Torah Ohr · Parshas Bereishis · Maamar 1
השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי אי זה בית וגו׳
“The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool”
The Rebbe on this maamar
The Rebbe built on it in these maamarim of his: ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי (5736)ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי (5740)ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי (5744)ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי (5745)ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי (5746) and 2 more
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The big idea
G‑d, who has no body and no place, “sits” on the Torah, has His “foot,” the Jewish people, raised on the “footstool” of the practical mitzvos, and is “housed” in prayer; each is drawn down by a person’s own service, from contemplation and love to deeds and self-nullification.
The maamar in brief
The maamar asks how G‑d, who has no body and is not in space, can have a throne and a footstool. The “heavens,” fire and water, are the Torah. A person “makes” the Torah: contemplating the Shema (shem ayin) shows that everything in the worlds is only a “name,” a glimmer, so the soul longs for G‑d Himself; this love, an arousal from below, draws the Infinite Light into the Torah and brings it from its pre-world level into the 613 mitzvos. The Torah is thus a “throne” on which G‑d’s will and wisdom lower themselves into physical mitzvos. The “earth” is the practical mitzvos, above all charity, which raise the “foot,” the Jewish people; since “their end is wedged in their beginning,” the lowest becomes the head, and a person’s deeds raise his emotions into his mind. Heaven and earth are also the Written and Oral Torah. The “house” is prayer: through bowing and self-nullification it draws down the encompassing light that heart and mind cannot contain, a light that does not look upon a person’s faults.
Outline
- The question and the Torah as “heaven”How can the bodiless G‑d have a throne? The Torah is from heaven, and like shamayim it is fire and water.¶1
- A person makes the Torah through contemplation and loveMercy grants understanding; the Shema teaches that the worlds hold only a “name” of G‑d; this awakens love for G‑d Himself, which draws the Infinite Light into the Torah and down into the mitzvos.¶2–4
- The Torah as G‑d’s throneThrough Moshe the Torah comes down; like sitting, it lowers G‑d’s “head,” His will and wisdom, into physical mitzvos.¶5
- The footstool: raising the footIsrael are G‑d’s “foot,” which in the returning light becomes the head; the practical mitzvos, especially charity, raise the emotions into wisdom, above and in the human soul, so that love becomes lasting.¶6–10
- Heaven and earth within the TorahThe Written Torah is heaven, from above; the Oral Torah is earth, grasping G‑d’s will from below; three things are called “earth.”¶11
- The house: prayerPrayer with bowing and self-nullification draws down the encompassing light beyond the worlds, which neither heart nor mind contains, and which is present without regard to a person’s faults.¶12–14
Key concepts
- Memalei and sovevממלא כל עלמין וסובב כל עלמין
- The light that fills the worlds, enlivening each according to its measure, is only a “name,” a glimmer; the light that encompasses them is beyond grasp and can only surround a person.
- Arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- Human love and service that draw down a divine response: “a spirit brings a spirit.”
- Their end is wedged in their beginningנעוץ סופן בתחלתן
- In the light that returns upward, the lowest level is the highest, so the “foot,” the Jewish people and their physical deeds, becomes the “head.”
- Integrating emotions into intellectהתכללות המדות בשכל
- Emotions cut off from understanding are fleeting; raised into the mind, they become stable and elevated.
- Self-nullification in prayerביטול
- Bowing before G‑d as before a king too exalted to approach; it draws down the encompassing light that Torah and mitzvos cannot reach.
For children · ages 9–13
G‑d’s throne, footstool and house
The big idea
G‑d has no body and no place, yet through our Torah learning, our mitzvos and our prayer we give Him a throne, a footstool and a house in this world.
The prophet Yeshayahu says in G‑d’s name, “The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool; what house can you build for Me?” But G‑d has no body and is not in any place, so what can this mean? The maamar explains that the “heavens” are the Torah. When a person sits down, they lower themselves; so too, in the Torah, G‑d’s own will and wisdom “sit down” and come into physical mitzvos like tefillin, tzitzis and tzedakah. This happens when we think deeply, especially in the Shema, that the whole world holds only a tiny glimmer of G‑d, until we long for G‑d Himself. The “earth” is the mitzvos we do with our hands, above all giving tzedakah. They lift up the Jewish people, who are called G‑d’s “foot.” The “house” is prayer. When we bow in davening and set ourselves aside before G‑d, a light surrounds us that is too great for our mind or heart to hold. That light is drawn to every Jew, and it does not look at our faults.
The mashal
The foot is the lowest part of the body, yet it walks and carries the head to where the head wants to go. So in a certain way the foot is higher than the head. The Jewish people are called G‑d’s “foot,” and the mitzvos we do, like tzedakah, lift the foot up high.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- How can G‑d, who has no body, have a throne, a footstool and a house?
- In what way does the foot carry the head, and what does that teach about the Jewish people?
- What tzedakah or other mitzvah with your hands can you do this week to help make a place for G‑d in the world?
Explanation © likuteitorah.com, CC BY-NC 4.0: retold for children from our translation and explanation, with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by a human editor.
The Rebbe’s maamarim on this maamar · 10
AI summaries Written by AI from each maamar and checked against it by a second AI reader; no person has reviewed them yet, so check the maamar itself before relying on a detail. See something to correct?
The Rebbe built these 7 maamarim (5736–5748) on the Alter Rebbe’s. Open one for a summary, for what it adds paragraph by paragraph, and its lesson. All of them, by parsha.
1.5736Built on itד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the familiar question on the haftarah of Shabbos Rosh Chodesh: G‑d has no bodily form, so how can He speak of “My throne” and “My footstool”? He adds a second question: what is the special advantage of “the poor and broken of spirit,” such that even though “what house will you build for Me,” nevertheless “to this one I will look”? His answer: heaven and earth are Torah and mitzvos, as Torah Ohr explains, and they are the service of the inner soul-powers (nefesh, ruach, neshamah). The “house” is “with all your might,” the service from the encompassing powers (chayah, yechidah), which draws down the supernal encompassing lights. Yet even that is not a house “for Me,” for My Essence, since even the highest encompassing lights are only a glimmer. Bittul, the poor and broken spirit, is a channel for drawing down the Essence itself. This is linked to Rosh Chodesh: at the molad the moon is a mere point that “has nothing of its own,” and through that bittul it receives a new light from above the sun.
The Rebbe then reads “poor” also literally, as poor in knowledge: one whose service rests on faith below reason. Faith therefore comes both before the service of Torah and mitzvos and after it. At the start it is kabbalas ol below reason. After the inner and encompassing service it becomes a bittul above reason, like Moshe, “the simple one believes everything,” because for G‑d, whom no thought can grasp, everything must be held in faith. These three stages are mapped onto the fruit of a tree in Parshas Kedoshim, following Likkutei Torah. The three years of orlah are Malchus receiving only from Netzach-Hod-Yesod, which calls for iskafya and an acknowledgment that is still hidden. The fourth year brings Tiferes into Malchus; in a person’s service, love and fear from the essential middot, as well as joy of heart in Tiferes, are drawn into thought, speech and action; its fruit is "קודש הילולים להוי׳" and is eaten only in Jerusalem, and the praise is only to G‑d’s name. The fifth year draws from the tip of the yud, Kesser: faith above reason in which the Essence is revealed. Its fruit is eaten anywhere; through thanking G‑d for these fruits, including those without sanctity, the Essence is drawn down to the lowest place, completing the dwelling for G‑d below. Because the fourth year follows the three years of orlah, its service too becomes a leap beyond order. This ties to the Rebbe Maharash’s “lechatchilah ariber” and to the leaping coming of Moshiach.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶12
The Alter Rebbe pairs heaven and earth with Torah and mitzvos (¶11) and makes the “house,” “with all your might,” encompassing like a house’s walls. The Rebbe maps these onto the levels of the soul. Torah and mitzvos are the service of nefesh-ruach-neshamah, the inner powers. The “house” is the unlimited service that comes from chayah and yechidah, the encompassing powers of the soul.
The Alter Rebbe
ובחי׳ בית היינו בכל מאדך שהוא בבחי׳ מקיף
- ¶13
In the Alter Rebbe’s reading, “to this one I will look” is prayer, continuing the theme of the “house.” The Rebbe follows the second explanation in Hemshech 5666 and notes the difference himself. On his reading, “what house will you build for Me” is a limitation: even the encompassing lights drawn by the service of “with all your might” are not a house for G‑d’s Essence, because they too are only a glimmer. “To this one I will look” stands in contrast: bittul alone draws down the Essence.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ אל זה אביט הוא בחינת תפלה
The Rebbe
כי גם המקיפים הכי עליונים הם הארה בלבד
- ¶13
The Alter Rebbe defines the “poor” as one who has nothing of his own. The Rebbe connects this with the moon, which “has nothing of its own” (Zohar). This explains why the verse is the haftarah for Shabbos Rosh Chodesh. At the molad, and even more in the moment before it when the moon is wholly hidden, its bittul is what lets it receive a new light. That light comes not from the sun itself but from beyond the sun.
The Alter Rebbe
בחינת ביטול דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום אפילו תורה ומצות
- ¶12
The Alter Rebbe uses “no thought can grasp Him” to show why the Infinite Light can only be encompassing. The Rebbe adds that the “poor” is also literally poor in knowledge, a person whose service rests on simple faith. He then distinguishes two kinds of poverty. Faith before the service is kabbalas ol below reason. Faith after the service of Torah, mitzvos and prayer is a bittul above reason, born of recognizing that no thought grasps Him, like Moshe, “the simple one believes everything.”
The Alter Rebbe
דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל ולאו מכל מדות
The Rebbe
שהאמונה שלו היא מצד ההכרה שלית מחשבה תפיסא בי׳ כלל
- ¶13
The Alter Rebbe reads “looking” as thought, which encompasses its object. The Rebbe uses the word to explain why “to this one I will look” comes after “the heavens are My throne” in the verse, even though simple faith is present at the start of the service. Looking means revelation, like something seen with the eyes. The Essence is present even in faith below reason, but it is revealed only in the faith above reason that comes after the service.
The Alter Rebbe
אביט הוא בחינת הבטה היא הסתכלות
The Rebbe
כי הבטה (ואל זה אביט) הוא גילוי (כמו דבר שרואה בעיניו)
The lesson
Faith and bittul are the foundation of all matters: before the service of Torah and mitzvos and the encompassing service of the house, faith is kabbalas ol below reason, and afterward the poverty is bittul in self-nullification above reason. The Essence is drawn to the lowest through gratitude for the fifth-year produce, including fruits without sanctity. Separately, the Rebbe connects the leap from the fourth-year service to the fifth-year revelation with "מלכתחילה אַריבער.”
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
2.5740Built on itד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the Alter Rebbe’s question: how can one say of G‑d, Who has no bodily form, “My throne,” “My footstool” and “house”? But the whole Torah is full of such language, from “G‑d created” and “G‑d said” to “the hand of G‑d” and “the eyes of G‑d.” The Rambam already explained that the Torah speaks in the language of people. So why raise the question about this verse in particular? The Rebbe answers with the Tzemach Tzedek’s reading of the phrase “He has no likeness of a body, nor a body.” Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are “the likeness of a body,” and Atzilus is “body.” G‑d’s Essence (Atzmus) is beyond both, beyond even the spiritual worlds and Atzilus, not only beyond the physical. According to the maamarim, this verse speaks of Torah, mitzvos and prayer, and all three belong to the Essence itself. Prayer is addressed to Him and not to His attributes; the mitzvos are His will; the Torah is His wisdom, and He and His wisdom and will are one. That is why the question is sharp here: how can the Essence, which is beyond all worlds, have a throne, a footstool and a house?
The Rebbe then explains that the “lowering” of the throne and the footstool is a preparation for the arousal from below. It enables a person’s service in Torah, mitzvos and prayer to draw down G‑d’s Essence itself, as the following verses say: “I dwell on high and in holiness.” He shows that the three things the Alter Rebbe calls “earth” are each rooted in the Essence: the Jewish people, the Oral Torah and the mitzvos. Their roots are revealed through Torah study preceded by the blessing “בא״י נותן התורה”; mitzvah observance with the blessing “אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו” and the bittul of “הקדמת נעשה לנשמע”; and prayer directed to Him rather than to His attributes. This is then drawn into the actual heavens and earth, culminating in the “new heavens and new earth” of the future: mitzvos fulfilled “according to the command of Your will,” Torah known as “they will all know Me,” and the rebuilt Beis HaMikdash. All of this comes about through our service now, in exile.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶1
The Alter Rebbe asks how G‑d can have a throne and footstool, but he does not say why the question is raised here rather than on every anthropomorphism in the Torah. The Rebbe supplies the answer through the Tzemach Tzedek’s reading of “no likeness of a body, nor a body”: even Atzilus is as nothing before the Essence. Torah, mitzvos and prayer, which this verse is about, relate to the Essence itself. So the question is about the Essence, not about ordinary figurative language.
The Alter Rebbe
להבין איך שייך עליו ית׳ לומר כסאי והדום רגלי
The Rebbe
אשר כל ענינים אלו שייכים אל העצמות, דהתפלה היא אליו ולא למדותיו
- ¶5
In ¶5, the Alter Rebbe explains that the Torah is the throne: it is made a seat for the Infinite Light, and His wisdom and understanding descend in it into physical things such as tefillin, tzitzis and charity. ¶6 defines the footstool as a small support set beneath the feet; the identification of earth with practical mitzvos appears later, in ¶9. The Rebbe adds that this lowering is a preparation for the arousal from below, through which service in Torah, mitzvos and prayer draws down G‑d’s Essence itself.
The Alter Rebbe
כך התורה נעשה כסא לאור א״ס ב״ה לבחינת ראשו
The Rebbe
ההמשכה וההשפלה היא הכנה אל האתעדל״ת שתהי׳ העבודה בתומ״צ ותפלה
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe lists the three things called “earth.” The Rebbe shows that each is rooted in the Essence. Israel’s thought preceded even the Torah, and G‑d “consulted” the souls of the righteous about creation. Beyond being “the mitzvos of Havayah,” the mitzvos have a level of “My mitzvos,” rooted in the Essence. And although the Torah “is not in heaven,” its root is above Chochmah: “the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one.”
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
וי״ל דג׳ ענינים אלו ג״כ מושרשים בעצמותו ית׳
- ¶11
The Rebbe explains why all three are alluded to in one verse. When Jews study Torah after the blessing “Giver of the Torah” (the Giver Himself), perform mitzvos after “Who sanctified us with His mitzvos,” put “we will do” before “we will hear” (bittul to the One Whose will it is), and pray to Him rather than to His attributes, they reveal these three as they are rooted in the Essence. He reads “hear the word of Havayah” as drawing this into the literal heavens and earth, which were made “by the word of G‑d,” until they become new heavens and a new earth.
The Alter Rebbe
וכולן נרמזין במקרא אחד. ארץ ארץ ארץ שמעי דבר ה׳
The Rebbe
הנה עי״ז מגלים ענין ג׳ בחי׳ אלו כפי שהם מושרשים בהעצמות
- ¶12
The Alter Rebbe reads the “house” as prayer, which draws down the encompassing light. The Rebbe reads “which house” and “which place of My rest” as the complete state that results from all three: settled permanence and G‑d’s satisfaction (will and delight). He ties it to the future building of the Beis HaMikdash. Although the Beis HaMikdash stands ready above, it is drawn down through Israel’s service from below.
The Alter Rebbe
אך אי זה בית כו׳ כי הכסא והשרפרף אין דרכן להעמידן בחוץ
The Rebbe
לשון מנוחה וקביעות, וגם לשון נחת רוח, בחי׳ רצון ותענוג
The lesson
Action is the main thing. Through studying the Torah, especially the Oral Torah, which spells out how to fulfill the mitzvos, through performing the mitzvos, and through prayer as a preparation before the Torah and mitzvah service and, afterward, as a ladder through which all these matters ascend, our service in exile brings very soon the mitzvos and Torah of the future and the building of the Beis HaMikdash.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
3.5744Opens from itד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
The Rebbe opens from this maamar’s question and uses its footstool explanation (¶6) and its general pairing of heaven and earth with Torah and mitzvos (¶11). The main body builds on the Rebbe Rashab’s ד״ה כי כאשר השמים החדשים תרע״ח and ד״ה ויקחו לי תרומה עטר״ת.
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the Alter Rebbe’s question at the start of Torah Ohr: how can G‑d, who has no body, speak of “My throne” and “My footstool”? He pairs it with the end of the same haftarah (Isaiah 66:22), “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make stand before Me, so shall your seed and your name stand,” which Likkutei Torah links to “the heavens are My throne.” Following the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar Ki Ka’asher HaShamayim HaChadashim (5678), he asks two further questions. What are the “new” heavens and earth? And what are “your seed” and “your name”?
He explains that heaven and earth are the two general categories of all levels of existence. Since creation was “for the sake of” Torah and Israel, both called reishis, the same pair exists within them. In Torah, study is “heaven” and the mitzvos are “earth.” In Israel, there are the masters of Torah and the masters of good deeds, Yissachar and Zevulun. In prayer, they are the two parshiyos of Shema, matching the two kinds of terumah: lifting up (ratzo) and setting apart (shov). Daily creation is only a “renewal of the old.” The new heavens and earth will be a complete novelty: the revelation of G‑d’s very Essence, above both the kav and the light that filled the void before the tzimtzum. That original light was there so the world could become accustomed to receiving it. In the same way, our avodah now, after the tzimtzum, gradually accustoms the world to the Essence. “Your seed” is the mitzvos, sown in the earth; “your name” is the Torah, which bears a person’s name when he gives himself over to it entirely. These will “stand” even then, and will not be like a candle at noon, because their avodah causes that revelation, and a drawing of the Essence is present in Israel. So “the heavens are My throne” exists both from the side of creation and from the side of Israel’s avodah, and through that avodah the new heavens come about.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe states that, in general, Torah and mitzvos are called heaven and earth. The Rebbe grounds this in the Sages’ teaching that heaven and earth were created for Torah and Israel, both called reishis. From this he extends the pair beyond Torah into Israel’s avodah: masters of Torah and masters of good deeds, Yissachar and Zevulun. He also stresses that this is a general division, unlike the many particular divisions within Torah.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
שגם בתורה ובישראל ישנו ענין השמים והארץ
- ¶5
The Alter Rebbe identifies the heavens with Torah. The Rebbe gives a concrete sense in which Torah stays “heaven” even while it is below on earth: words of Torah cannot receive impurity even when studied by one who is impure. Mitzvos, by contrast, are bound to physical things below.
The Alter Rebbe
שהשמים היא התורה
The Rebbe
ואין דברי תורה מקבלין טומאה
- ¶4
The Alter Rebbe uses the first parshah of Shema for the contemplation and love that draw the Infinite Light into Torah. The Rebbe, drawing on V’yikchu Li Terumah (5678), maps both parshiyos onto heaven and earth. The first parshah, kabbalas ol malchus shamayim with mesirus nefesh and “vedibarta bam,” is heaven: ratzo and lifting up. The second parshah, kabbalas ol mitzvos with “you shall gather your grain” and “you shall eat and be satisfied,” is earth: shov and setting apart.
The Alter Rebbe
וע״י זה ודברת בם ודברת לשון הנהגה והמשכה
The Rebbe
קאי בקבלת עול מצוות, בחי׳ ארץ, ולכן נאמר בה ואספת דגנך
- ¶6
In the terumah maamar, Torah is “lifting up” and mitzvos are “setting apart.” The Rebbe adds that, more precisely, mitzvos also contain lifting up. He proves this from the Alter Rebbe’s definition of the footstool as what raises the foot off the ground: mitzvos too raise physical things upward.
