What Is Kabbalah?

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What Is Kabbalah?

By Tzvi Freeman

Kabbalah: That which is received. That which cannot be known through science or intellectual pursuit alone. An inner knowledge that has been passed down from sage to student from the earliest of times. A discipline that awakens awareness of the essence of things.

We enter this world and our senses meet its outer crust. We touch the earth with our feet, water and wind splash against our skin, we recoil from the bite of fire. We hear sounds and rhythms. We see shapes and colors. Soon we begin to measure, to weigh and describe with precision. As scientists, we record the behaviors of chemicals, plants, animals and human beings. We video-tape them, observe them under a microscope, create mathematical models of them, fill a supercomputer with data about them. From our observations we learn to harness our environment with inventions and contraptions, and then pat ourselves on the back and say, Yes, we got it right.

But we ourselves, our consciousness that is examining this world, we reside on a deeper layer. That is why we cannot help but ask, What about the thing itself? That which is there before we measured it? What is matter, energy, time, space -- and how do they come to be?

To explain our world without examining this inner depth is as shallow as explaining the workings of a computer by describing the images viewed on its monitor. If we see a ball moving up and down on the screen, would we say that it is rebounding against the bottom of the screen? Do the gadgets on your scroll bar really exert some force on the page inside the window? Does the menu bar really have drop-down menus hidden behind it?

The author of a user-friendly software environment has followed consistent rules so that we can work comfortably within it. If it is a game of any complexity, he had to determine and follow a very large set of rules. But a description of those rules is not a valid explanation of how it works. For that, we need to read his code, examine the hardware, and--most importantly--look through his original concept paper. We need to see it the way its author sees it, as it evolves step by step from a concept in his mind through the code that he writes, to the glowing phosphor pixels on the screen.

The code behind reality, the concept that breathes life into the equations and makes them real. Men and women have sacrificed their food, their comfort, traveled great distances and paid with their very lives to come to know these things. There is not a culture in the world that does not have its teachings to describe them. In Jewish teaching, they are described in the Kabbalah.

According to tradition, the truths of the Kabbalah were known to Adam. What his mind held, no mind since has been able to conceive. Yet he was able to transmit a glimmer of this knowledge to a few of the great souls that descended from him, such as Hanoch and Methuselah. They were the grand masters who taught Noah, who in turn taught his own students, including Abraham. Abraham studied in the academy of Noah's son, Shem, and sent his son Isaac to study there after him. Isaac in turn sent his son Jacob to study with Shem and with Shem's great-grandson, Ever.

Adam, Noah, Abraham--these were fathers of all humankind. That is why you will find inklings of the truths they taught wherever human culture has reached

Nevertheless, the essential source for the Kabbalah is not Adam or Noah or even Abraham. It is the event at Mount Sinai, where the primal essence of the cosmos was laid bare for an entire nation to see. It was an experience that left an indelible mark on the Jewish psyche, molding all our thought and behavior ever since.

At Sinai, inner wisdom became no longer a matter of intuition or private revelation. It was now a fact that had entered our world and became part of history and the experience of common mortals.

That is why Kabbalah cannot be called a philosophy. A philosophy is the product of human minds, something that any other human mind can come play with, squeezing and stretching it according to the dictates of his own intellect and intuition. But Kabbalah means, that which is received. Received not just from a teacher, but from Sinai. Once a student has mastered the path of this received knowledge, he or she may find ways to extend it further, as a tree branches out from its trunk. But it will always be an organic growth, never touching the essential life and form of that knowledge. The branches and twigs and leaves will go just where they should for such a tree--never will a Maple become an Oak, never will a student reveal a secret that was not hidden in his teacher's words.

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

There are three parts to Kabbalah; Theoretical Kabbalah, Meditational Kabbalah and Practical Kabbalah (Kabbalah Masit)
Theoretical Kabbalah consists of studying the system of Kabbalah.
Just as one analyzes the logic of gemarah, so too one studies the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Theoretical Kabbalah deals with the structure of the spiritual worlds and the way they manifest in the physical domain.
Common texts dealing with Theoretical Kabbalah are Kitvi Ari, Ramchal, Pardes Rimionim, and the Zohar.
There is widespread misunderstanding regarding Kabbalah.
People fear studying Kabbalah will make them insane and cause them to die young, they think one must be forty years old, married, and finished learning Talmod study kabbalah.
This is ridicules, no one ever went insane from learning Theoretical Kabbalah.
There are different levels to Kabbalah, the advanced levels will not be understood until one has gained wisdom and is fluent in Talmud.
The hakdomos, basic instructions of Kabbalah must be known to everyone.
Without this information Judaism does not make sense.
How can one be expected to sacrifice for the religion when he does not even understand it.
When one learns Kabbalah he understands, and lives the Torah.
Meditational Kabbalah

