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Judaism

Jewish Mysticism
Kabbalah and the Sefirot

Jewish mysticism is otherwise known as "Kabbalah". It has its own text in addition to Torah and Talmud. "Zohar" means "book of splendor" or "book of light".

Most people in any religion tend to be suspicious of mysticism but every religion has its more mystical side. Torah does not, as far as I know, say anything directly about forbidding mysticism. Although some people interpret certain passages in the Bible as forbidding use of divination and other such "magical" practices, in actuality divination seems to have been used in ancient Judaism. Jewish mysticism has involved some "occult" practices, particularly in medieval times.

The term "mystical" is related to the term "mystery". It is the secret teachings of a faith. But, more to the point, it is the hidden truth behind the superficial beliefs and practices of a faith. When I consider mysticism I think more in terms of the mystical beliefs rather than mystical practices.

In the Zohar, Jewish mysticism gives a mystical interpretation to Torah. It identifies various important figures of Judaism (e.g. Moses, Abraham, etc) with various aspects of God. So whenever the Torah mentions these people, Jewish mystics understand that this is a secret language (a code language) for revealing certain truths about the nature of God and God's relationship with the Jewish people.

Kabbalah teaches that there are ten aspects, or emanations, of divinity - this is called the "Sefirot". The classic diagram for the Sefirot is drawn as a "tree" from the top down with the ten emanations as interlinked circles. Each emanation is more remote from God and closer to earth than the one before it. These emanations begin with Ein Sof. Ein Sof is actually before and beyond the emanations.

Ein Sof is so remote that nothing can be said about it. Ein Sof is sometimes said to be "nothingness" but it is actually the divine fullness ("Pleroma") of God (similarly, Zen Buddhism also speaks of "Emptiness" and Christian Gnosticism talks of this "fullness" and its "emanation" into lower realms of existence and, ultimately, into this world).

Looking at the diagram of the Sefirot you could think of Ein Sof as the blank paper upon which the diagram was drawn. The first emanation of   Ein   Sof   (the   unmanifest   God)   is   Keter.   This remoteness of Ein Sof would be the transcendent nature of divinity. The emanations would represent the more immanent aspects of divinity. Interestingly, Hinduism also envisions divinity in this way as transcendent (the impersonal Brahman) and immanent (the multitude of personal deities).

I have developed an alternative to the traditional diagram. I will try to describe mine and use it to explain. Take seven identically sized circles and place one in the center with the other six surrounding it. You can do this with coins. These seven circles are the seven lower Sefirot. They are often referred to as the children of Binah. Binah can be envisioned as a large circle drawn around the seven smaller ones, encompassing them, containing them as if they were inside of her. That's why they are her children and she is the "greater mother" or "womb". Binah is the third emanation, prior to the lower seven. 

Now these seven "children" also have a "father" - the "greater father". He is Hokhmah. In this diagram we are creating you can imagine Hokhmah ("point") as the center of the circle. That is, the center of the large circle (which is also the center of the smaller circle in the middle of the other six.) I suppose you could imagine the large circle as a cell (the egg) and Hokhmah as the nucleus (or sperm). It takes male and female aspects of divinity (Hokhmah and Binah) to enable the lesser aspects to come into existence. Together, they produce the others. Hokhmah, then, is the second emanation of divinity. The first, Keter, is rather remote. Kabbalah has little to say about Keter ("crown").

In our diagram, you can imagine Keter as the entire diagram as a whole and Ein Sof is the blank paper or surface upon which the diagram appears. You can't have the diagram without the paper it is drawn on but you can have the blank paper. Similarly, divinity in unmanifest form can exist alone but these emanations of divinity depend upon Ein Sof for their existence. Ein Sof existed and will exist before and after the ten Sefirot. Ein Sof is the eternal God. However, as Ein Sof, God is unknowable and unreachable. That is where the lower Sefirot come in - especially the lowest (the tenth). 

The tenth and lowest Sefirot is the Shekinah (also known as Malkhut). Malkhut is Hebrew for "Kingdom" - closely related to the concept of "community." Shekinah is referenced whenever the Torah discusses the "community of Israel." Shekinah is that aspect of God which moves and "dwells" with Israel (the Jewish people) wherever they may be in exile (or diaspora) (whenever Torah mentions a "dwelling" Jewish mystics understand that Torah is really talking about Shekinah). Shekinah is a feminine aspect of divinity - nurturing, caring. Her masculine counterpart is Tif'eret. In the classic tree diagram Tif'eret is in the center - half way between heaven and earth (so to speak). He is the "King" or "lesser father" while Shekinah is the "queen" or "lesser mother."

Tif'eret is Hebrew for "beauty". Each Sefirot represents an abstract ideal (like beauty). Binah is "understanding". Hokhmah is "wisdom". The two go together. We might consider "understanding" to be intellectual while "wisdom" is more intuitive. The next two down are Hesed, which is "love", and Gevurah, which is "power." Nezah is "eternity" or "endurance" (eternity does endure - they are related concepts). Nezah's counterpart is Hod, which is "majesty."

It is through Shekinah that the Jewish people (the "community of Israel") are able to remain linked to God. It is through Tif'eret that Shekinah is linked to the other Sefirot. Zohar discusses Shekinah and Tif'eret in very passionate language. The "Song of Songs" in the Bible is much like the language of the Zohar. It is a passionate love affair but from a distance. Shekinah is "exiled" from the higher emanations of divinity just as the Jewish people are in exile (one might even consider that being earthbound is, itself, an exile from the heavenly realm wherein God resides - at least that is how Hinduism understands it). In understanding the relationships between the various Sefirot, the Jewish mystics can better understand (through analogy) their relationship with God.

The traditional diagram reminds me of the Chakras of Hindu mysticism. The traditional diagram also represents the form of a person. As such, we might also consider that each part of each of us relates to some aspect of divinity. Each Sefirot is symbolically related to a part of the body such as left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg... Yesod, the ninth Sefirot, is phallus. This "body" of the Sefirot can be seen as the symbolic body of God.

If you are interested in learning more about this, there is a great book by Daniel Chanan Matt. It is his translation of a small selection from the Zohar with interpretive notes and introduction. This text is very accessible to the novice. I think he does a good and unique job of creating a translation that maintains the poetic nature of the original. The book itself is simply titled Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment published by Paulist Press in their "Classics of Western Spirituality" series.

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