Keter
We know that keter sits above the sefirot like a crown sits on top of the king’s head. It is slightly above the head, it’s not in the head itself. The source of God and the creation of the world is beyond this world, it touched the world to create it, it is on the world but not within. The sefirah also represents the will that we don’t know where it's from; the unconscious or pre-conscious.
The tefillin shel rosh is replaced with a crown- the representation of the translation of this sefirah. The crown has 10 points with 10 jewels on top of it. Each of the points are triangles, representative of the perennial triangles. Perrenialism holds the belief in the existence of God or one ultimate transcendent reality. The jewels are representative of each of the 10 sefirot.
The background is white to represent the total expansiveness of this sefirah. Almost all TV shows and movies show a totally white background and space when representing the very distant future to display the expansiveness and the idea of everything but nothing at the same time.
Chochma
Chochma is represented by the right brain- the creative half of our minds. It is the steps before the details, the flash of an idea, that eureka moment. It represents that potential of what will be and is expansive due to its lack of details. It is the pure potential of an idea. Represented in this logo is the right brain with its creative half and colors making up half of the lightbulb representing the flash of an idea. The left side is half white and half black, representing the left side of the brain- the logic, the black and the white (yes/no, extremes, rigidness, etc.).
Binah
The logo has the blueprints to a house as well as to the name of the sefirah itself. The house is representative of the idea that binah is connected to the words boneh, to build, or bein, between. This sefirah is also called the mother, hence forth the pregnant woman on the left side of the logo design. This sefirah is also called the womb of creation because like a mother, binah takes a speak and moves it to actualization using a vessel that can grow into a whole being.
Chesed
The sefirah of chesed is about the expansiveness once the plan for the idea and the will to do it are present. Within it is the positive energy that flows from Hashem to maintain, create, and sustain the world. Positivity in the world is chesed.
In this logo, the energy flows from the outlet to the phone. And even when the phone is fully charged, the outlet will continue to send electrical impulses to the phone. The outlet, much like Hashem, asks for nothing in return for charging the phone, but rather continuously always sends electricity and energy to the phone. And as soon as it stops, the battery will drain and die. So too, without Hashem maintaining the world constantly, we would all die.
Gevurah
Gevurah is no longer expansive. It breaks down the details into this and not that. It is the vessel to the light of chesed. Gevurah is about restraint, holding back, and self-control.
In this logo, you can see the energy/electricity, taken from chesed and now contained within a vessel. The electricity is confined to this circle and is therefore more powerful when used.
Tiferet
Tiferet is the beauty or harmony that shows the light. It is compassion- the balance between chesed, unconditional giving and giving, and gevurah, the total restraint and holding back. It is born out of the connection between the two, it comes in the center and is also in the center of the sefirah chart.
The logo shows the Torah on a scale that is balanced. The idea is that Torah balances our lives. It is the balancing force. “The Torah empowers us to balance our passions with our cautions and reservation so that we can stay true to ourselves.” [1]
Netzach
I heard from Rabbi Judah Mischel from Lev HaTorah a dvar torah on Yom Yerushalayim. He was talking about how great it is to have Yerushalayim as our capital and how it represents nitchus, eternality, Yerushalayim as our eternal capital. It was from this I knew that the logo had to include Yerusalayim. I remembered that we learned in class that the sefirah of Netzach takes something that is expansive and without boundaries and brings it to a place with time and space. The answer was simple. Even in our times, when, as the logo shows, we only have the Kotel, the idea of Yerushalayim as a holy space, a place where we can pray, even if only by the Western Wall. Holiness in heaven is totally expansive, Hashem brings it down to us and puts it to a time and space, like Shabbos or Yuntif. In this case, he put it to Yerushalayim, which will always be holy in every space and time, because it is eternal. The quote is explaining a pasuk that when it says Netzach, it is talking about Yerushalayim.
Hod
Yesod
Yesod literally means foundation, but also represents the foundation of the world. Yesod channels all the other sefirot down into Malchut, it shapes them to make sure they can fit within Malchut. Yesod makes sure you are grounded in reality and also is the power of responsibility. To represent these themes, I chose to create a representation of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. Atlas was charged with holding up the world. He is like the foundation, without him holding the world up it would fall. The word Yesod is written between his legs because the sefirah of Yesod corresponds with the male reproductive organ.
Additionally, there are stars in the sky around him. The idea are the sparks of creation that split up are being recollected here. We can see them, and if we could only gather them and bring them down to Malchut, to complete the cycle of all the sefirot, perhaps we could see the coming of Moshiach.
Malchut
The idea of Malchut is Hashem’s kingship. It is the sefirah that brings it all down to us. That is the other idea behind the hand, it could also be holding everything together, or even Hashem’s hand, giving us the world.
Works Cited
The God Powered Life- The Kabblah of Awakening and Purpose- Rabbi David Aaron
Aish.com
Chabad.com
Breslov.org
Myjewishlearning.com/article/sefirot/
None of the ideas are my own, while the representations in the artwork are. Since the ideas are all taken from the above sources, it would have been too much to say where each sentence’s idea came from.
[1] Aaron, 123
