Sephirot - Ten Sephirot | Technology Trends

Ten Sephirot

Kabbalah
Part of a series on

Concepts Ein Sof · Tzimtzum · Ohr Ayin and Yesh · Sephirot Four Worlds · Seder hishtalshelut Tree of Life · Merkavah Jewish angelic hierarchy Shekhinah · Partzufim Qliphoth · Tohu and Tikun Sparks of holiness Messianic rectification Gilgul · Kabbalistic astrology Gematria · Notarikon · Temurah Names of God in Judaism Shemhamphorasch Tzadik · Tzadikim Nistarim Anthropomorphism in Kabbalah Panentheism
History Early Sefer Yetzirah Tannaim · Heichalot Medieval Bahir · Toledano tradition Chassidei Ashkenaz Prophetic Kabbalah · Zohar Kabbalistic commentaries on the Bible Mainstream displacement of Rationalism with Kabbalah Rennaisance Selective influence on Western thought Mysticism after Spanish expulsion Mystics of 16th-century Safed Cordoveran Kabbalah Lurianic Kabbalah Maharal's thought Popular Kabbalistic Mussar Early modern Baal Shem-Nistarim Sabbatean mystical heresies Emden-Eybeschutz controversy Immigration to the Land of Israel Traditional Oriental Kabbalists Beit El Synagogue Eastern European Judaism Hasidic Judaism / philosophy Lithuanian Jews Hasidic-Mitnagdic schism Modern Hasidic dynasties Mysticism in Religious Zionism Academic interest in Jewish mysticism Non-Orthodox interest in Jewish mysticism
Practices Torah study · Mystical exegesis Mitzvot · Minhag Customery immersion in Mikveh Meditative Kabbalah Kavanot · Teshuvah Deveikut · Prayer · Nusach Tikkun Chatzot · Tikkun Leil Shavuot Pilgrimage to Tzadik Pilgrimage to holy grave Lag BaOmer at Meron Asceticism · Practical Kabbalah
People 100s Four Who Entered the Pardes Simeon bar Yochai 1100s Isaac the Blind · Azriel 1200s Nahmanides · Abraham Abulafia Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla Moses de Leon Menahem Recanati 1300s Bahya ben Asher 1500s Meir ibn Gabbai · Joseph Karo Shlomo Alkabetz · Moshe Alshich Moshe Cordovero Isaac Luria · Chaim Vital Judah Loew ben Bezalel 1600s Isaiah Horowitz · Abraham Azulai 1700s Chaim ibn Attar · Baal Shem Tov Dov Ber of Mezeritch Moshe Chaim Luzzatto Shalom Sharabi · Vilna Gaon Chaim Joseph David Azulai Nathan Adler Schneur Zalman of Liadi Chaim Volozhin 1800s Nachman of Breslov Ben Ish Chai · Shlomo Eliyashiv 1900s Abraham Isaac Kook Yehuda Ashlag · Baba Sali Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Role History Torah · Tanakh · Prophecy Ruach HaKodesh Pardes exegesis Talmudical hermeneutics Midrash Jewish comentaries on the Bible Oral Torah Eras of Rabbinic Judaism Generational descent in Halacha Generational ascent in Kabbalah Rabbinic literature Talmudic theology Halakha · Aggadah · Hakira Classic Mussar literature Ashkenazi Judaism Sephardi Judaism Modern Jewish philosophies Jewish studies Topics God in Judaism Divine transcendence Divine immanence · Free will Divine providence Kabbalistic reasons for the 613 Mitzvot Jewish principles of faith Jewish eschatology

The "Sefirot" (סְפִירוֹת), singular "Sefirah" (סְפִירָה), literally means "counting"/"enumeration", but early Kabbalists presented a number of other etymological possibilities from the same Hebrew root including: sefer (text), sippur (recounting a story), sappir (sapphire, brilliance, luminary), separ (boundary), and safra (scribe). The term sefirah thus has complex connotations within Kabbalah.

The Sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator's Will ("ratzon"), and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his Will through the Emanations. While in Cordoveran Kabbalah, Keter (The Divine Will) is listed as the first Sephirah, it is an intermediary above consciousness between God and the other, conscious Sephirot. The Sephirot are emanated from the Divine Will, because Kabbalah sees different levels within Keter, reflecting God's inner Will and outer Will. The innermost, hidden levels of Keter, also in some contexts called "The head/beginning that is not known", are united above the Sephirot with the Ein Sof (Divine essence). It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes. This difference between the "Ma'Ohr" ("Luminary"-Divine essence) and the "Ohr" ("Light") He emanates is stressed in Kabbalah, so as to avoid heretical notions of any plurality in the Godhead. In its early 12th-century dissemination, Kabbalah received criticism from some Rabbis, who adhered to "Hakirah" (medieval Jewish philosophy), for its alleged introduction of multiplicity into Jewish monotheism. The multiplicity of revealed emanations only applies from the perspective of the Creation, and not from the perspective of the infinite Divine essence.