Real Kabbalah Is: (Let the Discussion Begin)
A Note before we begin here: Neither of these views are mine. I do not agree with everything either one of them says. The authors themselves are responsible for their own views. I find it interesting to get others views on various religious traditions. It is enjoyable and the divinely human thing to do to let other express their own beliefs in their own words. May we all learn from each other and what makes us tick is our prayers.
A Jewish Perspective (not exhaustive by any
means and liable to change)
Real Kabbalah is the metaphysical understandings underlying the
physical commandments and stories of the holy Torah given by G-d
to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. Real Kabbalah is more than a
subject of learning, it is a method of practice that revives the
living spirit of the Torah that is concealed within it's every
word and letter. Real Kabbalah explains the deepest meanings and
reasons for observing the Torah and Rabbinic commandments. Real
Kabbalah reveals the secret spiritual laws that govern the human
soul, individual and collective destiny and spiritual evolution.
Real Kabbalah reveals G-d's master plan of the external universe
and how, by our observance of the 613 Torah commandments, we
integrate the outer universe with the personal universe that is
inside us. Real Kabbalah is the secret wisdom that is studied by
the holy Haredi (ultra-orthodox) Rabbis and Hasidic masters of
today enabling them to perform miraculous deeds. Real Kabbalah
offers the most profound, experiential system of meditation that
enable one to achieve Devekut (ecstatic, prophetic union with
G-d). Real Kabbalah study and practice is considered by the
Ari'zal, the Ba'al Shem Tov and others to be an essential and
required part of Torah learning. All areas of Torah study should
be reviewed in light of their Kabbalistic depths. Real Kabbalah
is an integral part of Torah and Halakha (Jewish Law). The two
can never be separated. Only through the proper vessels can the
Divine light shine. One must be completely observant of Jewish
Law in order to properly study Kabbalah. Without this, Real
Kabbalah can be quite dangerous!
Real Kabbalah Is Not:
Real Kabbalah is not black magic. It has no connection to the
occult and is not superstitious. Real Kabbalah does not have any
Egyptian or other non-Jewish cultural elements. It is not
Christian, Rosicrucian or Hermetic. Real Kabbalah has nothing to
do with modern "new age" beliefs or eastern religions.
Real Kabbalah is not just a philosophical outlook on life that
can be divorced from the full observance of Jewish Law (Orthodox
Halakha). Real Kabbalah can never be correctly learned
academically in a secular environment. Mere human intellect is
not strong enough to receive the Light of G-d. Real Kabbalah will
never be understood unless one is fully observant of Jewish Law,
which is the vessel that receives the Kabbalistic insights.
With these insights you are now ready to proceed. When you accept
the Torah, fully and completely, you may then proceed to explore
Her many areas. Kabbalah is the secret innermost chamber of the
Torah. No one can ever start the study of the Torah at the end,
but only at the beginning. Let then the flavor of the sweetness
of the Kabbalah linger in your mouths as you study Torah, Gemara
and Halakha. Once the Shekhina of G-d has witnessed your
sincerity in the study of Her Torah, She will eventually open up
to you Her inner chambers. Follow the Laws and live by them, for
they are the holy robes that cloak the Shekhina and crown her
with glory. Only when one has cast aside all falsehoods of the
trefa Kabbalah and becomes fully Orthodox will be welcomed by the
Shekhina.
A Mormon's Perspective, Again, not exhaustive and open to expansion and changing
Some thoughts on Kabbalah
Mark Koltko
The value of Kabbalah study for Latter-day Saints involves the
idea that Kabbalah represents a fractured memory of things that
were once known but have not been restored in our era yet in a
clear way. (Alternative hypothesis: the way IN WHICH this
knowledge is being restored is through ancient texts and
contemporary discussions and investigations.) That means that
what shows up in any given Kabbalistic text may represent
(simultaneously) any or all of the following categories of
things:
1) Material that was anciently revealed, and that has already
been restored in our dispensation. (This may or may not be
widely known among members or to the public.) This material
will "line up" well with the doctrines of the Church.
2) Material that was anciently revealed, but which has NOT YET
been restored in our dispensation. This material will not
necessarily "line up" well with the doctrines of the
Church; it will not contradict it, but it will represent an area
in which things are not well known.
3) Material that was never revealed, but became part of the
Kabbalah in earlier times as the creation of human thought
alone. This material may well depart substantially from the
doctrines of the Church.
How to tell the difference? Consider the D&C re the
Apocrypha: only the Spirit can tell you.
A lot of Kabbalism itself was heavily influenced by the
philosophical trends of the previous centuries.
That depends a lot on what one calls "Kabbalism". Was
Enoch, of the Fourth Millenium B.C.E., a Kabbalist? (Note that
the Enoch narrative in the Pearl of Great Price shows
unmistakable hallmarks of mystical experience. Note also that the
apocryphal Books of Enoch show such similarity to the Pearl of
Great Price account that it is no longer appropriate to consider
them simply pseudepigraphal. And these Books of Enoch were
important to Kabbalists in various ages.) If Enoch was a
Kabbalist, then there WERE few or no "previous
centuries" to have influenced him.
Were the Merkabah mystics of the meridian of time (roughly 200
BCE to 200 AD, liberally calculated) to be appropriately called
"Kabbalists"? For, if so, it is hard to see much
in the way of philosophical trend influence upon them -- although
they do go on to describe trips through the celestial realms that
bear a strong resonance to the kingdoms that Joseph Smith
described.
There is no question that some sort of relation to Greek
philosophy can be deduced in some of the later Kabbalistic works,
particularly in the emanationist stuff regarding the Tree of Life
and the sephirot -- but is that because the Jews borrowed it from
the Greeks, or because the most ancient Hebrews taught it to the
Egyptians, who provided some of the philosophical underpinnings
TO the Greeks? Keep in mind that Egyptian philosophy (of
which we know but little, thanks to the destruction of the
Alexandrian Library) was ancient when the ancestors of Plato were
barbarians. When I read Plato, I perceive in his discussion
of platonic ideal forms a distorted echo of the pre-existence and
the spiritual creation. That is the sort of thing Abraham
would have been teaching Pharoah (see Book of Abraham facsimile
no. 3) -- if indeed there had not already been a passing down of
this wisdom from Noah to the Egyptians, who were precursors to
the Greeks. In short, the whole matter of "influences"
is a lot trickier than is usually put forth.