by creation.

ואעפ״כ [ואף על פי כן] שם ג״כ יהיה דירה והשראת אור א״ס ב״ה ונגלה כבוד ה׳ עין בעין יראו כו׳ והיינו ע״י המשכה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע אשר קמיה רוחניות וגשמיות ועליונים ותחתונים הכל שוין.

And nevertheless, there too there should be a dwelling and the indwelling of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, and “The glory of Havayah shall be revealed,” “eye to eye they shall see,” etc. And this is through a drawing down from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), before which spiritual and physical, upper and lower, are all equal.

Explanation

And yet G‑d would dwell there too: there would be a dwelling and an indwelling of the Infinite Light, as the prophets foretell, “The glory of Havayah shall be revealed” and “eye to eye they shall see.” This comes through a drawing down from sovev kol almin, before which spiritual and physical, higher and lower, are all the same.

Paragraph 16 in brief

G‑d’s purpose in creation, a dwelling among the lowest realms, can be fulfilled because the light that encompasses all worlds is equally present above and below; through it the Infinite Light can be revealed even in the world made through the most contractions.

Deeper

Because sovev kol almin is beyond every level, it is equally present at all of them. This is why the dwelling below depends on drawing down that light, rather than the light that enters each world according to its measure.

TermsDirah betachtonimTzimtzumSovev kol almin+2

Also Or Ein SofHaalaah vehamshachah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    נתאוה הקב״ה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים · Bamidbar Rabbah 13:6
  2. 2
    נתאוה הקב״ה להיות לו דירה בתחתונים · Midrash Tanchuma, Nasso 16:1
  3. 3
    ונגלה כבוד ה׳ · Isaiah 40:5
  4. 4
    עין בעין יראו · Isaiah 52:8

17והוא ע״ד מארז״ל [מאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] במקום גדולתו שם אתה מוצא ענותנותו. פי׳ ענותנותו הוא מה שהוא ית׳ משפיל עצמו להשגיח בשמים וארץ הגשמיות כ״כ [כל כך] בפרטי פרטיות להיות בוחן כליות ולב ומה׳ מצעדי גבר כוננו הכל בהשגחה פרטיות

And this is along the lines of the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: “In the place of His greatness, there you find His humility.” The meaning of “His humility” is that He, may He be blessed, lowers Himself to watch over the physical heavens and earth to such an extent, in the most minute particulars, as to be “the One who examines the kidneys and the heart,” and “From Havayah are a man’s steps established”: everything with individual providence.

Explanation

The Sages say, “In the place of His greatness, there you find His humility.” G‑d’s humility is that He lowers Himself to watch over the physical heavens and earth down to the smallest detail: He “examines the kidneys and the heart” and establishes each person’s steps, so that everything is under individual providence.

שזהו ענוה גדולה שהוא ית׳ א״ס ומשפיל א״ע [את עצמו] להשגיח בבריות שפלים כו׳ וזהו ג״כ גדולתו.

For this is great humility, that He, may He be blessed, is the Infinite One (Ein Sof) and lowers Himself to watch over lowly creatures, etc.; and this is also His greatness.

Explanation

For the Infinite One to attend to lowly creatures is great humility, and it is also His greatness.

כי באמת מאחר שהוא ית׳ קדוש ומובדל וסכ״ע [וסובב כל עלמין] אין שייך לומר שזהו גדולתו דוקא מה שברא עולמות עליונים

For in truth, since He, may He be blessed, is holy and set apart and encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), it is not appropriate to say that His greatness lies specifically in His having created upper worlds;

Explanation

Since G‑d is holy, set apart and encompasses all worlds, His greatness cannot consist specifically in His having created the higher worlds.

כי אפילו ג״ע [גן עדן] העליון הוא רק זיו והארה בעלמא ולפניו כחשיכה כאורה ואפי׳ [ואפילו] אור צח אוכם הוא קדם עילת העילות. רק אדרבה מה שהוא ית׳ משפיל א״ע [את עצמו] לראות בשמים ובארץ זהו גדולתו.

for even the higher Gan Eden [the Garden of Eden] is only a mere radiance and glimmer, and before Him “darkness is as light”; and even “the Clear Light is black before the Cause of causes.” Rather, on the contrary: that He, may He be blessed, lowers Himself to look upon the heavens and the earth — this is His greatness.

Explanation

Even the higher Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden of the souls, is only a glimmer; before Him “darkness is as light,” and even “the Clear Light” is black before the Cause of causes. So His greatness lies rather in His lowering Himself to look upon heaven and earth.

Paragraph 17 in brief

G‑d’s greatness and His humility are one: since even the highest worlds are nothing before Him, His greatness shows precisely in His attention to the smallest details of the physical world.

Deeper

The argument reverses the intuitive view. If G‑d were only the highest link of a chain, attending to the lowest would diminish Him; because He is beyond every level, high and low are alike before Him, and His care for the lowly is the sign of His infinity. Paragraphs 18–22 develop this.

TermsAnavahKachasheichah kaorahIlah ve’alulGan Eden+3
  • Anavah ענוה explained hereHere, G‑d’s humility is lowering Himself to watch over physical heaven and earth in every detail; this, not creating higher worlds, is truly His greatness.ענותנותו הוא מה שהוא ית׳ משפיל עצמו להשגיח בשמים וארץ הגשמיות כ״כ בפרטי פרטיות
  • Kachasheichah kaorah כחשיכה כאורה
  • Ilah ve’alul עילה ועלול
  • Gan Eden גן עדן
  • Ziv haShechinah זיו השכינה
  • Kadosh קדוש
  • Ein Sof אין סוף

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    במקום גדולתו שם אתה מוצא ענותנותו · Megillah 31a:12–13
  2. 2
    בוחן כליות ולב · Jeremiah 11:20
  3. 3
    ומה׳ מצעדי גבר כוננו · Psalms 37:23
  4. 4
    ולפניו כחשיכה כאורה · Psalms 139:12
  5. 5
    אור צח אוכם הוא · ת״ז ת״ע (קלה, ב).
  6. 6
    ואפי׳ אור צח אוכם הוא קדם עילת העילות · Tikkunei Zohar 135b:1
  7. 7
    לראות בשמים ובארץ · Psalms 113:6

18והענין כי הנה איתא בגמ׳ [בגמרא] ע״פ ומספר את רובע ישראל זרע היוצא מהן מן התשמיש שלהן ועל דבר זה נסמית עינו של בלעם הרשע באמרו טהור עינים מראות ברע כו׳.

The explanation is this: it is stated in the Gemara on the verse “And the number of the fourth part (rova) of Israel”: [this is] the seed that issues from them from their marital relations; and on account of this the eye of Balaam the wicked was blinded, when he said, “Too pure of eyes to look upon evil,” etc.

Explanation

The Gemara reads “the fourth part (rova) of Israel” from the root of revi’ah, marital union: G‑d counts the times of Israel’s union, awaiting the drop from which a righteous person will be formed. Balaam’s eye was blinded over this, for he objected that the pure One should not look at such a thing, an objection the maamar puts in the words “too pure of eyes to look upon evil.”

והיינו כי לפי טעותם שהתהוות העולמות ממנו ית׳ הוא דרך השתלשלות עילה ועלול א״כ נמשך מזה שראוי שיהיה הוא ית׳ בבחי׳ רם על כל גוים ה׳ בלי שישפיל עצמו לראות בהשגחה פרטית בעוה״ז.

That is: according to their error, that the coming into being of the worlds from Him, may He be blessed, is by way of a chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect, it follows from this that it would be fitting for Him, may He be blessed, to be in the state of “Havayah is high above all nations,” without lowering Himself to look with individual providence upon this world.

Explanation

Balaam’s mistake came from the view that the worlds come from G‑d by cause and effect. On that view it would befit G‑d to remain “high above all nations” and not lower Himself to individual providence over this world.

כי מה שהוא בדרך השתלשלות עילה ועלול הנה התלבשות העילה בהעלול פועל בו שינוי

For whatever is by way of a chain-like descent of cause and effect — the enclothing of the cause in the effect brings about a change in it.

Explanation

In a chain of cause and effect, a cause that clothes itself in its effect is changed by it.

לכן אמר אין נכון שיתלבש הוא ית׳ כ״כ [כל כך] בעלולים השפלים שבעוה״ז להיותו טהור עינים מראות ברע והיה ראוי יותר שיהיה רם ומרומם בלי שישפיל א״ע [את עצמו] כ״כ [כל כך] למטה.

Therefore [Balaam] said that it is not proper that He, may He be blessed, should enclothe Himself so much in the lowly effects of this world, since He is “too pure of eyes to look upon evil”; and it would be more fitting that He be high and exalted, without lowering Himself so far below.

Explanation

That is why Balaam held it improper for G‑d to clothe Himself so deeply in the lowly effects of this world, since He is “too pure of eyes to look upon evil”; it would be more fitting, he thought, for Him to remain high and exalted, far from it.

אבל לפי האמת שהוא ית׳ קדוש ומובדל מכל העולמות ואין ההשפעה ממנו בבחי׳ התלבשות ועילה ועלול.

But according to the truth, He, may He be blessed, is holy and set apart from all the worlds, and the influence from Him is not in the manner of enclothing and of cause and effect.

Explanation

The truth is that G‑d is holy and set apart from all the worlds. His influence does not come by His clothing Himself in them, as a cause in its effect.

Paragraph 18 in brief

Balaam’s objection to G‑d’s providence over the most physical acts rests on the cause-and-effect view of creation, in which a cause that clothes itself in a lowly effect is lowered by it. Since G‑d is not a cause of that kind, His providence over the lowliest things does not touch Him.

Deeper

The maamar links the philosophers’ “none like You” (paragraph 3) with Balaam: both acknowledge G‑d, yet by placing Him at the head of a chain they keep Him far from this world. “No comparison” is what allows Him to be close to everything.

TermsIlah ve’alulOlam HaZehKadoshHishtalshelus+1

Also Hislabshus

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    בגמרא ע״פ ומספר את רובע · Niddah 31a:20
  2. 2
    ומספר את רובע ישראל · Numbers 23:10
  3. 3
    טהור עינים מראות ברע · Habakkuk 1:13
  4. 4
    רם על כל גוים ה׳ · Psalms 113:4

19וכמש״ל [וכמה שכתוב לעיל] באריכות בענין נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך אליך. אין ערוך ממש ולא מיני׳ ולא מקצתי׳ [מקצתיה] מהערך שבהשתלשלות עילה ועלול

As explained above at length on the matter of “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison to You”: there is truly no comparison, not in whole and not in part, of the comparability that exists in a chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect.

Explanation

This was explained at length above, on “there is no comparison to You”: there is none of the comparability, not in whole and not in part, that exists between a cause and its effect.

עד שאע״פ [שאף על פי] שהוא ית׳ מחיה ומהוה העולמות מאין ליש עכ״ז [עם כל זה] אין פועלים בו שום שינוי ע״י חיות זה שמשפיע הוא ית׳ אליהן וכמאמר יחיד וחי העולמים רק מבחי׳ מלך כו׳.

So much so that even though He, may He be blessed, gives life to the worlds and brings them into being from nothing to something, nevertheless they bring about no change whatsoever in Him through this life-force (chayus) that He, may He be blessed, bestows upon them; and as in the saying, “The Only One, and Life of the worlds” — only from the level of “King,” etc.

Explanation

So although G‑d gives life to the worlds and creates them from nothing, the life-force He gives them makes no change in Him. As in the prayer, “The Only One, and Life of the worlds,” He is Life of the worlds only as “King.”

Paragraph 19 in brief

The maamar recalls its earlier point: because there is no comparability between G‑d and the worlds, sustaining them does not change Him, and He gives them life only through His sovereignty.

TermsIlah ve’alulEin arochYesh me’ayinYesh and ayin+2

Also Chayus

20ושלכן הוא ית׳ בשוה ממש גם עתה כמו קודם שנברא העולם ממש.

And that, therefore, He, may He be blessed, is truly the same even now as before the world was actually created.

Explanation

The earlier explanation also showed that G‑d is exactly the same now as before the world was created.

א״כ כיון שמה שהוא מחיה העולמות אין פועל בו שום שינוי כלל. ולכן אין שום דבר גדול וקטן נעשה חוץ ממנו בכל העולמות עליונים ותחתונים

If so, since His giving life to the worlds brings about no change at all in Him, therefore nothing at all, great or small, is done apart from Him in all the worlds, upper and lower.

Explanation

Since giving life to the worlds makes no change in Him, nothing at all, great or small, happens in any world apart from Him.

וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה אלא א״כ מכריזין עליו מלמעלה

As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “A person does not stub his finger below unless it is proclaimed concerning him above.”

Explanation

The Sages say, “A person does not stub his finger below unless it is proclaimed concerning him above” (Chullin 7b).

וכתיב שאול ואבדון נגד ה׳ כו׳ ידע מה בחשוכא כו׳ אם יסתר איש במסתרים ואני לא אראנו נאם ה׳

And it is written, “Sheol and Abaddon are before Havayah,” etc.; “He knows what is in the darkness,” etc.; “Can a man hide himself in secret places and I not see him? says Havayah.”

Explanation

Verses say the same: “Sheol and Abaddon,” the depths of the underworld, “are before Havayah”; “He knows what is in the darkness”; and “Can a man hide himself in secret places and I not see him?”

וכל אלו ההשגחות הפרטיים אין פועלים בו שום שינוי ח״ו [חס ושלום] כמו שהיותו מחיה ומהווה אותן מאין ליש אין פועל בו שינוי ח״ו [חס ושלום] מטעם הנ״ל דאין ערוך כו׳

And all these [acts of] individual providence bring about no change whatsoever in Him, G‑d forbid, just as His giving them life and bringing them into being from nothing to something brings about no change in Him, G‑d forbid, for the reason mentioned above, that “there is no comparison,” etc.

Explanation

None of this detailed providence changes G‑d in any way, just as His creating and sustaining the worlds does not, because, as explained, there is no comparison between them and Him.

ולכן זה שהוא ית׳ משפיל א״ע [את עצמו] להשגיח בשמים וארץ גשמיי׳ [גשמיים] זהו גדולתו יותר ממה מא, אשברא עולמות עליונים

Therefore His lowering Himself, may He be blessed, to watch over the physical heavens and earth — this is His greatness, more than His having created upper worlds.

Explanation

So His lowering Himself to watch over the physical heavens and earth shows His greatness more than His creation of the higher worlds.

כי כל השבחים וגדולותיו ועולמות עליונים כו׳ באמת כלא חשיבי קמי׳ [קמיה] ית׳ רק זהו גדולתו שמשפילי א״ע [את עצמו] לראות בשמים ובארץ

For all the praises and His greatnesses, and the upper worlds, etc., are in truth accounted as nothing before Him, may He be blessed; rather, this is His greatness: that He lowers Himself to look upon the heavens and the earth.

Explanation

For all His praises, and the higher worlds themselves, are as nothing before Him; His true greatness is that He lowers Himself to look upon heaven and earth.

שהוא מפני כי אני הוי׳ לא שניתי כו׳ ושאין ערוך אליו ב״ה ואת השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא והתהוות העולמות הוא רק מבחי׳ שם מלכותו והוא ית׳ סכ״ע [סובב כל עלמין].

This is because “I, Havayah, have not changed,” etc., and because there is no comparison to Him, blessed be He, and “The heavens and the earth I fill”; and the coming into being of the worlds is only from the level of the Name of His sovereignty (Malchus), while He, may He be blessed, encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin).

Explanation

This is possible because “I, Havayah, have not changed” and there is no comparison to Him: He fills heaven and earth, and the worlds come into being only from the Name of His sovereignty, while He Himself encompasses all worlds.

Paragraph 20 in brief

Because creation and providence make no change in G‑d, His providence reaches every detail, even the darkest places, and that providence over the lowly is His true greatness.

Deeper

This answers Balaam: what he thought would diminish G‑d is the very expression of His infinity.

TermsEin arochYesh me’ayinYesh and ayinMalchus+1

Also Havayah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    אין אדם נוקף אצבעו מלמטה · Chullin 7b:15–16
  2. 2
    שאול ואבדון נגד ה׳ · Proverbs 15:11
  3. 3
    ידע מה בחשוכא · דניאל (ב, כב). [כ].
  4. 4
    ידע מה בחשוכא · Daniel 2:22
  5. 5
    אם יסתר איש במסתרים · Jeremiah 23:24
  6. 6
    כי אני הוי׳ לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
  7. 7
    ואת השמים ואת הארץ אני מלא · ירמי׳ שם.

21ויובן עוד ענין זה עפמ״ש [על פי מה שכתוב] ומתחת זרועות עולם פי׳ כי הנה עד״מ אופן בתוך האופן היינו עיגול בתוך עיגול

This matter can be further understood according to what is written, “And beneath are the everlasting arms.” The meaning is: by way of analogy, “a wheel within the wheel,” that is, a circle within a circle.

Explanation

Another way to understand this is from “And beneath are the everlasting arms.” The analogy is “a wheel within the wheel,” a circle within a circle.

שהעיגול הגדול שמבחוץ כמו שמקיף למעלה בגובה העיגול הפנימי כך הוא מקיף ג״כ בתחתיתו למטה ושם הוא נמוך מעיגול הפנימי ונשפל יותר ממנו כך בו ית׳ כתיב ומתחת זרועות עולם כו׳.

The large circle that is outside, just as it surrounds above, at the height of the inner circle, so it also surrounds [it] at its bottom, below; and there it is lower than the inner circle and further down than it. So too, of Him, may He be blessed, it is written, “And beneath are the everlasting arms,” etc.

Explanation

The outer circle, which surrounds the inner one from above, surrounds it from below as well, and there it is lower than the inner circle. So of G‑d, who encompasses all, it is said that His arms are also “beneath.”

Paragraph 21 in brief

The image of a circle within a circle shows why the One who is above everything is also below everything: what encompasses from above encompasses equally from below, as in “beneath are the everlasting arms.”

Deeper

Sovev kol almin is pictured as the outer circle: the same transcendence that sets G‑d above the highest worlds places Him “beneath” the lowest, which is why His greatness and humility are found in one place (paragraph 22).

TermsOr Makif

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ומתחת זרועות עולם · Deuteronomy 33:27

22ואף שאין לו דמות הגוף מ״מ הוא עד״מ דהיינו לפי שהוא ית׳ סוכ״ע ומרומם ונשגב מכל העולמות ואין ערוך כו׳ א״כ מה״ט [מהאי טעמא] הוא משפילי לראות גם למטה מטה.