The Alter Rebbe
שמעמידין תחת רגלי היושב להגביה הרגל מעל הארץ
The Rebbe
הנה בפרטיות יותר יש במצוות גם בחי׳ הרמה
- ¶2
The Alter Rebbe teaches that a person “makes” the Torah, the heaven that is G‑d’s throne. The Rebbe explicitly says that Israel’s avodah brings about the new heavens and earth, as partners in creation. The connection to the Alter Rebbe’s statement that a person makes Torah is a thematic extension: alongside the throne as it exists from the side of creation, there is also the matter of the heavens as they are from the side of Israel’s avodah. Their seed and name will stand even when the Essence is revealed, because Israel’s avodah is the cause of that revelation.
The Alter Rebbe
שהאדם הוא העושה את התורה
The Rebbe
ישנו גם ענין השמים כסאי כו׳ כמו שהוא מצד עבודת ישראל
The lesson
Our Torah study and mitzvos, though done now after the tzimtzum, gradually accustom the world to the revelation of G‑d’s Essence. They are themselves what bring it about, so they will retain their standing even then.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
4.5745Built on itד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
Summary
The Rebbe opens from the Alter Rebbe’s question at the start of Torah Ohr: how can one say of G‑d “My throne” and “My footstool” when He has no bodily form? He sharpens it with the two known formulations. The first is “He has no body and no likeness of a body”; the second, from Yigdal, is “He has no likeness of a body and is not a body.” Following Ohr HaTorah, in the second formulation “body” refers to Atzilus and “likeness of a body” to the lower worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Either way, how can the Infinite be said to have “My throne” and “My foot”? His answer is that the verse is Torah, a word meaning instruction, so it teaches every Jew. Israel precede even the Torah, and heaven and earth were created for the sake of the Torah and Israel, both called “reishis.” Heaven and earth therefore exist first in the Torah and in Israel, and only from them do they chain down into the spiritual worlds and finally into the physical heaven and earth.
Within the Torah, “heaven” is the Written Torah, drawn down exactly as it is above (“do not add… do not subtract”). “Earth” is the Oral Torah: the student’s own innovations, rulings that take account of the world’s condition, and above all the halachah, where the supernal will is revealed (“Havayah is with him, for the halachah follows him”). “My throne” is G‑d’s lowering of Himself into the Torah, which requires concealment: kisei as kes-alef, covering the “Alef.” “My footstool” is the help from Heaven that lifts a person up to arrive at the halachah. The same split appears among Jews: some study the Torah as “heaven,” beyond details, where both of 49 opposing views are “words of the living G‑d”; others study it as “earth,” for practical halachah, by majority rule and with regard for the world. The Rebbe closes with the haftarah’s “new heavens and new earth.” Even the Torah of Moshiach, and Israel in the future (Yehudah and Ephraim), will keep this division. Present Torah and mitzvos will remain recognizable then (“so shall your seed and your name endure”). This ties the beginning of Torah Ohr to the end of Likkutei Torah: “their beginning is wedged in their end.”
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶1
The Alter Rebbe states the question with the phrase "אין לו דמות הגוף.” The Rebbe sets out the two traditional formulations and their inner meaning. In the first formulation, "אין לו גוף" refers to levels from Asiyah and the vessels through tzimtzum, while "ואין לו דמות הגוף" means that He is above even that. In the second, "האצילות נק׳ גוף" and "בי״ע נק׳ דמות הגוף.” The question therefore remains under either formulation: how can He have "כסאי והדום רגלי"?
The Alter Rebbe
להבין איך שייך עליו ית׳ לומר כסאי והדום רגלי. שהרי אין לו דמות הגוף
The Rebbe
שהאצילות נק׳ גוף, משא״כ בי״ע נק׳ דמות הגוף
- ¶1
The Alter Rebbe moves directly to identifying “heaven” with the Torah. The Rebbe explains why this is the primary meaning and not a mere allegory. A verse is instruction for each Jew; Israel precede the Torah; and heaven and earth were created for the Torah and Israel. So heaven and earth exist first in the Torah and in Israel, and only afterward in the worlds, down to the literal heaven and earth.
The Alter Rebbe
כי הנה התורה היא מן השמי׳ כמ״ש כי מן השמים דברתי
The Rebbe
שב׳ הענינים דשמים וארץ ישנם בתורה ובישראל, ומהם משתלשל
- ¶5
The Rebbe accepts the Alter Rebbe’s reading of the throne as a lowering, like sitting compared with standing. He adds a second meaning: kisei is from kisui, kes-alef, covering and concealing the “Alef,” the Master of the world. G‑d’s descent into the Torah is possible only through concealment.
The Alter Rebbe
שהשמים היא התורה הרי היא כסא ע״ד משל שנעשה לשבת
The Rebbe
כי כדי שתוכל להיות הירידה למטה הוא ע״י ההעלם והסתר דוקא
- ¶9
In the Alter Rebbe’s maamar the footstool raises Knesses Yisrael through practical mitzvos and charity (¶9), while separately “earth” is the Oral Torah, the grasp of G‑d’s will (¶11). The Rebbe joins the two: “the earth is My footstool” means the Oral Torah reveals the supernal will through help from Above that lifts a person to the correct halachah. He also narrows the will to halachah specifically, as against non-halachic views, which are only “words of the living G‑d”; and he includes in “earth” the student’s innovations and rulings that take account of what the public can bear.
The Alter Rebbe
וארץ נקרא תורה שבע״פ כי ארץ מלשון רצון
The Rebbe
שיש לו סייעתא דשמיא לכוון ההלכה, והוי׳ עמו שהלכה כמותו
- ¶11
For the Alter Rebbe, Knesses Yisrael as a whole is “earth.” The Rebbe divides Israel itself into heaven and earth. “Heavenly” Jews study the Torah above details, where opposing views coexist, rooted in G‑d as “the impossible of impossibles” and in supernal free choice. “Earthly” Jews study for practical halachah, following the majority and reckoning with the world, as in “many did as Rabbi Yishmael and succeeded.” He extends the division to the future as well: the Torah of Moshiach (“from their smallest to their greatest”) and Israel as Yehudah and Ephraim.
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
דיש בחי׳ בישראל השייכים לשמים (הימל-אידן) ויש בחי׳ בישראל השייכים לארץ
The lesson
The verse is instruction for every Jew: the parallel between study of Torah associated with heaven and study aimed at halachah and engagement with the world associated with earth is stated; calling these two modes themselves G‑d’s throne and footstool is an interpretive synthesis, not explicit. The avodah of Torah and mitzvos now, though incomparable to the revelations of the future, will remain recognizable and enduring then.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
5.5746Built on itד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the question the Alter Rebbe asks at the start of Torah Ohr: how can one say of G‑d, who has no bodily form, “My throne” and “My footstool”? Following the Alter Rebbe’s analogy, he explains that a throne lowers the one who sits, so it signifies G‑dliness drawn down from above to below. A footstool lifts the feet off the ground, so it signifies elevation from below to above. A person brings about both through his avodah. Torah study (“heaven,” fire and water) makes G‑d’s “throne” and draws G‑dliness down. Mitzvos done with physical objects (“earth”) make the “footstool”: they raise physical things, and even lofty creatures that are physical relative to the divine word that sustains them. So although the world was created complete, our service adds to it, and in the future its completeness will exceed that of creation.
He then raises a difficulty from the parshah, Kedoshim, which is read on the same Shabbos as this haftorah. “Be holy, for I am holy” implies that Israel’s holiness results from G‑d’s holiness. Yet the haftorah presents Israel’s work as producing effects above; the Midrash of the three crowns supports holiness above coming from Israel. The Rebbe notes the caveat that the Midrash itself says the upper beings (angels) crown G‑d, while other sources explain that this too depends on Israel. He resolves this with the Tanchuma: “You are sanctified through Me and I am sanctified through you.” Both are true. The soul (“the soul You gave me is pure”) is first given power from above, and with that power it serves below and adds holiness above. Even within the crowns there are both stages: they are made below and then given by the King, and one crown rests above His head, from beyond the bounds of higher and lower. The same two poles appear in Sefiras HaOmer. Counting is avodah from below; the verse’s reference to the morrow of the Shabbos concerns the timing, while the strength for counting comes from the supernal Shabbos and Pesach. He closes by wishing that this learning should descend into speech, all 248 limbs and action, and become a preparation for receiving the Torah with joy and inwardness, with Moshiach.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶5
In the analogy of sitting, the Alter Rebbe speaks of the head and brain being lowered, which he applies to G‑d’s will and wisdom descending into physical mitzvos. The Rebbe adds that the whole body descends, not only the head. The throne therefore signifies a general drawing down of G‑dliness from above to below.
The Alter Rebbe
וע״י ישיבה נשפל קומתו
The Rebbe
ויש להוסיף בזה, שהירידה וההשפלה היא לא רק בראשו אלא גם בכל גופו
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe already describes the throne as Torah and the footstool as raising Israel through practical mitzvos, with the opposite directions present in ¶5 and ¶9; ¶11 supplies the general pairing of heaven with Torah and earth with mitzvos. The Rebbe’s useful explicit synthesis pairs the directions and their effects: Torah study effects the throne by drawing G‑dliness from above to below, while mitzvos in physical things effect the footstool by elevating from below to above.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
וע״י קיום המצוות בדברים גשמיים, האדם פועל ענין ההדום, העלאה מלמטה למעלה
- ¶9
For the Alter Rebbe, what practical mitzvos raise is the “foot,” the Community of Israel, and the emotions are lifted into the intellect. The Rebbe extends the elevation to the physical objects of the mitzvos themselves. He then extends it further, to even lofty creatures, which count as physical relative to the divine word that gives them life. Through this the world, created complete, gains a further completeness in the future.
The Alter Rebbe
להגביה׳ ולהעלותה ממטה למעלה הוא ע״י בחי׳ הארץ שהם מצות מעשיות
The Rebbe
גם נבראים נעלים שהם גשמיים לגבי הדבר הוי׳ המחי׳ אותם
- ¶2
The Alter Rebbe’s ¶2 point is that a person makes the Torah, with Binah and contemplation in the heart drawn from supernal mercy; the arousal from below that draws down the Infinite Light into Torah is discussed in ¶4. The Rebbe’s discussion of holiness flowing from above to Israel and being produced above through Israel is a separate development, not specifically an elaboration of ¶2. The Rebbe defines the order: first the soul receives empowerment from above, through the soul given generously, and then its service below adds holiness above.
The Alter Rebbe
שהאדם הוא העושה את התורה
The Rebbe
אתם מתקדשים בי ואני מתקדש בכם. ונמצא, ששניהם אמת
The lesson
A Jew’s capacity to serve is first a gift from above, and with it he must add holiness above through Torah and physical mitzvos. The learning of these ideas should not stay in the mind but descend into speech, into all of one’s limbs and into actual deed, as preparation, through a bright and joyful Sefiras HaOmer, for receiving the Torah with inwardness.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
6.5747Opens from itד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי
The Rebbe opens explicitly from this Torah Ohr maamar and its reading of “Earth, earth, earth” (¶11). The core of his maamar, three as giver and four as receiver with Atzilus as the fourth, draws mainly on Likkutei Torah, beginning of Balak, and the other sources he cites (Torah Ohr 59a, Biurei HaZohar Balak, Tanya ch. 36) rather than on this maamar.
Summary
The Rebbe opens from the Torah Ohr’s teaching that heaven and earth are found in the Torah and in Israel. Since G‑d “looked into the Torah and created the world,” the same pattern must also appear in the worlds. The Alter Rebbe’s verse “Earth, earth, earth” speaks of three levels of earth. The Rebbe says these are the three worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and heaven is the fourth, Atzilus, though there are also three aspects within heaven. Atzilus is so close to G‑d that it reaches the lower worlds only through the parsa, the dividing screen. More broadly, earth is the whole order of descent (seder hishtalshelus), counted as three, and heaven, the fourth, is G‑d’s Essence (Atzmus). This raises a question. Elsewhere the three are Atzilus, Beriah and Yetzirah, and the fourth is Asiyah. How can Atzilus be the fourth?
The answer is that three is the number of the giver (mashpia) and four the number of the receiver (mekabel). The Menorah had three steps, because it gives light. Yaakov’s ladder had four rungs, and the chariot (merkavah) has four legs, a separate existence made nullified to its rider; David merited to be its fourth leg. From the standpoint of the order of descent, the upper three worlds give and Asiyah receives, so Asiyah is the fourth. From the standpoint of G‑d’s Essence, Atzilus itself is a descent. Only through the descent into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, down to this world, does the advantage of light come and Atzilus is elevated. Seen this way, the three lower worlds are the givers and Atzilus is the fourth, the receiver. Both counts are therefore true. The Rebbe ties this to the haftarah: sun and moon unite, the giver drawing to the receiver, and through “your seat will be empty” (the moon’s self-diminishment, David’s seat) comes “you will be remembered” from the Essence. He closes with blessings for the speedy coming of Moshiach.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe reads the three “earths” of the verse within Torah and Israel: the Community of Israel, the Oral Torah and the mitzvos. The Rebbe carries this into the structure of the worlds, on the principle that the world was created through the Torah. The three earths are Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and heaven is Atzilus, which reaches them only through the parsa.
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
דג״פ ארץ הם נגד ג׳ עולמות בי״ע
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe gives a general reading (Torah and mitzvos) and a particular one (Written and Oral Torah). The Rebbe adds a still broader one: “earth” is the entire order of descent, which is counted as three, and “heaven,” the fourth level, is G‑d’s Essence itself.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
וי״ל דארץ קאי על כללות סדר ההשתלשלות
- ¶8
The Alter Rebbe states that in returning light the lower is superior. The Rebbe does not cite this line, but his resolution works along parallel lines. He resolves the conflicting counts of three and four by viewing them from two standpoints. From the order of descent, the upper worlds give and Asiyah receives. From the Essence, Atzilus is a descent, and service in Asiyah elevates it. In that sense Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah become the givers and Atzilus the fourth, the receiver.
The Alter Rebbe
ואור חוזר ממטה למעלה כל מה שלמטה הוא העליון
The Rebbe
ואדרבא, דוקא ע״י העבודה דעשי׳ פועלים עילוי באצילות
- ¶7
The Alter Rebbe’s image of Israel as the “foot” that carries the head is a parallel to the Rebbe’s discussion of the receiver’s advantage: the fourth leg of the chariot is a separate existence made nullified to its rider, and David merited to be that leg. The Rebbe also discusses the moon’s self-diminishment and David’s empty seat in connection with remembrance from G‑d’s Essence; this is a parallel theme, not an explicit link to the Alter Rebbe’s foot image.
The Alter Rebbe
כנסת ישראל נקרא רגל
The Rebbe
שדוד זכה להיות הרגל הד׳ של המרכבה
The lesson
Elevation even of Atzilus comes specifically through service in Asiyah, the lowest world. Self-diminishment, like the moon’s, draws down remembrance from G‑d’s Essence itself.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
7.5748Built on itד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי
Summary
The Rebbe does not open with a difficulty in the verse. He opens with a structural observation: the Alter Rebbe’s Torah Ohr begins with the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i,” and Likkutei Torah, its continuation, ends with a maamar on the same haftorah verse. This, he says, is an open expression of “their end is wedged in their beginning and their beginning in their end.” It fits because heaven and earth are a general (kelali) matter, and the maamar itself speaks of heaven and earth, beginning and end, and the bond between them. From the Alter Rebbe’s statement that three things are called “earth” (Oral Torah, mitzvos, Israel), the Rebbe derives three corresponding levels of “heaven.” Through them comes “the heavens are My throne,” so that it is Israel and the King alone.
The Rebbe then finds the number three throughout. Isaiah 66:2 gives action, speech and thought, which in avodah are the three pillars of the world: gemilus chassadim, Torah and prayer. There are three Batei Mikdash, and “what house” refers specifically to the third, as with Yaakov, who called it “house.” To this he links Yaakov’s boundless inheritance, the third Shabbos meal, the men, women and children of Hakhel, and the three crowns of the Midrash. Heaven (fire and water, the middos) and earth (Malchus, kabbalas ol) must be drawn into a “house.” This happens through avodah in the three lines, using the three garments of thought, speech and action. This avodah brings the future revelation of the new heavens and new earth, and the new Torah that will go forth from G‑d; it brings the building of the Third Temple nearer. The Rebbe suggests that Israel’s seed and name are even higher than the new heavens and earth. He closes with a prayer to hear Torah, both nigleh and pnimiyus, from Moshiach and the Rebbeim.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶8
The Alter Rebbe uses this Sefer Yetzirah principle to explain how the ‘foot’ (Israel, action) is really the ‘head.’ The Rebbe applies the same principle to the Alter Rebbe’s own seforim: Torah Ohr opens with this verse and Likkutei Torah closes with it. He explains that because heaven and earth are a general matter, the principle shows itself openly here, and the maamar’s own subject is heaven and earth, beginning and end, and their connection.
The Alter Rebbe
וזהו נעוץ תחילתן בסופן שסופן הוא תחילתן
The Rebbe
נעוץ סופן בתחלתן ותחלתן בסופן
- ¶11
The Alter Rebbe names three ‘earths’ but pairs only two of them with a ‘heaven’: Written Torah with Oral Torah, and Torah with mitzvos. The Rebbe completes the symmetry. Opposite Israel as ‘earth’ stands ‘the avodah of Israel in the manner of heaven.’ Through all three pairs, the heavens become G‑d’s throne, so that it is ‘Israel and the King alone.’
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
ומזה מובן גם שיש ג׳ בחי׳ שמים
- ¶13
The Alter Rebbe reads the verse as action (mitzvos), speech (Oral Torah) and thought (prayer). The Rebbe maps this onto the three pillars of Avos. Gemilus chassadim is chiefly action, which fits the Alter Rebbe’s making charity the general form of practical mitzvos in ¶9. Torah is chiefly speech, since ‘they are life to those who utter them with the mouth.’ Prayer is chiefly thought, because it stands in place of the sacrifice, where thought is a principal element, as cited from halachah. He adds that these three in man’s avodah encompass the entire order of hishtalshelus.
The Alter Rebbe
ואת כל אלה ידי עשתה בחינת עשיה היינו מעשה המצות
The Rebbe
ובעבודה הם ג׳ העמודים דתורה עבודה וגמ״ח
- ¶12
For the Alter Rebbe, the ‘house’ is prayer and ‘with all your might,’ the encompassing light. The Rebbe reads ‘what house’ as referring specifically to the Third Beis HaMikdash, following the Gemara that it will be like Yaakov, who called it ‘house.’ He says this house is built through avodah in the three lines with the three garments. Because the Third Temple continues the first two like a pledge that must be returned as it was, G‑d is bound, as it were, to restore it.
The Alter Rebbe
אך אי זה בית כו׳ כי הכסא והשרפרף אין דרכן להעמידן בחוץ
The Rebbe
ודוקא על מקדש זה השלישי כתיב
- ¶1
In ¶1, the Alter Rebbe identifies the Torah with the level of heaven, and heaven as fire and water; ¶4 explains that the Torah is drawn into the world as the 248 positive commandments from the right and the 365 prohibitions from the left. The Rebbe reads fire and water as the general middos and the ‘earth’ as Malchus, which is kabbalas ol. Both must be drawn into the ‘house.’ This reading leads to the future new heavens and new earth, and to the ‘new Torah’ that will go forth from G‑d.
The Alter Rebbe
כי שמים אש ומים
The lesson
Through serving G‑d in all three channels (prayer in thought, Torah in speech, and charity and kindness in action), and by gathering men, women and children in the spirit of Hakhel, a Jew builds the ‘house’ for G‑d and hastens the Third Beis HaMikdash.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
With the same ד״ה
These 3 maamarim of the Rebbe open with the same words as this one (5731–5746): where each is printed, and the full text free at Lahak.
