Kabbalah (“receiving”) is the esoteric tradition of Judaism. Its cosmology begins with Ein Sof — the Infinite, without qualities — from which the Sefirot emanate as ten attributes through which creation unfolds.
The Zohar is its central text; sefer-yetzirah one of its oldest. The tradition holds that scripture has four layers of meaning — literal, allegorical, homiletical, and secret — and that the human task (tikkun) is to help repair a fractured world.
Hasidism, founded by the baal-shem-tov, brought Kabbalistic devotion to ordinary Jewish life — joy, song, and the finding of God in every moment.