The Seven Lights

49 references, 14 awaiting confirmation

Sources.

Every claim on this site names its source in the body text. This page holds all of them in one place, says what each one is for a reader who has never opened one, and states plainly which have not yet been checked against a printed text.

How to read the status

  • verified means the reference was supplied by the author of this site.
  • verify means it is carried from the author's own discourse or from general knowledge and has not been independently confirmed against a printed text during this build. Where a reference is uncertain, the site states the claim without leaning on the number.

No source on this site was invented. Where a folio, chapter or quotation could not be confirmed, it is marked rather than dressed up.

Torah, the five books

The Hebrew Bible's opening five books. Bereishis is the Hebrew name of the book called Genesis in English, and it means in the beginning.

  • Bereishis 2:16

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    The single verse spoken to the first human being, in the garden, about what he may eat.

    Used here Quoted in full. Every one of the seven laws is read out of one of its clauses. Used on the home page, on all seven law pages, and on /why-seven.

  • Bereishis 9:1 to 9:17

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    The covenant made with Noach and with every living creature after the flood.

    Used here Quoted and described: the permission to eat meat at 9:3, the limit at 9:4, the requirement for human blood at 9:5 and 9:6, and the bow as the sign of the covenant.

  • Bereishis 18:19

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    Said of Avraham: that he will instruct his household to keep the way of the L-rd, to do righteousness and justice.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/justice as the supporting verse the Talmud brings for courts.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar and from general knowledge, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Bereishis 36:31 and following

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    The list of the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, of whom it is repeatedly said that he died.

    Used here Referred to on /deeper and /why-seven as the passage the Kabbalists read as the account of the shattering of the vessels.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Vayikra 18:5

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    That a person shall do them and live by them. The verse says ha'adam, the man, and not priests, Levites and Israelites.

    Used here Referred to on /why-seven as the verse from which Rabbi Meir derives that a gentile occupied with his seven is like a High Priest.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Bamidbar 8:2

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    The instruction about the lamps of the menorah, that the seven lamps shall give light toward the face of the lampstand.

    Used here Referred to on /deeper as the image behind the site's title and its recurring six toward one motif, with Rashi's comment that the six turn their flames toward the middle.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

Prophets

The books of the Hebrew Bible after the five, quoted here for single lines.

  • Hoshea 5:11

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    That a people went after a command.

    Used here Referred to on /laws/one-god and /laws/justice as the verse behind the Talmud's second reading of vayetzav.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Yeshayahu 45:18

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    That He did not create the world for emptiness, but formed it to be inhabited.

    Used here Quoted on /deeper.

  • Yeshayahu 11:9

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    That the earth will be filled with knowledge of the L-rd as the waters cover the sea.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven and /deeper, as the Rambam brings it at the close of the Mishneh Torah.

  • Tzefaniah 3:9

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    That He will turn to the peoples a clear language, so that they all call on the Name of the L-rd and serve Him with one shoulder.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven and /about.

  • Malachi 1:11

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    That from the rising of the sun to its setting, His Name is great among the nations.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven.

Talmud

The record of the discussion of the Oral Torah, closed around the sixth century. References are to a tractate and a page, so Sanhedrin 56b is the reverse side of page 56 of the tractate Sanhedrin.

  • Sanhedrin 56b

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    The passage that reads all seven laws out of Bereishis 2:16, clause by clause, and records that the first human being was commanded on six with the sixth law added to Noach.

    Used here The spine of this site. Quoted clause by clause on the home page, on /why-seven, and on each of the seven law pages. The second reading of vayetzav as idolatry is also from this passage.

  • Sanhedrin 59a

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    Rabbi Meir's teaching that a gentile occupied with his seven is like a High Priest, and the rule that a commandment stated to the sons of Noach and repeated at Sinai was stated for both.

    Used here Quoted and discussed on /why-seven and /deeper.

