Torah Ohr · Parshas Toldos · Maamar 1
אלה תולדות יצחק וגו׳
“These are the generations of Yitzchak”
The Rebbe on this maamar
The Rebbe opens from it in this maamar of his: ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם (5725)
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The big idea
Avraham draws G‑dliness down from above, and Yitzchak raises the created world up to G‑d in awe and self-nullification; the ascent from below is unlimited, but it can come about only when it is “born” of the light drawn down from above.
The maamar in brief
The maamar reads the verse “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me” as Yitzchak and Avraham: Yitzchak is the ascent from below upward, Avraham the drawing down from above. The command “And you shall love” shows why both are needed: contemplating that Havayah is One leads the soul to yearn upward (ratzo), but G‑d wants a dwelling place below, so love must return downward (shov). Avraham’s hospitality made G‑d known to wayfarers; Yitzchak’s wells uncovered hidden water, a lasting flow that the Philistines could not stop, hinted in the full spelling of “names” with a vav. Drawing down has limits, while the ascent from below is endless and is the source of Yitzchak’s laughter: turning “something” into “nothing.” Avraham loves this opposite quality, the Fear of Yitzchak, but cannot bring it down, since creation cannot bear such self-nullification; Yaakov, who includes both, can, and in the time to come it will be revealed to all. Finally, the doubled names in “Yitzchak son of Avraham; Avraham begot Yitzchak” teach that the ascent from below is born of the light from above, as in the analogy of conception.
Outline
- Left and right: the two directionsYitzchak is from below upward, Avraham from above downward; the command to love shows that the upward yearning (ratzo) must return downward (shov), for G‑d wants a dwelling place below.¶1
- Hospitality and wellsAvraham draws G‑dliness down to others; Yitzchak uncovers what is hidden. Yitzchak’s wells flow without end, and the ascent from below, turning something into nothing, is unlimited and brings laughter and delight.¶2–3
- The Fear of YitzchakAvraham loves his opposite, Yitzchak’s awe and self-nullification, but cannot draw it down; it appeared only above the worlds at the binding, Yaakov could bring it down, and in the time to come it will be revealed below.¶4–7
- Yitzchak born of AvrahamThrough the analogy of conception, the ascent from below is shown to depend on and be refined by the light from above, Avraham as Chochmah.¶8–10
Key concepts
- From below upward / from above downwardממטה למעלה / מלמעלה למטה
- The two directions of divine service: the creature rising toward G‑d, and G‑dliness drawn down into the world.
- Ratzo and shovרצוא ושוב
- “Running and returning”: the soul’s longing to rise and dissolve into G‑d, and its return to serve Him in the world below.
- The Fear of Yitzchakפחד יצחק
- Yitzchak’s quality of awe and self-nullification, too intense for creation to receive now; it will be revealed in the time to come.
- Nullifying something into nothingביטול היש לאין
- The reverse of creation: the person turns the world and the self back into nothing before G‑d, the source of Yitzchak’s laughter.
- A dwelling place among the lower realmsדירה בתחתונים
- G‑d’s purpose in creation, which is why the upward yearning must turn back downward.
- Raising the feminine watersהעלאת מיין נוקבין
- The arousal from below that rises toward G‑d; here it is itself awakened by the light from above.
For children · ages 9–13
Avraham’s kindness and Yitzchak’s wells
The big idea
Avraham brings G‑dliness down into the world, Yitzchak lifts the world up to G‑d, and we need both.
The Torah says, “These are the generations of Yitzchak, son of Avraham.” The maamar explains that Avraham and Yitzchak show two ways of serving G‑d. Avraham goes from above to below. He welcomed guests and fed travelers, and afterward told them Whom to bless, so that even they came to know G‑d. Yitzchak goes from below to above. He dug wells: the water is already there, hidden in the ground, and digging brings it out. When we think about how G‑d is One, our soul wants to run up to Him. This is called ratzo, “running.” But G‑d wants a home in this lower world, so we must also come back and bring His light into our lives. That is shov, “returning.” The wells Yitzchak dug kept flowing, and going up from below has no end. When a person makes their own “something” into “nothing” before G‑d, that brings true laughter and joy, the meaning of the name Yitzchak. Yitzchak’s quality is awe of G‑d and bittul, setting oneself aside before Him. Yaakov, who had both qualities, could bring it down into the world, and in the time to come everyone will see it.
The mashal
Water can lie hidden deep under the ground. When someone digs a well, the water that was there all along comes up and can be seen. That is Yitzchak’s way: uncovering what is hidden below so that it rises into the open.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- What is the difference between Avraham’s way, from above to below, and Yitzchak’s way, from below to above?
- Why did Yitzchak dig wells, and what does the hidden water teach us?
- After you pray or learn about G‑d this week, how can you bring it into your day with a kindness to someone, as Avraham did for his guests?
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 · 1
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 this maamar (5725) 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.
1.5725Opens from itד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם
The opening explanation of the doubled verse and the unlimited ascent of Yitzchak come explicitly from this Torah Ohr maamar, together with Torah Chaim. The second explanation is from Ohr HaTorah, and sections 2–3 build mainly on a maamar of the Tzemach Tzedek on ואלה תולדות יצחק, from a recently released manuscript later printed in Ohr HaTorah Bereishis vol. 4.
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the well-known question on the verse: once it says “Yitzchak son of Avraham,” why does it repeat “Avraham begot Yitzchak”? And why are Avraham and Yitzchak each named twice? Following Torah Ohr and Torah Chaim, he explains that Avraham is mayin duchrin, the arousal from above, and Yitzchak is mayin nukvin, the arousal from below. There are two stages. In the first, the arousal from above awakens the arousal from below: “Yitzchak son of Avraham,” for the ascent is a “son” taken from Avraham. In the second, the arousal from above comes after the ascent and gives it the power to bear fruit: “Avraham begot Yitzchak.” A second explanation, from Ohr HaTorah, reads Avraham as love and Yitzchak as fear, each on two levels. The verse then traces the order of avodah: lower fear, lesser love, great love, and higher fear. Prayer follows the same order, rising from below like the ladder whose head reaches heaven. Each explanation also shows why Yitzchak is greater, which is why in the future he will be told “For You are our father”: the ascent from below has no limit, and fear stands above love.
The Rebbe then brings a maamar of the Tzemach Tzedek. Yitzchak’s main superiority belongs to the future. Now, gevurah must receive from chesed, because the work of refinement (birurim) requires chesed. Only after all the refining is finished, when “I will remove the spirit of impurity,” will the gevurot stand wholly above the chesed. This settles the apparent contradiction between places that put chesed above gevurah and the teaching that gold (gevurah) is above silver (chesed). It also explains Korach’s punishment: he wanted gevurot not to be subordinate to chasadim. Shlomo was punished because silver was considered worthless in his days. Last, the superiority of gevurah is like the superiority of mesirus nefesh (ascent) over Torah and mitzvos (drawing down). Mesirus nefesh joins yud and heh and reveals Atik, above reason. This is why the Beis Yosef saw it as a punishment not to die sanctifying the Name, and why the Zohar requires that the light “rise” (סליק). It also explains “May G‑d (Elokim) give you”: added light comes specifically through gevurot.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶9
The Alter Rebbe’s analogy from conception holds two elements: the male arouses the female, and the male’s drop refines the offspring. In his maamar these flow together into one explanation. The Rebbe separates them into two distinct arousals from above, one for each half of the verse. The first comes before the ascent and awakens it, so the ascent is a “son” taken from Avraham. The second comes after the arousal from below and empowers it to produce “birth.” This is how the Rebbe answers the opening question about the apparent repetition.
The Alter Rebbe
הוא בא ע״י בן אברהם פי׳ ע״י ההארה הבאה מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
נותנת כח באתעדל״ת שיהי׳ ממנה ענין של הולדה
- ¶8
The Alter Rebbe reads the doubled names through the analogy of giver and receiver. The Rebbe adds a second reading of the same doubling: love (Avraham) and fear (Yitzchak) each have two levels. The order of the names in the verse becomes the order of avodah: lower fear before prayer, lesser love and then great love during prayer, and higher fear, self-nullification in one’s very existence, in Shemoneh Esrei. This matches the letters of Havayah read from below upward.
The Alter Rebbe
ב״פ אברהם וב״פ יצחק
The Rebbe
יראה (תתאה) אהבה (זוטא) אהבה (רבה) יראה (עילאה)
- ¶3
The Alter Rebbe grounds Yitzchak’s superiority (“For You are our father”) in the fact that the ascent from below has no end, while the drawing down from above is limited. The Rebbe presents this as the reason according to the first explanation. According to the second explanation he adds another reason: fear itself is above love. Even lower fear is rooted in higher fear, which stands above great love.
The Alter Rebbe
בבחי׳ ממעלה למטה יש לה גבול המשכה למטה
- ¶7
The Alter Rebbe says that only in the future will the Fear of Yitzchak be revealed below. In a separate discussion of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe says that as long as there is refinement to be done, gevurah must receive from chesed. This echoes the Alter Rebbe’s point in ¶10 that the ascent is refined through Avraham. Gevurah can stand wholly above chesed only once the refining is complete. From this the Rebbe resolves the apparent contradiction between chesed above gevurah and gold above silver, and explains the sin of Korach and the punishment of Shlomo.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל לע״ל כשיהיה בלע המות לנצח ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר
The Rebbe
שבשביל הבירורים יש צורך בחסדים, ודוקא עי״ז יכולים הגבורות להיות כדבעי
- ¶3
The Alter Rebbe describes man’s service as the reverse of hishtalshelus, the nullification of something into nothing. The Rebbe separately presents mesirus nefesh as an example of ascent superior to the drawing down of Torah and mitzvos. Mesirus nefesh is above reason because it joins yud and heh and reveals Atik, the essence of the soul. Torah and mitzvos are a drawing down that joins vav and heh. He supports this from the Beis Yosef and from the Zohar’s precise word סליק.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל עבודת האדם הוא ההיפוך והוא להיות בטול היש לאין
The Rebbe
מעלת המס״נ (העלאה) על עסק התומ״צ (המשכה)
The lesson
Prayer should follow the order of the verse: fear of G‑d must come before prayer and accompany the whole day. During prayer one awakens lesser love and then great love, rising to higher fear and true self-nullification in Shemoneh Esrei.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
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 · 12
AI research Found by AI reading every place in the Rebbe’s works that cites this maamar, and checked against each source by a second AI reader, the less certain by a third. Only what rated high is shown: the Rebbe’s own words, about this very passage. No person has reviewed it yet, so check the place itself before relying on a detail. See something to correct?
The maamar in the Rebbe’s light
The Rebbe returns to this maamar in his maamarim Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh 5714, Ve’eileh Toldos 5718 and Machar Chodesh 5745 (edited by him), and in edited sichos; the first two follow, as their editors note, the Rebbe Rashab’s maamarim of 5680 and 5678, and the third builds on the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of 5568. The thread they draw out is why Yitzchak’s ascent (העלאה), which begins only through Avraham’s light, outlasts and outranks Avraham’s drawing down (המשכה). In Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, following the Rebbe Rashab, he explains that a drawing down leaves the lower unchanged and can be stopped, as the Philistines stopped Avraham’s wells, while the ascent refines the lower itself and so lasts; hence the vav in Yitzchak’s „שמות” (“names”), and why only to Yitzchak will it be said, „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”). A sicha of Shabbos Vayelech 5735 explains the stopped wells another way, from Likkutei Torah and Torah Chaim. On „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”) he sets out two readings: in 5718, the Rebbe Rashab’s, a second arousal from above after the ascent; in Machar Chodesh 5745, from the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of 5568, the drawing down before it, which brings out the power hidden in the lower’s ascent. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) a reader comes away seeing Avraham’s light as given for the sake of a lower world that refines itself.
