Chokhmah

Chokmah (, also transliterated as chokma, chokhmah or hokhma) is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions (LXX sophia, Vulgate ''''). It is the second of the ten sefirot in Kabbalah, and represents the first power of conscious intellect and subtle manifestation, emerging from Keter's pure potentiality. It embodies wisdom coming from nothingness, as highlighted in the Book of Job and the Bahir. Chokmah is the primordial point of divine wisdom that becomes comprehensible through Binah.

In Jewish mystical texts, Chokmah is described as the primordial point of divine wisdom, which shines forth from the will of God. This point remains incomprehensible until differentiated and given form in Binah. The Zohar, an essential Kabbalistic text, emphasizes Chokmah’s role in the emanation process and its association with the sense of sight, as well as an inner spiritual sense of taste that precedes and arouses sight. The interplay between Chokmah and Binah is crucial for understanding how abstract wisdom becomes concrete understanding.