Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Koach mah
כח מ״ה
Koach mah (“the power of ‘what’”)
Chochmah read as koach mah, “the power of ‘what’”: bittul before a revelation that thought cannot grasp, Moshe’s “and we are mah”; the wisdom of kelipah, by contrast, is yesh.
The word The letters כח מה also occur as plain words, “the strength of what” (as in the strength of what one eats), and inside כח מהות. The term means Chochmah when it is written כח מ״ה or כ״ח מ״ה, or set beside חכמה, ביטול or Moshe’s "ונחנו מה".
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Why Chochmah is koach mah: it is above Binah and comprehension, a revelation of the Or Ein Sof that no thought grasps. What is understood in Binah stirs love, which is still a yesh (there is one who feels it); what is revealed in Chochmah stirs bittul, ceasing to exist, “and we are mah.”
ופי׳ ענין שהחכמה הוא כח מה וביטול. הענין הוא להיות כי החכמה הוא למעלה מבחי׳ בינה והשגה
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶48Holy Chochmah is koach mah, bittul to the Or Ein Sof. Its counterpart in kelipah, “the high places of Arnon,” is the wisdom of the haughty, “wise in his own eyes,” which breeds yesh and coarseness; through the Torah, holy wisdom and bittul, those high places are nullified.
והוא הפך ממש מחכמת אלהות שהיא כח מה בחי׳ ביטול
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶2The breaking of the vessels was in Ban, the world of Nekudim, where the middos did not face one another; the repair is their inclusion in each other through Mah, by drawing the mind into the middos from Chochmah, koach mah, as a person’s anger is tempered with kindness when the mind rules the heart.
וההתכללות הוא ע״י המשכת המוחין במדות והיינו מבחי׳ חכמה כח מה
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 9, ¶10All of a person’s service is to refine good from evil, and refinement is through Chochmah, koach mah: the bittul that raises things from the world of separation to bind and unite them with Him alone, before the King.
הבירור הוא ע״י חכמה כח מ״ה שהוא בחי׳ הביטול ליבטל וליכלל אליו ית׳
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4, ¶41Chochmah is koach mah, and mah (45) is the numerical value of adam; the drawing of the “adam” on the throne comes from far above adam, from the Or Ein Sof itself. The praise “Hallelu” then draws Chochmah into the middos so that they too are in bittul.
כי חכמה כ״ח מ״ה בגימטריא אדם
Stated differently
Which level koach mah names
מחשבה הוא חשב מ״ה דהיינו תכלית הבטול שהוא בחי׳ חכ׳ דאצי׳ כח מ״הThought (machshavah) is “chashav mah,” utter bittul, which is Chochmah of Atzilus, koach mah.
משה הוא בחי׳ מ״ה חכמה כח מ״ה של הארת מצחא דעתיקMoshe is mah, the Chochmah, koach mah, of the shining of the forehead of Atik; he is from the higher Daas, above even Atzilus, and so can draw daas into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.
כי הביטול הוא מבחי׳ חכמה כ״ח מ״ה ויש חכמה תתאה וח״ע כו׳ ועוד מדרגות אין קץBittul is from Chochmah, koach mah, and it has many levels: lower Chochmah, supernal Chochmah, and levels without end; the anointing oil is supernal Chochmah and above it.
Further in Chassidus
The Mitteler Rebbe · Maamarei Admur HaEmtzaei, Kuntreisim, p. קכד
The Mitteler Rebbe explains the koach mah in every Jew, even one with only a nefesh of Asiyah: its root in Chochmah Ila’ah shines only hidden, as a makif, and is revealed against an opponent as mesirus nefesh above reason (Tanya ch. 18).נמצא שגם בבחי׳ נפש דעשיה מאיר בה שרשה הכלול בשרש כל הנשמות שמושרשים בחכ״ע דאצי׳ ואור זה נקרא כח מ״ה
The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 2, p. תקעה
Explaining Tanya ch. 42 (‘every soul has something of Moshe’), the Tzemach Tzedek identifies Moshe’s ‘and we are mah’ with the true bittul of Chochmah as koach mah, which is also his humility and the higher awe.והענין כי בחי׳ משה הוא ונחנו מ״ה שהוא מדריגת הביטול האמיתי דחכמה כח מ״ה
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.) 5738, p. קמו
Following Torah Ohr, Yisro, the Rebbe contrasts the Avos, whose level was middos (Avraham’s ‘dust and ashes’), with Moshe, whose level was Chochmah and whose ‘mah’ was a bittul with no awareness of his own being, which made him the vessel for giving the Torah.משא״כ משה אמר ונחנו מה, שהתפלא ולא ידע כלל ממציאותו, שזהו ביטול נעלה יותר באי״ע
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10, ¶48Likkutei Torah, Reeh 8, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶2Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 9, ¶10Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4, ¶41
Where it appears
In 69 paragraphs of 54 maamarim.
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 15 ¶23 ¶24
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 18 ¶16
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2 ¶24 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 8 ¶14 ¶17
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 5 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 8 ¶4 ¶15
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4 ¶7
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 35 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Va’eschanan 12 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2 ¶14
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 12 ¶14 ¶19 ¶24
- Torah Ohr, Vayeitzei 2 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 1 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 2 ¶42
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 21 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 3 ¶5
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 3 ¶14
- Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2 ¶9
- Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 3 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 41 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Eikev 4 ¶2
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 1 ¶13
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 5 ¶13 ¶15 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 6 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Acharei 2 ¶14 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 4 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Chukas 10 ¶48
- Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3 ¶11 ¶44
- Likkutei Torah, Ki Seitzei 3 ¶10
- Likkutei Torah, Korach 2 ¶1
- Likkutei Torah, Matos 7 ¶2 ¶8
- Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2 ¶12
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 1 ¶17 ¶18
- Likkutei Torah, Pekudei 2 ¶5 ¶36
- Likkutei Torah, Re’eh 7 ¶3
- Likkutei Torah, Shemini Atzeres 2 ¶11
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 20 ¶26
- Likkutei Torah, Tzav 1 ¶17
- Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1 ¶5 ¶36 ¶38
- Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 9 ¶10
- Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 4 ¶6
- Torah Ohr, Shemos 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Tetzaveh 3 ¶16
- Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 4 ¶41
- Torah Ohr, Vayigash 1 ¶11
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 2 ¶28
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 25 ¶5
- Torah Ohr, Yisro 10 ¶6
- Likkutei Torah, Bamidbar 7 ¶4
- Likkutei Torah, Vayikra 3 ¶12
- Torah Ohr, Bereishis 8 ¶25
- Torah Ohr, Toldos 3 ¶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.