Paragraph by paragraph
- ¶1
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos Yitzchak of Shabbos Toldos 5718 (Mevarchim and Erev Rosh Chodesh Kislev), which, as its editors note, follows the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar on the same verse from 5678, the Rebbe explains how the service of Avraham (love) and of Yitzchak (fear) lives in every Jew, and takes up the old question „איך שייך ציווי על אהבה” (how love can be commanded).
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out almost word for word in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the question of how love can be commanded is not settled by the usual answer, that the command is to contemplate and love follows by itself, since „ואהבת” (“And you shall love”) commands the love itself. Even after contemplation, love can remain ratzo alone, like „בן עזאי שהציץ ומת” (Ben Azzai who gazed and died), or Aharon’s sons who „בקרבתם לפני הוי׳ וימותו” (“drew near before Havayah and died”); that is the way of Tohu and against G‑d’s intent. What can be commanded is that after the ratzo the love become shov, drawn down below, which is the Alter Rebbe’s answer here: „הצווי ואהבת הוא הפי׳ בהיפוך מלמעלה למטה” (the command means the reverse direction, from above downward).
The Alter Rebbe
ולכן הצווי ואהבת הוא הפי׳ בהיפוך מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
שהציווי ואהבת הוא שהאהבה תהי׳ בבחי׳ שוב והמשכה למטה
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נ · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
- ¶2
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh of Shabbos Toldos 5714, which, as its editors note, follows throughout the Rebbe Rashab’s Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh of 5680, the Rebbe explains the two loves in „ואהבת” (“And you shall love”), the ratzo that rises and the love that draws down, and reads the Sages’ „שיהא שם שמים מתאהב על ידך” (“that the Name of Heaven become beloved through you”) as the second.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh 5680), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh 5714, the Sages’ “that the Name of Heaven become beloved through you,” which the Alter Rebbe reads here as „להמשיך גילוי אור אלקותו מלמעלה למטה” (drawing the light of G‑dliness downward) without saying why the words mean that, is explained this way: “Heaven” is Z”A, and “the Name of Heaven” is its vessel, Malchus, „שהוא שם והארה בלבד” (which is only a name and a glimmer), so light has to be added to it. So too every vessel of the sefiros is only a “name”: „כד אנת תסתלק מינייהו אשתארו כולהו שמהן כגופא בלא נשמתא” (“when You depart from them, all the names remain like a body without a soul”); and even the lights are called names, so added light must be drawn into them; that is making the Name beloved, and it is done „ע״י מעשה הצדקה” (through the deed of tzedakah).
The Alter Rebbe
וכמארז״ל שיהא שם שמים מתאהב ע״י. פי׳ להמשיך גילוי אור אלקותו מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
ושם שמים הוא הכלי לז״א, שהוא מלכות, שהוא שם והארה בלבד
Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. 10 (תשי״ד ח״א), p. 155 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
- ¶3
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a sicha of Shabbos Vayelech 5735 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, Vayera II), the Rebbe asks why the Zohar calls the well Avraham dug “Yitzchak’s well,” and why his father, R. Levi Yitzchak, explaining this in his notes on the Zohar, refers to Torah Ohr at the start of Toldos.
The Rebbe reads this paragraph as giving the reason why Avraham’s wells could be stopped and why, once Yitzchak dug them again, they lasted: the Philistines can oppose only the line of chesed (קו החסד) in holiness, not the line of gevurah. He spells it out from Likkutei Torah and Torah Chaim: “Philistines” is from „מבוי המפולש” (mavui mefulash), an alley open at both ends, and they were scoffers, for scoffing comes from a heart opened too wide, the unholy counterpart of Avraham’s expansive love and joy; even so it could take hold only „אחרי מות אברהם” (“after Avraham’s death”), when the holy love had gone and only the open heart remained. Love still carries a sense of self, „יש מי שאוהב” (“there is one who loves”), while awe and acceptance of the yoke are bittul, so once Yitzchak’s awe was joined to Avraham’s love the external forces had no more hold.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל שמת דאברהם חסר וי״ו לפי שסתמום פלשתים ויש לחיצונים יניקה מהם
The Rebbe
פלשתים קען זיין אַ מנגד נאָר צום קו החסד פון קדושה און ניט צום קו הגבורה
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טו, p. 118–121 (on Torah Ohr: 119–120) · משיחת ש״פ וילך תשל״ה
- ¶3
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, following the Rebbe Rashab’s Ve’eileh Toldos 5678, the Rebbe asks, as the Rebbe Rashab does there, what the difference is between Avraham drawing G‑dliness into the world and Yitzchak uncovering it, since both seem to reveal G‑dliness below, and explains what „מלמעלה למטה” (“from above downward”) and „מלמטה למעלה” (“from below upward”) mean.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the stopped wells are explained by another principle: when the higher comes down to the lower, as with Avraham, nothing stands in the way, but the lower is not changed, so „אפשר שמצד התגברות החומריות יסתלק האור” (when physicality grows strong the light can leave); when the lower rises, as with Yitzchak, it must first be refined, „מי יעלה בהר הוי׳ גו׳ נקי כפים” (“who shall ascend the mountain of Havayah… clean of hands”), and then the light stays. So the revelation at Sinai left the lower unrefined, while in the time to come the body itself will be refined; and, the Rebbe adds, after Sinai there was still exile, while the revelations of the time to come „קיימים לעד ולעולמי עולמים” (last forever). This is why the Philistines stopped Avraham’s wells after his death but could not stop Yitzchak’s: Yitzchak’s ascent „פעלה זיכוך המטה” (refined the lower itself).
The Alter Rebbe
והנה הגם שאברהם היה ג״כ חופר בארות אבל כתיב ויסתמום פלשתים
The Rebbe
משא״כ הבארות דיצחק לא שייך שיסתמום פלשתים, לפי שעבודת יצחק היתה בדרך העלאה לפעול זיכוך בהמטה עצמו
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נג–נד · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
- ¶3
The Rebbe explains
In the same sicha of Shabbos Vayelech 5735 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, Vayera II), explaining why R. Levi Yitzchak reads the Zohar’s “Yitzchak’s well” as Avraham’s well that is only credited to Yitzchak, the Rebbe builds on this paragraph’s words „לא נפסק עוד נביעתם” (“their flowing was no longer cut off”).
The Rebbe notes that “their flowing” here means „לנביעת מי החסדים דאברהם” (the flowing of Avraham’s waters of chesed), as Torah Chaim says explicitly. So even after Yitzchak dug them again they remained Avraham’s wells, his service of love and joy, and Yitzchak’s part, awe and acceptance of the yoke (יראה וקבלת עול), is what keeps that love and joy alive; this, he says, is why his father read the Zohar’s “Yitzchak’s well” as Avraham’s well only credited to Yitzchak. He concludes that the main line of service is love and joy (“there is no service like the service of love”), and awe is what lets the joy last.
The Alter Rebbe
לפי שע״י חפירה דיצחק לא נפסק עוד נביעתם
The Rebbe
לנביעת מי החסדים דאברהם, כמפורש בתו״ח שם פ״ז
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טו, p. 120, note 21 · משיחת ש״פ וילך תשל״ה
- ¶3
The Rebbe explains
In a talk of 12 Tammuz 5714, which the Rebbe edited in Yiddish for Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, asking why Yitzchak could be born only „מטיפה קדושה” (from a holy drop), after Avraham’s circumcision, the Rebbe first sets out how Avraham drew G‑dliness down into the world while Yitzchak made the world itself rise to become its vessel, and why Yitzchak kept digging when the Philistines took his wells.
The Alter Rebbe states that the ascent from below has „אין קץ ותכלית” (no end or limit), while drawing down from above „יש לה גבול” (has a limit). The Rebbe gives the reason, citing this maamar in his note: the work of making the world itself a vessel for G‑dliness reaches „בלי גבול האמתי” (the true limitlessness) of the Ein Sof, because it is through this work that the ultimate intent (תכלית הכוונה) is fulfilled. In the same talk he describes Yitzchak’s wells as uncovering the living water already in the ground, not pouring water in from elsewhere, so that the world itself rises to become a vessel.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ יצחק בחי׳ מלמטה למעלה בחי׳ אין קץ ותכלית והכל ירוממוך סלה
The Rebbe
די עבודה צו מאַכן פון וועלט אַ כלי צו ג-טלעכקייט דערלאַנגט אין בלי גבול האמתי
Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 30 · משיחת י״ב תמוז תשי״ד
- ¶3
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, right after explaining why Yitzchak’s wells lasted, the Rebbe turns to the full (שמות) and defective (שמת) spellings of “names” in this verse, taking up the question and answer of the Rebbe Rashab’s Ve’eileh Toldos 5678.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the Alter Rebbe’s reading here raises a difficulty: the letter vav stands for drawing down from above, which is Avraham’s way, so one would expect Avraham’s “names” to be full and Yitzchak’s defective. The answer is „שגם ענין ההעלאה הוא באות וא״ו” (that ascent too goes by the vav): every ascent is through „שם מ״ב” (the Name of 42), six times seven (the Rebbe cites Likkutei Torah on the journeys), and the Zohar reads “a true sign” (אות אמת) as the letter vav. A drawing down that comes on its own from above does not last, „כיון שהמטה אינו כלי להמשכה זו” (since the lower is no vessel for it), as with Avraham’s wells; when the ascent comes first and brings the drawing down, the vav is “a true sign” that lasts, because a vessel was made. More deeply, refining the darkness itself reaches higher, „ישת חושך סתרו” (“He made darkness His hiding place”), where there is no change or interruption.
The Alter Rebbe
ונמשכים ונובעים הששה מדות שהן בחי׳ וי״ו ע״כ הוא שמות מלא בוי״ו
The Rebbe
הול״ל ביצחק שמת חסר וא״ו, ובאברהם שמות מלא וא״ו
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נד–נה · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
- ¶3
Background from the Rebbe
At the end of the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, which follows the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar of 5678, having said that „ובשביל ענין העלי׳ נעשה כל ענין ההמשכה דאברהם” (all of Avraham’s drawing down exists for the sake of Yitzchak’s ascent), the Rebbe explains why in the future „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”) will be said to Yitzchak alone.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out at the end of his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, “For You are our father” will be said to Yitzchak because the ultimate elevation of the future is „שהמטה גופא יזדכך להיות כלי לאלקות” (that the lower itself be refined into a vessel for G‑dliness): the reason for the Alter Rebbe’s line here, „שעיקר הצחוק והשמחה יהיה מבחי׳ יצחק” (that the main laughter and joy of the future will come from Yitzchak’s way), the ascent from below. The Rebbe frames it with his own premise in this maamar, that all of Avraham’s drawing down exists for the sake of Yitzchak’s ascent; so „אברהם לא ידענו” (“Avraham did not know us”), and only to Yitzchak will they say “You are our father.” With the Rebbe Rashab he ties this to the inner Torah that Moshiach will reveal, which is reached through the toil of refining from below.
The Alter Rebbe
ולע״ל כתיב כי אתה אבינו שעיקר הצחוק והשמחה יהיה מבחי׳ יצחק שהוא ממטה למעלה
The Rebbe
לפי שתכלית העילוי דלעתיד הוא שהמטה גופא יזדכך להיות כלי לאלקות
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נז · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
- ¶7
The Rebbe explains
In the talk that followed the maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh on Shabbos Toldos 5714, which the Rebbe edited in Yiddish for Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, he returns to „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”) and asks in what way Yitzchak was „בדוגמא דלעתיד לבוא” (a pattern of the time to come).
