The Ain Soph, the limitless Infinite, emanates all beings and qualifications that manifest themselves in the visible world

Italian version

Adolf Jelinek, also known as Aharon Jelinek (Hebrew אהרן ילינק), was born in Moravia (now the Czech Republic) in 1821 and passed away in Vienna in 1893. He was an esteemed scholar, rabbi, and Jewish New Teaching movement advocate. Jelinek was a prolific author of Kabbalah, a Midrash composer and a renowned speaker in Viennese synagogues, having published over 200 sermons. In his work “Philosophie und Kabbala”, he delves into the concept of Sephirot, drawing parallels to Spinoza’s “Ethica”, a seminal work by the Dutch philosopher 1. Resonating with Spinoza’s approach, Jelinek systematically examines the definitions of Being by employing a structure of axioms and corollaries.

First definition

From the Being who is the cause and ruler of all things, I grasp the meaning of the Ain Soph, an infinite Being, without borders, absolutely identical to itself, united in itself, without attributes, will, intention, desire, and thought, word or deed.

Second definition

From the Sephiroth, I comprehend the powers that emanate from the Absolute (Ain Soph), that is, all entities limited in quantity, similar to the will, which, without changing its nature, aspires to different objects, which are the possibilities of multiple things.

First proposition

The primary cause and ruler of the world is Ain Soph, which is both immanent and transcendent.

1st evidence

Every effect has a cause, and everything with an order and a design has a regent.

2nd evidence

All that is visible has a limit; what is limited is finite. What is finite is not identical; the primary cause of the world is invisible, therefore unlimited, infinite, absolutely identical. That is, it is the Ain Soph.

3rd evidence

Since the primary cause of the world is infinite, nothing can exist without (extra) of it; therefore, it is immanent.

Scholium 2.

Since Ain Soph is invisible and holy, it is the root of both faith and unbelief.

Second proposition

The Sephiroth are the mediators between the absolute Ain Soph and the real world.

Evidence

Since the real world is limited and imperfect, it cannot proceed directly from the Ain Soph: the Ain Soph has yet to exert its influence on it, or its perfection would cease. The Sephiroth – that In their intimate connection with the Ain Soph are perfect and in their separation are imperfect – must be the mediators.

Scholium

Since all existing things originate from the Sephiroth, there are three degrees in the real world: upper, middle, and lower (see Proposition VI below).

Third proposition

There are ten mediating Sephiroth.

Evidence

All bodies have three dimensions, each repeating the others (3 x 3), and by adding the space, we get the number ten. Since the Sephiroth are the powers of everything limited, there must be ten.

1st scholium.

The number ten does not contradict the absolute unity of the Ain Soph. As number one is the basis of all numbers, plurality proceeds from unity; germs contain their development, just as fire, flame, sparks and colour have a joint base, although they differ from each other.

2nd scholium.

Just as cogitation or thought and the mind as a contemplated object is limited, concrete, and measurable, although pure thought proceeds from Ain Soph, so limit, measure, and concreteness are the attributes of the Sephiroth.

Fourth proposition

The Sephiroth are emanations, not creations.

1st evidence

As absolute, the Ain Soph is perfect, and since the Sephiroth proceed from the absolute, they must also be perfect; therefore, they are not created.

2nd evidence

All created objects are reduced by abstraction; the Sephiroth do not diminish, as their activity is ceaseless; therefore, they cannot be created.

Scholium

The first Sephira was in the Ain Soph as potential before it came to reality; the second Sephira arose as a power for the intellectual world. Subsequently, the other Sephiroth appeared for the ethical and material world. However, this does not imply a prius et posterius (previous and next) or gradualness in the Ain Soph, but a light from which other lights shine, shining some before and some after, variously, to embrace everything in unity.

Fifth proposition

The Sephiroth are both active and passive.

Evidence

Since the Sephiroth do not exclude the unity of the Ain Soph, each of them must receive from its predecessor and give to its successor; that is, they must be receptive and distributive.

Sixth proposition

The first Sephira is called Inscrutable Highness, Kether; the second, Wisdom, Chokmah; the third, Intelligence, Binah; the fourth, Love, Chesed; the fifth, Justice, Pachad; the sixth, Beauty, Tiphereth; the seventh, Firmness, Netzach; the eighth Splendour, Hod; the ninth, Foundation, Yesod; and the tenth Righteousness, Tzedek.

1st scholium

The first three Sephiroth constitute the world of thought, the following three the world of the soul, and the last four the world of the body; they match the intellectual, ethical, and material worlds.

2nd scholium

The first Sephira is related to the soul and is called Unity, Yechidah; the second, Chiah, Living; the third, in so far as it is designated Spirit, Ruach; the fourth is called the life Principle, Nephesh; the fifth is called the Soul, Neschamah; the sixth works on blood, the seventh on bones, the eighth on veins, the ninth on flesh, and the tenth on the skin.

3rd scholium

The first Sephira is occult light, the second is blue sky coloured, the third is yellow, the fourth is white, the fifth is red, the sixth is white and red, the seventh is whitish-red, the eighth is reddish-white, the ninth is white-red whitish-reddish red-white, and the tenth is like the light that reflects all colours.

Bibliography

Adolph Jellinek – Philosophie und Kabbala – Leipzig 1854

  1. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese descent. In his work “Ethics,” he refers to “natura naturans” as the self-causative force of nature itself, which he equates to God, considered as an eternal and infinite essence. “Natura naturata” is then viewed as the passive result of an unending causal chain that conforms to the requirements of divine expression and is inconceivable without God. Thus, Spinoza asserts that God and nature are part of a unified reality (Deus sive Natura). ↩︎
  2. The term “scholium” originates from the Greek word “σχολή,” meaning “study.” It refers to a notation placed in the margins or appended at the bottom of a text, typically addressing grammatical, stylistic, and occasionally exegetical aspects. ↩︎