Sefirot

Sefirot (Hebrew: סְפִירוֹת, romanized: səp̄īrōṯ; sing. סְפִירָה, sĕfīrāh, lit. 'enumeration') are the ten emanations or creative attributes of God in Kabbalah. The sefirot are the modes through which the Ein Sof (אֵין־סוֹף, 'Without-End') reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (סֵדֶר הִשְׁתַּלְשְׁלוּת, 'order [of cosmic] chaining')—the descending sequence of the metaphysical Four Worlds. As revelations of God's will (רָצוֹן, rāṣon), the sefirot are not understood as ten gods, but rather as ten different channels through which the one God reveals his will. In later Kabbalistic literature, the ten sefirot may refer to the ten manifestations of God, the ten powers or faculties of the soul, or the ten structural forces of nature. Alternative configurations of the sefirot are interpreted by various schools in the historical evolution of Kabbalah, with each articulating differing spiritual aspects. The tradition of enumerating 10 is stated in the Sefer Yetzirah: "Ten sefirot of nothingness, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven". As altogether eleven sefirot are listed across the various schemes, two (Keter and Da'at) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the same principle, conserving the 10 categories. The sefirot are described as channels of divine creative life force or consciousness through which the unknowable divine essence is revealed to humankind. In Hasidic philosophy, which has sought to internalise the experience of Jewish mysticism into daily inspiration (devekut), this inner life of the sefirot is explored, and the role they play in humankind's service of God in this world.