Kabbalah - What is It?

Is it a science, a religion, a teaching? Is it secret orinterested in it. Renowned scientists and philosophers
evident? Is it something we can sense and evaluate?the world over, including Newton, Leibniz, and Pico Della
Is it outdated, or is it relevant in our time?Mirandola investigated the wisdom of Kabbalah and
Kabbalah is wisdom about the universe. However, itattempted to understand it. Johannes Reuchlin, a
studies much more than the part of the universe thathumanist, classics scholar, and expert in ancient
we perceive through our inborn five senses. Kabbalahlanguages and traditions, writes in his book, De Arte
explains that the universe is, in fact, much wider thanCabbalistica: "My teacher, Pythagoras, the father of
what we perceive through our five senses. It teachesphilosophy, took his teaching from Kabbalists …
about that part of the universe that we currently don'tHe was the first to translate the word, Kabbalah,
perceive.unknown to his contemporaries, to the Greek word
Kabbalah explains how the universe began, how itphilosophy…"
develops, and how it will end. It studies the universe'sYet, to this day, authentic Kabbalah is tainted with
general structure and all of its particular details. Thismany misconceptions and misrepresentations, such as
wisdom consists of several sections, all of which talkred strings, holy water, spells, miracles and whatnot.
about the general law of the universe and how weEvidently, only a few know what authentic Kabbalah is
can attain it.really about.
If we break it into sections, then Kabbalah covers:Therefore, one must first clarify what the wisdom of
• The creation of the entire universe and allKabbalah is. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag puts it this way
of its levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human.in his article "The Essence of the Wisdom of
• The phases and the final goal of the entireKabbalah:"
evolutionary process, including man's part in that"...this wisdom is no more and no less, than a sequence
process.of roots, which hang down by way of cause and
• The connection between our current stateconsequence, in fixed, determined rules, interweaving
and the states we were in before we appeared onto a single, exalted goal described as 'the revelation of
the Earth.His Godliness to His creatures in this world."
• The purpose of existing in a biological bodyWhat does this mean? It's saying that there is an
for several decades and perceiving the surroundingUpper Force or the Creator, and there are forces that
world through the body and its five senses.descend from Him to our world. We are here, in our
• Our state after we leave this world.world, and we are governed by these forces. They're
• Our reincarnations and the relationshipssimilar to the forces we are aware of, like gravity or
between them.electromagnetism. The only difference is that these
• The way of evolving to a higher, spiritualforces are of a higher order, and they act while
form while living on earth.remaining hidden to us.
Where Did the Authentic Kabbalah Come from?"The Creator" is the ultimate, all-inclusive force. He is
The wisdom of Kabbalah appeared over fivethe sum of all the forces in the universe and is the
thousand years ago. Its roots go back to deephighest of all the governing forces. The Upper Forces
antiquity, the Sumerian-Akkadian period and the time ofdescend from the Creator, going through phases called
ancient Babylon. However, Kabbalah remained virtually"spiritual worlds," and finally they give rise to our world
hidden from humanity for millennia.and man inside it. This constitutes the subject of the
Despite the concealment, people have always beenwisdom of Kabbalah.