AI summary Written by Claude Opus 5.5 reading each of the Rebbe’s maamarim, from the scan corrected by AI, beside the Alter Rebbe’s maamar and our translation; not yet reviewed by a human editor: check the maamar itself before relying on a detail. The Hebrew words are quoted exactly. The full text of the Rebbe’s maamarim is published by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak, free to read and print on lahak.org, and in print by Kehot. This page gives only short summaries and brief quotes.
In the Rebbe’s light · 11
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
In a sicha of Shabbos Noach 5721 (unedited) the Rebbe asks why the „התושבע״פ דתורת החסידות” (“Oral Torah” of Chassidus) opens with this haftarah verse, and answers from the Alter Rebbe’s image: on a throne only the head is lowered (ירידת והשפלת הראש דוקא), as the Torah’s inner dimension came within the grasp of even the smallest, so that the feet, the mitzvos, might rise and be filled with its life; this verse, he says, states „החידוש של כללות ענין החסידות” (the whole novelty of Chassidus). His other readings follow both movements: the lowering reaches even a Jew’s review of his learning, and the Oral Torah rises from below because it must grow, as growth belongs to the earth (Re’eh 5738, unedited); the footstool keeps the flow from feeding the outside forces (שלא יהי׳ יניקה ללעו״ז), as the Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss here already says, and within the Torah it is the Oral Torah, which alone gives the halachah in practice (Noach 5731, unedited); the “foot” called “head” is a vessel for what is highest (Likkutei Sichos vol. 9); and „אלף פעמים ככה” (“a thousand times”) is a literal number (a 5718 letter, following the Tzemach Tzedek). In Vaera 5746 (unedited) he sets three heavens against the three earths, and reads „ואל זה אביט” (“to this one I will look”) as a bittul above heaven and earth that draws the light joining them. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the thread is that the lowest service is where the highest is received.
Paragraph by paragraph
- ¶1
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Devarim (Shabbos Chazon) 5740, explaining why Likkutei Torah has for Parshas Devarim a single maamar, on the haftarah’s closing verse „ציון במשפט תפדה” (“Zion shall be redeemed with justice”), the Rebbe notes that no other parsha’s maamar is on a haftarah verse alone, and in a note he takes up the opening of Torah Ohr.
The Rebbe notes that Torah Ohr on Bereishis opens with two maamarim on verses of the haftarah of Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, „השמים כסאי” (“The heavens are My throne”) and „כי כאשר השמים החדשים” (“For as the new heavens”), not on verses of the parsha. Yet they belong to the parsha’s own content, which opens with the creation of „את השמים ואת הארץ” (“the heavens and the earth”), and maamarim on Bereishis’s own verses follow them; and, he adds, these maamarim were said on a Shabbos Rosh Chodesh (בשבת ר״ח).
The Alter Rebbe
השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי אי זה בית וגו׳
The Rebbe
פסוקים מההפטרה (דשבת ר״ח), אבל (נוסף לזה שגם הם שייכים לתוכן הסדרה, בראשית גו׳ את השמים ואת הארץ)
Likkutei Sichos, vol. כט, p. 10, note 16 (and its starred note) · ש״פ דברים, תש״מ
- ¶5
The Rebbe explains
On Shabbos Noach 5721, which fell on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, the Shabbos of the haftarah “The heavens are My throne,” the Rebbe asked why the „התושבע״פ דתורת החסידות” (“Oral Torah” of Chassidus), Torah Ohr, opens with this verse and with “For as the new heavens,” verses of the Rosh Chodesh haftarah rather than of Bereishis (unedited).
The Rebbe reads the throne exactly: sitting lowers the head while the feet stay where they are („ירידת והשפלת הראש דוקא, שהרי הרגלים נשארים על מקומם”), and the footstool then lifts the feet. So the lowering belongs to the Torah, its inner dimension included, which „שירדה ונמשכה בהשגה גם לקטן שבקטנים” (came down even into the grasp of the smallest), and its purpose is the “footstool”: that the mitzvos rise and be filled with the life of the Torah’s inner dimension rather than done by rote („מצות אנשים מלומדה”). That, he says, is why the Oral Torah of Chassidus opens with this verse: it states „החידוש של כללות ענין החסידות” (the whole novelty of Chassidus). In his maamar of Shabbos Kedoshim 5746 (unedited) he puts the image otherwise: not only the head but the whole body comes down by means of the chair.
The Alter Rebbe
וישיבה זו היא השפלה לגבי עמידה
The Rebbe
כיון שבפסוק זה נתבאר החידוש של כללות ענין החסידות, להמשיך פנימיות התורה בהשגה כדי לפעול חיות בקיום המצוות
Toras Menachem (Hisvaaduyos), vol. כט (תשכ״א א), p. 150, 152–153 · ש״פ נח, בדר״ח מרחשון, ה׳תשכ״א
- ¶5
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” said on Motzaei Shabbos Re’eh, Rosh Chodesh Elul 5738 (unedited), the Rebbe recalls „דיוקי רבותינו נשיאינו” (“the precise readings of our Rebbeim”) of this verse, „החל מרבינו הזקן בדרוש ד״ה זה שבתחלת ספרו תורה אור” (“beginning with the Alter Rebbe in the maamar at the start of his Torah Ohr”), and retells this paragraph.
Explaining that the Torah is a throne, the lowering of G‑d’s wisdom and understanding into physical things, the Rebbe follows the descent past the Written Torah into the Oral Torah, down to „מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש” (what “a veteran student will innovate”). And because „כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (“whoever reads and repeats, the Holy One reads and repeats opposite him”), even reviewing what one has already learned „נשפל ונמשך אור א״ס ב״ה למטה” (lowers and draws the Infinite Light below).
The Alter Rebbe
ובתורה יורדים ומשתלשלים חכמתו ובינתו בדברים גשמיים
The Rebbe
דאפי׳ כשחוזר על ענין שכבר למד, הנה, ע״י לימודו נשפל ונמשך אור א״ס ב״ה למטה
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשל״ח, p. שסא · מוצאי ש״פ ראה, אדר״ח אלול ה׳תשל״ח
- ¶6
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Noach, the second day of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5731 (unedited), which continues the maamarim before it on the earth’s precedence over heaven, the Rebbe takes up this maamar’s question and its throne and footstool.
The Rebbe explains why a footstool is needed at all: when the flow is drawn from above all the way down to “the feet,” this lowest world, „אפשר להיות ההמשכה גם למקום שאינו ראוי” (it could reach an unfit place) and give the outside forces a hold, and „השרפרף שמגבי׳ את הרגלים” (the footstool lifts the feet) so that it does not. The Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss on this maamar already gives the footstool this purpose (Or HaTorah Bereishis vol. 1, p. 1); the Rebbe does not cite it. His own step is within the Torah itself: the Written Torah is the throne and the Oral Torah the footstool, for „דדוקא מתושבע״פ יכולים לדעת ההלכה לפועל” (only through the Oral Torah does one know the halachah in practice), and so separate from what is forbidden and refine the sparks.
The Alter Rebbe
והוא מה שמעמידין תחת רגלי היושב להגביה הרגל מעל הארץ
The Rebbe
דכשנמשך מלמעלה למטה אפשר להיות ההמשכה גם למקום שאינו ראוי, וע״ז הו״ע השרפרף שמגבי׳ את הרגלים
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תש״ל–תשל״א, p. 344–345 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון, ה׳תשל״א
- ¶7
The Rebbe explains
In Likkutei Sichos vol. 9, Eikev, sicha 1 (from the maamar and sicha of Shabbos Eikev 5711 and the sicha of 20 Menachem Av 5729), the Rebbe asks why the covenant and kindness sworn to the fathers are made to depend on “עקב תשמעון,” on keeping even the light mitzvos “one tramples with the heel”; note 30, from a sicha of Shabbos Mevarchim Iyar 5725, takes up this paragraph.
The Rebbe argues that the service of the “heel,” kabbalas ol (קבלת עול) with nothing of one’s own feeling mixed in, makes a person a vessel for G‑d’s Essence („שהעבודה דקב״ע היא כלי להעצמות”). In a note he sets aside the simpler reading, that the heel is no closer to the will than the head and only lacks the concealment the head’s intellect brings: the Alter Rebbe’s words „ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש” (“in this respect the foot is called head”) mean that the foot, for all its lowliness, is itself „כלי לבחי׳ תחלתן” (a vessel for “their beginning”), as the head is a vessel for the intellect.
The Alter Rebbe
ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש והראש רגל שהוא למטה מהרגל במדרגה זו
The Rebbe
משמע שמעלת הרגל ”בבחי׳ זו” היא בדוגמת מעלת הראש בבחי׳ הגילויים. והיינו שנעיצת תחלתן בסופן הוא באופן, שבחי׳ סופן — רגל, הוא כלי לבחי׳ תחלתן
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ט, p. 75, note 30 · ש״פ עקב תשי״א; כ׳ מנ״א תשכ״ט; the note: ש״מ אייר תשכ״ה
- ¶8
The Rebbe explains
In a letter of 22 Tammuz 5718 to a rav who had written of his years in a community’s rabbinate, closing with the remark that his private life did not satisfy him, and who complained that the time at his disposal had shrunk since then, the Rebbe answers with this paragraph.
The Rebbe reads „מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה” (“his mind and heart become a thousand times as pure”) as a number, not a figure of speech. Citing “Rabbeinu HaZaken (Torah Ohr, at its beginning),” he tells a rav who complained that the time at his disposal had shrunk that his communal work is charity, through which his success grows a thousandfold; and following, he says, what the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses on this maamar explain, it is „אלף פעמים ממש” (“a thousand times literally”): in one hour he achieves what once needed a thousand.
The Alter Rebbe
נעשה מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה
The Rebbe
וע״פ המבואר בהגהות הצ״צ, ה״ז אלף פעמים ממש ולא גוזמא קתני, ז.א. שבשעה אחת מצליח מה שלפני זה הי׳ זקוק לאלף שעות
Igros Kodesh, vol. יז, p. רסב–רסג · כ״ב תמוז, תשי״ח
- ¶11
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Motzaei Shabbos Re’eh, Rosh Chodesh Elul 5738 (unedited), having retold this maamar’s throne and footstool and said, as the next maamar in Torah Ohr opens, that „שמים וארץ נבראו בשביל תורה וישראל” (heaven and earth were created for the Torah and for Israel) and so must be found in them, the Rebbe sets out the two directions within the Torah itself.
The Rebbe gives the reason for this paragraph’s two directions within the Torah. The Written Torah is „המשכה מלמעלמ״ט” (“from above to below”) because it is fixed: counted and numbered (מנוי וספור) as it was given from heaven, down to the number of its cantillation marks, vowels, crowns and letters. The Oral Torah is „העלאה מלמטלמ״ע” (“from below to above”) because it has to grow and be increased (“לאפשא לה,” in the Zohar’s words); and the power of growth, which is without limit, is found in this physical earth and not in the heavens, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Iggeres HaKodesh (sec. 20).
The Alter Rebbe
והיינו מלמעלה למטה אבל תורה שבע״פ עיקרה ממטה למעלה
The Rebbe
ותורה שבע״פ ענינה העלאה מלמטלמ״ע, שזהו מה שבתושבע״פ צ״ל הענין דלאפשא לה, כדאי׳ בזהר
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשל״ח, p. שסב–שסג · מוצאי ש״פ ראה, אדר״ח אלול ה׳תשל״ח
- ¶11
Background from the Rebbe
In Likkutei Sichos vol. 14 (from sichos of Shavuos and Shabbos Nasso 5730 and 5731), explaining the order of reasons the Alter Rebbe gives in his laws of Torah study for a woman’s share in the Torah, the Rebbe turns to the inner dimension: Israel’s task of “conquering” the world is done with the power of the Torah.
The Rebbe explains why “all desires cannot equal her,” not even „אפי׳ חפצי שמים” (“the desires of heaven”), the mitzvos: the mitzvos „נתלבשו ממש בדברים גשמיים” (are clothed in physical things), but the Torah, even after it is clothed in physicality, stays „הלא כה דברי כאש” (“like fire”); it is “heaven” itself. His note sends to this maamar, where Torah and mitzvos are heaven and earth.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
כי המצוות (”חפצי שמים”) נתלבשו ממש בדברים גשמיים, אבל התורה גם לאחרי שנתלבשה בגשמיות כתיב ”הלא כה דברי כאש”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. יד, p. 43–44, note 56 (on p. 44) · חג השבועות וש״פ נשא, תש״ל ותשל״א
- ¶11
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Vaera, Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5746 (unedited), which opens “as explained in Torah Ohr,” the Rebbe sets three heavens (ג׳ בחי׳ שמים) against this paragraph’s three earths (ג׳ בחינות ארץ). These pairs frame the whole maamar: what heaven and earth each stir in a person’s service, and how heaven can be a “throne.”
From „ארץ ארץ ארץ” (“Earth, earth, earth”) the Rebbe infers that there are also three heavens, and names them: opposite the Community of Israel, Z”A, for „דשמים וארץ הם בחי׳ ז״א ומלכות” (heaven and earth are, as is known, Z”A and Malchus), and the Community of Israel is Malchus; opposite the Oral Torah, the Written Torah („מן השמים השמיעך את קולו”, “from heaven He let you hear His voice”); and opposite the mitzvos, given on earth in physical things, the study of Torah, which as a whole was given from heaven. In his maamar of Noach 5748 he names the heaven opposite Israel differently: Israel’s own service “in the manner of heaven.”
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות וכולן נרמזין במקרא אחד
The Rebbe
דג׳ בחינות ארץ הן כנס״י ותושבע״פ ומצוות, וג׳ בחי׳ שמים הן, ז״א ותושב״כ ותורה. דהנה ידוע דשמים וארץ הם בחי׳ ז״א ומלכות (כנס״י)
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשמ״ו, p. פח · ש״פ וארא, ר״ח שבט ה׳תשמ״ו
- ¶13
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Vaera, Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5746 (unedited), the Rebbe takes up a question the Tzemach Tzedek asks in Or HaTorah: how “heaven,” the revelation of G‑dliness above the worlds and so an encompassing light, can be a “throne,” a lowering and also a covering (kisei from kisui). He answers from Or HaTorah that the truest encompassing light, beyond makif and pnimi, can come down lowest, and then turns to the haftarah’s next verse.
The Rebbe reads „ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח” (“to this one I will look, to the poor and broken of spirit”) as utter bittul, “as the maamarim explain,” and gives its reason: to draw down the highest encompassing light, which is beyond existence altogether, the service must be „ביטול המציאות לגמרי” (the nullification of one’s existence altogether). From the standpoint of that bittul, he adds, it makes no difference whether the service is in spiritual matters (heaven) or in physical ones (earth), for a person’s whole existence is only „לשמש את קונו” (to serve his Maker). And the light drawn through it joins heaven and earth below: Z”A and Malchus, the Written and the Oral Torah.
The Alter Rebbe
והבטה זו היא אל עני ונכה רוח בחינת ביטול דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום אפילו תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
צ״ל העבודה דביטול המציאות לגמרי, הביטול דדכא ושפל רוח. דמצד ביטול זה אין הפרש אם העבודה היא ברוחניות (שמים) או בגשמיות (ארץ)
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשמ״ו, p. פט–צא · ש״פ וארא, ר״ח שבט ה׳תשמ״ו
- ¶13
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar of Shabbos Noach 5731 (unedited), having shown that the “earth,” the Oral Torah and the practical mitzvos, has an advantage over “heaven” because the physical comes into being from the power of G‑d’s Essence, the Rebbe turns to the haftarah’s next verse.
The Rebbe reads „ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח” (“to this one I will look, to the poor and broken of spirit”) as „בחי׳ ארץ” (the level of “earth”) itself: that is why it is to this one, of all, that He looks. The Alter Rebbe reads the same words as prayer („בחינת תפלה”), the encompassing “gaze” that Torah and mitzvos cannot draw.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ אל זה אביט הוא בחינת תפלה
The Rebbe
וזהו גם מה שממשיך בההפטרה ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח, שהוא בחי׳ ארץ, ולכן דוקא אל זה אביט
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תש״ל–תשל״א, p. 346 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון, ה׳תשל״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).
The question and the Torah as “heaven” ¶1
“The heavens are My throne and the earth is My footstool; what house…,” etc. [We need] to understand how it is fitting to say of Him, blessed be He, “My throne” and “My footstool.”
The maamar opens with Isaiah’s verse and raises its problem: a throne and a footstool belong to someone with a body who sits in a place. How can such words be said of G‑d?
¶5 Hold this question: paragraph 5 explains how the heavens are His “throne.”
¶9 Hold this question too: paragraph 9 explains what makes the earth His “footstool.”
For He has no bodily form and is not within the bounds of place, as it is written, “Behold, there is a place with Me”: for He is the place of the world, and the world is not His place.
G‑d has no bodily form (as the Yigdal hymn, based on Maimonides, puts it) and is not in space. The Midrash reads “Behold, there is a place with Me” as saying that G‑d contains the world, not that the world contains Him; so a “throne” cannot be meant literally.
אך להבין הענין כי הנה התורה היא מן השמי׳ כמ״ש כי מן השמים דברתי10 וגו׳
But to understand the matter: the Torah is from heaven, as it is written, “For from heaven I spoke,” etc.;
The answer begins with the Torah, which G‑d gave “from heaven.” The Alter Rebbe will show that the “heavens” that are G‑d’s throne are the Torah.
that is, it is of the level of “heaven,” for shamayim (heaven) is fire and water. And so it is written concerning the Torah, “From His right hand, a fiery law for them.”
The Sages read shamayim (heaven) as a fusion of esh (fire) and mayim (water). The Torah is likewise a blend of both, for it came “from His right hand” (the right is kindness, like water) as “a fiery law” (fire stands for strictness).
¶4 Paragraph 4 explains Torah’s “fire and water”: drawn down as right and left commandments.
The paragraph poses the maamar’s question — how can the boundless G‑d have a “throne” and a “footstool”? — and begins the answer by identifying “heaven” with the Torah, which, like the heavens, is fire and water.
Or HaTorah (as the Kehot note reports) observes that here “fire and water” are read as Gevurah and Chesed, while elsewhere in Torah Ohr (Miketz, “For with You is the source of life,” and later in this maamar, “shamayim is sham mayim… Torah comes from Chochmah”) the Torah’s “water” is identified with Chochmah. Several manuscripts add: the right is the aspect of water, and from the aspect of fire comes “a law for them.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In a sicha of Shabbos Devarim (Shabbos Chazon) 5740, explaining why Likkutei Torah has for Parshas Devarim a single maamar, on the haftarah’s closing verse „ציון במשפט תפדה” (“Zion shall be redeemed with justice”), the Rebbe notes that no other parsha’s maamar is on a haftarah verse alone, and in a note he takes up the opening of Torah Ohr.
The Rebbe notes that Torah Ohr on Bereishis opens with two maamarim on verses of the haftarah of Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, „השמים כסאי” (“The heavens are My throne”) and „כי כאשר השמים החדשים” (“For as the new heavens”), not on verses of the parsha. Yet they belong to the parsha’s own content, which opens with the creation of „את השמים ואת הארץ” (“the heavens and the earth”), and maamarim on Bereishis’s own verses follow them; and, he adds, these maamarim were said on a Shabbos Rosh Chodesh (בשבת ר״ח).
The Alter Rebbe
השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי אי זה בית וגו׳
The Rebbe
פסוקים מההפטרה (דשבת ר״ח), אבל (נוסף לזה שגם הם שייכים לתוכן הסדרה, בראשית גו׳ את השמים ואת הארץ)
Likkutei Sichos, vol. כט, p. 10, note 16 (and its starred note) · ש״פ דברים, תש״מ
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5740
The Alter Rebbe asks how G‑d can have a throne and footstool, but he does not say why the question is raised here rather than on every anthropomorphism in the Torah. The Rebbe supplies the answer through the Tzemach Tzedek’s reading of “no likeness of a body, nor a body”: even Atzilus is as nothing before the Essence. Torah, mitzvos and prayer, which this verse is about, relate to the Essence itself. So the question is about the Essence, not about ordinary figurative language.
