GLOSSARY
(s) denotes singular, (p) denotes plural
Abraham Abraham is regarded as the spiritual father of the Jews because, according to the biblical story, he rejected idol worship and chose to worship YHWH, the one God. The Bible gives an account of Abraham’s early life and his journeys, at God’s command, from Ur in Mesopotamia, the “land of his fathers,” to the land of Canaan. It tells of his devotion to YHWH and of YHWH’s covenant with him. Abraham agrees that he will worship and devote himself to the one Lord. In exchange, God promises his unceasing love and care for Abraham and his descendents: that a great and mighty people would issue from him, to whom He would bequeath a land “flowing with milk and honey,” provided that they continued to be faithful to Him.
Active Intellect Active Intellect was a term Moses Maimonides (twelfth century) borrowed from Aristotle (via the Muslim philosophers) to describe the flow of the divine spirit or influence from God into the creation through the prophets or mystics who were receptive to it. According to Maimonides there are ten “Intelligences” that emanate from God which direct the universe, and it is the Active Intellect, the last of these, which continuously mediates between the spiritual and physical worlds. Maimonides understood the biblical and rabbinic concept of angels as these intelligences. The kabbalist mystic Abraham Abulafia adopted the concept from Maimonides, understanding it as an “ever-flowing stream of cosmic life … which runs through the whole of creation.” Abulafia also identified it with the primal speech or word of God – the dibur kadmon.
Adam Kadmon Original or primal Adam. The figure of Adam in the Bible, the first man, is regarded by the mystics at two levels. Symbolically the story of his and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden corresponds to the scattering of the primal divine light into the material creation. Originally they were absorbed in the divine unity; the state of Eden symbolizes their state of wholeness. Thus the story of their sin and banishment also symbolizes the exile of the soul from a state of grace in unity with God and its imprisonment in the physical creation. On another level, the concept of Adam Kadmon is extended further; he is the macrocosm – the blueprint or prototype of the human being – the “image of God” from which the entire creation was generated. Kabbalist Isaac Luria taught that at one time all souls were part of the Adam Kadmon at the divine level. Adam Kadmon was described as improbably huge; through his eyes the primal light streamed into the creation, from his veins, organs, and limbs the physical creation was generated.
assiyah Making; the realm of actualization, the physical universe, according to the Kabbalah. In the Kabbalah, four supernal realms are described, and of the four, assiyah is the lowest, where matter predominates and where the creative power or primal divine light is veiled. Each realm mirrors the one above, but at a lower vibration. Assiyah is also described as corresponding to the level of Samael, the evil angel or devil.
atarah Crown, diadem; a term used by kabbalists for the sefirah of malkut, the lowest of the sefirot, in symmetry with keter (crown), the highest sefirah. The prophet Isaiah used the term to describe the people of Israel, as when they are obedient to God’s will they become a means to spread his divine light and love in the creation, and thus they are his atarah. The kabbalists used the term to create a symbol based on this: that the crown of God is made from the prayers of his faithful. The kabbalists believed that as people pray, their prayers, hymns, and the names of God they invoke ascend to the divine throne and are woven together as his crown. Atarah is also identified with the “supernal demut” (astral form) and the Shekhinah (immanent divine reality).
atsilut Emanation, proximity, possibly derived from the root etsel (beside, next to), implying “next to or one with God.” In the Kabbalah, four supernal realms are described. Atsilut is the highest, and is the first emanation of the divinity from its state of total concealment within the Godhead. It is the spiritual realm in which the potential of the divine qualities exists, but has not yet become differentiated.
ayin Nothing, without substance; a different grammatical form of ayn (as in Ayn-Sof, the primal divine source). Ayin is a term used in Kabbalah and Hasidism to designate the spiritual reality and unity which transcends the creation; as it has no substance, no element of materiality, it is “nothing.” Ayin is the opposite of yesh, “substance” – the material creation. It is also understood as the mystic’s state of total self-transcendence and union with the divine. Among the sefirot, ayin is identified with the sefirah of keter. According to some kabbalistic teachings, ayin is the first and highest of the two sefirot (keter and hokhmah) which, together with Ayn-Sof, make up the three-part Godhead.
Ayn-Sof Without end; the infinite or limitless one. A term used in Kabbalah that refers to God as the transcendent being who is beyond all limitations or definitions, who exists in undifferentiated unity and is not subject to duality. It is the realm of pure spirituality beyond even the most subtle act of emanation, beyond even the potential for the first emanation of divine qualities. It is transcendent in its concealment. In the system of the sefirot, Ayn-Sof is higher than the first sefirah of keter (crown). Some mystics equate it with the primary emanation of the divine name or light, which is referred to as aur Ayn-Sof (the infinite primal light). Other kabbalists like Isaac the Blind viewed both the Ayn-Sof and keter as being beyond the first utterance or expression of divine will. Some kabbalists viewed Ayn-Sof and keter as equivalent. It is also equated with the everflowing divine essence or creative power itself.
ba’al shem Master of the name. A term used in Eastern Europe from as early as the sixteenth century for those who knew how to manipulate certain names of God. It described a type of kabbalist who used “magical” techniques (spells, charms, divine names) to exorcise demons and evil spirits, protect people (especially newborns and newly married couples) from all kinds of misfortunes, and heal them of disease.
beinoni In-between; the term given by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady (first of the Lubavitch or Habad hasidic masters) for the average person who was neither tsadik (saint) nor caught in the web of evil.
binah Understanding; the third of the ten sefirot; the receptacle for the creative energy of the second sefirah of hokhmah (wisdom). It is taught that the divine will or word emanates from hokhmah and flows to binah, from where the seven lower sefirot are emanated. Thus binah is often called the womb or mother of creation. Among the partsufim (configurations of the sefirot) described by kabbalist Isaac Luria, Imma (mother) is identified with binah. With hokhmah, binah is the first manifestation of the division of the divine power into the duality of positive and negative, masculine and feminine.
briah Creation; the second of the four divine realms into which creation is divided according to the Kabbalah. The highest of these worlds is called atsilut, emanation, signifying the spiritual realm in which the potential for the primal emanation of divine qualities exists but does not actually express itself. Below atsilut is briah, creation, the realm in which the divine will becomes active in creating the prototypes of the creation below. This is followed by yetsirah, the world of formation – the astral or ethereal level. The lowest world is the physical realm of assiyah, meaning “actualization” or “making.”
celestial academy Some mystics would cryptically refer to the source of their inner illumination as a revelation from the “celestial academy,” a metaphorical term for the influence of spiritual luminaries of earlier times, whose souls, they believed, still guided those on earth.
covenant Hebrew is brit, agreement or promise. The Bible says that God made a covenant with Abraham, the patriarch who is dated to 2500 BCE. It is believed that the concept or model of the covenant was modeled on ancient, legally binding agreements between two parties. Abraham agreed to worship the one God and give up idol worship, and God agreed to give him and his descendants a special land where they could live and become a great nation. This is where the concepts of “promised land” and “chosen people” come from. There were several other obligations Abraham took upon himself, including circumcision, which sealed the covenant, and in return God agreed to give unceasing care to Abraham and his descendants. The covenant is a promise of mutual faithfulness. It is a pledge between lovers, one divine and one human. Later, in the book of Exodus of the Bible, the covenant was reaffirmed by God with the revelation at Mount Sinai, in about 1400 BCE, when Moses ascended to the mountaintop and received the Ten Commandments and, according to tradition, the entire Torah. On behalf of the Israelites, Moses agreed to obey God’s commands and God affirmed his promise to give them their rightful heritage. Later, in the period of the prophets, the covenant was extended to include a promise to restore the monarchy of King David and his lineage, provided the people obeyed the terms of the covenant. In different periods the covenant was reaffirmed by the various prophets and spiritual leaders, and expanded to include the need to worship at the Jerusalem shrine and bring certain sacrifices and offerings. It is not known whether the later leaders used the concept of the covenant to bolster their power. It is also possible that the concept of the covenant initially referred to a mystical “binding” of the soul to the inner worship of God.
da’at Knowledge. While strictly speaking not one of the ten sefirot, da’at is considered a “shadow” sefirah formed by the dialectic relationship of hokhmah (wisdom) and binah (understanding). It is an energy center created by the meeting of the oppos- ing energies of hokhmah (masculine, outward) and binah (feminine, inward).
devekut Attachment, cleaving; from the biblical verb dabhak (ad- here, cleave to). A term used in Kabbalah and Hasidism to describe an intense and deep attachment to God through love. In early Kabbalah it was often used to describe the devotional process of approaching God through inward communion with the divine, by means of kavanah (concentration or intention of the mind in prayer or meditation). It was associated with the state achieved by the biblical prophets. Abraham Abulafia, the thirteenth-century kabbalist, taught devekut as a practical path of intimately joining with God through inner ascent. In Hasidism, devekut was used to describe a very high state of consciousness, of mystic union with God, achieved through meditation, and was the aim of all spiritual practice. According to the first hasidic master, the Ba’al Shem Tov, in the state of devekut one realizes through personal experience that the divine presence is everywhere, saturating the entire creation; there is nothing other than it. In Habad Hasidism it is associated with contemplation, and results in the experience of mystical ecstasy (hitpa’alut).
dibur, dibur kadmon Utterance, word; primal word. The term was often used by the kabbalist Abraham Abulafia as a synonym for the active intellect, the primordial divine speech or utterance which brought about the creation. It is the first projection of the creative power into the creation at a spiritual level, above the material. It is sometimes identified with the sefirah of hokhmah (wisdom).
din Judgment; another name for the fifth sefirah of gevurah (strength, might) in the kabbalistic system of the sefirot. It is the limiting power that channels the flow of the divine power of hesed (mercy), the fourth sefirah, to the lower sefirot and thence into the creation.
ecstatic Kabbalah A term given by scholars to the meditation practices taught by Abraham Abulafia in the thirteenth century. Their purpose was to develop an inner spiritual awareness – a direct experience of God, the ruah ha-kodesh (the holy spirit).
El Elohim One of the descriptive names of God used in the Bible. Literally it means “god of gods.”
El Shaddai One of the descriptive names of God used in the Bible. Literally it may mean “God the nourisher, the gracious one.” As described in the Sefer yetsirah: El Shaddai, Merciful and Gracious/High and Exalted/Dwelling in eternity/Whose name is Holy …
exile The Jews were exiled into the diaspora beginning in 586 BCE when the Israelite kingdoms fell first to the Babylonians and then to the Persians. (Earlier there was an Assyrian deportation in 722 BCE but those people were assimilated by the Assyrians and were lost to Jewish history.) The prophets used the political exile to impress on the people the importance of adhering to God’s commandments; it was accepted as a punishment for their failure to live up to the terms of the covenant. The biblical prophet Jeremiah reassured the people that eventually God would gather them from their exile and return them to the “promised land” through the agency of his shepherds, the prophets or messiahs of the future. The shepherd was identified with the mystic. Over time, the political exile of the people in the diaspora was understood symbolically as the exile of the people of Israel from their intimacy with God, and by the mystics as the exile of the soul from union with the divine; and even as the imprisonment of the Shekhinah (the divine presence or immanence) in the material world, and her exile from union with the Godhead.
gadlut de mohin Greatness of mind. According to the Ba’al Shem Tov (the first hasidic master), it is natural that people experience inconsistency in their devotion, as there is a natural ebb and flow, expansion and contraction, in everything. Katnut de mohin (smallness of mind) and gadlut de mohin (greatness of mind) were the terms used to express these alternating periods, these changeable states of mind. Today the more common usage of these terms is mohin de gadlut and mohin de katnut.
gaon (s), geonim (p) Sage, sages. The geonim were the officially appointed leaders of the Jewish community in Persian-ruled Babylonia from the sixth to eleventh centuries. It is they who preserved many of the heikhalot and merkavah mystical texts. Mostly the geonim were a conservative influence, bent on the establishment of talmudic law. However, there were some who also provided a more spiritual form of leadership, particularly men like Saadia Gaon in the tenth century and Hai Gaon in the eleventh century.
gematria A technique of extracting esoteric meanings from words and passages of the Hebrew language, based on the fact that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet have numerical values. In gematria, one would find the numerical value of the Hebrew words and search for other words or phrases of equal value, thus establishing a connection between their meanings.
gerushin Banishments; a practice adopted by kabbalists in Safed in the sixteenth century, in which they would wander into the countryside to imitate the exiled Shekhinah and thus transform themselves into a receptive vessel for her return.
gilgul Rolling; kabbalistic term for reincarnation and transmigration. The concept first appears explicitly in the Sefer ha-bahir.
giluy Eliyahu Revelation of Elijah. Many Jewish mystics over the centuries have described their spiritual enlightenment as having come from a revelation bestowed by the prophet Elijah during mystic transport or in dreams. Elijah was the biblical prophet whose disciple Elisha witnessed his ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire, while he was still alive. Elijah was transformed in the Jewish mystical tradition into an almost mythic figure who brings inner knowledge and illumination.
hagah Repeat. According to some contemporary scholars like Aryeh Kaplan, hagah, as used in the Bible, refers to a meditation practice involving repetition of words or sounds and is closely related to “mantra meditation.” It primarily means “directed existence.” Hagah can also mean to contemplate, and was used in association with the experience of spiritual light and sound, as in the prophet Ezekiel’s vision.
halakhah Walking or conduct; law. The entire body of Jewish law or a particular ruling of the sages is called halakhah, because Jewish law provides a path to correct conduct of Jewish life.
hanhagot Conduct; rules of mystical piety. A genre of literature produced by many of the Safed mystics as a daily guide for their brotherhood, which laid the foundation for their mystical teachings.
hashmal Normally translated as “electrum,” the word is used uniquely in the biblical account of Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 1:27), where it is associated with the intense light or fire of the visible glory (kavod) of God. The precise definition of hashmal is unknown.
hasid (s), hasidim (p) Devout, pious, saintly, benevolent. The term comes from hesed, one of God’s qualities, meaning abundant and unbounded love, grace, lovingkindness, goodness, mercy, and compassion. The term hasid was sometimes used for the followers of the prophets in the Bible, and then onwards for the true devotees of God at various times in Jewish spiritual history: the “early” hasidim (hasidim rishonim) of the Second Temple period (third through first centuries BCE); in medieval times for the Jewish Sufis of Egypt as well as the Hasidei Ashkenaz (German Pietists). The kabbalists of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries who met in small groups were also called hasidim. The term is most familiar in contemporary Judaism with Hasidism, the movement that began in eighteenth-century Poland and continues into modern times. Neo-Hasidism is a term coined recently to describe the Jewish renewal movement that seeks to draw on the devotional passion and commitment of the early movement.
Hasidei Ashkenaz German hasidim; a lineage of spiritual masters in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, whose teachings incorporated some elements of the heikhalot and merkavah mystical texts that they preserved and transmitted to later generations. They taught meditation based on manipulations of names and letters, a variety of penances and austerities, and techniques of “mystical prayer.” Earlier considered a subgroup of the early kabbalists, contemporary scholars view them as having been a separate group whose influence can be seen in the early Kabbalah. Because of their intense use of “holy names” and letters to influence the supernal realms and the divine being, some of their writings are considered by modern occultists as magical texts.
havurah / hevra Fellowship, brotherhood; a common term for any group of disciples with their master; members of the fellowship were called the companions, the haverim. They were supposed to treat each other with love, as members of a family, and had a duty to help one another in all aspects of life.
heikhalot Sanctuaries, palaces, mansions; term used in reference to the seven spiritual sanctuaries or levels found in the heavens, as experienced by mystics in the talmudic period (second to fifth centuries CE) and later during their spiritual journey. The mystics would enter the heikhalot using various meditational practices, including repetition of holy names or syllables. At the highest stage they would see the image of the angel Metatron or another heavenly being (perhaps God himself) on the divine throne. They experienced the divine music of angels singing hymns to God and otherworldly lights, colors, and noises. They wrote of taking the spiritual journey in a merkavah (chariot) of their own body, the merkavah becoming transformed into the throne itself. The mystical literature they wrote about their experiences is called the Heikhalot literature; chief among them are the Greater and Lesser Heikhalot.
hesed Abundant love and mercy; a quality of God to be emulated by people. It is the name of the fourth sefirah in the kabbalistic system of the sefirot and is sometimes called gedulah (greatness). It is balanced by the fifth sefirah of din (judgment), which is also referred to as gevurah, strength.
hitbodedut Seclusion, self-isolation; a term used in the Bible, in medieval times by the Sufis and kabbalists, and by later Jewish mystics to refer to meditation practice. It implies that the practitioner cuts himself off from concerns of the world and focuses within, in order to experience the holy spirit (ruah ha-kodesh) through an ascent of the soul.
hitbonenut Contemplation; from the same root as tevunah (insight) and binah, the third sefirah of understanding. The term was used by kabbalists and hasidim for meditation as well as for deep concentration of the mind on some aspect of divinity in order to gain intuitive understanding and spiritual insight.
hod Splendor; a quality of God; it is the eighth sefirah in the kabbalistic system of the sefirot. It is sometimes translated as “reverberation.”
hokhmah Wisdom; the divine will or thought, second sefirah in the kabbalistic system of the sefirot. The term is also used to describe the first emanation of the divine power from the Godhead – it is the divine word or logos. Hokhmah is also personified in some biblical-era literature as a feminine persona who guides the individual from within.
idra Greek term for semi-circle; used for the fellowship of mystics since the time of the merkavah mystics in late antiquity. The term is used in the Zohar for the important subdivisions of text, suggesting the fellowship of mystics and its pattern of interaction which produced the text, such as idra zuta (small idra), and idra rabba (large idra). Kabbalists in later periods even called their fellowships benei idra (companions of the idra).
iyun Contemplation; The term iyun comes from the word ’ayin (eye or source, spelled in Hebrew differently from ayin which means nothing, without substance.). It means concentrated contemplation and it seems to suggest a technique of meditation. Gershom Scholem, scholar of Jewish mysticism, gave this name to a circle of thirteenth-century Spanish kabbalists he researched, whose writings include the Sefer ha-iyun (Book of Contemplation) and Ma’ayan ha-hokhmah (Fountain of Wisdom).
Kabbalah Receiving, tradition; the most renowned aspect of Jewish mysticism, which is often considered a movement in itself. The term refers specifically to a large number of esoteric writings dating from the thirteenth century which draw on personal spiritual experience, the Bible, the Talmud, early works of mysticism such as Heikhalot and Merkavah writings, the Sefer yetsirah, Sefer ha-Bahir, and much more legendary mystical material. The most famous piece of kabbalistic literature is the Zohar, by Moses de Leon of thirteenth-century Spain. Kabbalah also includes the works of Isaac the Blind, Nahmanides, Moses Cordovero, Abraham Abulafia, Isaac of Akko, Isaac Luria, and Moses Hayim Luzzatto, among many others. Kabbalistic teachings are characterized by use of complex symbolism to explain the nature of God and the origin of the creation, the nature of the soul, and various techniques of meditation that include manipulations of words, names, and letters, and contemplation on spiritual lights, qualities, and sounds.
katnut de mohin Smallness of mind. See gadlut de mohin.
kavanah Intention, concentration; from the word “to aim.” The term kavanah has been used since medieval times by kabbalists and hasidim to describe the focused or concentrated mind in prayer or meditation. It is considered a necessary element in devotion. Some kabbalists also included focused performance of the biblical commandments as an aspect of kavanah – as an external expression of the concept of divine service.
kavanot (plural of kavanah) Concentration exercises developed by kabbalists to help in devotion. Sometimes they involved repetition of specific passages from the Bible, repetition of names for God, or performance of biblical commandments in a focused manner.
kavod Glory. The term occurs in the Bible as a reference to God’s presence, sometimes as the visual aspect of the experience of this presence through which God revealed himself to the prophets. It was the goal of the priestly rituals in the Jerusalem temple. In medieval times, Saadia Gaon taught that the kavod was an angel or intermediary by which the divine can touch the human realm. Other philosophers understood the kavod as the logos, the instrument of the revelation of God’s presence or will; or as a semi-divine power that emanates from the Godhead. It is identified with the primal divine light through which God manifests himself, and as the Shekhinah – the feminine, immanent manifestation of the transcendent God. Some medieval mystics taught that the kavod has two aspects, a hidden, upper aspect (kavod penimi or nistar), which is the omnipresent and indwelling divine power that is not revealed, and an outer, revealed, visible aspect which is projected into the creation. Some mystics wrote about a series of ten or more manifested kavods, similar to the ten sefirot.
kelipah (s), kelipot (p) Shells, husks, shards. The term is used symbolically by kabbalists and hasidim to refer to the unholy, demonic, or material aspect of creation which conceals God’s holiness and light. According to the teachings of the sixteenth-century kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, at the time of creation there was a cosmic catastrophe – which he called the breaking of the vessels (shevirat ha-kelim), when the primal divine light was released into the creation in an uncontrolled manner. Sparks of that light became attached to matter, the kelipot, and were trapped in the material universe. The sparks can be understood as the individual souls which became separated from their divine source and were trapped in the physical creation through their association with the negative tendency of the mind. Luria also taught that there is a process by which the sparks can return to their source, which he called tikun (repair or restoration).
keter Crown; the highest of the ten sefirot, or divine emanations, in the kabbalistic system. Some kabbalists identified it with the Ayn-Sof, the divine transcendent infinite, which is beyond any expression of the divine will, even beyond the beginning of being or the beginning of the divine utterance. Below keter the divine will separates into subtle forms of masculine and feminine energies – the positive and negative poles. Within keter all remains as the one undifferentiated divine. All the other sefirot were emanated from it in a subtle process that is too subtle even to describe. It was also called ayin (nothing, empty).
ma’amar (s), ma’amarot (p) Utterance, word; mystically, a reference to the ten utterances, emanations, qualities, or powers through which God created the universe, which in later Kabbalah are more commonly referred to as the sefirot. In the biblical book of Genesis, God spoke ten times as he created the various aspects and realms of the creation, starting with “Let there be light.” According to a mystical rabbinic interpretation of Genesis, this signifies that he brought about the creation of the cosmos through ten utterances or sounds. The term is used in the Sefer ha-bahir (Book of Brilliance).
ma’aseh bereshit Work or events of creation; could also be translated as the miracle of creation. Generally refers to the mystical literature describing the process of creation, the being of God, and the laws of nature. Some scholars, like Rachel Elior, link the term ma’aseh with ritual utensils and the work of the Tabernacle and the Temple.
maggid Angel, speaker, messenger, channel. The term was used for great sages, rabbis, and preachers, and also for angels or beings who communicated spiritual secrets in dreams or internal visions. Numerous kabbalists and hasidim reported receiving internal illumination, insights, and instructions from such spiritual messengers. One such is giluy Eliyahu (the revelation of Elijah).
mahshavah Thought. The term was used by some kabbalists for the divine will or “thought,” with a meaning similar to the more common hokhmah (wisdom). The mystic was enjoined to merge his thinking, intellect, or mental focus into the divine thought or expression of will.
makom Place, abode, dwelling, ground of creation; an epithet of God, referring to his abode, the spiritual realm of eternity; also, God’s presence.
malkut Kingship, dominion; the lowest of the ten sefirot. It represents the immanence and flow of the divine power into the creation; it is identified with the Shekhinah.
mashiah Messiah; literally, anointed one. In the late Second Temple period (third century BCE to first century CE), the messiah is the future redeemer who brings the prophesy from God and can save humanity. In its generic sense, the term was first applied to the biblical prophets, who were anointed with oil at the time of their selection. This anointing was symbolic of their being “anointed” or imbued with the holy spirit, the ruah ha-kodesh, which enabled them to teach, guide, and redeem the ancient Israelites. Eventually during the Second Temple period, two other figures became associated with the role of the messiah, in addition to the prophets – the king and the high priest – both of whom were literally anointed with oil at the time of their selection.
mekubalim Kabbalists; literally “those who had received the teachings,” initiates. The kabbalists referred to themselves with this term.
memra Aramaic form of the Hebrew ma’amar. See ma’amar.
merkavah Chariot. The term is used to describe the inner journey of many mystics between the first and eighth centuries CE (approximately). They wrote of the meditator’s descent (sometimes ascent) in the chariot of his body to the highest spiritual realm, the seventh of seven heavens, where he sees God (or sometimes the angel Metatron) sitting on the divine throne. The metaphor of the chariot may be based on the mystical vision of the prophet Ezekiel (1:10). Like Ezekiel, the meditator travels to spiritual realms on a chariot made of the other-worldly sounds, colors, and lights of angels and other spiritual beings. At the highest level, the merkavah is transformed into the divine throne itself, symbolizing that the human body, which is the vehicle for the spiritual journey, is also the throne of God – a graphic illustration of the principle that God resides within the individual human being. Ma’aseh merkavah is a body of esoteric literature that refers to this inner journey taken by numerous legendary mystics, based on Ezekiel’s vision. The scholar Rachel Elior links it with the mystical tradition of the priesthood of the Jerusalem Temple concerning heavenly patterns of holy time and holy place. In addition to its meaning of chariot, in modern Hebrew the term merkavah carries the meaning of combina- tion or assembly of separate elements; thus the merkavah practice was not only a description of the inner journey itself, but a clue to the method used by the mystics to gain their experiences – by combining and recombining the words and letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
messiah. See mashiah.
midot Qualities; a term used in early Kabbalah for the qualities of God from which the creation emanated; later, the term sefirot was used more commonly. In their meditations, the early kabbalists often tried to unite with specific midot.
Midrash The Midrash is the earliest literary form of supplementary Torah and uses the method of deductive reasoning to interpret the Bible. Literally, the word midrash means interpretation. Written by anonymous rabbis and collected in the early second century, it follows the order of the chapters of the Bible, and includes both halakhah (the legal parts of the text) and aggadah or haggadah (the nonlegal parts – legends and anecdotes which reveal moral or spiritual principles). It became a model for many works of Jewish mysticism in later centuries.
Mishnah See Talmud.
mitnagdim Opponents; those orthodox Jews in Eastern Europe who were opposed to the teachings of Hasidism. At times they persecuted some of the hasidic rebbes by fomenting disturbances, even denouncing them to the Russian government.
mohin de gadlut, mohin de katnut See gadlut de mohin.
nefesh Soul. Nefesh generally means soul, but is often used to refer to the level of the passions or sensory vitality – the energy that gives life to the body – which is the lowest level of the soul in Kabbalah. In Genesis, we read that after each day of the creation, God restored himself (va-yinafash), from the same root as nefesh. Sometimes a differentiation is made between the animal soul (nefesh behemit), referring to the pull of the senses away from spiritual influence, and the divine soul (nefesh elohit), which pulls a person towards the divine, away from the physical. Some kabbalist mystics viewed the soul as having three levels: nefesh (sensory energy), ruah (spirit, breath), and neshamah (spiritual or divine soul). Other kabbalists and hasidim divided it into five levels, with nefesh as the lowest. They are: nefesh, ruah, neshamah, hayah (vitality), and yehidah (union). The term nefesh is used inclusively for all levels of the soul, as ultimately all the levels are considered to be aspects or levels of one spiritual entity. It is also taught that the higher levels of the soul are activated only through the efforts of the individual to improve himself or herself spiritually. In the divisions of the realms of creation (olamot), nefesh corresponds to the lowest – the physical realm of assiyah (actualization, making).
neshamah Soul; from the verb “to breathe”; considered by kabbalists the third level of the soul, the level that pulls a person towards an expression of his divine identity. In Genesis it says that God blew his soul into Adam, implying that the human soul is an extension of God’s “breathing,” as it were. See also nefesh.
netsah Victory, eternity; the seventh of the ten sefirot.
nezirim (s. nazir) A person dedicated to God and living as a renunciate; a biblical term often rendered into English as nazarite. The term was also used for the medieval kabbalists who lived ascetic lives and were referred to as perushim (s. parush, meaning separated, dedicated), a name given in the time of the Mishnah to scholars who devoted themselves exclusively to the study of Torah.
notarikon A technique for finding hidden meanings in the Torah or in other sacred texts, in which a word is disassembled into its component letters. Each letter is considered as an initial letter of another word, and thus the true meaning of the original word is revealed in the phrase created by the combination of words.
olam (s), olamot (p) World, realm. Mystically, the term is used for the four realms or worlds in the kabbalistic system of the graduated realms of creation. From the highest downwards, they are: the spiritual level of emanation (atsilut), which is a direct outpouring of the divine reality without any coverings of matter; next is the causal or archetypal level of creation (briah), from where the “idea” of all creation arises subtly in the “mind” of God; below briah is the level of “formation” (yetsirah), where the “blueprint” of the physical creation takes further shape – it is sometimes called the astral level; and finally, below yetsirah, is the physical realm of “making” (assiyah) – where matter is dominant and spirit is largely concealed. It is also thought that the word olam is related to the root of le-ha’alim, “to conceal,” because each level of matter exists only by virtue of the increasing conceal- ment of God’s infinite light.
olam ha-ba The world to come. In rabbinic literature the term means life after death, and mystically may refer to the heikhalot, the palaces or realms that one enters during mystic transport. Some scholars have translated the Hebrew phrase olam ha-ba as “the world that is coming,” meaning that it is continually coming; it always exists as it is eternity. It is the realm of spirit, from where the divine essence or life energy continually flows into the material plane.
pardes Orchard, plantation, or garden. Pardes is the origin of the word “paradise,” as the first translation of the Torah into Greek translated the Hebrew gan eden (garden of eden) as paradeisos. In Jewish mystical literature it represents a level of consciousness which one can enter through meditation or mystic transport, reaching a deeper understanding of the secrets of Torah and achieving the level of the holy spirit. The Talmud (Hagigah 14b) tells of “four scholars who entered the pardes” and what befell them. This passage is a seminal statement of the mystic journey of four leading rabbis. The word is also used as an acronym for the four levels on which one can read and interpret the Torah – from the literal to the esoteric (PRDS).
partsuf (s), partsufim (p) Face, configuration. A term created by the kabbalist Isaac Luria for integrated groupings or configurations of the ten sefirot. The concept of the sefirot portrays an orderly flow of light from the primal source into the creation in successive stages. The partsufim are groupings of the ten sefirot into five configurations or pairs. When the partsufim are in balance, they interrelate and energize each other so that the divine force flows between them harmoniously. At the time the primal light became dispersed into the creation, through the process Luria called shevirat ha-kelim (the breaking of the vessels), the harmonious flow of energy among the partsufim was interrupted, and thus the divine realms went into a state of imbalance. Luria taught that through tikun (repair, perfection) the balance could be reestablished and harmony in the divine realms restored. The partsufim are generally described as follows:
Arikh Anpin (the Patient One) or Atik Yamin (the Ancient of Days) represents the configuration of divine energy at the spiritual level of emanation, above the level of creation. He is patient and “long-suffering” because he is beyond phenomena, beyond change. He is eternal. He corresponds to the highest sefirah of keter (crown) and is often used as a synonym for God.
Below the Godhead, Abba (the Father) and Imma (the Mother) represent the first separation of the divine power into the potential for positive and negative polarities, the duality that characterizes all creation. Originally, the positive and negative were in constant union, within the Godhead, with the divine energies flowing without interruption between them. Among the sefirot, they are represented by hokhmah (wisdom) and binah (understanding).
Below them, Tse’ir Anpin (the Impatient One, the Male) and Nukva (the Female) represent the same polarization of the male and female energies as the Father and the Mother, but vibrating at a lower intensity, where the polarity, the duality, becomes manifested. Tse’ir Anpin contains of all the sefirot below binah with the exception of malkut. Nukva corresponds to malkut, which represents the immanence and flow of the divine power into the creation; it is identical to the Shekhinah. According to Luria, the Impatient One and the Female, when in harmonious union before the “breaking of the vessels,” had faced each other in eternal union, but now their backs are to each other.
An aspect of the teaching of the partsufim is that, while at the highest level, in the realm of atsilut (emanation), the sefirot are unique and distinct – pure emanations of the essence of each quality – at the lower realms, where matter has become mixed with spirit, each of the sefirot embodies aspects of the other nine sefirot. Thus the concept of partsufim describes the flow of the divine power within each sefirah as well as between the sefirot.
parush (s), perushim (p) See nezirim.
Pirkei Avot Ethics of the Fathers; a section of the Mishnah which presents the sayings of the early sages.
prophetic Kabbalah The name given by the medieval kabbalist Abraham Abulafia to his system of Kabbalah, which was a technique designed to bring about an ecstatic experience of union with the divine reality. It involved the repetition of names and letters, various bodily movements, and so forth. Modern scholars call his method “ecstatic Kabbalah.”
pseudepigrapha Religious texts written in contemporary times but attributed to ancient respected sages or rabbis.
rebbe Rabbi, master; an affectionate term used in Hasidism for the spiritual master or tsadik.
reshimu Trace. Kabbalist Isaac Luria taught that at the time of creation, when the undifferentiated primal divine light of the Ayn-Sof withdrew into itself, thus creating a void or vacuum (tehiru), a trace or beam of that light (reshimu) was left in the void, almost like the thin coating or film that is left after one pours oil from a bottle. It is from that trace or beam of light that the sefirot were created. See also shevirat ha-kelim.
ro‘eh (spelled with the letter ’ayin) Shepherd; a biblical term used for the prophet or spiritual master. Many of the prophets of the Bible were shepherds. Metaphorically, God was called a shepherd; Moses was referred to as the “faithful shepherd.” It is related to the Hebrew word for friend.
ro’eh (spelled with the letter aleph) Seer, from the verb “to see.” A term used in the Bible and later periods for the prophet or spiritually evolved person, referring to his ability to see into the future and past, and even to past incarnations of individual souls.
ruah Spirit, wind, breath; a term used in the Bible and throughout Jewish history to refer to the divine power or inspiration (ruah ha-kodesh – the holy spirit), as well as to the human soul or spirit. The prophets of the Bible received their inspiration through their experience of the ruah ha-kodesh. Similarly, there are records of medieval and later mystics experiencing the holy spirit. The term was also used for the human soul: Kabbalists divided the concept of soul into several levels, with ruah considered the second level, above nefesh, and below nes•hamah. In the system of olamot (realms, worlds), it corresponds with the astral realm of yetsirah (formation). See also olam.
Sanhedrin The rabbinic court established during rabbinic times in the town of Yavneh after the Second Temple was destroyed in the year 70 CE. It was later moved to a town called Usha in 138, after the Bar Kokhba rebellion failed. There the rabbis continued working on the codification of Jewish law, the Mishnah, eventually moving their school to Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Mishnah was completed in 215. The word Sanhedrin is of Greek origin.
sefirah (s), sefirot (p) Emanation, stage in the process of creation. The term was first used by the author of the Sefer yetsirah in the first century CE for the ten primordial or ideal “numbers” (from the Hebrew root safor, to numerate), which were the building blocks of creation. In kabbalistic literature from the twelfth century onwards, it was used in a much wider sense to convey the sense of the creation having taken place through ten successive stages or levels of emanation that emerged from Ayn-Sof, the primal light or being of God. All ten sefirot are conceived as a dynamic unity in which the activity of God reveals itself. See also the names of the individual sefirot: keter, hokhmah, binah, hesed (gedulah), din (gevurah), netsah, hod, tiferet, yesod, malkut.
Shekhinah Indwelling divine presence; the power of the divine as manifested or immanent in the creation. The term Shekhinah has been used throughout Jewish spiritual history in various ways, all related to the idea that the transcendent God of the Bible who was often considered to be remote and unapproachable, has a manifest and approachable aspect. In rabbinic times the Shekhinah was considered to be synonymous with God, sometimes characterized as the manifested divine power or “holy name.” The Shekhinah serves as a bridge between the transcendent, concealed God and the individual human being. It is sometimes identified with the kavod, a biblical term meaning “glory,” which the mystics understood as a specific reference to the visual manifestation of God’s divine power and presence in the creation. In some instances, the Shekhinah (like the kavod) is a divine power that has two aspects – an “inner” which does not manifest and an “outer” which does manifest.
From medieval times the Shekhinah was portrayed as a feminine entity, originally an aspect of the divine Godhead but who became separated at the time of creation. At the cosmic level, the alienation of male and female energies indicates the state of duality in which the creation exists. It is the duty of mankind to heal that duality and bring those energies into harmony. To the kabbalists the Shekhinah was symbolized as the bride or princess, synonymous with malkut (kingship, royal dominion), the last of the ten sefirot, whose male lover is the prince/bridegroom sefirah of tiferet (beauty) – the sefirah that represents the transcendent God YHWH. Her exile in the creation also symbolically represents the exile of the Jewish people in the diaspora. She is dependent upon the religious observances and meditative exercises referred to as tikun olam (repair of the cosmos) in order to be returned to her state of unity with the divine, to a reversal of her banishment in exile and a return to God’s favor.
In some of the mystical writings, the Shekhinah appears at different places and times to protect and sustain the exiled souls who call upon her. In other references her exile implies that she is darkened and corrupted by the crudeness of the material world. In the Safed kabbalist interpretation, the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath was created as a symbolic ceremony where God, as the bridegroom, welcomes his bride, the Shekhinah, into his home, symbolizing the return of the exiled Israel (also the soul) to God, thus creating harmony at many levels, not the least of which is the harmony in the divine spheres.
shevirat ha-kelim Shattering of the vessels; a concept created by kabbalist Isaac Luria to explain how the primal divine light became channeled into the material world at the time of creation – in a sense, how the undifferentiated spiritual energy and light became differentiated into its component qualities, isolated from the whole, and obscured by the coverings of the material world. According to Luria, the first step in the process of creation was tsimtsum (withdrawal) in which the Lord withdrew, or contracted into his infinite self, in order to leave a void (tehiru) absent of himself in which the creation could take place. A trace or beam of the infinite light (reshimu) was left in the void, from which the sefirot were emanated.
According to Luria’s teachings, there was a continuous expanding movement of the light flowing out of the Ayn-Sof, alternating with its inward flow back to its source. The sefirot, or midot, the divine qualities which represent limited aspects of the light, became channels or vessels through which the light radiated outward from the center and also tried to return. The vessels could not contain the intensity of the light, and were shattered. When the vessels shattered, sparks (nitsotsot) of the primal light adhered to the shards (kelipot) of the vessels, thus becoming separated from their source and trapped in the physical plane. Luria termed it a divine catastrophe, as the shards became the source of evil and negativity in the world. Light and darkness intermingled. Although the process is described in physical terms, Luria himself taught that he did not mean for this process to be taken literally, but rather metaphorically or symbolically.
Shiur Komah Literally, the measure of the stature (of God). A concept describing God as a divine body of gargantuan proportions who is seated on the throne of God in heaven. The term refers to an early anonymous mystical text, attributed to Rabbi Akiva, in which the description of the body of the Shiur Komah is based on a mystical interpretation of several verses from the scroll of the Song of Songs of the Bible. The Shiur Komah uses the exaggeration of physical size into absurdity to convey that God – who fills the entire creation but who is infinite – can be understood through the concept of an archetype of the human form with gigantic proportions. He is also identified with the primal Adam, the Adam Kadmon, who is the macrocosm that contains the entire creation within him in potential.
sod ha-elohut Secret of divinity; mystery of God. A reference to the vision of God on his throne, a personal revelation of the divine, during mystic transport. The term was used by several mystics – notably Shabatai Tsevi – to refer to their own personal experience of God which they could not share with others.
ta’amei ha-mitsvot The word ta’am has two meanings: “taste” and “reason.” Therefore, ta’amei ha-mitsvot means both the reasons for the religious commandments and the taste (essential experience) of the commandments. Ta’amei ha-mitsvot was a popular preoccupation with the kabbalists of the thirteenth century and they wrote many tracts on this subject. The reasons for the commandments that they proposed were mystical and symbolic, designed to create a strong and incontrovertible foundation for the perpetuation of the religious tradition. In a play on words, the kabbalists taught that the mystical reason (ta’am) for performing a mitsvah is its taste (ta’am), knowledge of which may be gained by reading the biblical text carefully. By performing the mitsvah, the devotee could gain a taste of the divine sweetness and essence inherent in it. This was based on the phrase in Psalms: “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who trusts in him” (34:9).
Talmud The Talmud is a collection of discussions of the rabbis in the early centuries of the first millennium. It comprises two parts – the Mishnah and Gemara. The Mishnah (from the word shanah, meaning to repeat or study), is an orderly arrangement of the laws derived from the Bible, organized in sixty-three tractates according to six broad subjects covering agriculture, civil and criminal law, marriage, the Temple rites of worship, issues of purity, and so forth. Written mostly at Yavneh by the rabbis called the tanna’im (repeaters, teachers), the Mishnah was completed in the year 215 CE.
The Gemara (from the Aramaic gemar, meaning study or teaching), was written by the subsequent generations of rabbis called the amora’im (interpreters), and is the most comprehensive supplement to the Mishnah and organized accordingly. Produced in two versions – the Jerusalem or Palestinian (completed in the early fifth century) and the more-lengthy Babylonian (completed about a century later), it presents detailed discussions concerning all the legal issues which were of interest to the two sister academies of rabbis in Palestine and Babylonia. Together, the Mishnah and Gemara are referred to as the Talmud. In addition to the legal orientation of the Talmud, there are anecdotes about the rabbis which give hints to their spiritual and mystical activities and teachings.
tehiru Vacuum or void. See shevirat ha-kelim.
tiferet Beauty. Among the ten sefirot, it is the sixth, and represents the harmonious integration of the sefirah of netsah (victory, eternity, endurance) and hod (splendor). Tiferet is also identified with the level of the divine called YHWH, and it is he who is the husband of the Shekhinah which is represented by the sefirah of malkut, the lowest of the ten sefirot. From tiferet, the divine power flows to yesod, the ninth sefirah, thence downward to malkut, and through her into the creation. See also partsufim.
tikun (s), tikunim (p) Perfection, repair, restoration. A kabbalistic concept originating with Isaac Luria that explains the process by which the divine light, which has been scattered in the material creation owing to its adherence to the kelipot (the shards of matter), may return to its source in the primal light and being of God. Tikun explains how the divine qualities or aspects (the sefirot), which are out of balance and antagonistic to one another, may be restored to a state of harmony, and how the Shekhinah (the divine indwelling presence) may unite with the Lord. Tikun is achieved, according to the teachings of Luria, by certain tikunim – meditational practices involving “unifications” of divine names and focused performance of rituals and recitation of prayers. See also yihudim.
tikun olam Restoration of the world; repair of the cosmos. Luria taught that the world is in a state of disharmony due to disharmony in the divine realm, where the natural flow of the divine power from its source in God through the ten sefirot and into the creation has been interrupted. The restoration of their harmonious energy flow is the goal of tikun olam. This is done by “raising” the holy sparks of the divine light which are now trapped in the creation. Luria based this on the principle that all things and actions in the world, no matter how seemingly trivial, are saturated with holy sparks, which are yearning to return to the state of unity from which they fell at the time of creation. Thus it is obligatory for the pious to recite specific prayers and perform rituals and meditation exercises that would not only absolve them of their own sins, but which would free the sparks from the kelipot, the shells or layers of materiality, and help them return to their source in the divine.
On another level, the efforts to repair or mend the disharmony and polarization in the upper realms can be understood as an externalization of the need for the individual soul to rise above the state of spiritual disharmony and alienation in which human beings live, to union with the divine being, which is above duality and exists in pure self-contained oneness. Luria also understood the fall or sin of Adam, the first man, which resulted in his banishment from the Garden of Eden, as a metaphor for the disruption in the flow of the divine energy and the fall of the sparks of the divine light into the creation. Every mystic, therefore, has the duty of raising the sparks and reversing the sin of Adam.
Luria’s teachings spread quickly and influenced many European Jewish scholars and mystics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In contemporary times, tikun olam has become the underlying rationale for many movements within the Jewish spiritual renewal movement in Western countries – as Jews have adopted activist approaches to environmental problems and social and political issues based on the assumption that the world can be repaired through their actions.
Torah Literally, teaching, revelation. Strictly speaking the term refers only to the Hebrew scriptures called the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), but often it is used for the entire Tanakh (Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings). Christians generally refer to this collection as the Old Testament. The term Oral Torah is used for the later texts, such as the Talmud. Mystically, Torah can be understood as the true inner teaching of God’s word or name. It is believed by kabbalists and other mystics that the written Torah (the Pentateuch) is the actual name of God, metaphorically the “divine body” of God. The orthodox Jewish community believes that the entire Torah was revealed by God to Moses at Mount Sinai.
It is generally accepted by scholars that the Pentateuch as we know it today was actually written by at least four authors between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE, drawing on still older documents and even older oral traditions. It was probably edited together and combined into one scroll in the fifth or fourth century BCE, at a time when the Israelites had experienced exile and potential fragmentation as a people and were in need of a sense of identity with a strong religious and national focus. The Greek names for each book are commonly used in all English translations of the Bible, and so they are used here. See also the introductory section of this book, “Classic Texts of Judaism.”
tsadik (s), tsadikim (p) From the noun tsedek (virtue, righteousness), a tsadik is someone virtuous in the religious and moral sense. Mystically the term refers to the “holy man,” saint, spiritual master, or mystic adept who is wholly devoted to God. The term tsadik became one of the most important terms for the spiritual master in Judaism. In the Bible, Noah is called a tsadik. Among the Dead Sea Scrolls, the term moreh ha-tsedek (teacher of virtue) was used for the spiritual master. Most important, in Hasidism starting in the eighteenth century, the term was used for the spiritual master who is the guide and support for his followers; he was also called the rebbe, an affectionate term for the rabbi or leader of the congregation. The tsadik was often defined as someone who had overcome his negative inclination (yetser ha-ra) and was only influenced by the spiritual or good inclination. There are many other instances of the righteous and virtuous being called tsadikim.
