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Kadosh

קדוש

Holy, set apart (kadosh) · also: קדושתי למעלה מקדושתכם

Holy: set apart, beyond any relation to the worlds, as He gives them life without being enclothed or changed by them. Kodesh is that holiness itself; kadosh, with a vav, is its drawing-down.

The word קדוש, קדש and קדושה are also used plainly for what is holy or sanctified (holy things, the side of holiness against kelipah, “Who sanctified us”); it is the concept when the text explains the word as הבדלה (קדוש ומובדל), or contrasts קדש with קדוש spelled with a vav.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7, ¶11Kadosh means set apart beyond comparison, of no relation to worlds, neither in the category of memalei nor of sovev. Kodesh is the very holiness of the Or Ein Sof; kadosh, spelled with a vav, is a drawing-down from it through a great tzimtzum, and each further “holy” is a radiance of a radiance, until it can be grasped.פי׳ וביאור מלת קדוש הוא לומר שהוא קדוש ומובדל בערך שאין לו ערך ויחוס בעלמין שאינו לא בגדר ממלא ולא בגדר סובב
  2. Likkutei Torah, Reeh 8, ¶3“Holy” means separation in value: He gives life to the world, yet not as a soul gives life to a body and is affected by it. Though He fills heaven and earth, He is set apart, because the worlds came from Him as yesh me’ayin, through a tzimtzum, and not as cause and effect.פי׳ קדוש לשון הבדלה בערך דהיינו כי מה שהוא ית׳ מחיה את העולם אינו כדמיון הנשמה שמחיה את הגוף
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7, ¶3The Sages call Him HaKadosh Baruch Hu rather than by other names because every other name, even Havayah, refers to an action that comes from Him, while “Holy” indicates His essence, which is not enclothed in worlds. The love that comes from this level is called kedushah, feminine, as it receives from kadosh.מה שאין כן שם קדוש מורה על עצמותו שהוא קדוש ומובדל שאינו מתלבש תוך עלמין
  4. Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶3The angels grasp only His Malchus, from which their life comes, not His essence; so they say “Holy”: He is set apart from them. By saying it they draw Da’as to themselves, since kadosh is kodesh with a vav, the drawing-down of supernal Chochmah, or of Keser.וע״כ נקראים בהמות שאין להם דעת השגה במהותו ועצמותו ית׳ ולכן אומרים קדוש שהוא ית׳ קדוש ומובדל מהם

Stated differently

What kodesh (without the vav) denotes: Chochmah of Atzilus, sovev kol almin itself, or what is above both memalei and sovev

Likkutei Torah, Tzav 1, ¶17שהוא מושח את הקדש אשר קדש הוא חכמה דאצילות וא״כ השמן הוא למעלה מהחכמה דאצילות

The anointing oil anoints the kodesh, and kodesh is Chochmah of Atzilus; so the oil is from above Chochmah of Atzilus.

Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶7אבל סוכ״ע בעצמו למעלה מעלה מערך זה והוא בחי׳ קדש בלא וא״ו שהוא ל׳ הבדלה שהוא מובדל בערך

Even the encompassing light drawn over the worlds is only a radiance of sovev, called kadosh with a vav; sovev itself, far above, is kodesh without a vav, set apart beyond comparison, and the soul rises into it through the mitzvos.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 29, ¶13קדש בלא וי״ו אינו בגדר עלמין כלל והוא למעלה מעלה מבחי׳ ממכ״ע ומבחי׳ סכ״ע

Kadosh with a vav is the drawing-down of His holiness to be memalei and sovev, a mere radiance; kodesh without a vav is not in the category of worlds at all, far above both memalei and sovev, and so it is said once, not three times.

What the threefold “holy, holy, holy” corresponds to: levels of separateness (sovev, memalei), or three drawings of sovev into the three worlds Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶3וזהו ענין הקדוש הב׳ דהיינו בחי׳ סוכ״ע שהוא קדוש ומובדל מבחי׳ העלמין יותר מבחי׳ קדוש הג׳ שהוא בחי׳ ממכ״ע

The second “holy” is sovev kol almin, more set apart from the worlds than the third “holy,” which is memalei kol almin: not even a radiance of sovev is enclothed within the worlds; it gives them life only as an encompassing light.

Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶6ואמנם קדוש בוי״ו מורה ג״כ על המשכה והוא המשכה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע בממכ״ע וג״פ קדוש הם ג׳ מיני המשכות לג׳ עולמות בי״ע

Kadosh is separation in many degrees until the hosts come into being; kadosh with a vav is a drawing of sovev into memalei, and the three times “holy” are three drawings, to the three worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 5 (derushim for Shabbos Shuvah), p. ב׳קיז

    The Tzemach Tzedek first reads the three ‘kadosh’ as several kinds of separateness before the light reaches the hosts, then says the main point is three drawings of sovev as particular encompassing lights for the three worlds Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.

    וזהו ג״פ קדוש שהוא המשכו׳ מבחי׳ סוכ״ע ג׳ מקיפים פרטיי׳ לג׳ עולמות הנ״ל, ולכן נק׳ המשכה זו קדוש בוי״ו

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 5 (derushim for Shabbos Shuvah), p. ב׳קיז

    The Tzemach Tzedek sets kodesh without a vav, sovev itself, set apart from all worlds, against kadosh with a vav, a glow of it drawn down as the encompassing light of each world, and says the soul rises through the mitzvos to kodesh itself.אך קדוש בוי״ו אע״פ שהוא ג״כ ל׳ הבדלה מ״מ הוי״ו מורה על המשכה, והוא מה שנמשך הארה מבחי׳ סוכ״ע להיות מקיף לפרטיו׳ העולמות

  2. The Tzemach Tzedek · Derech Mitzvosecha, p. 308 (page unconfirmed)

    The Tzemach Tzedek defines kadosh as separation beyond comparison and explains the first ‘kadosh’ as the soul’s rise, through love ‘with all your might’, to the Essence set apart from the worlds and from both memalei and sovev, with the next two as drawings down through the mitzvos.כי קדוש הוא ל׳ הבדלה שמובדל בערך והוא בחי׳ עצמות אא״ס ב״ה שמובדל בערך מהעולמות ומבחי׳ ממלא וסובב

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5727, p. ריח (page unconfirmed)

    The Rebbe states the rule of kodesh and kadosh and asks why ‘ki kadosh ani’, the holiness above Israel’s, is still written with a vav, opening a maamar on how even that highest holiness is drawn down to Israel.שקדוש בוא״ו קאי על דרגת הקדושה שנמשכת למטה, שזהו״ע אות וא״ו שמורה על ההמשכה למטה, וקדש בלא וא״ו קאי על דרגת הקדושה שלמעלה מגדר המשכה …

Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Reeh 8, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Yom Kippur 2, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shelach 7, ¶3Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 1, ¶3

Where it appears

In 488 paragraphs of 180 maamarim.

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.

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