Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi - A Kabbalistic Universe

Gods place is the World but the World is not Gods place. In this Kabbalistic saying is the clear statement that while God is present in Existence, God is quite separate from it. This mystery of Immanence and Transcendence is where God and the World meet in intimate and mutual knowledge. Such a miracle forms the basis of the Kabbalistic view of the Universe.

In early times Kabbalah was divided into two parts, the Work of the Chariot and the Work of Creation. The former, whose subject is man, is concerned with human nature and the methods of penetration into the deepest and highest level of mans interior universe. The latter is the study of the exterior cosmos of the four Worlds, their origins, construction and function in relation to man and God. This is the subject of this book.

Operating between the pillars of Revelation and Tradition, Kabbalists studying the Universe based their work on the Bible and the instruction of their spiritual mentors. From this union of written and oral lines came, if the Kabbalist merited it, a direct cognition of what Existence has been, is and shall be until the End of Days.

Of the oral connection little can be said because the imparting of knowledge is contingent upon the subtle relationship between teacher and student. Of the written tradition there is much to be seen, for every age has produced its version of the Changeless Teaching. These accounts by past Kabbalists, however, are often difficult to read, not only because they speak of Worlds out of natural sight but because they were cast in the language of their particular school and period. Thus the allegories of early apocalypses and the metaphysics of the medieval era are almost unintelligible to people in the present unless they have the key to the Kabbalistic scheme.

The key is, as it has always been, the Sefirotic Tree. This diagram of all things Called Forth, Created, Formed and Made is the objective image of the Manifest Universe at every level. With its aid, the present outline is my attempt to portray a general picture of the World based on ancient and modem findings. Its language is of our time and its depth is the limit of my comprehension of what I have been taught of Kabbalah.

Mans place is the World. As the image of God, man has the greatest possibility of realising the Immanence present in the Universe. The World provides the conditions for mans work towards perfection and, in return, man aids the World towards its completion so that that which has been separated, reunites. In this mutual knowledge, the Immanent and the Transcendent meet in the place of God.

And Jacob

awaked out of his sleep, and he said:

Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said: How full of awe is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

GENESIS 28