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Hishtalshelus

השתלשלות

The chain of descending worlds (hishtalshelus)

The descent of levels from cause to effect, linked like the rings of a chain, from Chochmah downward; each reveals what was hidden in the one above. Or Ein Sof itself is above this order.

The word The verb נשתלשל is also used loosely for anything that comes down or develops step by step (the Torah descending into physical matters, a soul descending). The technical term is סדר ההשתלשלות or השתלשלות עילה ועלול, the ordered chain of levels and worlds.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶3The drawing from Or Ein Sof to Chochmah is a “leap” (dilug), above hishtalshelus, since the light was first withdrawn and then came as a line (kav); everything from Atzilus down, even across the partition into Beriah, is hishtalshelus.כי לשון ההשתלשלות הוא כמו שלשלת אשר טבעת זה אחוז ואדוק בזה בלי שום הפסק בינתיים
  2. Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶5The order of hishtalshelus is like intellect giving rise to middos, and they to thought and speech: the worlds go out from potential to actual, from concealment to revelation, through many levels of angels and souls. The paragraph sets this order apart from a level above it, to explain how creation is renewed each day.כי יש בחי׳ שנק׳ סדר ההשתלשלות מעילה לעילה ויש בחי׳ שנק׳ למעלה מדרך סדר ההשתלשות
  3. Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶13Cause-and-effect descent is “something from something,” not from nothing, because the cause itself is held and enclothed in the effect; this is the order in Atzilus from Chochmah downward, where everything was first included in Chochmah.וזהו הנק׳ השתלשלות עילה ועלול שהוא בחי׳ יש מיש
  4. Likkutei Torah, Emor 2, ¶5In man too, intellect, middos, thought, speech and action are the order of hishtalshelus, and through them one draws from Atzilus to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah; drawing a new light from Ein Sof, above the order, needs self-sacrifice, above reason.כי מחכמה ולמטה הוא בחי׳ השתלשלות שכל ומדות ומחודומ״ע
  5. Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1, ¶4Chochmah is the beginning of hishtalshelus, a chain of many rings held one in another, and the middos descend from it.ובחי׳ ההשתלשלות היא כשלשלת מהרבה טבעות אחוזות זו בזו

Stated differently

Whether Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah come from Atzilus through hishtalshelus (cause and effect) or as creation from nothing outside it

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶3אבל כל המשכות בעולמות אבי״ע אפילו מאצי׳ לבי״ע לא נק׳ בחי׳ דילוג כי הוא דרך השתלשלות

Only the drawing from Or Ein Sof to Atzilus is a leap; from Atzilus to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah is hishtalshelus, and the partition between them is like light shining through a screen, not a leap.

Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2, ¶1אבל אח״כ יש ג״כ בחי׳ השתלשלות העולמות זה מזה דרך עילה ועלול

Creation from nothing (“Creator”) is above the order of hishtalshelus; after it there is also the descent of the worlds one from another by cause and effect (“Owner”), only a bringing from concealment to revelation.

Likkutei Torah, Reeh 7, ¶4שהתהוות בי״ע שהם שי ודבר נפרד מאצי׳ שהוא אלקות נק׳ בריאה יש מאין ולא בבחי׳ השתלשלות עילה ועלול

The coming into being of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, which are separate things, from Atzilus, which is G‑dliness, is called creation from nothing, not cause-and-effect hishtalshelus; still, the vessels of Atzilus become a soul enclothed within them.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Shemos vol. 2 (Beshalach), p. תד

    Argues that since the vessels of Atzilus are G‑dliness (‘I have not changed’), their giving to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah cannot be cause and effect and must be creation from nothing, a step above hishtalshelus.

    וא״כ ע״כ צריך לומר דההשפעה מהם להתהוות בי״ע אינו ע״ד עילה ועלול דא״כ היו הכלים משתנים מחמת הבריאה

  • The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim 5720 (Vayehi BaYom HaShemini), p. קמח

    Contrasts the descent of Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah from one another (cause and effect, only revealing what was hidden) with their coming from Atzilus, a new coming-into-being in which the yesh was not contained beforehand.

    אמנם התהוות בי״ע מאצילות, וכן כללות ענין יש מאין, הו״ע של התהוות חדשה, והיינו, שהיש לא הי׳ כלול

Where hishtalshelus begins: at Chochmah, or already with Akudim (“bound in one vessel”), which Likkutei Torah, Behar 3:7 places above Atzilus

Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1, ¶4והענין כי הנה חכמה היא ראשית ההשתלשלות

Chochmah is the beginning of hishtalshelus, a chain of many rings held one in another; the middos descend from it.

Likkutei Torah, Emor 2, ¶5כי מחכמה ולמטה הוא בחי׳ השתלשלות שכל ומדות ומחודומ״ע

From Chochmah downward is hishtalshelus; drawing a new light from Ein Sof is from above the order.

Torah Ohr, Beshalach 8, ¶35מקור השייך להשתלשלות והוא בעצמו ג״כ מערך ההשתלשלות רק שהוא ראשית המקור שלהם

Akudim, “bound in one vessel,” holds all the particulars of hishtalshelus included together; it is a source that pertains to hishtalshelus and is itself of its category, only its first source. Shabbos rises above it, to the encompassing essence of Ein Sof.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Shemos vol. 2 (Beshalach), p. תח

    Reconciles the statements: Akudim, Nekudim and Berudim count as within hishtalshelus relative to Ein Sof, while even the vessels of Atzilus are called ‘above hishtalshelus’ relative to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah. The line depends on the vantage point.

    ועקודים נו״ב נק׳ גדר ההשתלשלות לגבי א״ס שלמעלה מהשתלשלות, ואע״פ שאמרו דאפילו כלים דאצילות נק׳ למעלה מהשתלשלות

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Or HaTorah, Vayikra vol. 4 (Behar), p. א׳קלה

    Defines hishtalshelus as cause and effect that stay related, like rings of a chain or thought to speech, from Chochmah down. Chochmah itself comes from what is above it ‘from ayin’, through tzimtzum and with no relation.וענין השתלשלות הוא בדרך עו״ע שהעלול יש לו ערך להעילה וע״כ נק׳ השתלשלות כמו שלשלת האחוזה טבעת בטבעת

  2. The Tzemach Tzedek · Maamarei Admur HaTzemach Tzedek, Hanachos 5614-5615, p. מו

    Explains why the order is needed: limited worlds could come from the limitless only through tzimtzum and a graded chain, and after they exist Torah and mitzvos draw down the light that is above the order.ומחכ׳ ולמטה נמשך דרך השתלשלות, אבל התהוות החכ׳ מלמעלה מן החכ׳ אינו נמשך בדרך השתלשלות

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim 5711-5712 (second day of Shavuos 5712), p. שג

    The Rebbe’s explanation of the term through the image of a chain: rings that hold one another, descending from above to below, so the end of each upper ring reaches into the next.שכללות הענין דבריאת העולמות נקרא בשם השתלשלות, שהוא מלשון שלשלת, כמו השלשלת העשוי׳ מכמה טבעות האחוזות זו בזו ויורדת ונמשכת מלמעלה למטה

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

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 33, ¶3Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 1, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Vaeschanan 11, ¶2Likkutei Torah, Behar 2, ¶13Likkutei Torah, Emor 2, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Reeh 7, ¶4Torah Ohr, Mishpatim 2, ¶1Torah Ohr, Megillas Esther 1, ¶4

Where it appears

In 712 paragraphs of 254 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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