Gevurah (Severity) — גבורה

Gevurah is the fifth Sefirah, positioned on the Pillar of Severity opposite Chesed. It is the divine attribute of Din — strict judgment and necessary limitation — without which Chesed's boundless outflow would shatter the vessels of creation. The Zohar associates Gevurah with Pachad (Fear) and with the patriarch Yitzchak, whose binding (Akeidah) embodies total submission to divine decree. In the Sefirot's internal economy, Gevurah performs the essential act of tzimtzum at the ethical level: contraction, boundary-setting, and the severity that preserves form from dissolution.

Cross-Tradition Resonances