Asiyah HaGashmis (עשיה הגשמית) — the physical world

Core definition

Asiyah is the lowest of the four worlds, ABYA: Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah — "the ten sefiros of Asiyah" completing the chain of descent [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קג)]. While the Ohr Ein Sof's revelation shines in Atzilus, "in Atzilus shines the revelation of the Ohr Ein Sof, which is not so in Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah" [66495/maamar_030 :: עב׳ 207–209]. Asiyah is therefore the world of maximum concealment — and, at the same time, the world's lowest level, physical Asiyah (asiyah ha'gashmis), is the place the Holy One chose for His dwelling: "the Holy One desired a dwelling in the lower" (nis'aveh HaKadosh Baruch Hu l'hiyos lo dirah ba'tachtonim), realized through Torah and mitzvos below — for "all the worlds' coming-to-be" was for "limited souls in bodies keeping Torah and mitzvos" [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קיג)].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Atzilus as mediator. The corpus stresses that "the yesh's existence of Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah" is "impossible from the light of Ein Sof itself — hence Atzilus first": Atzilus, Divinity yet clothed in limited vessels, is what makes the existence of the lower worlds possible at all. Atzilus "mediates between the Ein Sof and Beriyah-Yetzirah-Asiyah," and all goodness "in all worlds, even Asiyah," derives from Atzilus's Chesed [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קיג), Summary (עמוד קז)]. Only the vessels' exteriority is drawn literally into Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah — as from the cup's exteriority comes the drinking — while the interiority is for their own need; yet the interiority too serves the lower worlds' need [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קז)].

Spiritual vs. physical Asiyah. The maamarim distinguish the spiritual Asiyah from the physical one. In the Kabbalistic account of olam ha'Tohu's collapse: "the entire world of Tikun — that is, all the worlds of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah — were built from the broken vessels of Tohu"; the rest of the fallen sparks "fell to the place of the world of spiritual Asiyah, and was refined further, and the world of Asiyah was made" — that is, physical Asiyah is built from the most refined residue of Tohu's shattering [58835/maamar_049 :: Chunk summary (עמוד סב)].

The refinement of Asiyah. The sparks of Tohu that "fell in Nogah of Asiyah" are refined through the korbanos (sacrifices) on the mizbeiach — "for through this are refined the sparks of Tohu that fell in Nogah of Asiyah." The maamar maps the Mikdash onto the worlds: the mizbeiach corresponds to Malchus of Atzilus descending into the courtyard, "the mizbeiach's eating = the korbanos, refining the sparks of Tohu fallen in Nogah of Asiyah." Crucially, "the world of physical Asiyah is in the manner of refinement from below to above specifically": the sparks of Nogah of Asiyah "ascend and are included above," their ascent reaching "the level of Malchus of Atzilus, the source of Beriyah-Yetzirah-Asiyah" [58835/maamar_049 :: Chunk summary (עמוד סב)].

The dwelling in the lower. Physical Asiyah is not merely the bottom rung — it is the point of the descent. "The end of action in coming-to-be from nothing to something arose in thought first" precisely "for a dwelling in the lower in limited angels and souls" [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קיג)]. The Torah was given "in physicality specifically" — "the lower ones' deeds in Torah and mitzvos given in physicality specifically; hence the angels didn't get the Torah: the main revelation of the supernal Chochmah is drawn only below, through the lower ones' deeds" [66495/maamar_030 :: Page 203 (רג)]. The angels, who requested the Torah in spirituality alone, did not receive it; the physical realm, where Divinity is most hidden, is where the dirah is built [66495/maamar_030 :: Page 203 (רג)].

Equal in the one gaze. From the perspective of the general thought — Adam Kadmon's thought that "watched and gazed to the end of all generations, even to the aspect of the ten sefiros of Asiyah" — all is still within the influencer's essentiality, and "Atzilus and Asiyah are equal" [58845/maamar_010 :: Summary (עמוד קג)]. The gulf between highest and lowest belongs to the descent, not to the source.

Key distinctions

Spiritual Asiyah vs. physical Asiyah. The world of spiritual Asiyah is the last of the four cosmic levels in their spiritual form — the "dwellings above"; physical Asiyah is the material realm produced when what fell to spiritual Asiyah's place was "refined further" [58835/maamar_049 :: Chunk summary (עמוד סב)]. The refinement proper to physical Asiyah works from below to above, unlike the higher worlds' order [58835/maamar_049 :: Chunk summary (עמוד סב)].

Asiyah vs. Atzilus. In Atzilus the Ohr Ein Sof's revelation shines; in Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah "it is not so" [66495/maamar_030 :: עב׳ 207–209]. Yet it is precisely the lowest level that serves the Essence's desire for a dwelling: the light's absence is what makes a home possible. As the corpus notes, below the firmament and the parsa are "in general the angels of Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah," while man — the "speaker" — corresponds to Atzilus, whence "beloved is man, created in the image" [66495/maamar_030 :: tail excerpt].

Creation's four levels. The four levels of existence — tzomeach, chai, medaber (vegetable, animal, speaker) and the domem — correspond to the four worlds Atzilus-Beriah-Yetzirah-Asiyah; man the speaker corresponds to Atzilus, "in Elokim's image," with Atzilus's vessels as the tzelem Elokim [66495/maamar_030 :: tail excerpt].

Related concepts

Sources