Keser (כתר) — the Crown, first of the sefiros

Core definition

Keser ("crown") is the first and highest of the ten sefiros — the head and source of the entire sefirotic structure, positioned above chochmah (wisdom). In the idiom of the maamarim it is the beinoni between the infinite and the emanated: it "comes in the aspect of renewal from the essence of the Ohr Ein Sof," so that relative to the essence (Awtsmoos) it is "of no comparable value at all" — another essence entirely — yet relative to everything below it, it is itself "in the aspect of Ein Sof," so lofty that chochmah is incomparable to it [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 10–19]. Keser is thus simultaneously the lowest rung of the Infinite and the highest rung of the emanated world, and its relationship to what follows it is yesh me'ayin — creation from nothing, not disclosure from concealment.

How the Rebbeim develop it

The classical Kabbalistic identification of keser with the "ayin" that precedes chochmah receives its fullest philosophical treatment in the corpus around the verse "והחכמה מאין תמצא" (Iyov 28:12). "אני ראשון" — the Divine "I" as first — is "the level of keser, the head and source of Atzilus," and it is "the level of the ayin creating the yesh of chochmah" [31681/maamar_017 :: §מב — opening]. Keser is "called ראשון" — the first — precisely because it is "the chochmah's source," while chochmah itself is called "ראשית" (a beginning), the receiver [31681/maamar_017 :: §מב — opening].

Two root-meanings of the word כתר structure the maamarim's treatment. Keser "has two meanings: the first, from the language of כותרת (a crown/circlet) and makif (encompassing); the second, from the language of 'כתר לי זעיר' ('wait for me a little' — Iyov 36:2) — meaning waiting and restraint — the matter of silence," as in "a fence for wisdom is silence" (Avos 3:13) [58846/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 76]. The crown-meaning denotes keser's outwardness: it surrounds and encompasses rather than being internalized. The silence-meaning denotes its inwardness: pure bitul (nullification). "Chochmah's bitul is only the bitul of yesh to ayin" — the existent nullified to nothing — "but the matter of silence is in the aspect of bitul utterly and completely — like an actually silent stone (אבן דומם)": from domem (silence), with no expansion at all, unlike the plant which grows from small to great [58846/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 74–79]. The revelation from chochmah is "יש הוי' בקרבנו" — yesh nullified to ayin — while "אם אין" denotes the revelation from keser: "complete ayin — essential bitul" [58846/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 73–75].

Within keser's bitul there are themselves two levels, drawn from the Zohar: "אוכם" (dark) and "לא ידע" (knows not). "There is a difference between אוכם and לא ידע: אוכם is the bitul that is nullified before the Cause of Causes — yet it is still in the aspect of being felt; לא ידע, by contrast, is not in the aspect of being felt in itself at all — 'even in its essence it is not known'" [58846/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 119–122]. אוכם is illustrated by "a lamp at noon": the lamp's light is darkened and useless, yet the lamp's essence remains — only the expansion is nullified [58846/maamar_017 :: עב׳ 121–122]. לא ידע goes further: no felt essence at all. This maps onto the two meanings of keser: makif-outwardness (אוכם) and silence-inwardness (לא ידע) [58846/maamar_017 :: Summary (p. רטו)].

A sustained development of keser's metaphysics appears in the maamar on "נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם" (Bamidbar 4:22). Since every drawing from the Ohr Ein Sof comes "in the aspect of renewal," keser comes in renewal because it is "revealed will for the sake of the worlds" — will that "necessitates nothing," having no comparable value to the essence [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 10–16]. "Just as keser comes in the aspect of renewal from the essence of the Ohr Ein Sof, likewise, from keser to chochmah too, it comes in the aspect of renewal" — and "there can be keser without chochmah," so "the chochmah must always be innovated in the aspect of an essential innovation" [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 14–15, עב׳ 588–595]. Keser does not produce chochmah as cause produces effect; chochmah must be re-created from keser at every instant.

This maamar also maps keser onto the Mishkan's carriers: the children of Gershon carried the curtains — "the aspect of keser," which "is in the aspect of makif" — while Kehas carried the Ark and inner vessels — chochmah, "the beginning of revelation, in the aspect of or pnimi" [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 597–601]. The "גם הם" ("them too") answers a doubt: makif seems lesser because it shines only outwardly, but "in truth, the aspect of the makif is in the aspect of a very high and sublime level — except that, because of the intensity of its loftiness, it does not shine inwardly" [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 617–620]. A second reading of "גם הם": even keser, "although it is in the aspect of Ein Sof, it is nevertheless in the aspect of incomparable value relative to the essence" — and so needs to be "lifted" (נשא את ראש) to the essence [31680/maamar_026 :: עב׳ 621–624].

Keser is also the root of the soul's highest faculty. The Tikkunei Zohar identifies "נתיב לא ידעו עיט" ("a path the ayit knew not" — Iyov 28:7) with supernal keser: it is "above the level of chochmah and knowledge, being the level of the ayin of keser," yet "found in chochmah" [15692/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 126–127]. In the soul's terms, "the level of 'a path the ayit knew not' — which is in the level of the light of keser — that is, the level of the inwardness of keser — and in chochmah-binah it is the level of the 32nd path and the 50th gate," i.e. the light of keser as it appears within chochmah and binah [15692/maamar_004 :: עב׳ 275–277]. The "unknown path" — keser's inwardness — is identified with the soul's essence, the yechidah, which cleaves to the Divine essence beyond all comprehension.

Key distinctions

Related concepts

Sources