The Alter Rebbe
להבין איך שייך עליו ית׳ לומר כסאי והדום רגלי
The Rebbe
אשר כל ענינים אלו שייכים אל העצמות, דהתפלה היא אליו ולא למדותיו
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5745
The Alter Rebbe states the question with the phrase "אין לו דמות הגוף.” The Rebbe sets out the two traditional formulations and their inner meaning. In the first formulation, "אין לו גוף" refers to levels from Asiyah and the vessels through tzimtzum, while "ואין לו דמות הגוף" means that He is above even that. In the second, "האצילות נק׳ גוף" and "בי״ע נק׳ דמות הגוף.” The question therefore remains under either formulation: how can He have "כסאי והדום רגלי"?
The Alter Rebbe
להבין איך שייך עליו ית׳ לומר כסאי והדום רגלי. שהרי אין לו דמות הגוף
The Rebbe
שהאצילות נק׳ גוף, משא״כ בי״ע נק׳ דמות הגוף
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5745
The Alter Rebbe moves directly to identifying “heaven” with the Torah. The Rebbe explains why this is the primary meaning and not a mere allegory. A verse is instruction for each Jew; Israel precede the Torah; and heaven and earth were created for the Torah and Israel. So heaven and earth exist first in the Torah and in Israel, and only afterward in the worlds, down to the literal heaven and earth.
The Alter Rebbe
כי הנה התורה היא מן השמי׳ כמ״ש כי מן השמים דברתי
The Rebbe
שב׳ הענינים דשמים וארץ ישנם בתורה ובישראל, ומהם משתלשל
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5748
In ¶1, the Alter Rebbe identifies the Torah with the level of heaven, and heaven as fire and water; ¶4 explains that the Torah is drawn into the world as the 248 positive commandments from the right and the 365 prohibitions from the left. The Rebbe reads fire and water as the general middos and the ‘earth’ as Malchus, which is kabbalas ol. Both must be drawn into the ‘house.’ This reading leads to the future new heavens and new earth, and to the ‘new Torah’ that will go forth from G‑d.
The Alter Rebbe
כי שמים אש ומים
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
TermsTorah
Terms Torah
Marei mekomos
- 1השמים כסאי · הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי בסה״מ תקס״ה ח״ב ע׳ תשה. וביאור בע׳ תשטו. ראה לעיל ציונים והערות לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. הגהות באוה״ת בראשית כרך ג תע, א. ובכרך ו תתרכג, ב (מלקו״ת לג׳ פרשיות). תתרל, ב. ובמקבילו ד״ה ואשא אתכם תרל״ח ע׳ ריז (בספר התולדות לכ״ק אדמו״ר מהר״ש, מציין כ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע ”נתבארו הענינים דד״ה השמים כסאי וביאוריו (שבתו״א ולקו״ת לג״פ) בהרחב הביאור”. וכן נזכר בד״ה ויהיו חיי שרה תרמ״ג ע׳ כב ”שהוא השמים כסאי שבתו״א”). המאמר נאמר בשבת פ׳ מסעי ר״ח אב תקס״ה. ראה גם סה״מ תרס״ו ע׳ תקיט. ד״ה השמים כסאי תשל״ו (סה״מ מלוקט ח״ג ע׳ קלג). ד״ה השמים כסאי תשל״א. לכללות מאמר זה ראה ד״ה זה תשמ״א־ ש״פ תרומה תשד״מ־ ש״פ נח תשמ״ה. ד״ה כי כאשר השמים פ׳ ראה תשמ״ה. ד״ה בראשית ברא תשמ״ו וד״ה השמים כסאי תשמ״ו. ד״ה השמים כסאי ש״פ קרח תשמ״ז ושם ביאר שכאן בתו״א מבואר בארוכה דשמים וארץ כולל כל סדר ההשתלשלות דבשמים יש ג׳ דרגות וגם בארץ יש ג׳ דרגות, ומבואר ג׳ דרגות אלו כאן ובדרושים שלאח״ז כפי שהוא בעולמות ובישראל.
- 2השמים כסאי · Isaiah 66:1
- 3איך שייך עליו ית׳ לומר כסאי · ראה ד״ה השמים כסאי תשל״א.
- 4שהרי אין לו דמות הגוף · Tanya, Sha’ar HaYichud 2:6
- 5אין לו דמות הגוף · Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Preparatory Prayers, Yigdal 7
- 6הנה מקום אתי · Exodus 33:21
- 7הנה מקום אתי · Shemot Rabbah 45:6
- 8שהוא . . ואין העולם מקומו · ”כמארז״ל במד״ר ר״פ ויצא תוך פס״ח ע״פ ויפגע במקום, וכ״ה בפ׳ תשא פמ״ה קרוב לס״פ ע״פ הנה מקום אתי” — אוה״ת בראשית כרך ו תתרכג, ב (מלקו״ת לג״פ). בסה״מ תרל״ח בד״ה ואשא אתכם ע׳ ריז. ראה בלקו״ת ויקרא נא, סע״ב.
- 9שהוא מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו · Bereshit Rabbah 68:9
- 10כי מן השמים דברתי · Exodus 20:19
- 11התורה היא מן השמים . . שמים אש ומים · ראה אוה״ת כרך ו תתרכג, ב (מלקו״ת לג׳ פרשיות א, א) שצ״ע שלקמן פ׳ מקץ בד״ה כי עמך מקו״ח (לד, ד) מפרש שהכוונה על חכמה, וכן לקמן במאמר זה מפרש כן, וכאן מפרש על חו״ג ע״ש.
- 12שמים אש ומים · Chagigah 12a:19–20
- 13מימינו אש דת למו · Deuteronomy 33:2
A person makes the Torah through contemplation and love ¶2–4
2והנה כתיב ושמרתם את חוקתי1 ועשיתם אתם2 אתם כתיב שהאדם הוא העושה את התורה. וכך אנו מבקשים3 בברכת אהבת עולם אהבתנו כו׳ לשמור ולעשות ולקיים
Now, it is written, “And you shall keep My statutes and do them (osam)”; atem (“you”) is written: that man is the one who makes (ha’oseh) the Torah. And so we ask in the blessing “With an everlasting love You have loved us,” etc.: “to keep, to do (la’asos) and to fulfill (lekayem).”
In the verse, “do them” (osam) is written without a vav, so it can also be read atem, “you.” The Midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 35:7, on the same words in Leviticus 26:3) brings two teachings: G‑d counts keeping the Torah “as if you had made them,” and, reading the word as atem, even “as if you had made yourselves.” From the spelling the Alter Rebbe draws that man “makes” (oseh) the Torah, bringing it into being. The morning blessing before the Shema asks that we be able “to keep, to do and to fulfill.”
תחלה לעשותה ואח״כ לקיימה4 והיינו ע״י אב הרחמן5 רחם עלינו ותן בלבנו בינה67 שמבחינת רחמים עליונים נמשך בינה והתבוננות בלב להיות בה ועל ידה עשיית והתהוות התורה.
First to do it, and afterwards to fulfill it. And this is through “Merciful Father, have mercy on us and put understanding (binah) in our hearts”: for from the level of supernal mercy, Binah and contemplation are drawn into the heart, so that in it and through it there be the making and the coming into being of the Torah.
The order matters: la’asos, “to do,” also means “to make,” so first the Torah is “made,” brought into being, and only afterwards “fulfilled” (lekayem, literally “to establish”) in practice. The same blessing asks the “merciful Father” to “put understanding in our hearts”: from G‑d’s supernal mercy comes Binah, the heart’s understanding and contemplation, and through it the Torah is “made.”
The paragraph adds a second idea: a person “makes” the Torah, bringing it into being, and this happens through contemplation in the heart, which is itself a gift of G‑d’s mercy.
The Tzemach Tzedek (Or HaTorah, Shelach) explains “first to do it, then to fulfill it”: first to draw the Torah from its source, the level of the “two thousand years” that preceded the world, down into the level of “world.” The link between mercy and Binah is also discussed in Tanya ch. 45.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5744
The Alter Rebbe teaches that a person “makes” the Torah, the heaven that is G‑d’s throne. The Rebbe explicitly says that Israel’s avodah brings about the new heavens and earth, as partners in creation. The connection to the Alter Rebbe’s statement that a person makes Torah is a thematic extension: alongside the throne as it exists from the side of creation, there is also the matter of the heavens as they are from the side of Israel’s avodah. Their seed and name will stand even when the Essence is revealed, because Israel’s avodah is the cause of that revelation.
The Alter Rebbe
שהאדם הוא העושה את התורה
The Rebbe
ישנו גם ענין השמים כסאי כו׳ כמו שהוא מצד עבודת ישראל
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5746
The Alter Rebbe’s ¶2 point is that a person makes the Torah, with Binah and contemplation in the heart drawn from supernal mercy; the arousal from below that draws down the Infinite Light into Torah is discussed in ¶4. The Rebbe’s discussion of holiness flowing from above to Israel and being produced above through Israel is a separate development, not specifically an elaboration of ¶2. The Rebbe defines the order: first the soul receives empowerment from above, through the soul given generously, and then its service below adds holiness above.
The Alter Rebbe
שהאדם הוא העושה את התורה
The Rebbe
אתם מתקדשים בי ואני מתקדש בכם. ונמצא, ששניהם אמת
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.
TermsAhavas olamHisbonenusBerachahBinah+1
- Ahavas olam אהבת עולם
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Berachah ברכה
- Binah בינה
Also Torah
Marei mekomos
- 1ושמרתם את חוקותי · Leviticus 18:5
- 2
- 3וכך אנו מבקשים · ”ע׳ אמרי בינה פתח השער ט, ב סי׳ ט״ו” — הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א דפוס ראשון.
- 4תחלה לעשותה ואח״כ לקיימה · ”דהיינו תחלה להמשיכה ממקורה מבחי׳ אלפים שנה שקדמה לעולם להמשיכה בבחי׳ עולם” — אוה״ת שלח ע׳ תקפא.
- 5ע״י אב הרחמן · ראה לקו״ת ראה כה, ב.
- 6ותן בלבינו בינה · ראה ד״ה כל הנקרא בשמי תרצ״ו ע׳ 107.
- 7אב הרחמן רחם עלינו ותן בלבנו בינה · Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Blessings of the Shema, Second Blessing before Shema
And how this contemplation is to be is explained in the reading of the Shema: Shema is an expression of understanding, and this understanding is in the word Shema itself;
The contemplation that “makes” the Torah is spelled out in the Shema. Shema means not only “hear” but “understand” (the Kehot note gives the young Shmuel’s “Speak, for Your servant hears,” I Samuel 3:10), and the word itself holds what is to be understood.
for Shema is shem ayin (“the name of the ayin”). That is: the enlarged ayin is the level of “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might,” etc.,
Shema splits into shem (name) and ayin, the letter whose value is seventy and which is written large in the Torah’s text of the Shema. The enlarged ayin stands for “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might…”: G‑d’s seven emotive attributes, each including ten, making seventy.
ז׳ מדות עליונות שהם בחינת לך דהיינו שהם בטלים אליו ונכללים במקורן שעדיין אינן בבחינת המשכה והתפשטות למטה להיות עולים בשם גדולה וגבורה וכו׳ ואזי נקרא בשם ע׳ רבתי
the seven supernal attributes, which are the level of “Yours”: that is, they are nullified to Him and included in their source, not yet in a state of being drawn down and spreading forth below so as to go by the names of greatness, might, etc.; and then it is called by the name of the enlarged ayin.
“Yours” means that in their source these attributes are wholly nullified to G‑d, not yet flowing downward to become distinct qualities like greatness and might that act on the world. In that hidden state they are called the “enlarged ayin.”
והמשכה שנמשך ומתפשט למטה הוא רק בחינת שם לבד4 שהוא הארה בעלמא
And the drawing down that is drawn and spreads forth below is only the level of a “name” alone, which is a mere glimmer,
What spreads down into the world is only a “name”: just as a name is not the person but only how others call him, it is a mere glimmer of the source.
וכמאמר ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד שאין זו אלא מבחינת שם ומדת מלכותו ית׳ כי מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים5 כתיב.
as in the saying, “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever”: this is only from the level of a “name” and of His attribute of Malchus (sovereignty), blessed be He, for it is written, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds.”
This is why we say “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom”: what reaches the world is only the “name,” the attribute of Malchus (sovereignty), as the verse says, “Your kingship is a kingship over all worlds.”
The paragraph gives the content of the contemplation: Shema is shem ayin — the seventy-fold divine attributes remain hidden in their source, and all that reaches the world is their “name,” a glimmer through Malchus.
Elsewhere (Torah Ohr, Vayechi supplements) the enlarged ayin is linked to the seven lower Sefiros of Imma, the source of the primordial “seven kings” of Tohu. Likkutei Torah, Vaetchanan, which cites this passage, adds that Shema means both “understand” and “gather.”
TermsGevurahHisbonenusKrias ShemaBinah+5
- Gevurah גבורה
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Krias Shema קריאת שמע
- Binah בינה
- Malchus מלכות
- Hiskallelus התכללות
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1שמע לשון הבנה · I Samuel 3:10
- 2שמע שם ע׳ · ”ע׳ אמרי בינה שער הק״ש ענין שם ע׳ רבתי ומתפרש יפה פי׳ הפסוק לך ה׳ הגדולה בסי׳ ג ובסי׳ ו” — הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א הנ״ל. ראה לקמן קה, ג. לקו״ת ואתחנן יא, ב. ושם מציין לכאן.
- 3
- 4ש״ה רבתי — לבד · בבוך 1824: בלבד.
- 5מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים · Psalms 145:13
4וזהו ענין בינה להבין דבר מתוך דבר1 פי׳ תוך דבר נקרא בחינת ממלא כל עלמין שהיא בחינת שם דהיינו בחינת זיו והארה הנמשך תוך עלמין.
And this is the meaning of Binah (understanding): to understand one thing from within another. That is, “within” a thing is called the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin), which is the level of a “name,” that is, the level of a radiance and glimmer drawn within the worlds.
Binah is traditionally defined as “understanding one thing from within another.” Here “within” refers to memalei kol almin, the light that enters each world and enlivens it — which is only the “name,” a radiance of G‑d.
וצריך להבין מזה שאינו אלא זיו כנ״ל שהוא ית׳ הוא הסובב כל עלמין ולית מחשבה כו׳2 ולאו מכל מדות אלין כלל3
And one must understand from this that it is only a radiance, as mentioned above; that He, blessed be He, is the One who encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), and “no thought [can grasp Him],” etc., and [He is] “not of any of these attributes at all.”
From that inner light one is to infer what lies beyond it: if all this is only a glimmer, G‑d Himself encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin), beyond any grasp — as the Tikkunei Zohar says, “no thought can grasp You at all,” and He is “not of any of these attributes.”
וע״י זה נמשך להיות ואהבת את הוי״ה אלקיך ממש לדבקה בו ית׳ בא״ס ב״ה ממש כמ״ש מי לי בשמים4 ועמך לא חפצתי וגו׳
And through this there comes to be “And you shall love Havayah your G‑d” — truly: to cleave to Him, blessed be He, to the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, truly, as it is written, “Whom do I have in heaven? And besides You I desire nothing,” etc.;
This contemplation leads to “You shall love Havayah your G‑d” in the fullest sense: a longing to cleave to the Infinite One Himself, not to any of His revelations. It is the Psalmist’s cry, “Whom do I have in heaven? Besides You I desire nothing.”
שיהי׳ [שיהיה] רק חפצו ורצונו שהוי״ה אור א״ס ב״ה עצמו יהיה אלקיך שורה בקרבך דהיינו שיהא גילוי אור א״ס ב״ה עצמו על נפשו
that his only desire and will be that Havayah, the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, itself, be “your G‑d,” dwelling within you; that is, that there be a revelation of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself upon his soul.
The lover wants Havayah — the Infinite Light itself — to become “your G‑d,” your own, resting within you and revealed in your soul.
והיינו ע״י בכל לבבך שהוא כמ״ש אם ישים אליו לבו5 רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף כי רוח אייתי רוח6 ואמשיך רוח שע״י רוח האדם העולה למעלה שישים אליו
And this is through “with all your heart,” which is as it is written, “If he sets his heart to Him, His spirit and His breath He will gather to him”; for “a spirit brings a spirit and draws forth a spirit”: through the spirit of man that rises upward, when he “sets [his heart] to Him,”
This happens “with all your heart.” The Alter Rebbe reads Job’s verse this way: when a person sets his heart toward G‑d, G‑d gathers His spirit to him. The Zohar’s rule is that “a spirit brings a spirit”: a human arousal from below draws down a divine response.
דהיינו שלבבו יכסף לדבקה בו ית׳ ולהמשיך בחי׳ גילוי אלהותו ית׳ על נפשו ותוך נפשו.
that is, when his heart yearns to cleave to Him, blessed be He, and to draw a revelation of His G‑dliness, blessed be He, upon his soul and into his soul,
“Setting his heart to Him” means a heartfelt yearning to cleave to G‑d and to have His G‑dliness revealed on and within one’s soul.
אזי רוחו ונשמתו מבחינת סובב כל עלמין אליו יאסף להיות מתאסף השראתו אצלו בקרב איש ולב עמוק7
then “His spirit and His breath,” from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds, “He will gather to him,” so that His indwelling is gathered to him, “within a man and a deep heart.”
Then G‑d’s “spirit and breath” from the encompassing level, beyond the worlds, are gathered to the person and dwell with him, in “within a man and a deep heart.”
ומזה נמשך להיות והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי8 מי שאנכי9 מצוך כו׳ שע״י זה נמשך גילוי אלהותו והתהוות התורה בבחינת שמים אש ומים.
And from this there comes to be “And these words which I (Anochi) — who I am — command you,” etc.; for through this there is drawn down a revelation of His G‑dliness and the coming into being of the Torah at the level of “heaven,” fire and water.
This is followed by the next verse of the Shema, “And these words which I (Anochi) command you”: Anochi means G‑d’s very self, “who I am.” Through love, G‑dliness is revealed and the Torah comes into being as “heaven,” fire and water.
כי הנה התורה קדמה אלפים שנה לעולם10 פי׳ עולם נקרא בחינת אש ומים11 והתורה גבהה מעלתה מאד בבחינת אלפים שנה שהם למעלה מבחינת עולם וכדי שתמשך לבחינת עולם
For the Torah preceded the world by two thousand years. That is: “world” is the name for the level of fire and water, and the Torah is exceedingly lofty in its standing, at the level of “two thousand years,” which are above the level of “world”; and in order that it be drawn down to the level of “world,”
The Midrash says the Torah existed two thousand years before the world. “World” here means fire and water, the attributes (kindness and restraint) that build the worlds, while the Torah’s “two thousand years” stand for a level far above the world. The Torah must still be drawn down into the level of “world.”
דהיינו להיות מימינו אש כו׳ שהוא רמ״ח מצות עשה שמימין ושס״ה מצות לא תעשה משמאל כו׳
that is, that there be “From His right hand, fire,” etc., which is the 248 positive commandments, which are from the right, and the 365 prohibitions, from the left, etc. —
That drawing down is “from His right hand, fire”: the Torah’s 248 positive commandments correspond to the right side (kindness) and its 365 prohibitions to the left (restraint).
¶1 This unpacks the Torah’s “fire and water” from paragraph 1: right and left commandments.
הנה המשכה זו היא על ידי אתערותא דלתתא בואהבת בכל לבבך רוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח
this drawing down is through the arousal from below in “And you shall love… with all your heart”: “a spirit brings a spirit and draws forth a spirit.”
What draws the Torah down is the arousal from below — loving G‑d with all one’s heart — for “a spirit brings a spirit.”
