- Kabbalah makes a deal of “anthropomorphizing” God in the sense that our body parts are symbols of the divine. To purify them is to move towards divinity in the aspect they represent.
- Because man is made in God’s image, he should not only be God in form but through action.
- See more from The Palm Tree of Deborah — do to others as God would the world.
- Through good deeds we sanctify ourselves and make ourselves vessels of Shekhinah
“The righteous one is the foundation of the world.” If it weakens, the world cannot endure. So if the world contains just one righteous person, that person sustains the world. 1
Evil in the Kabbalah
- Kabbalah has the following views of evil as a recurrent theme (in particular it is mostly Positive, Monistic evil.)
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Positive Evil - evil in itself. Absolute Evil with an independent existence.
- To Qabalah: Evil does exist as a potential of God. Man actualizes evil through sin. Evil is the limiting aspect of God. Evil is sometimes interpreted as belonging to Samael.
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Negative Evil - evil without independent existence. Evil exists in relation to good — it is the absence of good.
- To Qabalah: Evil arises as Man turning away from God, who is good.
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Necessary Evil - good will only be able to arise if there is evil. Good is good only in relation to the evil of evil.
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Unnecessary evil - evil is worthless and with no function whatsoever. Evil is the absence of good and nothing more.
- To Qabalah: Evil (the Qliphoth) is a waste product.
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Dualistic View - there are two forces that oppose each other — good and evil. God is good. The Devil is evil.
- To Qabalah: Evil was a potential within God’s unity, but it broke loose. Alternatively, Evil already existed.
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Monistic View - good and evil are two sides of the same forces — they are two sides of God.
- To Qabalah: Good and Evil exists within the unity of God. It is man that actualizes evil. Good or Ill depends on Will— it is our autonomy that leads to the possibility that we put our Will to the wrong channels (i..e, towards our own ego.)
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Evil as a material principle - the most divine are made of purely positive quality. Evil is found in the material and physical (similar to Platonism)
- To Qabalah: Evil is the last and most imperfect part of Creation.
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Evil as a spiritual principle - evil is something above and outside matter. The material can contain both good and evil.
- To Qabalah: Evil is found within God and in Creation, but as a necessary demarcating principle or potential.
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Personal Evil - presupposes entities that wish to commit evil acts.
- To Qabalah: Evil is embodied in demons.
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Impersonal Evil - an abstract principle that causes evil to be experienced. There is no free will behind evil, only an impersonal law of nature.
- To Qabalah: Evil is an impersonal shell that gains life through the sinful acts of man.
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Complementary Evil - evil is a necessary destructive principle. Both good and evil must be in balance.
- To Qabalah: As The Sephirot balance each other, so do good and evil.
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The Fall of Man 2
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The Fall of Mankind represents their Fall towards Materialism as a result of their hubris towards gaining knowledge. The result of this Fall is the loss of Da’at as a sephirot, and a separation between Man and the Divine.
- A result of this all paths that lead towards Da’at were cut off.
- Adam Kadmon now became Adam Beliyy’al — Worthless Man.
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There are two paths that man can take after The Fall:
- The Right Path seeks to reunite Man with Divine (either through Christ who was the bridge across the Abyss or through Tiphereth).
- The Left Path seeks to further this fall so that Man achieves a spiritual rebirth as gods. In this case, Man goes further towards the Tree of Knowledge.
- An alternate choice is to choose spiritual suicide — the unforgivable sin where we reject Life entirely.
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Prior to the Fall, Yesod corresponded with fantasies rather than sexual desire. The Serpent awakened the power of creation and forbidden knowledge that was accessible only to God.
- Man then became a Creator—even mating with the angels to form the Nephilim.
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Prior to the Fall, Malkuth was non-existent. After the Fall, Malkuth became the realm of humans.
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Some theologians speculate that the serpent was Lilith who was born from Da’at and was Adam’s first wife. After refusing to submit to Adam, God created Eve who embodies Malkuth—the fallen woman who submits to the man Tiphereth.
- Inside Malkuth broods Da’at as a dark alter-ego.
- God was separated from Shekhinah because of the sins of mankind.
The Qliphoth
- The outer worlds part of the Qlipha are called the Tree of Death (i.e., the Tree of Knowledge)
- The separation between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life results in a knowledge detached from life as God created it.
- Existence under the Tree of Knowledge is characterized by duality between good and evil.
- The duality also extends to the theory that there are two Torahs — the modern one for sinful man is the one derived from the Tree of Knowledge, while the other derives from the limitless freedom given by the Tree of Life.
- Moses saw the Israelites worshipping the first calf, thus he broke the stone tablets containing the first Torah, and gave them the tablets from the Tree of Knowledge.
- There is also the Outer Torah which veils the Inner Torah (see more here).
The Source of Evil
Ein Sof
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The double nature of Ein Sof means that Evil is inherent via the thoughtless light.
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Evil arises when parts of Creation break with God’s original unity. Evil exists as a potentiality of God actualized by accident or sin.
- The creating side is called the she yesh bo mashavah (thoughtful light). It belongs to the Right Side.
- The she-ein bo mashavah (thoughtless light) is the side that wishes to remain within itself. It belongs to the Left Side.
- The two lights separated and opened a void which caused creation to take place. Thus, the thoughtless light created the anti-forces to creation.
Binah
- Three worlds emanated from Binah which were destroyed. The remains of these worlds became the Qliphoth.
- Another theory is that Binah is the Sephirah of Free Will, and thus the root of evil because of the choice to do evil.
Geburah
- Kabbalists view Geburah / Din as the root of evil because it is the force that separates and differentiates.
- One Side of God becomes an independent evil force through the disobedient side of mankind (i.e., Satan). Satan was originally an aspect of god (his name is also Samael, and Sa’el is one of God’s). When Samael is released from the principle of death, he will once again become one with God.
- Another perspective is where Satan is the prosecutor for God’s justice
- The Serpent during the Fall could be viewed as an embodiment of God’s strictness of demarcating Paradise. When the Serpent strays into Paradise, and leaves its lawful place, evil arises.
In a world consisting solely of good instincts, no righteous man would be able to exist, since righteousness is measured in regard to resistance. Only in a world of injustice can a righteous man arise since he would choose the good and righteous 3
Tiphereth
- An imbalance of Tiphereth is the origin of evil, Sitra Ahra (The Other Side). From this perspective, evil originates in divine thought which eliminates waste before emanating goodness.
Hod
- Because Hod is secondary, it is where evil exists (since Evil’s purpose is to bring about Good). Its purpose is to allow free choice to exist.
Malkuth
- Good and Evil are mixed but Evil is not dangerous and retains its righteous place as long as it is balanced by good.
The Nature of Evil
- Separation: Evil is what divides, separates and isolates. Evil is the dividing force that acts on God’s unity.
- Penetration: Evil is a force that breaks in where it does not belong. It unites what is supposed to be apart. For example, the serpent who encroaches on the Garden of Eden; man encroaching on the divine to become God.
- The Other: Evil is the Other Side. It is the deviation from God. It may also pertain to non-Jewish people (supported in Deuteronomy)
- Manifoldness: Evil is manifoldness / division. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of unity (reshut ha-yahid), whereas evil proposes a kingdom of manifoldness (reshut ha-rabbim).