Torah Ohr · Parshas Vayeishev · Maamar 4
בכ״ה בכסליו יומי דחנוכה כו׳ שכשנכנסו יונים להיכל וכו׳
On the Twenty-Fifth of Kislev
The Rebbe on this maamar
The Rebbe built on it in this maamar of his: ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה (5740)
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The big idea
The Menorah and the incense, with the daily offering around them, model the whole of divine service: Torah lights up the emotions, mitzvos and charity lift even the lowest “inanimate” level, and self-sacrifice raises the animal soul. Chanukah is a “dedication” in which Israel’s self-sacrifice against the Greeks drew down the light of Torah anew, celebrated through Hallel (bringing G‑dliness into revelation) and thanksgiving (bowing before what remains beyond reach).
The maamar in brief
The maamar asks why Chanukah is marked with lamps, and what Hallel and thanksgiving mean, and answers through the Temple order. The seven lamps are the seven emotions; lighting them draws the light of Chochmah into the emotions to refine them, all seven at night, the principal lamp by day. This is Yaakov’s yud reaching the heel, subduing Eisav. The incense, made of tasteless spices, lifts the “letters” of thought, speech and action, which wisdom cannot reach, and its fragrance draws G‑dliness down. In prayer, the self-sacrifice of the Shema is twofold: the G‑dly soul at “One,” and the animal soul, rooted in the Chayos of the Chariot, at “Blessed be the name”; the latter is the blood of the daily offering, rising with a great noise from the heart’s fiery left chamber. Torah study is the lamps; charity, the general and collective expression of the mitzvos, is the incense and a “helmet of salvation” that draws down G‑d’s shining face; the fat is delight in G‑d alone. All creation is “small” before the Infinite, so it needs chinuch, dedication through great gifts, like the Princes’ gifts to the altar. The Hasmoneans’ self-sacrifice was that gift. Hallel reveals the hidden; thanksgiving acknowledges the unrevealed.
Outline
- The questions of ChanukahWhy lamps, and what are Hallel and thanksgiving? The answer begins with the Temple Menorah.¶1
- The lamps: wisdom refines the emotionsThe seven lamps are the seven middos; lighting them draws the light of Chochmah into the emotions, the yud of Yaakov reaching the heel.¶2–6
- The incense: raising the lettersThe incense raises the inanimate “letters” of thought, speech and action, which wisdom cannot lift, and its fragrance draws Havayah down.¶7–9
- Prayer and the two kinds of self-sacrificePrayer replaces the offerings; self-sacrifice at “One” belongs to the G‑dly soul, and at “Blessed be the name” to the animal soul, for all the worlds are only G‑d’s Name.¶10–16
- The blood of the tamid: the animal soul’s fiery ascentThe animal soul, rooted in the Chayos, rises with a great noise from the heart, reaching “before Havayah,” and draws the Infinite Light down in return.¶17–21
- Torah, charity and the helmet of salvationTorah lights the intellect like the lamps; charity, like the incense, protects as armor and draws down G‑d’s inner face through the 620 pillars of light.¶22–31
- The limbs and the fat: delight in G‑dAfter yearning comes delight in G‑d alone, and the sweetness of the Torah as commanded by G‑d Himself.¶32–33
- Chanukah as dedicationAll creation is “small” before the Infinite and needs chinuch through great gifts; the Hasmoneans’ self-sacrifice against the Greek decree drew down the light of Torah anew.¶34–39
- Hallel and thanksgivingHallel brings hidden G‑dliness into revelation; thanksgiving is the “return,” bittul before the Infinite Light that is not yet revealed.¶40–43
Key concepts
- The seven lamps as the middosז׳ נרות – ז׳ מדות
- The Menorah’s seven lamps stand for the seven emotive attributes; lighting them means bringing the light of Chochmah into the emotions to refine them.
- Incense (ketores)קטרת
- Made of tasteless spices, the incense stands for the inanimate level, the “letters” of thought, speech and action and the physical mitzvos, whose fragrance rises and draws G‑dliness down.
- Two kinds of self-sacrificeב׳ פעמים מסירות נפש
- Self-sacrifice at “One” is the natural bittul of the G‑dly soul; self-sacrifice “with all your soul” is the subjugation and transformation of the animal soul, at “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom.”
- Yud–ekevיו״ד עקב
- Yaakov’s name read as the yud of Chochmah reaching down to the “heel,” the lowest levels, holding Eisav in check.
- Helmet of salvationכובע ישועה
- Charity makes G‑d “turn” with His very Self, drawing down His inner dimension, the “shining face” and “crown of glory.”
- Chinuch (dedication, training)חינוך
- Training something that is far from its goal through many gifts; the altar and all creation are “small” before the Infinite and need such dedication.
- Hallel and hodaahהלל והודאה
- Hallel is praise that brings hidden G‑dliness into revelation; hodaah is acknowledgment and bittul before the Infinite Light that is not yet revealed.
For children · ages 9–13
The lights of Chanukah
The big idea
Like the Chashmona’im who gave themselves to G‑d, we can draw the light of Torah anew, and thank G‑d with Hallel and with humble thanks.
Why do we light lamps on Chanukah, and what is the meaning of Hallel and of giving thanks? The maamar answers through the service in the Beis HaMikdash. The seven lamps of the Menorah stand for the seven feelings of the heart, such as love and awe. Lighting them means letting the light of the Torah shine into our feelings and make them good. The incense was made of spices with no taste, and its fragrance rose up; so too charity and mitzvos lift even the simplest things in the world to G‑d. The blood of the daily offering stands for davening, when we give ourselves over to G‑d as we say “Shema Yisrael.” The whole world is small before G‑d, who has no end, so it needs a “dedication,” a great gift to begin it. The word Chanukah means dedication. The Chashmona’im, few and weak, gave themselves to G‑d, and that gift drew the light of Torah down anew. That is why we say Hallel, praising G‑d for what He has shown us, and also give thanks, bowing before Him for what is beyond what we can understand.
The mashal
A king’s name goes out through every province of his kingdom, but he himself does not. So all the life that G‑d gives the world is only like His “name,” a ray of light, while G‑d Himself is far higher than all of it.
Questions for the Shabbos table
- Why is the word Chanukah, “dedication,” a good name for what the Chashmona’im did?
- What do the seven lamps of the Menorah stand for in our hearts?
- What charity or mitzvah can you add during Chanukah, and how can you give thanks to G‑d for something you do not fully understand?
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 · 4
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 (5740) 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.
1.5740Built on itד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה
Summary
The Rebbe opens with the Alter Rebbe’s question of why the Chanukah miracle was fixed in lamps, and sharpens it. Even granting that the miracle happened with the cruse of oil, one must ask why G‑d made the miracle happen that way. Lighting is also the first mitzvah of Chanukah, and in holiness what comes first is also higher. And the main miracle seems to have been the military victory, “the mighty into the hands of the weak.” What does that have to do with oil and lamps? He also asks what Hallel and thanksgiving mean.
His answer begins from the Menorah, which lights up the whole chain of worlds. Its seven lamps are the seven middos, and each has a counterpart in kelipah. Battling the opposing middos is not enough, because “when one rises the other falls,” and the outcome could turn the other way. So the lamps must be filled with oil, which is Chochmah: true wisdom cancels the “spirit of folly” behind sin. But the Greeks entered the היכל, which is Chochmah, and defiled the oils, corrupting wisdom itself. Only the cruse sealed by the Kohen Gadol could repair this. That cruse is mesirus nefesh, which is above all measure and calculation. Such self-sacrifice reveals the yechidah, which binds a person to the Yachid and brings complete victory in a single moment. This explains why a war won by the weak and few is marked with lamps. Following the Alter Rebbe’s “world, year, soul,” the Rebbe identifies the “year” as Chanukah. In exile seven lamps no longer suffice, so eight are lit outside the door, drawing a makif that lights up even the dark of exile. From this come Hallel, a drawing down from above, and thanksgiving, the acceptance of the yoke from below.
What the Rebbe adds
- ¶1
The Alter Rebbe asks why lamps were instituted for this miracle in particular. The Rebbe sharpens the question in three ways. The miracle of the oil itself needs a reason. Lighting is the first and therefore the highest mitzvah of the festival. And the central miracle seems to have been the military victory, which has no obvious link to oil. His answer must therefore tie the war and the lamps together.
The Alter Rebbe
וגם להבין למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש
The Rebbe
ועוד שהלא עיקר הנס הי׳ לכאורה בנצחון המלחמה
- ¶4
The Alter Rebbe states that the middos are refined through Chochmah. The Rebbe explains why work within the middos alone is not enough. Because “zeh l’umas zeh,” fighting the opposing middos could end the other way. Oil, which is Chochmah, removes the “spirit of folly” behind sin. Only then is the victory complete, closing off the possibility of the unholy side prevailing.
The Alter Rebbe
והבירור הוא בחכמה כי בחכמה אתברירו
The Rebbe
ולכן אינה מספיקה העבודה דמדות דקדושה, אלא צ״ל גם ענין הדלקת הנרות
- ¶39
The Alter Rebbe says the Hasmoneans drew down Torah anew through self-sacrifice. The Rebbe connects this to the details of the story: היכל is associated with Chochmah, and the Greeks’ defiling all the oils means they defiled the level of Chochmah. This compromised the ordinary work of drawing Chochmah into the middos, so a special repair was needed through the cruse sealed by the Kohen Gadol, which represents mesirus nefesh above measure and limitation. Such self-sacrifice reveals the yechidah and brings complete victory in a single moment, linking the military victory to the oil and lamps.
The Alter Rebbe
ובכח מס״נ הי׳ להם כח להמשיך אור התורה מחדש
The Rebbe
וטמאו כל השמנים, שטמאו את בחי׳ החכ׳
- ¶5
The Alter Rebbe reads the yud of יעקב as Chochmah reaching the heel. The Rebbe reads it as reaching up to the tip of the yud, the yechidah of the soul. That yechidah penetrates down to the heel of the body, until yud and heel become one word. He also stresses the word “grasping” (¶6) as a forceful, victorious hold on Eisav, from which the later outcomes follow, up to “and the kingship will be G‑d’s.”
The Alter Rebbe
בחי׳ יו״ד הוא בחי׳ חכמה הנמשכת ומשתלשלת בבחי׳ עקב
The Rebbe
עד לקוצו של יו״ד שבנשמה שהיא בחי׳ היחידה
- ¶5
The Alter Rebbe names world, year and soul, but explains only world and soul. The Rebbe supplies “year”: the days of Chanukah. Eight signifies makif, the encompassing light. The lamps are lit outside the door to illuminate the street. And while seven lamps sufficed in the Temple, the darkness of exile requires eight, the added vav of "וה׳ יגיה חשכי".
The Alter Rebbe
והנה יש עולם שנה נפש
The Rebbe
ויש לומר דבחי׳ זו בשנה
The lesson
When a Jew sees no way, by calculation, that someone few and spiritually weak can defeat the darkness, he should give himself over regardless, without accounting. That mesirus nefesh reveals his yechidah and brings victory in a moment, lighting not only his home but the street outside, even in exile.
AI summary
The full maamar: read or print it free at Lahak Hanochos (lahak.org)
With the same ד״ה
These 3 maamarim of the Rebbe open with the same words as this one (5716–5736): where each is printed, and the full text free at Lahak.
AI summary Written by Claude Opus 5.5 reading each of the Rebbe’s maamarim, from the scan corrected by AI, beside the Alter Rebbe’s maamar and our translation; not yet reviewed by a human editor: check the maamar itself before relying on a detail. The Hebrew words are quoted exactly. The full text of the Rebbe’s maamarim is published by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak, free to read and print on lahak.org, and in print by Kehot. This page gives only short summaries and brief quotes.
In the Rebbe’s light · 16
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
Read together, the Rebbe’s teachings seem to open this maamar in three ways. On its first question, „למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות” (why the miracle was fixed in lamps), he speaks in two ways: in a talk to yeshivah students on Chanukah 5714 he holds the oil was the main miracle, the cause of the victory, while an edited sicha of Chanukah 5751 builds on the maamar’s answer („נר מצוה ותורה אור”), that the war was over Torah and mitzvos. He reads its Menorah as exact halachah: a letter of Chanukah 5710 and his Reshimah on the Menorah show why it counts „נר המערבי שהוא נר ששי” (the western lamp as the sixth) and why only its later passage names the seventh (in the letter, because there the light is drawn lowest), and the Reshimah carries its night and day into a person’s service. In his maamar on this dibbur hamaschil for Shabbos Chanukah 5716, following the Rebbe Rashab, he supplies reasons it leaves unstated: why the middos have a counterpart in kelipah, why Chochmah cannot lift the “letters”, and why the mitzvos and charity are incense („קטרת”). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) the thread is the pairing of lamp and incense, mind and deed. He also explains why the altar’s dedication needed many gifts (Baruch she’asah nissim, 5743), finds them in Chanukah gelt (5748), and sets the closing thanksgiving against the Greek decree „בטלו דתם” (abolishing their religion).
Paragraph by paragraph
- ¶1
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In an edited sicha of Shabbos Mikeitz, Shabbos Chanukah (the fourth day) and Shabbos Mevarchim Teves 5751, asking why „הרגיל בנר הויין לי׳ בנים ת״ח” (“one who is regular with the lamp will have sons who are Torah scholars”), the Rebbe first explains, citing this maamar, why the miracle was fixed in lamps.
The Rebbe explains why the answer to the lamps is “a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”: the war of Chanukah was itself mainly over spiritual things, the decrees against Torah and mitzvos, and the salvation was the victory of „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”), „חיזוק והתגברות חדשה” (a new strengthening) of all of Torah and mitzvos through „מסירת נפש” (self-sacrifice). Lighting the Chanukah lamp therefore renews the whole light of Torah and mitzvos, and that, he says, is why it brings sons who are Torah scholars.
The Alter Rebbe
אך הענין הוא דכתיב נר מצוה ותורה אור כו׳
The Rebbe
און די ישועה פון חנוכה איז באַשטאַנען אין דעם נצחון פון „נר מצוה ותורה אור”, אַ חיזוק והתגברות חדשה – מתוך מסירת נפש
Sefer HaSichos 5751, vol. א, p. 192–193 · ש״פ מקץ, שבת (ד׳) חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תנש״א (edited)
- ¶1
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a talk to the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in his room, on Motzaei the fifth light of Chanukah 5714 (unedited), asking why the festival is kept with lamps when the Al HaNissim prayer gives thanks for the victory, the Rebbe cites this question („למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש”) as asked in Shaarei Orah and in this maamar and weighs the answer given there.
The Rebbe takes up this maamar’s opening question, why the miracle was fixed in lamps, together with the answer drawn from its „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”): the decree was against Torah and mitzvos, which are lamp and light, so the festival is kept with lamps. He finds „תירוץ זה אינו מספיק לכאורה” (this insufficient at first sight), since the miracle itself was „הנצחון במלחמה” (the victory) and the end of the decree only followed from it. He answers that the oil was in truth „עיקר הנס” (the main miracle) and the victory was caused by it, and draws from this that one begins by adding light, and the evil gives way by itself.
The Alter Rebbe
למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש
The Rebbe
אמנם, תירוץ זה אינו מספיק לכאורה, כי: הנס דחנוכה — לא הי׳ ביטול הגזירה ”להשכיחם תורתך כו׳”, כי אם הנצחון במלחמה
Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos, vol. 10 (תשי״ד א), p. 303–304 · מוצאי נר ה׳ דחנוכה, ה׳תשי״ד (לתלמידי ישיבת תומכי תמימים, בחדרו הק׳; הנחה בלתי מוגה)
- ¶2
The Rebbe explains
In a letter dated the sixth light of Chanukah 5710 (printed in Likkutei Sichos 13 p. 193), answering a correspondent who asked why the Alter Rebbe calls the western lamp the sixth when Rashi calls it the second, and why the passage "והנה אחרי" (¶22) has the seventh lamp lit in the morning too.
The Rebbe explains that Rashi and the Alter Rebbe count the same lamp from opposite ends, each for his own purpose. Rashi explains why this lamp in particular is the one lit, so he counts it as the second the Kohen comes upon entering from the east; the Alter Rebbe explains „מפני מה די בהדלקתו” (why lighting it alone is enough) by day, so „מדגיש שהוא נר הששי” (he stresses that it is the sixth), Yesod, „עיקר ההשפעה” (“the main channel of influence”). Since the middos run down from Chesed to Malchus and the levels of holiness in the Sanctuary run from west to east, Yesod is the sixth lamp from the west, which is the second from the east.
The Alter Rebbe
ולא היה מדליק אלא נר המערבי שהוא נר ששי שממנו היה מתחיל ובו היה מסיים
The Rebbe
ואדה״ז בא לפרש מפני מה די בהדלקתו, שהוא מפני שמדת היסוד, מדה הששית, היא עיקר ההשפעה, ולכן מדגיש שהוא נר הששי
Igros Kodesh, vol. ג, p. רכט (letter תקנד, sec. ב) · נר הששי אור לנר השביעי, ה׳תש״י (Chanukah 5710)
- ¶3
Background from the Rebbe
In his maamar on this dibbur hamaschil for Shabbos Chanukah 5716, having summarized “what is explained briefly in Torah Ohr” (the seven lamps are the seven middos, which have a counterpart in kelipah and are refined by the light of Chochmah), the Rebbe explains why this is so; from here on his editors point to the Rebbe Rashab’s dibbur hamaschil Shemen u’Ketores 5677, which he follows closely.
Explaining why the counterpart in kelipah is found in the middos in particular, the Rebbe, following the Rebbe Rashab, says that the root of every emotion is a feeling of self („יסודם וגם ענינם הוא הרגש עצמו”) (one loves what is good for him and fears what harms him), and the emotion itself is felt as one’s own, so even holy emotions can give rise, down the chain, to unholy ones. The mind is the reverse: understanding is inward and grasps what is above it, so it brings self-nullification, and the light of Chochmah gives the other side no hold. This is the reason behind this paragraph’s „זה לעומת זה” (“one opposite the other”) in each middah, and behind the next paragraph’s refining through Chochmah.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה בכל מדה ומדה יש זה לעומת זה בקליפה נגד הקדושה והן יונקות מן הקדושה
The Rebbe
וכיון שיסודם וגם ענינם הוא הרגש עצמו, לכן הנה גם כאשר הם בקדושה אפשר שישתלשל מזה מדות דלעו״ז
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פב–פג · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
- ¶4
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the second half of his Reshimah on the Menorah, which explains the lamps “in the way of drush” (his own note at its head lists, on the Menorah and its lighting, Likkutei Torah Behaaloscha, the Chanukah discourses of Torah Ohr with Or HaTorah, and Torah Ohr Vayakhel; his editors take these to be its basis), the Rebbe gives the inner meaning of the western lamp and of why all the lamps are lit at night while one is enough by day; in the first half he had set out this maamar’s view of the same lighting.
Having set out this maamar’s view (all seven lamps are lit only at evening; by day the sixth, which is the western lamp), the Rebbe explains its night and day in a person’s service. The western (sixth) lamp is „התקשרותו בה׳” (his bond with G‑d), and the seventh, without which the western lamp does not bear its name, is humility, for there is no bond without humility first. At night, when the world is still dark to him and he does not see, though his mind understands, that G‑d made heaven and earth, love alone will not do: he needs fear, the root of the negative commandments, humility to set aside his desires, and the rest, all the lamps. By day, when G‑d’s light shines in his world „ואין חומריות העולם מסתיר לפניו” (and its coarseness does not hide it), his bond with G‑d, the western lamp, prepared for by humility, is enough.
The Alter Rebbe
ובלילה שהוא זמן החשך היה צריך להאיר את כל ז׳ הנרות
The Rebbe
אבל ביום, שמאיר בעולמו כי שמש ומגן ה״א, ואין חומריות העולם מסתיר לפניו, אז מספיק הדלקת נהמ״ע, התקשרותו בה׳
Reshimos – Reshimas HaMenorah, p. קכז–קלא (secs. 81–82)
- ¶4
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the same edited sicha of Shabbos Mikeitz, Shabbos Chanukah 5751, explaining why the Menorah is called a „נר תמיד” (“constant lamp”) though by most views it burned only from evening to morning, the Rebbe adds a note on why the night lighting is the main one.
The Rebbe explains that „עיקר תועלת האור היא בלילה” (light is needed chiefly at night), „שרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני” (“a lamp at noon, what use is it”), and cites this maamar with the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses on it. He quotes the Tzemach Tzedek in Or HaTorah: the seven lamps are the seven middos within Malchus, which is called “lamp”; by day the seven middos of Atzilus shine, so there is no darkness, and the middos are then refined by the daylight itself, which is better than their lamp. From this he infers that even for the Rambam, who has the lamps lit in the morning too, the main lighting is at night.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ ביום היה די בהדלקת נר הו׳ שהוא עיקר ההשפעה וממילא היה נמשך אור החכמה בכל המדות
The Rebbe
והטעם י״ל – כי עיקר תועלת האור היא בלילה, זמן החושך, משא״כ ביום – שרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני
Sefer HaSichos 5751, vol. א, p. 194, note 30 · ש״פ מקץ, שבת (ד׳) חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תנש״א (edited)
- ¶9
The Rebbe explains
In his maamar on this dibbur hamaschil for Shabbos Chanukah 5716, summarizing “what is explained briefly in Torah Ohr”, the Rebbe gives the reason the light of Chochmah reaches the middos but not „האותיות דלבושי מחדומ״ע” (the “letters” of thought, speech and action).
The Rebbe gives the reason this paragraph only points to: mind and middos are adjacent and receive from each other, as plant and animal, being adjacent, came forth together, so the light of Chochmah can refine the middos. The letters of thought, speech and action are „בחי׳ דומם” (“inanimate”): „לפי שאין להם שייכות להמוחין” (they have no connection with the mind), and in their root they are higher still, drawn from the “primordial mind”, so only the incense, made of tasteless spices that are not food, can raise them. The comparison with plant and animal is the Alter Rebbe’s own, in the passage on “And G‑d formed” (Torah Ohr Bereishis 4b) to which this paragraph refers, and which refers back to this maamar.
The Alter Rebbe
אין להם עלייה ע״י המשכת אור החכמה כי אין אור החכמה אלא במדות עצמן אהוי״ר כו׳
The Rebbe
אבל בחי׳ האותיות דלבושי מחדומ״ע, שהם בחי׳ דומם, אי אפשר שיתבררו ע״י אור המוחין, לפי שאין להם שייכות להמוחין
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פב · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
- ¶16
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Pada beShalom of 14 Kislev 5741, explaining why the refining done by prayer is „בדרך מלחמה” (“by way of war”) while Torah refines “by way of rest”, the Rebbe notes how prayer’s contemplation must be shaped.
