Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Bittul haratzon
ביטול רצון
Nullification of the will (bittul haratzon)
Setting aside one’s own will before G‑d’s (“nullify your will before His”), beyond making His will one’s own; every Jew can do it, and it draws down the Supernal Will, Keser.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1, ¶2“Make His will like your will” is the lower will, born of comprehension: one still has a separate will of his own, yet by contemplating G‑d’s greatness he makes G‑d’s will his. “Nullify your will before His” is a complete setting aside, so that only the Supernal Will shines in him and his soul pours itself out to its Father.
שענין עשה רצונו כרצונך הוא מצד רצון התחתון הנמשך מהשגת והשכלת לבותם
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18, ¶9Israel make a “head” Above: they draw Chochmah through the Torah, and the skull over the brain, the will above reason, through bittul ratzon. Every Jew has it, even one without grasp of Torah or deep contemplation; a simple bittul ratzon without reason draws down the Supernal Will.
מ״מ ע״י ביטול רצון פשוט בלי טעם ודעת ממשיך רצון העליון ב״ה
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 10, ¶13Accepting the yoke of Heaven is subduing the sitra achra, “nullify your will”: a “something” that nonetheless sets aside its will entirely, and nothing done without it is called service. Literally it means doing the opposite of what the heart desires: sanctifying oneself in what is permitted, and doing good beyond one’s habit. Through it one can come to “with all your might.”
וביטול רצון היינו כפשוטו לעשות הפך מה שהלב חומד הן בבחי׳ סור מרע הן בבחי׳ ועשה טוב
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3, ¶16Will is above choice and knowledge: a person can will to put his foot in fire, and the foot has no choice. So choosing good is by daas, the tree of knowledge, but bittul ratzon before the Supernal Will is above daas and choice; it is calling on G‑d “in truth.”
ובחי׳ ביטול רצון הוא למעלה מהדעת ובחירה
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1, ¶27To draw down a great revelation Israel said “we will do” before “we will hear”: “we will do,” ready to act before hearing, is the nullification of the will to the Master of the will Himself, an ascent; “we will hear” is drawing down the Torah. The 613 and 7 rabbinic mitzvos number 620, the 620 pillars of light in the Keser that join the highest place to this lowly world.
הוא ענין בטול הרצון לבעל הרצון עצמו שזהו ענין נעשה שהיו מוכנים לעשות טרם ישמעו
Stated differently
Whether bittul ratzon is subduing a will that is still there (iskafya) or having no other will at all
שענין עול הוא בחי׳ אתכפייא ובטול רצון שבחינה זו אין לה הפסקThe yoke is iskafya and bittul ratzon; it can last all day, even after prayer without deep contemplation, by the resolve that remains from prayer, while love changes between prayer and afterward.
דאלו בעת התפלה שנפשו צמאה לה׳ אין שייך לשון ביטול רצון זר“Nullify your will” applies outside prayer: while praying, when the soul thirsts for G‑d, there is no foreign will to nullify; afterwards, when the love has passed and a foreign will is possible, one nullifies it.
שבוי״ו ימי המעשה העבודה הוא רק לאכפיא את רצונו בלבד. ובשבת הוא בחי׳ ביטול רצון לגמרי שאין לו רצון אחר כללOn the six weekdays service is only subduing one’s will (iskafya); Shabbos is complete bittul ratzon, with no other will at all, a reversal of the will (ishapcha).
משא״כ ענין בטל רצונך כו׳ הוא בחי׳ ביטול והעברה לגמרי שלא יהיה לו רצון עצמו כללOne who makes G‑d’s will his own still has a separate will; “nullify your will” is a complete removal, so that he has no will of his own at all.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1, p. רמח
Two pages after tying bittul ratzon to Gershon’s driving out of evil, the Tzemach Tzedek contrasts weekday iskafya with Shabbos’s complete bittul ratzon, in which the will itself is turned (‘changing his taste’), and sets Gershon’s iskafya against Kehas’s ishapcha.
