Sephirah

Yesod

Yesod means Foundation and gathers the influence of the preceding sefirot into a channel that can transmit it to Malchut. It is associated with faithful connection, generative continuity and the figure of the tzaddik.

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 Chai, first attested 1200 BCE.

Divine name

  • El Chai

    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

    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 — Psalms 42:3

      · The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation

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

      · Gates of Light

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

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Body attribution

  • End of the body

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

    ויסוד סיומא דגופא אות ברית קדש. 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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