And through this, “and you shall speak of them”: vedibarta (“and you shall speak”) is an expression of leading and drawing, that is, that there be a drawing down of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, into the Torah.
Then comes “and you shall speak of them”: the word for “speak” (dibbur) also means “lead,” as in “He subdues, or leads (yadber), peoples under us” (Psalms 47:4). Speaking words of Torah draws the Infinite Light into the Torah.
This central paragraph explains how a person “makes” the Torah: contemplating that everything in the worlds is only a glimmer of G‑d stirs a love that longs for G‑d Himself, and this arousal from below draws the Infinite Light down into the Torah, bringing it from its pre-world level into the world as the 613 mitzvos.
The Rebbe, in a letter printed in Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, explains that the Zohar’s “one path and 613 paths” concerns the mitzvos, rooted in Keser, while the Torah comes from Chochmah; and that “gathered to him within a deep heart” is not a contradiction to the end of the maamar (only encompassing): only a small glimmer is grasped inwardly (compare Tanya ch. 48). Torah Ohr’s own supplement on “If he sets his heart” reads “gather” as lights entering vessels.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5744
The Alter Rebbe uses the first parshah of Shema for the contemplation and love that draw the Infinite Light into Torah. The Rebbe, drawing on V’yikchu Li Terumah (5678), maps both parshiyos onto heaven and earth. The first parshah, kabbalas ol malchus shamayim with mesirus nefesh and “vedibarta bam,” is heaven: ratzo and lifting up. The second parshah, kabbalas ol mitzvos with “you shall gather your grain” and “you shall eat and be satisfied,” is earth: shov and setting apart.
The Alter Rebbe
וע״י זה ודברת בם ודברת לשון הנהגה והמשכה
The Rebbe
קאי בקבלת עול מצוות, בחי׳ ארץ, ולכן נאמר בה ואספת דגנך
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.
Terms248 limbs of the KingDeveikusAnochiZiv haShechinah+14
- 248 limbs of the King רמ״ח אברים דמלכא
- Deveikus דביקות
- Anochi אנכי
- Ziv haShechinah זיו השכינה
- Isarusa dilesata אתערותא דלתתא
- Memalei kol almin ממלא כל עלמין
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Binah בינה
- Ein Sof אין סוף
- Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
- Ratzon רצון
- Middos מדות
Also NeshamahHavayahOr Ein SofTorah and mitzvosHaalaah vehamshachahTorah
Marei mekomos
- 1להבין דבר מתוך דבר . . בחי׳ ממכ״ע · לקמן קיג, ג, לקו״ת בהר כה, ב מציין לכאן.
- 2ולית מחשבה כו׳ · Tikkunei Zohar, Patach Eliyahu · 17a:10–12
- 3ולית מחשבה כו׳ ולאו מכל מדות אלין כלל · Tikkunei Zohar 17b:5–7
- 4מי לי בשמים · Psalms 73:25
- 5אם ישים אליו לבו · Job 34:14
- 6רוח אייתי רוח · Zohar II, 162b
- 7בקרב איש ולב עמוק · Psalms 64:7
- 8והיו הדברים האלה אשר אנכי · Deuteronomy 6:6
- 9אנכי מי שאנכי · Zohar I, 167b
- 10התורה קדמה אלפים שנה לעולם · Midrash Tehillim 90:7
- 11פי׳ עולם נקרא בחינת אש ומים · נזכר בלקו״ת בחוקותי מח, ב.
- 12ודברת בם · Deuteronomy 6:7
- 13עולמים — פי׳ תוך דבר · מובא בלקו״ת ואתחנן ו, ג.
The Torah as G‑d’s throne ¶5
5וזהו ענין וידבר1 ה׳ אל משה שהמשכת הוי״ה להיות התורה צריך להיות המשכה תחלה לבחינת משה שהוא2 מבחינת כי מן המים משיתיהו.3
And this is the meaning of “And Havayah spoke to Moshe”: that the drawing down of Havayah so that there be Torah must first be a drawing down to the level of Moshe, who is of the level of “for I drew him out of the water.”
The Torah reaches the world through Moshe. The verse says “Havayah spoke to Moshe,” with the Name Havayah, so the drawing down of Havayah into Torah passes first through Moshe. His name comes from “I drew him out of the water,” and the Torah’s water is Chochmah (paragraph 11), so Moshe is the channel of divine wisdom.
וזהו השמים כסאי שהשמים היא התורה הרי היא כסא ע״ד4 משל שנעשה לשבת וישיבה זו היא השפלה לגבי עמידה שכשהאדם עומד הנה הוא בעל קומה וראשו ומוחו גבוהים מעל הארץ וע״י ישיבה נשפל קומתו.
And this is “The heavens are My throne”: the heavens are the Torah, and it is a throne — by way of analogy — which is made for sitting. And this sitting is a lowering compared with standing: for when a person stands he has full stature, and his head and brain are high above the ground, and through sitting his stature is lowered.
Now the verse is explained: “The heavens,” the Torah, are G‑d’s “throne.” A throne lowers a person: standing, his head is high above the ground, while sitting lowers his stature.
¶1 This answers the question from paragraph 1 about “My throne.”
כך התורה נעשה כסא לאור א״ס ב״ה לבחינת ראשו שהיא בחינת רצונו וחכמתו ובינתו
So the Torah is made a throne for the Infinite Light, blessed be He, for the level of His “head,” which is the level of His will, His wisdom and His understanding;
Likewise the Torah is a “throne” on which G‑d’s “head” — His will, wisdom and understanding — “sits,” that is, lowers itself.
דאנת חכים5 ולא בחכמה ידיעא ומבין ולא בבינה ידיעא6 ובתורה יורדים ומשתלשלים חכמתו ובינתו בדברים גשמיים כתפילין וציצית וצדקה ותרומות ומעשרות וקרבנות7 כו׳:
for “You are wise, but not with a knowable wisdom, and [You] understand, but not with a knowable understanding”; and in the Torah His wisdom and understanding descend and come down, step by step, into physical things, such as tefillin, tzitzis, charity, terumos and tithes, and sacrifices, etc.
The Tikkunei Zohar says of G‑d: “You are wise, but not with a knowable wisdom; You understand, but not with a knowable understanding.” Yet through the Torah this unknowable wisdom descends and becomes clothed in physical mitzvos — tefillin, tzitzis, charity, terumos and tithes, sacrifices.
The paragraph answers the first half of the question: the “heavens” that are G‑d’s throne are the Torah, in which G‑d’s own will and wisdom “sit” — lower themselves — into physical mitzvos, through the channel of Moshe.
A handwritten gloss connects “And Havayah spoke to Moshe” to Iggeres HaKodesh 12, where the plain Name Havayah throughout the Torah refers to Tiferes; another gloss links Moshe “drawn from the water” to “the Torah comes from Chochmah,” perhaps why it is called “the Torah of Moshe.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
On Shabbos Noach 5721, which fell on Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, the Shabbos of the haftarah “The heavens are My throne,” the Rebbe asked why the „התושבע״פ דתורת החסידות” (“Oral Torah” of Chassidus), Torah Ohr, opens with this verse and with “For as the new heavens,” verses of the Rosh Chodesh haftarah rather than of Bereishis (unedited).
The Rebbe reads the throne exactly: sitting lowers the head while the feet stay where they are („ירידת והשפלת הראש דוקא, שהרי הרגלים נשארים על מקומם”), and the footstool then lifts the feet. So the lowering belongs to the Torah, its inner dimension included, which „שירדה ונמשכה בהשגה גם לקטן שבקטנים” (came down even into the grasp of the smallest), and its purpose is the “footstool”: that the mitzvos rise and be filled with the life of the Torah’s inner dimension rather than done by rote („מצות אנשים מלומדה”). That, he says, is why the Oral Torah of Chassidus opens with this verse: it states „החידוש של כללות ענין החסידות” (the whole novelty of Chassidus). In his maamar of Shabbos Kedoshim 5746 (unedited) he puts the image otherwise: not only the head but the whole body comes down by means of the chair.
The Alter Rebbe
וישיבה זו היא השפלה לגבי עמידה
The Rebbe
כיון שבפסוק זה נתבאר החידוש של כללות ענין החסידות, להמשיך פנימיות התורה בהשגה כדי לפעול חיות בקיום המצוות
Toras Menachem (Hisvaaduyos), vol. כט (תשכ״א א), p. 150, 152–153 · ש״פ נח, בדר״ח מרחשון, ה׳תשכ״א
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” said on Motzaei Shabbos Re’eh, Rosh Chodesh Elul 5738 (unedited), the Rebbe recalls „דיוקי רבותינו נשיאינו” (“the precise readings of our Rebbeim”) of this verse, „החל מרבינו הזקן בדרוש ד״ה זה שבתחלת ספרו תורה אור” (“beginning with the Alter Rebbe in the maamar at the start of his Torah Ohr”), and retells this paragraph.
Explaining that the Torah is a throne, the lowering of G‑d’s wisdom and understanding into physical things, the Rebbe follows the descent past the Written Torah into the Oral Torah, down to „מה שתלמיד ותיק עתיד לחדש” (what “a veteran student will innovate”). And because „כל הקורא ושונה הקב״ה קורא ושונה כנגדו” (“whoever reads and repeats, the Holy One reads and repeats opposite him”), even reviewing what one has already learned „נשפל ונמשך אור א״ס ב״ה למטה” (lowers and draws the Infinite Light below).
The Alter Rebbe
ובתורה יורדים ומשתלשלים חכמתו ובינתו בדברים גשמיים
The Rebbe
דאפי׳ כשחוזר על ענין שכבר למד, הנה, ע״י לימודו נשפל ונמשך אור א״ס ב״ה למטה
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשל״ח, p. שסא · מוצאי ש״פ ראה, אדר״ח אלול ה׳תשל״ח
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5740
In ¶5, the Alter Rebbe explains that the Torah is the throne: it is made a seat for the Infinite Light, and His wisdom and understanding descend in it into physical things such as tefillin, tzitzis and charity. ¶6 defines the footstool as a small support set beneath the feet; the identification of earth with practical mitzvos appears later, in ¶9. The Rebbe adds that this lowering is a preparation for the arousal from below, through which service in Torah, mitzvos and prayer draws down G‑d’s Essence itself.
The Alter Rebbe
כך התורה נעשה כסא לאור א״ס ב״ה לבחינת ראשו
The Rebbe
ההמשכה וההשפלה היא הכנה אל האתעדל״ת שתהי׳ העבודה בתומ״צ ותפלה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5744
The Alter Rebbe identifies the heavens with Torah. The Rebbe gives a concrete sense in which Torah stays “heaven” even while it is below on earth: words of Torah cannot receive impurity even when studied by one who is impure. Mitzvos, by contrast, are bound to physical things below.
The Alter Rebbe
שהשמים היא התורה
The Rebbe
ואין דברי תורה מקבלין טומאה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5745
The Rebbe accepts the Alter Rebbe’s reading of the throne as a lowering, like sitting compared with standing. He adds a second meaning: kisei is from kisui, kes-alef, covering and concealing the “Alef,” the Master of the world. G‑d’s descent into the Torah is possible only through concealment.
The Alter Rebbe
שהשמים היא התורה הרי היא כסא ע״ד משל שנעשה לשבת
The Rebbe
כי כדי שתוכל להיות הירידה למטה הוא ע״י ההעלם והסתר דוקא
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5746
In the analogy of sitting, the Alter Rebbe speaks of the head and brain being lowered, which he applies to G‑d’s will and wisdom descending into physical mitzvos. The Rebbe adds that the whole body descends, not only the head. The throne therefore signifies a general drawing down of G‑dliness from above to below.
The Alter Rebbe
וע״י ישיבה נשפל קומתו
The Rebbe
ויש להוסיף בזה, שהירידה וההשפלה היא לא רק בראשו אלא גם בכל גופו
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
TermsKiseiKorbanosTzedakahYud-hei and vav-hei+8
Marei mekomos
- 1וזהו ענין וידבר ה׳ אל משה · ”לכמוני השפל הדל נראה דזה הוא עפ״י מה דאיתא באגה״ק סי׳ יב וז״ל: ולכן סתם שם הוי׳ ב״ה שבכל התורה מורה על מדת התפארת כו׳ ע״ש, ואם שגיתי ה׳ יכפר בעדי” — הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א הנ״ל.
- 2לבחינת משה שהוא מבחי׳ כי מן המים משיתיהו · ”נראה דזהו ע״פ מש״כ לקמן בד״ה והנה זהו דרך כלל כו׳ ושם וז״ל שמים שם מים דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת, ואולי אפשר לתת טעם שנק׳ תורת משה — מטעם הזה דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת — ומשה מן המים משיתיהו וד״ל” — הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א הנ״ל.
- 3כי מן המים משיתיהו · Exodus 2:10
- 4שו״ה הרי היא — כסא ע״ד · בכת״י: הרי היא כסאי כמו כסא: עד״מ.
- 5דאנת חכים · Tikkunei Zohar, Patach Eliyahu · 17b:3–4
- 6דאנת חכים ולא בחכמה ידיעא ומבין ולא בבינה ידיעא · Tikkunei Zohar 17b:3–4
- 7ומעשרות וקרבנות · נתבאר באוה״ת בהעלותך ע׳ שסד.
The footstool: raising the foot ¶6–10
6והארץ הדום רגלי. הדום בלשון הפסוק הוא כמו שרפרף בלשון הגמרא שהוא ג״כ כסא קטן.
“And the earth is My footstool.” Hadom (footstool) in the language of the verse is like shrafraf in the language of the Gemara, which is also a small seat.
Now the second half of the verse, “the earth is My footstool.” The biblical word hadom is what the Talmud calls a shrafraf: a small seat.
והוא מה שמעמידין תחת רגלי היושב להגביה הרגל מעל הארץ וע״ז אמרו בגמ׳ [בגמרא] על פסוק כרסון רמיו אחד לכסא ואחד לשרפרף. כסא הוא הגדול שיושבין עליו ושרפרף הוא הקטן שמעמידין תחת הרגלים.1
It is what is set beneath the feet of one who sits, to raise the foot above the ground. And about this they said in the Gemara, on the verse “thrones were set up”: one for a throne and one for a footstool. The throne is the large one on which one sits, and the footstool is the small one set beneath the feet.
A footstool raises the feet of the one sitting. The Talmud reads the plural “thrones” in Daniel’s vision as one throne and one footstool.
The paragraph defines the footstool — a small seat that lifts the feet off the ground — in preparation for explaining what the “earth” is that serves as G‑d’s footstool.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Noach, the second day of Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan 5731 (unedited), which continues the maamarim before it on the earth’s precedence over heaven, the Rebbe takes up this maamar’s question and its throne and footstool.
The Rebbe explains why a footstool is needed at all: when the flow is drawn from above all the way down to “the feet,” this lowest world, „אפשר להיות ההמשכה גם למקום שאינו ראוי” (it could reach an unfit place) and give the outside forces a hold, and „השרפרף שמגבי׳ את הרגלים” (the footstool lifts the feet) so that it does not. The Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss on this maamar already gives the footstool this purpose (Or HaTorah Bereishis vol. 1, p. 1); the Rebbe does not cite it. His own step is within the Torah itself: the Written Torah is the throne and the Oral Torah the footstool, for „דדוקא מתושבע״פ יכולים לדעת ההלכה לפועל” (only through the Oral Torah does one know the halachah in practice), and so separate from what is forbidden and refine the sparks.
The Alter Rebbe
והוא מה שמעמידין תחת רגלי היושב להגביה הרגל מעל הארץ
The Rebbe
דכשנמשך מלמעלה למטה אפשר להיות ההמשכה גם למקום שאינו ראוי, וע״ז הו״ע השרפרף שמגבי׳ את הרגלים
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תש״ל–תשל״א, p. 344–345 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון, ה׳תשל״א
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5744
In the terumah maamar, Torah is “lifting up” and mitzvos are “setting apart.” The Rebbe adds that, more precisely, mitzvos also contain lifting up. He proves this from the Alter Rebbe’s definition of the footstool as what raises the foot off the ground: mitzvos too raise physical things upward.
The Alter Rebbe
שמעמידין תחת רגלי היושב להגביה הרגל מעל הארץ
The Rebbe
הנה בפרטיות יותר יש במצוות גם בחי׳ הרמה
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
TermsKisei
- Kisei כסא
Marei mekomos
- 1אמרו בגמרא על פסוק כרסון רמיו · Daniel 7:9
And the explanation: the Community of Israel is called “foot,” as it is written, “You are children to Havayah your G‑d,” and “a son is his father’s leg.”
Why is the earth G‑d’s “footstool”? Because the Jewish people are called G‑d’s “foot”: they are His children, and the Talmudic idiom says “a son is his father’s leg,” an extension of the father.
והנה כמו ע״ד משל שנמצא מעלה יתירה ברגל מה שאין בראש שהרגלים הם המהלכים והם נושאים את הראש ומוליכין אותו למחוז חפצו ונמצא הראש צריך להרגל
Now, by way of analogy, there is an added advantage in the foot that is not in the head: for the feet are what walk, and they carry the head and bring it to its desired destination. So the head needs the foot.
In some ways the foot is superior to the head: the feet carry the head and bring it where it wants to go, so the head needs them.
וגם גידי הראש וחיותו שהדם הוא הנפש4 הם ברגלים וכשמקיזין דם מהרגל מתרפא הראש ומתקיים
And also the veins of the head and its life-force — for “the blood is the soul” — are in the feet; and when blood is let from the foot, the head is healed and sustained.
Moreover, the veins that supply the head run through the feet, and “the blood is the soul,” its life. So bloodletting from the foot (a remedy of the time) could heal the head.
וכן כמה רפואות יש שעושין ברגלים5 ומתרפא הראש ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש6 והראש רגל שהוא למטה מהרגל במדרגה זו.7
And likewise there are several remedies that are applied to the feet, and the head is healed. And in this respect the foot is called head and the head foot, for in this degree it is below the foot.
Other remedies applied to the feet also heal the head. In this respect the foot is the “head” and the head the “foot,” since the head depends on it.
The paragraph introduces the analogy of the foot: though lowest, it carries and even heals the head, so in a certain respect it stands above it. The Jewish people are G‑d’s “foot” in this sense.
A Kehot note explains the foot’s advantage “in this respect”: the lowest level serves as a vessel for the highest, as the head is a vessel for intellect. This is also why the lowest world is a dwelling for G‑d’s essence, while the higher worlds hold only revelations (Tanya ch. 36; Iggeres HaKodesh 20).
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In Likkutei Sichos vol. 9, Eikev, sicha 1 (from the maamar and sicha of Shabbos Eikev 5711 and the sicha of 20 Menachem Av 5729), the Rebbe asks why the covenant and kindness sworn to the fathers are made to depend on “עקב תשמעון,” on keeping even the light mitzvos “one tramples with the heel”; note 30, from a sicha of Shabbos Mevarchim Iyar 5725, takes up this paragraph.
The Rebbe argues that the service of the “heel,” kabbalas ol (קבלת עול) with nothing of one’s own feeling mixed in, makes a person a vessel for G‑d’s Essence („שהעבודה דקב״ע היא כלי להעצמות”). In a note he sets aside the simpler reading, that the heel is no closer to the will than the head and only lacks the concealment the head’s intellect brings: the Alter Rebbe’s words „ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש” (“in this respect the foot is called head”) mean that the foot, for all its lowliness, is itself „כלי לבחי׳ תחלתן” (a vessel for “their beginning”), as the head is a vessel for the intellect.