שבו׳ ימי המעשה העבודה הוא רק לאכפייא את רצונו בלבד, ובשבת הוא בחי׳ ביטול רצון לגמרי שאין לו רצון אחר כלל
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.), 5732–5733, p. 13
The Rebbe defines bittul ratzon (the yud of Havayah, Chochmah) as having a will and nullifying it, explicitly not the absence of any existence, which he reserves for the tip of the yud.
שאין הפירוש שאינו שום מציאות כלל (כבחי׳ קוצו של יו״ד), אלא שיש לו רצון ומבטל רצונו
Whether bittul ratzon is above daas and choice, or in Chochmah, coming from the mind’s grasp
וכמ״כ הוא בעבודה שביטול רצון שמבטל רצונו מפני רצון העליון ב״ה הוא למעלה מהבחירה ודעת כללChoice is through daas; bittul ratzon before the Supernal Will is above choice and daas altogether.
ע״י בטול רצון שהוא בחי׳ עבודה שלמעלה מהבחירה שע״פ שכל ודעתBittul ratzon is a service above choice made by intellect and knowledge; through it the Keser, the makif above intellect, is drawn down.
וביטול זה הוא בבחי׳ חכמה כי בחכמה אתברירו לברר הטוב מהרע ולבטל רצון הרע מפני הטוב בכח החכמה שבנפש“Nullify your will,” restraining every desire not for G‑d in thought, speech and action, corresponds to the yud, Chochmah; this bittul is in Chochmah, sorting good from evil by the soul’s power of wisdom.
כשהוא משיג זה במוחו הנה מזה נמשך הביטול רצון לבטל א״ע לגמרי נגד רצון ה׳When one grasps in his mind G‑d’s boundless greatness, bittul ratzon follows from it, to nullify oneself entirely before G‑d’s will; so it is called the yud.
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1, p. רמו
The Tzemach Tzedek likens bittul ratzon to the will that can override nature, places it above choice and da’as, and reads it into the sons of Gershon, who drive out evil this way and so draw down the encompassing light (sovev).שביטול רצון שמבטל רצונו מפני רצון העליון ב״ה הוא למעלה מהבחירה ודעת כלל
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 2, p. תתקפט
Mapping the soul onto the letters of Havayah, the Tzemach Tzedek puts bittul ratzon in the point of the yud, a stirring that sets a ‘something’ aside, and above it the essential bittul of yechidah (the tip of the yud), which is its source.כי כל ביטול רצון הוא בא בשינוי התפעלות שמתפעל לבטל ולהניח א״ע שזהו בחי׳ ביטול היש לאין
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.), 5734–5735, p. 394
The Rebbe reads the Mishnah’s two clauses as stages: first making His will one’s own by forcing a foreign will (iskafya), then bittul ratzon, having no other will, as part of the Pirkei Avos studied on the Shabbosos between Pesach and Shavuos.שבתחלת העבודה יש לו רצון זר וכופה את רצונו שיהי׳ כרצונו, בחי׳ אתכפיא, ואח״כ הוא בטל רצונך מפני רצונו, שאין לו רצון אחר כלל
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 10, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3, ¶22Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5, ¶4Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1, ¶27Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2, ¶16
Where it appears
In 104 paragraphs of 58 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 3 ¶15 ¶16 ¶17 ¶18 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Nitzavim 3 ¶17 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 18 ¶9 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶12 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 5 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶28 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 3 ¶18 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶15 ¶16 ¶17 ¶18 ¶19 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 2 ¶5 ¶6 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, V’Zos HaBerachah 6 ¶9
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶22 ¶24 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 1 ¶17 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶13 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶11 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 2 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2 ¶12 ¶16 ¶18
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 1 ¶17 ¶18 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 1 ¶14 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶18 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 8 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶11 ¶13 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 4 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 10 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 2 ¶5 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shabbos Shuvah 3 ¶17 ¶19 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 12 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶18 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 36 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶6 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶15 ¶17 ¶22 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 10 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 7 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Ki Sisa 1 ¶6 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶27 ¶34 ¶40
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 5 ¶11 ¶12 ¶13 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 1 ¶21
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.