divine essencefeatured in 30 works

Ohr Ein Sof (Infinite Light)

or ein-sof (rhyme 'or' with 'more'; 'ein' like 'ine' in 'wine'; 'sof' like 'off')

God's infinite creative energy exists before creation, boundless and beyond all limits.

Imagine light so bright and endless that it has no edge, no boundary, no comprehensible limit. That's what Jewish mystics call Ohr Ein Sof—the Infinite Light. It's the raw, undifferentiated divine energy that flows from Ein Sof, God's deepest unknowable essence. Before anything was created, before time or space or structure, this light simply radiated outward in all directions without form or definition.

Early Kabbalists in medieval Spain (from the 1100s onward) described this light poetically: it's like the sun before the sun has a shape, or like divine consciousness before it has any distinction or personality. The light is so subtle and so vast that it can't be 'contained' anywhere—it would overwhelm and dissolve anything it touched. So according to later Kabbalists, especially those in the 16th century and after, God had to do something remarkable: withdraw or 'make space' for creation to exist. This withdrawal is called tzimtzum. Only after that contraction could the Infinite Light begin to flow through channels, garments, and names, gradually becoming the structured divine forces that sustain all worlds.

Over centuries of Jewish mystical writing, this concept evolved from poetic metaphor into a precise theological tool. Medieval thinkers explained how the light 'enclothes itself' (hides within) progressively denser veils—like divine DNA packaged into increasingly recognizable forms. Later Hasidic teachers reread the concept to emphasize how this light never truly separates from creation; it continuously flows through every letter of Torah and every moment of prayer. The idea became not just abstract theology but a guide to spiritual practice.

How it traveled

Zohar
Guadalajara · 1280
explains
Tikkunei Zohar
Guadalajara · 1280
redefines
Zohar Chadash
Guadalajara · 1290
explains
Recanati on the Torah
Recanati · 1300
explains
Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)
Cairo · 1523
explains
Pardes Rimmonim
Tzfat · 1548
explains
Ohr Ne'erav
Tzfat · 1550
explains
Ketem Paz on Zohar
Tzfat · 1561
explains
Pri Etz Chaim
Tzfat · 1572
explains
Sefer Etz Chaim
Tzfat · 1573
explains
Reshit Chokhmah
Tzfat · 1575
explains
Sha'ar HaHakdamot
Tzfat · 1610
explains
Chesed LeAvraham
Hebron · 1618
explains
Ohr HaChammah on Zohar
Tzfat · 1620
explains
Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on Zohar
Tzfat · 1680
explains
Mekor Mayim Chayim on Baal Shem Tov
Medzhybizh (Ukraine) · 1700
explains
Shomer Emunim
Livorno · 1720
explains
Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah
Padua · 1730
explains
HaGra on Sefer Yetzirah Gra Version
Vilna (Vilnius) · 1730
explains
Mikdash Melekh on Zohar
Tzfat · 1750
redefines
Sefer Baal Shem Tov al HaTorah
Medzhybizh (Ukraine) · 1750
explains
Avodat Yisrael
Kozhnitz (Kozienice) · 1750
explains
Peri HaAretz
Tiberias · 1752
explains
Maggid Devarav leYaakov
Mezeritch · 1760
explains
Ben Porat Yosef
Polonne (Polnoye, Volhynia) · 1760
explains
Me'or Einayim
Chernobyl (Ukraine) · 1763
explains
Ohev Yisrael
Apt (Opatów) · 1770
explains
Sidduro Shel Shabbat
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) · 1770
explains
Kedushat Levi
Berditchev (Ukraine) · 1772
explains
Be'er Mayim Chaim
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) · 1775
explains

Key passages(20)

Chesed LeAvraham, Even Shetiya, Maayan 2 5:3↗explains

Chesed LeAvraham · Abraham Azulai · 1618 CE