Sefirot (; סְפִירָה, , ) are the ten emanations or creative attributes of God in Kabbalah. The are the modes through which the () reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the ()—the descending sequence of the metaphysical Four Worlds.
As revelations of Gods will (), the are understood not as ten gods but rather as ten channels through which the one God reveals his will. In later Kabbalistic literature, the ten may refer to the ten manifestations of God, the ten powers or faculties of the soul, or the ten structural forces of nature.
Alternative configurations of the are interpreted by various schools in the historical evolution of Kabbalah, with each articulating differing spiritual aspects. The tradition of enumerating 10 is stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: "Ten of nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven". As altogether eleven sefirot are listed across the various schemes, two ( and ) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the same principle, conserving the 10 categories. The are described as channels of divine creative life force or consciousness through which the unknowable divine essence is revealed to humankind.
In Hasidic philosophy, which has sought to internalise the experience of Jewish mysticism into daily inspiration (), this inner life of the is explored, and the role they play in humankind's service of God in this world.
Terminology
The word "Sefirot" is derived from the Hebrew root ס־פ־ר, which forms the basis for the words book (ספר), story (סיפור), number (מספר) and sapphire (ספיר). Gershom Scholem writes that "as early as the Sefer ha-Bahir it is related to the Hebrew sappir ("sapphire"), for it is the radiance of God which is like that of the sapphire." Some have suggested that the root could derive from the Akkadian word šiprum (meaning message or report); others have argued that the use of term 'sefirah' was influenced by the Greek word σφαῖρα ("sphere"). Both positions are disputed.
Gershom Scholem writes "That many themes are united, or sometimes simply commingled, in this concept is demonstrated by the profusion of terms used to describe it." Scholem states that Kabbalists "employed a wealth of synonyms" and that the Sefirot are "also called ma'amarot and dibburim ("sayings"), shemot ("names"), orot ("lights"), kohot ("powers"), ketarim ("crowns"; since they are "the celestial crowns of the Holy King"), middot in the sense of qualities, madregot ("stages"), levushim ("garments"), marot ("mirrors"), neti'ot ("shoots"), mekorot ("sources"), yamim elyonim or yemei kedem ("supernal or primordial days"), sitrin (i.e., "aspects," found mainly in the Zohar), ha-panim ha-penimiyyot ("the inner faces of God")". Scholem adds that "A long list of other designations for the Sefirot can be found in Herrera, Sha'ar ha-Shamayim, 7:4."Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah, 1974(?), https://www.betemunah.org/kabbalah-gershom-scholem.pdf, pages 99-100
Ein Sof The Ein Sof (lit: without end) is an important concept in Jewish Kabbalah. Generally translated as "infinity" and "endless", the Ein Sof represents the formless state of the universe before the self-materialization of God. In other words, the Ein Sof is God before he decided to become God as we now know him.
The sefirot are divine emanations that come from the Ein Sof in a manner often described as a flame. The sefirot emanate from above to below. As the first sefirah is closest to Ein Sof, it is the least comprehensible to the human mind, while in turn the last is the best understood because it is closest to the material world that humanity dwells on.
Ten sefirot
The singular, sefira ( səpirā), may have been a loanword from ). However, early Kabbalists presented several other etymological possibilities: a "counting" or "enumeration"; or from the same triliteral root: sefer "text," sippur "recounting a story," sfar ("boundary" - ספר), and sofer, or safra "scribe"; or sappir "sapphire." This term had complex connotations within Kabbalah.
The original reference to the sefirot is found in the ancient Sefer Yetzirah "The Book of Formation," attributed to the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham. However, the names of the sefirot as given in later Kabbalah are not specified there, but rather are only identified by their attributes "forward," "backward," "right," "left," "down," "up," "light," "darkness," "good" and "evil." Further references to the sefirot, now with their later-accepted names, are elaborated on in the medieval Kabbalistic text of the Zohar, which is one of the core texts of Kabbalah.
In Cordoveran Kabbalah, the forces of creation are considered autonomous forces that evolve independently. By contrast, in Lurean or Lurianic Kabbalah (the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria), the sefirot are perceived as a constellation of forces in active dialogue with one another at every stage of that evolution. Luria described the sefirot as complex and dynamically interacting entities known as partzufim "faces," each with its own symbolically human-like persona.
Keter, the Crown, is the first sefirah. It is the superconscious intermediary between God and the other, conscious sefirot. Three different levels, or "heads," are identified within Keter. In some contexts, the highest level of Keter is called "The unknowable head," : The acronym "RADLA" for this level is identified as the origin of the Torah of Hasidus. The second level is "the head of nothingness" (reisha d'ayin), and the third level is "the long head" (reisha d'arich). These three heads correspond to the superconscious levels of faith, pleasure and will in the soul.
The first sefirah, Keter, describes the divine superconscious Will that is beyond conscious intellect. The next three sefirot (Chokmah, Binah and Da'at) describe three levels of conscious divine intellect. In particular, Da'at represents Keter in its knowable form, the concept of knowledge. Will and knowledge are corresponding somewhat dependent opposites. The seven subsequent sefirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth) describe the primary and secondary conscious divine emotions. The sefirot of the left side and the sefirah of Malkuth are feminine, as the female principle in Kabbalah describes a vessel that receives the outward male light, then inwardly nurtures and gives birth to the sefirot below them. Kabbalah sees the human soul as mirroring the divine (after Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them"), and more widely, all creations as reflections of their life source in the sefirot. Therefore, the sefirot also describe the spiritual life of man, break down man's psychological processes, and constitute the conceptual paradigm in Kabbalah for understanding everything. This relationship between the soul of man and the divine gives Kabbalah one of its two central metaphors in describing divinity, alongside the other Ohr (light) metaphor. However, Kabbalah repeatedly stresses the need to avoid all corporeal interpretation. Through this, the sefirot are related to the structure of the body and are reformed into partzufim (personas). Underlying the structural purpose of each sefirah is a hidden motivational force which is understood best by comparison with a corresponding psychological state in human spiritual experience.
In its early 12th-century dissemination, Kabbalah garnered criticism from some rabbis who adhered to Jewish philosophy for its alleged introduction of diversity into Jewish monotheism. The seeming plurality of the One God is a result of the spiritual evolution of God's light, which introduced a diversity of emanations from the infinite divine essence. This was necessary due to the inability of humanity to exist in God's infinite presence. God does not change; rather, it is our ability to perceive his emanations that is modified. This is stressed in Kabbalah to avoid heretical notions of any plurality in the Godhead. One parable to explain this is the difference between the Ma'or "Luminary" and the ohr "Light" that it emanates, like the difference between the single body of the sun and the multiple rays of sunlight that illuminate a room.E.g. .
Names in Cordoveran Kabbalah In Kabbalah, there is a direct correspondence between the Hebrew name of any spiritual or physical phenomenon and its manifestations in the mundane world. The Hebrew name represents the unique essence of the object. This reflects the belief that the universe is created through the metaphorical speech of God, as stated in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. Kabbalah expounds on the names of the sefirot and their nuances, including their gematria (numerical values), to reach an understanding of these emanations of God's essence.
In the 16th-century rational synthesis of Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (Cordoveran Kabbalah), the first complete systemization of Kabbalah, the sefirot are listed from highest to lowest:
Category: Sefirah: Super-conscious 1 Keter - "Crown" Conscious intellect 2 Chokmah - "Wisdom" 3 Binah - "Understanding" Conscious emotions (Primary emotions:) 4 Chesed - "Kindness" 5 Gevurah - "Discipline" 6 Tiferet - "Glory" (Secondary emotions:) 7 Netzach - "Victory" 8 Hod - "Splendour" 9 Yesod - "Foundation" (Vessel to bring action:) 10 Malkuth - "Kingdom" Kingship
Man-metaphor in Kabbalah
Kabbalah uses subtle anthropomorphic analogies and metaphors to describe God in Judaism, both the God-world relationship, and the inner nature of the divine. These include the metaphor of the soul-body relationship, the functions of human soul-powers, the configuration of human bodily form, and female-male influences in the divine. Kabbalists repeatedly warn and stress the need to divorce their notions from any corporality, dualism, plurality, or spatial and temporal connotations. As "the Torah speaks in the language of Man",Talmud Berachot 31b and other sources in Chazal the empirical terms are necessarily imposed upon human experience in this world. Once the analogy is described, its limitations are then related to stripping the kernel of its husk to arrive at a truer conception. Nonetheless, Kabbalists carefully chose their terminology to denote subtle connotations and profound relationships in the divine spiritual influences. More accurately, as they see the emanation of the material world from the spiritual realms, the analogous anthropomorphisms and material metaphors themselves derive through cause and effect from their precise root analogies on High.