Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah
Or
אור
Or (light)
A radiance (ziv) drawn from a source (ma’or), nullified to it and making no change in it, as sunlight to the sun. So Or Ein Sof is a radiance from G‑d, not His essence.
The word אור is also plain, physical light, of the sun or a lamp, and the maamarim use it as the parable (the sun and its radiance; oil and wick). As a term it names a G‑dly drawing-down that relates to its source as light to a luminary: Or Ein Sof, the lights of the sefiros, or pnimi and or makif, lights and vessels. Where the text describes the sun, a lamp or a verse’s “light” as an example, it is the plain sense.
Where it’s explained
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶8Why the Zohar and Etz Chaim speak of “light,” Or Ein Sof: sunlight is a radiance from the sun, counted as nothing beside it, and the sun is unchanged whether its light reaches the earth or is blocked; so Or Ein Sof is only a radiance spreading from Him.
כך פי׳ אור א״ס הוא רק בחי׳ הארה המתפשט ונמשך ממנו ית׳
- Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶11The sun itself is the ma’or; light is the radiance drawn from it. Or Ein Sof is like a radiance from His essence. Being itself infinite, the light cannot be held by the worlds, so it is chiefly sovev, and a contracted drawing of it is memalei.
וכנודע דהשמש עצמו נק׳ מאור. אבל אור היינו הזיו הנמשך ממאור השמש
- Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶16The life that shines from Him to the worlds is a radiance, like sunlight to the sun, and unlike a soul in a body He is not affected by it. It has no end, being light from the Unbounded; the worlds are bounded only through contractions of the light.
והנה בחי׳ אור וגילוי והמשכה זו נק׳ אור א״ס כי אין קץ וגבול להארה זו
- Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶3Even the light clothed in the ten sefiros is only a radiance and makes no change in the Emanator; that is why it is called Or Ein Sof, a term for mere radiance. The text adds that Keser is sometimes called Or Ein Sof.
והאור הוא רק זיו והארה מעצמות המאציל ואין פועל שום שינוי במהותו ועצמותו
- Likkutei Torah, Masei 7, ¶3Light and vessels: the light is simple and of the order of Ein Sof; the vessel limits it, so that what it gives is bounded.
שהאור הוא בחי׳ א״ס והכלי מגבלת להיות ההשפעה בבחי׳ גבול
Stated differently
Whether the word Or (Or Ein Sof) is used of G‑d’s essence
אבל על מהו״ע ית׳ ממש לא שייך כלל לשון אורOr Ein Sof is like a radiance drawn from His essence; the word “light” does not apply to His essence at all.
כך פי׳ אור א״ס הוא רק בחי׳ הארה המתפשט ונמשך ממנו ית׳Or Ein Sof means only a radiance spreading and drawn from Him.
אבל אנכי מי שאנכי הוא עצמות אור א״ס שלמעלה גם מסוכ״ע“Anochi” at Sinai is the essence of Or Ein Sof, above even sovev, which is drawn down to become “Havayah your G‑d.”
Discussed by
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5668, p. קפח
The Rebbe Rashab holds that not even the name ‘source of light’ (ma’or) truly applies to the Essence, though light is drawn from Him; we call Him ma’or only for lack of another name, and the light that comes from Him is utterly beyond comparison to Him.
וכשאנו מדברים בענין אור אנו מכנים עצמותו בשם מאור, אבל באמת אינו שייך בו ית׳ השם מאור
Whether light still included in its source is called light
כזיו השמש במקורו אשר אין שייך לקרוא בשם אור מחמת כי הוא בטל במאורBefore Him all is nullified in its source, like the sun’s radiance within the sun, which cannot be called light because it is nullified in the luminary.
כאור השמש הכלול תוך עצם השמשHis Name, called Or Ein Sof, is included and nullified in Him like the light of the sun included within the body of the sun.
היה הוא ושמו לבד שבחי׳ האור כלול במאורBefore the world was created there was “He and His Name alone,” meaning the light included in the luminary.
Discussed by
The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5668, p. קפח
The Rebbe Rashab sets the Tanya’s statement that radiance within the sun is not called light beside his point that it is still in the category of light, and explains the absence of the name by the higher standing of light included in its source.
והגם שמבו׳ בסש״ב דהזיו כמו שהוא בגוף השמש אינו עולה בשם אור וזיו, מ״מ ה״ה בבחי׳ אור
Further in Chassidus
The Tzemach Tzedek · Derech Mitzvosecha, Mitzvas Ha’amanas Elokus ch. 6, p. 102
Explaining the tzimtzum through the sun’s radiance and the soul’s power of sight, the Tzemach Tzedek shows that light withdrawn is simply included in its source, so neither the source nor the light changes, the light having no name of its own.לגבי עצמו ית׳ אין שינוי כלל כי לעולם האור כלול במאור ובטל במציאות ואינו עולה בשם בפ״ע
The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim Basi LeGani, vol. 1 (old ed.), p. קנז
The Rebbe sets light against shefa (an outflow that is itself a thing): light is only a radiance, so it changes and diminishes nothing in its source, yet it resembles that source, so the source can be known through it.משא״כ אור, כמו אור השמש הוא רק הארה לבד, שלכן אינו פועל שום שינוי בהשמש ולא נחסר כלום בהשמש
Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.
Sefer HaErchim Chabad
התואר ”אור” (בתורת החסידות) הוא לא רק למציאות האור כפשוטו (בגשמיות) — בהירות, כ״א, גם לכללות המשכת והשפעת האלקות — לפי שאופן המשכות אלו הם דוגמת המשכת האור.The term “or” in Chassidus refers not only to light in its plain, physical sense, brightness, but to all drawing-down and bestowal of G‑dliness, because these are drawn down the way light is. (our translation)
Sefer HaErchim Chabad, vol. ב, entry אור, col. תלה · © Kehot Publication Society, quoted
Main sources
Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶8Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶16Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Beshalach 1, ¶15Likkutei Torah, Masei 7, ¶3Torah Ohr, Vayakhel 1, ¶11
Where it appears
In 8 paragraphs of 6 maamarim (only where it is the subject: the word is common in its plain sense).
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.