When one meditates he can separate his soul from his body and transcend to the upper universes.
Theoretical Kabbalah serves as a map telling one how to prepare and where to go.
Although many religions practice meditation, they never leave the realm of the klipah since they have defiled themselves.
When one keeps the rules of halacha and practices the ways of Kabbalah, he purifies himself. If he then meditates, he can climb to the highest spiritual levels.
Meditation involves controlling ones thought process, blocking out the five senses and entering Mochin Dgadlus (expanded consciousness).
Unless one meditates he is only using three to five percent of his brain.
Part of the brain receives signals of spirituality. These signals are very sublime and are blocked out by the other five senses.
When one clears his head of all thought he can feel spirituality. If one keeps on working on this he can transcend to the upper worlds.
Meditation was the mainframe of Judiasim and was practiced by all Jews.
The highest level of meditation is prophecy.
There were over a million prophets. They attended schools called Beni Haniviem where they learned meditative techniques.
Maseh Merkavah consists of meditative techniques used to transcend to the spiritual worlds.
One of the main draws of Avodah Zarah (Idol Worship) was the meditative experience, if they could not get it from the side of holiness they would go to the other side.
Experiences during meditation are extremely enjoyable, they lead to extreme ecstasy . People would even go to the Sitra Achra to receive such an experience.
Drugs provide a very low copy of the meditative experience, yet they are constantly used by people, despite the destruction they cause.
Meditative experiences are so enjoyable that a person might not want to come back down, it is from this that people go insane.
If a person has a wife and children he is motivated to come back down. This is the reason why many advanced schools of meditation would not accept a person unless he was married and in full control of his desires.
Even after prophecy ended, meditation was still an important aspect of Judaism.
Hacholot Rabbati describes how R’Nechunya ben Haknah, R’Yishmoel and many other Tanoyim used the meditative methods of Maseh Merkavah to reach the high levels of Alom Yitzirah.
 

All Rishonim and many Achronim practiced meditation.
Since these topics involved the highest mysteries of the Torah, they were never written down. The few manuscripts that existed were never published.
If one knows the mysteries of Kabbalah he can see many hints and references in the Mishnah and the works of the Rishonim.
The main down play of meditation happened during the time of Shabti Tzvi.
Shabti Tzvi had many powers which he received from Meditative and Practical kabbalah.
R’ Yisroel Bal Shem and the Nistorim tried to bring these issues back out to the public.
 

The first generations of Chasidim were very busy with meditation and wrote extensively on this topic.
With the rise of the Enlightenment Movement in Europe meditation lost all its status.
Experiences that occur in a state of expanded consciousness are logically impossible to describe to someone who was never there.
Even the Chasidim and many Kabbalists lost their focus and started ignoring meditation.
It is known that prophecy must return before the coming of Moshiach. The only way to reach prophecy is through meditation.
In addition it is very hard to reach any high levels unless one practices meditation.
Every one must do R’ Nachman’s meditation, Hisbodedute- spontanous prayer.

Practical Kabbalah

Practical Kabbalah involves the coercing of angels and demons to change nature.
Practical Kabbalah overlaps with Meditative Kabbalah, many of these methods only work if done in a meditative state.
For example one might have to meditate on many things such as his breath and pronunciation on every letter of a divine name.  This is impossible when not in expanded state of conscience.
The use of Practical Kabbalah was frowned upon by all leading Kabbalists.
Only one who had purified himself totally can use these methods and remain unharmed.
Many righteous people reached these levels and were known as Bali Shem (masters of the name).
When one forces an angel to do something, the angel wants to strike him down and kill him.
However after one dies he still has a share in the world to come. The angels make you sin until you lose this also, destroying the person totally.
One who uses practical kabbalah might get what he wants but it comes with a package.
Demons are like the mafia, once one starts dealing with them they will not leave him until he is destroyed from this world.
People should stay far away from Practical Kabbalah, whoever uses it will gain nothing but suffering.

http://truekabbalah.org/kabbalah/introduction_kabbalah.htm

[RationalThought110]

What does Madonna do?

[Americanhero1]

In Kabbalah what is the meaning behind the red string they have on there wrist

[spiritus_persona]

What does Madonna do?

She pretends to study Kabbalah. What she is "studying" is really garbage which pretends to be Kabbalah. For her it is just a fad, just like a fashion statement.

Like so many black sports players converting to Islam.  Just another fad.

[Americanhero1]

What does Madonna do?

She pretends to study Kabbalah. What she is "studying" is really garbage which pretends to be Kabbalah. For her it is just a fad, just like a fashion statement.

Like so many black sports players converting to Islam.  Just another fad.

Like Mike Tyson he is a mussie but he loves alcohol

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

In Kabbalah what is the meaning behind the red string they have on there wrist

 Not much.

[Americanhero1]

In Kabbalah what is the meaning behind the red string they have on there wrist

 Not much.

Why do they wear it ?

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

In Kabbalah what is the meaning behind the red string they have on there wrist

 Not much.

Why do they wear it ?

 I think something to do with when the Jews went into Israel and they told Rehav (I think thats her name), to put some sort of red sign on the house, so she and her family would not be touched when the Jews would conqure the Holy Land. I think they derived from that, the whole red string thing, which I heard some real Rabbis say that it doesn't realy affect people, and its not affective (basicaly its bs).

[q_q_]

A religious Jew in The Old City of Jerusalem was selling them and another religious Jew told us that it's idolatry.

They're probably both wrong!