LikuteiTorah.comThe Chassidishe Parsha
Sign in

Glossary · Torah Ohr · Likkutei Torah

Beriah

בריאה

The World of Beriah (Creation)

The first created world, below the partition (parsa) under Atzilus: something new from nothing (yesh me’ayin), corresponding to thought, where Binah of Atzilus dwells; world of the seraphim, souls and Gan Eden HaElyon.

The word בריאה also means creation in general (בריאת העולם), and is used relatively: within Atzilus, Binah (or Chochmah) is “Beriah of Atzilus,” and Adam Kadmon is “Adam of Beriah” relative to the Emanator (Behar 3:10). The world is meant in עולם הבריאה, דבריאה, בבריאה and the abbreviation בי״ע.

Where it’s explained

  1. Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶20Beriah is called something from nothing because its light comes through the partition (parsa): a derived, newly born light, as a student’s grasp of his teacher’s idea is born anew through a parable about something else.ולכן נק׳ בריאה ג״כ יש מאין לפי שהיא מבחי׳ פרסא שהי׳ אור של תולדה
  2. Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 9, ¶1Within Atzilus one level comes from another as cause and effect, the hidden becoming revealed; Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah come from Malchus of Atzilus at a far greater distance, a change from one essence to another, so the creations are not of Atzilus at all. Gan Eden HaElyon is in Malchus of Beriah.משא״כ אופן התהוות בי״ע מבחי׳ מל׳ דאצילות הוא בריחוק יותר גדול עד שהנבראים אינם ממהות אצילות כלל
  3. Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 2, ¶11Of the three garments, thought, speech and action, thought and intellect are Beriah, something from nothing; speech, Yetzirah, only reveals what was already there, as form reveals matter.מחשבה ושכל נקרא בריאה שהוא יש מאין וכמ״ש והחכמה מאין תמצא
  4. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶7Imma (Binah) dwells in Beriah and His Chochmah shines there, but limited vessels cannot receive Chochmah openly, so Beriah is called “darkness” (“Who creates darkness”); Yetzirah, where the six of Atzilus come down to be grasped, is called “light.”ובורא חושך עולם הבריאה נקרא חושך
  5. Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶43The seraphim are in Beriah, the beginning of creation from nothing, where Binah shines, and grasp that He is holy and apart; the ofanim, which this paragraph puts in Asiyah, and even the chayos, which it puts in Yetzirah, receive from Beriah only something from something. The Throne is the head of Beriah.השרפים שהם בעולם הבריאה שהוא ראשית בריאת היש מאין ומאיר שם בינה

Stated differently

Whether the chayos are in Beriah or in Yetzirah

Torah Ohr, Vayeishev 5, ¶19מזיעתן של חיות שהם בבריא׳ ומשם יורד ליצירה ועשיה

The river of fire comes from the sweat of the chayos, who are in Beriah, and descends from there to Yetzirah and Asiyah.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 27, ¶2והנה בבריאה הם שרפים וביצירה חיות ובעשיי׳ אופנים

In Beriah are the seraphim, in Yetzirah the chayos, in Asiyah the ofanim.

Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶43אבל האופנים שהם בעשייה ואפילו החיות שהם ביצירה

The ofanim in Asiyah, and even the chayos in Yetzirah, receive from Beriah only something from something.

Discussed by

  • The Rebbe Rayatz · Sefer HaMaamarim Kuntreisim vol. 2, p. 744 (page unconfirmed)

    The Rebbe Rayatz cites the Arizal that the chayos are in Yetzirah, and adds that Beriah has its own ‘lower chariot’ whose chayos (Michael and Gavriel) are called the lower chayos, as the middos of Atzilus are the upper chayos.

    דחיות הן בעולם היצירה. וע״י החיות נושאות דעולם היצירה נעשה ההתעוררות גם בעולם הבריאה. דשם הוא בחי׳ מרכבתא תתאה וחיות המרכבה נקראין חיון תתאין

Which Sefirah within Atzilus is called “Beriah of Atzilus”: Binah, or Chochmah

Likkutei Torah, Sukkos 2, ¶2שבינה היא בריאה שבאצילות משא״כ חכמה ובפרטות בחי׳ חכמה שנקרא מים חיים היא בחי׳ אצילות שבאצילות

As Atzilus is above Beriah, so Chochmah is above Binah within Atzilus: Binah is Beriah of Atzilus, and Chochmah is Atzilus of Atzilus.

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5, ¶4שהכתר או גם החכמה עילאה נק׳ אצילות שבאצילות. ובינה נק׳ בריאה שבאצילות

Within Atzilus there are also Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah: Keser, or also supernal Chochmah, is Atzilus of Atzilus; Binah is Beriah of Atzilus; Z”A and Nukva are its Yetzirah and Asiyah.

Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶10שהרי החכמה נק׳ אשר ברא בריאה יש מאין והחכמה מאין תמצא ועלייתה בבחי׳ כתר שהוא אצילות שבאצי׳

Chochmah is called “which He created,” Beriah, something from nothing, and its ascent is into Keser, which is Atzilus of Atzilus.

