Reshimu רשימו

Reshimu (רשימו, “impression, trace, residue”) is the Lurianic name for the remnant of Ein Sof’s light that remains within the vacated space (chalal) after the contraction (tzimtzum). When the Infinite withdrew from the central point, its light did not vanish without remainder: a trace, an impression, was left inscribed in the void, and it is upon this substrate that the descending kav (the line of fresh light) then works. The reshimu is the reason the vacated space is never absolute privation.

Small as the concept sounds, the reshimu carries a great deal of doctrinal weight. It is the textual and conceptual hinge of the entire debate over whether the tzimtzum is to be read literally or figuratively. Any account of the contraction must say what, exactly, remains in the space said to be “vacated” — and the answer, reshimu, is what allows the figurative reading (no real withdrawal; only a concealment) to claim that the divine never truly departed, while also allowing the literal reading to grant that a measured trace persists without the manifest presence returning.

Etymology

Root R-Sh-M (resh-shin-mem), “to mark, inscribe, trace.” The same root yields the Hebrew roshem (an impression, a mark) and the verb lirshom (to write down, to sketch). The Aramaic form reshimu names the thing inscribed — not a faint smudge but a genuine impression of light, the way a seal leaves its form in wax. The choice of an inscription-word is deliberate: the residue is a qualitative imprint of the divine light, not merely a quantitative leftover. For this reason the term should be rendered “residue,” “trace,” or “impression,” and not “remnant” or “remainder,” which suggest a portion left over rather than an inscribed trace.

Place in the cosmogony

In the Lurianic sequence the reshimu sits between the tzimtzum and the kav. First the Infinite contracts, leaving the round void; the reshimu remains within it; then the line of light is drawn down into that already-imprinted space. In Chayyim Vital’s Etz Chaim (Sha’ar 1) the contraction-passage describes the vacated space and the residue that remains, and the following discourse describes the line that enters and builds the worlds upon it. In the later gates the interaction of the fresh light of the kav with the reshimu of the withdrawn light becomes a standard frame for explaining how bounded existence is generated and sustained: every level of the worlds carries both the light that descends and the trace of the light that was withdrawn.

Usage across traditions

Tradition	Figure	Text	Specific sense	Citation
Jewish mysticism	Chayyim Vital	Etz Chaim, Sha’ar 1	The trace of Ein Sof’s light remaining in the chalal after the contraction; the substrate on which the kav works	Derush Igulim ve-Yosher (the contraction discourse)
Jewish mysticism T	Schneur Zalman of Liadi	Tanya, Sha’ar haYichud	On the figurative reading, the persistence of the reshimu shows that the “withdrawal” was never a real departure of the divine light	Part II, ch. 7

Cross-tradition parallels marked T reflect documented historical transmission with the transmission channel named above. Parallels marked S reflect structural analogy: independent developments that converge on similar conceptual territory. The distinction is editorial not evaluative.

Jewish mysticism Chayyim Vital

Etz Chaim, Sha’ar 1

The trace of Ein Sof’s light remaining in the chalal after the contraction; the substrate on which the kav works

Derush Igulim ve-Yosher (the contraction discourse)

Jewish mysticism T Schneur Zalman of Liadi

Tanya, Sha’ar haYichud

On the figurative reading, the persistence of the reshimu shows that the “withdrawal” was never a real departure of the divine light

Part II, ch. 7

Contested meanings

Because the reshimu is what remains in the supposedly empty space, it is the precise point on which the literal-versus-figurative dispute over tzimtzum is fought (see the Sugya map of the tzimtzum). The figurative reading (Schneur Zalman, Chabad) leans heavily on the residue: if a trace of the divine light always remains, the “vacated” space is never truly empty of divinity, and the contraction is best understood as concealment rather than removal. The literal reading must instead specify how the reshimu can persist without amounting to a return of the manifest presence the contraction removed. Either way, no account of the tzimtzum is complete until it has said what the reshimu is and does.

Primary sources

• Etz Chaim, Sha’ar 1 (Vital, recording Luria) — the residue that remains after the contraction.
• Tanya, Part II (Sha’ar haYichud vehaEmunah), ch. 7 (Schneur Zalman) — the reshimu in the figurative reading.

Scholarly literature

• Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Seventh Lecture — the structure of the Lurianic withdrawal and what it leaves behind.
• Fraenkel, Nefesh HaTzimtzum (2015) — the role of the residue in the argument that the tzimtzum debate rests on a shared non-literal concept.
• Fine, Physician of the Soul, Healer of the Cosmos — the Lurianic cosmogony in its Safed setting.

Hekhal Editorial. "Reshimu." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/reshimu.

Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Reshimu." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/reshimu.

Hekhal Editorial. "Reshimu." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/reshimu.

Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Reshimu. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/reshimu

@misc{hekhal-lexicon-reshimu-2026,
  author       = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
  title        = {{Reshimu}},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
  url          = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/reshimu},
  urldate      = {[date accessed]}
}