Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
Front Matter (PDF) - Stanford University Press
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in the same manner as those above them. Little that is new takes place<br />
ranged<br />
this level of divinity. These se®rot are essentially channels through which the<br />
on<br />
energies pass on their way into the tenth se®rah, Malkhut or Shekhinah,<br />
higher<br />
source of all life for the lower worlds. The only major function assigned to<br />
the<br />
and Hod in the kabbalistic sources is their servingas the sources of<br />
Netsaḥ<br />
Moses is the single human to rise to the level of Tif'eret, to become<br />
prophecy.<br />
of the Shekhinah.'' Other mortals can experience the se®rotic<br />
``bridegroom<br />
only as re¯ected in the Shekhinah, the single portal though which they<br />
universe<br />
enter. (This is the ``formal'' view of the kabbalists, though it is a position<br />
can<br />
by a great many passages in the Zohar and elsewhere.) The prophets<br />
exceeded<br />
than Moses occupy an intermediate position, receivingtheir visions and<br />
other<br />
from the seventh and eighth se®rot, makingprophecy a matter of<br />
messages<br />
in the inner se®rotic life of God.<br />
participation<br />
ninth se®rah represents the joiningtogether of all the cosmic forces, the<br />
The<br />
of all the energies above now united again in a single place. In this sense<br />
¯ow<br />
ninth se®rah is parallel to the second: Ḥokhmah began the ¯ow of these<br />
the<br />
from a single point; now Yesod (Foundation), as the ninth is called, reassembles<br />
forces<br />
them and prepares to direct their ¯ow once again. When gathered in<br />
it becomes clear that the life animatingthe se®rot, often described in<br />
Yesod,<br />
of either light or water, is chie¯y to be seen as male sexual energy,<br />
metaphors<br />
as semen. Followingthe Greek physician Galen, medieval medicine<br />
speci®cally<br />
semen as originating in the brain (Ḥokhmah), ¯owingdown through the<br />
saw<br />
column (the central column, Tif'eret), into the testicles (Netsaḥ and Hod),<br />
spinal<br />
thence into the phallus (Yesod). The se®rotic process thus leads to the great<br />
and<br />
of the nine se®rot above, through Yesod, with the female Shekhinah. She<br />
union<br />
®lled and impregnated with the fullness of divine energy and She in<br />
becomes<br />
gives birth to the lower worlds, including both angelic beings and human<br />
turn<br />
souls.<br />
biblical personality associated with the ninth se®rah is Joseph, the only<br />
The<br />
regularly described in rabbinic literature as tsaddiq or ``righteous.'' He is<br />
®gure<br />
this epithet because he rejected the wiles of Potiphar's wife, making him<br />
given<br />
symbol of male chastity or sexual purity. The se®rah itself is thus often called<br />
a<br />
the place where God is represented as the embodiment of moral righteousness.<br />
tsaddiq,<br />
So too is Yesod designated as berit or ``covenant,'' again referring to<br />
purity through the covenant of circumcision.<br />
sexual<br />
there is more than one way to read these symbols. The ninth se®rah<br />
But<br />
for male potency as well as sexual purity. The kabbalists resolutely insist<br />
stands<br />
these are ideally identical and are not to be separated from one another.<br />
that<br />
course sexual transgression and temptation were well known to them; the<br />
Of<br />
of the Zohar was quite extreme in its views on sexual sinÐand on the<br />
circle<br />
damage it could cause both to soul and cosmos. But the inner world of<br />
great<br />
se®rot was completely holy, a place where no sin abided. Here the ¯ow of<br />
the<br />
Introduction<br />
xlvii<br />
male energy represented only fruitfulness and blessing. The ful®llment of the