Isaac Luria's Creation Myth
In the creation myth of ancient Judaic mysticism, God creates the universe by a process dubbed tzimtzum, which in Hebrew means a sort of stepping back to allow for there to be an Other, an Else, as in something or someone else. The Judaic notion of a world of Free Will (Talmud Berachot 33b) is deeply rooted in this concept, in the understanding that in creating life, the Eyn-Sof, or the Endless One, subdued the omnipotent, all-embracing Divine Presence for the sake of the realization of the Divine Will that there be other beings (Etz Chaim 1:1:2.) Our world, then is the sacred space that the Great Spirit gave as a gift to us, a space in which to be as human as divinely possible, and as divine as humanly possible. A space to err, to fall, to believe, to doubt, to cry, to laugh. Our space, created by the simple motion of stepping back, the humble act of honoring the separate reality of an Other.
From Rabbi Benjamin Adler's Source Sheet
Luria’s new myth is concentrated in three great symbols, the tsimtsum, or self-limitation, of God, the shevirah, or breaking of the vessels, and the tikkun, or harmonious correction and mending of the flaw which came into the world through the shevirah.
Gershom Scholem, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, p. 110
All kabbalistic systems have their origin in a fundamental distinction regarding the problem of the Divine. In the abstract, it is possible to think of God either as God Godself with reference to God's own nature alone or as God in relation to God's creation. However, all kabbalists agree that no religious knowledge of God, even of the most exalted kind, can be gained except through contemplation of the relationship of God to creation. God in Godself, the absolute Essence, lies beyond any speculative or even ecstatic comprehension. The attitude of the Kabbalah toward God may be defined as a mystical agnosticism, formulated in a more or less extreme way and close to the standpoint of Neoplatonism. In order to express this unknowable aspect of the Divine the early kabbalists of Provence and Spain coined the term Ein-Sof ("Infinite").
Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah, p. 88
"Now, the poor person thinks that God is an old man, as it is written, “the ancient of days sits”; and he has white hair because he is old, as it is written, “the hair of his head like clean wool”; and he sits on a great wooden throne, glittering with sparks, as it is written, “his throne was fire”; and that his appearance is like fire, as it is written, “For YHVH your God is consuming fire.” And the result of all these images, which the fool thinks about until he corporealizes God, is that he falls into some trap, and abandons his faith . . . But the wise, enlightened person knows God’s unity, and his essence that is completely devoid of material boundaries . . . And from this he will aid strength to his awe . . . and a great love in his soul."
"The essence of God is in every thing, and nothing exists outside of God. Because God causes everything to be, it is impossible that any created thing exists except through Him. God is the existence, the life, and the reality of every existing thing. The central point is that you should never make a division within God . . . If you say to yourself, “The Ein Sof expands until a certain point, and from there on is outside of It,” God forbid, you are making a division. Rather you must say that God is found in every existing thing. One cannot say, “This is a rock and not God,” God forbid. Rather, all existence is God, and the rock is a thing filled with God . . . God is found in everything, and there is nothing besides God."
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, Translation by Jay Michaelson
The development of Judaism was influenced by a strong strain of mysticism, a belief that meditation and prayer can lead to communion with God. The early rabbis discouraged mystical speculation because of its potential for heresy. Still, a significant number of thinkers pursued mysticism.
For the mystics, God exists by is unknowable. Ten sefirot, emanating from God, gave shape to our physical world. we humans are a microcosm of the universe and unite the "upper" and the "lower" worlds.
Isaac Luria, a prominent mystic, postulated a self-limiting God who voluntarily contracted (tzimtzum) to make room for the physical world. In the aftermath of this contraction, certain divine vessels shattered (shevirat hakelim), scattering divine sparks throughout the world. Through performing mitzvot and through prayer, we humans can mend (tikkun) the world and bring it closer to perfection. In addition, our souls can approach the Divine.
Finding God, Soncino/Syme, p. 77