In his maamar Pada beShalom of 14 Kislev 5741 the Rebbe explains that prayer refines the animal soul “by way of war”: the G‑dly soul clothes itself in the animal soul, and so, “as is known”, the contemplation of prayer must be in matters, and in a way, that the animal soul too can grasp. His note cites this column of Torah Ohr for it, where ¶15–16 teach that the G‑dly soul of itself contemplates that nothing compares to G‑d, yet descends to shine a light for the animal soul, from “Blessed be the name”, contemplating „שכל מה שנראה ליש ונפרד אין זה אלא בחי׳ זיו” (that whatever looks separate is only His radiance). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is such a contemplation because it begins from what the animal soul sees, things that seem separate.
The Alter Rebbe
דהיינו ע״י התבוננות שכל מה שנראה ליש ונפרד אין זה אלא בחי׳ זיו ושם כבוד מלכותו
The Rebbe
שבכדי שההתבוננות דתפלה תפעול בירור נה״ב, צריכה להיות ההתבוננות בענינים כאלו ובאופן שגם נה״ב יכולה להשיג
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ב, p. קפב · אור ליום ג׳, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשמ״א
- ¶21
A question the Rebbe raises
In his source notes on Tanya, at the words "דרוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח", the Rebbe records where the Zohar’s phrase comes from and how the Alter Rebbe quotes it.
In his source notes on Tanya (ch. 47) the Rebbe records that the Zohar (II, 162b) reads “spirit draws spirit and brings spirit” (רוח אמשיך רוח ואייתי רוח), which Torah Ohr 42c explains; but the wording the Tanya uses, „רוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח” (“spirit brings spirit and draws spirit”), is the one found in this paragraph (Torah Ohr 29c), in Torah Ohr 38d and in Likkutei Torah Shir HaShirim 12b, and the Tzemach Tzedek already remarked on it in Or HaTorah (286a). So the order in ¶21 is the Alter Rebbe’s own, used in several places, and differs from the Zohar’s.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה אחרי בחי׳ ההעלאה והתכללות זו רוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח להמשיך אוא״ס ב״ה למטה
The Rebbe
ל׳ זח״ב קסב: „רוח אמשיך רוח ואייתי רוח”. וביאורו: תו״א מבג. אבל כמש״כ נמצא תו״א כטג
Mareh Mekomos, Hagahos v’Haaros Ketzaros on Tanya (Likkutei Amarim), p. שח
- ¶22
The Rebbe explains
In the same letter of Chanukah 5710, having shown from the halachah that the seventh lamp is lit by day only so that the sixth bears the name “western”, the Rebbe writes that it still remains to explain why the opening of the maamar names only the sixth lamp and the passage "והנה אחרי" adds the seventh.
The Rebbe explains the difference from what each passage is doing. The opening (¶2–4) explains drawing Chochmah into the middos, and for that, by day, the drawing into Yesod is enough, since from it the light reaches the other middos by itself; the seventh lamp plays no part there, so it is not named. The passage beginning "והנה אחרי" (¶21–22) explains „ההמשכה גם למטה מטה ביותר” (the drawing down to the very lowest), and for that Malchus and revelation, the seventh lamp, matter. The maamar says “afterwards” on purpose, since in the halachah and in the inner meaning alike the lighting of the seventh comes by itself from the lighting of the sixth.
The Alter Rebbe
היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳
The Rebbe
אבל בפיסקא ד״ה והנה אחרי מבאר ההמשכה גם למטה מטה ביותר, ולזה נוגע מדת המל׳ והגילוי, נר הז׳
Igros Kodesh, vol. ג, p. רל (letter תקנד, sec. ד) · נר הששי אור לנר השביעי, ה׳תש״י (Chanukah 5710)
- ¶22
A question the Rebbe raises
In his long reshimah on the Menorah (this section, his editors note, is the content of his letter of 9 Adar 5699 to R. Shneur Zalman Schmotkin), after surveying the views on how the lamps were placed, trimmed and lit, the Rebbe gives a section to „שיטת הדרוש בתו״א וישב ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו” (“the view in dibbur hamaschil B’chaf-hei b’Kislev in Torah Ohr”) and „והסתירות שישנם לכאורה בו” (its apparent contradictions).
The Rebbe notes that this maamar seems to contradict itself: ¶2 and ¶4 say that by day only the sixth lamp was lit, while ¶22 says „היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳” (the sixth was lit after its trimming and then the seventh). It is no printer’s error („טעות הדפוס”), he writes, since Or HaTorah prints the same text with the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses. He resolves it from the halachah: the maamar follows the views that two eastern lamps were lit by day, but the day’s obligation is the western lamp alone, and the seventh is lit only so that the sixth bears the name “western”; so the opening speaks of the sixth, as the verses and the Sifra do.
The Alter Rebbe
ובבקר בשעת הטבת שתי נרות היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳
The Rebbe
והי׳ לבאר שיטת הדרוש בתו״א וישב ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו, והסתירות שישנם לכאורה בו
Reshimos – Reshimas HaMenorah, p. סז–עג (secs. 42–47)
- ¶23
Background from the Rebbe
In the 5716 maamar on this dibbur hamaschil, after explaining that Aharon’s lighting of the lamps refines the middos and the incense removes the fallen “letters”, the Rebbe shows that the service of the incense is found within prayer and the mitzvos too; for this part his editors point to the Rebbe Rashab’s Shemen u’Ketores 5677 and, for prayer, to the Rebbe Maharash.
The Rebbe explains why the mitzvos, and charity above all, are “incense”: „ובכל מאדך” (“with all your might”), which is beyond limit, is the service of the incense, and „שכל מצוה ומצוה יש לה כפי׳ פרטית” (every mitzvah carries its own act of forcing oneself), „שלכן נקראים כל המצוות בשם צדקה” (which is why all the mitzvos are called charity). In charity a person forces himself to give away what he could have bought his life with, all the more when he toiled for it, and such forcing, like the incense, takes the very vitality from the kelipos. He follows the Rebbe Rashab, who writes that each mitzvah subdues the animal soul in its own way and charity subdues it as a whole, and that this is the incense („המצות שהן בעשייה גשמי׳ הן בבחי׳ קטרת”).
The Alter Rebbe
ובכל מאדך בכל ממונך היא בחי׳ הצדקה שהיא סתם מצוה מעשיית. כנודע שהמצות שהן בעשייה גשמי׳ הן בבחי׳ קטרת
The Rebbe
שכל מצוה ומצוה יש לה כפי׳ פרטית, שלכן נקראים כל המצוות בשם צדקה, דענין הצדקה הו״ע הכפי׳ שכופה את עצמו
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פז · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
- ¶35
The Rebbe explains
In an edited sicha of Shabbos Vayeishev, 21 Kislev 5748, the Shabbos after Yud-Tes Kislev and before Chanukah, the Rebbe speaks of Chanukah as chinuch, the dedication of the altar and the Temple and above all the training of children, and comes to the custom of giving Chanukah gelt („דמי חנוכה”).
The Rebbe ties the custom of giving children Chanukah gelt to these words. Chanukah is chinuch, the dedication of the altar and of the Temple and above all the training of children; the custom, as his father Rabbi Levi Yitzchak writes, is like training a child who begins to learn, since on Chanukah the Torah was renewed after the Greek decree, and into those words the Rebbe sets the Alter Rebbe’s line here, „והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו” (“chinuch is through many gifts given to him”), citing this column. He records that the Rebbe Rashab gave Chanukah gelt, and that the Rebbe Rayatz gave it to his daughters even after their marriage, and to his sons-in-law.
The Alter Rebbe
והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו
The Rebbe
וכן נהג כ״ק מו״ח אדמו״ר לתת דמי חנוכה לבנותיו, גם לאחרי הנישואין, וגם לחתניו. ומנהג זה קשור עם ענין החינוך
Sefer HaSichos 5748, vol. א, p. 161–163 (note 83) · ש״פ וישב, כ״א כסלו, ה׳תשמ״ח (edited)
- ¶37
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Baruch she’asah nissim of Shabbos Mikeitz, Zos Chanukah 5743 (edited and published for Chanukah 5748), explaining the Alter Rebbe’s maamar of that name on why the altar was dedicated by anointing with oil, the Rebbe adds a bracket citing this maamar.
In his maamar Baruch she’asah nissim the Rebbe cites this maamar, with Likkutei Torah Naso, for why „התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות” (the Princes gave many gifts to dedicate the altar), and even offered incense on the outer altar (a one-time ruling, as Rashi says): to make the altar fit for offerings, „הי׳ צריך להמשיך בו המשכות נעלות ביותר” (very lofty drawings-down were needed), higher than those the offerings drew afterward. He sets this beside the Alter Rebbe’s maamar Baruch she’asah nissim, where the altar is dedicated with the anointing oil, hidden wisdom („חכמה סתימאה”, Chochmah stima’ah), and the oil of the lamps, in which the Chanukah miracle was done, is higher still. He also remarks that this maamar explains the altar’s dedication within a Chanukah discourse, though it does not speak of the anointing oil.
The Alter Rebbe
היה המזבח קטן מהכיל ולכן התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות לחנך את המזבח
The Rebbe
כי בכדי לחנך את המזבח שיהי׳ ראוי להקריב עליו קרבנות, הי׳ צריך להמשיך בו המשכות נעלות ביותר
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat (new edition), Kislev–Shvat, vol. ב (Kislev–Shvat), p. קעח–קעט (notes 8, 12) · ש״פ מקץ, זאת חנוכה, ה׳תשמ״ג (edited; published for Chanukah 5748)
- ¶39
Background from the Rebbe
In a letter of Chanukah 5725 (printed also among the notes to the Chanukah 5725 sicha in Likkutei Sichos vol. 5), on the Magen Avraham’s mention „נוהגין הנערים העניים לסבב על הפתחים” (of poor boys going from door to door) on Chanukah, the Rebbe looks for where the Rebbeim speak of charity on Chanukah in particular.
Looking for a source in Chassidus for charity especially on Chanukah, the Rebbe finds none in any maamar, sicha or letter of the Rebbeim that he has seen, apart from what this maamar explains: „דמעשה הצדקה נק׳ כובע ישועה” (the act of charity is called the “helmet of salvation”), and the self-sacrifice of Chanukah drew down „מתנה מרובה” (“a great gift”), the helmet of salvation. He asks anyone who finds such a source in the teachings of the Rebbeim to let him know. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is also why the long section on charity (¶25–31) stands in a Chanukah maamar.
The Alter Rebbe
והמשכ׳ זו היא בבחי׳ חנוכה בחי׳ מתנה מרובה המשכת כובע ישועה להיות עטרת תפארת שיבה
The Rebbe
דמעשה הצדקה נק׳ כובע ישועה ומס״נ דחנוכה המשיכה מתנה מרובה המשכת כובע ישועה להיות כו׳
Igros Kodesh, vol. כג, p. ש–שא (letter ח׳תתקיז) · חנוכה ה׳תשכ״ה
- ¶43
Background from the Rebbe
In a note to the Chanukah 5725 sicha in Likkutei Sichos 5, marked as the Rebbe’s own reshimah, the Rebbe lists the Greek decrees in the Rambam’s order and sets a Chanukah practice against each.
In a note to his sicha of Shabbos Chanukah 5725, marked as his own reshimah, the Rebbe sets against each Greek decree in the Rambam its opposite in Chanukah: against „גזרו גזירות” (“they made decrees”), Hallel, which belongs to freedom; against „בטלו דתם” (“they abolished their religion”), thanksgiving („הודאה”), and here he refers to the end of this maamar; against “they did not let them engage in Torah and mitzvos”, the lamps, „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”); and so on. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) hodaah answers “they abolished their religion” because, as ¶43 says, it is „הודאה ובטול לאור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בתורתו ועבודתו” (the bittul before the Infinite Light drawn into His Torah and service).
The Alter Rebbe
ונמשך מזה בחי׳ הודאה ובטול לאור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בתורתו ועבודתו
The Rebbe
בטלו דתם (הודאה. ועייג״כ תו״א סד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו)
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 443, note 15 · שבת חנוכה ה׳תשכ״ה (the note marked 'רשימת כ״ק אדמו״ר שליט״א׳)
Short quotes only, with the place of each so it can be read in full. The Rebbe’s sichos, letters and maamarim are published by Kehot and by Vaad Hanochos B’Lahak (lahak.org).
The questions of Chanukah ¶1
“On the twenty-fifth of Kislev [begin] the days of Chanukah,” etc.: “for when the Greeks entered the Sanctuary,” etc.
The maamar opens with the Talmud’s account of Chanukah: the Greeks entered the Temple and defiled its oils. The Alter Rebbe quotes it in shortened form, marking the omissions with “etc.”
וכשגברו מלכות בית חשמונאי ונצחום לא מצאו4 אלא פך א׳ של שמן כו׳. לשנה אחרת קבעום ח׳ י״ט בהלל והודאה.56 להבין ענין הלל וענין הודאה.
“And when the royal house of the Hasmoneans prevailed and defeated them, they found only one cruse of oil,” etc. “The following year they established them as eight festive days, with Hallel and thanksgiving.” We need to understand the matter of Hallel and the matter of thanksgiving.
When the Hasmonean kings defeated the Greeks they searched for pure oil, and only one cruse with the High Priest’s seal was found, enough for one day, yet it burned for eight. The Sages made the eight days a festival of Hallel (the psalms of praise) and thanksgiving, and the maamar sets out to explain what each of these two terms means.
¶40 Hold this question about Hallel and thanksgiving: paragraphs 40–43 answer it.
וגם להבין למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש שמצאו פך א׳ של שמן כו׳ ולא תקנו כן בשאר נסים.7
We also need to understand why, for this miracle, they instituted the lighting of lamps in remembrance of the Temple, where they found one cruse of oil, etc., whereas they did not institute the same for other miracles.
A second question: other miracles were not commemorated by lighting lamps, so why was this one? The miracle took place with the Temple’s lamps, and the Chanukah lights recall them.
¶38 Hold this question about why lamps: paragraphs 38–39 answer it.
וגם מה ענין נרות להלל והודאה. אך הענין הוא דכתיב נר מצוה ותורה אור8 כו׳. ויובן בהקדים לבאר ענין המנורה שבבהמ״ק [שבבית המקדש] שארז״ל [שאמרו רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] וכי לאורה הוא צריך9 כו׳.
And also: what do lamps have to do with Hallel and thanksgiving? But the explanation is that it is written, “For a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light,” etc. This will be understood by first explaining the matter of the Menorah in the Holy Temple, of which our Sages, of blessed memory, said, “Does He then need its light?” etc.
A third question: what connects lamps to praise and thanksgiving? The answer begins from the verse comparing a mitzvah to a lamp and the Torah to light, and from the Sages’ remark that G‑d surely does not need the Menorah’s light; the Menorah must therefore stand for something spiritual, which the maamar now explains.
The paragraph poses three questions about Chanukah (what Hallel and thanksgiving mean, why the miracle is marked with lamps, and how lamps relate to praise) and announces that the answer requires first understanding the Menorah of the Temple.
The Sages’ question “Does He need its light?” (Shabbos 22b; Menachos 86b) is answered there: the Menorah is a testimony that the Shechinah dwells in Israel. The maamar builds on this by treating the lamps as a spiritual service whose effect reaches the soul.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In an edited sicha of Shabbos Mikeitz, Shabbos Chanukah (the fourth day) and Shabbos Mevarchim Teves 5751, asking why „הרגיל בנר הויין לי׳ בנים ת״ח” (“one who is regular with the lamp will have sons who are Torah scholars”), the Rebbe first explains, citing this maamar, why the miracle was fixed in lamps.
The Rebbe explains why the answer to the lamps is “a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”: the war of Chanukah was itself mainly over spiritual things, the decrees against Torah and mitzvos, and the salvation was the victory of „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”), „חיזוק והתגברות חדשה” (a new strengthening) of all of Torah and mitzvos through „מסירת נפש” (self-sacrifice). Lighting the Chanukah lamp therefore renews the whole light of Torah and mitzvos, and that, he says, is why it brings sons who are Torah scholars.
The Alter Rebbe
אך הענין הוא דכתיב נר מצוה ותורה אור כו׳
The Rebbe
און די ישועה פון חנוכה איז באַשטאַנען אין דעם נצחון פון „נר מצוה ותורה אור”, אַ חיזוק והתגברות חדשה – מתוך מסירת נפש
Sefer HaSichos 5751, vol. א, p. 192–193 · ש״פ מקץ, שבת (ד׳) חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תנש״א (edited)
A question the Rebbe raisesThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In a talk to the students of the Tomchei Temimim yeshivah in his room, on Motzaei the fifth light of Chanukah 5714 (unedited), asking why the festival is kept with lamps when the Al HaNissim prayer gives thanks for the victory, the Rebbe cites this question („למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש”) as asked in Shaarei Orah and in this maamar and weighs the answer given there.
The Rebbe takes up this maamar’s opening question, why the miracle was fixed in lamps, together with the answer drawn from its „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”): the decree was against Torah and mitzvos, which are lamp and light, so the festival is kept with lamps. He finds „תירוץ זה אינו מספיק לכאורה” (this insufficient at first sight), since the miracle itself was „הנצחון במלחמה” (the victory) and the end of the decree only followed from it. He answers that the oil was in truth „עיקר הנס” (the main miracle) and the victory was caused by it, and draws from this that one begins by adding light, and the evil gives way by itself.
The Alter Rebbe
למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש
The Rebbe
אמנם, תירוץ זה אינו מספיק לכאורה, כי: הנס דחנוכה — לא הי׳ ביטול הגזירה ”להשכיחם תורתך כו׳”, כי אם הנצחון במלחמה
Toras Menachem – Hisvaduyos, vol. 10 (תשי״ד א), p. 303–304 · מוצאי נר ה׳ דחנוכה, ה׳תשי״ד (לתלמידי ישיבת תומכי תמימים, בחדרו הק׳; הנחה בלתי מוגה)
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה, 5740
The Alter Rebbe asks why lamps were instituted for this miracle in particular. The Rebbe sharpens the question in three ways. The miracle of the oil itself needs a reason. Lighting is the first and therefore the highest mitzvah of the festival. And the central miracle seems to have been the military victory, which has no obvious link to oil. His answer must therefore tie the war and the lamps together.
The Alter Rebbe
וגם להבין למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות זכר למקדש
The Rebbe
ועוד שהלא עיקר הנס הי׳ לכאורה בנצחון המלחמה
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
TermsHoda’ahNer mitzvahChinuchHeichalos+3
- Hoda’ah הודאה
- Ner mitzvah נר מצוה
- Chinuch חינוך
- Heichalos היכלות
- Malchus מלכות
Marei mekomos
- 1בכ״ה בכסלו · נאמרה בחנוכה תקנ״ט בק״ק וויטעבסק. ראה לקו״ד ח״א כא, א. ראה לעיל בציונים לכ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע. באוה״ת בראשית כרך ה תתקלב, ב הגהות. ראה גם ד״ה זה מכ״ק אדה״א (נדפס בקונטרס בפ״ע תשמ״ט), ובמאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ שיג ביאור. בד״ה כי אתה נרי תשמ״ז מבאר הפלא שמצינו בדרושי חנוכה שבתו״א שנסדרו בתוך פרשיות וישב מקץ, ויש לפניהם דרושים מפ׳ השבוע, ולא נסדרו דרושי חנוכה בפני עצמם, והטעם משום שבשביל הבנת הדרושים דחנוכה שבפ׳ וישב צ״ל לפנ״ז לימוד וידיעת דרושי וישב, ובשביל הבנת דרושי חנוכה שבפ׳ מקץ צ״ל לימוד וידיעת דרושי חנוכה שבפ׳ מקץ, ע״ש. וראה גם ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו תשי״ח. ד״ה זה נזכר לעיל ד, ב גבי נרות וקטורת. ובלקו״ת תצא לה, ב. בהמשך תער״ב פרק רמד מציין לכאן: ”בענין שמן המנורה שהוא בחי׳ אור החכמה”.
- 2בכ״ה בכסליו יומי דחנוכה · Shabbat 21b:10
- 3שכשנכנסו יונים · בתו״א בדפוס ראשון: שכשנכנסו עובדי כוכבים.
- 4וכשגברו מלכות בית חשמונאי ונצחום לא מצאו · בד״ה ואתה ברחמיך — תשמ״ח (נדפס בסה״מ מלוקט כרך ד ע׳ צט) מדייק ”ונצחום (אז דוקא) מצאו” ע״ש.
- 5בהלל והודאה · בלקו״ש ח״י ע׳ 142 ואילך מבאר שבגמרא הלשון ”בהלל והודאה” וברמב״ם כותב שהם (גם) ”ימי משתה” ע״ש. ובהערה 19 מבאר למה השמיט הרמב״ם תי׳ ”הודאה” ע״ש. ומביא שם בשם הטור או״ח סי׳ תר״ע שהלל לומר בהם הלל ולהודות לומר בו על הניסים ע״ש.
- 6לשנה אחרת קבעום ח׳ י״ט בהלל והודאה · Tur, Orach Chayim 670
- 7למה תקנו בנס זה להדליק נרות . . ולא תקנו כן בשאר נסים · ע״ד ב׳ שיטות בנס חנוכה ראה בארוכה לקו״ש ח״י ע׳ 143 ואילך. לקו״ש חנוכה ח״ל ע׳ 204 ואילך. ובד״ה ואתה ברחמיך — תשמ״ח הנ״ל.
- 8נר מצוה ותורה אור · Proverbs 6:23
- 9וכי לאורה הוא צריך · Shabbat 22b:2
The lamps: wisdom refines the emotions ¶2–6
2והנה כתיב ובהעלות אהרן1 את הנרות בין הערבים יקטירנה. ובבקר בהטיבו את הנרות יקטירנה.2 שבלילה היה מדליק כל ז׳ הנרות34 ולמחר מדשנם ומטיבם
Now, it is written, “And when Aharon kindles the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it [the incense],” and, “In the morning, when he prepares the lamps, he shall burn it.” For at night he would light all seven lamps, and the next day he would clear their ashes and prepare them,
The Torah pairs the kindling of the Menorah with burning the incense, both at dusk and in the morning. At night the Kohen lit all seven lamps; in the morning he cleaned out the ashes and prepared the lamps.
ולא היה מדליק אלא נר המערבי שהוא נר ששי5 שממנו היה מתחיל ובו היה מסיים.
and he would light only the western lamp, which is the sixth lamp, from which he would begin and with which he would conclude.
In the morning only the western lamp, counted here as the sixth, was actually lit: the lighting began from it and ended with it. The maamar will find meaning in this difference between night and day.
The explanation is that the lamps are the emotive attributes (middos): “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might,” etc.; they are seven lamps, corresponding to the seven middos.
The seven lamps correspond to the seven emotive attributes (middos) listed in the verse “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness (Chesed), the might (Gevurah)…”. Lighting the lamps therefore means bringing light into the emotions.
The paragraph describes how the Menorah was lit at night and in the morning, and identifies its seven lamps with the seven emotive attributes.
The verse in Chronicles lists greatness, might, beauty, victory, splendor, “all that is in heaven and earth” and kingship, which Kabbalah reads as Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferes, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchus. The Kehot note explains that lighting all seven at night follows Rashi, Tosafos, Ramban and others, while the Zohar’s statement that he lit at two times holds for all views.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In a letter dated the sixth light of Chanukah 5710 (printed in Likkutei Sichos 13 p. 193), answering a correspondent who asked why the Alter Rebbe calls the western lamp the sixth when Rashi calls it the second, and why the passage "והנה אחרי" (¶22) has the seventh lamp lit in the morning too.
The Rebbe explains that Rashi and the Alter Rebbe count the same lamp from opposite ends, each for his own purpose. Rashi explains why this lamp in particular is the one lit, so he counts it as the second the Kohen comes upon entering from the east; the Alter Rebbe explains „מפני מה די בהדלקתו” (why lighting it alone is enough) by day, so „מדגיש שהוא נר הששי” (he stresses that it is the sixth), Yesod, „עיקר ההשפעה” (“the main channel of influence”). Since the middos run down from Chesed to Malchus and the levels of holiness in the Sanctuary run from west to east, Yesod is the sixth lamp from the west, which is the second from the east.
The Alter Rebbe
ולא היה מדליק אלא נר המערבי שהוא נר ששי שממנו היה מתחיל ובו היה מסיים
The Rebbe
ואדה״ז בא לפרש מפני מה די בהדלקתו, שהוא מפני שמדת היסוד, מדה הששית, היא עיקר ההשפעה, ולכן מדגיש שהוא נר הששי
Igros Kodesh, vol. ג, p. רכט (letter תקנד, sec. ב) · נר הששי אור לנר השביעי, ה׳תש״י (Chanukah 5710)
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
- 1ובהעלות אהרן · Exodus 30:8
- 2ובבקר בהטיבו את הנרות יקטירנה · Exodus 30:7
- 3שבלילה הי׳ מדליק כל ז׳ הנרות · כן היא דעת רש״י, תוס׳ (מנחות פו, סע״ב) רמב״ן, ראב״ד, רשב״א ועוד. וכ״מ מנוסח העבודה דיוהכ״פ שתיקן יוסי בן יוסי כה״ג (פע״ח שער יוהכ״פ פ״ד) ונקבע בסי׳ האריז״ל וסי׳ רבינו. ומש״כ בזח״א (פח, ב. קפג, א) שהי׳ מדליק ב׳ זמני — זהו לכל הדעות. וכמש״כ גם בתו״א שהי׳ מדליק בבוקר נר הז׳ (ונר הוא״ו), וסרה קושית הניצוצי זהר שם. לקו״ש חכ״ג ע׳ שנד. ראה לקו״ש חי״ג ע׳ 193 שמאריך בזה.
- 4שבלילה היה מדליק כל ז׳ הנרות · Menachot 86b:3–5
- 5אלא נר המערבי שהוא נר ששי · ברשימת כ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע לפ׳ בהעלותך (חוברת מז) מבאר בארוכה בענין סדר המערכה שמבאר כאן. ראה בספר השיחות תשנ״ב ח״ב ע׳ 419 ובהערה 106.
- 6והענין כי הנרות הם המדות · קטע מכאן מובא באוה״ת נ״ך כרך ג ע׳ א׳שצו.
- 7לך ה׳ הגדולה והגבורה · I Chronicles 29:11
Now, in each and every attribute there is “the one opposite the other”: in kelipah (the husk), over against holiness, and they draw their nourishment from holiness.
For each holy attribute there is a corresponding attribute in kelipah, the realm that conceals G‑dliness. The kelipah has no life of its own; it draws its vitality from holiness.
כמו מאהבה שבקדושה נמשך בהשתלשלות המדרגות להיות תאוה גשמית. וכן מיראה שבקדושה יראה רעה וכעס וכה״ג [וכהאי גוונא].
For example, from love in holiness there is drawn down, through the chain of descending levels, [what comes] to be physical lust; and likewise from awe in holiness [comes] evil fear, and anger, and the like.
As love descends through the levels, it can become physical lust; holy awe can become fear of the wrong things, anger and the like. The unholy emotions are degraded forms of holy ones.
The paragraph explains that every holy emotion has an unholy counterpart that feeds on it, formed as the emotion descends into physicality.
“The one opposite the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14) is the Kabbalistic principle that kelipah mirrors holiness. Because the negative emotions are fallen holy emotions, they can be restored to their source, which is the task the next paragraph describes.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In his maamar on this dibbur hamaschil for Shabbos Chanukah 5716, having summarized “what is explained briefly in Torah Ohr” (the seven lamps are the seven middos, which have a counterpart in kelipah and are refined by the light of Chochmah), the Rebbe explains why this is so; from here on his editors point to the Rebbe Rashab’s dibbur hamaschil Shemen u’Ketores 5677, which he follows closely.
Explaining why the counterpart in kelipah is found in the middos in particular, the Rebbe, following the Rebbe Rashab, says that the root of every emotion is a feeling of self („יסודם וגם ענינם הוא הרגש עצמו”) (one loves what is good for him and fears what harms him), and the emotion itself is felt as one’s own, so even holy emotions can give rise, down the chain, to unholy ones. The mind is the reverse: understanding is inward and grasps what is above it, so it brings self-nullification, and the light of Chochmah gives the other side no hold. This is the reason behind this paragraph’s „זה לעומת זה” (“one opposite the other”) in each middah, and behind the next paragraph’s refining through Chochmah.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה בכל מדה ומדה יש זה לעומת זה בקליפה נגד הקדושה והן יונקות מן הקדושה
The Rebbe
וכיון שיסודם וגם ענינם הוא הרגש עצמו, לכן הנה גם כאשר הם בקדושה אפשר שישתלשל מזה מדות דלעו״ז
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פב–פג · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
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
TermsZeh le’umas zehKoach hamisavehGevuros de’AbbaKelipah+1
- Zeh le’umas zeh זה לעומת זה
- Koach hamisaveh כח המתאוה
- Gevuros de’Abba גבורות דאבא
- Kelipah קליפה
- Hishtalshelus השתלשלות
Marei mekomos
- 1זה לעומת זה · Ecclesiastes 7:14
- 2והן יונקות מן הקדושה · ראה סידור נו, ג. אוה״ת משפטים ע׳ א׳קמא. מצה זו תר״מ סעי׳ מג ע׳ ריז. ושם מוסיף: אחר תי׳ ”הקדושה”: והיינו שנמשך בהשתלשלות המדריגות: נמשך.
4וצריך לבררם ולהפכם להתכלל בקדושה עליונה שתהיינה המדות כולן לה׳ בבחי׳ בטול לך ה׳1 הגדולה והגבורה כו׳.
And they must be refined and transformed, to be absorbed into supernal holiness, so that all the attributes will be for G‑d in a state of self-nullification (bittul): “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might,” etc.
The fallen emotions must be refined and turned around so that they rejoin holiness. The goal is that all the emotions belong to G‑d, in the self-nullification expressed by “Yours, Havayah, are the greatness and the might.”
והבירור הוא בחכמה כי בחכמה אתברירו2 כו׳. והחכמה הוא בחי׳ אור להאיר את המדות ולזככן.
The refinement is through Chochmah (wisdom), for “through Chochmah they are refined,” etc. And Chochmah is a light, to illuminate the attributes and to purify them.
Refinement comes through Chochmah (wisdom), which sorts good from evil. Chochmah is compared to light because it illuminates the emotions and purifies them.
ובלילה שהוא זמן החשך היה צריך להאיר את כל ז׳ הנרות דהיינו להמשיך אור החכמה בכל מדה ומדה בפ״ע [בפני עצמו]
At night, which is the time of darkness, it was necessary to light all seven lamps, that is, to draw the light of Chochmah into each and every attribute on its own,
Night stands for a time of darkness, when each emotion needs its own light of wisdom. That is why all seven lamps were lit at night.
whereas by day it was enough to light the sixth lamp, which is the principal channel of influence, and of itself the light of Chochmah would be drawn into all the attributes.
In the day it was enough to light the sixth lamp, the principal channel through which influence flows, and the light of wisdom would reach all the emotions by itself. The Kehot note links the sixth lamp to Yesod.
The paragraph explains the lighting of the Menorah as bringing the light of Chochmah into the emotions to refine them, lamp by lamp at night and through the main channel by day.
The Kehot note cites Or HaTorah: the sixth lamp is Yesod, “the righteous one is the foundation of the world,” Yosef, from whom added light flows to Malchus, the source of the lower worlds. The principle “through Chochmah they are refined” is the Arizal’s teaching that the sparks are sorted by Chochmah.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explainsThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the second half of his Reshimah on the Menorah, which explains the lamps “in the way of drush” (his own note at its head lists, on the Menorah and its lighting, Likkutei Torah Behaaloscha, the Chanukah discourses of Torah Ohr with Or HaTorah, and Torah Ohr Vayakhel; his editors take these to be its basis), the Rebbe gives the inner meaning of the western lamp and of why all the lamps are lit at night while one is enough by day; in the first half he had set out this maamar’s view of the same lighting.
Having set out this maamar’s view (all seven lamps are lit only at evening; by day the sixth, which is the western lamp), the Rebbe explains its night and day in a person’s service. The western (sixth) lamp is „התקשרותו בה׳” (his bond with G‑d), and the seventh, without which the western lamp does not bear its name, is humility, for there is no bond without humility first. At night, when the world is still dark to him and he does not see, though his mind understands, that G‑d made heaven and earth, love alone will not do: he needs fear, the root of the negative commandments, humility to set aside his desires, and the rest, all the lamps. By day, when G‑d’s light shines in his world „ואין חומריות העולם מסתיר לפניו” (and its coarseness does not hide it), his bond with G‑d, the western lamp, prepared for by humility, is enough.
The Alter Rebbe
ובלילה שהוא זמן החשך היה צריך להאיר את כל ז׳ הנרות
The Rebbe
אבל ביום, שמאיר בעולמו כי שמש ומגן ה״א, ואין חומריות העולם מסתיר לפניו, אז מספיק הדלקת נהמ״ע, התקשרותו בה׳
Reshimos – Reshimas HaMenorah, p. קכז–קלא (secs. 81–82)
Background from the RebbeThe Rebbe says this in more than one place
In the same edited sicha of Shabbos Mikeitz, Shabbos Chanukah 5751, explaining why the Menorah is called a „נר תמיד” (“constant lamp”) though by most views it burned only from evening to morning, the Rebbe adds a note on why the night lighting is the main one.
The Rebbe explains that „עיקר תועלת האור היא בלילה” (light is needed chiefly at night), „שרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני” (“a lamp at noon, what use is it”), and cites this maamar with the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses on it. He quotes the Tzemach Tzedek in Or HaTorah: the seven lamps are the seven middos within Malchus, which is called “lamp”; by day the seven middos of Atzilus shine, so there is no darkness, and the middos are then refined by the daylight itself, which is better than their lamp. From this he infers that even for the Rambam, who has the lamps lit in the morning too, the main lighting is at night.
The Alter Rebbe
משא״כ ביום היה די בהדלקת נר הו׳ שהוא עיקר ההשפעה וממילא היה נמשך אור החכמה בכל המדות
The Rebbe
והטעם י״ל – כי עיקר תועלת האור היא בלילה, זמן החושך, משא״כ ביום – שרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני
Sefer HaSichos 5751, vol. א, p. 194, note 30 · ש״פ מקץ, שבת (ד׳) חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תנש״א (edited)
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה, 5740
The Alter Rebbe states that the middos are refined through Chochmah. The Rebbe explains why work within the middos alone is not enough. Because “zeh l’umas zeh,” fighting the opposing middos could end the other way. Oil, which is Chochmah, removes the “spirit of folly” behind sin. Only then is the victory complete, closing off the possibility of the unholy side prevailing.
The Alter Rebbe
והבירור הוא בחכמה כי בחכמה אתברירו
The Rebbe
ולכן אינה מספיקה העבודה דמדות דקדושה, אלא צ״ל גם ענין הדלקת הנרות
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
TermsBechochmah isbreruGevurahBirurKadosh+3
- Bechochmah isbreru בחכמה אתברירו
- Gevurah גבורה
- Birur בירור
- Kadosh קדוש
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1
- 2בחכמה אתברירו · נסמן לעיל ה, ד.
- 3בהדלקת נר הו׳ . . נמשך אור החכמה בכל המדות · באוה״ת פ׳ תצוה ע׳ א׳תקנד: ”היינו כי נר השישי הוא בחי׳ וצדיק יסוד עולם בחי׳ יוסף שממנו נמשך תוספות האור למל׳ מקור דבי״ע”, ע״ש.
- 4לך ה׳ הגדולה · דברי הימים כט, יא.
- 5שו״ה כו׳ — ובלילה · בסה״מ תר״מ שם: ולכן בלילה.
5והנה יש עולם שנה נפש12 וכשם שהיה אהרן ממשיך המשכת אור החכמה בעולם שהן ז׳ בחי׳ ומדות עליונות שבסדר והנהגת העולם כך היה ממשיך אור החכמה בנפש ישראל
Now, there is “world, year, soul.” Just as Aharon would draw down the light of Chochmah into the world, [into] the seven levels and supernal attributes in the order and conduct of the world, so too he would draw down the light of Chochmah into the souls of Israel,
Sefer Yetzirah teaches that everything exists in three dimensions: world (space), year (time) and soul. Aharon’s lighting drew wisdom into the seven attributes that govern the world, and at the same time into the souls of Israel.
שהם יוצאי ירך יעקב שבעים נפש3 נגד בחי׳ ז׳ הנרות והם יוצאי ירך יעקב יו״ד עקב דהיינו בחי׳ יו״ד הוא בחי׳ חכמה הנמשכת ומשתלשלת בבחי׳ עקב וסוף המדרגות התחתונות.4
who are “those who came out of Yaakov’s thigh, seventy souls,” corresponding to the seven lamps. They are “those who came out of the thigh of יעקב (Yaakov)”: yud–ekev (“heel”), that is, the yud, which is Chochmah, drawn down and descending into the level of the heel, the end of the lowest levels.
Yaakov’s descendants were seventy souls, ten times seven, matching the seven lamps. The name יעקב is read as yud (the letter of Chochmah) plus ekev (“heel”): wisdom drawn down to the lowest levels, the heel of the soul.
The paragraph extends the Menorah from the cosmos to the soul: the same light of wisdom Aharon drew into the world’s attributes he drew into the souls of Israel, whose father Yaakov’s name means wisdom reaching the heel.
The yud, the first letter of Havayah, stands for Chochmah. Reading Yaakov as yud–ekev teaches that the task of Yaakov’s descendants is to carry wisdom down to the very lowest point, the “heel.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה, 5740
The Alter Rebbe reads the yud of יעקב as Chochmah reaching the heel. The Rebbe reads it as reaching up to the tip of the yud, the yechidah of the soul. That yechidah penetrates down to the heel of the body, until yud and heel become one word. He also stresses the word “grasping” (¶6) as a forceful, victorious hold on Eisav, from which the later outcomes follow, up to “and the kingship will be G‑d’s.”
The Alter Rebbe
בחי׳ יו״ד הוא בחי׳ חכמה הנמשכת ומשתלשלת בבחי׳ עקב
The Rebbe
עד לקוצו של יו״ד שבנשמה שהיא בחי׳ היחידה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה, 5740
The Alter Rebbe names world, year and soul, but explains only world and soul. The Rebbe supplies “year”: the days of Chanukah. Eight signifies makif, the encompassing light. The lamps are lit outside the door to illuminate the street. And while seven lamps sufficed in the Temple, the darkness of exile requires eight, the added vav of "וה׳ יגיה חשכי".
The Alter Rebbe
והנה יש עולם שנה נפש
The Rebbe
ויש לומר דבחי׳ זו בשנה
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.
TermsYaakov and YisraelMiddos+2
- Yaakov and Yisrael יעקב וישראל
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1יש עולם שנה נפש · ספר יצירה פ״ג. נתבאר בכ״מ בחסידות ראה בספרי מפתחות דא״ח, ולאחרונה במאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ נו.
- 2יש עולם שנה נפש · Sefer Yetzirah 3:5–7
- 3
- 4יעקב י׳ עקב · נסמן לעיל כה, ג.
6וזהו וידו אוחזת בעקב עשו1 כי ידו אותיות יו״ד2 אוחזת את העקב של עשו לבלתי נתון לו תוקף התפשטות וממשלה רק להכניעו תחת הקדושה ולאכפי׳ [ולאכפיא] לס״א [לסטרא אחרא].
This is [the meaning of] “and his hand was grasping Eisav’s heel”: for ידו (“his hand”) has the letters of יו״ד (yud), which grasps the heel of Eisav so as not to give it the strength to expand and rule, but only to subdue it beneath holiness and to subjugate the sitra achra (the other side).
At birth Yaakov’s hand held Eisav’s heel. ידו (“his hand”) has the same letters as יוד (yud): Yaakov’s wisdom holds Eisav, the root of kelipah, from below, not letting it spread and rule but keeping it subdued under holiness.
וזה היה ענין המשכת אהרן בהעלותו את הנרות להמשיך בחי׳ יו״ד של יעקב3 הוא אור החכמה לבחי׳ עקב כדי שתהיינה גם מדות הטבעיי׳ [הטבעיים] שבנפש הבהמית עולות ונכללות בקדושה.
And this was the meaning of what Aharon drew down when he kindled the lamps: to draw the yud of Yaakov, the light of Chochmah, to the level of the heel, so that even the natural attributes in the animal soul will rise and be absorbed into holiness.
This is what Aharon did in lighting the lamps: he drew Yaakov’s yud, the light of wisdom, down to the heel. The aim is that even the natural emotions of the animal soul rise and are absorbed into holiness.
The paragraph reads Yaakov grasping Eisav’s heel as wisdom subduing the kelipah at its lowest point, and identifies this with the work of lighting the Menorah.
Subduing the sitra achra (iskafya) comes before transforming it (is’hapcha); both terms return in paragraph 12. The Kehot note lists several parallels on reading ידו as yud.
TermsSitra achraNefesh habahamisOsiyosMiddos+2
- Sitra achra סטרא אחרא
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Osiyos אותיות
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1וידו אוחזת בעקב עשו · Genesis 25:26
- 2ידו אותיות יו״ד · ראה גם בסה״מ תקס״ב ע׳ קכז. תו״ח וישלח קפה, ב. שערי אורה ה, א.
- 3להמשיך בחי׳ יו״ד של יעקב · ע׳ מאמרי אדה״א בראשית ע׳ תנז ובאוה״ת פ׳ עקב ע׳ תקה.
The incense: raising the letters ¶7–9
Now, it is written, “And when Aharon kindles the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it,” and likewise, “In the morning, when he prepares the lamps, he shall burn it.”
The maamar returns to the verses about the Menorah and the incense, now to explain the incense itself.
בהעלות והדר יקטירנה וכן בבקר וכמ״ש בסדר המערכה הטבת שתי נרות קודמת לקטורת.3
[First] “when he kindles,” and then “he shall burn it,” and likewise in the morning; as it is stated in the order of the Temple service, the preparing of two lamps precedes the incense.
In both verses the lamps come first and the incense after, and Abaye’s order of the Temple service in the Talmud likewise puts the preparing of two lamps before the incense.
ולהבין ענין הקטרת4 שהיה אחר הדלקת והטבת שתי נרות הוא כי הנה ענין הנרות כבר מבואר למעלה שהוא ענין העלאת המדות שירדו ונשתלשלו בגשמיות הנה״ב [הנפש הבהמית] שתהיינה עולות ונכללות בקדושה. אך הקטרת הוא ענין העלאת האותיות שהן במחדו״מ [במחשבה דבור ומעשה] לבושי המדות שהן בחי׳ דומם.
To understand the matter of the incense, which came after the lighting and the preparing of two lamps: the matter of the lamps, as already explained above, is the raising up of the attributes that descended and were drawn down into the physicality of the animal soul, so that they rise and are absorbed into holiness. But the incense is the raising up of the letters, those of thought, speech and action, the garments of the attributes, which are of the level of the inanimate.
Why does the incense follow the lamps? The lamps raise the emotions that descended into the animal soul; the incense raises something lower: the “letters”, the garments of thought, speech and action through which the emotions are expressed, which are like inanimate matter.
The paragraph distinguishes two tasks: the lamps elevate the emotions themselves, and the incense elevates their outer garments, the letters of thought, speech and action.
In Tanya the soul’s three garments are thought, speech and action. Here they are called “letters” and classed with the inanimate, the lowest of the four kingdoms, because in themselves they have no feeling.
TermsMachshavah, dibbur, maasehDomem, tzomeach, chai, medaberNefesh habahamisLevushim+3
- Machshavah, dibbur, maaseh מחשבה דבור ומעשה
- Domem, tzomeach, chai, medaber דומם צומח חי מדבר
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Levushim לבושים
- Osiyos אותיות
- Middos מדות
Also Haalaah vehamshachah
Marei mekomos
- 1ובהעלות אהרן את הנרות בין הערבים יקטירנה · Exodus 30:8
- 2בבקר בהטיבו את הנרות יקטירנה · Exodus 30:7
- 3הטבת שתי נרות קודמת לקטורת · Yoma 33a:3
- 4ולהבין ענין הקטרת · ראה אוה״ת בראשית כרך ד תתלא, ב.
The letters of holiness are called “the wall of the daughter of Zion,” a wall of stones: “two stones build two houses,” etc., as is known.
Letters of holiness are compared to a wall of stones: Sefer Yetzirah calls letters “stones” and the words built from them “houses.”
And as is explained elsewhere on the verse, “Great is Havayah and much praised, in the city of our G‑d”: when is He called great? When He is in the city of our G‑d, etc.
G‑d’s greatness is revealed “in the city of our G‑d,” that is, when it is expressed and built up. The letters are the city in which His greatness is revealed.
The paragraph shows the importance of letters: they are the building stones in which holiness is revealed, like a city wall.
In Sefer Yetzirah, two letters (“stones”) make two words (“houses”), three make six, and so on. The maamar in Vaera cited by the Kehot note explains that greatness can be ascribed to G‑d only as He extends through His kingship, the city.
TermsOsiyos
- Osiyos אותיות
Marei mekomos
- 1חומת בת ציון · Lamentations 2:18
- 2שתי אבנים בונות שני בתים · ספר יצירה פ״ד מט״ז ע״פ נוסח האריז״ל.
- 3שתי אבנים בונות שני בתים · Sefer Yetzirah 4:12
- 4וכמ״ש במ״א ע״פ גדול ה׳ ומהולל מאד · ראה לקמן נו, ב.
