The building blocks of Kabbalistic terminology are the Ten Sefirot. These are the ten emanations or "lights" through which God interacts with, and relates to, His world.
When Kabbalah looks at various events that have transpired in the world, or various Divine commandments in the Torah, it classifies and describes them in terms of these various modes of interaction.
Before we describe these Ten Sefirot and their use, we must deal with a fundamental problem.
ONENESS OF GOD VS. THE TEN SEFIROT
Judaism has placed at its masthead the principle of the Oneness of God.
A Jew proclaims twice a day, "Hear, O Israel, God is our Lord, God is One."
When we speak of the martyrs who sacrificed their lives on behalf of the Almighty -- especially those who were being forced to convert to Christianity -- we speak of people who were martyred on behalf of God's unity.
How do we now dilute the belief in the Oneness of God with the idea of "Ten Emanations" of God?
How do we now dilute this most important of beliefs with the idea of "Ten Emanations" that seems to imply God is more than one?
This question was posed to the Rivash (14th century): "Do you Kabbalists not also believe in many Gods, as you postulate the Ten Sefirot?" We will paraphrase his reply.
God’s unity vis-a-vis the Ten Sefirot may be likened to a ray of sun passing through a prism. On one side, we have a single ray of light, while, on the other side, we perceive a radiation of seven colors. The person sitting on the other side perceives this as if it were many lamps radiating many hues, while in reality it is one lamp. The multi-hued rainbow is a "distortion" created by the prism that the light passed through.
Let us be a little more specific in this illustration of "Ten" versus "One" as regards Divine interaction with the world.
Imagine a child who hugs his mother, beats up his brother and cheats on a test. For the layman each one of these behaviors is a separate event, which has its own rationale and dynamic. However, the professional psychologist looks at all these events and after analyzing them states, "These are all symptoms of one underlying problem. The child desires his mother’s love and attention. He therefore hugs her, hits his younger brother who is stealing away so much of her attention, and cheats on his test so that he will be showered with her love and attention for having done well." Thus a whole slew of events -- some of them entirely contradictory -- takes on a unified meaning.
THE APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS
This is true of our understanding of God’s interaction with mankind. We perceive such a wide variety of events, so overwhelmingly diffuse and so oddly contradictory.
There is the God Who breathes a breath of life into a newborn baby’s mouth, and extracts the last labored breath of a dying man. There is the God Who has wrought the Holocaust, and the God Who has preserved a tiny, fragile Jewish nation for over three millennium. There is the God Who gives some people beautiful bodies, and the God Who seemingly condemns the congenitally defective to a lifetime of suffering.
From our side of the prism, each and every one of these events is disparate.
From our side of the prism, each and every one of these events is disparate. Yet we recognize them as being the work of One God, with one purpose, with unified plan of action for the world.
Thus the Ten Sefirot are the various ways we perceive God through His action within the world, while we firmly believe in the Unity of God.
The following is a literal translation of these ten modes. It is advised that not much be read into these terms, since most of them are highly metaphorical and their content bears little resemblance to their literal terms. We will explore their meaning in upcoming articles.
The Ten Sefirot are:
Keter – crown,
Chochmah - wisdom,
Binah - understanding,
Chessed - kindness,
Gevura - strength,
Tiferet - beauty,
Netzach - victory,
Hod - awe,
Yesod - foundation,
Malchut - monarchy.
Sometimes the Sefirot are listed without Keter, and then Da'at -wisdom, is included between Bina and Chesed.
(10) Shushanah, September 16, 2019 10:08 PM
Da’ath mistranslation..
Shalom, when Keter is absent, Da’ath would show as Knowledge. And I have seen Da’ath included with Keter in the center, but below Binah and Chokhmah as the receiving from Keter. It should be included on all. It is still 10, but shows that connection to Wisdom and understanding and receiving from Keter.
(9) Peter, January 4, 2015 9:20 PM
I find your use of the prism analogy very synchronistic with my own understanding of all Religions. IT seems all religions in themselves house the same body of knowledge. What is in the Torah is also in other religious texts but with a different wrapping. In this way, each religion or spiritual tradition is a different color of one God light. Very interesting. Great article!
HashemIsBeautiful, March 1, 2021 8:11 AM
The Spiritual Singularity - Before and After
What you said makes sense from the perspective of Jewish theology. We posit that there was a juncture in human history when the human race was united under a unified understanding of God and His nature - a spiritual singularity, if you will. Certain events and people introduced human innovations that "fragmented" this singularity into a plurality, which gradually devolved into an intercessory system, and then into full-blown idolatry. This process is explained in the Rambam's Mishnah Torah.
In that light, the similarities you observe are not illusions; they exist because of the original unified source of knowledge shared by the entire human race. The variations of this information are thus explained as being the result of spiritual entropy, also indicating that they do not exist in their original, perfect forms. This explains the Jewish "eschatological" view whereby humanity's spiritual expression will converge back into an integrated system, expressed by the verse "And the Lord shall become King over all the earth; on that day shall the Lord be one, and His name one." (Zechariah 14:9)
The only reason the Jewish religion has managed to conserve the original conceptualization is due to God's providence, which is discussed in greater detail in the book called "Derech Hashem," "The Way of God," written by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in the 18th century.
(8) Anonymous, August 10, 2012 3:01 PM
Balance in Understanding
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the author, as well as, those who responded. As for me, this has helped further the balance of my understanding with my Jewish roots, (as I was raised as a Gentile). Be'H
(7) Anonymous, January 13, 2012 3:27 AM
seems it multiples God
God is only his essence he is not separate in anyway. As the rambam writes in yesodei hatorah he his life his knowledge and his essence are all actually one. His existence is of a different nature than everything else. He is the ultimate one and its not like you can split him and his knowledge its a just a way for man to understand him God is only his infinite essence and thats it. When saying that you can shine God through and divide him up into different parts says that his essence is composite and can be split up. Not only that also considering that God is infinite which nothing can understand, you are saying that you can understand the incomprehensible by splitting it up which doesn't do anything if it is truly incomprehensible . I myself am not the biggest kaballah scholar, I mean no disrespect, if you can explain this to me how this works with Gods unity I would love to hear it please answer the reply button below
Stevan, January 30, 2012 4:00 PM
Chords in a single string
Like you, I am not a Kabbalahist nor am I refuting your excellent question. I am merely sharing the idea which came to mind while reading yours. I thought of a single guitar string on which you can restrict the length to receive different notes. An infinite string length can derive an infinite number of notes. In this way I would not be able to describe G-d as a composit as there is still only one string. I believe the various constrictions (notes) are in keeping with the Kabbalah if I understood the first writing on fasting found on this web site.
Mordechai, March 12, 2012 9:29 PM
Not talking about G_d Himself
When we are discussing the sephirot, or anything for that matter, we are NEVER discussing Hashem in His unfathomable essence. The prism analogy was not saying that He shines Himself through it causing separate lights to appear, rather the Light in question is also one of His creations. The sephirot are NOT pieces of Him, or a method in which He splits Himself up, chas v'shalom, but the methods with which He interacts with His finite creation. They are attributes He chose to create in order to and with which to interact with us. You are absolutely correct in saying that He is incomprehensible, which is why we are not discussing Him at all, rather His relationship with us and the interface He set up to run and interact with the world. I hope that helps!
tem, May 5, 2013 4:24 AM
oneness..
It is my understanding.. God is indeed infinite.. which include everything we could possibly understand through our limiting senses is also God>everything we are and are not aware of... representing every aspect of living and even at and after death.. God is ALL encompassing. A oneness that is the collection of EVERYTHING>conceivable and inconceivable..
(6) Marie Latting, January 6, 2012 1:38 AM
attributes
These seem to be attributes of GOD, and we should strive for them. Is this not correct?
(5) Sonia E, January 19, 2007 2:04 AM
Divine explanation
Congratulation,and thank's for your articles, and wisdow that make it clear
and very understandable.
(4) IrmaMendoza, November 1, 2006 12:13 PM
Magnificent.............
The writer has made it so exceedingly simplified for a layman like myself. It is most astonishing and attractive to want to read more and more.
(3) rachel, March 4, 2006 12:00 AM
metaphorical
Thank you so much for this wonderful series of enlightening essays. My eldest daughter made a large mosaic of the Tree of Life for me and the many branches look like rainbows. From this and this article, I think of the lights or emanations of G-d as a rainbow. I think the Rabbi has done a marvelous job in explaining the unity of G-d and the various ways Jews come to view G-d.
Shabbat Shalom
(2) Mansur Shalom, November 19, 2005 12:00 AM
cristal clear explanation for layman
I want to congratulate you for your wonderfull site and in particular for the articles which i engoy reading.
(1) Eli, August 28, 2004 12:00 AM
Kabala comes to describe God's emanations, and as such it deals with subjective reality as perceived by man. You must stress this point, as well as G-d's Unity in all your articles. There needs to be a constant intellectual effort to grasp this principle. I have met too many good people who "loosened" their mental "hold" on Rambam's thirteen principles of faith. They fell into something that is too close to "avoda zara". I've read, although I cannot confirm, that there are some who aim at a specific Sefira when praying.