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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33, ¶3The drawing from Or Ein Sof to Chochmah is a “leap” (dilug), above hishtalshelus, since the light was first withdrawn and then came as a line (kav); everything from Atzilus down, even across the partition into Beriah, is hishtalshelus.כי לשון ההשתלשלות הוא כמו שלשלת אשר טבעת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.

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.

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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