- 5גדול ה׳ ומהולל מאד בעיר אלקינו · Psalms 48:2
9והנה אותיות כט, בשל המחדו״מ [המחשבה דבור ומעשה] שנפלו בגשמיות תחת ממשלת הקליפות וסט״א [וסטרא אחרא] אין להם עלייה ע״י המשכת אור החכמה כי אין אור החכמה אלא במדות עצמן אהוי״ר [אהבה ויראה] כו׳
Now, the letters of thought, speech and action that fell into physicality, under the dominion of the kelipos and the sitra achra, have no ascent through the drawing down of the light of Chochmah, for the light of Chochmah is only in the attributes themselves, love and awe, etc.,
The letters of thought, speech and action have fallen into physicality under the kelipos, and the light of wisdom cannot raise them. Wisdom works only on the emotions themselves, love and awe.
שהן בחי׳ רוחניות (עמ״ש ע״פ וייצר1 כו׳ בפ׳ בראשית) אבל גשמיות האותיות אין להם עלייה כ״א ע״י הקטורת שסממני הקטרת היו מדברים שאין בהם טעם כלל
which are of a spiritual nature (see what is explained on “And [G‑d] formed,” etc., in Parshas Bereishis). But the physicality of the letters has no ascent except through the incense: for the spices of the incense were of things that have no taste at all
Emotions are spiritual; the text refers the reader to its explanation of “And G‑d formed” in Bereishis. Physical letters rise only through the incense, whose spices had no taste and were not food.
ואינם ממין מאכל כלל הרי הן בבחי׳ דומם2 ובהקטרתן נעשה בחי׳ ריח העולה למעלה שמשיב את הנפש אשה ריח ניחוח להוי״ה3 שע״י הריח נעשה ניחוח דהיינו ירידה להשתלשלות המשכת בחי׳ הוי״ה יו״ד חכמה כו׳:
and are not of the category of food at all, so they are of the level of the inanimate; and by burning them there comes to be a fragrance that rises upward and restores the soul: “a fire-offering, a pleasing fragrance to Havayah.” For through the fragrance there comes to be nichoach (“pleasing”), that is, a descent into the chain of descent, a drawing down of the level of Havayah, [whose] yud [is] Chochmah, etc.
Being tasteless, the spices are like inanimate matter, yet when burned they give off a fragrance that rises and restores the soul. The Torah calls an offering “a pleasing fragrance (re’ach nicho’ach) to Havayah”: nicho’ach, “pleasing,” is read as from nachis, “descent,” so the fragrance draws down Havayah, whose yud is Chochmah.
The paragraph explains why the incense is needed: wisdom lifts the spiritual emotions, but only the incense, the inanimate turned into fragrance, lifts the physical letters, and its fragrance in turn draws G‑dliness down.
Fragrance is the subtlest of the senses and, as the Sages say, benefits the soul rather than the body. That is why it can lift the lowest, inanimate level: what has no taste of its own becomes, when burned, pure spirit.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In his maamar on this dibbur hamaschil for Shabbos Chanukah 5716, summarizing “what is explained briefly in Torah Ohr”, the Rebbe gives the reason the light of Chochmah reaches the middos but not „האותיות דלבושי מחדומ״ע” (the “letters” of thought, speech and action).
The Rebbe gives the reason this paragraph only points to: mind and middos are adjacent and receive from each other, as plant and animal, being adjacent, came forth together, so the light of Chochmah can refine the middos. The letters of thought, speech and action are „בחי׳ דומם” (“inanimate”): „לפי שאין להם שייכות להמוחין” (they have no connection with the mind), and in their root they are higher still, drawn from the “primordial mind”, so only the incense, made of tasteless spices that are not food, can raise them. The comparison with plant and animal is the Alter Rebbe’s own, in the passage on “And G‑d formed” (Torah Ohr Bereishis 4b) to which this paragraph refers, and which refers back to this maamar.
The Alter Rebbe
אין להם עלייה ע״י המשכת אור החכמה כי אין אור החכמה אלא במדות עצמן אהוי״ר כו׳
The Rebbe
אבל בחי׳ האותיות דלבושי מחדומ״ע, שהם בחי׳ דומם, אי אפשר שיתבררו ע״י אור המוחין, לפי שאין להם שייכות להמוחין
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פב · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
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
TermsTurning ani into ayinMachshavah, dibbur, maasehRei’achSitra achra+10
- Turning ani into ayin אני ואין
- Machshavah, dibbur, maaseh מחשבה דבור ומעשה
- Rei’ach ריח
- Sitra achra סטרא אחרא
- Domem, tzomeach, chai, medaber דומם צומח חי מדבר
- Ahavah v’yirah אהבה ויראה
- Kelipah קליפה
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Osiyos אותיות
- Hishtalshelus השתלשלות
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1וייצר · Genesis 2:7
- 2הרי הן בבחי׳ דומם · ע׳ באוה״ת עקב ע׳ תריט.
- 3אשה ריח ניחוח להוי״ה · Leviticus 1:9
Prayer and the two kinds of self-sacrifice ¶10–16
10והנה כ״ז [כל זה] היה בבהמ״ק [בבית המקדש] שהיו מקריבין קרבנות ועכשיו היא התפלה במקום הקרבנות.1 ולהבין ענין זה בתפלה.
Now, all this was in the Holy Temple, where they would offer sacrifices; and now prayer is in place of the sacrifices. We need to understand this in [terms of] prayer.
All this took place in the Temple through the offerings. Since its destruction, prayer takes the place of the offerings, so the same order must have a meaning in prayer.
הנה בסדר המערכה היה דם התמיד קודם להטבת שתי נרות ונרות לקטרת וקטרת לאברים נמצא שדם התמיד קודם לנרות וקטרת ואברי התמיד אחר נרות וקטרת.2
In the order of the Temple service, the blood of the tamid (the daily offering) came before the preparing of two lamps, the lamps before the incense, and the incense before the limbs. It follows that the blood of the tamid came before the lamps and incense, and the limbs of the tamid after the lamps and incense.
In the daily Temple order, the blood of the tamid, the daily offering, came before the lamps and incense, and its limbs were burned only after them. The offering was split in two, with the lamps and incense between.
¶33 Limbs come after lamps and incense; paragraph 33 explains why.
ויובן ענין זה בעבודת ה׳ בתפלה. כי הנה עיקר העבודה בק״ש [בקריאת שמע] ותפלה הוא למסור נפשו בק״ש [בקריאת שמע].
This will be understood in the service of G‑d in prayer. For the essence of the service in the Shema and prayer is to give over one’s soul in the Shema.
This order will be explained in terms of prayer. The heart of prayer is the Shema, where one gives over one’s soul to G‑d.
The paragraph turns from the Temple to prayer and poses a question: why was the daily offering divided, with its blood before the lamps and incense and its limbs after?
The Kehot note says the Mitteler Rebbe’s maamar on the same opening words poses exactly this question: why the tamid was split, and why the lamps and incense in particular separate its blood from its limbs.
TermsKorbanosMesirus nefeshAvodas HashemKrias Shema+1
- Korbanos קרבנות
- Mesirus nefesh מסירות נפש
- Avodas Hashem עבודת ה׳
- Krias Shema קריאת שמע
- Tefillah תפלה
Marei mekomos
- 1ועכשיו היא התפלה במקום הקרבנות · Berakhot 26b:7
- 2ואברי התמיד אחר נרות וקטרת · בד״ה בכ״ה בכסליו לאדה״א הנ״ל מבאר יותר ”ויש להבין למה נחלק הקרבת קרבן התמיד להיות דמו נקרב דוקא לפני נרות וקטורת ואברים אחר נרות וקטרת, ולמה הפסיק בנרות וקטורת דוקא בין הקרבת דמיו להקרבת אבריו”.
11והנה יש ב״פ [ב׳ פעמים] מס״נ [מסירות נפש]1 למסור נפשו באחד.2 ובכל נפשך3 אפילו נוטל את נפשך4 כו׳. ולהבין מהו ענין ב״פ [ב׳ פעמים] מס״נ [מסירות נפש] הללו
Now, there are two kinds of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh): to give over one’s soul in “One,” and “with all your soul: even if He takes your soul,” etc. To understand what these two kinds of self-sacrifice are:
There are two kinds of self-sacrifice in the Shema: giving oneself over in the word “One,” and loving G‑d “with all your soul,” which the Sages explain as “even if He takes your soul.” The maamar asks what distinguishes them.
הנה למס״נ [למסירות נפש] באחד קאי על נה״א [נפש האלקית] שהיא בבחי׳ ביטול ממש וכמ״ש חי ה׳ אשר עמדתי לפניו.5 בחי׳ עמידה היא ביטול באוא״ס [באור אין סוף] ב״ה ממש.
self-sacrifice in “One” refers to the G‑dly soul, which is in a state of actual self-nullification, as it is written, “As Havayah lives, before Whom I have stood.” The state of standing is self-nullification in the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), blessed be He, itself.
Self-sacrifice at “One” belongs to the G‑dly soul, which is already wholly nullified before G‑d. Elisha’s words “before Whom I have stood” show this: standing before G‑d means complete self-nullification in the Infinite Light.
The paragraph distinguishes two kinds of self-sacrifice in the Shema and assigns the first, at “One,” to the G‑dly soul, which stands wholly nullified before G‑d.
The Kehot note cites halachic sources (the Rashba, the Bach, Pri Etz Chaim) for the practice of intending self-sacrifice at the word “One.”
TermsMesirus nefeshNefesh ha’elokis+2
- Mesirus nefesh מסירות נפש explained hereMesirus nefesh is twofold: at “One,” and “with all your soul”; the first is the G‑dly soul’s, whose “standing” before G‑d is utter nullification in the Or Ein Sof.
למס״נ באחד קאי על נה״א שהיא בבחי׳ ביטול ממש
- Nefesh ha’elokis נפש האלקית
Also BittulOr Ein Sof
Marei mekomos
- 1ב״פ מס״נ · ראה בארוכה באוה״ת תרומה ע׳ א׳שסז. ובאוה״ת פ׳ נצבים ע׳ א׳ר. שרש מצות התפלה פמ״א. ד״ה את שבתותי ש״ת ע׳ 84.
- 2למסור נפשו באחד · ראה שו״ת הרשב״א ח״ה תשובה נה. ב״ח טוא״ח רסס״א. פע״ח שער הק״ש פי״ב.
- 3ובכל נפשך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 4ובכל נפשך אפילו נוטל את נפשך · Berakhot 54a:6
- 5חי ה׳ אשר עמדתי לפניו · II Kings 5:16
And the level of “with all your soul” means that the animal soul too should be in a state of subjugation and transformation (iskafya and is’hapcha), etc.
The second self-sacrifice, “with all your soul,” concerns the animal soul, which must be subdued and then transformed.
שמס״נ [שמסירות נפש] זו אינה באחד אלא בבחי׳ ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו2 כו׳. והענין כי הנה נודע שבחי׳ ממלא כ״ע [כל עלמין] וסוכ״ע הכל נק׳ בחי׳ שמי בלבד.
For this self-sacrifice is not in “One” but in the level of “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom,” etc. The explanation is that, as is known, the level of the light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin) and of the light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin) is all called only the level of “My Name.”
This self-sacrifice happens not at “One” but at “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom,” which speaks of G‑d’s “name,” not His essence. Both kinds of divine light, the light that fills all worlds and the light that encompasses them, are only G‑d’s “Name.”
The paragraph assigns the second self-sacrifice to the animal soul and ties it to “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom,” then begins to explain that all divine light in the worlds is only G‑d’s Name.
This corresponds to the higher unity (the Shema’s “One”) and the lower unity (“Blessed be the name”). In Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim, the Alter Rebbe refers to this maamar as explaining the matter “in a somewhat different way,” and the Tzemach Tzedek adds that the two explanations agree.
TermsMesirus nefeshIskafya and is’hapchaNefesh habahamisMemalei kol almin+3
- Mesirus nefesh מסירות נפש
- Iskafya and is’hapcha אתכפיא ואתהפכא
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Memalei kol almin ממלא כל עלמין
- Krias Shema קריאת שמע
- Sovev kol almin סובב כל עלמין
- Malchus מלכות
Marei mekomos
- 1ובכל נפשך היינו שגם בחי׳ נה״ב · ראה לקו״ת שה״ש א, ב. באופן אחר קצת, ושם מציין כ״ק אדמו״ר הצ״צ בהגה״ה ”והמ״י שעולה בקנה א׳” ע״ש. ראה סה״מ תרס״ו ע׳ קלה.
- 2ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו · Pesachim 56a:5
13וכמאמר מלך משובח ומפואר עדי עד שמו הגדול. ועדי עד פי׳ כל העליות שמעולם עד עולם בעילוי אחר עילוי עוה״ב [עולם הבא] וג״ע [וגן עדן] העליון וימות המשיח ותחה״מ [ותחיית המתים] וכמה רבוא רבבות עולמות והיכלות המבואר בזוהר.
As in the saying, “King, praised and glorified forever and ever (adei ad), is His great Name.” “Forever and ever” means all the ascents from world to world, elevation after elevation: the World to Come, the Upper Garden of Eden, the days of Mashiach and the Resurrection of the Dead, and the many myriads of myriads of worlds and chambers explained in the Zohar.
The words come from the morning prayers, which praise G‑d’s “great Name” as glorified “forever and ever.” The Alter Rebbe reads “forever and ever” as the endless ascents of all the higher worlds, from the World to Come to the countless worlds described in the Zohar, and all of them are praise of His Name alone.
The paragraph supports the claim that all the worlds are only G‑d’s “Name”: even the loftiest worlds and eras belong to what the prayer calls His Name.
TermsTechiyas hameisimHeichalosOlam HaBaGan Eden+1
- Techiyas hameisim תחיית המתים
- Heichalos היכלות
- Olam HaBa עולם הבא
- Gan Eden גן עדן
- Le’asid lavo לעתיד לבא
14ובאמת יש הרבה יותר עד אין קץ וכמ״ש ולגדודיו אין מספר1 וגדודיו הן מלאכים שהן בחי׳ חיצוני׳ העולמות ומכ״ש [ומכל שכן] נשמות שהן פנימי׳ [פנימיות / פנימית] עולמות אין זה אלא בבחי׳ שמו שם כבוד מלכותו.
In truth there are far more, without end, as it is written, “His troops are without number”; His troops are the angels, which are the outer dimension of the worlds, and all the more so the souls, which are the inner dimension of the worlds. Yet all this is only at the level of “His Name,” the name of the glory of His kingdom.
The worlds are in fact endless, like the countless “troops” of G‑d, the angels. Angels are the outer side of the worlds and souls their inner side, yet even these belong only to G‑d’s Name, “the name of the glory of His kingdom.”
כמשל התפשטות המלך במדינה שרק שמו הולך בכל מדינות מלכותו ולא עצמותו ומהותו
As in the analogy of the extension of a king through his country: only his name goes out through all the provinces of his kingdom, not his essence and being.
A king’s name reaches every province of his realm, though he himself does not.
כך כביכול התפשטות החיות הנמשך מאור א״ס ב״ה להחיות כל הברואים ונפש כל חי אין התפשטות והמשכה זו רק בבחי׳ שם שהוא רק זיו והארה בבחי׳ התפשטות בלבד ונק׳ אא״ס [אור אין סוף]
So too, so to speak, the extension of the life-force drawn from the Infinite Light, blessed be He, to give life to all the creatures and the soul of every living thing: this extension and drawing down is only at the level of a “name,” which is only a radiance and illumination, merely an extension, and it is called the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof).
In the same way, the divine life in all creatures is only G‑d’s “name,” a radiance and extension from G‑d, not G‑d Himself. This radiance is what Chassidus calls the Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof), as distinct from the Infinite One Himself.
אבל עצמות א״ס ב״ה ממש הוא רם ונשא כי אני ה׳ לא שניתי2 כתיב ואין ערוך אליו ית׳ אפי׳ [אפילו] כערך טפה מים אוקינוס כו׳.
But the very essence of the Infinite One (Ein Sof), blessed be He, is exalted and lofty, for it is written, “For I, Havayah, have not changed,” and there is no comparison to Him, blessed be He, not even as a drop compares to the ocean, etc.
G‑d’s own essence is beyond all this and unaffected by it, as the verse says, “I, Havayah, have not changed.” All the worlds together bear no relation to Him, less than a drop bears to the ocean.
The paragraph explains that all the worlds, angels and souls receive only G‑d’s “Name,” an extension of radiance, while His essence remains exalted and unchanged.
The distinction between the Infinite Light (an extension, like a name or a ray) and the Infinite One Himself underlies all of Chassidus. A name exists for others, not for its bearer; so the divine life in creation exists for the creatures’ sake and does not touch the essence.
TermsRomemusEin arochZiv haShechinahAtzmus u’mahus+7
- Romemus רוממות
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Ziv haShechinah זיו השכינה
- Atzmus u’mahus עצמות ומהות
- Malachim מלאכים
- Ein Sof אין סוף
- Malchus מלכות
Marei mekomos
- 1ולגדודיו אין מספר · Chagigah 13b:13
- 2אני ה׳ לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
15והנה הנשמה ונפש האלקי׳ מחמת שהיא בבחי׳ פנימי׳ [פנימיות / פנימית] העולמות היא בטלה ונכללת ביחוד עליון ב״ה לגבי אור א״ס ב״ה ממש מחמת ששורה ומאיר עליה אור א״ס ב״ה
Now, the soul, the G‑dly soul, because it is of the inner dimension of the worlds, is nullified and absorbed in the higher unity (yichuda ila’ah), blessed be He, before the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself; because there rests and shines upon it the Infinite Light, blessed be He,
The G‑dly soul belongs to the inner side of the worlds, so it is naturally nullified before G‑d, absorbed in the “higher unity” in which all creation is nothing before Him. The Infinite Light rests upon it directly.
ומשכלת ומתבוננת ברוממותו ית׳ איך שאין להעריך אליו ואני ה׳ לא שניתי1 כו׳.
and it contemplates and meditates on His exaltedness, blessed be He: how nothing can be compared to Him, and “I, Havayah, have not changed,” etc.
The G‑dly soul also contemplates G‑d’s greatness and senses that nothing compares to Him: He is unchanged by all of creation.
אבל בהשתלשלות וירידת המדרגות עד סוף המדרגות תחתונות דנה״ב [דנפש הבהמית] המלובשת בגוף הגשמי ממש. הנה הגשמי הוא מסך מבדיל ומפריד היחוד עליון מחמת שנראה לעיני בשר ליש ודבר נפרד
But in the chain of descent and the lowering of the levels, down to the end of the lowest levels, [that is, the level] of the animal soul enclothed in the actual physical body, the physical is a screen that separates and divides [it] from the higher unity, because to eyes of flesh it appears as a being and a separate thing.
The animal soul, however, stands at the bottom of the chain of descent, clothed in the physical body, and physicality is a screen that hides the higher unity: to the physical eye things look independent and separate from G‑d.
ומ״מ ע״י ירידת הנשמה ונפש אלקי׳ שלא ירדה בשביל עצמה שהרי גם קודם ירידתה היתה בבחי׳ אשר עמדתי2 כו׳ אלא הירידה היא צורך עליי׳ [עלייה] נפש הבהמית היא להאיר לה הארה מיחוד עליון ב״ה שתוכל גם היא לעלות וליכלל באא״ס [באור אין סוף] ב״ה.
Nevertheless, through the descent of the soul, the G‑dly soul, which did not descend for its own sake, for even before its descent it was at the level of “before Whom I have stood,” etc.; rather, the descent is for the sake of the ascent of the animal soul: to shine upon it an illumination from the higher unity, blessed be He, so that it too can rise and be absorbed into the Infinite Light, blessed be He.
Yet the G‑dly soul descended into this world, and not for its own benefit: even before coming down it “stood before G‑d.” It descended to raise the animal soul, shining upon it a glimmer of the higher unity so that it too can rise and be absorbed into the Infinite Light.
The paragraph explains why the G‑dly soul came down into the body: not for itself, since it was already nullified before G‑d, but to lift the animal soul, which the physical screen keeps from sensing G‑d.
This is Tanya’s theme that the soul’s descent is a “descent for the sake of ascent,” and that the ascent achieved is the refinement of the animal soul and the body.
TermsYichuda ila’ahNefesh ha’elokisParsa, masachRomemus+8
- Yichuda ila’ah יחודא עילאה
- Nefesh ha’elokis נפש האלקית
- Parsa, masach פרסא ומסך
- Romemus רוממות
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Yichud יחוד
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Elokim אלקים
- Hishtalshelus השתלשלות
Marei mekomos
- 1ואני ה׳ לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
- 2אשר עמדתי · II Kings 5:16
16והארה והמשכה זו היא מבחי׳ ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד.
This illumination and drawing down is from the level of “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.”
The light that the G‑dly soul shines into the animal soul comes from “Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom,” the lower level of G‑d’s Name.
דהיינו ע״י התבוננות שכל מה שנראה ליש ונפרד אין זה אלא בחי׳ זיו ושם כבוד מלכותו. ואי לזאת יהיה היש בטל כמו זיו השמש בשמש כו׳ וכמ״ש במ״א.
That is, through contemplating that everything that appears as a being and separate is nothing but a radiance, the name of the glory of His kingdom. Therefore the being will be nullified, like the radiance of the sun within the sun, etc., as is explained elsewhere.
It comes through contemplating what the world really is: everything that seems separate is only a radiance of G‑d’s kingship. Once this is understood, the apparent “something” is nullified, like a ray of sunlight inside the sun, where it has no existence of its own.
The paragraph describes the meditation that lifts the animal soul: seeing that all apparent existence is only a radiance of G‑d’s Name, and so nullified before its source.
The image of sunlight inside the sun is Tanya’s (Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 3): within its source, the ray is not considered to exist at all. This is the “lower unity,” reached through understanding rather than the direct nullification of the higher unity.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Pada beShalom of 14 Kislev 5741, explaining why the refining done by prayer is „בדרך מלחמה” (“by way of war”) while Torah refines “by way of rest”, the Rebbe notes how prayer’s contemplation must be shaped.
In his maamar Pada beShalom of 14 Kislev 5741 the Rebbe explains that prayer refines the animal soul “by way of war”: the G‑dly soul clothes itself in the animal soul, and so, “as is known”, the contemplation of prayer must be in matters, and in a way, that the animal soul too can grasp. His note cites this column of Torah Ohr for it, where ¶15–16 teach that the G‑dly soul of itself contemplates that nothing compares to G‑d, yet descends to shine a light for the animal soul, from “Blessed be the name”, contemplating „שכל מה שנראה ליש ונפרד אין זה אלא בחי׳ זיו” (that whatever looks separate is only His radiance). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is such a contemplation because it begins from what the animal soul sees, things that seem separate.
