אבי״ע (ABiYA): Four Worlds
by tillerofthesoil
“The Emperor said to Rabban Gamli’el, ‘He who created the mountains did not create the wind, as is written, יוֹצֵר (Yotser), He fashions, the mountains and בֹרֵא (vo’re), He creates, the wind, [עֹשֵׂה (oseh), He makes, dawn into darkness…] (Amos 4:13).’ [He said to him,] ‘If that is so with Adam, as is written, וַיִּבְרָא (va-yivra), And He created… (Genesis 1:27) וַיִּיצֶר (va-yiytser), And He formed (ibid. 2:7), so too He who בָּרָא (bara), created, this did not create that? A person’s [skull] is one handspan by one handspan with two orifices—He who bara, created, this did not create that? As is said, הֲנֹטַע (Ha-nota’a), Who plants, the ear, will He not hear? יֹצֵר (yotser), Who fashions, the eye, will He not look? (Psalms 94:9).’ He said to him, ‘Yes.’ [Rabban Gamli’el] said to him, ‘And at the moment of death are they reconciled?!’
A magus said to Ameimar, ‘From your middle part upwards [belongs] to Ohrmazd [the fragrant god of light]. From your middle part downwards [belongs] to Ahriman [the stinking god of darkness].’ Ameimar said to him, ‘If so, how does Ahriman leave Ohrmazd to pass water through the bottom?!’” (BT Sanhedrin 39a).
“What is יוֹצֵר (Yotser), fashioning, light and בוֹרֵא (vo’re), creating, darkness (Isaiah 45:7)? Since light possesses substance, יְצִירָה (yetsirah), formation, is written. Since darkness does not possesses substance, בְּרִיאָה (beri’ah), creation, is written. Similarly it says, Yotser, He fashions, the mountains and vo’re, creates, the wind (Amos 4:13). Or if you like, say: Light possesses הֲוָיָה (havayah), being, as is written, And Elohim said, ‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1:3). And there is no being except by means of עֲשִׂיָּה (asiyyah), actualization, [therefore] read, yetsirah, formation. With darkness there is no actualizing, only separation and setting-aside, [therefore] read, beri’ah, creation. Just as one says, ‘So-and-so הִבְרִיא (hivri), regained health [lit., separated from illness; or: became fat, see Ibn Ezra, Haqdamat Peirush al ha-Torah; cf. Zohar 2:254b (Heikh)]’” (Bahir §13).
“Male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27). Is it so, since it is written, And God created the human in His image, in the image of God He created him (ibid.)? And afterwards it is written, [‘It is not good for the human to be alone,] I shall make him a sustainer beside him’ (ibid. 2:18) and, He took one of the sides and closed over the flesh where it had been (ibid., 21). But survey what is written [in the Torah]: יְצִירָה (yetsirah), Formation; and it is written, בְּרִיאָה (beri’ah), Creation. Beri’ah—when the נְשָׁמָה (neshamah), soul, was created; עֲשִׂיָה (asiyyah), Actualization—male and female He עָשַׂה (assah), made, them; yetsirah—when the neshamah, soul, was combined with the body and all was brought together. And how do we know that yetsirah means ‘bringing together’? As is written, And YHWH Elohim יִּצֶר (yitser), fashioned, from the soil each beast of the field and each fowl of the heavens and brought each to the human to see what he would call it (ibid., 19). And look it is written, Male and female He created them (ibid. 5:2). It is also written, And God blessed them (ibid. 1:28)” (Bahir §198, cf. Guide of the Perplexed 2:30).
“It is written: He who בֹּרַאֲךָ (bora’akha), creates you, O Jacob; He who יֹצֶרְךָ (yotserkha), forms you, O Israel (Isaiah 43:1), and it is written: Thus says YHWH who עֹשֶׂךָ (osekha), makes you (ibid., 2). All these rungs mount up to one, as they have established: creates, forms, makes—all of them rungs one above the other, and all are one” (Zohar 1:177b, cf. ibid. 3:159b).
