A Rare Kabbalistic Sabbath Lamp, 20th Century

Batsheva Goldman-Ida, Hasidic Art and the Kabbalah (Boston: Brill, 2018), p.215-231

Kabbalah, the catchall term for Jewish esoterism and most well-known branch of it, includes medieval and contemporary texts, diagrams, and rituals utilized by Kabbalists to attain the greatest intimacy with the Godhead. Elements of Kabbalistic texts and diagrams are viewed by its followers as anything but coincidental, just as the Jewish Sabbath is a day of deeply intentional rest and ritual. The present Sabbath lamp, influenced by hanging lamps from the Middle East and Asia as well as the Ashkenazi Schabbat-lampe (Sabbath lamp), is meticulously modeled in the form of one of Kabbalah’s foundational diagrams, the Tree of Life.

The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is distinct from both the biblical tree and tree representations from other cultures. This lamp is a three-dimensional representation of the organization and numerical symbolism of the Kabbalistic diagram, and with specific influence from both the Lurianic doctrine of partzufim in the Safed Kabbalah and the Ilanot scrolls. The diagram contains ten or eleven nodes, also known as sefirot (“spheres”), representing the different spheres of existence, and they are often organized into five levels representing the five Kabbalistic partzufim (dimensions of the universe). The sefirot are usually connected with twenty-two paths or lines arranged in three columns, representing the paths required to move from one sphere to another. This particular lamp is organized into five concentric wire rings hung by three vertical wires, and each larger ring encloses smaller rings on which twenty-six blue glass oil vessels rest, all arranged according to the ten most important sefirot. Though the twenty-six vessels can all be lit at once, selective lighting with multiple wicks per vessel can also be utilized to reflect different meanings. On Shabbat, for example, nineteen wicks can be placed in the six rings of the second circle to reflect the numerical equivalent for gematria (Eve) in the Safed Kabbalah.

The experience of kindling light with this lamp is deeply symbolic, yet it allows for individuals of various knowledge bases and beliefs to find distinct meaning. One can understand the act of lighting as either an opportunity to reflect on each sefira separately, or to dwell on how the entire process can bring about shefa (abundance) through the complete sefirot system. Regardless, this lamp provides concrete form to the complex ideas of Kabbalah, a desire expressed by Hasidic communities as well as any individual studying the depths of Kabbalah.