Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Lower and higher awe
יראה תתאה ויראה עלאה
Lower and higher awe (yirah tata’ah, yirah ila’ah)
Two levels of awe: lower awe, from Malchus, accepting the King’s yoke, which comes before wisdom; and higher awe, a bittul at the level of Chochmah Ila’ah or above it, reached through the Torah.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1, ¶12Chochmah Ila’ah is called higher awe and the lower Chochmah, Malchus, is lower awe; “Abba founded the daughter” means Malchus, lower awe, is drawn from the higher awe of Chochmah. The bittul of higher awe is the level of Moshe (“and we are mah”); in the future lower awe will rise into its source.
שמבחי׳ יראה עלא׳ דחכ׳ נמשכ׳ המל׳ יראה תתאה
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 8, ¶6Lower awe is the final heh of the Name Havayah, called “the King’s command”: accepting the yoke of Heaven as a yoke. It is the service of a servant, the yoke of Torah, which changes one’s nature and habit.
ה״א אחרונה דשם הוי׳ הוא בחי׳ יראה תתאה הנק׳ מצות המלך שהוא ענין קבלת עול מלכות שמים בבחי׳ עול דוקא
- Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 8, ¶8Awe drawn from G‑dliness that fills all worlds (“your G‑d”) is lower awe; higher awe is drawn from the revelation of sovev itself, like the trembling of Daniel’s companions whose mazal saw. It is drawn into the soul through Torah study (“if there is no wisdom there is no awe”); “what does G‑d ask of you but to fear” means lower awe.
כיון דהיראה יומשך מבחי׳ זו דממכ״ע היא בחי׳ יראה תתאה אבל יש בחי׳ יראה עילאה הנמשך מבחי׳ גילוי סוכ״ע עצמו
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶25Yirah, a feminine word, is lower awe, drawn from Malchus of each world; “great fear” (mora, masculine) is higher awe, drawn from the revelation of the King of kings, true bittul from above grasped understanding. The external forces cannot draw from higher awe, the light of Abba; only lower awe needs guarding.
כי יראה לשון נוק׳ זהו בחי׳ יראה תתאה הנמשך מבחי׳ מל׳ דאבי״ע בכל עולם לפי ערכו
- Likkutei Torah, Reeh 5, ¶9Higher awe can be reached only through Chochmah, the Torah, the gateway to it; its root is in Mocha Stima, above the Chochmah of Atzilus from which the Torah comes, and it is more inward than Chochmah. Those only in lower awe stand below the level of the righteous.
כי יראה עילאה זו שרשה ממו״ס שלמעלה מהחכמה דאצילות
Stated differently
Whether higher awe is above ahavah rabbah or ahavah rabbah above it
זהו בחי׳ יראה עילאה שהיא למעלה גם מבחי׳ אה״רThe service of the sons of Kehas, who carried the Ark, is higher awe, above even ahavah rabbah; it comes after ahavah rabbah, as the Amidah comes after “You shall love” of the Shema.
ואח״כ שמו״ע זהו בחי׳ יראה עילאה שלמעלה גם מבחי׳ אה״ר דבחי׳ בןThe Amidah is higher awe, above even the ahavah rabbah of a son (Binah); higher awe is Chochmah Ila’ah, the yud of Havayah, the second level of servant.
ואהבה העליונה שלמעלה מיראה זו היא אהבה רבה אשר אינה באה מעבודת האדם ויגיעתו כ״א השפעה עליונהThe higher awe (yiras haromemus) is above the Torah, and above it is the higher love, ahavah rabbah, which comes not from a person’s labor but as an influence from above; when one reaches the higher awe this love comes of itself. A lower love, joy, stands between lower awe and higher awe.
Discussed by
The Rebbe · Toras Menachem 5742 vol. 3, p. 1637
The Rebbe states both: love in general is above awe (ahavah rabbah comes as a gift to one complete in awe, Tanya ch. 43), yet higher awe is above love; when awe and love are compared in general, the name ‘awe’ refers to the lower level.
זאת אומרת: למרות שיראה עילאה היא למעלה מאהבה, אעפ״כ, היות שכל הדרגות שביראה (כולל יראה עילאה) נקראים בשם
Where higher awe stands relative to Chochmah: Chochmah Ila’ah itself, above it (Keser), or the vessel that receives it
כי ח״ע נק׳ ירא׳ עלאה. וח״ת שהיא המל׳ היא יראה תתא׳Chochmah Ila’ah is called higher awe, and Malchus, lower awe, is drawn from it (“Abba founded the daughter”).
אם אין חכמה אין יראה בחי׳ יראה עלאה שהוא כתר ומזלFrom below upward lower awe comes first (“if there is no awe there is no wisdom”); from it one rises to Chochmah, the inward level, and only then comes higher awe (“if there is no wisdom there is no awe”), which is Keser and mazal.
שהיא בחי׳ יראה עילאה יראה בשת בבחי׳ בטול הוא כלי קבול לחכמה עילאה שיהא שורה ומתגלה בוThe “treasury of the fear of Heaven” is higher awe, the awe of shame in bittul; it is the receiving vessel for Chochmah Ila’ah, in which Chochmah rests and is revealed.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 2, p. תש
The Tzemach Tzedek notes that higher awe is usually Chochmah, which belongs to the right, while the Tikkunei Zohar implies that Binah is called higher awe, and suggests that even as Chochmah Ila’ah it is rooted in the Gevurah of Atik in the mazal.
והגם כי יראה עילאה הוא חכ׳ וחכ׳ הוא ימין י״ל כי בת״ז תיקון ב׳ משמע בינה נק׳ יראה עילאה
Further in Chassidus
The Mitteler Rebbe · Imrei Binah (the Mitteler Rebbe), p. קלו
The Mitteler Rebbe defines higher awe as Chochmah’s koach mah, a bittul of being itself, like one who has entered the king’s palace, and lower awe as bittul hayesh, an outer self-nullification by one who has not yet seen the king.וזהו ג״כ בחי׳ יראה עלאה שהוא בטול במציאות ממש מצד העצם כמשל הנכנס בהיכל המלך
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.) 5736, p. 222
Answering ‘if there is no wisdom there is no awe’ (from the Maharash’s Mayim Rabim 5636), the Rebbe sets the awe that comes before Torah and mitzvos (lower) against the awe reached through learning Torah lishmah (higher), and matches them to Chochmah Tata’ah and Ila’ah, the final hei and the yud.וע״י בחינת לימוד התורה לשמה מגיע לבחינת יראה עילאה, שהיא בחינת היראה שלמעלה ממדידה והגבלה, ירא בושת
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1, ¶12Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 14, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Reeh 8, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Reeh 5, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 8, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7, ¶25Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1, ¶28
Where it appears
In 71 paragraphs of 34 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶16 ¶17 ¶18 ¶20 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 5 ¶8 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶4 ¶6 ¶9 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 7 ¶2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 8 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶27 ¶55 ¶56
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 19 ¶5 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 1 ¶32
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 1 ¶19 ¶27 ¶28 ¶29 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶22 ¶26 ¶27 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 7 ¶16 ¶17 ¶23 ¶25 ¶27 ¶28 ¶31
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶20
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 14 ¶14 ¶23 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 10 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶16 ¶18 ¶19
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 1 ¶14 ¶21
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 2 ¶21
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 4 ¶14 ¶16 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 9 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 13 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 6 ¶32 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Savo 1 ¶4
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.