That's where things get interesting.
See, before anything can exist, there has to be a way to measure it, to portion it out. That’s where the ten sefirot come in. Think of them as divine attributes or emanations — crucial building blocks. But these sefirot in Beria? They're not just pure Divinity, untouched and unchanging. No, they're something newly formed.
Why is that so important? Because, as Baal HaSulam explains in his Preface to the Zohar, there can't be any changes or “numbers” – meaning limits or divisions – within Divinity itself. God is infinite and unified. You can’t exactly put a measuring cup to infinity. So, the vessels of the ten sefirot, the things that hold and measure out the portions for souls in actual reality, must be something created, something distinct.
And to really drive home this point, that these sefirot in Beria, Yetzira (Formation), and Asiya (Action) aren’t Divinity itself, Kabbalists attribute colors to them: red, green, and black. Think of it like a cosmic reminder that we're dealing with something that's been brought into being, something that isn't part of the unchangeable Divine essence.
It's a pretty radical idea, isn’t it? That even the vessels through which our souls emerge aren't simply God, but something created. It’s a powerful statement about the nature of creation, and how even in the most spiritual of realms, there's a distinction between the Creator and the created. It reminds us that everything, even the most subtle and ethereal, has its origin in something beyond itself. And that's something worth pondering.