Jennie Dawson
Religion 195
Jewish Mysticism, Meditation, Kabbalah, Tree of Life, Torah, Bahir, Ten Sefirot, Zohar
This paper discusses the history and the practice of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism that has evolved from a belief that a more critical look at the Bible leads to information about the keys to the universe. A combined practice of meditation and living a life guided by the Ten Sefirot, Kabbalah claims that by following its principles, a person can obtain the highest level of closeness to God and a oneness with the universe.
Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism that believes a deeper and more abstract examination of the Hebrew Bible reveals more than simply its literal meanings. It reveals information about the soul, the nature of God, Creation, and the spiritual world, and about a person’s individual relationship with God and with others (Zetter 7). A basic principle of Kabbalah is that the Bible is a coded text that holds information and secrets about the keys to the universe including instructions for personal development and growth.
Once only allowed to be practiced by men over forty, the Kabbalah is now open to all who wish to follow its practices. It claims that if a person follows the practices and beliefs of the Kabbalah, he will not only understand the ancient wisdom and laws, but he will achieve a personal experience of devekut-adherence (closeness to God). At this point, the Kabbalah follower will see the oneness of creation and experience eternity (Feldman 12).
A. Sources and Criteria of Valid Knowledge
The Bible is the core text for those who study Kabbalah. Since Kabbalah is a form of Judaism, those who study it focus primarily on the Torah. In Judaism, the Torah refers not only to the first five books of the Old Testament but to all Jewish commentary and study. The Torah describes the revelation at Mount Sinai where God revealed the Ten Commandments, which is revealed through Moses. Therefore, the kabbalists believe their traditions began with Moses. After the “Five Books of Moses,” the Jewish Bible also includes the Prophets (such as Isaiah and Ezekiel) and the Writings, which are also considered to be sacred texts (Feldman 14). Along with the written Torah evolved the oral Torah, which passed down through generations us to understand and interpret the written Torah. Once written down and recorded, the oral Torah became the Talmud.
Kabbalists did not deny the legitimacy of the oral Torah; rather they looked at it in a different way. According to Feldman, “their goal was to cleanse, revive, and – inevitably – redirect the flow of Judaism” (65). They believe the Torah is the revealed word of God yet people do not know how to interpret it. In order to do this, a kabbalist must study and learn to understand the Torah symbolically rather than literally. A large part of Kabbalah is a way of seeing and understanding the sacred dimension of traditional Jewish texts (Feldman 66).
In addition to the Torah, kabbalists study the Bahir, a piece considered to be the primary text of the Kabbalah. According to the interpretations of the Talmud, the Kabbalah should only be studied through hints and allusions (Gurary et al.). The author of the Bahir incorporated this into the book; when looked at shallowly or in pieces, the Bahir may seem to make little if any sense. The parts do not seem to connect or relate to each other. According to Kapplan, in order to understand the text, one must take the book as a whole and relate it to parts. The Bahir explains many crucial parts of the Kabbalah, including the Ten Sefirot and reincarnation (Gurary et al.).
In order to understand how kabbalists today apply the beliefs of Kabbalah to everyday life, it is important to understand the concept of the Ten Sefirot. According to the Bahir, the Ten Sefirot are implied from the verse (1 Chronicles 29:11), “Yours O God are the Greatness, the Strength, the Beauty, the Victory, and the Splendor, All (Foundation) that is in heaven and earth, Yours O God is the Kingdom.” Most commonly presented as 10 identical circles (each representing a sefirah) joined by 22 different lines (each representing a letter in the Hebrew alphabet) it is most popularly known as the “Tree of Life.” It represents the thirty-two mystical paths that may be thought of as states of consciousness, energetic flows, and archetypal divine qualities (Feldman 40).
The ten sefirah- emanations are: 1.Keter (Crown), 2. Hokhmah (Wisdom), 3. Binah (Understanding), 4. Hesed (Love), 5. Gevurah (Power), 6. Tiferet (Beauty), 7. Netzah (Eternity), 8. Hod (Splendor), 9. Yesod (Foundation) and 10. Shekhinah (Presence). The crown sits at the top and receives the divine influx of energy from Ein-Sof, a translation of the word ‘God.’ From the crown emerges wisdom, which in turn fertilizes for understanding, and so on until each sefirah- emanation is formed. While the description and image may seem hierarchical, energy may flow in all directions and paths.
