object:2.01 - The Sefirot
book class:General Principles of Kabbalah
author class:Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
class:chapter
subject class:Kabbalah
Chapter One
The Sefirot
The Sefirot are the Creators attri butes. He devised
these measures or vessels for Himself in order to fulfill
the needs of His created beings. These measures are not
on a par with the Creators own perfection and true
completeness of being, but are rather limits invented by
His will and desire, in accordance with the requirements
of the beings He desired to create. They comprise all
the attri butes that are related to Him by reason of His
acts, in other words, all that may be discerned i:ti His acts,
for example: dominion, compassion, anger, justice,
graciousness, knowledge, and numerous other traits
characterizing His acts. However, we must differentiate
between these attri butes as inherent in the soul of man,
and the so-called characteristics of the Creator, blessed
be He, to whom the term "character is inapplicable in
the first place.
Indeed, these "Attri butes of the Creator are nothing
but a means of supervision or administration which He
employs in the form of Lights that emit energy to His
created beings. For example, when we refer to the
"Mercy of the Creator, we are not referring to a
characteristic trait in Him, but rather to a single type
of illumination which He sends forth from Himself. It
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THE SEFIROT
131
is more in the nature of a specific act executed by Him.
The same is true of other "attri butes, like anger,
graciousness, the knowledge of things, and all other ways
in which we may depict His acts. These are all really
types of radiations which He emits into the paths decreed
and devised by Himself for His created beings. The
Sefirot are therefore integral to Him, and manifest His
Mercy, His Graciousness, His Justice, His Righteousness,
and so on. However, His Mercy, Graciousness and
Justice are not traits of character in Him as are the
characteristics in a human soul; they are more like the
Lights in a theater that are being emitted and supervised
by a director who is in complete control yet is outside
of them. To one ray we apply the term "Mercy; to
another "Judgment, to still another "Compassion, and
so on down the line covering all the particular radiations.
The chief function of the Sefirot is the extension of
Divine Substance and Heavenly Light from the Creator,
for it is He who represents the concealed Source behind
them that is utterly beyond human comprehension.
Still, these radiations constitute a glow reflecting His
Divine Essence that is fixed within the limits of mans
capacity to partake of and delight in It. To this end it
is said in the Talmud: "They rejoice in the Light of the
Divine Presence.
This glow itself is an aggregation of all the Lights,
which are drawn according to an appropriate course.
It is by means of this glow that acts are manifested which
in turn give rise to His attri butes. In any case, His
attri butes correspond to the various actions or super
visions wrought by His Lights.
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DETAILED OUTLINE OF THE KABBALAH
There are ten Lights and it is in the f
decade that all their functions are arranged. We can
discern various types of Lights according to what they
effect, as well as from their connections and interrelation
ships. It is all this that we expound in the wisdom of
the Kabbalah.
From this .collectivity of manifold Lights, together
with their branches, there issues an offspring, which is
the whole of this known creation together with its laws.
Moreover, this manifested creation itself is the completed
model of the collectivity of manifold Lights which
effected it. Thus, the different parts of creation parallel
the various Lights in all their details, and they act as
vessels for the various Lights. A relationship exists
between Light and vessel in accord with the bestowal of
Gods bounty and the degree of illumination.
From these Lights, different created beings in nature
draw their actual qualities and essences in accordance with
their needs, and because of the relationship between Lights
and created being, we employ the same terminology for
both. Nonetheless, the Sefirot are not at all like the
created beings, but rather possess certain functions which
are germane to their constitution, much like human
functions, which are likewise patterned according to
human nature.
Thus, for example, we talk of "speech between one
Sefira and another, or we say that they "embrace each
other, and so on. But here speech means a certain type
of connection which partially binds one Sefira with
another in that one illumination that has been issued
from a fixed boundary may enter the boundary of
THE SEFIROT
133
another illumination. The offspring of such a link in
the Sefirot manifests amidst humans as speech, which
issues from the speaker to the listener.
All the other functions which take place in the upper
Lights may be similarly understood to apply to functions
in man, for they are one and the same, each manifesting
according to the laws of their own particular nature.
Perfection, or emendation, is the offspring, or result of
the appropriate ascents upward on the ladder of being.
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