Torah and Jewish Idea > Torah and Jewish Idea
The Kabbalah is not a fashion statement
Tzvi Ben Roshel1:
--- Quote from: zachor_ve_kavod on November 04, 2008, 08:40:24 PM ---We see celebrities like Madonna taking up Kabbalah and I think it's disgusting. First of all, even in Eastern Europe, where Kabbalah was practiced most by religious Jews, people were told to first learn Torah and to learn it well before even considering going on this mystical path. Usually, Jews waited until they were about 40 years of age, so that they had a good grounding in Talmud/Torah. Without this good grounding, Kabbalah can be misused and misinterpreted, and that is dangerous.
I personally, have made no immediate plans to study Kabbalah because there is still too much that I need to know about Torah, and I am 35 years old.
I find it offensive that celebrities have begun studies in Kabbalah, when they are not even Jewish, nor are they interested in Judaism. They just like mysticism. I wish they would take up voodoo instead.
--- End quote ---
It's definitly a mixture. Their is much good in Real Kabbalah, but at the same time one can be mislead and/or learn it the wrong way or learn from the wrong person.
As people as concerned (before anything else), if one is going to see a Mekubal for example, the first thing they should check is if he is making $, or asking $. If yes, then better not to step in. Their are other things to check, but the firt one is to see what is the motivation- is it $ or is it for Hessed (kindness to other's). Then ask or find out who their Rav is and what tradition they go back to.
On the other hand besides all the fake one's. Their is a lot of wisdom, truth and the Awe of G-d that one can recieve (meKabbal) from Kabbalah, and it's teachings. Brings a person much closer to Hase-m.
In a way it is like fire, one can be burned if not dealt with properly, but if one knows how to use it, it can be a great tool (In order to recieve a greater Awe or awareness of G-d, and get closer to the Holy One Blessed Be He).
muman613:
--- Quote from: Tzvi Ben Roshel on November 17, 2008, 07:51:43 PM ---
<snip>
On the other hand besides all the fake one's. Their is a lot of wisdom, truth and the Awe of G-d that one can recieve (meKabbal) from Kabbalah, and it's teachings. Brings a person much closer to Hase-m.
In a way it is like fire, one can be burned if not dealt with properly, but if one knows how to use it, it can be a great tool (In order to recieve a greater Awe or awareness of G-d, and get closer to the Holy One Blessed Be He).
--- End quote ---
Shalom Tzvi,
What you said reminds me of the Pirkie Avos Mishnah 2:10 which reads:
--- Quote ---...
They would each say three things:
Rabbi Eliezer would say: The honor of your fellow should be as precious to you as your own, and do not be easy to anger. Repent one day before your death.** Warm yourself by the fire of the sages, but be beware lest you be burned by its embers; for their bite is the bite of a fox, their sting is the sting of a scorpion, their hiss is the hiss a serpent, and all their words are like fiery coals.
--- End quote ---
Tzvi Ben Roshel1:
Another thing I would like to add. Kabbalah is great, but people should understand it at the proper way. I was discussing today with a group of people different ideas, including Jewish meditiation. What the Rav said was basically that it has a lot to do with imagination- (dont think of it as something small by the way). The point is that through Believing that by doing something certainly, it affects creation and everything by believing that is what happens (it's not everything but its a great influence.) For example if by raising the hands after washing them for eating bread, you believe that by raising the hands and making the blessing you are bringing Kedusha down, then by believing it, it happens. Or by other things for example the Kavanot of eating bread (by dipping into salt by 3 times, and thinking about Mazla- first dip for wife and children, then easy parnasa, and long meaningful life) By having these thoughts or Kavanot, one influences the way their life become's simply by the thoughts.
BUT again this is problematic IF you take it the wrong way, by only living in that "reality" and not at the same time not living at this reality. The point of all these things is that you are in a way at the moment stepping aside and going into "that" reality, the point is to then bring that reality into THIS reality and elevate This reality and this world.
- It's basically about the proper balance and applying things at the right time and place. It's the double-Edged sword, you gotta use it correctly, use the spirituality to elevate the physicallity, and live properly in this world by doing what needs to be done (it's also recognizing reality, and going by the rules set up by G-d- or the rules of nature).
