Boundless
ANYTHING VISIBLE, and anything that can be grasped by thought, is bounded. Anything bounded is finite. Anything finite is not undifferentiated. Conversely, the boundless is called Ein Sof, Immeasurable. It is absolute undifferentiation in perfect, changeless oneness. As it is boundless, there is nothing outside of it. Since it transcends and conceals itself, it is the essence of everything hidden and revealed. Since it is concealed, it is the root of faith and the root of rebellion. As it is written, “One who is righteous lives by his faith.” The philosophers acknowledge that we comprehend it only by way of no.
Emanating from Ein Sof are the ten Sefirot. They constitute the process by which all things come into being and pass away. They energize every existent thing that can be quantified. Since all things come into being by means of the Sefirot, they differ from one another; yet they all derive from one root. Everything is from Ein Sof; there is nothing outside of it.
One should avoid fashioning metaphors regarding Ein Sof, but in order to help you understand, you can compare Ein Sof to a candle from which hundreds of millions of other candles are kindled. Though some shine brighter than others, compared to the first light they are all the same, all deriving from that one source. The first light, Ein Sof Aur and all the others are that are derived from it are, in effect, incomparable. Nor can their priority compare with It’s, for It surpasses them; their energy emanates from It. No change takes place in It—the energy of emanation manifests through differentiation.
Ein Sof cannot be conceived, certainly not expressed, though It is intimated in every thing, for there is nothing outside of It. No letter, no name, no writing, no thing can confine It. The witness testifying in writing that there is nothing outside of It is: “I am that I am.” Ein Sof has no will, no intention, no desire, no thought, no speech, no action—for nothing exists outside of It—yet all will, intention, desire, thought, speech and action derive from It.
Nothing
THE DEPTH of primordial being is called Boundless. Because of its concealment from all creatures above and below, it is also called Nothingness. If one asks, “What is it?” the answer is, “Nothing,” meaning: No one can understand anything about it. It is negated of every conception. No one can know anything about it—except the belief that it exists. Its existence cannot be grasped by anyone other than it. Therefore its name is “I am becoming.”
Faith
YOU MAY be asked: “How did God bring forth being from nothingness? Is there not an immense difference between being and nothingness;”’
Answer as follows: “Being is in nothingness in the mode of nothingness, and nothingness is in being in the mode of being.” Nothingness is being, and being is nothingness. The node of being as it begins to emerge from nothingness into existence is called faith. For the term “faith” applies neither to visible, comprehensible being, nor to nothingness, invisible and incomprehensible, but rather to the nexus of nothingness and being. Being does not stem from nothingness alone but rather, from being and nothingness together. All is one in the simplicity of absolute undifferentiation. Our limited mind cannot grasp or fathom this, for it joins infinity.