Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Kav hamiddah
קו המדה
The measuring line (kav hamiddah) · also: בוצינא דקרדוניתא
The measuring line (kav hamiddah, botzina dekardinusa): the Gevurah and tzimtzum that measures how much light each Sefirah and world receives, bound up with the Gevurah of Atik clothed in the hidden Chochmah.
Where it’s explained
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 6, ¶1The kav hamiddah measures and weighs the ten Sefiros of Atzilus: how far Chesed and Gevurah will spread and how they divide into right and left lines; this measure is Gevurah and tzimtzum, the Gevurah of Atik clothed in Mocha Stima’ah (botzina dekardinusa). It is not a separate thing: “Where (ayeh) is the one who counts?” The sovev itself is the counter and weigher.
והוא ענין קו המדה שהוא המודד ושוקל כל הע״ס דאצי׳ בשיעור ומדה
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 4, ¶1The kav hamiddah measures how and how much of every light and vessel is drawn, like the cubit that gives measure to all things yet is not itself clothed in them. It is botzina dekardinusa, the Gevurah of Atik clothed in Mocha Stima’ah, and it is the root of salt; salt, as the root of all gevuros, therefore sweetens judgments.
וענין קו המדה שהוא המודד לכל המשכות האורות וכלים איך וכמה יומשך
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11, ¶3Or Ein Sof is revealed through Chochmah, which is bittul; how much G‑dliness is revealed in each world follows how much Chochmah is clothed there. What weighs out the Chochmah is the kav hamiddah: this is “the accounting of the world.”
ובמקום שהחכמה מרובה שם הוא מדרגה היותר עליונה ובמקום שמתמעט ומתצמצם נעשה למטה מטה כו׳ והשוקל בחי׳ חכמה הוא ענין קו המדה
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12, ¶6Keser, which is not revealed, is called darkness, and Chochmah conceals Keser. So the kav hamiddah is called botzina dekardinusa, from a word for darkness and blackness, because it sets measure and limit: “up to here is Chochmah.”
ולכן נק׳ קו המדה בוצינא דקרדוניתא מלשון חטי קרדנייתא שהוא ענין קדרות ושחרות לפי שצ״ל מדה וגבול עד כאן בחי׳ חכמה
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6, ¶13The Community of Israel, Malchus of Atzilus whose end is wedged in the beginning, can draw from Keser above Chochmah (words of the Sofrim are dearer than the wine of Torah); yet the Sages still set measures, an olive’s or an egg’s bulk, because even this drawing above hishtalshelus and the measure passes specifically through the kav hamiddah: the world can receive only through it, through lights and vessels.
כי גם המשכה עליונה זו שלמעלה מההשתלשלות ומקו המדה נמשך ועובר ע״י קו המדה דייקא שהעולם א״א לו לקבל אלא ע״י בחי׳ קו המדה
Stated differently
Whether the Torah falls within the contraction of the kav hamiddah, or is the light above the tzimtzum and the measure
והנה גם התורה הוא בכלל בחי׳ הצמצום דקו המדה שהתורה לא קדמה לעולם רק אלפים שנהThe Torah too is within the tzimtzum of the kav hamiddah: it preceded the world by only “two thousand years,” Chochmah and Binah, and all the mitzvos have set measures; only Ein Sof Himself is beyond tzimtzum and division.
אך האור הנתלה בפתילה זהו בחי׳ תורה אור שהוא המשכת אוא״ס שלמעלה מהצמצום והמדהThe wick is the kav hamiddah; the light that hangs on the wick is “Torah is light,” the drawing of Or Ein Sof that is above the tzimtzum and the measure, as “its measure is longer than the earth.”
Discussed by
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5672 (Hemshech Ayin-Beis), vol. 1 (old ed.), p. שיג
The Rashab asks how creation can be said to follow the kav hamiddah while the drawing of the Avos, and all the more of Torah, does not, when every drawing is measured, and answers that every drawing has measure but the kav hamiddah has many levels, distinguishing the kav (Gevurah) from the kaneh hamiddah (Chesed).
