I.I.כתר1Crown3בינהIntelligenceחכמה2Wisdom5פחדJusticeחסד4Loveתפארת6Beauty8הודSplendourנצח7Firmnessיסוד9Foundationמלכות10Kingdom[100]II.II.און סוףThe Endless.כתרCrown1בינחIntelligence3חכמהWisdom2פחדJustice5חסדLove4תפארתBeauty6הודSplendour8נצחFirmness7יסודFoundation9מלכותKingdom10The threeSephirothon the right, representing the principle of mercy (חסד), are calledthe Pillar of Mercy(סטרא ימינא עמודא דחסד); the three on the left, representing the principle of rigour (דין), are denominatedthe Pillar of Judgment(סטרא דשמאלא עמודא דדינה); whilst the fourSephirothin the centre, representing mildness (רחמיﬦ),[101]are calledthe Middle Pillar(עמודא דאמצעיתא). EachSephiracomposing this trinity of triads is, as it were, a trinity in itself. I, It has its own absolute character; II, It receives from above; and III, It communicates to what is below it. Hence the remark, “Just as the Sacred Aged is represented by the number three, so are all the other lights (Sephiroth) of a threefold nature.” (Sohar, iii, 288b.) Within this trinity in each unit and trinity of triads there is a trinity of units, which must be explained before we can propound the Kabbalistic view of the cosmogony.We have seen that three of theSephirothconstitute uniting links between three pairs of opposites, and by this means produce three triads, respectively denominated the Intellectual World, the Sensuous or Moral World, and the Material World, and that these three unitingSephiroth, together with the one which unites the whole into a common unity, form what is calledthe Middle Pillarof the Kabbalistic tree. Now from the important position they thus occupy, theseSephirothare synecdochically used to represent the worlds which by their uniting potency they respectively yield. Hence theSephira,Crown(כתר), from which theSephiroth,Wisdom(חכמה) andIntelligence(בינה), emanated, and by which they are also united, thus yieldingthe Intellectual World, is by itself used to designate the Intellectual World (עולﬦהמושכל). Its own names, however, are not changed in this capacity, and it still continues to be designated by the several appellations mentioned in the description of the firstSephira. The sixthSephira, calledBeauty(תפארת), which unitesSephirothIV (הסד,Love) and V (פחד,Justice), thus yieldingthe Sensuous World, is by itself used to denote the Sensuous World, and in this capacity is calledthe Sacred King(מלכא קדישא), or simplythe King(מלכא); whilst theSephiracalledKingdom(מלכות), which unites the wholeSephiroth, is here used to represent the Material World,[102]instead of the ninthSephira, calledFoundation(יסוד), and is in this capacity denominatedthe Queen(מלכתא) orthe Matron(מטרוניתא). Thus we obtain within the trinity of triads a higher trinity of units,—viz.,the Crown(כתר),Beauty(תפארת), andKingdom(מלכות),—which represents the potencies of all theSephiroth.II.The Creation or the Kabbalistic Cosmogony.Having arrived at the highest trinity which comprises all theSephiroth, and which consists ofthe Crown,the King, andthe Queen, we shall be able to enter into the cosmogony of the Kabbalah. Now, it is not theEn Sophwho created the world, but this trinity, as represented in the combination of theSephiroth; or rather the creation has arisen from the conjunction of the emanations. The world was born from the union of the crowned King and Queen; or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, these opposite sexes of royalty, who emanated from theEn Soph, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds, we are told, were indeed created before ever the King and Queen or theSephirothgave birth to the present state of things, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished, because theEn Sophhad not yet assumed this human form in its completeness, which not only implies a moral and intellectual nature, but, as conditions of development, procreation, and continuance, also comprises sexual opposites. This creation, which aborted and which has been succeeded by the present order of things, is indicated in Gen. xxxvi, 31–40 . The kings of Edom, or the old kings as they are also denominated, who are here said to have reigned before the monarchs of Israel, and are mentioned as having died one after the other, are those primordial worlds which were successively convulsed and destroyed; whilst the sovereigns of Israel denote the King and Queen who emanated from theEn Soph, and who have given birth to and perpetuate the present world. Thus we are told:—[103]“Before the Aged of the Aged, the Concealed of the Concealed, expanded into the form of King, the Crown of Crowns [i.e.the firstSephira], there was neither beginning nor end. He hewed and incised forms and figures into it [i.e.the crown] in the following manner:—He spread before him a cover, and carved therein kings [i.e.worlds], and marked out their limits and forms, but they could not preserve themselves. Therefore it is written, ‘These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.’ ( Gen. xxxvi, 31 .) This refers to the primordial kings and primordial Israel. All these were imperfect: he therefore removed them and let them vanish, till he finally descended himself to this cover and assumed a form.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 148a.)This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation is again and again reiterated inthe Sohar.9These worlds are compared with sparks which fly out from a red hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extinguished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. “There were old worlds,”the Sohartells us, “which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form [of opposite sexes—the King and Queen], and the master was not yet at his work.” (Idra Suta,Sohar, iii, 292b.) But since nothing can be annihilated—“Nothing perisheth in this world, not even the breath which issues from the[104]mouth, for this, like everything else, has its place and destination, and the Holy One, blessed be his name! turns it into his service;” (Sohar, ii, 110b.)—these worlds could not be absolutely destroyed. Hence when the question is asked—‘Why were these primordial worlds destroyed?’ the reply is given—“Because the Man, represented by the tenSephiroth, was not as yet. The human form contains every thing, and as it did not as yet exist, the worlds were destroyed.” It is added, “Still when it is said that they perished, it is only meant thereby that they lacked the true form, till the human form came into being, in which all things are comprised, and which also contains all those forms. Hence, though the Scripture ascribes death (וימות) to the kings of Edom, it only denotes a sinking down from their dignity,i.e., the worlds up to that time did not answer to the Divine idea, since they had not as yet the perfect form of which they were capable.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 135b.)It was therefore after the destruction of previous worlds, and after theEn Sophor the Boundless assumed the Sephiric form, that the present world was created. “The Holy One, blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh completion, all the things of this world, all the creatures of the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before ever they entered into this world, were present before God in their true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be understood ‘What was, shall be, and what has been done, shall be done.’ ” (Sohar, iii, 61b.) “The lower world is made after the pattern of the upper world; every thing which exists in the upper world is to be found as it were in a copy upon earth; still the whole is one.” (Ibid.,ii, 20a.)This world, however, is not a creationex nihilo, but is simply an immanent offspring and the image of the King and Queen, or, in other words, a farther expansion or evolution of[105]the Sephirothwhich are the emanations ofthe En Soph. This is expressed inthe Soharin the following passage—“The indivisible point [the Absolute], who has no limit, and who cannot be comprehended because of his purity and brightness, expanded from without, and formed a brightness which served as a covering to the indivisible point, yet it too could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light. It too expanded from without, and this expansion was its garment. Thus everything originated through a constant upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated.” (Sohar, i, 20a.) The universe therefore is an immanent emanation fromthe Sephiroth, and reveals and makes visible the Boundless and the Concealed of the Concealed. And though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its parents theSephiroth, because it is further removed from the primordial source of light, yet, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent; and nothing in it can be destroyed, but everything must return to the source whence it emanated. Hence it is said that “all things of which this world consists, spirit as well as body, will return to their principal, and the root from which they proceeded.” (Sohar, ii, 218b.) “He is the beginning and end of all the degrees in the creation. All these degrees are stamped with his seal, and he cannot be otherwise described than by the unity. He is one, notwithstanding the innumerable forms which are in him.” (Ibid.,i, 21a.)Now theseSephiroth, or theWorld of Emanation(עולם אצילות), or theAtzilatic World, gave birth tothreeworlds in the following order:—From the conjunction of theKingandQueen(i.e., theten Sephiroth) proceeded—I.The World of Creation, orthe Briatic World(עולם הבריאה), also calledThe Throne(כורסיא), which is the abode of pure spirits, and which, like its parents, consists of tenSephiroth, or Emanations. TheBriatic World, again, gave rise to,[106]II.The World of Formation, or theJetziratic World(עולﬦ היצירה), which is the habitation of the angels, and also consists of tenSephiroth; whilst theJetziratic World, again, sent forth, III.The World of Action, orthe Assiatic World(עולﬦ העשיה), also calledthe World of Keliphoth(עולﬦ הקליפות), which containsthe Spheres(גלגלים) and matter, and is the residence of the Prince of Darkness and his legions. Or, as theSohardescribes it—“After theSephiroth, and for their use, God madethe Throne(i.e., the World of Creation), with four legs and six steps, thus making ten (i.e., the decade ofSephirothwhich each world has).… For this Throne and its service he formed the ten Angelic hosts (i.e., the World of Formation),Malachim,Arelim,Chajoth,Ophanim,Chashmalim,Elim,Elohim,Benei Elohim,Ishim, andSeraphim(מלאכיﬦ אראליﬦ חיות אופניﬦ חשמליﬦ אליﬦ אלהיﬦ בני אלהים אישים שרפים), and for their service, again, he made Samaël and his legions (i.e., the World of Action), who are, as it were, the clouds upon which the angels ride in their descent on the earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses. Hence it is written—‘Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt.’ ” ( Isa. xix, 1 .) (Soharii, 43a.) There are, therefore,fourworlds, each of which has a separate Sephiric system, consisting of a decade of emanations. I. TheAtzilatic World, called alternatelythe World of Emanations(עולם אצילות),the Image(דיוקנא=εἰκώνwithדprefixed), andthe Heavenly Man(אדם עלאה), which, by virtue of its being a direct emanation from God and most intimately allied with the Deity, is perfect and immutable. II.The Briatic World, calledthe World of Creation(עולם הבריאה) andthe Throne(כורסיא), which is the immediate emanation of the former, and whoseten Sephiroth, being further removed from theEn Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without[107]any admixture of matter. III.The Jetziratic World, calledthe World of Formation(עולם היצירה) andthe World of Angels(מלאכיא), which proceeded from the former world, and whoseten Sephiroth, though of a still less refined substance than the former, because further removed from the primordial source, are still without matter. It is in this angelic world where those intelligent and uncorporeal beings reside, who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to man. And IV.The Assiatic World, calledthe World of Action(עולם העשיה) andthe World of Matter(עולם הקליפות) which emanated from the preceding world, theten Sephirothof which are made up of the grosser elements of all the former three worlds, and which has sunk down in consequence of its materiality and heaviness. Its substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.Before leaving this doctrine about the creation and the relationship of the Supreme Being to the universe, we must reiterate two things. I. Though the trinity ofthe Sephirothgave birth to the universe, or, in other words, is an evolution of the emanations, and is thus a further expansion of the Deity itself, it must not be supposed that the Kabbalists believe in a Trinity in our sense of the word. Their view on this subject will best be understood from the following remark inthe Sohar—“Whoso wishes to have an insight into the sacred unity, let him consider a flame rising from a burning coal or a burning lamp. He will see first a twofold light, a bright white and a black or blue light; the white light isabove, and ascends in a direct light, whilst the blue or dark light isbelow, and seems as the chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they constitute only one flame. The seat, however, formed by the[108]blue or dark light, is again connected with the burning matter which isunder itagain. The white light never changes its colour, it always remains white; but various shades are observed in the lower light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two directions—aboveit is connected with the white light, andbelowwith the burning matter. Now this is constantly consuming itself, and perpetually ascends to the upper light, and thus everything merges into a single unity (וכולא אתקשר ביחודא חדSohar, i, 51a).10And II. The creation, or the universe, is simply the garment of God woven from the Deity’s own substance; or, as Spinoza expresses it, God is the immanent basis of the universe. For although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of all the Concealed sent forth the ten emanations called theForm of God,Form of the Heavenly Man, yet since even this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume another form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the universe. The universe, therefore, or the visible world, is a further expansion of the Divine Substance, and is called in the Kabbalah “the Garment of God.” Thus we are told, “when the Concealed of all the Concealed wanted to reveal himself, he first made a point [i.e.the firstSephira], shaped it into a sacred form [i.e.the totality ofthe Sephiroth], and covered it with a rich and splendid garment that is the world.” (Sohar, i, 2a).III.The Creation of Angels and Men.The different worlds which successively emanated from theEn Sophand from each other, and which sustain the relationship to the Deity of first, second, third, and fourth generations, are, with the exception of the first (i.e., the World of Emanations), inhabited by spiritual beings of various grades.[109]“God animated every part of the firmament with a separate spirit, and forthwith all the heavenly hosts were before him. This is meant by the Psalmist, when he says ( Ps. xxxiii, 6 ) ‘By the breath of his mouth were made all their hosts.’ (Sohar, iii, 68a.) These angels consist of two kinds—good and bad; they have their respective princes, and occupy the three habitable worlds in the following order. As has already been remarked, the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image everything is formed, is occupied by no one else. The angelMetatron(מטטרון) occupies the second orthe Briatic World( עולם בריאה), which is the first habitable world; he alone constitutes the world of pure spirits. He is the garment ofשדיi.e., the visible manifestation of the Deity; his name is numerically equivalent to that of the Lord. (Sohar, iii, 231a.) He governs the visible world, preserves the unity, harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres, planets and heavenly bodies, and is the Captain of the myriads of the angelic hosts11who people the second habitable orthe Jetziratic[110]World(עולםהיצירה), and who are divided into ten ranks, answering to theten Sephiroth. Each of these angels is set over a different part of the universe. One has the control of one sphere, another of another heavenly body; one angel has charge of the sun, another of the moon, another of the earth, another of the sea, another of the fire, another of the wind, another of the light, another of the seasons, &c. &c.; and these angels derive their names from the heavenly bodies they respectively guard. Hence one is called Venus (נגה), one Mars (מאדמים), one the substance of Heaven (עצם השמים), one the angel of light (אוריאל), and another the angel of fire (נוריאל.) (Comp.Sohari, 42, &c.) The demons, constituting the second class of angels, which are the grossest and most deficient of all forms, and arethe shells(קליפות) of being, inhabit the third habitable orAssiatic World(עולם עשיה). They, too, form ten degrees, answering to the decade ofSephiroth, in which darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree. Thus the two first degrees are nothing more than the absence of all visible form and organisation, which the Mosaic cosmology describes in the wordsתהו ובהוbefore the hexahemeron, and which the Septuagint renders byἀόρατος καὶἀκατασκεύαστος. The third degree is the abode of the darkness which the book of Genesis describes as having in the beginning covered the face of the earth. Whereupon follow seven infernal halls (שבע היכלות) =Hells, occupied by the demons, which are the incarnation of all human vices, and which torture those poor deluded beings who suffered themselves to be led astray in this world. These seven infernal halls are subdivided into endless compartments, so as to[111]afford a separate chamber of torture for every species of sin. The prince of this region of darkness, who is called Satan in the Bible, is denominated by the Kabbalah,Samaël(סמאל) =angel of poisonorof death. He is the same evil spirit, Satan, the serpent, who seduced Eve.12He has a wife, called the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom (אשת זנוניﬦ), but they are both generally represented as united in the one name ofthe Beast(חיוא. Comp.Sohar, ii, 255–259, with i, 35b.)The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation, and the microcosm uniting in himself the totality of beings. “TheHeavenly Adam(i.e., the tenSephiroth), who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., theEn Soph), created theEarthly Adam.” (Sohar, ii, 70b.) “Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created, everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms.” (Sohar, iii, 48a.)13Man was created with faculties and features far transcending those of the angels. The bodies of the protoplasts were not of that gross matter which constitutes our bodies. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were wrapped in that luminous ethereal substance in which the celestial spirits are clad, and which is neither subject to want nor to sensual desires. They were envied by the angels of the highest rank. The fall, however, changed it all, as we are told in the following passage—“When Adam[112]dwelled in the garden of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is a garment of heavenly light. But when he was expelled from the garden of Eden, and became subject to the wants of this world, what is written? ‘The Lord God made coats of skins unto Adam and to his wife, and clothed them’ ( Gen. iii, 21 ); for prior to this they had garments of light—light of that light which was used in the garden of Eden.” (Sohar, ii, 229b.) The garments of skin, therefore, mean our present body, which was given to our first parents in order to adapt them to the changes which the fall introduced.But even in the present form, the righteous are above the angels,14and every man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe. “What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins? No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image. The skin represents the firmament, which extends everywhere, and covers everything like a garment—as it is written, ‘Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.’ ( Ps. clv, 2 ) … The flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world;… the bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner powers, the servants of God.… But these are the[113]outer garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is mysterious. Therefore it is written—‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ ( Gen. i, 27 ); repeating the word God twice, one for the man and the other for the woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man. And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries, whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the mysteries in the human face.” (Sohar, ii, 76a.) He is still the presence of God upon earth (שכינתא תתאה), and the very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name Jehovah (יהוה). Thus the head is the form of theי, the arms and the shoulders are like theה, the breast represents the form of theו, whilst the two legs with the back represent the form of the secondה. (Sohar, ii, 42a.)15The souls of all these epitomes of the universe are pre-existent in the World of Emanations,16and are without exception[114]destined to inhabit human bodies, and pursue their course upon earth for a certain number of years. Hence we are told that, “When the Holy One, blessed be his name, wished to create the world, the universe was before him in idea. He then formed all the souls which are destined for the whole human race. All were minutely before him in the same form which they were to assume in the human body. He looked at each one of them; and there were some among them which would corrupt their way upon the earth.” (Sohar, i, 96b). Like theSephirothfrom which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided into a trinity of triads, and are respectively represented by (I)The Spirit, (נשמה), which is the highest degree of being, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byThe Crown(כתר), representing the highest triad in theSephiroth, called the Intellectual World; (II)The Soul(רוח), which is the seat of good and evil, as well as the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byBeauty(תפארת), representing the second triad in theSephiroth, called the Moral World; and (III)The Cruder Spirit(נפש), which is immediately connected with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions, instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byFoundation(יסוד), representing the third triad in theSephiroth, called the Material World.In its original state each soul is androgynous, and is separated into male and female when it descends on earth to be borne in a human body. We have seen that the souls of[115]the righteous, in the world of spirits, are superior in dignity to the heavenly powers and the ministering angels. It might, therefore, be asked why do these souls leave such an abode of bliss, and come into this vale of tears to dwell in tabernacles of clay? The only reply to be given is that these happy souls have no choice in the matter. Indeed we are told that the soul, before assuming a human body, addresses God—“Lord of the Universe! I am happy in this world, and do not wish to go into another world, where I shall be a bond-maid, and be exposed to all kinds of pollutions.” (Sohar, ii, 96.)17And can you wonder at this pitiful ejaculation? Should your philanthropic feelings and your convictions that our heavenly Father ordains all things for the good of his children, impel you to ask that an explanation of this mystery might graciously be vouchsafed to you in order to temper your compassion and calm your faith, then take this parable. “A son was born to a King; he sends him to the country, there to be nursed and brought up till he is grown up, and instructed in the ceremonies and usages of the royal palace. When the King hears that the education of his son is finished, what does his fatherly love impel him to do? For his son’s sake he sends for the Queen his mother, conducts him into the palace and makes merry with him all day. Thus the Holy One, blessed be he, has a son with the Queen: this is the heavenly and sacred soul. He sends him into the country, that is into this world, therein to grow up and to learn the customs of the court. When the King hears that this his son has grown up in the country, and that it is time to bring him into the palace, what does his love for his son impel him to do? He sends, for his sake,[116]for the Queen and conducts him to the palace.” (Sohar, i, 245b.)As has already been remarked, the human soul, before it descends into the world, is androgynous, or in other words, consists of two component parts, each of which comprises all the elements of our spiritual nature. Thus theSohartells us—“Each soul and spirit, prior to its entering into this world, consists of a male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts separate and animate two different bodies. At the time of marriage, the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before, and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and left of one individual; therefore ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ (Eccl.i, 9 .)… This union, however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks. If the man is pure and his conduct is pleasing in the sight of God, he is united with that female part of his soul which was his component part prior to his birth.” (Sohar, i, 91b.)18The soul carries her knowledge with her to the earth, so that “every thing which she learns here below she knew already, before she entered into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)Since the form of the body as well as the soul, is made after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the forthcoming body which is to clothe the newly descending soul, is sent down from the celestial regions, to hover over the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate, in order that the conception may be formed according to this model. “At[117]connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One, blessed be he, sends a human form which bears the impress of the divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and if we were permitted to see it we should perceive over our heads an image resembling a human face; and it is in this image that we are formed. As long as this image is not sent by God and does not descend and hover over our heads, there can be no conception, for it is written—‘And God created man in his own image.’ ( Gen. i, 27 .) This image receives us when we enter the world, itdevelopsitself with us when we grow, and accompanies us when we depart this life; as it is written—‘Surely, man walked in an image’ ( Ps. xxxvii, 5 ): and this image is from heaven. When the souls are to leave their heavenly abode, each soul separately appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in which it is to appear in this world. It is from this sublime form that the image proceeds. It is the third after the soul, and precedes it on the earth; it is present at the conception, and there is no conception in the world where this image is not present.” (Sohar, iii, 104ab.)19All human countenances are divisible into the four primordial types of faces, which appeared at the mysterious chariot throne in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., the face of man, of the lion, the ox and the eagle. Our faces resemble these more or less according to the rank which our souls occupy in the intellectual or moral dominion. “And physiognomy does not consist in the external lineaments, but in the features which are mysteriously drawn in us. The features[118]in the face change according to the form which is peculiar to the inward face of the spirit. It is the spirit which produces all those physiognomical peculiarities known to the wise; and it is only through the spirit that the features have any meaning. All those spirits and souls which proceed from Eden (i.e., the highest wisdom) have a peculiar form, which is reflected in the face.” (Sohar, ii, 73b.) The face thus lighted up by the peculiar spirit inhabiting the body, is the mirror of the soul; and the formation of the head indicates the character and temper of the man. An arched forehead is a sign of a cheerful and profound spirit, as well as of a distinguished intellect; a broad but flat forehead indicates foolishness and silliness; whilst a forehead which is flat, compressed on the sides and spiral, betokens narrowness of mind and vanity. (Comp.Sohar, ii, 71b, 75a.)As a necessary condition of free existence and of moral being, the souls are endowed by the Deity, from the very beginning, with the power of adhering in close proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from which they emanated, and of alienating themselves from that source and pursuing an independent and opposite course. Hence, Simon ben Jochai said, “If the Holy One, blessed be he, had not put within us both the good and the evil desire, which are denominated light and darkness, the created man would have neither virtue nor vice. For this reason it is written—‘Behold, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.’ ( Deut. xxx, 15 .) To this the disciples replied, Wherefore is all this? Would it not be better if reward and punishment had not existed at all, since in that case man would have been incapable of sinning and of doing evil. He rejoined, It was meet and right that he should be created as he was created, because the Law was created for him, wherein are written punishments for the[119]wicked and rewards for the righteous; and there would not have been any reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked but for created man.” (Sohar,i, 23a.) So complete is their independence, that souls, even in their pre-existent state, can and do choose which way they intend to pursue. “All souls which are not guiltless in this world, have already alienated themselves in heaven from the Holy One, blessed be he; they have thrown themselves into an abyss at their very existence, and have anticipated the time when they are to descend on earth.… Thus were the souls before they came into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)IV.The Destiny of Man and the Universe.Asthe En Sophconstituted man the microcosm, and as the Deity is reflected in this epitome of the universe more than in any component part of the creation, all things visible and invisible are designed to aid him in passing through his probationary state here below, in gathering that experience for which his soul has been sent down, and in returning in a pure state to that source of light from which his soul emanated. This destiny of man—i.e., the reunion with the Deity from which he emanated—is the constant desire both of God and man, and is an essential principle of the soul, underlying its very essence. Discarding that blind power from our nature, which governs our animal life, which never quits this earth, and which therefore plays no part in our spiritual being, the soul possesses two kinds of powers and two sorts of feelings. It has the faculty for that extraordinary prophetical knowledge, which was vouchsafed to Moses in an exceptional manner, calledthe Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא נהרא=specularia), and the ordinary knowledge termedthe Non-Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא דלא נהרא), respectively represented in the earthly Paradise by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; and it possesses[120]the higher feeling of love and the lower feeling of fear.20Now the full fruition of that higher knowledge and of that loftier feeling of love can only be reaped when the soul returns to the Infinite Source of Light, and is wrapped in that luminous garment which the protoplasts forfeited through the fall. Thus we are told, “Come and see when the soul reaches that place which is called the Treasury of Life (צרורא דחיי), she enjoys a bright and luminous mirror (אספקלריאה דנהרא), which receives its light from the highest heaven. The soul could not bear this light but for the luminous mantle which she puts on. For just as the soul, when sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment to preserve herself here, so she receives above a shining garment, in order to be able to look without injury into the mirror whose light proceeds from the Lord of Light. Moses too could not approach to look into that higher light which he saw, without putting on such an ethereal garment; as it is written—‘And Moses went into the midst of the cloud’ ( Exod. xxiv, 18 ), which is to be translatedby meansof the cloud wherewith he wrapped himself as if dressed in a garment. At that time Moses almost discarded the whole of his earthly nature; as it is written,—‘And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights’ (ibid.); and he thus approached that dark cloud where God is enthroned. In this wise the departed spirits of the righteous dress themselves in the upper regions in luminous garments, to be able to endure that light which streams from the Lord of Light.” (Sohar, i, 65b, 66a.)The two feelings of love and fear are designed to aid the soul in achieving her high destiny, when she shall no more[121]look through the dark glass, but see face to face in the presence of the Luminous Mirror, by permeating all acts of obedience and divine worship. And though perfect love, which is serving God purely out of love, like that higher knowledge, is to be man’s destiny in heaven, yet the soul may attain some of it on earth, and endeavour to serve God out of love and not from fear, as thereby she will have an antepast on earth of its union with the Deity, which is to be so rapturous and indissoluble in heaven. “Yet is the service which arises from fear not to be depreciated, for fear leads to love. It is true that he who obeys God out of love has attained to the highest degree, and already belongs to the saints of the world to come, but it must not be supposed that to worship God out of fear is no worship. Such a service has also its merit, though in this case the union of the soul with the Deity is slight. There is only one degree which is higher than fear: it is love. In love is the mystery of the divine unity. It is love which unites the higher and lower degrees together; it elevates everything to that position where everything must be one. This is also the mystery of the words, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.’ ” (Sohar, ii, 216a.)Hence it is that these two principles play so important a part in the devotions and contemplations of the Kabbalists; Love is made to correspond toMercy, the fourthSephira, whilst Fear is made to answer toRigour, the fifthSephira; and it is asserted that when these two principles are thoroughly combined by the righteous in their divine worship and acts of obedience, the name Jehovah, which comprises these two principles, and which is now rent in twain by the preponderance of sin and disobedience, will be re-united. Then, and then only, will all the souls return to the bosom of the Father of our spirits; then will the restitution of all things take place, and the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of God even as the waters cover the sea. This is the reason why the[122]Kabbalists utter the following prayer prior to the performance of any of the commandments: “For the re-union of the Holy One, blessed be his name, and his Shechinah, I do this in love and fear, in fear and love, for the union of the nameיהwithוהinto a perfect harmony! I pronounce this in the name of all Israel!”21In order to represent this union to the senses the wordsFearיראהandLoveאהבה, are divided, and so placed above each other that they may be read either across or down, as follows:—
