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Abba and Imma

אבא ואמא

Abba and Imma (Chochmah and Binah)

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

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5, ¶14Why they are called father and mother: the Chochmah and Binah of the G‑dly soul give birth to the middos, love and awe, which are called son and daughter. Their root is Chochmah and Binah above, the Written and the Oral Torah.בחי׳ חו״ב שבנפש האלקית שנק׳ אב ואם לפי שמולידים המדות אהוי״ר הנק׳ בן ובת
  2. Likkutei Torah, Korach 2, ¶1The mochin of Abba are a grasp of nullification in Chochmah (“what are we”), cool, a higher awe (yirah ila’ah, the awe of shame); the mochin of Imma are Binah, the comprehension of His greatness from which a fiery love is born. In prayer Imma brings the running toward Him (ratzo), and Abba the return (shov), taking on the yoke of Heaven in Torah and mitzvos.מוחין דאבא הוא בחינת השגת הביטול בבחי׳ חכמה שהוא בחי׳ כח מה ונחנו מה שהוא בבחי׳ קרירות
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39, ¶6Abba and Imma are two opposites, Abba the source of all the chassadim and Imma of all the gevuros. They are joined by an encompassing level above them, the general Keser of Atzilus (Malchus of Adam Kadmon), the “canopy” over them, as Tiferes of Imma joins Z”A and Nukva.כי או״א הם ג״כ ב׳ הפכיים כי אבא הוא מקור כל החסדים ואימא היא מקור כל הגבורות
  4. Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶24The union of Abba and Imma is in the first verse of the Shema (“Havayah our G‑d”). There love is not yet felt, because that union is in the nullification of Chochmah; from “You shall love” on, the light comes into Z”A, and that is the union of Z”A and Nukva.אבל בפסוק ראשון שהיחוד הוא באו״א אין אור האהבה מורגשת שם עדיין מאחר שהיחוד שם בבחי׳ הביטול דחכמה
  5. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12, ¶7Chochmah Ila’ah is called Abba: when the Or Ein Sof is clothed in it, G‑d is called “our Father” and the righteous His children. “Their Father in heaven” is the light of Abba clothed in Z”A, which is called heaven.כשנמשך אור א״ס להתלבש בח״ע נק׳ אבינו כי ח״ע נק׳ אבא והצדיקים נקראים בניו

Stated differently

Which union brings forth new souls: an inner union of Abba and Imma, or the union of Z”A and Nukva

Torah Ohr, Yisro 8, ¶17שיש שני מיני זיווגים באו״א חיצוניים זיווגייהו תדיר תרין רעין דלא מתפרשין שהוא לקיום העולמות משא״כ לחדש הנשמות שהוא זיווג פנימי

Abba and Imma have two kinds of union: an outer one, constant, that sustains the worlds, and an inner one that renews the souls, which comes only through the souls of the righteous.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶21שרש היחוד תמידי נקרא זיווג דאו״א והיחוד דלהוליד נשמות חדשות נקרא ע״ש זיווג זו״נ

The root of the constant union is called the union of Abba and Imma; the union that begets new souls, drawn only by arousal from below, is called the union of Z”A and Nukva.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bereishis vol. 3 (Bereishis–Noach), p. 1070

    The Tzemach Tzedek brings the Pardes’s reading that even the union of Chochmah and Binah now waits on the union of Z’eir Anpin and Nukva, and the Arizal’s answer that the constant union gives life to the worlds while the union that begets souls is the one withheld.

    והאריז״ל הובא בע״ח סוף שער הכללים תירץ שהיחוד התדירי הוא להחיות העולמות אבל על היחוד להוליד נשמות עז״א שלא יכנס בירושמ״ע

Whether the union of Abba and Imma is the constant union, or one that must be drawn by raising mayin nukvin

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶21שרש היחוד תמידי נקרא זיווג דאו״א

The root of the constant union, from a level where above and below do not apply, is called the union of Abba and Imma; it is the union of Z”A and Nukva that depends on arousal from below.

Likkutei Torah, Emor 2, ¶4שלצורך יחוד או״א צ״ל העלאת מ״ן במס״נ ממש בק״ש

The union of Abba and Imma requires raising mayin nukvin with real self-sacrifice in the Shema, since it draws a new light from Or Ein Sof; for the union of Z”A and Nukva, Torah and mitzvos suffice.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bereishis vol. 3 (Bereishis–Noach), p. 1070

    The Tzemach Tzedek distinguishes a constant union of Abba and Imma that never stops, which sustains the worlds, from an inner drawing that is not constant, and cites a source that the full union comes only when mayin nukvin are raised from below.

    וא״כ לפ״ז בבחי׳ ונהר יוצא יש ב׳ מדריגות האחד להחיות העולמות כולם שעז״ג יוצא תמיד דלא פסיק לעלמין

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bereishis vol. 4 (Lech Lecha–Toldos), p. 1620

    The Tzemach Tzedek traces why Abba is the source of the chassadim and Imma of the gevuros: Abba is rooted in the Chesed of Atik clothed in Gulgalta, and Imma in the Gevurah of Atik clothed in Mocha Stima’ah.כי הנה חסד דעתיק מלובש בגלגלתא וממנו שרש אבא דאצי׳ ולכן אבינו אב הרחמן חכמה מקור החסדים, אך במו״ס מלובש גבורה דעתיק

  2. The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, 5639 vol. 2, p. תרסד

    The Rebbe Maharash shows the difference between Abba and Imma in experience: Chochmah is delight that has not yet become joy (Shabbos, mochin d’Abba), while Binah, grasping a matter in length and breadth, brings joy (Yom Tov, mochin d’Imma).ובכלל זהו ההפרש בין מוחין דאבא למוחין דאימא, שבת נקרא מוחין דאבא שכתי׳ וקראת לשבת עונג, ועונג עדיין לא בא לידי שמחה

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5725, p. ק

    The Rebbe explains in what sense Chochmah and Binah are father and mother: they bring the middos from concealment into revelation, while Abba and Imma themselves come from Mocha Stima’ah and the root of the middos is higher still, in Atik.שהחכמה נקראת אב למדות, והבינה נקראת אם הבנים, אם למדות, מ״מ, הרי זה רק שעל ידם נעשה לידת והתגלות המדות מן ההעלם אל הגילוי

Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.

Sefer HaErchim Chabad

מטעם זה, הכינוי אב ואם בכחות הנפש ובספירות שלמעלה: חכמה (נקודת השכל) נק׳ אב של המדות (הנולדים מהשכל), ובינה (פרטי השכל) אם המדות. וכן, מהחכמה נולדת (והיא עצמה) יראה, מבינה (והיא עצמה) — אהבה

For this reason the soul’s powers and the sefiros above are called father and mother: Chochmah (the point of the idea) is father of the middos born of the intellect, and Binah (its details) their mother. So awe is born of Chochmah, and love of Binah. (our translation)

Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. א, entry אב (אבא), col. א · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Korach 2, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶24Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Emor 2, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19, ¶3Torah Ohr, Yisro 8, ¶17

Where it appears

In 643 paragraphs of 221 maamarim.

Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.

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