The text speaks of Tzimtzum (צמצום), a concept central to Lurianic Kabbalah. Tzimtzum literally means "contraction," and it refers to God's initial act of self-limitation, making space for creation. But why would God do that? Why the great cosmic withdrawal?
The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah acknowledges upfront that peering too closely into the Divine motivation is, well, a fool’s errand. As it says, echoing Genesis 1:31, "And God saw all that He made, and behold it was very good" – some things are simply beyond our grasp. We can't "speculate about this, for it is outside the bounds of our knowledge," just as we learned in earlier sections of this text.
However, it offers a compelling suggestion. What if this self-imposed limitation, this Tzimtzum, was necessary for the very process of turning evil back to good? Imagine trying to sort out a tangled mess – wouldn't you need to create some order first? The text posits that God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that redemption wouldn't work without a "graded, measured order."
Think about it: Our universe operates on choice, reward, and punishment. We wrestle with flaws and defects. All this, according to the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, is "certainly the result of the Tzimtzum, where the origins of strict judgment lie rooted." This idea of "strict judgment" connects to the Kabbalistic concept of din (דין), the divine attribute of justice and limitation, which is brought into the world through the Tzimtzum.
But don't despair! This isn't a story of eternal constraint. The text assures us that Eyn Sof (אין סוף), the Infinite, will ultimately reveal His unity, bringing evil back to good. The phrase Eyn Sof is vitally important here, as it represents the limitless, unmanifest God before creation.
Now, here’s the twist. You might think this final redemption is a new plan, a cosmic "Plan B." But the Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah emphasizes that it was all part of the original design. "There is nothing at all new under the sun," it reminds us, quoting Ecclesiastes 1:9. From the very beginning, Eyn Sof calculated the entire governmental order – the whole shebang – from start to finish.
Even though the repair – the tikkun olam (תיקון עולם), the mending of the world – seems like the opposite of the Tzimtzum, it was, in fact, conceived with the Tzimtzum. The contraction and the eventual expansion were two sides of the same Divine coin.
So, what does this all mean? Perhaps it suggests that even in the apparent darkness, in the limitations we perceive in the world, there's a hidden purpose, a carefully orchestrated plan for ultimate redemption. The very act of hiding, of concealing, is itself a step towards the grand revelation to come. Maybe the universe isn't just a puzzle, but a carefully constructed pathway back to the infinite light of Eyn Sof.