What is Kabbalah?

During the years online, I have come across some very disturbing website pages that 

are so vile in the portrayal of Kabbalah. Calling the practice of Kabbalah of satan and evil.

Some sites will show all kinds of symbolic nonsense while they explain that it's all about

magic and other cultish things. 

Naturally, the people that make these websites are clueless about Judaism, clueless about 

Torah, clueless about Oral Law, and so forth. They know very little Hebrew if any at all.

They do not understand Judaism and they do not understand the Jewish Sages that handed 

down the the teachings and understandings of Kabbalah. 

I am not going to get in depth here but I will share some basics. I am NOT a Rabbi, I am not 

an expert in Kabbalah. Beware that there are some websites that are not of the down to

earth, old school Kabbalah and are "new age" Kabbalah. My first contact with Kabbalah was

with listening to HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok in 2002. You can find him on Youtube and 

Facebook. 

Kabbalah means to "receive". It is esoteric, meaning, it has "mystery" meanings...very in 

depth understanding.

Mystery does not mean cult or evil, it means things that appear to be unknowing. Much

like a murder that hasn't been solved. It's a mystery. Or, something that you may have lost

and haven't found for quite awhile. That's a mystery. 

The Jewish Sages of old and even today Jewish Kabbalah scholars dig deep into Torah to 

understand the mysteries of G-d's Truth. We can understand His Word at different levels.

The superficial level that most read and understand and more advanced-deeper levels. These

levels are called PaRDeS, Pardes and that is an acronym for Pashat (the understanding level

that is straight forward or simple), Remez (hidden, symbolic), Derash (interpretive 

meaning), and Sod (secret, esoteric). 

Long ago...I mean a really long time ago, there were a few Rabbis that did delve into 

"magic". It's really not magic though but more of a mimicking or creation of 

creating a humanoid, golem. They of course had no souls. This is purely legend!

Kabbalah is a study and understanding of Torah esoterically. There is practical kabbalah and

meditation Kabbalah. Nothing evil about it! Many people study Kabbalah for a better 

understanding of G-d, themselves, this world, and Torah. 

Kabbalah used to be taught orally to Jewish students, handed down from the teacher. It used

to be taught only to Jewish men over a certain age. In order to study Kabbalah it has been

required to understand Torah. 

However, things are changing these days. More Rabbis leave it open for gentile students to

learn. Kabbalah is NOT a religion. Kabbalah is NOT required to study for gentiles or 

Jews. It is however a genre that brings enrichment for those who do understand the 

teachings. Kabbalah is not for everyone, not everyone can understand these teachings and

one must ALWAYS have a Rav to study under! 


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