Yesh Me'ayin (יש מאין) — something from nothing, creatio ex nihilo

Core definition

Yesh me'ayin — "being from nothingness" — is the doctrine that Elokim creates the world from absolute nothingness, not from any pre-existing matter. In the corpus's philosophical idiom, it is contrasted with alul me'ilah (effect from cause, עילה ועלול): in cause-and-effect the effect remains in the measure of its cause, while in yesh me'ayin "the Ayin is not grasped in the yesh at all" — the creature bears no proportional relation to its Creator, and its coming-into-being occurs "by way of distance" (derech richuk), as if automatically (memela), with no enclothement of the cause in the effect [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיא].

How the Rebbeim develop it

Only the Essence can create. A maamar states it as known: "the yesh's coming-into-being is from the aspect of the Essence of the Ohr Ein Sof specifically — which alone has the power and ability to create yesh me-ayin," citing Igeres HaKodesh chapter 20 ("He and His life are one"). The coming-into-being works on two levels: the yesh's being comes from the Essence alone, but the actuality proceeds through the light — and the light must be concealed for the yesh to exist at all; from that removal comes a subordinate illumination [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיב, summary].

Not cause and effect. In alul me'ilah the effect is "in the measure of the cause" (b'erech ha'ilah), and the cause is changed by the bringing-forth. In yesh me'ayin, by contrast, the Divine Ayin "is not defined in the coming-into-being — bringing into being created ones without end and measure" — yet "I am Havayah, I have not changed." There is nevertheless will (ratzon): the coming-into-being requires an "estimation in potential" of its manner [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיא].

The whole existence is the power. A maamar on the verse's "etc." (עב׳ 543) sharpens the point: "in yesh me-ayin it cannot be so — since all its existence is the power" (koach) — the created thing has no independent standing; its entire reality is the divine power that sustains it [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיד].

Thought: the first yesh me'ayin. An incomplete maamar on Shir HaShirim 6:5 applies the distinction to the soul's inner structure. The world of Beriah corresponds to thought; the letters of thought are drawn not from the revealed intellect at all but "from the essence of the soul itself" — "a true novelty of a different essence," and hence thought is the first yesh me'ayin. By contrast, alul me'ilah — cause-and-effect — is Binah from Chochmah, the middos from the intellect: same essence, and imperceptible to felt experience. "Thought is the first 'feeling' of letters, and the first yesh me'ayin" [15962/maamar_014 :: Overview].

Speech vs. action. The same maamar maps the worlds onto this scheme: Beriah is thought (yesh me'ayin, letters from the soul's essence), Yetzirah is revelation and form, Asiyah is action — the severed final heh [15962/maamar_014 :: Overview].

Key distinctions

1. Yesh me'ayin vs. alul me'ilah (עילה ועלול) — cause-effect stays in the cause's measure and changes the cause; yesh me'ayin is by distance, with no enclothement, the Ayin ungrasped in the yesh [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיא]. 2. Essence vs. light — the yesh's being is from the Essence alone (only the Essence can create yesh me'ayin); actuality proceeds through the light, which must be concealed for the yesh to stand [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיב]. 3. Beriah/thought vs. lower worlds — thought is the first yesh me'ayin (letters from the soul's essence); Binah-from-Chochmah and middos-from-intellect are alul me'ilah, same essence [15962/maamar_014 :: Overview]. 4. The creature's whole existence is the power — unlike effect-from-cause, the yesh has no standing apart from the divine power sustaining it [15911/maamar_014 :: p.קיד].

Related concepts

Sources