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INTRODUCTION TO KABBALAH – The Sefirot and the Four Worlds

The Sefirot: The Ten Fundamental Essences of Kabbalah

A fundamental notion in Kabbalah is the belief that the world is created and
sustained by ten channels (sefirot) of divine plenty. The sefirot are complex, each
with many different meanings and gradation. Two of them, Keter and Da’at, are
interchangeable depending on whether the sefirot are seen from God’s viewpoint
or from the human perspective.

The lower seven sefirot directly act on the world (while those sefirot above them
are abstract aspects of consciousness) and they each have a biblical personality
associated with them. These associations work in two ways: One can understand
more about the biblical figures through the sefirot connected with them, and one
can learn more about the nature of each sefirah when seeing its corresponding
biblical figure.

• Keter (crown): Keter is Divine Will and the source of all delight and
pleasure. Keter contains all the powers that activate the soul.
• Chochmah (wisdom): Chochmah is intuitive grasp and intuitive
knowledge. It’s also that which distinguishes and creates.
• Binah (understanding): Binah is the analytical and synthetic power of the
mind. It’s the source of logical analysis.

• Da’at (knowledge): Da’at is the accumulation of that which is known. It’s

the abstract ascertaining of facts and the crystallization of awareness in
terms of conclusions.
• Chesed (loving kindness): Chesed is the irrepressible impulse to
expand. It’s the source of love, the inclination toward things, and that which
gives of itself. The biblical personality associated with Chesed is Abraham.
• Gevurah (strength): Gevurah is restraint and concentration. It’s the
inward withdrawal of forces and the energy source of hate, fear, terror,
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justice, restraint, and control. The biblical personality associated with

Gevurah is Isaac.
• Tiferet (beauty): Tiferet is harmony, truth, compassion, and beauty. It’s
the balance of the powers of attraction and repulsion. The biblical
personality associated with Tiferet is Jacob.
• Netzach (victory): Netzach is the source of conquest and the capacity for
overcoming. It’s the urge to get things done. The biblical personality
associated with Netzach is Moses.

• Hod (splendor): Hod is persistence or holding on. It’s the power to

repudiate obstacles and to persevere; it’s also the source of humility. The
biblical personality associated with Hod is Aaron.
• Yesod (foundation): Yesod is the vehicle or the carrier from one thing or
condition to another. It’s the power of connection and the capacity or will to
build bridges, to make connections, and to relate to others. The biblical
personality associated with Yesod is Joseph.
• Malkhut (kingdom): Malkhut is sovereignty, rule, and the ultimate
receptacle. It’s the realization of potential and the Divine Presence. The
biblical personality associated with Malkhut is David.
Classic Works of Kabbalah

If you’re interested in learning about Kaballah, the collection of works listed here
alphabetically, is considered a body of the most important written books for
traditional Kabbalists throughout history:

• The Bahir: Composed of 60 paragraphs; a mystical commentary on

verses from the book of Genesis; considered to be one of the major early
works of Kabbalah

• The Midrash: Compilations of writings created during the centuries

following the compiling of the Talmud that serve to explicate the biblical
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text. The two main divisions are Midrash Halacha (legal explorations)
and Midrash Aggadah (folklore).
• The Mishnah: Compilation of the oral traditions of Judaism codified by
Rabbi Judah the Prince around 200 CE
• Sefer Yetzirah: One of the earliest Kabbalistic books; deals with the
fundamentals of Kabbalah, particularly the ten sefirot
• The Shulkhan Aruch: Literally “the prepared table;” the authoritative code
of Jewish Law compiled by the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Joseph Karo, in the
16th century
• The Talmud: Composed of the Mishnah, the Gemara (Rabbinic
commentaries on the Mishnah, containing legal discussions, legends,
history, technical information, and more) and major commentaries on both;
a multivolume work first edited around 550 CE and added to over the
centuries

• Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures of Judaism, comprised of 24 books,

beginning with the Five Books of Moses, continuing with the books of the
Prophets (such as Isaiah and Jeremiah), and concluding with the books of
Writings (such as Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Songs)
• The Torah: The Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy)
• The Zohar: Literally “splendor;” a group of books on many mystical
subjects; often considered the most important Kabbalistic work, it is
traditionally attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a 2nd-century
Jewish sage
Common Daily Blessings and Prayers of Kabbalah

When practicing Kabbalah, every moment of the day is a chance to impart a

blessing. These common blessings are ways of saying thanks all day long:
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• Upon waking up in the morning: “I am grateful to you Living and eternal

God, for You have returned my soul within me with compassion. Abundant
is your faithfulness.”
• Before studying holy texts: “Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, Ruler of
the universe, Who has sanctified us with the holy commandments and has
commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of Torah.”
• Prayer said twice a day, in the morning and at night: “Hear, O Israel,
Adonai is our God, Adonai is One.”
• Prayer to bless your children with every Friday night: “May God bless
you and safeguard you. May God illuminate His countenance for you and
be gracious to you. May God turn His countenance to you and give you
peace.”
• Blessing to be said upon hearing bad news: “Blessed is the True
Judge.”
• Blessing to say at any time in praise of God: “Baruch HaShem” (bah-
rukh ha-shem; Blessed is God)

• The Four Worlds

• May 8, 2018

• The notion that the universe is comprised of four “worlds,” or levels of reality, first
occurs in 13th century Kabbalistic texts, but became more popular in Lurianic
Kabbalah and then in 19th century Hasidism, and is especially resonant today. For
contemporary seekers, it reflects the understanding that existence is multi-layered,
and in a state of dynamic flux.
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• Classically, these “worlds” represent stages between undifferentiation and

differentiation, not unlike the neoplatonic levels of emanation. In Hasidism, however,
they came to be described more from the human point of view, as reflecting the
experience of spirit, mind, heart, and body. In this model, the four worlds are
associated with the “lower” four of the five souls, which derive from the midrash in
Bereshit Rabbah 14:9, and are explicated in the Raya Mehemna portion of the
Zoharic corpus. Following the Hasidic paradigm, the four worlds are here presented
as they are known experientially, from the human point of view.

• In Jewish Renewal and Neo-Hasidism, various elements from the Lurianic, Hasidic,
and neo-Hasidic versions of the four worlds model have been reformulated for a
contemporary audience. While not necessarily reliable for historical scholarship, the
presentation below can be of personal, spiritual use.

• Experientially each of the worlds has a nest of symbolic associations and

experiential elements, but perhaps their most important feature for the contemporary
seeker is that, because each world is important, the familiar hierarchies of spirit over
body, and mind over heart, suddenly make no sense. The worlds of asiyah (action),
yetzirah (formation), briyah (creation), and atzilut (emanation) and four souls of
nefesh (fleshly, ‘earth’ soul), ruach (emotional, ‘water’ soul), neshamah (intellectual,
‘air’ soul) and chayah (spiritual, ‘fire’ soul) roughly map onto the familiar matrix of
body, heart, mind and spirit. The ideal is not transcendence alone, but
transcendence with inclusion of the “lower” in the “higher.” Forgetting the body in
favor of the soul is like forgetting the foundation of a house in favor of the living
room; it will not hold.

• ATZILUT: The World of Emanation

• Soul: Chayah, Life-soul

Self: Trans-rational
In the Body: “Crown” (i.e., no-body)
Human expression: Devekut (merging embrace of the One)
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World expression: This moment in its truth; timeless

Separation: none
Prayer: The Amidah, meditation
Element: Fire
Torah: Sod/secret

• BRIYAH: The World of Creation

• World of science: field of matter/energy, shaped by wisdom

Soul: Neshamah/ Breath-soul
In the Body: Brain, breath
Self: Faculties of Mind (reasoning, doubting, wisdom, understanding)
Human Expression: Science, contemplation, reasoning
World Expression: Laws of physics, four basic forces, laws of nature
Separation: Hyper-rationalism, separation from heart and body, “living in the head”
Prayer: The Shema, the acknowledgement of unity
Element: Air
Torah: Drash, discursive midrash/tales, as well as philosophy and theory.

• YETZIRAH: The World of Formation

• The energetic world of emotions, sensations, feelings

Soul: Ruach/ wind-water-soul
Self: “Soul” colloquially, Faculties of Heart (compassion, fear & desire)
In the Body: Heart center, lungs, circulation/oxygenation
Human expression: Art, poetry, awe, love
World expression: Eros, forces of love and passion, nature in the Romantic sense
Separation: Sex & Violence, hatred, craving-desire
Prayer: Psalms, cultivating the heart
Element: Water
Torah: Remez, allusion, poetry.

• ASIYAH: The World of Action

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• The material, dualistic-seeming world of matter and energy

Soul: Nefesh, the ‘animal soul’, life-force
Self: The physical, moving, tasting, pulsing, sexual body
In the Body: The “body of the body,” especially legs and midsection
Human expression: Eating, sleeping, sports, sex, bodily functions
World expression: The material world as it appears
Separation: ‘Flatland’ materialism, alienated carnality, greed
Prayer: Birchot hashachar.
Element: Earth
Torah: Pshat, the surface level, and halacha: What should we do?

• One final note about hierarchy. As we said above, it’s helpful to view these kinds of
diagrams not to favor the “higher” over the “lower” but to join all four together, to
experience life fully, richly, and deeply. For example, why obey the dietary laws, if
one could contemplate them instead? Why perform a physical circumcision if a
“spiritual” one were good enough? Because the “lower” does not merely serve the
“higher.” The body, independent of the heart’s stirring and the misgivings of the
intellect, is the site of holiness; even if there is no apparent change in the mind, and
no softening of the heart, transformation takes place within the field of the body. This
is not consolation; it is liberation. By no longer evaluating experience according to
“how it makes me feel,” the grip of an important illusion is loosened: the illusion that
you are your mind, and that reality only matters when the ego is affected. Thus the
body is simultaneously the ground of traditional Jewish law, and the deepest of its
esoteric truths. In the Hasidic view, it is in the material plane that the “extension of
the light of the Ein Sof” is most expressed. In the nondualistic view, ultimately the
highest truth is the “lowest,” as essence is manifestation. This is the esoteric reading
of the Shema: that the transcendent is the immanent.