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Ein Sof (Kabbalah)

 

 
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Ein Sof (Kabbalah)
 
 
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Ein Sof (or Ayn Sof) (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 ??? ???), in the Kabbalah, is understood as Infinite Divinity. Ein Sof may be translated as "no end", "unending" or Infinite. Ein Sof is the Divine Origin of all created existence: this is in contrast to the Ein (or Ayn), which is infinite no-thingness . According to Gershom Scholem
Gershom Scholem

Gershom Scholem , also known as Gerhard Scholem, was a Jewish philosopher and historian raised in Germany. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah, becoming the first Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Ein Sof is the Emanator of the sefirot. Sefirot are energy emanations found on the Kabbalist Tree of Life.






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Ein Sof (or Ayn Sof) (Hebrew
Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
 ??? ???), in the Kabbalah, is understood as Infinite Divinity. Ein Sof may be translated as "no end", "unending" or Infinite. Ein Sof is the Divine Origin of all created existence: this is in contrast to the Ein (or Ayn), which is infinite no-thingness . According to Gershom Scholem
Gershom Scholem

Gershom Scholem , also known as Gerhard Scholem, was a Jewish philosopher and historian raised in Germany. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah, becoming the first Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, Ein Sof is the Emanator of the sefirot. Sefirot are energy emanations found on the Kabbalist Tree of Life. Ayn Sof, the Ancient of All Ancients emanates the sefirot into the cosmic womb of the Ein in a manner that results in the created universe.

The Ten Sefirot

The ten aspects of the Divine
Divinity

Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems ? and even by different individuals within a given faith ? to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world....
 can be described as (also see Sephirah):

  1. Keter
    Keter

    *Keter or kether ??? is the Hebrew language word for "Crown ", as worn by a Monarch or Monarch.*Keter in Kabbalah, is one of the ten Sephirah ....
     (Crown; ???)
  2. Chokhmah
    Chokhmah

    Chokhmah, also sometimes transliterated chochma or hokhmah is the Hebrew language word for "wisdom". It is cognate with the Arabic word Hikmah, which also means 'wisdom'....
     (Wisdom; ????)
  3. Binah
    Binah

    The term Binah can refer to several things:* Binah, Togo, a prefecture of Togo* Binah , the second intellectual Sephirah on the tree of life in the Kabbalah of Judaism...
     (Understanding; ????)
  4. Chesed
    Chesed

    Chesed is the fourth Sephirah on the Tree of life in the Kabbalah of Judaism. It is given the association of kindness and love, and is the first of the emotive attributes of the Sephirot....
     or Gedulah (Loving Kindness or Mercy; ???)
  5. Gevurah or Din (Power or Judgement; ?????)
  6. Tiferet (Beauty or Compassion; ?????)
  7. Netzach (Triumph or Endurance; ???)
  8. Hod
    Hod

    Hod may refer to:* Brick hod, a long-handled box carried over the shoulder to move a load of bricks or mortar* Hod Hill, an archaeological site in Dorset, England...
     (Majesty or Splendor; ???)
  9. Yesod (Foundation; ????)
  10. Malchut (Realm; ?????)


In addition to the Zohar, other well-known explications of the relation between Ein Sof and all other realities and levels of reality have been formulated by the Jewish mystical thinkers of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, such as Isaac the Blind
Isaac the Blind

Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor ?????? ??????? ?????? ??????, also known as Isaac the Blind, has the Aramaic epithet "Saggi Nehor" meaning "of Much Light" in the sense of having excellent eyesight, an ironic euphemism for being blind....
 and Azriel
Azriel (Jewish mystic)

Azriel of Gerona, Azriel ben Menahem , , was one of the most important Judaism Mysticisms in the Catalonia town of Girona during the thirteenth century when it was an important center of the Kabbalah....
.