The Rebbe gives the reason “For You are our father” will be said to Yitzchak from this paragraph (his note cites Torah Ohr 17c): Yitzchak’s matter is fear and bittul (פחד וביטול), and that is one of the new things of the time to come. From this he explains why Yitzchak lived in several ways in the pattern of the future: all the Patriarchs „הטעימן מעין עולם הבא” (were given a taste of the World to Come) in delight, but at the binding „פרחה נשמתו” (Yitzchak’s soul flew from him) and a soul of the World to Come was drawn into him, so his whole life was in that pattern. His true distinction, the Rebbe says, is that he was above the world and drew from there into the world.
The Alter Rebbe
פי׳ כי עתה א״א שבחי׳ פחד יצחק יהי׳ בבחי׳ אבינו שהיא המשכה למטה
The Rebbe
ווייל יצחק איז דער ענין פון פּחד און ביטול, וואָס דאָס איז דאָך איינער פון די חידושים פון דעם זמן פון לעתיד לבוא
Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 48–49 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
- ¶7
Background from the Rebbe
In the same maamar of Shabbos Toldos 5714, following the Rebbe Rashab’s Machar Chodesh 5680, which asks the same question, the Rebbe asks: if Yitzchak’s level is darkness (חושך) for those below, how can it be said to Yitzchak in the future, „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”)?
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh 5680), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh 5714, fear, unlike love, comes from closeness to G‑d’s essence (“I fill the heavens and the earth”), leaving nothing sought but bittul, and since the essence is above revelation, to those below it is darkness; how then can such darkness be called “our father,” as the Alter Rebbe says here it will be in the future, when the Fear of Yitzchak (פחד יצחק), which now cannot be a flow to those below, is revealed below? The answer is from Shabbos: it is above the chain of worlds and above time, which is why it „אינו נקרא בשם ראש השבוע” (is not called the “head” of the week), and yet the days after it are blessed from it. So what is above hishtalshelus (השתלשלות), called darkness, can be drawn down as light, and in the future even Yitzchak’s closeness will be drawn „באופן של אור וגילוי למטה” (below as light and revelation).
The Alter Rebbe
אז יתגלה בחי׳ פחד יצחק למטה שיהי׳ הוא בחי׳ אבינו
The Rebbe
לעתיד לבוא תומשך גם בחי׳ זו באופן של אור וגילוי למטה
Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. 10 (תשי״ד ח״א), p. 156–159 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
- ¶10
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh, said on Shabbos Toldos, erev Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5745, and edited by the Rebbe for Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5752, he links Yehonasan’s words to David with the opening verse of the parsha, and asks with the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim why, after „יצחק בן אברהם” (“Yitzchak son of Avraham”), the verse repeats „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”).
Citing the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of 5568 and, for the same, this passage of Torah Ohr, the Rebbe gives two reasons why the drawing down must come before the ascent, though the ascent reaches higher: „א״א להיות העלאה בלי קדימת ההמשכה” (without it there is no ascent at all), as „אשה מזרעת תחלה” (a woman “seeds first”) only when the man arouses her; and the ascent’s power to reach so high is revealed only through it. With those maamarim (his note 27) he reads the verse: “Yitzchak son of Avraham” is the first, the ascent itself coming through the drawing down that precedes it; “Avraham begot Yitzchak” is the second: “begot” (הוליד) is causative, Avraham giving Yitzchak the power to bear, so that the drawing from above, before the ascent, brings out the power in the lower’s ascent to reach above. That power needs bringing out, he suggests, because „ענין העלאה הוא העלאת התחתון” (an ascent is the ascent of the lower), so its power lies hidden until the higher draws down.
The Alter Rebbe
כי באמת אין ערוך נברא לבורא ושיהי׳ ההעלאה בחי׳ בטול לאלקות בתכלית א״א כ״א ע״י אברהם
The Rebbe
הוליד הוא לשון פועל יוצא שנותן את כח התולדה ביצחק, הוא, שהכח שבהעלאת המטה להגיע למעלה נמשך (מתגלה) ע״י ההמשכה מלמעלה (שלפני ההעלאה)
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ו, p. כו · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו ה׳תשמ״ה (edited by the Rebbe and issued as Kuntres Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5752)
- ¶10
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In §8 of the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, having shown that the arousal from below is the purpose of all drawing down, the Rebbe explains the two halves of the opening verse as two arousals from above (אתעדל״ע), one before the ascent and one after it, as the Rebbe Rashab does in Ve’eileh Toldos 5678 (and the Rebbe Rayatz in 5699).
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the verse is read like the Alter Rebbe here: „יצחק בן אברהם” (“Yitzchak son of Avraham”) is the drawing from above that must come first to bring about the ascent, and „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”) an arousal from above after the ascent, so that the ascent is complete. In the Rebbe Rashab’s words the Rebbe says what that second step does: the refining and ascent from below is at the level of the Name Ban, and after it „בירור שני” (a second refinement) is needed, by drawing down the Name Mah, to refine the “feminine waters” raised from the refinements of Ban. He does not quote „אבר מ״ה” (“ever Mah”), but the step is the one this paragraph names: Avraham, Mah, as the one who refines, so that Yitzchak is “born.”
The Alter Rebbe
ע״י אברהם שהוא בחי׳ אב״ר מ״ה בחכמה אתברירו שהוא המברר להוליד בחי׳ יצחק
The Rebbe
והוא ע״י ההמשכה דשם מ״ה לברר את העלאת מ״ן שנעשה מהבירורים דשם ב״ן
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נו–נז · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
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).
Left and right: the two directions ¶1
“These are the generations of Yitzchak,” etc. It is written, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.” “His left hand” is the level of Yitzchak, [which is] from below upward.
The maamar opens with the verse that heads the parsha and at once pairs it with a verse from the Song of Songs about the left hand and the right hand. The left hand is linked to Yitzchak, whose mode of service moves “from below upward”: the created being rising toward G‑d.
¶8 Hold the opening verse: paragraph 8 explains “generations of Yitzchak.”
וימינו כו׳ הוא בחי׳ אברהם מלמעלה למטה.3 והנה מדת אברהם הוא הכנסת אורחים כו׳ ויצחק היה חופר בארות4 כו׳.
“And his right hand,” etc., is the level of Avraham, from above downward. Now, the attribute of Avraham is hospitality to guests, etc., and Yitzchak would dig wells, etc.
The right hand is linked to Avraham, whose mode is “from above downward”: bringing G‑dliness down into the world. The two practices the Torah records of them, Avraham’s hospitality and Yitzchak’s digging of wells, will be shown to express these two directions.
¶2 Hospitality and digging wells are explained in paragraph 2.
ולהבין זה הנה כתיב ואהבת. אשר לכאורה לא שייך בזה לשון צווי לאהוב5 כו׳. אך הוא6 שבתחלה כתיב7 הוי׳ אחד89 כו׳.
To understand this: it is written, “And you shall love.” Seemingly, the language of a command to love does not apply here, etc. But [the explanation] is that first it is written, “Havayah is One,” etc.
The verse “And you shall love” is phrased as a command, yet love is a feeling, and it is hard to see how one can be commanded to feel. The answer begins with the verse that comes just before it, the declaration that Havayah is One.
When a person contemplates what “One” means, that G‑d is beyond any comparison with anything, he also understands the phrase from the first blessing of the Amidah, “our G‑d and the G‑d of our fathers.” “Our G‑d” (Elokeinu) stands for tzimtzum, G‑d’s self-concealment; “our fathers” stands for Chochmah and Binah, the first powers of intellect, which could only come into being after that contraction.
אנת חכים כו׳ יז, גאשר אין ערוך כלל12 לגבי מהותו ית׳ אנת הוא חד13 כו׳ לכן צריך קודם בחי׳ אלקינו שהוא בחי׳ צמצום
“You are wise,” etc., which has no comparison at all to His essence, may He be blessed, [for] “You are One,” etc. Therefore there must first be the level of “our G‑d,” which is the level of tzimtzum,
The quoted words come from the prayer of Eliyahu in the Tikkunei Zohar: “You are wise, but not with a known wisdom; You are One, but not in number.” Even divine wisdom has no comparison to G‑d’s essence, so before Chochmah can exist there must first be a contraction, the level of “our G‑d.”
ואח״כ ואלקי בחי׳ וא״ו המשכה שיתהווה בחי׳ אבותינו ובהתבונן כ״ז [כל זה] בוודאי כל איש ישראל יהיה חפצו ורצונו תמיד ליכלל בה׳ אחד ולא שירד למטה במקום חשך.
and afterward “and the G‑d of” (ואלקי), the level of the vav (ו), a drawing down, so that the level of “our fathers” should come into being. And when one contemplates all this, certainly the desire and will of every Jew will always be to be absorbed into the One G‑d, and not to descend below, into a place of darkness.
Only after the contraction comes the letter vav, the “and” (ו) of “and the G‑d of” (ואלקי); a vav is drawn as a straight line downward, so it stands for the drawing down that brings the level of “our fathers,” Chochmah and Binah, into being. A Jew who grasps how everything below is only a contracted ray of the One will naturally long to be absorbed back into Him rather than remain in the darkness of this lower world.
אמנם זהו בחי׳ רצוא אבל צ״ל אח״כ בחי׳ שוב14 כדכתיב כיתרון האור מן החשך15 ורצונו ית׳ להיות לו דווקא דירה בתחתונים ולכן הצווי ואהבת הוא הפי׳ בהיפוך מלמעלה למטה.1617
However, this is the level of ratzo (running [toward G‑d]); but afterward there must be the level of shov (returning), as it is written, “like the advantage of light out of darkness.” And His will, may He be blessed, is specifically to have a dwelling place among the lower realms. Therefore the command “And you shall love” means the reverse: from above downward.
That longing to rise and dissolve into G‑d is called ratzo, “running”; it must be followed by shov, “returning,” to life and service below, because G‑d wants a dwelling place precisely in the lowest realms, where light that comes out of darkness has an added quality. So the command “And you shall love” is not about rising upward but the reverse: drawing G‑dly love from above down into the world, and this answers why love can be commanded.
The paragraph sets out the maamar’s two directions, Yitzchak’s ascent from below and Avraham’s drawing down from above, and uses the command to love G‑d to show that the ascent born of contemplation (ratzo) must be completed by a return (shov) that brings G‑dliness down, since G‑d desires a dwelling place below.
The order “our G‑d” before “the G‑d of our fathers” is read not historically but cosmically: tzimtzum precedes the emergence of Chochmah and Binah. A later maamar cited in the Kehot notes adds that the tzimtzum is called “our” G‑d because it was done for the sake of Israel. The pair ratzo and shov, borrowed from the living creatures of Yechezkel’s vision, frames the whole maamar: Yitzchak embodies the upward rush, Avraham the downward return.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos Yitzchak of Shabbos Toldos 5718 (Mevarchim and Erev Rosh Chodesh Kislev), which, as its editors note, follows the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar on the same verse from 5678, the Rebbe explains how the service of Avraham (love) and of Yitzchak (fear) lives in every Jew, and takes up the old question „איך שייך ציווי על אהבה” (how love can be commanded).