The Alter Rebbe
דהיינו ע״י התבוננות שכל מה שנראה ליש ונפרד אין זה אלא בחי׳ זיו ושם כבוד מלכותו
The Rebbe
שבכדי שההתבוננות דתפלה תפעול בירור נה״ב, צריכה להיות ההתבוננות בענינים כאלו ובאופן שגם נה״ב יכולה להשיג
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat, vol. ב, p. קפב · אור ליום ג׳, י״ד כסלו ה׳תשמ״א
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsZiv haShechinahHisbonenusKrias ShemaYesh and ayin+3
- Ziv haShechinah זיו השכינה
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Krias Shema קריאת שמע
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Malchus מלכות
The blood of the tamid: the animal soul’s fiery ascent ¶17–21
17והנה בעליית נה״ב [נפש הבהמית]1 להתכלל באור א״ס ב״ה גדול מאד ורב כחה שהיא בחי׳ בע״ת [בעלי תשובה] דמשכין בחילא יתיר.2
Now, in the ascent of the animal soul to be absorbed into the Infinite Light, blessed be He, very great and abundant is its power, for it is of the level of baalei teshuvah (those who return), who “draw with greater force.”
When the animal soul rises, its force is greater than the G‑dly soul’s, like that of people who return (baalei teshuvah), whom the Zohar describes as drawing with greater force than the wholly righteous.
כי נה״ב [נפש הבהמית] נלקחה מחיות הקודש שבמרכבה.3 והחיות נושאות את הכסא456 ודמות כמראה אדם עליו מלמעלה.7
For the animal soul was taken from the holy Chayos of the Chariot. And the Chayos carry the Throne, and “the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it from above.”
The animal soul is rooted in the holy Chayos, the living creatures of Ezekiel’s vision that carry G‑d’s Throne, above which is “the likeness as the appearance of a man.” Its root is therefore very high.
The paragraph explains why the animal soul’s ascent is so powerful: like a returning penitent it draws with greater force, and its root is the holy Chayos that carry the Throne.
The Kehot note cites Or HaTorah reading “man and beast” as the true unity of the G‑dly soul (the Name Mah, “man”) and the animal soul (the Name Ban, “beast”), which receives the self-nullification of Mah until they become one.
TermsBaal teshuvahKiseiMerkavahNefesh habahamis+3
- Baal teshuvah בעל תשובה
- Kisei כסא
- Merkavah מרכבה
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Malachim מלאכים
Also ChayusOr Ein Sof
Marei mekomos
- 1והנה בעליית נה״ב . . אדם ובהמה תושיע ה׳ · באוה״ת ויקרא כרך א ע׳ רכד: ור״ל שאדם שהיא נה״א ובהמה שהיא הנה״ב מתייחדים יחוד אמיתי כיון הבהמה ב״ן מתייחד לקבל ביטול דמ״ה ונעשו עצם אחד, וכמו אדם מ״ה וחוה גימט׳ י״ט מילוי דמ״ה שהוא ב״ן שבמ״ה כו׳ עכ״ל ע״ש. ראה גם באוה״ת ויקרא כרך ב ע׳ תלא.
- 2דמשכין בחילא יתיר · Zohar I, 129b
- 3כי נה״ב נלקחה מחיות הקודש שבמרכבה · ראה לקו״ת נשא כח, ג ואילך ובמ״מ לשם.
- 4והחיות נושאות את הכסא · Shemot Rabbah 23:15
- 5והחיות נושאות את הכסא · Rabbeinu Bahya, Shemot 25:10:9
- 6והחיות נושאות את הכסא · Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 4:1
- 7ודמות כמראה אדם עליו מלמעלה · Ezekiel 1:26
18וברעש גדול מתנשאים. וזה היה ענין דם כט, גהתמיד צפונה לפני1 הוי״ה שהקרבנות היו בנפש הבהמה להעלותה לשרשה שנלקחה מבחי׳ פני שור שבמרכבה.
“And with a great noise they rise up.” This was the meaning of the blood of the tamid, [slaughtered] “on the north side before Havayah”: for the sacrifices were of the soul of the animal, to raise it to its root, from which it was taken, the level of the face of the ox in the Chariot.
The Chayos rise “with a great noise,” as the morning prayers describe. This is what the blood of the tamid meant: the tamid was slaughtered, and its blood caught in a vessel, “on the north side before Havayah,” for the offerings raised the animal’s soul to its root in the face of the ox in the Chariot.
The tamid was of the most holy offerings, which are slaughtered in the north, the level of Gevurah (restraint), which is from the left, the level of “a great noise.” Moreover, צפונה (“on the north side”) [is] צפון ה׳, “the hidden hei,”
The tamid was one of the most holy offerings, which are slaughtered on the north side of the altar. North is Gevurah, the left side, the source of the “great noise”; and צפונה (“north”) also reads as צפון ה׳, “the hidden hei.”
דהיינו בחי׳ ה׳ אחרונה של שם הוי״ה שהוא בחי׳ העלם וצמצום א״ס ב״ה שמחמת זה היה הרעש.
that is, the level of the final hei of the Name Havayah, which is the level of the concealment and tzimtzum (contraction) of the Infinite One, blessed be He; and because of this there was the noise.
The hidden hei is the final hei of Havayah, Malchus, where the Infinite One conceals and contracts Himself. The concealment is what causes the “noise,” the tumult of longing.
וזהו צפונה לפני הוי״ה. שמבחי׳ צפונה שהוא בחי׳ רעש גדול מתנשאים ונושאים את הכסא דמות כמראה אדם למעלה מבחי׳ אדם לפי ששרשם מעולם התהו לפני מלך מלך לבני ישראל.5
This is “on the north side before Havayah”: from the level of “the north side,” which is the level of “a great noise,” they rise up and carry the Throne, the likeness as the appearance of a man, above the level of man; because their root is from the World of Tohu, “before any king reigned over the children of Israel.”
From this place of noise the Chayos rise above the level of “man” itself, even as they carry the Throne with the likeness of a man on it. Their root is in Tohu, the world that existed “before any king reigned over Israel.”
The paragraph explains the blood of the tamid, an offering slaughtered in the north: it raises the animal soul to its root in the Chayos, whose noisy, fiery ascent from the hidden place of Gevurah reaches above the level of “man.”
The World of Tohu had intense lights in vessels too small to hold them; this is why powers rooted in Tohu, like the Chayos and the animal soul, have an intensity that can reach beyond the ordered level of Tikkun (“man”). The Kehot note brings Or HaTorah on the two sides of offerings slaughtered in the north: they come for sin, from “the north, where evil begins,” yet they rise to the highest levels.
TermsKorbanosKiseiMerkavahTohu and Tikkun+5
- Korbanos קרבנות explained hereHere the offerings raised the animal’s soul to its root, the face of the ox in the merkavah; the tamid, slaughtered in the north (Gevurah), rose with “great noise.”
שהקרבנות היו בנפש הבהמה להעלותה לשרשה שנלקחה מבחי׳ פני שור שבמרכבה
- Kisei כסא
- Merkavah מרכבה
- Tohu and Tikkun תהו ותקון
- Gevurah גבורה
- Tzimtzum צמצום
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Ein Sof אין סוף
Also Havayah
Marei mekomos
- 1צפונה לפני ה׳ · Leviticus 1:11
- 2והתמיד . . ששחיטתן בצפון · ראה שערי אורה ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו פכ״א, ובד״ה בכ״ה בכסליו לאדה״א הנ״ל כ׳ ”וזהו שהתמיד הוא ק״ק ששחיטתן בצפון דוקא כדי להעלותן לשרשן בבחי׳ גבורות דתוהו כו׳”. סה״מ תרע״ח ע׳ צב. סה״מ תש״ז ע׳ 202 ”והלא צפון הוא בחי׳ גבורה ולמה ק״ק שחיטתן בצפון דוקא” ע״ש. וע״ז ראה באוה״ת ויקרא כרך ב ע׳ תלא בקרבנות ששחיטתן בצפון יש ב׳ ענינים הפכים, הא׳ לכאורה לגריעותא לפי שבאו על חטא והוא מבחי׳ מצפון תפתח הרעה, והב׳ לשבח גדול שעולים בבחי׳ קד״ק ג״ר, משא״כ בקרבנות ששחיטתן בדרום שנקראו קדשים קלים שהם בז״מ . . אך באמת שניהם אמת, ע״ש בארוכה. אוה״ת חנוכה רפג, ב ואילך.
- 3והתמיד היה מקדשי קדשים ששחיטתן בצפון · Mishnah Zevachim 5:1
- 4בחי׳ גבורה שמהשמאל בחי׳ רעש גדול · ועי״ז ממשיך לפני הוי׳ מקור בחי׳ הוי׳ — אוה״ת ויקרא כרך ב׳ ע׳ תלא ואח״כ מציין בכמה מקומות בלקו״ת ע״ש.
- 5לפני מלך מלך לבני ישראל · Genesis 36:31
19והנה הוי״ה יו״ד חכמה כו׳ בחי׳ אדם. משא״כ ברעש גדול מתנשאים למעלה מבחי׳ אדם. וזהו לפני הוי״ה מקור בחי׳ הוי״ה שמשם נמשך להיות התהוות בחי׳ הוי״ה.
Now, Havayah, [whose] yud [is] Chochmah, etc., is the level of man; whereas “with a great noise they rise up” above the level of man. This is “before Havayah”: the source of the level of Havayah, from which is drawn the very coming-into-being of the level of Havayah.
Havayah, whose yud is Chochmah, corresponds to “man,” the ordered structure of the Sefiros. The ascent “with a great noise” reaches above it, to what the verse calls “before Havayah,” the source from which Havayah itself comes to be.
והנה כמו שדם התמיד היו מקריבים מנפש הבהמה ממש כך התפלה במקום הקרבנות היא בעליות והתכללות נפש הבהמית שבאדם שהיא ג״כ ברעש גדול בחי׳ רשפי אש1 והתלהבות בתשוקה וצמאון כו׳.
And just as they would offer the blood of the tamid, from the actual soul of the animal, so prayer, in place of the sacrifices, is the ascent and absorption of the animal soul within a person, which is also “with a great noise”: the level of flashes of fire and fervor, in yearning and thirst, etc.
Just as the Temple offered the blood of an actual animal, prayer lifts the “animal” in a person, the animal soul. Its ascent too comes “with a great noise”: burning fervor, yearning and thirst for G‑d.
The paragraph explains that the animal soul’s fiery ascent reaches “before Havayah,” above the level of “man,” and applies this to prayer, which lifts the animal soul as the offerings lifted the animal.
The Name Havayah is pictured as the form of a man: the yud is the head (Chochmah), the first hei Binah, the vav the six emotive attributes, and the final hei Malchus; spelled out in full, its letters equal 45 (Mah), the value of adam, “man.” Ascending “before Havayah” means reaching past this ordered form to its source.
TermsKorbanosNefesh habahamisYud-hei and vav-heiTefillah+3
- Korbanos קרבנות
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Tefillah תפלה
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1רשפי אש · Song of Songs 8:6
This is “Man and beast You save, Havayah”: the beast within man You save, so that in it too there be a drawing down of the level of Havayah.
The verse “Man and beast You save, Havayah” is read as the beast within man. G‑d saves the animal soul too, so that the light of Havayah is drawn into it.
This thirst and this yearning are the level of “with all your heart.” For in the heart there are two chambers: the right chamber is full of air and breath,
The animal soul’s yearning is loving G‑d “with all your heart,” which the Sages read as with both inclinations. The heart has two chambers, and the right one holds air and breath.
וחלל השמאלי מלא דם שהדם הוא הנפש4 רביעית דם שהנפש תלוי בו משכנו בלב ששם יסוד האש והחום הטבעי.
and the left chamber is full of blood, for “the blood is the soul”; the revi’is of blood on which the soul depends has its dwelling in the heart, where the element of fire and the natural heat are found.
The left chamber holds blood, and “the blood is the soul”: the vital measure of blood (a revi’is) on which life depends dwells in the heart. There too are the element of fire and the body’s natural heat.
כנודע שכנפי הריאה5 מנשבי׳ [מנשבים] על הלב לקררו מחמימות ושם הוא משכן התשוקה וצמאון האלקי להעלות ולהתכלל באוא״ס [באור אין סוף] ב״ה:
As is known, the lobes of the lungs blow upon the heart to cool it from its heat. And there is the dwelling-place of the G‑dly yearning and thirst, to rise and be absorbed into the Infinite Light, blessed be He.
The lungs cool the heart’s heat. That hot left chamber is where the G‑dly yearning and thirst arises: the animal soul’s own fire, now directed toward being absorbed into G‑d.
The paragraph places the animal soul’s fiery yearning in the left chamber of the heart, and shows that when turned to G‑d it becomes loving Him “with all your heart.”
In Tanya ch. 9, the left chamber, full of blood, is the seat of the animal soul, and the right chamber the seat of the G‑dly soul’s love. Here the heat of the left side becomes the source of a thirst for G‑d.
TermsBehemah rabbahYud-hei and vav-hei+3
- Behemah rabbah בהמה רבה
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
Marei mekomos
- 1אדם ובהמה תושיע ה׳ · Psalms 36:7
- 2בכל לבבך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 3שבלב יש ב׳ חללים · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 9:1–2
- 4שהדם הוא הנפש · Deuteronomy 12:23
- 5שכנפי הריאה מנשבים על הלב לקררו · Zohar III, 234a
21והנה אחרי בחי׳ ההעלאה והתכללות זו רוח אייתי רוח1 ואמשיך רוח להמשיך אוא״ס [אור אין סוף] ב״ה למטה כמים הפנים.2
Now, after this ascent and absorption, “spirit brings spirit and draws down spirit”: to draw the Infinite Light, blessed be He, down below, “as water [reflects] face to face.”
After the soul rises, the Zohar’s principle applies: the spirit rising from below brings down spirit from above. As water reflects a face, G‑d answers the soul’s ascent by drawing His light down.
כשם שמבטל א״ע [את עצמו] מיש לאין כך נמשך מלמעלה מאין ליש שתהא השראת אוא״ס [אור אין סוף] ב״ה ממש למטה כמו למעלה.
Just as one nullifies oneself, from being to nothing, so there is drawn down from above, from nothing to being, so that the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself will rest below as above.
The soul makes itself “nothing,” and in response G‑d’s light comes down from “nothing” into “something.” The Infinite Light then rests below just as it does above.
The paragraph gives the second stage of prayer: after the soul’s ascent and self-nullification, the Infinite Light is drawn down into the world in response.
This is the “arousal from below” that draws an “arousal from above,” measure for measure: the self-nullification from being into nothing is answered by a descent from nothing into being.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
A question the Rebbe raises
In his source notes on Tanya, at the words "דרוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח", the Rebbe records where the Zohar’s phrase comes from and how the Alter Rebbe quotes it.
In his source notes on Tanya (ch. 47) the Rebbe records that the Zohar (II, 162b) reads “spirit draws spirit and brings spirit” (רוח אמשיך רוח ואייתי רוח), which Torah Ohr 42c explains; but the wording the Tanya uses, „רוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח” (“spirit brings spirit and draws spirit”), is the one found in this paragraph (Torah Ohr 29c), in Torah Ohr 38d and in Likkutei Torah Shir HaShirim 12b, and the Tzemach Tzedek already remarked on it in Or HaTorah (286a). So the order in ¶21 is the Alter Rebbe’s own, used in several places, and differs from the Zohar’s.
The Alter Rebbe
והנה אחרי בחי׳ ההעלאה והתכללות זו רוח אייתי רוח ואמשיך רוח להמשיך אוא״ס ב״ה למטה
The Rebbe
ל׳ זח״ב קסב: „רוח אמשיך רוח ואייתי רוח”. וביאורו: תו״א מבג. אבל כמש״כ נמצא תו״א כטג
Mareh Mekomos, Hagahos v’Haaros Ketzaros on Tanya (Likkutei Amarim), p. שח
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
TermsYesh me’ayinYesh and ayinHiskallelus+3
- Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1רוח אייתי רוח · Zohar II, 162b
- 2כמים הפנים · Proverbs 27:19
Torah, charity and the helmet of salvation ¶22–31
22ובכל נפשך1 בכל כחות הנפש מחדו״מ [מחשבה דבור ומעשה]. וגם כל נפש כלולה מנר״נ [מנפש רוח נשמה]. ועיקר הנפש היא המשכלת2 כ״ח לפום שעורא דיליה. יש מארי מקרא. ויש מארי משנה ותלמוד.
“With all your soul”: with all the powers of the soul, thought, speech and action. Also, every soul comprises nefesh, ruach and neshamah. And the main part of the soul is the intellectual one, each according to his measure: there are masters of Scripture, and there are masters of Mishnah and Talmud.
“With all your soul” means with all the soul’s powers, thought, speech and action; and every soul also comprises nefesh, ruach and neshamah. Chief among them is the intellect, and each person’s intellect has its measure, whether in Scripture or in Mishnah and Talmud.
וזהו ענין הדלקת הנרות. אלא שבין הערבים מדליק כל ז׳ הנרות ובבקר בשעת הטבת שתי נרות היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳.
This is the matter of lighting the lamps. Except that at dusk he lights all seven lamps, while in the morning, at the time of preparing two lamps, he would light the sixth lamp after preparing it, and afterwards light the seventh lamp.
Bringing the light of Torah into each person’s intellect is the lighting of the lamps. The maamar recalls the difference: at dusk all seven lamps were lit, and in the morning the sixth and then the seventh.
The paragraph applies “with all your soul” to the intellect illuminated by Torah, and connects this to the lighting of the Menorah.
The Kehot note quotes the Mitteler Rebbe’s maamar: the intellect is where the light of G‑d is first revealed, through binding one’s thought to the wisdom of the Torah, which “comes from supernal Chochmah.”
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In the same letter of Chanukah 5710, having shown from the halachah that the seventh lamp is lit by day only so that the sixth bears the name “western”, the Rebbe writes that it still remains to explain why the opening of the maamar names only the sixth lamp and the passage "והנה אחרי" adds the seventh.
The Rebbe explains the difference from what each passage is doing. The opening (¶2–4) explains drawing Chochmah into the middos, and for that, by day, the drawing into Yesod is enough, since from it the light reaches the other middos by itself; the seventh lamp plays no part there, so it is not named. The passage beginning "והנה אחרי" (¶21–22) explains „ההמשכה גם למטה מטה ביותר” (the drawing down to the very lowest), and for that Malchus and revelation, the seventh lamp, matter. The maamar says “afterwards” on purpose, since in the halachah and in the inner meaning alike the lighting of the seventh comes by itself from the lighting of the sixth.
The Alter Rebbe
היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳
The Rebbe
אבל בפיסקא ד״ה והנה אחרי מבאר ההמשכה גם למטה מטה ביותר, ולזה נוגע מדת המל׳ והגילוי, נר הז׳
Igros Kodesh, vol. ג, p. רל (letter תקנד, sec. ד) · נר הששי אור לנר השביעי, ה׳תש״י (Chanukah 5710)
A question the Rebbe raises
In his long reshimah on the Menorah (this section, his editors note, is the content of his letter of 9 Adar 5699 to R. Shneur Zalman Schmotkin), after surveying the views on how the lamps were placed, trimmed and lit, the Rebbe gives a section to „שיטת הדרוש בתו״א וישב ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו” (“the view in dibbur hamaschil B’chaf-hei b’Kislev in Torah Ohr”) and „והסתירות שישנם לכאורה בו” (its apparent contradictions).
The Rebbe notes that this maamar seems to contradict itself: ¶2 and ¶4 say that by day only the sixth lamp was lit, while ¶22 says „היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳” (the sixth was lit after its trimming and then the seventh). It is no printer’s error („טעות הדפוס”), he writes, since Or HaTorah prints the same text with the Tzemach Tzedek’s glosses. He resolves it from the halachah: the maamar follows the views that two eastern lamps were lit by day, but the day’s obligation is the western lamp alone, and the seventh is lit only so that the sixth bears the name “western”; so the opening speaks of the sixth, as the verses and the Sifra do.
The Alter Rebbe
ובבקר בשעת הטבת שתי נרות היה מדליק נר הששי אחר הטבתו ואח״כ מדליק נר הז׳
The Rebbe
והי׳ לבאר שיטת הדרוש בתו״א וישב ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו, והסתירות שישנם לכאורה בו
Reshimos – Reshimas HaMenorah, p. סז–עג (secs. 42–47)
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
TermsNefesh, ruach and neshamahMachshavah, dibbur, maasehHiskallelus
- Nefesh, ruach and neshamah נפש רוח נשמה
- Machshavah, dibbur, maaseh מחשבה דבור ומעשה
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1ובכל נפשך · Deuteronomy 6:5
- 2ועיקר הנפש היא המשכלת · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 3
23והוא כענין ותורה אור1 להיות מאיר אור התורה בכל נפשך נפש השכלי׳ [השכלית]. ומזה בא לבחי׳ ובכל מאדך בכל ממונך2 היא בחי׳ הצדקה שהיא סתם מצוה מעשיית.
It is like “and the Torah is light”: that the light of the Torah should shine in “with all your soul,” the intellectual soul. From this one comes to the level of “with all your might,” with all your wealth, which is the level of charity (tzedakah), which is [what is called] “mitzvah” without qualification, a mitzvah of action.
“And the Torah is light” is the light of Torah shining in the intellect, the service “with all your soul.” From there one reaches “with all your might,” which the Sages read as “with all your money”: charity, which the Talmud simply calls “the mitzvah.”
כנודע שהמצות שהן בעשייה גשמי׳ [גשמיים / גשמיות / גשמית] הן בבחי׳ קטרת הנעשה מסממנים שאין בהם טעם ואינם ממין מאכל.
As is known, the mitzvos that are done in physical action are of the level of the incense, which is made of spices that have no taste and are not of the category of food.
All mitzvos done with physical action are like the incense. Its spices had no taste and were not food, just as physical actions carry no understanding of their own.
The paragraph moves from Torah study (light) to practical mitzvos, above all charity, which it compares to the incense.
In the Jerusalem Talmud and the Midrash, charity is often called simply “the mitzvah.” Charity gives away money earned by one’s labor and life, and so it represents all mitzvos of action.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In the 5716 maamar on this dibbur hamaschil, after explaining that Aharon’s lighting of the lamps refines the middos and the incense removes the fallen “letters”, the Rebbe shows that the service of the incense is found within prayer and the mitzvos too; for this part his editors point to the Rebbe Rashab’s Shemen u’Ketores 5677 and, for prayer, to the Rebbe Maharash.
The Rebbe explains why the mitzvos, and charity above all, are “incense”: „ובכל מאדך” (“with all your might”), which is beyond limit, is the service of the incense, and „שכל מצוה ומצוה יש לה כפי׳ פרטית” (every mitzvah carries its own act of forcing oneself), „שלכן נקראים כל המצוות בשם צדקה” (which is why all the mitzvos are called charity). In charity a person forces himself to give away what he could have bought his life with, all the more when he toiled for it, and such forcing, like the incense, takes the very vitality from the kelipos. He follows the Rebbe Rashab, who writes that each mitzvah subdues the animal soul in its own way and charity subdues it as a whole, and that this is the incense („המצות שהן בעשייה גשמי׳ הן בבחי׳ קטרת”).