When those who practice practical Kabbalah today apply the teachings of the Kabbalah, they focus on “a system of ethics that focuses on the right way of living in community, though with the higher goals of affecting positive change in the universe and of drawing us closer to God” (Zetter 152). This is done through spiritual awareness and the elevation of the physical world into the spiritual one. Not only does a person become closer to God through prayer and meditation, but through actions and thought that recognize the presence of God in everything (Zetter 153).
A person who wants to follow the Kabbalah must examine each sefirah and understand what lesson is to be taught from each one. For example, from Keter, a person must learn humility because in Keter, there is no “I.” This does not mean “be nothing,” but throw away the ego and find the core of your person. In this state, a person does not see himself apart from God or the world. According to Keter, we all come from nothingness and return to nothingness, so it is justified to treat all peoples the same (Zetter 160). From Hochma, a person learns to understand his connection to all things above and below, to feel a connection with all things, and to appreciate what a person has. For example, when a person sits to eat, he must give thanks for his food while also contemplating what role the animal/plant plays in his life. Other lessons the Tree of Life teaches: Binah: how to return to oneness; Hesed: how to have the desire to give due to total and unconditional love from God; Gevurah: how to be ambitious.
By studying and learning the lessons provided in the Tree of Life, a person learns how to lead a balanced and aware life. Meditation is an important part of the Kabbalah practice. It is thought that meditation leads to liberation from the bonds of the physical world and allows the transcendence into the spiritual world. Meditation may be either internal or external. An example of external meditation is mantra meditation, in which a person concentrates on a word or phrase. An example of internal meditation is meditating on thoughts, images or mental images that come to mind (Gurary et al.).
Throughout all of the texts and literature, there is never a mention about specific institutions or professional structures. However, in Hallamish’s An Introduction to the Kabbalah, he mentions that in order to completely become one with God, a person must withdraw himself from the world and material possessions and concentrate solely on his journey. In this state of isolation, groups of people in this journey form extremely tight and exclusive groups, referred to as “companions.” In the Zohar, a Kabbalist text, there is a section entitled “Idra,” which literally means sitting in a semicircle in Greek. The section describes the ideal ways that companions must sit in order to study the Kabbalah. Another important part of Kabbalah is the transfer of information from the teacher to the student. Not only does a person learn about Kabbalah from texts, but a teacher, who acts as a mentor, is responsible for ensuring the student successfully practices the Kabbalah.
According to Zetter, the exact roots of Kabbalah may be difficult to trace since it is not possible to trace its emergence to a single year or a single person who received a divine vision then released its details in writing for the world to see. Rather, throughout the years, as Kabbalah emerged and developed, it underwent various changes. In addition, the majority of the texts used in studying the Kabbalah are anonymous and the dates are generally vague or unknown.
In Southern France and Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the study of Kabbalah began to gain momentum. During this time, a man named Abraham Abulafia developed meditative, breathing and visualization techniques common to many mystical traditions. By performing these practices, it was thought that a person could attain the state of ecstasy attained by biblical prophets and come closer to God (Feldman 49).
Around 1280, Moses de Leon circulated the first translations of the Zohar-Brightness, which many Kabbalist call the bible after the Bible; it is the primary text of kabbalists. The author of the Zohar is a source of controversy. For years it was thought that a famous rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai wrote it, but many now believe that de Leon was the actual author (Feldman 49).
Around 1492, following the Spanish expulsion of the Jews, a large community of kabbalists formed in the Ottoman Empire, since it provided a safe haven from persecution of the Jews. In this community during the 1560s and 70s, Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria were responsible for developing various new strands of Kabbalah. Among these was Luria’s (who became known as Ari) idea that creation occurred by God’s withdrawal of himself from a point in the Universe in order to create life (Feldman 51).