I.I.כתר1Crown3בינהIntelligenceחכמה2Wisdom5פחדJusticeחסד4Loveתפארת6Beauty8הודSplendourנצח7Firmnessיסוד9Foundationמלכות10Kingdom[100]II.II.און סוףThe Endless.כתרCrown1בינחIntelligence3חכמהWisdom2פחדJustice5חסדLove4תפארתBeauty6הודSplendour8נצחFirmness7יסודFoundation9מלכותKingdom10The threeSephirothon the right, representing the principle of mercy (חסד), are calledthe Pillar of Mercy(סטרא ימינא עמודא דחסד); the three on the left, representing the principle of rigour (דין), are denominatedthe Pillar of Judgment(סטרא דשמאלא עמודא דדינה); whilst the fourSephirothin the centre, representing mildness (רחמיﬦ),[101]are calledthe Middle Pillar(עמודא דאמצעיתא). EachSephiracomposing this trinity of triads is, as it were, a trinity in itself. I, It has its own absolute character; II, It receives from above; and III, It communicates to what is below it. Hence the remark, “Just as the Sacred Aged is represented by the number three, so are all the other lights (Sephiroth) of a threefold nature.” (Sohar, iii, 288b.) Within this trinity in each unit and trinity of triads there is a trinity of units, which must be explained before we can propound the Kabbalistic view of the cosmogony.We have seen that three of theSephirothconstitute uniting links between three pairs of opposites, and by this means produce three triads, respectively denominated the Intellectual World, the Sensuous or Moral World, and the Material World, and that these three unitingSephiroth, together with the one which unites the whole into a common unity, form what is calledthe Middle Pillarof the Kabbalistic tree. Now from the important position they thus occupy, theseSephirothare synecdochically used to represent the worlds which by their uniting potency they respectively yield. Hence theSephira,Crown(כתר), from which theSephiroth,Wisdom(חכמה) andIntelligence(בינה), emanated, and by which they are also united, thus yieldingthe Intellectual World, is by itself used to designate the Intellectual World (עולﬦהמושכל). Its own names, however, are not changed in this capacity, and it still continues to be designated by the several appellations mentioned in the description of the firstSephira. The sixthSephira, calledBeauty(תפארת), which unitesSephirothIV (הסד,Love) and V (פחד,Justice), thus yieldingthe Sensuous World, is by itself used to denote the Sensuous World, and in this capacity is calledthe Sacred King(מלכא קדישא), or simplythe King(מלכא); whilst theSephiracalledKingdom(מלכות), which unites the wholeSephiroth, is here used to represent the Material World,[102]instead of the ninthSephira, calledFoundation(יסוד), and is in this capacity denominatedthe Queen(מלכתא) orthe Matron(מטרוניתא). Thus we obtain within the trinity of triads a higher trinity of units,—viz.,the Crown(כתר),Beauty(תפארת), andKingdom(מלכות),—which represents the potencies of all theSephiroth.II.The Creation or the Kabbalistic Cosmogony.Having arrived at the highest trinity which comprises all theSephiroth, and which consists ofthe Crown,the King, andthe Queen, we shall be able to enter into the cosmogony of the Kabbalah. Now, it is not theEn Sophwho created the world, but this trinity, as represented in the combination of theSephiroth; or rather the creation has arisen from the conjunction of the emanations. The world was born from the union of the crowned King and Queen; or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, these opposite sexes of royalty, who emanated from theEn Soph, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds, we are told, were indeed created before ever the King and Queen or theSephirothgave birth to the present state of things, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished, because theEn Sophhad not yet assumed this human form in its completeness, which not only implies a moral and intellectual nature, but, as conditions of development, procreation, and continuance, also comprises sexual opposites. This creation, which aborted and which has been succeeded by the present order of things, is indicated in Gen. xxxvi, 31–40 . The kings of Edom, or the old kings as they are also denominated, who are here said to have reigned before the monarchs of Israel, and are mentioned as having died one after the other, are those primordial worlds which were successively convulsed and destroyed; whilst the sovereigns of Israel denote the King and Queen who emanated from theEn Soph, and who have given birth to and perpetuate the present world. Thus we are told:—[103]“Before the Aged of the Aged, the Concealed of the Concealed, expanded into the form of King, the Crown of Crowns [i.e.the firstSephira], there was neither beginning nor end. He hewed and incised forms and figures into it [i.e.the crown] in the following manner:—He spread before him a cover, and carved therein kings [i.e.worlds], and marked out their limits and forms, but they could not preserve themselves. Therefore it is written, ‘These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.’ ( Gen. xxxvi, 31 .) This refers to the primordial kings and primordial Israel. All these were imperfect: he therefore removed them and let them vanish, till he finally descended himself to this cover and assumed a form.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 148a.)This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation is again and again reiterated inthe Sohar.9These worlds are compared with sparks which fly out from a red hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extinguished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. “There were old worlds,”the Sohartells us, “which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form [of opposite sexes—the King and Queen], and the master was not yet at his work.” (Idra Suta,Sohar, iii, 292b.) But since nothing can be annihilated—“Nothing perisheth in this world, not even the breath which issues from the[104]mouth, for this, like everything else, has its place and destination, and the Holy One, blessed be his name! turns it into his service;” (Sohar, ii, 110b.)—these worlds could not be absolutely destroyed. Hence when the question is asked—‘Why were these primordial worlds destroyed?’ the reply is given—“Because the Man, represented by the tenSephiroth, was not as yet. The human form contains every thing, and as it did not as yet exist, the worlds were destroyed.” It is added, “Still when it is said that they perished, it is only meant thereby that they lacked the true form, till the human form came into being, in which all things are comprised, and which also contains all those forms. Hence, though the Scripture ascribes death (וימות) to the kings of Edom, it only denotes a sinking down from their dignity,i.e., the worlds up to that time did not answer to the Divine idea, since they had not as yet the perfect form of which they were capable.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 135b.)It was therefore after the destruction of previous worlds, and after theEn Sophor the Boundless assumed the Sephiric form, that the present world was created. “The Holy One, blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh completion, all the things of this world, all the creatures of the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before ever they entered into this world, were present before God in their true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be understood ‘What was, shall be, and what has been done, shall be done.’ ” (Sohar, iii, 61b.) “The lower world is made after the pattern of the upper world; every thing which exists in the upper world is to be found as it were in a copy upon earth; still the whole is one.” (Ibid.,ii, 20a.)This world, however, is not a creationex nihilo, but is simply an immanent offspring and the image of the King and Queen, or, in other words, a farther expansion or evolution of[105]the Sephirothwhich are the emanations ofthe En Soph. This is expressed inthe Soharin the following passage—“The indivisible point [the Absolute], who has no limit, and who cannot be comprehended because of his purity and brightness, expanded from without, and formed a brightness which served as a covering to the indivisible point, yet it too could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light. It too expanded from without, and this expansion was its garment. Thus everything originated through a constant upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated.” (Sohar, i, 20a.) The universe therefore is an immanent emanation fromthe Sephiroth, and reveals and makes visible the Boundless and the Concealed of the Concealed. And though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its parents theSephiroth, because it is further removed from the primordial source of light, yet, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent; and nothing in it can be destroyed, but everything must return to the source whence it emanated. Hence it is said that “all things of which this world consists, spirit as well as body, will return to their principal, and the root from which they proceeded.” (Sohar, ii, 218b.) “He is the beginning and end of all the degrees in the creation. All these degrees are stamped with his seal, and he cannot be otherwise described than by the unity. He is one, notwithstanding the innumerable forms which are in him.” (Ibid.,i, 21a.)Now theseSephiroth, or theWorld of Emanation(עולם אצילות), or theAtzilatic World, gave birth tothreeworlds in the following order:—From the conjunction of theKingandQueen(i.e., theten Sephiroth) proceeded—I.The World of Creation, orthe Briatic World(עולם הבריאה), also calledThe Throne(כורסיא), which is the abode of pure spirits, and which, like its parents, consists of tenSephiroth, or Emanations. TheBriatic World, again, gave rise to,[106]II.The World of Formation, or theJetziratic World(עולﬦ היצירה), which is the habitation of the angels, and also consists of tenSephiroth; whilst theJetziratic World, again, sent forth, III.The World of Action, orthe Assiatic World(עולﬦ העשיה), also calledthe World of Keliphoth(עולﬦ הקליפות), which containsthe Spheres(גלגלים) and matter, and is the residence of the Prince of Darkness and his legions. Or, as theSohardescribes it—“After theSephiroth, and for their use, God madethe Throne(i.e., the World of Creation), with four legs and six steps, thus making ten (i.e., the decade ofSephirothwhich each world has).… For this Throne and its service he formed the ten Angelic hosts (i.e., the World of Formation),Malachim,Arelim,Chajoth,Ophanim,Chashmalim,Elim,Elohim,Benei Elohim,Ishim, andSeraphim(מלאכיﬦ אראליﬦ חיות אופניﬦ חשמליﬦ אליﬦ אלהיﬦ בני אלהים אישים שרפים), and for their service, again, he made Samaël and his legions (i.e., the World of Action), who are, as it were, the clouds upon which the angels ride in their descent on the earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses. Hence it is written—‘Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt.’ ” ( Isa. xix, 1 .) (Soharii, 43a.) There are, therefore,fourworlds, each of which has a separate Sephiric system, consisting of a decade of emanations. I. TheAtzilatic World, called alternatelythe World of Emanations(עולם אצילות),the Image(דיוקנא=εἰκώνwithדprefixed), andthe Heavenly Man(אדם עלאה), which, by virtue of its being a direct emanation from God and most intimately allied with the Deity, is perfect and immutable. II.The Briatic World, calledthe World of Creation(עולם הבריאה) andthe Throne(כורסיא), which is the immediate emanation of the former, and whoseten Sephiroth, being further removed from theEn Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without[107]any admixture of matter. III.The Jetziratic World, calledthe World of Formation(עולם היצירה) andthe World of Angels(מלאכיא), which proceeded from the former world, and whoseten Sephiroth, though of a still less refined substance than the former, because further removed from the primordial source, are still without matter. It is in this angelic world where those intelligent and uncorporeal beings reside, who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to man. And IV.The Assiatic World, calledthe World of Action(עולם העשיה) andthe World of Matter(עולם הקליפות) which emanated from the preceding world, theten Sephirothof which are made up of the grosser elements of all the former three worlds, and which has sunk down in consequence of its materiality and heaviness. Its substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.Before leaving this doctrine about the creation and the relationship of the Supreme Being to the universe, we must reiterate two things. I. Though the trinity ofthe Sephirothgave birth to the universe, or, in other words, is an evolution of the emanations, and is thus a further expansion of the Deity itself, it must not be supposed that the Kabbalists believe in a Trinity in our sense of the word. Their view on this subject will best be understood from the following remark inthe Sohar—“Whoso wishes to have an insight into the sacred unity, let him consider a flame rising from a burning coal or a burning lamp. He will see first a twofold light, a bright white and a black or blue light; the white light isabove, and ascends in a direct light, whilst the blue or dark light isbelow, and seems as the chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they constitute only one flame. The seat, however, formed by the[108]blue or dark light, is again connected with the burning matter which isunder itagain. The white light never changes its colour, it always remains white; but various shades are observed in the lower light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two directions—aboveit is connected with the white light, andbelowwith the burning matter. Now this is constantly consuming itself, and perpetually ascends to the upper light, and thus everything merges into a single unity (וכולא אתקשר ביחודא חדSohar, i, 51a).10And II. The creation, or the universe, is simply the garment of God woven from the Deity’s own substance; or, as Spinoza expresses it, God is the immanent basis of the universe. For although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of all the Concealed sent forth the ten emanations called theForm of God,Form of the Heavenly Man, yet since even this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume another form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the universe. The universe, therefore, or the visible world, is a further expansion of the Divine Substance, and is called in the Kabbalah “the Garment of God.” Thus we are told, “when the Concealed of all the Concealed wanted to reveal himself, he first made a point [i.e.the firstSephira], shaped it into a sacred form [i.e.the totality ofthe Sephiroth], and covered it with a rich and splendid garment that is the world.” (Sohar, i, 2a).III.The Creation of Angels and Men.The different worlds which successively emanated from theEn Sophand from each other, and which sustain the relationship to the Deity of first, second, third, and fourth generations, are, with the exception of the first (i.e., the World of Emanations), inhabited by spiritual beings of various grades.[109]“God animated every part of the firmament with a separate spirit, and forthwith all the heavenly hosts were before him. This is meant by the Psalmist, when he says ( Ps. xxxiii, 6 ) ‘By the breath of his mouth were made all their hosts.’ (Sohar, iii, 68a.) These angels consist of two kinds—good and bad; they have their respective princes, and occupy the three habitable worlds in the following order. As has already been remarked, the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image everything is formed, is occupied by no one else. The angelMetatron(מטטרון) occupies the second orthe Briatic World( עולם בריאה), which is the first habitable world; he alone constitutes the world of pure spirits. He is the garment ofשדיi.e., the visible manifestation of the Deity; his name is numerically equivalent to that of the Lord. (Sohar, iii, 231a.) He governs the visible world, preserves the unity, harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres, planets and heavenly bodies, and is the Captain of the myriads of the angelic hosts11who people the second habitable orthe Jetziratic[110]World(עולםהיצירה), and who are divided into ten ranks, answering to theten Sephiroth. Each of these angels is set over a different part of the universe. One has the control of one sphere, another of another heavenly body; one angel has charge of the sun, another of the moon, another of the earth, another of the sea, another of the fire, another of the wind, another of the light, another of the seasons, &c. &c.; and these angels derive their names from the heavenly bodies they respectively guard. Hence one is called Venus (נגה), one Mars (מאדמים), one the substance of Heaven (עצם השמים), one the angel of light (אוריאל), and another the angel of fire (נוריאל.) (Comp.Sohari, 42, &c.) The demons, constituting the second class of angels, which are the grossest and most deficient of all forms, and arethe shells(קליפות) of being, inhabit the third habitable orAssiatic World(עולם עשיה). They, too, form ten degrees, answering to the decade ofSephiroth, in which darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree. Thus the two first degrees are nothing more than the absence of all visible form and organisation, which the Mosaic cosmology describes in the wordsתהו ובהוbefore the hexahemeron, and which the Septuagint renders byἀόρατος καὶἀκατασκεύαστος. The third degree is the abode of the darkness which the book of Genesis describes as having in the beginning covered the face of the earth. Whereupon follow seven infernal halls (שבע היכלות) =Hells, occupied by the demons, which are the incarnation of all human vices, and which torture those poor deluded beings who suffered themselves to be led astray in this world. These seven infernal halls are subdivided into endless compartments, so as to[111]afford a separate chamber of torture for every species of sin. The prince of this region of darkness, who is called Satan in the Bible, is denominated by the Kabbalah,Samaël(סמאל) =angel of poisonorof death. He is the same evil spirit, Satan, the serpent, who seduced Eve.12He has a wife, called the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom (אשת זנוניﬦ), but they are both generally represented as united in the one name ofthe Beast(חיוא. Comp.Sohar, ii, 255–259, with i, 35b.)The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation, and the microcosm uniting in himself the totality of beings. “TheHeavenly Adam(i.e., the tenSephiroth), who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., theEn Soph), created theEarthly Adam.” (Sohar, ii, 70b.) “Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created, everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms.” (Sohar, iii, 48a.)13Man was created with faculties and features far transcending those of the angels. The bodies of the protoplasts were not of that gross matter which constitutes our bodies. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were wrapped in that luminous ethereal substance in which the celestial spirits are clad, and which is neither subject to want nor to sensual desires. They were envied by the angels of the highest rank. The fall, however, changed it all, as we are told in the following passage—“When Adam[112]dwelled in the garden of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is a garment of heavenly light. But when he was expelled from the garden of Eden, and became subject to the wants of this world, what is written? ‘The Lord God made coats of skins unto Adam and to his wife, and clothed them’ ( Gen. iii, 21 ); for prior to this they had garments of light—light of that light which was used in the garden of Eden.” (Sohar, ii, 229b.) The garments of skin, therefore, mean our present body, which was given to our first parents in order to adapt them to the changes which the fall introduced.But even in the present form, the righteous are above the angels,14and every man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe. “What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins? No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image. The skin represents the firmament, which extends everywhere, and covers everything like a garment—as it is written, ‘Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.’ ( Ps. clv, 2 ) … The flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world;… the bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner powers, the servants of God.… But these are the[113]outer garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is mysterious. Therefore it is written—‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ ( Gen. i, 27 ); repeating the word God twice, one for the man and the other for the woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man. And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries, whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the mysteries in the human face.” (Sohar, ii, 76a.) He is still the presence of God upon earth (שכינתא תתאה), and the very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name Jehovah (יהוה). Thus the head is the form of theי, the arms and the shoulders are like theה, the breast represents the form of theו, whilst the two legs with the back represent the form of the secondה. (Sohar, ii, 42a.)15The souls of all these epitomes of the universe are pre-existent in the World of Emanations,16and are without exception[114]destined to inhabit human bodies, and pursue their course upon earth for a certain number of years. Hence we are told that, “When the Holy One, blessed be his name, wished to create the world, the universe was before him in idea. He then formed all the souls which are destined for the whole human race. All were minutely before him in the same form which they were to assume in the human body. He looked at each one of them; and there were some among them which would corrupt their way upon the earth.” (Sohar, i, 96b). Like theSephirothfrom which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided into a trinity of triads, and are respectively represented by (I)The Spirit, (נשמה), which is the highest degree of being, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byThe Crown(כתר), representing the highest triad in theSephiroth, called the Intellectual World; (II)The Soul(רוח), which is the seat of good and evil, as well as the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byBeauty(תפארת), representing the second triad in theSephiroth, called the Moral World; and (III)The Cruder Spirit(נפש), which is immediately connected with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions, instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byFoundation(יסוד), representing the third triad in theSephiroth, called the Material World.In its original state each soul is androgynous, and is separated into male and female when it descends on earth to be borne in a human body. We have seen that the souls of[115]the righteous, in the world of spirits, are superior in dignity to the heavenly powers and the ministering angels. It might, therefore, be asked why do these souls leave such an abode of bliss, and come into this vale of tears to dwell in tabernacles of clay? The only reply to be given is that these happy souls have no choice in the matter. Indeed we are told that the soul, before assuming a human body, addresses God—“Lord of the Universe! I am happy in this world, and do not wish to go into another world, where I shall be a bond-maid, and be exposed to all kinds of pollutions.” (Sohar, ii, 96.)17And can you wonder at this pitiful ejaculation? Should your philanthropic feelings and your convictions that our heavenly Father ordains all things for the good of his children, impel you to ask that an explanation of this mystery might graciously be vouchsafed to you in order to temper your compassion and calm your faith, then take this parable. “A son was born to a King; he sends him to the country, there to be nursed and brought up till he is grown up, and instructed in the ceremonies and usages of the royal palace. When the King hears that the education of his son is finished, what does his fatherly love impel him to do? For his son’s sake he sends for the Queen his mother, conducts him into the palace and makes merry with him all day. Thus the Holy One, blessed be he, has a son with the Queen: this is the heavenly and sacred soul. He sends him into the country, that is into this world, therein to grow up and to learn the customs of the court. When the King hears that this his son has grown up in the country, and that it is time to bring him into the palace, what does his love for his son impel him to do? He sends, for his sake,[116]for the Queen and conducts him to the palace.” (Sohar, i, 245b.)As has already been remarked, the human soul, before it descends into the world, is androgynous, or in other words, consists of two component parts, each of which comprises all the elements of our spiritual nature. Thus theSohartells us—“Each soul and spirit, prior to its entering into this world, consists of a male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts separate and animate two different bodies. At the time of marriage, the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before, and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and left of one individual; therefore ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ (Eccl.i, 9 .)… This union, however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks. If the man is pure and his conduct is pleasing in the sight of God, he is united with that female part of his soul which was his component part prior to his birth.” (Sohar, i, 91b.)18The soul carries her knowledge with her to the earth, so that “every thing which she learns here below she knew already, before she entered into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)Since the form of the body as well as the soul, is made after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the forthcoming body which is to clothe the newly descending soul, is sent down from the celestial regions, to hover over the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate, in order that the conception may be formed according to this model. “At[117]connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One, blessed be he, sends a human form which bears the impress of the divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and if we were permitted to see it we should perceive over our heads an image resembling a human face; and it is in this image that we are formed. As long as this image is not sent by God and does not descend and hover over our heads, there can be no conception, for it is written—‘And God created man in his own image.’ ( Gen. i, 27 .) This image receives us when we enter the world, itdevelopsitself with us when we grow, and accompanies us when we depart this life; as it is written—‘Surely, man walked in an image’ ( Ps. xxxvii, 5 ): and this image is from heaven. When the souls are to leave their heavenly abode, each soul separately appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in which it is to appear in this world. It is from this sublime form that the image proceeds. It is the third after the soul, and precedes it on the earth; it is present at the conception, and there is no conception in the world where this image is not present.” (Sohar, iii, 104ab.)19All human countenances are divisible into the four primordial types of faces, which appeared at the mysterious chariot throne in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., the face of man, of the lion, the ox and the eagle. Our faces resemble these more or less according to the rank which our souls occupy in the intellectual or moral dominion. “And physiognomy does not consist in the external lineaments, but in the features which are mysteriously drawn in us. The features[118]in the face change according to the form which is peculiar to the inward face of the spirit. It is the spirit which produces all those physiognomical peculiarities known to the wise; and it is only through the spirit that the features have any meaning. All those spirits and souls which proceed from Eden (i.e., the highest wisdom) have a peculiar form, which is reflected in the face.” (Sohar, ii, 73b.) The face thus lighted up by the peculiar spirit inhabiting the body, is the mirror of the soul; and the formation of the head indicates the character and temper of the man. An arched forehead is a sign of a cheerful and profound spirit, as well as of a distinguished intellect; a broad but flat forehead indicates foolishness and silliness; whilst a forehead which is flat, compressed on the sides and spiral, betokens narrowness of mind and vanity. (Comp.Sohar, ii, 71b, 75a.)As a necessary condition of free existence and of moral being, the souls are endowed by the Deity, from the very beginning, with the power of adhering in close proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from which they emanated, and of alienating themselves from that source and pursuing an independent and opposite course. Hence, Simon ben Jochai said, “If the Holy One, blessed be he, had not put within us both the good and the evil desire, which are denominated light and darkness, the created man would have neither virtue nor vice. For this reason it is written—‘Behold, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.’ ( Deut. xxx, 15 .) To this the disciples replied, Wherefore is all this? Would it not be better if reward and punishment had not existed at all, since in that case man would have been incapable of sinning and of doing evil. He rejoined, It was meet and right that he should be created as he was created, because the Law was created for him, wherein are written punishments for the[119]wicked and rewards for the righteous; and there would not have been any reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked but for created man.” (Sohar,i, 23a.) So complete is their independence, that souls, even in their pre-existent state, can and do choose which way they intend to pursue. “All souls which are not guiltless in this world, have already alienated themselves in heaven from the Holy One, blessed be he; they have thrown themselves into an abyss at their very existence, and have anticipated the time when they are to descend on earth.… Thus were the souls before they came into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)IV.The Destiny of Man and the Universe.Asthe En Sophconstituted man the microcosm, and as the Deity is reflected in this epitome of the universe more than in any component part of the creation, all things visible and invisible are designed to aid him in passing through his probationary state here below, in gathering that experience for which his soul has been sent down, and in returning in a pure state to that source of light from which his soul emanated. This destiny of man—i.e., the reunion with the Deity from which he emanated—is the constant desire both of God and man, and is an essential principle of the soul, underlying its very essence. Discarding that blind power from our nature, which governs our animal life, which never quits this earth, and which therefore plays no part in our spiritual being, the soul possesses two kinds of powers and two sorts of feelings. It has the faculty for that extraordinary prophetical knowledge, which was vouchsafed to Moses in an exceptional manner, calledthe Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא נהרא=specularia), and the ordinary knowledge termedthe Non-Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא דלא נהרא), respectively represented in the earthly Paradise by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; and it possesses[120]the higher feeling of love and the lower feeling of fear.20Now the full fruition of that higher knowledge and of that loftier feeling of love can only be reaped when the soul returns to the Infinite Source of Light, and is wrapped in that luminous garment which the protoplasts forfeited through the fall. Thus we are told, “Come and see when the soul reaches that place which is called the Treasury of Life (צרורא דחיי), she enjoys a bright and luminous mirror (אספקלריאה דנהרא), which receives its light from the highest heaven. The soul could not bear this light but for the luminous mantle which she puts on. For just as the soul, when sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment to preserve herself here, so she receives above a shining garment, in order to be able to look without injury into the mirror whose light proceeds from the Lord of Light. Moses too could not approach to look into that higher light which he saw, without putting on such an ethereal garment; as it is written—‘And Moses went into the midst of the cloud’ ( Exod. xxiv, 18 ), which is to be translatedby meansof the cloud wherewith he wrapped himself as if dressed in a garment. At that time Moses almost discarded the whole of his earthly nature; as it is written,—‘And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights’ (ibid.); and he thus approached that dark cloud where God is enthroned. In this wise the departed spirits of the righteous dress themselves in the upper regions in luminous garments, to be able to endure that light which streams from the Lord of Light.” (Sohar, i, 65b, 66a.)The two feelings of love and fear are designed to aid the soul in achieving her high destiny, when she shall no more[121]look through the dark glass, but see face to face in the presence of the Luminous Mirror, by permeating all acts of obedience and divine worship. And though perfect love, which is serving God purely out of love, like that higher knowledge, is to be man’s destiny in heaven, yet the soul may attain some of it on earth, and endeavour to serve God out of love and not from fear, as thereby she will have an antepast on earth of its union with the Deity, which is to be so rapturous and indissoluble in heaven. “Yet is the service which arises from fear not to be depreciated, for fear leads to love. It is true that he who obeys God out of love has attained to the highest degree, and already belongs to the saints of the world to come, but it must not be supposed that to worship God out of fear is no worship. Such a service has also its merit, though in this case the union of the soul with the Deity is slight. There is only one degree which is higher than fear: it is love. In love is the mystery of the divine unity. It is love which unites the higher and lower degrees together; it elevates everything to that position where everything must be one. This is also the mystery of the words, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.’ ” (Sohar, ii, 216a.)Hence it is that these two principles play so important a part in the devotions and contemplations of the Kabbalists; Love is made to correspond toMercy, the fourthSephira, whilst Fear is made to answer toRigour, the fifthSephira; and it is asserted that when these two principles are thoroughly combined by the righteous in their divine worship and acts of obedience, the name Jehovah, which comprises these two principles, and which is now rent in twain by the preponderance of sin and disobedience, will be re-united. Then, and then only, will all the souls return to the bosom of the Father of our spirits; then will the restitution of all things take place, and the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of God even as the waters cover the sea. This is the reason why the[122]Kabbalists utter the following prayer prior to the performance of any of the commandments: “For the re-union of the Holy One, blessed be his name, and his Shechinah, I do this in love and fear, in fear and love, for the union of the nameיהwithוהinto a perfect harmony! I pronounce this in the name of all Israel!”21In order to represent this union to the senses the wordsFearיראהandLoveאהבה, are divided, and so placed above each other that they may be read either across or down, as follows:—
