Keys to Life: The Spiritual Meaning of Colors in Kabbalah

Kabbalah teaches that every color in nature represents flows down from, and symbolizes, a particular spiritual source. By examining the color of a given object in nature, one can gain insight into its spiritual origin, nature, and inner essence.

Accordingly, the ten sefirot- the ten channels of Divine emanation- are each associated with a distinct color that reflects its inner quality. In the spiritual realm, colors are clearly differentiated, each corresponding to a specific spiritual level or trait. Just as a rainbow is visibly divided into seven distinct colors with three more that are hidden or subtle, the ten sefirot are also divided into seven revealed (the lower seven) and three concealed (the upper three).

In the same way that each of the ten sefirot contains within it all ten sefirot, with one dominant, revealed trait, so too each ray of color contains all the other colors within it, but one color is dominant and visibly expressed.

• The first sefirah, Chochmah (Wisdom), is associated with a radiant sky-blue color like sapphire.

• Above it, like a crown above the head, stands Keter Elyon (the Supreme Crown), which shines with a pure white light.

• The tenth and final sefirah, Malchut (Kingship), is associated with the color red.

Regarding Malchut it is said: "Her feet go down to death" (Proverbs 5:5)- not because she is not holy like the other sefirot, but because beneath her lies a completely different realm: the realm of the Sitra Achra (the "other side"), which seeks to siphon off vitality from holiness. These forces are symbolic of darkness, evil, the evil inclination, and the angel of death, hinted at in the verse "You make darkness, and it becomes night" (Psalms 104:20). In the spiritual order of colors, the color black, which represents these forces, lies beneath red.

Thus, in the spiritual hierarchy of colors according to the sefirot, white stands at the highest level. It represents pure kindness and selfless giving. In the physical world, white reflects all light that reaches it, giving outward to others. By contrast, black represents a force that only takes, absorbing all light and returning nothing. It is the symbol of self-centeredness, of a lack of sharing or connection.

This principle- that whatever only takes but does not give belongs to the realm of evil and death- is found in many areas of nature. For example, the Dead Sea is famously lifeless, hence its name. Unlike other seas that receive water and then give it onward through rivers or evaporation, the Dead Sea, being the lowest point on Earth, only receives but does not give. One who only receives and never gives is, in essence, spiritually “dead.”

The colors of the right-hand line (the line of kindness)- purple, blue, and green- are formed by high-frequency light waves, while the colors of the left-hand line (the line of judgment or severity)- red, orange, and yellow- are formed by lower-frequency waves.