Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Kelipas nogah
קליפת נוגה
Kelipas nogah (the glowing husk) · also: נוגה
The “glowing husk”: mixed good and evil, between holiness and the three wholly impure kelipos; source of the animal soul and of permitted desires, it can be refined and raised into holiness.
The word Nogah alone also means brightness or radiance (as in “brightness round about it” in Yechezkel’s vision); it names this kelipah when written קליפת נוגה / ק״נ, or in phrases like בירורי נוגה, היכלות דנוגה, לבושי נוגה.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶14Kelipas nogah stands between holiness and the wholly impure kelipos, which are the root of outright evil such as murder, adultery, theft and slander. Nogah is the root of the desire for permitted things pursued for bodily pleasure and not for the sake of Heaven. It is made of good and evil: its inwardness comes from the good and is clothed in evil, and through that good it receives life from holiness.
קליפת נוגה הוא שורש היצר הרע של תאוות היתר כשהן שלא לשם שמים כי אם להנאת גופו
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13, ¶4The animal soul, in which the Divine soul is enclothed, is taken from kelipas nogah and is made of ten sefiros of nogah, intellect and middos, “one opposite the other” to the ten holy sefiros of the Divine soul. The soul’s light held in the animal soul is like a flame held by the wick.
כי הנה הנה״ב נלקחה מבחי׳ ק״נ וכלולה מע״ס דנוגה שכל ומדות
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3, ¶7The three impure kelipos receive from nogah’s evil half. Its good half is the feeling of yesh, yet nogah can be refined to complete bittul in the Or Ein Sof, as “the host of heaven bow to You”; so at times nogah rises wholly into holiness.
בחינת ק״נ יכול להתברר ולהיות בבחינת ביטול לגמרי באור א״ס
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4, ¶14Desire (drunkards and gluttons) is the nourishment and inner light of nogah, and honor and pride its makifim, opposite the inner and encompassing lights of holiness drawn by Torah and mitzvos, whose foundation is bittul. Nogah is yesh, the opposite of bittul; outright forbidden things belong to the three impure kelipos far below nogah.
משא״כ בחי׳ נוגה שהוא בחי׳ יש הפך הביטול וזהו התאוה והכבוד
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶24The practical mitzvos are performed with things from nogah, such as the wool of tzitzis and the parchment of tefillin; when the mitzvah is done, the sparks in nogah are refined and added light is drawn into Atzilus.
ולכן כל המצות מעשיות הם מבחי׳ נוגה כמו הצמר דציצית וקלף התפלין
Stated differently
Whether kelipas nogah, and nurture for the outside forces, reach into Atzilus
כי באצילות איהו וגרמוהי חד ושמאלא אתכליל בימינא ואין שם יניקהIn Atzilus “He and His vessels are one” and the left is included in the right, so there is no nurture there; even kelipas nogah of Beriah is still mostly good, in Yetzirah it is half good and half evil, and in Asiyah almost wholly evil with a little good mixed in.
שקליפת נוגה דאצי׳ היא טו״ר חציה טוב וחציה כלפי חוץ רעCiting Etz Chaim: there is a kelipas nogah of Atzilus, of good and evil, its inner half good and its outer half evil; the maamar then asks how a kelipah can be spoken of in Atzilus, which is G‑dliness.
Discussed by
The Tzemach Tzedek · Sefer HaLikkutim (Tzemach Tzedek), letters Kuf-Reish, p. קב (page unconfirmed)
The Tzemach Tzedek states there are ten sefiros of nogah in each world, Atzilus included, and explains that nogah of Atzilus is still G‑dliness, since no evil dwells in Atzilus, yet its attributes do not unite.
