Ohr

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The Sefirot in Jewish Kabbalah
	Category:Sephiroth	v • d • e

Ohr ("Light"; Hebrew: אור; pl. Oros Hebrew: אורות) is a central concept in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and Hasidic philosophy. The analogy of light is used as a way of describing divine attributes.

[edit] In the Sefiros

Each divine attribute, or Sefirah is said to consist of a light that comes to be vested into a vessel, or "kli" (Hebrew: כלי). Generally speaking, the light is simple and undifferentiated, as it stems originally from the Ohr Ein Sof, God's infinite light. It represents divine revelation in the world. It is associated with the Kabbalistic divine Name of Ban.

Ohr also refers to the revelation and expression of any particular spiritual level which descends from that level and enclothes itself in a vessel (Kli).

[edit] Ratzo and Shov

This Ohr is typically in a state of nullification vis-a-vis the level from which it stems, and therefore, even when it descends to lower realms, possesses an attribute of Ratzo, a desire to ascend and return to its source. Correspondingly, the Kli persuades the Ohr to descend through impressing upon it the need for Shov, the acknowledgment of the necessity of descent in order to fulfill the ultimate supernal will.

[edit] Ohr and Ma'ohr

The Ohr stems from the Ma'ohr, the source of the light. Traditionally, the Mashal, or parable given to explain this relationship is the relationship between the sun and the light that it gives off. However, technically speaking, the light that comes from the sun is not the perfect example for the Ohr, since it has already passed through the Nartik, a level that reduces the intensity of the revelation of the sun. In truth, the Ohr that exists in the parable of the sun is the light of the sun that exists in the sun itself. The light that we see from the sun has already been limited in its quality and therefore lacks the nullification of the true Ohr. Rather, this Ohr, being that it has been limited by the Nartik, is called Ohr HaNartik (the light of the sheath), for although it does not actually come from the Nartik, since the Nartik limited it in such a way that it no longer possesses a connection with its ultimate source, we associate it with the Nartik.

In Kabbalah, the level of the Ma'ohr is represented by the higher name of G-d, the Tetragrammaton, and the Ohr is the revelation of that level. Similarly, the lower name of G-d, Elokim, represents the Nartik, and the light that stems thereof is the Ohr HaNartik, and, as such, it lacks a higher level of nullification, enabling it to create the worlds.