LikuteiTorah.comThe Chassidishe Parsha
Sign in

Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah

Middos

מדות

The emotive attributes (middos)

The emotive powers (in the soul: love, fear, mercy). Born from the intellect and matching its measure, they are rooted above it, in the will; above, the middos of Z”A, emanated to conduct the worlds.

The word מדה / מדות also means a measure (מדה ושיעור, קו המדה), a person’s character traits (מדות טובות, מדות רעות), and appears in fixed phrases such as the thirteen attributes of mercy (י״ג מדות הרחמים). It means the emotive Sefiros or powers when the text writes ז׳ מדות, ו׳ מדות, ז״ת, מדות דז״א, מדות שבלב, or pairs them with the intellect (שכל ומדות, מוחין ומדות).

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶6The middos are born from the intellect and match it: a child, whose intellect is very small, has middos for small things; an adult, whose intellect is great, has middos for great things. This is cause and effect, a chain without a leap: the middos are first contained in the intellect and then revealed, with the intellect’s last level clothed in them.אנו רואים שהולדת המדות הם מהשכל שלפי ערך גילוי השכל כן יהיה המדות
  2. Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2, ¶29Though the middos are born from contemplation, their root is above the intellect, in the will; above, the middos of Z”A are born from Chochmah and Binah but rooted in the Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferes of Arich Anpin, “the mountains of darkness,” which are only their source and not middos proper.אמנם שרש ומקור המדות הם למעלה מהשכל היינו מן הרצון שבנפש
  3. Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶14While love and fear are still contained in the intellect they are not felt as something in themselves (“the hidden things of the heart”), and the external forces cannot draw from them; once revealed in the heart they are felt as “yesh,” and from their excess the external forces can draw.והנה כשהמדות כלולים בהשכל וההתבוננות הם בלתי מורגשים עדיין ליש ודבר
  4. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶17The Mishkan’s curtains are in themselves without limit; a measuring “cubit” contracts them (“up to here Chesed, up to here Gevurah”), and through this they become middos, measures: the measuring line of Yechezkel.רק יש בחי׳ אמה המודדת ומצמצמת עד פה יהי׳ חסד ועד פה גבורה. שעי״ז נעשו בבחי׳ מדות
  5. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶5G‑d’s essence is none of the middos of Atzilus; they were emanated to conduct the worlds and are a “body” to the light of Ein Sof. A person’s middos bear no comparison to them: G‑d’s mercy is not an emotional reaction and involves no change.שבאמת עצמות א״ס ב״ה לאו מכל אלין מדות דאצילות איהו כלל ואצילות המדות הוא כדי לאנהגא בהון עלמין

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Derech Mitzvosecha, Mitzvas Tefillin, sec. 2, p. 36 (page unconfirmed)

    The Tzemach Tzedek proves from ‘according to his intellect a man is praised’ that the middos are born of and live from the intellect, then asks why a middah can grow stronger than its intellect, and answers that their first root is the will and pleasure above intellect; he applies this to the middos above, called Z”A.אלא שרש ומקור הראשון שלהם הוא מלמעלה מהשכל דהיינו בחי׳ רצון הפשוט והתענוג שהם כחות הנפש

  2. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Vayikra vol. 3, p. תתסא

    The Tzemach Tzedek distinguishes middos born of intellect (Chesed below Chochmah, love from contemplation) from middos within the will above intellect (rav chesed, the great love seen in mesirus nefesh).יש בחי׳ מדות שלמטה מהשכל ויש בחי׳ מדות שלמעלה מהשכל כי הנה כמו שיש התכללות המדות בשכל מאחר שהם נולדים ונמשכים מהשכל

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5713, p. ריז

    The Rebbe explains that middos are effects (alul) of the intellect and so never exceed it, unlike Binah, which has its own root in the soul; middos that do exceed intellect come from the soul’s essence, with the intellect-born middos as their vessels.המדות שגדלים יותר משכל המולידם, אינם בבחי׳ מהות המדות הנולדות מן השכל, אלא הם מהות מדות שבאות מצד עצם הנפש

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 3, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 5, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Nasso 2, ¶29Likkutei Torah, Masei 3, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 23, ¶17Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Emor 6, ¶24

Where it appears

In 994 paragraphs of 302 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.

Hebrew size

100%

English size

100%

Hebrew letters

Theme

How I learn

Calendar

Language

English

This page is in English only for now. Also in, so far:

العربية71 maamarim so farDeutsch71 maamarim so farEspañol71 maamarim so farفارسی71 maamarim so farFrançais71 maamarim so farעברית71 maamarim so farItaliano71 maamarim so farPortuguês71 maamarim so farРусский71 maamarim so farУкраїнська71 maamarim so far中文（简体）71 maamarim so far中文（繁體）71 maamarim so far

Send us a suggestion

Corrections, ideas, questions. Leave your email so we can answer.

We send it by email to the editor, with the page you’re on. Nothing is published.
Ask Freg about any paragraph