The Alter Rebbe
ובכל מאדך בכל ממונך היא בחי׳ הצדקה שהיא סתם מצוה מעשיית. כנודע שהמצות שהן בעשייה גשמי׳ הן בבחי׳ קטרת
The Rebbe
שכל מצוה ומצוה יש לה כפי׳ פרטית, שלכן נקראים כל המצוות בשם צדקה, דענין הצדקה הו״ע הכפי׳ שכופה את עצמו
Sefer HaMaamarim 5716 (Toras Menachem, new edition; unedited), p. פז · ש״פ וישב, שבת חנוכה, מבה״ח טבת, ה׳תשט״ז (הנחה בלתי מוגה)
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
TermsBechol me’odechaTzedakahAsiyah+2
- Bechol me’odecha בכל מאדך
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Asiyah עשיה
Marei mekomos
- 1ותורה אור · Proverbs 6:23
- 2ובכל מאדך בכל ממונך · Berakhot 54a:6
24ומהם נעשה בחי׳ ריח העולה למעלה לחזק את המוח ולהשיב את הנפש שראשית גילוי כלליות הנפש הוא במוחין שבראש ופעולות הריח היא שלא תהיה הנפש בבחי׳ הסתלקות מן המוחין רק שתשוב ותתגלה מהעלם אל הגילוי.
From them there comes to be a fragrance that rises upward, to strengthen the mind and to restore the soul. For the first revelation of the soul as a whole is in the intellect (mochin) in the head, and the action of fragrance is that the soul should not be withdrawn from the intellect, but should return and be revealed, from concealment into revelation.
Like the incense, physical mitzvos give off a “fragrance” that revives the soul and strengthens the mind. When a person faints, fragrance brings the soul back to the brain, where it is first revealed; so the mitzvos keep the soul present and revealed.
The paragraph explains the effect of practical mitzvos through the image of fragrance, which restores the soul to the mind.
Fragrance is used to revive someone who has fainted, when the soul has withdrawn from the brain. The comparison suggests that mitzvos of action, though they seem “tasteless,” reach the soul at its root.
25וכך הוא ענין המצות. וכללותן היא מצות הצדקה.1 שעליה נאמר וצדקה תרומם גוי.2 שמתרוממת ועולה למעלה מעלה. וכתיב וילבש צדקה כשריון וכובע ישועה בראשו.
So it is with the mitzvos, and their general and collective expression is the mitzvah of charity, about which it is said, “Charity exalts a nation”: it is exalted and rises higher and higher. And it is written, “He put on charity as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation on His head.”
All the practical mitzvos are summed up in charity. “Charity exalts a nation” is read as charity itself rising higher and higher, and Isaiah describes G‑d putting on charity as armor, with a helmet of salvation on His head.
¶31 “Helmet of salvation” is explained in paragraph 31.
שריון הוא מקשקשים רבים. וכך הנה כל פרוטה ופרוטה מצטרפת3 לחשבון גדול.4 להיות בחי׳ שריון שהוא מגן לכל החוסים בו.
A coat of mail is [made] of many scales. So too, each and every coin adds up to a great sum, to become a coat of mail, which is a shield for all who take refuge in it.
Armor is made of many small scales. In the same way, each coin given adds to a great sum, and together they form a protective coat for all who shelter in it.
וכך הצדקה נעשה בחי׳ מגן ומחסה שלא יהיה יניקת הקליפה וסט״א [וסטרא אחרא]. ונעשה בחי׳ כובע ישועה בראשו:
So too charity becomes a shield and a refuge, so that there be no nurture for the kelipah and the sitra achra; and it becomes a “helmet of salvation on His head.”
Charity shields a person so that the kelipah and the sitra achra cannot draw nourishment from him. Beyond that, it becomes the “helmet of salvation,” which the next paragraphs explain.
The paragraph presents charity as the sum of all practical mitzvos and, through Isaiah’s image, as both armor that protects and a helmet of salvation.
The Talmud (Bava Basra 9b) derives from this verse that small coins add up to a great sum, as scales make up armor. The Alter Rebbe distinguishes the armor (protection from kelipah) from the helmet (a revelation on the “head,” above).
TermsMarei dechushbenaSitra achraTzedakahKelipah+1
- Marei dechushbena מארי דחושבנא
- Sitra achra סטרא אחרא
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Kelipah קליפה
Also Torah and mitzvos
Marei mekomos
- 1וכללותן היא מצות הצדקה · Tanya, Likkutei Amarim 37:19
- 2וצדקה תרומם גוי · Proverbs 14:34
- 3וילבש צדקה כשריון . . כל פרוטה ופרוטה מצטרפת · Isaiah 59:17
- 4כל פרוטה ופרוטה מצטרפת לחשבון גדול · Bava Batra 9b:1
26וביאור ענין זה הנה כתיב עטרת תפארת1 שיבה2 בדרך צדקה תמצא. שמבחי׳ צדקה3 נעשה בחי׳ עטרת תפארת שיבה היא בחי׳ הדרת פנים יאר ה׳ פניו כו׳
The explanation of this: it is written, “A crown of glory is gray hair; it is found in the way of charity.” From charity there comes to be a “crown of glory, gray hair,” which is the level of the majesty of the face, “May Havayah make His face shine,” etc.,
Proverbs says the crown of gray hair “is found in the way of charity.” Gray hair stands for the majesty of the face, the shining of G‑d’s face in the Priestly Blessing, and this, the maamar says, comes from charity.
בחי׳ פנימיות היא בחי׳ תעלומות לב4 ופנימית הלב שמתאחדת עם המוח בבחי׳ תרין ריעין דלא מתפרשין. כי חיצוניות הלב אינה מתאחדת עם המוח שהמוח ברשותו להשכיל ולהתבונן בגדולת א״ס ב״ה.5
the level of the inner dimension, which is the level of “the hidden things of the heart,” the inner dimension of the heart, which becomes one with the mind as “two companions who never part.” For the outer dimension of the heart does not become one with the mind: the mind is in one’s power, to understand and contemplate the greatness of the Infinite One, blessed be He,
G‑d’s “face” means His inner dimension, which in a person corresponds to the inner heart, the “hidden things of the heart.” The inner heart is always united with the mind, but the outer heart is not. A person can choose to contemplate G‑d’s greatness with his mind, but, as the next paragraph says, the feelings of the outer heart are not in his control.
The paragraph begins to explain the “helmet of salvation” through the verse about the crown of gray hair: charity draws down G‑d’s “shining face,” His inner dimension, which in man corresponds to the inner heart that is one with the mind.
The inner heart and the mind are “two companions who never part,” a Zohar phrase used for Chochmah and Binah: a person can always contemplate with his mind, but the feeling of the outer heart does not follow at will.
Explained elsewhere AI research
Explained by the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe
"עטרת תפארת שיבה": what level is שיבה, gray hair, and why is it more than the ‘shining face’? Our commentary explains gray hair as the majesty of the face but not why שיבה and not זקנה.
“Gray hair” (seivah) here names a level above “old age” (zikna). The Tzemach Tzedek, citing this maamar and in his glosses on it, explains that seivah is the thirteen tikkunim of the beard, „י״ג מדות הרחמים” (the thirteen attributes of mercy), from „סבא דסבין” (“Saba deSabin”), the hidden mind of Keser, while zaken, „זה שקנה חכ׳” (“one who has acquired wisdom”), is Chochmah; and „ותפארת שיבה זו הדרת פנים” (“the glory of seivah” is the majesty of the face), „יאר ה׳ פניו” (“May Havayah make His face shine”). Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is why the „עטרת תפארת שיבה” (“crown of glory, gray hair”) that charity draws down is a revelation from above wisdom itself, as ¶31 says, “His very essence”. The Rebbe uses the same pair, seivah above zaken, in his early notes on Chanukah, for the Kohen Gadol who entered the innermost chamber.
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Nach, vol. ב, p. תתקכד
ור״ל כי שיבה זהו בחי׳ י״ג ת״ד, שהן י״ג מדות הרחמים זהו הנק׳ שיבה, ותפארת שיבה זו הדרת פנים
the Tzemach Tzedek: Or HaTorah, Shemos, vol. ז, p. ב׳תשלב
עמ״ש בענין עטרת תפארת שיבה בדרך צדקה תמצא בהגהות בד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו, כי יש סבא דסבין הנק׳ שיבה
the Tzemach Tzedek: Sefer HaLikkutim, vol. אות וא״ו–זי״ן (ערך זקנה ושיבה), p. רמז
ועד״ז י״ל ההפרש בין זקנה ובין שיבה, כי איזהו זקן זה שקנה חכ׳. וזהו״ע חכמה דאצי׳ הנק׳ זקני עירו כנ״ל. אבל שיבה זה״ע מו״ס
the Rebbe: Reshimos (second edition), booklets 1–14 (Reshimah 3), p. 42
ועד״ז ג״כ כה״ג, שנכנס לפני ולפנים, ב׳ בחי׳ בפני׳ הלב (לקו״ת), סבא דסבין דוקא (אוה״ת), שיבה שלמע׳ מזקן
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.
TermsHearas panimTiferesChitzoniyus halev and pnimiyus halevTzedakah+4
- Hearas panim הארת פנים
- Tiferes תפארת
- Chitzoniyus halev and pnimiyus halev חיצוניות הלב ופנימיות הלב
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Chitzoniyus חיצוניות
- Hisbonenus התבוננות
- Ein Sof אין סוף
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
Marei mekomos
- 1הנה כתיב עטרת תפארת · מובא באוה״ת נ״ך כרך א ע׳ תריב. בד״ה עטרת תפארת תר״מ ח״ב ע׳ תרסה.
- 2עטרת תפארת שיבה · Proverbs 16:31
- 3שמבחי׳ צדקה · בד״ה בכ״ה בכסליו לאדה״א כ׳ ”לכאורה פלא [מה] שייכות יש לצדקה לעשות תפארת שיבה כו׳, אמנם הנה ענין פי׳ דתפארת שיבה היינו בחי׳ הדרת והארת פנים”, ע״ש. בלקו״ת ראה יח, ג מציין לקטע זה.
- 4תעלומות לב · Psalms 44:22
- 5יאר ה׳ פניו · Numbers 6:25
27כט, דואעפ״כ [ואף על פי כן] חיצוניות הלב אינה ברשותו אבל פנימי׳ [פנימיות / פנימית] הלב היא מתאחדת ממש עם המוח. ומחמת הצדקה נעשה בחי׳ ריח המשיב את הנפש ומאיר גילוי המוח להתאחד בפנימית הלב.1
and yet the outer dimension of the heart is not in one’s power; but the inner dimension of the heart truly becomes one with the mind. And through charity there comes to be a fragrance that restores the soul and makes the revelation of the mind shine, to become one in the inner dimension of the heart.
The outer heart is not in a person’s control; the inner heart is always one with the mind. Charity produces a “fragrance” that revives the soul and lets the light of the mind shine into the inner heart.
וזהו שמן וקטורת ישמח לב.2 זה הקב״ה דכתיב צור לבבי.3 דכמו שהלב ממשיך חיות לכל האיברים. כך הנה כתיב ואתה מחיה את כלם.4
This is “Oil and incense gladden the heart”: this is the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, “the Rock of my heart.” For just as the heart draws life-force to all the limbs, so it is written, “And You give life to them all.”
Proverbs says “oil and incense gladden the heart,” and the Psalms call G‑d “the Rock of my heart.” As the heart gives life to every limb, G‑d gives life to all things, so the “heart” that is gladdened is G‑d Himself.
The paragraph explains that charity, like incense, gives off a fragrance that unites mind and inner heart, and reads “oil and incense gladden the heart” as bringing gladness to G‑d, the heart of all.
The Kehot note cites the Rebbe Maharash’s question: if the inner heart is always united with the mind, why is charity needed to make the mind’s revelation shine there? He answers at length in the maamar “Ateres Tiferes.”
TermsRei’achChitzoniyus halev and pnimiyus halevTzedakahChitzoniyus+2
- Rei’ach ריח
- Chitzoniyus halev and pnimiyus halev חיצוניות הלב ופנימיות הלב
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Chitzoniyus חיצוניות
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
Also Chayus
Marei mekomos
- 1שו״ה ומאיר — להתאחד בפנימית הלב · בד״ה עטרת תפארת תר״ם שם העיר: ”שלכאורה צ״ל שמאחר שפנימיות הלב מתאחדת עם המוח למה צריכים לצדקה שע״י הצדקה יהי׳ נעשה בחי׳ ריח לעורר גילוי המוח שיתאחד בפנימיות הלב” ע״ש בארוכה.
- 2שמן וקטרת ישמח לב · Proverbs 27:9
- 3צור לבבי · Psalms 73:26
- 4ואתה מחי׳ את כולם · Nehemiah 9:6
28ושמחת הלב היינו בחי׳ גילוי פנימיות דהיינו בחי׳ פנימית אור א״ס ב״ה אין ערוך אליו כו׳.
The gladness of the heart is the revelation of the inner dimension, that is, the inner dimension of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, to which nothing compares, etc.
The gladness of the heart means the revealing of the inner dimension of the Infinite Light, which bears no comparison to anything else.
וע״י הצדקה שהוא בחי׳ בטול היש לאין שנותן חיי נפשו מיגיעו. נמשך מלמעלה המשכה ליש מאין ממש הוא בחי׳ פנימית אור א״ס ב״ה ממש.1
And through charity, which is the nullification of being into nothing, for one gives the life of his soul from his toil, there is drawn from above a drawing down into being from actual nothing, which is the inner dimension of the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself.
When a person gives charity he gives away money earned by his toil, which is part of his very life; this is nullifying his “something” into “nothing.” In return, G‑d’s innermost light is drawn down from “nothing” into “something.”
The paragraph explains why charity draws down G‑d’s innermost light: giving away one’s hard-earned means is self-nullification, which is answered measure for measure from above.
Tanya (Likkutei Amarim, ch. 37) makes the same point: the whole power of the vital soul is invested in the work by which a person earns his money, so when he gives it to charity his whole vital soul rises to G‑d.
TermsBittul hayeshEin arochTzedakahYesh me’ayin+6
- Bittul hayesh ביטול היש
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
- Simchah שמחה
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
Marei mekomos
- 1וע״י הצדקה . . בחי׳ פנימית אור א״ס ב״ה ממש · ראה קו״א לתניא ד״ה וצדקה כנחל איתן, ובליקוט פי׳ שם. ד״ה עטרת תפארת תר״מ הנ״ל.
This is the level of “doing the will of the Omnipresent (Makom).” For will is subject to change, and it is written, “I, Havayah, have not changed.”
The Sages speak of Israel “doing the will of the Omnipresent (Makom, literally “Place”).” Will implies change, from not wanting to wanting, while G‑d says, “I, Havayah, have not changed.”
אלא ישראל עושים רצונו ש״מ [של מקום] להיות התפשטות רצונו ית׳ בבחי׳ מקום שהן הן המצות שהן רצונו ית׳ המלובשות בעשי׳ [בעשיה] גשמית בבחי׳ מקום וזמן.
But Israel do the will of the Omnipresent, [causing] His will, blessed be He, to extend into the dimension of place: these are the mitzvos, which are His will, blessed be He, enclothed in physical action, in place and time.
Israel’s performance of mitzvos makes G‑d’s will extend into “place.” The mitzvos are His will clothed in physical actions, bound by space and time.
The paragraph reads “doing the will of the Omnipresent” as drawing G‑d’s will into place and time through the physical mitzvos: will implies change, yet G‑d says, “I, Havayah, have not changed.”
TermsSupernal WillYud-hei and vav-heiRatzon+2
- Supernal Will רצון העליון
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Ratzon רצון
Marei mekomos
- 1עושים רצונו של מקום · Berakhot 35b:5–6
- 2ואני הוי״ה לא שניתי · Malachi 3:6
30ותרי״ג מצות דאורייתא וז׳ דרבנן הם תר״ך עמודי אור.12 כמו עמוד המחבר מעלה ומטה להיות אוא״ס [אור אין סוף] שבבחינת פנימית שלמעלה מעלה מגדר עלמין שורה ומתלבש בבחי׳ רצון בתרי״ג מצות דאורייתא וז׳ דרבנן המלובשות בגשמיות.
The 613 mitzvos of the Torah and the seven of the Rabbis are 620 pillars of light, like a pillar that connects above and below: so that the Infinite Light, blessed be He, of the inner dimension, which is far above the bounds of the worlds, rests and is enclothed, as will, in the 613 mitzvos of the Torah and the seven of the Rabbis, which are enclothed in physical things.
The 613 Torah commandments and the seven rabbinic ones make 620, the numerical value of כתר (Keser, “crown”), and they are called 620 pillars of light. Like pillars joining heaven and earth, they bring G‑d’s innermost light, far above the worlds, to rest in physical actions as His will.
The paragraph describes the mitzvos as 620 pillars of light that connect the Infinite Light, above all worlds, with the physical world.
The Kehot note cites Pardes Rimonim for the 620 pillars of light. Their number equals the value of Keser, the divine will, which is why the mitzvos are the vessels of G‑d’s will.
TermsTaryach amudei orDivrei sofrimPnimiyusRatzon+4
- Taryach amudei or תר״ך עמודי אור
- Divrei sofrim דברי סופרים
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
- Ratzon רצון
Marei mekomos
- 1ותרי״ג מצות . . וז׳ דרבנן הם תר״ך עמודי אור · פרדס ש״ח פ״ג.
- 2תר״ך עמודי אור · Pardes Rimmonim 8:3:3–4
31ולכך נק׳ מעשה הצדקה כובע ישועה. כי ישועה מלשון וישע1 ה׳ אל הבל2 כו׳. שפונה אל תפלתו דהיינו שגורם להיות הקב״ה פונה בעצמו ובכבודו להמשיך גילוי עצמותו ומהותו ממש.
Therefore the act of charity is called a “helmet of salvation (yeshuah).” For yeshuah is from the same root as “And Havayah turned (vayisha) to Hevel,” etc., meaning that He turned to his prayer: that is, [charity] causes the Holy One, blessed be He, to turn with His own Self and His glory, to draw down the revelation of His very essence and being.
Charity is called “the helmet of salvation (yeshuah)” because yeshuah is linked to “and Havayah turned (vayisha) to Hevel,” meaning He turned to his offering and prayer. Charity makes G‑d “turn” with His own Self to reveal His very essence.
¶25 This explains the “helmet of salvation” from paragraph 25.
וגילוי זה מתחלק לש״ע [לש״ע (370)] נהורין3 והוא מקור התפארת שיבה בחי׳ הדרת פנים כדכתיב גבי כהנים ומגבעות תעשה להם4 לכבוד ולתפארת שהמגבעות שהם בחי׳ הכובע ישועה נמשך להיות בחי׳ תפארת שיבה5 והדרת פנים.
This revelation divides into 370 lights, and it is the source of “the glory of gray hair,” the majesty of the face; as it is written of the Kohanim, “And you shall make them caps, for honor and for glory”: the caps, which are the “helmet of salvation,” are drawn down to become the “glory of gray hair” and the majesty of the face.
This revelation divides into 370 lights, the source of the “glory of gray hair,” the shining face. The priests’ caps, “for honor and for glory (tiferes),” are the helmet of salvation that becomes the tiferes of gray hair.
The paragraph explains the “helmet of salvation”: charity makes G‑d turn His very Self toward the world, and this revelation becomes the shining majesty of the face.
Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim reads yesha (salvation) as ש״ע, the 370 lights, with a yud for the future: lights far above the chain of worlds; so yeshuah itself holds the 370 lights. In the Zohar’s description of the supernal countenance, the 370 lights are the radiance that shines from the face of the Ancient One, the innermost level of the divine will. That is why the maamar says this revelation, divided into 370 lights, becomes the shining majesty of the face. The Kehot note cites Or HaTorah quoting the Shelah on the crown and the priestly headdress.
TermsShin-ayin nehorinTiferesTzedakahAtzmus u’mahus
- Shin-ayin nehorin ש״ע נהורין explained hereTzedakah is called a “helmet of salvation” because it causes G‑d to turn with His very Self to draw down the revelation of His essence. This revelation divides into the 370 lights and is the source of the “glory of old age,” the majesty of the face.
וגילוי זה מתחלק לש״ע נהורין והוא מקור התפארת שיבה בחי׳ הדרת פנים
- Tiferes תפארת
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Atzmus u’mahus עצמות ומהות
Marei mekomos
- 1ישועה מלשון וישע ה׳ אל הבל · ראה אגה״ק סי׳ ג. בלקו״ת נצבים מט, ד. שמע״צ פב, ג. שה״ש מד, א מציין לכאן.
- 2וישע ה׳ אל הבל · Genesis 4:4
- 3לש״ע נהורין · ראה לקו״ת נצבים מט, ד.
- 4ומגבעות תעשה להם · Exodus 28:40
- 5שהמגבעות . . בחי׳ תפארת שיבה · באוה״ת תצוה ע׳ א׳תשנז מציין לכאן ומוסיף: ”והענין כמו שהביא בשל״ה דף ר״ט ע״א . . בענין הסר המצורפת והרם העטרה בזמן שמצנפת בראש כה״ג עטרה בראש כל אדם”. ע״ש.
The limbs and the fat: delight in G‑d ¶32–33
32וזהו עטרת תפארת שיבה וכ״ז [וכל זה] בדרך צדקה תמצא1 כי מבחי׳ צדקה נעשה בחינת כובע ישועה להמשיך בחינת הדרת פנים יאר ה׳ פניו בחינת פנימיות כנ״ל. ואחר כך בחינת איברים. שבקרבנות היו שני דברים דם וחלב.23
This is “A crown of glory is gray hair,” and all this “is found in the way of charity”: for from charity there comes to be the “helmet of salvation,” to draw down the majesty of the face, “May Havayah make His face shine,” the level of the inner dimension, as explained above. And afterwards [comes] the level of the limbs; for in the sacrifices there were two things, blood and fat.
Summing up: charity produces the helmet of salvation, which draws down the shining face, G‑d’s inner dimension. The maamar now turns to the limbs of the offering: offerings had two parts, blood and fat.
The paragraph closes the discussion of charity and introduces the last element of the Temple order, the limbs, through the distinction between blood and fat.
TermsHearas panimTiferesKorbanosTzedakah+1
- Hearas panim הארת פנים
- Tiferes תפארת
- Korbanos קרבנות
- Tzedakah צדקה
- Pnimiyus פנימיות
Marei mekomos
- 1עטרת תפארת שיבה וכ״ז בדרך צדקה תמצא · Proverbs 16:31
- 2שבקרבנות היו שני דברים דם וחלב · באוה״ת פ׳ פינחס ע׳ א׳עא מביא קטע מכאן.
- 3יאר ה׳ פניו · Numbers 6:25
33והדם קודם לנרות. וקטורת היא בחינת בכל לבבך והאיברים שהן החלב היה אחר הנרות והקטרת.