And although He has no likeness of a body, nevertheless this is by way of analogy. That is: because He, may He be blessed, encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) and is exalted and lofty above all the worlds, and “there is no comparison,” etc., if so, for this very reason He “lowers [Himself] to see” even the very lowest below.

Explanation

G‑d has no bodily form, so this is only an analogy. Because He encompasses all worlds and is exalted beyond them, with no comparison, for that very reason He “lowers Himself to see” even the lowest places.

וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] רם על כל גוים כו׳ מי כה׳ אלקינו המגביהי לשבת המשפילי כו׳

And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “Havayah is high above all nations,” etc.; “Who is like Havayah our G‑d, who dwells on high, who lowers [Himself],” etc.

Explanation

This is the meaning of the psalm: “Havayah is high above all nations… Who is like Havayah our G‑d, who dwells on high, who lowers Himself to see.”

שמה שהוא ית׳ משפילי לראות כו׳ זהו מפני שהוא ית׳ מגביהי שמהו״ע [שמהותו ועצמותו] ית׳ רם ונשא עד שאין ערוך אליו ממש

His lowering [Himself], may He be blessed, to see, etc., is because He, may He be blessed, is “on high”: His being and essence, may He be blessed, is high and lofty, to the point that there is truly no comparison to Him.

Explanation

He lowers Himself to see because He is truly “on high”: His essence is so exalted that there is no comparison to Him.

ולא כעו״ג [כעובדי גלולים] שאומרים רם כו׳ לפי שהיו סוברים שההשתלשלות עילה ועלול. אלא דאין ערוך ממש. וזהו שהגדולה והענוה הם במקום א׳ כנ״ל:

And [it is] not as the idolaters, who say “high,” etc., because they held that the chain of descent (hishtalshelus) is [one of] cause and effect. Rather, there is truly no comparison. And this is why greatness and humility are in one place, as mentioned above.

Explanation

This is not the height the idolaters mean when they call Him “high”: they held that the chain of worlds is one of cause and effect, so that the highest is far from the lowest. In truth there is no comparison at all, and so greatness and humility are found in one place.

Paragraph 22 in brief

The psalm’s “who dwells on high, who lowers Himself to see” is read as one idea: because G‑d is beyond all comparison, He is equally present to the lowest things, so His greatness and His humility coincide.

Deeper

“High above all nations” as the idolaters understood it and the Psalmist’s “on high” sound alike but mean opposite things: the first is height within a scale, which implies distance; the second is beyond any scale, which allows closeness to all.

TermsAnavahIlah ve’alulRomemusEin aroch+3

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    משפילי לראות · Psalms 113:6
  2. 2
    רם על כל גוים · Psalms 113:4
  3. 3
    מי כה׳ אלקינו המגביהי לשבת · Psalms 113:5

The union of the Holy One and His Shechinah through Torah ¶23–28

23ג והנה ע״פ כל הנ״ל יובן ענין יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה כי שכינה הוא בחי׳ מלכותו ית׳ השוכן בתחתונים

3. Now, according to all that has been said above, the matter of the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence) can be understood. For the Shechinah is the level of His sovereignty (Malchus), may He be blessed, which dwells in the lower realms;

Explanation

Section 3 begins. On this basis the maamar explains the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah: the Shechinah is G‑d’s sovereignty (Malchus), which dwells (shochen) in the lower realms.

כי מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים והוא בחינת ממכ״ע [ממלא כל עלמין] שהוא רק הארה בעלמא מבחי׳ מהו״ע [מהותו ועצמותו] ית׳ הסוכ״ע כנ״ל.

for “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds”; and it is the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), which is only a mere glimmer from the level of His being and essence, may He be blessed, which encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), as mentioned above.

Explanation

As the verse says, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds.” Malchus is memalei kol almin, the light that fills all worlds, which is only a glimmer of G‑d’s essence, sovev kol almin.

Paragraph 23 in brief

The maamar defines the two partners of the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah: the Shechinah is Malchus, the light that fills the worlds, a mere glimmer of the transcendent essence.

Deeper

“The Holy One” and “the Shechinah” are now mapped onto sovev and memalei; the next paragraph defines their union as the revelation of the first within the second.

TermsShechinahMemalei kol alminYichudSovev kol almin+1
  • Shechinah שכינה explained hereHere the Shechinah is His Malchus dwelling in the lower beings, “Your kingship is of all worlds”: memalei kol almin, a mere glimmer of His essence, which encompasses all worlds.כי שכינה הוא בחי׳ מלכותו ית׳ השוכן בתחתונים כי מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים והוא בחינת ממכ״ע
  • Memalei kol almin ממלא כל עלמין
  • Yichud יחוד
  • Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
  • Malchus מלכות

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים · Psalms 145:13

24ובחי׳ סוכ״ע הוא קדוש ומובדל. ויחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה היינו כאשר יש התגלות בחינת סוכ״ע מה שהוא קדוש ומובדל ונמשך ונתגלה בעולמות תחתונים וזהו ענין דירה בתחתונים שהיא תכלית בריאת כל העולמות.

And the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) is “holy and set apart.” And the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence) is when there is a revelation of the level of sovev kol almin — that which is holy and set apart — and it is drawn down and revealed in the lower worlds. And this is the matter of a dwelling place among the lower realms, which is the purpose of the creation of all the worlds.

Explanation

Sovev kol almin is what “holy and set apart” refers to. The union of the Holy One and His Shechinah takes place when this transcendent level is drawn down and revealed in the lower worlds, and that is the dwelling place below, the purpose of the creation of all the worlds.

אך ע״י מה נעשה התגלות זה הנה ע״ז נאמר ששים המה מלכות כו׳ כי משניות נק׳ מלכות כמארז״ל [כמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] מתניתא מלכתא

But through what does this revelation come about? About this it is said, “There are sixty queens,” etc. For the Mishnayos are called “queens,” as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The Mishnah is a queen.”

Explanation

What brings this revelation about? The verse “There are sixty queens” gives the answer: the Mishnayos are called queens, as the Sages say, “The Mishnah is a queen.” Earlier in Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim (32c), the Alter Rebbe explains this saying: the Mishnah is like a king who commands, for the spirit of G‑d speaks in the halachah that states the law.

כי הנה אמרז״ל [אמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה יושב ושונה כנגדו וכמ״ש המגיד להב״י [להבית יוסף] אני המשנה המדברת בפיך.

For our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “Whoever reads and studies, the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and studies opposite him”; and as the Maggid [the heavenly mentor] told the Beis Yosef [Rabbi Yosef Karo]: “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.”

Explanation

The Sages taught, “Whoever reads and studies, the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and studies opposite him,” and the heavenly Maggid told Rabbi Yosef Karo, the Beis Yosef, “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.” When a Jew studies Torah, G‑d Himself is studying with him and speaking through him.

Paragraph 24 in brief

The revelation of the transcendent light in the lower world, the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah, comes about through the study of Torah, beginning with the Mishnah, the “queen,” in which G‑d Himself speaks through the one who learns.

Deeper

The Maggid’s words make the point vivid: the Mishnah is not only studied by a person but speaks through him. This is how the maamar will answer its opening question about the word “saying” (paragraph 43).

TermsDirah betachtonimShechinahYichudKadosh+2

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    מתניתא מלכתא · Beitzah 28b:14–15
  2. 2
    כל הקורא ושונה · תדא״ר פי״ח. יל״ש איכה רמז תתרלד.
  3. 3
    כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה יושב ושונה כנגדו · Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 18:1–2
  4. 4
    כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה יושב ושונה כנגדו · Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 1034
  5. 5
    וכמ״ש המגיד להב״י אני המשנה המדברת · מגיד מישרים פ׳ ויקרא. ובכ״מ.

25וזהו מ״ש בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך כו׳ דהל״ל [דהוה ליה למימר] תזכיר.

And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “In every place where I mention My Name, I will come to you,” etc.; for it should have said, “you mention.”

Explanation

This explains the verse “In every place where I mention My Name, I will come to you.” One would expect “where you mention My Name,” since it is the person who mentions it.

אך הוא כמאמר דוד רוח ה׳ דיבר בי ומלתו על לשוני. שהדבור שהאדם מדבר בד״ת [בדברי תורה] הוא ממש דיבורו ית׳.

But it is as David said, “The spirit of Havayah spoke through me, and His word is upon my tongue”: the speech that a person speaks in words of Torah is truly His speech, may He be blessed.

Explanation

The answer is in King David’s words, “The spirit of Havayah spoke through me, and His word is upon my tongue.” When a person speaks words of Torah, his speech is truly G‑d’s speech.

היינו שה׳ מדבר בו ממש ע״י פיו של האדם וכמ״ש דוד המלך ע״ה [עליו השלום] אדני שפתי תפתח ופי יגיד תהלתך.

That is, G‑d truly speaks in him through the person’s mouth; and as King David, peace be upon him, wrote: “Ado-nai, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise.”

Explanation

G‑d Himself speaks through the person’s mouth. So David said, “Ado-nai, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise.”

כי הכל מאתו יתברך רק פי יגיד יגיד הוא לשון המשכה כמו נגד ונפק מן קדמוהי שהפה הוא רק הכלי שיומשך על ידו ויתגלה דבורו ית׳ וחכמתו ורצונו ממש

For everything is from Him, may He be blessed; only, “my mouth shall declare (yagid)”: yagid is an expression of drawing down, as in “flowed (nogeid) and came forth from before Him.” For the mouth is only the vessel through which His speech, may He be blessed, and His very wisdom and will, are drawn down and revealed.

Explanation

Everything comes from G‑d; “my mouth shall declare” (yagid) means only drawing down, like nogeid in “a river of fire flowed (nogeid) and came forth from before Him.” The mouth is the vessel through which G‑d’s speech, wisdom and will are drawn down and revealed.

כי באמת לית אתר פנוי מיניה ואתה מחיה את כולם ולך הוי׳ הגדולה כו׳ ואין עוד מלבדו ממש.

For in truth “there is no place devoid of Him,” and “You give life to them all,” and “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness,” etc., and “there is none else besides Him,” truly.

Explanation

In truth “there is no place devoid of Him,” “You give life to them all,” “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness,” and “there is none else besides Him.”

רק שהעולמות נראים ליש ודבר נפרד בפ״ע [בפני עצמו] לעינינו לבד מחמת ההסתרות ורבוי הצמצומים. אכן קמיה ית׳ שאין שייך שום צמצום והסתר לפניו הרי באמת אין ואפס זולתו ית׳ אחד האמת.

Only, the worlds appear, to our eyes alone, as something existent and a thing separate unto itself, because of the concealments and the multitude of contractions (tzimtzumim). But before Him, may He be blessed, before whom no contraction or concealment applies at all, in truth there is nothing and naught besides Him, may He be blessed, the true One.

Explanation

The worlds appear to us as separate existences only because of the concealments and contractions. Before G‑d, to whom no contraction or concealment applies, there is nothing besides Him.

Paragraph 25 in brief

The verse says “where I mention My Name” because when a Jew speaks words of Torah it is G‑d who speaks through his mouth; the person is the vessel for G‑d’s own speech, since in truth nothing exists apart from Him.

Deeper

The claim is meant literally, not as a figure of speech: since the separateness of the world is only a product of concealment, a person’s Torah speech, which carries G‑d’s wisdom and will without concealment, is G‑d’s own speech.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In a talk of Shabbos Parshas Yisro 5751, edited for Sefer HaSichos, the Rebbe asks what a person’s service learns from „אחת דיבר אלקים” (G‑d spoke once), the Ten Commandments said in a single utterance that no human mouth can say; in the talk’s eleventh section he finds the answer in the verse this paragraph reads.

    The Rebbe weighs each word of the verse. „בכל המקום” (in every place), not just ‘in a place’, takes in both a place fit for holiness and a place that by itself is not. That reach is possible because the speaking is not a person’s limited power but G‑d’s: „אזכיר את שמי” (I will mention My Name), not ‘you will mention’, which he explains with this paragraph’s words, that a person’s Torah speech is G‑d’s own speech. And G‑d’s speech has no limit, so it reaches even a place that is unfit in itself, and reaches both kinds of place alike.

    The Alter Rebbeוזהו מ״ש בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך כו׳ דהל״ל תזכיר

    The Rebbeובנוגע לדיבורו של הקב״ה (”אזכיר את שמי”) אין הגבלה כלל, שנמשך ”בכל המקום”, גם במקום שמצד עצמו אינו ראוי לכך

    Sefer HaSichos, vol. 5751, vol. 1 (תנש״א ח״א), p. 315 · ש״פ יתרו, ה׳תנש״א

  2. A question the Rebbe raises

    At the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Mishpatim (Parshas Shekalim) 5751, in an aside on the Minchah prayer (printed in Toras Menachem among the supplements to the edited talk), at which Eliyahu was answered „ענני ה׳ ענני” (Answer me, Havayah, answer me), doubly and in a higher way, the Rebbe says that the calling itself is „שפתי תפתח ופי יגיד תהלתך” (open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise), and that Torah study too is included in ‘Your praise’.

    The maamar brings, side by side, the Sages’ „כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (whoever reads and studies, the Holy One reads and studies opposite him; ¶24, ¶28) and this paragraph’s ‘the speech a person speaks in Torah is truly His speech’. In an aside the Rebbe sets one above the other: in the first „שהאדם הוא המתחיל” (the person is the one who begins), while in the second G‑d truly speaks in him through his mouth, and the Holy One is the one who begins.

    The Alter Rebbeשהדבור שהאדם מדבר בד״ת הוא ממש דיבורו ית׳

    The Rebbeלא רק באופן ש״כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (שהאדם הוא המתחיל), אלא באופן ש״הדיבור שהאדם מדבר בד״ת הוא ממש דיבורו ית׳”

    Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos, vol. 5751, vol. 2 (תנש״א ח״ב), p. 289–290 · ש״פ משפטים, פרשת שקלים, ה׳תנש״א

Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made

TermsTzimtzumAbba and ImmaYesh and ayinDibbur elyon+4

Also HavayahChochmahHaalaah vehamshachah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    בכל מקום אשר אזכיר את שמי · Exodus 20:21
  2. 2
    רוח ה׳ דיבר בי ומלתו על לשוני · II Samuel 23:2
  3. 3
    אד׳ שפתי תפתח · Psalms 51:17
  4. 4
    יגיד הוא לשון המשכה · ראה גם לעיל ב, ג.
  5. 5
    נגד ונפק מן קדמוהי · דניאל (ז, י). [כ].
  6. 6
    נגד ונפק מן קדמוהי · Daniel 7:10
  7. 7
    ואתה מחי׳ את כולם · Nehemiah 9:6
  8. 8
    ואין עוד מלבדו · Deuteronomy 4:35
  9. 9
    ולך הוי׳ הגדולה · I Chronicles 29:11

26והכל רק אלהותו ית׳ המהווה הכל והיש בטל לגמרי באמת. והלכך כשהאדם עוסק בתורה שהיא חכמתו ורצונו בלי הסתר פנים אזי גורם לאהפכא חשוכא לנהורא שמתבטלים הצמצומים וההסתרות ואז הוא גילוי האמת.

And everything is only His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, which brings everything into being, and the existent (yesh) is in truth entirely nullified. Therefore, when a person occupies himself with Torah, which is His wisdom and will without any hiding of the Face, he brings about the turning of darkness into light: the contractions (tzimtzumim) and the concealments are nullified, and then there is a revelation of the truth.

Explanation

Everything is only G‑d’s divinity bringing it into being, and the existent (yesh) is in truth nullified. The Torah is G‑d’s wisdom and will with no hiding of His face, so when a person studies it he “turns darkness into light”: the contractions and concealments fall away, and the truth is revealed.

Paragraph 26 in brief

Torah study removes the concealment that makes the world seem to exist apart from G‑d, and so turns darkness into light.

Deeper

In the Torah, unlike in the world, G‑d’s wisdom and will are present without concealment, so studying it brings their revelation into the person who speaks it, as the next paragraphs explain.

TermsTzimtzumRatzon+3

Also BittulChochmahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    לאהפכא חשוכא לנהורא · Zohar, Introduction 9:48–10:56

27ונמצא שדיבור האדם בתורה הוא ממש דבר ה׳ הדובר בו חכמתו ורצונו וזהו אזכיר את שמי שמה שהאדם קורא ושונה הוא באמת בחינת אזכיר את שמי כמו שהשי״ת [שהשם יתברך] דיבר בו.

It follows that a person’s speech in Torah is truly the word of G‑d, which speaks in him His wisdom and will. And this is [the meaning of] “I mention My Name”: what a person reads and studies is in truth the level of “I mention My Name,” just as G‑d, may He be blessed, spoke in him.

Explanation

So a person’s speech in Torah is truly the word of G‑d, speaking His wisdom and will in him. This is “I mention My Name”: what a person reads and studies is G‑d mentioning His own Name, as though G‑d spoke in him.

וזהו ענין מהפכין חשוכא לנהורא ומרירו למיתקא. פי׳ מרירו למיתקא הוא קאי על שבירת התאוה שיהפוך כל מדותיו ורצונותיו לה׳

And this is the matter of “turning darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness.” The meaning: “bitterness into sweetness” refers to the breaking of desire, so that he turns all his emotive attributes (middos) and his wishes to G‑d.

Explanation

This is the Zohar’s “turning darkness into light and bitterness into sweetness.” “Bitterness into sweetness” is the breaking of desire, turning all one’s emotions and wishes to G‑d.

וחשוכא לנהורא הוא כשמחשבתו ודיבורו בתורה אז במקום החשך יאיר אור ה׳ להיות גילוי חכמתו ורצונו בדבור שמדבר האדם שהוא בחי׳ רוח ה׳ דיבר בי כי אני המשנה המדברת בפיך כנ״ל

And “darkness into light” is when his thought and speech are in Torah: then, in place of the darkness, the light of G‑d shines, so that there is a revelation of His wisdom and will in the speech that the person speaks, which is the level of “The spirit of Havayah spoke through me,” for “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth,” as mentioned above.

Explanation

“Darkness into light” is when one’s thought and speech are in Torah: in place of darkness G‑d’s light shines, and His wisdom and will are revealed in the person’s speech. This is “The spirit of Havayah spoke through me,” and “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.”

ועי״ז מהפך ממש חשוכא כו׳ כי הוא כמלך הגוזר ואומר שיהיה כך וכך שדבר מלך שלטון להיות נעשה עי״ז כך וכך.

And through this he truly turns darkness, etc. For he is like a king who decrees and says that such-and-such shall be: for “the word of a king is sovereign,” so that through it such-and-such is done.

