Sefirot
'sphere'[1]),[2] meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah,[3] through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained descent of the metaphysical Four Worlds).
[5] Alternative configurations of the sefirot are interpreted by various schools in the historical evolution of Kabbalah, with each articulating differing spiritual aspects.
[6] As altogether 11 sefirot are listed across the various schemes, two (Keter and Da'at) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the same principle, conserving the 10 categories.
In Hasidic philosophy, which has sought to internalise the experience of Jewish mysticism into daily inspiration (devekut), this inner life of the sefirot is explored, and the role they play in man's service of God in this world.
However, early Kabbalists presented several other etymological possibilities: a "counting" or "enumeration"; or from the same triliteral root: sefer "text," sippur "recounting a story," sfar ("boundary" - ספר), and sofer, or safra "scribe"; or sappir "sapphire."
[5] The original reference to the sefirot is found in the ancient Sefer Yetzirah "The Book of Formation," attributed to the first Jewish patriarch, Abraham.
[5] However, the names of the sefirot as given in later Kabbalah are not specified there, but rather are only identified by their attributes "forward," "backward," "right," "left," "down," "up," "light," "darkness," "good" and "evil."
Luria described the sefirot as complex and dynamically interacting entities known as partzufim "faces," each with its own symbolically human-like persona.
The seven subsequent sefirot (Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malkuth) describe the primary and secondary conscious divine emotions.
Underlying the structural purpose of each sefirah is a hidden motivational force which is understood best by comparison with a corresponding psychological state in human spiritual experience.
Kabbalah expounds on the names of the sefirot and their nuances, including their gematria (numerical values), to reach an understanding of these emanations of God's essence.
Kabbalists repeatedly warn and stress the need to divorce their notions from any corporality, dualism, plurality, or spatial and temporal connotations.
Nonetheless, Kabbalists carefully chose their terminology to denote subtle connotations and profound relationships in the divine spiritual influences.
[15] Kabbalah extends the Man-metaphor more radically to anthropomorphise particular divine manifestations on high, while repeatedly stressing the need to divest analogies from impure materialistic corporality.
These are the external dimensions of the sefirot, describing their functional roles in channelling the divine, creative Ohr (Light) to all levels.
[18] Articulation of the sefirot in Hasidic philosophy is primarily concerned with their inner dimensions, and exploring the direct, enlivening contribution of each in man's spiritual worship of God.
Hasidic thought uses new descriptive terms for the inner dimensions of the sefirot:[20][21] These ten levels are associated with Kabbalah's four different "Worlds" or planes of existence, the main part from the perspective of the descending "chain of progression" (Seder hishtalshelut), that links the infinite divine Ein Sof with the finite, physical realm.
Each World can be understood as descriptive of dimensional levels of intentionality related to the natural human "desire to receive", and a method for the soul's progress upward toward unity with or return to the Creator.