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out almost word for word in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the question of how love can be commanded is not settled by the usual answer, that the command is to contemplate and love follows by itself, since „ואהבת” (“And you shall love”) commands the love itself. Even after contemplation, love can remain ratzo alone, like „בן עזאי שהציץ ומת” (Ben Azzai who gazed and died), or Aharon’s sons who „בקרבתם לפני הוי׳ וימותו” (“drew near before Havayah and died”); that is the way of Tohu and against G‑d’s intent. What can be commanded is that after the ratzo the love become shov, drawn down below, which is the Alter Rebbe’s answer here: „הצווי ואהבת הוא הפי׳ בהיפוך מלמעלה למטה” (the command means the reverse direction, from above downward).
The Alter Rebbe
ולכן הצווי ואהבת הוא הפי׳ בהיפוך מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
שהציווי ואהבת הוא שהאהבה תהי׳ בבחי׳ שוב והמשכה למטה
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נ · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״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
TermsDirah betachtonimAvosRatzo vashovEin aroch+6
- Dirah betachtonim דירה בתחתונים
- Avos אבות
- Ratzo vashov רצוא ושוב
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Supernal Will רצון העליון
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Tzimtzum צמצום
- Ratzon רצון
Marei mekomos
- 1אלה תולדות יצחק · הנחת כ״ק אדמו״ר האמצעי בסה״מ תקס״ח ח״א ע׳ תקטז בהתחלה ”שמאלו תחת לראשי”. (והוא משנת תקס״ט). ובבוך 1118 קנח, א מציין ”שבת תנאים עם הרב מטשערנובל (חורף תקס״ט)”. ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. המאמר עם הגהות וקיצורים באוה״ת בראשית כרך ד תתד, ב. תתיג, א. תתיח, ב. קיצורים להנחת אדה״א בסה״מ תקס״ח ע׳ תקטז. ראה גם ד״ה אלה תולדות תרמ״א דשם מבאר עבודת א״א מלמעלמ״ט, ועבודת יצחק מלמטה למעלה. פלח הרמון בראשית עו, א. חלק מהמאמר מובא באוה״ת פ׳ ואתחנן כרך ו ע׳ ב׳רסג עם הגהות. המאמר נזכר בלקו״ת שלח נ, ד. פינחס עח, א. ראה כז, ד. ר״ה סג, א. וזאת הברכה צו, ג.
- 2שמאלו תחת לראשי · Song of Songs 2:6
- 3יצחק ממטה למעלה . . אברהם מלמעלה למטה · ראה תו״ח ריש פרשתנו. אוה״ת כרך ד תתד, ב ואילך. ד״ה ואלה תולדות תרע״ח ע׳ עג. ד״ה אריב״ל חצר״ת פ״ז (סה״מ קונטרסים ח״ב). לקו״ש חט״ו ע׳ 194.
- 4מדת אברהם הוא הכנסת אורחים כו׳ ויצחק היה חופר בארות · באוה״ת תתח, א: שהוא בחי׳ גילוי ממטה למעלה מהעלם לגילוי, כמשל הבור אשר המים שם בהעלם וע״י החפירה נגלו המים, ע״ש וכ״ה לקמן יז, ג. בפלח הרמון מבאר שעיקר עבודת אברהם אבינו וכוונתו בהמשכת והתגלות אלקות למטה הי׳ ע״י הכנסת אורחים, ועבודת יצחק בחפירת בארות שאף מן הסתם גם הוא הכניס אורחים, ע״ש.
- 5לא שייך בזה לשון צווי לאהוב · באוה״ת תתיג, א מציין לעיין בתו״א פו, ג. ובאוה״ת ואתחנן כרך ו ע׳ א׳רסג מוסיף גם ללקו״ת ד״ה שמע ישראל: ”ובמ״א נת׳ שזהו ע״י כי חביבין הנשמות שנקראים בנים למקום, וא״כ יש אהבה טבעית כאהבת הבן אל האב”.
- 6אך הוא · כ״ה גם באוה״ת דברים כרך ו ע׳ ב׳רסג שנדפס מגוכתי״ק כ״ק אדמו״ר הצ״צ, אבל באוה״ת תולדות תתיג, א ובהגהות הרה״ח ר׳ אשר: אך הענין הוא.
- 7שבתחלה כתיב ה׳ אחד · באוה״ת ואתחנן שם: ”(נ׳ שצ״ל שבתחילה כתיב ה׳ אלקינו ה׳ אחד, וצ״ל מה ענין כפל שמות הוי׳ וענין אלקינו)”.
- 8ואהבת . . הוי׳ אחד · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 9הוי׳ אחד · Deuteronomy 6:4
- 10ובהתבוננות ענין אחד איך שאין ערוך אליו כלל כו׳ · באוה״ת ואתחנן שם ”(ר״ל פי׳ אחד ע״ד אנת הוא חד ולא בחושבן, וכן פי׳ בלקו״ת פ׳ ואתחנן בד״ה ענין ק״ש אחד ואהבת)”.
- 11הוי׳ אלקינו ואלקי אבותינו · באוה״ת ואתחנן שם מקדים לזה ”והנה בברכת אבות בשמו״ע אומרים”. בד״ה ואלה תולדות תשי״ח הקשה הרי אלקינו הוא אלקי כל ישראל, וא״כ הרי מצד סדר הדורות הול״ל תחלה אלקי אבותינו ואח״כ אלקינו. ומפרש אלקינו הו״ע הצמצום, דע״י הצמצום נמשך אח״כ ע״י הוא״ו דואלקי שיהי׳ בחי׳ אבותינו התהוות המוחין, ואומר על זה אלקינו אלקה שלנו, והיינו דזה שנעשה הצמצום בשביל המשכת החכמה הנה הגורם את הצמצום הם ישראל דבשביל ישראל נעשה כל ענין הצמצום וההמשכה, ע״ש בארוכה.
- 12אין ערוך כלל · באוה״ת ואתחנן שם נוסף: ”(ר״ל פי׳ אחד ע״ד אנת הוא חד ולא בחושבן, וכן פי׳ בלק״ת פ׳ ואתחנן בד״ה ענין ק״ש אחד ואהבת)”.
- 13אנת חכים . . אנת הוא חד · Tikkunei Zohar, Patach Eliyahu · 17a:9–11
- 14בחי׳ רצוא אבל צ״ל אח״כ בחי׳ שוב · Ezekiel 1:14
- 15כיתרון האור מן החשך · Ecclesiastes 2:13
- 16
- 17
Hospitality and wells ¶2–3
2וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] שיהא שם שמים1 מתאהב ע״י. פי׳ להמשיך גילוי אור אלקותו מלמעלה למטה. וזהו מעשה אברהם2 הכנסת אורחים שנתן לערביים לאכול
As our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “That the Name of Heaven become beloved through you.” This means: to draw down the revelation of the light of His G‑dliness from above downward. And this is the deed of Avraham, hospitality to guests: he gave the Arabs to eat,
The Sages’ teaching that one should make G‑d beloved through one’s conduct is read as the task of drawing G‑dliness downward. Avraham did this through hospitality: he fed the passing Arabs who came to his tent.
¶1 This explains Avraham's hospitality and Yitzchak's wells from paragraph 1.
ואח״כ אמר להם דעו למי מברכים3 כו׳ בכדי להיות גילוי אלקות למטה שגם הערביים יכירו גדולתו כו׳ כ״ז [כל זה] הוא בחי׳ אברהם המשכה מלמעלה למטה.4
and afterward he said to them, “Know Whom you are blessing,” etc., so that there would be a revelation of G‑dliness below, so that even the Arabs would recognize His greatness, etc. All this is the level of Avraham: drawing down from above downward.
After they ate and wished to bless him, Avraham told them to know Whom they were really blessing, the G‑d who provides. In this way even people far from G‑d came to recognize Him, which is the downward flow, from above to below, that marks Avraham.
ויצחק הי׳ [היה] חופר בארות שהוא בחי׳ גילוי ממטה למעלה5 מהעלם לגילוי כמשל הבור אשר המים שם בהעלם וע״י החפירה נגלו המים כו׳.
And Yitzchak would dig wells, which is the level of revelation from below upward, from concealment to revelation, as in the analogy of a well, where the water is there in concealment, and through the digging the water is revealed, etc.
Yitzchak’s wells show the opposite direction. The water was already there, hidden in the ground; digging removes what covers it. So too Yitzchak’s service uncovers the G‑dliness already hidden in the lower realms and brings it up into revelation.
Avraham’s hospitality and Yitzchak’s wells are given as the two directions: Avraham brings G‑dliness from above to people below, while Yitzchak uncovers what is hidden below so it rises into view.
Avraham’s hospitality answers the question of how love can be commanded: the command concerns the love that descends, making G‑d’s Name beloved to others. Yitzchak’s well is the model of service from below: the water is not brought in from outside but uncovered from within.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh of Shabbos Toldos 5714, which, as its editors note, follows throughout the Rebbe Rashab’s Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh of 5680, the Rebbe explains the two loves in „ואהבת” (“And you shall love”), the ratzo that rises and the love that draws down, and reads the Sages’ „שיהא שם שמים מתאהב על ידך” (“that the Name of Heaven become beloved through you”) as the second.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh 5680), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh 5714, the Sages’ “that the Name of Heaven become beloved through you,” which the Alter Rebbe reads here as „להמשיך גילוי אור אלקותו מלמעלה למטה” (drawing the light of G‑dliness downward) without saying why the words mean that, is explained this way: “Heaven” is Z”A, and “the Name of Heaven” is its vessel, Malchus, „שהוא שם והארה בלבד” (which is only a name and a glimmer), so light has to be added to it. So too every vessel of the sefiros is only a “name”: „כד אנת תסתלק מינייהו אשתארו כולהו שמהן כגופא בלא נשמתא” (“when You depart from them, all the names remain like a body without a soul”); and even the lights are called names, so added light must be drawn into them; that is making the Name beloved, and it is done „ע״י מעשה הצדקה” (through the deed of tzedakah).
The Alter Rebbe
וכמארז״ל שיהא שם שמים מתאהב ע״י. פי׳ להמשיך גילוי אור אלקותו מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
ושם שמים הוא הכלי לז״א, שהוא מלכות, שהוא שם והארה בלבד
Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. 10 (תשי״ד ח״א), p. 155 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
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
TermsHaalaah vehamshachah
Terms Haalaah vehamshachah
Marei mekomos
- 1שיהא שם שמים · Yoma 86a:12
- 2מעשה אברהם . . אמר להו דעו · Sotah 10a
- 3אמר להם דעו למי מברכים · Bereshit Rabbah 49:4
- 4בחי׳ אברהם המשכה מלמעלה למטה · ראה לקו״ש חט״ו ע׳ 119.
- 5ויצחק . . ממטה למעלה · ראה יהל אור ע׳ קיא.
3והנה הגם שאברהם היה ג״כ חופר בארות אבל כתיב ויסתמום פלשתים כו׳ ויצחק חפר אותן וקרא להם שמות כשמת אשר קרא להן אביו1 הראשון מלא והשני חסר לפי
Now, although Avraham too dug wells, it is written, “and the Philistines stopped them up,” etc., and Yitzchak dug them [again] “and called them names (שמות) like the names (שמת) that his father had called them.” The first is written full and the second defective, because
Avraham had dug wells first, but the Philistines stopped them up, and Yitzchak reopened them and gave them the names his father had given. In the verse the first “names” is spelled with a vav (שמות) and the second without it (שמת), and the maamar now explains why.
שע״י חפירה דיצחק לא נפסק עוד נביעתם2 ונמשכים ונובעים הששה מדות שהן בחי׳ וי״ו ע״כ הוא שמות מלא בוי״ו.3
through Yitzchak’s digging their flowing was no longer interrupted, and the six emotive attributes (middos), which are the level of the vav, are drawn forth and flow. Therefore it is “names” (שמות), written full, with a vav.
