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Pnimiyus

פנימיות

The inner dimension (pnimiyus) · also: פנימיות וחיצוניות העולמות

The inner dimension: the part of anything that turns toward and cleaves to its source (from panim, face), its depth and chief will. Its partner, chitzoniyus, goes out to others; the inner does not descend.

The word The word also means simply “inner” or “inward” (חצר הפנימית, the inner court; receiving בפנימיות, inwardly, as against as a makif). As a term it names the inner of a pair and is always relative to a chitzoniyus of the same level; it is not the same as or pnimi, the light settled within a vessel.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6, ¶4Everything has an inner dimension, named from panim, “face”: the side that turns to its cause and cleaves to it, as the root of the soul cleaves to its source; the outer dimension is its flow outward. In the chain of descent only the outer of the higher becomes the inner of the lower; the inner of the higher does not descend.שפירושו לשון פונה כי פנו אלי כו׳ אל תפן כו׳ שהוא בחי׳ כל עילה שפונה ודבוק בעילתו
  2. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31, ¶1All of hishtalshelus, and each of the ten Sefiros, has an inner and an outer. The inner of Chochmah is like the depth and content of an idea, above being clothed in letters of thought and speech; it stays above hishtalshelus and is not clothed even in Binah, while only its outer is drawn down.שיש בה פנימית והוא על דרך משל עומק ותוכן המושכל שהוא למעלה מהתלבשות באותיות המחשבה ודבור
  3. Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶5The heart has two levels. Its outer, the feelings born of contemplation, is below the intellect and receives from it; its inner, called the higher will, is above the intellect. The inner heart is revealed in the cry of teshuvah, which is the simple sound of the shofar.אבל פנימית הלב שהוא הנק׳ רצון העליון אינו מקבל ונמשך מהשכל כלל אלא הוא גם למעלה מהשכל
  4. Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4, ¶5G‑d’s outer dimension sustains all and nothing hides it; the drawing of holiness from His inner will is what sins block from shining into the inner point of the heart. In a person too, the inner is his chief will, aim and desire: bowing down, when his own will is wholly set aside, reaches the inner point of the heart; kneeling, mere assent, leaves him as he stood.ופנימיות נקרא מה שהוא עיקר רצונו ומגמתו וחפצו
  5. Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶17Malchus has an outer side that descends into Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah to give them life, the rose among thorns, and an inner side that does not descend at all. The outer is built from behind Z’eir Anpin; the inner is built from the inner of Z’eir Anpin, the source of the souls of Israel.ובחי׳ פנימית המל׳ שאינה יורדת כלל הוא בחי׳ רעיתי

Stated differently

Whether the inner of Keser (Mocha Stima’ah) is above its outer (Gulgalta), or Gulgalta is the higher

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 19, ¶12אע״ג דגלגלתא גבוה ממו״ס שהרי הוא בחינת כתר דאריך

Gulgalta is higher than Mocha Stima’ah, being the Keser of Arich Anpin; yet because it is the outer it can descend and be revealed below without a garment, which the inner cannot.

Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶1אבל מו״ס שהיא פנימית הכתר היא למעלה לגמרי מבחי׳ גלגלתא שהיא חיצוניות שלו

Mocha Stima’ah, the inner of Keser, holds the delight that is Ein Sof itself and is entirely above Gulgalta, its outer, the will. It cites the explanation on Yavi’u Levush Malchus, that Gulgalta is the higher, and holds there is no contradiction: Etz Chaim has both accounts, and within Gulgalta is a very hidden brain, the inner of Keser within Keser, of which Gulgalta is the outer.

Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2, ¶8ולכן יש מעלה יתירה בתורה על המצות שהיא מבחי׳ פנימית ויש מעלה במצות שהן מבחי׳ חיצונית

The Torah, rooted in the inner of Keser, and the mitzvos, rooted in its outer, each have an advantage: the Torah for being inner, the mitzvos because Or Ein Sof as sovev is revealed in the outer of Keser.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Megillas Esther, p. צח

    The Tzemach Tzedek notes that Etz Chaim seems to make Mocha Stima’ah the higher inner, above Gulgalta, while the maamar calls even Chochmah Stima’ah a lower inner relative to Gulgalta, the outer of a higher level; he settles it by a hidden brain above Mocha Stima’ah, which is Atik.

    ואילו בדרוש דכאן מבואר שאפי׳ ח״ס נק׳ פנימי׳ תחתון לגבי גולגולתא שהיא חיצוני׳ מבחי׳ עליונה יותר

Whether sovev is the inner dimension of G‑dliness, or is revealed in the outer of Keser and not in its inner

Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶8שהוא נקרא פניך דהיינו שהוא בחי׳ פנימית אלקותו ית׳ דהיינו בחי׳ סובב

Every shofar reveals the inner dimension: the higher will, called “Your face,” which is the inner of His G‑dliness, sovev. The great shofar of the Time to Come will draw from what is above even this inner.

Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2, ¶8וא״ש מ״ש שבחיצוניות הכתר הוא גלוי אוא״ס הסוכ״ע משא״כ במו״ס שהוא בחי׳ פנימיות הכתר אין בו גלוי בחי׳ סוכ״ע

Or Ein Sof as sovev is revealed in the outer of Keser, the root of the mitzvos; in Mocha Stima’ah, the inner of Keser and root of the Torah, sovev is not revealed.

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 2, p. תקלג

    The Tzemach Tzedek defines the inner as the side of a thing that cleaves to and receives from its source (panim from ‘turning’), the outer as its descent to give to what is below, and adds a third, the thing’s own self, which joins the two.שהם הפכים לגמרי, כי הפנימי׳ הוא תכלית העילוי בהיותו דבוק במקורו והחיצוניות הוא תכלית ההשפלה להיות ראש ומקור להמקבל

  2. The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5665, p. מו

    The Rebbe Rashab explains why every partzuf has an inner and an outer, from the face and back of a person, and traces the same split through will, intellect, emotions, thought, speech and deed: depth and true desire as against the surface.ידוע שבכל הפרצופים העליונים בכללות ההשתל׳ יש בחי׳ פנים ואחור הנק׳ פנימיות וחיצוניות כו׳ והטעם כי כללות ההשתל׳ הוא בבחי׳ ציור אדם

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga, old ed.) 5748, p. קיד

    The Rebbe defines the inner as the core life and inner will that show in the face, and explains that the split between inner and outer arises only through constriction; above it the will is ‘all face’.דההפרש בין עורף לפנים הוא אשר בפניו של אדם מתגלה עיקר פנימיות החיות ורצונו הפנימי, משא״כ בעורפו אין רואים את גילוי פנימיות החיות

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Shelach 6, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 17, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 31, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Rosh Hashanah 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 4, ¶5Torah Ohr, Vaeira 5, ¶17Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 2, ¶8

Where it appears

In 759 paragraphs of 246 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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