Summary
Lurianic Kabbalah takes its name from Isaac Luria (1534–1572), one
of the great sages of Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah is considered modern
Kabbalah, or Kabbalah as it was practiced from the sixteenth century
to the present. Luria, who was born in Jerusalem, moved to the kabbalistic
community of Safed on the Sea of Galilee to study with the great
teacher Moses Cordovero, one of the leading minds of Kabbalah at
the time. Though Luria lived in Safed for only three to four years,
he became the foremost teacher of Kabbalah after Cordovero’s death.
Luria soon also gained acclaim for his mystical powers. He claimed
to be able to read his students’ souls and commune with the dead.
His disciples called him “the holy Ari” (Ari means “lion”).
Since Luria wrote very little down, most of what we know
of Lurianic Kabbalah comes from the writings of his students, who transcribed
Luria’s teachings before he died in 1572. Luria reimagined the creation
of the world, most notably the structure of the sefirot, and
explained some of the most profound mysteries of the Zohar. Luria
was strictly opposed to magic. Luria believed magic could disrupt
the complex order of the universe that he imagined and that Ein
Sof established. Below are some of his more important and enduring
revelations.
Summary: Tsimtsum
Luria’s explanation of creation is among the most intricate
in all of Kabbalah. Luria taught his students that Ein Sof created
the world in order to understand itself better. Because it was infinite,
Ein Sof was also formless and without purpose—it existed as pure
energy. Ein Sof therefore resolved to create something with both
form and purpose—human beings. Luria theorized that because Ein
Sof’s energy had filled up the entire universe previous to the creation
of human beings, Ein Sof’s first action had to be tsimtsum,
which means “withdrawal.” In order to make room for creation, Ein
Sof had to first create a void inside itself, a space in which to
make yesh (something) from ayin (nothing).
Ein Sof’s yesh was Adam Kadmon, or “Primordial
Adam.” Adam Kadmon served as a mystical template for the human race—he
was entirely different from Adam of Adam and Eve. Luria described
Adam’s creation as the birth of the sefirot and
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet: the lights that flashed from
the eyes and mouth of Adam Kadmon were the ten sefirot and
the twenty-two holy letters. Though they would become the foundation
for all of creation, the sefirot and the holy letters
began as simply light and energy.
Analysis
Kabbalah teaches it followers to look very closely, to
examine every text and experience with exacting precision. Luria’s
genius lay in his ability to apply this principle to the main events
in kabbalistic history, especially creation. The merkavah mystics
and bereshit scholars who preceded Luria never
considered what came before the first day of creation. The Zohar
speculated that Ein Sof created sparks and lights before creation,
but that information didn’t satisfy Luria—he wanted to know why Ein
Sof created the universe. Luria’s best guess, and his most important
contribution to Kabbalah, was that Ein Sof created the material
world to better understand itself, to give its pure energy a form
and purpose. The creation of the human race became Ein Sof’s crowning
achievement, as only through men and women could Ein Sof truly understand
its power and its role in the universe.
At the dawn of creation, Adam Kadmon, like Ein Sof, arose
as formless energy. Adam served as the blueprint for the human soul, but
like everything in the universe, he remained a part of Ein Sof. Because
human beings arose in Adam Kadmon’s image, Luria theorized that
human beings also contained Ein Sof. To this day, kabbalists believe
that every human being has the power to impact Ein Sof, to determine
God’s place in the world.
