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Kabbalah
Essays on the weekly Torah portion, the holidays and Jewish thought.
Essays
Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Acting or Teaching? The belief in the Messianic Age and the Resurrection of the Dead – according to the Kabbalists – is not merely a further step in the journey of the soul and in its climb to unprecedented heights, as Maimonides would have us see it. They represent a totally different parallel… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Against Your Will You Live; Against Your Will You Die All of the above has been sated succinctly by our Talmudic sages: “Against your will you must live.” Taken at face value this refers to the lack of choice we have in our own births. Nobody asks us who our parents will be and if and when they will decide to have a child. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Awakening from the Dead-Remez There is, however, another more remote connotation to our expression of gratitude when we say Modeh Ani. While it cannot be debated that Modeh Ani is first and foremost an expression of gratitude for simply waking up alive, there is a hint of another awakening for which we are… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Divine Ecology: Reincarnation Reincarnation Is Jewish When the soul stands before the heavenly courts, angels carrying wagonloads of Mitzvot and transgressions, come before the tribunal to argue for and against the soul of the deceased. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Don’t Withhold – Drush If Drush is the process by which we look beneath the surface for some deeper message other than the obvious one, then Modeh Ani should be understood as a challenge to us to emulate G-d’s remarkable attitude towards us. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Four Dimension-Pardes Torah, as Divine wisdom, is the single most overt expression of G-dly energy in the world. But, even Torah, in order for it to be understood by us, has to be “dressed” in garments that make it closer to our finite human mind. The teachings of Kabbalah, we shall see, represent… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Drush Drush derives from the word that means to investigate or probe. Very often when a text says something it means more than what meets the eye. It is not that we are drawing an analogy from the text to another area of knowledge, or that we are taking initials, numerical values of… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Four Dimensions: So What? Conclusion We may now have developed a greater appreciation for Torah and Sod in particular. No longer is Torah viewed as a one-dimensional law book, but as a multi-dimensional Divine book of light that contains everything in it from practical directives as to how we should live our lives… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Fundamental Principle of Judaism We can now appreciate why the belief in Moshiach is considered to be one of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism. To believe in a world that will not lead to the Messianic Era, is to believe that G-d’s plan will never come to fruition. That, of course, is a denial of G-d’ power. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Getting the Body Out of the Soul There is however a “hitch.” While the soul can be removed from the body very easily – through the process of death – the body (read: material influences) does not remove itself from the soul so easily. To paraphrase a famous quotation, “You can take the soul out of the body, but… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Heaven and Paradise: Where Is It? Heaven or Paradise, first of all, is not to be understood as a “place” in the spatial connotation of the word. It is not a place somewhere in outer space, or deep down beneath the surface of the earth that is filled with the greatest material pleasures and delights. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – G-d’s Justice Validated Some commentators, such as the Abarbanel, explain that both the belief in the Messianic Age and the belief in the Resurrection of the Dead are basic beliefs because without them there remains an unanswered question about G-d’s sense of justice and fairness. What follows is… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Is There a Heaven and a Hell? the Way Jews Know Jewish Theology Most Jews, if questioned as to what are the theological differences between Judaism and Christianity, will invariably answer: Heaven and Hell. They believe in it and we don’t. Nothing can be farther from the truth. These concepts of Heaven and hell were taken directly from… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – It Sounds Greek to Me The Talmud relates that King Ptolemy of Egypt summoned seventy-two sages of Israel and asked them to translate the Torah into Greek. He then placed them in separate cubicles, so that they could not confer with one another about the translation. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Journeys of the Soul Ii Why? The question that everyone asks at one point in life or another. Why did G-d put us here? In the context of the soul, the question assumes greater poignancy. Why would G-d force the soul to leave its “secure” station in the world of souls to enter into a world of impurity… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Journeys of the Soul One of the salient features of Kabbalah is its unified view of everything. When one looks at the world from the outside, one sees a multiplicity of objects, phenomena and ideas. When one views the world from within, however, one sees a unified and cohesive picture of everything.… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Kabbalah: An Integral Part of Torah But, alas, even when we study Torah we might not feel the Divine character that it possesses. Our minds may be so clouded that even when we study Torah we look at it as a mere history book or as an ancient law book or as a beautiful piece of literature. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Knowing Your Mission At this point, one is entitled to ask a very simple but crucial question. If the soul that we possess was here before because it did something wrong that it has to correct or that it did not realize its full potential, how do we know what it is that we have to do? Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Mitzvot: An Artform Jewish Mysticism, introduces us to a deeper understanding of the centrality of the Messianic Age and its preeminence over the Afterlife. In addition it also explains the Resurrection of the Dead and its qualitative edge over the preceding Messianic Age. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Moshiach: Purpose of Creation When G-d created the universe He created two realities. If we would want to use modern day terminology we can say that G-d created reality and a virtual reality. In kabbalistic terminology, “G-d filled all the space. G-d then withdrew and created a vacuum.” G-d is reality, the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Multiple Incarnations and Resurrection There is one outstanding issue with regard to reincarnation and Resurrection. As we will discuss in a subsequent chapter (Chapter 19), one of Judaism’s fundamental beliefs is that in the Messianic age the dead will be brought back to life. This belief known as Techiyat Hameitim… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Nature of the Soul We have already discussed the nature of the soul briefly in the very beginning of the book. Let us probe further into the dynamics of the soul The soul is a part of G-d. The most commonly used Hebrew word for soul is “neshama” which is associated with the word neshinah which… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Obstructions The first analogy is to a dam. When the waters accumulate due to obstructions that exist and block the flow of water, eventually the obstruction will give. When this occurs, not only does the water flow with infinitely more force than before, it also will take all the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – P’shat These four levels can be translated and explained as follows: P’shat refers to the simple level of interpretation. The word P’shat is related to the word pashut, which means simple. The word pashut also allows for an interpretation that means, “spread out” or popularized. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Realizing One’s Full Potential What reincarnation accomplishes is very simple. Whatever the soul messed up during its first stay in this physical world, it can make up when it returns in another body. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Realizing the Soul’s Potential There is also a second reason for reincarnation. It is very likely that a person can live a long, productive and righteous life, but still missed the main reason for which s/he was sent into this world. One can do everything right and nothing wrong and yet – insofar as the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Remez If P’shat is the simple meaning of the text, Remez is the alluded meaning. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Resurrection: No Dropouts Following this line of reasoning, we have one more issue to settle. What added dimension do we gain from the Resurrection of the Dead? Haven’t we already -- during the Messianic Age – reached the point where the purpose of creation is fulfilled? Hasn’t the world – during the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Barriers Removed A story is told of the famed Rabbi Moshe Alshich, one of the greatest rabbis of his time, who lived in the city of Tzefat in northern Israel. Tzefat was a city renowned for its Talmudic scholarship and scholars, but, particularly, for its great level of teaching of kabbalah.… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Chassidic Contribution The 19th of Kislev is the anniversary of the release from prison of Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812). Rabbi Schneur Zalman, a disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the successor to the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, was the founder of the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Farmer, Archeologist, Geologist and Treasure Hunter To better appreciate the differences between the four worlds of interpretation, an analogy from four ways one can analyze the earth could prove helpful. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Fifth Level-The Essence of Torah In the foregoing essay, entitled “On the Essence of Chassidus,” the Lubavitcher Rebbe elaborates on the four levels of interpretation as they apply to Modeh Ani in particular. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Four Faces of Genesis – Sod And finally on the level of Sod, the word Breishit is translated as if the word were a composite of two words “Bara” and Shis.” Meaning that G-d “created six.” Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Great Thank You- P’shat When we examine this prayer that a Jew says upon awakening, we will discover that it too, as all parts of Torah, has at least four ways of looking at it. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The King and the Prince There is yet one more analogy from the human sphere that relates to a king and his son the crown prince. The king gives his only son, the heir to the crown; the best education money can buy. He hires the best tutors and gives his son everything that is needed to make him the… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Messianic Age: The Completion of the Palace the Second Goal In the last few chapters we have been discussing the mission of the soul in this world. Its goal is to struggle with the material world and the obstacles that are posed by our bodily existence. Ultimately, the soul reaches a higher level than it was at before it “descended” into… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Quantum Leap To better understand this quantum leap; let us refer to the Zohar’s description of the four levels of interpretation as representing the “four Worlds.” As is well known, our existence that came about through G-d’s creating process has to go through four “worlds” or levels of… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Resurrection of the Dead a Jewish Belief One of the most under-emphasized Jewish beliefs is the resurrection of the dead. This is in stark contrast to the way things were in the days of Maimonides. Maimonides bemoans the fact that everyone was talking about the resurrection of the dead. People were asking questions… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Secret of Awakening-Sod The highest level of interpretation – Sod – cannot be adduced from the text of Modeh Ani. Having some basic outside information will also not suffice. Here one must know the secret ahead of time. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Distinct Principles We must still understand why there is a need for three distinct principles. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Donkeys In the Torah there is a reference to three great people and their donkey. Abraham saddled his donkey. Moses put his family to ride his donkey and the Moshiach will ride and be revealed on his donkey. Our sages tell us that these three donkeys were one and the same donkey. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Three Forms of Messianism While there are multitudes of messianic philosophies, they can all be reduced to three forms. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Torah and Secular Knowledge Despite the fact that Torah is divided into many levels, even the "lowest" level of Torah possesses a G-dly light that is untarnished and unfiltered by anything in this world. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Torah: G-d’s Revelation on Earth G-d's energy comes into this world in many shapes and sizes. When we look at a living being we see G-d. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Why the Descent of the Soul? Why would G-d take the soul, which is a part of Himself, and force it to descend into a physical world clad in a physical body? To make the question even stronger – and which will serve as the key to the answer – we can add: Why did G-d put all the temptations, the blandishments… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Dangers and Distortions Mysticism is, first and foremost, the belief that there is more to life than meets the eye. Belief in G-d is primarily a mystical notion, because it asserts the existence of "something out there" that we cannot see or relate to through our senses and faculties. Mysticism… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Our Essence Revealed We have discussed how the Jews' state of spiritual unconsciousness necessitated the introduction and popularization of the secrets of the Torah. We have also discussed how the accessibility of these supra-rational secrets to every human mind was enabled by the revelation of… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Preparing Us for the Future We have discussed so far how the dire situation of the Jewish people necessitated the dissemination of Kabbalah, despite the reservations expressed in the past about doing so. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Hidden Treasure People have always sought the mysterious and the mystical. We climb mountains, open new frontiers and explore outer space, constantly in search of other worlds "out there." Our inner space beckons us, too. That's why books on New Age spirituality and science fiction top the best… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – The Uniqueness of Jewish Mysticism Having discussed the dangers associated with mysticism, we will be able to appreciate the qualities unique to Jewish mysticism which make it a less dangerous mystical system. But to better appreciate the differences between Jewish mysticism and mysticism in other traditions, we… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Transcendence Now that we’ve explained why it was imperative that the teachings of mysticism be disseminated to the entire world, we are left with perhaps the most difficult question to resolve. Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Why Was It Kept Secret? The Torah often refers to Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, as "sod," meaning the esoteric or secret dimension of Judaism. It is also referred to metaphorically as the "Wine of Torah." Besides the fact that wine, like mysticism, brings joy to the one who imbibes, wine is used as a… Kabbalah Safe Kabbalah – Why Was It Revealed For over three thousand years, Kabbalah was entrusted to an elite group of saintly people, who zealously guarded these secrets. At Mount Sinai G-d revealed the Torah to all the Jewish people. Nevertheless, the experience they had was the experience of the most hidden and sublime…
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