Tzvi Ben Roshel1:
An article I came across-
BS`D
THE STUDY OF THE ZOHAR
HA KADDOSH
BULLETIN 40
“Because of this work, the Book of the Zohar, [the Jews]
will be redeemed from exile” Zohar ha Kaddosh (3, 124b)
Our Great rabbis through all generations, taught that the complete
redemption depends precisely on the study of the Zohar ha Kaddosh. But it is
here that the Yetzer ha Ra found a great help in confusing people by telling
them: “If you don’t understand what you are reading in the Zohar ha Kaddosh,
you have no right to occupy yourselves with it”
And this is a great mistake that causes the redemption to be delayed for all
the Kabbalists have written that reading the Sefer ha Zohar and the Tikkunim,
with no understanding whatsoever, only saying it without knowing what one
says, effects a great Tikkun in the higher worlds, purifies and illuminates the
soul of man and brings the redemption closer. And thus wrote Rabbi Moshe
Zachuta ZTKL: “Fill your heart with the Zohar reading it and studying it. To
what does this compare? To a sick person that drinks a remedy which will be
beneficial to him even if he doesn’t know how it cures him”
Therefore every Jew should awaken to the study of the Zohar ha Kaddosh
without listening to fools who warn against it, for if all the wise men
recommended studying the Zohar ha kaddosh, how can one listen to someone
who does not know the benefit that studying the Zohar ha Kaddosh brings? If
all the great Kabbalists asserted that its study is beneficial even when one
doesn’t know what he is reading, why should you refrain from the great benefit
that it brings just because someone tells you with no basis whatsoever that
studying the Zohar ha kaddosh may be harmful to you? Or that you first need
to know all the Talmud? Or that you should be 40 years of age in order to begin
studying the Zohar ha Kaddosh?
This is a partial list of all the Tzaddikim and Gedolim who encourage the
studying of the Zohar ha Kaddosh even when you do not understand what you
are saying:
http://israel613.com/books/KKE_ZOHAR40.pdf
q_q_:
--- Quote from: Tzvi Ben Roshel on November 23, 2008, 02:18:29 PM ---An article I came across-
BS`D
THE STUDY OF THE ZOHAR
HA KADDOSH
BULLETIN 40
“Because of this work, the Book of the Zohar, [the Jews]
will be redeemed from exile” Zohar ha Kaddosh (3, 124b)
Our Great rabbis through all generations, taught that the complete
redemption depends precisely on the study of the Zohar ha Kaddosh. But it is
here that the Yetzer ha Ra found a great help in confusing people by telling
them: “If you don’t understand what you are reading in the Zohar ha Kaddosh,
you have no right to occupy yourselves with it”
And this is a great mistake that causes the redemption to be delayed for all
the Kabbalists have written that reading the Sefer ha Zohar and the Tikkunim,
with no understanding whatsoever, only saying it without knowing what one
says, effects a great Tikkun in the higher worlds, purifies and illuminates the
soul of man and brings the redemption closer. And thus wrote Rabbi Moshe
Zachuta ZTKL: “Fill your heart with the Zohar reading it and studying it. To
what does this compare? To a sick person that drinks a remedy which will be
beneficial to him even if he doesn’t know how it cures him”
Therefore every Jew should awaken to the study of the Zohar ha Kaddosh
without listening to fools who warn against it, for if all the wise men
recommended studying the Zohar ha kaddosh, how can one listen to someone
who does not know the benefit that studying the Zohar ha Kaddosh brings? If
all the great Kabbalists asserted that its study is beneficial even when one
doesn’t know what he is reading, why should you refrain from the great benefit
that it brings just because someone tells you with no basis whatsoever that
studying the Zohar ha kaddosh may be harmful to you? Or that you first need
to know all the Talmud? Or that you should be 40 years of age in order to begin
studying the Zohar ha Kaddosh?