The blood precedes the lamps and incense; it is the level of “with all your heart”; and the limbs, which are the fat, came after the lamps and the incense.
The order was: blood first, then lamps and incense, then the limbs, identified here with the fat. The blood is loving G‑d “with all your heart,” the fiery yearning of paragraph 20 (the printed stop after “the lamps” would make the incense “with all your heart,” but the same words, “before the lamps and incense,” stand in paragraph 10, and the incense was tied to “with all your might” in paragraph 23).
¶10 This explains the order of the service raised in paragraph 10.
והענין כי החלב הוא בחי׳ התענוג כמו שאנו רואים שמי שהוא בעל תענוג יש לו רבוי חלב.
The explanation is that the fat is the level of delight, as we see that one who lives in delight has much fat.
Fat stands for delight: one who lives in pleasure grows fat. The limbs and fat therefore represent the soul’s pleasure.
That is, “all the fat is for Havayah”: that one should delight in G‑d with joy and gladness of heart, more than from an abundance of everything,
“All the fat is for Havayah” means a person should take all his delight in G‑d, joyfully and gladly, more than in any abundance of good things.
ולא יהיה לו תענוג אחר כלל ועי״ז והיו הדברים האלה3 אשר אנכי מצוך כו׳. ואנכי ממש מצוך כו׳ שעי״ז יהיה בעיניו מתיקות התורה כו׳:
and not have any other delight at all. Through this, “these words which I command you,” etc., [will be upon your heart]; and “I” Myself command you, etc., so that through this the sweetness of the Torah will be in his eyes, etc.
He should have no other pleasure at all. Then “these words which I command you” are felt as commanded by G‑d Himself (“I”), and the Torah tastes sweet.
The paragraph explains the limbs and fat offered last: after yearning comes delight, when a person takes pleasure only in G‑d and tastes the sweetness of His Torah.
The parallel in Likkutei Torah, Pinchas explains that after the thirst of “with all your heart” comes the fat of satisfaction, the realization that the words of Torah are commanded by “I,” G‑d’s essence, not only by His Name.
TermsAnochiSimchahTaanugYud-hei and vav-hei+2
- Anochi אנכי
- Simchah שמחה
- Taanug תענוג
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
Marei mekomos
- 1כל חלב להוי׳ · Leviticus 3:16
- 2בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרוב כל · Deuteronomy 28:47
- 3והיו הדברים האלה · Deuteronomy 6:6
Chanukah as dedication ¶34–39
Now we come to explain the matter of Chanukah, [and] why we bless “to light the Chanukah lamp”; and what is the matter of the dedication (chanukah) of the altar and the dedication of the House.
The maamar now turns to Chanukah itself, and to the blessing on its lamp. Chanukah means “dedication,” so it also asks about the dedication of the altar and of the Temple.
הנה כתיב חנוך לנער4 ע״פ דרכו. שהוא כשרוצים ללמדו. והרי הוא רחוק מזה צריך לחנכו.
It is written, “Train (chanoch) a youth according to his way”: that is, when one wants to teach him and he is far from it, one must train him.
Proverbs says “Train (chanoch) a youth according to his way.” Chinuch, training, is needed when the child is still far from the thing he must learn.
The paragraph opens the explanation of Chanukah through the meaning of chinuch: training someone who is still far from the goal.
TermsChinuchRichuk makom
- Chinuch חינוך explained hereIntroducing Chanukah and the dedication of the altar and Temple: chinuch, as in “train a youth,” is needed when one wishes to teach someone still far from it.
הנה כתיב חנוך לנער ע״פ דרכו. שהוא כשרוצים ללמדו. והרי הוא רחוק מזה צריך לחנכו
- Richuk makom ריחוק מקום
Marei mekomos
- 1חנוכת המזבח · Numbers 7:84
- 2חנוכת המזבח וחנוכת הבית · ע׳ בלקו״ת ס״פ נשא בד״ה זאת חנוכת המזבח. ובסידור שער החנוכה בד״ה מזמור שיר חנוכת הבית. ובלקו״ש ח״כ ע׳ 449 הערה 26. וע׳ 633 וש״נ.
- 3וחנוכת הבית · Psalms 30:1
- 4חנוך לנער על פי דרכו · Proverbs 22:6
35והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו.1 אך הנה כתיב נער הייתי שרו2 ש״ע [של עולם] אמרו שהחיות המתפשט בכל העולמות לכל חד לפום שיעורא דיליה הוא בבחי׳ נער.
The training is through many gifts that are given to him. But it is written, “I was a youth (na’ar)”; [the Sages] said that the Prince of the World said [this verse]: that is, the life-force that spreads through all the worlds, to each according to its measure, is at the level of a youth.
A child is trained with many gifts. The Sages say that “I was a youth” was spoken by the Prince of the World, meaning that all the life-force spread through the worlds, to each by its measure, is on the level of a “youth.”
וכמ״ש והוא נער את בני בלהה3 כו׳. שם הקטנה רחל.4 ה׳ קטנה בחי׳ מל׳ ה׳ אחרונה של שם הוי״ה להיות ומלכותו בכל משלה.5 להוות הנבראים מאין ליש הוא בבחי׳ קטנה לפי שהיא בבחי׳ גבולים ומצרים.
As it is written, “And he was a youth with the sons of Bilhah,” etc.; [and] “the name of the younger one (haketanah) was Rachel”: hei ketanah, “a small hei,” the level of Malchus, the final hei of the Name Havayah, so that “His kingship rules over all.” To bring the creatures into being from nothing to something, it is at the level of “small,” because it is in the level of bounds and limits.
Yosef “was a youth” with the sons of Bilhah, and Rachel was “the younger one,” haketanah, which the maamar reads as hei ketanah, “a small hei.” This small hei is Malchus, the final hei of Havayah, through which G‑d rules and creates; it is “small” because creation requires limits.
The paragraph explains that all the divine life-force in creation, rooted in Malchus, is “small,” a “youth” that needs training and gifts.
The Prince of the World is the angel Metatron, who is called na’ar (“youth”) in Kabbalah; the Kehot note cites several places in the Zohar. The final hei of Havayah is Malchus, which is limited so that finite creatures can exist.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
The Rebbe explains
In an edited sicha of Shabbos Vayeishev, 21 Kislev 5748, the Shabbos after Yud-Tes Kislev and before Chanukah, the Rebbe speaks of Chanukah as chinuch, the dedication of the altar and the Temple and above all the training of children, and comes to the custom of giving Chanukah gelt („דמי חנוכה”).
The Rebbe ties the custom of giving children Chanukah gelt to these words. Chanukah is chinuch, the dedication of the altar and of the Temple and above all the training of children; the custom, as his father Rabbi Levi Yitzchak writes, is like training a child who begins to learn, since on Chanukah the Torah was renewed after the Greek decree, and into those words the Rebbe sets the Alter Rebbe’s line here, „והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו” (“chinuch is through many gifts given to him”), citing this column. He records that the Rebbe Rashab gave Chanukah gelt, and that the Rebbe Rayatz gave it to his daughters even after their marriage, and to his sons-in-law.
The Alter Rebbe
והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו
The Rebbe
וכן נהג כ״ק מו״ח אדמו״ר לתת דמי חנוכה לבנותיו, גם לאחרי הנישואין, וגם לחתניו. ומנהג זה קשור עם ענין החינוך
Sefer HaSichos 5748, vol. א, p. 161–163 (note 83) · ש״פ וישב, כ״א כסלו, ה׳תשמ״ח (edited)
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
TermsLeah and RachelChinuchYesh me’ayinYud-hei and vav-hei+4
- Leah and Rachel לאה ורחל
- Chinuch חינוך
- Yesh me’ayin יש מאין
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Yesh and ayin יש ואין
- Malchus מלכות
Marei mekomos
- 1והחינוך הוא במתנות רבות שנותנים לו · ראה לקוטי לוי״צ אגרות ע׳ שנח. ס׳ השיחות ה׳תשמ״ח ע׳ 161 ואילך.
- 2נער הייתי שרו של עולם אמרו · Psalms 37:25
- 3והוא נער את בני בלהה · Genesis 37:2
- 4שם הקטנה רחל · Genesis 29:16
- 5ומלכותו בכל משלה · Psalms 103:19
36ולגבי א״ס ב״ה שכשמו כן הוא אין לו סוף כו׳ נק׳ כל כללות החיות בשם קטנות שאין ערוך אליו ית׳. ולכן כתיב מי יקום יעקב כי קטן הוא.1
Relative to the Infinite One, blessed be He, Who, as His name is so is He, has no end, etc., all of the life-force, taken as a whole, is called by the name “smallness,” for it bears no comparison to Him, blessed be He. This is why it is written, “How will Yaakov stand, for he is small?”
Compared with the Infinite One, all the divine life-force in the worlds is “small.” So the prophet says, “How will Yaakov stand, for he is small?”
כי יעקב מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה23 ומאחר שיש קצה בראש וקצה בסוף הרי יש לו בחי׳ גבול4 וה״ז [והרי זה] בבחי׳ קטן לגבי א״ס ב״ה.5
For Yaakov is the bar that runs from end to end; and since there is an end at the top and an end at the bottom, it has a limit, and so it is small relative to the Infinite One, blessed be He.
Yaakov is the “middle bar” that runs from end to end. Anything with a top and a bottom end has a limit, so even Yaakov is small before the Infinite.
The paragraph explains that everything with limits, even the level of Yaakov that spans all levels, is small compared with the Infinite One.
The Kehot note quotes a maamar of the Tzemach Tzedek (also in Toras Shmuel 5627): “end to end” refers to the kav, the line of light with a beginning and an end, in contrast to the encircling light that surrounds the line equally, which has no top or bottom.
TermsKatnus and gadlusEin arochEin SofHiskallelus+1
- Katnus and gadlus קטנות וגדלות
- Ein aroch אין ערוך
- Ein Sof אין סוף
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Also Chayus
Marei mekomos
- 1מי יקום יעקב כי קטן הוא · Amos 7:5
- 2יעקב מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה · Zohar III, 186a
- 3מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה · Exodus 26:28
- 4ומאחר שיש קצה בראש . . הרי יש לו בחי׳ גבול · בד״ה להבין ענין שאוא״ס ב״ה לכ״ק אדמו״ר הצ״צ (באוה״ת ענינים) ובתורת שמואל תרכ״ז ע׳ תכו: ”והיינו בחי׳ השתלשלות ע״ס דיושר והקו וחוט שיש קצה בראש וקצה בסוף סיום הקו, וע׳ בד״ה ויושט המלך לאסתר בענין ותגע בראש השרביט כו׳ אבל בחי׳ העיגול שמקיף את הקו מראשו עד סופו בהשוואה א׳ זה בחי׳ למעלה עד אין קץ שאין שייך שם ראש וסוף כו׳”. ובאוה״ת פ׳ ויחי שצט, ב. דהקצה ראשון הוא ראשית הארת הקו וחוט כו׳.
- 5ולגבי א״ס ב״ה . . וה״ז בבחי׳ קטן לגבי א״ס ב״ה · ראה אוה״ת שלח ע׳ תקפ.
37וכדי להמשיך אוא״ס [אור אין סוף] ב״ה ממש בקרבנות דם התמיד ונרות וקטרת ואברים היה המזבח קטן מהכיל
To draw down the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself through the sacrifices (the blood of the tamid, the lamps, the incense and the limbs), the altar was too small to contain [it].
The offerings (blood, lamps, incense and limbs) were meant to draw down the Infinite Light itself. But the altar, like all creation, was too “small” to contain it.
ולכן התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות לחנך את המזבח והיה מתנתם מרובה מזה שהקריבו עליו בכ״י [בכל יום] את הכבש אחד1 כו׳ שהקריבו משל צבור של כל ישראל.
Therefore the Princes volunteered many gifts for the dedication of the altar, to dedicate the altar; and their gift was greater than what was offered on it every day, “the one lamb,” etc., which was offered from the communal funds of all Israel.
So the Princes of the tribes brought many gifts to dedicate the altar, more than the daily offerings brought from the funds of the whole community. Like the gifts given to a child in training, these “trained” the altar to hold the light.
The paragraph applies chinuch to the altar: it was too small for the Infinite Light, so the Princes’ generous gifts dedicated it, enabling it to receive.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In the maamar Baruch she’asah nissim of Shabbos Mikeitz, Zos Chanukah 5743 (edited and published for Chanukah 5748), explaining the Alter Rebbe’s maamar of that name on why the altar was dedicated by anointing with oil, the Rebbe adds a bracket citing this maamar.
In his maamar Baruch she’asah nissim the Rebbe cites this maamar, with Likkutei Torah Naso, for why „התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות” (the Princes gave many gifts to dedicate the altar), and even offered incense on the outer altar (a one-time ruling, as Rashi says): to make the altar fit for offerings, „הי׳ צריך להמשיך בו המשכות נעלות ביותר” (very lofty drawings-down were needed), higher than those the offerings drew afterward. He sets this beside the Alter Rebbe’s maamar Baruch she’asah nissim, where the altar is dedicated with the anointing oil, hidden wisdom („חכמה סתימאה”, Chochmah stima’ah), and the oil of the lamps, in which the Chanukah miracle was done, is higher still. He also remarks that this maamar explains the altar’s dedication within a Chanukah discourse, though it does not speak of the anointing oil.
The Alter Rebbe
היה המזבח קטן מהכיל ולכן התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות לחנך את המזבח
The Rebbe
כי בכדי לחנך את המזבח שיהי׳ ראוי להקריב עליו קרבנות, הי׳ צריך להמשיך בו המשכות נעלות ביותר
Sefer HaMaamarim Melukat (new edition), Kislev–Shvat, vol. ב (Kislev–Shvat), p. קעח–קעט (notes 8, 12) · ש״פ מקץ, זאת חנוכה, ה׳תשמ״ג (edited; published for Chanukah 5748)
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
TermsChinuchKorbanos+1
- Chinuch חינוך explained hereOne trains a youth because he is far from what he is to learn, and the training is with many gifts (Vayeshev 4:34–35). All the life spread through the worlds is a “youth,” “small” relative to Ein Sof (4:35–36); to draw Or Ein Sof itself into the daily offerings the altar was too small to hold it, so the princes gave many gifts to train it.
היה המזבח קטן מהכיל ולכן התנדבו הנשיאים לחנוכת המזבח רבוי מתנות לחנך את המזבח
- Korbanos קרבנות
Also Or Ein Sof
Marei mekomos
- 1את הכבש אחד · Numbers 28:4
38והנשיאים לפי שהיו במעלה יותר משאר כללות ישראל נתנו לחנוכת ל, אהמזבח מתנה מרובה קערות כסף ופרים וכבשים ועתודים
The Princes, because they were on a higher level than the rest of the community of Israel, gave a great gift for the dedication of the altar: silver bowls, bulls, lambs and he-goats,
The Princes of the twelve tribes stood higher than the rest of Israel, so they brought generous gifts for the altar’s dedication: silver bowls and many animals. This is the “many gifts” of chinuch applied to the altar.
כדי שיהיה כח בקרבנות של ישראל להמשיך אור דבר יום ביומו בקרבנות של כל יום ויום.
so that there would be power in the offerings of Israel to draw down light, “each day’s matter on its day,” in the offerings of each and every day.
Their gifts gave the daily communal offerings the power to draw down divine light day by day. The dedication enabled all that followed.
וכך היה ענין הנרות דחנוכה בימי חשמונאי שהיונים לא בקשו לשלוח ידם1 רק להשכיחם תורתך2 ולהעבירם כו׳ וכמארז״ל [וכמאמר רבותינו זכרונם לברכה] (בב״ר [בבראשית רבה] פ׳ ט״ז ופ׳ מ״ד) שאמרו כתבו לכם על קרן השור345 כו׳.
So too was the matter of the Chanukah lamps in the days of the Hasmoneans: the Greeks did not seek to lay hands on them, but only “to make them forget Your Torah and to make them transgress,” etc.; as our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Bereishis Rabbah, sections 16 and 44), that they said, “Write on the horn of the ox,” etc.
Chanukah is compared to this. The Greeks, the text says, did not seek to lay hands on the Jews, only, in the words of the Al HaNissim prayer, “to make them forget Your Torah and to make them transgress the statutes of Your will”; the Midrash reports that they demanded that Israel “write on the horn of the ox” (that they have no portion in the G‑d of Israel).
¶1 This begins answering paragraph 1's question about the Chanukah lamps; paragraph 39 completes it.
ופי׳ לפי שכל העובדי כוכבים יש להם נה״ב [נפש הבהמית] מפני שור אלא שהם מקבלים מבחי׳ הפסולת והשמרי׳ [והשמרים] בחי׳ קרנים וטלפים שמרים ופסולת
The explanation: all idol worshippers have an animal soul from the face of the ox, except that they receive from the level of the waste and the dregs, the level of horns and hooves, dregs and waste,
This part follows the Kabbalistic teaching of the Chariot and is an interpretive reading. The text says that the idol worshippers of which it speaks also have an animal soul rooted in the “face of the ox” of Ezekiel’s Chariot, but that it draws only from its outer, coarse parts, the “horns and hooves,” which do not rise into holiness.
שאין עולים ונכללי׳ [ונכללים] בקדוש׳ [בקדושה / בקדושת] פני שור שבמרכב׳ [שבמרכבה]6 שנושאות את הכסא ודמות אדם שעליו מלמעלה שכח זה רק בהנפש אלקית שהוא מבחי׳ אדם שעל הכסא.
which do not rise and become absorbed into the holiness of the face of the ox in the Chariot, [the Chayos] that carry the Throne and the likeness of a man upon it from above; for this power [exists] only in the G‑dly soul, which is from the level of the man upon the Throne.
The holy “face of the ox” carries the Throne with the likeness of a man upon it. According to the text, the power to rise into that holiness belongs to the G‑dly soul, which stems from the “man upon the Throne.”
The paragraph compares Chanukah to the Princes’ dedication of the altar and explains, from the Kabbalah of the Chariot, what the Greek decree “write on the horn of the ox” sought: to cut Israel off from the holy root of their souls.
The Kehot note brings the Rebbe’s comment: the Greeks laid hands on the Jews’ property and daughters, as the Rambam writes, but their aim was spiritual, to cut Israel off from the Torah. The four faces of the Chariot (lion, ox, eagle, man; Ezekiel 1:10) are read throughout Chassidus as roots of souls and powers.
TermsChinuchNefesh ha’elokisKiseiKorbanos+4
- Chinuch חינוך
- Nefesh ha’elokis נפש האלקית
- Kisei כסא
- Korbanos קרבנות
- Mayin nukvin and mayin duchrin מיין נוקבין ומיין דוכרין (מ״ן ומ״ד)
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Kadosh קדוש
- Hiskallelus התכללות
Marei mekomos
- 1שהיונים לא בקשו לשלוח ידם · ראה בד״ה כי עמך מקור חיים תרל״ב (סה״מ תרל״ב ע׳ כז). עמש״כ שם היינו אם לא היו נשמעים להם לבטל תורה. מעיר ע״ז כ״ק אדמו״ר זי״ע: עפ״ז מובן בפשיטות מש״כ בתו״א שם (ל, רע״א) שהיונים לא בקשו לשלוח ידם, אף שכ׳ הרמב״ם (ריש הל׳ חנוכה) ופשטו ידם בממונם ובבנותיהם (ובכלל — ממונם שאני. ובנותיהם — ה״ז להעבירם כו׳), עכ״ל שם.
- 2רק להשכיחם תורתך · ראה ד״ה ת״ר מצות נ״ח תשל״ח סעיף ג (נדפס בסה״מ מלוקט ח״ב ע׳ יט) ובהערה 33 שעיקר מלחמתם היתה נגד הרוחניות ”להשכיח את ישראל שהתורה היא תורת ה׳”. ע״ש.
- 3כתבו לכם על קרן השור · ראה באוה״ת נ״ך כרך ב ע׳ עט ובאוה״ת ענינים ע׳ א שמציין לכאן.
- 4כתבו לכם על קרן השור · Bereshit Rabbah 16:4–5
- 5כתבו לכם על קרן השור · Bereshit Rabbah 44:17
- 6פני שור שבמרכב׳ · Ezekiel 1:10
39והנה״ב [והנפש הבהמית] היא מבחי׳ אדם שבחיות שבמרכבה ודמות אחד לארבעתן. ודמות פניהם פני אדם.1 ולכן יש להם כח להמשיך אור א״ס ב״ה ממש.
And the animal soul [of Israel] is from the level of man in the Chayos of the Chariot: “and the four of them had one likeness,” “and the likeness of their faces was the face of a man.” Therefore they have the power to draw down the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself.
This too is an interpretive reading from the Kabbalah of the Chariot. The text says that the Jew’s animal soul comes from the aspect of “man” within the Chayos, for Ezekiel saw that each of their faces had a human likeness, and so even it can draw down the Infinite Light.
והיונים נתקנאו בישראל ורצו שגם ישראל יכתבו על קרן השור שיקבלו מבחי׳ קרנים וטלפים כנ״ל שלא ליכלל בקדושת אדם העליון.
The Greeks were envious of Israel and wanted Israel too to write on the horn of the ox, so that they would receive from the level of horns and hooves, as above, and not be absorbed into the holiness of the supernal Man.
The Greeks, the text says, envied this and wanted Israel to “write on the horn of the ox,” that is, to draw only from its coarse outer parts. That would keep them from being absorbed into the holiness of the “supernal Man.”
וזהו שאין לכם חלק2 כו׳. והישראל היו חלשים ומעטים בזמן ההוא ואעפ״כ [ואף על פי כן] מסרו נפשם על קדוש השם3
This is [the meaning of] “that you have no portion,” etc. Israel were weak and few at that time, and nevertheless they gave their lives for the sanctification of the Name.
The decree was that Israel declare they had no portion in G‑d. Though weak and few, they gave their lives to sanctify G‑d’s Name.
ובכח מס״נ [מסירות נפש] הי׳ [היה] להם כח להמשיך אור התורה מחדש והמשכ׳ זו היא בבחי׳ חנוכה בחי׳ מתנה מרובה המשכת כובע ישועה להיות עטרת תפארת שיבה כו׳:
And through the power of self-sacrifice they had the strength to draw down the light of the Torah anew. This drawing down is at the level of Chanukah (dedication), the level of an abundant gift, the drawing down of the “helmet of salvation” to become the “crown of glory, gray hair,” etc.
Their self-sacrifice drew down the light of the Torah anew. This is chanukah, “dedication,” the great gift that brings the “helmet of salvation” and the “crown of glory.”
The paragraph explains the Hasmoneans’ victory: the Greeks tried to cut Israel off from their holy root, and Israel’s self-sacrifice drew down the light of Torah anew, a new “dedication.”
The self-sacrifice here recalls paragraph 11: giving one’s life at “One,” beyond reason, which reaches the essence of the Infinite Light. The Kehot note cites the Mitteler Rebbe’s Shaarei Orah, whose introduction also treats the Hasmoneans’ self-sacrifice.