אבל בחי׳ נוגה דאצילות עם שהיא ג״כ בחי׳ אלקות שהרי באצילות לא יגורך רע כתיב (תלים ה׳ ה) אבל הם בחי׳ ענפין מתפרדין
The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, Sefer HaMaamarim 5639 vol. 1 (addendum 3, glosses on LT Tazria), p. שלט (page unconfirmed)
In a gloss on the LT Tazria question ‘how can there be nogah of Atzilus’, printed from the Maharash’s manuscript, the other kabbalists’ view (nogah only opposite Atzilus) is set against the Etz Chaim’s nogah of Atzilus itself, which alone raises the difficulty.
כי אומרים שלנגד ד׳ עולמות אבי״ע יש לעומ״ז ד׳ קליפות ג״ק הטמאות לגמרי הם כנגד בי״ע, וק״נ היא כנגד עולם האצי׳
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Sefer HaLikkutim (Tzemach Tzedek), letters Kuf-Reish, p. קב (page unconfirmed)
The Tzemach Tzedek explains the name ‘kelipah’: the Or Ein Sof only encircles nogah and is not enclothed in it, so its attributes are separate branches each felt as a yesh, which in Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah becomes a real yesh.והסיבה לזה הוא מצד שאין אא״ס מלובש שם רק בבחי׳ מקיף לבד וע״כ נק׳ קליפת נוגה שהקליפה היא שאין לה טעם ולחלוחית
The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, Sefer HaMaamarim 5630, p. רכד (page unconfirmed)
The Rebbe Maharash explains nogah as the intermediary through which alone the impure kelipos draw nurture from holiness, so it can turn either way: food eaten for Torah and prayer rises to holiness, food eaten for lust sinks to the impure kelipos.כי כל ממוצע יש בו משני הבחי׳. ולכן נק׳ קליפת נוגה להט החרב המתהפכת, שפעמים מתהפך לקדושה ופעמים להיפך
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5742, p. 234 (page unconfirmed)
Following the Tanya, the Rebbe sets kelipas nogah, which holds good and whose avodah is refining permitted matters into holiness, against the three impure kelipos, which are only pushed away (sur mera).קליפת נוגה, דנוגה הוא מלשון אור, שיש בה גם טוב, והעבודה שבקליפה זו הוא לבררה ולהעלותה לקדושה, שבכללות ה״ז עניני רשות
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6, ¶16Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6, ¶24
Where it appears
In 127 paragraphs of 77 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 4 ¶14 ¶19 ¶20
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 5 ¶6 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 9 ¶2 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 1 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 2 ¶3 ¶7 ¶14 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 1 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 6 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 22 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 4 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1 ¶8 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 3 ¶22
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11 ¶18 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 3 ¶2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶38
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 3 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 16 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6 ¶16 ¶21 ¶22 ¶23 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Chayei Sarah 3 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 12 ¶11 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 26 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 4 ¶2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 3 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7 ¶8 ¶10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Emor 4 ¶2 ¶4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 5 ¶3 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 5 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 2 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 6 ¶13
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶27 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 20 ¶16 ¶23
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 2 ¶14 ¶15 ¶41
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 4 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 5 ¶8 ¶9 ¶14 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 9 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 12 ¶2
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 3 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶5 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 6 ¶15 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 12 ¶3 ¶13 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Parshas Zachor 1 ¶5 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 2 ¶29
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 5 ¶2 ¶5 ¶6 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 6 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 34 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 1 ¶30
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 5 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 10 ¶11 ¶14 ¶17 ¶25
- Likkutei Torah, Balak 4 ¶1 ¶4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 7 ¶5 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 6 ¶1 ¶4
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 1 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Shelach 2 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 12 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 5 ¶49
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 5 ¶33
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 8 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 7 ¶3 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 9 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17 ¶26
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 6 ¶9 ¶11 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 9 ¶3
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 2 ¶19
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 7 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Mikeitz 13 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 1 ¶22
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 15 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 13 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Bechukosai 3 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 6 ¶27
- Likkutei Torah, Kedoshim 1 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39 ¶8
- Torah Ohr, Vayechi 3 ¶20
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.