“On the side of Holiness, that אֱלֹהִים (Elohim), God, of truth, King over the world, is empowered by three elements: בְּרִיאָה (beri’ah), Creation; יְצִירָה (yetsirah), Formation; and by עֲשִׂיָה (asiyyah), Actualization. The mystery of each and every one is mentioned here. Corresponding to beri’ah, Creation: He took from their hand (Exodus 32:4)—something that until now contained nothing at all. Corresponding to yetsirah, Formation: וַיָּצַר (va-yatsar), and he fashioned, it (ibid.). Corresponding to asiyyah, Actualization, וַיַּעֲשֵׂהוּ (va-ya’aseihu), and made it, into a molten calf (ibid.). Who has ever seen such sorcerers in the whole world!” (Zohar 2:192b).
“Ten sefirot of אֲצִילוּת (atsilut), Emanation: the King is in them, He and His self are one in them, He and His vitality are one in them [cf. Ibn Ezra on Exodus 34:6; Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed 1:68]. This is not so with the ten sefirot of בְּרִיאָה (beri’ah), Creation, because He and His vitality are not one, and He and His self are not one.
And the supernal One over all shines in the ten sefirot of Atsilut, and into the ten sefirot of Beri’ah. And He shines into the ten ranks of angels, and into the ten spheres of the firmament. Yet He does not change in any place [cf. Malachi 3:6: For I am YHWH, I change not].
Like a king that sends a document with his seal, and the likeness of the king is embossed in the wax of the seal. The sefirot of atsilut, Emanation, are precisely the likeness of the King. The sefirot of beri’ah, Creation, are the seal of the king, and the sefirot of yetsirah, Formation, are the angels which are the living beings, and they are the form of the seal in wax” (Tiqqunei ha-Zohar 3b).
“He alone is יוֹדֵעַ וְדַעַת וְיָדוּעַ (yode’a ve-da’at ve-yadu’a), Knowing, and Knowledge, and the Knower, and this is a very deep matter” (Ibn Ezra on Exodus 34:6).
“He is the intellect as well as the intellectually cognizing subject and the intellectually cognized object, and that those three notions form in Him, may He be exalted, one single notion in which there is no multiplicity…. For His vitality is not something other than His essence, as we have made clear when speaking of the negation of attributes” (Maimonides, Guide of the Perplexed 1:68).
“Obviously this view goes counter to negative theology…. Though Maimonides does not explicitly say so, it follows from the analogy he draws between God’s and man’s intellectual activity that God’s knowledge is not only confined to His own essence, if the latter is conceived as not including the forms that are also the objects of human science. However, if He does cognize the system of forms… subsisting in the universe, He must be held… to be identical with these forms and laws, i.e., with the scientific system of the universe. This would make Him out to be something coming perilously close to Spinoza’s attribute of thought (or to his “Intellect of God”)” (Shlomo Pines, Guide of the Perplexed, Translator’s Introduction, p. xcviii).
Is He not your אָבִיךָ (avikha), Father, קָּנֶךָ (qanekha), your Possessor, עָשְׂךָ (askha), made you, וַיְכֹנְנֶךָ (va-yekhon’nekha), and set you firmly? (Deuteronomy 32:6).
YHWH קָנָנִי (qanani), created, me as the beginning of His way (Proverbs 8:22).
All the earth is filled with קִנְיָנֶךָ (qinyanekha), your riches [lit., acquisitions, creations] (Psalms 104:24).
“It is written: He who בֹּרַאֲךָ (bora’akha), creates you, O Jacob; He who יֹצֶרְךָ (yotserkha), forms you, O Israel (Isaiah 43:1), and it is written: Thus says YHWH who עֹשֶׂךָ (osekha), makes you (ibid., 2). All these rungs mount up to one, as they have established: creates, forms, makes—all of them rungs one above the other, and all are one” (Zohar 1:177b).
