Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Haalaah vehamshachah
העלאה והמשכה
Ascent and drawing down (haalaah vehamshachah)
Ascent from below upward, as a soul or world rises to be included in G‑dliness, and drawing down of G‑dly light from above; the ascent is for the sake of the drawing down that follows.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6, ¶6The offering is ascent: like food that lifts the heart to receive life from the brain, the animal rises to the face of the ox in the Chariot so that the “heart” Above receives from Chochmah Ila’ah. The wine libations are drawing down, revealing the inner life below. Every offering had libations because the ascent is for the sake of the drawing down after it.
ולכן לכל קרבן היה נסכים כי עיקר ההעלאה הוא בשביל ההמשכה שאחר כך
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6, ¶17The purpose of the ascent is the drawing down that follows. The drawing from sovev kol almin into memalei kol almin, from concealment to revelation, is called berachah; this is the hundred blessings a person must say each day.
והנה תכלית ההעלאה הוא כדי להיות אח״כ המשכה מלמעלה למטה
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶8For the refinement and ascent to happen at all, there must first be a drawing down from above to arouse it: the blessing said before a mitzvah draws an encompassing light of sovev that lifts the deed. That first drawing shines only as makif; the drawing that comes after the raising of mayin nukvin is inward and from a higher level.
והנה כדי שיהיה בירור והעלאה זו צ״ל תחלה המשכה מלמעלה
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1, ¶40The first “holy” of the Seraphim is ascent: they long to be included in Ein Sof, nullified entirely. The second “holy” is drawing down, the wish that the light of Ein Sof be drawn below. In a person the second corresponds to love “with all your soul,” which also wants Torah and mitzvos, not ascent alone.
בחי׳ הקדוש הא׳ הוא העלאה ממטה למעלה שהשרפים רוצים ליכלל בא״ס ב״ה
Stated differently
Whether the drawing down is measured by the ascent, or comes first from above regardless of it
היינו לפי שההמשכה הוא לפי ערך ההעלאהThe drawing down is in proportion to the ascent: the bull, whose ascent is the face of the ox itself, receives the larger libation (half a hin), the ram and lamb less. The ascent is also greater in quantity than the drawing down (“no drop descends unless two drops rise”).
שלא יהיה המשכה לפי ההעלאה אלא אדרבה תחלה יהיה המשכה מלמעלה למטהBeis Hillel, rooted in Chasadim, disputes Beis Shammai: the drawing down is not according to the ascent; rather, first there is a drawing down from above, and then the outside forces fall away by themselves (doing good before turning from evil). Beis Shammai require turning from evil first.
וזהו ג״כ ענין ההפרש בין ההמשכה שבתחלה לעורר המ״ן ובין המשכת מ״ד שנמשך אח״כ ע״י העלאת המ״ןThere are two drawings: one first, from above, to arouse the ascent, which shines only as makif and externally; and the drawing of mayin duchrin after the ascent, which is inward and from a higher level than the first.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Sefer HaLikkutim (Tzemach Tzedek), letter Hei, p. רמו
Comparing the half-shekel (a drawing down for the sake of a later ascent) with the sanctifying of the month (an ascent followed by a drawing down), the Tzemach Tzedek says each has both but in opposite order, and in the image of acquisition (pulling, or paying first) explains that sometimes the drawing comes first, because the ascent itself needs a drawing from above.
אך לפי״ז יש בכ״א בחי׳ העלאה והמשכה רק שבבחי׳ זו קדמה ההעלאה להמשכה ובבחי׳ זו קדמה ההמשכה להעלאה
Further in Chassidus
The Mitteler Rebbe · Maamarei Admur HaEmtzai, Bamidbar vol. 5, p. א׳תתעג
The Mitteler Rebbe reads the Temple service (Levites ascending, Kohanim drawing down, the offering rising as the fire descends) as the model of ascent and drawing, and the journeys and encampments in the desert as the same pattern, needed to subdue the kelipah of the ‘desert of the nations’.ובגוף הקרבן הי׳ בחי׳ העלאה והמשכה שהאש יורד מלמעלה ותחילה ה׳ הקטר חלבים ודם כבחי׳ העלאה וזהו ניחוח מלמטה למעלה ומלמעלה למטה
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1, p. קפ
Explaining the ‘acquisitions’ of the Mishnah, the Tzemach Tzedek contrasts Torah’s ascent from Atzilus to the Or Ein Sof, unhindered because there ‘He and His vessels are one’, with Avraham’s ascent from the lower worlds, and explains that through Torah we too receive the power to rise and draw down (‘draw me, we will run’).והרי התורה קנין א׳ ג״כ בבחי׳ העלאה והמשכה, והיינו ההעלאה מאצי׳ לא״ס ב״ה, וההמשכה אח״כ
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.), 5730–5731, p. 94
The Rebbe explains that ascent and drawing down belong only to light, where there are levels (‘reaching and not reaching’), while from the Essence the two are equal, and applies this to Moshe and Aharon, Torah (drawing down) and prayer (ascent), joined by the hidden ‘Hu’.דהנה כל ענין של העלאה והמשכה שייך רק במקום שיש התחלקות של דרגות, ועד שישנו גם לפני הצמצום, מטי ולא מטי
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6, ¶9Torah Ohr, Yisro 6, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 40, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Emor 1, ¶40
Where it appears
In 1,934 paragraphs of 368 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.