I.I.כתר1Crown3בינהIntelligenceחכמה2Wisdom5פחדJusticeחסד4Loveתפארת6Beauty8הודSplendourנצח7Firmnessיסוד9Foundationמלכות10Kingdom[100]II.II.און סוףThe Endless.כתרCrown1בינחIntelligence3חכמהWisdom2פחדJustice5חסדLove4תפארתBeauty6הודSplendour8נצחFirmness7יסודFoundation9מלכותKingdom10The threeSephirothon the right, representing the principle of mercy (חסד), are calledthe Pillar of Mercy(סטרא ימינא עמודא דחסד); the three on the left, representing the principle of rigour (דין), are denominatedthe Pillar of Judgment(סטרא דשמאלא עמודא דדינה); whilst the fourSephirothin the centre, representing mildness (רחמיﬦ),[101]are calledthe Middle Pillar(עמודא דאמצעיתא). EachSephiracomposing this trinity of triads is, as it were, a trinity in itself. I, It has its own absolute character; II, It receives from above; and III, It communicates to what is below it. Hence the remark, “Just as the Sacred Aged is represented by the number three, so are all the other lights (Sephiroth) of a threefold nature.” (Sohar, iii, 288b.) Within this trinity in each unit and trinity of triads there is a trinity of units, which must be explained before we can propound the Kabbalistic view of the cosmogony.We have seen that three of theSephirothconstitute uniting links between three pairs of opposites, and by this means produce three triads, respectively denominated the Intellectual World, the Sensuous or Moral World, and the Material World, and that these three unitingSephiroth, together with the one which unites the whole into a common unity, form what is calledthe Middle Pillarof the Kabbalistic tree. Now from the important position they thus occupy, theseSephirothare synecdochically used to represent the worlds which by their uniting potency they respectively yield. Hence theSephira,Crown(כתר), from which theSephiroth,Wisdom(חכמה) andIntelligence(בינה), emanated, and by which they are also united, thus yieldingthe Intellectual World, is by itself used to designate the Intellectual World (עולﬦהמושכל). Its own names, however, are not changed in this capacity, and it still continues to be designated by the several appellations mentioned in the description of the firstSephira. The sixthSephira, calledBeauty(תפארת), which unitesSephirothIV (הסד,Love) and V (פחד,Justice), thus yieldingthe Sensuous World, is by itself used to denote the Sensuous World, and in this capacity is calledthe Sacred King(מלכא קדישא), or simplythe King(מלכא); whilst theSephiracalledKingdom(מלכות), which unites the wholeSephiroth, is here used to represent the Material World,[102]instead of the ninthSephira, calledFoundation(יסוד), and is in this capacity denominatedthe Queen(מלכתא) orthe Matron(מטרוניתא). Thus we obtain within the trinity of triads a higher trinity of units,—viz.,the Crown(כתר),Beauty(תפארת), andKingdom(מלכות),—which represents the potencies of all theSephiroth.II.The Creation or the Kabbalistic Cosmogony.Having arrived at the highest trinity which comprises all theSephiroth, and which consists ofthe Crown,the King, andthe Queen, we shall be able to enter into the cosmogony of the Kabbalah. Now, it is not theEn Sophwho created the world, but this trinity, as represented in the combination of theSephiroth; or rather the creation has arisen from the conjunction of the emanations. The world was born from the union of the crowned King and Queen; or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, these opposite sexes of royalty, who emanated from theEn Soph, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds, we are told, were indeed created before ever the King and Queen or theSephirothgave birth to the present state of things, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished, because theEn Sophhad not yet assumed this human form in its completeness, which not only implies a moral and intellectual nature, but, as conditions of development, procreation, and continuance, also comprises sexual opposites. This creation, which aborted and which has been succeeded by the present order of things, is indicated in Gen. xxxvi, 31–40 . The kings of Edom, or the old kings as they are also denominated, who are here said to have reigned before the monarchs of Israel, and are mentioned as having died one after the other, are those primordial worlds which were successively convulsed and destroyed; whilst the sovereigns of Israel denote the King and Queen who emanated from theEn Soph, and who have given birth to and perpetuate the present world. Thus we are told:—[103]“Before the Aged of the Aged, the Concealed of the Concealed, expanded into the form of King, the Crown of Crowns [i.e.the firstSephira], there was neither beginning nor end. He hewed and incised forms and figures into it [i.e.the crown] in the following manner:—He spread before him a cover, and carved therein kings [i.e.worlds], and marked out their limits and forms, but they could not preserve themselves. Therefore it is written, ‘These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.’ ( Gen. xxxvi, 31 .) This refers to the primordial kings and primordial Israel. All these were imperfect: he therefore removed them and let them vanish, till he finally descended himself to this cover and assumed a form.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 148a.)This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation is again and again reiterated inthe Sohar.9These worlds are compared with sparks which fly out from a red hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extinguished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. “There were old worlds,”the Sohartells us, “which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form [of opposite sexes—the King and Queen], and the master was not yet at his work.” (Idra Suta,Sohar, iii, 292b.) But since nothing can be annihilated—“Nothing perisheth in this world, not even the breath which issues from the[104]mouth, for this, like everything else, has its place and destination, and the Holy One, blessed be his name! turns it into his service;” (Sohar, ii, 110b.)—these worlds could not be absolutely destroyed. Hence when the question is asked—‘Why were these primordial worlds destroyed?’ the reply is given—“Because the Man, represented by the tenSephiroth, was not as yet. The human form contains every thing, and as it did not as yet exist, the worlds were destroyed.” It is added, “Still when it is said that they perished, it is only meant thereby that they lacked the true form, till the human form came into being, in which all things are comprised, and which also contains all those forms. Hence, though the Scripture ascribes death (וימות) to the kings of Edom, it only denotes a sinking down from their dignity,i.e., the worlds up to that time did not answer to the Divine idea, since they had not as yet the perfect form of which they were capable.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 135b.)It was therefore after the destruction of previous worlds, and after theEn Sophor the Boundless assumed the Sephiric form, that the present world was created. “The Holy One, blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh completion, all the things of this world, all the creatures of the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before ever they entered into this world, were present before God in their true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be understood ‘What was, shall be, and what has been done, shall be done.’ ” (Sohar, iii, 61b.) “The lower world is made after the pattern of the upper world; every thing which exists in the upper world is to be found as it were in a copy upon earth; still the whole is one.” (Ibid.,ii, 20a.)This world, however, is not a creationex nihilo, but is simply an immanent offspring and the image of the King and Queen, or, in other words, a farther expansion or evolution of[105]the Sephirothwhich are the emanations ofthe En Soph. This is expressed inthe Soharin the following passage—“The indivisible point [the Absolute], who has no limit, and who cannot be comprehended because of his purity and brightness, expanded from without, and formed a brightness which served as a covering to the indivisible point, yet it too could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light. It too expanded from without, and this expansion was its garment. Thus everything originated through a constant upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated.” (Sohar, i, 20a.) The universe therefore is an immanent emanation fromthe Sephiroth, and reveals and makes visible the Boundless and the Concealed of the Concealed. And though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its parents theSephiroth, because it is further removed from the primordial source of light, yet, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent; and nothing in it can be destroyed, but everything must return to the source whence it emanated. Hence it is said that “all things of which this world consists, spirit as well as body, will return to their principal, and the root from which they proceeded.” (Sohar, ii, 218b.) “He is the beginning and end of all the degrees in the creation. All these degrees are stamped with his seal, and he cannot be otherwise described than by the unity. He is one, notwithstanding the innumerable forms which are in him.” (Ibid.,i, 21a.)Now theseSephiroth, or theWorld of Emanation(עולם אצילות), or theAtzilatic World, gave birth tothreeworlds in the following order:—From the conjunction of theKingandQueen(i.e., theten Sephiroth) proceeded—I.The World of Creation, orthe Briatic World(עולם הבריאה), also calledThe Throne(כורסיא), which is the abode of pure spirits, and which, like its parents, consists of tenSephiroth, or Emanations. TheBriatic World, again, gave rise to,[106]II.The World of Formation, or theJetziratic World(עולﬦ היצירה), which is the habitation of the angels, and also consists of tenSephiroth; whilst theJetziratic World, again, sent forth, III.The World of Action, orthe Assiatic World(עולﬦ העשיה), also calledthe World of Keliphoth(עולﬦ הקליפות), which containsthe Spheres(גלגלים) and matter, and is the residence of the Prince of Darkness and his legions. Or, as theSohardescribes it—“After theSephiroth, and for their use, God madethe Throne(i.e., the World of Creation), with four legs and six steps, thus making ten (i.e., the decade ofSephirothwhich each world has).… For this Throne and its service he formed the ten Angelic hosts (i.e., the World of Formation),Malachim,Arelim,Chajoth,Ophanim,Chashmalim,Elim,Elohim,Benei Elohim,Ishim, andSeraphim(מלאכיﬦ אראליﬦ חיות אופניﬦ חשמליﬦ אליﬦ אלהיﬦ בני אלהים אישים שרפים), and for their service, again, he made Samaël and his legions (i.e., the World of Action), who are, as it were, the clouds upon which the angels ride in their descent on the earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses. Hence it is written—‘Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt.’ ” ( Isa. xix, 1 .) (Soharii, 43a.) There are, therefore,fourworlds, each of which has a separate Sephiric system, consisting of a decade of emanations. I. TheAtzilatic World, called alternatelythe World of Emanations(עולם אצילות),the Image(דיוקנא=εἰκώνwithדprefixed), andthe Heavenly Man(אדם עלאה), which, by virtue of its being a direct emanation from God and most intimately allied with the Deity, is perfect and immutable. II.The Briatic World, calledthe World of Creation(עולם הבריאה) andthe Throne(כורסיא), which is the immediate emanation of the former, and whoseten Sephiroth, being further removed from theEn Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without[107]any admixture of matter. III.The Jetziratic World, calledthe World of Formation(עולם היצירה) andthe World of Angels(מלאכיא), which proceeded from the former world, and whoseten Sephiroth, though of a still less refined substance than the former, because further removed from the primordial source, are still without matter. It is in this angelic world where those intelligent and uncorporeal beings reside, who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to man. And IV.The Assiatic World, calledthe World of Action(עולם העשיה) andthe World of Matter(עולם הקליפות) which emanated from the preceding world, theten Sephirothof which are made up of the grosser elements of all the former three worlds, and which has sunk down in consequence of its materiality and heaviness. Its substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.Before leaving this doctrine about the creation and the relationship of the Supreme Being to the universe, we must reiterate two things. I. Though the trinity ofthe Sephirothgave birth to the universe, or, in other words, is an evolution of the emanations, and is thus a further expansion of the Deity itself, it must not be supposed that the Kabbalists believe in a Trinity in our sense of the word. Their view on this subject will best be understood from the following remark inthe Sohar—“Whoso wishes to have an insight into the sacred unity, let him consider a flame rising from a burning coal or a burning lamp. He will see first a twofold light, a bright white and a black or blue light; the white light isabove, and ascends in a direct light, whilst the blue or dark light isbelow, and seems as the chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they constitute only one flame. The seat, however, formed by the[108]blue or dark light, is again connected with the burning matter which isunder itagain. The white light never changes its colour, it always remains white; but various shades are observed in the lower light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two directions—aboveit is connected with the white light, andbelowwith the burning matter. Now this is constantly consuming itself, and perpetually ascends to the upper light, and thus everything merges into a single unity (וכולא אתקשר ביחודא חדSohar, i, 51a).10And II. The creation, or the universe, is simply the garment of God woven from the Deity’s own substance; or, as Spinoza expresses it, God is the immanent basis of the universe. For although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of all the Concealed sent forth the ten emanations called theForm of God,Form of the Heavenly Man, yet since even this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume another form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the universe. The universe, therefore, or the visible world, is a further expansion of the Divine Substance, and is called in the Kabbalah “the Garment of God.” Thus we are told, “when the Concealed of all the Concealed wanted to reveal himself, he first made a point [i.e.the firstSephira], shaped it into a sacred form [i.e.the totality ofthe Sephiroth], and covered it with a rich and splendid garment that is the world.” (Sohar, i, 2a).III.The Creation of Angels and Men.The different worlds which successively emanated from theEn Sophand from each other, and which sustain the relationship to the Deity of first, second, third, and fourth generations, are, with the exception of the first (i.e., the World of Emanations), inhabited by spiritual beings of various grades.[109]“God animated every part of the firmament with a separate spirit, and forthwith all the heavenly hosts were before him. This is meant by the Psalmist, when he says ( Ps. xxxiii, 6 ) ‘By the breath of his mouth were made all their hosts.’ (Sohar, iii, 68a.) These angels consist of two kinds—good and bad; they have their respective princes, and occupy the three habitable worlds in the following order. As has already been remarked, the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image everything is formed, is occupied by no one else. The angelMetatron(מטטרון) occupies the second orthe Briatic World( עולם בריאה), which is the first habitable world; he alone constitutes the world of pure spirits. He is the garment ofשדיi.e., the visible manifestation of the Deity; his name is numerically equivalent to that of the Lord. (Sohar, iii, 231a.) He governs the visible world, preserves the unity, harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres, planets and heavenly bodies, and is the Captain of the myriads of the angelic hosts11who people the second habitable orthe Jetziratic[110]World(עולםהיצירה), and who are divided into ten ranks, answering to theten Sephiroth. Each of these angels is set over a different part of the universe. One has the control of one sphere, another of another heavenly body; one angel has charge of the sun, another of the moon, another of the earth, another of the sea, another of the fire, another of the wind, another of the light, another of the seasons, &c. &c.; and these angels derive their names from the heavenly bodies they respectively guard. Hence one is called Venus (נגה), one Mars (מאדמים), one the substance of Heaven (עצם השמים), one the angel of light (אוריאל), and another the angel of fire (נוריאל.) (Comp.Sohari, 42, &c.) The demons, constituting the second class of angels, which are the grossest and most deficient of all forms, and arethe shells(קליפות) of being, inhabit the third habitable orAssiatic World(עולם עשיה). They, too, form ten degrees, answering to the decade ofSephiroth, in which darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree. Thus the two first degrees are nothing more than the absence of all visible form and organisation, which the Mosaic cosmology describes in the wordsתהו ובהוbefore the hexahemeron, and which the Septuagint renders byἀόρατος καὶἀκατασκεύαστος. The third degree is the abode of the darkness which the book of Genesis describes as having in the beginning covered the face of the earth. Whereupon follow seven infernal halls (שבע היכלות) =Hells, occupied by the demons, which are the incarnation of all human vices, and which torture those poor deluded beings who suffered themselves to be led astray in this world. These seven infernal halls are subdivided into endless compartments, so as to[111]afford a separate chamber of torture for every species of sin. The prince of this region of darkness, who is called Satan in the Bible, is denominated by the Kabbalah,Samaël(סמאל) =angel of poisonorof death. He is the same evil spirit, Satan, the serpent, who seduced Eve.12He has a wife, called the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom (אשת זנוניﬦ), but they are both generally represented as united in the one name ofthe Beast(חיוא. Comp.Sohar, ii, 255–259, with i, 35b.)The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation, and the microcosm uniting in himself the totality of beings. “TheHeavenly Adam(i.e., the tenSephiroth), who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., theEn Soph), created theEarthly Adam.” (Sohar, ii, 70b.) “Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created, everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms.” (Sohar, iii, 48a.)13Man was created with faculties and features far transcending those of the angels. The bodies of the protoplasts were not of that gross matter which constitutes our bodies. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were wrapped in that luminous ethereal substance in which the celestial spirits are clad, and which is neither subject to want nor to sensual desires. They were envied by the angels of the highest rank. The fall, however, changed it all, as we are told in the following passage—“When Adam[112]dwelled in the garden of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is a garment of heavenly light. But when he was expelled from the garden of Eden, and became subject to the wants of this world, what is written? ‘The Lord God made coats of skins unto Adam and to his wife, and clothed them’ ( Gen. iii, 21 ); for prior to this they had garments of light—light of that light which was used in the garden of Eden.” (Sohar, ii, 229b.) The garments of skin, therefore, mean our present body, which was given to our first parents in order to adapt them to the changes which the fall introduced.But even in the present form, the righteous are above the angels,14and every man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe. “What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins? No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image. The skin represents the firmament, which extends everywhere, and covers everything like a garment—as it is written, ‘Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.’ ( Ps. clv, 2 ) … The flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world;… the bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner powers, the servants of God.… But these are the[113]outer garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is mysterious. Therefore it is written—‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ ( Gen. i, 27 ); repeating the word God twice, one for the man and the other for the woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man. And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries, whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the mysteries in the human face.” (Sohar, ii, 76a.) He is still the presence of God upon earth (שכינתא תתאה), and the very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name Jehovah (יהוה). Thus the head is the form of theי, the arms and the shoulders are like theה, the breast represents the form of theו, whilst the two legs with the back represent the form of the secondה. (Sohar, ii, 42a.)15The souls of all these epitomes of the universe are pre-existent in the World of Emanations,16and are without exception[114]destined to inhabit human bodies, and pursue their course upon earth for a certain number of years. Hence we are told that, “When the Holy One, blessed be his name, wished to create the world, the universe was before him in idea. He then formed all the souls which are destined for the whole human race. All were minutely before him in the same form which they were to assume in the human body. He looked at each one of them; and there were some among them which would corrupt their way upon the earth.” (Sohar, i, 96b). Like theSephirothfrom which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided into a trinity of triads, and are respectively represented by (I)The Spirit, (נשמה), which is the highest degree of being, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byThe Crown(כתר), representing the highest triad in theSephiroth, called the Intellectual World; (II)The Soul(רוח), which is the seat of good and evil, as well as the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byBeauty(תפארת), representing the second triad in theSephiroth, called the Moral World; and (III)The Cruder Spirit(נפש), which is immediately connected with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions, instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byFoundation(יסוד), representing the third triad in theSephiroth, called the Material World.In its original state each soul is androgynous, and is separated into male and female when it descends on earth to be borne in a human body. We have seen that the souls of[115]the righteous, in the world of spirits, are superior in dignity to the heavenly powers and the ministering angels. It might, therefore, be asked why do these souls leave such an abode of bliss, and come into this vale of tears to dwell in tabernacles of clay? The only reply to be given is that these happy souls have no choice in the matter. Indeed we are told that the soul, before assuming a human body, addresses God—“Lord of the Universe! I am happy in this world, and do not wish to go into another world, where I shall be a bond-maid, and be exposed to all kinds of pollutions.” (Sohar, ii, 96.)17And can you wonder at this pitiful ejaculation? Should your philanthropic feelings and your convictions that our heavenly Father ordains all things for the good of his children, impel you to ask that an explanation of this mystery might graciously be vouchsafed to you in order to temper your compassion and calm your faith, then take this parable. “A son was born to a King; he sends him to the country, there to be nursed and brought up till he is grown up, and instructed in the ceremonies and usages of the royal palace. When the King hears that the education of his son is finished, what does his fatherly love impel him to do? For his son’s sake he sends for the Queen his mother, conducts him into the palace and makes merry with him all day. Thus the Holy One, blessed be he, has a son with the Queen: this is the heavenly and sacred soul. He sends him into the country, that is into this world, therein to grow up and to learn the customs of the court. When the King hears that this his son has grown up in the country, and that it is time to bring him into the palace, what does his love for his son impel him to do? He sends, for his sake,[116]for the Queen and conducts him to the palace.” (Sohar, i, 245b.)As has already been remarked, the human soul, before it descends into the world, is androgynous, or in other words, consists of two component parts, each of which comprises all the elements of our spiritual nature. Thus theSohartells us—“Each soul and spirit, prior to its entering into this world, consists of a male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts separate and animate two different bodies. At the time of marriage, the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before, and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and left of one individual; therefore ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ (Eccl.i, 9 .)… This union, however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks. If the man is pure and his conduct is pleasing in the sight of God, he is united with that female part of his soul which was his component part prior to his birth.” (Sohar, i, 91b.)18The soul carries her knowledge with her to the earth, so that “every thing which she learns here below she knew already, before she entered into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)Since the form of the body as well as the soul, is made after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the forthcoming body which is to clothe the newly descending soul, is sent down from the celestial regions, to hover over the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate, in order that the conception may be formed according to this model. “At[117]connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One, blessed be he, sends a human form which bears the impress of the divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and if we were permitted to see it we should perceive over our heads an image resembling a human face; and it is in this image that we are formed. As long as this image is not sent by God and does not descend and hover over our heads, there can be no conception, for it is written—‘And God created man in his own image.’ ( Gen. i, 27 .) This image receives us when we enter the world, itdevelopsitself with us when we grow, and accompanies us when we depart this life; as it is written—‘Surely, man walked in an image’ ( Ps. xxxvii, 5 ): and this image is from heaven. When the souls are to leave their heavenly abode, each soul separately appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in which it is to appear in this world. It is from this sublime form that the image proceeds. It is the third after the soul, and precedes it on the earth; it is present at the conception, and there is no conception in the world where this image is not present.” (Sohar, iii, 104ab.)19All human countenances are divisible into the four primordial types of faces, which appeared at the mysterious chariot throne in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., the face of man, of the lion, the ox and the eagle. Our faces resemble these more or less according to the rank which our souls occupy in the intellectual or moral dominion. “And physiognomy does not consist in the external lineaments, but in the features which are mysteriously drawn in us. The features[118]in the face change according to the form which is peculiar to the inward face of the spirit. It is the spirit which produces all those physiognomical peculiarities known to the wise; and it is only through the spirit that the features have any meaning. All those spirits and souls which proceed from Eden (i.e., the highest wisdom) have a peculiar form, which is reflected in the face.” (Sohar, ii, 73b.) The face thus lighted up by the peculiar spirit inhabiting the body, is the mirror of the soul; and the formation of the head indicates the character and temper of the man. An arched forehead is a sign of a cheerful and profound spirit, as well as of a distinguished intellect; a broad but flat forehead indicates foolishness and silliness; whilst a forehead which is flat, compressed on the sides and spiral, betokens narrowness of mind and vanity. (Comp.Sohar, ii, 71b, 75a.)As a necessary condition of free existence and of moral being, the souls are endowed by the Deity, from the very beginning, with the power of adhering in close proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from which they emanated, and of alienating themselves from that source and pursuing an independent and opposite course. Hence, Simon ben Jochai said, “If the Holy One, blessed be he, had not put within us both the good and the evil desire, which are denominated light and darkness, the created man would have neither virtue nor vice. For this reason it is written—‘Behold, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.’ ( Deut. xxx, 15 .) To this the disciples replied, Wherefore is all this? Would it not be better if reward and punishment had not existed at all, since in that case man would have been incapable of sinning and of doing evil. He rejoined, It was meet and right that he should be created as he was created, because the Law was created for him, wherein are written punishments for the[119]wicked and rewards for the righteous; and there would not have been any reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked but for created man.” (Sohar,i, 23a.) So complete is their independence, that souls, even in their pre-existent state, can and do choose which way they intend to pursue. “All souls which are not guiltless in this world, have already alienated themselves in heaven from the Holy One, blessed be he; they have thrown themselves into an abyss at their very existence, and have anticipated the time when they are to descend on earth.… Thus were the souls before they came into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)IV.The Destiny of Man and the Universe.Asthe En Sophconstituted man the microcosm, and as the Deity is reflected in this epitome of the universe more than in any component part of the creation, all things visible and invisible are designed to aid him in passing through his probationary state here below, in gathering that experience for which his soul has been sent down, and in returning in a pure state to that source of light from which his soul emanated. This destiny of man—i.e., the reunion with the Deity from which he emanated—is the constant desire both of God and man, and is an essential principle of the soul, underlying its very essence. Discarding that blind power from our nature, which governs our animal life, which never quits this earth, and which therefore plays no part in our spiritual being, the soul possesses two kinds of powers and two sorts of feelings. It has the faculty for that extraordinary prophetical knowledge, which was vouchsafed to Moses in an exceptional manner, calledthe Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא נהרא=specularia), and the ordinary knowledge termedthe Non-Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא דלא נהרא), respectively represented in the earthly Paradise by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; and it possesses[120]the higher feeling of love and the lower feeling of fear.20Now the full fruition of that higher knowledge and of that loftier feeling of love can only be reaped when the soul returns to the Infinite Source of Light, and is wrapped in that luminous garment which the protoplasts forfeited through the fall. Thus we are told, “Come and see when the soul reaches that place which is called the Treasury of Life (צרורא דחיי), she enjoys a bright and luminous mirror (אספקלריאה דנהרא), which receives its light from the highest heaven. The soul could not bear this light but for the luminous mantle which she puts on. For just as the soul, when sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment to preserve herself here, so she receives above a shining garment, in order to be able to look without injury into the mirror whose light proceeds from the Lord of Light. Moses too could not approach to look into that higher light which he saw, without putting on such an ethereal garment; as it is written—‘And Moses went into the midst of the cloud’ ( Exod. xxiv, 18 ), which is to be translatedby meansof the cloud wherewith he wrapped himself as if dressed in a garment. At that time Moses almost discarded the whole of his earthly nature; as it is written,—‘And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights’ (ibid.); and he thus approached that dark cloud where God is enthroned. In this wise the departed spirits of the righteous dress themselves in the upper regions in luminous garments, to be able to endure that light which streams from the Lord of Light.” (Sohar, i, 65b, 66a.)The two feelings of love and fear are designed to aid the soul in achieving her high destiny, when she shall no more[121]look through the dark glass, but see face to face in the presence of the Luminous Mirror, by permeating all acts of obedience and divine worship. And though perfect love, which is serving God purely out of love, like that higher knowledge, is to be man’s destiny in heaven, yet the soul may attain some of it on earth, and endeavour to serve God out of love and not from fear, as thereby she will have an antepast on earth of its union with the Deity, which is to be so rapturous and indissoluble in heaven. “Yet is the service which arises from fear not to be depreciated, for fear leads to love. It is true that he who obeys God out of love has attained to the highest degree, and already belongs to the saints of the world to come, but it must not be supposed that to worship God out of fear is no worship. Such a service has also its merit, though in this case the union of the soul with the Deity is slight. There is only one degree which is higher than fear: it is love. In love is the mystery of the divine unity. It is love which unites the higher and lower degrees together; it elevates everything to that position where everything must be one. This is also the mystery of the words, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.’ ” (Sohar, ii, 216a.)Hence it is that these two principles play so important a part in the devotions and contemplations of the Kabbalists; Love is made to correspond toMercy, the fourthSephira, whilst Fear is made to answer toRigour, the fifthSephira; and it is asserted that when these two principles are thoroughly combined by the righteous in their divine worship and acts of obedience, the name Jehovah, which comprises these two principles, and which is now rent in twain by the preponderance of sin and disobedience, will be re-united. Then, and then only, will all the souls return to the bosom of the Father of our spirits; then will the restitution of all things take place, and the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of God even as the waters cover the sea. This is the reason why the[122]Kabbalists utter the following prayer prior to the performance of any of the commandments: “For the re-union of the Holy One, blessed be his name, and his Shechinah, I do this in love and fear, in fear and love, for the union of the nameיהwithוהinto a perfect harmony! I pronounce this in the name of all Israel!”21In order to represent this union to the senses the wordsFearיראהandLoveאהבה, are divided, and so placed above each other that they may be read either across or down, as follows:—
I.I.כתר1Crown3בינהIntelligenceחכמה2Wisdom5פחדJusticeחסד4Loveתפארת6Beauty8הודSplendourנצח7Firmnessיסוד9Foundationמלכות10Kingdom
I.
כתר1Crown3בינהIntelligenceחכמה2Wisdom5פחדJusticeחסד4Loveתפארת6Beauty8הודSplendourנצח7Firmnessיסוד9Foundationמלכות10Kingdom
[100]
II.II.און סוףThe Endless.כתרCrown1בינחIntelligence3חכמהWisdom2פחדJustice5חסדLove4תפארתBeauty6הודSplendour8נצחFirmness7יסודFoundation9מלכותKingdom10
II.
