The Arizal, Part 4: Revelation of Concealment — Tzimtzum Both Real and Unreal

What does it mean to say that Hashem concealed His infinite light—and can Divine absence ever truly be real?

In this episode, Rabbi Joey Rosenfeld enters the first central sugya of the Arizal’s system: the mystery of tzimtzum. Before creation, the light of the Ohr Ein Sof filled all possible existence. In order for a finite world, individual beings, and genuine relationship to emerge, there had to be an apparent empty space—a chalal in which something other than the overwhelming revelation of infinitude could seem to exist.

The episode explores the different approaches to whether tzimtzum should be understood as an actual withdrawal of Divine light or as a concealment of a presence that never departed. Through the teachings of Rabbi Chaim Vital, Mahari Sarug, the Baal Shem Tov, and other mekubalim, these positions begin to reveal two dimensions of the same mystery. Tzimtzum is both the experience of absence and a new form of Divine expression. The practical difference is profound: spiritual life is not only an attempt to bring Hashem into a place where He is missing, but the work of refining our perception until we discover that He was always already present.

Topics include:
• The purpose of creation and Hashem’s desire to reveal goodness and unity
• The Ohr Ein Sof and the emergence of the chalal hapanui
• Tzimtzum as contraction, withdrawal, concealment, and concentrated revelation
• Whether tzimtzum should be understood literally or nonliterally
• Rabbi Chaim Vital and Mahari Sarug’s complementary descriptions of creation
• The difference between recovering an absent light and revealing a hidden presence
• Finding Hashem within the places that appear empty, distant, or disconnected

This is Part 4 of 5 in The Arizal, a series exploring the spiritual and therapeutic meaning of the Arizal’s teachings and their application to the inner life.

This five-part series is sponsored l’ilui nishmat Ruth Kassin bat Tzofia—לעילוי נשמת רות בת צופיה—in honor of her yahrzeit on the 16th of Av. May her neshamah have an aliyah.

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