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Oct. 28, 2005
Understanding kabbalah thought
Mysticism closely linked to mainstream Judaism in its meaning
and intent, says rabbi.
RABBI JOSEPH SALTOUN
The wisdom of kabbalah can be seen as one of the most ancient philosophies
on earth. But unlike any other philosophy, kabbalah was not invented
by man. It was "received" through divine inspiration –
hence the name kabbalah, which means "to receive"
in Hebrew.
There is a tendency to separate kabbalah from mainstream Judaism.
This may be due to some misunderstanding that occurred during the
Middle Ages, as false messiahs appeared in the Jewish communities
of Europe and misled them into false beliefs of deliverance using
calculations which, as they proclaimed, were taken from the kabbalah.
Specific dates were indictated for the final redemption and the
revelation of the Messiah. In any case, the kabbalah did not start
with these events, although it did shake the then-known foundations
of Judaism.
It was Abraham who, for the first time in human history, accepted
the existence of an eternal living G-d. The G-d of Abraham lives
on forever. The idea of transcendental consciousness, known to us
now as kabbalah, was born.
Kabbalah is known as the Wisdom of Truth, in Hebrew, Hochmat
Ha'emet. By this, we refer to the Ultimate Truth, which is supernatural
and divine. This truth does not undergo the changes of time and
the pettiness of selfish human interests. After discovering it,
Abraham realized that he had to pass on this information for all
humankind, so that one day, when the time is right, we would be
able to use it as a beacon of light to illuminate our path. Therefore,
he wrote a book known as Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation)
and in it he revealed all the secrets of the divine and transcendental
consciousness, known to us as G-d. In this book, Abraham opened
a new understanding of how G-d created the universe and humankind,
the true purpose of life, reincarnation and the mission of the soul,
astronomy and astrology and methods of healing the body and the
soul. He combined religion and science as one. This is why all the
kabbalists of all times were religious and pious men as well as
the leading scientists of their generation.
Following in the steps of his forefathers, we read in the chapters
of the Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) that Moses "received"
(kibel) the Torah from Mount Sinai. The verb "kibel"
comes from the same root as kabbalah.
It was only after the revelation of the Zohar (Book of Splendor)
by Rabbi Shimon Bar-Iochai in the first and second centuries, that
the entire code of the kabbalah was deciphered, offering open access
to this wisdom.
But the time then was not ripe and there was a lot of resistance
to accepting the Divine Truth, as it demanded that people abandon
their ways of falsehood and deceit, which were dominated by their
greed for power and manipulating others.
Nevertheless, Bar-Iochai prophesized that ultimately people would
come to their senses and that, in the future, there would appear
a generation that would be totally disillusioned from the falsehood
set for them by the traps of the material world and seek the spiritual
understanding of their existence – bringing them closer to
themselves and to G-d through transcendental consciousness.
According to the Zohar, that generation is ours and the time is
now. If we follow the Zohar, we find that transcendental consciousness
simply refers to the ability to overcome the physical limitations
of the way we perceive things and that, instead of searching for
outward solutions, we should search for them inwardly.
For example, the Messiah is not perceived as a charismatic leader
who shall come and perform miracles and lead us to the final redemption,
because what we can conclude from the teachings of the kabbalists
is that everything depends on our individual growth and personal
actions and deeds. From this, we can understand that the term Messiah,
like all other terms in our Holy Scriptures, is a code. The inner
meaning of this word can be explained as "self-enlightenment,"
or a level of consciousness where every person individually will
achieve spiritual enlightenment through the study of kabbalah, which
provides us with the necessary and adequate tools to accomplish
this mission.
Throughout history, we have had many models of people with messianic
consciousness, who were sent by G-d for us to follow in their footsteps.
But they only show us the way. The rest depends on us.
Therefore, the "Messiah" is a level of consciousness that
we all have to reach in order to perceive the G-d-like image in
ourselves and in our fellow people. Once we achieve this stage,
we can be granted the peace and tranquillity we are all seeking.
Kabbalah connects to conventional Judaism
Using the allegory of the kabbalists, the Torah, known as the Five
Books of Moses, explains the technical aspect of the mitzvot –
in other words, the "how" – while the Zohar explains
the "why," or the purpose. In this manner, the Torah is
perceived as being the "body" and the Zohar as the "soul."
The Torah is also known as the Written Law, while the kabbalah is
related to the Oral Law, which was passed down from one generation
to the other, explaining the inner meaning of the Torah. The Torah
can be seen as the messenger and the kabbalah as the message. Encountering
the messenger without paying attention to his message is definitely
futile.
The message here may have various methods of interpretation and,
as 16th-century Rabbi Isaac Luria explained, there are actually
four ways or levels, known to us by the Hebrew letters PARDES.
The four levels are pshat, which refers to the immediate
and simplistic understanding of the written word; remez,
which refers to the apparent contradictions and seemingly meaningless
repetitions that appear in the text and are there for the purpose
of drawing our attention to search for a deeper meaning; drash,
the fables, allegories and moral messages of the stories in the
Bible; and sod, which refers to the kabbalah and is the highest
and most complete level of understanding of the holy words of G-d
passed down to us by Moses.
There is a story that is used at times to deter us from studying
kabbalah, in which four rabbis enter Pardes. One entered the pshat
and lost his mind. The second entered the remez, denied G-d and
ultimately became a heretic. The third entered the drash and committed
suicide. Only the great Rabbi Akiva, who entered sod, came out safe
and sound.
This is why we are warned at times not to "meddle" with
the kabbalah. But the Ari Hakadosh disagrees with this approach
and explains the story like this: Rabbi Akiva was the person who
was forsaken from the unfortunate fate of the other rabbis caused
by the total misunderstanding of Pardes, exactly because of him
entering the entire Pardes, including the kabbalistic level of interpretation
known as sod, and that is why he came out with a complete and full
understanding, while the other rabbis did not continue in their
studies and stopped midway.
The messenger has completed his mission, so what remains is to understand
his message in full.
Rabbi Joseph Saltoun is a kabbalistic scholar, ordained
by Yeshivah Kol-Yehuda, Jerusalem. He has been lecturing on kabbalah
since 1982. For information on courses on kabbalah given in Vancouver,
and for personal inquiries, contact him by e-mail at [email protected].
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