The letter vav stands for the six emotive attributes (its numerical value is six). Once Yitzchak dug, the flow of the wells was never cut off again, so the emotions keep flowing; hence his “names” are spelled full, with the vav.
אבל שמת דאברהם חסר וי״ו לפי שסתמום פלשתים ויש לחיצונים יניקה מהם.4 לכן ע״י חפירה דיצחק הוא שמות בוי״ו (ועמ״ש כה״ג [כהאי גוונא] ע״פ ששת ימים תאכל מצות56 כו׳ מלא וי״ו) ולע״ל [ולעתיד לבוא] כתיב
But the “names” (שמת) of Avraham lack the vav, because the Philistines stopped them up, and the external forces draw nourishment from them. Therefore, through Yitzchak’s digging it is “names” (שמות) with a vav. (And see what is explained along these lines on the verse “Six days you shall eat matzos (מצות),” etc., [written] full, with a vav.) And of the Time to Come it is written,
Avraham’s wells could be stopped, which means the forces opposed to holiness could draw nourishment from them, so his “names” lack the vav. The text points to a parallel discussion of the full spelling of “matzos” in another maamar, and then turns to the future.
כי אתה אבינו7 שעיקר הצחוק והשמחה יהיה מבחי׳ יצחק שהוא ממטה למעלה אשר בחי׳ זו אין קץ ותכלית כו׳
“For You are our father”: [meaning] that the essence of laughter and joy will be from the level of Yitzchak, which is from below upward, a level that has no end or limit, etc.
In Isaiah the people say to G‑d, “For You are our father, for Avraham does not know us”; the Gemara (Shabbos 89b) reads “For You are our father” as said to Yitzchak in the time to come. Then the greatest joy and laughter will come from Yitzchak’s mode, the ascent from below, which is unlimited.
¶7 “For You are our father” is explained more fully in paragraph 7.
משא״כ (אברהם) בבחי׳ ממעלה למטה יש לה גבול המשכה למטה ולכן באברהם כתיב ב״פ [ב׳ פעמים] אברהם אברהם8 הא׳ הוא המשכה שיתהווה בחי׳ חו״ב [חכמה ובינה] דאצי׳ ואלקי אבותינו כנ״ל.
Whereas (Avraham), at the level of from above downward, has a limit to [its] drawing down below. Therefore it is written of Avraham twice, “Avraham, Avraham”: the first is the drawing down by which the level of Chochmah and Binah of Atzilus comes into being, “and the G‑d of our fathers,” as [explained] above;
Drawing down from above always has limits, since it must fit the capacity of what receives it. The doubled “Avraham, Avraham” at the binding of Yitzchak hints at two stages of that descent: the first brings Chochmah and Binah of the World of Atzilus into being, the “G‑d of our fathers” explained above.
והמשכה ב׳ בבי״ע. משא״כ יצחק בחי׳ מלמטה למעלה בחי׳ אין קץ ותכלית והכל ירוממוך סלה.
The second stage extends into the three lower worlds, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. Yitzchak’s ascent, by contrast, has no end, as the prayer says, “and all will exalt You, Selah.”
ומזה נתהווה עיקר הצחוק כי גמירי משמיא מיהב יהבי9 משקל לא שקלי כו׳ מיהב הוא בחי׳ השתלשלות מאין ליש כו׳.
And from this comes about the essence of laughter, for we have a tradition: “From Heaven they give; they do not take [back],” etc. “Giving” is the level of the chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus), from nothing to something, etc.
The name Yitzchak means “he will laugh.” Heaven, the Gemara says, gives but does not take back: G‑d’s giving is the chain of worlds, bringing something out of nothing. The saying comes from a Gemara story in which a gift sent down from Heaven was later taken back at the recipient’s request, and the Sages called that second miracle greater than the first, because Heaven’s way is to give, not to take back. So here “taking back,” the rare reverse movement from something to nothing, is the surprise that brings about laughter.
אבל עבודת האדם הוא ההיפוך והוא להיות בטול היש לאין והוא בחי׳ יצחק צחוק ותענוג10 גדול כו׳:
But the divine service of man is the reverse: it is the nullification of the something into nothing. And this is the level of Yitzchak: laughter and great delight, etc.
Man’s task is the reverse, turning the “something” of the world and of the self back into “nothing,” into self-nullification before G‑d. This reversal is the source of Yitzchak’s laughter and great delight.
Through the spelling of “names” in the verse about the wells, the paragraph shows that Yitzchak’s ascent from below is lasting and unlimited, while Avraham’s drawing down has limits; man’s work of turning something into nothing brings the laughter and delight that give Yitzchak his name.
The contrast between “from nothing to something” and “from something to nothing” is basic in Chabad teaching: creation brings the world out of G‑d’s nothingness, and divine service returns it to Him. Laughter comes from the unexpected reversal, when the created “something,” which seems independent, becomes nullified to G‑d.
Explained elsewhere AI research
Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek
Why the reversal, „בטול היש לאין” (nullifying “something” into “nothing”), should bring laughter and delight, and why that laughter belongs to the future: „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”). Our deeper says only that laughter comes from the unexpected reversal.
Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss on this line says why the laughter belongs to the future: „עיקר הצחוק והשמחה” (the “main laughter and joy”) that will come from Yitzchak is the revelation of the delight of the innermost level, pnimiyus Atik, „ישמח ה׳ במעשיו” (“G‑d will rejoice in His works”), and that revelation is drawn „מבירור שם ב״ן שמעולם התהו” (from refining the Name Ban, the world of Tohu), which is the nullifying of the “something” from below upward.
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Bereishis (gloss on this maamar), vol. ד, p. 1634 (the verso of folio תתיז)
וזה התענוג נמשך מהבירור שמלמטלמ״ע ביטול היש דהיינו בירור עולם התהו
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 explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a sicha of Shabbos Vayelech 5735 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, Vayera II), the Rebbe asks why the Zohar calls the well Avraham dug “Yitzchak’s well,” and why his father, R. Levi Yitzchak, explaining this in his notes on the Zohar, refers to Torah Ohr at the start of Toldos.
The Rebbe reads this paragraph as giving the reason why Avraham’s wells could be stopped and why, once Yitzchak dug them again, they lasted: the Philistines can oppose only the line of chesed (קו החסד) in holiness, not the line of gevurah. He spells it out from Likkutei Torah and Torah Chaim: “Philistines” is from „מבוי המפולש” (mavui mefulash), an alley open at both ends, and they were scoffers, for scoffing comes from a heart opened too wide, the unholy counterpart of Avraham’s expansive love and joy; even so it could take hold only „אחרי מות אברהם” (“after Avraham’s death”), when the holy love had gone and only the open heart remained. Love still carries a sense of self, „יש מי שאוהב” (“there is one who loves”), while awe and acceptance of the yoke are bittul, so once Yitzchak’s awe was joined to Avraham’s love the external forces had no more hold.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל שמת דאברהם חסר וי״ו לפי שסתמום פלשתים ויש לחיצונים יניקה מהם
The Rebbe
פלשתים קען זיין אַ מנגד נאָר צום קו החסד פון קדושה און ניט צום קו הגבורה
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טו, p. 118–121 (on Torah Ohr: 119–120) · משיחת ש״פ וילך תשל״ה
The Rebbe explains
In the same sicha of Shabbos Vayelech 5735 (Likkutei Sichos vol. 15, Vayera II), explaining why R. Levi Yitzchak reads the Zohar’s “Yitzchak’s well” as Avraham’s well that is only credited to Yitzchak, the Rebbe builds on this paragraph’s words „לא נפסק עוד נביעתם” (“their flowing was no longer cut off”).
The Rebbe notes that “their flowing” here means „לנביעת מי החסדים דאברהם” (the flowing of Avraham’s waters of chesed), as Torah Chaim says explicitly. So even after Yitzchak dug them again they remained Avraham’s wells, his service of love and joy, and Yitzchak’s part, awe and acceptance of the yoke (יראה וקבלת עול), is what keeps that love and joy alive; this, he says, is why his father read the Zohar’s “Yitzchak’s well” as Avraham’s well only credited to Yitzchak. He concludes that the main line of service is love and joy (“there is no service like the service of love”), and awe is what lets the joy last.
The Alter Rebbe
לפי שע״י חפירה דיצחק לא נפסק עוד נביעתם
The Rebbe
לנביעת מי החסדים דאברהם, כמפורש בתו״ח שם פ״ז
Likkutei Sichos, vol. טו, p. 120, note 21 · משיחת ש״פ וילך תשל״ה
The Rebbe explains
In a talk of 12 Tammuz 5714, which the Rebbe edited in Yiddish for Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, asking why Yitzchak could be born only „מטיפה קדושה” (from a holy drop), after Avraham’s circumcision, the Rebbe first sets out how Avraham drew G‑dliness down into the world while Yitzchak made the world itself rise to become its vessel, and why Yitzchak kept digging when the Philistines took his wells.
The Alter Rebbe states that the ascent from below has „אין קץ ותכלית” (no end or limit), while drawing down from above „יש לה גבול” (has a limit). The Rebbe gives the reason, citing this maamar in his note: the work of making the world itself a vessel for G‑dliness reaches „בלי גבול האמתי” (the true limitlessness) of the Ein Sof, because it is through this work that the ultimate intent (תכלית הכוונה) is fulfilled. In the same talk he describes Yitzchak’s wells as uncovering the living water already in the ground, not pouring water in from elsewhere, so that the world itself rises to become a vessel.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ יצחק בחי׳ מלמטה למעלה בחי׳ אין קץ ותכלית והכל ירוממוך סלה
The Rebbe
די עבודה צו מאַכן פון וועלט אַ כלי צו ג-טלעכקייט דערלאַנגט אין בלי גבול האמתי
Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 30 · משיחת י״ב תמוז תשי״ד
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, following the Rebbe Rashab’s Ve’eileh Toldos 5678, the Rebbe asks, as the Rebbe Rashab does there, what the difference is between Avraham drawing G‑dliness into the world and Yitzchak uncovering it, since both seem to reveal G‑dliness below, and explains what „מלמעלה למטה” (“from above downward”) and „מלמטה למעלה” (“from below upward”) mean.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the stopped wells are explained by another principle: when the higher comes down to the lower, as with Avraham, nothing stands in the way, but the lower is not changed, so „אפשר שמצד התגברות החומריות יסתלק האור” (when physicality grows strong the light can leave); when the lower rises, as with Yitzchak, it must first be refined, „מי יעלה בהר הוי׳ גו׳ נקי כפים” (“who shall ascend the mountain of Havayah… clean of hands”), and then the light stays. So the revelation at Sinai left the lower unrefined, while in the time to come the body itself will be refined; and, the Rebbe adds, after Sinai there was still exile, while the revelations of the time to come „קיימים לעד ולעולמי עולמים” (last forever). This is why the Philistines stopped Avraham’s wells after his death but could not stop Yitzchak’s: Yitzchak’s ascent „פעלה זיכוך המטה” (refined the lower itself).
