It's not just anatomy they're interested in; it's something far deeper.
They see the human form, what they call Demut Adam (דמות אדם), as a reflection of something incredibly profound, a blueprint of the divine. And it all comes down to the number ten.
Why ten? Well, think about the Sefirot, the ten emanations through which the Divine reveals itself, the building blocks of all creation. The Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah, an important Kabbalistic text, tells us that everything is ordered not just by the number ten, but by ten in all its different states and details. The number ten signifies the very form in which humanity is made.
These orders, these emanations, can all be explained in accordance with the Likeness of Man, because, incredibly, they actually correspond to the human form in all its particulars. They are even the cause of the human form in all its particulars. It's a stunning thought, isn't it?
And it goes even further. They are even the cause of the very name Adam.
How so? Because these emanations unfold in a certain order, which is itself called Adam. The text connects this to the name of God, the HaVaYaH (יהוה), the tetragrammaton, the unpronounceable name. When that name is "filled" – that is, when each letter is spelled out in full with alephs – you get יוד הא ואו הא, which equals 45. And guess what? 45 is the numerical value of Adam (אדם).
This expansion of the Name consists of ten letters, yet they are all included in four, namely the four "simple" letters, which make ten when they are "filled".
It’s through all these pathways, these intricate connections, that this Tree of Life – this map of the divine – is understood. And this first order, this initial expression in the Likeness of Man, is called Adam Kadmon.
So, what is Adam Kadmon? It's often translated as Primordial Man, or Archetypal Man. It represents the original, perfect form of humanity, the blueprint from which all of us are derived. It is pure potential, undifferentiated unity.
It’s a mind-bending concept, isn't it? That we, in our physical form, are connected to something so vast and ancient, something that reflects the very structure of the Divine. It makes you wonder about the potential that lies within each of us, the spark of the original Adam waiting to be ignited.