Explanation

Through this the person truly turns darkness into light. He is like a king whose decree takes effect, for “the word of a king is sovereign.”

כך כשעוסק בתורה ואומר מותר עד״מ הוא בחי׳ חסד שמתיר את הדבר מא, בשהי׳ [שהיה] קשור בידי החיצונים שנפל לשם ע״י שבה״כ [שבירת הכלים]

So too, when one occupies himself with Torah and says, for example, “permitted” (mutar), this is the level of Chesed (kindness): he releases (matir) the thing that was bound in the hands of the external forces, having fallen there through the shattering of the vessels.

Explanation

When a person studying Torah rules that something is “permitted” (mutar), that is Chesed. He releases (matir) a thing that was bound in the hands of the external forces, where it fell through the shattering of the vessels, the primordial event through which sparks of holiness fell into the realm of kelipah.

וכעת הוא מתיר אותו שיתהפך מחשוכא לנהורא ויוכלל באלקות ע״י שיאכל את הבשר היתר ויעבוד את ה׳ בכחו זה ועי״ז יתבטל ויתכלל למעלה באלקות.

And now he releases it, so that it is turned from darkness to light and is included in G‑dliness: through [a person’s] eating the permitted meat and serving G‑d with this strength of his; and through this it will be nullified and included above in G‑dliness.

Explanation

Now he releases it, so that it can turn from darkness to light and be included in G‑dliness. When a person eats the permitted meat and serves G‑d with the strength it gives him, it is nullified and included above in G‑dliness.

Paragraph 27 in brief

Because a person’s Torah speech is G‑d’s own word, it has a king’s power: ruling something “permitted” releases it from the external forces, so that when it is used in G‑d’s service it rises and is included in G‑dliness.

Deeper

The wordplay mutar and matir, “permitted” and “released,” makes the halachic ruling itself the act that frees the spark. Like a royal decree, the ruling does not merely describe the thing; it determines what becomes of it.

TermsKoach hamisavehTohu and TikkunKelipahDibbur elyon+5

Also ChochmahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    רוח ה׳ דיבר בי · II Samuel 23:2
  2. 2
    מהפכין חשוכא לנהורא · Zohar I, 4a
  3. 3
    שדבר מלך שלטון · קהלת (ח, ד). [כ].
  4. 4
    שדבר מלך שלטון · Ecclesiastes 8:4

28וכשפוסק אסור הוא מצד הגבורה שמאל דוחה שלא יוכל המאכל לעלות ולהבטל וליכלל באין ועד״ז אמרו מאן מלכי רבנן

And when he rules “forbidden” (asur), this is from the side of Gevurah (restraint), “the left pushes away,” so that the food cannot ascend and be nullified and included in the Ayin (Nothingness). And in this way they said, “Who are kings? The Rabbis.”

Explanation

When he rules something “forbidden” (asur, a word that also means “bound”), that comes from Gevurah, “the left pushes away”: the food stays bound and cannot rise and be nullified and included in the divine Ayin, the Nothingness. In the same sense the Sages said, “Who are kings? The Rabbis.” In the Gemara (Gittin 62a), Geniva greets Rav Huna and Rav Chisda with “Peace upon you, kings,” and when they ask how he knows that the Rabbis are called kings, he cites “Through me kings reign” (Mishlei 8:15). Here the title fits because a Sage’s ruling works like a king’s decree: it decides whether the food ascends or stays bound.

היינו שעל ידי דיבורם בתורה הרי גורמים וגוזרים עליית הניצוצים שנפלו בשבה״כ [בשבירת הכלים] שיתהפכו מחשוכא לנהורא או להפך וזהו מבחי׳ חו״ג [חסד וגבורה]

That is, through their speech in Torah they bring about and decree the ascent of the sparks that fell in the shattering of the vessels, that they be turned from darkness to light, or the opposite. And this is from the level of Chesed and Gevurah.

Explanation

Through their speech in Torah the Sages bring about and decree the ascent of the sparks that fell in the shattering of the vessels, turning them from darkness to light, or the reverse. Their rulings come from Chesed and Gevurah.

כי מצד החסד מים יורדים מגבוה לנמוך שמתפשט החסד למטה חסד דרועא ימינא מתיר את הדבר שיוכל ליכלל באחד כי ימין מקרבת ומצד הגבורה שמאל דוחה כו׳

For on the side of Chesed — water descends from a high place to a low one — Chesed spreads downward: Chesed, “the right arm,” releases the thing so that it can be included in the One, for “the right draws near”; and on the side of Gevurah, “the left pushes away,” etc.

Explanation

Chesed, like water that flows from a high place to a low one, spreads downward: Chesed, “the right arm,” releases a thing so that it can be included in the One, for “the right draws near.” Gevurah, “the left,” pushes away.

וכ״ז [וכל זה] הוא על ידי החכמה שמתלבשת בהמדות ובחכמה אתברירו דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת ומה שראוי ע״פ החכמה שיכול לעלות באחד נמשך עי״ז מדת החסד להתיר

And all this is through Chochmah (wisdom), which enclothes itself in the emotive attributes (middos); and “through Chochmah they are refined,” for “the Torah comes forth from Chochmah.” And whatever is fit, according to Chochmah, to be able to ascend into the One — through this the attribute of Chesed is drawn down to permit [it];

Explanation

All this comes through Chochmah, which clothes itself in the emotive attributes: things are refined through Chochmah, and the Torah comes from Chochmah. What Chochmah finds fit to rise to the One draws down Chesed to permit it. In Kabbalah, “through Chochmah they are refined” refers to the refining (birur) of the sparks of holiness that fell into the world: Chochmah distinguishes what can be raised from what cannot. Here that wisdom is the Torah’s, which through its rulings decides what is permitted and so raised to holiness.

וכן להיפך נמשך מדת הגבורה והכל ע״י חכמתו ורצונו ומ״ש ששים המה מלכות הוא נגד ששה מדות וכל אחד כלול מעשר כנודע

and likewise, in the opposite case, the attribute of Gevurah is drawn down; and all is through His wisdom and will. And as for what is written, “There are sixty queens,” this corresponds to the six attributes, each one comprising ten, as is known.

Explanation

In the opposite case Gevurah is drawn down to forbid it, all by G‑d’s wisdom and will. The “sixty queens” correspond to the six emotive attributes, each of which includes ten.

(וע׳ בזהר פ׳ שמות י״ד ב׳ ובמק״מ [ובמקדש מלך] שם בשם הרח״ו [הרבי חיים ויטאל] ז״ל [זכרונו לברכה / זכרונם לברכה] בפי׳ ששים המה מלכות)

(And see the Zohar, Parshas Shemos, 14b, and the Mikdash Melech [a commentary on the Zohar] there, in the name of Rabbi Chaim Vital, of blessed memory, on the explanation of “There are sixty queens.”)

Explanation

In a parenthesis the Alter Rebbe refers to the Zohar on Parshas Shemos (14b), which expounds “There are sixty queens,” and to the commentary Mikdash Melech there, which explains the verse in the name of Rabbi Chaim Vital.

והכח הזה בדבור האדם בתורה הוא לפי שדיבורו הוא ממש דבר ה׳ וכמ״ש ואשים דברי בפיך וכנ״ל.

And this power in a person’s speech in Torah is because his speech is truly the word of G‑d, as it is written, “And I have put My words in your mouth,” and as mentioned above.

Explanation

A person’s Torah speech has this power because it is truly the word of G‑d, as in “And I have put My words in your mouth.”

וזהו יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה כי שכינתיה הוא בחי׳ ההארה שנמשך ממנו ית׳ להיות שוכן בתחתונים בבחי׳ ממכ״ע [ממלא כל עלמין] וע״י לימוד התורה נמשך להיות יחוד וגילוי אור ה׳ הסוכ״ע שהוא בחי׳ קדוש ומובדל הנה הוא נמשך ומתגלה למטה בשכינתיה

And this is the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah. For His Shechinah is the level of the glimmer that is drawn from Him, may He be blessed, to dwell in the lower realms, in the manner of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin); and through the study of Torah there is drawn down a union and a revelation of the light of G‑d that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), which is the level of “holy and set apart”: it is drawn down and revealed below in His Shechinah.

Explanation

This is the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah. The Shechinah is the glimmer that dwells in the lower realms as memalei kol almin, and Torah study draws down sovev kol almin, the level that is “holy and set apart,” to be revealed below in the Shechinah.

היינו בבחי׳ ההארה מה ששכון בתחתונים שם נגלה אור ה׳ הסוכ״ע ממש והיינו מטעם הנ״ל שבשעה שהאדם קורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו.

That is, in the level of the glimmer that dwells in the lower realms, there the very light of G‑d that encompasses all worlds is revealed. And this is for the reason mentioned above, that when a person reads and studies, the Holy One, blessed be He, reads and studies opposite him.

Explanation

That is, the very light of sovev is revealed in the glimmer that dwells in the lower realms. It happens because when a person reads and studies, the Holy One reads and studies opposite him.

אזכיר את שמי כמו שהקב״ה בעצמו אומר הדין בפיו כי אני המשנה המדברת בפיך א״כ היינו ממש גילוי בחי׳ אור א״ס הסוכ״ע בשכינתיה ונק׳ יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה וזהו ענין מהפכין חשוכא לנהורא:

“I mention My Name”: as though the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself says the law in his mouth, for “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.” If so, this is truly a revelation of the level of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), the light that encompasses all worlds, in His Shechinah; and it is called the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah. And this is the matter of “turning darkness into light.”

Explanation

This is “I mention My Name”: it is as though G‑d Himself states the law in the person’s mouth, “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.” The revelation of the Infinite Light of sovev in the Shechinah is the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah, and this is turning darkness into light.

Paragraph 28 in brief

The Torah’s rulings, permitted and forbidden, express Chesed and Gevurah as directed by Chochmah, and they decide the fate of the fallen sparks; this is why the Sages are called kings and the Mishnayos “sixty queens.” Through such study the transcendent light is revealed in the Shechinah: the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah.

Deeper

Sixty is read as the six emotive attributes, each including ten. According to the Kehot note, Or HaTorah reports Rabbi Chaim Vital’s explanation that the sixty queens are the six palaces of Beriah, and the Tzemach Tzedek adds that studying the Mishnah draws Tiferes, which includes the six attributes, into Malchus, and from this the revelation reaches the six palaces of Beriah.

TermsShechinahBechochmah isbreruTohu and TikkunMemalei kol almin+14
  • Shechinah שכינה explained hereHis Shechinah is the radiance drawn from Him to dwell in the lower realms as memalei kol almin. Through Torah study the light of sovev, which is holy and separate, is revealed below within the Shechinah, for when a person studies, the Holy One, blessed be He, studies opposite him; this is the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah.שכינתיה הוא בחי׳ ההארה שנמשך ממנו ית׳ להיות שוכן בתחתונים בבחי׳ ממכ״ע
  • Bechochmah isbreru בחכמה אתברירו
  • Tohu and Tikkun תהו ותקון
  • Memalei kol almin ממלא כל עלמין
  • Gevurah גבורה
  • Yichud יחוד
  • Kadosh קדוש
  • Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
  • Dibbur elyon דבור עליון
  • Chesed חסד
  • Malchus מלכות
  • Hiskallelus התכללות
  • Ratzon רצון
  • Middos מדות

Also BittulOr Ein SofChochmahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    מאן מלכי רבנן · Gittin 62a:14
  2. 2
    ששים המה מלכות · Zohar, Shemot 25:240–26:249
  3. 3
    בזהר פ׳ שמות . . ובמק״מ · ראה אוה״ת שה״ש כרך ב ע׳ תקעו ואילך. ובאוה״ת פ׳ שמות ע׳ יז מביא הזהר והמק״מ ומציין: ”ושם הביאו ג״כ פסוק ששים המה מלכות ופי׳ הרח״ו שהם ו׳ היכלות דבריאה ונ׳ לפרש . . שע״י לימוד ש״ס משנה ממשיכים יחוד ו״ה שממשיכים הו׳ שהוא ת״ת הכולל ו״ק שיהי׳ נמשך בבחי׳ מל׳ שהו״ע הקול קול יעקב כמ״ש בד״ה וישב יעקב, ומזה נמשך ג״כ הגילוי בו׳ היכלות דבריאה” ע״ש.
  4. 4
    ואשים דברים בפיך · Isaiah 51:16

Concubines and maidens ¶29–35

29ושמנים פילגשים אלו ברייתות. הנה הענין הברייתא היא לבאר המשנה בפרטיות יותר כדי שיובן גם לתלמידים שאינן גדולים כל כך

“And eighty concubines” — these are the Baraisos. Now the point is this: the Baraisa serves to explain the Mishnah in greater detail, so that it may be understood also by students who are not so great.

Explanation

The maamar turns to the second phrase of the verse: the “eighty concubines” are the Baraisos. A Baraisa spells out the Mishnah in more detail, so that students who are not so great can understand it as well.

כי לחכמים גדולים היה די במשנה לחוד שבאמת נרמז במשנה כל פרטי הדינים שבברייתא כמאמר אילפא מי איכא מידי בברייתא דלא פשיטנא ליה ממתניתין כו׳

For great sages, the Mishnah alone would have been enough, since in truth all the details of the laws that are in the Baraisa are alluded to in the Mishnah, as in the saying of Ilfa: “Is there anything in a Baraisa that I cannot resolve from our Mishnah?” etc.

Explanation

Great sages needed only the Mishnah, since every detail of the laws in a Baraisa is hinted in the Mishnah. So Ilfa declared that there was nothing in a Baraisa that he could not resolve from the Mishnah.

רק היינו אילפא דוקא שהיה חכם גדול יוכל להבין ברמז ושמו מעיד עליו לשון אאלפך חכמה.

But that is specifically Ilfa, who was a great sage and could understand from an allusion; and his name testifies to this, being an expression of “I will teach you (a’alefcha) wisdom.”

Explanation

Only a great sage like Ilfa could understand from a hint, and his name says so: Ilfa recalls a’alefcha, “I will teach you wisdom.”

אבל שאר תלמידים לא יבינו כלל וכ״ש [וכל שכן] כשנתמעטו הלבבות לכן הוצרכו לבאר המשנה בפרטיות יותר

But other students would not understand at all, and all the more so once the hearts diminished; therefore they needed to explain the Mishnah in greater detail.

Explanation

Other students would not understand at all, all the more so once hearts diminished over the generations, so the Mishnah had to be explained in greater detail.

ועד״מ בהשפעה מרב לתלמיד שכדי שיבין התלמיד צריך הרב לשית עצות בנפשו איך להשפיע לו שיוכל לקבל וצריך לומר לו פסקי פסקי ולקצר ולהעלים עומק המושכל עד שיהיה ביכולת המקבל להכיל ההשפעה.

It is like, for example, imparting from a teacher to a student: in order that the student understand, the teacher must “set counsels in his soul” as to how to impart to him so that he can receive; and he must tell him piece by piece, and abbreviate and conceal the depth of the concept, until the recipient is able to contain what is imparted.

Explanation

It is like a teacher imparting to a student: he must “set counsels in his soul” about how to impart so that the student can receive, giving the idea piece by piece, shortening it and hiding its depth until the student is able to contain it.

Paragraph 29 in brief

The Baraisa exists for lesser students: what great sages saw hinted in the Mishnah had to be spelled out, just as a teacher must limit and conceal his ideas so that a student can receive them.

Deeper

As the Kehot note quotes it, Or HaTorah compares Mishnah and Baraisa to a general statement and its particulars: a great person needs no spelling out of the details. The detail is a concession to the recipient, and, as the next paragraph says, it involves a concealment of the light.

TermsHamtakah+1

Also Chochmah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ושמנים פלגשים אלו ברייתות · לקטע זה ראה אוה״ת פ׳ שמות ע׳ יח ואילך.
  2. 2
    כמאמר אילפא מי איכא מידי · Taanit 21a:3–4
  3. 3
    אאלפך חכמה · Job 33:33
  4. 4
    עצות בנפשו · Psalms 13:3

30וזהו לשון ברייתא דהיינו לשון חוץ הוא ההשפעה לזולתו לבר מגופא. וע״כ אין הגילוי אור א״ס כ״כ [כל כך] בדיני הברייתא כמו בהמשנה שהוא גילוי אור א״ס ממש.

And this is [the meaning of] the term Baraisa, that is, an expression of “outside”: it is imparting to another, “outside the body.” Therefore the revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) is not as great in the laws of the Baraisa as in the Mishnah, which is a revelation of the Infinite Light itself.

Explanation

The word Baraisa comes from the Aramaic bar, “outside”: it is teaching given to another, “outside the body.” So the Infinite Light is less revealed in the laws of the Baraisa than in the Mishnah, in which the Infinite Light itself is revealed.

אבל בהברייתא הוא בהסתר קצת כנ״ל במשל שההשפעה למקבל צ״ל ע״י הסתר והעלם.

But in the Baraisa it is somewhat concealed, as [explained] above in the analogy, that imparting to a recipient must be through hiding and concealment.

Explanation

In the Baraisa the light is somewhat concealed, as in the analogy of the teacher, who must hide and conceal in order to impart.

Paragraph 30 in brief

The name Baraisa, “outside,” describes Torah given outward to others, which requires concealment, so the Infinite Light shines less openly in the Baraisa than in the Mishnah.

Deeper

In the analogy, the Mishnah is wisdom as it is within the teacher, while the Baraisa is that wisdom adapted for a recipient; the adaptation is a contraction, and contraction conceals.

TermsOr Ein Sof

Terms Or Ein Sof

31וכן אנו רואים ג״כ בחוש שהטעמים של דיני המשנה נגלים ומבוארים יותר מטעמים של הדינים שבברייתות כגון ע״ד דוגמא דין המשנה סוכה שהיא גבוה למעלה מעשרים אמה פסולה יכולים למצוא הטעם של דין זה.

And so too we see tangibly that the reasons of the laws of the Mishnah are more revealed and explained than the reasons of the laws in the Baraisos. For instance, by way of example: the law of the Mishnah, “A sukkah [festival booth] that is higher than twenty cubits is invalid” — one can find the reason for this law.

Explanation

Experience confirms this: the reasons of the Mishnah’s laws are more apparent than those of the Baraisos. For example, the reason for the Mishnah’s law that “a sukkah higher than twenty cubits is invalid” can be found.

משא״כ סוכת גנב״ך ורקב״ש א״א למצוא כל כך הטעם של דין זה. ולפיכך נק׳ המשנה מלכתא והברייתא פלגש.