The Alter Rebbe
ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש והראש רגל שהוא למטה מהרגל במדרגה זו
The Rebbe
משמע שמעלת הרגל ”בבחי׳ זו” היא בדוגמת מעלת הראש בבחי׳ הגילויים. והיינו שנעיצת תחלתן בסופן הוא באופן, שבחי׳ סופן — רגל, הוא כלי לבחי׳ תחלתן
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ט, p. 75, note 30 · ש״פ עקב תשי״א; כ׳ מנ״א תשכ״ט; the note: ש״מ אייר תשכ״ה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5747
The Alter Rebbe’s image of Israel as the “foot” that carries the head is a parallel to the Rebbe’s discussion of the receiver’s advantage: the fourth leg of the chariot is a separate existence made nullified to its rider, and David merited to be that leg. The Rebbe also discusses the moon’s self-diminishment and David’s empty seat in connection with remembrance from G‑d’s Essence; this is a parallel theme, not an explicit link to the Alter Rebbe’s foot image.
The Alter Rebbe
כנסת ישראל נקרא רגל
The Rebbe
שדוד זכה להיות הרגל הד׳ של המרכבה
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
TermsOmdim and mehalchimKnesses Yisrael+1
- Omdim and mehalchim עומדים ומהלכים
- Knesses Yisrael כנסת ישראל
Also Chayus
Marei mekomos
- 1והענין כי הנה כנס״י · ראה סה״מ תרכ״ז [הוצאת תש״ס] עמוד סז.
- 2וברא כרעא דאבוה · Yevamot 3a:2–4
- 3וברא כרעא דאבוה · Tosafot on Yevamot 3a:7
- 4שהדם הוא הנפש · Deuteronomy 12:23
- 5וכן כמה רפואות יש שעושין ברגלים · ראה לקו״ת מסעי צ, ג ”וגם לרפואת הראש הוא ע״י הרגל שמשימין במים חמין וכדומה לפי שיש גידי הראש בהרגל” ע״ש שמציין לכאן. וראה בסה״מ תרל״ב כרך ב ע׳ שעח.
- 6ובבחינה זו נקרא הרגל ראש . . שסופן הוא תחילתן שבחי׳ הרגל נקרא ראש · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 36:5
- 7בנים אתה לה׳ · Deuteronomy 14:1
And so it is above: through the interinclusion of the drawings-down of the levels, “their beginning is wedged in their end and their end in their beginning” — direct light and returning light.
The foot analogy is now applied to the spiritual levels. Because the levels are included in one another, Sefer Yetzirah’s principle holds: “their beginning is wedged in their end and their end in their beginning.” Kabbalah calls the two directions “direct light” and “returning light.”
אור ישר נקרא מלמעלה למטה כל מה שלמעלה הוא העליון ואור חוזר ממטה למעלה כל מה שלמטה הוא העליון וזהו נעוץ תחילתן בסופן שסופן הוא תחילתן שבחינת הרגל נקרא ראש.
Direct light is what goes from above to below, [where] whatever is higher is superior; and returning light goes from below to above, [where] whatever is lower is superior. And this is “their beginning is wedged in their end”: that their end is their beginning, for the level of the foot is called head.
Direct light descends from above, and in it the higher is superior; returning light rises from below, and in it the lower is superior. So the end is also a beginning: the “foot” becomes the “head.”
וישראל נקראו ראשית456 וכתיב וירא ראשית לו78 וע״י אתערותא דלתתא נעשה למעלה תיקון אורות עליונים וזהו שמצינו במשה שבחטא העגל נטלו ממנו אלף אורות (ובשבת חוזרין9 ונותנין אליו במתנה וזהו ישמח משה במתנת חלקו)10
And Israel are called “first” (reishis), and it is written, “And he saw the first for himself.” And through the arousal from below there comes about above a rectification of supernal lights. And this is what we find with Moshe: at the sin of the Golden Calf a thousand lights were taken from him (and on Shabbos they are given back to him as a gift; and this is “Moshe rejoices in the gift of his portion”);
Israel are called reishis, “first” (a word related to rosh, “head”), though they are the “foot”; and the Midrash reads “And he saw the first for himself” as speaking of Moshe. Their service from below repairs the lights above. Moshe shows this: at the sin of the Golden Calf he lost a thousand lights, which are given back to him each Shabbos (the Shabbos prayer “Moshe rejoices in the gift of his portion”).
ועל זה רמזו רז״ל [רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] במ״ש ע״פ לך רד1112 רד מגדולתך כלום נתתי לך גדולה אלא בשביל ישראל
and our Sages alluded to this in what they said on the verse “Go, descend”: “Descend from your greatness; did I give you greatness except for the sake of Israel?”
The Talmud says G‑d told Moshe after the sin, “Go, descend from your greatness; did I give you greatness except for the sake of Israel?”
והיינו לפי שהיו ישראל בבחינת הרגל שלו וכמ״ש שש מאות אלף רגלי העם13 אשר אנכי בקרבו14 והם היו לו בחינת מקיף ובחינת ראש אף שהם היו לו בבחינת רגל ודאי.
That is, because Israel were at the level of his “foot,” as it is written, “Six hundred thousand on foot (raglei) are the people in whose midst I am”; and they were for him the level of the encompassing and the level of head, even though they were certainly for him at the level of foot.
Moshe’s greatness depended on Israel because they were his “foot”: he himself called them “six hundred thousand on foot” (raglei, literally “feet”), the people in whose midst he was. Though they were his feet, they were also his encompassing light and his head.
וכך הוא בכל ישראל ע״י שמתקן מעשיו שהם בכח המעשה בעשי׳ [בעשיה] גשמיות בבחי׳ רגלים נעשה מוחו ולבו זכים15 אלף פעמים ככה.16
And so it is with every Jew: through rectifying his deeds, which are in the power of action, in physical doing, at the level of the feet, his brain and heart become a thousand times as pure.
The same holds for every Jew: his practical deeds, the “feet” of his soul, when rectified, purify his mind and heart a thousand times over.
The paragraph explains why the lowest level can be the highest: in the “returning light” from below, the end becomes the beginning. Israel, the “foot,” is also the “head,” as Moshe’s greatness depended on Israel, and a person’s physical deeds purify his mind and heart.
The Tzemach Tzedek (Or HaTorah, Chanukah) gives the reason for this arrangement: descent is a lowering, so the higher can remain clothed in the lower only because the lower has a quality the higher lacks. The Rebbe (Likkutei Sichos vol. 6) explains that the thousand lights are not merely added light within Moshe’s existing level but a change of level, like the change from Avram to Avraham.
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Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe
„נעשה מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה” (“His mind and heart become a thousand times as pure”): why a thousand, and why mind and heart? The Kehot note says the question is asked in Sefer HaMaamarim 5643 p. 31; our commentary does not answer it.
Why “a thousand”? In his glosses on this maamar the Tzemach Tzedek suggests that it echoes the thousand lights Moshe received through Israel („אלף אורות דמשה שנמשך לו ע״י נש״י”), his “foot.” He also ties it to the Sages’ saying that of a thousand who begin with Scripture, one comes out fit to give rulings: the deed brings mind and heart to that one in a thousand, able to instruct, which he relates to the light of Atzilus. From these glosses the Rebbe concludes that the number is meant literally, and in a sicha of Shabbos Matos-Masei 5722 (unedited) he mentions, “as is known,” that „אלף הוא בחי׳ אצילות” (this “thousand” is the level of Atzilus).
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Bereishis, vol. ו, p. 2052 (1026b), continued on 2053 (the page headed תתרכז: this edition prints the doubled number on even pages only)
והנה מש״כ אלף פעמים ככה י״ל שהוא ע״ד אלף אורות דמשה שנמשך לו ע״י נש״י שהם בחי׳ רגל
the Rebbe: Toras Menachem (Hisvaaduyos), vol. לד (תשכ״ב ג), p. 209
כידוע בענין ”נעשים מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה”, ש״אלף” הוא בחי׳ אצילות
the Rebbe: Igros Kodesh, vol. יז, p. רסג
ה״ז אלף פעמים ממש ולא גוזמא קתני
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.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In a letter of 22 Tammuz 5718 to a rav who had written of his years in a community’s rabbinate, closing with the remark that his private life did not satisfy him, and who complained that the time at his disposal had shrunk since then, the Rebbe answers with this paragraph.
The Rebbe reads „מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה” (“his mind and heart become a thousand times as pure”) as a number, not a figure of speech. Citing “Rabbeinu HaZaken (Torah Ohr, at its beginning),” he tells a rav who complained that the time at his disposal had shrunk that his communal work is charity, through which his success grows a thousandfold; and following, he says, what the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses on this maamar explain, it is „אלף פעמים ממש” (“a thousand times literally”): in one hour he achieves what once needed a thousand.
The Alter Rebbe
נעשה מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה
The Rebbe
וע״פ המבואר בהגהות הצ״צ, ה״ז אלף פעמים ממש ולא גוזמא קתני, ז.א. שבשעה אחת מצליח מה שלפני זה הי׳ זקוק לאלף שעות
Igros Kodesh, vol. יז, p. רסב–רסג · כ״ב תמוז, תשי״ח
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5747
The Alter Rebbe states that in returning light the lower is superior. The Rebbe does not cite this line, but his resolution works along parallel lines. He resolves the conflicting counts of three and four by viewing them from two standpoints. From the order of descent, the upper worlds give and Asiyah receives. From the Essence, Atzilus is a descent, and service in Asiyah elevates it. In that sense Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah become the givers and Atzilus the fourth, the receiver.
The Alter Rebbe
ואור חוזר ממטה למעלה כל מה שלמטה הוא העליון
The Rebbe
ואדרבא, דוקא ע״י העבודה דעשי׳ פועלים עילוי באצילות
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5748
The Alter Rebbe uses this Sefer Yetzirah principle to explain how the ‘foot’ (Israel, action) is really the ‘head.’ The Rebbe applies the same principle to the Alter Rebbe’s own seforim: Torah Ohr opens with this verse and Likkutei Torah closes with it. He explains that because heaven and earth are a general matter, the principle shows itself openly here, and the maamar’s own subject is heaven and earth, beginning and end, and their connection.
The Alter Rebbe
וזהו נעוץ תחילתן בסופן שסופן הוא תחילתן
The Rebbe
נעוץ סופן בתחלתן ותחלתן בסופן
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
TermsOr chozerTheir beginning is wedged in their endAnochiIsarusa dilesata+3
- Or chozer אור חוזר explained hereIn direct light whatever is higher is superior; in returning light whatever is lower is superior. This is “their beginning is wedged in their end”: the foot is called head, and Israel, the “feet,” are called “first” (reishis).
אור ישר נקרא מלמעלה למטה כל מה שלמעלה הוא העליון ואור חוזר ממטה למעלה כל מה שלמטה הוא העליון
- Their beginning is wedged in their end נעוץ תחלתן בסופן explained hereHere, in Or Chozer, unlike Or Yashar, the lower is higher: “the foot is called head”; Israel, Moshe’s “feet,” were his head, and physical deeds purify mind and heart.
ואור חוזר ממטה למעלה כל מה שלמטה הוא העליון וזהו נעוץ תחילתן בסופן שסופן הוא תחילתן שבחינת הרגל נקרא ראש
- Anochi אנכי
- Isarusa dilesata אתערותא דלתתא
- Shabbos שבת
- Or Makif אור מקיף
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1נעוץ תחילתן בסופן · ספר יצירה פ״א מ״ז. ראה גם לקמן נב, א. ראה לקו״ת תצא לה, ב. ביאוה״ז לצ״צ ח״ב ע׳ תר ומציין שם לכמה דרושים. וראה בלקו״ש ח״ו ע׳ 19 בהערה 57 ”החידוש שבסוף מעשה במחשבה תחלה על נעוץ תחלתן בסופן”. בארוכה באוה״ת כאן כרך ג תעג, ב מלקו״ת לג״פ. וראה גם בד״ה ועמדו רגליו — תר״ל ע׳ שכ. ובד״ה ועתה יגדל נא תרל״ב כרך ב ע׳ שסז ואילך. באוה״ת חנוכה תתקכט, ב כ׳ הטעם ”שהוסד כן הוא כדי להיות קיום המשכת האור בעולמות שהרי הירידה הוא השפלה . . אך כאשר ימצא בהתחתון בחי׳ ומדריגה מה שאין נמצא בהעליון לכך יתקיים התלבשות העליון בתחתון” ע״ש.
- 2נעוץ תחילתן בסופן וסופן בתחילתן · Sefer Yetzirah 1:7
- 3אור ישר ואור חוזר · באוה״ת בראשית תתרכו, א מציין ע״ז ”אינו דומה לבחי׳ עגולים, שבבחי׳ עגולים לא יש כלל ראש וסוף . . אבל כאן הכוונה שיש ראש וסוף רק שמלמעלה למטה החכמה ראש והמל׳ סוף ומלמטלמ״ע בהיפוך”. וראה באוה״ת פ׳ ואתחנן ע׳ קעד וע׳ רצג ואילך למה דוקא נתב״ס ולא באמצען.
- 4וישראל נקראו ראשית · ”ע׳ תו״ח פ׳ חיי שרה בד״ה והנערה טובת מראה כו׳ בסי׳ כו. בד״ה ומעתה יש להקדים עוד ענין א׳ כו׳ [##]”. הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א הנ״ל.
- 5וישראל נקראו ראשית · Rashi on Genesis 1:1:2
- 6וישראל נקראו ראשית · Jeremiah 2:3
- 7וירא ראשית לו · Deuteronomy 33:21
- 8וירא ראשית לו · Bereshit Rabbah 1:4
- 9נטלו ממנו אלף אורות (ובשבת חוזרין · בלקו״ת ברכה צג, ג ”פע״ח שער השבת פ״ח בענין ישמח משה כו׳ אלף חלקים של אור כו׳”. וראה לקו״ת להאריז״ל ס״פ תשא. שם ר״פ ויקרא. עיין בזה בספר הלקוטים בהעלותך עה״פ והאיש משה ענו מאד. ולפענ״ד נראה, שהאלף אורות או המשכה הנ״ל אין זה ענין של תוספות אור בנשמה שתוכל להוסיף כח בעבודתה אבל נשארת במדריגתה . . אלא ב׳ ענינים הנ״ל הם ע״ד השינוי מאברם לאברהם. לקו״ש ח״ו ע׳ 245 ע״ש בארוכה. קטע מכאן מובא בד״ה פסל לך תרל״ב ע׳ פב. בענין אלף אורות — ראה ד״ה ישמח משה תרל״ח. בסה״מ תרמ״ג ע׳ לא כ׳ שאין הגוף מזדכך ע״י מצות מעשיות ומפרש שכאן בתו״א ”אמר רק מוחו ולבו זכים היינו שיזדככו המוח והלב להבין גדולת אוא״ס ב״ה ויהי׳ מקושר לאלקות . . צ״ל דקדוק לשונו הק׳ שע״י מצות מעשיות נע׳ מוחו ולבו זכים אלף פעמים ככה מהו המספר אלף פעמים דוקא, ולמה מוחו ולבו דוקא”. ראה ג״כ לקו״ש חכ״ב ע׳ 349. חכ״ג ע׳ 335.
- 10(ובשבת . . חלקו) · המוסגר נמצא גם בכת״י מאמרי אדה״ז.
- 11לך רד מגדולתך · Berakhot 32a:14
- 12לך רד · Rashi on Exodus 32:7:2
- 13שש מאות אלף רגלי העם · Numbers 11:21
- 14שו״ה שלו — בקרבו · בכת״י נוסף: שהוא הי׳ בקרבם: והם.
- 15מוחו ולבו זכים · ”כמו מים זכים והבן”. הג״ה בכת״י על תו״א.
- 16אלף פעמים ככה · ע׳ באוה״ת בראשית ח״ו תתרכו, ב ואילך, ובפ׳ בחוקותי ע׳ רד. ובתורת שמואל תרכ״ז ע׳ עא מוסיף: והיינו לפי שכל ישראל מעורבים זב״ז תחתון בעליון ועליון בתחתון כו׳ עכ״ל. וראה לקמן עח, ב. ובמ״מ ללקו״ת ואתחנן יב, ג.
9והנה להיות הדום לבחינת רגל שהוא בחינת כנסת ישראל דהיינו להגביה׳ [להגביהה]1 ולהעלותה ממטה למעלה הוא ע״י בחי׳ הארץ שהם מצות מעשיות וכללותן היא הצדקה
Now, for there to be a “footstool” for the level of the foot, which is the level of the Community of Israel — that is, to raise it and elevate it from below to above — [this] is through the level of “earth,” which is the practical mitzvos, and their general and collective expression is charity.
Now the “footstool” itself: it raises the “foot,” the Jewish people. What raises them is the “earth,” the practical mitzvos, and their general and collective expression is charity.
¶1 This answers the question from paragraph 1 about “My footstool.”
ועל זה נאמר צדקה תרומם גוי2 תרומם ממטה למעלה והגבהה והעלאה זו היא בבחינת גוי שהם אותיות ג׳3 ו׳ י׳ דהיינו העלאת המדות שנחלקין דרך כלל לג׳ בחינות חסד דין רחמים45
And of this it is said, “Charity exalts a nation (goy)”: exalts from below to above. And this raising and elevation is at the level of goy, which is the letters gimmel, vav, yud: that is, the elevation of the attributes, which divide, in general, into three levels: kindness, judgment and mercy
Proverbs says “Charity exalts a nation (goy).” The word goy is spelled gimmel, vav, yud. Its letters hint at the process: the emotional attributes, which fall into three groups — kindness, judgment and mercy — are raised up.
(כי נה״י [נצח הוד יסוד] אינו אלא התפשטות חג״ת [חסד גבורה תפארת]6 וענפיהן) והתעלותן היא לבחינת יו״ד שהיא בחינת החכמה ע״י הוא״ו שהוא הממשיך ומחבר המחשבה כו׳
(The lower three Sefiros, Netzach, Hod and Yesod, are only extensions of the first three.) The three (gimmel) rise to the yud, which stands for Chochmah, by way of the vav, a straight line that connects and draws the thought down.
ככה ממש נעשה למטה בנפש האדם העלאת המדות בשכלו ובינתו כי כשהמדות נפרדות מהשכל הם נחשבות לדבר בפני עצמו.
Exactly so it takes place below, in the soul of man: the elevation of the attributes into his intellect and understanding. For when the attributes are separated from the intellect they are considered a thing unto itself.
The same happens in a person: his emotions are raised into his mind. When emotions are cut off from understanding they are a separate force, acting on their own.
The paragraph explains what the footstool does: practical mitzvos, above all charity, raise the “foot,” elevating the emotional attributes into wisdom, both above and in the human soul.
The Tzemach Tzedek (Or HaTorah, Chanukah) notes that this maamar reads “the earth is My footstool” as referring to the G‑dly soul, while the maamar “And I will make your windows of kadkod” reads it as referring to the animal soul.
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Explained by the Alter Rebbe and the Rebbe
„וכללותן היא הצדקה” (“And their general and collective expression is charity”): why is charity the sum of the practical mitzvos? Our commentary states it without a reason.
Why is charity the “general” form of the practical mitzvos? In Tanya ch. 37 the Alter Rebbe explains that the Sages ranked charity against all the mitzvos, and the Jerusalem Talmud calls it simply „מצוה סתם” (“the mitzvah”), because it is „עיקר המצות מעשיות” (the chief of the practical mitzvos): all of them serve to raise the vital soul to G‑d (להעלות נפש החיונית לה׳), and in no other is so much of it invested, for a person gives what he earned with all his strength, or what could have bought him life. When the Rebbe retells this sentence (in his maamar of Motzaei Shabbos Re’eh 5738, unedited), he gives as its reason the Tanya’s first words here: the Jerusalem Talmud calls charity simply “the mitzvah.”
the Alter Rebbe: Tanya, Likkutei Amarim, ch. 37, p. מח, ב
מפני שהיא עיקר המצות מעשיות ועולה על כולנה שכולן הן רק להעלות נפש החיונית לה׳
the Rebbe: Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשל״ח, p. שסב
וכללותן היא מצות הצדקה, שבכל תלמוד ירושלמי היא נק׳ בשם מצוה סתם
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.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5745
In the Alter Rebbe’s maamar the footstool raises Knesses Yisrael through practical mitzvos and charity (¶9), while separately “earth” is the Oral Torah, the grasp of G‑d’s will (¶11). The Rebbe joins the two: “the earth is My footstool” means the Oral Torah reveals the supernal will through help from Above that lifts a person to the correct halachah. He also narrows the will to halachah specifically, as against non-halachic views, which are only “words of the living G‑d”; and he includes in “earth” the student’s innovations and rulings that take account of what the public can bear.
