Assiah

For the tribe of Muslim mercenaries serving the Khazar Khaganate, see Arsiyah.

Assiah (עֲשִׂיָּה; also 'Asiya'^[1] or 'Asiyah, also known as Olam Asiyah, עוֹלָם עֲשִׂיָּה "World of Action"^[2]) is the last of the four spiritual worlds of the Kabbalah based on the passage in Isaiah 43:7. It is identical with the existing world that we live in.^[1]

According to the Masseket Azilut, it is the region where the ofanim rule and where they promote the hearing of prayers, support human endeavor, and combat evil. Their ruler is Sandalphon. According to the system of the later Land of Israel Kabbalah, 'Asiyah is the lowest of the spiritual worlds containing the Ten Heavens and the whole system of mundane Creation. The light of the sefirot emanates from these Ten Heavens, which are called the "Ten Sefirot of 'Asiyah"; and through them spirituality and piety are imparted to the realm of matter—the seat of the dark and impure powers.

Representing purely material existence, it is known as the World of Action, the World of Effects or the World of Making. In Western esotericism, it is associated with the Suit of coins in the Tarot. The world of Yetzirah precedes it.

Correspondences

• The final letter hei ה in the Tetragrammaton
• The sefirah of Malchut and hence the partzuf of Nukvah
• The element of Earth
• The soul-level of nefesh
• The soul-garment of action
• The mouth (Patach Eliyahu)
• The Oral Torah tradition (Patach Eliyahu)
• The Shechinah
• The Birkat HaShachar and the order of the Korbanot in the Shacharit prayer service
• In the allegory of the teacher and the student, the final stage where the student comprehends the teacher's lesson, expanding the compressed information to its full breadth
• The fixed, earth, sign of Taurus (astrology)
• * Within the Western mystery tradition; the classical element of earth and the suit of coins (also known as pentacles) in divinitory Tarot

Notes

1. MEIJERS, L. D., and J. TENNEKES. “SPIRIT AND MATTER IN THE COSMOLOGY OF CHASSIDIC JUDAISM.” Symbolic Anthropology in the Netherlands, edited by P.E. DE JOSSELIN DE JONG and ERIK SCHWIMMER, vol. 95, Brill, 1982, pp. 200–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbqs310.15. Accessed 12 Aug. 2022.
2. GUETTA, ALESSANDRO. “Kabbalah and Rationalism in the Works of Mosheh Ḥayyim Luzzatto and Some Kabbalists of His Time.” Italian Jewry in the Early Modern Era: Essays in Intellectual History, Academic Studies Press, 2014, pp. 185–226. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt21h4w96.13. Accessed 12 Aug. 2022.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "'Asiyah". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.