און סוףThe Endless.כתרCrown1בינחIntelligence3חכמהWisdom2פחדJustice5חסדLove4תפארתBeauty6הודSplendour8נצחFirmness7יסודFoundation9מלכותKingdom10
The threeSephirothon the right, representing the principle of mercy (חסד), are calledthe Pillar of Mercy(סטרא ימינא עמודא דחסד); the three on the left, representing the principle of rigour (דין), are denominatedthe Pillar of Judgment(סטרא דשמאלא עמודא דדינה); whilst the fourSephirothin the centre, representing mildness (רחמיﬦ),[101]are calledthe Middle Pillar(עמודא דאמצעיתא). EachSephiracomposing this trinity of triads is, as it were, a trinity in itself. I, It has its own absolute character; II, It receives from above; and III, It communicates to what is below it. Hence the remark, “Just as the Sacred Aged is represented by the number three, so are all the other lights (Sephiroth) of a threefold nature.” (Sohar, iii, 288b.) Within this trinity in each unit and trinity of triads there is a trinity of units, which must be explained before we can propound the Kabbalistic view of the cosmogony.
We have seen that three of theSephirothconstitute uniting links between three pairs of opposites, and by this means produce three triads, respectively denominated the Intellectual World, the Sensuous or Moral World, and the Material World, and that these three unitingSephiroth, together with the one which unites the whole into a common unity, form what is calledthe Middle Pillarof the Kabbalistic tree. Now from the important position they thus occupy, theseSephirothare synecdochically used to represent the worlds which by their uniting potency they respectively yield. Hence theSephira,Crown(כתר), from which theSephiroth,Wisdom(חכמה) andIntelligence(בינה), emanated, and by which they are also united, thus yieldingthe Intellectual World, is by itself used to designate the Intellectual World (עולﬦהמושכל). Its own names, however, are not changed in this capacity, and it still continues to be designated by the several appellations mentioned in the description of the firstSephira. The sixthSephira, calledBeauty(תפארת), which unitesSephirothIV (הסד,Love) and V (פחד,Justice), thus yieldingthe Sensuous World, is by itself used to denote the Sensuous World, and in this capacity is calledthe Sacred King(מלכא קדישא), or simplythe King(מלכא); whilst theSephiracalledKingdom(מלכות), which unites the wholeSephiroth, is here used to represent the Material World,[102]instead of the ninthSephira, calledFoundation(יסוד), and is in this capacity denominatedthe Queen(מלכתא) orthe Matron(מטרוניתא). Thus we obtain within the trinity of triads a higher trinity of units,—viz.,the Crown(כתר),Beauty(תפארת), andKingdom(מלכות),—which represents the potencies of all theSephiroth.
II.The Creation or the Kabbalistic Cosmogony.
Having arrived at the highest trinity which comprises all theSephiroth, and which consists ofthe Crown,the King, andthe Queen, we shall be able to enter into the cosmogony of the Kabbalah. Now, it is not theEn Sophwho created the world, but this trinity, as represented in the combination of theSephiroth; or rather the creation has arisen from the conjunction of the emanations. The world was born from the union of the crowned King and Queen; or, according to the language of the Kabbalah, these opposite sexes of royalty, who emanated from theEn Soph, produced the universe in their own image. Worlds, we are told, were indeed created before ever the King and Queen or theSephirothgave birth to the present state of things, but they could not continue, and necessarily perished, because theEn Sophhad not yet assumed this human form in its completeness, which not only implies a moral and intellectual nature, but, as conditions of development, procreation, and continuance, also comprises sexual opposites. This creation, which aborted and which has been succeeded by the present order of things, is indicated in Gen. xxxvi, 31–40 . The kings of Edom, or the old kings as they are also denominated, who are here said to have reigned before the monarchs of Israel, and are mentioned as having died one after the other, are those primordial worlds which were successively convulsed and destroyed; whilst the sovereigns of Israel denote the King and Queen who emanated from theEn Soph, and who have given birth to and perpetuate the present world. Thus we are told:—[103]
“Before the Aged of the Aged, the Concealed of the Concealed, expanded into the form of King, the Crown of Crowns [i.e.the firstSephira], there was neither beginning nor end. He hewed and incised forms and figures into it [i.e.the crown] in the following manner:—He spread before him a cover, and carved therein kings [i.e.worlds], and marked out their limits and forms, but they could not preserve themselves. Therefore it is written, ‘These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.’ ( Gen. xxxvi, 31 .) This refers to the primordial kings and primordial Israel. All these were imperfect: he therefore removed them and let them vanish, till he finally descended himself to this cover and assumed a form.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 148a.)
This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation is again and again reiterated inthe Sohar.9These worlds are compared with sparks which fly out from a red hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are extinguished according to the distance they are removed from the burning mass. “There were old worlds,”the Sohartells us, “which perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless, and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form [of opposite sexes—the King and Queen], and the master was not yet at his work.” (Idra Suta,Sohar, iii, 292b.) But since nothing can be annihilated—“Nothing perisheth in this world, not even the breath which issues from the[104]mouth, for this, like everything else, has its place and destination, and the Holy One, blessed be his name! turns it into his service;” (Sohar, ii, 110b.)—these worlds could not be absolutely destroyed. Hence when the question is asked—‘Why were these primordial worlds destroyed?’ the reply is given—“Because the Man, represented by the tenSephiroth, was not as yet. The human form contains every thing, and as it did not as yet exist, the worlds were destroyed.” It is added, “Still when it is said that they perished, it is only meant thereby that they lacked the true form, till the human form came into being, in which all things are comprised, and which also contains all those forms. Hence, though the Scripture ascribes death (וימות) to the kings of Edom, it only denotes a sinking down from their dignity,i.e., the worlds up to that time did not answer to the Divine idea, since they had not as yet the perfect form of which they were capable.” (Idra Rabba,Sohar, iii, 135b.)
It was therefore after the destruction of previous worlds, and after theEn Sophor the Boundless assumed the Sephiric form, that the present world was created. “The Holy One, blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh completion, all the things of this world, all the creatures of the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before ever they entered into this world, were present before God in their true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be understood ‘What was, shall be, and what has been done, shall be done.’ ” (Sohar, iii, 61b.) “The lower world is made after the pattern of the upper world; every thing which exists in the upper world is to be found as it were in a copy upon earth; still the whole is one.” (Ibid.,ii, 20a.)
This world, however, is not a creationex nihilo, but is simply an immanent offspring and the image of the King and Queen, or, in other words, a farther expansion or evolution of[105]the Sephirothwhich are the emanations ofthe En Soph. This is expressed inthe Soharin the following passage—“The indivisible point [the Absolute], who has no limit, and who cannot be comprehended because of his purity and brightness, expanded from without, and formed a brightness which served as a covering to the indivisible point, yet it too could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable light. It too expanded from without, and this expansion was its garment. Thus everything originated through a constant upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated.” (Sohar, i, 20a.) The universe therefore is an immanent emanation fromthe Sephiroth, and reveals and makes visible the Boundless and the Concealed of the Concealed. And though it exhibits the Deity in less splendour than its parents theSephiroth, because it is further removed from the primordial source of light, yet, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms in the world point out the unity which they represent; and nothing in it can be destroyed, but everything must return to the source whence it emanated. Hence it is said that “all things of which this world consists, spirit as well as body, will return to their principal, and the root from which they proceeded.” (Sohar, ii, 218b.) “He is the beginning and end of all the degrees in the creation. All these degrees are stamped with his seal, and he cannot be otherwise described than by the unity. He is one, notwithstanding the innumerable forms which are in him.” (Ibid.,i, 21a.)
Now theseSephiroth, or theWorld of Emanation(עולם אצילות), or theAtzilatic World, gave birth tothreeworlds in the following order:—From the conjunction of theKingandQueen(i.e., theten Sephiroth) proceeded—I.The World of Creation, orthe Briatic World(עולם הבריאה), also calledThe Throne(כורסיא), which is the abode of pure spirits, and which, like its parents, consists of tenSephiroth, or Emanations. TheBriatic World, again, gave rise to,[106]II.The World of Formation, or theJetziratic World(עולﬦ היצירה), which is the habitation of the angels, and also consists of tenSephiroth; whilst theJetziratic World, again, sent forth, III.The World of Action, orthe Assiatic World(עולﬦ העשיה), also calledthe World of Keliphoth(עולﬦ הקליפות), which containsthe Spheres(גלגלים) and matter, and is the residence of the Prince of Darkness and his legions. Or, as theSohardescribes it—“After theSephiroth, and for their use, God madethe Throne(i.e., the World of Creation), with four legs and six steps, thus making ten (i.e., the decade ofSephirothwhich each world has).… For this Throne and its service he formed the ten Angelic hosts (i.e., the World of Formation),Malachim,Arelim,Chajoth,Ophanim,Chashmalim,Elim,Elohim,Benei Elohim,Ishim, andSeraphim(מלאכיﬦ אראליﬦ חיות אופניﬦ חשמליﬦ אליﬦ אלהיﬦ בני אלהים אישים שרפים), and for their service, again, he made Samaël and his legions (i.e., the World of Action), who are, as it were, the clouds upon which the angels ride in their descent on the earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses. Hence it is written—‘Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt.’ ” ( Isa. xix, 1 .) (Soharii, 43a.) There are, therefore,fourworlds, each of which has a separate Sephiric system, consisting of a decade of emanations. I. TheAtzilatic World, called alternatelythe World of Emanations(עולם אצילות),the Image(דיוקנא=εἰκώνwithדprefixed), andthe Heavenly Man(אדם עלאה), which, by virtue of its being a direct emanation from God and most intimately allied with the Deity, is perfect and immutable. II.The Briatic World, calledthe World of Creation(עולם הבריאה) andthe Throne(כורסיא), which is the immediate emanation of the former, and whoseten Sephiroth, being further removed from theEn Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency, though the substances they comprise are of the purest nature and without[107]any admixture of matter. III.The Jetziratic World, calledthe World of Formation(עולם היצירה) andthe World of Angels(מלאכיא), which proceeded from the former world, and whoseten Sephiroth, though of a still less refined substance than the former, because further removed from the primordial source, are still without matter. It is in this angelic world where those intelligent and uncorporeal beings reside, who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a sensuous form when they appear to man. And IV.The Assiatic World, calledthe World of Action(עולם העשיה) andthe World of Matter(עולם הקליפות) which emanated from the preceding world, theten Sephirothof which are made up of the grosser elements of all the former three worlds, and which has sunk down in consequence of its materiality and heaviness. Its substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.
Before leaving this doctrine about the creation and the relationship of the Supreme Being to the universe, we must reiterate two things. I. Though the trinity ofthe Sephirothgave birth to the universe, or, in other words, is an evolution of the emanations, and is thus a further expansion of the Deity itself, it must not be supposed that the Kabbalists believe in a Trinity in our sense of the word. Their view on this subject will best be understood from the following remark inthe Sohar—“Whoso wishes to have an insight into the sacred unity, let him consider a flame rising from a burning coal or a burning lamp. He will see first a twofold light, a bright white and a black or blue light; the white light isabove, and ascends in a direct light, whilst the blue or dark light isbelow, and seems as the chair of the former, yet both are so intimately connected together that they constitute only one flame. The seat, however, formed by the[108]blue or dark light, is again connected with the burning matter which isunder itagain. The white light never changes its colour, it always remains white; but various shades are observed in the lower light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two directions—aboveit is connected with the white light, andbelowwith the burning matter. Now this is constantly consuming itself, and perpetually ascends to the upper light, and thus everything merges into a single unity (וכולא אתקשר ביחודא חדSohar, i, 51a).10And II. The creation, or the universe, is simply the garment of God woven from the Deity’s own substance; or, as Spinoza expresses it, God is the immanent basis of the universe. For although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of all the Concealed sent forth the ten emanations called theForm of God,Form of the Heavenly Man, yet since even this luminous form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume another form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the universe. The universe, therefore, or the visible world, is a further expansion of the Divine Substance, and is called in the Kabbalah “the Garment of God.” Thus we are told, “when the Concealed of all the Concealed wanted to reveal himself, he first made a point [i.e.the firstSephira], shaped it into a sacred form [i.e.the totality ofthe Sephiroth], and covered it with a rich and splendid garment that is the world.” (Sohar, i, 2a).
III.The Creation of Angels and Men.
The different worlds which successively emanated from theEn Sophand from each other, and which sustain the relationship to the Deity of first, second, third, and fourth generations, are, with the exception of the first (i.e., the World of Emanations), inhabited by spiritual beings of various grades.[109]“God animated every part of the firmament with a separate spirit, and forthwith all the heavenly hosts were before him. This is meant by the Psalmist, when he says ( Ps. xxxiii, 6 ) ‘By the breath of his mouth were made all their hosts.’ (Sohar, iii, 68a.) These angels consist of two kinds—good and bad; they have their respective princes, and occupy the three habitable worlds in the following order. As has already been remarked, the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image everything is formed, is occupied by no one else. The angelMetatron(מטטרון) occupies the second orthe Briatic World( עולם בריאה), which is the first habitable world; he alone constitutes the world of pure spirits. He is the garment ofשדיi.e., the visible manifestation of the Deity; his name is numerically equivalent to that of the Lord. (Sohar, iii, 231a.) He governs the visible world, preserves the unity, harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres, planets and heavenly bodies, and is the Captain of the myriads of the angelic hosts11who people the second habitable orthe Jetziratic[110]World(עולםהיצירה), and who are divided into ten ranks, answering to theten Sephiroth. Each of these angels is set over a different part of the universe. One has the control of one sphere, another of another heavenly body; one angel has charge of the sun, another of the moon, another of the earth, another of the sea, another of the fire, another of the wind, another of the light, another of the seasons, &c. &c.; and these angels derive their names from the heavenly bodies they respectively guard. Hence one is called Venus (נגה), one Mars (מאדמים), one the substance of Heaven (עצם השמים), one the angel of light (אוריאל), and another the angel of fire (נוריאל.) (Comp.Sohari, 42, &c.) The demons, constituting the second class of angels, which are the grossest and most deficient of all forms, and arethe shells(קליפות) of being, inhabit the third habitable orAssiatic World(עולם עשיה). They, too, form ten degrees, answering to the decade ofSephiroth, in which darkness and impurity increase with the descent of each degree. Thus the two first degrees are nothing more than the absence of all visible form and organisation, which the Mosaic cosmology describes in the wordsתהו ובהוbefore the hexahemeron, and which the Septuagint renders byἀόρατος καὶἀκατασκεύαστος. The third degree is the abode of the darkness which the book of Genesis describes as having in the beginning covered the face of the earth. Whereupon follow seven infernal halls (שבע היכלות) =Hells, occupied by the demons, which are the incarnation of all human vices, and which torture those poor deluded beings who suffered themselves to be led astray in this world. These seven infernal halls are subdivided into endless compartments, so as to[111]afford a separate chamber of torture for every species of sin. The prince of this region of darkness, who is called Satan in the Bible, is denominated by the Kabbalah,Samaël(סמאל) =angel of poisonorof death. He is the same evil spirit, Satan, the serpent, who seduced Eve.12He has a wife, called the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom (אשת זנוניﬦ), but they are both generally represented as united in the one name ofthe Beast(חיוא. Comp.Sohar, ii, 255–259, with i, 35b.)
