An Awakening from Below2 min read

Friends, let us begin by discussing a few foundational ideas in Chassidus.

As well as representing the primary Name of Hashem, the Kabbalists teach that the Shem Havaya, (“Yud- Kei-Vav-Kei”) encompasses all of creation; while the final “Heh” represents the world of Asiyah, the three letters that precede it represent the three spiritual worlds that underlie our physical reality, Atzilus, Beriyah, and Yetzirah. These spiritual worlds represent the creative process through which the Master of the world “descended” from His Infinite Light to form our realm of limit and finitude. Atzilus signifies the first stage in which everything exists in a state of “Ayin”, Nothingness. Beriyah is the intermediate step of “Yeish mei’ayin”, “Something from Nothing”, embodying the raw material of reality. Yetzirah is the more solidified stage of “Yeish m’Yeish”, “Something from Something”. Finally, the world of Asiyah represents the spiritual coding of our concrete physical reality, a resolute “Yeish”.

Because the first two worlds, Atzilus and Beriyah, which are represented by the first two letters of the Shem Havaya, (Yud-Hei) are yet related to “Ayin”, the realm of Hashem’s overt spirituality, they are together referred to as the “Alma d’Iskasya”, or “The Concealed Realm”; the way that the Master of the world is completely revealed in the upper realms. Because the final two worlds are related to “Yeish”, the concealment of Hashem’s infinity to allow for our experience of a physical universe, they are together referred to as the “Alma d’Isgalya”, “The Revealed Realm”; the way we perceive creation.

This basic introduction allows to understand an incredible teaching from the holy Berditchover Rav.

The Kedushas Levi teaches that before Avraham Avinu, any blessing that flowed upon the lower realms was triggered by the upper realms themselves; an “Iseirusa D’l’Eilah”, “Upper Awakening.” This pre-Avraham process is embodied in the Shem Havaya when its letters are written in order; first “Yud-Hei”, representing the source of the bounty – the Alma d’Iskasya, and then “Vav-Hei”, representing the recipient – the Alma d’Isgalya.

However, setting a standard for the Jewish nation that would descend from him, Avraham Avinu achieved such a lofty level of holiness that he was able to trigger this flow of blessing upon the world by virtue of his actions, bringing about what is known in the Zohar as an “Iseirusa D’l’Sata”, or Lower Awakening.

Says the Berditchover Rav, this is the deeper meaning the Torah is communicating when Hashem proclaims about Avraham, “Vehyeih beracha”, “And you shall be a blessing.” Looking closely at the word _“Veheyeih”, we find that it contains the same letters as the Shem Havaya. Here, however, the order is switched around. Instead of “Yud-Hei” and then “Vav-Hei”, here “Vav-Hei”, the lower realms, preceding “Yud-Hei”, the upper realms. This switch reflects the manner in which Avraham Avinu was the first to bring about an Iseirusa D’l’Sata, awakening the heavens from below in the Alma d’Isgalya.