Source: Marvin A. Sweeney, Jewish Mysticism: From Ancient Times through Today (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020), 325–362.
This podcast delves into Lurianic Kabbalah, a significant shift in Jewish mysticism, explaining its core principles and historical context. It highlights the devastating Spanish Expulsion of 1492 as a major impetus for its development in Safed, where figures like Moses Cordovero laid theoretical groundwork. The explanation focuses on Luria's key concepts: Tzimtzum (divine contraction), Shevirat Hakelim (shattering of vessels), and Tikkun Olam (repair of the world), emphasizing humanity's role as partners with God in this process. Finally, it traces the widespread influence of Lurianic Kabbalah, including its connection to the tumultuous messianic movement led by Shabbetai Zevi and the subsequent rise of Hasidic Judaism.
When we imagine the creation of the universe, we often picture a perfect, orderly event—a divine architect speaking a flawless world into being. But what if creation wasn't an act of pristine construction, but a cosmic catastrophe? What if the universe, from its very first moment, was fundamentally broken?
This is the radical vision at the heart of Lurianic Kabbalah, a revolutionary mystical framework forged in the crucible of historical trauma. In the 16th century, in the Galilean town of Safed, a circle of Jewish mystics grappled with an agonizing question. How could the Spanish Jewish community—for centuries the most prominent, cultured, and highly educated in the world—be so utterly shattered and exiled by the Spanish Expulsion of 1492? Their answer was not a political or historical one, but a theological one that reframed the very nature of God, creation, and human purpose.
This post explores five of the most surprising and impactful ideas from this mystical system—a theology born from tragedy that continues to resonate today.
How can a finite world exist if an infinite God is, by definition, everywhere? Luria’s answer to this ancient paradox is the concept of Tzimtzum, or divine contraction. In this startling vision, God’s first act of creation was not an expression of power, but an act of withdrawal.
To make room for the universe, the infinite divine presence—the Ein Sof—had to conceal itself and create a “primordial space.” But this was no passive retreat. The withdrawal was also an act of judgment (Din), concentrating a harsh, residual element of divine severity within the void. This act fundamentally compromised creation from the outset, ensuring its instability. Creation, therefore, did not begin with a word, but with an act of self-limitation that left behind a darkness seeded with the potential for crisis. This idea, which Luria developed to its fullest extent, has ancient roots, as seen in the early text Sefer Ha‘iyyun: