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What Remained After God Contracted, and Why It Mattered

The infinite light withdraws and leaves an empty space, yet something stays behind in the vacancy, and from that residue every world is born.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Problem Before Creation
  2. The Residue That Would Not Leave
  3. The Line That Entered the Residue
  4. Circles and the Straight Line

The Problem Before Creation

Before anything existed, the Infinite filled all reality. Not as a metaphor but as a structural fact: Ein Sof, the Without End, occupied every point of what would become space. There was no room for anything else because there was no emptiness in which something else could stand. The question that Lurianic Kabbalah begins with is not how God created the world from nothing. It is how God created the nothing that the world could stand in.

Rabbi Isaac Luria, the Ari of Safed, gave the answer the name tzimtzum, contraction. The Infinite light withdrew from a region, pulling back into itself, leaving a vacated circular space, the Chalal haPanui. Into this vacancy, creation could proceed without being immediately reabsorbed into the limitlessness that surrounded it on all sides.

But the drama does not begin with that emptiness. It begins with what remained in the emptiness after the withdrawal.

The Residue That Would Not Leave

The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, presenting the Lurianic system in systematic form, calls what remained the reshimu, the residue or impression. The light had departed. But the space it departed from was not truly empty. It carried a mark, a trace of what had been there, the way a container carries the smell of what it held after the contents have been poured out. The vacated space was saturated with the memory of the infinite light it had contained.

This residue was not a trivial leftover. It was the first root of everything that would be created. Not a pile of fragments waiting to be assembled. A single compressed order, holding many powers before those powers had separate names, forms, or tasks. The Ari taught, as recorded in Etz Chayim, that the first emanation contained worlds without end. A world in this vocabulary is not a planet. It is a complete governmental order, a structured relation between a governing force and what it governs. The reshimu held all of these simultaneously, undifferentiated, potential without yet having actualized into particular forms.

The Line That Entered the Residue

Then God sent a ray of light, the kav, into the vacated space. Thin and directed, unlike the all-pervasive undifferentiated light of Ein Sof, it entered the circular space and made contact with the residue that waited there. This contact is where creation actually begins. The kav does not create from nothing. It activates what the residue already contained in potential form. The interaction between the kav and the reshimu generates the structure through which the divine light will flow into the created worlds.

The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah gives careful attention to what this interaction produces. The reshimu was the first root but not yet differentiated. The kav brought the principle of structure, of direction, of a governing line rather than a uniform field. Their meeting was the first moment of discrimination in creation, the first place where something was this and not that, where the undifferentiated became particular.

Circles and the Straight Line

The Lurianic tradition preserves two models for how the worlds are structured, and both appear in the Ari's writings. In the igulim model, the worlds are concentric circles rippling outward from the center of the vacated space, each one slightly more distant from the divine light than the one inside it. In the yosher model, they are arranged along a vertical line descending from above, each world positioned in a hierarchy from the most illuminated to the least. Both models are correct. They describe different aspects of the same reality: the circular model shows the relationship of each world to the center, to the source. The linear model shows the hierarchy of illumination, the gradient from the divine to the created.

The world we inhabit, the World of Action, Asiyah, sits at the outermost circle and at the bottom of the line. It is as far as creation goes from the source, as dimly lit by the divine light as any world in the structure. But this position is not accidental or merely unfortunate. The outermost circle is also the one whose circumference is largest, the one that contains the most space for the created beings who need that space to move and choose and repair.

KabbalahIsaac LuriaTzimtzumCreationSefirotLight
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From the tradition

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The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah 31:7Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah

Jewish mystical tradition, especially Kabbalah, grapples with this very question. And the answers, well, they're mind-bending.

The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a key text in Kabbalistic thought, suggests that before anything else, there was a primordial Residue – a single, unified whole. It wasn't empty, though. It was pregnant with possibilities, a swirling mass of undifferentiated energy just waiting to burst forth.

This idea isn't unique. The ARI, Rabbi Isaac Luria, a towering figure in Kabbalah, taught that this initial emanation contained "worlds without end" (see his Etz Chayim, Derushey Igulim VeYosher 12:1). Worlds without end! Can you even wrap your head around that? It’s a concept that stretches the limits of our imagination.

When we According to Kabbalistic thought, a “world” (olam in Hebrew) is any complete system. More specifically, it's any governmental order consisting of an active source of influence (mashpia) and a receiver (mekabel).

Think of it like a circuit: energy flows from one point (the mashpia) to another (the mekabel). That entire circuit, with all its interconnections, is a "world." That’s a tree of influence.

The Tikkuney (spiritual repair) Zohar reinforces this idea, stating that "There is no angel that does not have within it the name of HaVaYaH, blessed be He, and all the other names are considered attributes of this Name" (Tikkun 57 end). HaVaYaH, the most sacred name of God, is woven into the very fabric of existence, present in every angel, every force, every aspect of creation. All other names are mere attributions.

The Zohar itself dives deeper, noting that "There are men who inherit three hundred and ten worlds, but it is impossible to ascribe any number to the worlds of the Master of the Universe" (Pinchas 257b). Three hundred and ten worlds – that's a lot! But even that number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the infinite possibilities contained within the Divine.

