creationfeatured in 30 works

Iggulim and Yosher (Circles and Lines)

ee-goo-LEEM (circles) and yoh-SHER (straightness/line)

Two complementary patterns that describe how divinity flows outward: circles that rotate inward and a straight line that descends into emptiness.

Imagine two very different ways that energy or influence might spread from a source. The first—circles (iggulim)—picture nested, concentric rings radiating outward, each complete and self-contained, curving back on themselves. The second—the line (yosher)—is a single arrow-straight descent piercing downward through the center, breaking the circularity and going somewhere new. In Kabbalah, after creation begins, both patterns emerge simultaneously and work together. The circles represent how divinity naturally emanates in a self-returning, cyclical way; the line represents how that same divinity can penetrate into radically new territory—into emptiness, into the material world, into states of being that never existed before.

These two modes aren't rivals; they're two languages for the same creative act. The circles keep things connected to the source; the line lets creation become genuinely independent. Early Zoharic teaching hinted at this tension, but it was Isaac Luria (the Arizal) in 16th-century Safed who made it explicit and central. He showed that understanding creation requires holding both patterns in mind at once—the circular return and the linear breakthrough. Later kabbalists, especially the Hasidic masters and modern interpreters like Yehuda Ashlag, kept refining and applying this framework to everything from the structure of the soul to the nature of time and human choice.

How it traveled

Sefer HaCheshek
Zaragoza (Saragossa) · 1260
explains
Zohar
Guadalajara · 1280
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Tikkunei Zohar
Guadalajara · 1280
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Ra'avad on Sefer Yetzirah
Posquières (Provence) · 1280
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Zohar Chadash
Guadalajara · 1290
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Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)
Cairo · 1523
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Ketem Paz on Zohar
Tzfat · 1561
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Sha'ar HaPesukim
Tzfat · 1570
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Pri Etz Chaim
Tzfat · 1572
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Sefer Etz Chaim
Tzfat · 1573
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Reshit Chokhmah
Tzfat · 1575
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Sha'ar HaHakdamot
Tzfat · 1610
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Ohr HaChammah on Zohar
Tzfat · 1620
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Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on Zohar
Tzfat · 1680
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Shomer Emunim
Livorno · 1720
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Asarah Perakim LeRamchal
Padua · 1727
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Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah
Padua · 1730
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HaGra on Sefer Yetzirah Gra Version
Vilna (Vilnius) · 1730
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Mikdash Melekh on Zohar
Tzfat · 1750
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Be'er Mayim Chaim
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) · 1775
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Toldot Yaakov Yosef
Polonne (Polnoye, Volhynia) · 1780
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Chayyim VaChesed
Amdur · 1785
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Yahel Ohr on Zohar
Vilna (Vilnius) · 1790
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Nefesh HaChayim
Volozhin · 1800
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Agra DeKala
Dinov (Dynów) · 1801
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Likutei Moharan
Breslov (Ukraine) · 1802
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Likkutei Torah
Liadi · 1810
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Torah Ohr
Liadi · 1813
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Derekh Mitzvotekha
Lubavitch · 1813
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The Gate of Unity
Liadi · 1820
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Key passages(20)

Sefer Etz Chaim.2 1:3↗explains

Sefer Etz Chaim · Chaim Vital · 1570 CE