Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Ahavas olam
אהבת עולם
Love of the world (ahavas olam)
The love that comes from the world: from contemplating the G‑dly life hidden in the worlds. Bounded and clothed in the soul, it can lapse. Avraham’s love; it must precede ahavah rabbah.
The word Ahavas Olam is also the name of a blessing before the Shema (“With an everlasting love You have loved us”), and “olam” can mean “forever.” LT Bamidbar 10:14 reads “I have loved you with an everlasting love” as a love above ahavah rabbah: either the ahavas olam of the upper world (Binah) or olam in the sense of eternity, as against the ahavas olam of the lower world (Malchus), which is below it.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶6It is called ahavas olam because it comes through a cause in the world, as a person is moved to love G‑d by seeing wonders that overturn nature; above, it is the Name Ban, which refines sparks from Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah into G‑dliness. Being “world,” it has a counterpart, so after prayer one can turn to worldly matters; ahavah rabbah, from the spark of G‑dliness itself, has none.
ואהבה זו נק׳ אה״ע שבאה ע״י סבה מבחי׳ העולם
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶8Avraham’s level: a love taken from the world, from contemplating how space and time are nullified to Him. It goes from below upward, the work of man, “the service of love” from level to level; Aharon’s ahavah rabbah goes from above downward, the longing that G‑dliness be revealed below.
שאהבה זו נקרא אהבת עולם כי נלקחה מבחי׳ עולם מקום וזמן, איך שהם בטלים אליו ית׳
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7, ¶3“With all your soul”: a love fixed in the heart only with great toil in contemplation. It is ahavas olam, of the light that fills all worlds (memalei), and so it is bounded and can lapse when the heart turns. “With all your might” is a love without limit or lapse, from sovev.
ונקרא אהבה זו אהבת עולם בחי׳ ממלא כל עלמין כנודע
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4, ¶9“Ahavas olam ahavtanu”: this love is clothed within the soul, which can be a vessel that holds and limits it, “its inside lined with love.” Ahavah rabbah is in the root of the soul, in its source.
שהנפש יכולה להיות כלי להגביל ולהלביש את האהבה זו בתוכה ממש
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 9, ¶7Natural love and awe are called ahavah rabbah, and love and awe of the intellect ahavas olam. Since the natural ones are clothed in their opposite, the intellectual ones must be drawn down to refine them; once refined, the natural ones are called ahavah rabbah, for the son is greater than the father.
והנה דו״ר טבעיים נק׳ בשם אהבה רבה. ודו״ר שכליים נק׳ בשם אהבת עולם
Stated differently
Whether ahavas olam is drawn from the right, Chesed, or from the left, Gevurah
והנה בחי׳ מיכאל הוא בחי׳ אהבת עולם הנמשך מבחי׳ חסד לאברהם וזהו ענין הנגבה וכן מיכאל הוא מימיןAhavas olam is the level of Michael, drawn from Chesed, Avraham’s attribute: “journeying toward the south,” on the right. One cannot come to ahavah rabbah without it first.
שמהשמאל שהוא בחי׳ גבורה המעלים ומסתיר בחי׳ גדולה הנ״ל ואהבה שנמשך מבחי׳ זו נקרא בשם בהמה לשון נוקבא שמקבלת מפני שור הנ״ל ונק׳ אהבת עולםThe worlds receive love from the face of the ox on the left, Gevurah, which hides His greatness; this love is called “beast” (behemah), a receiving, feminine term, and ahavas olam, because it comes through the hiddenness of G‑dly life within the worlds.
Discussed by
The Mitteler Rebbe · Maamarei Admur HaEmtza’i, Devarim vol. 1, p. שג
The Mitteler Rebbe places ahavas olam, born of G‑dliness hidden in the worlds, on the left (the ox, Gevurah, Elokim), then adds that the ox’s yearning itself comes from the hidden love of the right (the lion), so the two are included in each other.
יש בחי׳ אהבה [שנק׳ אהבת עולם והוא בחי׳ אהבה] זוטא שבאה מצד בחי׳ העלם וההסתר אור האלקי דוקא שזהו בחי׳ פני שור בהשמאל
Whether ahavas olam goes from below upward, or (as the blessing Ahavas Olam) is a drawing from above downward
ונק׳ ממטה למעלה לפי שהוא עבודת האדםAvraham’s ahavas olam, taken from how space and time are nullified to Him, is called “from below upward,” because it is the work of man, rising from level to level.
שברכת אהבת עולם היא המשכה מלמעלה למטה לרוות הצמאוןPesukei d’Zimrah and the blessing Yotzer Or increase the thirst from below upward; the blessing Ahavas Olam is a drawing from above downward that quenches that thirst.
Discussed by
The Rebbe Rashab · Toras Shalom (Sefer HaSichos), p. 93
Having called ahavas olam a love from below upward, the Rebbe Rashab divides it in two: a water-like love through Torah, a drawing from above downward, and a fire-like love through prayer, an ascent from below.
באופני זאת האהבה יש ב׳ מדריגות, הא׳ הוא בחי׳ אהבה הנמשכת כמים שהוא ע״י העבודה דתורה, והב׳ הוא בחי׳ אהבה כרשפי אש
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Nach vol. 1, p. שע
Facing the Arizal (ahavas olam below ahavah rabbah) and Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu (above it), the Tzemach Tzedek distinguishes the ahavas olam of Malchus, the lower world, from that of Binah, the world to come.מ״ש האריז״ל דאה״ע הוא למטה מאה״ר זהו בחי׳ אה״ע מעלמא תתאה דמ׳ הרי היא למטה מהז״א שנק׳ אהבה רבה
The Rebbe Rashab · Toras Shalom (Sefer HaSichos), p. 92
The Rebbe Rashab contrasts ahavah rabbah, hidden in every soul, with ahavas olam, revealed but hard to reach, built from understanding the world rising level by level, Avraham’s path bequeathed to every Jew.ועש״ז נקראת אהבת עולם כי נלקחה מבחי׳ עולם מקום וזמן איך שהם בטלים אליו ית׳ ונק׳ ממטה למע׳
The Rebbe · Toras Menachem, Hisvaaduyos 5748 vol. 3, p. 484
Explaining the Likkutei Torah maamar on Aharon’s love, the Rebbe defines Avraham’s love as ahavas olam, taken from G‑dliness clothed in the world (memalei), and so bounded, eternal only within time, below Aharon’s love from sovev.שהאהבה נלקחה מההתבוננות באלקות שבעניני עולם הזה התחתון, מה רבו מעשיך ומה גדלו מעשיך
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Sefer HaErchim Chabad
אהבת עולם היא אהבה השייכת לעניני עולם, ושני ענינים בזה: א. סיבתה הוא עניני עולם. ופירוש אהבת עולם הוא — אהבה שלקוחה מעולם. ב. ענינה (אינה אלקות מצד עצמה, רק) בירור העולםAhavas olam is a love that belongs to the things of the world, in two ways: its cause is the things of the world, so ahavas olam means a love taken from the world; and its work is not G‑dliness itself but refining the world. (our translation)
Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. א, entry אהבת ה׳ — עולם, רבה ובתענוגים (סעיף ב: אהבת עולם), col. תקסח · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4, ¶9Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶5Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶6Torah Ohr, Yisro 9, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10, ¶14
Where it appears
In 53 paragraphs of 35 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 10 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶8 ¶9 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶41 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶1 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶3 ¶4 ¶6 ¶7 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 5 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶2 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶5 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶24 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶19 ¶26 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶52
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶6 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 24 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 9 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 2 ¶4 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶12
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.