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Atzilus

אצילות

The World of Atzilus (Emanation)

The first revelation in the chain of worlds (vayaetzel, “drew off”): the ten Sefiros, where Or Ein Sof rests and lights and vessels are one with Him; Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are created from nothing.

The word The root also has plain senses: “nobles” (אצילי בני ישראל) and the verb ויאצל / ואצלתי, “set apart, drew off” (Moshe’s spirit). The world is meant in עולם האצילות, אצי׳, דאצילות, and the four worlds אבי״ע.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Masei 8, ¶2Atzilus is only a passage from concealment to revelation, like the sun’s radiance before it leaves the sun’s body; Beriah is something new, created from nothing.שאצילות הוא מלשון ויאצל כו׳ שאינו רק מההעלם אל הגילוי משא״כ בריאה התחדשות יש מאין
  2. Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶2From Chochmah downward is hishtalshelus, and its first revelation is Atzilus: as Moshe’s spirit was drawn down to the seventy elders so they could share his burden, the ten Sefiros of Atzilus are intermediaries between Ein Sof and the created worlds.וגילוי הראשון נק׳ אצילות מלשון ויאצל מן הרוח דגבי משה
  3. Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3, ¶5Or Ein Sof itself rests in Atzilus and everything there is nullified in it, though Atzilus too is only a radiance with no comparison to Him; the word means setting apart, as Moshe set apart some of his spirit for the elders.הנקרא בשמי הוא עולם האצילות שהוא נקרא בשמי ממש
  4. Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6, ¶4The difference between Atzilus and Beriah: in Atzilus He, His life and His vessels are one, and the lights and vessels are not limited, while in Beriah angels and souls are created and limited; the Throne is the partition (parsa) between them.כי באצי׳ איהו וחיוהי וגרמוהי כלא חד האורות והכלים בלתי בע״ג
  5. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶10Light passes from the Sefiros of Atzilus to those of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah through an intermediary, Malchus of Atzilus becoming Atik of Beriah; within Atzilus there is no time, which begins only from that descent.שבחינת מלכות דאצילות נעשית עתיק לבריאה

Stated differently

Whether Atzilus is without limit, or a realm of measure and limit

Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶6משא״כ עולם האצילות נק׳ עולם הא״ס שהמשכת אור א״ס שבעולם האצילות הוא בלי גבול

Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, even the Gan Edens, are limited; Atzilus is called the world of Ein Sof, and the Or Ein Sof drawn into it is without limit, since lights and vessels are one there. Limitation begins at the partition between Atzilus and Beriah.

Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6, ¶4האורות והכלים בלתי בע״ג. משא״כ בבריאה מלאכים ונשמות נבראים ובע״ג

In Atzilus He, His life and His vessels are all one, and both the lights and the vessels are without limit; in Beriah the angels and souls are created and limited.

Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶7להיות שאצילות הוא בחי׳ כלים מדת החסד מדת הדין בחי׳ מדה וגבול

Relative to the essence of the Emanator, Atzilus is called “Adam of Asiyah,” because it is vessels, the measures of kindness and judgment, measure and limit, divided into separate attributes.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶12האורות הם א״ס אבל הכלים הם בבחי׳ גבול ותכלית

In Atzilus the lights are infinite but the vessels are limited; the souls come from the inner side of the vessels of Atzilus and are therefore limited.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Vayikra vol. 3 (Behar), p. תתפו

    Raises the difficulty (if the vessels of Atzilus were limited, there would be limitation in G‑dliness) and answers that ‘limit’ in Atzilus shares only the name with created limit. The vessels, being G‑dliness, have no end; the limiting comes from His power to hold back the flow.

    אך הענין הוא דבאמת אעפ״י שכלי הוא המגביל האור אין ערוך כלל לגבי החיות אלקי שבנבראים לענין גבול שבכלים דאצילות

  • The Rebbe Rashab · Hemshech Yom Tov shel Rosh HaShanah 5666 (old edition), p. תקי

    Calls Atzilus the beginning of the source of limit: its vessels are a power to limit, not actual limit, which begins only in Beriah; that is why Atzilus can be the intermediary.

    שהגבול הנמצא ממנו תחלה הן הכלים דאצילות והיינו בחי׳ כח הגבול לא בחי׳ גבול ממש ח״ו, דגבול מתחיל בברי׳

  • The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim 5724 (Motzaei Shabbos Beshalach, 11 Shevat), p. קז

    Holds that the vessels of Atzilus are themselves without limit and only limit what is outside Atzilus, like the power of writing that can produce many letters yet is held to one.

    שכדי שיוכל להיות ענין ההגבלה להגביל ענין אחר, ומבחוץ לעולם האצילות, הרי זה נפעל ע״י

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Maamarei Razal (Inyanim), p. קסח

    Explains the name from ‘vayaetzel’ and ‘etzel’ (near): the sefiros of Atzilus cling to their source and are G‑dliness itself, not separate from the Emanator (citing Avodas HaKodesh and the Pardes), and notes Recanati’s dissenting view.ע״ד ויאצל מן הרוח ע״כ הע״ס הם קרובים מאד למאצילן מלשון אצל וסמוך

  2. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Megillas Esther, p. רעא

    Explains why Atzilus is the intermediary: it is His very G‑dliness, not created something from nothing, yet it is measured relative to Ein Sof, though beyond comparison with the measure of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah.שע״ס דאצילות הן בחי׳ ממוצע בין הא״ס לנבראים שר״ל שבבחי׳ אחת הן כביכול דומין להמאציל א״ס ב״ה והוא שהם אלקותו ית׳ ממש

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim 5715 (Vayered Havayah al Har Sinai), p. קנח

    Shows the two parts of Atzilus’s role: its vessels are the root of created existence (the ‘matter’ of the angels) and its lights the root of bittul and of G‑dliness revealed in creatures.וידוע שהממוצע דאצילות בין אלקות לנבראים הוא בב׳ ענינים, בהכלים והאורות, הממוצע דכלים הוא לפעול פעולת ההתהוות, והממוצע דאורות הוא לגלות אלקות בנבראים

Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Masei 8, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶10Torah Ohr, Bereishis 3, ¶5Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 6, ¶4Torah Ohr, Beshalach 6, ¶6

Where it appears

In 937 paragraphs of 239 maamarim.

Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.

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