Editing Kabbalah (section)

== Concepts ==
The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it.{{sfnp|Dan|2007|pp=[https://archive.org/details/kabbalahveryshor00danj_0/page/1 1–11]}} According to its earliest and original usage in ancient Hebrew it means 'reception' or 'tradition', and in this context it tends to refer to any sacred writing composed after (or otherwise outside of) the five books of the Torah.{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}} After the Talmud is written, it refers to the Oral Law (both in the sense of the 'Talmud' itself and in the sense of continuing dialog and thought devoted to the scripture in every generation).{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}} In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (c. 1350), it refers to [[theurgy]] or the conjuring of demons and angels by the invocation of their secret names.{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}} The understanding of the word Kabbalah undergoes a transformation of its meaning in medieval Judaism, in the books which are now primarily referred to as 'the Kabbalah': the ''[[Bahir]]'', the ''[[Zohar]]'', ''[[Etz Chaim|Etz Hayim]]'' etc.{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}} In these books the word Kabbalah is used in manifold new senses. During this major phase it refers to the continuity of revelation in every generation, on the one hand, while also suggesting the necessity of revelation to remain concealed and secret or esoteric in every period by formal requirements native to sacred truth.{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}} When the term Kabbalah is used to refer to a canon of secret mystical books by medieval Jews, these aforementioned books and other works in their constellation are the books and the literary sensibility to which the term refers.{{sfnp|Scholem|1974|p=6}}  Even later the word is adapted or appropriated in [[Western esotericism]] ([[Christian Kabbalah]] and [[Hermetic Qabalah]]), where it influences the tenor and aesthetics of European occultism practiced by gentiles or non-Jews. But above all, Jewish Kabbalah is a set of sacred and magical teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal [[God in Judaism|God]]—the mysterious ''[[Ein Sof]]'' ({{lang|he|{{Script/Hebrew|אֵין סוֹף}}}}, 'The Infinite')<ref name="Jewish Virtual Library-2018">{{cite web |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ein-sof |title=Ein-Sof |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2018 |website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |publisher=American–Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) |quote='''EIN-SOF''' (Heb. אֵין סוֹף; "The Infinite," lit. that which is boundless), name given in Kabbalah to God transcendent, in His pure essence: God in Himself, apart from His relationship to the created world. Since [[Names of God in Judaism|every name which was given to God]] referred to one of the characteristics or attributes by which He revealed Himself to His creatures, or which they ascribed to Him, there is no name or epithet for God from the point of view of His own being. Consequently, when the kabbalists wanted to be precise in their language they abstained from using names like ''[[Elohim]]'', the [[Tetragrammaton]], "the Holy One, blessed be He," and others. These names are all found either in the [[Torah|Written]] or the [[Talmud|Oral Law]]. The Torah, however, refers only to God's manifestations and not to God's own being which is above and beyond His relationship to the created world. Therefore, neither in the [[Tanakh|Bible]], nor in [[Rabbinic literature|rabbinic tradition]] was there a term which could fulfill the need of the kabbalists in their speculations on the nature of God. "Know that ''Ein-Sof'' is not alluded to either in the Pentateuch, the Prophets, or the Hagiographa, nor in the writings of the rabbis. But the mystics had a vague tradition about it" (''Sefer Ma'arekhet ha-Elohut''). The term ''Ein-Sof'' is found in [[Primary texts of Kabbalah|kabbalistic literature]] after 1200. |access-date=2018-10-23 |archive-date=2017-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202204741/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ein-sof |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.morfix.co.il/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A3|title=אינסוף|website=Morfix, מורפיקס|publisher=Melingo Ltd|access-date=19 November 2014|archive-date=27 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227120824/http://www.morfix.co.il/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%95%D7%A3|url-status=live}}</ref>—and the mortal, finite [[universe]] (God's [[Genesis creation narrative|creation]]).<ref name="Ginzberg-1906"/><ref name="Jewish Virtual Library-2018"/>

=== Concealed and revealed God ===
[[File:Ein sof.png|thumb|Metaphorical scheme of emanated spiritual worlds within the ''Ein Sof'']]
{{See also|Atzmus|Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah}}
The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutely [[Divine transcendence|transcendent]], unknowable, limitless [[divine simplicity]] beyond revelation, and (b) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to humankind. Kabbalists speak of the first as ''[[Ein Sof|Ein/Ayn Sof]]'' (אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "there is no end"). Of the impersonal ''Ein Sof'' nothing can be grasped. However, the second aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual and physical existence, reveal the divine [[divine immanence|immanently]], and are bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but complement one another, emanations [[mysticism|mystically]] revealing the concealed mystery from within the [[Godhead in Judaism|Godhead]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the ''Ein Sof'' itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It is not a [[Names of God in Judaism|Holy Name in Judaism]], as no name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof. Even terming it "No End" is an inadequate representation of its true nature, the description only bearing its designation in relation to Creation. However, the Torah does narrate God speaking in the first person, most memorably the first word of the [[Ten Commandments]], a reference without any description or name to the simple [[Atzmus|Divine essence]] (termed also ''Atzmus Ein Sof'' – Essence of the Infinite) beyond even the duality of Infinitude/Finitude. In contrast, the term Ein Sof describes the Godhead as Infinite lifeforce first cause, continuously keeping all Creation in existence. The [[Zohar]] reads the [[Genesis creation narrative|first words of Genesis]], ''BeReishit Bara Elohim – In the beginning God created'', as "''With'' (the level of) ''Reishit (Beginning)'' (the Ein Sof) ''created [[Elohim]]'' (God's manifestation in creation)":<ref>Zohar I, 15a English translation from '' Jewish Mysticism&nbsp;– An Anthology'', Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Oneworld pub, p.120-121</ref>

{{blockquote|At the very beginning the King made engravings in the supernal purity. A spark of blackness emerged in the sealed within the sealed, from the mystery of the Ayn Sof, a mist within matter, implanted in a ring, no white, no black, no red, no yellow, no colour at all. When He measured with the standard of measure, He made colours to provide light. Within the spark, in the innermost part, emerged a source, from which the colours are painted below; it is sealed among the sealed things of the mystery of Ayn Sof. It penetrated, yet did not penetrate its air. It was not known at all until, from the pressure of its penetration, a single point shone, sealed, supernal. Beyond this point nothing is known, so it is called ''reishit'' (beginning): the first word of all ...}}

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: [[Sephirot]] (divine attributes) and [[Partzufim]] (divine "faces"), [[Ohr]] (spiritual light and flow), [[Names of God in Judaism|Names of God]] and the supernal [[Torah]], [[Four Worlds|Olamot]] (Spiritual Worlds), a [[Tree of life (Kabbalah)|Divine Tree]] and [[Adam Kadmon|Archetypal Man]], [[Merkabah mysticism|Angelic Chariot and Palaces]], male and female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly holy vitality and external Kelipot shells, [[613 commandments|613 channels]] ("limbs" of the King) and the divine Souls of [[Adam|Man]]. These symbols are used to describe various levels and aspects of Divine manifestation, from the ''[[Ohr|Pnimi]]'' (inner) dimensions to the ''[[Ohr|Hitzoni]]'' (outer).{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} It is solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the [[Ein Sof]] Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses [[Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah|anthropomorphic symbolism]] to relate psychologically to divinity. Kabbalists debated the validity of anthropomorphic symbolism, between its disclosure as mystical allusion, versus its instrumental use as allegorical metaphor; in the language of the Zohar, symbolism "touches yet does not touch" its point.<ref>As Zohar I, 15a continues: "Zohar-Radiance, Concealed of the Concealed, struck its aura. The aura touched and did not touch this point."</ref>{{primary source inline|date=February 2025}}

=== Sephirot ===
{{Main|Sefirot}}
[[File:Sefiroticky strom.jpg|thumb|Scheme of descending [[Sephirot]] in three columns, as a tree with roots above and branches below]]
The ''Sephirot'' (also spelled "sefirot"; singular ''sefirah'') are the ten emanations and attributes of God with which he continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God's divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways. The Zohar and other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the ''Ein Sof'' until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as "the Ramak"), describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine light via the ten sephirot, or vessels.{{sfnp|Ginsburgh|2006|p=6}}

{{anchor|Ten Sephirot as process of Creation}}
====Ten sephirot as process of creation====
According to Lurianic cosmology, the ''sephirot'' correspond to various levels of creation (ten ''sephirot'' in each of the Four Worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing ten ''sephirot'', which themselves contain ten ''sephirot'', to an infinite number of possibilities),<ref>See ''Otzrot Haim: Sha'ar TNT"A'' for a short explanation. The vast majority of the Lurianic system deals only with the complexities found in the world of Atzilut as is explained in the introductions to both Otzrot Haim and Eitz Haim.</ref> and are emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The ''sephirot'' are considered revelations of the Creator's will (''ratzon''),<ref>''The Song of the Soul'', Yechiel Bar-Lev, p.73</ref> and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his will through the Emanations. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

{{anchor|Ten Sephirot as process of ethics}}
==== Ten Sephirot as process of ethics ====
[[File:Shefa Tal.png|thumb|In the 16–17th centuries Kabbalah was popularised through a new genre of ethical literature, related to Kabbalistic meditation]]

Divine creation by means of the Ten Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, and Gevurah is the Moral Justification of Justice and both are mediated by Mercy which is Rachamim. However, these pillars of morality become immoral once they become extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme it can lead to sexual depravity and lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture and the Murder of innocents and unfair punishment.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

"Righteous" humans (''tzadikim'' plural of [[Tzadik]]) ascend these ethical qualities of the ten ''sephirot'' by doing righteous actions. If there were no righteous humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. While real human actions are the "Foundation" (''[[Yesod]]'') of this universe (''[[Malchut]]''), these actions must accompany the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (''Emunah''), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only in order to empower oneself to assist others is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of [[Golden mean (philosophy)|golden mean]] in kabbalah, corresponding to the ''sefirah'' of Adornment ([[Tiferet]]) being part of the "Middle Column".{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, wrote ''[[Tomer Devorah]]'' (''Palm Tree of Deborah''), in which he presents an ethical teaching of Judaism in the kabbalistic context of the ten ''sephirot''. ''Tomer Devorah'' has become also a foundational [[Musar literature|Musar text]].{{sfnp|Laenen|2001|p=164}}

=== Partzufim ===
{{Main|Partzufim}}
The most esoteric [[Idrot]] sections of the classic Zohar make reference to [[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|hypostatic]] male and female ''[[Partzufim]]'' (Divine Personas) displacing the Sephirot, manifestations of God in particular [[Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah|Anthropomorphic]] symbolic personalities based on [[Pardes (Jewish exegesis)|Biblical esoteric exegesis]] and [[midrash]]ic narratives. Lurianic Kabbalah places these at the centre of our existence, rather than earlier Kabbalah's Sephirot, which Luria saw as broken in Divine crisis. Contemporary cognitive understanding of the Partzuf symbols relates them to [[Jungian archetypes]] of the [[collective unconscious]], reflecting a psychologised progression from youth to sage in therapeutic healing back to the infinite Ein Sof/Unconscious, as Kabbalah is simultaneously both [[theology]] and [[psychology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newkabbalah.com/index3.html|title=Kabbalah: New Kabbalah|access-date=2020-02-07|archive-date=2020-01-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129075105/http://www.newkabbalah.com/index3.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Descending spiritual worlds ===
{{Main|Four Worlds|Seder hishtalshelus}}
Medieval Kabbalists believed that all things are linked to God through these [[Emanationism|emanations]], making all levels in creation part of one great, gradually descending [[chain of being]]. Through this any lower creation reflects its particular roots in supernal divinity. Kabbalists agreed with the [[divine transcendence]] described by [[Jewish philosophy]], but as only referring to the ''[[Ein Sof]]'' unknowable Godhead. They reinterpreted the [[Theism|theistic]] philosophical concept of creation from nothing, replacing God's creative act with [[Panentheism|panentheistic]] continual self-emanation by the mystical [[Ayin and Yesh|Ayin]] Nothingness/No-thing sustaining all spiritual and physical realms as successively more corporeal garments, veils and condensations of [[divine immanence]]. The innumerable levels of descent divide into [[Four Worlds|Four comprehensive spiritual worlds]], ''[[Atziluth]]'' ("Closeness" – Divine Wisdom), ''[[Beri'ah|Beriah]]'' ("Creation" – Divine Understanding), ''[[Yetzirah]]'' ("Formation" – Divine Emotions), ''[[Assiah]]'' ("Action" – Divine Activity), with a preceding Fifth World ''[[Adam Kadmon]]'' ("Primordial Man" – Divine Will) sometimes excluded due to its sublimity. Together the whole spiritual heavens form the Divine Persona/[[Adam Kadmon#Gnosticism|Anthropos]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Hasidic thought extends the divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective. This view can be defined as [[Acosmism|acosmic]] [[Monism|monistic]] panentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his divine reality in perfect unity, so that the creation effected no change in him at all. This paradox as seen from dual human and divine perspectives is dealt with at length in [[Chabad philosophy|Chabad texts]].{{sfnp|Wineberg|1998|loc=chs. 20–21}}

=== Origin of evil ===
[[File:Kaphtziel.jpg|thumb|[[Amulet]] from the 15th century. Theosophical kabbalists, especially Luria, censored contemporary Practical Kabbalah, but allowed amulets by Sages<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inner.org/kabbalah/beginner/practical.htm |title=Beginner Level Kabbalah: What is Practical Kabbalah? |publisher=Inner.org |date=2014-02-24 |access-date=2015-09-27 |archive-date=2015-09-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928135118/http://www.inner.org/kabbalah/beginner/practical.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
Among problems considered in the Hebrew Kabbalah is the theological issue of the nature and origin of evil. In the views of some Kabbalists this conceives "evil" as a "quality of God", asserting that negativity enters into the essence of the Absolute. In this view it is conceived that the Absolute needs evil to "be what it is", i.e., to exist.<ref>{{cite web|first=Piero|last=Cantoni|title=Demonology and Praxis of Exorcism and of the Liberation Prayers", in Fides Catholica 1|year=2006|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/5555670/Pietro-CantoniTeologia-dell-esorcismo|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105115936/http://www.scribd.com/doc/5555670/Pietro-CantoniTeologia-dell-esorcismo|archive-date=2011-11-05}}</ref> Foundational texts of Medieval Kabbalism conceived evil as a demonic parallel to the holy, called the ''Sitra Achra'' (the "Other Side"), and the ''[[qlippoth]]'' (the "shells/husks") that cover and conceal the holy, are nurtured from it, and yet also protect it by limiting its revelation. Scholem termed this element of the Spanish Kabbalah a "Jewish gnostic" motif, in the sense of dual powers in the divine realm of manifestation. In a radical notion, the root of evil is found within the 10 holy Sephirot, through an imbalance of [[Gevurah]], the power of "Strength/Judgement/Severity".{{sfnp|Scholem|1974}}

Gevurah is necessary for Creation to exist as it counterposes [[Chesed (Kabbalah)|Chesed]] ("loving-kindness"), restricting the unlimited divine bounty within suitable vessels, so forming the Worlds. However, if man sins (actualising impure judgement within his soul), the supernal Judgement is reciprocally empowered over the Kindness, introducing disharmony among the Sephirot in the divine realm and exile from God throughout Creation. The demonic realm, though illusory in its holy origin, becomes the real apparent realm of impurity in lower Creation. In the [[Zohar]], the sin of Adam and Eve (who embodied [[Adam Kadmon]] below) took place in the spiritual realms. Their sin was that they separated the [[Tree of knowledge of good and evil|Tree of knowledge]] (10 [[sefirot]] within [[Malkuth]], representing [[Divine immanence]]), from the [[Tree of life (biblical)|Tree of life]] within it (10 sefirot within [[Tiferet]], representing [[Divine transcendence]]). This introduced the false perception of duality into lower creation, an external [[Qlippoth|Tree of Death]] nurtured from holiness, and an [[Adam Belial]] of impurity.<ref>''The Tree of Life – Kuntres Eitz HaChayim'', A classic chassidic treatise on the mystic core of spiritual vitality. [[Sholom Dovber Schneersohn]], translated by Eliyahu Touger, Sichos in English</ref> In Lurianic Kabbalah, evil originates from a primordial shattering of the sephirot of God's Persona before creation of the [[Four Worlds|stable spiritual worlds]], mystically represented by the 8 [[List of rulers of Edom|Kings of Edom]] (the derivative of [[Gevurah]]) "who died" before any king reigned in Israel from [[Vayishlach|Genesis 36]]. In the divine view from above within Kabbalah, emphasised in [[Hasidic]] [[Panentheism]], the appearance of duality and pluralism below dissolves into the absolute [[Monism]] of God, psychologising evil.<ref>[[Tanya (Judaism)|Tanya]] chapter 29: "In truth there is no substance whatever in the sitra achra, wherefore it is compared to darkness which has no substance whatever and, consequently is banished in the presence of light.....although it possesses abundant vitality, nevertheless has no vitality of its own, G‑d forbid, but derives it from the realm of holiness.... Therefore it is completely nullified in the presence of holiness, as darkness is nullified before physical light, except that in regard to the holiness of the divine soul in man, the Holy One blessed be He, has given the animal soul permission and ability to raise itself in order that man should be challenged to overcome it and to humble it by his abhorring in himself that which is despicable. And "Through the impulse from below comes an impulse from Above", fulfilling "Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord", depriving it of its dominion and power and withdrawing from it the strength and authority which had been given it to rise up against the light of the holiness of the divine soul"</ref> Though impure below, what appears as evil derives from a divine blessing too high to be contained openly.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.chabad.org/library/tanya/tanya_cdo/aid/1028980/jewish/Chapter-26.htm| title = Tanya chapter 26| access-date = 2020-03-08| archive-date = 2020-08-02| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200802200834/https://www.chabad.org/library/tanya/tanya_cdo/aid/1028980/jewish/Chapter-26.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> The mystical task of the [[Tzadik|righteous]] in the Zohar is to reveal this concealed Divine Oneness and absolute good, to "convert bitterness into sweetness, darkness into light".{{quote without source|date=February 2025}}

=== Role of Man ===
[[File:ציון רבי יוסף קארו.JPG|thumb|[[Joseph Karo]]'s role as both legalist and mystic underscores Kabbalah's spiritualisation of normative Jewish observance]]
Kabbalistic doctrine gives man the central role in Creation, as his soul and body correspond to the supernal divine manifestations. In the Christian Kabbalah this scheme was universalised to describe ''harmonia mundi'', the harmony of Creation within man.{{sfnp|Dan|2007|loc=chapter on "Christian Kabbalah"}} In Judaism, it gave a profound spiritualisation of Jewish practice. While the kabbalistic scheme gave a radically innovative, though conceptually continuous, development of mainstream Midrashic and Talmudic rabbinic notions, kabbalistic thought underscored and invigorated conservative Jewish observance. The esoteric teachings of kabbalah gave the traditional mitzvot observances the central role in spiritual creation, whether the practitioner was learned in this knowledge or not. Accompanying normative Jewish observance and worship with elite mystical kavanot intentions gave them [[theurgic]] power, but sincere observance by common folk, especially in the Hasidic popularisation of kabbalah, could replace esoteric abilities. Many kabbalists were also leading legal figures in Judaism, such as Nachmanides and [[Joseph Karo]].{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Medieval kabbalah elaborates particular reasons for each Biblical [[mitzvah]], and their role in harmonising the supernal divine flow, uniting masculine and feminine forces on High. With this, the feminine Divine presence in this world is drawn from exile to the Holy One Above. The [[613 mitzvot]] are embodied in the organs and soul of man. Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates this in the more inclusive scheme of Jewish messianic rectification of exiled divinity. Jewish mysticism, in contrast to Divine transcendence rationalist human-centred reasons for Jewish observance, gave Divine-immanent providential cosmic significance to the daily events in the worldly life of man in general, and the spiritual role of Jewish observance in particular.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

=== Levels of the soul ===
[[File:Abraham abulafia.jpg|120px|thumb|Building on Kabbalah's conception of the soul, [[Abraham Abulafia]]'s meditations included the "inner illumination of" the human form<ref>Otzar Eden Ganuz, Oxford Ms. 1580, fols. 163b-164a; see also Hayei Haolam Haba, Oxford 1582, fol. 12a.</ref>]]
The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements: the ''nefesh'', ''ru'ach'', and ''neshamah''. The ''nefesh'' is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on the actions and beliefs of the individual. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually. A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows:{{sfnmp|1a1=Kaplan|1y=1990|2a1=Kaplan|2y=1995}}

* ''[[Nephesh|Nefesh]]'' (נֶפֶשׁ): the lower part, or "animal part", of the soul. It is linked to instincts and bodily cravings. This part of the soul is provided at birth.
* ''[[Holy Spirit in Judaism|Ruach]]'' (רוּחַ): the middle soul, the "spirit". It contains the moral virtues and the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
* ''Neshamah'' (נְשָׁמָה): the higher soul, or "super-soul". This separates man from all other life-forms. It is related to the intellect and allows man to enjoy and benefit from the afterlife. It allows one to have some awareness of the existence and presence of God.
* ''Chayyah'' (חיה): The part of the soul that allows one to have an awareness of the divine life force itself.
* ''Yehidah'' (יחידה): The highest plane of the soul, in which one can achieve as full a union with God as is possible.

=== Reincarnation ===
{{Main|Gilgul}}
[[Reincarnation]], the transmigration of the soul after death, was introduced into Judaism as a central esoteric tenet of Kabbalah from the Medieval period onwards, called Gilgul neshamot ("cycles of the soul"). The concept does not appear overtly in the Hebrew Bible or classic rabbinic literature, and was rejected by various Medieval Jewish philosophers. However, the Kabbalists explained a number of scriptural passages in reference to Gilgulim. The concept became central to the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, who systemised it as the personal parallel to the cosmic process of rectification. Through Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism, reincarnation entered popular Jewish culture as a literary motif.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/reincarnation-the-transmigration-of-a-jewish-idea/|title=What Judaism Says About Reincarnation|access-date=2018-02-01|archive-date=2023-04-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417183224/https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/reincarnation-the-transmigration-of-a-jewish-idea/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Tzimtzum, Shevirah and Tikkun ===
{{Main|Lurianic Kabbalah}}
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 11324 The city wore white.jpg|thumb|16th-century graves of [[Safed]], [[Galilee]]. The messianic focus of its mystical renaissance culminated in Lurianic thought.]]
''[[Tzimtzum]]'' (Constriction/Concentration) is the primordial cosmic act whereby God "contracted" His infinite light, leaving a "void" into which the light of existence was poured. This allowed the emergence of independent existence that would not become nullified by the pristine Infinite Light, reconciling the unity of the ''Ein Sof'' with the plurality of creation. This changed the first creative act into one of withdrawal/exile, the antithesis of the ultimate Divine Will. In contrast, a new emanation after the Tzimtzum shone into the vacuum to begin creation, but led to an initial instability called ''[[Tohu and Tikun|Tohu]]'' (Chaos), leading to a new crisis of ''Shevirah'' (Shattering) of the sephirot vessels. The shards of the broken vessels fell down into the lower realms, animated by remnants of their divine light, causing primordial exile within the Divine Persona before the creation of man. Exile and enclothement of higher divinity within lower realms throughout existence requires man to complete the ''[[Tikkun olam]]'' (Rectification) process. Rectification Above corresponds to the reorganization of the independent sephirot into relating ''Partzufim'' (Divine Personas), previously referred to obliquely in the Zohar. From the catastrophe stems the possibility of self-aware Creation, and also the ''Kelipot'' (Impure Shells) of previous Medieval kabbalah. The metaphorical [[Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah|anthropomorphism]] of the partzufim accentuates the sexual unifications of the redemption process, while [[Gilgul]] reincarnation emerges from the scheme. Uniquely, Lurianism gave formerly private mysticism the urgency of Messianic social involvement.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

According to interpretations of Luria, the catastrophe stemmed from the "unwillingness" of the residue imprint after the Tzimtzum to relate to the new vitality that began creation. The process was arranged to shed and harmonise the Divine Infinity with the latent potential of evil.{{sfnp|Dan|2007|p={{page needed|date=July 2024}}}} The creation of [[Adam]] would have redeemed existence, but his sin caused new shevirah of Divine vitality, requiring the Giving of the Torah to begin Messianic rectification. Historical and individual history becomes the narrative of reclaiming exiled Divine sparks.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

=== Linguistic mysticism and the mystical Torah ===
Kabbalistic thought extended [[Hebrew Bible|Biblical]] and [[Midrash]]ic notions that God enacted Creation through the Hebrew language and through the [[Torah]] into a full linguistic mysticism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Scholem |first=Gershom |last2=Pleasance |first2=Simon |date=1972-09-01 |title=The Name of God and the Linguistic Theory of the Kabbala |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/039219217202007903 |journal=Diogenes |language=EN |volume=20 |issue=79 |pages=59–80 |doi=10.1177/039219217202007903 |issn=0392-1921}}</ref> In this, every Hebrew letter, word, number, even accent on words of the Hebrew Bible contain [[Jewish mystical exegesis|Jewish mystical meanings]], describing the spiritual dimensions within exoteric ideas, and it teaches the [[hermeneutic]] methods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings. [[Names of God in Judaism]] have further prominence, though infinite meaning turns the whole Torah into a Divine name. As the Hebrew name of things is the channel of their lifeforce, parallel to the sephirot, so concepts such as "holiness" and "[[mitzvot]]" embody ontological Divine immanence, as God can be known in manifestation as well as transcendence. The infinite potential of meaning in the Torah, as in the ''Ein Sof'', is reflected in the symbol of the two trees of the Garden of Eden; the Torah of the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil|Tree of Knowledge]] is the external, finite [[Halachic]] Torah, enclothed within which the mystics perceive the unlimited infinite plurality of meanings of the Torah of the [[Tree of life (biblical)|Tree of Life]]. In Lurianic terms, each of the 600,000 root souls of Israel find their own interpretation in Torah, as "God, the Torah and Israel are all One".{{sfnp|Scholem|1941|pp=210}}<ref name="ReferenceA">Moshe Cordovero, ''Or Ha-Hammah'' on Zohar III, 106a</ref>

{{blockquote|The reapers of the Field are the Comrades, masters of this wisdom, because ''Malkhut'' is called the Apple Field, and She grows sprouts of secrets and new meanings of Torah. Those who constantly create new interpretations of Torah are the ones who reap Her.<ref name="ReferenceA">Moshe Cordovero, ''Or Ha-Hammah'' on Zohar III, 106a</ref>}}

As early as the 1st century BCE Jews believed that the Torah and other canonical texts contained encoded messages and hidden meanings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bereshit Rabbah 1:10-1:11 et. al |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Bereshit_Rabbah.1.1?lang=bi |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> [[Gematria]] is one method for discovering its hidden meanings. In this system, each Hebrew letter also represents a number. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools.{{sfnp|Scholem|1941|pp=158, 208-209}}

In contemporary interpretation of kabbalah, Sanford Drob makes cognitive sense of this linguistic mythos by relating it to [[postmodern philosophy|postmodern philosophical]] concepts described by [[Jacques Derrida]] and others, where all reality embodies narrative texts with infinite plurality of meanings brought by the reader. In this dialogue, kabbalah survives the nihilism of [[Deconstruction]] by incorporating its own Lurianic ''Shevirah'', and by the dialectical paradox where man and God imply each other.{{sfnp|Drob|2009}}