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Kabbalism

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WestCoastJTF:
It seems to have died down a little, but there was a long period there where the Kabbalah was in the news every day with Britney Spears, Madonna, etc. saying they were devotees.

Of course, from what I've read they were preaching a Westernized non-religious Kabbalah that was only similar to the real thing in name.

But it made me curious.  I've read a little about the Kabbalah and I wonder if these are true statements:


* In Judaism, one is supposed to be a certain age (35?) to study it
* It is more popular among the Hasidim than other branches of Orthodox Judaism
* Most Jews, even most rabbis, do not study the Kabbalah
* It is not appropriate for gentiles to study the Kabbalah
Perhaps someone with more knowledge could fill us in on this mysterious book?

Shlomo:

--- Quote from: Yacov Menashe Ben Rachamim on April 29, 2007, 12:42:40 AM ---Kabbalah is part of Judaism. It is not a separate ideology. Only married Jewish men over the age of 40 who have studied the rest of The Written and Oral Torah can study it.
--- End quote ---

And it's unfortunate that disgusting people like Madonna pervert it and give it a bad name. And what is this crazy red string stuff?

jdl4ever:
Kabbalism refers to either studying the secret areas of the Torah or following mystical customs (usually from Kabbalistic Rabbis) or the study of the Zohar which was a mystical book written about 500 years ago that most Jews incorrectly claim that it was originally from R' Shimon Bar Yochai.   It depends on who you talk to what they mean by Kabbalism.  Most people are lucky to discover a few secrets of the Torah in their lifetime.  The red thing string is supposed to ward off the evil eye according to Kabbalists.

Personally, I do not study the Zohar since I follow what the Rambam says about secrets of the Torah, that they can only be uncovered by yourself and can only be transmitted privately to one person at a time through hints only.  I have uncovered a few secrets already and I am happy about this.  I do not recommend that you study the Zohar unless you are an old leanred man and then you might understand 1% of what he is writing about.  But even then it might ruin you since you will only be looking to uncover what you think it says and that understanding may be wrong.  So you will be looking for what you think the Zohar says but it is most likely that what you think he says is not correct since secrets can't be transmitted by paper so you will waste your time looking for the wrong thing.  Better to not have any guide and try to uncover things yourself without being influenced by anyone and then you will find things. 

mord:

--- Quote from: Yacov Menashe Ben Rachamim on April 29, 2007, 03:57:21 AM ---Do you believe Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai revealed Kabbalah at all? The heretical Revava moderator Elisha claims that Kabbalah is not part of The Oral Torah. He is a Rambamist and think The Rambam is the ultimate authority. He is like The Dardist Yemenites.



--- End quote ---
The red string i got from kaver rachel i took alot of the string i took it from the cover

Fruit of thy loins:
Only one tenth of all human beings die from natural causes.  Nine-tenths die as a result of the evil eyes of others. 

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