Tohu and Tikun
Encyclopedia
Olam HaTohu and Olam HaTikun ( "The World of Tikun-Rectification") are the two general stages, and states of being in Creation, in the Kabbalistic system of Isaac Luria
(1534–1572), the father of modern Kabbalah.
Their implications underlie the origin of free will
and the realm of kelipah (evil), from the Shevirat HaKelim/Shevirah ( "Shattering of the Vessels" of Tohu), the processes of physical and spiritual exile
and redemption, the meaning of the 613 mitzvot (Jewish observances), and the Messianic rectification of Existence. In this Tikun/Tikkun (תיקון) also has an active meaning, the esoteric Birur ( "Sifting") of the concealed Nitzutzei Kodesh/Nitzutzot ( "Sparks" of Holiness) exiled in physical creation. This new paradigm in Kabbalah
replaced the previous linear description of descent with a dynamic process of spiritual enclothement, like the descent of a soul into a body. Beyond this, related to the primordial cosmic realms of Tohu-Tikun are two associated psychological states in spiritual life.
The esoteric process of Tohu-Tikun in Lurianic Kabbalah, inspired wider 16th and 17th century popular Jewish imagination, through contemporary national oppression and messianism
. The revivalist Hasidic movement, from the 18th century onwards, brought the transcendent Lurianic scheme of rectification into panentheistic
sanctification of daily communal life amidst materiality. The terminology of the modern Jewish ideal of Tikkun Olam
("Fixing the World"), popularised by Reform Judaism
, is taken from the Lurianic concept, but applied more widely to ethical activism in contemporary society.
reinterpreted and recast the whole scheme of Kabbalah in the 16th century, essentially making the second of two different versions of the Kabbalah: the Medieval (Zohar
ic)-Cordoverian and the Lurianic. However, he understood his new doctrine as no more than a new revelation-teaching of the true meaning of the Zohar. Lurianic Kabbalah became the dominant Kabbalistic system, displacing Cordovero's, and afterwards the Zohar was read in its light. Lurianic Kabbalists sought to integrate this with the Cordoverian scheme, seeing both as true, but describing different aspects ("Worlds") of the Divine process.
Medieval Kabbalah depicts a linear descending hierarchy
of Divine vitality
, the sephirot emerging from the Ein Sof
to enact Creation. Lurianic Kabbalah describes enclothing processes of exile and redemption in the Divine flow, where higher levels descend into lower states, as souls to spiritual bodies. This is initiated by the primordial radical Divine self-withdrawal (Tzimtzum
) forming an "empty space" (Chalal) in which only an "imprint" (Reshimu) remains of the Ein Sof. Subsequent to this, a thin, diminished new emanation (Kav-"Ray") able to create finitude shines into the vacuum. The new emanation leads to spiritual shattering of Divine light in a definitive "catastrophe" (Shevirat HaKeilim-"The Shattering of the Vessels"), and the exile of its "sparks" into the descending created realms. Cordovero had reconciled previous Kabbalists' opinions of the Sephirot by describing each as Divine Ohr
("light") invested in 10 spiritual Keilim
("vessels"), adapted by Luria to his scheme. In the Infinite Ein Sof
prior to Creation, the sephirot Divine attributes were entirely nullified into non-existence in the simple unity of endless Divinity. Following this, in the Lurianic scheme, the sephirot evolved through three stages, termed Akudim ("Ringed"), Nekudim ("Spotted") and Verudim ("Flecked"). The terms are learned from the esoteric meaning of the story of Jacob
's breeding of Laban
's flocks in Genesis 30:27-43, where the terms Akudim, Nekudim and Teluim (Patched") are used. These states correspond to Yuli ("Potential" Creation), Olam HaTohu (the "World of Chaos") and Olam HaTikun (the "World of Fixing"). These states repeat the process of Divine exile and redemption described in Isaac luria's new scheme.
. This was still infinite and bound to the Ein Sof
, but different from the essence of the prior Ohr Ein Sof
("Infinite Light"), as it was now latently finite and able to relate to the emerging Creation. This potential was the reason for the concealment of Infinitude, so that Creation would not be nullified in its Source. In the Kav, the sephirot are termed Akudim ("Ringed"). They emerge for the first time in undifferentiated unity, 10 lights encompassed in one vessel. In this supreme abundance of Divinity, there is no distinction between the sephirot on this level, all Creation included in potential. This is referred to in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth", the initial vital source in potential, from which all would unfold.
, the first of the emanated Five Worlds, the domain of the supernal Will Keter. In this the sephirot are termed Nekudim ("Spotted"), as they exist in separation and differentiation from each other, 10 distinct points through 10 vessels without harmony. This state is called the World of Tohu-"Chaos", read by Luria in Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was Chaos (Tohu) and Void (Vohu), with darkness over the surface of the deep..." Here, each sephirah is an independent principle, so that intellect does not mediate the absolute emotional expressions; kindness, severity and so forth are opposing principles. This "flaw" emerges because the sephirot are in the mode of Iggulim, the metaphorical paradigm of "Circles" described in earlier Kabbalah. Like successively smaller concentric circles that emanate sequentially, Lurianic explanation sees no harmony in this, making the sephirot a "domain of pluralism" (the esoteric meaning of the Talmudic Sabbath Public Domain
) rather than sharing bond. As a result, the Divine light was very high, but the vessels were weak. This caused the cosmic catastrophe, called the "Shattering of the Vessels" (Shevirat HaKeilim).
The light created each sephirah sequentially, first vessel, then the illumination within. Each sephirah's light contained also the subsequent diminishing lights to form the following lower sephirot. As the light of the Ein Sof
radiated to form Keter, the vessel of Keter could absorb the life force. In turn, the vessels of Chochmah and Binah could absorb most of their flow, as their proximity to Keter made them strong enough, Keter extending enough relationship to them, as their motivating Will. Their excesses of light were able to encompass each as an Ohr Makif
("Surrounding light"). However, as the light proceeded to Daat, the root of the emotional sephirot, its vessel could not absorb the abundant radiance for the totality of the emotions, and shattered. This caused the total light to proceed downwards, shattering each vessel in turn. The succession was altered in Yesod, the channel of connection to Malchut-purpose. Initially, it received only the light for Malchut, which it projected on. It then also shattered under its own light. However, this enabled Malchut to partially absorb its light before collapsing; the lower, external aspects of Malchut were strengthened, so the collapse in Malchut was only partial.
This doctrine is the Lurianic esoteric meaning
of Genesis 36:31 and I Chronicles
1:43:
Edom
is described in Genesis as the descendents of Esau
. In the Kabbalistic scheme, the Patriachs Abraham
, Isaac
and Jacob
embodied respectively Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet. Chesed and Gevurah are imbalanced, while Tiferet is harmony between the two. Consequently, while Jacob fathered the 12 tribes of Israel, Abraham gave birth to Ishmael
, while Isaac gave birth to Esau
. Esau and Ishmael are seen as the two spiritual roots for the Nations of the World. They are identified with unrectified Chesed and unrectified Gevurah respectively, Kindness and Severity of the World of Tohu-Chaos. In the Kabbalistic scheme they are rectified in the universal Messianic era, when all peoples will "go up to the mountain of the Lord" to follow the 7 Laws of Noah. The eight kings listed who reigned in Edom before any king of Israel, embodied the eight sephirot of Daat to Malchut in the World of Tohu, the vessels that shattered. Of each it says they lived and died, death connoting the soul-light of the sephirot ascending back to its source, while the body-vessel descends-shatters. Attached to the broken vessels are residues of the light, Nitzot-"Sparks" of holiness, as all Creation only continues to exist from non-existence
by the Divine flow of Will. The sparks are the creative force of the Sephirot down the Four Worlds
, giving life to the broken vessels, that become the descending beings of each realm. As they descend, they subdivide innumerable times. As the fragments contain only sparks of holiness, this allows them to become self-aware creations, rather than being nullified in Divine light. The unabsorbed residue of the broken vessels in our physical, lowest World Assiah
becomes the realm of impurity and evil. To Kabbalah, as Creation is enacted through Divine "speech" as in Genesis 1, so gematria
(numerical value of Hebrew letters) has spiritual meaning. In the supernal World of Atziluth
-Emanation, the origin of our spiritual Order of Worlds, the sparks of holiness are said to subdivide into 288 general-root sparks, read out from the rest of Genesis 1:2, "...And the Spirit of God hovered over the waters." Merachepet-"hovered" splits into the number "288 died", the divided Divine sparks within the broken fragments.
of our created existence are together called the World of Tikkun
("Fixing"). In Tikkun, the Sephirot evolve into new arrangements, where they can unite together. The different realms Tikkun are characterised as lower lights and stronger vessels.
Subsequent to the interinclusion of the 10 Sephirot within each other, in Lurianic Kabbalah they then develop into "Partsufim" ("Personas"). Wide discussion of the Partsufim is found in the Medieval Kabbalah of the Zohar
, before Isaac Luria. In the Zohar, Shimon bar Yochai expounds upon the spiritual roles of the Parsufim, by talking about them as independent spiritual manifestations. "The Holy Ancient of Days", or "The Long Visage", two of the different Parsufim, are not just alternative adjectives for God, but are particular spiritual manifestations, levels and natures. Lurianic Kabbalah focused on the role of the Parsufim as the fully evolved stage of the primordial evolution of the Sephirot, in the beginning of Creation. Instead of each of the 10 Sephirot merely including a full subset of 10 Sephirot as latent potential forces, the first stage of their evolution, in the Parsufim the Sephirot become fully autonomous and interrelated. The name of each Partsuf denotes that the Sephirah from which it derived, has now become an independent scheme of 10 fully functioning Sephirot in the "Upright" (Yosher) form of "Man". This reconfiguration is essential in Lurianic Kabbalah to enable the opposing spiritual forces of the Sephirot to work together in harmony. Each Parsuf now operates independently, and unites with the other Parsufim. So, for example, "The Long Visage" is said to descend, and become enclothed within the lower Parsufim. The Sephirot now harmonise, to enable the Lurianic scheme of Tikkun
(Rectification) to begin.
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
(1534–1572), the father of modern Kabbalah.
Their implications underlie the origin of free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
and the realm of kelipah (evil), from the Shevirat HaKelim/Shevirah ( "Shattering of the Vessels" of Tohu), the processes of physical and spiritual exile
Galut
Galut or Golus , means literally exile. Galut or Golus classically refers to the exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel . There were altogether four such exiles...
and redemption, the meaning of the 613 mitzvot (Jewish observances), and the Messianic rectification of Existence. In this Tikun/Tikkun (תיקון) also has an active meaning, the esoteric Birur ( "Sifting") of the concealed Nitzutzei Kodesh/Nitzutzot ( "Sparks" of Holiness) exiled in physical creation. This new paradigm in Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
replaced the previous linear description of descent with a dynamic process of spiritual enclothement, like the descent of a soul into a body. Beyond this, related to the primordial cosmic realms of Tohu-Tikun are two associated psychological states in spiritual life.
The esoteric process of Tohu-Tikun in Lurianic Kabbalah, inspired wider 16th and 17th century popular Jewish imagination, through contemporary national oppression and messianism
Jewish Messiah claimants
The Messiah in Judaism has a number of interpretations, including any king chosen by God; a holy king who will lead Israel; and someone who will usher in an idyllic age of peace and justice...
. The revivalist Hasidic movement, from the 18th century onwards, brought the transcendent Lurianic scheme of rectification into panentheistic
Panentheism
Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
sanctification of daily communal life amidst materiality. The terminology of the modern Jewish ideal of Tikkun Olam
Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
("Fixing the World"), popularised by Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, is taken from the Lurianic concept, but applied more widely to ethical activism in contemporary society.
The primordial Worlds of Tohu and Tikun
Isaac LuriaIsaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
reinterpreted and recast the whole scheme of Kabbalah in the 16th century, essentially making the second of two different versions of the Kabbalah: the Medieval (Zohar
Zohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
ic)-Cordoverian and the Lurianic. However, he understood his new doctrine as no more than a new revelation-teaching of the true meaning of the Zohar. Lurianic Kabbalah became the dominant Kabbalistic system, displacing Cordovero's, and afterwards the Zohar was read in its light. Lurianic Kabbalists sought to integrate this with the Cordoverian scheme, seeing both as true, but describing different aspects ("Worlds") of the Divine process.
Medieval Kabbalah depicts a linear descending hierarchy
Four Worlds
The Four Worlds , sometimes counted with a prior stage to make Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of Existence....
of Divine vitality
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
, the sephirot emerging from the Ein Sof
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
to enact Creation. Lurianic Kabbalah describes enclothing processes of exile and redemption in the Divine flow, where higher levels descend into lower states, as souls to spiritual bodies. This is initiated by the primordial radical Divine self-withdrawal (Tzimtzum
Tzimtzum
Tzimtzum is a term used in the kabbalistic teaching of Isaac Luria, explaining his concept that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his infinite light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a finite and seemingly independent world could exist...
) forming an "empty space" (Chalal) in which only an "imprint" (Reshimu) remains of the Ein Sof. Subsequent to this, a thin, diminished new emanation (Kav-"Ray") able to create finitude shines into the vacuum. The new emanation leads to spiritual shattering of Divine light in a definitive "catastrophe" (Shevirat HaKeilim-"The Shattering of the Vessels"), and the exile of its "sparks" into the descending created realms. Cordovero had reconciled previous Kabbalists' opinions of the Sephirot by describing each as Divine Ohr
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
("light") invested in 10 spiritual Keilim
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
("vessels"), adapted by Luria to his scheme. In the Infinite Ein Sof
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
prior to Creation, the sephirot Divine attributes were entirely nullified into non-existence in the simple unity of endless Divinity. Following this, in the Lurianic scheme, the sephirot evolved through three stages, termed Akudim ("Ringed"), Nekudim ("Spotted") and Verudim ("Flecked"). The terms are learned from the esoteric meaning of the story of Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
's breeding of Laban
Laban (Bible)
Laban is the son of Bethuel, brother of Rebekah and the father of Leah and Rachel and Bilhah and Zilpah as described in the Book of Genesis. As such he is brother-in-law to Isaac and both father-in-law and uncle to Jacob...
's flocks in Genesis 30:27-43, where the terms Akudim, Nekudim and Teluim (Patched") are used. These states correspond to Yuli ("Potential" Creation), Olam HaTohu (the "World of Chaos") and Olam HaTikun (the "World of Fixing"). These states repeat the process of Divine exile and redemption described in Isaac luria's new scheme.
Unified sephirot before collapse
The new thin ray (Kav) emanated into the empty space left by the TzimtzumTzimtzum
Tzimtzum is a term used in the kabbalistic teaching of Isaac Luria, explaining his concept that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his infinite light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a finite and seemingly independent world could exist...
. This was still infinite and bound to the Ein Sof
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
, but different from the essence of the prior Ohr Ein Sof
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
("Infinite Light"), as it was now latently finite and able to relate to the emerging Creation. This potential was the reason for the concealment of Infinitude, so that Creation would not be nullified in its Source. In the Kav, the sephirot are termed Akudim ("Ringed"). They emerge for the first time in undifferentiated unity, 10 lights encompassed in one vessel. In this supreme abundance of Divinity, there is no distinction between the sephirot on this level, all Creation included in potential. This is referred to in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth", the initial vital source in potential, from which all would unfold.
Tohu-Chaos and the Shevirah-Shattering of the sephirot vessels
Next emerged the Realm of Adam KadmonAdam Kadmon
In the religious writings of Kabbalah, Adam Kadmon is a phrase meaning "Primal Man". The oldest rabbinical source for the term "Adam ha-Ḳadmoni" is Num. R. x., where Adam is styled, not as usually, "Ha-Rishon" , "Ha-Kadmoni" ....
, the first of the emanated Five Worlds, the domain of the supernal Will Keter. In this the sephirot are termed Nekudim ("Spotted"), as they exist in separation and differentiation from each other, 10 distinct points through 10 vessels without harmony. This state is called the World of Tohu-"Chaos", read by Luria in Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was Chaos (Tohu) and Void (Vohu), with darkness over the surface of the deep..." Here, each sephirah is an independent principle, so that intellect does not mediate the absolute emotional expressions; kindness, severity and so forth are opposing principles. This "flaw" emerges because the sephirot are in the mode of Iggulim, the metaphorical paradigm of "Circles" described in earlier Kabbalah. Like successively smaller concentric circles that emanate sequentially, Lurianic explanation sees no harmony in this, making the sephirot a "domain of pluralism" (the esoteric meaning of the Talmudic Sabbath Public Domain
Eruv
An Eruv is a ritual enclosure around most Orthodox Jewish and Conservative Jewish homes or communities. In such communities, an Eruv is seen to enable the carrying of objects out of doors on the Jewish Sabbath that would otherwise be forbidden by Torah law...
) rather than sharing bond. As a result, the Divine light was very high, but the vessels were weak. This caused the cosmic catastrophe, called the "Shattering of the Vessels" (Shevirat HaKeilim).
The light created each sephirah sequentially, first vessel, then the illumination within. Each sephirah's light contained also the subsequent diminishing lights to form the following lower sephirot. As the light of the Ein Sof
Ein Sof
Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...
radiated to form Keter, the vessel of Keter could absorb the life force. In turn, the vessels of Chochmah and Binah could absorb most of their flow, as their proximity to Keter made them strong enough, Keter extending enough relationship to them, as their motivating Will. Their excesses of light were able to encompass each as an Ohr Makif
Ohr
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations...
("Surrounding light"). However, as the light proceeded to Daat, the root of the emotional sephirot, its vessel could not absorb the abundant radiance for the totality of the emotions, and shattered. This caused the total light to proceed downwards, shattering each vessel in turn. The succession was altered in Yesod, the channel of connection to Malchut-purpose. Initially, it received only the light for Malchut, which it projected on. It then also shattered under its own light. However, this enabled Malchut to partially absorb its light before collapsing; the lower, external aspects of Malchut were strengthened, so the collapse in Malchut was only partial.
This doctrine is the Lurianic esoteric meaning
Pardes (Jewish exegesis)
Pardes refers to approaches to biblical exegesis in rabbinic Judaism . The term, sometimes also spelled PaRDeS, is an acronym formed from the name initials of the following four approaches:...
of Genesis 36:31 and I Chronicles
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...
1:43:
"These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel..."
Edom
Edom
Edom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
is described in Genesis as the descendents of Esau
Esau
Esau , in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah and Malachi. The New Testament later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews....
. In the Kabbalistic scheme, the Patriachs Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
and Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
embodied respectively Chesed, Gevurah and Tiferet. Chesed and Gevurah are imbalanced, while Tiferet is harmony between the two. Consequently, while Jacob fathered the 12 tribes of Israel, Abraham gave birth to Ishmael
Ishmael
Ishmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
, while Isaac gave birth to Esau
Esau
Esau , in the Hebrew Bible, is the oldest son of Isaac. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and by the minor prophets, Obadiah and Malachi. The New Testament later references him in the Book of Romans and the Book of Hebrews....
. Esau and Ishmael are seen as the two spiritual roots for the Nations of the World. They are identified with unrectified Chesed and unrectified Gevurah respectively, Kindness and Severity of the World of Tohu-Chaos. In the Kabbalistic scheme they are rectified in the universal Messianic era, when all peoples will "go up to the mountain of the Lord" to follow the 7 Laws of Noah. The eight kings listed who reigned in Edom before any king of Israel, embodied the eight sephirot of Daat to Malchut in the World of Tohu, the vessels that shattered. Of each it says they lived and died, death connoting the soul-light of the sephirot ascending back to its source, while the body-vessel descends-shatters. Attached to the broken vessels are residues of the light, Nitzot-"Sparks" of holiness, as all Creation only continues to exist from non-existence
Ayin and Yesh
Ayin is an important concept in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. It is contrasted with the term Yesh...
by the Divine flow of Will. The sparks are the creative force of the Sephirot down the Four Worlds
Four Worlds
The Four Worlds , sometimes counted with a prior stage to make Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of Existence....
, giving life to the broken vessels, that become the descending beings of each realm. As they descend, they subdivide innumerable times. As the fragments contain only sparks of holiness, this allows them to become self-aware creations, rather than being nullified in Divine light. The unabsorbed residue of the broken vessels in our physical, lowest World Assiah
Assiah
Assiah is the last of the four spiritual worlds of the Kabbalah—Atziluth, Beri'ah, Yetzirah, 'Asiyah—based on the passage in . According to the Maseket Aẓilut, it is the region where the Ofanim rule and where they promote the hearing of prayers, support human endeavor, and combat evil...
becomes the realm of impurity and evil. To Kabbalah, as Creation is enacted through Divine "speech" as in Genesis 1, so gematria
Gematria
Gematria or gimatria is a system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like...
(numerical value of Hebrew letters) has spiritual meaning. In the supernal World of Atziluth
Atziluth
Atziluth, or Atzilut , is the highest of four worlds in which exists the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Beri'ah follows it. It is known as the World of Emanations, or the World of Causes...
-Emanation, the origin of our spiritual Order of Worlds, the sparks of holiness are said to subdivide into 288 general-root sparks, read out from the rest of Genesis 1:2, "...And the Spirit of God hovered over the waters." Merachepet-"hovered" splits into the number "288 died", the divided Divine sparks within the broken fragments.
Tikun-Rectification through Partzufim-reconfigured sephirot
The four realmsFour Worlds
The Four Worlds , sometimes counted with a prior stage to make Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of Existence....
of our created existence are together called the World of Tikkun
Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
("Fixing"). In Tikkun, the Sephirot evolve into new arrangements, where they can unite together. The different realms Tikkun are characterised as lower lights and stronger vessels.
Subsequent to the interinclusion of the 10 Sephirot within each other, in Lurianic Kabbalah they then develop into "Partsufim" ("Personas"). Wide discussion of the Partsufim is found in the Medieval Kabbalah of the Zohar
Zohar
The Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
, before Isaac Luria. In the Zohar, Shimon bar Yochai expounds upon the spiritual roles of the Parsufim, by talking about them as independent spiritual manifestations. "The Holy Ancient of Days", or "The Long Visage", two of the different Parsufim, are not just alternative adjectives for God, but are particular spiritual manifestations, levels and natures. Lurianic Kabbalah focused on the role of the Parsufim as the fully evolved stage of the primordial evolution of the Sephirot, in the beginning of Creation. Instead of each of the 10 Sephirot merely including a full subset of 10 Sephirot as latent potential forces, the first stage of their evolution, in the Parsufim the Sephirot become fully autonomous and interrelated. The name of each Partsuf denotes that the Sephirah from which it derived, has now become an independent scheme of 10 fully functioning Sephirot in the "Upright" (Yosher) form of "Man". This reconfiguration is essential in Lurianic Kabbalah to enable the opposing spiritual forces of the Sephirot to work together in harmony. Each Parsuf now operates independently, and unites with the other Parsufim. So, for example, "The Long Visage" is said to descend, and become enclothed within the lower Parsufim. The Sephirot now harmonise, to enable the Lurianic scheme of Tikkun
Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
(Rectification) to begin.
See also
- Sephirot
- PartzufimPartzufimPartzufim/Partsufim , meaning Divine "Personae/Visages/Faces/Forms/Configurations", are particular reconfigured arrangements of the 10 sephirot Divine attributes/emanations of Kabbalah into harmonised interactions in Creation. Their names derive from mystical discourses in the Zohar, the...
- Isaac LuriaIsaac LuriaIsaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
- Generational ascent in Kabbalah
- Tohu wa-bohu
- Related meanings of TikunTikkunTikkun/Tikun is a Hebrew word meaning "Fixing/Rectification". It has several connotations in Judaism:Traditional:*Tikkun , a book of Torah scroll text, used when learning to chant Torah portions or for correct-fixed scribal calligraphy...
- Galut-ExileGalutGalut or Golus , means literally exile. Galut or Golus classically refers to the exile of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel . There were altogether four such exiles...
- Geulah-Redemption
- Parallel Gilgul sparksGilgulGilgul/Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha Neshamot describes a Kabbalistic concept of reincarnation. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to "cycle" through "lives" or "incarnations", being attached to different human bodies over time...
- Collective Tzadik soulsTzadikTzadik/Zadik/Sadiq is a title given to personalities in Jewish tradition considered righteous, such as Biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ṣadiq, is ṣ-d-q , which means "justice" or "righteousness", also the root of Tzedakah...
- Tikkun OlamTikkun olamTikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
External links
- The Development of Kabbalah in Three Stages: Evolution, Enclothement, Omnipresence-Cordoveran, Lurianic, Hasidism, from www.inner.org