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Lights and vessels

אורות וכלים

Lights and vessels (oros v’keilim)

The two sides of each sefirah: the lights, a radiance of Or Ein Sof, boundless; and the vessels, the defined attributes (Chesed, Gevurah…) that limit that light so it can give life to finite beings.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶3The Tikkunei Zohar’s “His life” and “His vessels” are the lights and the vessels. The middos of Atzilus (“Chesed is the right arm”) are vessels, a body for the light drawn into them from Ein Sof. Unlike a soul, which is itself the light in its body, the Emanator is far above even the light; the lights are only drawn from Him.ענין חיוהי וגרמוהי שהן בחי׳ אורות וכלים פי׳ גרמוהי נק׳ כלים דאצילות
  2. Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2, ¶3In the ten sefiros, Chesed and Gevurah are the vessels; the light is a radiance of Ein Sof, who is none of these attributes. The vessels limit the light, and only through them can it give life to bounded creatures (Michael from Chesed, Gavriel from Gevurah), as a soul gives charity only through the hand.שבע״ס יש אורות וכלים כי בחי׳ חו״ג זהו בחי׳ כלי אבל האור הוא הארה מא״ס ב״ה דלאו מכל אינון מדות איהו כלל
  3. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶12In Atzilus the lights are infinite and the vessels bounded (the “measure of the stature” of the Creator). Sometimes the light prevails over the vessel and sometimes the vessel prevails; the souls come from the inner side of the vessels, and so they are bounded.ענין אורות וכלים דאצי׳ האורות הם א״ס אבל הכלים הם בבחי׳ גבול ותכלית
  4. Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4G‑d’s Names are the vessels of the ten sefiros of Atzilus, united with the Or Ein Sof clothed in them: Kel in the vessel of Chesed, Elokim in Gevurah, Ado-nai in Malchus. Havayah is the inwardness of all of them, the light within the vessels; the next paragraph calls it the intermediary that joins the lights to the vessels.שמותיו של הקב״ה הם הכלים דע״ס דאצי׳ שמתלבש בהן אוא״ס ב״ה ומתייחד עמהן בתכלית היחוד
  5. Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11, ¶8Light shines and is drawn only where it has a vessel to hold it; without a vessel it withdraws to its source, like a flame without a wick. In the soul the vessels are the Torah and mitzvos, so “we will do” comes before “we will hear.” A second reason: the vessels’ root is higher than the lights.וכל אור אינו מאיר ונמשך כ״א כשיש לו כלי במה שיתאחז דוקא

Stated differently

Whether the many vessels of Tikkun bring more light, or Tikkun means many vessels and less light

Likkutei Torah, Matos 7, ¶11חקיקת ותיקון הכלים להיות ריבוי הכלים ועי״ז יהי׳ ריבוי האור

Moshe as “lawgiver” (mechokek) engraves and repairs the vessels so that they become many, and through this the light becomes greater.

Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶4והוא בחי׳ רבוי כלים ומיעוט האור שהאור וחיות אינו בא בהתגברות

Tohu is much light and few vessels; Tikkun is the reverse, many vessels and less light, so that the light does not come with force and the middos can include one another.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5649, p. רלג

    Citing the rule that Tohu had much light and few vessels and Tikkun little light and many vessels, the Rebbe Rashab says this is not literally more and less, but a different kind of light, and that Tikkun begins with the vessels, through which the lights are rectified.

    וידוע דאין הכוונה בריבוי ומיעוט ריבוי ממש ומיעוט ממש, כי אם שבתהו הי׳ האור באופן אחר לגמרי מהאור דתיקון

Whether the Torah is of the lights and the mitzvos of the vessels

Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶9התורה שהיא בחי׳ חכמה ושכל היינו שהיא מבחי׳ אורות והמצות שהן בחי׳ עשייה היינו שהן מבחי׳ כלים

The Torah, being wisdom and intellect, is of the lights; the mitzvos, being action, are of the vessels (and because the vessels’ root is higher, the mitzvos are sometimes said to be above the Torah).

Likkutei Torah, Balak 5, ¶16המצות נק׳ רמ״ח אברים דמלכא שהם בחי׳ כלים ואברים החיצונים אבל התורה שהיא חכמתו ית׳ היא כלי ואבר הפנימי ממש

The mitzvos are the outer vessels and limbs of the King; the Torah, His wisdom, is itself a vessel, the inner one, since Or Ein Sof is clothed only in Chochmah.

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 3, ¶13המצות שהם בחי׳ אורות המתלבשים בכלים מתחלקים לתרי״ג בחי׳

The mitzvos are lights clothed in vessels, divided into 613, a light for each vessel; the Torah is an encompassing light, one light above division, the source of the light drawn into them.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5652–5653, p. רלא

    The Rebbe Rashab explains that the mitzvos are vessels holding the light of the Torah in the soul, yet in their root (Gulgalta) stand above the Torah (Mocha Stima’ah), which is why they can draw its light down; he ties this to the Talmudic debate over whether study or deed is greater.

    וזהו דהמצות בעצם בשרשן למעלה הן גבוהים מהתורה דהמצות הן בגולגלתא ותורה מו״ס, וידוע דגולגלתא למעלה ממו״ס

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5679, p. תג

    The Rebbe Rashab defines the light as a radiance of Or Ein Sof (‘nothing’) and the vessel as the defined attribute (‘something’), and explains that in Tikkun they unite because the vessel is nullified, unlike in Tohu.ענין התיקון הוא יחוד אורות וכלים שזהו בחי׳ אין ויש שהאור הוא הארה מאוא״ס ב״ה שזהו בחי׳ אין והכלי היא בחי׳ יש

  2. The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5649, p. רלג

    The Rebbe Rashab characterizes the light as always rising to leave the vessel and the vessel as what holds it and draws it down, like the soul that must be bound to the body.וידוע דאור וכלי הוא בחינת חסד וגבורה, האור הוא בחינת גבורה כי טבעו לעלות למעלה ולהסתלק מהכלי

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5728, p. ריב

    The Rebbe explains that Atzilus, as intermediary, contains both: the lights stay unbounded even inside the vessels, like light through colored glass, while the vessels are truly bounded and make creation of the lower worlds possible; he applies the same to the Torah.וזהו שבאצילות ישנם אורות וכלים, שהאורות הם מעין העליון, והכלים הם מעין התחתון

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

Sefer HaErchim Chabad

חילוק הנ״ל שבין ”אורות” ל״כלים” — מה שענינם של האורות הוא הגילוי דאוא״ס, שלכן הם בבחי׳ בל״ג; משא״כ הכלים הם כמו דבר נבדל, שלכן הם בבחי׳ גבול

The difference between lights and vessels: the lights are the revelation of Or Ein Sof, and so they are unbounded; the vessels are like a separate thing, and so they are bounded. (our translation)

Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. ד, entry אורות דספירות — ביחס לכלים, col. לא · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted

Main sources

Torah Ohr, Vayeira 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶4Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 42, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶12Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 11, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Masei 5, ¶9Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶4

Where it appears

In 531 paragraphs of 203 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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