The Shechinah, Lilith, and the Worlds Before Ours: Kabbalistic Secrets of Creation

From time to time, I come across the word Shechinah. What does it mean? It seems like the Shechinah is not exactly God Himself, but something else.

The term Shechinah refers to the tenth of the Ten Sefirot — the Sefirah of Malchut (Kingship). God channels divine flow (shefa) into the Shechinah, and from there it descends to the people of Israel.
Additionally, the word Shechinah is often used to describe God’s presence and supervision over the physical world, meaning His immanent, dwelling aspect within creation.

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I recently read that before Chava (Eve), Adam had another wife — a woman who later turned out to be associated with Satan. She was called Lilith, portrayed as the symbol of immodesty, rebellion, and evil. My question is: How can this be? The Torah says that Chava was Adam’s first wife. Doesn’t that mean the Torah is hiding or beautifying the story by leaving Lilith out? And what does this imply about women if the “evil one” came before the “good one”?

As the Sages revealed in the Talmud, many of the stories in Sefer Bereishit (Genesis) contain profound mysteries of Torah (Sod), elaborated on by the masters of Kabbalah.

The Zohar HaKadosh explains that at first, Adam indeed had another partner, a “first Chava,” who preceded the later Chava. When she refused to accept her proper role, she fled from Adam, and God then created Chava — the mother of all living beings.

The Zohar (Bereishit 28b) states: “Rabbi Yehoshua said: There was a first Chava, taken from him [Adam], and she harms all creatures. This is the meaning of ‘and He took one of his ribs’ — the first one taken from him, for she was a harmful spirit. And God closed up the flesh in her place — meaning He established another woman in her stead.”

The Zohar identifies this first woman with Lilith, “the mother of demons.” This topic is discussed at length in Zohar Vayikra 19a.
However, these teachings belong to the hidden dimension of Torah, and since much of our revealed Torah still remains to be fully understood and integrated, there’s no need to delve deeply into these hidden matters.

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I saw that Rabbi Menashe ben Yisrael quoted early Kabbalists who said that there were worlds before our own. Is there any knowledge about what those worlds were like? Did they look like ours?

In such matters, we must not speculate but rely only on what was received through the chain of Kabbalistic tradition. There are only a few teachings about the previous Shemittah (cosmic cycle), which I will summarize here:

1. The Tiferet Yisrael writes that the Earth itself is a remnant from a previous world, and that the fossils we find, such as dinosaurs, are remains of that earlier creation. This was also cited by Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Schwadron (the Maharsham of Berezhan) in Techelet Mordechai (Bereishit, section 2).

2. The Bnei Yissaschar (Ma’amar Chodeshei Tammuz–Av) notes that in the previous cosmic cycle, silver was more valuable than gold.

3. The Agra D’Kallah explains that anyone in Tanach described with the phrase “was” (היה) — such as “and Moses was a shepherd”, had a soul that existed in a previous world.

4. According to Sefer HaKaneh, the fish of the sea are mostly remnants from the previous world.

5. The soul of Avraham Avinu was also present in the previous world, as hinted in the phrase “Abraham was old, advanced in days.”

6. Sefer HaTemunah, attributed to early Tannaim, teaches that only in our present Shemittah do human bodies have more tendons than organs.

7. Rabbi David ben Zimra (Radbaz), in Magen David, writes that in the previous Shemittah, the Torah consisted only of positive commandments (mitzvot aseh).

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I heard Rabbi Zamir Cohen quote the Sages who said that God “created and destroyed worlds” before creating ours. Rashi also comments in Bereishit 1 that God first planned to create the world with strict judgment but saw it could not stand, so He combined it with mercy. Are these ideas connected?

Yes. The concept that God built and destroyed worlds refers to earlier cosmic cycles (Shemitot), as taught by the Kabbalists. Each Shemittah spans 7,000 years, and after every cycle God renews creation in a new form suited to that era’s spiritual quality — corresponding to one of the seven lower Sefirot.

According to most early Kabbalists, we are now in the fifth Shemittah, corresponding to Sefirat HaHod (the attribute of majesty or humility). Thus, four worlds existed before ours, and after each cycle, creation was “dismantled” and re-formed anew.

The Earth itself remained constant, as it says: “The earth stands forever” (Kohelet 1:4). This is why Bereishit does not explicitly say that God “created the Earth” on the first day — as it already existed from prior cycles. The Torah’s opening verse, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” therefore refers to the beginning of all Shemitot, not only ours.

When our current cycle began, after the previous world was nullified, the verse continues: “The earth was formless and void…” — i.e., it was left desolate after the prior creation, until God said, “Let there be light,” marking the start of the present cycle.

Thus, when scientists find fossils or prehistoric remains, these may well be remnants from previous worlds, as the Earth has served as the stage for several cosmic renewals.

This interpretation fits the Midrashic teaching: “God was creating worlds and destroying them,” and “There was evening and there was morning” — implying that there were already cycles of time before ours.

We have no way of knowing what life or consciousness was like in those earlier worlds, or whether their beings possessed free will. The Torah does not reveal these mysteries — for our task is not to unravel what was before or what will come after, but to fulfill our purpose in this world.

A person who insists on understanding all mysteries is like an ant trying to comprehend Wall Street — it is beyond its capacity.