Glossary
The handful of Kabbalah words you need, each explained in a sentence and then in a page.
- Bread of Shame Nahama d'Kisufa
- Bread of Shame is the discomfort of receiving something you didn't earn; Kabbalah says it's why unearned gifts rarely last.
- Desire to Receive Ratzon Lekabel
- The desire to receive is the basic wanting that every person is made of; in Kabbalah it is the raw material of the Vessel, and the goal is to transform it, not suppress it.
- Lashon Hara Lashon Hara
- Lashon hara means "evil speech"; it is saying negative things about other people, even when they're true.
- Light Or
- In Kabbalah, "Light" is the name for everything good you could ever want (love, abundance, calm, meaning), understood as a single source that is always on offer.
- Similarity of Form Hishtavut HaTzura
- Similarity of form is the Kabbalah principle that you draw closer to the Light by becoming like it, which means becoming more of a giver.
- Teshuvah Teshuvah
- Teshuvah means "return"; it is the practice of repairing a past mistake so that it stops repeating, classically through regret, stopping, naming and a new choice.
- Tikkun Tikkun
- Tikkun means "correction" or "repair"; in Kabbalah it is the personal work of fixing the patterns that keep repeating in your life.
- Tzimtzum Tzimtzum
- Tzimtzum means "contraction" or "restriction"; in Kabbalah it describes the Light withdrawing to make room for a world that could choose, and, personally, the act of pausing a reactive urge.
- Vessel Kli
- The Vessel (kli) is your capacity to receive and keep the good you want; in Kabbalah, growing the vessel matters more than asking for more.
- Zohar Zohar
- The Zohar ("Radiance") is the central text of Kabbalah, a mystical commentary on the Torah written in Aramaic and first published in thirteenth-century Spain.