Description

Part 1 of a 2-part series that provides an overview of the history of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Transcript

The history of Kabbalah goes hand in hand with the history of mankind. It literally goes back to the emergence of the first man, and reaches a state of entering Eretz Israel, the spiritual land of Israel, the so-called world of Atzilut, where mankind resides within its eternal realization, outside of the boundaries of time and space, immortal and perfect.

It is said that his name was Adam (Adam ha Rishon in Hebrew), the first human being who marked the beginning of the entire human race. We, the Kabbalists, are also interested in him because he initiated the history of Kabbalah. He is the author of the first book on Kabbalah.

What is Kabbalah?

Man lives in our world. He feels nature around him. There is a nature of our world and a nature of the Higher world. There are people who sense both of these natures inside themselves. Adam ha Rishon was one of them. He described it in his book Raziel HaMalach, (The Angel Raziel). This slim book is sold in many book stores in Israel. This is what he drew himself and passed on to us; very interesting things. When we see them we realize that he was not a primitive savage hunting mammoths but a very advanced and strong Kabbalist who told us about the basic mysteries of the universe, not about our world. He purposely refrained from doing that.

He was studying the Upper worlds, worlds that are higher than the one we live in; places where the soul was before its birth and where it ascends after it finishes its journey of life. That's what he tells us about. And because he was the first soul that descended to this world, he tells us about aspects of the soul's development, about his so-called children, grandchildren, about the human race in general that extended from him. He didn't tell us about the bodies that would be born from his descendants. He was telling us about the souls that will extend from his soul, and how these souls are to make their journey on earth by dressing in bodies; how they will have to make their way on a different, higher level and form what we call Adam. And we are only small particles. That is what he tells us in his book called Raziel HaMalach.

Raziel means “mysteries”; Malach means “angel,” so to say mysterious, mysteries of the angel Raziel; Raziel, unfolding mysteries of the universe.

What does it mean to write books on Kabbalah? Man lives in this world and he receives different pictures and feelings from it. Let as assume that every one of us can describe what he or she feels. In this case, no one would be interested in those descriptions because we sense this world more or less alike.

Kabbalistic books are different; in that they describe sensations of a person who lives in our world, but simultaneously feels the Higher world, undetected by others. Thus, a Kabbalist is a person who has reached or has been granted a feeling of a Higher world. Besides this, he is a person who can describe his feelings in a way that we understand them correctly. And by studying his books, we are able to develop the required organs of sensation that enable us to feel the Higher world on our own to the point that we would be able to see our past and future states, because there is no time in the spiritual world. Thus, we'd be able to go beyond time in our feelings of a Higher world, while existing in both worlds.

Kabbalistic books possess such a strong power; contain such a methodology and descriptive technique that if a person is studying under the proper guidance, following the proper methodology, he ultimately reaches the level of the author. That's why it's important to know which books to study.

There have been various authors in the history of mankind, and there are books out there that are applying different methodologies. So we have to choose wisely because historical experience tells us which books better help us in our spiritual development, help us to reach the spiritual world and navigate there. It's like a tourist who comes to a foreign country looking for information about it.

A long time has passed since Adam, the first man. His descendants multiplied and spread across the earth. There were many Kabbalists among them, but they haven't left us any books.

We do have separate scrolls, parts of texts that are impossible to classify. Only Abraham, our father, managed to write the next fundamental book on Kabbalah, comparable to that of Adam ha Rishon. The book is called Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation), and although it was written thousands of years ago, it is still sold in bookstores. The author uses graphs and different depictions of the connections with our world; tables that represent interdependencies between the worlds.

This Book of Creation, (Sefer Yetzira), is a unique composition. It consists of chapters called Mishnaim. It uses a different, highly structured language because Abraham writes about the precise structure of the spiritual realm. He describes the ten Sefirot, the Partzufim, and all the building blocks of Higher Management. He tells us about the way a Higher Power, called Light, descends to this world and how the common soul divides into separate souls and then descends further into our world. He also writes about how our bodies interact in this world as a result of the soul's interaction.

The book is very interesting, but it's rather distant from us, from today's souls. To us it appears as a manual, but it radiates a very strong energy, warmth I'd say, because Abraham's quality is the quality of Hesed (kind-heartedness).

Abraham was famous for sitting at the door of his tent and welcoming strangers inside, every passing man, which is a simple, indirect way of describing his benevolence. From this book, his force is transmitted to mankind. This compassion gave us, the subsequent generations, the ability to slowly move towards the unfolding of the Higher world, following Abraham's footsteps.