The Alter Rebbe
וארץ נקרא תורה שבע״פ כי ארץ מלשון רצון
The Rebbe
שיש לו סייעתא דשמיא לכוון ההלכה, והוי׳ עמו שהלכה כמותו
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5746
For the Alter Rebbe, what practical mitzvos raise is the “foot,” the Community of Israel, and the emotions are lifted into the intellect. The Rebbe extends the elevation to the physical objects of the mitzvos themselves. He then extends it further, to even lofty creatures, which count as physical relative to the divine word that gives them life. Through this the world, created complete, gains a further completeness in the future.
The Alter Rebbe
להגביה׳ ולהעלותה ממטה למעלה הוא ע״י בחי׳ הארץ שהם מצות מעשיות
The Rebbe
גם נבראים נעלים שהם גשמיים לגבי הדבר הוי׳ המחי׳ אותם
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.
TermsHodNetzachKnesses YisraelTzedakah+6
Marei mekomos
- 1הדום . . להגביה · באוה״ת פ׳ בראשית א, א מציין ע״ז וז״ל: ר״ל שלא יהיו רגליה יורדות מות ע׳ זח״א ויחי דף רכא, ב והיינו שמשפילים א״ע בתאוות גשמיות שמזה נמשך שגם למעלה נשפל ההמשכה בהיכלות הקליפות כי יעקב חבל נחלתו כמ״ש ע״פ ואני נתתי לכם שכם אחד וז״ס גלות השכינה” עכ״ל ע״ש. וכ״ה באוה״ת נ״ך ח״א ע׳ שיב.
- 2צדקה תרומם גוי · Proverbs 14:34
- 3אותיות ג׳ ו׳ י׳ · באוה״ת בראשית כרך ג חנוכה תתקלא, ב מציין ”וע׳ בד״ה השמים כסאי בד״ה והארץ הדום רגלי . . דקאי על נה״א, ובד״ה ושמתי כדכד פי׳ דקאי על נה״ב”. [לקו״ת ראה כה, א ”חטאתם של ישראל הוא הגורם חסד לאומים”]. וראה שם תתרלו, ב. אוה״ת נ״ך ע׳ תר מציין לכאן. סה״מ תרל״ח ע׳ ער. ראה לקמן לח, ד שמגביה את בחי׳ היו״ד שבאה למעלה מעלה.
- 4בבחינת גוי שהם אותיות ג׳ ו׳ י׳ . . חסד דין רחמים · ראה באוה״ת בראשית כרך א קלח, ב. כרך ו תתרלו, ב. וראה לקו״ש חל״ג ע׳ 226 הערה 27.
- 5חסד דין רחמים · ראה אוה״ת ואתחנן ע׳ רצז.
- 6נה״י אינו אלא התפשטות חג״ת וענפיה · ראה לקמן נ, ד שענין נה״י הוא עד״מ כליות יועצות איך להשפיע. וראה באוה״ת שבת שובה ע׳ א׳תקכד.
10ולכן יש לך אדם שמתעורר לבו בשעת התפלה וכיוצא בה שאז היא שעת גדלות המוחין ואח״כ חולפת ועוברת האהבה ופונה לדרכו מהיפך להיפך באין מבין כי הם שני הפכים
And therefore you find a person whose heart is aroused at the time of prayer and the like, for that is a time of expanded intellect (gadlus hamochin); and afterwards the love passes and goes away, and he turns to his own way, from one extreme to the other, without understanding that these are two opposites.
This explains a familiar experience: during prayer, when the mind is expanded by contemplation, a person’s heart is stirred with love for G‑d; afterwards the feeling vanishes and he goes his own way, swinging from one extreme to the other without noticing that the two are opposites.
והיינו מפני שהמדות נפרדים מהשכל משא״כ בהתכללותן כו׳ והרי אז הוא עילוי המדות ביתר שאת א, גשנעשו בחינת מוחין
And this is because the attributes are separated from the intellect; whereas when they are interincluded, etc., then there is an elevation of the attributes with surpassing excellence, for they have become the level of intellect (mochin).
This happens because his emotions were not integrated with his understanding. When the emotions are integrated into the intellect they are raised to a far higher level, becoming “intellect” themselves, and so they last.
And this is “with all your soul,” that is, with all the powers of the soul, even the level of the foot — that even the level of the foot be exalted and raised.
This is loving G‑d “with all your soul”: with every power of the soul, including the lowest, the “foot,” which must also be lifted up.
The paragraph gives a practical example: love felt only in prayer fades because the emotions are separate from the mind; when they are raised into the mind they become stable, and even the lowest powers are elevated.
TermsKatnus and gadlusMochinTefillahMiddos
- Katnus and gadlus קטנות וגדלות
- Mochin מוחין
- Tefillah תפלה
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1בכל נפשך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 2שו״ה בבחינת — תרום ותגביה · בכת״י: תגביה ותרום כנ״ל.
Heaven and earth within the Torah ¶11
11והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות ודרך פרט בתורה עצמה שמים זו תורה שבכתב שמים שם מים1 דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת23 וארץ נקרא תורה שבע״פ [שבעל פה]
Now, this is in general: that Torah and mitzvos are called heaven and earth. And in particular, within the Torah itself: “heaven” is the Written Torah — shamayim is sham mayim (“there is water”), for the Torah comes from Chochmah — and “earth” is the name for the Oral Torah,
In general, heaven and earth are Torah and mitzvos. Within the Torah itself, “heaven” is the Written Torah: shamayim is read as sham mayim, “there is water,” and water stands for Chochmah, from which the Torah comes, as the Zohar says. “Earth” is the Oral Torah.
כי ארץ מלשון רצון כמאמר רז״ל [רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] למה נקרא שמה ארץ שרצתה45 כו׳ וארץ אותיות א׳ רץ כו׳6
for eretz (earth) is from the word ratzon (will), as our Sages say: “Why is it called eretz? Because it wished (ratz’sah),” etc.; and eretz is the letters alef, ratz (“runs”), etc.
The Midrash says the earth is called eretz because it “wished” (ratz’sah) to do its Maker’s will; and the letters of eretz can also be read alef ratz, “the alef runs.” So “earth” means will and striving.
והענין כי תורה שבע״פ [שבעל פה] היא השגת תכלית הרצון לידע איך ומה כגון סוכה שהיא גבוה7 כו׳ שאין זה מבואר בתורה שבכתב
And the matter is: the Oral Torah is the grasp of the ultimate intent of the will — to know how and what, such as [the law of] a sukkah that is high, etc., which is not explained in the Written Torah.
The Oral Torah grasps what G‑d’s will actually requires: exactly how and what. For example, a sukkah may not be higher than twenty cubits, a detail not stated in the Written Torah.
ותושב״כ [ותורה שבכתב] היא רק בחי׳ אותיות להיות כדמותן בצלמן שהן שמותיו של הקב״ה8
And the Written Torah is only the level of letters, [to remain] in their likeness and in their image, which are the Names of the Holy One, blessed be He.
The Written Torah is letters, which must stay exactly as written; its words are all Names of G‑d, as Nachmanides writes.
ולכן נקרא קורא בתורה כמו שקורא בשם והיינו מלמעלה למטה אבל תורה שבע״פ [שבעל פה] עיקרה ממטה למעלה ע״י השגת הרצון בנפש9 תכלל הנפש במקורה למעלה.
Therefore one is said to “read” (kore) in the Torah, as one calls (kore) a name; and this is from above to below. But the Oral Torah is essentially from below to above: through grasping the will in the soul, the soul becomes included in its source above.
That is why one “reads” (kore) the Torah, as one calls (kore) a name: it comes from above. The Oral Torah works from below: by grasping G‑d’s will with his own mind, a person’s soul is absorbed into its source.
ושלשה נקראו ארץ10 כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ [שבעל פה] ומצות וכולן נרמזין במקרא אחד. ארץ ארץ ארץ שמעי דבר1112 ה׳:
And three are called “earth”: the Community of Israel, the Oral Torah and the mitzvos; and all of them are alluded to in one verse: “Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Havayah.”
Three things are called “earth”: the Jewish people, the Oral Torah and the mitzvos. Jeremiah’s triple “earth, earth, earth” alludes to all three.
The paragraph refines the pairing of heaven and earth: in general they are Torah and mitzvos; within the Torah, heaven is the Written Torah, flowing from above, and earth is the Oral Torah, in which a person grasps G‑d’s will and rises to its source.
The Tzemach Tzedek (Or HaTorah, Shir HaShirim) notes that one explanation of this verse pairs heaven with ratzo (yearning upward) and earth with shov (return), while another (“As the new heavens”) makes earth ratzo and heaven shov, as this paragraph reads eretz as ratz, “runs.” Both are correct: there is love that rises from below (ratzo) and love that flows from above (shov).
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Motzaei Shabbos Re’eh, Rosh Chodesh Elul 5738 (unedited), having retold this maamar’s throne and footstool and said, as the next maamar in Torah Ohr opens, that „שמים וארץ נבראו בשביל תורה וישראל” (heaven and earth were created for the Torah and for Israel) and so must be found in them, the Rebbe sets out the two directions within the Torah itself.
The Rebbe gives the reason for this paragraph’s two directions within the Torah. The Written Torah is „המשכה מלמעלמ״ט” (“from above to below”) because it is fixed: counted and numbered (מנוי וספור) as it was given from heaven, down to the number of its cantillation marks, vowels, crowns and letters. The Oral Torah is „העלאה מלמטלמ״ע” (“from below to above”) because it has to grow and be increased (“לאפשא לה,” in the Zohar’s words); and the power of growth, which is without limit, is found in this physical earth and not in the heavens, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Iggeres HaKodesh (sec. 20).
The Alter Rebbe
והיינו מלמעלה למטה אבל תורה שבע״פ עיקרה ממטה למעלה
The Rebbe
ותורה שבע״פ ענינה העלאה מלמטלמ״ע, שזהו מה שבתושבע״פ צ״ל הענין דלאפשא לה, כדאי׳ בזהר
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשל״ח, p. שסב–שסג · מוצאי ש״פ ראה, אדר״ח אלול ה׳תשל״ח
Background from the Rebbe
In Likkutei Sichos vol. 14 (from sichos of Shavuos and Shabbos Nasso 5730 and 5731), explaining the order of reasons the Alter Rebbe gives in his laws of Torah study for a woman’s share in the Torah, the Rebbe turns to the inner dimension: Israel’s task of “conquering” the world is done with the power of the Torah.
The Rebbe explains why “all desires cannot equal her,” not even „אפי׳ חפצי שמים” (“the desires of heaven”), the mitzvos: the mitzvos „נתלבשו ממש בדברים גשמיים” (are clothed in physical things), but the Torah, even after it is clothed in physicality, stays „הלא כה דברי כאש” (“like fire”); it is “heaven” itself. His note sends to this maamar, where Torah and mitzvos are heaven and earth.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
כי המצוות (”חפצי שמים”) נתלבשו ממש בדברים גשמיים, אבל התורה גם לאחרי שנתלבשה בגשמיות כתיב ”הלא כה דברי כאש”
Likkutei Sichos, vol. יד, p. 43–44, note 56 (on p. 44) · חג השבועות וש״פ נשא, תש״ל ותשל״א
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Vaera, Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5746 (unedited), which opens “as explained in Torah Ohr,” the Rebbe sets three heavens (ג׳ בחי׳ שמים) against this paragraph’s three earths (ג׳ בחינות ארץ). These pairs frame the whole maamar: what heaven and earth each stir in a person’s service, and how heaven can be a “throne.”
From „ארץ ארץ ארץ” (“Earth, earth, earth”) the Rebbe infers that there are also three heavens, and names them: opposite the Community of Israel, Z”A, for „דשמים וארץ הם בחי׳ ז״א ומלכות” (heaven and earth are, as is known, Z”A and Malchus), and the Community of Israel is Malchus; opposite the Oral Torah, the Written Torah („מן השמים השמיעך את קולו”, “from heaven He let you hear His voice”); and opposite the mitzvos, given on earth in physical things, the study of Torah, which as a whole was given from heaven. In his maamar of Noach 5748 he names the heaven opposite Israel differently: Israel’s own service “in the manner of heaven.”
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות וכולן נרמזין במקרא אחד
The Rebbe
דג׳ בחינות ארץ הן כנס״י ותושבע״פ ומצוות, וג׳ בחי׳ שמים הן, ז״א ותושב״כ ותורה. דהנה ידוע דשמים וארץ הם בחי׳ ז״א ומלכות (כנס״י)
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשמ״ו, p. פח · ש״פ וארא, ר״ח שבט ה׳תשמ״ו
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5740
The Alter Rebbe lists the three things called “earth.” The Rebbe shows that each is rooted in the Essence. Israel’s thought preceded even the Torah, and G‑d “consulted” the souls of the righteous about creation. Beyond being “the mitzvos of Havayah,” the mitzvos have a level of “My mitzvos,” rooted in the Essence. And although the Torah “is not in heaven,” its root is above Chochmah: “the Torah and the Holy One, blessed be He, are entirely one.”
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
וי״ל דג׳ ענינים אלו ג״כ מושרשים בעצמותו ית׳
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5740
The Rebbe explains why all three are alluded to in one verse. When Jews study Torah after the blessing “Giver of the Torah” (the Giver Himself), perform mitzvos after “Who sanctified us with His mitzvos,” put “we will do” before “we will hear” (bittul to the One Whose will it is), and pray to Him rather than to His attributes, they reveal these three as they are rooted in the Essence. He reads “hear the word of Havayah” as drawing this into the literal heavens and earth, which were made “by the word of G‑d,” until they become new heavens and a new earth.
The Alter Rebbe
וכולן נרמזין במקרא אחד. ארץ ארץ ארץ שמעי דבר ה׳
The Rebbe
הנה עי״ז מגלים ענין ג׳ בחי׳ אלו כפי שהם מושרשים בהעצמות
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5744
The Alter Rebbe states that, in general, Torah and mitzvos are called heaven and earth. The Rebbe grounds this in the Sages’ teaching that heaven and earth were created for Torah and Israel, both called reishis. From this he extends the pair beyond Torah into Israel’s avodah: masters of Torah and masters of good deeds, Yissachar and Zevulun. He also stresses that this is a general division, unlike the many particular divisions within Torah.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
שגם בתורה ובישראל ישנו ענין השמים והארץ
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5745
For the Alter Rebbe, Knesses Yisrael as a whole is “earth.” The Rebbe divides Israel itself into heaven and earth. “Heavenly” Jews study the Torah above details, where opposing views coexist, rooted in G‑d as “the impossible of impossibles” and in supernal free choice. “Earthly” Jews study for practical halachah, following the majority and reckoning with the world, as in “many did as Rabbi Yishmael and succeeded.” He extends the division to the future as well: the Torah of Moshiach (“from their smallest to their greatest”) and Israel as Yehudah and Ephraim.
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
דיש בחי׳ בישראל השייכים לשמים (הימל-אידן) ויש בחי׳ בישראל השייכים לארץ
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5746
The Alter Rebbe already describes the throne as Torah and the footstool as raising Israel through practical mitzvos, with the opposite directions present in ¶5 and ¶9; ¶11 supplies the general pairing of heaven with Torah and earth with mitzvos. The Rebbe’s useful explicit synthesis pairs the directions and their effects: Torah study effects the throne by drawing G‑dliness from above to below, while mitzvos in physical things effect the footstool by elevating from below to above.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
וע״י קיום המצוות בדברים גשמיים, האדם פועל ענין ההדום, העלאה מלמטה למעלה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5747
The Alter Rebbe reads the three “earths” of the verse within Torah and Israel: the Community of Israel, the Oral Torah and the mitzvos. The Rebbe carries this into the structure of the worlds, on the principle that the world was created through the Torah. The three earths are Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and heaven is Atzilus, which reaches them only through the parsa.
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
דג״פ ארץ הם נגד ג׳ עולמות בי״ע
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה כה אמר ה׳ השמים כסאי, 5747
The Alter Rebbe gives a general reading (Torah and mitzvos) and a particular one (Written and Oral Torah). The Rebbe adds a still broader one: “earth” is the entire order of descent, which is counted as three, and “heaven,” the fourth level, is G‑d’s Essence itself.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה זהו דרך כלל שנק׳ שמים וארץ תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
וי״ל דארץ קאי על כללות סדר ההשתלשלות
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5748
The Alter Rebbe names three ‘earths’ but pairs only two of them with a ‘heaven’: Written Torah with Oral Torah, and Torah with mitzvos. The Rebbe completes the symmetry. Opposite Israel as ‘earth’ stands ‘the avodah of Israel in the manner of heaven.’ Through all three pairs, the heavens become G‑d’s throne, so that it is ‘Israel and the King alone.’
The Alter Rebbe
ושלשה נקראו ארץ כנסת ישראל ותורה שבע״פ ומצות
The Rebbe
ומזה מובן גם שיש ג׳ בחי׳ שמים
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
TermsTorah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al pehShamayim va’aretzKnesses YisraelHasagah+6
- Torah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al peh תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה explained hereHeaven is the Written Torah (“sham mayim,” from Chochmah) and earth the Oral Torah (eretz, from ratzon, will): grasping the purpose of His will, how and what, such as a sukkah’s height, which the Written Torah does not explain. The Written Torah is letters, His Names, “called” from above downward; the Oral Torah is chiefly from below upward.
אבל תורה שבע״פ עיקרה ממטה למעלה ע״י השגת הרצון בנפש תכלל הנפש במקורה למעלה
- Shamayim va’aretz שמים וארץ
- Knesses Yisrael כנסת ישראל
- Hasagah השגה
- Osiyos אותיות
- Dibbur elyon דבור עליון
- Ratzon רצון
Marei mekomos
- 1שמים שם מים · ע׳ באוה״ת פ׳ עקב ע׳ תרה בארוכה.
- 2דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת · Zohar II, 121a
- 3דאורייתא מחכמה נפקת · Zohar, Yitro 21:378–22:389
- 4למה נקרא שמה ארץ שרצתה · Bereshit Rabbah 5:7
- 5למה נקרא שמה ארץ שרצתה · Bereshit Rabbah 5:8
- 6שו״ה א׳ רץ כו׳ · בכת״י אין תי׳ ”כו׳”. — ולכאורה הוא מיותר.
- 7סוכה שהיא גבוה · Mishnah Sukkah 1:1
- 8ותושב״כ . . שהן שמותיו של הקב״ה · רמב״ן עה״ת בהקדמה, יונת אלם פכ״ט.
- 9שו״ה אבל תורה — בנפש · בכת״י ליתא תי׳ זו.
- 10ושלשה נקראו ארץ · ראה ד״ה השמים כסאי תשמ״א. בהג״ה בכת״י מחסיד על תו״א מעיר כאן ”ע׳ בד״ה כי כאשר השמים, עיין ותבין זאת, כי לכאורה עד כה דבריו שכנס״י נק׳ רגל רק מצות ותושבע״פ נק׳ ארץ”. ראה גם אוה״ת בראשית כרך ו תתרלז, א.
- 11ושלשה נקראו . . דבר ה׳ · בבוך 1092, 2044 כ״ז נמצא במוסגר.