So, what does all this mean? It means that the universe we perceive is just one tiny slice of a much larger, infinitely complex reality. Every name, every concept, every interaction can be seen as its own "tree," its own system of influence and reception. These systems are arranged in orders unique to themselves. They are merkavot, or chariots – governmental apparatuses of the Divine.

Next time you look up at the night sky, remember that what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface lies a vast, interconnected web of worlds, each one a evidence of the boundless creativity and power of the Source. It's a humbling, awe-inspiring thought, isn't it?

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Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah 31:5Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah

Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah turns to Building on the Reshimu and the Kav Foundations.

We've already laid some groundwork. We've talked about the Reshimu, the "Residue" or "Impression" – that trace left behind after the great contraction (Tzimtzum) that made space for creation. And we've touched on the Kav, the "Line," the ray of divine light that pierced the void. These are our foundation stones.

So, what do you build on such a foundation? That's where the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, a Kabbalistic text whose name translates roughly to "40 Gates of Wisdom," comes in. It’s essentially a guide to understanding the unfolding of creation. And right now, it's about to unveil some seriously mind-bending concepts.

We're moving beyond the initial concepts of the Residue and the Line, and we're ready to understand the "structures" built upon them. Think of it like this: you have the blueprint (the Residue) and the initial spark (the Line). Now, you need the actual construction.

The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah breaks it down into three parts. And spoiler alert: it’s all about Adam Kadmon.

First, the text introduces us to the "first order," and explicitly names it Adam Kadmon. Now, this isn't your everyday Adam. We're not talking about the Adam from the Garden of Eden just yet. This is Adam Kadmon, Primordial Man, Archetypal Man. Think of it as the blueprint for all of humanity, and, all of creation. Adam Kadmon is the first emanation from the Divine, the first "order" of existence. It’s the initial configuration of the Divine Light into a structured form, a vessel for the infinite.

Then, the text reveals that this order, this Adam Kadmon, is intimately connected with the very name of God. The Name, blessed be He. In Kabbalah, the Name of God isn't just a label; it's a dynamic force, a representation of the Divine essence. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet themselves become vessels, pathways for divine energy. And Adam Kadmon, in this context, becomes the embodiment of that Name, the living expression of Divine will. It is the structure through which the divine attributes manifest.

Finally, the text explores the meaning and purpose of this "order." It’s not just about understanding what Adam Kadmon is, but why it is. Why this initial configuration? Why this Primordial Man? The answer, though complex, points towards the ultimate goal of creation: to reveal the Divine. Adam Kadmon, as the first manifestation, serves as the template, the framework upon which all subsequent levels of reality are built. It's the initial act of Divine self-expression, the first step in a cosmic dance of unfolding and revelation.

So, where does that leave us? Well, hopefully not too lost! The concept of Adam Kadmon is a deep one, a foundation of Kabbalistic cosmology. It represents the initial desire of the Divine to manifest, to become known. And in understanding it, we gain a glimpse into the very heart of creation, the blueprint of reality itself. What does it mean for you, for me, to be made in the image of this primordial being? Perhaps it suggests that we too are part of this unfolding story, each of us a vessel for the Divine light, each of us a reflection of the ultimate Name.

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Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah 8:6Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah

Jewish mysticism, particularly the Kabbalah, is full of these! It's like trying to grasp smoke, or maybe…decipher a dream.

One of the trickiest areas involves understanding the structure of the different spiritual worlds. The great Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the ARI (an acronym for Ashkenazi Rabbi Isaac), left behind a wealth of teachings, but some of it appears, At first, to clash.

The puzzle lies in how these worlds are depicted. Are they igulim, concentric circles rippling outward, or yosher, a straight, upright line descending from the Divine? Imagine a set of nesting dolls versus a plumb line. Both images appear in the ARI's writings, but how can they both be true?

In the circular model (igulim), the world of Asiyah (the World of Action) – that's our world, the world of action and physicality – sits right in the middle. This would suggest that the Kav, the divine line of energy and influence that birthed creation, should pass directly through the center of Asiyah. But according to many Kabbalistic masters, that just doesn't work. It creates theological and metaphysical problems that are difficult to resolve.

So, what's the answer? Well, as the text from Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah (Wisdom) suggests, maybe we're getting too caught up in the literal. Perhaps these images are simply that: images. Likenesses, metaphors, revealed through prophetic vision. Prophetic vision isn’t a photograph. It’s an experience, a glimpse into something beyond our normal senses. And like a dream, it can contain seemingly contradictory elements that hold a deeper, symbolic truth. The text explicitly draws this parallel.

Have you ever had a dream that made perfect sense while you were in it, but upon waking up, defied all logic? Maybe you were flying, or talking to someone who’s no longer alive. Dreams operate on a different plane of reality, a plane of symbolism and intuition. They can hold multiple, even conflicting, narratives at once.

The Kabbalists understood this. They knew that the limitations of human language and perception meant that describing the infinite required a kind of poetic license.

So, when we encounter these apparent contradictions in the ARI’s teachings, maybe we shouldn't try to force them into a neat, logical box. Instead, perhaps we should embrace the tension, recognize that these are glimpses into a reality far grander and more complex than we can fully comprehend. And maybe, just maybe, by holding those seemingly opposite images in our minds, we can get a little closer to the truth.

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