Tzimtzum (Contraction)

Tzimtzum is the foundational cosmogonic act in Lurianic Kabbalah: Ein Sof contracts its infinite Or (light) to create a Chalal (vacated space) within which finite reality can exist. Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari) taught that without this primordial withdrawal, no vessel could withstand the undiluted divine radiance. Tzimtzum is not absence but concealment — the Reshimu (residual trace) of divine light remains within the void, providing the substrate for the Kav (ray of light) that subsequently enters to structure the Olamot (worlds). This doctrine resolves the central paradox of emanation: how the boundless becomes bounded without diminishment.