The Alter Rebbe
והנה הגם שאברהם היה ג״כ חופר בארות אבל כתיב ויסתמום פלשתים
The Rebbe
משא״כ הבארות דיצחק לא שייך שיסתמום פלשתים, לפי שעבודת יצחק היתה בדרך העלאה לפעול זיכוך בהמטה עצמו
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נג–נד · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, right after explaining why Yitzchak’s wells lasted, the Rebbe turns to the full (שמות) and defective (שמת) spellings of “names” in this verse, taking up the question and answer of the Rebbe Rashab’s Ve’eileh Toldos 5678.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the Alter Rebbe’s reading here raises a difficulty: the letter vav stands for drawing down from above, which is Avraham’s way, so one would expect Avraham’s “names” to be full and Yitzchak’s defective. The answer is „שגם ענין ההעלאה הוא באות וא״ו” (that ascent too goes by the vav): every ascent is through „שם מ״ב” (the Name of 42), six times seven (the Rebbe cites Likkutei Torah on the journeys), and the Zohar reads “a true sign” (אות אמת) as the letter vav. A drawing down that comes on its own from above does not last, „כיון שהמטה אינו כלי להמשכה זו” (since the lower is no vessel for it), as with Avraham’s wells; when the ascent comes first and brings the drawing down, the vav is “a true sign” that lasts, because a vessel was made. More deeply, refining the darkness itself reaches higher, „ישת חושך סתרו” (“He made darkness His hiding place”), where there is no change or interruption.
The Alter Rebbe
ונמשכים ונובעים הששה מדות שהן בחי׳ וי״ו ע״כ הוא שמות מלא בוי״ו
The Rebbe
הול״ל ביצחק שמת חסר וא״ו, ובאברהם שמות מלא וא״ו
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נד–נה · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
Background from the Rebbe
At the end of the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, which follows the Rebbe Rashab’s maamar of 5678, having said that „ובשביל ענין העלי׳ נעשה כל ענין ההמשכה דאברהם” (all of Avraham’s drawing down exists for the sake of Yitzchak’s ascent), the Rebbe explains why in the future „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”) will be said to Yitzchak alone.
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out at the end of his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, “For You are our father” will be said to Yitzchak because the ultimate elevation of the future is „שהמטה גופא יזדכך להיות כלי לאלקות” (that the lower itself be refined into a vessel for G‑dliness): the reason for the Alter Rebbe’s line here, „שעיקר הצחוק והשמחה יהיה מבחי׳ יצחק” (that the main laughter and joy of the future will come from Yitzchak’s way), the ascent from below. The Rebbe frames it with his own premise in this maamar, that all of Avraham’s drawing down exists for the sake of Yitzchak’s ascent; so „אברהם לא ידענו” (“Avraham did not know us”), and only to Yitzchak will they say “You are our father.” With the Rebbe Rashab he ties this to the inner Torah that Moshiach will reveal, which is reached through the toil of refining from below.
The Alter Rebbe
ולע״ל כתיב כי אתה אבינו שעיקר הצחוק והשמחה יהיה מבחי׳ יצחק שהוא ממטה למעלה
The Rebbe
לפי שתכלית העילוי דלעתיד הוא שהמטה גופא יזדכך להיות כלי לאלקות
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נז · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ח
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, 5725
The Alter Rebbe grounds Yitzchak’s superiority (“For You are our father”) in the fact that the ascent from below has no end, while the drawing down from above is limited. The Rebbe presents this as the reason according to the first explanation. According to the second explanation he adds another reason: fear itself is above love. Even lower fear is rooted in higher fear, which stands above great love.
The Alter Rebbe
בבחי׳ ממעלה למטה יש לה גבול המשכה למטה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, 5725
The Alter Rebbe describes man’s service as the reverse of hishtalshelus, the nullification of something into nothing. The Rebbe separately presents mesirus nefesh as an example of ascent superior to the drawing down of Torah and mitzvos. Mesirus nefesh is above reason because it joins yud and heh and reveals Atik, the essence of the soul. Torah and mitzvos are a drawing down that joins vav and heh. He supports this from the Beis Yosef and from the Zohar’s precise word סליק.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל עבודת האדם הוא ההיפוך והוא להיות בטול היש לאין
The Rebbe
מעלת המס״נ (העלאה) על עסק התומ״צ (המשכה)
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
TermsBittul hayeshGevuros de’AbbaAvosIbbur and leidah+15
- Bittul hayesh ביטול היש explained hereGiving from above is the chain of descent from ayin to yesh; a person’s service is the reverse, from below upward, nullifying yesh to ayin. That is Yitzchak, laughter and great delight, which has no limit.
אבל עבודת האדם הוא ההיפוך והוא להיות בטול היש לאין והוא בחי׳ יצחק צחוק ותענוג גדול
- Gevuros de’Abba גבורות דאבא
- Avos אבות
- Ibbur and leidah עיבור ולידה
- Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
- Le’asid lavo לעתיד לבא
- Simchah שמחה
- Kelipah קליפה
- Taanug תענוג
- Yetzirah יצירה
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Hishtalshelus השתלשלות
- Asiyah עשיה
- Beriah בריאה
- Atzilus אצילות
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1ויסתמום פלשתים . . שמות כשמת אשר קרא להן אביו · Genesis 26:18
- 2לא נפסק עוד נביעתם · והכוונה ב”נביעתם” היא — לנביעת מי החסדים דאברהם כמפורש בתו״ח פ״ז — לקו״ש חט״ו ע׳ 120 הערה 21. בלקו״ת ואתחנן ה, א מציין לכאן.
- 3לפי שע״י . . מלא בוי״ו · בכת״י 260 ליתא.
- 4ויש לחיצונים יניקה מהם · ראה גם לקו״ת ואתחנן ה, א.
- 5ע״פ ששת ימים תאכל מצות · ראה לקו״ת פ׳ צו יג, ב.
- 6ששת ימים תאכל מצות · Deuteronomy 16:8
- 7ולע״ל . . כי אתה אבינו · Isaiah 63:16
- 8אברהם אברהם · Genesis 22:11
- 9גמירי משמיא מיהב יהבי · Taanit 25a:4
- 10בחי׳ יצחק צחוק ותענוג · לקו״ת שה״ש כז, ד. נ, ב.
The Fear of Yitzchak ¶4–7
Now, it is written of Avraham, “Take, please, your son,” etc., “whom you love, Yitzchak,” etc. For it is known that it is natural to love the opposite,
The verse at the binding calls Yitzchak the son “whom you love.” The maamar explains this love by a rule of nature: one loves one’s opposite.
כדכתיב מים קרים על נפש עיפה.3 וכמו״כ [וכמו כן] להיפוך מי שקר לו מאד רוצה למים חמים.
as it is written, “Cold water on a weary soul.” And likewise the reverse: one who is very cold wants warm water.
The verse from Proverbs shows that a weary, heated person longs for cold water; likewise one who is very cold wants warm water. Opposites attract.
The paragraph introduces the principle that one loves one’s opposite, to explain Avraham’s love for Yitzchak.
Marei mekomos
- 1קח נא את בנך · Genesis 22:2
- 2כי ידוע הטבע לאהוב ההיפוך · ראה אוה״ת נח ס, א. ובכרך ז לד״ה חכלילי סעי׳ ב מביא קטע מכאן.
- 3מים קרים על נפש עיפה · Proverbs 25:25
5ולכן אברהם שמדתו המשכה מלמעלה למטה אוהב ג״כ ההיפוך בחי׳ יצחק מלמטה למעלה. היינו שבחי׳ יצחק הוא פחד יצחק1 שהוא בחי׳ יראה ובטול
Therefore Avraham, whose attribute is drawing down from above downward, also loves the opposite, the level of Yitzchak, from below upward. That is, the level of Yitzchak is “the Fear of Yitzchak,” which is the level of awe and self-nullification (bittul).
Avraham, all drawing down, loves Yitzchak’s opposite mode of ascent. Yitzchak’s quality is called “the Fear of Yitzchak”: awe and self-nullification before G‑d.
ולכן זה א״א שימשיך אברהם למטה בחי׳ פחד יצחק הנ״ל שבחינת בטול כזה א״א לנבראים לקבל
And therefore it is impossible for Avraham to draw down below the level of the Fear of Yitzchak mentioned above, for created beings cannot receive such a level of self-nullification.
That is why Avraham could not bring Yitzchak’s level down to the world: created beings cannot bear such complete self-nullification; they would cease to exist as separate beings.
כי גם למעלה אמרו הושיט הקב״ה אצבעו2 הקטנה ביניהם ושרפן ע״י גילוי רב ומכ״ש [ומכל שכן] למטה בנבראים.
For even above, [the Sages] said: “The Holy One, blessed be He, stretched out His little finger among them and burned them,” through an intense revelation; all the more so below, among created beings.
The Gemara tells that G‑d stretched out His little finger among a group of angels and burned them; the revelation was too great for them to contain. If even angels cannot bear it, surely created beings below cannot.
Avraham loves Yitzchak’s quality of awe and self-nullification, but he cannot draw that quality down into creation, which cannot bear such self-nullification.
The Likkutei Torah passage cited in the notes explains the burning of the angels as their being absorbed into G‑d’s oneness because the revelation exceeded their vessel. The same absorption, in a measured form, is the daily service of the angels, rising and being included in Malchus.
TermsBittulHaalaah vehamshachah
Marei mekomos
- 1פחד יצחק · Genesis 31:42
- 2הושיט הקב״ה אצבעו · Sanhedrin 38b:5
6ולכן כתיב ויעקוד אותו על המזבח1 ממעל לעצים למעלה מבחינת עה״ח [עץ החיים] ועה״ד [ועץ הדעת] שם יוכל להתגלות בחי׳ פחד יצחק2 הנ״ל.
Therefore it is written, “and he bound him upon the altar, above the wood (עצים)”: above the level of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. There the level of the Fear of Yitzchak mentioned above could be revealed.
At the binding, Yitzchak was placed “above the wood,” and the word for wood, etzim, also means trees. So he was above the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, a level beyond the worlds; only there could the Fear of Yitzchak be revealed.
However, of Yaakov it is written, “and the Fear of Yitzchak was with me.” For Yaakov was the choicest of the Patriarchs, the level of inclusion, “the bar that reaches from end [to end],” etc.
Yaakov, however, says “the Fear of Yitzchak was with me.” Yaakov is the choicest of the Patriarchs because he includes both Avraham and Yitzchak, like the middle bar of the Tabernacle that ran from one end to the other.
ולכן אמר אלקי אבי אברהם ופחד יצחק היה לי שהי׳ [שהיה] לו שני הבחינות בחי׳ אברהם כנ״ל. וגם פחד יצחק היה יכול להמשיך למטה ג״כ.
Therefore he said, “the G‑d of my father Avraham, and the Fear of Yitzchak was with me”: for he had both levels, the level of Avraham, as [explained] above, and he could also draw the Fear of Yitzchak down below as well.
Because he combined both, Yaakov could draw even the Fear of Yitzchak down below, which Avraham alone could not do.
Yitzchak’s level could appear only above the worlds, at the binding; Yaakov, who unites Avraham and Yitzchak, is able to bring even that level down.
Yaakov as Tiferes, the middle line between Chesed (Avraham) and Gevurah (Yitzchak), is a basic Kabbalistic idea; the Zohar passages in the Kehot notes call him the choicest of the Patriarchs and the middle bar.
Explained elsewhere AI research
Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Rayatz
„ממעל לעצים” (“Above the wood”): what the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge stand for here, and why only above them could the Fear of Yitzchak (פחד יצחק) be revealed. Our explain says only “a level beyond the worlds.”
Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss on this line opens it: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are Z”A and Nukva, and „המזבח ממעל לעצים” (“the altar above the wood”) is Binah, called the inner altar, where the Fear of Yitzchak, „יראה עילאה” (the higher fear), is revealed. Its root, he says, citing the Ramaz, is the gevurah of Atik vested in the hidden brain (mocha stima’ah), which is why such awe and bittul cannot be drawn down below, and why the Torah is called a “gateway” (תרעא) with respect to this higher fear.
