Ein Sof
Understood as God prior to any self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm, probably derived from Solomon ibn Gabirol's ( 1021 – 1070) term, "the Endless One" (she-en lo tiklah).
- Ein Sof53 related topics
Sefirot
Sefirot (סְפִירוֹת səp̄īrōṯ), meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms (Seder hishtalshelus).
Hasidic Judaism
Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe.
In the beginning, in order to create the world, God contracted (Tzimtzum) his omnipresence, the Ein Sof, leaving a Vacant Void (Khalal panui), bereft from obvious presence and therefore able to entertain free will, contradictions and other phenomena seemingly separate from God himself.
Kabbalah
Esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism.
Jewish Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God—the mysterious Ein Sof (, "The Infinite") —and the mortal, finite universe (God's creation).
Ohr
"Ma'ohr" (luminary), "Kli" (vessel) and "Shefa" (pleanty) redirect here.
The distinction between the Divine light (beginning with the Ohr Ein Sof - the primordial "Infinite Light", and subsequently the 10 Sephirot emanations) and the Divine Source (the Ein Sof "Infinite") appears only relative to Creation.
Lurianic Kabbalah
School of kabbalah named after Isaac Luria , the Jewish rabbi who developed it.
The Medieval-Cordoverian scheme describes in detail a linear, hierarchical process where finite Creation evolves ("Hishtalshelut") sequentially from God's Infinite Being.
Ayin and Yesh
Important concept in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.
In this context, the sephirah Keter, the Divine will, is the intermediary between the Divine Infinity (Ein Sof) and Chochmah.
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
Central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Ottoman Syria.
While he was a mystic inspired by the opaque imagery of the Zohar, Cordoverian Kabbalah utilised the conceptual framework of evolving cause and effect from the Infinite to the Finite in systemising Kabbalah, the method of philosophical style discourse he held most effective in describing a process that reflects sequential logic and coherence.
Keter
Topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah.
This first Sefirah represents the primal stirrings of intent in the Ein Soph (infinity), or the arousal of desire to come forth into the varied life of being.
Panentheism
Belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time.
According to Hasidism, the infinite Ein Sof is incorporeal and exists in a state that is both transcendent and immanent.
Azriel of Gerona
The founder of speculative Kabbalah and the Gironian Kabbalist school.
He laid the foundation for the idea of Ein-Sof, by stating that God can have no desire, thought, word, or action, emphasized by it the negation of any attribute.