In our culture, one of the primary ways in which people learn new subjects is by buying a book or two, and reading up. This method is not the traditional Kabbalistic one; in contrast to the vast Jewish textual tradition, Kabbalah was defined in its early stages precisely by being dependent upon a teacher-student relationship. Perhaps more importantly, it can be hard to know where to turn, and there are a lot of bad books…
Kabbalah means “receiving,” and one of the connotations of that word is a teaching received directly from a teacher. Today, we are used to obtaining knowledge by reading books or websites, and it’s rare that we have the time or opportunity to learn from skilled teachers. And even when we do have that chance, it’s rarer still to be able to sit one-on-one, or in small groups, with teachers who are truly masters of their…
Learning Kabbalah requires interpretation and experience, and there are radically different approaches out there as to what that should mean. Should you learn traditionally, with all the requirements of Jewish observance and the articles of faith? Or esoterically, knowing that much of what you learn is of more recent derivation than it claims? Or in progressive spiritual environments? Academic ones? Let the seeker beware — and let the seeker also be mindful about which approach she…
If secret knowledge is experiential knowledge, and therefore the only way to obtain it is in some form of direct transmission from a teacher or experiential practice, what are we to make of the academic study of Kabbalah? Is it, as some contemporary figures say, misguided? As I have an academic background myself, clearly I don’t think academic study is misguided. By applying the tools of critical theory and close reading to the Kabbalah, scholars…
Ayin Emptiness; nothingness. Binah Third of the sefirot, Binah means “understanding.” Binah is the “supernal mother,” the hidden Divine feminine, and the womb of the remaining sefirot. Binah is the first place of differentiation, which receives the seed of Hochmah and gives birth to the universe. Ein Sof Name given to the Divine infinite in Kabbalistic thought. Early kabbalists conceived of the Ein Sof as the absolute perfection in which there is no distinction or…