His children move farther and farther away from the spiritual in each generation; descending to our world, dressing in bodies, and then developing in this realm. New discoveries became necessary. When new realizations of the universe are required, new Kabbalists emerge.

The next great Kabbalist after Abraham our father, who gave us a fundamental book, was Moshe (Moses). He received not only the secret revelation of the universe for himself, but was also directed to unfold it in such a way that it would reach the entire human race.

To write and create an entire school around himself was unknown to Kabbalists before Moses. After him, every Kabbalist organized his work accordingly, creating a group of disciples. Moses gathered a large group of disciples of whom the greatest was Joshua. Along with studying the Higher world, as every Kabbalist before him did, Moses was busy with the practical implementation of this Higher revelation in this world.

Following directions and knowledge gained in the Higher world, using newly found forces, Moses was able to organize all the forces shaping his world to make the Exodus a reality. Further down the road though, he was unable to continue his journey because his soul was not practically able to receive the land of Israel. His soul was destined to create a book, after which appearance, every man was able to reach a spiritual world and leave Egypt in a spiritual sense, that is our world that worships mummies, and everything that exists in it, including the sun and the moon, in other words, false gods. His methodology was laid down by Moses in a book called Torah, which has been translated into European languages as The Bible.

Torah stems from the Hebrew word Ohr (Light), or instruction. In other words, it's an instruction on the art of attaining entrance to the spiritual world, using the Light; how to live for the soul in the name of your eternal mission for the short time that we spend in this world.

The book is written to help people completely unfold the universe. To help them realize that they live in a tiny fragment of it; to help them make conclusions, calculations, and build their lives accordingly. That is what Moses wanted to achieve.

A disciple that studies it properly, following his methodology gradually approaches the level of Moses with the help of the Torah. It is said that everyone, absolutely every man living on earth, with the help of the proper Torah studies, can attain the level of Moses, in other words, to grow beyond this world in his feelings, and reach the sensations of the Higher Realm.

Why is this interesting to us? In general it tells us about seemingly historical events concerning the Exodus, but it is actually about a man who exists in his internal misery, in animalism, called Egypt and rises to the spiritual state called the land of Israel. I hope we will have a chance in the future to talk about it in greater detail and realize how the Torah indirectly tells us about this world. But in reality, it speaks about completely different forces and events—wars, power entries and exits, cataclysms— hidden behind the true historical events.

Although the Torah describes a specific period in the history of the human race, it tells us about its spiritual roots. And if we understand this properly, we see these spiritual roots through this historical text, the spiritual forces that descend to this world from Above.
Moses is a spiritual force, and Pharaoh is another spiritual force. If we observe the spiritual meaning of the historical places of nations, of animals, of everything that exists, we would then sore and be able to see their soul. We would then be able to examine their spiritual properties instead of material ones.

For example, we would see that Torah means the spiritual force instead of the human Moses. It's a spiritual power; instead of the nation of Israel, it's a spiritual force, and so on with everything that goes with it. If we look through the external codings covering these objects, we would see their true essences, their souls that form a completely different picture. And then we would be able to see how the universe evolves on a different level, the spiritual one. We would be able to make contact with these forces and use them for our spiritual development.

This is how Moses and his seventy disciples created the instructions, disseminated them and taught them to the entire group that later was named "The Jews." Because Jews do not have a national identity, they represent a social group that has been formed by historical forces. Today, people are called Jewish if they follow a certain spiritual ideology and orientation.

The Jews are a group of people that adopted the ideas of monotheism since Abraham. Abraham was the first man to discover monotheism. Thus, after Abraham, a social group formed that followed his belief in the uniqueness of the Higher Power that overseas them, a Power that can be addressed, that wants to help mankind, and has to help because It Created us and Is waiting for us to ask for help.

So the group of people that followed the teachings of the Abraham, were later called, “The Jews,” Jewish from the word Yehud (connection), because of their desire to connect to the Creator. Also, the word Hebrew—(Ivri in Hebrew) means transiting, moving from the lowest, to the highest world.

The History of Kabbalah (Part 3-4)

In the Torah, Moses develops his science of unfolding the Higher worlds and makes it so simple and close to everyone that the Torah ultimately becomes the most wide-spread book on earth. Nevertheless, if we simply read it as a series of stories about various families, wars, weddings, and times of peace, we will not be able to feel the hidden depth that Kabbalists mention.

People search for coded messages in the Torah and discovered different inner connections. There are millions of such connections between different parts of the Torah because every part is interconnected with another. The number of letters, words, expressions, blocks, were all calculated; computers were used to study the internal structure of the Torah, designs of letters and its internal parts. And all this work is futile. It doesn't give us anything because we don't know what stands behind every symbol and every dot, every combination of words and their transition. The Torah, if read properly, can be expressed in a single word without any gaps from beginning to end--one long word.

This one word has been divided into a great number of different words, and every word was divided into a certain number of letters. Each letter was consequently divided into different elements, and it goes further, until we come to a point and line that stretches from it. The point represents the source of the Light—black on white background. The line represents the Light that stretches from the point—the Light of the Highest Power of the Creator, to its creatures.

All the various combinations of points and lines depend only on two types of signals sent personally from the Creator to a person. A straight horizontal line represents a direct signal from the Creator to the whole of humanity, plus various states of connection. Thus, altogether they form a code of relationship between God and man.

This picture too, changes over the flow of time because every moment, the human soul looks different. Therefore, someone who looks into the Torah is able to see each of their states hidden behind these lines and dots, if they're properly taught how to do it. They are able to see their past, present and future, by seeing how to transcend their present state. However, in order to see all these things, one needs more than just the text that Moses left for us. They need the key necessary to unlock the message from Moses, to read the Torah in a way that makes it serve as an instruction how to enter the spiritual world, in order to truly feel what exists around us, outside of our lives, our physical senses, and that's called Kabbalah.

Open the Book of Zohar. It's called the Book of Radiance; Zohar means radiance or shining, in Hebrew. It contains commentaries on the five parts of the Torah. The Torah consists of five parts and the Book of Zohar gives precise comments that help us to understand what Moses gave us. That's how it's structured; it sights the Torah and then provides the Kabbalistic commentary.

What does Kabbalistic commentary mean? It is simply a correct interpretation of Moses' text. For instance, the Torah tells us about a nomad and that when traveling with his heard he reached other places paid a visit to his relatives, etc. It's a basic historical text. What Moses was implying was a different thing, certain spiritual events. He was describing spiritual powers descending to our world to perform a specific job.

If we understood this, and knew what it was that he was speaking about, we would be able to react properly to the events of our world; we would be able to make them work in the best way for us. Thus, the Zohar unfolds what Moses implied in his text. In other words, when a man studies the Torah through the Zohar, he sees a different world, we sees the Highest Government of this world and the entire creation. That's why Kabbalists read both these books, in order to get a detailed picture of what Moses handed down to us, his disciples.

Many centuries separate the time of Moses and the time of the writing of the Book of Zohar. There were several other fundamental commentaries published, unfolding specific parts of Moses' message to us. 

The first commentary on the Torah is called Mishnah, which means repetition, in Hebrew. It teaches the laws of the universe by describing them as laws of this world. In other words, it tells a man what to do and what not to do. These laws are known as commandments, but if a man follows them, he doesn't see any benefit; he doesn't see the consequences of following them. He's obliged to slaughter cattle in a certain way, called Kosher (or proper), suitable for cooking; he should treat his wife a certain way, and solve thousands of other mundane problems using these rules that are completely unjustified in this world.

Aside from this, he should respect countless of other conditions, rules and regulations that don't have any material or logical justification in this world. The man should put a certain box on his forehead, cover himself with a certain cloth, should do certain movements, and speak certain words. He should perform countless actions, verbally and physically that seem unreasonable to an outsider.

What are these actions? Only Kabbalah can tell because it tells us that physical actions in this world do not have much value. What a person can create in the spiritual world that is what Moses wanted to tell us about. That's what the sages, his descendants and disciples are trying to tell us in the Mishnah, and then in the following period, the period of the Talmud.

The sages of the Talmud explained each commandment, each law, each case, and how to follow it in an absolutely precise way. Like Moses, they were not concentrating on the mechanical observance of the commandments in our world, but instead realized the most important lesson of why these laws were given to humanity, so that we become sensible, become researches of the nature of the spiritual world and our world, and to be able to utilize the nature of the universe and its laws in a proper way, and not to just live seventy years in this world.

By the way, none of the laws of religious life have any effect on our world. All that we do on the physical or spiritual level goes to our soul. We start feeling the results only when we unfold the spiritual world. These laws have no consequence in our world. So, the Mishnah and the Talmud explain to us, in a more detailed way, each of the highest laws of the universe, but using our common, earthly language. Thus, in order for a person to read these texts insightfully, he uses a special key—the Book of Zohar. If he doesn't do this, he just sees a simple description of the life of a religious person.

In reality, what the great Kabbalists are explaining to us are the mechanics of the universe. By doing this, they made it possible for us to see these laws in the most constructive way—why do such forces descend to our world? How can we transform them in order to get a proper response? In other words, they show us how to become active elements in the entire creation, where influence is being disseminated from the Highest to the lowest worlds. We give a proper response to this influence and this influence goes back, and as a consequence returns to our world bringing happiness to all of us; that's the main task of Kabbalah.

