Ohr

[2] The metaphorical description of spiritual divine creative flow, using the term for physical light perceived with the eye, arises from analogy.

These include the intangible physicality of light, the delight it inspires and the illumination it gives, its immediate transmission and constant connection with its source.

Kabbalah describes ten sefirot that reveal the unknowable Godhead to the creations and channel the creative life force to all levels of existence.

Kabbalistic texts take great care to emphasize this difference and warn against anthropomorphizing the subtle descriptions of Kabbalah in human terms.

To avoid such heresies, the historical transmission of Kabbalah was traditionally restricted to direct teaching in close circles.

In Lurianic Kabbalah, the Tzimtzum concealed the Ohr Ein Sof, which resolved the dichotomy between the Infinite Light and the possibility of creating finite Worlds.

Only a second, new light, immeasurably diminished and of a different quality than the Ohr Ein Sof, could become the creative source of all reality.

The utilisation here of concentric circles, or spheres is also significant, as with each subsequent lower step, the light encompasses" (sovev - "surrounds") that level of "immanent" (mimalei"-"filled") creation.

This arose from their belief that Kabbalah forms part of the Oral Torah inherent in the revelation at Mount Sinai.

In Hasidic philosophy, the plural fourfold levels of meaning are viewed as uniting in a higher essential source of explanation that describes Divinity.

Jewish mysticism views such alternative, spiritual interpretations of Torah as stemming from more revealed Divine realms in the Chain of Worlds.

Therefore, even when it descends to lower realms, it possesses a characteristic of "Ratzo" ("Run"), the desire to ascend and return to its source.

Correspondingly, the Kli persuades the Ohr to descend through impressing upon it the need for Shuv ("Return"), the acknowledgment of the necessity of descent in order to fulfill the ultimate supernatural will.

The terms "Ratzo" and "Shuv" come from the Biblical description of the angels in the vision of Ezekiel (1:4-26), when he beheld the Divine chariot (Merkavah).

In daily spiritual life too, man seeks dveikus (cleaving) with God, and then returns with this inspiration to fulfil his or her tasks in the World.

The light that we see from the sun has already been limited in its quality and therefore lacks the "Bittul" ("nullification") of the true Ohr to its origin.

Similarly, the lower name of God, Elohim, represents the Nartik, and the light that stems thereof is the Ohr HaNartik, and as such, it lacks a higher level of nullification, enabling it to create the Worlds.

In the spiritual Worlds of Creation, it is revealed, but they still lack true "Bittul" (nullification), as the souls and angels in those realms have some self-awareness, albeit totally nullified to God.

This Lower Bittul-"Bittul Hayesh" ("Nullification of Ego") is represented by a light of a candle on a sunny day.

Hasidism therefore rejected Jewish asceticism, seeking to utilise and mystically transform the physical into spirituality, through dveikus cleaving to God.

Hasidic thought likewise describes another, higher type of miracle that is immanently invested within the physical laws of this World, without breaking them.

In the words of the Alter Rebbe: ...Ohr Pnimi is that which enters and abides in the vessel, in an aspect of yosher and descent from above to below, ChaBa"D, ChaGa"S, NaHi"Y.

In the Sephirot, for example, Hasidic thought focuses on the inner motivational soul within each Sephirah, and its parallel in the spiritual psychology of man.

The descent of masculine waters can be a free expression of the Sephirah of Hesed (Kindness), which has the essential nature to give Divine blessing in an unlimited way, without considering whether the vessels of the Creation are worthy.

This "arousal from below", the ascent of "feminine waters", is the spiritual illumination created by each person through meritorious ethical or ritual mitzvot (Jewish observances).

Kabbalah, especially the new teachings of Isaac Luria in the 16th Century, taught the cosmic power of each person to affect and rectify the Divine scheme of Creation.

In Lurianic Kabbalah, the ultimate Tikkun is dependent on each individual fulfilling their own unique tasks in Creation, through the mitzvot.

An example given in Kabbalah of the dynamics of "masculine" and "feminine" waters, is found in the yartzheit (date of passing) and birthdays of three central figures in the Jewish mystical tradition.

Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal) died on the 18th day (18 means "Chai"-"life" in Gematria) of the Hebrew month of Elul in the year 1609 (17 September).

Kabbalah finds an allusion to the deeper aspects of this structure, including the essence of the different spiritual teachings of these three figures, in a Scriptural verse that relates to the mystical meaning of the 18th of Elul.