Jewish mysticism, particularly the Kabbalah, wrestles with this very idea. How do we, finite beings, even begin to grasp the infinite? One of the key concepts for understanding this is the idea of the Sefirot.
Now, the Sefirot (סְפִירוֹת) – think of them as emanations, or divine attributes. They are the way that the infinite, unknowable God manifests and interacts with the world. The Sefirot aren't God, but they are how God's light shines through. And according to the Sulam commentary, these ten Sefirot are absolutely essential.
So, what are their names? Well, we often refer to them using acronyms: KḤB, ḤGT, NHYM. These stand for: Keter, Ḥokhma, Bina; Ḥesed, Gevura, Tiferet; Netzaḥ, Hod, Yesod, and Malkhut.
These ten Sefirot, says the Sulam, are like ten coverings or layers veiling God's light. Why so many? Why not just one? That's the really interesting part. The Sulam explains that these coverings aren’t arbitrary. They're absolutely necessary! They were established specifically so that created beings – that's us! – could actually receive God’s light.
Think about staring directly at the sun. Impossible, right? It’s too intense, too overwhelming. You need sunglasses, or a tinted lens, to filter the light, to make it bearable, so your eyes can actually perceive it. That's the analogy here. The Sefirot act as those tinted lenses.
Without these layers, we wouldn't be able to apprehend God’s light at all. Each Sefirah further down the chain, so to speak, obscures the light a little bit more. It’s a gradual process of divine emanation becoming increasingly accessible to creation.
The lower the Sefirah, the greater the distance from that supernal light, and the more the light is veiled. That’s why there are ten, and not just one. One wouldn’t be sufficient to obscure God's light enough for us to handle. Each additional covering provides a greater level of concealment, reducing God’s light to a level that is comprehensible to us, these lower, created beings.
This idea is foundational for understanding Kabbalah. It’s about how the infinite becomes finite, the unknowable becomes knowable, at least to some degree. It invites us to contemplate the nature of reality, and our place within it. So, the next time you find yourself gazing at something beautiful, something awe-inspiring, remember the Sefirot. Remember that what you're seeing is just a glimpse, a filtered ray, of something infinitely greater.