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Atzmut
''Atzmus'' or ''Atzmut'' ( from the Hebrew language, Hebrew ''etzem'') is the descriptive term referred to in Kabbalah, and explored in Hasidic thought, for the God in Judaism, divine essence. Classical Kabbalah predominantly refers to the Godhead (Judaism), Godhead in Judaism with its designated term "Ein Sof" ("No end"-Infinite). Reference to ''atzmus'' is usually restricted in Kabbalistic theory to discussion whether "Ein Sof" represents the ultimate divine being in itself, or to God as first cause of creation. Background Perceptions of God in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah Medieval Jewish philosophy, Jewish philosophers like Maimonides, articulate a Divine transcendence, transcendent negative theology where it is only possible to describe God in Judaism, God in terms of what He is not. Here Divine Unity means that God's singularity is unique and bears no relation to any concept one can conceive. Kabbalah, influenced by the philosophical argument, but seeking the Biblic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Worlds
The Four Worlds ( ''ʿOlāmot'', singular: ''ʿOlām'' ), sometimes counted with a primordial world, Adam Kadmon, and called the Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in a descending chain of existence. The concept of "Worlds" denotes the emanation of creative lifeforce from the Ein Sof or Godhead through progressive, innumerable tzimtzumim or concealments. Kabbalists identified the names of these worlds from Isaiah 43:7, "All who are linked to My name, Whom I have ''created'', ''Formed'', and ''made'' for ''My glory'' ()". The names are thus Beri'ah "Creation," Yetzirah "Formation," Assiah "Action," and Atziluth "Emanation." Below Assiah, the lowest spiritual world, is the ''Assiah gashmi'' "Physical Assiah," the physical universe, which enclothes the last two sefirot, Yesod and Malkuth. Collectively, the Four Worlds are referred to as Aviyaʿ after their initial letters. In addition to the functional role each world has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ein Sof
Ein Sof, or Eyn Sof (, '; meaning "infinite", ), in Kabbalah, is understood as God before any self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm, probably derived from Solomon ibn Gabirol's (1021–1070) term, "the Endless One" ( ''šeʾēn lo tiqlā''). It is important to note that Kabbalah (Mystical Elevation of Hidden Knowledge) was developed after exile through exposure to Babylonian and later Greek mystical thought. Many devoted Torah scholars acknowledge this practice as divination which The Torah explicitly prohibits in Deuteronomy 18:10-12. ''Ein Sof'' may be translated as "unending", "(there is) no end", or infinity. It was first used by Azriel of Gerona ( 1160 – 1238), who, sharing the Neoplatonic belief that God can have no desire, thought, word, or action, emphasized by the negation of any attribute. This is the origin of the Ohr Ein Sof or "Infinite Light" of paradoxical divine self-knowledge, nullified within the Ein Sof before creation. In Lurianic K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hebrew Language
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism (since the Second Temple period) and Samaritanism. The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival. It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic, still spoken today. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date back to the 10th century BCE. Nearly all of the Hebrew Bible is written in Biblical Hebrew, with much of its present form in the dialect that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, during the time of the Babylonian captivity. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panentheism
Panentheism (; "all in God", from the Greek , and ) is the belief that the divine intersects every part of the universe and also extends beyond space and time. The term was coined by the German philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 (after reviewing Hindu scripture) to distinguish the ideas of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) about the relation of God and the universe from the supposed pantheism of Baruch Spinoza.John Culp (2013)"Panentheism" in the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Retrieved 18 March 2014. Unlike pantheism, which holds that the divine and the universe are identical, panentheism maintains an ontological distinction between the divine and the non-divine and the significance of both. In panentheism, the universal spirit is present everywhere, which at the same time " transcends" all things created. Whilst pantheism asserts that "all is God", panentheism claims that God is greater than the unive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divine Providence (Judaism)
Divine providence ( ''Hashgochoh Protis'' or ''Hashgaha Peratit'', lit. divine supervision of the individual) is discussed throughout rabbinic literature, by the classical Jewish philosophers, and by the tradition of Jewish mysticism. The discussion brings into consideration the Jewish understanding of nature, and its reciprocal, the miraculous. This analysis thus underpins much of Orthodox Judaism's world view, particularly as regards questions of interaction with the natural world, and the consequence to ones choices as well as personal efforts (''Hishtadlus''/Hishtadlut in Hebrew). Classical Jewish philosophy Divine providence is discussed by all of the major Jewish philosophers, but its extent and nature is a matter of dispute. There are, broadly, two views, differing largely as to the frequency with which God intervenes in the natural order. The first view is the rationalist view which does not deny the occurrence of miracles, but attempts to limit it, and will rationaliz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schneur Zalman Of Liadi
