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The Kabbalah increasingly feels like a belief system, even though it claims to be based on the principles of nature. While I can accept the concept of nature without fully comprehending it, it becomes perplexing when these natural principles are suddenly likened to an omnipotent deity (God). Thy are there 620 mitzvot and 125 degrees of spiritual ascent (to name but two), accompanied by notions of punishment and reward?
To elaborate, the Kabbalah, I feel, presents itself as a framework grounded in the natural order of the universe, yet it often adopts characteristics typical of a religious doctrine. This duality creates a sense of ambiguity. Nature, in its purest form, is something I can appreciate and coexist with, even if its complexities elude my full understanding. However, the shift from understanding nature to attributing it to an all-powerful divine force introduces a layer of confusion.
Furthermore, the specificity of 620 mitzvot (commandments) and 125 degrees of spiritual progression raises questions. These precise numbers suggest a structured and rule-bound approach to spirituality, one that includes the concept of divine reward and punishment (non-attainment). This framework seems to mirror religious systems that dictate moral and ethical behavior through prescribed rules and the consequences of following or defying them.
My vision of spiritual attainment is one of personal growth and enlightenment that arises from individual exploration and choice. Spirituality, for me, should not be about adhering to a fixed set of rules or fearing retribution, but about finding a path that resonates personally and fosters inner development. Hence, while I recognize the value in the teachings of the Kabbalah, I believe that the journey towards spiritual fulfillment should be a voluntary and deeply personal endeavor for the good of everyone.
But this said I might be wrong!Hi Francois,
1. Kabbalah and religion are two separate things. Let’s put a few things into perspective to understand this:
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/
2. Reward and punishment (and other such terms) have a completely different meaning in Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, reward and punishment is not relative to our ego, but the opposite, relative to our rising above the ego. So reward is being able to come closer to the Creator, to bestow like Him, whereas punishment is being unable to bestow like Him, being stuck within our ego.
3. 620 and 125, these are precise numbers because Kabbalah is a science. These numbers are derived from the Kabbalist’s research of the spiritual world.
4. The Kabbalists tell us that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. So spiritual development is indeed voluntary.
Albert @ KabU
Are our perceptions of this world, this reality, subjective? It says in a quiz before this week that or perception of this world is not subjective but in this video it says this reality is subjective, that we divide it into good and bad. Are all events that occur a reshimo being presented or only some events? How do we know a reshimo?
Hi Robert,
Each moment is a new reshimo.
As for perception of reality, we see the world through the lens of our ego. As we correct the ego, we’ll begin to see a completely different reality outside of ourselves. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
The video says there are reshimo that map out exactly what we must do. How do we find the reshimo? Is there a kabbalistic book that has the map of reshimo so we can recognize and know when and how we are being presented with each step? Or can we miss the reshimo being presented to us?
Hi Robert,
Our job is not to research the reshimo, but rather to speed them up. Think of the reshimo like one big movie reel. All the states we went through and all our futures states are already programmed into that movie. Our job is only be active in this process and speed up the rate at which the reshimo change.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/07/the-whole-world-is-inside-the-reshimo/
Albert @ KabU
Kabbalah has given me innerstanding of my experiences: at times I know, ‘see’ and ‘hear’ things beyond the comfort of explanation. With Kabbalah this insight I feel as if I am in full contact with the Light that is beyond my perception….i merely seek to cultivate it instead of it being equivalent to random shocks of lightning. How can I grow.
I understand that our reaction to bad things happening to good people is a step toward correcting our egoism. What purpose does it serve when good things happen to bad people?
Hi Robert,
We learn from the lesson on the perception of reality that the external world is a reflection of our own internal state. So if we see something bad in the world, it means we still have not finished correcting our own ego. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
In the next semester, we’ll learn in detail how our perception of the world completely changes between the different levels of concealment and revelation. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
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