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I understand that kabbalah was before the religion of judaism.
But How can kabbalah be separate from judaism ? Can one exist without the other? My orthodox friends challenge me this, saying you cannot have kabbalah without judaism, Ive been practicing rabbinical judaism the past 8 years, and after joining KabU, i see there is a deeper meaning with the mizvots. But kabU’s main audience is non jews, how do i fit in if im wearing keepah and tzit tzits tallit etc in my ten? I feel like they might think “i think im better than them”. Or im stuck in religious mind, Am i to throw it all away?
I understand now that nothing physical gives me spirituality but am i to throw it all away after 8 years? The baal Hasulam never did…this is what im confused about. If kabbalah is seperate from judaism that means you can have one without the other? Why physical myzvot than?
Hey Brad,
That certainly would be an opinion but according to Kabbalah’s history, this was began with Abraham. There were no religions at that point. Judaism of today is just an outcome of the point in the heart becoming dormant and after thousands of years what became important is the external actions and distancing from the inner work. Such an emphasis on the external actions only highlights them more and more throughout the years and the Judaism of today is what we see as a result of many many generations engaging only in the externality of the Torah.
There are many on our path who came from religious backgrounds. The only advice we ever offer is “pick one and stick to it.” That doesn’t mean that some don’t keep Shabbat or don’t adhere to certain customs, but they aren’t going to the synagogue and being exposed to a different interpretation of the Torah, for example. A person trying to blend the two will only confuse themselves and at one point will need to make a decision anyway, so it’s best to choose one and not waste time. There certainly will be a kind of “un-learning” where you’ll be used to thinking a certain way and that will change with time, you’ll just need to be flexible.
The way I would look at it is, yes Kabbalah is “separate” from Judaism, but don’t think of it as two branches of the same thing. There’s one which is the authentic method of correction, and the other which appeals to those who have no awakening of the point in the heart. I’m not sure what you mean “throw it all away”… if you ultimately arrived to this path and this is where you feel truth is, then what are you throwing away?
But the reason that causes him to want to ask the Creator to take him out of self-love and give him the light of faith is only that he is Jewish and must observe Torah and Mitzvot because the Creator has commanded us to observe His will. But he sees that he has nothing to do with bestowing upon the Creator. Rather, all his concerns are as those of the gentiles, only self-love. This motivates him to go and ask for something—to be able to be a Jew and not a gentile who belongs to the nations of the world.
Best of luck!
Chris
Ah, understood. Keep it! I think you’ll see it all in new light if you stick around for long enough to go through the significant changes that occur to us all on this path. The whole Jewish religion will be seen in your eyes as different and you’ll understand what happened there. You’ll also understand where the Kabbalists were coming from with the customs they set in place.
Kosher…you do what you want with that. Obviously here in Israel there are many friends who keep it, I would probably say most, and there are some who don’t. What’s important is the intention. This is what we learn in Kabbalah. The action without the intention–is just an action, like you said earlier. The action, with the intention is something completely different. Until we reveal what these actions even are, they’re just actions. If a person keeps these actions but inwardly only wants to bestow to the Creator through love of the created beings, this is a great benefit. The two will eventually align, but this takes time.
The most important actions in the meantime are what revolve around the group, the friends, the environment and our interactions there…what’s our intention when engaging with them? This is the most critical. The rest will fall into place.
Thanks!
Im very satisfied with your answers, last question, Rabbi Adam Polinovskiy, a student of Rabbi Gottlieb (who is supposedly a successor of Rabash, at least, thats the claim.) he has engaged in conversation with me, after i posted an article where Rav Laitman says there is no obligation to keep traditions. His claim is that if the Baal HaSulam or Rabash heard he said that, they would have cut ties with Laitman, and that statement is utter falsehood.
Its easy for me to find quotes from the Baal HaSulam that say along the lines that “physical mizvots mean nothing without intention” but is there anywhere that he says specifically that one is not obligated to keep traditions”?i personally desire to know, not just to have an answer, but it’s important for me. Thank achi
Baal HaSulam says in one of his articles that during the time of correction everyone will keep their customs and traditions and even religions–as they all are necessary in the correction. I’ll try and see what article it’s from but I want to say “The Peace”. We’ll see.
But again, if you find yourself in a back in forth with religiously mindset people, they certainly would not bend in their ideology for something that basically completely negates their beliefs. Don’t ever expect anyone to understand through words what you feel from Kabbalah. Keep that in mind.
Here’s the part (The Writings of the Last Generation):
The religious form of all the nations should first obligate its members to bestowal upon each other to the extent that the life of one’s friend will come before one’s own life, of “Love thy friend as thyself”. One will not take pleasure in society more than a backward friend.
This will be the collective religion of all the nations that will come within the framework of communism. However, besides that, each nation may follow its own religion and tradition; one must not interfere in the other.
hi. i’ve for a long time felt like i dealt with the problem of the concept of god simply by not thinking about it. and i understand why thinking about duality and the interactions of opposites is logical, and why the concept of unity expresses our desire. but i never understand where the idea that there is a creator and we are the created being comes from. why is the additional concept necessary?
Hey Michael,
This is simply the construct of our reality. When a person begins to explore what reality truly is, they begin to feel the way it’s being depicted to them. Meaning, that they are as if “robots” being operated upon–yet, with this one single point of awareness that observes this happening. When a person begins removing concealments and the attitude of the Creator is opened up to them bit by bit, the thought of creation is revealed to them to a certain extent and this “attitude” from the Creator is towards something, the thing that the Creator relates to, the thing He created. It’s not an additional concept it’s just the way a person feels when they’re not in complete concealment–that He created us and He treats us. There is only these two in reality.
Thanks!
Chris
Hi everyone, I’m quite new here but I keep hearing about Adam Kadmon and Adam Harishon and I think I’m confused as to what those terms represent and the difference among them. Can you please help me get clarity? Thank you so much.
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