This is a partial list of all the Tzaddikim and Gedolim who encourage the
studying of the Zohar ha Kaddosh even when you do not understand what you
are saying:
http://israel613.com/books/KKE_ZOHAR40.pdf
--- End quote ---
You just included that link there completely brainlessly. It has a list of rabbis without quoting a single one of them
The first one in the list is Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
I'd like you to quote him!!
It's even questioned whether he wrote the Zohar, but even if he did, where did he say there was no ban?
I doubt the Arizal said there was a ban lifted. I recall reading that the Ari told Rav Yosef Kairo to not bother listening to his kabbalah shiurim because he will fall asleep, and his task is to codify halacha
Widespread mysticism led to shabbetai tzvi. He misled many jews he came across..
Fortunately ashkenazim were far away from him and weren't misled by him. Ashkenazim had jacob frank, but I don't think he really misled rabbis or lots of jews. There is a great story that a rebbe sent his disciple to check out this shabbetai tzvi character. He came back and reported that he definitely was not the messiah. Because he slept on his back, which is against halacha! And the messiah would never do that.
Ashkenazi rabbis are stricter regarding the study of kabbalah.. (they are stricter regarding most things though)
But sephardim are usually more careful than you suggest.
Chassidim are more into study of kabbalah. The lubavitcher rebbe said there was a ban, lifted.. So does a Rabbi Avraham Azulai..
I include 2 links below.
They differ on the dates. that the ban was lifted.
And so it shouldn't be suprising that you have many rabbis that hold to the idea that there is a ban and it still remains in existance.
These rabbis that hold this way are not "fools".
I doubt your article would be willing to name them and call them fools!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
"According to the Zohar, the six hundredth year is also the sixth millennium, and the “windows of Heaven” are opening to allow knowledge and discovery to flow into our world at an unprecedented rate. To illustrate: the year 5600 (the six hundredth year of the sixth millennium) corresponds to the year 1840 in the Common-era. A cursory inspection of that period reveals that it was in the late 1800s that the Industrial Revolution began. This brought with it innovations in transportation, communication, and technology— which included enormous advances in communication, something ChaBaD has taken advantage of fully in the ongoing effort to educate. "
This one says there was a ban but lifted. It puts it a a different date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
Ban against studying Kabbalah
"
The ban against studying Kabbalah was lifted by the efforts of the sixteenth century Kabbalist Rabbi Avraham Azulai (1570-1643).
I have found it written that all that has been decreed Above forbidding open involvement in the Wisdom of Truth [Kabbalah] was [only meant for] the limited time period until the year 5,250 (1490 C.E.). From then on after is called the "Last Generation", and what was forbidden is [now] allowed. And permission is granted to occupy ourselves in the [study of] Zohar. And from the year 5,300 (1540 C.E.) it is most desirable that the masses both those great and small [in Torah], should occupy themselves [in the study of Kabbalah], as it says in the Raya M'hemna [a section of the Zohar]. And because in this merit King Mashiach will come in the future – and not in any other merit – it is not proper to be discouraged [from the study of Kabbalah]. (Rabbi Avraham Azulai)[38]
The question however is whether the ban ever existed in the first place. Concerning the above quote by Avraham Azulai, it has found many versions in English, another is this
From the year 1540 and onward, the basic levels of Kabbalah must be taught publicly to everyone, young and old. Only through Kabbalah will we forever eliminate war, destruction, and man's inhumanity to his fellow man.[39]
The lines concerning 1490 are also missing from the Hebrew edition of Hesed L'Avraham, the source work that both of these quote from. Furthermore by Azulai's view the ban was lifted thirty years before his birth. A time that would have corresponded with Rabbi Haim Vital's publication of the teaching of Isaac Luria.
Furthermore Rabbi Moshe Isserles only understood there to be a minor restriction, in his words"One's belly must be full of meat and wine, discerning between the prohibited and the permitted."[40] He is supported by the Bier Hetiv, the Pithei Teshuva as well as the Vilna Gaon. The Vilna Gaon says,
There was never any ban or enactment restricting the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Any who says there is has never studied Kabblah, has never seen PaRDeS, and speaks as an ignoramous.[41]
Thus leaving the existence of a ban to be highly debated.
"
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