  • Sanhedrin 4:5

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    The Mishnah that man was created singly, so that nobody could say my father is greater than your father, and that whoever sustains one soul is as one who sustains an entire world.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/life.

  • Shabbos 10a

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    That a judge who gives a true judgment becomes a partner with the Holy One in the work of creation.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/justice and /living-it.

  • Shabbos 88a

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    The image of the mountain held over Israel like a barrel at the giving of the Torah.

    Used here Referred to on /why-seven, contrasted with the nations being asked.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Chullin 92a

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    Ulla's statement that the sons of Noach accepted thirty commandments upon themselves and uphold three of them, and the naming of the three.

    Used here Discussed on /why-seven. The site follows the Talmud in dwelling on the three that were kept.

  • Kiddushin 31a

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    The account of Dama ben Nesina of Ashkelon, brought as the standard for honouring a parent.

    Used here Told on /why-seven and /living-it.

  • Avodah Zarah 23b

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    A second telling of the account of Dama ben Nesina.

    Used here Cited alongside Kiddushin 31a.

  • Avodah Zarah 2b

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    That the Torah was offered to the nations before it was given to Israel, and that each asked what was written in it.

    Used here Discussed on /why-seven, as evidence that the seven are a door rather than a wall.

  • Berachos 35a to 35b

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    That one who takes enjoyment from this world without a blessing is as one who steals.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/property, in the deeper layer.

  • Sotah 35b

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    That the Torah was inscribed on the stones in seventy languages when Israel crossed the Jordan.

    Used here Referred to on /why-seven.

  • Avos 1:18

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    That the world stands on three things: on judgment, on truth and on peace.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/justice.

  • Avos 3:14

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    Rabbi Akiva: beloved is man, for he was created in the image; and beloved are Israel, for they are called children of the Omnipresent.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven, for the point that the passage holds two statements and cancels neither.

Midrash

Collections of teaching and exposition from the same centuries as the Talmud, arranged around the biblical text.

  • Bereishis Rabbah 44:1

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    That the commandments were given only to refine the creatures, and the word used is creatures rather than Israel.

    Used here Quoted on /deeper.

  • Eichah Rabbah 2:13

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    If you are told there is wisdom among the nations, believe it; if you are told there is Torah among the nations, do not believe it.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven and /questions.

  • Shemos Rabbah 12:3

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    That until the giving of the Torah a decree separated the upper realms from the lower, and at Sinai it was annulled.

    Used here Discussed on /why-seven and /deeper.

  • Midrash Tanchuma, Naso 16

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    That the Holy One desired a dwelling in the lowest realms.

    Used here The foundation of the whole site. Quoted on /deeper and referred to throughout.

  • Mechilta, Beshalach, Vayassa 2

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    That the Torah was given to be expounded only to those who ate the manna.

    Used here Referred to on /deeper, contrasted with the first law of humanity being given in a garden about eating.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Mechilta, Yisro, Bachodesh 5, and Bamidbar Rabbah 1:7

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    That the Torah was given publicly, in a wilderness belonging to nobody, so that no nation could claim it or say it was not offered.

    Used here Referred to on /why-seven.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Sifri Devarim 343

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    The offering of the Torah to the nations, alongside Avodah Zarah 2b.

    Used here Cited on /why-seven.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 3

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    The principle that there is no king without a people.

    Used here Discussed on /deeper.

    Note The principle is standard in Chassidic literature. The attribution to this chapter is carried from the author's maamar, which itself gives it with a see rather than as a citation, and it is not independently confirmed here.

Codes and commentaries

Rulings and readings from the medieval period, still the standard reference points.

  • Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchos Melachim 9:1

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    The enumeration of the seven commandments of the sons of Noach, and the statement that the first human being was commanded on six with the sixth added to Noach.

    Used here Cited on all seven law pages as the ruling that fixes the list.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 9:14

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    That the sons of Noach are commanded to seat judges in every district, to judge concerning the six and to admonish the people.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/justice.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 8:10

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    That Moshe was commanded to bring all the inhabitants of the world to accept the commandments given to the sons of Noach.

