Worlds & Cosmostraced through 40 key works

Shevirat HaKelim (Shattering of the Vessels)

sheh-vee-RAHT hah-keh-LEEM

The "breaking" that introduced real dysfunction into creation — vessels that couldn't hold their light — so that earned goodness, by overcoming it, becomes possible.

Shevirat HaKelim, "the Shattering of the Vessels," is how genuine dysfunction — what we experience as "evil" — entered creation. For there to be a *felt, earned* goodness, there must be something real to overcome; so vessels that formed without the power of harmony could not contain their light and broke. The fragments are forms of consciousness that don't cohere with the larger systems they belong to — which is why even good traits can cause harm, and why we meet distortion, dysfunction, and disease. It was built into the very start of the process, deliberately, to leave us work to do.

How it traveled

Zohar
Guadalajara · c. 1280 CE
explains
Tikkunei Zohar
Guadalajara · c. 1280 CE
explains
Zohar Chadash
Guadalajara · c. 1290 CE
explains
Recanati on the Torah
Recanati · c. 1300 CE
explains
Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)
Cairo · c. 1523 CE
explains
Ketem Paz on Zohar
Tzfat · c. 1561 CE
explains
Sha'ar HaPesukim
Tzfat · c. 1570 CE
explains
Sha'ar HaGilgulim
Tzfat · c. 1570 CE
explains
Pri Etz Chaim
Tzfat · c. 1572 CE
explains
Sefer Etz Chaim
Tzfat · c. 1573 CE
explains
Reshit Chokhmah
Tzfat · c. 1575 CE
redefines
Sha'ar HaHakdamot
Tzfat · c. 1610 CE
explains
Chesed LeAvraham
Hebron · c. 1618 CE
explains
Ohr HaChammah on Zohar
Tzfat · c. 1620 CE
explains
Mikdash Melekh, RaMaZ Commentary on Zohar
Tzfat · c. 1680 CE
explains
Kalach Pitchei Chokhmah
Padua · c. 1730 CE
redefines
Mikdash Melekh on Zohar
Tzfat · c. 1750 CE
redefines
Be'er Mayim Chaim
Czernowitz (Chernivtsi) · c. 1775 CE
redefines
Toldot Yaakov Yosef
Polonne (Polnoye, Volhynia) · c. 1780 CE
explains
Arvei Nachal
Krakow (Cracow) · c. 1780 CE
explains
Yahel Ohr on Zohar
Vilna (Vilnius) · c. 1790 CE
explains
Yismach Moshe
Sátoraljaújhely (Ujhel) · c. 1790 CE
explains
Agra DeKala
Dinov (Dynów) · c. 1801 CE
explains
Likutei Moharan
Breslov (Ukraine) · c. 1802 CE
redefines
Likkutei Torah
Liadi · c. 1810 CE
redefines
Torah Ohr
Liadi · c. 1813 CE
explains
Bnei Yissaschar
Dinov (Dynów) · c. 1820 CE
explains
Bat Ayin
Tzfat · c. 1820 CE
explains
Tiferet Shlomo
Radomsk · c. 1825 CE
explains
Beit Yaakov on Torah
Izhbitz (Izbica) · c. 1830 CE
explains
Likutei Halakhot
Breslov (Ukraine) · c. 1840 CE
redefines
Peri Tzadik
Lublin · c. 1845 CE
redefines
Sefat Emet
Ger (Gora Kalwaria) · c. 1900 CE
explains
Shem MiShmuel
Sochaczew · c. 1925 CE
redefines
Talmud Eser HaSefirot
Jerusalem · c. 1939 CE
redefines
Petichah LeChokhmat HaKabbalah
Jerusalem · c. 1943 CE
explains
Sulam on Zohar
Jerusalem · c. 1945 CE
redefines
Ohr Penimi on Talmud Eser HaSefirot
Jerusalem · c. 1948 CE
redefines
Sources and References on Torah Ohr
Liadi
explains
Sources and References on Likkutei Torah
Liadi
explains

Key passages(20)

Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.

Likutei Halakhot, Yoreh Deah, Laws of a Menstruant.2 4:1↗explains

Likutei Halakhot · Nathan Sternhartz · c. 1814 CE