Beriah (בריאה) — The World of Creation

Core definition

Beriah is the second of the four worlds of Hishtalshelus (Atzilus–Beriah–Yetzirah–Asiyah), the "world of Creation" in the strict sense. Its defining marks are two, in tension with each other: it is the realm where separation begins — "Beriah, that is, the level of the keilim and their nefesh-ruach-neshamah, and the creatures of Beriah, are in the aspect of literal separation" (pirud mamash) [31675/maamar_001 :: עב׳ 515] — and it is simultaneously the highest and most luminous of the three lower worlds, in which "there shines the revelation of ohr Ein Sof more than in the world of Yetzirah" [31658/maamar_003 :: עב׳ 136]. The Ohr Ein Sof "does not illuminate each world equally, but according to each world's refinement"; as the body has head, torso, and legs, so the three worlds Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah are ordered, "and in Beriah, the Ohr Ein Sof's revelation illuminates more than in Yetzirah" [58844/maamar_022 :: עב׳ 24].

How the Rebbeim develop it

The Rebbeim explain Beriah's paradox — separated, yet full of revealed Divinity — through its closeness to the ayin that brings it into being. "The closeness of the world of Beriah to the ayin that brings it into being" is explicated through "the greatness of the intensity of the revelation of the ayin that shines in the world of Beriah" [31658/maamar_003 :: עב׳ 650, עב׳ 755]. In the Beriah world, "Divine actuality is grasped" — this being the yesh's nearness to the ayin [31692/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 153].

This yields Beriah's epistemological signature: comprehension. "In Beriah, Divinity is comprehended; in Yetzirah, Imma ila'ah does not illuminate — no Divinity-comprehension as in Beriah" [58844/maamar_022 :: עב׳ 59]. The distinction is drawn as one between knowledge and comprehension: "in Yetzirah and Asiyah, only knowledge of existence (yedi'as hametzius); in Beriah, comprehension of existence (hasagas hametzius)" [58844/maamar_022 :: עב׳ 78]. The neshamah itself is placed there: "Barasa refers to the neshamah as it comes in the Beriah world" [31692/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 61].

Structurally, Beriah is the Throne: "it is known, as written in the writings of the Ari, that Imma ila'ah mekanena b'kursaya — the higher Mother (Binah of Atzilus) nests in the Throne — and Ze'ir Anpin nests in the world of Yetzirah" [58844/maamar_022 :: עב׳ 52, עב׳ 58]. The sefiros themselves, "even as they came into being in Beriah, are in the aspect of the very Divinity of the ten sefirot of Atzilut" — a point Rabbi Elazar's question to Rashbi establishes, since "the ten sefirot are Atzilut and not Beriah" [31675/maamar_001 :: עב׳ 390, עב׳ 422]. The separation lies in the vessels and their inhabitants, not in the light.

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources