Ein Sof

The sefirot consist of lights invested in vessels, similar to water poured into a glass. While taking on the shape of the glass, the water is essentially unchanged.

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 Sof
The sefirot consist of lights invested in vessels, similar to water poured into a glass. While taking on the shape of the glass, the water is essentially unchanged.

21 related topics

Alpha
Representation of the Five Worlds with the 10 sefirot in each, as successively smaller concentric circles, derived from the light of the Kav after the Tzimtzum

Zohar

Foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah.

Foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah.

Representation of the Five Worlds with the 10 sefirot in each, as successively smaller concentric circles, derived from the light of the Kav after the Tzimtzum
An 1809 edition of the Zohar, printed in Slavuta, as seen in POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Title page of the first printed edition of the Zohar, Mantua, 1558. Library of Congress.

According to the Zohar, the moral perfection of man influences the ideal world of the Sefirot; for although the Sefirot accept everything from the Ein Sof (Heb. אין סוף, infinity), the Tree of Life itself is dependent upon man: he alone can bring about the divine effusion.

Chokhmah

Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions (LXX σοφία sophia, Vulgate sapientia).

Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions (LXX σοφία sophia, Vulgate sapientia).

The light of the Ein Sof becomes unified in the world of Atziluth through clothing itself first in the sefira of Chokhmah.

Keter as depicted in a Mizrach printing by Samuel Habib (1828)

Keter

Topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah.

Topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah.

Keter as depicted in a Mizrach printing by Samuel Habib (1828)

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.

Cordovero's grave in Safed

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero

Central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Ottoman Syria.

Central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Ottoman Syria.

Cordovero's grave in Safed

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.

Kabbalah, the fourth level of Pardes Jewish exegesis, relating to the Sephirah Chochmah-Wisdom, focuses on the esoteric supernal emanations, defining them through anthropomorphisms and metaphors. Creation is seen as Yesh me-Ayin from "below" and Ayin me-Yesh from "above"

Ayin and Yesh

Important concept in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.

Important concept in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.

Kabbalah, the fourth level of Pardes Jewish exegesis, relating to the Sephirah Chochmah-Wisdom, focuses on the esoteric supernal emanations, defining them through anthropomorphisms and metaphors. Creation is seen as Yesh me-Ayin from "below" and Ayin me-Yesh from "above"
Hasidim's founder Baal Shem Tov's shul restored. Hasidism related esoteric transcendent Kabbalah to internal perception in the soul, making devotion and Divine immanence of this material world its central values. Different Hasidic dynasties explored different aspects of Yesh-Ayin, from contemplative paradox in Chabad, existential faith in Breslav, and public embodiment in Mainstream "Practical" Hasidic charismatic doctrine of Tzadik leadership
In Hasidic interpretation, the revelation at Sinai began the union of descending Ayin spirituality and ascending Yesh physicality through the higher Divinity of Atzmut essence, equally beyond Finite-Infinite duality, reflected in the innermost Divine Will of the Mitzvot. This will be completed in this World's future Divine "dwelling place"

In this context, the sephirah Keter, the Divine will, is the intermediary between the Divine Infinity (Ein Sof) and Chochmah.

Idealised portrayal of the author Homer

Panentheism

Belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time.

Belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time.

Idealised portrayal of the author Homer

According to Hasidism, the infinite Ein Sof is incorporeal and exists in a state that is both transcendent and immanent.

The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake

Ancient of Days

Name for God in the Book of Daniel.

Name for God in the Book of Daniel.

The Ancient of Days (1794) Watercolor etching by William Blake
The Ancient of Days, a 14th-century fresco from Ubisi, Georgia.

In the Zohar, the seminal document of Kabbalah that emerged in 13th-century Spain, there is mention of the Ancient of Ancients, and the Holy Ancient One – Atika Kadisha, variably interpreted as synonymous with the En Sof, the unmanifested Godhead.

Image popularly thought to be a portrait of Isaac

Isaac the Blind

Isaac the Blind (Yitzhak Saggi Nehor (רַבִּי יִצְחַק סַגִּי נְהוֹר)) (c.

Isaac the Blind (Yitzhak Saggi Nehor (רַבִּי יִצְחַק סַגִּי נְהוֹר)) (c.

Image popularly thought to be a portrait of Isaac

Isaac considered the sefirot as having their origins in a hidden and infinite level deep within the Ayn Sof, or Divine Being (lit.

Azriel of Gerona

The founder of speculative Kabbalah and the Gironian Kabbalist school.

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.

A version of the Kabbalistic tree of life

Tree of life (Kabbalah)

Diagram used in various mystical traditions.

Diagram used in various mystical traditions.

A version of the Kabbalistic tree of life
A pattern inspired by the tree of life in a window in the Joods Historisch Museum in Amsterdam
The tree of life based on the depiction by Robert Fludd in the Deutsche Fotothek

On the tree of life, the beginning of the universe is placed in a space above the first sphere (named "Keter" or "crown" in English). It is not always pictured in reproductions of the tree of life, but is referred to universally as Ohr Ein Sof (אֵין סוֹף‎‎‎‎ אוֹר‎ in Hebrew or "endless light" in English).