Tzimtzum
The concept of tzimtzum, or the contraction of God, is a fundamental principal of Lurianic Kabbalah (the area of Kabbalah developed and propounded by Rabbi Isaac Luria, also known as the Ari). There are specific steps that must be grasped in order to adequately comprehend this concept.
In Kabbalah’s mystical vision of creation, our world resulted from the shattering of vessels that could not contain the holy light breathed into them. Creation rests on a paradox, because the source of something is where it isn’t. God is the source of the universe, but in order to create it, God had to withdraw from it. Thus if God is everything, and there is nothing but God, how could creation come about?
First there arose the desire in the mind of God. The desire gave rise to the thought, and the expression of the thought necessitated the creation within the infinite of an empty nothingness, devoid of God. This withdrawal of God is called ‘tzimtzum’. Only in God’s creation of a vacuum within Himself could creation happen ex nihilo (out of nothing). In order that God might give, He created an empty place that was able to receive.
That which is given comes from an Infinite Source, but the receptacle or vessel, the empty space into which it is poured, is bounded by space and time. God’s first act of creation was to withdraw in order to create a finite space within the infinite. Because creation is a continuous process, constantly sustained by God, this process of contraction and concentration before emanation is constantly repeated. There must be a tzimtzum once every 24 hours, so that the world can continue to exist.
The process can be conceived of as a kind of Divine breathing, with tzimtzum, inhalation, emanation, and exhalation combining to hold everything in place.
In all of creation, only human beings, created in the image of God, have the same capacity to give and to withhold, to boundlessly expand their consciousness and to define boundaries.
The concept of tzimtum is a significant contribution to Jewish theosophy. It acknowledges the various seemingly opposing forces at work in the universe, and delves fearlessly into the whole conundrum of existence.