This is not so with the sukkah of “GaNBaCh” [gentiles, women, animals and Kutim, the Samaritans] and “RaKBaSh” [shepherds, fig-pickers, town watchmen and fruit watchmen]: it is not possible to find the reason for this law to such an extent. And therefore the Mishnah is called “queen,” and the Baraisa “concubine.”

Explanation

With the Baraisa’s sukkos of GaNBaCh and RaKBaSh (acronyms for sukkos of gentiles, women, animals and Kutim, that is, Samaritans; and of shepherds, fig-pickers, town watchmen and fruit watchmen), the reason for the law cannot be found to the same extent. The Baraisa rules that these sukkos, built for purposes other than the festival, are valid provided they are properly covered, and why that should be so is not evident from the case itself. So the Mishnah is called “queen” and the Baraisa “concubine.”

¶1 This answers the question from paragraph 1.

כי עד״מ המלך עם המלכה הם דרים תדיר יחד משא״כ עם פלגשו הולך אליה בצנעה ולא בגילוי גם היחוד אינו בתדירא רק באקראי.

For, by way of analogy, the king and the queen dwell together constantly, whereas with his concubine, he goes to her discreetly and not openly; also, the union is not constant, but only occasional.

Explanation

In the analogy, a king and queen live together constantly, while the king goes to his concubine discreetly, not openly, and only occasionally.

כמ״כ [כמו כן] במשנה אור א״ס מאיר שם בחינת גילוי ובתדירא כידוע שהתגלות אור א״ס הוא בחכמה (ועמ״ש סד״ה מה טובו וסד״ה ביאור ע״פ וכל בניך למודי) לפיכך נק׳ מתניתין מלכתא.

So too in the Mishnah: the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) shines there in a revealed manner and constantly, as it is known that the revelation of the Infinite Light is in Chochmah (wisdom) (and see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “How goodly,” and at the end of the discourse beginning “An explanation of the verse ‘And all your children shall be taught’”); therefore the Mishnah is called “queen.”

Explanation

So too the Infinite Light shines in the Mishnah openly and constantly, since the Infinite Light is revealed in Chochmah, and that is why the Mishnah is called “queen.” In a parenthesis the Alter Rebbe refers to the end of the discourse “How goodly” and the end of the discourse explaining the verse “And all your children shall be taught.”

אבל ברייתא היא בחינת השפעה דלבר מגופא שם אין הגילוי כ״כ [כל כך] רק ע״י הסתר ולבוש וצנעא ע״כ נקרא פלגשים שהיחוד בצנעא ובאקראי

But the Baraisa is the level of imparting that is “outside the body”; there the revelation is not so great, but only through concealment and a garment and discretion. Therefore they are called “concubines,” for the union is discreet and occasional.

Explanation

The Baraisa is teaching that goes “outside the body,” where the revelation is less and comes only through concealment, a garment and discretion. So the Baraisos are called “concubines,” for the union with them is discreet and occasional.

(ועמ״ש עוד מזה מזה בפ׳ שמות בדבור המתחיל ואלה שמות ובד״ה קול דודי ובפ׳ חיי שרה בד״ה ויצא יצחק לשוח בשדה):

(And see what is written further on this in Parshas Shemos, in the discourse beginning “And these are the names,” and in the discourse beginning “The voice of my beloved,” and in Parshas Chayei Sarah, in the discourse beginning “And Yitzchak went out to meditate in the field.”)

Explanation

The Alter Rebbe refers to further discussion in Parshas Shemos, in the discourses “And these are the names” and “The voice of my beloved,” and in Parshas Chayei Sarah, in the discourse “And Yitzchak went out to meditate in the field.”

Paragraph 31 in brief

The reasons of the Mishnah’s laws are more accessible than those of the Baraisa, so the Mishnah is the “queen,” openly and constantly united with the Infinite Light, while the Baraisa is the “concubine,” united with it only discreetly and occasionally.

Deeper

The Kehot note shows that the Tzemach Tzedek, in Or HaTorah, traced the image of the king with his wife and his concubine to Vayikra Rabbah, where the open and the hidden visits stand for open and hidden revelation.

TermsHamtakahYichudLevushimMalchus+2

Also Or Ein SofChochmah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    סוכה שהיא גבוה למעלה מעשרים אמה פסולה · Sukkah 2a:1–3
  2. 2
    סוכת גנב״ך ורקב״ש · Sukkah 8b:8–10
  3. 3
    נק׳ המשנה מלכתא · Ketubot 73b
  4. 4
    עד״מ המלך עם המלכה . . משא״כ עם פלגש · באוה״ת פ׳ שמות ע׳ יח מציין הצ״צ לרבות פ׳ ויקרא פ״א: ”משל למלך שהי׳ לו אשה ופלגש כשהוא הולך אצל אשתו הוא הולך בפרהסיא וכשהוא הולך אצל פלגשו הוא הולך במטמונים”.
  5. 5
    עם פלגשו הולך אליה בצנעה ולא בגילוי · Vayikra Rabbah 1:13
  6. 6
    נק׳ מתניתין מלכתא · Beitzah 28b:14–15

32ד ועלמות אין מספר הם הלכות שבגמרא ומימרות האמוראים ונקרא עלמות לשון העלם. בתולה ואיש לא ידעה שלא היה עדיין עמה יחוד כלל.

4. “And maidens (alamos) without number” are the halachos in the Gemara and the statements of the Amoraim. And they are called alamos, an expression of he’elem (concealment): “a virgin, whom no man had known,” with whom there had not yet been any union at all.

Explanation

Section 4 begins. The “maidens without number” are the halachos of the Gemara, the statements of the Amoraim. They are called alamos from he’elem, concealment, like “a virgin, whom no man had known,” with whom there has been no union.

והענין כי התלמוד עיקרו להבין הטעמים והטעמים הם באמת בבחינת העלם שאין יכולים לעמוד על שרשו של הטעם ועיקרו שלא יכול כלל לבא בהתגלות למטה (רק לעתיד יתגלו טעמי תורה).

The explanation is this: the essence of the Talmud is to understand the reasons, and the reasons are in truth in a state of concealment, for one cannot fathom the root and essence of the reason, which cannot come into revelation below at all (only in the Time to Come will the reasons of the Torah be revealed).

Explanation

The Talmud is chiefly concerned with understanding the reasons for the laws, and these reasons are in truth concealed: their root cannot be fathomed or revealed below. Only in the Time to Come will the reasons of the Torah be revealed.

ואף שבגמרא מפרש הטעם מ״מ בעיון ובעמקות לא בא הטעם בהשגה כגון ע״ד דוגמא קיי״ל [קיימא לן] כסות לילה פטור מציצית מדכתיב וראיתם אותו פרט לכסות לילה וכסות סומא חייב בציצית שישנו בראיה אצל אחרים.

And although the Gemara explains the reason, nevertheless, on deep study and in its depth, the reason does not come within comprehension. For instance, by way of example: we hold that a night garment is exempt from tzitzis [fringes], since it is written, “And you shall see it,” excluding a night garment; while the garment of a blind man is obligated in tzitzis, since it is subject to seeing by others.

Explanation

The Gemara does state reasons, but on deep reflection they do not come within grasp. For example, a night garment is exempt from tzitzis because of “and you shall see it,” while a blind man’s garment is obligated because others can see it.

והנה באמת אם באנו לפסוק רק מצד השכל הנה אדרבה לפי שכלו יותר היה ראוי לחייב כסות לילה

Now in truth, if we came to rule on the basis of reason alone, then on the contrary, according to reason it would be more fitting to obligate a night garment

Explanation

By reason alone one would rather obligate the night garment.

(שישנו בראיה אצלו ע״י הנר משא״כ סומא אינו רואה כלל. אלא שע״פ חכמת התורה נתחייב כסות מפני שישנו בראיה אצל אחרים אף שהוא אינו רואה כלל.

(for it is subject to seeing by him, by the light of the lamp, whereas a blind man does not see at all. Only, according to the wisdom of the Torah, the garment [of a blind man] is obligated because it is subject to seeing by others, even though he does not see at all.

Explanation

The wearer of a night garment can see it by lamplight, while a blind man sees nothing at all. Yet by the Torah’s wisdom the blind man’s garment is obligated because others can see it.

וא״כ זה שנתפוס טעם זה לעיקר היינו מה שישנו בראיה אצל אחרים יותר ממה שכסות לילה נראה ע״י אור הנר לא בא כלל בהתגלות למטה)

If so, [the reason for] our taking this reason as the principal one — namely, that it is subject to seeing by others — rather than that a night garment is seen by the light of the lamp, has not come into revelation below at all.)

Explanation

Why the Torah takes “seen by others” as the decisive reason, rather than the night garment’s being visible by lamplight, has not been revealed below. That is the point of the example.

לכך הנה אף שאנו יכולים ללמוד התלמוד בעמקות כגון להעמיק אח״כ מהו כסות לילה מ״מ עצם שרש הטעם דכסות לילה פטור הוא בבחי׳ העלם מאתנו.

Therefore, although we can study the Talmud in depth — for instance, to delve afterwards into what a night garment is — nevertheless the very root of the reason why a night garment is exempt is in a state of concealment from us.

Explanation

We can study the Talmud in depth, for example by analysing what counts as a night garment. Still, the very root of why a night garment is exempt remains hidden from us.

כי הטעם שבא בתלמוד הוא רק דרך כלל מדכתיב וראיתם אותו פרט כו׳ אבל לא בא בהתגלות כל פרטי עניני הטעם בעמקות (מדוע לא נתמעט כסות סומא כנ״ל)

For the reason that comes in the Talmud is only in general terms — “since it is written, ‘And you shall see it,’ excluding,” etc. — but all the particular aspects of the reason, in depth, have not come into revelation (why the garment of a blind man was not excluded, as mentioned above).

Explanation

The Talmud’s reason, “since it is written, ‘And you shall see it,’ excluding a night garment,” is given only in general terms. Its particular aspects, in their depth, such as why the blind man’s garment was not excluded, have not been revealed.

כי זה אינו יכול לבא כלל בהתגלות בעולמות וכמ״ש מאד עמקו מחשבותיך.

For this cannot come into revelation in the worlds at all, as it is written, “Your thoughts are very deep.”

Explanation

Such depth cannot be revealed in the worlds at all, as it is written, “Your thoughts are very deep.”

ואף שבהשתלשלות נמשך ונשתלשל איזו השגה עד שיוכל האדם להשיג הטעם של המשנה וא״כ לכאורה איך שייך ע״ז מאד עמקו כו׳ אבל באמת אדרבה מה שנשתלשל יותר למטה הנה שרשו ממקום גבוה יותר.

And though in the chain of descent (hishtalshelus) some comprehension has been drawn down and has descended, so that a person can comprehend the reason of the Mishnah — and if so, seemingly, how does “very deep,” etc., apply to this? — yet in truth, on the contrary, whatever has descended further down, its root is from a higher place.

Explanation

One might object: through the chain of descent some understanding has come down, so that a person can grasp the reason of a Mishnah, so how can “very deep” apply? The answer is the reverse of what one would expect: what has descended further down has its root in a higher place.

ולכן גם כשנשתלשל למטה מ״מ אינו יכול להתגלות עומק המושג.

Therefore, even when it has descended below, nevertheless the depth of the concept cannot be revealed.

Explanation

So even after it descends, the depth of the idea cannot be revealed.

ולכן נקראו המימרות עלמות לשון עלמה בתולה ואיש לא ידעה שלא קיבלה עדיין טפת דכר שלא בא התגלות הטעם ועומקו למטה רק נשאר בהעלם

Therefore the statements [of the Amoraim] are called alamos, an expression of almah (maiden): “a virgin, whom no man had known,” who has not yet received the drop of the male; for the revelation of the reason and its depth has not come below, but remains in concealment.

Explanation

This is why the statements of the Amoraim are called alamos, “maidens”: like “a virgin, whom no man had known,” who has not yet received the male drop. The reason and its depth have not been revealed below and remain concealed.

(וע׳ עוד מענין ועלמות אין מספר בפ׳ פנחס דרט״ז סע״א [סוף עמוד א] ובת״ז [ובתיקוני זהר] תיקון כ״א וע׳ עוד בפ׳ ויצא דקנ״ט ע״א ובפ׳ פקודי דרכ״ז סע״ב [סוף עמוד ב])

(And see further on the matter of “And maidens without number” in [the Zohar,] Parshas Pinchas, end of 216a, and in the Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 21; and see further in Parshas Vayetze, 159a, and in Parshas Pekudei, end of 227b.)

Explanation

A parenthesis refers to the Zohar on “maidens without number” in Parshas Pinchas (end of 216a), in the Tikkunei Zohar (Tikkun 21), in Parshas Vayetze (159a) and in Parshas Pekudei (end of 227b).

והנה בזה יובן ענין מעלת עסק ההלכה בעיון ועומק הדעת ועי״ז מוציא דין חדש או שעומד על טעם של איזה דין שהיה נעלם תחלה.

Now through this one can understand the superiority of occupying oneself with halachah with study and depth of mind, through which one brings forth a new law, or fathoms the reason of some law that was hidden at first.

Explanation

This explains the special worth of studying halachah with depth of mind, through which one brings forth a new law or grasps the reason of a law that had been hidden.

הנה זהו בחי׳ הליבון היינו שמה שהיה תחלה בחי׳ עלמות והעלם גמור כעת נמשך בבחי׳ גילוי ועי״ז נמשך בגילוי אור א״ס בחי׳ לובן העליון שהלובן מורה על גילוי אחדות הפשוטה כמ״ש במ״א.

This is the level of libun (clarification, “whitening”): what was at first in the state of alamos and complete concealment is now drawn into a state of revelation. And through this there is drawn down, in revelation, the Infinite Light — the level of the Supernal Whiteness; for whiteness indicates the revelation of the simple Oneness, as is explained elsewhere.

Explanation

Such study is libun, “whitening” or clarification: what was concealed, like the alamos, comes into revelation. Through it the Infinite Light is drawn down as the Supernal Whiteness, for whiteness signifies the revelation of G‑d’s simple Oneness.

Paragraph 32 in brief

The halachos of the Talmud are “maidens” because the deepest reasons of the laws remain concealed, as the example of the night garment shows; deep study that clarifies a law brings what was hidden into revelation, the “whitening” of the halachah.

Deeper

The rule that what descends lowest has the highest root explains why the Amoraim’s halachos, later and more detailed than the Mishnah, have the most deeply hidden reasons. That is why clarifying them is called “whitening,” the revelation of what was concealed.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In a maamar for the Alter Rebbe’s yahrzeit, 24 Teves 5732, the Rebbe sets out the Alter Rebbe’s discourses on „ששים המה מלכות” (there are sixty queens) to explain why the Torah needs prayer before it; after the queens and the concubines he reaches „ועלמות אין מספר” (and maidens without number).

    The maidens, the Rebbe explains, are the Amoraim’s halachos, including all that a seasoned student will one day innovate, and above all the Babylonian Talmud, of which it is said „במחשכים הושיבני” (He has set me in dark places), the Torah of the exile down to the last one. Their concealment is greater than the Baraisos’, „אבל מ״מ דוקא בהם ישנו ענין האין מספר” (yet only in them is the ‘without number’): through them the refinement of the world is completed, to the point of ‘without number’, a preparation for the time when the number of Israel will be beyond counting.

    The Alter Rebbeועלמות אין מספר הם הלכות שבגמרא ומימרות האמוראים ונקרא עלמות לשון העלם

    The Rebbeאבל מ״מ דוקא בהם ישנו ענין האין מספר, שע״י נעשה תכלית הבירור ועד לאופן דאין מספר

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. א, p. קל · כ״ד טבת, יום ג׳ פ׳ וארא, ה׳תשל״ב

Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made

TermsLibun hilchesaLoven ha’elyonAchdus HashemRe’iyah and shmiah+6
  • Libun hilchesa לבון הלכתא explained hereThe reasons of the Talmud’s laws stay hidden in their root. Studying halachah in depth until one derives a new law or grasps the hidden reason of a law brings the concealed into revelation; through this the higher whiteness, Or Ein Sof, is revealed, whiteness meaning the revelation of simple oneness.הנה זהו בחי׳ הליבון היינו שמה שהיה תחלה בחי׳ עלמות והעלם גמור כעת נמשך בבחי׳ גילוי
  • Loven ha’elyon לובן העליון explained hereClarifying halachah in depth, revealing a hidden reason, is “whitening”: it draws Or Ein Sof, here the supernal whiteness, into revelation, for whiteness signifies revealed simple unity.ועי״ז נמשך בגילוי אור א״ס בחי׳ לובן העליון שהלובן מורה על גילוי אחדות הפשוטה
  • Achdus Hashem אחדות השם
  • Re’iyah and shmiah ראיה ושמיעה
  • Hasagah השגה
  • Yichud יחוד
  • Daas דעת
  • Hishtalshelus השתלשלות

Also Or Ein SofTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ועלמות אין מספר · Zohar, Vayetzei 25:254–26:264
  2. 2
    ועלמות אין מספר · Zohar, Pekudei 16:121–130
  3. 3
    ועלמות אין מספר הם הלכות · Zohar, Pinchas 10:48–58
  4. 4
    ועלמות אין מספר הם הלכות · Tikkunei Zohar 43b:4–7
  5. 5
    בתולה ואיש לא ידעה · Genesis 24:16
  6. 6
    וראיתם אותו · Numbers 15:39
  7. 7
    וראיתם אותו פרט לכסות לילה · Menachot 43a:19–21
  8. 8
    מאד עמקו מחשבותיך · Psalms 92:6

33ואף שנת׳ [שנתבאר] שעומק הטעם של ההלכות א״א לעמוד עליו מ״מ זהו שרשו ועיקרו של הטעם כנ״ל בענין כסות לילה כו׳.

And although it was explained that the depth of the reason of the halachos cannot be fathomed, nevertheless this [refers to] the root and essence of the reason, as mentioned above concerning the night garment, etc.

Explanation

The statement that the depth of the halachos’ reasons cannot be fathomed applies only to the root and essence of the reason, as in the example of the night garment.

אבל זה יכולים אנו לפלפל בקושיות ופירוקים בטעמי הגמ׳ [הגמרא] עצמן שלא יהיה סתירה ממקום למקום וה״ז [והרי זה] ג״כ גילוי ההעלם ונק׳ ליבון הלכתא.

But this we can do: engage in pilpul [sharp analysis], with questions and resolutions, on the reasons of the Gemara themselves, so that there be no contradiction from one place to another; and this too is a revelation of the concealed, and it is called libun hilchesa (the clarification of the halachah).

