Divine name
El Chai
El Chai
2 correspondences · 0 with an ancient or scriptural source · 0 with no source located
All the tables The divine names table
The oldest attribution here is Divine name of Yesod, first attested 1200 BCE.
Divine name of
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Yesod
Traditional- Who says so
- Not yet attributed to a school
- Earliest verified attestation
- 1200 BCE
- Ancient or scriptural source
- Not yet investigated
א"ל ח"י — the Second Gate of Sha'arei Orah. Gikatilla organises by NAME rather than by sefirah and counts upward from Malchut, so the gate ordinal and the sefirah number run in opposite directions. The table says 'Shaddai El Chai', while Gikatilla's gate name is EL CHAI. El Shaddai is a secondary name for the same quality: 'know that the quality of El Chai is sometimes called El Shaddai'. His ordered list begins El Chai, Elohim Chaim, El Shaddai, so the combined label reverses his emphasis.
Evidence
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Moses for the Torah; the prophets and the men of the Great Assembly for the rest, Tanakh, c. 1200–165 BCE (composition); canon fixed by c. 100 CE — Psalms 42:3
Where the name itself stands in scripture: לְאֵל חָי. Cited by locator; the kabbalistic claim is about the name, not about this verse's plain sense.
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Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, Sha'arei Orah, c. 1290 — Sha'arei Orah, Second Gate, Ninth Sefirah
The gate's own opening formula names the sefirah and the name together.
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Yesod
Traditional- Who says so
- Not yet attributed to a school
- Earliest verified attestation
- 1200 BCE
- Ancient or scriptural source
- Not yet investigated
א"ל ח"י — the Second Gate of Sha'arei Orah. The name belongs to the SEFIRAH and not to any diagram: Gikatilla wrote around 1290, four centuries before this arrangement was printed, and was describing neither this tree nor any other. The table says 'Shaddai El Chai', while Gikatilla's gate name is EL CHAI. El Shaddai is a secondary name for the same quality: 'know that the quality of El Chai is sometimes called El Shaddai'. His ordered list begins El Chai, Elohim Chaim, El Shaddai, so the combined label reverses his emphasis.
Evidence
-
Moses for the Torah; the prophets and the men of the Great Assembly for the rest, Tanakh, c. 1200–165 BCE (composition); canon fixed by c. 100 CE — Psalms 42:3
Where the name stands in scripture: לְאֵל חָי.
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Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, Sha'arei Orah, c. 1290 — Sha'arei Orah, Second Gate, Ninth Sefirah
The gate's opening formula names the sefirah and the name together.