1. Nature of the Deity. — God is above everything, even above being and thinking. It cannot, therefore, be said of him that he has either a will, intention, de- sire, thought, language, or action, since these proper- ties, which adorn man, have limits, whereas God is in every way boundless, because he is perfect. Owing to this boundlessness of his nature, which necessarily implies absolute unity and immutability, and that there is nothing without him, i. e. that the rd Travis in him, he is called Eir-SoPH =tr»^u^ end, boundless, and can neither be comprehended by the intellect nor de- scribed with words, for there is nothing which can grasp and depict him to us. In this incomprehensi- bility or boundlessness, God, or the EnScph (C)iD "pK), is in a certain sense not existent Cl^K) ; since, as for as our mind is concerned, that which is incomprehensi- ble does not exist. Hence, without making himself comprehensible, his existence could never have been known. He had, therefore, to become active and cre- ative in order that his existence might become percep- Uble.
2. Deoelopment of the Deity, — But since, on the one hand, the will to create, which implies limit, and the circumscribed and imperfect nature of thb world, pre- clude the idea of taldng it as the direct creation of him who can have no will, nor produce anything but what is like himself, boundless and perfect; and since, on the other hand, the beautiful design and order dis- played in the world, which plainly indicate an intelli- gent and active will, forbid us to regard it as the off- spring of chance, the En-Soph must be viewed as the Creator of the world in an indirect manner, through the medium of ten " Sephiroth^* or intelligences, which em- anated from the En-Soph, The etymology and exact meaning of the word are obscure. It is the plur. nil'^Btp, sephiroth', of nn-ifitp, which R. Asariel, the first Cabalist, derives fh>m ^|D, saphar^ to number; while later CabaliBts derive it from *1'^D0, sappia^, the sapphire, from the word D'^'^iDdS, " declare," in Psa. xix, 1, or even from the Greek aif>a7pat, spheres.
From his infinite fulness of light the En-Soph sent forth at first one spiritual substance or intelligence ; this intelligence, which existed in the En-Soph from all
2 CABALA
eternity, and which became a reality by a mere act, contained the nine other intelligences or Sepkiroth. Great stress is laid upon the fact that the first Sephi- rah was not created, but was simply an emanation (Mb*^:tM); and the difference between creation and emanation is thus defined, that in the former a dimi- nution of strength takes place, while in the latter this is not the case. From the first Sephirah emanated the second, frx>m the second the thurd, fh>m the third the fourth, and so on, one proceeding from the other, till the number ten. These ten Sephiroth form among themselves, and with the En^Soph, a strict unity, and simply represent different aspects of one and the same Being, just as the flame and spariks which proceed from the fire, and which appear different things to the eye, form only diffiorent manifestations of the same fiire. Differing thus fW>m each other sunply as differ- ent colors of the same lights all the ten emanations alike partake of the Et^Soph, They are boundleea, and yet constitute the first finite things ; so that they are both infinite and finite. They are infinite and perfect, like the En-Soph, when he imparts his folness to them, and finite and Imperfidct when that fulneee is withdrawn from them. The finite side of the emana- tion of the Sephiroth is absolutely necessary, for there- by the incomprehensible Ei^Soph makes his existence known to the human intellect, which can only grasp that which has measure, limit, and relation. From their finite side the Sephiroth may even be called bodi- ly, and this renders it possible for the En-Soph, who is immanent in them, to assume a bodily form.
8. Forms of (his Development,— The ten Sephiroth, every one of which has its own name, are divided into three groups of three Sq>hiroth each, respectively op- erating upon the three worlds, viz, the world of intel- lect (i?®n Dbir), the world of souls (dDsn dVij),
and the world of matter (rn^n 0^19). 1. The^ first group operates upon the intellectual world, and con- sists of Sephiroth 1, denominated nns, or H^^^ D!i*^, the croum, or the wnscnOable height f 2, called H^an, the creative unsdom ; and 8, called HS'^a, the conceiv- ing intellect. The result of the combination of the lat- ter two (as " father" and '* mother**) is likewise repre- sented as r^^, or hnofwUdge, i. e. concrete thought, the universe of mind, the effect of Xoyoc* 1 1. The second group exercises its power upon the moral woiid, and consists of Sephiroth 4, called ^On, infinite grace (alao nbsilft, greatness); 5, caUed 1''^, or n^J^aft, divine justice, or judicial power; and 6, which Is called n^KCri, beauty, and is the connecting link between the opposite Sqihiroth 4 and 6. III. The third group exercises its power upon the material world, and con- sists of Sephiroth 7, called T\^^, firmness ; 8, called IsiSl splendour; and 9, which is called 'lib^, the primary foundation, and is the connecting link between the two opposite S^Dhiroth, 7 and 8. Sephirah 10 is called n^abiQ, kingdom, and denotes Providence or the re- vealed" Deity (Hrs^, Shekinah) which dwells in the midst of the Jewish people, goes with them and pro- tects them in all their wanderings and captiviHee. The first triad is placed above, and the second and third triads, with the unit, are put below, in such a manner that the four Sephiroth called crown, beauty^ foumicUion, and kingdom, form a central perpendicular line denominated the middle pillar (*^T:C7:K ^^)3r). This division yields three different forms in which the ten Sephiroth are represented by the Cabalists, and which we subjoin in order to make the description more intelligible. The first represents an inverted tree, called O'^^n ySl, the tree of life, while the second and third are human figures, called liia^p fi^K, the pri- meval man, Tet, notwithstanding the difiisrent ap-