אֲצִילוּת (Atsilut), Emanation: “Like a lamp from which many lamps are lit while retaining its vitality” (Zohar 2:86b, cf. identical simile in Ibn Ezra on Numbers 11:17; Naḥmanides, ad loc.).
וְאָצַלְתִּי (Ve-atsalti), and I will hold back, some of the spirit that is upon you and place it on them (Numbers 11:17), cf. וַיָּאצֶל (va-yatsel) Numbers 11:25; אֲצִילֵי (atsilei) Exodus 24:11; וּמֵאֲצִילֶיהָ (u-me’atsileyah) Isaiah 41:9.
“A candle from which hundreds of millions of other candles are kindled. Though some shine brighter than others, compared to the first light they are all the same, all deriving from that one מָקוֹר (maqor), source. The first light and all the others are, in effect, incomparable. Nor can their priority compare with its, for it surpasses them; their energy emanates from it. No change takes place in it—the energy of emanation simply manifests through differentiation” (Rabbi Azriel of Gerona, Perush Eser Sefirot, in Rabbi Me’ir ibn Gabbai, Derekh Emunah, 3a–d, translated in Matt, The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, p. 29–30).
“בָּרָא (Bara), Created (Genesis 1:1)—most commentators explain the word bara indicates יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן (yesh me-ayin), something from nothing [i.e., creation ex nihilo]. But if יִבְרָא (yivra), a new thing, YHWH should בְּרִיאָה (beri’ah), create (Numbers 16:30) is similar. However, they have overlooked: וַיִּבְרָא (va-yivra), and He created, the great sea monsters (Genesis 1:21) and the three times the word בָּרָא (bara), created, is used in one verse, namely, And God created the human in his image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27). They have also failed to consider Fashioning light, and creating darkness (Isaiah 45:7) wherein darkness, which is the opposite of light, an existing entity, is described by the prophet as being created.
The following is the precise explanation of the word בָּרָא (bara). Bara has two meanings, one of which has been noted already. The second [‘to eat’] is found in Nor did he בָרָא (bara), partake, of food with them (2 Samuel 12:17). However, in the latter case, an א (alef) has been substituted for ה (he) [here there seems to be a discrepancy between ibn Ezra’s Bible and ours]. The reason is that bara is similar to לְהַבְרוֹת (le-havrot), to urge to eat, in, And all the people came לְהַבְרוֹת אֶת דָּוִד לֶחֶם (le-havrot et david laḥem), to give David bread to eat (2 Samuel 3:35). The verb le-havrot appears in the hifil [and its root ends in ה (he)], for if it ended with an א (alef), scripture would have read לְהַבְרִא (le-havri), as in, לְהַבְרִיאֲכֶם (le-havriakhem), to make yourselves fat, with the first portions of each offering of Israel (1 Samuel 2:29). We also find bara in the pi’el, as in [go up to the forest] וּבֵרֵאתָ (u-vereta), and clear it for yourself (Joshua 17:15). This is not like the similar word בְּרוּ (beru), choose, in Choose you a man (1 Samuel 17:8) but rather as בָרֵא (bare), cut, in וּבָרֵא אוֹתְהֶן (u-va’re othen), and cut them apart, with their swords (Ezekiel 23:47).
The meaning of bara is ‘to cut’ or ‘to set a boundary.’ The discerning will understand” (Ibn Ezra, Haqdamat Peirush al ha-Torah).
Photo credit: The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary The Sylvia and Harry Rebell Digital Collections
“For the blessed Holy One and His Shekhinah are the voice and speech of every angel, and in every voice and speech of Torah, and in every voice of prayer, and in each single decree, and in every place of His rule, in the upper worlds and in the lower worlds. He is the vitality of everything. He carries everything.
