Tikkun/Tikun is a Hebrew word meaning "Fixing/Rectification". It has several connotations in Judaism:
In Kabbalistic esoteric mysticism, Gilgul/Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha Neshamot is a concept of reincarnation. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to "cycle" through "lives" or "incarnations", being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors and so on. The concept relates to the wider processes of history in Kabbalah, involving Cosmic Tikkun, and the historical dynamic of ascending Lights and descending Vessels from generation to generation. The esoteric explanations of gilgul were articulated in Jewish mysticism by Isaac Luria in the 16th century, as part of the metaphysical purpose of Creation.
The tzimtzum or tsimtsum is a term used in the Lurianic Kabbalah to explain Isaac Luria's doctrine that God began the process of creation by "contracting" his Ohr Ein Sof (infinite) light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which finite and seemingly independent realms could exist. This primordial initial contraction, forming a ḥālāl happānuy "vacant space" into which new creative light could beam, is denoted by general reference to the tzimtzum. In contrast to earlier, Medieval Kabbalah, this made the first creative act a concealment/Divine exile rather than unfolding revelation. This dynamic crisis-catharsis in the Divine flow is repeated throughout the Lurianic scheme.
Sefirot, meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof reveals Itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms. The term is alternatively transliterated into English as sephirot/sephiroth, singular sefirah/sephirah etc.
Ein Sof, or Eyn Sof, in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to any self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual realm, probably derived from Solomon ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One". Ein Sof may be translated as "unending", "(there is) no end", or infinity. It was first used by Azriel, who, sharing the Neoplatonic belief that God can have no desire, thought, word, or action, emphasized by it the negation of any attribute. Of the Ein Sof, nothing ("Ein") can be grasped ("Sof"-limitation). It is the origin of the Ohr Ein Sof, the "Infinite Light" of paradoxical divine self-knowledge, nullified within the Ein Sof prior to creation. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the first act of creation, the Tzimtzum self "withdrawal" of God to create an "empty space", takes place from there. In Hasidic Judaism, the Tzimtzum is only the illusionary concealment of the Ohr Ein Sof, giving rise to monistic panentheism. Consequently, Hasidism focuses on the Atzmus divine essence, rooted higher within the Godhead than the Ein Sof, which is limited to infinitude, and reflected in the essence (etzem) of the Torah and the soul.
Atziluth or Atzilut, is the highest of four worlds in which exists the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Beri'ah follows it. It is known as the World of Emanations, or the World of Causes. In the Kabbalah, each of the Sephiroth in this world is associated with a Name of God, and it is associated with the Suit of Wands in the Tarot.
"Pardes" refers to approaches to biblical exegesis in rabbinic Judaism or to interpretation of text in Torah study. The term, sometimes also spelled PaRDeS, is an acronym formed from the same initials of the following four approaches:
In Kabbalistic and Hasidic philosophy, seder hishtalshelus or hishtalshelut refers to the chain-like descent of spiritual worlds (Olam/Olamot) between God and Creation. Each spiritual world denotes a complete realm of existence, resulting from its general proximity or distance to Divine revelation. Each realm is also a form of consciousness reflected in this world through the psychology of the soul.
Ze`ir Anpin is a revealed aspect of God in Kabbalah, comprising the emotional sephirot attributes: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod and Yesod.
The Four Worlds, sometimes counted with a prior stage to make Five Worlds, are the comprehensive categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of Existence.
Ohr is a central Kabbalistic term in the Jewish mystical tradition. The analogy of physical light is used as a way of describing metaphysical Divine emanations. Shefa is sometimes alternatively used in Kabbalah, a term also used in Medieval Jewish philosophy to mean Divine influence, while the Kabbalists favour Ohr because its numerical value equals Raz ("mystery"). It is one of the two main metaphors in Kabbalah for understanding Divinity, along with the other metaphor of the human soul-body relationship for the Sephirot. The metaphorical description of spiritual Divine creative-flow, using the term for physical "light" perceived with the eye, arises from analogous similarities. These include the intangible physicality of light, the delight it inspires and the illumination it gives, its apparently immediate transmission and constant connection with its source. Light can be veiled and reflected. White light divides into 7 colours, yet this plurality unites from one source. Divine light divides into the 7 emotional Sephirot, but there is no plurality in the Divine essence. The term Ohr in Kabbalah is contrasted with Ma'ohr, the "luminary", and Kli, the spiritual "vessel" for the light.
Kochos/Kochot haNefesh, meaning "Powers of the Soul", are the innate constituent character-aspects within the soul, in Hasidic thought's psychological internalisation of Kabbalah. They derive from the 10 Sephirot Heavenly emanations of Kabbalah, by relating each quality to its parallel internal motivation in man. The Hasidic discussion of the sephirot, particularly in the Kabbalistically oriented system of Habad thought, focuses principally on the Soul Powers, the experience of the sephirot in Jewish worship.
Daas/Daat Elyon and Daas/Daat Tachton are two alternative levels of perception of reality in Hasidic thought. Their terms derive from the Kabbalistic sephirot: Keter and Da'at, considered two levels of the same unifying principle; the first encompassing, the second internalised within the person. In Kabbalah either Keter or Da'at are listed in the 10 sephirot, but not both. While the significance of this duality is limited in Kabbalah to its discussion of the Heavenly realms, the significance, and the terminology of "Higher" and "Lower Knowledge" emerges in the Hasidic internalisation of Kabbalah to describe alternative, paradoxical conscious perceptions of Divine Panentheism in this material World. Upper Knowledge refers to the Divine view "from Above", Lower Knowledge to the Created view "from Below".
Partzufim/Partsufim, meaning Divine "Personae/Visages/Faces/Forms/Configurations", are particular reconfigured arrangements of the ten sephirot. Each partzuf is thus a configuration of disparate entities into a harmonious unit. The names of the partzufim are derived from the Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah. There, they are synonymous terms for the sefirot. Their full doctrinal significance emerged in 16th century Lurianic Kabbalah with reference to the cosmic processes of Shevirah-"Shattering" and Tikun-"Rectification."
