Tiferes (תפארת) — Beauty

Core definition

Tiferes is the third of the middos (emotional sefiros), the central pillar of the sefiros standing between Chesed (right) and Gevurah (left) [15966/maamar_035 :: עב׳ 490]. The name means beauty and glory: beauty is not a thing unto itself but the harmony that results when two opposites are bound into one [31680/maamar_006 :: page summary]. In the corpus Tiferes is therefore defined by hiskalelus — the inclusion and unification of Chesed and Gevurah within a single subject [31633/maamar_029 :: ב].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Tiferes is the "middle pillar" (amuda d'emtzaisa) between right and left, and its essence is "simple mercies" (rachamim peshutim) — mercies that do not yet enter the reckoning of Chesed and Gevurah [31680/maamar_006 :: page summary]. Chesed and Gevurah are opposites: kindness expands outward, strength contracts inward. In Tiferes both dwell as one, not as competing tendencies but through the higher light of the Ohr Ein Sof that shines there in great revelation, before which opposites are no opposites at all [31633/maamar_029 :: ב]. Because of this inclusion, Tiferes bears the name Havayah itself: just as Havayah is the unity of opposites, so Tiferes is where opposites unite. (Chesed corresponds to the name Keil, Gevurah to Elokim; Tiferes to Havayah [31680/maamar_006 :: architecture summary]).

A unique feature developed at length: in Tiferes "the vessel too is Havayah's Name." In the other sefiros the light may be Havayah but it is clothed in vessels of the other names (Keil, Elokim); in Tiferes the light is Havayah revealed truly and the vessel is itself Havayah [31633/maamar_029 :: ב]. This is why the yichud of Tiferes and Malchus — "l'shem yichud Kudsha Brich Hu u'Shechintei," recited before mitzvos — draws down Havayah's true revelation: Torah and mitzvos are the mechanism through which this yichud is effected [31633/maamar_029 :: ב].

Tiferes is identified with truth (emes) and with Yackov: "Give truth to Yackov" (תתן אמת ליעקב, Michah 7:20) [31633/maamar_029 :: ב]. Just as Yackov was the chariot for Chesed and Yitzchak for Gevurah [31680/maamar_021 :: עב׳ 37], so Yackov — truth — is the chariot of the middle line that binds the two.

The maamarim give Tiferes two modes of existence (shnei metziusim). First: Tiferes as the inclusion of Chesed and Gevurah, usually inclining toward Chesed and mercies [31633/maamar_029 :: ב; 15966/maamar_035 :: עב׳ 490]. Second: Tiferes as essential mercies without any composition — like the king who forgives the condemned without entering into judgment and reckoning at all [31633/maamar_029 :: ב]. The Pardes Rimonim resolves the names rakia and shamayim along these lines: rakia is Tiferes's own essence (simple mercies, the middle pillar not yet including them), while shamayim (esh + mayim, fire and water) is the aspect of Tiferes that includes Chesed and Gevurah through the Ein Sof essence shining within it [31680/maamar_006 :: page summary].

Tiferes is also called "the chair of mercies" (kisei rachamim) in the Pardes Rimonim, Maorei Or, and Kehilas Yackov [58845/maamar_018 :: עב׳ 314–315], and the index entry for Tiferes records that it "bridges from end to end" (מבריח מן הקצה אל הקצה), includes Chesed and Gevurah with inclination to Chesed, is the matter of "gazing at the glory of the King" (ליסטכלא ביקרא דמלכא), and is "nora" (awesome), drawn from Chochmah [15966/maamar_035 :: עב׳ 490].

In avodah, Tiferes is the middah of glorifying Havayah and His Torah "in all kinds of glory" — speaking in His praises with all one's soul — which is possible only at the level of revealed Ohr Ein Sof [15966/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 549]. The Midrashic image of "the straight way" — "tiferes to its doer and tiferes to him from man" — is likewise expounded as the harmony of the two glories: the glory of fulfilling the Creator's will and the glory reflected back from one's fellow [19800/maamar_024 :: summary].

Key distinctions

• Tiferes vs. Chesed and Gevurah: Chesed and Gevurah are the two opposite lines; Tiferes is the middle line that binds them into one [31680/maamar_006 :: page summary]. The middos of Chesed and Gevurah have only "contracted radiance"; Tiferes, including both, requires the Ohr Ein Sof's much-revelation [31633/maamar_029 :: ב].
• Two modes of hiskalelus: the hiskalelus through the mochin of gadlus — each middah retains its being (the case of Shaul) — versus the hiskalelus through mercy, where Chesed and Gevurah are nullified in their very existence and Gevurah is overturned into Chesed [31680/maamar_006 :: architecture summary].
• Tiferes vs. Malchus in the vessels: in Malchus and the other sefiros the vessel is a "true" vessel of the other names; in Tiferes the vessel is not in true vessel-aspect at all — it is Havayah's Name, i.e., light-aspect [31633/maamar_029 :: ב].
• Inclination: though Tiferes includes both lines, it "usually inclines to Chesed and mercies," since the mochin of gadlus are of mercy's aspect [31633/maamar_029 :: ב].

Related concepts

Chesed, Gevurah, Rachamim (mercies), the middle pillar (amuda d'emtzaisa), the yichud of Tiferes and Malchus ("l'shem yichud"), emes (truth), Yackov.

Sources

• 31633/maamar_029, Section ב (yichud Tiferes–Malchus; hiskalelus of Chesed and Gevurah; two metziusim; truth to Yackov)
• 31680/maamar_006 (Tiferes the middle line; the name Havayah; the two inclusions; rakia vs. shamayim in the Pardes; Tiferes = "nora")
• 31680/maamar_021, עב׳ 37 (Yackov chariot for Chesed; Yitzchak, Yackov likewise)
• 58845/maamar_018, עב׳ 314–315 (Tiferes called kisei rachamim)
• 15966/maamar_035, עב׳ 490 (index entry for Tiferes)
• 15966/maamar_026, עב׳ 549 (Tiferes in avodah: glorifying Havayah)
• 19800/maamar_024, summary (tiferes in "the straight way")