''Atzmus'' or ''Atzmut'' ( from the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

''etzem'') is the descriptive term referred to in

Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...

, and explored in

Hasidic thought Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism (), alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic ''rebbes'', often in the form of commentary on the Torah (the Five ...

, for the

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

essence. Classical Kabbalah predominantly refers to the Godhead in

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

with its designated term "

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" ( ''še ...

" ("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 The unmoved mover () or prime mover () is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary Causality (physics), cause (or first uncaused cause) or "Motion (physics), mover" of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the moves oth ...

of creation.

Background

Perceptions of God in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah

Medieval

Jewish philosophers Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

, articulate a transcendent

negative theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness tha ...

where it is only possible to describe

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

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.

, influenced by the philosophical argument, but seeking the Biblical God who is also

immanent The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheist ...

, gives a different, more radical solution. It distinguishes between God in Himself and in His emanations. The Infinite Divine, the

("Limitless") is beyond all understanding, description or manifestation. Only through the 10

Sephirot Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...

Divine attributes is God revealed to Creation, and the sustaining lifeforce that continuously recreates existence is channeled. The final sephirah

Malchut Malkuth (; "kingdom"; Ashkenazi: ''Malkhus'' ), Malkhut, Malkhuth, or Malchus, is the tenth of the sefirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Description In the ''Zohar'', an important Kabbalistic text from late al-Andalus, Malkuth sits at th ...

(Kingship) becomes the feminine

Shechina Shekhinah () is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God in a place. This concept is found in Judaism from Talmudic literature. The word "Shekhinah" is found in the Bible only ...

(Divine presence), the immanent indwelling Divinity in Creation. In manifestation God is

anthropomorphically Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

described as both male and female, where male denotes outward giving and female denotes inward nurturing. In Kabbalah there are traces of

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 reviewin ...

, such as the

Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...

's description of the two forms of sustenance, the " Light that surrounds" and the " Light that fills" all Worlds, and

Moshe Cordovero Moses ben Jacob Cordovero ( ''Moshe Kordovero'' ‎; 1522–1570) was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in the Ottoman Empire in 16th-century Safed, located in the modern State of Israel. H ...

's description of Panentheism in his 16th-century quasi-rational hierarchical systemisation of Kabbalah. Cordovero reconciles previous opinions regarding the Divine nature of the sephirot, by describing them as lights invested in vessels. Only the vessels differentiate, while the light, originating from the Ein Sof, is undifferentiated, removing any notion of plurality, in the manner water pours into different coloured vessels or light streams through different colours of glass. Regarding perception of Divinity, influenced by the negative theology of the philosophers, Cordovero says:

Whenever one forms a conceptual image of God, he should immediately backtrack, recoiling from the false notion, as any notion is shaped by man's spatial world. Rather, he should " Run and Return" towards imagining Divinity, and then rejecting it.

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 earli ...

the first act of Creation is the primordial

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 spa ...

(self "Withdrawal") of God, to resolve the problem of how finite Creation could emerge from the Infinite. Beforehand, the

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 someti ...

fills all reality, nullifying potential creation into non-existence. The tzimtzum constitutes a radical leap, withdrawing the infinite light into God, to allow the latent potentially finite light to emerge, from which Creation unfolds. Subsequently, the sephirot reconfigure as

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 ...

, recasting Cordovero's linear hierarchy with one of enclothement, allowing lower Creation to conceal within it higher Divine origins.

Habad view of Atzmus

The school of

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 ...

, founded by

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. H ...

(1745–1812), differed from mainstream Hasidism in seeking to intellectually articulate Hasidic thought in systematic study, with the mind as the route to the heart. Consequently, it retained the mystical ideal of communicating as widely as possible the elite nullification of Creation in Divine Unity.''Communicating the Infinite: The Emergence of the Habad School'', Naftali Loewenthal, University Of Chicago Press, 1990

Background

Perceptions of God in Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah

Habad view of Atzmus

See also

References

Further reading