Ḥesed (Kabbalah)

The sefira of Ḥesed is the fourth of the ten sefirot. When the sefirot are divided into the five primary sefirot – Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina, Tiferet, and Malkhut – Ḥesed is encompassed in the sefira of Tiferet as the Keter level of Tiferet (see Tiferet). The term sefirat Ḥesed is also a reference to different levels and sefirot in lower structures of reality that are all derivatives of the root sefira of Ḥesed found in the direct light. This sefira is called Ḥesed because it contains the light of giving (ḥassadim) that emanates from the sefira of Bina, which precedes Ḥesed, the light that is the essence of giving and bestowal on the part of a created being and that did not undergo any constriction. In the structure of partzufim, which is analogous to the human body, Ḥesed is always presented as the right hand of the partzuf, the hand that represents bestowal and closeness.