Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a Jewish mystical tradition that explores divine emanation, the structure of creation, and hidden dimensions of scripture through symbolic interpretation and contemplative practice.

Ein Sof: Ein Sof is the Kabbalistic name for God as infinite and beyond human comprehension. The unknowable divine source from which Kabbalistic accounts of emanation begin.
Tzimtzum: Tzimtzum is the Kabbalistic idea that God conceals or contracts divine presence to make room for creation. It addresses how finite creation can exist in relation to the infinite Ein Sof.
Sefer Yetzirah: Sefer Yetzirah is an early Jewish cosmological text that describes creation through Hebrew letters and numbers. It supplied an influential precedent for treating language and number as creative forces.
Maimonideanism: Maimonideanism is the philosophical tradition based on the writings of Moses Maimonides, emphasizing rational inquiry and negative theology. Its philosophical account of God contrasts with Kabbalah’s symbolic language of emanations.
Sefirot: The sefirot are ten interrelated attributes or emanations through which the divine is manifested and creation is sustained. They provide Kabbalah’s central map of divine manifestation.
Shevirat ha-Kelim: Shevirat ha-Kelim is the Lurianic account of the shattering of divine vessels during the process of creation. The broken vessels explain the disorder that makes cosmic repair necessary.
Sefer ha-Bahir: Sefer ha-Bahir is a medieval Jewish mystical text that helped establish early Kabbalistic symbolism. Its imagery and teachings mark a formative stage before the Zohar’s prominence.
Jewish philosophy: Jewish philosophy is the rational and conceptual study of God, scripture, ethics, and existence within Jewish thought. It offers a broader intellectual setting whose methods often differ from mystical symbolism.
Tree of Life: The Tree of Life is a diagram depicting the relationships among the ten sefirot. Its arrangement makes the sefirot’s relationships visible as a symbolic structure.
Tikkun olam: Tikkun olam means repairing or restoring the world, with meanings that vary across Jewish history and movements. In Lurianic Kabbalah, human deeds help gather scattered sparks and restore cosmic order.

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