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In a letter of Chanukah 5725 (printed also among the notes to the Chanukah 5725 sicha in Likkutei Sichos vol. 5), on the Magen Avraham’s mention „נוהגין הנערים העניים לסבב על הפתחים” (of poor boys going from door to door) on Chanukah, the Rebbe looks for where the Rebbeim speak of charity on Chanukah in particular.
Looking for a source in Chassidus for charity especially on Chanukah, the Rebbe finds none in any maamar, sicha or letter of the Rebbeim that he has seen, apart from what this maamar explains: „דמעשה הצדקה נק׳ כובע ישועה” (the act of charity is called the “helmet of salvation”), and the self-sacrifice of Chanukah drew down „מתנה מרובה” (“a great gift”), the helmet of salvation. He asks anyone who finds such a source in the teachings of the Rebbeim to let him know. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) this is also why the long section on charity (¶25–31) stands in a Chanukah maamar.
The Alter Rebbe
והמשכ׳ זו היא בבחי׳ חנוכה בחי׳ מתנה מרובה המשכת כובע ישועה להיות עטרת תפארת שיבה
The Rebbe
דמעשה הצדקה נק׳ כובע ישועה ומס״נ דחנוכה המשיכה מתנה מרובה המשכת כובע ישועה להיות כו׳
Igros Kodesh, vol. כג, p. ש–שא (letter ח׳תתקיז) · חנוכה ה׳תשכ״ה
From the Rebbe’s maamar ד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו יומי דחנוכה, 5740
The Alter Rebbe says the Hasmoneans drew down Torah anew through self-sacrifice. The Rebbe connects this to the details of the story: היכל is associated with Chochmah, and the Greeks’ defiling all the oils means they defiled the level of Chochmah. This compromised the ordinary work of drawing Chochmah into the middos, so a special repair was needed through the cruse sealed by the Kohen Gadol, which represents mesirus nefesh above measure and limitation. Such self-sacrifice reveals the yechidah and brings complete victory in a single moment, linking the military victory to the oil and lamps.
The Alter Rebbe
ובכח מס״נ הי׳ להם כח להמשיך אור התורה מחדש
The Rebbe
וטמאו כל השמנים, שטמאו את בחי׳ החכ׳
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
TermsTiferesChinuchMerkavahMesirus nefesh+6
- Tiferes תפארת
- Chinuch חינוך
- Merkavah מרכבה
- Mesirus nefesh מסירות נפש
- Nefesh habahamis נפש הבהמית
- Kadosh קדוש
Marei mekomos
- 1ודמות פניהם פני אדם · Ezekiel 1:10
- 2שאין לכם חלק · ראה בליקוט פי׳ — חיטריק לאגה״ק סי׳ ז.
- 3ואעפ״כ מסרו נפשם על קדוש השם · ראה גם שערי אורה בהקדמה.
Hallel and thanksgiving ¶40–43
This is the matter of Hallel and thanksgiving. For hallel means praise, and it is also the language of “when His lamp shone (b’hilo),” etc.: illumination, in revelation.
The maamar now answers its opening question about Hallel and thanksgiving. Hallel means praise, but it is also related to Job’s “when His lamp shone (b’hilo),” meaning light and revelation.
¶1 This begins answering paragraph 1's question on Hallel; thanksgiving follows in paragraph 43.
וזה נמשך מזה כי מחמת השבח שמשבחים את האדם3 במעלות ומדות שיש בו מעוררים את המעלות ומדות שבו לצאת מהעלם לגילוי.
And the one follows from the other: for through the praise with which one praises a person for the virtues and qualities he has, one arouses the virtues and qualities within him to come out from concealment into revelation.
The two meanings connect: praising a person for his good qualities awakens those qualities and brings them out of hiding. Praise reveals what was concealed.
The paragraph defines Hallel as praise that brings hidden qualities into revelation, like a lamp’s shining, and so connects praise to lamps.
The Kehot note refers to a later maamar in Torah Ohr where calling someone generous brings out the kindness already hidden in his heart, even when he is angry.
Marei mekomos
- 1הלל ל׳ שבח וגם לשון בהילו נרו · ראה בשערי אורה בד״ה בכ״ה בכסליו פרק מג. סה״מ תקס״ח ע׳ שע. יהל אור קאפיטל קמו ע׳ תקנח. במילואים שם ע׳ תרצג. אוה״ת בראשית כרך ה תתקלה, א ואילך. בענין הלל — בלקו״ת עקב טז, ב מציין לכאן.
- 2בהילו נרו · Job 29:3
- 3מחמת השבח שמשבחים את האדם · ראה גם לקמן קב, א.
41וזהו הללויה שיצא שם י״ה מהעלם לגילוי להיות בחי׳ יו״ד חכמה כו׳ מלמעלה מן החכמה
This is “Halleluyah”: that the Name Kah should come out from concealment into revelation, so that there be the level of the yud, Chochmah, etc., from above Chochmah.
“Halleluyah” is read as hallel plus Kah: bringing the Name Kah, whose yud is Chochmah, from concealment into revelation. The light revealed comes from above Chochmah.
כי חכמה כ״ח מ״ה [מה] בגימטריא אדם1 והמשכת בחי׳ אדם שעל הכסא הוא מבחי׳ שלמעלה מעלה מבחי׳ אדם הוא בחי׳ אור א״ס ב״ה ממש ועי״ז נעשה בחי׳ שם י״ה תרין ריעין דלא מתפרשין2
For חכמה (Chochmah) is כ״ח מ״ה (“the power of Mah”), and מ״ה has the numerical value of אדם (“man”); and the drawing down of the level of the man upon the Throne is from the level far above the level of man, the Infinite Light, blessed be He, itself. Through this there comes to be the Name Kah, “two companions who never part.”
Chochmah is read as koach mah, “the power of Mah,” and Mah (45) equals adam, “man.” The “man upon the Throne” is drawn from far above the level of man, the Infinite Light itself, and so Chochmah and Binah (yud and hei, Kah) become “two companions who never part.”
ואח״כ הללו את שם3 ה׳ להיות המשכת חכמה במדות שתהיינה גם המדות בבחי׳ בטול לך ה׳ הגדולה כו׳.
And afterwards, “Praise the Name of Havayah”: that there be a drawing down of Chochmah into the attributes, so that the attributes too will be in a state of self-nullification, “Yours, Havayah, is the greatness,” etc.
The psalm continues “Praise the Name of Havayah,” read as drawing Chochmah further into the emotions. Then the emotions too are nullified before G‑d.
אך כ״ז [כל זה] ההילול והשבח להמשיך מההעלם לגילוי הוא ע״י עבדי ה׳ שהם בבחי׳ עבדים שמקבלים עליהם עומ״ש [עול מלכות שמים] בבחי׳ שום תשים4 כו׳
But all this praise and acclaim, to draw from concealment into revelation, is through “the servants of Havayah,” who are like servants who accept upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven, in the manner of “you shall surely set [a king over you],” etc.
The psalm says “Praise, servants of Havayah”: this revelation comes through those who serve like servants, accepting the yoke of Heaven as one accepts a king (“you shall surely set a king over you”).
וכמ״ש במ״א שבחי׳ הלל והשבח הזה והמשכה זו היא בחי׳ מאה ברכות שחייב אדם לברך5 בכל יום שהוא בחי׳ הברכה והמשכה מהעלם אל הגילוי.
As is explained elsewhere, this level of praise and acclaim, and this drawing down, is the level of the hundred blessings that a person is obligated to recite every day, which is the level of blessing and drawing down from concealment into revelation.
This praise corresponds to the hundred blessings a Jew must say each day. A blessing (berachah) means drawing down from concealment into revelation.
The paragraph reads Psalm 113 as the stages of Hallel: revealing the Name Kah from above wisdom, drawing it into the emotions, through servants who accept G‑d’s kingship, as in the daily hundred blessings.
The Zohar calls Chochmah and Binah “two companions who never part.” The gematria מ״ה = אדם (45) links Chochmah to the image of man, which the maamar uses for the “man upon the Throne.”
TermsKoach mahKiseiMah and BanBerachah+6
- Koach mah כח מ״ה explained hereChochmah is koach mah, and mah (45) is the numerical value of adam; the drawing of the “adam” on the throne comes from far above adam, from the Or Ein Sof itself. The praise “Hallelu” then draws Chochmah into the middos so that they too are in bittul.
כי חכמה כ״ח מ״ה בגימטריא אדם
- Kisei כסא
- Mah and Ban מ״ה וב״ן
- Berachah ברכה
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
- Middos מדות
Marei mekomos
- 1מ״ה בגימטריא אדם · נסמן לקמן נב, ב.
- 2תרין ריעין דלא מתפרשין · Zohar III, 4a
- 3הללו את שם ה׳ · Psalms 113:1
- 4שום תשים · Deuteronomy 17:15
- 5מאה ברכות שחייב אדם לברך · Menachot 43b:15–17
42וזהו יהי שם ה׳ מבורך מעתה ועד עולם.1 מעתה מהתחל׳ [מהתחלת] הזמן שהוא בבחי׳ מלכותו ית׳ שאז שייך ל׳ [לשון] זמן מלך מלך כו׳ כמ״ש במ״א2
This is “May the Name of Havayah be blessed from now and forever.” “From now”: from the beginning of time, which is at the level of His kingship, blessed be He, for then the language of time applies, “[G‑d] is King, [G‑d] was King,” etc., as is explained elsewhere.
The psalm continues, “May the Name of Havayah be blessed from now and forever.” “From now” is the beginning of time, which begins with G‑d’s kingship, Malchus: only there does the language of time apply, as in “G‑d is King, G‑d was King,” as is explained elsewhere.
ועד עולם היינו שיומשך ויתפשט עד סוף כל המדרגות שיהי׳ [שיהיה] גילוי אלקות כו׳.
“And forever”: that it be drawn down and spread to the end of all the levels, so that there be a revelation of G‑dliness, etc.
“And forever” means the blessing should spread down to the lowest levels, so that G‑dliness is revealed everywhere.
The paragraph reads “from now and forever” as the revelation starting from Malchus, the beginning of time, and spreading to all the levels.
Tanya (Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 7) explains that time and space come into being through G‑d’s Malchus, since there is “no king without a people.”
TermsMalchus
- Malchus מלכות
Marei mekomos
- 1יהי שם ה׳ מבורך מעתה ועד עולם · Psalms 113:2
- 2מהתחל׳ הזמן שהוא בבחי׳ מלכותו . . כמ״ש במ״א · Tanya, Sha’ar HaYichud 7:5
43וכ״ז [וכל זה] בחי׳ הלל והללויה להמשיך מההעלם אל הגילוי. אבל בחי׳ הודאה הוא בחי׳ שוב שצ״ל רצוא ושוב1
All this is the level of Hallel and Halleluyah, to draw from concealment into revelation. But thanksgiving is the level of “returning,” for there must be “running and returning.”
Hallel draws the hidden into revelation. Thanksgiving (hodaah) is the opposite movement, “return”: the Chayos are described as “running and returning.”
ולמעלה נק׳ מטי ולא מטי שבאמת אין אא״ס [אור אין סוף] ב״ה בגילוי ממש בזה״ז [בזמן הזה] כ״א לע״ל [לעתיד לבוא] ונגלה כבוד הוי״ה2 כי עין בעין3 כו׳
Above, it is called “reaching and not reaching.” For in truth the Infinite Light, blessed be He, is not actually revealed in this time, only in the Time to Come: “And the glory of Havayah will be revealed,” “for eye to eye,” etc.,
On high this is called “reaching and not reaching”: G‑d’s Infinite Light is not truly revealed now; that will happen only in the Time to Come, when “the glory of Havayah will be revealed” and seen “eye to eye.” So every ascent now both reaches and does not reach.
משא״כ עכשיו אין הגילוי רק בבחי׳ קול דודי דופק אני ישנה ולבי ער4 כו׳ ומשחרב בהמ״ק [בית המקדש] אין להקב״ה בעולמו אלא ד״א [ד׳ אמות] של הלכה5 כו׳
whereas now the revelation is only in the manner of “The voice of my beloved knocks,” “I sleep, but my heart is awake,” etc.; and since the Holy Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has in His world only the four cubits of halachah, etc.
Now the revelation is like the beloved knocking while “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” Since the Temple’s destruction, G‑d’s presence in the world is found only in the “four cubits of halachah,” the Torah’s law.
ונמשך מזה בחי׳ הודאה ובטול לאור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בתורתו ועבודתו. ודברי אשר שמתי בפיך.6 ואשים דברי בפיך.7 אני המשנה המדברת בפיך8 כו׳:
From this comes the level of thanksgiving and self-nullification before the Infinite Light, blessed be He, which is drawn down in His Torah and His service: “And My words which I have put in your mouth,” “And I have put My words in your mouth,” “I am the Mishnah speaking in your mouth,” etc.
Because G‑d cannot be fully grasped, the response is hodaah: acknowledging and bowing before the Infinite Light drawn down in Torah and divine service. G‑d’s words are placed in a person’s mouth, as the maggid, the heavenly voice that taught Rabbi Yosef Karo and called itself the Mishnah, told him in his Maggid Meisharim: “I am the Mishnah speaking in your mouth.”
The paragraph defines thanksgiving (hodaah) as the “returning” side of divine service: acknowledging that G‑d is not fully revealed in this era, and bowing before the light drawn down in the Torah.
Hodaah means both thanks and admission: one admits what one cannot fully understand. Chanukah therefore has both Hallel (bringing light into revelation) and hodaah (bittul before what remains beyond reach).
The Rebbe on this paragraph AI research
Background from the Rebbe
In a note to the Chanukah 5725 sicha in Likkutei Sichos 5, marked as the Rebbe’s own reshimah, the Rebbe lists the Greek decrees in the Rambam’s order and sets a Chanukah practice against each.
In a note to his sicha of Shabbos Chanukah 5725, marked as his own reshimah, the Rebbe sets against each Greek decree in the Rambam its opposite in Chanukah: against „גזרו גזירות” (“they made decrees”), Hallel, which belongs to freedom; against „בטלו דתם” (“they abolished their religion”), thanksgiving („הודאה”), and here he refers to the end of this maamar; against “they did not let them engage in Torah and mitzvos”, the lamps, „נר מצוה ותורה אור” (“a mitzvah is a lamp and the Torah is light”); and so on. Perhaps (biur b’derech efshar) hodaah answers “they abolished their religion” because, as ¶43 says, it is „הודאה ובטול לאור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בתורתו ועבודתו” (the bittul before the Infinite Light drawn into His Torah and service).
The Alter Rebbe
ונמשך מזה בחי׳ הודאה ובטול לאור א״ס ב״ה הנמשך בתורתו ועבודתו
The Rebbe
בטלו דתם (הודאה. ועייג״כ תו״א סד״ה בכ״ה בכסלו)
Likkutei Sichos, vol. ה, p. 443, note 15 · שבת חנוכה ה׳תשכ״ה (the note marked 'רשימת כ״ק אדמו״ר שליט״א׳)
Found by AI in the Rebbe’s works and checked against each source; not yet reviewed by a person, so check the place before relying on a detail. How it was made
TermsMati velo matiHoda’ahRatzo vashovLe’asid lavo+5
- Mati velo mati מטי ולא מטי
- Hoda’ah הודאה
- Ratzo vashov רצוא ושוב
- Le’asid lavo לעתיד לבא
- Avodas Hashem עבודת ה׳
- Yud-hei and vav-hei י״ה ו״ה
Marei mekomos
- 1רצוא ושוב · Ezekiel 1:14
- 2ונגלה כבוד הוי״ה · Isaiah 40:5
- 3כי עין בעין · Isaiah 52:8
- 4קול דודי דופק אני ישנה ולבי ער · Song of Songs 5:2
- 5אין להקב״ה בעולמו אלא ד״א של הלכה · Berakhot 8a:18–19
- 6ודברי אשר שמתי בפיך · Isaiah 59:21
- 7ואשים דברי בפיך · Isaiah 51:16
- 8אני המשנה המדברת בפיך · בספר מגיד משרים בכ״מ.
Finished the maamar?
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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
In prayer, a person should give himself over to G‑d at “One,” and then turn the fire of his own heart, the animal soul’s energy, into a thirst for G‑d. He should let the Torah light up his mind, and give charity from money earned by his toil, which draws down G‑d’s innermost light. Then he should take delight in G‑d alone. Like the Hasmoneans, even when weak and few, one draws the Torah’s light anew through self-sacrifice, and answers with both praise and humble acknowledgment.
Questions for discussion
- Why were all seven lamps lit at night but only the principal lamp in the morning, and what does this say about serving G‑d in times of darkness?
- Why can the light of wisdom refine the emotions but not the “letters” of thought, speech and action, and why does the incense succeed where the lamps cannot?
- What distinguishes self-sacrifice at “One” from self-sacrifice “with all your soul,” and why does the animal soul’s ascent carry greater force?
- How does giving charity from one’s hard-earned money draw down G‑d’s inner dimension, the “helmet of salvation”?
- How do Hallel and thanksgiving differ, and why does Chanukah need both?
Key terms in this maamar
- 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. ×14Where it’s explained
- Kelipah (the husk)קליפה
- The “husks” that cover and conceal holiness: forces of yesh set opposite holiness, whose mark is bittul. They came into being through the breaking of the vessels and draw their nurture from holiness. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Self-nullification (bittul)ביטול
- Self-nullification before G‑d, the condition for the Or Ein Sof to rest. Its lower degree is a “something” that bows; its higher, Chochmah’s “what are we,” takes up no place at all. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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. ×17Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The sitra achra (the other side)סטרא אחרא
- “The other side,” the opposite of holiness: what appears as a yesh separate from G‑d and casts off His yoke. It has no life of its own but receives it from holiness.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The animal soulנפש הבהמית
- One of a Jew’s two souls, clothed in the blood to give the body life; from kelipas nogah, mixed of good and evil, with its own intellect and middos; the G‑dly soul must refine it. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Love and aweאהבה ויראה
- Love, the soul’s longing to cleave to G‑d, and awe, its self-nullification before Him: opposites born of the mind (“son and daughter”), called the two “wings” that lift one’s service on high.Where it’s explained, stated differently, Sefer HaErchim
- The Name Havayahהוי׳
- The Name meaning “He brings into being”: by contraction and expansion, its four letters, He brings all worlds into being while Himself unchanged; was, is and will be are one to Him. Elokim conceals it.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh)מסירות נפש
- Giving over one’s life to G‑d: nullifying one’s very existence in the Or Ein Sof, as at “One” in the Shema. It stems from above reason, and every Jew has it in potential.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The G‑dly soulנפש האלקית
- The soul in every Jew that is “a part of G‑d above”: by nature in bittul, it needs no correction itself, and descends into the body and animal soul to refine them.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The Infinite Light (Or Ein Sof)אור אין סוף
- The boundless light radiating from G‑d’s Essence like sunlight from the sun: His “Name,” a revelation, not the Essence. Chiefly the light before the tzimtzum; also that light as clothed in the sefiros.Where it’s explained, stated differently, Sefer HaErchim
- The light that fills all worlds (memalei kol almin)ממלא כל עלמין
- G‑d’s life-force clothed within each world and creature by its level, like a soul in a body; it can be known, and it varies with its receivers. Sovev, its partner, is not clothed in them.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The light that encompasses all worlds (sovev kol almin)סובב כל עלמין
- G‑d’s light that is not clothed in the worlds: equal in all worlds, above and below, unchanged by them, it gives them life as an encompassing light. Its partner, memalei, is clothed within each world.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The outer dimension (chitzoniyus)חיצוניות
- The outer dimension of a level: the part that goes out to give to others, as against pnimiyus, which cleaves to the source. Only the outer descends, becoming the inner of the level below. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The inner dimension (pnimiyus)פנימיות
- The inner dimension: the part of anything that turns toward and cleaves to its source (from panim, face), its depth and chief will. Its partner, chitzoniyus, goes out to others; the inner does not descend. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Life-forceחיות
- Life-force: the G‑dly vitality that brings each creation into being and keeps it alive, drawn to each according to its level and renewed from nothing, as the soul enlivens the body. ×8Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The Infinite One (Ein Sof)אין סוף
- The name for G‑d as without end or limit, beyond all grasp; what is drawn from Him is Or Ein Sof, only a radiance; all revelation comes from Malchus of Ein Sof.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The higher unity (yichuda ila'ah)יחודא עילאה
- The unity seen from above: before G‑d all is as nothing and nothing exists besides Him (the Name Havayah, the Shema’s first verse); the lower unity is the existing world’s self-nullification.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Teshuvah (return)תשובה
- Returning the soul, which descended into physical things, to its source and root, to cleave to G‑d; not only leaving sin. Its two levels are the return of the lower and the higher hei.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Gevurah (restraint)גבורה
- The Sefirah of might (the left; Yitzchak), opposite Chesed: described as what limits and contracts Chesed’s flow, and as the life-force in greater intensity, which becomes judgment; included in Chesed, it gives life. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
- 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. ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The intellect (mochin)מוחין
- The intellect, Chochmah, Binah and Daas, as the “brains” of a level; chiefly the light of Abba and Imma clothed in Z’eir Anpin, the middos, by which they grow. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- The Holy One, blessed be Heקב״ה
- Aramaic, “the Holy One, blessed be He”: G‑d as holy, set apart from the worlds, paired with Shechinteh, His indwelling; read as sovev kol almin, Z’eir Anpin, Atzmus, and sometimes memalei kol almin. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Willרצון
- Will, which rules the middos: a lower will born of intellect, and the Supernal Will above intellect (Keser, Gulgalta), which covers a hidden reason and delight and is the root of the mitzvos. ×2Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Delightתענוג
- Delight, the inner side of will. Above, the supernal delight of Atik, whose source is His very self: the source of Chochmah, covered by the Supernal Will and drawn down through the mitzvos. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Malchus (sovereignty)מלכות
- G‑d’s kingship: the lowest Sefirah, His “speech” and the revealed world, through which all worlds come into being from nothing and live, without touching His essence (“there is no king without a people”). ×1Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Abba and Imma (Chochmah and Binah)אבא ואמא
- Chochmah and Binah as father and mother, who beget the middos (love and awe, “son and daughter”). Abba is self-nullifying insight, source of the chassadim; Imma is comprehension, source of the gevuros.Where it’s explained, stated differently, Sefer HaErchim
- Accepting the yoke (kabbalas ol)קבלת עול
- Accepting G‑d as King: nullifying one’s will before Him; from it the mitzvos are kept as a servant keeps his master’s decree, even without reason. In the Shema it precedes the yoke of the mitzvos.Where it’s explained, stated differently
- Tiferes (beauty)תפארת
- The Sefirah of the middle line (Yaakov’s attribute) between Chesed and Gevurah: it joins and includes them, so Or Ein Sof shines in it constantly. It is mercy and truth, and is rooted in Keser. ×7Where 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. ×3Where it’s explained, stated differently