00:00:07:05 - 00:00:09:00 What is Kabbalah about? 00:00:13:05 - 00:00:17:14 Well, according to tradition, before there was time, 00:00:19:24 - 00:00:24:00 before there was even eternity, there was only God. 00:00:27:05 - 00:00:28:28 And that God wished to be known 00:00:31:19 - 00:00:35:25 that God wished to love and be loved, know 00:00:35:26 - 00:00:39:05 and be known more succinctly, 00:00:39:06 - 00:00:41:03 that God wished to behold God. 00:00:41:21 - 00:00:45:17 It must be very lonely being God, being the only one. 00:00:47:14 - 00:00:51:12 In order to behold oneself, in order for the absolute 00:00:51:13 - 00:00:54:12 to behold itself, there has to be a mirror. 00:00:56:09 - 00:00:59:20 And existence is that mirror in which God 00:01:00:14 - 00:01:03:18 beholds God from the absolute all 00:01:04:05 - 00:01:05:17 to the absolute nothing. 00:01:06:25 - 00:01:10:03 And this diagram illustrates the beginning 00:01:10:04 - 00:01:11:22 of the process of existence. 00:01:12:12 - 00:01:16:21 So first of all, you have Ein, which means no-thing-ness. 00:01:17:14 - 00:01:18:29 It was a term for the absolute. 00:01:19:14 - 00:01:24:10 And then Ein Sof, that without end, without limit, 00:01:27:05 - 00:01:30:11 it was said by the Kabbalists who said, 00:01:30:13 - 00:01:32:15 how do I describe the indescribable 00:01:33:26 - 00:01:36:03 that the holy one withdrew 00:01:36:20 - 00:01:40:03 and allowed a dot to appear out of nothingness. 00:01:40:13 - 00:01:42:02 Now, a dot has existence, 00:01:43:24 - 00:01:46:10 even a hollow dot has existence. 00:01:46:22 - 00:01:51:14 And this hollow dot was surrounded by what was called Ein Sof Aur 00:01:51:17 - 00:01:54:21 or the fire of Ein Sof. 00:01:55:14 - 00:01:59:15 Now, fire or light represents divinity and the will of God. 00:01:59:22 - 00:02:03:04 So you have the holy one, the will of God, 00:02:03:11 - 00:02:05:29 and then pouring into this void 00:02:06:18 - 00:02:10:27 what were called the ten sephiroth, the 10 hands, the 10 faces, 00:02:11:03 - 00:02:13:23 the 10 crown, the 10 vessels, the 10, two. 00:02:13:23 - 00:02:14:24 There are many, many names. 00:02:15:10 - 00:02:18:28 And these 10 principles became the paradigm 00:02:19:05 - 00:02:20:10 of all existence. 00:02:20:15 - 00:02:22:27 But this was, if you'd like, one of the primary stages. 00:02:23:12 - 00:02:25:07 Next one, It formed