Partzufim

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Partzufim or Partsufim (Hebrew: פרצופים, singular partzuf, Hebrew: פרצוף), meaning "Divine Personas", are particular reconfigured arrangements of the ten sefirot, divine attributes/emanations of Kabbalah. Each partzuf is thus a configuration of disparate entities into a harmonious unit.^[1] The names of the partzufim are derived from the Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah. There, they are synonymous terms for the sefirot. Their full doctrinal significance emerged in 16th century Lurianic Kabbalah with reference to the cosmic processes of Tohu and Tikun, "Chaos and Rectification".

Medieval Kabbalah described the ten sefirot as divine channels that emanate from their source and descend in a linear progression. Moses ben Jacob Cordovero systemised the different Medieval interpretations of the Zohar. Later, Isaac Luria recast Kabbalah into its second articulation. Lurianic Partzufim describe the dynamic relationships between personas, which interact with each other. The higher partzufim clothe themselves within the lower ones, as a soul is clothed in a body.

According to the Lurianic system, the linear scheme of sefirot precipitates the "shattering" of Tohu, the world of Chaos. Their reformation as partzufim in the World of Atziluth, or Rectification, begins cosmic repair.

As a result of the collapse of the World of Chaos, sparks of holiness were lost, or exiled, in the three lower Worlds. Man, whose soul reflects the harmonised order of partzufim, rectifies the mundane world by redeeming the exiled sparks of holiness through Torah study and performance of mitzvot.