The last sefirah of the Tree of Life is Malkhut (Sovereignty), also known as Shechinah (Presence). It is befitting that we finish our examination of the Tree of Life by talking about Malkhut/Shechinah, the Sefirah of completion, of making what has once been a plan into a concrete reality.
The two aspects of this Sefirah, Sovereignty and Presence, will help us understand how we get things done in this world. As Sovereignty, this sefirah fulfils the divine plan. It brings to fruition all that was dreamed and planned in the other sefirot, actualizing all the other energies, fulfilling the potential of the Tree of Life. As Presence, this sefirah is identified with the feminine aspect of God. Through the Presence of the Eternal we are able to connect with the higher energies.
Malkhut/Shechinah is understood in the Zohar as the place from where the world was created and came into being. Since the world was created through speech, by God speaking and things coming into being, we can understand this sefirah as both Womb and Mouth. Only when we have the humility to understand that in our partnership with the Eternal we are able to make things happen in this world, we can realize our plans. Malkhut/Shechinah is the repository of all the planning of all the other energies, bringing things into fruition. Then the connection between the energies and the concrete, actual world becomes the moment in which God is revealed to humanity. I like to understand the concept of mitzvah as this moment of connection, which is realized in time, the sphere in which one will actualize one’s potential, where we can make our potential concrete in the world in which we live.
In this sefirah we experience Unity, within oneself, between all humans, and ultimately of the energies of the Eternal with us.
Shabbat evening, in the kabbalistic understanding, is the weekly celebration of the different forms of encounter, of the possibility of Unity. According to the Talmud, in every exile into which the children of Israel went, God’s Presence, the Shechinah, went with them. On the one hand, this means that God’s presence was always with the people Israel, wherever we went and wherever we now find ourselves. On the other hand, it means that a part of Godself was and is exiled from the totality of God. The Kabbalists understood the moment of shabbat as the only moment in which we can experience re-connection. On Shabbat, Malkhut/Shekhinah connects with the upper sefirot and with us, promoting the unification of all things. We can take that experience of Unity and translate it into action during the week, through the mitzvot (understood as connections with the Eternal), taking care not to lose that connection, consolidating unity in every moment of existence. On Shabbat we are free to experience time, giving us inspiration to dream. Shabbat is the moment where all the energies can come together, feminine with masculine, judgment with love, victory with gratitude, harmony with our foundation. Shabbat, the time of connection and contemplation becomes a foretaste of what is possible, of the unity that enables us to do our creative work. With the experience of Unity, we march into the week with a better understanding of what can be done to fix this broken world.