Explanation

What we can do is analyse the Gemara’s own reasons with questions and answers (pilpul), so that no passage contradicts another. This too reveals something hidden, and it is called libun hilchesa, the clarification of the halachah.

Paragraph 33 in brief

The concealment of the reasons applies only to their root; the analytical work of resolving contradictions within the Gemara is itself a revelation of what was hidden, the “clarification of the halachah.”

TermsLibun hilchesa
  • Libun hilchesa לבון הלכתא explained hereHere, though halachah’s deepest reason is beyond us, debating questions and answers in the Gemara’s reasons until no passage contradicts another also reveals the hidden, and is called libun hilchesa.אבל זה יכולים אנו לפלפל בקושיות ופירוקים בטעמי הגמ׳ עצמן שלא יה יה סתירה ממקום למקום

34ונמצא גם ע״י עסק התורה שבבחינת עלמות שהם גמרא ופוסקים ראשונים ואחרונים לעמוד על עומקי הסברות נמשך ג״כ גילוי אור א״ס ב״ה להיות יחוד קודשא בריך הוא ושכינתיה כנ״ל בענין מתניתין מלכתא

It follows that also through occupying oneself with the Torah that is in the category of alamos — which are the Gemara and the halachic authorities, Rishonim [the early authorities] and Acharonim [the later ones] — to fathom the depths of the reasonings, there is also drawn down a revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, so that there is the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence), as mentioned above concerning “The Mishnah is a queen.”

Explanation

So the study of the Torah of the alamos too, the Gemara and the halachic authorities early and late, when one delves into the depth of their reasoning, draws down a revelation of the Infinite Light and brings about the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah. This is the same union described for the Mishnah, the “queen.”

ואדרבה ליבון הלכתא היא מעלה יתירה שמגלה הנעלם ותעלומות חכמה וכמ״ש במ״א ע״פ מאמר הרע״מ [הרעיא מהימנא] והמשכילים יזהירו כו׳ ועיקר פי׳ ליבון הלכתא נתבאר בפ׳ שמות בד״ה קול דודי ע״ש.

And on the contrary, the clarification of the halachah is an added superiority, for it reveals the hidden and “the secrets of wisdom,” as is explained elsewhere on the saying of the Raaya Mehemna [the Faithful Shepherd, a section of the Zohar] on “And the wise shall shine,” etc. And the main explanation of the clarification of the halachah was given in Parshas Shemos, in the discourse beginning “The voice of my beloved”; see there.

Explanation

Indeed, the clarification of the halachah has an added advantage, since it reveals what was hidden, “the secrets of wisdom.” In Iggeres HaKodesh 26, the explanation of the Raaya Mehemna on “And the wise shall shine” to which the Kehot note points, the Alter Rebbe writes that every Jew can reveal secrets of wisdom and new understanding in halachah; the main explanation of the term is in the discourse “The voice of my beloved” in Parshas Shemos.

(ועמ״ש בד״ה תורה צוה ארוסין ונשואין)

(And see what is written in the discourse beginning “Torah commanded,” [regarding] betrothal and marriage.)

Explanation

A parenthesis refers to the discourse “Torah commanded” in Parshas Berachah, which explains the Torah through the image of betrothal and marriage.

והנה כשהאדם לומד ע״ד הנ״ל ע״ז נאמר קול דודי הנה זה בא שע״י עסק התורה בא ונמשך קול דודי הוא התגלות אור א״ס גם עתה ממש.

Now, when a person learns in the manner described above, about this it is said, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes”: through occupying oneself with Torah, “the voice of my beloved” — which is the revelation of the Infinite Light — comes and is drawn down, even now, truly.

Explanation

Then the Alter Rebbe returns to the verse: of a person who learns in this way it is said, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes.” Through Torah study the voice of the beloved, the revelation of the Infinite Light, comes and is drawn down even now.

¶2 This explains the voice that still comes, promised in paragraph 2.

וזהו הנה זה בא לשון הוה כי הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו (ועמ״ש סד״ה מצה זו גבי בעבור זה ומ״ש בפ׳ יתרו סד״ה משה ידבר בענין ידבר ויעננו לשון הוה)

And this is why “Behold, he comes” is in the present tense: for the Holy One, blessed be He, reads and studies opposite him. (And see what is written at the end of the discourse beginning “This matzah,” concerning “because of this,” and what is written in Parshas Yisro at the end of the discourse beginning “Moshe would speak,” concerning “would speak” and “would answer him” being in the present tense.)

Explanation

That is why the verse uses the present tense, “he comes”: the Holy One reads and studies opposite the one who learns. The parenthesis refers to the end of the discourse “This matzah,” on “because of this,” and to the end of the discourse “Moshe would speak” in Parshas Yisro, on the present tense of “would speak” and “would answer him.” In Torah Ohr, Yisro (69b), “would answer him” (yaanenu) is explained as answering after Moshe what he says.

מא, דוהמשכה זו הוא בבחי׳ מדלג על ההרים כי א״א להיות ההמשכה בדרך השתלשלות עילה ועלול כמבואר למעלה באריכות ע״פ נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך אליך כו׳

And this drawing down is in the manner of “leaping over the mountains,” for the drawing down cannot be by way of a chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect, as explained above at length on the verse “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us; there is no comparison to You,” etc.

Explanation

This drawing down is “leaping over the mountains,” for it cannot come by a chain of cause and effect, as explained at length on “there is no comparison to You.”

דאין ערוך ממש ולא מיניה ולא מקצתיה מהערך שבין עלול לעילתו

For there is truly no comparison, not in whole and not in part, of the comparability that exists between an effect and its cause.

Explanation

There is no comparability at all, not in whole and not in part, of the kind that exists between an effect and its cause.

אפי׳ [אפילו] בריבוי השתלשלות עילה ועלול רבבות אין שיעור מ״מ שייך ערך מהעלול היותר נמוך לעילה הראשונה אבל נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך ממש עצמו מספר כו׳.

Even with a multitude [of stages] of a chain-like descent of cause and effect, myriads without measure, nevertheless there is some comparability from the lowest effect to the first cause; but “Your wonders and Your thoughts toward us” — there is truly no comparison, “beyond number,” etc.

Explanation

Even across countless stages of cause and effect, the lowest effect still bears some relation to the first cause. But between G‑d and the worlds there is truly no comparison; they are “beyond number.”

Paragraph 34 in brief

Study of the Gemara and the halachic authorities, when it clarifies the depth of the reasons, also draws down the Infinite Light and the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah. This is “The voice of my beloved, behold, he comes, leaping”: G‑d’s voice comes now, in the present, by a leap and not by cause and effect.

Deeper

The reference to the Raaya Mehemna points to Iggeres HaKodesh 26, where the Alter Rebbe writes that every Jew can reveal “secrets of wisdom” and new understanding in halachah, raising the sparks that belong to his soul. The point about the present tense prepares the answer to the maamar’s question about the word “saying” (leimor).

TermsLibun hilchesaDilugKiddushin / erusin and nisuinIlah ve’alul+10

Also Or Ein SofChochmahHaalaah vehamshachahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    והמשכילים יזהירו · Daniel 12:3
  2. 2
    בד״ה תורה צוה · לעיל פ׳ ברכה.
  3. 3
    הנה זה בא · Song of Songs 2:8
  4. 4
    סד״ה מצה זו · לעיל פ׳ צו יב, ד.
  5. 5
    בפ׳ יתרו סד״ה משה ידבר · תו״א סט, ב.
  6. 6
    נפלאותיך ומחשבותיך אלינו אין ערוך אליך · Psalms 40:6
  7. 7
    ע״פ המאמר הרע״מ והמשכילים יזהירו · באגה״ק (סי׳ כו). [כ].

35ולכן להיות ההמשכה מאור א״ס ב״ה להתלבש בתורה ולהיות קורא ושונה כנגדו אזכיר את שמי וכו׳ הוא ע״י דילוג מדלג על ההרים כו׳. דהיינו שבא ההתגלות דרך דילוג וקפיצה שלא על ידי השתלשלות עילה ועלול:

Therefore, for there to be a drawing down from the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, to be enclothed in the Torah, and for [the Holy One, blessed be He,] to be reading and studying opposite him — “I mention My Name,” etc. — this is through a leap: “leaping over the mountains,” etc. That is, the revelation comes by way of leaping and skipping, not through a chain-like descent (hishtalshelus) of cause and effect.

Explanation

So for the Infinite Light to be drawn into the Torah, and for G‑d to study opposite the one who learns (“I mention My Name”), there must be a leap: “leaping over the mountains.” The revelation comes by leaping and skipping, not through a chain of cause and effect.

Paragraph 35 in brief

The revelation of G‑d’s light in Torah study is a “leap,” not the end of a gradual chain, which is why the verse says “leaping over the mountains.”

Deeper

The leap answers the problem set out in paragraphs 3–8: since there is no proportion between G‑d and the worlds, His light cannot reach them by gradual descent and can come only by a leap.

TermsDilugIlah ve’alulHishtalshelus+4

Also HislabshusOr Ein SofHaalaah vehamshachahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    אזכיר את שמי · Exodus 20:21
  2. 2
    מדלג על ההרים · Song of Songs 2:8

One is my dove: self-sacrifice before Torah ¶36–42

36ה אך עוד אחת היא העולה כל כולנה.

5. But there is yet one more — “one is she” — that surpasses them all.

Explanation

Section 5 begins. The words “one is she” echo the verse that follows the sixty queens, “One is she, my dove” (Song of Songs 6:9), and “surpasses them all” recalls “but you surpass them all” (Proverbs 31:29): there is one level that rises above the queens, the concubines and the maidens.

והוא כי מתי בא התגלות הנ״ל ע״י עסק התורה שיהיה בחי׳ קול דודי הנה זה בא להיות יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה ע״י עסק התורה שהן ס׳ מסכתות הנק׳ ס׳ מלכות כו׳.

Namely: when does the above-mentioned revelation come about through occupying oneself with Torah, so that there be the level of “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes,” for there to be the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence), through occupying oneself with Torah, which is the sixty tractates called the “sixty queens,” etc.?

Explanation

When does the revelation through Torah study, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes,” actually come, so that the study of the sixty tractates, the “sixty queens,” brings about the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah?

כ״ז [כל זה] הוא דוקא בהקדים תחלה בחי׳ אחת היא יונתי דהיינו שיהיה אצל האדם בחי׳ ומדרגת הנק׳ אחת. פי׳ אחת הוא לשון נוקבא שהוא בחי׳ מקבל מבחי׳ אחד.

All this is specifically when there first precedes [it] the level of “One (achas) is my dove,” that is, that a person have the level and rank called achas (“one,” in the feminine). The meaning: achas is a feminine form (nukva), which is the level of a recipient from the level of echad (“One,” in the masculine).

Explanation

This happens only when it is preceded by the level of “One (achas) is my dove.” Achas is the feminine of echad, “One,” and it denotes a recipient, one who receives from the level of echad.

Paragraph 36 in brief

The maamar adds a condition: Torah study brings the revelation of the Infinite Light only when it is preceded by the state of “One is my dove,” in which a person receives G‑d’s oneness.

Deeper

The feminine achas describes the soul as receiving from G‑d’s oneness, echad; the next paragraphs connect this with the Shema, “Havayah is One (echad).”

TermsNukvaShechinahYichudMalchus+1

Also Torah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    קול דודי · Song of Songs 2:8
  2. 2
    אחת היא יונתי · Song of Songs 6:9

37והוא כשמקבל האדם בפנימיותו בחינת יחודו ית׳ באמרו שמע ישראל וכו׳ הוי׳ אחד כי שמע הוא לשון אסיפה בתוך תוכו ולא ידיעה לבד כ״א ע״י העמקת דעתו בהתבוננות ובבחי׳ לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא

This is when a person receives in his inner dimension (pnimiyus) the level of His unity, may He be blessed, when he says, “Hear, O Israel,” etc., “Havayah is One.” For shema (“hear”) is an expression of gathering into one’s very innermost core — and not mere knowledge, but through the deepening of his mind in contemplation, and in the manner of “gazing upon the glory of the King”

Explanation

This happens when a person takes G‑d’s oneness into his inner being as he says, “Hear, O Israel… Havayah is One.” Shema means gathering in, into one’s very core: not mere knowledge but deep contemplation, “gazing upon the glory of the King.” In Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan (11b), the Alter Rebbe explains shema both as understanding and as gathering, as in “And Shaul gathered (vayeshama) the people.”

(דלשון לאסתכלא היינו כמו מי שמסתכל על דבר הפלא ופלא שלא תשבע עינו מהסתכל בו

(For the term “gazing” means like one who gazes at an exceedingly wondrous thing, whose eye is not sated with gazing at it.

Explanation

A parenthesis explains “gazing”: like someone looking at a great marvel, whose eye never tires of looking.

כך ויותר מזה לאין קץ כשיתבונן המשכיל בעין השכל בגדולתו ית׳ שהוא למעלה עד אין קץ כו׳ ובנפלאותיו הגדולים ואשר ברא עולמות עליונים לאין קץ ותכלית ורגלי החיות כנגד כולן כו׳ היינו שסוף בחי׳ שבעליון כוללת כל מה שלמטה ממנה שהוא כאין לגבי הגבוה מהם.

So, and infinitely more than this, when a person of understanding contemplates with the eye of the intellect His greatness, may He be blessed, who is above without end, etc., and His great wonders, and that He created upper worlds without end or limit, and “the feet of the Chayos [an order of angels] are equal to all of them,” etc.; that is, the end of a level in the higher [world] encompasses all that is below it, which is as nothing compared to what is higher than them.

Explanation

So, and infinitely more, the person of understanding regards with his mind’s eye G‑d’s endless greatness and wonders, the endless higher worlds, and that “the feet of the Chayos equal all of them” (the Chayos are the holy living creatures of Ezekiel’s vision of the Chariot, an order of angels). That is, the lowest point of a higher level contains everything below it, which is as nothing compared with what is above.

ועד״ז יש עולמות לאין קץ גבוה מעל גבוה שומר כו׳ והכל כאין ואפס אצלו ית׳ ממש. ואין ערוך אליך ממש שהוא ית׳ אדון הנפלאות.

And in this way there are worlds without end, “one high above the high watches,” etc., and all is truly as nothing and naught before Him, may He be blessed. And “there is no comparison to You,” truly, for He, may He be blessed, is the Master of wonders.

Explanation

So there are endless worlds, “one higher than the high watches,” and all are truly as nothing before G‑d. “There is no comparison to You,” for He is the Master of wonders.

אזי לא תשבע עין השכל מלהסתכל ולהתבונן בזה היטב ולהתענג תענוג נפלא לאין שיעור מזה).

Then the eye of the intellect will not be sated with gazing and contemplating this thoroughly, and delighting with a wondrous, immeasurable delight from this.)

Explanation

Then the eye of the intellect will never tire of gazing at this and contemplating it, and will take immeasurable delight in it.

וזהו בחי׳ יונתי כמו יונים מסתכלים זה בזה וזהו התענוג שלהם ממה שמסתכלים זה בזה. כמ״כ [כמו כן] תקנו פסוד״ז [פסוקי דזמרה] הוא ענין התבוננות כל חד לפום שיעורא דיליה.

And this is the level of “my dove”: like doves, which gaze at one another, and this is their delight, their gazing at one another. Likewise, they instituted Pesukei deZimra (the Verses of Praise), which is the matter of contemplation, “each one according to his own measure.”

Explanation

This is “my dove”: doves gaze at one another, and that is their delight. For this the Sages instituted Pesukei deZimra, verses of praise for contemplation, “each one according to his own measure.”

ברוך שאמר והיה העולם אשר באמירה אחת ברא כל העולמות ומחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית.

“Blessed is He who spoke, and the world came to be”: who with a single utterance created all the worlds, and “in His goodness renews each day, continually, the work of Creation.”

Explanation

Pesukei deZimra opens with “Blessed is He who spoke, and the world came to be,” who created all the worlds with a single utterance. The words “in His goodness renews each day, continually, the work of Creation” come from the blessing before the Shema.

Paragraph 37 in brief

“One is my dove” is reached through contemplation in prayer: deep reflection on G‑d’s infinite greatness, “gazing upon the glory of the King,” in Pesukei deZimra and the Shema, until G‑d’s oneness enters a person’s inner being.

Deeper

The dove adds the element of delight: it gazes and never tires. Contemplation here is not only analysis but a gaze that becomes delight, and through it the soul becomes a “recipient” of G‑d’s oneness.

TermsHisbonenusAchdus HashemEin arochKrias Shema+6
  • Hisbonenus התבוננות explained hereHere “Shema” means gathering G‑d’s unity inward by deepening the mind in contemplation, gazing at His greatness like a wonder the eye never tires of; Pesukei deZimra serve this.כי שמע הוא לשון אסיפה בתוך תוכו ולא ידיעה לבד כ״א ע״י העמקת דעתו בהתבוננות
  • Achdus Hashem אחדות השם
  • Ein aroch אין ערוך
  • Krias Shema קריאת שמע
  • Daas דעת
  • Taanug תענוג
  • Yesh and ayin יש ואין
  • Pnimiyus פנימיות

Also ChayusHavayah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    שמע ישראל וכו׳ הוי׳ אחד · Deuteronomy 6:4
  2. 2
    שמע הוא לשון אסיפה בתוך תוכו · ראה להלן פ׳ ואתחנן יא, ב.
  3. 3
    לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא · Zohar II, 247b
  4. 4
    לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא · Zohar, Miketz 8:127–9:138
  5. 5
    לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא · Zohar, Bereshit 51:6–54:17
  6. 6
    לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא · Zohar, Vayikra 27:200–29:209
  7. 7
    ורגלי החיות כנגד כולן · Chagigah 13a:4
  8. 8
    גבוה מעל גבוה שומר · Ecclesiastes 5:7
  9. 9
    ואין ערוך אליך ממש · Psalms 40:6

38ולשון והיה העולם דמשמע ממילא הוא ע״ד מ״ש כי הוא צוה ונבראו דלשון ונבראו משמע ג״כ כן

And the expression “and the world came to be,” which implies [that it came to be] of itself, is along the lines of what is written, “For He commanded and they were created”; for the expression “and they were created” also implies this;

Explanation

The words of Baruch She’amar, “and the world came to be” (vehayah ha’olam), suggest that the world came about as if of itself. “For He commanded and they were created” implies the same.