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Bereishis (gloss on this maamar), vol. ד, p. 1634–תתיח (from the verso of folio תתיז to folio תתיח)
והמזבח שממעל לעצים היינו בינה שנק׳ מזבח הפנימי
the Rebbe Rayatz: Sefer HaMaamarim 5683, p. קסו
דעצים הוא עץ החיים ועץ הדעת דעה״ח הוא תושב״כ ועה״ד תושבע״פ
Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek
How Yaakov’s “inclusion” (התכללות) lets him draw down the Fear of Yitzchak, which Avraham could not: why joining love and fear changes what creation can receive.
Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the Tzemach Tzedek’s gloss on this line, bringing Likkutei Torah (Vaeschanan, Vida’ta HaYom, second discourse), explains Yaakov’s inclusion: love and fear are opposites, and they can be joined only by a light higher than both; that light is “the awesome One” (והנורא) of the prayer, bittul, revealed in Tiferes, Yaakov’s attribute, „מה נורא המקום הזה” (“how awesome is this place”), the middle bar that joins the two ends. That, he says, is why Yaakov could say „ופחד יצחק הי׳ לי” (“the Fear of Yitzchak was with me”).
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Bereishis (gloss on this maamar), vol. ד, p. תתיח
וההתכללות שתהא האהבה כלולה עם היראה זהו ע״י המשכה הארה יותר עליונה מלמעלה מבחי׳ המדות חו״ג
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.
TermsEtz HaDaasAvosHiskallelus
- Etz HaDaas עץ הדעת טוב ורע
- Avos אבות
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1ויעקוד אותו על המזבח · Genesis 22:9
- 2ופחד יצחק הי׳ לי · Genesis 31:42
- 3יעקב הי׳ בחור שבאבות · Bereshit Rabbah 76:1
- 4יעקב היה בחור שבאבות · Zohar, Vayetzei 38:347–359
- 5יעקב היה בחור שבאבות · Sefer Etz Chaim 38:2:1
- 6מבריח מן הקצה · Zohar III, 186a
- 7מבריח מן הקצה · Exodus 26:28
7והנה לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] כתיב כי אתה אבינו1 פי׳ כי עתה א״א שבחי׳ פחד יצחק יהי׳ [יהיה] בבחי׳ אבינו שהיא המשכה למטה וכנ״ל.
Now, of the Time to Come it is written, “For You (אתה) are our father.” The meaning is: for now (עתה) it is impossible for the level of the Fear of Yitzchak to be at the level of “our father,” which is drawing down below, as [explained] above.
The maamar reads “For You (atah) are our father” as if it said “for now (atah, spelled עתה)”: now the Fear of Yitzchak cannot become “our father,” a level that flows down to us, since creation cannot bear it, as explained.
¶3 This explains “For You are our father” from paragraph 3.
אבל לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] כשיהיה בלע המות לנצח2 ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר3 כו׳ אז יתגלה בחי׳ פחד יצחק למטה שיהי׳ [שיהיה] הוא בחי׳ אבינו
But in the Time to Come, when “He will swallow up death forever,” and “I will remove the spirit of impurity,” etc., then the level of the Fear of Yitzchak will be revealed below, so that it will be the level of “our father,”
In the time to come, when death is swallowed up and the spirit of impurity removed, the obstacles will be gone, and Yitzchak’s level of awe will be revealed below and become “our father.”
as it is written, “to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the crevices of the crags, from before the fear of Havayah”: that the level of fear and self-nullification will be revealed below, “and all flesh shall see.”
Isaiah foretells that on the day G‑d arises, people will flee into the clefts of the rocks from the terror of Havayah. The maamar reads that “fear” as the awe and self-nullification of Yitzchak, which will then be openly revealed in this world, so that “all flesh shall see.”
What Avraham could not do now, bringing Yitzchak’s awe down, will happen in the time to come, and this is why Yitzchak will then be called “our father.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In the talk that followed the maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh on Shabbos Toldos 5714, which the Rebbe edited in Yiddish for Likkutei Sichos vol. 1, he returns to „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”) and asks in what way Yitzchak was „בדוגמא דלעתיד לבוא” (a pattern of the time to come).
The Rebbe gives the reason “For You are our father” will be said to Yitzchak from this paragraph (his note cites Torah Ohr 17c): Yitzchak’s matter is fear and bittul (פחד וביטול), and that is one of the new things of the time to come. From this he explains why Yitzchak lived in several ways in the pattern of the future: all the Patriarchs „הטעימן מעין עולם הבא” (were given a taste of the World to Come) in delight, but at the binding „פרחה נשמתו” (Yitzchak’s soul flew from him) and a soul of the World to Come was drawn into him, so his whole life was in that pattern. His true distinction, the Rebbe says, is that he was above the world and drew from there into the world.
The Alter Rebbe
פי׳ כי עתה א״א שבחי׳ פחד יצחק יהי׳ בבחי׳ אבינו שהיא המשכה למטה
The Rebbe
ווייל יצחק איז דער ענין פון פּחד און ביטול, וואָס דאָס איז דאָך איינער פון די חידושים פון דעם זמן פון לעתיד לבוא
Likkutei Sichos, vol. א, p. 48–49 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
Background from the Rebbe
In the same maamar of Shabbos Toldos 5714, following the Rebbe Rashab’s Machar Chodesh 5680, which asks the same question, the Rebbe asks: if Yitzchak’s level is darkness (חושך) for those below, how can it be said to Yitzchak in the future, „כי אתה אבינו” (“For You are our father”)?
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh 5680), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Lehavin Inyan Erev Rosh Chodesh 5714, fear, unlike love, comes from closeness to G‑d’s essence (“I fill the heavens and the earth”), leaving nothing sought but bittul, and since the essence is above revelation, to those below it is darkness; how then can such darkness be called “our father,” as the Alter Rebbe says here it will be in the future, when the Fear of Yitzchak (פחד יצחק), which now cannot be a flow to those below, is revealed below? The answer is from Shabbos: it is above the chain of worlds and above time, which is why it „אינו נקרא בשם ראש השבוע” (is not called the “head” of the week), and yet the days after it are blessed from it. So what is above hishtalshelus (השתלשלות), called darkness, can be drawn down as light, and in the future even Yitzchak’s closeness will be drawn „באופן של אור וגילוי למטה” (below as light and revelation).
The Alter Rebbe
אז יתגלה בחי׳ פחד יצחק למטה שיהי׳ הוא בחי׳ אבינו
The Rebbe
לעתיד לבוא תומשך גם בחי׳ זו באופן של אור וגילוי למטה
Toras Menachem – Hisvaaduyos (unedited), vol. 10 (תשי״ד ח״א), p. 156–159 · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״ד
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, 5725
The Alter Rebbe says that only in the future will the Fear of Yitzchak be revealed below. In a separate discussion of the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe says that as long as there is refinement to be done, gevurah must receive from chesed. This echoes the Alter Rebbe’s point in ¶10 that the ascent is refined through Avraham. Gevurah can stand wholly above chesed only once the refining is complete. From this the Rebbe resolves the apparent contradiction between chesed above gevurah and gold above silver, and explains the sin of Korach and the punishment of Shlomo.
The Alter Rebbe
אבל לע״ל כשיהיה בלע המות לנצח ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר
The Rebbe
שבשביל הבירורים יש צורך בחסדים, ודוקא עי״ז יכולים הגבורות להיות כדבעי
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
Marei mekomos
- 1כי אתה אבינו · Isaiah 63:16
- 2בלע המות לנצח · Isaiah 25:8
- 3ואת רוח הטומאה אעביר · Zechariah 13:2
- 4לבא בנקרת הצורים · Isaiah 2:21
- 5וראו כל בשר · Isaiah 40:5
Yitzchak born of Avraham ¶8–10
8וזהו אלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם. אברהם הוליד את יצחק.1 ב״פ [ב׳ פעמים] אברהם וב״פ [וב׳ פעמים] יצחק. כנודע ממשל גשמי שהזכר יוכל להזריע בלא נקבה משא״כ הנוקבא כו׳.
And this is [the meaning of] “These are the generations of Yitzchak, son of Avraham; Avraham begot Yitzchak”: twice Avraham and twice Yitzchak. As is known from a physical analogy, the male can emit seed without a female, which is not so of the female, etc.
The opening verse names Avraham twice and Yitzchak twice. The maamar explains this with an analogy from physical procreation: the male can emit seed without the female, but the female cannot initiate by herself.
¶1 This explains the opening verse from paragraph 1.
והגם שאמרו אשה מזרעת תחלה2 כו׳ היינו ג״כ ע״י התעוררות הדכר תוכל הנוקבא להזריע תחלה כו׳.
And although [the Sages] said, “[If] the woman emits seed first,” etc., this too means that through the arousal of the male the female can emit seed first, etc.
The Sages say that when the woman emits seed first the child is male; even so, this happens only through the man’s arousal. The analogy prepares the point that the ascent from below (Yitzchak) depends on an arousal from above (Avraham).
The doubled names in the verse are explained through an analogy from conception: the receiving side can act only when aroused by the giving side.
In Kabbalah the “feminine” and “masculine” are roles of receiving and giving, not a statement about people; the “feminine waters” (mayin nukvin), the ascent from below, are raised only by an arousal from above.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, 5725
The Alter Rebbe reads the doubled names through the analogy of giver and receiver. The Rebbe adds a second reading of the same doubling: love (Avraham) and fear (Yitzchak) each have two levels. The order of the names in the verse becomes the order of avodah: lower fear before prayer, lesser love and then great love during prayer, and higher fear, self-nullification in one’s very existence, in Shemoneh Esrei. This matches the letters of Havayah read from below upward.
The Alter Rebbe
ב״פ אברהם וב״פ יצחק
The Rebbe
יראה (תתאה) אהבה (זוטא) אהבה (רבה) יראה (עילאה)
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.
Marei mekomos
- 1אלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם. אברהם הוליד את יצחק · Genesis 25:19
- 2אשה מזרעת תחלה · Berakhot 60a:14
9וגם אח״כ עיקר ההולדה מטפת הדכר שממנו יז, דהלובן והוא המברר הולד להיות הפסולת יוצא לחוץ. ומהבירור נעשה הולד כו׳.
And afterward too, the main part of the conception is from the drop of the male, from which comes the white [matter], and it is this that refines the offspring, so that the waste goes out. And from the refinement the offspring is formed, etc.
Continuing the analogy: the formation of the child comes mainly from the male drop, the source of the “white”, which refines and sorts, so that waste is expelled and the child is formed.
כמו״כ [כמו כן] למעלה שיתהווה בחי׳ יצחק ממטלמ״ע [ממטה למעלה] שבאמת אין ערוך אליו כלל הוא בא ע״י בן אברהם פי׳ ע״י ההארה הבאה מלמעלה למטה שיתהווה בכ״א [בכל אחד / בכל אחת] בחי׳ יצחק העלאת מ״ן [מיין נוקבין] ממטה למעלה.
So too above: that the level of Yitzchak should come into being, from below upward, which in truth has no comparison to Him at all, comes about through “son of Avraham,” meaning, through the illumination that comes from above downward, so that the level of Yitzchak should come into being in each one: the raising of mayin nukvin (the feminine waters) from below upward.
So too above: Yitzchak’s ascent from below has no comparison to G‑d at all and could never reach Him by itself. It comes through “son of Avraham,” the light drawn down from above, which awakens in every person the ascent called raising the feminine waters (mayin nukvin).
