Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Daas elyon and daas tachton
דעת עליון ודעת תחתון
The higher Daas and the lower Daas (daas elyon and daas tachton)
Two levels of Daas: the lower spreads into the middos, carrying Chochmah and Binah into them (memalei kol almin); the higher, drawn from Keser, joins Chochmah and Binah, and is elsewhere called sovev kol almin.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3, ¶9The basic definition: the higher Daas is drawn from Keser and unites Chochmah with Binah (and Chesed with Gevurah) through Keser’s light; the lower Daas spreads within the middos to bring the light of Chochmah and Binah into them. Matching these are two kinds of middos: those born of intellect, and those rooted above intellect that only pass through it.
דעת העליון הוא הנמשך מבחי׳ הכתר ומחבר ומייחד לחו״ב וחו״ג ע״י הארת הכתר ודעת התחתון הוא הדעת המתפשט בתוך המדות להמשיך בהן הארת חו״ב
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶4“A G‑d of de’os” means two kinds of Daas. The higher is from Ein Sof itself, sovev kol almin, “higher” because it is above all worlds and cannot be clothed in them. The lower is memalei kol almin: Daas spreads and clothes itself in the middos, through which Chochmah and Binah reach the ten utterances that create the worlds, and so it divides into many levels.
בחי׳ דעת עליון הוא מבחינת א״ס ממש ונק׳ סוכ״ע ולכן נק׳ דעת עליון פי׳ עליון על כל העולמות
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶25The lower Daas is drawn from Binah (“if there is no Binah there is no Daas”) and is Daas at the level of memalei kol almin; the higher Daas is drawn from Keser itself, sovev kol almin.
דעת תחתון הוא הנמשך מהבינה כמאמר אם אין בינה אין דעת והוא הדעת בבחי׳ ממכ״ע
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶25The lower Daas is the knowledge grasped within the soul; it is the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” the middos that come from intellect have a counterpart in the animal soul, and the outside forces can draw from it. The higher Daas draws middos above intellect from Keser, is Or Makif, and is the tree of life; so it alone can fully separate good from evil.
דדוקא בבחי׳ דעת תחתון שהוא דעת המושג בנפש שייך לקרותו עה״ד טו״ר
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16, ¶15G‑d’s knowledge of whether a person will be righteous or wicked is in the higher Daas, Keser, the primordial thought that shines only as an encompassing light; nothing of it is drawn inward even into the middos of Atzilus, so it does not compel a person’s choice.
הידיעה היא בדעת עליון שהוא בחי׳ הכתר מחשבה הקדומה שהוא מאיר רק בבחי׳ מקיף
Stated differently
What level the higher Daas is: the Daas that joins Chochmah and Binah beneath Keser, Yesod Abba, the mazal of Arich Anpin, or Keser and Ein Sof itself, above the worlds
ב׳ דעות דעת עליון המחבר חו״ב ודעת תחתון המחבר המדותThe higher Daas is the one that joins Chochmah and Binah; the lower Daas joins the middos so that they include each other.
דעת העליון שהוא מקבל מהכתר כי עומד בקו האמצעי תחת הכתרThe higher Daas receives from Keser because it stands in the middle line beneath Keser; through it come the middos above intellect, the middos in Keser.
והוא הנמשך מבחי׳ משה דעת עליון שהוא יסוד אבאThe will above Binah and Daas is drawn from Moshe, the higher Daas, which is Yesod Abba and draws the will of the heart; Abba draws from the eighth mazal, the supernal will before Atzilus.
כי הדעת העליון כו׳ הוא מזלא קדישא דדיקנא דא״אThe higher Daas of Atzilus is counted among the ten Sefiros although its root is drawn from a level not counted among them; the higher Daas is the holy mazal of the beard of Arich Anpin.
הידיעה היא בדעת עליון שהוא בחי׳ הכתר מחשבה הקדומהThe higher Daas is Keser, the primordial thought, above hishtalshelus, shining only as an encompassing light.
בחי׳ דעת עליון הוא מבחינת א״ס ממש ונק׳ סוכ״עThe higher Daas is from Ein Sof itself and is called sovev kol almin; it cannot be clothed within the worlds at all.
ולפי שמשה מבחי׳ דעת עליון שלמעלה גם מאצי׳Moshe is from the higher Daas, which is above hishtalshelus and above Atzilus too; therefore he can draw Daas even into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Shemos vol. 6, p. ב׳צח–ב׳צט
The Tzemach Tzedek places Z’A’s higher Daas as drawn from Yesod Abba, joining Chochmah and Binah without dividing into Chesed and Gevurah, then cites Likkutei Torah (Shir HaShirim, ‘Libavtini’) that the higher Daas is sovev kol almin and the lower memalei, and links this to Akudim (from Keser, above division) and Nekudim (from Chochmah).
ודעת עליון דז״א הוא נמשך מיסוד דאבא וההתחלקות לחו״ג ואח״כ לאלף אלפין וריבוא רבבין זהו נמשך מדעת תחתון
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Shemos vol. 7, p. ב׳תשצג
Reading ‘a G‑d of knowledges’, the Tzemach Tzedek ties each Daas to a Keser: the higher Daas is the outer side of the general Keser (Arich of Atzilus), which joins Chochmah and Binah, and the lower is the outer side of Z’A’s Keser, spreading through the middos.ד״ע הוא חיצוניות הכתר עליון דאריך דאצי׳ שהוא המחבר חכמה לבינה כנודע, וד״ת הוא חיצוניות הכתר התחתון דז״א דאצי׳ שהוא דעת המתפשט בתוך המדות
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 6, p. ב׳תעז
The Tzemach Tzedek gives the higher Daas as knowing things as they are above, all as nothing before Him exactly as before creation, and explains it through the creative word that never leaves its source, so that above is the true ‘something’ and the creatures are ‘nothing’.דעת עליון הוא כמו שהוא למעלה דהיינו שכולא קמי׳ כלא ממש כמו שהי׳ קודם שנברא העולם הוא ושמו בלבד
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5725, p. קטו–קטז
The Rebbe applies the two Daas to Torah (drawn down without the creatures counting, ‘below is nothing’) and prayer (which changes the creatures, ‘below is something’), reads Yehudah’s approach to Yosef as their joining, and adds that a lower Daas lit by the higher surpasses the higher.כי שני הענינים דתורה ותפלה הם ע״ד דעת עליון ודעת תחתון. דנוסף לזה שתורה היא מלמעלה למטה ותפלה היא מלמטה למעלה
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Toldos 3, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶25Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶25Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶6Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3, ¶7Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16, ¶15
Where it appears
In 63 paragraphs of 32 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶2 ¶4 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶10 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29 ¶15 ¶18 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 4 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶11 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1 ¶2 ¶3 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶23 ¶24 ¶25 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2 ¶8 ¶9 ¶10 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶15 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 3 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 2 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1 ¶32 ¶37
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶3 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶5 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 5 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 6 ¶15
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 2 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 4 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 8 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 6 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 3 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶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.