Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Atzeres
עצרת
Atzeres (gathering and absorbing) · also: קליטה
Atzeres, the name of Shemini Atzeres (also the seventh day of Pesach and Shavuos), read as kelitah, absorption, and kenishin, gathering: the light drawn as Or Makif on Sukkos is taken in and held inwardly.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶35Every drawing from above must come first as an encompassing light and only then inwardly. On Sukkos, the sukkah that surrounds from above, the light is drawn as Or Makif; on Shemini Atzeres it enters and is grasped within, which is why it is called atzeres: absorbing, entering and gathering in.
ולכן נק׳ עצרת לשון קליטה וכניסה ואסיפה שנכנס ההמשכה בבחי׳ פנימיות
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1, ¶15Following the Targum, “a gathering shall be for you”: the encompassing light, spread over them without end or limit, is gathered together to be contained within the souls of Israel and become inward, so that afterwards the mitzvos, an arousal from below, can draw an arousal from above.
ואזי עצרת תהיה לכם כתרגומו כנישין תהי לכון פי׳ שיתאסף ויתקבץ יחד בחינת המקיף
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 7, ¶1Atzeres is absorption: the Community of Israel takes in the drop of Chochmah, the Torah. When each Jew learns, reviews and holds his learning firmly in memory, and in prayer binds his mind and heart so that knowledge of G‑d is fixed in them, this is “absorbing”; it needs first the sanctification of the mitzvos, as a betrothal precedes.
פי׳ עצרת קליטה שכנס״י קולטת טיפת החכמה דהיינו התורה
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1, ¶12After prayer a person can return to what he was before; atzeres is that the “water,” the love of delights, be absorbed and held within, so that the imprint of the self-nullification of Shemoneh Esrei stays fixed like nails all day in his Torah study. This comes through the eighth day, Binah, bittul in the depth of the heart.
שתהיה לכם עצרת וקליטה לבחי׳ מים הנ״ל שיקלוט ויתפוס בתוככם לבלתי תהיו פולטים ח״ו
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9, ¶1Three festivals are called atzeres: Shavuos, Shemini Atzeres and the seventh day of Pesach. Of the seventh day of Pesach it says “to Havayah your G‑d,” not “for you,” for it is wholly for G‑d: the day of the splitting of the sea.
מצינו ששלשה ימים טובים נק׳ עצרת חג השבועות זמן מ״ת ושמע״צ שהוא זמן שמחת תורה ושביעי של פסח
Stated differently
Whether the seventh day of Pesach (“an atzeres to Havayah your G‑d”) is the actual birth and revelation from above to below, with Shemini Atzeres (“for you”) from below upward; or the seventh day of Pesach does not yet shine “for you,” while on Shemini Atzeres the drawing itself is revealed below
אלא שהלידה וההתגלות ממש הוא בז׳ של פסח דכתיב עצרת ל׳ אלקיך מלמעלה למטהThe birth and actual revelation is on the seventh day of Pesach, “an atzeres to Havayah your G‑d,” from above to below (the splitting of the sea); on Shemini Atzeres, “an atzeres for you,” is from below upward: absorption, being grasped like an embryo in its mother.
שבשמע״צ נאמר עצרת תהיה לכם שמאיר ומתגלה לכם ממש משא״כ בשביעי של פסח נאמר עצרת לה׳ אלקיך שאינו מאיר ומתגלה בבחי׳ לכםOn Shemini Atzeres it says “for you” because it shines and is revealed to you; on the seventh day of Pesach it says “to Havayah your G‑d” because it does not yet shine “for you” until the receiving of the Torah.
אבל בשמיני עצרת שנאמר עצרת תהיה לכם היינו שהמשכה זו עצמה שלמעלה נמשך ונתגלה למטה לכם ממשOn the seventh day of Pesach the Torah is drawn from above, but only its afterglow comes below; on Shemini Atzeres that very drawing, as it is above, is drawn and revealed below, “for you.”
Whether on Shemini Atzeres, as atzeres, the joy comes together and is revealed (“the time of our rejoicing”), or is absorbed and hidden within awe so that it is called only gilah
ביום השמיני הוא בחי׳ אם הבנים שמחה והוא זמן שמחתנו לשון רבים שמתחברים ב׳ השמחות יחדAtzeres is absorption of the drop that brings the revelation of G‑dliness, giving power for the birth and revelation of love; the eighth day is Binah, “a joyful mother of children,” the time of our rejoicing, when the joy from above and the joy from below join.
