Ohr

The Sefirot in Kabbalah
The Sefiroth in Jewish Kabbalah
	The Tree of Life

Ohr ("Light"; Hebrew: אור; pl. Oros Hebrew: אורות) is a concept in the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and Hasidic philosophy. The analogy of light is used as a way of describing divine attributes. In particular, each Sefirah is said to consist of a light that comes to be vested into a vessel, or "kli" (Hebrew: כלי). Generally speaking, the light is simple and undifferentiated, as it stems originally from the Ohr Ein Sof, God's infinite light. It represents divine revelation in the world. It is associated with the Kabbalistic divine name of ban.

It is explained in Jewish Mysticism that Ohr is the revelation and expression of any particular spiritual level which descends from that level and enclothes itself in a vessel (Kli). This ohr is atypically in a state of nullification vis-a-vis the level from which it stems, and therefore, even when it descends to lower realms, posesses a attribute of Ratzu, a desire to go higher and return to its source. Correspondingly, the Kli is capable of persuading the Ohr to descend through its desire/understanding of Shuv, an acknowledgment of the necessity of descent in order to fulfill the ultimate supernal will.

Jewish Mysticism also explains the concept of the Maohr and the Ohr; the source of the light and light which eminates from that source in order to reveal it. Traditionally, the Mashal, or parable given to explain the abovementioned relationship is the relationship between the Sun and the light that it gives off. However, technically speaking, the light that comes from the sun is not the perfect example for the Ohr, since it has already passed through the Nartik, a level that covers over the revelation of the sun. In truth, the Ohr that exists in the parable of the sun is the light of the sun that exists in the sun itself. The light that we see from the sun has already been limited in its quality and therefore lacks the nullification of the true Ohr. Rather, this Ohr, being that it has been limited by the Nartik, is called Ohr HaNartik (the light of the Nartik), for although it does not actually come from the Nartik, since the Nartik limited it in such a way that it no longer possesses a connection with its ultimate source, we associate it with the Nartik.

In Kabbalah, the