(קכה) ואמאי קרי ליה ספירות, משום דכתיב (תהלים י"ט ב) השמים מספרים כבוד אל:
...And why are they called sefirot? Because it is written: 'The heavens declare (m'saprim) the Glory (ka'vod) of God (Psalm 19:2)
The Sefirot – God emanates ten vessels through which the world is created, called sefirot, which are both part of God and created by God. These vessels are channels of light or water, and they also are light. They are God and of God, but they cannot define God or limit God – what is truly God is wholly beyond these descriptions, beyond the first sefirah, called Keter or crown, denoted by the term Ein Sof – without limit, without end.
When Kabbalists read stories in the Torah, every character and place represents a configuration of the Sefirot. For example, the binding of Isaac is Chesed (Abraham) overcoming Gevurah (Isaac). A (secular) technical term for how the Sefirot function is that they are "hypostases" (sing. "hypostasis") – that is, abstract concepts imagined as beings or as parts of a reality that are more real than the physical world around us ...
The Structure of the Sefirot – for the Zohar, an essential aspect of this world is that the Sefirot are emanated in the form of a Mishkal or balance scale, with a center, right and left, which can be pictured as the form of a triangle or triad. This allowed each Sefirah to share the force of creation with those around it, so that none would shatter because of the influx of God's energy. Each of the Sefirot also contains within itself an element of all the others. (Sarah Idit Schneider's term for this is that they are "interincluded" within each other.) This fractal structure is one way in which the Sefirot are infinite or divine in their essence.
Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org/kabbalah/sefirot/
- Keter (Crown)**
- Chochmah (Wisdom)
- Binah (Understanding)
- Daat (Knowledge)**
- Chesed (Kindness, Mercy)
- Gevurah (Justice, Discipline)
- Tiferet (Beauty, Harmony)
- Netzach (Eternity, Victory)
- Hod (Glory, Splendor)
- Yesod (Foundation)
- Malkhut (Royalty) or Shekhinah (feminine aspect of God's presence)
Chesed: חסד Lovingkindness, Benevolence
Love is the single most powerful and necessary component in life. Love is the origin and foundation of all human interactions. It is both giving and receiving. It allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves; to experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality: God. Chesed helps us be enthusiastically present in each other’s lives and make meaningful contact despite the temptation to stay in the safe confines of our own lives.
The world will be built by Chesed
(ב) שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:
(2) Shimon the Righteous was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. He would say, "On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on the service and on acts chesed."
על גמ"ח כיצד הרי הוא אומר (הושע ו) כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח. העולם מתחלה לא נברא אלא בחסד שנאמר (תהלים פט) כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה שמים תכין אמונתך בהם. פעם אחת היה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי יוצא מירושלים והיה רבי יהושע הולך אחריו וראה בית המקדש חרב [אר"י אוי לנו על זה שהוא חרב] מקום שמכפרים בו עונותיהם של ישראל. א"ל בני אל ירע לך יש לנו כפרה אחת שהיא כמותה ואיזה זה גמ"ח שנאמר כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח.
Avot D'Rabbi Natan 4:7
How do we know the significance of acts of chesed? As the Prophet Hosea said: "For I desire acts of chesed, and not sacrifice." The world began only with covenantal love, as it says in Psalms: "the world was built upon chesed."
One time it happened that Rabban Yohannan ben Zakkai was leaving Jeruslaem, and Rabbi Joshua was walking after him. He saw the ruins of Solomon's Temple.
Rabbi Joshua said: "Oy! What a devastation for us that the place where Israel atoned for our sins has been destroyed."
Rabbi Yohannan replied: "My son, do not fear. We have another form of atonement that is just as effective."
What is it? Acts of chesed.
This is what the verse from Hosea means when it says:
"For I desire acts of chesed, and not sacrifice."
(יד) יעשה יי עמכם חסד ר' חנינא בר אדא אמר: יעשה כתיב. כאשר עשיתם עם המתים שנטפלתם בתכריכיהון. ועמדי שויתרו לה כתובותיהן. אמר רבי זעירא מגילה זו אין בה לא טומאה ולא טהרה, ולא איסור ולא היתר. ולמה נכתבה? ללמדך כמה שכר טוב לגומלי חסדים.
(Talmud Ruth Rabbah) (14) "God will deal kindly with you(Ruth 1:8)" . . . . Rabbi Zeira says, "This scroll does not have anything in it concerned with impurity or purity nor what is forbidden and what is permitted. So why is it written? To teach us the greatness of the reward for acts of lovingkindness."
