Sephiroth

SEPHIROTH. This Hebrew Word signifies Brightnesses; and the Cabalists give the Name of Sephiroth to the most secret Parts of their Science. The Knowledge of the Sephiroth is not acquired but with much Study and Labour; and is the highest Step of the Contemplative Theology. They reckon up ten Sephiroths,

185, 186. which are sometimes represented by ten different Circles included in each other: And sometimes by the Figure of a Tree, pretty much like what, in the Schools, they call Porphyry’s Tree, to shew the different Categories of Ens, or Being. The ten Sephoriths are, first, the Crown; secondly, Wisdom; thirdly, the Understanding; fourthly, Strength (or Severity); fifthly, Mercy (or Magnificence); sixthly, Beauty; seventhly, Victory (or Eternity); eighthly, Glory; ninthly, the Foundation; tenthly, the Kingdom. These are the Perfections and Attributes of the Divine Essence, which are inseparably united together, and on the Connection of which depends the Creation, the Preservation, and the Management of the Universe.

They have imagin’d Canals, by which the Influences of one Brightness or Splendor are communicated to another. The World, said Simon Jochaid, a the first of all the Cabalists, could not be managed by Mercy alone, and by the Column of Grace; so that God was obliged to add to it the Column of Strength, Force, or Severity, which makes the Judgment. It was moreover necessary, to reconcile these two Columns, and to put all things in Proportion, and in a natural Order. Wherefore, the Column of Beauty is put in the Middle, which adapts Mercy to Justice, and introduces Order, without which it is impossible that the Universe should subsist. From Mercy, which forgives Sins, proceeds a Canal extending to Victory, or to Eternity. Lastly, The Canals that proceed from Mercy and Strength, and reach to Beauty, are replete with a great Number of Angels; there are five and thirty in the Canal of Mercy which reward the Saints, and a like Number in that of Strength to punish Sinners.

The Rabbin Shabte compares the Sephiroth, or Splendors, to a Tree, in which are distingish’d the Root, the Trunk, and the Branches: These three Things compose the Tree; and the only Difference to be observed therein, is, that the Root is conceal’d, while the Trunk and the Branches appear. The Trunk communicates its Virtue to the Branches, which bring forth Fruit: But at the Bottom, the Trunk and the Branches belong to the Root, and form together one and the same Tree. The same thing is to be said of the Brightnesses: The Crown is the Secret and inaccessible Root; the three Spirits, or Sephiroth, are the Trunk of the Tree; and the seven other are the Branches united to the Stock, without a Possibility of being separated: For he that would separate them, does as a Man that would tear¹ tear off the Branches of a Tree, would cut off the Trunk, and offer it Nourishment, after he had separated it from its Root. The Crown is the Root which unites all the Brightnesses which propagates its Influences to them; they are comprehended in its Bosom, and in its Virtue.

We must also observe the Connexion that is found among these Brightnesses, and that which they have with the Creatures that compose the Universe. To each Sephiroth they annex a Name of God, one of the principal Angels, one of the Planets, one Member of the human Body, one of the Commandments of the Law; and on this depends the Harmony of the Universe. Besides, one of these Things makes one think of the other, and serves as a Step to arrive at a higher Degree of Knowledge in the speculative Theology. Lastly, by this one learns the Influence that the Brightnesses have upon the Angels, the Planets and the Stars, and upon all the Parts of a human Body.

A learned Man, who had much studied the Mysteries of the Cabala, thinks that the SephirothsMorin. epist. in Cabalam, t. 2. p. 53. are only Numbers, which have a Relation to the ten Fingers of the Hand. Others think a, that in it they discover the Mystery of the Trinity. But it is needless to seek for more Mysteries therein, than what the Cabalists find themselves. They will always disown what is not according to their Taste, and of their own Invention. The best way is to leave their mysterious Secrets to themselves, and not to lose one’s time in endeavouring to penetrate into ‘em. See M. Basnage’s History of the Jews, tom. 4. l. 6. c. 5. n. 7, 8. and tom. 6. l. 9. c. 11.

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