וכן אתה הוא עד שלא נברא העולם ומשנברא וכו׳ והכוונה בזה הוא דלפי שאין ערוך כלל כל העולמות שהם בעלי גבול לא״ס ב״ה אשר אין לו תחלה וכו׳.

and so too, “You are He before the world was created, and since it was created,” etc. And the intent of this is: since all the worlds, which are limited, bear no comparison at all to the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, who has no beginning, etc.,

Explanation

So too “You are He before the world was created, and since it was created.” All these express that the limited worlds bear no comparison to the Infinite One, who has no beginning.

והתהוותם ממנו ית׳ הוא ע״י צמצומים רבים ועצומים להסתיר ולהעלים האור עד שיוכל להבראות עולמות כו׳

and their coming into being from Him, may He be blessed, is through many and mighty contractions (tzimtzumim), to hide and conceal the light until worlds can be created, etc.,

Explanation

Their coming into being from Him is through many mighty contractions, which hide and conceal the light until worlds can be created.

לכך נאמר נבראו כאלו הוא ממילא להורות על ריחוק הערך ושהוא ית׳ סתימו דכל סתימין

therefore it says “they were created,” as though it were of itself, to indicate the remoteness of comparison, and that He, may He be blessed, is “the most hidden of all hidden ones.”

Explanation

Therefore Scripture says “they were created,” as if of themselves, to show how far they are from any comparison with G‑d, who is “the most hidden of all hidden ones.”

(כי כשההשפעה בגילוי מן המשפיע למקבל בבחי׳ עילה ועלול שהעלול יש לו השגה בעילתו הרי המקבל יודע מי הוא המשפיע לו.

(For when the influence is in a revealed manner, from the giver to the recipient, in the manner of cause and effect, where the effect has comprehension of its cause, the recipient knows who it is that bestows upon him.

Explanation

A parenthesis explains: when influence passes openly from giver to recipient, as with cause and effect, the effect grasps its cause and knows who gives to it.

משא״כ ההארה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע א״ס ב״ה בהעולמות שהוא באה בבחינת העלם והסתר ולית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל כנ״ל לכך שייך ע״ז לשון נברא כאלו הוא ממילא ר״ל [רוצה לומר] שאין העולמות משיגים הכח השופע בהם ומהווה אותם מאין

This is not so with the glimmer from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), the Infinite One, blessed be He, in the worlds, which comes in a manner of hiddenness and concealment, and “no thought can grasp Him” at all, as mentioned above. Therefore the expression “was created,” as though it were of itself, applies to this; that is to say, the worlds do not grasp the power that flows into them and brings them into being from nothing.

Explanation

The glimmer of sovev kol almin in the worlds comes hidden and concealed, and “no thought can grasp Him.” So the worlds do not perceive the power that creates them from nothing, and creation is described as if it happened by itself.

וזהו ברוך שאמר והיה העולם דאיתא ע״ז בכוונת האריז״ל [האר״י זכרונו לברכה] רדל״א [רישא דלא אתידע]. פי׳ לא אתיידע הוא כמ״ש והחכמה מאין תמצא נזכר לשון מציאה שאין המוצא מציאה יודע ממי בא לו המציאה והוא ענין אחד עם בחי׳ נבראו והמ״י [והמשכיל יבין]).

And this is [the meaning of] “Blessed is He who spoke, and the world came to be,” about which it is stated in the kavanos [meditative intentions] of the Arizal: Radla (the Head that is not known). The meaning of “not known” is as it is written, “And wisdom — from where (me’ayin) shall it be found?” The expression of “finding” is mentioned, for one who finds a found object does not know from whom the found object came to him; and this is one matter with the level of “they were created.” And the discerning will understand.)

Explanation

The kavanos of the Arizal, his meditations on the words of the prayers, connect “Blessed is He who spoke, and the world came to be” with Radla, “the Head that is not known.” “Not known” is like “And wisdom, from where (me’ayin) shall it be found?”, where me’ayin can also be read “from nothing”: one who finds something does not know where it came from, and this is the same as “they were created,” as if of themselves.

וז״ש [וזהו שכתוב] יהללו את שם הוי׳ כי הוא צוה כו׳. דהיינו שנבראו כדי שיתגלה שם ה׳ ומלכותו. ופי׳ כי הוא צוה היינו כי דבר מלך שלטון כי הוא אמר ויהי.

And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “Let them praise the Name of Havayah, for He commanded,” etc.: that is, they were created so that the Name of G‑d and His sovereignty be revealed. And the meaning of “for He commanded” is that “the word of a king is sovereign”: “for He spoke, and it was.”

Explanation

So “Let them praise the Name of Havayah, for He commanded”: creatures were created so that G‑d’s Name and sovereignty would be revealed. “For He commanded” means “the word of a king is sovereign,” as in “For He spoke, and it was.”

וכ״ז [וכל זה] מפני שכך עלה ברצונו שאין מלך בלא עם הללוהו כל מלאכיו היינו שהמלאכים הם תמיד בביטול מחמת התבוננות מב, אבהתהוותם תמיד מאין ליש

And all this is because so it arose in His will, for “there is no king without a people.” “Praise Him, all His angels”: that is, the angels are constantly in a state of self-nullification (bittul), because of contemplating their coming into being, constantly, from nothing to something;

Explanation

All this is because G‑d willed it, for “there is no king without a people.” “Praise Him, all His angels”: the angels are always in a state of self-nullification, because they constantly contemplate their own coming into being from nothing.

וכמאמר אתה קדוש וכו׳ וקדושים הם המלאכים יהללוך סלה שההילול שלהם הוא סלה בלי הפסק מחמת התבוננות שלהם בבחי׳ שמך קדוש המהווה ומחיה אותם כנ״ל.

and as in the saying, “You are holy,” etc. — and “holy ones” are the angels — “praise You, selah”: their praise is selah, without pause, because of their contemplating the level of “Your Name is holy,” which brings them into being and gives them life, as mentioned above.

Explanation

As the prayer says, “You are holy… and holy ones praise You, selah”: the “holy ones” are the angels, and their praise is “selah,” without pause, because they contemplate “Your Name is holy,” the level that creates and sustains them.

Paragraph 38 in brief

The words “and the world came to be” and “they were created” describe creation as if it happened of itself, because the creative power is hidden from the worlds; yet the purpose of creation is that G‑d’s Name and sovereignty be revealed, as the angels’ unceasing praise shows.

Deeper

Radla, “the Head that is not known,” names a source so high that it cannot be known at all. Linking it with “and the world came to be” and with wisdom that is “found” from ayin makes the point that the source of creation is so hidden that the world experiences itself as simply there, found without a known source.

TermsReisha d’Lo IsyadaEin melech bli amIlah ve’alulRichuk makom+16

Also BittulHavayahChochmah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    כי הוא צוה ונבראו · Psalms 148:5
  2. 2
    בכוונת האריז״ל רדל״א · ראה סידור עם דא״ח בפי׳ ברוך שאמר.
  3. 3
    והחכמה מאין תמצא · Job 28:12
  4. 4
    יהללו את שם ה׳ · Psalms 148:13
  5. 5
    כי דבר מלך שלטון · Ecclesiastes 8:4
  6. 6
    כי הוא אמר ויהי · Psalms 33:9
  7. 7
    הללוהו כל מלאכיו · Psalms 148:2

39והנה ע״י התבוננות כל אחד ואחד לפי ערכו בכל פסוקי דזמרה וקריאת שמע וברכותיה ע״ד מ״ש בהעמקת הדעת לאסתכלא ביקרא דמלכא יקבל יחודו ית׳ בתוך תוכו לאמתו ויבא מזה לבחי׳ ואהבת כו׳ בכל נפשך אפילו נוטל את נפשך

Now, through the contemplation of each and every one according to his measure, throughout Pesukei deZimra and the reading of the Shema and its blessings, in the manner described — with deepening of the mind, “gazing upon the glory of the King” — he will receive His unity, may He be blessed, into his very innermost core, in its truth, and will come from this to the level of “And you shall love,” etc., “with all your soul” — even if He takes your soul.

Explanation

Through contemplation, each person at his own level, throughout Pesukei deZimra and the Shema with its blessings, deeply, “gazing upon the glory of the King,” a person receives G‑d’s oneness truly into his core. From this he comes to “And you shall love… with all your soul,” which the Sages explain as “even if He takes your soul.”

וכמ״ש אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא. כי זה יכול כל אדם להיות לו מס״נ [מסירות נפש] כי נשמת ישראל שרשה למעלה מעלה

And as it is written, “To You, Havayah, I lift up my soul.” For every person is able to have this, self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh), since the soul of Israel is rooted very, very high above.

Explanation

As David says, “To You, Havayah, I lift up my soul.” Every person is capable of such self-sacrifice, because a Jewish soul is rooted very high above.

כמאמר נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא מבחי׳ טהירו עילאה ומשם נמשכה ע״י השתלשלות רבות אתה בראתה וכו׳ עד שנפחת בי והירידה צורך עליה ואתה עתיד ליטלה כו׳ ולהחזירה וא״כ אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא עכשיו.

As in the saying, “The soul that You have placed within me is pure”: from the level of the Supernal Purity (tehiru ila’ah); and from there it was drawn down through many [stages of] descent (hishtalshelus) — “You created it,” etc. — until “You breathed it into me.” And the descent is for the sake of an ascent: “And You will in the future take it,” etc., “and restore it.” If so, “To You, Havayah, I lift up my soul” now.

Explanation

The morning blessing says, “The soul You placed within me is pure”: its source is the Supernal Purity (tehiru ila’ah), and from there it came down through many stages, “You created it… You breathed it into me.” Its descent is for the sake of an ascent, “You will take it… and restore it,” and so, already now, “To You, Havayah, I lift up my soul.” Tehiru ila’ah, “supernal brightness” or purity, is a Zohar term for the most hidden, primordial level at the very start of emanation. The maamar hears the blessing’s word tehorah, “pure,” as pointing to that root, so the soul descends from a very lofty root.

Paragraph 39 in brief

Contemplation in prayer brings a person to love G‑d “with all your soul,” to the point of self-sacrifice, which is within every Jew’s reach because the soul is rooted in the Supernal Purity and descended only in order to ascend.

Deeper

The blessing “The soul You placed within me” is read as a map of the soul’s descent and return; the maamar draws from it that the readiness to give one’s soul to G‑d now is the soul’s own movement back toward its source.

TermsYeridah letzorech aliyahTehiru ilaahAchdus HashemMesirus nefesh+5

Also Neshamah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    בכל נפשך · Deuteronomy 6:5
  2. 2
    בכל נפשך אפילו נוטל את נפשך · Mishnah Berakhot 9:5
  3. 3
    אליך ה׳ נפשי אשא · Psalms 25:1
  4. 4
    נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא · Berakhot 60b:4

40ומחמת ששרש הנשמה גבוה מאד נעלה לכך יש בכח כל איש למסור נפשו ע״י התבוננות בהעמקת דעתו שעי״ז יאיר בו אור נשמתו.

And because the root of the soul is very high and exalted, therefore it is in the power of every man to give over his soul, through contemplation with the deepening of his mind, for through this the light of his soul will shine within him.

Explanation

Because the soul’s root is so high, every person can give over his soul through deep contemplation, and through it the light of his soul shines within him.

לכך אחר שאמר שמע ישראל וכו׳ לשון הסכת ושמע היינו שהתבונן והאזין וקיבל היטב במוחו ותבונתו יחודו ית׳ שהוא הוי׳ אחד ושהוא אלקים ממש כי ברא כרעא כו׳.

Therefore, after he has said, “Hear, O Israel,” etc. — an expression of “Pay heed and hear,” that is, that he has contemplated and listened and received well, in his mind and his understanding, His unity, may He be blessed: that He is “Havayah [is] One,” and that He is truly Elokim, for “the son is the leg,” etc. —

Explanation

So after he says “Hear, O Israel,” shema as in “Pay heed and hear,” he has listened and taken into his mind that G‑d is “Havayah is One” and that He is truly Elokim. Elokim, the power hidden in nature, is one with Havayah, as in the idiom “a son is his father’s leg,” an extension of him.

Paragraph 40 in brief

Since every soul is rooted so high, anyone who truly “hears” the Shema, taking in that Havayah is One and that He is also Elokim, can come to give his soul over to G‑d.

Explained elsewhere AI research

  1. Explained by the Alter Rebbe

    „ברא כרעא” (‘a son is the leg’) is cited in two words, and how it shows that every soul can give itself over is not spelled out.

    „ברא כרעא” is short for „ברא כרעא דאבוה” (a son is his father’s leg). The Alter Rebbe unpacks it in the next maamar, which explains this one again (LT Shir HaShirim 43a–b): as a foot goes wherever the head sends it, into heat or cold, because it is one with the head, so the soul, a portion of G‑d, gives itself over without resistance; what holds back is only the animal soul’s intellect, which contemplation in prayer brings to agree. That is the order of ¶40–41 here.

    the Alter Rebbe: Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 43a–b (dibbur hamaschil הנה ענין מדלג על ההרים, the second derush on ‘Sixty queens’; LT Shir HaShirim 33 ¶10 on the site), p. מג, א–ב שהנשמה הוא חלק הוי׳ ברא כרעא דאבוה ממש, שאין שום מניעה מחמת הרגל

Where the maamar leaves something unexplained, found by AI in the library and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail.

TermsAchdus HashemMesirus nefeshHisbonenusKrias Shema+4

Also NeshamahHavayah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    שמע ישראל · Deuteronomy 6:4
  2. 2
    הסכת ושמע · Deuteronomy 27:9
  3. 3
    ברא כרעא · Yevamot 3a:2–4
  4. 4
    ברא כרעא · Tosafot on Yevamot 3a:7

41ועי״ז נתגלה אור נשמתו בגופו שלא יסתיר שום דבר ואזי גם נפש השכלי׳ [השכלית] תסכים ע״ז שלא יהיה מניעה משום דבר.

and through this the light of his soul has been revealed in his body, so that nothing conceals [it] — and then the intellectual soul too will agree to this, so that there will be no hindrance from anything.

Explanation

Through this the light of his soul is revealed in his body, with nothing concealing it, and then even the intellectual soul agrees, so that nothing stands in the way.

ואח״כ אומרים בכל מאדך בכל ממונך כי יש לך אדם שממונו חביב עליו מגופו.

And afterwards we say, “with all your might (me’odecha)” — with all your wealth; for there is a person whose wealth is dearer to him than his body.

Explanation

Next comes “with all your might (me’odecha),” which the Sages explain as “with all your wealth,” for there are people whose money is dearer to them than their bodies.

מה גם כי כל המס״נ [המסירות נפש] אינו בפועל ממש רק הסכם ורצון על מס״נ [מסירות נפש]

Moreover, none of the self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) is in actual deed; it is only a resolve and will toward self-sacrifice.

Explanation

Moreover, the self-sacrifice of the Shema is only a resolve and a willingness, not an actual deed.

אכן כשנותן אח״כ צדקה אזי הוא מקיים בפועל ממש מעין בחינת מס״נ [מסירות נפש] שנותן מיגיע כפיו מה שעמל ויגע בהם בגופו ונפשו ונותן מחמת מצות ה׳. ומה לי קטלי׳ [קטליה] כולא כו׳.

But when he afterwards gives charity, then he fulfills, in actual deed, something akin to the level of self-sacrifice: for he gives from the toil of his hands, that over which he labored and toiled with his body and soul, and he gives because of G‑d’s commandment. “And what does it matter to me whether he killed all of it,” etc.

Explanation

Giving charity carries out in deed something like self-sacrifice: one gives from the toil of one’s hands, what one worked for with body and soul, because G‑d commanded it. The Talmudic idiom “what difference does it make whether he killed all of it,” or only half, is applied here: giving part of what one’s life produced counts like giving one’s life.

Paragraph 41 in brief

After love “with all your soul,” which remains a resolve, comes “with all your might,” fulfilled in deed through charity: money earned by one’s own toil and given for G‑d’s sake is an actual deed akin to self-sacrifice.

Deeper

As the Kehot note quotes it, the Alter Rebbe’s discourse of 5570 adds that this applies when one gives money to charity “distributing more than his nature,” beyond what comes naturally.

TermsBechol me’odechaMesirus nefeshTzedakahRatzon+2

Also NeshamahTorah and mitzvos

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    בכל מאדך · Deuteronomy 6:5
  2. 2
    בכל מאדך בכל ממונך · Mishnah Berakhot 9:5
  3. 3
    יש לך אדם שממונו חביב עליו מגופו · Berakhot 61b:5
  4. 4
    אכן כשנותן אח״כ צדקה · בסה״מ תק״ע ע׳ ט: ”וכשנותן ממונו לצדקה בפיזור יותר מכפי טבעו”.
  5. 5
    ומה לי קטלי׳ כולא · Bava Kamma 65a
  6. 6
    ומה לי קטלי׳ כולא · Chullin 35b

42והנה אחר שקיבל יחודו ית׳ בתוך תוכו להיות ואהבת בכל נפשך ומאדך וזהו בחינת אחת היא יונתי היינו שמקבל מבחינת אחד. אזי אומרים אח״כ בק״ש [בקריאת שמע] והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי מצוך היום.

Now, after he has received His unity, may He be blessed, into his very innermost core, so that there be “And you shall love with all your soul and your might” — and this is the level of “One (achas) is my dove,” that is, that he receives from the level of echad (One) — then afterwards we say in the Shema, “And these words, which I command you today, shall be.”

Explanation

Once a person has taken G‑d’s oneness into his core and loves Him “with all your soul and your might,” he has reached “One (achas) is my dove,” receiving from echad. Then the Shema continues, “And these words, which I command you today, shall be.”

שהוא להיות המשכת אור א״ס הסכ״ע [הסובב כל עלמין] למטה שיתגלה בעולמות ע״י עסק התורה שעי״ז ממשיכים להיות יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה כנ״ל באריכות בענין ששים המה מלכות כו׳

This is so that there be a drawing down of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), which encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), below, that it be revealed in the worlds through occupying oneself with Torah; for through this one draws down [so] that there be the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence), as [explained] above at length on the matter of “There are sixty queens,” etc.

Explanation

These words refer to Torah study, which draws the Infinite Light of sovev kol almin down to be revealed in the worlds. Through it comes the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah, as explained at length on “There are sixty queens.”

משא״כ בעסק התורה לבד בלי קדימת בחינת מס״נ [מסירות נפש] הנ״ל לא ימשיך כ״כ [כל כך] גלוי אור א״ס ב״ה הסכ״ע [הסובב כל עלמין] כו׳

This is not so with occupying oneself with Torah alone, without the level of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) mentioned above preceding it: it will not draw down so great a revelation of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, which encompasses all worlds, etc.

Explanation

Torah study alone, without the self-sacrifice that must come first, will not draw down so great a revelation of the Infinite Light of sovev.

