Tzimtzum: The Divine Contraction

The classical problem for Jewish (and Islamic and Christian) theology is how creation is possible at all. If God is infinite, omnipresent, and fills all space with his being, where is there room for the world? Any finite creation seems to require a space that God does not occupy — but if God is truly infinite, no such space can exist. Luria's tzimtzum is a radical answer: God created the world by withdrawing from a region of himself, contracting into himself to leave a primordial empty space within the divine infinity.

The void created by tzimtzum (the tehiru) is not an absolute emptiness: a residue (reshimu) of divine light remains after God's withdrawal, like the fragrance that persists in a vessel after its contents have been poured out. This residue is the raw material, the substrate, from which the world will eventually be formed. God then sends a thin thread of divine light (kav) back into the tehiru, and the interaction of this new light with the residue initiates the process of world-formation.

Tzimtzum introduces a profound idea into theological metaphysics: creation as divine self-limitation. God creates not by overflowing or emanating but by withdrawing — making room for the other by limiting himself. This has implications for understanding both creation and evil: the world exists because God made space for it, and that space involves a degree of divine absence as well as presence. Later interpreters, notably in Hasidic thought, debated whether the tzimtzum was literal (God truly withdrew) or metaphorical (God concealed himself while remaining everywhere). The stakes are enormous: a literal tzimtzum implies that the world contains a genuine void of divine presence; a metaphorical one implies that all apparent absence is illusory.

Tzimtzum is expounded in the first sections of Etz Chaim, compiled by Chaim Vital from Luria's oral teachings. Its influence extends far beyond Jewish mysticism: the concept was discussed by Schelling, attracted Leibniz's attention, and has been applied in contemporary theology by Jürgen Moltmann and others.