tsedek Virtue, righteousness, piety; a quality of God which human beings should emulate. Often the term is used to designate righteousness in the sense of justice, but it also has a larger meaning of virtue and goodness at all levels. Tsedek can also mean salvation, deliverance, or victory.
tsemakh Plant, growth, branch. The biblical prophet Zechariah used the term for the messiah who is God’s servant, a branch or organic extension of God. If God is the tree, then the branch grows from it. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah had also called the future king the branch and the rod.
tseruf Smelting or merging; the term was used by kabbalist Abraham Abulafia for his practice of letter manipulation, in which he combined letters, vowels, and words of the Hebrew alphabet in several ways: by writing them down, by speaking or singing, and mentally through concentration. Some of his techniques were influenced by similar practices among the Hasidei Ashkenaz (Hasidim of Germany) and other early kabbalists.
tsimtsum Contraction, withdrawal; a concept taught by Isaac Luria to describe the contraction and limitation of the divine infinite primal light of Ayn-Sof into itself, creating a void (tehiru) into which the cosmos (materiality) could exist. A ray of light remained in the vacuum (called reshimu or trace), and it is from this light that the sefirot were emanated – the sefirot acting as limiting factors or channels for the light to descend in an orderly way into the creation. Since the primal light is everywhere and in everything, the idea of contraction is a way for the human mind to understand how the infinite divine light or power, which is perfect, could produce imperfection or limitation. The kabbalists taught that the infinite withdrew into itself – meaning that it limited its infinite power somehow, beyond our understanding. Another way of saying this is that with tsimtsum, God expelled from himself even the potential for negativity, thus creating the potential for the duality of positive and negative, good and evil. At the highest level, all is oneness. Only when the creation process begins does the undifferentiated primal light divide into the duality of positive-negative, masculine-feminine forces.
yesh Substance, being. Mystics have used the term yesh to describe the realm of physical existence. Yesh was counterbalanced by ayin (nothingness), the spiritual reality. The creation process described by the symbolism of Ayn-Sof (the infinite) and the emanation of the sefirot actually describes the flow of divine energy from the realm of pure spirituality, the infinite nothing, into physical substance. In meditation, the mystic rises from yesh to ayin, as his soul, imprisoned in yesh, experiences its oneness with ayin. The highest sefirah of keter, being the first hint of expression of Ayn-Sof, was often identified with ayin.
yesod Foundation. The ninth of the ten sefirot, yesod is the channel for the divine power to flow from its source in God, downward through the higher sefirot, into malkut (kingship, dominion), the tenth sefirah, which is the portal to the physical plane. The term yesod was also used as a metaphor for the tsadik, the spiritual master. Interpreting the biblical book of Proverbs 10:25, “tsadik yesod olam” (the tsadik is the foundation or cornerstone of the world), the rabbis from the first century onwards extracted the meaning that just as yesod is the channel through which the divine abundance flows to the earth, so the tsadik is the channel through which the divine grace, the spiritual knowledge, comes into the world. He is the pillar, the axis, or sacred center of the universe.
yetser ha-ra Negative inclination; inclination towards evil; lower tendencies; animal nature. It is believed that human beings have two tendencies: yetser ha-ra, which pulls us either towards the material, negative side of life, and yetser ha-tov, which pulls us towards the higher, more spiritual side of life. Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady taught that the tsadik is born with a special soul and that the ordinary man cannot aspire to this level. The ordinary person is generally governed by his animal nature, the yetser ha-ra, which drives him into the hands of his passions. Only the true tsadik, he taught, can overcome his animal nature completely.
yetser ha-tov Positive tendency; inclination towards good. See yetser ha-ra.
yetsirah Formation; the third world or realm (olam) below the highest realm of atsilut (emanation) and the second of briah. In the Zohar, yetsirah is called the abode of the angels, led by Metatron, the chief archangel. It probably corresponds to the astral realm in more modern terminology, and is the level directly above the physical world. Each realm mirrors the one above it, but at a lower vibratory level. The Sefer yetsirah (Book of Formation) is one of the earliest and most important works of Jewish mysticism. Only 2,000 words in all, it was probably written in the first century CE by an anonymous Jewish mystic who wanted to present an abstract mystical alternative to the Genesis story of creation. Thus he wrote of the creation and its elements as taking place through numbers, letters, sound, and light. Sefer yetsirah contributed to the development of a mystical vocabulary that would have a profound impact on later generations. The term sefirot (numerals, spheres, qualities) in all its meanings became the cornerstone of kabbalistic symbolism. The teachings of later mystics were often presented in the form of commentaries on the Sefer yetsirah. Some scholars date its composition as late as the ninth century as they see the influence of Muslim Sufi teachings.
yihud (s) Union; in Hasidism, the state of mystic union, of the soul merging or uniting with God, transcending all duality of the creation.
yihudim (p) Unifications; exercises taught by Safed kabbalist Isaac Luria in the sixteenth century to mend or repair the disharmony he believed ruled the cosmos, especially the divine realms. These were contemplative ritualistic acts of devotion; many were meditative exercises based on repetition and contemplation of combinations of sacred words or names in order to “unify” the name of God and “bind” the individual soul to the upper spiritual realms. The purpose of the yihudim was to bring about the tikun olam, the repair of the cosmos. In later periods, there is evidence of yihudim being used as charms by the ba’alei shem (masters of the name) who wandered from village to village, attempting to control demonic forces and bring about positive influences in people’s lives. Other yihudim practiced by the followers of Luria in Safed involved lying on the graves of deceased holy men in order to unite with their souls.
zohar Literally, radiance, shining, in the sense of an inner light radi- ating to the surface. The term zohar is also used for a specific qual- ity of the inner light experienced in meditation. The Zohar is also the title of a multivolume work of Jewish mysticism written by a mystic fellowship under the leadership of the thirteenth-century Spanish rabbi, Moses de León, although it was traditionally believed to have been written in the second century by Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai. It takes shape as a narrative about the wanderings of a group of rabbis who are disciples of Rabbi Simeon and their discussions and homilies about all matters of spirituality – the nature of God, the creation process, the soul, the spiritual journey, their love for their master and each other, and so forth. It is thought that although these narratives center around a group of rabbis of antiquity, it was a metaphor for the spiritual lives of the contemporary fellowship. The Zohar’s stories are structured around interpretations of sections of the Bible, interwoven with deep insights and accounts of spiritual experience couched in symbolic terms. Much of the symbolism and terminology that would become the language of Kabbalah is introduced and explicated here. There is a sense of lyrical interplay and joy that comes from the shared spiritual quest of the fellowship. The Zohar remains the key text of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism as a whole.