The word Kabbalah comes from the Hebrew word Le Kabel (to receive)—how to properly receive the Highest Influence, and to know how to get all the good things that are being bestowed upon us. That's why those who start studying Kabbalah begin to see clearly all the misfortunes in our world, all the suffering that each of us has and the whole of humanity feel throughout the millennia of its existence. All these sufferings are the result of the misinterpretation of what happens around us, with each and every one of us.

Naturally, we make our situation even worse when we receive the consequences of our distorted reactions and behavior. That's why Kabbalah is the most applicable of all sciences because it gives man the key to mastering creation. But in order to manage it, one needs to study the structure of creation, its components, how man can consciously affect the flow of this river, the river of human civilization, for millennia.
We can see how civilization could have developed differently, because if we take this key today, we will be able to change everything so that our destiny will be completely different.

The author of the Zohar, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, was simultaneously a sage of the Talmud and the author of the Book of Zohar. The Talmud contains about 4000 references to incitations from him. He stood at the border between the simple commentaries of the Torah—descriptions of our world—and spiritual commentaries, where the other layers of the Torah unfold and spiritual worlds of forces, future, past and present events, are described.

Rabbi Shimon lived in the 400's AC. Besides being both a great scholar and a great researcher of human and spiritual nature, he gathered a group of ten disciples around him, and organized them in such a way, that every disciple's soul precisely represented a certain spiritual feature of the Higher world. He formed a group of nine disciples, with himself being the tenth, in a way that united them into a single soul in the spiritual world, while being a group of people in the physical realm.

That represented the structure of the entire creation. That's why the Book of Zohar, although written by him, narrates to us from the perspective of each of his students, representing each spiritual world that came through the soul of a disciple. Thus, he made a lens that diffracted the simple, Higher Light, the Higher Governance descending to our world into ten integral components, with each of these components being fully unfolded in its properties. These are the ten forces that guide our world.

How can everyone use these ten forces for his and everyone else's well-being? They can't be used in a way harmful to yourself or in a way that's good for you and harmful to others because everything in nature is in absolute harmony and interconnected. If it seems to us that any kind of selfish act is possible, that's because we don't see the whole horizon, the complete volume of information descending from Above.  The forces that positively effect each and every one of us, are interconnected and from a single Source. So while studying Kabbalah and the unfolding of the Higher worlds, there can not be good things for a few at the expense of others. It's in this way that the Zohar teaches us the ways to use spiritual forces correctly.

Rabbi Shimon was unable to write his book alone. He says that because his soul was the highest, above the ten in his group, he could not disguise the information in a way that it could be transferred to the generations to come. The book was written eighteen centuries ago, and came to us in a very transformed and special way that we'll discuss later. That's why in order to give it to us, to put it down on paper in a disguised way, he assigned his disciple named Rabbi Abba to help him.

Rabbi Abba, while listening to the Book of Zohar from his teacher, started transcribing it in a way that makes the reader sense only the surface of the highest levels of creation. The more a disciple works on his self-development, the more he cleanses himself. And the higher he raises spiritually, he becomes able to see deeper, to penetrate, to feel and understand what is said in this book, and to receive the highest powers accordingly, and the greater is his ability to interact with creation for the good of the entire world.

Rabbi Abba did not write this book in Hebrew as Moses, Abraham, and Adam ha Rishon did in their respected books; he wrote his book in Aramaic, a common language widely used in that time in Persia.

A lot of Greek and Roman slang are used in the Book of Zohar, but that doesn't diminish its value in any way. His reasoning was to hide the inner fundamental part of the book under such a primitive covering.

Rabbi Shimon secluded himself in a remote cave in the north of the country, in order to write the Zohar. Along with his son, Rabbi Elazar, he sat in that cave for thirteen years. They ate using the “fruit of the horn” tree and drank from a nearby stream. Their clothes became worn and fell apart. In order to cover themselves, they dug into the sand. At the end of the day, they remained in the sand to discuss what had been dictated into the Book of Radiance.

After thirteen years, Rabbi Shimon left that cave along with his son. He gathered nine disciples and formed them into a group. He raised them spiritually with respect to their individual souls in such a way that formed a collective spiritual vessel, through which they could feel and understand the properties of the Higher world, the highest spiritual omni-source. The book was written and soon after it was completed, Rabbi Shimon died, leaving his disciples in this world. He was buried in Meron, the place where he wrote his book.