Atika Kadisha

Atika Kadisha, Atik, Atik Yomin

Atik Yomin (עַתִּיק יוֹמִין), usually translated “Ancient of Days,” is one of the deepest and most exalted concepts in Kabbalah. It appears in the Book of Daniel (7:9, 7:13, 7:22), and the Zohar and the writings of the Ari expand it into a profound spiritual structure.
Atik Yomin is not “old” in a temporal sense; it is primordial, the beginning that precedes beginnings. Atik is the inner Divine will—the reason anything exists at all. It is beyond wisdom, beyond understanding, beyond emotion.

In Kabbalah, Atik Yomin is the highest revealed level of the Divine within the system of the Sefirot. It is the inner essence of the supernal crown, Keter, and stands far above the rest of the Sefirot.

Keter has two primary dimensions:

• Atik Yomin (עַתִּיק יוֹמִין) — “The Ancient of Days”

• the innermost, pure essence
  completely beyond time, beyond change, beyond measurement

• Arich Anpin (אֲרִיךְ אַנְפִּין) – the outer dimension of Keter, source of Divine compassion (רחמים רבים)

Atik Yomin = the deepest inner will of God, untouched by judgment or limitation.

Atika Kadisha (The Holy Ancient One) is the inner Light of Atik Yomin and the three heads of Keter.

The Zohar (Idra Rabba, Zohar III) describes Atika as: “ספירא דכולא טמיר” “The hidden sefirah of all that is hidden.”

Another view is that Atika Kadish and Atik Yomin are general names for the Sefirah of Keter of Atzilut that includes the three heads. The Ari explains that Atika Kadisha is the aspect of the Holy Light of Keter of the world of ‘Nekudim’. Nekhdim (dots) is the world with the highest light that exists before the breaking of the vessels (Edomite kings) and the forming of the world of Atzilut.