Before the writings of the sixteenth-century scholar and mystic Isaac Luria, all kabbalists asserted that the Ein-Sof (the "Infinite") was made manifest through the processes of emanation and creation. Isaac Luria suggested the opposite: an enormous chasm existed between Ein-Sof and the world of emanation. Luria explained this "new" Kabbalah on the basis of three characteristics: contraction, the breakiing of the vessels, and reintegration.

Luria posited that the first act of Ein-Sof was not one of revelation and emanation, but rather one of concealment and limitation, that is, tzimzum. Why this reversal in thinking? Luria adduces that the essence of Ein-Sof leaves no space for creation because it is impossible to imagine an area that is not already God -- since this would limit His Infinity. Creation, therefore, can occur only by God entering Himself! That is, the Almighty contracts Himself in order to make possible for something other than the Ein-Sof to exist. This retreat into the Godhead allows the creative processes room to evolve. Thus it is not the concentration of God’s power in a place that brings forth creation, but its withdrawal from a place.

When the "desire" to create came into being, the Infinite brought the forces of judgment (Din) into one place. There this characteristic mingled with the remnants of the light of the Infinite (called reshimu). Into this mixture the Infinite places a yod, the first letter of the Tetra- grammaton (the "four-letter" name of God), which contains the power of formation and organization. Thus Creation consists of a twofold effort on behalf of the forces of contraction and the emanations of the Infinite.

From the seventeenth century onward the kabbalists were divided over the doctrine of tzimzum ("contraction"). Was it to be taken literally or symbolically as an occurrence in the intelligence of the Divine? The literal view was supported by those kabbalists who had little use for Aristotelian philosophy (particularly the Shabbateans); the nonliteral perspective was accepted by kabbalists who were admittedly influenced by classic philosophic thinking.