It's a question that's haunted thinkers for centuries. And in the Kabbalistic text Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, "27 Openings of Wisdom," we find a fascinating perspective. It grapples with this very tension, this apparent contradiction between the Unlimited—that's Eyn Sof, the Infinite Divine—and the limitations we experience in our everyday lives.
The text tells us something profound: that even though the source of all governance, of all that happens in the world, ultimately stems from Eyn Sof, from God in His intrinsic perfection, that divine action doesn't reach us directly, unfiltered. Instead, it passes through something called the "Residue."
What is the Residue? Think of it like a filter, a veil, a set of pre-ordained limitations. The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah suggests that the Unlimited acts only in accordance with what is rooted in this Residue. It’s like saying that God, in all His boundlessness, chooses to interact with the world through a specific, defined framework.
Why?
Well, the text states that the goal is to attain perfection. That might sound counterintuitive. Why would a perfect God need to attain perfection? But perhaps it's not about God needing to become perfect, but about the world, about us, reaching our own potential for perfection.
And here’s the kicker: the text insists that the action itself—God's action—is perfect. "All that the Merciful One does is for good," as we learn in Berachot 60b. Even more strikingly, "I will give thanks to You, O God, for You were angry with me" (Isaiah 12:1). Even anger, even hardship, is ultimately seen as part of a divine plan that is inherently good.
But if it's all so perfect, why doesn't it always feel that way?
Because, the text argues, in these lower realms, in this world as we experience it, that perfection is concealed. Nothing reaches us except as permitted by this "law of concealment." The Residue isn’t just a filter; it's a mechanism of hiding, of obscuring the full brilliance of the divine.
So, is this "law of concealment" a flaw? A cosmic mistake? Not at all. The text emphasizes that this very concealment was brought about by His perfection. It’s a paradox, isn’t it? The limitation, the concealment, is itself a product of divine perfection.
The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah ends on a note of hope. It suggests that this process, this dance between the Unlimited and the limited, between revelation and concealment, ultimately moves in one direction: towards complete perfection. It’s a journey, a process, and even with the veils and filters in place, the ultimate destination is a state of wholeness and completion.
It’s a powerful idea to consider. Even when we can't see the good, even when we struggle with the limitations and imperfections of the world, there's a deeper truth at play. A truth that suggests that even in concealment, perfection is working its way through, guiding us, slowly but surely, towards a more complete and realized reality.