Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Avir
אויר
Air (avir)
Air, which makes a lamp shine: avir is or (light) with a hidden yud, the concealment through which light is revealed. Above, it is set at Z’eir Anpin (Tiferes), at Keser, or above Mocha Stima’ah.
The word אויר is very often just the physical air: the air around a flame, the thick air of a cellar, a stone carried through the air. It is the concept when the text reads it as אור with a yud, places it among the sefiros, or speaks of the אוירא over Mocha Stima’ah.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15, ¶32Air is what makes a lamp’s light shine, for air is the source of the light: avir is the letters of or with a yud: the yud hidden in the word is the concealment of the light, and in it and through it the light comes out from concealment into revelation.
לפי שאויר הוא אותיות אור י׳ שהאויר הוא מקור האור
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16, ¶20In the sefiros, air is Z’eir Anpin in the middle line, Tiferes. Its yud is the concealment of the light that draws the light down so that it shines, like the letters, which are in concealment.
הוא בחי׳ אויר שהוא בחי׳ ז״א שהוא בקו הממוצע בחי׳ [ת״ת] ולכן נק׳ אויר אור יו״ד
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶4Above the source of intellect (Chochmah Stima’ah) is the avira over the membrane that covers Mocha Stima’ah, “of the essence of Or Ein Sof,” which links hidden Chochmah to revelation, as an idea at times wells up from above the intellect. The Daas of Atik shines there, so it is the root of Daas.
והבחי׳ שלמעלה מזה זהו בחי׳ אוירא שעל קרומא דחפיא על מו״ס שהוא המקשר ומחבר ח״ס לבא לידי גילוי
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶21Citing the Miketz discourse: the light, Chochmah, receives from avir, which is Keser, and avir is ruach. So the drawing-down from Or Ein Sof that brings Chochmah into being is called ruach, like the air-filled right chamber of the heart that reaches the brain.
נמצא האור שהוא בחי׳ חכמה כמש״ל מקבל מבחי׳ אויר שהוא בחי׳ כתר כו׳ ואויר היינו רוח
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶12Following the Ramaz, the letters are drawn from the avira above Mocha Stima’ah, while Chochmah is rooted in Mocha Stima’ah itself; so at their root the letters are higher than Chochmah, though below Chochmah is higher than the letters.
דשרש האותיות נמשכים מבחי׳ אוירא שלמעלה ממו״ס
Stated differently
Which level avir is in the sefiros: Z’eir Anpin (Tiferes), Keser, or the avira above even the Keser of Arich Anpin
הוא בחי׳ אויר שהוא בחי׳ ז״א שהוא בקו הממוצע בחי׳ [ת״ת]Air is Z’eir Anpin, in the middle line, Tiferes.
מקבל מבחי׳ אויר שהוא בחי׳ כתרChochmah, the light, receives from avir, which is Keser.
כי האותיות שרשם מאוירא כנ״ל אשר שם הוא גילוי בחי׳ רדל״א שלמעלה גם מהכתר דא״אThe avira, root of the letters, is where Radla is revealed, above even the Keser of Arich Anpin.
Sefer HaErchim Chabad
אויר הוא ממוצע בין אש למים. ולכן, בג׳ הענינים אמ״ש — אויר מים ואש — האויר הוא בקו האמצעי, תפארת (ומים — בקו הימין, חסד. ואש — בקו השמאל, גבורה).Air is intermediate between fire and water. So in the three elements alef-mem-shin (air, water, fire), air is in the middle line, Tiferes; water in the right line, Chesed; fire in the left line, Gevurah. (our translation)
Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. ב, entry אויר, col. ריא · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15, ¶31Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15, ¶32Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15, ¶33Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16, ¶20Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶21Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶12
Where it appears
In 39 paragraphs of 31 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 3 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 8 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 11 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 5 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶6 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 15 ¶31 ¶32 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶16 ¶17 ¶19 ¶20 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 7 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶13
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.