Tree of life (Kabbalah) in the context of "Celestial spheres"

Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Abrahamic religion and Age of Enlightenment rationalism. It has influenced, or contributed to, various forms of Western philosophy, mysticism, religion, science, pseudoscience, art, literature, and music.

The idea of grouping a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the term esotericism developed in 17th-century Europe. Various academics have debated numerous definitions of Western esotericism. One view adopts a definition from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating "esotericism" as a perennial hidden inner tradition. A second perspective sees esotericism as a category of movements that embrace an "enchanted" worldview in the face of increasing disenchantment. A third views Western esotericism as encompassing all of Western culture's "rejected knowledge" that is accepted neither by the scientific establishment nor orthodox religious authorities.

J. H. Chajes (/ˈhaɪɛs/ or /ˈhɑːjɛs/; Josef Hillel/Jeffrey Howard; Hebrew: יוסף (יוסי) חיות, Hebrew pronunciation: [joˌsef ˌjosi χaˈjut]; born June 11, 1965) is the Sir Isaac and Lady Edith Wolfson Professor of Jewish Thought in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. He is a Jewish cultural historian whose work has been devoted to the intersections of Kabbalah, magic, and science in the early modern period. In the last decade, he has become the leading scholar of visual Kabbalah, having founded The Ilanot Project and published the first major work on the previously unstudied genre of ilanot (scrolls featuring the arboreal diagram commonly known as the "Tree of life"). He is the author of Between Worlds: Dybbuks, Exorcists, and Early Modern Judaism and The Kabbalistic Tree. In 2013, he was elected to the Executive Board of the World Union for Jewish Studies, where he serves as Division Chair for rabbinic literature, Jewish law, and Jewish thought.

Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (US: /xəˈbɑːd luˈbɑːvɪtʃ/; Hebrew: חב״ד לובביץּ׳; Yiddish: חב״ד ליובאוויטש), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of the largest Jewish religious organizations. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad mainly operates in the wider world and caters to nonobservant Jews.

Founded in 1775 by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812) in the city of Liozno in the Russian Empire, the name "Chabad" (חב״ד) is an acronym formed from the three Hebrew words—Chokmah, Binah, Da'at—for the first three sefirot of the kabbalistic Tree of Life after Keter: חכמה, בינה, דעת, "Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge"—which represent the intellectual and kabbalistic underpinnings of the movement. The name Lubavitch derives from the town in which the now-dominant line of leaders resided from 1813 to 1915. Other, non-Lubavitch scions of Chabad either disappeared or merged into the Lubavitch line. In the 1930s, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, moved the center of the Chabad movement from Russia to Poland. After the outbreak of World War II, he moved the center of the movement to Brooklyn, New York, in the United States, where the Rebbe lived at 770 Eastern Parkway until the end of his life.

Keter or Kether (Hebrew: כֶּתֶר, romanized: Keṯer, lit. 'crown'; pronunciation) is the first of the ten sefirot in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, symbolizing the divine will and the initial impulse towards creation from the Ein Sof, or infinite source. It represents pure consciousness and transcends human understanding, often referred to as "Nothing" or the "Hidden Light". Keter is associated with the divine name "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh" (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה‎), meaning "I Am that I Am", which was revealed to Moses from the burning bush, and it embodies the qualities of absolute compassion and humility. Its meaning is "crown", and it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Sefirot and the "regal crown" thereof.

Keter is positioned at the top of the Tree of Life, sitting above and between Chokmah on the right and Binah on the left, and above Tiferet. It is often depicted with three primary paths: one leading to Chokmah, another to Binah, and the third to Tiferet. This positioning highlights its role as the source from which wisdom (Chokmah) and understanding (Binah) emanate, and it emphasizes its connection to beauty and harmony (Tiferet), thereby facilitating the flow of divine energy through the sefirot.

Binah (meaning "understanding"; Hebrew: בִּינָה Bīnā) is the third sephira on the kabbalistic Tree of Life. It sits on the level below Keter (in the formulations that include that sephirah), across from Chokmah and directly above Gevurah. It is usually given four paths: from Keter, Chokmah, to Gevurah and Tiphereth.

Creatio ex nihilo (Latin, 'creation out of nothing') or nihilogony is the doctrine that matter is not eternal but had to be created by some divine creative act. It is a theistic answer to the question of how the universe came to exist. It is in contrast to Creatio ex materia and Foundationalism (creation from matter resulting from logical aseity, also known as Resultante ex Aseitate Logica, but modern foundationalism is cosmological with improvements from the 17th century viewpoint that are sometimes framed in terms of the dictum ex nihilo nihil fit or 'nothing comes from nothing', meaning all things were formed ex materia—that is, from pre-existing things).

Yesod (Hebrew: יְסוֹד Yəsōḏ, Tiberian: Yăsōḏ, "foundation") is a sephirah or node in the kabbalistic Tree of Life, a system of Jewish philosophy. Yesod, located near the base of the Tree, is the sephirah below Hod and Netzach, and above Malkuth (the kingdom). It is seen as a vehicle allowing movement from one thing or condition to another (the power of connection). Yesod, Kabbalah, and the Tree of Life are Jewish concepts adopted by various philosophical systems including Christianity, New Age Eastern-based mysticism, and Western esoteric practices.