Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Chayus
חיות
Life-force (chayus)
Life-force: the G‑dly vitality that brings each creation into being and keeps it alive, drawn to each according to its level and renewed from nothing, as the soul enlivens the body.
The word The same letters spell chayos: wild animals, and the Chayos of the Merkavah (חיות הקדש). Chayus also means simply the life of a soul in its body. It is the G‑dly life-force when it is drawn, enclothed or enlivens (נמשך, מתלבש, מחיה) in creations or worlds.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶2Memalei kol almin is the chayus enclothed in the worlds, in each according to its measure: the power of the maker within the thing made, down to each blade of grass and its mazal. This chayus is only His Malchus, an outer radiance that brings no change in Him; it is drawn anew each Rosh Hashanah from sovev.
ממכ״ע הוא החיות שמתלבש בעולמות לפי מדרגתם לכאו״א כפום שיעורא דילי׳
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 8, ¶1The chayus held within the worlds diminishes step after step as it descends: the inanimate has the least, the plant more, so it grows. The seraphim grasp the G‑dly chayus within them; the ofanim and chayos do not, for in them it is more diminished, so they are in great tumult. So too the soul fills the body with chayus divided among the limbs.
שהחיות מתמעט מיעוט אחר מיעוט עד בחי׳ דומם הוא חיות מועט היותר אחרון
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2, ¶1As the soul’s chayus is enclothed in each limb according to its nature (intellect in the brain, sight in the eye, action in the hands, walking in the feet), so the chayus from the Or Ein Sof is drawn into every world and creature as much as it can bear; this is memalei kol almin, revealed most in Gan Eden.
וכללות חיות זה נק׳ בזוה״ק ממלא כל עלמין
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1, ¶2World, year and soul correspond: as the head holds the general chayus of the soul and gives each limb its own, Rosh Hashanah reveals the general chayus of the year and each month renews its particular chayus from nothing. The worlds live from the revelation of His Malchus alone, and its renewal depends on the deeds of those below.
בר״ה הוא גילוי כללות החיות וממנו נמשך חיות פרטי לכל חודש כי כל חודש הוא התחדשות החיות מאין ליש
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5, ¶3The host of heaven are nullified because they grasp the chayus drawn to them from His holiness. The kelipos also receive chayus from holiness, but it is in exile with them and swallowed up inside them, so they are not nullified but grow haughty; they live from an encompassing light above them (the frankincense) that is not swallowed.
שהחיות הנמשך אליהם הוא אצלם בסוד גלות
Stated differently
Whether the chayus of the worlds is the memalei enclothed in them, His Malchus alone, or comes mainly from sovev, which enlivens without enclothing
כי חיות כל העולמות הוא רק כמ״ש אנא אמלוך שמדת מלכותו ית׳ בלבדThe chayus of all the worlds is only His attribute of Malchus, the memalei enclothed in them, an outer radiance; His essence, sovev, is exalted above them.
דעיקר ההתהוות והחיות הוא מבחי׳ סוכ״ע שהוא בחי׳ א״ס ממשThe main bringing into being and chayus is from sovev, the Ein Sof itself, which enlivens and brings the worlds into being as an encompassing light, without enclothing in them.
האור הוא החיות ממש המחיה את הנבראים שחיות זה מתפשט ונמשך מבחי׳ סוכ״עThe light of sovev is not radiance in the plain sense but the very chayus that enlivens creatures; it enlivens all of them equally, even the coarse matter of this world, not by way of enclothing.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 2, p. תקסח
Having said that the chayus enclothed in the worlds is memalei, from His Malchus, the Tzemach Tzedek asks how ‘I fill heaven and earth’ fits sovev, and answers that sovev also gives life to all worlds, and is in fact the main chayus, next to which memalei is as nothing.
שכולם חיים וקיימים ע״י הארה והשפעה זאת הנשפע ונמשך להם ממש מבחי׳ אוא״ס ממש הסוכ״ע ואדרבא זהו עיקר החיות
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 2, p. תקסח
The Tzemach Tzedek explains the chayus enclothed in creations: each receives its own distinct life-force by its measure, from His Malchus (memalei), which brings it from nothing to something, while sovev shines on all equally.אשר לכולם נמשך חיות משונה ונבדל מהחיות הנמשך לזולתו והכל הוא ממדת מלכותו ית׳ שהוא הנק׳ בחי׳ ממכ״ע ומאין ליש הוא מחי׳ ומהוה אותם ממש
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 3 (Nitzavim), p. א׳רנא
Using the soul that enlivens the body, the Tzemach Tzedek shows that the whole chayus of the worlds is a mere glow, divided into head and foot only once it enters memalei, and that all creation lives by contraction.ויותר ממה שאין ערוך החיות המתפשט מהנפש בגוף לגבי מהות ועצמות הנפש יותר ויותר לאין קץ אין ערוך בחי׳ כללות החיות של כל העולמות
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5744, p. עג (page unconfirmed)
The Rebbe defines chayus against ‘light’: light stays attached to its source as a makif, while chayus enters and is enclothed in creations yet is not changed, and he discusses the ‘name’ that is each creature’s life-force.משא״כ חיות עם היותו בחי׳ פנימי שבא בהתלבשות (לפי שהגילוי והדביקות שבחיות אינו כהגילוי והדביקות שבאור) ומ״מ אינו משתנה
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 1, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 8, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶3Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 2, ¶1Torah Ohr, Toldos 5, ¶3Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3, ¶7
Where it appears
In 1,138 paragraphs of 324 maamarim: part of the language of nearly every page.
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.