Kabbalah or Qabalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its origin in medieval Judaism to its later adaptations in Western esotericism. Jewish Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God—the mysterious Ein Sof —and the mortal, finite universe. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism.
The Dardaim or Dor Daim, are adherents of the Dor Deah movement in Orthodox Judaism. That movement took its name in 1912 in Yemen under Rabbi Yiḥyah Qafiḥ, and had its own network of synagogues and schools, although, in actuality, the movement existed long before that name had been coined for it. According to ethnographer and historian, Shelomo Dov Goitein, author and historiographer, Hayyim Habshush had been a member of this movement before it had been given the name Dor Deah, writing, “...He and his friends, partly under European influence, but driven mainly by developments among the Yemenite Jews themselves, formed a group who ardently opposed all those forces of mysticism, superstition and fatalism which were then so prevalent in the country and strove for exact knowledge and independent thought, and the application of both to life.” It was only some years later, when Rabbi Yihya Qafih became the headmaster of the new Jewish school in Sana'a built by the Ottoman Turks and where he wanted to introduce a new curriculum in the school whereby boys would also learn arithmetic and the rudiments of the Arabic and Turkish languages that Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak Halevi gave to Rabbi Qafih's movement the name Daradʻah, a word which is an Arabic broken plural made-up of the Hebrew words Dör Deʻoh, and which means "Generation of Knowledge."
Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century southwestern Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in 16th-century Safed, Ottoman Syria. He is known by the acronym the Ramak.
Gilgul is a concept of reincarnation or "transmigration of souls" in Kabbalistic esoteric mysticism. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to cycle through lives or incarnations, being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors and so on. The concept relates to the wider processes of history in Kabbalah, involving cosmic Tikkun, and the historical dynamic of ascending Lights and descending Vessels from generation to generation.
Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag (1885–1954) or Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag, also known as the Baal Ha-Sulam in reference to his magnum opus, was an orthodox rabbi and kabbalist born in Łuków, Congress Poland, Russian Empire, to a family of scholars connected to the Hasidic courts of Porisov and Belz. Rabbi Ashlag lived in the Holy Land from 1922 until his death in 1954. In addition to his Sulam commentary on the Zohar, his other primary work, Talmud Eser Sefirot is regarded as the central textbook for students of Kabbalah. Ashlag systematically interpreted the wisdom and promoted its wide dissemination. In line with his directives, many contemporary adherents of Ashlag's teachings strive to spread Kabbalah to the masses.
Astrology has been a topic of debate among Jews for over 2000 years. While not a Jewish practice or teaching as such, astrology made its way into Jewish thought, as can be seen in the many references to it in the Talmud. Astrological statements became accepted and worthy of debate and discussion by Torah scholars. Opinions varied: some rabbis rejected the validity of astrology; others accepted its validity but forbid practicing it; still others thought its practice to be meaningful and permitted. In modern times, as science has rejected the validity of astrology, many Jewish thinkers have similarly rejected it; though some continue to defend the pro-astrology views that were common among pre-modern Jews.
Yitzhak Kaduri, also spelled Kadouri, Kadourie, Kedourie; "Yitzhak", was a renowned Haredi rabbi and kabbalist who devoted his life to Torah study and prayer on behalf of the Jewish people. He taught and practiced the kavanot of the Rashash. His blessings and amulets were also widely sought to cure people of illnesses and infertility. In his life, he published no religious articles or books. At the time of his death, estimates of his age ranged from 103 to 108, and his birth year is still disputed.
Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag was a kabbalist, the firstborn and successor of Yehuda Ashlag also known as Baal Hasulam, the author of "The Sulam" commentary on the Zohar. Among his writings: Shlavey ha Sulam, Dargot ha Sulam, Igrot Rabash.
Philip S. Berg was an American rabbi and dean of the worldwide Kabbalah Centre organization.
Karen Berg was an author and the founder of the Kabbalah Centre International. She is the author of five books; God Wears Lipstick: Kabbalah for Women; Simple Light, Wisdom from a Woman's Heart; To Be Continued, Reincarnation and the Purpose of our Lives; Finding the Light through the Darkness, Inspirational lessons rooted in the Bible and the Zohar.; and Two Unlikely People to Change the World, A Memoir.
Lurianic Kabbalah is a school of Kabbalah named after Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the Jewish rabbi who developed it. Lurianic Kabbalah gave a seminal new account of Kabbalistic thought that its followers synthesised with, and read into, the earlier Kabbalah of the Zohar that had disseminated in Medieval circles.
The primary texts of Kabbalah were allegedly once part of an ongoing oral tradition. The written texts are obscure and difficult for readers who are unfamiliar with Jewish spirituality which assumes extensive knowledge of the Tanakh, Midrash and halakha.
Practical Kabbalah in historical Judaism, is a branch of the Jewish mystical tradition that concerns the use of magic. It was considered permitted white magic by its practitioners, reserved for the elite, who could separate its spiritual source from qlippoth realms of evil if performed under circumstances that were holy (Q-D-Š) and pure, tumah and taharah. The concern of overstepping Judaism's strong prohibitions of impure magic ensured it remained a minor tradition in Jewish history. Its teachings include the use of Divine and angelic names for amulets and incantations.
Shaar Hashamayim Yeshiva is an Ashkenazi yeshiva in Jerusalem dedicated to the study of the kabbalistic teachings of the Arizal. It is famous for its student body of advanced kabbalists — many of them roshei yeshiva and Torah scholars — as well as beginning and intermediate scholars who study both the revealed and concealed Torah.
Ayin is an important concept in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. It is contrasted with the term Yesh. According to kabbalistic teachings, before the universe was created there was only Ayin, the first manifest Sephirah ,and second sephirah Chochmah (Wisdom), "comes into being out of Ayin." In this context, the sephirah Keter, the Divine will, is the intermediary between the Divine Infinity and Chochmah. Because Keter is a supreme revelation of the Ohr Ein Sof, transcending the manifest sephirot, it is sometimes excluded from them.
Boaz Huss is a professor of Kabbalah at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is a leading scholar in contemporary Kabbalah.
The concepts and structures of Jewish Kabbalah have been used in the contemporary world to open comparative dialogue and cross-fertilization with modern secular disciplines in the Sciences and Humanities. This has been an uncommon phenomenon, since it requires wide internal understanding of both traditionalist Kabbalah and modern secular thought, and for social reasons Jewish modernity has seen isolation and entrenchment between the two. Skilled authorities in both traditions have included contemporary traditionalist Orthodox teachers of Kabbalah, as well as Neo-Kabbalistic and Academic scholars who read Kabbalah in a critical, universalist way.
Bnei Baruch is a universalist kabbalah association founded by Michael Laitman in the early 1990s. It is estimated to have around 50,000 students in Israel, and some 150,000 around the world.