Just as there is no speech without voice and no voice without speech, so is there no אֲדֹנָי (Adonai) without יְהוָה (YHWH). And this is true for the world of Atsilut [a world without separation]. But in the world of separation [namely, Beri’ah which encompasses Yetsirah, and Assiyah] there is Voice without Speech” (Zohar 3:228a, Ra’aya Meheimna Pineḥas).
“Come and see: The blessed Holy One has three worlds, in which He is hidden. First world—that supernal world [Keter (Matt); Ze’eir Anpin of Atsilut (Sullam)], most concealed of all, which is neither known nor glimpsed, except by Him.
Second world—a world that is linked with the one above. This is the one by which the blessed Holy One is known, as is written: Open for me the gates of righteousness; this gate to YHWH (Psalms 118:19–20). This is the second world [encompassing the sefirot from Ḥokhmah through Shekhinah, the last sefirah is also called Tsedeq (Righteousness), through whose gates one can enter to encounter YHWH (Matt); Malkhut of Atsilut (Sullam)].
Third world—the world below them, where פֵּרוּדָא (peruda), separation, exists [namely, Beri’ah, which encompasses Yetsirah, and Assiyah, as is written, and from there יִפָּרֵד (yipared), splits off (Genesis 2:10) (Sullam)]. This is the world in which supernal angels dwell, and the blessed Holy One exists there and does not. He is there now, yet when they wish to see and know Him, He departs from them and is not seen—until all of them ask, ‘Where is the place of His glory? Blessed be the glory of YHWH from His place (Ezekiel 3:12).’ This is a world where He is not present constantly” (Zohar 3:159b, cf. Tishby, Wisdom of the Zohar, 1:440–41; Scholem, The Four Worlds).
“What is [that which we recite in the Qedushah:] Holy, holy, holy, and then, YHWH of armies: the whole earth is filled with His Glory (Isaiah 6:3)? Holy—supernal Crown; holy—root of the Tree; holy—clinging, yet separate from them all. YHWH of armies: the whole earth is filled with His Glory.
What is: ‘holy—clinging, yet separate’? A parable: A king had sons whose sons had sons. When the sons do his will, he enters their midst, making all endure, satisfying all, causing goodness to flow upon them, so that both fathers and sons are sated. When the children do not do his will, he only gives the fathers as much as they need [and no more]” (Bahir §§128–129).
“Rava said: All agree that בָּרָא (bara), created, refers to the past. Where they are divided is with respect to בּוֹרֵא (bo’re), creates. House of Shammai says bo’re means ‘Who will create in the future,’ while House of Hillel says bo’re may also refer to the past. Rav Yosef raised an objection [to House of Shammai]: יוֹצֵר (Yotser), Who forms, light and בוֹרֵא (vo’re), creates, darkness (Isaiah 45:7); Yotser, Who forms, mountains and vo’re, creates, the wind (Amos 4:13); He that bo’re, created, the heavens, and stretched them out (Isaiah 42:5). ‘Rather,’ said Rav Yosef, ‘each agree that both bara and bo’re can refer to the past. Where they are divided is as to whether מָאוֹר (ma’or), ‘illumination,’ or מְאוֹרֵי (me-orei), ‘illuminations,’ should be said [at Havdalah, ‘Differentiation’ (the prayer recited at the conclusion of Sabbath and festivals to indicate the distinction between the sacred day that has ended and the weekday that is beginning)].’
House of Shammai say that a נְהוֹרָא (nehora), light, is comprised only of one nehora, light, while House of Hillel say that there are several. They also taught: House of Hillel said to House of Shammai: There are several מְאוֹרוֹת (me’orot), lights, in אוֹר (or), light (Isaiah 45:7)” (BT Berakhot 52b).
”Come and see: When the beginning of the head of faith initiated, within thought a spark of impenetrable darkness struck—ascending within thought, firing scintillating sparks, hurling in three hundred and twenty directions, clarifying refuse from within thought, refined” (Zohar 2:254b [Heikh]).