Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Behemah rabbah
בהמה רבה
The great beast (behemah rabbah)
A level called “beast” that is greater than “man”: a love and self-nullification above grasped intellect, from the light encompassing all worlds. Elsewhere it is Malchus (the Name Ban, gematria behemah), which refines fallen sparks.
The word בהמה alone is an ordinary animal, and in these maamarim also a level below “man”: the angels of the Chariot (faces of lion and ox) and the souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah (Bechukotai 6:4). בהמה רבה, or a “beast” said to be above “man,” is the higher level; it is not the animal soul (נפש הבהמית), though Emor 3:15 calls it the root of the Chariot from which the animal soul is drawn.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1, ¶2“I was beasts with You” is in the plural because there is a further level of “beast” above “man”: behemah rabbah, the great love (ahavah rabbah) above the knowledge that is grasped and clothed in the worlds. It is from sovev kol almin, before which all is as nothing, and from it great mercy (rachamim rabbim) is drawn.
שיש עוד בחי׳ בהמה שלמעלה מבחי׳ אדם והיא הנק׳ בשם בהמה רבה שהיא בחי׳ אהבה רבה שלמעלה מן הדעת המושג ומלובש תוך העולמות
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 7, ¶4Ordinarily “man” (wheat, the souls of Atzilus) is far above “beast” (barley, the souls of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah). But there is a “beast” higher than “man”: those who are wise in knowledge yet make themselves like a beast (“man and beast You save, Havayah”). This is behemah rabbah, above the level of “man.”
אך יש עוד בחי׳ בהמה שגבוה מבחי׳ אדם
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3, ¶8The middos that are above intellect are called behemah rabbah, above “man.” Yet relative to Ein Sof even this level above intellect is called simply “beast,” since even Chochmah Ila’ah counts as physical action before Him.
ובחי׳ המדות שלמעלה מהשכל נק׳ בהמה רבה שלמעלה מבחי׳ אדם
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4, ¶4The “great beast that eats a thousand mountains” (Zohar) is Malchus, called behemah because behemah equals 52, the Name Ban, and the refinements of nogah are included in it. It is “great” because it is a general level, while the Chariot of the twelve oxen is particular, and Malchus includes them all.
ונק׳ בהמה רבה כי הוא בחי׳ כללי נגד מרכבה י״ב בקר שהם בחי׳ פרטיים
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶4Malchus of Atzilus descends every night into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah to refine. The great beast that eats a thousand mountains and drinks them in one gulp is Malchus of Atzilus refining the sparks of Tohu, which in nogah are mixed of good and evil, so that they turn into G‑dliness.
פי׳ בהמה בגי׳ ב״ן והיינו מל׳ דאצי׳ המבררת נצוצין דתהו
Stated differently
Which level the name behemah rabbah refers to
שהיא בחי׳ אהבה רבה שלמעלה מן הדעת המושג ומלובש תוך העולמות שהוא מבחי׳ סוכ״עBehemah rabbah is the great love above grasped knowledge, from sovev kol almin, a level above “man.”
אמנם הם בחי׳ המדות שלמעלה מהחכמה דאצי׳ ונק׳ בהמה רבהThe seven middos of the world of Tohu, where the shattering of the vessels took place, are middos above the Chochmah of Atzilus and are called behemah rabbah; man is rooted in Tikkun, whose main level is Chochmah of Atzilus.
שהוא בחי׳ מלכות הנק׳ בהמה בגימ׳ ב״ן שבה נכללים הבירורים דנוגהBehemah rabbah is Malchus, the Name Ban, in which the refinements of nogah are included; “great” because it is general as against the twelve oxen of the Chariot.
והמל׳ שהיא כולל כולם נק׳ בהמה רבה. וכמ״כ מל׳ דא״ק נק׳ בהמה רבהMalchus, which includes all twelve oxen of the Chariot, is called behemah rabbah; likewise the Malchus of Adam Kadmon is called behemah rabbah.
והים עליהם מלמעלה שהיא בחי׳ ים העליון בחי׳ בהמה רבה שם ב״ן גימטריא בהמה שהוא שרש המרכבהThe sea standing upon the twelve oxen is the supernal sea, behemah rabbah, the Name Ban, the root of the Chariot of the faces of lion and ox, from which all animals and the animal soul below are drawn.
והיינו בחי׳ מל׳ שנק׳ בהמה רבה שם ב״ן שהיא מבררת הניצוצים שנפלו בשבה״כ בבי״עBehemah rabbah is Malchus, the Name Ban, which refines the sparks that fell in the shattering of the vessels into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; the thousand mountains are in the world of Beriah.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 3, p. א׳שמה
After saying that man is rooted in Atzilus, the Tzemach Tzedek asks how the beast can be higher at its root and how to fit the ‘great beast’ of the manna discourse, and suggests that the great beast is Malchus of Adam Kadmon, above the ‘man’ of Atzilus but below Keser, which is also called ‘man’.
אך צ״ע א״כ איך בהמה בשרשה גבוה מהאדם וגם ענין בהמה רבה מד״ה ויאכילך את המן ואפ״ל בהמה רבה מל׳ דא״ק גבוה מאדם דאצי׳
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1, p. מז
The Tzemach Tzedek places the great beast above Atzilus (‘man’), as the middos of Arich Anpin and the love ‘with all your me’od’, and explains how the angels, a lower ‘beast’ below man, can lift the ‘man on the throne’ because they are rooted there, but only when merged together in their camps.שיש בחי׳ בהמה רבה שלמעלה מבחי׳ אצי׳ הנק׳ אדם והוא המדות דא״א שז״ע ובכל מאודך
The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, 5629, p. רסא
To explain why an animal is offered for a man’s sin, the Rebbe Maharash traces the animal to the great beast before Atzilus, which fell into the ‘beasts of a thousand hills’ (Malchus of Beriah) and further down into the physical animal.ויש בהמה רבה שלפני האצי׳, ושורש הבהמה הוא מבחי׳ בהמה רבה ונפלה בבחי׳ בהמות בהררי אלף הוא בחי׳ מל׳ דבריאה
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5655, p. קפד
The Rashab identifies the great beast with Akudim, the Name Ban of Adam Kadmon, far above the Chochmah of Atzilus, and shows that the chayos, whose love and awe are ‘beast-like’ without da’as, therefore lift the throne together with the ‘man’ upon it.דעקודים שהוא בחי׳ ב״ן דא״ק הוא בחי׳ בהמה רבה שהוא בחי׳ א״ס והוא הגבה למעלה מעלה מבחי׳ חכ׳ דאצי׳
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 7, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 7, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Emor 3, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Emor 4, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3, ¶8Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5, ¶4
Where it appears
In 56 paragraphs of 33 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 6 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 1 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶15 ¶16 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 1 ¶1
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1 ¶4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 7 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶7 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 3 ¶15 ¶16 ¶17 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 11 ¶4 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶39
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶2 ¶3 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 1 ¶2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 14 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶56
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶3 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶4 ¶6 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶1
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.