People, oxen, lions, and eagles? Not really.

Here are some details about the “appearance” of the Sephirot.

First off, what the prophets and those more exalted souls “saw” were qualitative and quantitative differences and changes in the Sephirot. And so, in Ramchal’s words, the Sephirot can be envisioned as shining brightly or dimly (Petach 7), which is to say that they sometimes appeared more “fleshed out” if you will — detailed — than at others. “Dimmer”, less detailed, representations, Ramchal explained in his comments to Petach 7, were visions of the Sephirot alone, while “brighter”, more detailed, representations were visions of the Partzufim which we’ll discuss in detail later on which are more complex than pure Sephirot [1].

At other times the Sephirot were pictured as assuming different forms and figures (Petach 7) as when Ezekiel “saw” a “man”, a “lion”, an “ox”, and an “eagle” (Ezekiel 1:10). Sometimes they were seen to be moving about in specific ways, as when Ezekiel likewise saw various phenomena “running and returning” here and there (Ibid. 1:14). And they were also “seen” to follow certain rules of interactions, and could thus be pictured as being interdependent, sequential, or sequestered within each other (Petach 10).

But again, these were prophetic visions (which conformed to certain rules as we’ll see). The Sephirot themselves didn’t assume shapes at all or move about.

Note:

[1]       See Petachim 17 and 70.

(c) 2011 Rabbi Yaakov Feldman

Feel free to contact me at feldman@torah.org

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