הצמצום כפשוטוNot to Be Taken Literally

ha-tzimtzum ki-feshutoIn Gamatria ↗

Ein Sof has no shape, so the withdrawal has none.

Shaltiel quotes Mevo She'arim: Ein Sof filled everything and withdrew from its center to make room. But why? Light a torch in a sealed room, then a second; the room was full, yet the second fits. Yehoyada answers that reading tzimtzum literally overturns the roots of faith, and gives ten proofs. Ein Sof would have an image, a circle, a void and a line, though the Tikkunim deny Him even a point. Thought would grasp Him. There would be a place where He is not. He would change in quantity and place. His oneness would have parts, the middle moving and the rest not. He would have place and motion, which Rabad, Ramban, Radbaz, the Shelah and Ramak all deny. Shaltiel tries placing tzimtzum in the Rema's Will. Even there, Yehoyada answers, it cannot be literal.

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