(pl.), sefirah (sing.) Loosely translated, "spheres", or emanations of God¹s qualities. There are ten. in descending order,they are: Keter (crown), Hokhmah (wisdom), Binah (understanding), Hesed (mercy), Din (judgement), Tiferet (splendor), Netzah (triumph), Hod (majesty), Yesod (foundation) and Malkhut (kingship; also known as the Shekhina, the feminine aspect of God in exile on earth). these qualities are often "mapped" to actions, colors, the body, spiritual development, etc. A vast array of texts have been written on this topic and it is outside the scope of this glossary and site to cover this toipic in depth.

Plural for Sefirah. See Sefirah.

The powers or potencies of the Godhead as taught by the Kabbalah. Ein Sof – the infinite aspect of the Godhead that is completely concealed and beyond human comprehension – produces by a process of emanation the ten powers (sefirot) through which the Godhead becomes manifest in the world. The ten sefirot are the source of all cosmic energy and vitality.

channels of divine energy or life force according to Jewish mysticism

Through the emanation of the Sefirot, Ein-Sof manifested itself as the personal God who is known through his attributes. Each Sefirah can be thought of as an attribute of God, as a name of God, and as God manifesting himself as a particular light. While possessing attributes, God's attributes are different from those encountered in the created world, in that each of the attributes is said to comprise all the others in an infinite reflection of the Sefirot within themselves. Hence God maintains unity and plurality simultaneously. Ten Sefirot are consistently mentioned, although there is some disagreement over a few of the attributes. In his book Kabbalah, Scholem lists the Sefirot as: Keter Elyon or simply Keter: supreme crown Hokhmah: wisdom Binah: intelligence Gedullar: greatness or Hesed: love Gevurah: power Din: judgment Tiferet: beauty or Rahamin: compassion Nezah: lasting endurance Hod: majesty Zaddick: righteous one or Yesod Olam: foundation of the world Malkhut: kingdom or Atarah: diadem An extended description of the Sefirot (including an illustration) is available if you are interested.

In Jewish mysticism (according to Kabbalah) there are ten Sefirot or Divine Emanations of G-d.

In kabbalistic literature the sefirot are depicted as emanations or manifestations of God. The Sefirot are explained on this site here.

(se-fee-ROHT) Lit. emanations. In Jewish mysticism, the emanations from G-d's essence that interact with the universe.