48 Spirituality Studies 4 The Ten Sefirot and Alternative Models: A Theoretical Review 4.1 The Common Ground of The Ten Sefirot Originating from the Book of Creation (Heb. ספר יצירה – “Sefer Yetzira”), in the last centuries, this symbolic model is ascribed to the Kabbalah’s Jewish school, which is known for orthodox observation of the Halacha (Mitsvot – Heb. “commandments”), with an ongoing metaphysical-existential-ethical-educational study of the inner dimension of the Torah (Steinsaltz 2025, 13–19). There is an issue regarding the number of the Sefirot, as to whether Keter or Da’at should be counted as a Sefirah (Steinsaltz 2025, 110–112). Counting them both makes them eleven. Later, I would explain how I can include both in my reading and stay with the typological number of ten. According to common Kabbalistic knowledge, God, or the Ayn (Heb. אין – “nothingness”) or Einsof (Heb. אינסוף – “without an end”), is the creator of everything. This creation is both a past event, in which matter, space, and time were created (our world as we know it and everything in it), and simultaneously, God, Being (see above Havaya), is the ongoing source of existence for all present actual and possible beings, the entire possible physical and metaphysical worlds, their entities, and the laws that govern their existence (Shneur Zalman 1973, chap. 1, 2, 6). A simple question then arises: Where is God? Why is God not before us if His ongoing presence in everything is so absolute? And, how is it possible to be the one and only ongoing source of everything, and at the same time not to be present before us? The immediate answer is that it is impossible to experience or conceive God Himself, the Ayn, directly. God Himself is beyond any possible empirical experience, beyond language, beyond any attribution, predication, or change (Shneur Zalman 1973; Matt 1997; Steinsaltz 2006, 2025). An analogy that tries to explain God’s absence from our direct experience and understanding is that God’s presence for us and all creatures is similar to our relationship with the sun. On the one hand, we and everything around us cannot exist without the sun; on the other hand, we cannot stand on it, get too close to it, or even look directly at it (Shneur Zalman 1973). Therefore, God created buffers and instruments, analogous to sunshades, hats, and roofs, that reduce (Heb. Tzimtzum) the direct light from the sun – Himself – preventing the sun – Himself – from being fully exposed to us, and by that, enabling the creation and existence of the world, the life, and a consciousness that can be aware of them. Therefore, paradoxically, God’s will to create everything is revealed from the alleged fact (an empirical fact) of His alleged absence. Moreover, His “empirical” absence testifies to His Chesed (Heb. “mercy and love”), much like an anonymous donation that conceals the fact that an external donation is involved. Hence, the beneficiaries may mistakenly believe that the sources of wealth, blessings, and virtues lie elsewhere, perhaps within themselves. For example, attributing to ourselves the ability to calculate, engineer, and build a lasting house, or to the invention of the goodness and morality of “Thou shalt not kill,” or “Thou shalt not covet.” According to the common theory of the Ten Sefirot, this “donation” or gift comprises the four worlds of Atzilut, Briah, Yetsirah, and Assiyah, as well as the Ten Sefirot (Shneur Zalman 1973; Matt 1997; Steinsaltz 2006, 2025). This metaphysical model and metaphor explain at least three fundamental points: first, what the creation of everything signifies, namely, the ongoing process of creation rather than a single historical event; second, why God appears absent: because, as everything needs God at every moment of its existence, it cannot survive a direct, conscious encounter with God without buffering; and third, how God is simultaneously the continuous source of all that exists and yet does not present Himself directly before us, instead manifesting through the four worlds and the ten sefirot, which serve as buffers, tools, or vessels. The model is commonly used to describe the emanation of Being from “the top-down”, from Keter to Malchut (see Illustration 1). The following is an illustration of the Ten Sefirot Model based on a combination of several different illustrations: (1) Levi (2009, 959), the formulation of the whole structure, but without Sefirah Da’at; (2) Steinsaltz (2006, 28–29, 171), the terminology, translation of the Sefirot into English, and the addition of Da’at; (3) Steinsaltz (2025, 56), the addition of Da’at; (4) Matt (1997, xii) as another general source.
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