The Kabbalist (24 page)

“What other undercurrents?”
asked Jeanne.

“The main force in
Judaism before the Pharisees, were the
Tzdokim
, or Sadducees, named
after the high priest Tzadok. The Hasmonean Kings and High Priests were
Sadducees. In Jesus’s time, the priests and high classes were still identified
with the Sadducees, and the Pharisees were just beginning to have some impact.
There were other factions, like the monastic Essenes, who left us the Qumran
scrolls,
the nationalistic Zealots
and
the violent
Sicariis, who played a lead role in
the famous drama of Masada. All these sects gradually disappeared, leaving the
stage to the Pharisees.”

“What was the secret of their strength?” wondered Jeanne. “You said that
the Jewish elite of the time belonged to the Sadducees.”

Orlev gave her an approving look. “This is an excellent question, my
dear! One can detect the thinking of a historian here; very good.” He was now
deep into the role of the professor appreciating a bright student. Luria
smiled.

“Yes, dear,” resumed the professor. “The
Pharisees
did have a source of strength and Yossef Ben
Mattityahu, aka Josephus Flavius, the historian of the period, was perceptive
enough to point it out. The
Pharisee
scholars were attentive to the people’s desires and needs. They were quick to
interpret the Torah in tune with the spirit of the time. The destruction of the
second temple brought about the destruction of the Sadducees and the High Priests,
who could not adapt to the new reality of Judaism without a temple. The
Pharisees, led by Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai, fled Jerusalem and established an
alternative Jewish center in Yavne. There, they applied the new religious
concepts of Judaism without a temple, giving birth to Rabbinical Judaism. This
flexibility gave the Pharisees an advantage over other Jewish sects, so that
via a natural process of evolution, they gradually became the majority of the
Jewish people and eventually took over completely. Today’s Judaism is wholly
Pharisee
.”

“This is odd,” said
Jeanne. “Are you saying that Judaism today is occupied more with
interpretational literature than in the biblical scriptures?”

“Absolutely! Haredi
Jews today invest almost all their time, long and grueling years, in the study
of the Talmud. If you check the knowledge of the average Yeshiva student in
general biblical scriptures outside of the Torah, you will be quite
disappointed.”

Jeanne looked very
surprised.

“Just look at the irony
of it. The ancient Pharisees created tools, which enabled them to develop new
ideas, go beyond the scriptures and survive the destruction of the Temple.
Nowadays, those who consider themselves their modern spiritual successors, the
Haredi Jews, are ultra conservatives, fighting every manifestation of
flexibility and change. History sure has a fine sense of humor.” The professor
found this very amusing, halting his fluent lecture to laugh his strange cooing
laugh. “The Pharisees of 2,000 years ago were innovative. They opened Judaism
to interpretation and change, thus facilitating the most refreshing of Jewish
novelties, allowing it to take root before orthodoxy took over once again.”

Yeshayahu Orlev now
challenged his audience. “And what was this novelty, this new creation I am
referring to?” He asked dramatically, a rhetorical question that must have been
taken from his repertoire of lecture gimmicks.

The students, Jeanne
and Luria, shook their heads slowly. They did not know.

Orlev waved his hand in
a theatrical gesture. “I am, of course, referring to Kabbalah – the Jewish
mystical doctrine!”

The professor now
resembled an orchestra conductor, having finished a complex musical composition.
He lay back ceremoniously on his couch and closed his eyes, listening to some
imaginary applause, before resuming his act. “According to the 
Book of
Zohar
, a foundational text in Kabbalistic
thought, Torah study can assume four levels of
interpretation. These four levels are called ‘
Pardes’
, because the
initial letters of their names in Hebrew spell out the Hebrew word ‘Pardes’-
‘orchard’.

“The four levels are
Peshat
,
Remez
(meaning ‘hint’),
Derash
and
Sod
(meaning ‘secret’
or ‘mystery’).
Sod
refers to the inner, metaphysical meanings expressed
only in Kabbalah. Kabbalah, as you can see, is a natural evolution of the
Pharisee thought. According to Kabbalistic tradition, knowledge was transmitted
orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, and sages, finally to be interwoven into
Jewish religious writings and culture.

“Foreign conquests
drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time to hide this knowledge and
make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong
hands. There was concern that the practice of Kabbalah by Jews deported to the
Diaspora, unsupervised and unguided by the masters, might lead them into
forbidden practices. As a result, Kabbalah became secretive and forbidden to
most, for a very long time.”