- 12ארץ ארץ שמעי דבר ה׳ · Jeremiah 22:29
The house: prayer ¶12–14
12אך אי זה בית1 כו׳ כי הכסא והשרפרף אין דרכן להעמידן בחוץ אלא בתוך הבית ובחי׳ בית היינו בכל מאדך23 שהוא בבחי׳ מקיף4
But “what house,” etc.: for a throne and a footstool are not usually set up outside, but inside the house. And the level of “house” is “with all your might,” which is at the level of the encompassing,
Now the verse’s last question, “what house?” A throne and footstool stand inside a house. The “house” is “with all your might” (me’odecha, literally “your very much”), love beyond all measure, which surrounds rather than enters.
כמו ע״ד משל בית שהוא מקיף את האדם בגגו ובקירותיו5 ובית זה הוא בית תפלה
just as, by way of analogy, a house surrounds a person with its roof and its walls. And this house is the house of prayer;
A house surrounds a person with roof and walls; this “house” is prayer.
שע״י התפלה ח״י פעמים ברוך אתה כו׳ היא המשכת מקיפין מבחי׳ סוכ״ע (והיא בחי׳ רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף6 כנ״ל) שהם נמשכין ע״י כריעות והשתחויות באבות ובהודאה תחלה וסוף7 שהם בחינת ביטול.
for through prayer — eighteen times “Blessed are You,” etc. — there is a drawing down of encompassing lights from the level of the light that encompasses all worlds (and this is the level of “His spirit and His breath He will gather to him,” as mentioned above), which are drawn through the bowings and prostrations in [the blessing of] the Patriarchs and in [the blessing of] Thanksgiving, at the beginning and the end, which are the level of self-nullification (bittul).
In the Amidah one says “Blessed are You” eighteen times, and through it encompassing light is drawn down from sovev kol almin, the light beyond the worlds — the “spirit and breath” gathered to a person, as in paragraph 4. It is drawn through the bows at the beginning and end of the first blessing and of the blessing of thanksgiving, which express self-nullification.
והענין כי אי אפשר להיות גילוי אור א״ס ב״ה דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל8 ולאו מכל מדות9 וכו׳ בבחינת פנימיות הלב רק מעט מזעיר הארה בעלמא
And the matter is: it is impossible for there to be a revelation of the Infinite Light, blessed be He — which “no thought can grasp at all,” and “not of any of the attributes,” etc. — in the inner dimension of the heart, except for a very small amount, a mere glimmer;
Why must this light be encompassing? Because the Infinite Light is beyond all thought and all attributes: the inner heart can take in only a tiny glimmer of it.
ואפילו גילוי במוח והשגה לית מחשבה כו׳ רק בבחי׳ מקיף וסובב לבד וע״ז נאמר ואל זה אביט1011 שרומז על בחינת תפלה.12
and even a revelation in the mind, and grasp — “no thought [can grasp],” etc. — [is possible] only as encompassing and surrounding. And of this it is said, “And to this one I will look,” which alludes to the level of prayer.
Even the mind cannot grasp it; it can be present only as a surrounding light. Of this G‑d says in the next verse, “And to this one I will look,” alluding to prayer.
The paragraph explains the “house”: prayer, with its bowing and self-nullification, draws down the encompassing light beyond the worlds, which neither heart nor mind can contain and which can only surround a person like a house.
The Kehot note reports that several manuscripts lack the words from “and surrounding” to “And to this one I will look,” and suggests they may be an addition by the Tzemach Tzedek.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5736
The Alter Rebbe pairs heaven and earth with Torah and mitzvos (¶11) and makes the “house,” “with all your might,” encompassing like a house’s walls. The Rebbe maps these onto the levels of the soul. Torah and mitzvos are the service of nefesh-ruach-neshamah, the inner powers. The “house” is the unlimited service that comes from chayah and yechidah, the encompassing powers of the soul.
The Alter Rebbe
ובחי׳ בית היינו בכל מאדך שהוא בבחי׳ מקיף
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5736
The Alter Rebbe uses “no thought can grasp Him” to show why the Infinite Light can only be encompassing. The Rebbe adds that the “poor” is also literally poor in knowledge, a person whose service rests on simple faith. He then distinguishes two kinds of poverty. Faith before the service is kabbalas ol below reason. Faith after the service of Torah, mitzvos and prayer is a bittul above reason, born of recognizing that no thought grasps Him, like Moshe, “the simple one believes everything.”
The Alter Rebbe
דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל ולאו מכל מדות
The Rebbe
שהאמונה שלו היא מצד ההכרה שלית מחשבה תפיסא בי׳ כלל
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5740
The Alter Rebbe reads the “house” as prayer, which draws down the encompassing light. The Rebbe reads “which house” and “which place of My rest” as the complete state that results from all three: settled permanence and G‑d’s satisfaction (will and delight). He ties it to the future building of the Beis HaMikdash. Although the Beis HaMikdash stands ready above, it is drawn down through Israel’s service from below.
The Alter Rebbe
אך אי זה בית כו׳ כי הכסא והשרפרף אין דרכן להעמידן בחוץ
The Rebbe
לשון מנוחה וקביעות, וגם לשון נחת רוח, בחי׳ רצון ותענוג
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5748
For the Alter Rebbe, the ‘house’ is prayer and ‘with all your might,’ the encompassing light. The Rebbe reads ‘what house’ as referring specifically to the Third Beis HaMikdash, following the Gemara that it will be like Yaakov, who called it ‘house.’ He says this house is built through avodah in the three lines with the three garments. Because the Third Temple continues the first two like a pledge that must be returned as it was, G‑d is bound, as it were, to restore it.
The Alter Rebbe
אך אי זה בית כו׳ כי הכסא והשרפרף אין דרכן להעמידן בחוץ
The Rebbe
ודוקא על מקדש זה השלישי כתיב
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.
TermsHoda’ahAvosKiseiBechol me’odecha+12
- Hoda’ah הודאה
- Avos אבות
- Kisei כסא
- Bechol me’odecha בכל מאדך
- Chitzoniyus halev and pnimiyus halev חיצוניות הלב ופנימיות הלב
- Hasagah השגה
- Tefillah תפלה
- Z’eir Anpin זעיר אנפין
- Or Makif אור מקיף
- Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1אי זה בית · Isaiah 66:1
- 2ובחי׳ בית היינו בכל מאדך · מובא באוה״ת במדבר כרך ו ע׳ א׳תתקו ע״ש בפי׳ בכל מאדך.
- 3בכל מאדך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 4אך אי זה בית . . בכל מאדך שהוא בבחי מקיף · באוה״ת במדבר כרך ג פ׳ בלק (בהוצאה חדשה) בהוספות ע׳ 74 מציין לכאן.
- 5בגגו ובקירותיו · בסה״מ תרל״ח ע׳ רמ נוסף: [ועמ״ש בד״ה מזמור שיר חנוכת הבית]. =ֿלקו״ת ברכה צח, ד ואילך.
- 6רוחו ונשמתו אליו יאסף · Job 34:14
- 7כריעות והשתחויות באבות ובהודאה תחלה וסוף · Berakhot 34a:14
- 8דלית מחשבה תפיסא ביה כלל · Tikkunei Zohar 17a:10–12
- 9ולאו מכל מדות · Tikkunei Zohar 17b:5–7
- 10שו״ה וסובב — זה אביט . . אל זה אביט · בכמה כת״י ליתא, ואולי זה הוספה מכ״ק אדמו״ר הצ״צ.
- 11ואל זה אביט · Isaiah 66:2
- 12שמצינו במשה שבחטא העגל · ראה לקו״ת להאריז״ל ס״פ תשא. שם ר״פ ויקרא. פע״ח שער השבת פ״ח.
13ופי׳ הפסוק ואת כל אלה ידי עשתה1 בחינת עשיה היינו מעשה המצות. ויהיו כל אלה נאם ה׳ היא בחינת תורה שבע״פ [שבעל פה] שהיא נאם ודבר ה׳ בחינת דבור
And the explanation of the verse: “And all these My hand has made” is the level of action, that is, the performance of the mitzvos. “And all these came to be, says Havayah” is the level of the Oral Torah, which is the saying and the word of G‑d, the level of speech;
The next verse is read as three levels. “All these My hand has made”: action, the performance of the mitzvos. “And all these came to be, says Havayah”: speech, the Oral Torah, which is G‑d’s word.
משא״כ אל זה אביט הוא בחינת תפלה אביט הוא בחינת הבטה היא הסתכלות בבחי׳ עיניך יונים2 שהיא בחי׳ המחשבה לבד והיא היא בחי׳ מקיף וסובב
whereas “And to this one I will look” is the level of prayer. “I will look” is the level of gazing, which is looking, at the level of “your eyes are doves,” which is the level of thought alone; and this is precisely the level of the encompassing and surrounding,
“And to this one I will look” is prayer. Looking is like thought (“your eyes are doves”), and thought is encompassing.
כמו עד״מ מחשב׳ שמקפת מחשבתו את הדבר שחושב עליו וכן הראיה והסתכלות כו׳ משא״כ דבור ומעשה הם פנימיים כו׳
as, by way of analogy, with thought: one’s thought encompasses the thing one is thinking about; and so too sight and looking, etc. Whereas speech and action are inner, etc.
Thought surrounds its subject, as sight takes in what it sees from outside, while speech and action are inner: they enter into and shape their object.
והבטה זו היא אל עני ונכה רוח בחינת ביטול דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום אפילו תורה ומצות לפי שהמשכה זו אי אפשר להשיג ע״י התורה ומצות שהם פנימיי׳ רק ע״י בטול בתפלה וכריעות והשתחואות
And this gaze is “to the poor and broken of spirit”: the level of self-nullification, which has nothing of its own at all, not even Torah and mitzvos; because this drawing down cannot be attained through the Torah and mitzvos, which are inner, but only through self-nullification in prayer, and bowings and prostrations —
G‑d’s “look” goes “to the poor and broken of spirit”: someone who feels he has nothing of his own, not even his Torah and mitzvos. For this encompassing light cannot be drawn by Torah and mitzvos, which are inward, but only by self-nullification in prayer and bowing.
כמשל המלך שכורעים ומשתחוים לו מפני שאי אפשר להתקרב אליו מגודל מעלתו אזי ממילא נמשך אליו בחינה זו. וזהו ברוך אתה כלומר ברוך מעצמך ומאליך.3
like the analogy of a king, to whom one bows and prostrates because one cannot draw near to him, owing to his great exaltedness; then this level is drawn down to him [who bows] of itself. And this is “Blessed are You,” that is to say, blessed of Yourself and on Your own.
So one bows before a king who is too exalted to approach, and then this closeness comes to the one who bows of itself. This is the meaning of “Blessed are You”: may You be drawn down of Your own accord.
The paragraph interprets Isaiah 66:2 as three levels: mitzvos (action), Oral Torah (speech) and prayer (G‑d’s “look,” thought), and explains that the highest, encompassing light comes only through the self-nullification of prayer.
Reading “Blessed are You” as “be blessed (drawn down) of Yourself” makes the blessing a request for revelation that no human effort can compel, only invite through bittul.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar “Hashamayim kis’i” of Shabbos Vaera, Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5746 (unedited), the Rebbe takes up a question the Tzemach Tzedek asks in Or HaTorah: how “heaven,” the revelation of G‑dliness above the worlds and so an encompassing light, can be a “throne,” a lowering and also a covering (kisei from kisui). He answers from Or HaTorah that the truest encompassing light, beyond makif and pnimi, can come down lowest, and then turns to the haftarah’s next verse.
The Rebbe reads „ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח” (“to this one I will look, to the poor and broken of spirit”) as utter bittul, “as the maamarim explain,” and gives its reason: to draw down the highest encompassing light, which is beyond existence altogether, the service must be „ביטול המציאות לגמרי” (the nullification of one’s existence altogether). From the standpoint of that bittul, he adds, it makes no difference whether the service is in spiritual matters (heaven) or in physical ones (earth), for a person’s whole existence is only „לשמש את קונו” (to serve his Maker). And the light drawn through it joins heaven and earth below: Z”A and Malchus, the Written and the Oral Torah.
The Alter Rebbe
והבטה זו היא אל עני ונכה רוח בחינת ביטול דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום אפילו תורה ומצות
The Rebbe
צ״ל העבודה דביטול המציאות לגמרי, הביטול דדכא ושפל רוח. דמצד ביטול זה אין הפרש אם העבודה היא ברוחניות (שמים) או בגשמיות (ארץ)
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תשמ״ו, p. פט–צא · ש״פ וארא, ר״ח שבט ה׳תשמ״ו
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar of Shabbos Noach 5731 (unedited), having shown that the “earth,” the Oral Torah and the practical mitzvos, has an advantage over “heaven” because the physical comes into being from the power of G‑d’s Essence, the Rebbe turns to the haftarah’s next verse.
The Rebbe reads „ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח” (“to this one I will look, to the poor and broken of spirit”) as „בחי׳ ארץ” (the level of “earth”) itself: that is why it is to this one, of all, that He looks. The Alter Rebbe reads the same words as prayer („בחינת תפלה”), the encompassing “gaze” that Torah and mitzvos cannot draw.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ אל זה אביט הוא בחינת תפלה
The Rebbe
וזהו גם מה שממשיך בההפטרה ואל זה אביט אל עני ונכה רוח, שהוא בחי׳ ארץ, ולכן דוקא אל זה אביט
Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti mugah, old ed.), vol. תש״ל–תשל״א, p. 346 · ש״פ נח, ב׳ דר״ח מר-חשון, ה׳תשל״א
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5736
In the Alter Rebbe’s reading, “to this one I will look” is prayer, continuing the theme of the “house.” The Rebbe follows the second explanation in Hemshech 5666 and notes the difference himself. On his reading, “what house will you build for Me” is a limitation: even the encompassing lights drawn by the service of “with all your might” are not a house for G‑d’s Essence, because they too are only a glimmer. “To this one I will look” stands in contrast: bittul alone draws down the Essence.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ אל זה אביט הוא בחינת תפלה
The Rebbe
כי גם המקיפים הכי עליונים הם הארה בלבד
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5736
The Alter Rebbe defines the “poor” as one who has nothing of his own. The Rebbe connects this with the moon, which “has nothing of its own” (Zohar). This explains why the verse is the haftarah for Shabbos Rosh Chodesh. At the molad, and even more in the moment before it when the moon is wholly hidden, its bittul is what lets it receive a new light. That light comes not from the sun itself but from beyond the sun.
The Alter Rebbe
בחינת ביטול דלית ליה מגרמיה כלום אפילו תורה ומצות
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5736
The Alter Rebbe reads “looking” as thought, which encompasses its object. The Rebbe uses the word to explain why “to this one I will look” comes after “the heavens are My throne” in the verse, even though simple faith is present at the start of the service. Looking means revelation, like something seen with the eyes. The Essence is present even in faith below reason, but it is revealed only in the faith above reason that comes after the service.
The Alter Rebbe
אביט הוא בחינת הבטה היא הסתכלות
The Rebbe
כי הבטה (ואל זה אביט) הוא גילוי (כמו דבר שרואה בעיניו)
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה השמים כסאי והארץ הדום רגלי, 5748
The Alter Rebbe reads the verse as action (mitzvos), speech (Oral Torah) and thought (prayer). The Rebbe maps this onto the three pillars of Avos. Gemilus chassadim is chiefly action, which fits the Alter Rebbe’s making charity the general form of practical mitzvos in ¶9. Torah is chiefly speech, since ‘they are life to those who utter them with the mouth.’ Prayer is chiefly thought, because it stands in place of the sacrifice, where thought is a principal element, as cited from halachah. He adds that these three in man’s avodah encompass the entire order of hishtalshelus.
The Alter Rebbe
ואת כל אלה ידי עשתה בחינת עשיה היינו מעשה המצות
The Rebbe
ובעבודה הם ג׳ העמודים דתורה עבודה וגמ״ח
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
TermsRe’iyah and shmiahTorah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al pehTefillahOr Makif+6
- Re’iyah and shmiah ראיה ושמיעה
- Torah shebiksav and Torah shebe’al peh תורה שבכתב ותורה שבעל פה
- Tefillah תפלה
- Or Makif אור מקיף
- Dibbur elyon דבור עליון
- Asiyah עשיה
Marei mekomos
- 1ואת כל אלה ידי עשתה ויהיו כל אלה נאם ה׳ · Isaiah 66:2
- 2עיניך יונים · Song of Songs 1:15
- 3וכריעות והשתחויות · ראה לקמן מה, ג. ובלקו״ת שה״ש מה, ג.
Now, concerning this level, the drawing down of the encompassing light, it is written, “He has not looked upon iniquity in Yaakov”; for concerning the inner level it is written, “He tests hearts and kidneys,”
The maamar closes with a comforting consequence. The encompassing light drawn through prayer is not measured by a person’s spiritual state: of it Bilaam said, “He has not looked upon iniquity in Yaakov.” The inner light, by contrast, is subject to G‑d who “tests hearts and kidneys.”
דהיינו להבחין התשוקה המורגשת אם הוא מקרב איש ולב עמוק באמת לאמתו משא״כ בבחינת מקיף לא הביט און וגו׳ רק ה׳ אלקיו עמו שנמשך מאליו תמיד:
that is, to examine the felt yearning, whether it is from “within a man and a deep heart,” in absolute truth; whereas at the level of the encompassing, “He has not looked upon iniquity,” etc., but only “Havayah his G‑d is with him,” which is drawn of itself, always.
Inner revelation depends on whether one’s yearning is genuine, from the depths of the heart. The encompassing light does not examine flaws: “Havayah his G‑d is with him,” it comes of itself and remains always.
The concluding paragraph contrasts the two lights: the inner light, received in the heart, depends on the sincerity of a person’s feelings, while the encompassing light drawn through the self-nullification of prayer is present regardless of faults, always.
In the Mitteler Rebbe’s transcript of this maamar (Sefer HaMaamarim 5565) the verse cited is “G‑d tests hearts” (Proverbs 17:3).
Marei mekomos
- 1לא הביט און ביעקב · Numbers 23:21
- 2בוחן לבות וכליות · Psalms 7:10
Finished the maamar?
Mark it as learned; it counts toward the week and the year’s siyum.
Each Rosh Chodesh the names of those learning here are brought to the Ohel. Add your name, and mark what you learn so it is counted.
In one’s avodah
Contemplate in prayer that all that fills the worlds is only a glimmer of G‑d, until the heart longs for G‑d Himself; bring that love into daily life by integrating the emotions with understanding, so that it does not fade after prayer; give charity and do the practical mitzvos, which raise even the lowest powers; and pray with self-nullification, for the encompassing light it draws does not depend on one’s level.
Questions for discussion
- Why does the maamar say that the Torah must be “made” by a person, if it was already given at Sinai?
- How does the reading of Shema as shem ayin lead to love of G‑d Himself rather than of His revelations?
- In what sense is the “foot” higher than the “head,” and how does this apply to Moshe and Israel and to every Jew’s deeds?
- Why does love aroused in prayer often fade, and how does the maamar suggest making it last?
- Why can the encompassing light be drawn down only through self-nullification in prayer and not through Torah and mitzvos?
Key terms in this maamar
- 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. ×4Where 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. ×7Where it’s explained
- 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”). ×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. ×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. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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
- 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.Where 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
- 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. ×3Where 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. ×3Where 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.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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. ×1Where 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. ×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
- The intellect (mochin)מוחין
- The intellect, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, as the “brains” of a level; chiefly the light of Abba and Imma clothed in Z’eir Anpin, the middos, by which they grow. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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
- 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
- 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. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- An arousal from belowאתערותא דלתתא
- A stirring that begins with the person (love and awe won by toil, self-nullification, the deed of the mitzvos) which, “as water reflects a face,” awakens a matching arousal from above. ×2Where 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. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently