A Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Kabbalah’s defining symbols
If you’ve had any introduction to Kabbalah, you’ve likely encountered the word sephirot (pronounced sphere oat). More than just central to the symbolism of Kabbalah, the Sephirot are arguably its defining characteristic. A source that doesn’t mention or refer to the Sephirot, can’t easily be classified as Kabbalah. Conversely, since it is only used in this context, the simple appearance of the word in any document almost automatically makes it Kabbalistic.
Who?
Who came up with the Sephirot?
Short answer: Medieval Jewish Rabbis
The idea of the sephirot developed over centuries, with various, often anonymous, contributors. The word itself is mysterious and is first used by the unknown author of the Sefer Yetzirah. The sephirot were developed further in the pseudonymous book Bahir and a handful of other early works.
Most important among the writers of these manuscripts, and thought by some to be the actual author of the Bahir, Rabbi Isaac the Blind outlined a preliminary structure and order. His student, Azriel of Gerona, added key developments, particularly the idea of Ein Sof. This foundation would be expanded upon, next by Spanish writers such as Joseph Gikatilla and Moshe de Leon, and later, by circles in Israel including Moshe Cordovero and Isaac Luria in Safed, and Nahmanides in Jerusalem.
What?
What are the Sephirot?
Short answer: Symbols
First and foremost, the sephirot are symbols. They should not be thought of as things that exist in time and space. Part of what makes them difficult to explain and understand, is the same thing that makes them so useful and enduring. Because of their incredible versatility as symbols, they have been adapted to a mind-boggling number of interpretations. However much of the symbolism is arcane and requires more explanation than it normally receives.
Almost always ten in number, they, together, represent the primary apparatus by which God achieves Creation and maintains His presence in the world. The sephirot effectively form a connection between the transcendent God above and the imminent God present in every facet of creation. The nature of the sephirot is mysterious. They are finite but not material. They exist as a part of the process of creation but they themselves are not created.
The sephirot are often depicted as divine attributes or features of God. His mercy, for example, or His right hand. The most popular depiction of them is the arrangement known as the Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life. This symbol shows the 10 sephirot arrayed symmetrically, in three vertical columns.
The names and common explanations given for them are, from highest to lowest, as follows.
Keter (כתר), the first, is the Hebrew word for crown. This represents God’s will, known only to Him.
The second is named Hochmah (חכמה), wisdom. This is called father and beginning.
The third is Binah (בינה), understanding, and the first female aspect of God, called mother.
The fourth is Hesed (חסד), mercy and known occasionally as Gedulah (גדולה), greatness. This is associated with the patriarch Abraham.
The fifth is Geburah (גבורה), strength, known occasionally as Din (דין), judgment. Associated with the patriarch Isaac, it’s sometimes called fear.
The sixth is Tiferet (תפארת), beauty. This is also known as compassion or truth and depicted as the divine Bridegroom. It represents the sun and is associated with the Patriarch Jacob.
The seventh is Netsach (נצח), victory or endurance. This along with the eighth, Hod (היד), glory, are said to represent God’s prophecy and are at times called his legs.
The ninth is Yesod (יסוד), foundation. This often symbolizes righteousness.
The tenth and last is Malkuth (מלכות), kingdom. This is also known as the Bride, and represents the Shekinah, God’s presence in the world. It is also associated with the moon.
When?
When do the idea of the Sephirot take shape?
Short answer: The Middle Ages
If you are disposed to believe the legendary account, Kabbalah traces back to Moses (or even Adam). However the consensus of modern scholarship puts the composition of the earliest relevant document, the Sefer Yetzirah, somewhere between the first and third centuries A.D. This by itself does not tell the whole story.
The text clearly underwent more than one major revision. It may even be that it was originally a book of grammar and had nothing to do with Kabbalah at all. Edits and redactions over time produced the three distinct versions which are known today, no manuscript of which predates the 8th century. Though some have speculated, scholars are unable to agree with certainty as to which parts are earlier or later, or when the portions mentioning the sephirot were added.
The Bahir is another early source in the development of the sephirot. Legend attributes the work to Rabbi Nechunya ben HaKanah who lived in the second century A.D. Today, it is thought to be a medieval product, written in the 11th or 12th century. This is roughly contemporary with the work of Isaac the Blind and Azriel of Gerona who advanced the concept of the sephirot before the center of Kabbalah shifted to Spain in the 13th century. By the time of the Zohar, about 1292, the sephirot had essentially reached full development.
Where?
Where did this happen?
Short answer: France and Spain and then Israel
Many of the early sources mentioned above are traditionally ascribed to authors who lived in ancient Jerusalem or elsewhere in the biblical world. The earliest individuals who we can identify with any degree of certainty, appear in Provence, a region of Southern France, during the 12th century. This is the group that produced Isaac the Blind and other members of the so-called Iyyun circle.
This influence reached nearby Castille and Catalonia which became centers of Kabbalah in the 13th century and it’s there, in modern-day Spain, that the sephirot, for the most part, achieve their classic development from Gikatilla, de Leon, and others.
Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, a new center of Kabbalah emerged in the city of Safed, Israel. This is the setting for Cordovero, the great Lion of Kabbalah Isaac Luria, and his foremost student and the main source of his Luria’s teaching, Chaim Vital.
Why?
Why did they come up with the Sephirot in the first place?
Short answer: To reconcile old ideas with new ones
To understand why the sephirot evolved as an idea, it is helpful to consider three forces influencing Jewish thought at the time. There were the philosophers led by Maimonides. Their ideas about the Divine, exposed to classical Greek philosophy, had moved away from the mythology of the past. They described a transcendent Deity, the true nature of whom was unknowable and whose essence was beyond human comprehension.
Against this were the rabbis, who maintained the popular religion and were, to a degree, invested in the traditional mythology. They retained the national God who provided for and was involved in the everyday lives of His chosen people. This personal God, who answered prayers and revealed Himself to prophets, may have been, intellectually, less satisfying, but was, practically speaking, more available, and emotionally, infinitely more comforting.
To these two contributors can be added a third – mystics. This group was by far the smallest, but their influence was significant. They had developed a symbolic interpretation of the book of Ezekiel that supported their unique experiential approach to God. They would inspire the style by which Kabbalists would blend the competing ideas of the philosophers and rabbis. Symbolically, the Kabbalists represented a dynamic Godhead that included both the entirely transcendent God of the philosophers and the present God who dwelled among humans and spoke directly to them.
The Sephirot were the symbols that made such a reconciliation of ideas possible.
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