    Used here Discussed on /why-seven and /questions, together with the site's reading that this is done by explanation and not by force.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 8:11

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    That one who accepts the seven and performs them because G-d commanded them in the Torah is of the pious of the nations of the world and has a share in the world to come; and that one who performs them by the ruling of his own reasoning is not.

    Used here The turning point of /why-seven and /deeper. The textual variant in the closing words of this ruling is disclosed on /sources and on /questions.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 10:12

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    That we conduct ourselves toward a resident foreigner with decency and acts of kindness, citing that the L-rd is good to all, and that her ways are ways of pleasantness.

    Used here Quoted on /laws/justice and /questions.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 12:1

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    That in the days of the Messiah nothing of the ordinary course of the world will be annulled.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Melachim 12:5

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    That the occupation of the whole world will be only to know the L-rd. This is the closing passage of the entire Mishneh Torah.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven and /about.

  • Rambam, Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4

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    That a person should see themselves and the whole world as evenly balanced, and that one act tips the whole of it.

    Used here Quoted on /living-it and referred to on several law pages.

  • Ramban on Bereishis 34:13

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    That the seventh law is far wider than enforcement: an entire civil legal order, and the judges to administer it.

    Used here Carried on /laws/justice alongside the Rambam's narrower reading. The site does not resolve the disagreement.

  • Ramban on Bereishis 9:12

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    That the bow is set in the cloud inverted, its arc turned downward, so that it plainly is not drawn to shoot.

    Used here Quoted on /why-seven and /deeper.

  • Rashi on Bereishis 1:29

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    That flesh was not permitted to the first human being.

    Used here Referred to on /laws/the-living and /why-seven.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

  • Rashi on Bamidbar 8:2

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    That the six lamps of the menorah turn their flames toward the middle one.

    Used here Referred to on /deeper as the source of the six toward one motif used throughout this site.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

Kabbalah and Chassidus

The inner tradition. Everything drawn from here appears on this site inside a deeper layer, marked as such, and never in place of the plain law.

  • Zohar I:72b

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    That one should not expect the footsteps of the Messiah until the bow is seen in the world adorned in shining colours.

    Used here Quoted on /deeper and /why-seven.

  • Etz Chaim, Shaar HaMelachim, and the Idra Rabba on the kings of Edom

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    The reading of the seven kings of Edom as the seven attributes of the world of Tohu, whose vessels shattered.

    Used here Described on /deeper. The correspondence between those seven and these seven is marked on the page as a derived reading.

  • Tanya, chapter 36

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    Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi's treatment of the teaching that G-d desired a dwelling in the lowest realms, quoting Midrash Tanchuma.

    Used here The foundation of /deeper and of the closing movement of the home page.

  • Likkutei Torah, on mitzvah from the word tzavsa

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    That the Hebrew word for commandment is read as being from an Aramaic word meaning companionship or joining.

    Used here Quoted on /deeper as the reason the origin of a command changes what the act is.

    Note The teaching is standard in Chassidic literature. The exact place in Likkutei Torah is carried from the author's maamar and is not independently confirmed here.

  • Likkutei Torah, discourses for Rosh Hashanah, on there being no king without a people

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    That the Hebrew word for a people is read as being from a word meaning dimmed or banked, as of a covered coal.

    Used here Discussed on /deeper.

    Note Carried from the author's maamar, not independently confirmed in this build.

A note on the two discourses behind this site

This site is built on two Chassidic discourses by its author, one on the verse in Bereishis 2:16 and one on the seven lights. Their structure, their arguments and their source lists are the intellectual backbone here. Nothing from them is reproduced verbatim, because they were written for a learned reader and this site is not.

Wherever this site proposes a reading of its own rather than reporting one the tradition states, it is marked on the page as a derived reading. See the deeper layer for most of them.