History and Anthropology in Jewish Studies

An Online Exhibition from the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies 2003-2004 Fellows at the University of Pennsylvania

"Four Worlds of Kabbalah"
A Siddur for Shabbat Morning
compiled and edited by Rabbi Marcia Prager
Philadelphia: P'nai Or Philadelphia, [2003?]

The "Four Worlds" of Kabbalah, as interpreted by the Jewish Renewal movement.

Illustration, p. 85, credit: Mishka Luft. Illustration, p. 86, reprinted from: "The Invisible Chariot" by Deborah Kedeman and Lawrence Kushner.

Four Worlds, ranging from Atzilut ("Emanation": the divine world of the Sefirot, aspects of the Godhead), through Beriah ("Creation": the world of the Divine Chariot and the higher angels), and Yetzirah ("Formation": the world of angelic beings), to Assiyah ("Making": the physical world). As the first illustration shows, these worlds are associated with the letters of the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter Name of God. the letters. The worlds are also mapped onto the human form, as shown in the second illustration.

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