Likkutei Torah, Balak 2, ¶29וממקום שמתחיל להתעבות הכלי והוא או״א נקרא בריאה

Citing the Arizal: the first Keser that clothes Ein Sof is called Atzilus; where the vessel begins to thicken, Abba and Imma, is called Beriah; Z”A is Yetzirah and Malchus Asiyah. Chochmah is called Beriah, thought.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Biurei HaZohar (Tzemach Tzedek) vol. 1, p. סה (page unconfirmed)

    The Tzemach Tzedek brings the question of how Chochmah can be Atzilus and Binah Beriah when they are ‘two companions’, and the reading that Keser is Atzilus and Chochmah and Binah are Beriah, and resolves it: by the vessels Chochmah is Beriah, by the lights it is Atzilus.

    אך החילוק הוא מצד האורות וכלים, שמצד הכלים החכמה נק׳ בריאה, כמו באדם שגופו נחלק לשלשה בחי׳ שהראש משכן חב״ד הוא בריאה

Whether all of Beriah is created and not G‑dliness

Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶11ואינן אלהות כלל כמו אצילות שהוא בחי׳ אלהות ממש

The hosts of souls and angels of Beriah are created from nothing and are not G‑dliness at all, unlike Atzilus, which is G‑dliness itself.

Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶10משא״כ בי״ע הם נפרדים ממש ובעלי גבול

Atzilus is G‑dliness itself; Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah are truly separate and limited, able to choose against His will, and bear no comparison to Atzilus.

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 7, ¶36כלים דאצילות ונשמה חיה יחידה דבריאה שהם בחי׳ אלקות

The vessels of Atzilus and the neshamah, chayah and yechidah of Beriah are G‑dliness (“My vessels”); only the ruach and nefesh of Beriah are created and not G‑dliness. Malchus is the head of Beriah.

Discussed by

  • The Mitteler Rebbe · Biurei HaZohar (Mitteler Rebbe), p. 93 (page unconfirmed)

    Right after describing Beriah as the place of separate creation, the Mitteler Rebbe cites the kabbalists that the ten sefiros of Beriah still hold G‑dliness: their lights (neshamah, chayah, yechidah) are G‑dliness, while their vessels (nefesh and ruach) are truly created.

    ובחי׳ נשמה חי׳ יחידה עדיין נחשב מבחי׳ אלקות, אבל בחי׳ נפש ורוח הן מבחי׳ נברא ממש

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Mitteler Rebbe · Biurei HaZohar (Mitteler Rebbe), p. 93 (page unconfirmed)

    The Mitteler Rebbe contrasts Atzilus, where opposites unite in G‑dliness, with Beriah, ‘from there it divides’, where creatures come into being from nothing as separate and truly limited, like the angels of Beriah with matter and form.אבל בעולם הבריאה דכתיב ומשם יפרד כו׳. הרי שם נמצאו ושם נתהוו הנבראים יש מאין בבחי׳ הפירוד דהיינו בבחי׳ הגבול ממש

  2. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Bamidbar vol. 1 (Nasso), p. רכו

    The Tzemach Tzedek describes Beriah as the first world of revelation, the ‘Throne’ where Binah (Imma, ‘neshamah’) is enclothed and from which the souls in Gan Eden HaElyon draw life, before ruach in Yetzirah and nefesh in Asiyah, with a parsa that separates.וראשית הגילוי הוא בבחי׳ עולם הבריאה ששם מתלבשת בחי׳ הנק׳ נשמה וכמאמר אימא מקננא בכורסייא שהוא בעולם הבריאה הנק׳ כורסייא

  3. The Rebbe · Toras Menachem 5729 vol. 1, p. 23 (page unconfirmed)

    The Rebbe explains Beriah as the bare beginning of existence, paralleling thought, which has no existence outside itself, and so a hidden world (alma de’iskasya), unlike Yetzirah and Asiyah, which parallel speech and action.עולם הבריאה הוא רק התחלת ההתהוות, ועולם היצירה יש בו כבר צורה, אלא שמ״מ אין זה עדיין גמר ושלימות ההתהוות

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 9, ¶1Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶20Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶7Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 5, ¶4Likkutei Torah, Haazinu 3, ¶43Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 8, ¶10Likkutei Torah, Behar 3, ¶10Torah Ohr, Bo 1, ¶11

Where it appears

In 758 paragraphs of 240 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.

Hebrew size

100%

English size

100%

Hebrew letters

Theme

How I learn

Calendar

Language

English

This page is in English only for now. Also in, so far:

العربية71 maamarim so farDeutsch71 maamarim so farEspañol71 maamarim so farفارسی71 maamarim so farFrançais71 maamarim so farעברית71 maamarim so farItaliano71 maamarim so farPortuguês71 maamarim so farРусский71 maamarim so farУкраїнська71 maamarim so far中文（简体）71 maamarim so far中文（繁體）71 maamarim so far

Send us a suggestion

Corrections, ideas, questions. Leave your email so we can answer.

We send it by email to the editor, with the page you’re on. Nothing is published.
Ask Freg about any paragraph