The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is the acme of the creation, and the microcosm uniting in himself the totality of beings. “TheHeavenly Adam(i.e., the tenSephiroth), who emanated from the highest primordial obscurity (i.e., theEn Soph), created theEarthly Adam.” (Sohar, ii, 70b.) “Man is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as man was created, everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. He unites in himself all forms.” (Sohar, iii, 48a.)13Man was created with faculties and features far transcending those of the angels. The bodies of the protoplasts were not of that gross matter which constitutes our bodies. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were wrapped in that luminous ethereal substance in which the celestial spirits are clad, and which is neither subject to want nor to sensual desires. They were envied by the angels of the highest rank. The fall, however, changed it all, as we are told in the following passage—“When Adam[112]dwelled in the garden of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is a garment of heavenly light. But when he was expelled from the garden of Eden, and became subject to the wants of this world, what is written? ‘The Lord God made coats of skins unto Adam and to his wife, and clothed them’ ( Gen. iii, 21 ); for prior to this they had garments of light—light of that light which was used in the garden of Eden.” (Sohar, ii, 229b.) The garments of skin, therefore, mean our present body, which was given to our first parents in order to adapt them to the changes which the fall introduced.
But even in the present form, the righteous are above the angels,14and every man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe. “What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins? No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones, and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image. The skin represents the firmament, which extends everywhere, and covers everything like a garment—as it is written, ‘Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain.’ ( Ps. clv, 2 ) … The flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world;… the bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner powers, the servants of God.… But these are the[113]outer garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is mysterious. Therefore it is written—‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him’ ( Gen. i, 27 ); repeating the word God twice, one for the man and the other for the woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man. And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all things, different signs which are formed of the stars and planets, and which contain secret things and profound mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries, whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the mysteries in the human face.” (Sohar, ii, 76a.) He is still the presence of God upon earth (שכינתא תתאה), and the very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name Jehovah (יהוה). Thus the head is the form of theי, the arms and the shoulders are like theה, the breast represents the form of theו, whilst the two legs with the back represent the form of the secondה. (Sohar, ii, 42a.)15
The souls of all these epitomes of the universe are pre-existent in the World of Emanations,16and are without exception[114]destined to inhabit human bodies, and pursue their course upon earth for a certain number of years. Hence we are told that, “When the Holy One, blessed be his name, wished to create the world, the universe was before him in idea. He then formed all the souls which are destined for the whole human race. All were minutely before him in the same form which they were to assume in the human body. He looked at each one of them; and there were some among them which would corrupt their way upon the earth.” (Sohar, i, 96b). Like theSephirothfrom which it emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided into a trinity of triads, and are respectively represented by (I)The Spirit, (נשמה), which is the highest degree of being, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byThe Crown(כתר), representing the highest triad in theSephiroth, called the Intellectual World; (II)The Soul(רוח), which is the seat of good and evil, as well as the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byBeauty(תפארת), representing the second triad in theSephiroth, called the Moral World; and (III)The Cruder Spirit(נפש), which is immediately connected with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions, instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and is operated upon byFoundation(יסוד), representing the third triad in theSephiroth, called the Material World.
In its original state each soul is androgynous, and is separated into male and female when it descends on earth to be borne in a human body. We have seen that the souls of[115]the righteous, in the world of spirits, are superior in dignity to the heavenly powers and the ministering angels. It might, therefore, be asked why do these souls leave such an abode of bliss, and come into this vale of tears to dwell in tabernacles of clay? The only reply to be given is that these happy souls have no choice in the matter. Indeed we are told that the soul, before assuming a human body, addresses God—“Lord of the Universe! I am happy in this world, and do not wish to go into another world, where I shall be a bond-maid, and be exposed to all kinds of pollutions.” (Sohar, ii, 96.)17And can you wonder at this pitiful ejaculation? Should your philanthropic feelings and your convictions that our heavenly Father ordains all things for the good of his children, impel you to ask that an explanation of this mystery might graciously be vouchsafed to you in order to temper your compassion and calm your faith, then take this parable. “A son was born to a King; he sends him to the country, there to be nursed and brought up till he is grown up, and instructed in the ceremonies and usages of the royal palace. When the King hears that the education of his son is finished, what does his fatherly love impel him to do? For his son’s sake he sends for the Queen his mother, conducts him into the palace and makes merry with him all day. Thus the Holy One, blessed be he, has a son with the Queen: this is the heavenly and sacred soul. He sends him into the country, that is into this world, therein to grow up and to learn the customs of the court. When the King hears that this his son has grown up in the country, and that it is time to bring him into the palace, what does his love for his son impel him to do? He sends, for his sake,[116]for the Queen and conducts him to the palace.” (Sohar, i, 245b.)
As has already been remarked, the human soul, before it descends into the world, is androgynous, or in other words, consists of two component parts, each of which comprises all the elements of our spiritual nature. Thus theSohartells us—“Each soul and spirit, prior to its entering into this world, consists of a male and female united into one being. When it descends on this earth the two parts separate and animate two different bodies. At the time of marriage, the Holy One, blessed be he, who knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were before, and they again constitute one body and one soul, forming as it were the right and left of one individual; therefore ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ (Eccl.i, 9 .)… This union, however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the ways in which he walks. If the man is pure and his conduct is pleasing in the sight of God, he is united with that female part of his soul which was his component part prior to his birth.” (Sohar, i, 91b.)18The soul carries her knowledge with her to the earth, so that “every thing which she learns here below she knew already, before she entered into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)
Since the form of the body as well as the soul, is made after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the forthcoming body which is to clothe the newly descending soul, is sent down from the celestial regions, to hover over the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate, in order that the conception may be formed according to this model. “At[117]connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One, blessed be he, sends a human form which bears the impress of the divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and if we were permitted to see it we should perceive over our heads an image resembling a human face; and it is in this image that we are formed. As long as this image is not sent by God and does not descend and hover over our heads, there can be no conception, for it is written—‘And God created man in his own image.’ ( Gen. i, 27 .) This image receives us when we enter the world, itdevelopsitself with us when we grow, and accompanies us when we depart this life; as it is written—‘Surely, man walked in an image’ ( Ps. xxxvii, 5 ): and this image is from heaven. When the souls are to leave their heavenly abode, each soul separately appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in which it is to appear in this world. It is from this sublime form that the image proceeds. It is the third after the soul, and precedes it on the earth; it is present at the conception, and there is no conception in the world where this image is not present.” (Sohar, iii, 104ab.)19
All human countenances are divisible into the four primordial types of faces, which appeared at the mysterious chariot throne in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., the face of man, of the lion, the ox and the eagle. Our faces resemble these more or less according to the rank which our souls occupy in the intellectual or moral dominion. “And physiognomy does not consist in the external lineaments, but in the features which are mysteriously drawn in us. The features[118]in the face change according to the form which is peculiar to the inward face of the spirit. It is the spirit which produces all those physiognomical peculiarities known to the wise; and it is only through the spirit that the features have any meaning. All those spirits and souls which proceed from Eden (i.e., the highest wisdom) have a peculiar form, which is reflected in the face.” (Sohar, ii, 73b.) The face thus lighted up by the peculiar spirit inhabiting the body, is the mirror of the soul; and the formation of the head indicates the character and temper of the man. An arched forehead is a sign of a cheerful and profound spirit, as well as of a distinguished intellect; a broad but flat forehead indicates foolishness and silliness; whilst a forehead which is flat, compressed on the sides and spiral, betokens narrowness of mind and vanity. (Comp.Sohar, ii, 71b, 75a.)
As a necessary condition of free existence and of moral being, the souls are endowed by the Deity, from the very beginning, with the power of adhering in close proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from which they emanated, and of alienating themselves from that source and pursuing an independent and opposite course. Hence, Simon ben Jochai said, “If the Holy One, blessed be he, had not put within us both the good and the evil desire, which are denominated light and darkness, the created man would have neither virtue nor vice. For this reason it is written—‘Behold, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil.’ ( Deut. xxx, 15 .) To this the disciples replied, Wherefore is all this? Would it not be better if reward and punishment had not existed at all, since in that case man would have been incapable of sinning and of doing evil. He rejoined, It was meet and right that he should be created as he was created, because the Law was created for him, wherein are written punishments for the[119]wicked and rewards for the righteous; and there would not have been any reward for the righteous and punishment for the wicked but for created man.” (Sohar,i, 23a.) So complete is their independence, that souls, even in their pre-existent state, can and do choose which way they intend to pursue. “All souls which are not guiltless in this world, have already alienated themselves in heaven from the Holy One, blessed be he; they have thrown themselves into an abyss at their very existence, and have anticipated the time when they are to descend on earth.… Thus were the souls before they came into this world.” (Ibid., iii, 61b.)
IV.The Destiny of Man and the Universe.
Asthe En Sophconstituted man the microcosm, and as the Deity is reflected in this epitome of the universe more than in any component part of the creation, all things visible and invisible are designed to aid him in passing through his probationary state here below, in gathering that experience for which his soul has been sent down, and in returning in a pure state to that source of light from which his soul emanated. This destiny of man—i.e., the reunion with the Deity from which he emanated—is the constant desire both of God and man, and is an essential principle of the soul, underlying its very essence. Discarding that blind power from our nature, which governs our animal life, which never quits this earth, and which therefore plays no part in our spiritual being, the soul possesses two kinds of powers and two sorts of feelings. It has the faculty for that extraordinary prophetical knowledge, which was vouchsafed to Moses in an exceptional manner, calledthe Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא נהרא=specularia), and the ordinary knowledge termedthe Non-Luminous Mirror(אספקלריא דלא נהרא), respectively represented in the earthly Paradise by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; and it possesses[120]the higher feeling of love and the lower feeling of fear.20Now the full fruition of that higher knowledge and of that loftier feeling of love can only be reaped when the soul returns to the Infinite Source of Light, and is wrapped in that luminous garment which the protoplasts forfeited through the fall. Thus we are told, “Come and see when the soul reaches that place which is called the Treasury of Life (צרורא דחיי), she enjoys a bright and luminous mirror (אספקלריאה דנהרא), which receives its light from the highest heaven. The soul could not bear this light but for the luminous mantle which she puts on. For just as the soul, when sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment to preserve herself here, so she receives above a shining garment, in order to be able to look without injury into the mirror whose light proceeds from the Lord of Light. Moses too could not approach to look into that higher light which he saw, without putting on such an ethereal garment; as it is written—‘And Moses went into the midst of the cloud’ ( Exod. xxiv, 18 ), which is to be translatedby meansof the cloud wherewith he wrapped himself as if dressed in a garment. At that time Moses almost discarded the whole of his earthly nature; as it is written,—‘And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights’ (ibid.); and he thus approached that dark cloud where God is enthroned. In this wise the departed spirits of the righteous dress themselves in the upper regions in luminous garments, to be able to endure that light which streams from the Lord of Light.” (Sohar, i, 65b, 66a.)
The two feelings of love and fear are designed to aid the soul in achieving her high destiny, when she shall no more[121]look through the dark glass, but see face to face in the presence of the Luminous Mirror, by permeating all acts of obedience and divine worship. And though perfect love, which is serving God purely out of love, like that higher knowledge, is to be man’s destiny in heaven, yet the soul may attain some of it on earth, and endeavour to serve God out of love and not from fear, as thereby she will have an antepast on earth of its union with the Deity, which is to be so rapturous and indissoluble in heaven. “Yet is the service which arises from fear not to be depreciated, for fear leads to love. It is true that he who obeys God out of love has attained to the highest degree, and already belongs to the saints of the world to come, but it must not be supposed that to worship God out of fear is no worship. Such a service has also its merit, though in this case the union of the soul with the Deity is slight. There is only one degree which is higher than fear: it is love. In love is the mystery of the divine unity. It is love which unites the higher and lower degrees together; it elevates everything to that position where everything must be one. This is also the mystery of the words, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one God.’ ” (Sohar, ii, 216a.)
Hence it is that these two principles play so important a part in the devotions and contemplations of the Kabbalists; Love is made to correspond toMercy, the fourthSephira, whilst Fear is made to answer toRigour, the fifthSephira; and it is asserted that when these two principles are thoroughly combined by the righteous in their divine worship and acts of obedience, the name Jehovah, which comprises these two principles, and which is now rent in twain by the preponderance of sin and disobedience, will be re-united. Then, and then only, will all the souls return to the bosom of the Father of our spirits; then will the restitution of all things take place, and the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of God even as the waters cover the sea. This is the reason why the[122]Kabbalists utter the following prayer prior to the performance of any of the commandments: “For the re-union of the Holy One, blessed be his name, and his Shechinah, I do this in love and fear, in fear and love, for the union of the nameיהwithוהinto a perfect harmony! I pronounce this in the name of all Israel!”21In order to represent this union to the senses the wordsFearיראהandLoveאהבה, are divided, and so placed above each other that they may be read either across or down, as follows:—