וא״כ איך נא׳ דההמשכה דברה״ע הוא ע״פ מא׳ קו המדה, וההמשכה דהאבות אינו ע״פ קו המדה וכ״ש ההמשכה דתו׳ שאינה ע״פ קו המדה
Whether the kav hamiddah is itself the Gevurah of Atik clothed in the hidden Chochmah, or the line drawn after the tzimtzum (the wick), whose root and source is the Gevurah of Atik
ויש להקדים ענין קו המדה בוצינא דקרדוניתא והוא בחי׳ חכמה סתימאה שבה מלובש גבורה דע״יThe kav hamiddah, botzina dekardinusa, is the hidden Chochmah in which the Gevurah of Atik Yomin is clothed; it gives the allotment and measure to all drawings of lights and vessels.
שע״י הצמצום נמשך רק קו וחוט לבד ואח״כ נמשך קו זה להאיר במדה ומשקל ונק׳ קו המדהThe wick, a thread, alludes to the tzimtzum, through which only a line and thread were drawn; afterwards this line is drawn to shine by measure and weight, and is called the kav hamiddah.
כי יצחק הוא בחי׳ גבור׳ דע״י שרש ומקור קו המדהYitzchak is the Gevurah of Atik Yomin, the root and source of the kav hamiddah; therefore Yaakov was blessed through him with light beyond the measure.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Sefer HaLikkutim (Tzemach Tzedek), letters Pei–Reish, p. לח–לט
The Tzemach Tzedek asks how the kav hamiddah can be the kav v’chut, which is above even Adam Kadmon, when botzina dekardinusa is the Gevurah of Atik clothed in the hidden Chochmah; weighing Zohar HaRakia (which puts the kav above it), he suggests on the next page that the kav is first clothed in the male side of Atik while botzina dekardinusa is its female side, the two wholly one, which is why the kav hamiddah is called the kav v’chut.
הנה מ״ש שקו המדה הוא הקו״ח לכאורה זהו דבר חידוש כי בוצד״ק היינו גבו׳ דעתיק המלובש במו״ס ומהו ענין להקו״ח שלמעלה גם מא״ק
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Sefer HaLikkutim (Tzemach Tzedek), letters Pei–Reish, p. לח
The Tzemach Tzedek defines the kav hamiddah as the Gevurah of Atik clothed in the hidden Chochmah that sets the measure of every light and vessel of Atzilus, and roots it in the Emanator’s own power to restrain, without which Keser would spread endlessly and nothing below it could come to be.ופי׳ בוצינא דקרדוניתא דטמיר וגניז הוא בחי׳ גבורה דעתיק המלובש במו״ס שהוא בחי׳ קו המדה שבו נמדד כל בחי׳ או״כ דאצי׳
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5648, p. קסח
The Rashab explains with a builder’s measuring rod that the kav hamiddah is itself above measure, that its power to limit comes from the essence, and that it fits each light to its vessel, which is also why mitzvos have fixed measures.והענין דבאמת בחי׳ קו המדה הוא למעלה מבחי׳ המדה, וע״ד דוגמא יובן זה מאמת הבנין שמודדים בו את הבנין
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.), 5714–5716, p. 116
The Rebbe places the kav hamiddah in the outer side of Keser, which measures hishtalshelus (ten sefiros, sixty myriad souls), as against inner Keser, which is infinite, and links the latter to the unlimited will of Torah and mitzvos, ‘not to be measured or counted’.ומאחר שהוא ממוצע הרי יש בו ב׳ מדריגות, חיצוניות הכתר שהוא קו המדה שמודד ההשתל׳ ופנימיות הכתר שהוא א״ס
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Torah Ohr, Shemos 6, ¶1Torah Ohr, Shemos 6, ¶2Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12, ¶11Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6, ¶24Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 4, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11, ¶3
Where it appears
In 35 paragraphs of 16 maamarim.
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 6 ¶1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 14 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 16 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 5 ¶11 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶9 ¶11 ¶12 ¶13 ¶17 ¶18 ¶19 ¶20 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 11 ¶2 ¶3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1 ¶7
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶6 ¶11 ¶12 ¶14 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 4 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 16 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶33
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23 ¶17
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.