Imma אמא

Imma (אמא, “Mother”) is the configuration of the divine countenance identified with the sefirah Binah (Understanding). Together with Abba (the supernal Father, identified with Chokhmah) she forms the upper configuration-pair of the Idra and Lurianic systems. Imma is the maternal pole of the supernal coupling: she is the womb in which Zeir Anpin (the disclosed lower configuration) is gestated, and from her issue the mochin (the “brains,” the mature consciousness) that the union of Abba and Imma produces. The image of gestation and birth is sustained and precise: the lower configuration is conceived, carried, and brought forth by the supernal Mother.

Etymology

From the Aramaic and Hebrew imma (mother). As with Abba, the intimate familial register of the word is preserved in the configurative use.

Why not “the Goddess” or “the divine feminine”

Hekhal renders “the supernal Mother (Imma)” or transliterates “Imma,” and avoids “the goddess” and “the divine feminine.” Those forms import a modern thealogical register the term does not carry; Imma is a sefirotic configuration (the configured form of Binah), one pole of a supernal generative pair, not a goddess. The maternal imagery is doctrinally load-bearing (the gestation of Zeir Anpin) and is not abstracted into “the maternal principle.”

Primary sources

• Zohar, Idra Rabba (Zohar III, Naso): the configurations and their unions.
• Zohar, Idra Zuta (Zohar III, Ha’azinu).

Scholarly literature

• Tishby, The Wisdom of the Zohar.
• Wolfson, Language, Eros, Being: the gendered configurations.
• Mopsik, Sex of the Soul.
• Matt, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition: the Idra volumes.

Hekhal Editorial. "Imma." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/imma.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Imma." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/imma.

Hekhal Editorial. "Imma." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/imma.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Imma. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/imma

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-imma-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Imma}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/imma},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}