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Or Makif

אור מקיף

Encompassing light (Or Makif)

Light too great to enter a vessel, staying above and surrounding it, head and foot alike; or light that entered, could not be held, and went out to surround it. Its partner is or pnimi.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶7Or pnimi enters and settles in the vessel in graded order (yosher); or makif could not enter because of its great light, so it stays above as a circle (igul), surrounding head and foot alike. Its root is the great circle around the kav.ובחי׳ א״מ הוא מה שלא היה יכול ליכנס בהכלי כלל מפני גודל אורו ונשאר למעלה מן הכלי בבחי׳ מקיף
  2. Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶6Two kinds: the returning makif, light that entered the vessel, could not be held and went out to surround it, particular like hair and garments (the mitzvos); and the direct, general makif that never enters, equal from head to foot (the joy of a mitzvah).מקיף החוזר שהוא מקיף פרטי ומקיף הישר שהוא מקיף כללי שמקיף מראשו עד רגלו
  3. Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶14The near makif, though it does not shine within, still moves a person, as the Shechinah resting on ten at prayer does, and is called the makif that shines into the inner light; the general makif surrounds equally and moves nothing within.הב׳ מקיף הכללי שמקיף בהשוואה א׳ ואינו מאיר בפנימי כלל ולא נמשך ממנו התפעלות
  4. Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 6, ¶4Food, rooted in inner light, unites with the body and is used up; clothing, rooted in the makif of Keser, surrounds a person and lasts longer; a house, rooted in the lowest level of the Emanator, is a makif of a makif.משא״כ הלבושים שרשם למעלה הוא מבחי׳ כתר ראש לנאצלים בחי׳ מקיף ולכן הם למטה ג״כ מקיפים על האדם ולא בחיות פנימי
  5. Torah Ohr, Shemos 5, ¶9Citing Etz Chaim: the mitzvah itself draws the inner light clothed in the vessels; its blessing draws the makif, which is above the inner light and therefore cannot clothe itself in the vessel.וע״י הברכה שעל המצוה ממשיכים בחי׳ האור מקיף שהוא למעלה מבחי׳ האו״פ שלכך א״י להתלבש בתוך הכלי

Stated differently

Where the encompassing lights come from: the inner light (the kav), or a root above it

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶9וכך מן פנימית עליון שהוא הקו וחוט נעשו כל המקיפים

After the tzimtzum only the kav was drawn, and it is inner light; from it all the makifim were made, the inner light of a higher level becoming the makif of a lower one.

Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶32דשרש כל המקיפים הוא מהמקיף הגדול שמקיף כל העולמות בשוה

The root of all makifim is the great makif that surrounds all worlds equally; this is why a makif repels the external forces.

Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶7אעפ״כ שרש המקיפים נמשך מבחי׳ העיגול הגדול המקיף את הקו וחוט

The makifim of every world are drawn through the kav, yet their root is the great circle that surrounds the kav; the inner light is drawn from the yosher.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5714, p. קפז

    The Rebbe cites the Etz Chaim that the encompassing iggulim are drawn through the kav, all but the great iggul, asks how that can be when they stand above it, and answers that the inner light is not a ray of the makif but its ‘brother’, present before the tzimtzum.

    והיינו שגם העגולים (לבד עיגול הגדול) נמשכים ע״י הקו דוקא. וצריך להבין, דמאחר שהעגולים הם למעלה מהקו, למה הם נמשכים ע״י הקו דוקא

Whether an encompassing light can come to be inner light

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶9וכנודע שמקיפים א״א להיות פנימי׳ רק פנימי׳ עליון נעשה מקיף לתחתון

Makifim cannot become inner; only the inner light of a higher level becomes the makif of a lower one.

Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶14שבשבת נכנסים המקיפים דחול בבחינת פנימים

On Shabbos the makifim of the weekdays enter as inner lights, and higher makifim are drawn.

Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶8ומה שעתה הוא בחי׳ סובב ומקיף יתגלה לעתיד בבחי׳ פנימי

What is now sovev and makif will be revealed in the Time to Come as inner.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim, Yom Tov shel Rosh Hashanah 5666, p. קעג

    The Rebbe Rashab separates a makif that is only felt inwardly yet stays makif (Shabbos, Aharon) from a makif that truly becomes inner light (Torah, Moshe).

    אמנם בתורה האור מקיף נעשה אור פנימי ממש, לא רק שמרגיש את האור מקיף, אלא שהמקיף נעשה פנימי

Whether the greater part of the light is what remains makif, or the inner light is greater

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶48החלק המעולה והגדול מאד הוא הנשאר מקיף

Cites Mevo She’arim (Sha’ar (Gate) 2): the superior and very great part of the light is the part that remains makif; it later cites the Ramaz that the makif of Atik spreads without limit, “as here.”

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶48וצ״ל ממ״ש (בשער ג׳ ח״א פ״ה) כי אור הפנימי גדול

Sets against it Mevo She’arim (Sha’ar (Gate) 3), Etz Chaim and Mevo Chochmah, which say the inner light is greater.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5714, p. קפז

    Having granted that sovev is higher in level than memalei, the Rebbe argues that in terms of the purpose, light clothed and revealed, the inner light is the deeper and higher.

    שבאמת האור פנימי הוא למעלה מהאור מקיף, דכיון שהכוונה היא שהאור יהי׳ בהתלבשות ובגילוי

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Devarim vol. 2, p. תתקעג

    Through tallis and tzitzis, the Tzemach Tzedek shows the great light that cannot be clothed as inner light staying above as makif, while only a narrow, constricted ray reaches the heart.להיות המשכת האור הגדול א״א להתלבש בו בבחי׳ א״פ כ״א בבחי׳ אור מקיף מלמעלה, ורק הארה קטנה מצומצמת בצמצום גדול מאד

  2. The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, 5627, p. נ

    The Rebbe Maharash defines makif as light too abundant to settle in the vessel, and illustrates it with love born of contemplating what no thought can grasp, which cannot be clothed in limited middos.כי פי׳ אור מקיף שמחמת ריבוי האור אינו מתיישב בהכלי בבחי׳ אור פנימי

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5716, p. קעה

    The Rebbe roots makif in the light before the tzimtzum, whose role is to reveal the essence rather than to act, which is why it encircles every world equally even after it is drawn down.אור מקיף בכללות הוא האור שקודם הצמצום, ואור פנימי בכללות הוא האור שאחרי הצמצום

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Korach 1, ¶32Likkutei Torah, Reeh 12, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 6, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Pinchas 2, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Tazria 6, ¶27Torah Ohr, Shemos 5, ¶9

Where it appears

In 639 paragraphs of 217 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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