The Fractured Name: Lurianic Kabbalah and the Esoteric Grammar of the Tetragrammaton

This article explores the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) through the lens of Isaac Luria’s esoteric grammar, treating the divine Name not merely as a sacred symbol but as a metaphysical structure encoding the processes of contraction (Tzimtzum), rupture (Shevirat ha-Kelim), and repair (Tikkun) \autocite{Dan2002}. Drawing from Luria’s radical reconfiguration of the Ma’aseh Bereshit tradition, the paper examines how the Name functions as a vibratory and ontological mechanism within the unfolding of creation. Emphasis is placed on the sonic dimension of divine speech, Vayomer Elohim, and the function of the Name as a tool of interior resonance rather than external invocation. The study also addresses how the four letters of the Tetragrammaton form a sacred grammar that, in Luria’s view, must be reconstructed through meditative practice and interior audition. Finally, the paper explores the reception, and frequent misreading, of Luria’s ideas within Western esoteric traditions, noting how symbolic distortions reflect both the power and fragility of sacred transmission. The Tetragrammaton emerges not as a fixed doctrine but as a living structure, a mystery to be inhabited rather than decoded.