Sephirah

Chesed

Chesed means Kindness and expresses generous, outward-flowing love. It is the first of the seven middot, or emotional attributes, and is balanced by Gevurah so that giving can be directed appropriately.

2 correspondences · 0 with an ancient or scriptural source · 0 with no source located

All the tables The sephiroth table

The oldest attribution here is Divine name El, first attested 1200 BCE.

Divine name

  • El

    Traditional
    Who says so
    Not yet attributed to a school
    Earliest verified attestation
    1200 BCE
    Ancient or scriptural source
    Not yet investigated

    א"ל — the Seventh 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. Gikatilla cites Genesis 21:33 himself, as the name Abraham inherited: 'the quality that our forefather Avraham, peace be upon him, inherited'.

    Evidence

    1. 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 — Genesis 21:33

      · The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation

      Where the name itself stands in scripture: בְּשֵׁם יְהֹוָה אֵל עוֹלָם. Cited by locator; the kabbalistic claim is about the name, not about this verse's plain sense.

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    2. Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, Sha'arei Orah, c. 1290 — Sha'arei Orah, Seventh Gate, Fourth Sefirah

      · Gates of Light

      The gate's own opening formula names the sefirah and the name together.

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Body attribution

  • Right arm

    Traditional
    Who says so
    Not yet attributed to a school
    Earliest verified attestation
    1280 CE
    Ancient or scriptural source
    Not yet investigated

    חסד דרועא ימינא. Patach Eliyahu, a passage of Tikkunei Zohar printed in ordinary siddurim, gives the body's right and left: Chesed is the right arm and Gevurah the left. Both diagrams place Chesed on the right side of the page; the Golden Dawn reverses the bodily attribution without moving the sphere. The passage names seven body parts and says nothing of Keter, Chochmah or Binah.

    Evidence

    1. Shimon bar Yochai (traditional attribution), Tikkunei Zohar, Late 13th–early 14th century — Tikkunei Zohar 17a

      · Constantinople printing

      חסד דרועא ימינא. גבורה דרועא שמאלא. תפארת גופא. נצח והוד תרין שוקין. ויסוד סיומא דגופא אות ברית קדש. מלכות פה.

      The Aramaic, public domain. Rendered plainly: Chesed is the right arm, Gevurah the left arm, Tiferet the body, Netzach and Hod the two thighs, Yesod the end of the body and the sign of the holy covenant, Malchut the mouth. The English on Sefaria is CC-BY-NC and is not reproduced here.

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