Divinity is One

Multiplicity in the Divinity is Impossible

The foundation of foundations of our Jewish faith is that HaKadosh Baruch Hu exists, that He is one, and that there is no other besides Him, as the Rambam writes in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah (1:1-7):

The foundation of foundations and that pillar of wisdoms is to know that there is a primeval being, and that He brings into being everything that exists, and that all beings from heaven to earth and in between only exist because of the truth of His existence. … This is what the prophet says, “And HaShem Elokim is truth” – He alone is the truth, and no other possesses truth akin to His truth. And this is what the Torah says, “There is none other beside Him,” meaning that there is no true being like Him apart from Him. … This deity is one, and not two, nor more than two, but one such that there is no unity like His unity. He is more one than the ones which exist in the world, not the type of one that contains multiple ones, nor one like a body which can be divided into divisions and edges, but a unity to which no other unity in the world is similar. … And knowledge of this is a positive commandment, as it is said: “I am HaShem your God.” And whoever considers the possibility that there is another deity apart from this one transgresses a negative commandment, as it is said: “You shall not have other gods apart from me”; and rejects the fundamental belief, as this is the fundamental belief that everything depends on.

In the secret Torah, there are ten sefirot, three behaviors and four general worlds, as the Sages explain, and as summarized by Ramak, Pardes Rimmonim (3:7):

Now, atzilut of keter is called arich anpin, and it is the first concealment to the emanator. The second concealment is ze’er anpin, and it includes all the eight sefirot from chochmah to yesod, and this is the secret of the second concealment to the emanator. The third concealment is called nukva dizer anpin, and this is malchut. The secret of these three concealments is explained in the Idra at Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai’s death, as we will explain at length there.

Indeed all is one; there is no multiplicity in the Divinity, but only a change in the means of the creator’s revelation; there is also no separation. As is brought, for instance, in the Zohar, Idra Zuta, Parashat Ha’azinu (3:290a):

Rabbi Shimon said: Everything that I say about the holy ancient one and all that I say about ze’er anpin is all one; it is all one thing. There is no separation dependent on Him; blessed is His name forever and ever.

The fact that the bountiful flow on all of the worlds and creations is from a single source, and that this source is complete, can be seen even from the words of the geonim, such as what Rav Hai Gaon writes in his responsa (quoted by Ramak in Pardes Rimmonim, end of 11:1):

The last he is the tikkun of what acts, and brings all the hidden forces into full action, and this is the completeness of all the forces. Until here are the orders of the levels, but we can’t write and explain this noble and awesome secret in too wide and broad an explanation. And the master who creates all will give us and you a heart to know, etc. Until now was a quote from the responsum.

The Ramak explains regarding the unity of the creator (Pardes Rimmonim 2:7):

There is also no need to ask this, because He made the nature of spiritual entities such that although they are thin and spiritual, they are divisible into parts. This, then, would be the lesser quality of spiritual entities, because God’s primary perfection is in being one and indivisible.

It is thus proven that HaShem is one, single and unique, has no division, and there is none besides Him.

 However, in the Arizal’s writings it is stated in many places that HaShem has wives and they have children (God forbid).

It is brought in Etz Chayyim 38:2 (second edition):

Rachel is the true nukva of ze’er anpin, and she is his actual consort, since he is from the ten points which make up the world of atzilut, and she is their last malchut. But Leah is mainly the backside of imma which fell below to this place, and she is only a borrowed wife of ze’er anpin. While she has fallen below she is caught in the skin of ze’er anpin. But Rachel is his nefesh, because malchut is nefesh and ze’er anpin is ruach, as is well known.

The same is found elsewhere. If so, ze’er anpin has wives. In other words, according to the Arizal’s kabbalah, HaShem has wives (God forbid).

Furthermore, in the Arizal’s kabbalah there is birth of children in the Divinity (God forbid). As is brought in Etz Chayyim 17:1 (second edition, fifth chamber of ze’er anpin):

Afterwards was the tikkun of zachar and nekevah. First they were in pregnancy in the stomach of binah, and then the time of their birth came and they descended to the world of beriah under the two lower joints of netzach hod of the ancient one, and they suckled there for the amount of time it take to suckle, and then they grew and the two lower joints of netzach hod of the ancient one dressed them, then they grew again and they ascended to their place, which is the navel of arich anpin, and they dressed it there.

And the same is in Etz Chayyim 20:3 (second edition):

I shall begin to explain the aspect of the birth of the mochin degadlut of ze’er anpin, which is the aspect of the spiritual and neshamot as stated above. From this you will be explained the actual birth of ze’er anpin itself, because everything is one.

If so, zachar and nekevah give birth to children and then become abba and imma. Things such as this are what form the basis for all of the kavvanot of the Arizal and the siddur of the kavvanot of the Rashash.

Does HaShem have division? Does HaShem have wives? Is it possible to conceive of divine procreation just like a man and a woman, with children? How many gods do they then have, and where has the principle “HaShem is our God, HaShem is one” disappeared to?

Of course not, heaven forfend! We must ask, how did the students of the Arizal come up with such critical mistakes which contradict the principles of the Jewish faith?!

It seems that this awful distortion was formed in the kabbalah of the Arizal because of the introduction of a new, foreign and strange concept called “partzuf” (face). In so doing, they divided the Divinity into different parts, partzufim, each one an independent and separate unit, exactly like humans, as their names also imply: the partzuf of Ya’akov, the partzuf of Leah, the partzuf of Rachel etc. They also imputed this name to ze’er anpin and made it into a separate divinity.

As a source for the above we will bring one source from the kabbalah of Arizal in Etz Chayyim 31:5 (second edition):

Another reason is that if the partzuf of Ya’akov were to go out opposite the face of ze’er anpin above, the face of ze’er anpin would be covered and wouldn’t shine. And it is written, “In the light of the face of the king is life,” because through the lights of the face, the strict judgments are made sweet, as is known, and the power of the external things is nullified. But from the chest and below, when the mochin spread out from there and below, then the mochin on the side of abba have only one cover, because the cover of the vessels of yesod of imma in the chest. Therefore, they are able to shine through outside to ze’er anpin and to take out the partzuf of Ya’akov, which is from the shining of the mochin of abba from the chest and below from opposite the face of ze’er anpin, and from the aspect of the completely revealed chasadim without any partition. And from the da’at of the side of imma, Rachel, the nukva of ze’er anpin, the main spouse, goes out, a total shining from the chest and below from the backside of ze’er anpin until the end of the actual legs of ze’er anpin. This is not the case with Leah, who passes through the partition, as stated above, which is only a simple shining that is totally in strict judgment. In sum, Leah is above the chest of ze’er anpin behind him, and leaves from the mochin of imma; and Rachel, the nukva of ze’er anpin, is under Leah, from the chest and below, behind him.

On the basis of this confusion, the prayer called “tikkun chatzot” was published, which is divided into two partzufim: Tikkun Leah and Tikkun Rachel. Here too, the divine partzufim appear quite impoverished, since they demanded the help of humans to repair them!

Thus we have proven that in the kabbalah of Arizal, there is a division in the Divinity, a concept of procreation in the Divinity exactly like a man and a woman, and with children, just like foreign religions such as the Greek and similar religions.