nullification is Bittul. In daily spiritual life (Dveikus) it inspires the mystical humility of nullification of the ego. The Ohr Ein Sof - The Infinite Light The Ein Sof (literally: "Without End"/Limitless/Infinite) is the Kabbalistic term for the Divine essence. Kabbalah describes 10 Sephirot (The 10 Divine emanations or attributes), that reveal the unknowable Godhead to the creations and channel the creative life-force to all levels of existence. However, these 10 attributes of God do not represent the Divine essence. The Kabbalists differentiated between the manifestations of God (forms of "light"), and their origin in the Divine essence (the "Luminary"). This difference overcame the criticism that they were introducing plurality into the pure Monotheism of Judaism. Kabbalistic texts take great care to emphasise this difference, and warn against anthropomorphising the subtle descriptions of Kabbalah in human terms. To avoid such heresies, the historical transmission of Kabbalah was traditionally restricted to direct teaching in close circles. As well as the 10 "lights" of God encapsulated in the Sephirot, Kabbalah also describes a more primordial light that shines from the Ein Sof (Infinite) itself. This light, the origin of all Creation, and all lower lights, is called the "Ohr Ein Sof" ("The light of the Infinite", or alternatively, itself "The Infinite Light"). The Kabbalistic and Hasidic masters ask the question of how there can be a revelation of God, in the Ohr Ein Sof, before Creation. Surely, there can be "no king without a people". Before Creation, there could be no being to behold a revelation of Divine light. The Ohr Ein Sof is a form of Divine self-knowledge, and through God knowing Himself, He created everything, with its subsequent historical unfolding, and its ultimate purpose in the innermost Divine Will. Tzimtzum – Restrictions of Divine Light As the Ohr Ein Sof is itself infinite, it could not itself directly be the source for the creation of Worlds (Four Worlds and Seder hishtalshelus). Any direct creations of the Infinite Light would be of infinite number, and would not be actual creations at all, as they would remain totally nullified ("bittul") to the Infinite Light, and would have no independent self-awareness. Rather it is only through the restrictions of the Sephirot and the descending "Chain of Progression" (Seder hishtalshelus), that the Worlds could unfold. In the descending chain of Worlds from the Infinite to our finite realm, the creative flow of Divine light