The professor paused
for a moment. “If you think about it, this concern was very much justified.
Just look at what Paul did with Jesus’s ideas,” he remarked to Jeanne’s obvious
annoyance.

Orlev now looked at his
audience with satisfaction. “Here I conclude the introduction.” He raised a
glass of cold tea to his lips. “Are there any questions?” He was apparently
feeling in the midst of his usual audience of admiring students and was
enjoying it immensely. “Good, then let us return to your original question, my
dear. We will now try to understand what Kabbalah is about, and we will start
by discussing the cosmology of Kabbalah.”

Luria raised an eyebrow,
and Orlev hurried to explain. “Cosmology is a doctrine explaining the origin
and structure of the universe, its history, and how humanity fits into it.
Almost every belief system and religion comes with its own cosmology.”

“If you define it this
way,” reasoned Luria, “then Judaism already has its own cosmology, as told in
the story of Genesis. How can Kabbalah be part of Judaism and claim a different
cosmology?”

“An excellent
question,” cheered the professor. “Well, I have no doubt that if Kabbalah were
to emerge in our present time, it would, along with its cosmology, be utterly
rejected as heresy by today’s Orthodox Judaism mainstream, which cannot
tolerate any change or innovation. The Kabbalists themselves, recognizing the
issue, made a strong effort to demonstrate that their cosmology was, in fact,
an interpretation of Jewish cosmology, which, as you have rightly pointed out,
is presented in the Book of Genesis. The Pharisee concepts of
‘Derash’
and
‘Sod’
made this maneuver possible.”

Orlev now took a break
to make sure this fine point was understood; he seemed satisfied. “And now
ladies and Gentlemen,” he exclaimed, “the cosmology of Kabbalah.”

Y
eshayahu Orlev cleared
his throat. “Let us start by discussing the concept of the Creator. The Creator
of the universe is a complete and perfect being, with no deficiencies. Evil can
only come from a deficiency, so, by definition, the Creator is purely good.
From his being whole and full to the brim, stems the feature by which we are
made aware of His existence – His evident desire to give and affect the world
by propagating this goodness, so that it is received everywhere. From this
emerges the concept of ‘Kabbalah’ - literally the Hebrew word for ‘receiving’.

“Another term in Kabbalah
for this goodness of the Creator is ‘
light
’ and the desire to
give
and bestow light is the essential nature of the Creator
.
The
other
imperfect forms of creation, from man to the inanimate, are characterized by
their capacity to
receive
. You may consider this analogous to physical
balancing of pressures. The light always flows from where it is found in
abundance to where it is in demand, and Man is the creature most in need of
receiving it.

“Before Creation, there
existed a higher light, the light of infinity, which filled the world and left
no space for anything else. Remember the first verses of Genesis:
In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was
formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit
of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘let there be light,’ and
there was light.
Do you see how these verses now receive new meaning?”

The professor rubbed
his hands in satisfaction.

“The ever-giving
Creator had to create a vessel to receive the light He was craving to bestow.
Since, at the time, the Creator filled the whole universe to infinity, He had
to contract. He did so by narrowing the infinite light to a center spot, and
thus made room for a receiving vessel. This first vessel is called in Kabbalah ‘
Adam
Hakadmon
’, which means ‘Ancient Man’ in Hebrew. It does not really describe
a man, but some basic embodiment delegated by Divinity. This first vessel now overflowed
with light and in turn, craved unlimited giving. To allow an outlet, other
vessels had to be created. These were called
‘Sefirot’
, ’counts’ in
Hebrew, and we will return to them in a moment.

“Now an accident
occurred. The higher light was so strong that these vessels could not contain
it. They broke and scattered throughout the world, releasing the light in them
to rise back and rejoin the Creator’s light. He now realized that in order to
keep light flowing and to facilitate giving, He should create vessels in
various levels of strength and buffer each one from the other. The new vessels
were programmed to imitate the Creator. They developed sensitivity to the
presence of other vessels and craved to bestow their internally stored light.
In the process, they naturally became deficient in light and needed to receive
and charge themselves with new light. They could receive light from the Creator
or from higher vessels, and they temporarily experienced a disturbing
unpleasantness for not being able to give. Once recharged, the vessels could
overcome this unpleasantness by resuming the giving of light to other deficient
vessels. Finally, a dynamic balance was achieved between infinite receiving -
Kabbalah, and infinite giving, which is indeed the optimal state for any vessel
to be in.”

“Just a moment,”
interrupted Jeanne. “How does all this relate to Judaism?”

Orlev smiled. “Some
claim it doesn’t and that Kabbalah has nothing at all to do with religion, but
the philosophers of Kabbalah saw the
Mitzvot
, the laws of the Torah, as
the link between receiving and giving. According to this logic, praying and keeping
the Commandments and laws prepare Man for being the optimal vessel. He becomes
an active vessel of receiving - of Kabbalah, on one hand, and of giving,
through fulfillment of the Torah’s Commandments, on the other. Once in this
state, the soul experiences the flow of light and the perfection of the
Creator. You can see now that the highest form of
receiving
is the one
done for the purpose of
giving
to the other. When this process is not
followed and there is no giving, an energetic imbalance occurs, and the
capacity to receive light eventually disappears.”

The professor took a
deep breath. “And now, my friends, you can understand why the phrase
‘Love
thy neighbor’
, which glorifies giving, is so essential to Kabbalah. Once
again, you can see the difference between the initial interpretation assigned
to this phrase – the
Peshat
, and the
Derash
and
Sod,
which
give it a much deeper, Kabbalistic meaning.”

He paused to look at
his two listeners. “Have you followed me so far?”

“I think I have,” said Jeanne.

Luria nodded too,
though his expression conveyed skepticism. To him, all this conjecture seemed a
shaky house of cards, with words replacing cards as building blocks.

Orlev, however, looked
pleased. “And now,” he said, “let me explain to you a central Kabbalistic
concept we have earlier mentioned, the vessels of the
Sefirot
- the
counts or numbers. I already pointed out that the light streaming from the
Creator was too strong to be received by material vessels like human beings.
Humans exposed to this type of energy simply could not contain it. To solve
this, energy was channeled through mediating vessels or buffers, called
‘Sefirot’
.”

The professor stood up and approached one of the book shelves
surrounding them. He picked a book and turned its pages until he found what he
was looking for. He then placed the book on the table, so that Jeanne and Luria
could see the diagram on the open page.

"There are ten
Sefirot in Kabbalah, which also represent different aspects of morality. These
are: ‘Kether’ – Crown, ‘Chokmah’ – Wisdom, ‘Binah’ - Understanding, ‘Chesed’ –
Kindness, ‘Tiphereth’ – Magnificence, ‘Geburah – Heroism, ‘Nezach’ –Eternity,
‘Hod’ – Grandeur, ‘Jesod’ – Foundation and ‘Malkuth’ – Kingship.

“These ten Sefirot are
like ten spiritual transformers channeling the light of the Creator into the
universe and to humans, according to their capacities. We can receive light
through this tree-like vessel structure, sometimes also called
‘The Tree of
Life’
. The higher the Sefirah is in the diagram, the stronger the light and
the closer it is to the Creator. Different people have different capacities for
receiving light and can respectively connect to different Sefirot.

“Ordinary people can
tap into the light energy via the Sefirah of
‘Malkuth’
, the lowest of
the ten. But some elect people can tap in through higher Sefirot – higher-energy
levels. According to tradition, three men, Rabbi Yossay, Rabbi Hizkiyya and
Rabbi Yissa, who were part of the inner circle of Rabi Shimon Bar Yochai, one
of the fathers of Kabbalah, died of exposure to high-energy light they could
not contain and sustain.

“The Kabbalist craves
to bridge and minimize the gap created by the Sefirot, between the material
world he lives in, and God the Creator. He longs to undergo a mystical,
conscious experience of a union with Him by spiritual enlightenment, which
comes with the devotion to God and His Commands. The Kabbalist wishes to expose
the divine entity hidden in him, transcend into spiritual perfection, experience
the flow of light and become one with the Creator.”

“And this, ladies and
gentlemen,” culminated the professor, grandly addressing his audience, “is
Kabbalah in a nutshell.” He sank exhausted in his couch and closed his eyes.
Silence fell over the room.

“May I say something,
Professor?” Luria, ever the skeptic, broke the silence.

Orlev opened his eyes. “Of
course.”

“Well… this cosmology
along with the rest of it… I am not saying it has no aesthetic value, but it
sounds to me more like a myth than a coherent logical structure.”

Orlev beamed. “Aha! The
never-relenting conflict between the believer and the rationalist! Well, my
young friend, you must remember that Kabbalah is, first and foremost, a
mystical system. If you are going to examine it solely by using logical tools,
you will be missing the point. As an individual, I may have my own personal
belief systems. As a scholar and researcher, I do not presume to rule over the
actual truth of Kabbalah or judge whether it actually comes from a divine
source. It is irrelevant. I study Kabbalah for its beauty, its value as a human
creation, and its important contribution to Jewish history and culture.”

“I see,” said Luria. “I
would like to ask another question, with your permission.”

The professor nodded
his approval.

“Where do all the
talismans, spells and other miracle doings, attributed to Kabbalah and leading
Kabbalists, come from? You have not explained those.”

Orlev’s face became somber.
“Well, now we are stepping into the minefield of magical or Practical Kabbalah.
This branch of Kabbalah assumes the world can be affected by making use of the
various names of God, and the people practicing it try to change the order of
creation in their favor by uttering these holy names, or by creating talismans
based on them. The classical Kabbalah literature specifically warns against Practical
Kabbalah. The Holy Ari, who lived in the 16
^th
century, explicitly
forbade its practice, claiming that anybody practicing it must be purified with
the ashes of a red heifer, which has been extinct since the destruction of the
Temple.”

“But this is no better
than… this is rather like a type of voodoo!” Luria couldn’t help saying.

The Professor gave him
a forgiving smile. ”Now, this is a personal opinion coming from your personal
belief system. A sentiment that, as I have just pointed out, is not
academically relevant.”

There was silence,
while Jeanne and Luria tried to digest all they had heard.

“You must, of course,
realize,” said Orlev, “that I gave you a congested summary of Kabbalah’s
central ideas and that this is merely a drop in the ocean. I have been studying
this subject for dozens of years now, and I am not even close to full
comprehension.”

“OK,” said Luria, “that
was really enlightening, and we thank you for going through the trouble of
explaining all this to us. Now, returning to the question which brought us here.
What Kabbalistic scripture could have been taken from Safed by Pascal de
Charney in 1799?”

Orlev thought a while
before answering. “I can think of some good candidates.”

Luria and Jeanne looked
at him in anticipation.

“Well, my friends,” said
Orlev at last, “this will require a short introduction to the history of
Kabbalah.”

Luria suppressed a sigh,
and Jeanne smiled.

Orlev was already on
his way. “The first known Kabbalistic text is
‘Sefer Yetzira’
, the Book
of Creation. It is a very short text, yet difficult to decipher.
‘Sefer
Hazohar’
, the Book of Splendor, was inspired by the Book of Creation and is
based mainly on the five books of the Torah. Tradition gives the credit for the
Zohar to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, known also by his initials as the Rashbi, who
lived in the 2
^nd
century AD. The Rashbi was a student and disciple
of the famous Rabbi Akiva, the spiritual authority behind the Bar Kochva
rebellion.”

Jeanne looked somewhat
bewildered and the professor proceeded to explain. “Following the destruction
of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, the city lay in ruins. Around 130, the
Roman Emperor Hadrian decided to build upon its ruins a pagan city, Aelia
Capitolina. He also burdened the Jews with new edicts, including a prohibition on
circumcision. This led to a rebellion led by the legendary Jewish warrior Shimon
Bar Kochva. The Romans brutally suppressed it and, as the supreme punishment,
they expelled the Jewish population of Judea and changed the name of the land
from ‘Israel’ or ‘Judea’ to ‘Palestine’, after the Philistines, Israel’s
ancient enemies, already obsolete at the time. Rabbi Akiva was executed in an
especially gruesome fashion, and most of his students were massacred. The
Rashbi was one of the few who survived. He fled with his son Elazar to the
Galilee, where, for thirteen years, they hid in a cave near the village of
Peqi’in. Tradition has it that during that time, father and son dived into
Kabbalah and into the secrets of the unknown, which the Rashbi had begun
studying with his mentor, Rabbi Akiva.

“After Hadrian’s death,
the two left the cave. The Rashbi added eight more pupils to his circle,
forming a group called the
‘Idra Rabba’
– the big assembly. They met in
a small cave between Meron and Safed and, under the inspiration of the Rashbi,
compiled the
Book of Zohar
, the central scripture of Kabbalah. The Zohar
itself says that permission to decipher the secrets of the Torah was granted to
the Rashbi. However, because he considered the Jewish people of his time not
ripe for it, the book was immediately hidden. The Rashbi became a mythical figure,
and the Zohar is now considered the most important Kabbalistic script.”