In the mid 1600s, Shabbetai Zevi proclaimed himself the messiah, and as a result, a large kabbalist following formed. After a few years of activity, threats of grave danger came to the kabbalists for their newest activity, and as a result, Kabbalah became repressed in the Jewish community and they focused their efforts more simply on prayer and meditation.
Despite the threats of danger, “an undercurrent of mystical tradition stayed alive” (Feldman 52). With the Hasidic movement in the mid-eighteenth century, many aspects of Kabbalah stayed alive. In fact, much of Kabbalah today in America rests on Hasidic concepts. The modern world was quick to reject theories of mysticism in favor of modern, enlightened thought. However, after years of unpopularity, the practice of Kabbalah is once again reviving after having generations of people with a lack of interest in the Kabbalah (Feldman 54).
V. Representative Samples of Argumentation
As mentioned before, there are various texts within Kabbalah, with various ones anonymously authored. An important text for the Kabbalists is the Sefer Yetzirah, which means the “Book of Creation.” The author is unknown, but this was one of the first kabbalist texts circulated which interpreted creation from the Book of Genesis. It is from this text that he majority of Kabbalist vocabulary is derived.
Another important text for Kabbalah is the Sefer Ha Zohar (The Book of Splendor). As of 2001, the entire book had never been fully translated – only parts. The book is divided into three parts, and then further broken down; there is not much form or order to the book. The book is filled with allegories that describe certain stories from the Bible, such as the tale of Jonah and the whale. Similar to the Bahir, the Zohar claims that the Torah contains encoded messages that may be revealed through careful studying. Both the Torah and the Zohar study the relationship between God and man; however, while the Torah looks at the relationship as a physical, tangible situation, the Zohar elevates this into a more spiritual plane (Zetter 53). The Zohar claims that everything in the Universe is connected; nothing is random.
A.
Tradition (1) --- experience (10): 7
While there are guidelines as to how to reach the closeness to God, a person must experience certain things and perform certain practices on their own in order to achieve the closeness. Kabbalists must practice certain thing such as fasting and sexual restraint by means of tradition, but it is the experience that is the core of Kabbalah.
B.
Centralized
authority (1) – decentralized authority (10): 2
It is the goal of Kabbalists to achieve closeness to God, with him being the central authority.
C.
Emphasis on the
invisible realm (1) --- visible realities (10): 2
So much of Kabbalah is an emphasis on the invisible realm; through meditation and different restriction practices, a person may achieve control of his body and mind and become closer to God. It is not through material or visible realities in which a person may obtain this state.
D.
Spiritual/moral goal (1) --- pragmatic objectives (10):
1
Attaining the highest level in Kabbalah is purely spiritual and moral. It is about the closeness to God and about taking the lesson of the Ten Sefirot and applying them to your spiritual and moral side and abiding by the ideals.
E.
Primarily divine power (1) --- individual power (10): 5
This rests in the middle because kabbalists believe in the divine power and spirit of God, and they want to obtain closeness to him. However, the kabbalist must also discipline himself and have a degree of individual power in order to do this.
Dan, J. The Early Kabbalah. Paulist Press: New York, 1986.
This book was most helpful because it contained translations of various Kabbalah texts, including the Book of Bahir, which explains the Ten Sefirot, a Kabbalah translation of the Book of Genesis, and commentary to the Talmud.
Zetter, K. Simple Kabbalah. Conari Press: California, 1999.
This was interesting because it was written by a modern Kabbalist, and she was able to explain most clearly how to apply the religion to life.
Feldman, R.H. Fundamentals of Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah. The Crossing Press
Freedom: California, 1999.
This book was especially helpful with the historical background of the Kabbalah and also a description of the various texts of the Kabbalah.
Gurary, N., Kaplan, A., Pinson, D., etc. Three Minute Discourses on Kabbalah. Jason
Aronson, Inc: New Jersey: 2001.
This book has a description and explanation for various topics relating to Kabbalah. A different Jewish scholar wrote on each topic, and the book was very thorough regarding topics but not the depth of the topic. It provided a good starting point for subjects.
Hallamish, M. An Introduction to the Kabbalah. State University of New York Press:
New York, 1999.
This book went into more detail on the subjects that Three Minutes just touched on. It was extremely helpful for a description of the Ten Sefirots.