Dirah betachtonim
chabad philosophy
Dirah betachtonim (Hebrew: דירה בתחתונים, romanized: dirā bəṯaḥtonim, lit. 'a dwelling in the lowly realms' is a significant theological concept in Chabad philosophy describing the ultimate desire of God as relating to the manifestation of the divine presence within the material world.
Overview
The concept of a divine dwelling is attributed to a statement in the Midrash Tanhuma, Nasso 16: "Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman said, When the Holy One, blessed be He, created the world, He longed to have an abode below just as He had on high.'" The concept of the possibility of the manifestation of the divine presence in the "lowly realms" is taken up by the kabbalist Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, who associated this idea with the construction of the Tabernacle, which was built by Moses and the Israelites after The Exodus.
In Chabad, a school of Hasidic Judaism, the concept of dirah betachtonim is presented as a central doctrine of Judaism by Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the first Chabad rebbe. The concept is later strongly advanced by the fifth Chabad rebbe, Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, in a series of treatises delivered in 1905–06 known as Samech Vov. This idea is pronounced in this series as the ultimate purpose and meaning of creation. The idea was subsequently advanced and developed by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Chabad rebbe, as a guiding principle for social action, and is linked to the concept of the sublimation of physical aspects of existence to divinity. Additionally, the concept is presented within the Chabad philosophical system in paradoxical form. Despite being revealed through creation's unfolding, the deepest essence of God remained veiled. Yet, it is in the humblest realm, the physical world inhabited by corporeal beings, that this divine essence will manifest most fully functioning as a paradoxical sanctuary where the highest meets the lowest.
In Chabad philosophy, dirah betachtonim is compared to the type of divine manifestation in the World of Atzilut, a realm or sphere of existence theorised in the writings of kabbalah.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dirah betachtonim” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.