Yetzirah

Yetzirah (Hebrew: יֶצִירָה, formation) is a term in Kabbalah referring to the World of Formation, one of the Four Worlds through which divine energy is imagined to descend before becoming material. In the four-world cosmology—Atzilut, Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah—Yetzirah sits between Beriah (the world of Creation) and Asiyah (the world of Action). It is the realm in which divine emanations, the Sefirot, take on a more concrete, dynamic character and are thought to be organized into structures and beings, including angels.

The name Yetzirah literally means formation or shaping. In Sefer Yetzirah, the foundational text traditionally associated with this world, the process of creation is described through 32 paths of wisdom and the ten Sefirot in conjunction with the Hebrew alphabet. The book is ancient and its exact origins are debated; it influenced subsequent medieval Kabbalah and early Hasidic thought.

In later Kabbalistic systems, notably in the teachings of Isaac Luria, Yetzirah is viewed as the realm in which celestial beings and the psychic-affective forces are formed. The world of Yetzirah is often described as the domain of the angels and of the emotional aspects of divine attributes, in contrast to Atzilut's pure divinity and Asiyah's material world. The interplay of Yetzirah with Beriah and Asiyah is central to the Kabbalistic view of creation and spiritual ascent.