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According to the Kabbalah teachings, we just need to practice and embrace the will to receive and by doing so, we give back or bestow (like the guess at the dinner party who accepts and enjoys the food of the host.)
Now, if Kabbalah is not a Religion nor Jewish Mysticism why Michael Laitman, Anthony Kosinec and many other Kabbalists who teach and study Kabbalah keep practicing the religion of Judaism for example they keep using a kippah?!
Is Kabbalah not enough or it isn’t fullfilling that they need to practice a religion that is a creation of the lower world and it’s based in the five senses?
It is the same with many other Jewish schools or centres that are teaching Kabbalah like the Kabbalah Centre (I studied with them in Toronto) and the Kabbalah Mashiah (in Spain) all of them keep practicing Judaism and are very strict if they don’t follow the holidays or prayers, etc.
Also, I noticed that even though all of them are open to the general public, there is a different treatment to the Jews and the no-Jews.
Hi José-Carlos,
1. The Kippah is a Kabbalistic symbol. It shows us that there is something above us, that we’re under the dominion of a higher force. And that our thoughts are not our thoughts, but everything comes from this one force. This is called “there is none else besides Him”.
Keep in mind that these are just symbols. There is no obligation to carry them out in a religious manner. Why then do some people that study Kabbalah with us choose to wear a Kippah? It’s either out of respect for the culture and traditions they grew up with or because such an action helps them remember about the inner meaning of the Kippah and ultimately reminds them of the Creator.
2. As for Kabbalah and Judaism, Judaism essentially sprang out due to the concealment of Kabbalah. Let’s put this into perspective:
Kabbalah is the method of correcting our egoistic nature and thereby revealing the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. The first one to actualize this was Adam. His name gives us a hint at this since Adam comes from the Hebrew word “Dome”, meaning “similar to”. He was not the first one alive, but rather the first one to reveal the Creator by becoming similar to this quality of bestowal.
This wisdom gets passed onward from Adam until Abraham who adapted it to the people of his generation and made the wisdom more practical. Abraham put together a large group of Babylonians who were interested in actualizing this method. These people later on became the Israeli nation. The word Israel comes from the Hebrew words “Yashar” “El” meaning straight to God. These are the people who had an active point in the heart in those days and were interested in revealing the Creator.
These people greatly succeeded in this method. The peak of their success was symbolized in the building of the first and second temple, which reflected the level of unity and bestowal they were able to reach. At a certain point, they lost the spiritual connection between them (the destruction of the 2nd temple) and what remained was just these external symbols of their connection.
At this point the wisdom of Kabbalah became concealed. People still had the holy books, Torah and etc, but they did not know how to use them. Since the Torah is written in the language of roots and branches. Meaning it uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. But if a person does not have this spiritual connection through which he can see this, then he thinks this book is talking about this world, history, morals, commandments, etc. From this emerges the Jewish religion.
From all the above we see that Kabbalah itself is not connected to any religion and that the modern religions came out due to the concealment of Kabbalah. At the same time, Kabbalah is not against religions. In fact we have millions of students worldwide, from many different backgrounds and religions. Many of them do choose to maintain their religion or to perform certain religious customs while studying Kabbalah and there is nothing wrong with that. Just like with any other science, a person can be religious and also be a chemist or physicist. Likewise a person can be religious and also study the science of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full spiritual correction people can still keep their religions.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/12/the-wisdom-of-kabbalah-and-the-other-religions/
Albert @ KabU
Hello,
OK, if Kabbalah is a science,
1.- where is the observable and measurable data or evidence, the experiments, the measurements or observations? Where I can find the empirical evidence?
2.- A science must use the scientific method meaning,
a- formulates hypothesis
b- test them trough controlled methods
c-analyze the results
c- draw conclusions that are open to revisions or proved wrong. If the claim, in this case Kabbalah cannot be challenged by evidence, then it is not scientific.
So, Kabbalah must be systematically investigated by using empirical, testable and reproducible methods producing outcomes or knowledge that can be criticized, improved and verified for others.
Hi José-Carlos,
Kabbalah is a science because it uses the basic scientific method to research reality. The Kabbalists are the scientists of Kabbalah. Everything we know is based on their research. This is similar to how other sciences work. The Kabbalists are those researchers that have performed a certain experiment and reached a certain result: the correction of our nature, the revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal, etc. So if we are to replicate their experiment, to follow their procedures we should reach the same results.
But if a person is not yet on the degree of a Kabbalist, how does he relate to everything he’s learning? Like to any other science. For example, when I read a physics textbook, I see different formulas and experiments that research our reality. If I’m reading this textbook in 8th grade, then I have no choice but to accept the things written there since they come from a credible source. If I’m reading this textbook in college, I’m already given some tools with which I can measure and verify some of these things for myself. And yet there are some concepts that are so advanced, that I have no way to verify them until I become a physicist myself and get access to all the tools that will help me research these things.
Same with us here. There are some things I can verify for myself even when I’m just starting in the fundamentals of this wisdom, and then there are things that I can verify only when I myself have reached attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/kabbalah-and-other-sciences-philosophy-and-religion/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lori,
The boundary is the desire. As we’ll learn in the upcoming lessons, all of reality exists within the desire to receive pleasure. Everything we attain is within the desire. Even this thing called the Creator is experienced within a desire, a corrected desire, but nonetheless a desire. This is why there are many names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different part of the desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator.
So all of our understanding of this thing called the Creator (and any spiritual phenomena) is based on what we reveal within the corrected desire. But whatever exists outside of the corrected desire, whatever we don’t grasp, perceive or attain within the desire, whatever is beyond our tools of research, we don’t talk about. We need to keep these limits in mind in order to stay within the realm of science and not venture off into religion or philosophy.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2012/12/philosophy-a-building-without-a-foundation/
https://laitman.com/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Albert @ KabU
Is there a Kaballistic re-interpretation of the story of Noah’s Ark? Or of Moses parting the Red Sea? Were those stories also written in the code, the branches language?
Hi Amaranta,
Yes, the stories in the Torah are written in the language of root and branch.
In Kabbalah we look at these stories as the inner process of development that each person will undergo in their spiritual aspirations. Moses for example is that point inside of us that will lead us out of our “Egypt” out of our egoistic nature.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
And if you’re interested in learning how to properly decipher the Torah, check out the books: Disclosing a Portion or The Secrets of the Eternal Book.
Albert @ KabU
I have finished week 1 lessons and I bought books to see on my computer recommanded readings.
I recently read in the Zohar that there are 613 mitzvot, 248 positive and 365 negative. Why are there so many? In Christianity, there are only 10 in Shemot (Exodus), chapter 20.
Thank you very much to answer me to my first question !
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Regarding the books that are advised for one to read, can one use the LIGHT code, or was it just for the first books recommended?
Regarding Aramanta’s question about Noah’s Ark and Moses, Moses will lead us out of egoistic nature, WOW!
And this message has been in the Torah the entire time I have been reading/studying Torah. I wonder how many congregants in the synagogue know this when we attend services. From what I have learned so far, my Rabbi Chaim Block definitely knows Kabbalah and the Zohar because he sermons have always reached my soul and even answered questions that I did not know I was asking. Hence, as I continue to learn, I will realize the immense wisdom I will know that will help me along the way.
Hi Frédéric,
Numbers in Kabbalah are not quantitative, but rather qualitative. They are used to represent certain spiritual states, like the sum of different properties behind that state.
Just like a computer image uses binary code to represent that image, numbers are used in spirituality to represent a certain spiritual state.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/numbers-indicate-quality-not-quantity/
Albert @ KabU
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