Darchei Noam (דרכי נועם) — "ways of pleasantness"

Core definition

Darchei noam — "ways of pleasantness" — comes from Mishlei 3:17: "דרכיה דרכי נועם וכל נתיבותיה שלום" ("its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace"), said of the Torah. In the maamarim it functions in two registers: as the Torah's defining character (its ways are pleasantness, its paths peace), and as noam — the felt pleasantness and sweetness of Divine apprehension in contemplation — contrasted with p'liyah (wonder).

How the Rebbeim develop it

The verse is invoked wherever the Torah's peaceableness is at stake. On "פדה בשלום נפשי" (Tehillim 55:19) and the Sages' "whoever occupies in Torah and in gemilus chasadim and prays with the tzibbur — as though he redeemed Me and My children from among the nations": "Rashi explained: of Torah it is said 'shalom' (peace) — 'dracheha darchei no'am v'chol nesivoseha shalom' (its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace)" — Torah, kindness (which "shows on love and brotherhood"), and communal prayer all belong to "rabim" (manyness), to peace [15966/maamar_012 :: עב׳ 2–6]. In the ethics of conduct: "this is the whole of man: that all his conduct, even between man and his fellow, should be as it is according to the Torah, as it is written: 'For its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace,' and the virtue of ahavas Yisrael and the virtue of unity and peace" [31673/maamar_037 :: [עמוד תח], עב׳ 180–183]. Darchei noam is thus the halachic-ethical principle that the Torah's way is pleasantness — even "between man and his fellow."

The deeper treatment is in the analysis of noam as a mode of contemplation. There are two manners of intellectual grasp: the positive (affirmative) manner and the negative (negating) manner — and "in positive manner, what is felt by the conceiver is the pleasantness and sweetness of the Divine concept; in it and through it he feels the good taste of Divinity" — while "in negative manner, what is felt by the conceiver is the wonder of the Divine concept — in it he feels the wonder of the Ein Sof's loftiness" [58835/maamar_063 :: Phrases, עב׳ 167–170]. The two excitements are "distinguished in their very essence": "the soul's excitement made from feeling the pleasantness and sweetness of an Divine concept, feeling the good taste of Divinity, is not at all like the soul's excitement from feeling the wonder of the Divine Ein Sof's loftiness and the wonder of the Ein Sof" [58835/maamar_063 :: עב׳ 171–174].

Their fruits in avodah differ correspondingly: "from feeling the concept's pleasantness and sweetness comes the soul's satisfaction — the pleasantness and sweetness satisfy him" — while "from feeling the concept's wonder comes the soul's thirst, with great longing and essential yearning" [58835/maamar_063 :: עב׳ 176–178]. In practice: "from feeling the concept's pleasantness and sweetness, usually there comes from this good taste in fulfilling the mitzvos; but with this, sometimes — from his soul's satisfaction in the Divine concept's pleasantness and sweetness — his actual practice can be little and small" — whereas "from feeling the concept's wonder... matters always renew themselves for him with great vitality, both regarding fulfilling the mitzvos and regarding sifting and rectifying his attributes" [58835/maamar_063 :: עב׳ 183–187]. Noam satiates; wonder thirsts.

Noam also stands above yofi (beauty): on "מה יפית ומה נעמת" (Shir HaShirim 7:7), "the noam's matter is higher in level than the yofi's level — noam is the yofi's ultimate" [58835/maamar_025 :: Overview]. Beauty is in the colors' multitude; pleasantness is the inner delight they produce.

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources