What is Kabbalah?
Kabbalah predates any religion or theology. It was given to mankind by the Creator, without any prerequisites or preconditions. According to kabbalistic teachings, the universe operates according to certain supremely powerful principles. By learning to understand and act in accordance with these precepts, we will vastly improve our lives today, and ultimately we will achieve true fulfillment for ourselves and for all humanity. Just as basic physical laws such as gravity and magnetism exist independently of our will and awareness, the spiritual laws of the universe influence our lives every day and every moment. Kabbalah empowers us to understand and live in harmony with these laws -- to use them for the benefit of ourselves and the world.
Kabbalah is much more than an intellectually compelling philosophical system. It is a precise description of the interwoven nature of spiritual and physical reality -- and it is a full complement of powerful, practical methods for attaining worthy goals within that reality. Simply put, Kabbalah gives you the tools you need to achieve happiness, fulfillment, and to bring the Light of the Creator into your life. It is the way to gain the peace and joy you want and deserve at the very core of your being.
History
The wisdom of Kabbalah has been passed down to us by Abraham, Moses, and the other patriarchs and matriarchs of the Bible, and by the great kabbalists of history, including Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Rabbi Isaac Luria. Indeed, one of the most important aspects of Kabbalah is the passing of its teachings from master to student over many generations -- and today it is Rav Berg who carries on the legacy of Kabbalah by bringing its wisdom to the world.
For millenias, Kabbalah was suppressed by those who did understand it, but even the ancient kabbalistic sages chose to keep their knowledge hidden. These great kabbalists realized that the time was not yet right to make this wisdom available to humanity in general. Meanwhile, intolerance and fear caused those in power to criminalize the study of Kabbalah and to persecute those who dared to undertake it. But throughout this long era of repression, kabbalists always understood that a very different time was coming -- a time in which the world would at last be prepared to receive Kabbalah, and free to do so as well. A crucial milestone in that new era was reached in 1922, when The Kabbalah Centre was established in Jerusalem by Rabbi Ashlag.
TIME OF CREATION
Before Einstein...
Before Moses...
Before Mankind...
There was Adam.
Adam was not an ordinary man living in an earthly garden paradise, as a literal reading of the Bible might suggest. Rather, he is a being who lives in a dimension beyond our physical universe. His essence consists of all the souls who have walked this planet-past, present, and future.
The very first book of Kabbalah was given to Adam by the entity Raziel. This text is so profound, and its secrets hold such a high level of spiritual energy, that by today's standards one would not be allowed to pronounce its words; for speech has the power to ignite tremendous forces of energy.
Randomly uttering words from the Book of Adam would be equivalent to a small child playing with high voltage wires. The book is a blueprint of creation. Consider it the DNA code of the cosmos.
RABBI SHIMON BAR YOKHAI - 70 C.E.
The first century.
A time of holocaust.
The Roman Empire occupied the Land of Israel, and the streets were bathed in blood.
The Romans launched a severe crackdown on the spiritual activities of the Israelites. The greatest sage of the era - a man who would be called the Father of the World - was sentenced to death.
His name, Rabbi Akiva.
His crime, the love of God.
Thousands gathered in the streets to witness the grim execution. Akiva's skin was brutally ripped from his body with razor-sharp iron combs. The shadow of death consumed him at a pace that was immorally unhurried.
But the mystic Akiva had mastered the physical world. He experienced excruciating pain for only an instant before the ecstasy of spiritual energy filled his entire being; he departed this world with untold joy in his heart.
He left behind his most cherished disciple, a man who would become the greatest Kabbalist in history, a giant among mystics: the revered sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yokhai.
The Roman Empire feared the mighty Yokhai even more than Akiva. Thus, another death sentence was handed down. The mystic sought refuge in a secluded cave in Piquin, Israel with his son. For 13 long years, they were forced to hide out from Caesar's army.
Seeking to attain the same control over the material realm as his great teacher, Rabbi Shimon buried himself into the ground, neck deep, each day of his seclusion. During these long years of painful isolation, he received instruction in the mystical arts of Kabbalah. His teachers were Moses and Elijah the prophet.
When leadership of the Roman Empire changed hands, Rabbi Shimon and his son were free to return to Jerusalem. The years of intense pressure from the earth had scarred and mangled the mystic's body. But the spiritual Light that radiated from his soul made it hard for ordinary men to stand in his presence.
To protect the secrets of the universe that were revealed to him, Rabbi Shimon called upon one student - Rabbi Abba - to commit his teachings to written word. Abba had an extraordinary gift for writing in the abstract language of metaphor and parable. Thus, the secrets would be safe, deftly concealed inside abstruse stories, making it difficult for the wicked and unworthy to grasp and misuse this ancient power.
Thus the Zohar, the ultimate spiritual work on Kabbalah, was born. To this day, the Zohar ("Book of Splendor") is acknowledged as the definitive and authoritative work on Kabbalistic wisdom.
The manuscript was considered a work of mysticism and magic by the people of the generation.
In hindsight, the reason is obvious.
The Zohar expounded upon ideas and concepts that were centuries ahead of their time. In an age where science determined the world was flat, the Zohar depicted our planet as spherical, with people experiencing day and night at the same time, in different time zones.
The Zohar describes the moment of creation as a Big Bang-like explosion. It speaks of a universe that exists in ten dimensions. It explores the notion of parallel universes.
These speculations were considered heretical and frightening. Yet, they were not the most fantastic to appear in the Zohar. That designation belongs to the next idea....
KABBALIST R. MOSES DELEON — 13TH CENTURY
The 13th Century.
A great Spanish Kabbalist named Moses Deleon makes a startling discovery. The sage uncovers the Zohar manuscripts in a cave in Israel. In terms of spiritual significance, the recent discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls pales in comparison to the unearthing of the Zohar.
Remarkably, Rabbi Shimon wrote that the concealment of the Zohar would last 1200 years from the time of the destruction of the Holy Temple.
Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 CE. Moses Deleon revealed the Zohar in the year 1270.
1200 years elapsed before the Zohar finally saw the light of day, just as Rabbi Shimon anticipated.
The Year 70
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1270
(1200 years apart)
Moses Deleon's discovery generally went unnoticed by the world. But it was a significant turning point for mankind, as the Light of the Zohar radiated into the world for the first time in history. Its arcane verses rendered the work inaccessible to the masses. However, the energy emanating from its mystical text sparked the collective unconscious of a generation. The power of the Zohar propelled the world out of the Dark Ages
RABBI ISAAC LURIA—16TH CENTURY
The 16th Century brought forth the most influential Kabbalist in history: Rabbi Isaac Luria.
A brilliant scholar by age 13, he was called "The Ari," which means "The Holy Lion."
The Ari had the gift to explore the innermost depths of the Zohar. He lived as a hermit for 13 years, probing its mysteries. It was not unusual for the Ari to meditate upon one verse of the Zohar for many months, until the hidden meaning was revealed to him.
The Ari uncovered extraordinary secrets inside the Zohar's poetic words. He described a system of evolution that went far beyond what Darwin would explain centuries later. The Ari wrote:
A time will come when men of science will, in their search for the missing link between man and animal, attempt to consider the monkey as that living form from which man evolved.
—Tree of Life, Gate 42, Ch. 1
The Ari explains, however, that the monkey is a "fraudulent image" of man. Like man, the monkey possesses five digits on each hand. But unlike man, it cannot make use of its thumb by operating it. The thumb corresponds to the highest dimension in a ten-dimensional reality—a level known as Keter. The thumb is the key to human intelligence, according to the Ari.
In fact, Keter is the source of all intelligence that permeates our physical world. Though we may marvel at the intelligence of the monkey, its physical (and metaphysical) DNA is preset—a monkey cannot move out of its animal category. This limitation of intelligence is signified by its inability to operate its thumb.
Remarkably, scientists now tell us that man’s evolutionary advantage was rooted in the “opposable thumb”. The thumb allowed us to create tools and therefore, was key to the evolvement of human intelligence.
The Ari revealed a remarkable code explaining how the spiritual energy of the Messiah would begin to express itself in our physical world in the year 1948 on a Friday afternoon.
Some 500 years later, the state of Israel was born in the year 1948. Israel's statehood was ratified by the U.N. on a Friday afternoon.
The Ari demonstrated uncanny powers during his lifetime. It was reported that on one occasion he gathered his disciples for a long journey to Jerusalem to spend the Sabbath. Everyone was bewildered as to how they could possibly reach the city in time, for the Sabbath was fast approaching.
The Ari was a man who lived the concept of mind over matter. Said he:
The elements of time, space, and motion are merely an expression of the limitations imposed by the physical body on the soul. When the soul has sway over the body, these limiting factors cease to exist. Let us now proceed to Jerusalem, for our physical bodies have lost their influence over our souls.
After engaging in meditation and mystical song, the Ari and his disciples arrived before the sun had set, to usher in the Sabbath.
The Ari's greatest legacy was his Kabbalistic composition The Writings of the Ari, compiled by his most cherished student, Rabbi Haim Vital. This profound work gave birth to what is known as Lurianic Kabbalah.
Lurianic Kabbalah became the definitive school of Kabbalistic thought, and had a dramatic impact on the world. Eminent contemporary scholars are only now discovering the profound influence this great Renaissance Kabbalist had on such intellectual luminaries as Sir Isaac Newton.
Professor Allison P. Coudert contends in her book The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century:
Lurianic Kabbalah deserves a place it has never received in the histories of Western scientific and cultural developments.
The great mathematician and philosopher Leibniz, who invented calculus and, in turn, those tiresome math classes we endured in high school and college, was profoundly influenced by Kabbalah. Isaac Newton—considered by many to be the greatest scientist ever—secretly studied Kabbalah, wherein he found ideas that bear a striking resemblance to some of his greatest scientific discoveries.
All knowledge and material appearing on this web site is rooted in Lurianic Kabbalah.
At the young age of 38, Isaac Luria left this world after having made a stunning impact on Kabbalah. This remains unprecedented to this very day.
He left a spiritual system that, when fully disentangled and deciphered, will enable humanity to take control over its individual and collective destiny—a road map and guide for the body and soul that will relieve people of their chaos, fear, pain, and suffering.
It is said that Luria came to this world for one purpose: to instruct his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital, in the Lurianic system of Kabbalah.
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