Note 1 — I.

‏דע כי אין סוף לא יכנס בהרהור וכל שכן בדבור אף על פי שיש לו רמז בכל דבר שאין חוץ ממנו ולכך אין אות ואין שם ואין דבר אשר יגבלנו‎, Commentary of the ten Sephiroth, ed. Berlin, p. 4 a. This doctrine, however, that everything is in the Deity is not peculiar to the Kabbalah, it has been propounded by the Jews from time immemorial, before the Kabbalah came into existence, as may be seen from the following passage in the Midrash. “The Holy One, blessed be he, is the space of the universe, but the universe is not his space (‏הקב״ה מקומו של עולם ואין העולם מקומו‎). R. Isaac submitted: from the passage ‏מעונה אלהי קדם‎ ( Deut. xxxiii, 27 ), we do not know whether the Holy One, blessed be he, is the habitation of the universe or the universe his habitation; but from the remark ‏אדני מעון אתה‎ Lord thou art the dwelling place ( Ps. xc, 1 ), it is evident that the Holy One, blessed be he, is the dwelling place of the universe, and not the universe his dwelling place.” (Bereshith Rabba, § lxviii.) To the same effect is the remark of Philo, “God himself is the space of the universe, for it is he who contains all things.” (De Somniis, i.) It is for this reason that God is called ‏מקום‎ or ‏המקום‎ = ὁ τόπος, locus, and that the Septuagint renders ‏ויראו את אלהי ישראל וגו׳‎ ( Exod. xxiv, 10 ), by καὶ εἶδον τὸν τόπον, οὗ εἱστήκει ὁ θεὸς, which has occasioned so much difficulty to interpreters. ↑