"Luria even adopted some theological teachings similar to
Christian belief in the Trinity (that God is found to be One God manifested in
Three Persons). Luria went even further. He used the same principle of
interpretation of the early Christians, but he devised "ten different
manifestations of God" (that he called Sefirot) that were supposed to represent
"one" God. Luria’s top and foremost manifestation of his plural
"Godhead" was a "Non-being" never known by Moses or the
Prophets, or those Sages of the Talmuds. He called his final manifestation of
the Deity as Ein Sof which means in Hebrew "No End" (or, simply, "the
End is Nothing" or "Nothing is the End") which is another way of
saying in a philosophical sense "there is NO definable God" (or, all
that there is in the Universe is NOTHING – or that God is a "God" who
is in exile or in hiding). This was another way of teaching there is "no
God" in the final analysis of things. In a word, it is a teaching
advocating atheism."
Ernest L. Martin, Ph.D.

