KABBALAH

Please excuse spelling/grammatical errors, as I had been quickly writing for class.

I. A Key Word in Kabbalah is “Ratzon,” “Will”

A. Understanding what Ratzon means
1. Your house is in its latest stage of construction - but there were earlier
stages in the construction
a) Desire/emotion to build a house
(1) Potential Stage
b) Thinking about the kind of house you want
(1) Potential Stage
c) Planning/architecture
(1) Potential Stage
d) Construction
(1) Actual Stage
2. These steps occur in everything you do in life
a) College, etc.
3. Ratzon is the first stage - desire to do something
B. Ratzon and Capability
1. If you do something, can I know your full capability?
a) If an engineer builds a small bridge, doesn’t mean he can’t build a
big bridge
(1) A lot of the time you have a small ratzon because you don’t
want to do something massive
(2) If your ratzon is to be middle class, it doesn’t mean you
can’t be a billionaire
C. Creation of the World and God’s Ratzon are Two Different Things
1. We can’t know God’s capability
2. We see his goal/ratzon for the world, but we don’t know how much bigger,
etc. he could’ve made it
3. He could’ve made a perfect world, but he didn’t have ratzon to do that, he
had a ratzon to build what we have now
4. His ratzon was self-limiting - we see only what his goal for this was
5. Why would God limit his ratzon and create an imperfect world?
a) There would be no free will
b) Impossible to make bad choices
c) No confusion, personality, meaning
D. This means there are two aspects of God’s will
1. Infinite divine ratzon and limited ratzon
a) Infinite Ratzon
(1) Ein Sof (Endless)
b) Limited Ratzon
 (1) Or Ein Sof (Light’s Endlessness)
(a) Separated into levels called Sephirot
II. Tzimtzum (Contraction)
A. Definition: Concealment of God through a number of stages
B. He contracts the light until it hits the physical world, at which point it’s difficult to
see God (starts very godly, and is slowly concealed)
C. Reason behind the concealment/contraction is to give us free will
D. Before the creation of the physical world, God was alone (Ein Sof - no body)
1. Revelation of God
a) Or Ein Sof
(1) Tzimtzum relates to the Or Ein Sof, the ​light​ is contracted,
not God himself
(2) To make a physical world, the light had to be concealed,
otherwise everything would dissolve into it - so powerful
(3) A void is created (Chalal - vacuum, empty space)
(a) Or Ein Sof all around it
(i) Chalal is a round, empty void (Empty
Space)
(ii) Tiny amount of spirituality inside the void,
everything needs some Or Ein Sof to exist,
we all exist inside the contracted void
(a) Reshima is the remaining spirituality
III. A Ray (Kav) Enters the Chalal (A Line of Or Ein Sof)
A. Source of all subsequent creations
1. Immanence of God in creation
a) God’s activity/location in creation
2. This Kav goes through a series of contractions/concealments
a) That makes it possible for all low levels of creation to have been
made
b) These contractions are called Sephirot
(1) Ten levels that are the foundation of all creation
(2) Levels are screened over and over
(a) They are not independent of God - they’re that Or
Ein Sof (God) being screened again and again
(i) Allows you to feel God literally anywhere
(ii) Analogy: Moon reflects light of sun, but it’s a
lower level of light than from the sun directly
(light has been screened)

IV. Sephirot - Levels

(a) Keter - Crown
(b) Chachma - Wisdom
(c) Binah - Understanding
 (d) Chesed - Kindness (AVRAHAM)
(e) Din/Gevurah - Power/Justice (YITZCHAK)
(f) Tiferet - Beauty, Torah (YA’AKOV)
(g) Netzach - Victory (MOSHE)
(h) Hod - Glory (AHARON)
(i) Yesod - Foundation (YOSEF)
(j) Malchut - Kingdom (DOVID)
(2) Everything is a combination of these
b) Keter:
(1) Ratzon - Will
(a) So high, nothing can be said about it
(b) Intermediary between Or Ein Sof (God) and
Sephirot
(c) Intermediary between God and the rest of Creation
(d) Everything comes from Keter (contains potential for
everything)
(e) If God wants to do something, there’s a Ratzon,
then he uses other stages to accomplish it
(f) Everything emanates from Keter
c) Chachma:
(1) An intuitive, beginning idea / initial flash of insight
(a) Nothing physical, but the initial creativity is in play
(b) Past “Desire,” and entering intellect
(c) Creativity
d) Binah:
(1) Potential of Chachma becomes externalized, and the
details are spelled out
(2) You’re taking that creative instinct and fleshing out the
details (how many windows am I going to have?)
(3) Taking it from Chachma to the next step
(4) Still an intellectual phase
e) Chesed:
(1) Uninhibited giving regardless of the merit
(a) Taking ratzon, will, creativity, and the plan and
putting it out into the world, giving
(b) Leadership/managerial skills
(i) Making something actually happen
f) Din (AKA Gevurah):
(1) Limits
(a) You have to set limits for your child
(b) You need balance - gevurah alone destroys
(2) Stop Chesed before it goes too far - red light on the giving
(a) Setting boundaries
 g) Tiferet:
(1) Harmonizes Chesed and Din
(2) Team Player
(3) Learns to work with all personalities
(a) Perceptive of people’s needs, etc.
(b) Rachamim - Mercy
(4) You must harmonize the two extremes, each alone will
destroy
h) Netzach:
(1) Implementer
(2) Prevailing, enduring, conquering
(a) Build a company on these principles
i) Hod:
(1) You can’t just conquer, you have to understand the details
(a) Controls the implementation by focusing on details
(b) Details of how you implement
(2) President wants to lower interest rates, Fed says wait that
will mess things up, implementation vs. hod
j) Yesod:
(1) Blends
(a) Takes all principles and finds a way to formulate
what will enter the world
(b) Feeds it into...
k) Malchut:
(1) Now it actually *pops* into the world
(2) Takes everything from Yesod and becomes
corporeal/”real”

V. How does the world run?

A. Two ways (​PHOTO OF BOARD)
1. One represents the world/nature
a) Going from God to creation
(a) General way creation works (Atoms, etc.)
(b) Hashgacha Clalit
(c) Circle diagram - Egulim (Circles)
2. One represents the human body
(d) Each level refers to a different part of the body
(e) You get what you deserve - very personal
(f) Hashgacha Pratit
(g) Human diagram - Yosher (Strength)

VIII. 5 Worlds
A. Adam Kadmo (Primordial Man)
 1. So close to Or Ein Sof, the Sephirot aren’t there yet
a) They just exist in potential
(1) Haven’t split off yet
(2) Not articulated yet
b) Can’t know anything except it has the roots - total spirituality
B. First Real World: Atzilut
1. World of Emanation
2. Sephirot aren’t separated
3. Only spirituality
4. Light of Ein Sof is concentrated in a line
5. Considered divinity
6. World of God
7. Just on the verge of separating into Sephirot
C. Second Real World: Briah - Creation
1. Full effects of contraction are now felt
2. Separated between Atzilut and this world
3. Sephirot are separated
4. Called Kisei HaKavod - Throne of Glory
5. Sephirot are going to be used to manufacture everything in existence
D. Third Real: Yetzirah - Creation/Formation
1. Angels exist in this level
2. Force God uses to make things happen in this world
3. Spiritual beings - exist as messengers in the spiritual dimension
E. Fourth Real: Asiyah - Doing
1. Includes all physical creations
2. Constant contractions leads to a finite, physical world
3. All the contractions in spirituality lead to this physical world
F. Sephirot enter first world, contraction; sephirot enters second world, etc…
1. Many, many contractions

IX. Orot V’Keilim - Lights and Vessels

A. Spiritual light emanating from Or Ein Sof is called Orot/Light
1. The light is always unchanged
a) The distinction is made possible by entering the vessels
b) Sephirot are spiritual vessels
c) The differentiation/distinction in how the light is expressed is due
to the kind of vessel/Sephirah it enters
d) Keeps contracting until spirituality can be ignored (atheism, etc.)
e) The vessels become more physical as you enter lowers worlds
X. Breaking of the Vessels - Sh’virut Ha’Keilim
A. Explains origin of evil
1. Mission of sephirot was in the Eigulim (Circles)
a) Point of light with 10 degrations
 b) There was a vessel (Sephirah) the Or can enter
(1) First is Keter
B. When the Or Ein Sof entered Keter, Keter could contain it
1. Very high Sephirah, so it could contain it
a) Then line continued and entered the next level (Chachma)
(1) Chachma could absorb that light (filtered)
b) Then continued to next level (Binah)
(1) Filtered so it could contain it
C. When it enters the 4th - Chesed, that vessel (Chesed) shattered
1. All the other vessels shattered with it
D. The Sephirot were separate and independent (Circles) which is why it shattered
E. When a person dies, the soul goes to source, the body goes down to ​its s​ ource
1. When the vessel shattered, the light returned up to source
a) The vessel descended to physicality (downward)
b) But there’s still a remnant of light within the vessels (how it exists)
F. After Chesed shatters, Fragments descend through the 5 worlds
1. Atzilut
a) Fragments fell into Briah
(1) Everything that could stay stayed
(2) Everything that couldn’t, falls into Atzirah
(3) Process repeats with Atzirah
(4) Same with Asiyah (2 levels of physicality (pure vs impure))
(a) Physical world, everything has the remaining
fragments of light
(b) Lowest level within Asiyah is Tumah - impurity
G. Breaking of vessels creates choice between good and evil

XI. Partzufim - Faces / Visages

A. After breaking of the vessels, a new representation of the Sephirot was created
1. Human diagram of the Sephirot
2. Enabled vessels to contain light
3. The breaking occurred because Sephirot were independent and not in
harmony
4. Harmonized Sephirot - caused them to function together
B.
C. All operate as a function of man
- Visage 1
- Head is Keter
- Erech Apayim
- Long face
- Has all 10 sephirot
D. Chachma is the next sephirah
- Abba: Father
 - All 10 sephirot again
- Right side
- Visage 2
Binah - third sephirah
- Imma: Mother
- All have 10 sephirot
- Left side
- Visage 3

Ben (son)
Visage 4
Zair Anphim (Small Faces)
Emotions
- Din - left hand
- Hod - left leg
- Chesed - right hand
- Netzach - right leg
- Tiferet - unites Chesed and Din - middle
- Yesod - Takes it all, and pours it into female (genital, etc.) - middle, bottom

Bat (daughter)
Visage 5
Out of everything comes creation
- Malchut
- Nukva

Malchut (Visage 5) wants to unite with Visage 4

Why man and woman gets married
Reunite Ben and Bat
If they unite everything starts being healed

5 visages make up nuclear family

Each possible has 10 sephirot (millions of combinations)
Right Side
Left Side
Middle

Visage 1: Keter (Head)

- AKA Erech Apayim (Long Face)
- Intellectual
Visage 2: Chachma
- AKA Abba: Father
- Intellectual

Visage 3: Binah
- AKA Imma: Mother
- Intellectual

Visage 4: Ben
- AKA Zair Anphim
- Emotions

Visage 5: Bat
- Bringing it into the corporeal world

12: Tohu V’Tikkun - disorder and repair

A. Original state of Sephirot (circles - independent)
a. Described in first line of Genesis
i. Tohu v’vovu
b. Tikkun - Repaired state - Partzufim (Yosher)
i. Combine son and daughter and that repairs the vessels
B. Circles - each on its own
a. Tikkun​ - everything works together

13: | Klipot - Shells | + | Sitra Achra - Other Side | ​(Evil / Impurity)

A. Klipot: Parts of broken vessels that couldn’t assimilate (and build things)
a. Exist only because there’s sparks of holiness within them
B. 4 Klipot (Shells) [2 classes]
a. Three are total garbage (totally impure - can’t assimilate into anything)
i. Evil Klipot
ii. Will be gone at the end of time
iii. Everything forbidden in Torah
b. One is good (has purpose)
i. Klipah Nogah (literally: Shiny Shell)
1. Everything permitted but not commanded in Torah
2. Desk, sex, etc.
3. Direct contact with spirituality
a. Intermediary between what is holy and what isn’t
b. Helps first three exist
i. Otherwise they’d cease to exist
 c. We have to nurture ​Klipah Nogah​ and lift it up spiritually
i. Otherwise, other 3 will rise and destroy
c. Distinction
i. Everything forbidden in Torah is from the 3 ​Klipah
1. Rape, murder, pork, etc
ii. Everything permitted but not commanded is the ​Klipah Nogah
1. When everything permitted is done for a higher purpose, it is
absorbed into holiness - becomes holy
2. If used for the wrong purpose, permitted things lean to the other
three ​Klipot

14: Birur v’Tikkun (Clarification and Repair)

A. The only reason we exist is to prevail over ​Klipot​ with our actions (Torah, etc.)
a. The breaking of the vessels established free will (evil, etc.)
i. Our actions repair the vessels
ii. If we subdue evil below, God fixes above (mercy, etc.)
1. If we do bad, we bring ​Din
a. Bad stuff unto the Jews (enemies, etc.)
2. If we do good, we bring mercy unto ourselves
b. When the spark is removed from the ​Klipot​, they cease to exist
i. The task of a person is to extricate the spark from the three ​Klipot​, and
reunite them into ​Kedusha (Birur) [Tikkun Olam]
ii. The ​Klipah Nogah​ will then be absorbed into holiness
iii. This will result in a different world
c. Chet - Mistake
i. Chet​ causes the ​Klipah Nogah​ to be absorbed into the three Klipot
1. This minimizes the holiness even further
2. All the Jews will then be exiled from Israel
3. When the holiness is freed, Messiah will come