ופי׳ עצרת שנקלטת ומסתתרת השמחה בתוך בחי׳ אימת עול מלכות שמים עד שאין השמחה נקרא אלא בשם גילהAtzeres is the gathering of the mochin under the crown, in full self-nullification; its meaning is that the joy is absorbed and hidden within the awe of the yoke of Heaven, so that it is called only gilah.
What the name atzeres means: absorbing, entering and gathering in, or holding back (ikkuv) of the flow
ולכן נק׳ עצרת לשון קליטה וכניסה ואסיפה שנכנס ההמשכה בבחי׳ פנימיותOn Shemini Atzeres the light that was encompassing on Sukkos enters and is grasped within; therefore it is called atzeres, a term for absorbing, entering and gathering in.
ולזאת נק׳ עצרת כו׳ שהיה בחי׳ עיכוב ההשפעהThe G‑dly revelation of Sukkos is Chesed and spreading out; to bring out the hidden love it must be included in Gevurah, so that the flow is first held back, as rain is held in the clouds and then divided into drops. Therefore it is called atzeres: holding back of the flow, as in “let us detain you” (Bamidbar Rabbah, Nasso 10).
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 4 (Haazinu–Berachah), p. א׳תשעז
The Tzemach Tzedek lays out the meanings of atzeres (kingship, diminution, assembly, abstaining from work), suggests that gathering is itself a holding back so that they do not scatter, and shows that the Likkutei Torah and Pri Etz Chaim reading ‘absorption’ means holding back: the drop is held and not lost.
נשמע דמפרש עצרת לשון עכוב כמו נעצרה נא אותך, היינו שהטפה מתעכבת ברחמה, ואינה פולטת ומתפזרת לחוץ
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5713, p. יג
Taking atzeres as ‘holding back’ (ikkuv), the Rebbe explains that this is how absorption happens, as a person must dwell on an idea for it to sink in, and then asks how the other meaning, kingship, fits the day.
שבשמיני עצרת נעשית קליטת ההמשכות, והקליטה היא ע״י העכבה, וכמו שאנו רואים באדם למטה שכדי לעמוד על דבר שכל שיוקלט אצלו צריך להתעכב על זה
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 6, p. ב׳תקמה
The Tzemach Tzedek defines Shemini Atzeres as the absorbing of the joy drawn down through the lulav, since a drawing alone can be lost, and makes it the conception whose birth is the splitting of the sea on the seventh day of Pesach.וענין השמיני עצרת הוא בחי׳ הקליטה של שמחה זו הנמשכת ע״י הלולב ומיניו, כי לא די בהמשכה לבד משום שיכולה להיות פולטת
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 4 (Haazinu–Berachah), p. א׳תשצא
In his discourses on Shemini Atzeres, the Tzemach Tzedek reads ‘atzeres to you’ as the bride’s holding the drop she received at the culmination of the wedding (Israel taking in the Torah, the drop of Chochmah), which needs the mochin of Abba, i.e. bittul.עצרת לשון (עיכוב כמו נעצרה נא אותך והיינו ענין) קליטה פי׳ כי הגם שנמשכה הטפה אל הכלה בשמע״צ עדין יש חשש שלא תהי׳ פולטת
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5713, p. יט
The Rebbe reads ‘shemini’ as ‘shemen’, the richness of the whole of Tishrei, explains that on Shemini Atzeres the drawings of Rosh Hashanah (kingship) are taken in inwardly, and so links atzeres as absorption to atzeres as kingship.ושמיני עצרת הוא השמנונית דכל חודש השביעי, והיינו שבשמיני עצרת נמשכים כל הענינים בפנימיות
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶35Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 7, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1, ¶12Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3, ¶20Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶40
Where it appears
In 113 paragraphs of 61 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 4 ¶1 ¶17 ¶32 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 6 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 4 ¶1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 7 ¶1 ¶2 ¶5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 3 ¶1 ¶9 ¶12 ¶13 ¶14 ¶18 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶7 ¶34 ¶37 ¶38 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶28 ¶39 ¶49
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 9 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶35 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 5 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶1 ¶15 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶5 ¶12 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21 ¶33 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 1 ¶20 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 3 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 7 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶1 ¶9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 1 ¶1 ¶2 ¶7 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶1 ¶8 ¶9 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶11 ¶12 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 5 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 9 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶68 ¶71
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 5 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Terumah 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 7 ¶1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 7 ¶18 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 8 ¶9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 1 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 8 ¶1 ¶2
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.