Shneur Zalman of Liadi, (; September 4, 1745 – December 15, 1812 O.S. / 18 Elul 5505 – 24 Tevet 5573) commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for '' Shulchan Aruch HaRav'', '' Tanya'', and his '' Siddur Torah Or'', compiled according to the '' Nusach Ari''. Names Zalman is a Yiddish variant of Solomon and Shneur (or Shne'or) is a Yiddish composite of the two Hebrew words "shnei ohr" (שני אור "two lights"). He is also known as Shneur Zalman Baruchovitch, using the Russian patronymic of his father Baruch, and by a variety of other titles and acronyms including "Baal HaTanya VeHaShulchan Aruch'" ("Author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch"), "Alter Rebbe" (Yiddish for "Old Rabbi"), " Admor HaZaken" (Hebrew for ″Our Old Master and Teacher″), "Rabbenu HaZaken" (Hebrew for "Our Old Rabbi"), "Rabbenu HaGadol" (Hebrew for "Our Great R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habad
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews. Founded in 1775 by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812) in the city of Liozno in the Russian Empire, the name "Chabad" () is an acronym formed from the three Hebrew words— Chokmah, Binah, Da'at— for the first three sefirot of the kabbalistic Tree of Life after Keter: , "Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge"—which represent the intellectual and kabbalistic underpinnings of the movement. The name Lubavitch derives from the town in which the now-dominant line of leaders resided from 1813 to 1915. Other, non-Lubavitch scions of Chabad either disappear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Partzufim
''Partzufim'' or ''Partsufim'' (, singular ''partzuf'', , from Greek: πρόσωπον ''prósopon'' "face" or "mask"), are "countenances" or "personas" of God described in the '' Zohar''. The '' Idra Rabba'' describes a divine being composed of three partzufim: Arikh Anpin, the “Long-Faced One” or “Slow to Anger”; Zʿeir Anpin, the “Small-Faced One” or “Short-Tempered”; and Nukva, the feminine aspect of the Divine. Although one can observe expression of certain sefirot in the partzufim, the Idra Rabba makes no attempt to bring these two paradigms into alignment. The ''Idra Zuta'' describes five partzufim, the aforementioned three and two additional ones Abba (Father) and Imma (Mother), forming an “inner” divine “family” within the Godhead. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the partzufim are reconfigured arrangements of the ten sefirot, the divine attributes or emanations. Each partzuf is thus a configuration of disparate entities into a harmonious unit. Their full ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ohr Ein Sof
Ohr (, plural: ''ʾoroṯ'') is a central Kabbalistic term in Jewish mysticism. The analogy to physical light describes divine emanations. Shefa "flow" ( ''šep̄aʿ'') and its derivative, hashpaʾa "influence" ( ''hašpāʿā''), are sometimes alternatively used in Kabbalah and medieval Jewish philosophy to mean divine influence, while the Kabbalists favour ''ʾor'' because its numerical value equals , a homonym for ''rāz'' "mystery". ''ʾOr'' is one of the two main Kabbalistic metaphors for understanding God, along with the other metaphor of the human soul-body relationship for the sefirot. Image gallery File:Tree of Life, Medieval.jpg, Latin translation of ''Shaare Orah'' שערי אורה "The Gates of Light", one of the most influential presentations of the Kabbalistic system, by Joseph Gikatilla in the 13th centuryCaption to this illustration on p.2 of ''Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction'', Joseph Dan, Oxford University Press File:Ancient shul in meron.jpg, Gal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tzimtzum
The ''tzimtzum'' or ''tsimtsum'' () is a term used in Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria's doctrine that God began the process of creation by limiting the Ohr Ein Sof (infinite light) of the Godhead in order to allow for a conceptual space in which the Four Worlds, or finite realms, could exist. This primordial initial contraction, forming a "vacant space" () into which new creative light could beam, is denoted by general reference to the ''tzimtzum''. In Kabbalistic interpretation, ''tzimtzum'' gives rise to the paradox of simultaneous divine presence and absence within the vacuum and resultant Creation. Various approaches exist as to how the paradox may be resolved, and as to the nature of ''tzimtzum'' itself. Function Because the tzimtzum results in the space in which the spiritual and physical worlds and, ultimately, free will, can exist, God is often referred to as " Ha-Makom" ( lit. "the Place", "the Omnipresent") in rabbinic literature. ''Olam'', the Hebrew t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lurianic Kabbalah
Lurianic Kabbalah is a school of Kabbalah named after Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the Jewish rabbi who developed it. Lurianic Kabbalah gave a seminal new account of Kabbalistic thought that its followers synthesised with, and read into, the earlier Kabbalah of the Zohar that had disseminated in Medieval circles. Lurianic Kabbalah describes new doctrines of the origins of Creation, and the concepts of Olam HaTohu (Hebrew: עולם התהו "The World of Tohu-Chaos") and Olam HaTikun (Hebrew: עולם התיקון "The World of Tikun-Rectification"), which represent two archetypal spiritual states of being and consciousness. These concepts derive from Isaac Luria's interpretation of and mythical speculations on references in the Zohar.The Development of Kabbalah in Three Stages from inner.org: 1 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merkabah
Merkabah () or Merkavah mysticism (lit. Chariot mysticism) is a school of History of Judaism, early Jewish mysticism (), centered on vision (spirituality), visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1 or in the hekhalot literature ("palaces" literature), concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God. The main corpus of the Merkabah literature was composed in the period 200–700 CE, although later references to the Chariot tradition can also be found in the literature of the Ashkenazi Hasidim in the Middle Ages. A major text in this tradition is the ''Maaseh Merkabah'' (). Etymology The noun ''merkavah'' "thing to ride in, cart" is derived from a verb, , with the general meaning "to ride". The word "chariot" is found 44 times in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, most referring to normal chariots on earth. Although the concept of the Merkabah is associated with Ezekiel's vision, the word is not used in Ezekiel 1. However, when left untranslated, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
