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Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah

Ratzon

רצון

Will (ratzon) · also: רצון התחתון, רצון וחפץ

Will, which rules the middos: a lower will born of intellect, and the Supernal Will above intellect (Keser, Gulgalta), which covers a hidden reason and delight and is the root of the mitzvos.

The word רצון also has its everyday senses: a person’s wish, and favor or acceptance (עת רצון, לרצון, יהי רצון). It names the level in Keser when the text writes רצון העליון / רצה״ע or links it to כתר, גלגלתא or מצחא. It is a different word from רצוא (ratzo, the soul’s running upward).

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39, ¶6There are two wills. The lower will is born of intellect, from seeing the worth of a thing (above, Tiferes of Imma that becomes Keser of Z’eir Anpin). The Supernal Will is above intellect (“Be silent, so it arose in thought”): it has a reason, but a hidden one (Mocha Stima’ah, where the delight is, from Atik), and to others it shows only as will, Gulgalta covering the brain.רצון התחתון היינו הנולד מן השכל מחמת שמשכיל בשכלו יופי של אותו הדבר
  2. Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16, ¶5The will is called Gulgalta and Mitzcha: only the will can be revealed, while the reason and delight within it stay hidden. Israel are called “head” because they arouse and draw the Supernal Will down into revelation.בחי׳ הרצון נק׳ גלגלתא דחפיא על מוחא שגילוי הרצון חופה על השכל הנעלם
  3. Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶4In a person the will is the inner life of the middos and rules them: withdraw the will and a pleasant thing gives no pleasure. Will is Keser; even the lower will drawn from intellect is above the middos, and it is a vessel for the Supernal Will above intellect.ואהבת מלשון אבה שהוא פי׳ הרצון לפי שהרצון הוא פנימית המדות
  4. Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 6, ¶9Mitzvos that depend on a person’s knowledge and will are rooted in the Supernal Will, Arich Anpin in Keser, the root of the emanated, so doing them draws it as a makif. Mitzvos done specifically without one’s knowledge or will (like shikchah) come from the lowest level of the Emanator, above the will, called the makif of the makif.שרשם למעלה ג״כ בכתר מבחי׳ א״א שהוא בחי׳ רצון העליון שהוא שרש הנאצלים
  5. Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1, ¶12The letters of ratzon spell tzinor, channel: once will comes to be, G‑dly flow passes through it by contraction and ordered levels, according to the Torah. Above the will, “darkness is as light” and sins do not hold back the flow.ורצון אותיות צנור שהוא מעבר התגלות שפע וחיות אלהי דרך צמצום והשתלשלות סדר המדרגות

Stated differently

Whether the will (Gulgalta) is below or above Mocha Stima’ah, the hidden intellect in Keser

Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶1בחינת מוחא סתימאה שהוא בחינת שכל הנעלם מכל רעיון והוא למעלה מן הרצון

Mocha Stima’ah, intellect hidden from all thought, in which is delight, Or Ein Sof itself, is above the will; the will is its outer side, as the skull to the brain within it. It notes that the explanation on “Yavi’u levush malchus” places Gulgalta higher, and holds that both rest on Etz Chaim.

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; because it is an outer level it can descend and be revealed below without a garment.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1, p. רלג

    Taking up the teaching that Gulgalta is above Mocha Stima’ah although the brain is plainly more vital than the skull, the Tzemach Tzedek explains that intellect is more inward while the will, a makif from the soul’s essence, is greater, and that the delight within the will shows itself more in intellect.

    השכל הוא פנימי׳ ויש בו טוב טעם יותר מן הרצון שהוא רק חיצוניות באמרו כך הוא רצוני, ומ״מ כח הרצון גדול יותר

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Mitteler Rebbe · Toras Chaim, Shemos vol. 1, p. 260

    The Mitteler Rebbe shows from bribery and a father’s love that the will bends the intellect toward kindness or judgment, so reasoning is only the will’s garment, and he goes on to the ‘hidden reason’ within the will.והיינו לפי שהשכל הוא רק כמו לבוש שפושטו ולובשו והעיקר הוא הרצון שמלובש בו מפני שמטה את הכח השכלי להשכיל כפי שירצה

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

    The Tzemach Tzedek distinguishes the lower will drawn from intellect from the Supernal Will above reason, the root of the mitzvos, and divides the Supernal Will into a part that can be revealed in Chochmah (in the World to Come) and a part that stays makif.דאית רצון שנמשך מהשכל ונק׳ רצה״ת ואית רצון שלמעלה מטעם ודעת וחכמה, והוא הנקרא רצה״ע וממנו שורש המשכת תרי״ג מצות דאורייתא

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

    The Rebbe applies the two wills to service: thought, speech and deed driven by the lower will born of intellect, against service from the Supernal Will above reason, the love ‘with all your might’, which draws down the Supernal Will above hishtalshelus.בעבודה דמחדומ״ע כמו שהיא מצד רצון התחתון הנולד מהשכל. אמנם בהעבודה כמו שהיא מצד רצון העליון, דהיינו העבודה דרעו״ד שלמעלה מטעם ודעת

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 39, ¶6Likkutei Torah, Shelach 16, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶1Likkutei Torah, Behaaloscha 1, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Vezos Haberachah 6, ¶9Torah Ohr, Beshalach 1, ¶12

Where it appears

In 910 paragraphs of 286 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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