Traditionally, Kabbalah is the mystical, esoteric tradition within Judaism, and its transmission was restricted to a small few highly learned Jewish sages or advanced scholars under the direct tutelgage of a rabbi or a qualified mekubal (master). Therefore, there are levels as discussed. When you ask about the Kabbalah, you will be given a simple explanation.
According to authoritative rabbis like Nahmanides (Ramban, Moses Cordovero, Isaac Luria (Ari), and Hasidic tradition, Kabbalah teaches about the hidden meanings of the Torah, the nature of יהוה, creation, the soul, and how humans can connect to the divine.
The divine is infinite, unified and hidden called Ein Sof (“Without End”), and its nature is a super-integrated divine unity, beyond all understanding or description. This divine unity is reflected in everything. Life came about through a process called emanation, with the Unknowable Principle acting through ten powers or attributes called Sefirot, and the sefirot are like filters of light that structure reality, from the spiritual to the physical. The symbol of the Tree of Life symbolizes the Sefirot, which forms a diagram showing how its divine energy flows into the universe and the human soul, and humans mirror this structure in the constitution of their being. The purpose of life in the Kabbalah is human actions such as prayer, commandments and ethical behavior, which repair the world (tikkun olam), elevate the spiritual spark in them, and bring harmony to creation. Hence, Kabbalah will strengthen the inner being and lead to better character, love, compassion and joy in their connection to the root of their very existence, rather than egoistic power.
In Lurianic Kabbalah, the descent or transmigration of souls (called gilgul) is taught. In the Theosophical Teachings, gilgul involves a process of transmigration of souls called life-atoms. When, it is said, that souls (“life-atoms”) trace their transmigration through all the kingdoms of nature, with which fragments of the things belonging to those kingdoms become impregnated by and then back, this is partially the process. Every cell of every organism, in all the kingdoms reflects the divine unity, from the universe and sub-atomic particles, to the microbial life of mud to a star. In both this view and Lurianic Kabbalah, the soul has multiple constitutive aspects that lead to correction and development. The soul as a subtle phantom would be a composite of atoms of many degrees, thoroughly permeated by the primordial essence and reflecting its divine attributes or sefirot. Thus, man never truly dies, or undergoes death; and thus they call this process we call death (or cessation of life) transition. Death is not only seen as a time to mourn, but a reminder of the larger cycle of life-transition.
The ten Sefirot according to tradition are the core of Kabbalah, described in the Zohar (attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai), systematized by Cordovero, and reinterpreted by Luria. They represent God’s attributes and the base structure of the emanative creation. It is repeatedly emphasized that the sefirot are not separate “gods,” but aspects of the Boundless One. Cordovero taught in Pardes Rimonim, that Wisdom (Chokmah, which is similar to the exoteric myth of Minerva born from the head of Jupiter) is associated with the creative spark (divine spark), or the flash of insight in the beginning of the emanative process of Life, once more refuting accusations by Christians that this doctrine of the divine spark originates with the invented Lucifer.
Kabbalistic traditions influenced some Christians during the Renaissance with individuals such as Pico della Mirandola and Knorr von Rosenroth, but Christian Kabbalah was dismissed as mystical Roman Catholicism adapted to the Kabbalah due to the anthropomorphic limitations in Christian mappings of the Invisible World and taint of dogmatic bias. The major 19th century occultist Eliphas Levi cautioned against the dangers of practical Kabbalah (of magic, theurgy, gematria) for the uninitiated and those who were not fully-committed to the life and discipline required for esoteric study; which he also cautioned ought not to be seen as an occupation or replacement for one’s profession in the world.
A strong ethical and mental framework had to be established. Some argued, that the medieval texts attributed to Moses de Leon in the 13th century were incomplete, distorted or lacking the full oral secret interpretations (often called “keys”). Some still criticized even Levi’s Kabbalistic interpretations, which influenced various individuals, as being overly rhetorical, incomplete and colored by Western Christian mysticism.
Early writings from the Theosophical Movement in the nineteenth-century argue that the Kabbalah originates from Chaldean-derived fragments of a more ancient Wisdom-Tradition that correlates rather than conflicts with Eastern cosmogony.
The American Minervan 
Leave a comment