Ohr - in The 10 Sefirot: Ohrot and Keilim - Lights and Vessels

Lights and Vessels

The 10 Sephirot describe the emanations, or attributes of God in Kabbalah. The Ein Sof ("Limitless") is the unknowable, undifferentiated, infinite Divine essence. The 10 emanations of the Sephirot enable the Creation to know God, and become God's attributes that reveal Divinity. They are also the channels through which all of Creation is continuously substained from nothing, as in the Kabbalistic scheme, Creation is continuous and God is the only true existence. A "Chain of Progression" (Seder hishtalshelus) of descending "Worlds", including the Four Worlds, links the Ein Sof with our physical realm.

Each of the Sephirot is said to consist of a "light" (an ohr) that is vested in a "vessel" (a kli Hebrew: כלי‎; plural: keilim Hebrew: כלים‎). Generally speaking, the light is simple and undifferentiated, as it stems originally from the Ohr Ein Sof ("The Light of the Ein Sof"), God's infinite light. It represents Divine revelation in the world. It is associated with the Kabbalistic Divine Name of Ban. The differentiation between the 10 Sephirot, each with its own particular characteristic, arises from each of their different spiritual vessels. The light adapts itself to each vessel, to express the particular nature of each vessel.

Kabbalists read their mystical teachings into exegetical interpretations of Scripture and Rabbinic literature. This arose from their belief that Kabbalah forms part of the Oral Torah inherent in the revelation at Mount Sinai. Accordingly, in Jewish tradition, each verse and concept can be interpreted in the fourfold Jewish method of Pardes, with the metaphysical interpretations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy forming the Sod (secret) level of meaning. In this way, Kabbalah interprets a second meaning in Talmudic legislation and use of the term for "vessel" ("kli"). In the Halachic sense a vessel is an object that can serve a useful purpose, even if it may not resemble a physical receptacle. This term is used frequently in discussion of the laws of Shabbat. In Jewish mysticism, typically, these narratives are given metaphysical interpretations, which relate "kli" to its Kabbalistic meaning. In Hasidic philosophy, the plural fourfold levels of meaning are viewed as uniting in a higher essential source of explanation that describes Divinity. Jewish mysticism views such alternative, spiritual interpretations of Torah as stemming from more revealed Divine realms in the Chain of Worlds.