(ועמ״ש בביאור ע״פ הראיני את מראיך השמיעני את קולך כו׳ ומ״ש בד״ה והנה מנורת זהב בענין כדי שיקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים תחלה ואחר כך יקבל עליו עול מצות)

(And see what is written in the explanation of the verse, “Let me see your appearance, let me hear your voice,” etc., and what is written in the discourse beginning “And behold, a menorah of gold,” on the matter of “so that he first accept upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, and afterwards accept upon himself the yoke of the mitzvos.”)

Explanation

A parenthesis refers to the explanation of the verse “Let me see your appearance, let me hear your voice” and to the discourse “And behold, a menorah of gold,” on the Mishnah’s order: first one accepts the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, and afterwards the yoke of the mitzvos.

ולכן דוקא ע״י בחי׳ אחת היא יונתי שהוא המס״נ [המסירות נפש] והעלאה ממטה למעלה ולהיות יחודו ית׳ בתוכיות הלב אזי יוכל להיות אח״כ ההמשכה למטה ע״י עסק התורה מבחינת סכ״ע [סובב כל עלמין] להיות קול דודי הנה זה בא מדלג כו׳ כנ״ל.

Therefore, specifically through the level of “One is my dove” — which is the self-sacrifice and the ascent from below upward, and having His unity, may He be blessed, in the innermost heart — then afterwards there can be the drawing down below, through occupying oneself with Torah, from the level of sovev kol almin, so that there be “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping,” etc., as mentioned above.

Explanation

Specifically through “One is my dove,” which is self-sacrifice, an ascent from below upward, with G‑d’s oneness held in the innermost heart, Torah study can afterwards draw down the light of sovev kol almin, so that there is “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping.”

(ועד״ז יובן ענין הזאת כה״ג [כהן גדול] ביוהכ״פ [ביום הכפורים] אחת למעלה בינה ושבע למטה חג״ת [חסד גבורה תפארת] נהי״מ [נצח הוד יסוד מלכות]

(And in this way one can understand the matter of the sprinkling of the Kohen Gadol [the High Priest] on Yom Kippur: one upward — Binah — and seven downward — Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchus.

Explanation

A parenthesis compares the sprinkling of the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur: once upward, corresponding to Binah, and seven times downward, corresponding to the seven attributes from Chesed to Malchus.

וכך היה מונה אחת כתר אחת ואחת חו״ב [חכמה ובינה] כו׳ עד אחת ושבע בינה וחג״ת [וחסד גבורה תפארת] נהי״מ [נצח הוד יסוד מלכות]

And so he would count: “one” — Keser; “one and one” — Chochmah and Binah, etc., up to “one and seven” — Binah, and Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchus.

Explanation

He counted “one” (Keser), “one and one” (Chochmah and Binah), and so on up to “one and seven” (Binah with the seven attributes).

והיינו כי אחת למעלה הוא המס״נ [המסירות נפש] דכנ״י [דכנסת ישראל] שע״ז נאמר אחת היא לאמה היינו שעי״ז עולין לשרשן ישראל עלו במחשבה ע״ד המבואר בד״ה יונתי בפי׳ קומי לך רעיתי כו׳

And this is because the “one upward” is the self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) of the Community of Israel (Knesses Yisrael), of which it is said, “She is one to her mother”; that is, through this they ascend to their root — “Israel arose in thought” — along the lines of what is explained in the discourse beginning “My dove,” in the explanation of “Arise, my love,” etc.

Explanation

The “one upward” is the self-sacrifice of the Community of Israel, of whom it is said, “She is one to her mother”: through it they ascend to their root, “Israel arose in thought.” The Alter Rebbe refers to the discourse “My dove,” on “Arise, my love.” “Israel arose in thought” is the Sages’ teaching that Israel preceded the world in G‑d’s thought, before anything was created. Self-sacrifice lifts the soul back to that root, which comes before the world itself.

וע״י העלאה זו נמשך גילוי אור א״ס מלמעלה למטה בח״ע [בחכמה עילאה] עד מל׳ דאצילות מקור דבי״ע וזהו שגם בכל השבע שלמטה הוא מונה עמהם אותה אחת שלמעלה כי ההעלאה דאחת היא יונתי הוא הגורם שיומשך האור מבחי׳ סכ״ע [סובב כל עלמין] בכל השבע שלמטה כו׳).

And through this ascent there is drawn down a revelation of the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof) from above downward, in the higher Chochmah (Chochmah Ila’ah), down to Malchus of the World of Atzilus (Emanation), the source of [the worlds of] Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. And this is why, with all the seven downward too, he counts with them that “one” upward: for the ascent of “One is my dove” is what causes the light from the level of sovev kol almin to be drawn into all the seven below, etc.)

Explanation

That ascent draws down a revelation of the Infinite Light from above, through the higher Chochmah, to Malchus of Atzilus, the source of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. That is why the upper “one” is counted with each of the seven: the ascent of “One is my dove” brings the light of sovev into all seven below.

וזהו אשר אנכי מצוך היום ענין היום היינו בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים ואף שהתורה ניתנה מכבר זה יותר משלשה אלפים שנה.

And this is [the meaning of] “which I command you today.” The point of “today” is: “Every day they shall be in your eyes as new” — even though the Torah was already given, more than three thousand years ago.

Explanation

“Which I command you today”: “today” means that “every day they shall be in your eyes as new,” even though the Torah was given more than three thousand years ago.

אך הואיל וע״י מס״נ [מסירות נפש] ממשיך מבחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי בחי׳ סוכ״ע שאינו בגדר זמן ומקום וא״כ בכל יום הם כחדשים ממש שהרי נמשך מבחי׳ שלמעלה מהזמן לגמרי.

But since, through self-sacrifice, one draws down from the level of “I — who I am” (Anochi mi she’anochi), the level of sovev kol almin, which is not within the bounds of time and space, then, if so, every day they are truly as new, for it is drawn from a level that is entirely above time.

Explanation

Through self-sacrifice one draws down from “I, who I am” (Anochi mi she’anochi), the level of sovev kol almin, which is beyond time and space. So the words are truly new every day, since they come from a level entirely above time.

Paragraph 42 in brief

The order of the Shema teaches the order of service: first self-sacrifice, “One is my dove,” an ascent from below, and only then Torah study, “these words,” which draws down the transcendent light; because that light is above time, the Torah is new every day.

Deeper

The Yom Kippur count, in which the upper “one” is joined to each of the seven, illustrates that the ascent of self-sacrifice is what lets the light of sovev enter each of the lower attributes. The daily newness of the Torah follows: what comes from above time does not grow old.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In the yahrzeit maamar of 24 Teves 5732, having shown that the dwelling below is made through the Torah, the Rebbe asks why the Alter Rebbe nonetheless sets „אחת היא יונתי” (one is she, my dove) above it.

    Although the dwelling below is made through the Torah, the Rebbe explains, „צריך להיות לפני זה ענין התפלה” (before it there must be prayer), the dove: prayer binds Israel to the Holy One, and then, through Israel, the Torah too is bound to the Holy One and draws down from above. This is why this paragraph says that Torah study without the self-sacrifice of the Shema first will not draw down so great a revelation.

    The Alter Rebbeמשא״כ בעסק התורה לבד בלי קדימת בחינת מס״נ הנ״ל לא ימשיך כ״כ גלוי אור א״ס

    The Rebbeצריך להיות לפני זה ענין התפלה בחי׳ אחת היא יונתי, שעי״ז נעשה התקשרות ישראל בקוב״ה

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. א, p. קל–קלא · כ״ד טבת, יום ג׳ פ׳ וארא, ה׳תשל״ב

  2. A question the Rebbe raises

    In a maamar on „ביום הזה באו מדבר סיני” (on this day they came to the wilderness of Sinai), the Rebbe asks why the verse says ‘this day’ without naming it, and takes up Rashi’s reading, that the words of Torah should be new to you as if given today.

    The Rebbe raises the question this paragraph answers: how can the Torah be new each day when it was given more than three thousand years ago? He recalls the answer through „לאמר” (‘saying’): the one who learns repeats what G‑d says now. Then he presses further: G‑d’s words stand forever unchanged, so what is added when He says them again as a person learns? His answer is that Sinai was given as the start and the power for the lower beings to rise through their own service, so „הדיבור דהקב״ה שבא ע״י לימוד האדם הוא נעלה יותר” (G‑d’s speech that comes through a person’s learning is higher).

    The Alter Rebbeואף שהתורה ניתנה מכבר זה יותר משלשה אלפים שנה

    The Rebbeולכן הדיבור דהקב״ה שבא ע״י לימוד האדם הוא נעלה יותר

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ד, p. קנה–קנח · יום ה׳ פ׳ יתרו, חמשה-עשר בשבט ה׳תשל״ד

  3. Background from the Rebbe

    In a maamar of Shabbos Shuvah 5723 the Rebbe explains why „וכל אדם לא יהי׳ באוהל מועד” (no man shall be in the Tent of Meeting) when the High Priest enters to atone on Yom Kippur, and why Yom Kippur, the ‘eighth’ after seven days of teshuvah, is above the order of the worlds.

    Of the Yom Kippur sprinklings, „אחת למעלה ושבע למטה” (one upward and seven downward), the Rebbe explains that the one upward is the revelation of the yechidah (יחידה), the soul’s core, one with G‑d’s essence, and the seven after it are that revelation drawn into the soul’s revealed powers. Earlier in the maamar he brings, from the Tzemach Tzedek’s maamar on the verse, that the one upward is ‘one is she, my dove’, as this paragraph says, and his own note sends the reader here.

    The Alter Rebbeוהיינו כי אחת למעלה הוא המס״נ דכנ״י שע״ז נאמר אחת היא לאמה

    The Rebbeאחת למעלה היא גילוי היחידה, שהיא מיוחדת עם העצמות, ושבע למטה (שלאחרי האחת) הוא שגילוי היחידה (למעלה מהשתלשלות שבאדם) יומשך בכחות הגלויים

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ה, p. כא · ש״פ האזינו, שבת תשובה, ה׳תשכ״ג

Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made

TermsDilugAchdus HashemGevuros de’AbbaBechol me’odecha+20

Also Or Ein SofTorah and mitzvosChochmahHaalaah vehamshachahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    אחת היא יונתי · Song of Songs 6:9
  2. 2
    והיו הדברים האלה · Deuteronomy 6:6
  3. 3
    בד״ה מנורת זהב · לעיל בהעלותך לז, ד. ואילך.
  4. 4
    כדי שיקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים תחלה ואחר כך יקבל עליו עול מצות · Mishnah Berakhot 2:2
  5. 5
    קול דודי הנה זה בא מדלג · Song of Songs 2:8
  6. 6
    וכך היה מונה אחת · Mishnah Yoma 5:3
  7. 7
    בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים · ספרי ופרש״י ואתחנן ו, ו. ובסה״מ תק״ע ע׳ י׳ בארוכה יותר.
  8. 8
    בכל יום יהיו בעיניך כחדשים · Sifrei Devarim 33:1

“Saying,” and my perfect one ¶43–44

43ובזה יובן פי׳ וענין תיבת לאמר שבתחלת עשרת הדברות דלכאורה אינו מובן פירושו כנזכר לעיל.

And through this one can understand the meaning and import of the word “saying” at the beginning of the Ten Commandments, whose meaning seemingly is not understood, as mentioned above.

Explanation

This explains the word “saying” (leimor) at the start of the Ten Commandments, which, as asked at the outset, seemed to make no sense, since all Israel heard G‑d directly.

¶1 This answers the question from paragraph 1.

אך הענין והפי׳ לחזור ולאומרו בכל זמן ולדורות דהיינו גם עכשיו כשאדם לומד יהיה ממש כמו שהקב״ה בעצמו אומר ומדבר כמו בשעת מ״ת [מתן תורה]

But the matter and the meaning is: to repeat it and say it at every time and for [all] generations; that is, even now, when a person learns, it shall be truly as though the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself says and speaks, as at the time of the Giving of the Torah.

Explanation

“Saying” means that the words are to be said again at all times and in every generation: even now, when a person learns, it is truly as though G‑d Himself says and speaks, as at the Giving of the Torah.

כי כך הוא מב, בבאמת הלימוד הוא המשכת סוכ״ע אני המשנה המדברת בפיך כנ״ל

For so it is in truth: learning is the drawing down of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) — “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth,” as mentioned above.

Explanation

For in truth, study draws down sovev kol almin: “I am the Mishnah that speaks in your mouth.”

(ועמ״ש מזה ג״כ בד״ה וידבר משה אל ראשי המטות כו׳ גבי פי׳ לאמר זה הדבר כו׳ ובפ׳ יתרו בד״ה החדש השלישי כו׳)

(And see what is written about this also in the discourse beginning “And Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes,” etc., regarding the explanation of “saying: This is the thing,” etc., and in Parshas Yisro, in the discourse beginning “The third month,” etc.)

Explanation

A parenthesis refers to the discourse “And Moshe spoke to the heads of the tribes,” on the explanation of “saying: This is the thing,” and to the discourse “The third month” in Parshas Yisro.

והנה ז״ש [זהו שכתוב] לאמר אנכי הוי׳ אלקיך פי׳ שע״י עסק התורה בבחי׳ זו יהיה אנכי הוי׳ אלקיך שיומשך מבחי׳ אנכי מי שאנכי סוכ״ע להיות אלקיך שלך ממש והוא יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא] ושכינתיה הקב״ה שונה כנגדו וה״ע [וזהו ענין] דירה בתחתונים.

And this is [the meaning of] what is written, “saying: I am Havayah your G‑d.” The meaning is: through occupying oneself with Torah in this manner, there will be “I am Havayah your G‑d”: that from the level of “I — who I am,” sovev kol almin, it will be drawn down to be “your G‑d,” truly yours. And this is the union of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah (Divine Presence) — the Holy One, blessed be He, studies opposite him — and this is the matter of a dwelling place among the lower realms.

Explanation

So “saying: I am Havayah your G‑d” means that through Torah study of this kind “I,” Anochi mi she’anochi, the level of sovev, is drawn down to become “your G‑d,” truly yours. This is the union of the Holy One and His Shechinah, G‑d studying opposite the one who learns, and it is the dwelling place among the lower realms.

Paragraph 43 in brief

The maamar’s opening question is answered: “saying” means that the Ten Commandments are said again in every generation, because when a Jew studies Torah it is as though G‑d Himself speaks through him, and the transcendent “I” becomes “your G‑d.”

Deeper

As the Kehot note quotes it, the Alter Rebbe’s discourse of 5570 frames this as a question: the one who learns is within time and G‑d is above time, so how can G‑d study “opposite” him? It answers that the level above time and place shines into time and place. The present tense of “behold, he comes” and the daily newness of the Torah express the same point.

The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research

  1. The Rebbe explains

    In a maamar on Moshe’s plea after the spies, „כאשר דברת לאמר” (as You have spoken, saying), the Rebbe explains how a person’s service draws the light that is above the order of the worlds into it.

    As in the Tzemach Tzedek’s Or HaTorah and the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar on this verse (5678), both cited in his note, the Rebbe reads Moshe’s „כאשר דברת לאמר” (as You have spoken, saying) as pointing also to „וידבר גו׳ לאמר” (and He spoke … saying) at Sinai: Israel are to say all these words, the words G‑d says. He puts it as cause and effect: by saying words of Torah a person „גורם שהקב״ה יאמר דיבורים אלו” (causes the Holy One to say these words), drawing the Infinite Light that is above the order of the worlds into the Torah; through this it comes into all his service, and into the world, until the dwelling below is complete.

    The Alter Rebbeכי כך הוא באמת הלימוד הוא המשכת סוכ״ע אני המשנה המדברת בפיך

    The Rebbeהיינו שע״י שהאדם אומר דברי תורה, הוא גורם שהקב״ה יאמר דיבורים אלו, המשכת אוא״ס (שלמעלה מהשתלשלות) בתורה (השתלשלות)

    Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ג, p. קצח · ש״פ שלח, כ״ח סיון, מבה״ח תמוז, ה׳תשי״ט

  2. The Rebbe explains

    In the talk of Shabbos Parshas Yisro 5751, edited for Sefer HaSichos, the Rebbe asks what lesson a person’s service draws from „אחת דיבר אלקים” (G‑d spoke once), the Ten Commandments said in one utterance.

    Following Torah Ohr Yisro, with a note to the question that opens this maamar and that this paragraph answers, the Rebbe reads ‘saying’ as the power given at Sinai that the halachah a Jew speaks is G‑d’s own word, and he quotes this maamar that G‑d truly speaks through the person’s mouth. From this he concludes that the one-utterance quality, positive and negative commands as one, is present in a person’s Torah study too, not by his own power but because G‑d speaks in him.

    The Alter Rebbeובזה יובן פי׳ וענין תיבת לאמר שבתחלת עשרת הדברות

    The Rebbeשתיבת ”לאמר” (שפירושה לומר דבר ה׳, שה׳ מדבר מתוך פיו)

    Sefer HaSichos, vol. 5751, vol. 1 (תנש״א ח״א), p. 303–304 · ש״פ יתרו, ה׳תנש״א

Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made

TermsDirah betachtonimAnochiShechinahYichud+4

Also HavayahHaalaah vehamshachahTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    ובזה יובן פי׳ וענין תיבת לאמר · ראה ספר השיחות תשנ״ב ח״ב ע׳ 335.
  2. 2
    תיבת לאמר · Exodus 20:1
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    וידבר משה אל ראשי המטות כו׳ גבי פי׳ לאמר זה הדבר · Numbers 30:2
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    לאמר אנכי ה׳ אלקיך · Exodus 20:2
  5. 5
    אנכי מי שאנכי · ראה לעיל פנחס פ, ב. תניא מהדו״ק ע׳ תו.
  6. 6
    הקב״ה שונה כנגדו · בסה״מ תק״ע ע׳ י כתב בלשון קושיא: ”ומה שאמרו ז״ל דכל היושב וקורא ושונה הקב״ה יושב וקורא ושונה כנגדו אעפ״י שהאדם הקורא הוא בבחי׳ זמן, והקב״ה הוא למעלה מבחי׳ הזמן כו׳, הענין הוא דמלמעלה מן הזמן ומקום מאיר ונמשך בבחי׳ זמן ומקום והוא מ״ש דהקב״ה יושב ושונה כנגדו מלמעלה מן הזמן לבחי׳ זמן כו׳”.

44ולכן יהיה בכל יום כחדשים כמו אז בשעת מ״ת [מתן תורה] מאחר שהגילוי יהיה מבחי׳ אנכי סכ״ע [סובב כל עלמין] וכנ״ל.

