Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought in Jewish mysticism.
Kabbalah deals with:
- Understanding God.
- Describes the indescribable.
- Describes God as an eternity.
- Where quantum physics stops, the wisdom of the Kabbalah starts.
The Kabbalah, or more accurately, The Wisdom of the Kabbalah, tries to explain how the universe works, both tangibly and spiritually, and how it affects our life and environment. The world we live in affects us every day and at every moment, whether we are aware of its presence or not.
According to tradition, The Book of Zohar was written by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who was one of Rabbi Akiba’s better students. He wrote this book in cooperation with his son Rabbi Elazar over a period of 13 years, during which they stayed in a cave, hiding from the Romans. This book is considered the holiest book after the Bible. The Wisdom of the Kabbalah has become a global Kabbalah movement having more than six million disciples worldwide from every walk of life, every faith, and every religion. When you understand Kabbalah, you can improve everything in your life. The Kabbalah is the oldest wisdom known to mankind. The wisdom of the Kabbalah offers you the tools to replace chaos with joy and satisfaction.
A Little History
The Kabbalah is a Jewish occult mysticism doctrine. This doctrine has its roots deeply rooted in the history of ancient Judaism and mysticism. The Kabbalah gained its roots and early fame in Provence (Southern France) and Northern Spain in the late 12th century and early 13th century. Kabbalah had a great effect on Jewish spiritual life and great spiritual, such as the Shabtai Zvi and Hasidic movements.
The Spheres
The building blocks of the Kabbalah terminology are the ten spheres. These are ten sources or “lights” through which God communicates with his world. They are also 10 different ways of revealing God, one per level.
In the Kabbalah terminology, numbers are more than just mere mathematical symbols. They have qualitative characteristics and meanings. The special meaning of the number 10 results from the fact that it constitutes our mathematical basis.
Common belief has it that the use of the basis 10 results from the fact that we have 10 fingers. God wanted the humane system to be decimal. The spheres are unique, and some contradict others. The basic division of spheres is called right, left, and middle, or in accordance with their leadership, mercy, judgment, and grace. The sphere system maintains tensions between opposite forces, and the cabalist seeks mediation between them, namely bringing them to the middle ground, thus establishing harmony. .This will yield positive effects and vitality for the world.
The Ten “Sefiroth” (Enumerations) or Spheres
Crown – the principal sphere, the one closest to the infinite divinity itself, which, therefore, is not considered “nil” or “root”. It must not be mentioned in conversation nor comprehended.
Wisdom – is descended from the “nil” or “crown” sphere. Divinity’s dispersion and influence begin with wisdom.
Reason – is the receptacle of wisdom. It is the “mother of sons”, which gives birth to the seven spheres that follow.
Grace or Mercy – brings divine virtue and eternal profusion to the world unlimitedly and unconditionally; a virtue that is restricted neither in quality or quantity.
Victory or Might – is the sphere that reduces grace to the ones who deserve it. While “grace” is a sphere of virtue, “victory” also contains judgment and justice.
Adornment – is the sphere that mediates between “grace” and “victory” and constitutes a compromise between profusion and judgment limitation. It is the harmony it brings which transforms it into “adornment”
Eternity – a sister sphere to “glory”.
Glory – alongside “eternity” is considered the “feet” or the force holding and supporting the other upper spheres.
Foundation – is comparable to manhood. It receives profusion from the previous spheres and transfers it to the “kingdom” sphere. It is the power to bring divine ideas and reality together.
Kingdom – is also called divine spirit and is comparable to femininity. It absorbs what has descended from the “foundation” and transfers it to the tangible world.
Theosophical and Ecstatic Kabbalah
Kabbalah is divided into two main schools of thought: The theosophical-theurgist Kabbalah mainly deals with learning the essence of divinity and the ten spheres; “human action may affect divinity”. The ecstatic Kabbalah deals with the experiential aspect of the Kabbalah. This school seeks to reach spiritual ecstasy, whose climax is in the devotion to God and spiritual enlightenment.
Christian Kabbalah
The Christian Kabbalah first appeared during the late 15th century, the early renaissance period. The Kabbalah theory gained the attention of Christian scholars. The Kabbalah theory got a hold among many Christians until it became a cabalist movement. Christians detected similarities between the basics of the Kabbalah and the basics of Christian belief and started seeking supporting evidence for the basics of Christianity in the Kabbalah.
The newly appeared movement started printing kabalist literature in many languages, and some claim that this Christian movement preceded the first Jewish kabalist writings ever printed.
Later further Kabbalah writings were also printed, such as the Book of Zohar. The movement felt that this book presents similarities between the Kabbalah and Christian basics.
Dominant figures in Christian Kabbalah include Johannes Reuchlin (Germany) and Pico della Mirandola (Italy).
Kabbalah in the Postmodern Age
Nowadays, Kabbalah is perceived as a modern new age movement and not as the original Kabbalah as we know it. The doctrine has gained new popularity worldwide, even among celebrities from the entertainment industry. Madonna, Britney Spears, Debby Moor, and many others engraved Hebrew letters from the world of Kabbalah on their skin; some even complimented their name with a Jewish name, such as Madonna, who added the name Esther to her birth name. Nowadays, there are many institutes in the world teaching Kabbalah.