If love is the bedrock of human expression, discipline is the channel through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Like a laser beam, its potency lies in the focus and concentration of light in one direction, rather than fragmented light beams dispersed in all different directions. Gevurah concentrates and directs our efforts, our love, in the proper proportions and directions. Pirkei Avot teaches, “Who is strong [gibur, from same root as gevurah]? The one who controls is inclinations.”
אֵיזֶהוּ גִבּוֹר, הַכּוֹבֵשׁ אֶת יִצְרוֹ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (משלי טז) טוֹב אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם מִגִּבּוֹר וּמשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ מִלֹּכֵד עִיר.
Pirke Avot 4:1 Who is mighty? One who subdues their [evil] inclination, as it is said: “One that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and one that rules their spirit than one that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
וְאָמַר רַב יְהוּדָה אָמַר רַב בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּרָא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת הָעוֹלָם הָיָה מַרְחִיב וְהוֹלֵךְ כִּשְׁתֵּי פַקְעִיּוֹת שֶׁל שְׁתִי עַד שֶׁגָּעַר בּוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְהֶעֱמִידוֹ ... וְהַיְינוּ דְּאָמַר רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ מַאי דִּכְתִיב אֲנִי אֵל שַׁדַּי אֲנִי הוּא שֶׁאָמַרְתִּי לָעוֹלָם דַּי
And Rav Yehuda said that Rav said, with regard to the same matter: When the Holy One of Blessing, created the world, it continued to expand like two balls of a warp, whose cord lengthens as they unravel, until the Holy One of Blessing rebuked it and made it stand still, ... And this is the same as that which Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “I am the Almighty God [El Shaddai]” (Genesis 17:1)? It means: I am The One Who said to the world “enough [dai],” instructing it to stop expanding.
From MyJewishLearning.com, reprinted from Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals by George Robison
Tiferet blends and harmonizes the free outpouring of love with discipline. It possesses this power by introducing a third dimension – the dimension of truth, which can integrate love and discipline. Tiferet is accessed through selflessness; rising above your ego and your predispositions, enabling you to realize a higher truth. Truth gives you a clear and objective picture of your and others’ needs. Introducing truth by suspending personal prejudices allows you to express your feelings in the healthiest manner.
(1) You shall bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron. (2) Make sacral vestments for your brother Aaron
for dignity and adornment. (JPS)
for glory and splendor (E. Fox)
for glory and beauty (R. Friedman)
(א) רַבִּי אוֹמֵר, אֵיזוֹהִי דֶרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה שֶׁיָּבֹר לוֹ הָאָדָם, כֹּל שֶׁהִיא תִפְאֶרֶת לְעוֹשֶׂיהָ וְתִפְאֶרֶת לוֹ מִן הָאָדָם.
(1) Rabbi Said: which is the straight path that a person should choose for themselves? One which is Tiferet to the person adopting it, and [on account of which] Tiferet [comes] to them from others.
[The path] should be pleasant for them and pleasant to people from them. And this will be when they walk in the middle path in all of their character traits and not veer to one of the two extremes. For if they are very stingy, it is praiseworthy for them, as they gather much money together, but people do not praise them for this trait. And if they throw [money] around beyond what is fitting, the people that receive it from them praise them, but it is not praiseworthy for [them] and it is not pleasant for them, as they will come to poverty because of it. But rather, the trait of generosity - which is the middle [trait] between stinginess and throwing [money] around - is praiseworthy for them, as they keeps their money and do not throw it around more than is fitting; and it is praiseworthy for others from [such] a person; as people praise them, that they give as is fitting for them to give. And so is the case with all of the other traits.
Tiferet, often translated as Beauty, is balance and empathy. It is the sense of harmony that gives us both order and love. It is also a sense of the beauty that is inherent in the creation of our world, a humility that places us as the recipients of the cosmic gifts of nature and the order of the universe. Often represented by the human heart, tiferet sits at the center of the sephirot. We learn that tiferet is the force that fuels our ability to synthesize and process, to create beauty and order from the many elements of our lives and ourselves. We balance our pride, with the humility that comes with accepting our role in the endless process of creation. With this steadiness, we find beauty and compassion from the most central part of ourselves. - written by Rabbi Lydia Medwin, Rabbi Jill Perlman, Matthew Emmer, Rabbi Nicole Auerbach, and Nicole Berne centralsynagogue.org
is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination
prepared to be herself
and only herself ”
- Maya Angelou