Therefore every day it will be as new, just as it was then, at the time of the Giving of the Torah, since the revelation will be from the level of Anochi (“I”), the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), as mentioned above.

Explanation

So the Torah will be new every day, as at the Giving of the Torah, since the revelation comes from Anochi, the level of sovev kol almin.

ואזי יהי׳ [יהיה] בחינת תמתי פי׳ תמתי שישראל גורמים התמימות והשלימות יחוד קוב״ה [קודשא בריך הוא]

And then there will be the level of “my perfect one” (tamasi). The meaning of tamasi is that Israel bring about the wholeness and completeness of the unity of the Holy One, blessed be He.

Explanation

Then there is the level of “my perfect one” (tamasi): Israel bring about the wholeness and completeness of the union of the Holy One.

מה שהוא קדוש ומובדל ואינו יכול לבוא בהתגלות תוך עלמין הנה ע״י כל הנ״ל בעסק התורה יומשך ויתגלה להיות יחוד ותמימות ממש אחרי שמסרו נפשם בבחי׳ ביטול ממש שעי״ז יוכל להיות הגילוי כו׳

That which is holy and set apart and cannot come into revelation within the worlds — through all of the above, in occupying oneself with Torah, it will be drawn down and revealed, so that there is a true union and wholeness, after they have given over their souls in a state of true self-nullification (bittul), through which the revelation can come about, etc.

Explanation

The level of G‑d that is holy and set apart and cannot be revealed within the worlds is drawn down and revealed through Torah study, a true union and wholeness. This comes after Israel have given themselves over in true self-nullification, which makes the revelation possible.

והיינו ג״כ מארז״ל [מאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] תמתי תאומתי כו׳ ברה היא ליולדתה מלשון ברה כחמה היא בחי׳ אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא כו׳ וזהו נעוץ תחלתן בסופן וסופן בתחלתן.

And this is also [the meaning of] the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: “Tamasi (my perfect one) — te’omasi (my twin),” etc. “She is bright (barah) to the one who bore her” — from the expression “bright (barah) as the sun”: this is the level of the turning of darkness into light, etc. And this is “their beginning is wedged in their end, and their end in their beginning.”

Explanation

The Sages read tamasi, “my perfect one,” as te’omasi, “my twin.” Barah, “pure,” in “she is barah to the one who bore her,” is read from “bright (barah) as the sun” (6:10): light that shines out of darkness, the turning of darkness into light. And this is “their beginning is wedged in their end, and their end in their beginning,” a phrase from Sefer Yetzirah (1:7).

ראוה בנות ויאשרוה מבואר בזהר ויחי (דרמ״ה סע״ב [סוף עמוד ב]) והוא כענין המבואר במ״א בפי׳ אשר קדשנו במצותיו. אשר הוא בחינת תענוג עליון כו׳:

“Daughters saw her and called her happy (vaye’ashruha)” is explained in the Zohar, Vayechi (end of 245b); and it is like the matter explained elsewhere on the explanation of “who (asher) has sanctified us with His commandments”: asher is the level of the supernal delight (taanug), etc.

Explanation

“Daughters saw her and called her happy” is explained in the Zohar on Parshas Vayechi (end of 245b). Vaye’ashruha, “called her happy,” is read with asher in “who (asher) has sanctified us with His commandments,” explained elsewhere as the supernal delight.

Paragraph 44 in brief

The maamar closes on the rest of the verse: through self-sacrifice and Torah study Israel become G‑d’s “perfect one,” His “twin,” completing the union of the Holy One, so that His transcendent light is revealed below and darkness turns into light.

Deeper

“Their beginning is wedged in their end” describes the circle the maamar has traced: the highest level, holy and set apart, is revealed precisely through the lowest, a person’s Torah study in this world. The image of the “twin” expresses a partnership in which Israel complete G‑d’s union.

TermsTheir beginning is wedged in their endIskafya and is’hapchaAnochiYichud+4

Also BittulTorah

Marei mekomos

  1. 1
    תמתי תאומתי · שהש״ר במקומו.
  2. 2
    תמתי תאומתי · Shir HaShirim Rabbah 5:2:2
  3. 3
    ברה היא ליולדתה · Song of Songs 6:9
  4. 4
    ברה כחמה · Song of Songs 6:10
  5. 5
    אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא · Zohar, Introduction 9:48–10:56
  6. 6
    ראוהבנות ו יאשרוה · Zohar, Vayechi 72:742–751

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In one’s avodah

Before learning, a person should contemplate G‑d’s greatness and oneness in Pesukei deZimra and the Shema until he is ready to give his soul to G‑d, and carry out that readiness in deed by giving charity from the toil of his hands. Then his Torah study, Mishnah, Baraisa and Gemara alike, and above all deep study that clarifies the halachah, becomes G‑d’s own speech in his mouth, new every day, turning darkness into light.

Questions for discussion

  1. Why does the maamar insist that creation cannot be a chain of cause and effect, and how does this lead to the idea that G‑d’s greatness and humility are found in one place?
  2. In what sense is a person’s speech in Torah “G‑d’s speech,” and how does this explain “In every place where I mention My Name”?
  3. Why is the Mishnah a “queen,” the Baraisa a “concubine,” and the halachos of the Gemara “maidens”? What does each show about how openly the Infinite Light is revealed?
  4. Why must the self-sacrifice of the Shema, and charity given from one’s own toil, come before Torah study can draw down the light of sovev kol almin?
  5. How does the maamar finally answer its question about the word “saying” in the Ten Commandments, and what does it mean for the Torah to be new every day?

Key terms in this maamar

The Holy One, blessed be Heקב״ה
Aramaic, “the Holy One, blessed be He”: G‑d as holy, set apart from the worlds, paired with Shechinteh, His indwelling; read as sovev kol almin, Z’eir Anpin, Atzmus, and sometimes memalei kol almin. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
The descent of levels from cause to effect, linked like the rings of a chain, from Chochmah downward; each reveals what was hidden in the one above. Or Ein Sof itself is above this order. ×16Where it’s explained, stated differently
The emotive attributes (middos)מדות
The emotive powers (in the soul: love, fear, mercy). Born from the intellect and matching its measure, they are rooted above it, in the will; above, the middos of Z”A, emanated to conduct the worlds. ×3Where it’s explained
Chesed (kindness)חסד
The Sefirah of kindness (the right arm; Avraham): giving that comes from its nature to do good, spreading from highest to lowest like water. Gevurah, its opposite, limits it; in tikkun each includes the other. ×8Where it’s explained, stated differently
Love and aweאהבה ויראה
Love, the soul’s longing to cleave to G‑d, and awe, its self-nullification before Him: opposites born of the mind (“son and daughter”), called the two “wings” that lift one’s service on high.Where it’s explained, stated differently, Sefer HaErchim
The Name Havayahהוי׳
The Name meaning “He brings into being”: by contraction and expansion, its four letters, He brings all worlds into being while Himself unchanged; was, is and will be are one to Him. Elokim conceals it.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Life-forceחיות
Life-force: the G‑dly vitality that brings each creation into being and keeps it alive, drawn to each according to its level and renewed from nothing, as the soul enlivens the body. ×6Where it’s explained, stated differently
Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
Contraction: Or Ein Sof (not Ein Sof Himself) hidden in its source so finite worlds can exist, leaving a “vacated space” for the kav; also each later narrowing of light, as in Chochmah. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
The name for G‑d as without end or limit, beyond all grasp; what is drawn from Him is Or Ein Sof, only a radiance; all revelation comes from Malchus of Ein Sof. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
G‑d’s light that is not clothed in the worlds: equal in all worlds, above and below, unchanged by them, it gives them life as an encompassing light. Its partner, memalei, is clothed within each world.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
G‑d’s kingship: the lowest Sefirah, His “speech” and the revealed world, through which all worlds come into being from nothing and live, without touching His essence (“there is no king without a people”). ×15Where it’s explained, stated differently
The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
The first revelation in the chain of worlds (vayaetzel, “drew off”): the ten Sefiros, where Or Ein Sof rests and lights and vessels are one with Him; Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are created from nothing. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
A dwelling place among the lower realmsדירה בתחתונים
The purpose of creation, Torah and mitzvos: that Or Ein Sof be revealed and rest below, in this lowest, darkest world, as in Atzilus and more, through mitzvos done with physical things. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof)אור אין סוף
The boundless light radiating from G‑d’s Essence like sunlight from the sun: His “Name,” a revelation, not the Essence. Chiefly the light before the tzimtzum; also that light as clothed in the sefiros.Where it’s explained, stated differently, Sefer HaErchim
The Shechinah (Divine Presence)שכינה
G‑d’s Malchus as it “dwells” among created beings to give them life: Malchus of Atzilus come down below Atzilus. Its being clothed below, down to the kelipos, is called the exile of the Shechinah. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
G‑d’s life-force clothed within each world and creature by its level, like a soul in a body; it can be known, and it varies with its receivers. Sovev, its partner, is not clothed in them.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Willרצון
Will, which rules the middos: a lower will born of intellect, and the Supernal Will above intellect (Keser, Gulgalta), which covers a hidden reason and delight and is the root of the mitzvos. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
Chochmah (wisdom)חכמה
The first Sefirah of revelation: a single point of insight (koach mah, the yud of Havayah) that comes from the “nothing” above it; being bittul, Or Ein Sof rests in it, and Binah expands it. ×8Where it’s explained, stated differently
Gevurah (restraint)גבורה
The Sefirah of might (the left; Yitzchak), opposite Chesed: described as what limits and contracts Chesed’s flow, and as the life-force in greater intensity, which becomes judgment; included in Chesed, it gives life. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
Nukva (the feminine / Malchus)נוקבא
Malchus of Atzilus as a partzuf: the feminine partner of Z’eir Anpin, built after it and from the gevuros; receiving from above, she gives to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah below. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
The inner dimension: the part of anything that turns toward and cleaves to its source (from panim, face), its depth and chief will. Its partner, chitzoniyus, goes out to others; the inner does not descend.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Delightתענוג
Delight, the inner side of will. Above, the supernal delight of Atik, whose source is His very self: the source of Chochmah, covered by the Supernal Will and drawn down through the mitzvos. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
Self-nullification before G‑d, the condition for the Or Ein Sof to rest. Its lower degree is a “something” that bows; its higher, Chochmah’s “what are we,” takes up no place at all. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
Giving over one’s life to G‑d: nullifying one’s very existence in the Or Ein Sof, as at “One” in the Shema. It stems from above reason, and every Jew has it in potential.Where it’s explained, stated differently
The Name Elokimאלקים
The Name of contraction and concealment, the shield and sheath over Havayah, through which creation appears separate (yesh) and runs as nature (hateva, numerically Elokim). Relative to a higher revelation, Havayah counts as Elokim. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
Binah (understanding)בינה
The Sefirah of comprehension (Imma, the first hei): it expands Chochmah’s flash in length and breadth; letters of thought appear in it; it is “yesh,” and from it love, joy and the middos are born. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
Tiferes (beauty)תפארת
The Sefirah of the middle line (Yaakov’s attribute) between Chesed and Gevurah: it joins and includes them, so Or Ein Sof shines in it constantly. It is mercy and truth, and is rooted in Keser.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Netzach (victory)נצח
The Sefirah below Chesed on the right line, its branch: giving carried through by resolve after its reason has gone. With its partner Hod it is “outside the body,” yet rooted in Keser.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Hod (splendor)הוד
The Sefirah below Gevurah on the left line, its branch, and Netzach’s partner: acknowledgment (hodaah) from afar of what one does not truly grasp. Like Netzach it is “outside the body,” yet rooted in Keser.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Yesod (foundation)יסוד
The Sefirah of binding: a giver’s lowest level, through which it ties itself to the receiver and draws its flow to it. Called kol (all), chai (living), tzaddik and bris (covenant); linked to Yosef.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Keser (the Crown)כתר
The Crown over the Sefiros: intermediary between Or Ein Sof and the emanated, holding the lowest level of the Infinite; the Supernal Will and source of delight, beyond grasp; Chochmah emerges from it. ×4Where it’s explained, stated differently
The World of Beriah (Creation)בריאה
The first created world, below the partition (parsa) under Atzilus: something new from nothing (yesh me’ayin), corresponding to thought, where Binah of Atzilus dwells; world of the seraphim, souls and Gan Eden HaElyon. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
The World of Yetzirah (Formation)יצירה
The world of formation, between Beriah and Asiyah: like speech, it reveals what was hidden in Beriah (something from something, not new creation); the middos of Atzilus shine there; the world of the angels.Where it’s explained, stated differently
The World of Asiyah (Action)עשיה
The lowest of the four worlds, corresponding to action: its ten Sefiros are still holy, but below them lies kelipas nogah; this physical world is Malchus of Asiyah, its lowest level.Where it’s explained, stated differently
Daas (knowledge)דעת
Knowledge as felt recognition: the intellect bound into the soul until it is felt as if seen. Daas unites Chochmah with Binah and spreads into the middos as their inner life; the middos follow it. ×4Where it’s explained, stated differently

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NikudBeta

Vowels on the maamar’s Hebrew. Verses take theirs from the Leningrad Codex; every other word is vowelled by Dicta’s Nakdan, automatically, and has not been proofread, so expect mistakes. The letters are Kehot’s, unchanged.

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Contents

Likkutei Torahלקוטי תורה

Parshas Shir HaShirimשיר השירים

  1. 1שיר השירים אשר לשלמה ישקנו מנשיקות…The Song of Songs, which is Shlomo’s
  2. 2שיר השירים אשר לשלמהThe Song of Songs, which is Shlomo’s
  3. 3לריח שמניך טובים שמן תורק שמך…For Fragrance, Your Oils Are Good
  4. 4לריח שמניך טובים שמן תורק שמך…For the fragrance of your goodly oils
  5. 5שחורה אני ונאוה בנות ירושלים וגו׳“I am black and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem”
  6. 6שחורה אני ונאוה בנות ירושלים כאהלי…“I Am Black, yet Comely, O Daughters of Jerusalem”
  7. 7ביאור ענין שחורה אני ונאוהAn Explanation of “I Am Black, yet Comely”
  8. 8ביאור הדברים ע״פ שחורה אני ונאוהAn Explanation of the Matters on “I Am Black, Yet Comely”
  9. 9לסוסתי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתי“To My Mare Among Pharaoh’s Chariots I Have Likened You, My Beloved”
  10. 10לסוסתי ברכבי פרעה דמיתיך רעיתיTo My Mare Among Pharaoh’s Chariots
  11. 11נאוו לחייך בתורים צוארך בחרוזים“Your Cheeks Are Comely with Torim, Your Neck with Strings of Beads”
  12. 12הנך יפה רעיתי יפה עיניך יונים…“Behold, You Are Fair, My Beloved; Your Eyes Are Doves”
  13. 13קול דודי הנה זה בא מדלג…“The Voice of My Beloved! Behold, He Comes, Leaping over the Mountains”
  14. 14ולהבין ענין מדלג על ההרים מקפץ…To Understand “Leaping over the Mountains, Skipping over the Hills”
  15. 15יונתי בחגוי הסלע בסתר המדרגהMy dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hidden place of the step: show me your appearance
  16. 16ביאור ע״פ יונתי בחגוי הסלע וגו׳An explanation of the verse “My dove, in the clefts of the rock”
  17. 17עוד ביאור הדברים ע״פ יונתי בחגוי…A further explanation of “My dove, in the clefts of the rock”
  18. 18צאינה וראינה בנות ציון במלך שלמה…Go Out and Gaze, O Daughters of Zion
  19. 19להבין ענין הטעם למה שהאתדל״ע הבאה…To Understand Why the Arousal from Above That Follows the Arousal from Below…
  20. 20צאינה וראינה בנות ציון במלך שלמה…Go Out and Gaze, O Daughters of Zion
  21. 21ביאור הדבריםAn Explanation of the Matter: “Keser Is Above All the Ten Sefiros”
  22. 22לבבתני אחותי כלהYou Have Captured My Heart, My Sister, My Bride
  23. 23ביאור על פסוק לבבתניAn Explanation of the Verse “You Have Captured My Heart”
  24. 24באתי לגני אחותי כלה אריתי מורי…“I Have Come into My Garden, My Sister, [My] Bride”
  25. 25ביאור ע״פ באתי לגניAn Explanation of the Verse “I Have Come into My Garden”
  26. 26אני ישנה ולבי ער קול דודי…“I Am Asleep, but My Heart Is Awake”
  27. 27להבין ביאור הדברים ע״פ אני ישנה…To Understand the Explanation of “I Am Asleep, but My Heart Is Awake”
  28. 28הסבי עיניך וגו׳“Turn Away Your Eyes”
  29. 29שניך כעדר הרחלים שעלו מן הרחצה…Your Teeth Are Like a Flock of Ewes That Have Come Up from the Washing
  30. 30ששים המה מלכות ושמונים פילגשים ועלמות…There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens without number
  31. 31לבאר הדברים ע״פ ששים המה מלכות…“There Are Sixty Queens”
  32. 32ששים המה מלכות ושמונים פילגשים כו׳There are sixty queens and eighty concubines
    1. Two questions and the voice that still comes ¶1–2
    2. No comparison: creation is not cause and effect ¶3–8
    3. The Holy One, blessed be He ¶9–15
    4. Greatness and humility in one place ¶16–22
    5. The union of the Holy One and His Shechinah through Torah ¶23–28
    6. Concubines and maidens ¶29–35
    7. One is my dove: self-sacrifice before Torah ¶36–42
    8. “Saying,” and my perfect one ¶43–44
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  33. 33הנה ענין מדלג על ההרים הוא…“Leaping upon the Mountains”
  34. 34מה יפו פעמיך בנעלים כו׳How Beautiful Are Your Footsteps in Shoes
  35. 35מי יתנך כאח לי יונק שדי…“Who Will Make You as a Brother to Me”
  36. 36שימני כחותם על לבך כו׳“Set Me as a Seal upon Your Heart”
  37. 37ביאור על זהAn Explanation of “Set Me as a Seal upon Your Heart”
  38. 38כי על כל כבוד חופה“For Over All Glory, a Chuppah”
  39. 39ביאור הדברים ע״פ כי על כל…An Explanation of “For Over All Glory, a Canopy”
  40. 40תנו רבנן כיצד מרקדין לפני הכלה…Our Rabbis Taught: How Does One Dance Before the Bride?
  41. 41כי כאשר השמים החדשים כו׳For just as the new heavens
  42. 42ביאור ע״פ כי כאשר השמים כו׳An explanation of “For just as the heavens…”
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