The analogy is applied: the ascent of the person (Yitzchak) is made possible by, and refined through, the light from above (Avraham).
Mayin nukvin, the “feminine waters,” is the Kabbalistic term for the arousal from below that rises to evoke a flow from above; here it is itself produced by a prior arousal from above.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, 5725
The Alter Rebbe’s analogy from conception holds two elements: the male arouses the female, and the male’s drop refines the offspring. In his maamar these flow together into one explanation. The Rebbe separates them into two distinct arousals from above, one for each half of the verse. The first comes before the ascent and awakens it, so the ascent is a “son” taken from Avraham. The second comes after the arousal from below and empowers it to produce “birth.” This is how the Rebbe answers the opening question about the apparent repetition.
The Alter Rebbe
הוא בא ע״י בן אברהם פי׳ ע״י ההארה הבאה מלמעלה למטה
The Rebbe
נותנת כח באתעדל״ת שיהי׳ ממנה ענין של הולדה
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.
TermsLoven ha’elyonEin arochMayin nukvin and mayin duchrinBirur+1
- Loven ha’elyon לובן העליון
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Mayin nukvin and mayin duchrin מיין נוקבין ומיין דוכרין (מ״ן ומ״ד)
- Birur בירור
Also Haalaah vehamshachah
10וזהו תולדות יצחק הוא בן אברהם כו׳. ואח״כ אברהם הוליד את יצחק.1 פי׳ שיהי׳ [שיהיה] בחי׳ יצחק בבחי׳ הולדה
And this is [the meaning of] “the generations of Yitzchak” being “son of Avraham,” etc. And afterward, “Avraham begot Yitzchak”: meaning that the level of Yitzchak should be at the level of birth,
This is why the verse calls Yitzchak “son of Avraham” and then repeats that “Avraham begot Yitzchak”: Yitzchak’s ascent must be “born,” brought forth into actual existence.
כי באמת אין ערוך נברא לבורא ושיהי׳ [ושיהיה] ההעלאה בחי׳ בטול לאלקות בתכלית א״א כ״א ע״י אברהם שהוא בחי׳ אב״ר מ״ה [שם מ״ה] בחכמה אתברירו
for in truth there is no comparison [between] a creature and the Creator, and that the ascent be a level of utter self-nullification to G‑dliness is impossible except through Avraham (אברהם), who is the level of “ever Mah” (אב״ר מ״ה, the limb of Mah) — “through Chochmah they are refined” —
A creature has no comparison to its Creator, so complete self-nullification to G‑d can come only through Avraham. The letters of his name form אבר מה, the “limb” of Mah (מ״ה, 45, the number of the Name Havayah spelled out with alefs), the Name linked to Chochmah, and through Chochmah everything is refined.
שהוא המברר להוליד בחי׳ יצחק להיות נתפס בחי׳ גילוי אלקות והפסולת יוצא לחוץ ע״י טפת דכר שממנו יוצא לובן העליון כנ״ל בחי׳ אברהם כו׳ וד״ל [ודי למבין]:
which is what refines, to bring forth the level of Yitzchak, so that a level of revelation of G‑dliness may be grasped, and the waste goes out, through the drop of the male, from which the supernal white issues, as [explained] above: the level of Avraham, etc. And this suffices for one who understands.
Avraham’s Chochmah refines and gives birth to Yitzchak’s ascent, so that the person can grasp a revelation of G‑dliness while the waste is expelled, just as in the analogy of the male drop. The maamar closes by noting that the matter suffices for one who understands.
The maamar ends by explaining the verse fully: Yitzchak’s ascent is “born” of Avraham, because only the light and Chochmah drawn from above can refine a person so that he rises to true self-nullification.
“Through Chochmah they are refined” is a Kabbalistic principle for the sorting of good from waste; the reading of Avraham as אבר מ״ה links him to Chochmah, called koach mah, “the power of what,” the level of bittul.
Explained elsewhere AI research
Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek
What Avraham’s “refining” does to Yitzchak’s ascent, „בחכמה אתברירו… והפסולת יוצא לחוץ” (“through Chochmah they are refined… the waste goes out”): why an ascent of bittul still needs refining.
Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the Tzemach Tzedek’s note on this passage says why even an ascent of bittul needs refining: what rises as “feminine waters” from the lower worlds (Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah) is still the bittul of a “something” (ביטול היש, bittul hayesh). The second “Avraham,” „אבר מ״ה” (“ever Mah”), refines it again so that it is included in Atzilus itself, in true bittul; this, he says, is „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”).
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Bereishis (gloss on this maamar), vol. ד, p. תתיב
והנה העלאת מ״ן צריך עדיין בירור שני ע״י המ״ד
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 explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the maamar Vayomer Lo Yehonasan Machar Chodesh, said on Shabbos Toldos, erev Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5745, and edited by the Rebbe for Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5752, he links Yehonasan’s words to David with the opening verse of the parsha, and asks with the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim why, after „יצחק בן אברהם” (“Yitzchak son of Avraham”), the verse repeats „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”).
Citing the Alter Rebbe’s maamarim of 5568 and, for the same, this passage of Torah Ohr, the Rebbe gives two reasons why the drawing down must come before the ascent, though the ascent reaches higher: „א״א להיות העלאה בלי קדימת ההמשכה” (without it there is no ascent at all), as „אשה מזרעת תחלה” (a woman “seeds first”) only when the man arouses her; and the ascent’s power to reach so high is revealed only through it. With those maamarim (his note 27) he reads the verse: “Yitzchak son of Avraham” is the first, the ascent itself coming through the drawing down that precedes it; “Avraham begot Yitzchak” is the second: “begot” (הוליד) is causative, Avraham giving Yitzchak the power to bear, so that the drawing from above, before the ascent, brings out the power in the lower’s ascent to reach above. That power needs bringing out, he suggests, because „ענין העלאה הוא העלאת התחתון” (an ascent is the ascent of the lower), so its power lies hidden until the higher draws down.
The Alter Rebbe
כי באמת אין ערוך נברא לבורא ושיהי׳ ההעלאה בחי׳ בטול לאלקות בתכלית א״א כ״א ע״י אברהם
The Rebbe
הוליד הוא לשון פועל יוצא שנותן את כח התולדה ביצחק, הוא, שהכח שבהעלאת המטה להגיע למעלה נמשך (מתגלה) ע״י ההמשכה מלמעלה (שלפני ההעלאה)
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ו, p. כו · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו ה׳תשמ״ה (edited by the Rebbe and issued as Kuntres Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5752)
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In §8 of the maamar Ve’eileh Toldos of Shabbos Toldos 5718, having shown that the arousal from below is the purpose of all drawing down, the Rebbe explains the two halves of the opening verse as two arousals from above (אתעדל״ע), one before the ascent and one after it, as the Rebbe Rashab does in Ve’eileh Toldos 5678 (and the Rebbe Rayatz in 5699).
As the Rebbe Rashab explains (dibbur hamaschil Ve’eileh Toldos 5678), which the Rebbe sets out in his maamar Ve’eileh Toldos 5718, the verse is read like the Alter Rebbe here: „יצחק בן אברהם” (“Yitzchak son of Avraham”) is the drawing from above that must come first to bring about the ascent, and „אברהם הוליד את יצחק” (“Avraham begot Yitzchak”) an arousal from above after the ascent, so that the ascent is complete. In the Rebbe Rashab’s words the Rebbe says what that second step does: the refining and ascent from below is at the level of the Name Ban, and after it „בירור שני” (a second refinement) is needed, by drawing down the Name Mah, to refine the “feminine waters” raised from the refinements of Ban. He does not quote „אבר מ״ה” (“ever Mah”), but the step is the one this paragraph names: Avraham, Mah, as the one who refines, so that Yitzchak is “born.”
The Alter Rebbe
ע״י אברהם שהוא בחי׳ אב״ר מ״ה בחכמה אתברירו שהוא המברר להוליד בחי׳ יצחק
The Rebbe
והוא ע״י ההמשכה דשם מ״ה לברר את העלאת מ״ן שנעשה מהבירורים דשם ב״ן
Toras Menachem – Sefer HaMaamarim 5718 (unedited), p. נו–נז · ש״פ תולדות, מבה״ח וער״ח כסלו, ה׳תשי״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
TermsLoven ha’elyonBechochmah isbreruEin arochMah and Ban+4
- Loven ha’elyon לובן העליון
- Bechochmah isbreru בחכמה אתברירו
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Mah and Ban מ״ה וב״ן
- Birur בירור
Marei mekomos
- 1תולדות יצחק הוא בן אברהם כו׳. ואח״כ אברהם הוליד את יצחק · Genesis 25:19
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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
Contemplating G‑d’s oneness should stir a longing to rise to Him, but a Jew must then return and bring G‑dliness into the world, as Avraham did through kindness; and his own work is to turn the “something” of self and world into “nothing” before G‑d, which becomes true joy.
Questions for discussion
- Why must the upward yearning of ratzo be followed by shov, and how does this answer the question of how love can be commanded?
- What do Avraham’s hospitality and Yitzchak’s wells each teach about how G‑dliness is revealed?
- Why is drawing down from above limited, while the ascent from below is without limit?
- Why could Yaakov, but not Avraham, draw the Fear of Yitzchak down below?
- In what sense is the ascent from below “born” of Avraham?
Key terms in this maamar
- 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. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Tzimtzum (contraction)צמצום
- Contraction: Or Ein Sof (not Ein Sof Himself) hidden in its source so finite worlds can exist, leaving a “vacated space” for the kav; also each later narrowing of light, as in Chochmah. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Binah (understanding)בינה
- The Sefirah of comprehension (Imma, the first hei): it expands Chochmah’s flash in length and breadth; letters of thought appear in it; it is “yesh,” and from it love, joy and the middos are born.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- A dwelling place among the lower realmsדירה בתחתונים
- The purpose of creation, Torah and mitzvos: that Or Ein Sof be revealed and rest below, in this lowest, darkest world, as in Atzilus and more, through mitzvos done with physical things. ×1Where 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. ×1Where it’s explained
- The World of Atzilus (Emanation)אצילות
- The first revelation in the chain of worlds (vayaetzel, “drew off”): the ten Sefiros, where Or Ein Sof rests and lights and vessels are one with Him; Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are created from nothing.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The World of Beriah (Creation)בריאה
- The first created world, below the partition (parsa) under Atzilus: something new from nothing (yesh me’ayin), corresponding to thought, where Binah of Atzilus dwells; world of the seraphim, souls and Gan Eden HaElyon.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The World of Yetzirah (Formation)יצירה
- The world of formation, between Beriah and Asiyah: like speech, it reveals what was hidden in Beriah (something from something, not new creation); the middos of Atzilus shine there; the world of the angels.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The World of Asiyah (Action)עשיה
- The lowest of the four worlds, corresponding to action: its ten Sefiros are still holy, but below them lies kelipas nogah; this physical world is Malchus of Asiyah, its lowest level.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)השתלשלות
- The descent of levels from cause to effect, linked like the rings of a chain, from Chochmah downward; each reveals what was hidden in the one above. Or Ein Sof itself is above this order. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Delightתענוג
- Delight, the inner side of will. Above, the supernal delight of Atik, whose source is His very self: the source of Chochmah, covered by the Supernal Will and drawn down through the mitzvos. ×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.Where 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
- Nukva (the feminine / Malchus)נוקבא
- Malchus of Atzilus as a partzuf: the feminine partner of Z’eir Anpin, built after it and from the gevuros; receiving from above, she gives to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah below. ×2Where 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. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently