Editing Kabbalah (section)

=== 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}}