Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Hoda’ah
הודאה
Acknowledgment (hoda’ah) · also: הודאה וברכה
Conceding a truth one does not see: that all is as nothing before G‑d and He alone is true being, as the Sages “concede” to Rabbi Meir. Paired with blessing (berachah), revealed drawing-down.
The word Hoda’ah also means simply giving thanks (Modim; “hallel and hoda’ah” of Chanukah), and in law a litigant’s admission. The texts build the concept on the sense of conceding (“the Sages concede to Rabbi Meir”); where only thanks is meant, it is the plain word.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1, ¶4To us the world is the existing something and what is above is “nothing”; before Him it is the reverse, and He alone is true being. In Modim we concede that the truth is as it is in His knowledge, as the Sages, who first disagreed, concede to Rabbi Meir. Every Jew has this, but it is “from afar,” by faith; blessing is revelation, and between them comes love.
וע״ז אנו אומרים מודים אנחנו שאנו מודים שהאמת הוא כמו שהוא בידיעתו ית׳ וכאו״א מישראל יש בו בחי׳ הודאה זו
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶6Blessing (from breichah, layering a vine) is drawing down in revelation from above; acknowledgment is bittul hayesh, conceding that all is as nothing “before Him” though this is not revealed below. It parallels “truth and faith”: truth is near, seen with the mind’s eye; faith is far, believing that so it is.
והודאה היא בחי׳ ביטול היש שמודה איך דכולא קמיה כו׳ אף שאינו אלא קמיה ולא נגלה למט׳
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4, ¶5One who accepts the yoke of Heaven in the Shema but whose will is not wholly nullified stays as before: this is acknowledgment, agreeing in his heart that there is none besides Him, without subduing the body’s will. It is kneeling, in the Zohar’s chamber (heichal) of Hod, with the knees, outside the body; full nullification of will is prostration.
ואינו אלא בחינת הודאה שמודה ומסכים בלבו שאין עוד מלבדו ואפס זולתו וכולא קמיה כלא חשיב
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8, ¶24Birkas HaAretz speaks in the second person, “We thank You,” because it concerns bread from the earth, refined in the realm of the light that fills the worlds. Acknowledgment is like two who disagree, when one sets aside his view before the other.
כי ענין הודאה הוא ע״ד מודים חכמים לר״מ דהיינו ב׳ החולקים זע״ז כשא׳ מבטל דעתו נגד חבירו נק׳ בחי׳ הודאה
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 10, ¶16Jews (Yehudim) are named for acknowledgment. Blessing is revelation “from world to world”; acknowledgment is directed to the Or Ein Sof itself, which no thought grasps and which cannot come into revelation, and it is true bittul. Through self-sacrifice in the days of Haman, Israel came to this and accepted the Torah fully.
כי יהודים נק׳ על שם בחי׳ הודיה
Stated differently
Whether blessing (berachah) is higher than acknowledgment, or acknowledgment reaches higher than blessing
אבל אח״כ צ״ל ברוך אתה ה׳ הוא מדרגה גבוה יותר מבחי׳ ההודאהAfter “Modeh ani,” which everyone can say, one must say “Blessed are You,” a higher level than acknowledgment: acknowledgment is from afar, by faith; blessing is revelation.
כי ברוך היינו המשכה מבחינת חכמה עילאה ביטול אמיתי משא״כ הודאה הוא בחי׳ יחו״ת ביטול הישBirkas HaAretz opens with acknowledgment and ends with blessing: blessing draws from supernal Chochmah, true bittul (the higher unity); acknowledgment is the lower unity, bittul hayesh.
אבל הודאה אינו בחינת גלוי לפי שהיא בחינת הודאה באור א״ס ב״ה עצמו אשר אי אפשר לבא לידי גלויBlessing is revelation; acknowledgment is not revelation because it is acknowledgment of the Or Ein Sof itself, which cannot come into revelation, and it is true bittul.
וע״כ נק׳ קדוש ועל זה נזכר לשון הודאה מודים אנחנו לךWhat is above the chain of worlds, sovev, is called “Holy,” and of it the language of acknowledgment, “We thank You,” is used; what is drawn through the chain, memalei, is called “Blessed.”
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bereishis vol. 5, p. 1875–1876
The Tzemach Tzedek raises the verse that makes blessing the higher (only ‘Your pious ones bless’) against his claim that hodaah of Shemoneh Esrei is above blessing, and resolves it with two kinds of hodaah: one whose bittul is hidden and encompassing, below blessing, and one whose bittul is revealed, above it, adding that now hodaah ‘is in a higher place’ and in the future will be drawn down as blessing.
ואע״ג דיודוך ה׳ כל מעשיך כתיב וחסידיך יברכוכה א״כ אדרבה הודאה שייך בכ״א מישראל
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Nach vol. 2, p. תתקסג
The Tzemach Tzedek defines hodaah as the bittul that comes from the sheer wondrousness of a thing, and explains that it alone reaches the inner Keser (Atika), where blessing, which needs something at least partly seen, cannot.לא שייך בו בחי׳ הברכה שהוא בחי׳ ההמשכה שאינה אלא בדבר הנראה קצת אלא רק בבחי׳ ההודאה יוכלו להשיגם
The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, 5630, p. קסד
The Rebbe Maharash spells out the Sages-to-Rabbi-Meir model and makes hodaah the vessel for the Or Ein Sof that cannot be grasped, which is why prayer opens with ‘hodu’ and Modim, and he lists its levels (hodaah, hodaah lehodaah).כי הודאה הינו כמו מודים חכמים לר״מ, היינו שאף שעפ״י השגתם אינו כן אעפ״כ מודים לו
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5672 (Hemshech Ayin-Beis), vol. 4 (new ed.), p. א׳רפו
The Rashab explains why Binah, though it is comprehension, counts as hodaah: it grasps that a thing is, not its essence, and distinguishes the hodaah ‘from afar’ everyone has from the near hodaah that comprehension produces.שההשגה היא במציאות הדבר, אבל בעצם הדבר הוא בחי׳ הודאה לבד
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Masei 2, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1, ¶32Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 10, ¶16Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1, ¶12
Where it appears
In 61 paragraphs of 36 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶7 ¶9 ¶29 ¶40
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 3 ¶6 ¶10 ¶12 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 1 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 37 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 6 ¶28
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 1 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 1 ¶11 ¶12 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶24 ¶26 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Devarim 1 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶23 ¶38 ¶41
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 1 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 2 ¶11 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 2 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶13 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 5 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 3 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶31 ¶32 ¶33 ¶35
- Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4 ¶5 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 10 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶29
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶1 ¶40 ¶43
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶4 ¶22 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 2 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶35
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶22 ¶23
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 4 ¶5
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.