Arich Anpin

Arich Anpin or Arikh Anpin (Aramaic: אריך אנפין meaning "Long Face/Extended Countenance" (also implying "The Infinitely Patient One") is an aspect of Divine emanation in Kabbalah, identified with the sephirah attribute of keter, the Divine Will. It is one of the five (or six) partzufim described in the Idrot.

The Zohar's imagery expounds its role in Creation, where it is the macroscopic equivalent of Zeir Anpin (Microprosopus) in the sephirotic tree of life. In 16th-century Lurianic doctrine, it becomes systemised as one of the six primary partzufim divine countenances, as part of the cosmic process of tikkun rectification. The Lurianic scheme recasts the linear Medieval-Kabbalistic hierarchy of lifeforce in Creation into dynamic processes of interinclusion, analogous to the enclothement of a soul into a lower body. In this way, the Partzuf Arich Anpin is said to descend immanently through all levels of Creation as their concealed substratum Divine intention, though in progressively more concealed mode.

Its inner dimension is identified as the related, but transcendent partzuf Atik Yomin ("Ancient of Days"), synonymous with inner Divine Delight, the "Will of Wills/Primary Will", the most pristine cause for Creation.