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. According to its earliest and original usage in ancient Hebrew it means 'reception' or 'tradition', and in this context it tends to refer to any sacred writing composed after the five books of the Torah. After the Talmud is written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms, it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons and angels by the invocation of their secret names. The understanding of the word Kabbalah undergoes a transformation of its meaning in medieval Judaism, in the books which are now primarily referred to as 'the Kabbalah': the Bahir, the Zohar, Etz Hayim etc. In these books the word Kabbalah is used in manifold new senses. During this major phase it refers to the continuity of revelation in every generation, on the one hand, while also suggesting the necessity of revelation to remain concealed and secret or esoteric in every period by formal requirements native to sacred truth. When the term Kabbalah is used to refer to a canon of secret mystical books by medieval Jews, these aforementioned books and other works in their constellation are the books and the literary sensibility to which the term refers. Even later the word is adapted or appropriated in Western esotericism, where it influences the tenor and aesthetics of European occultism practiced by gentiles or non-Jews. But above all, Jewish Kabbalah is a set of sacred and magical 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 Kuzari, full title Book of Refutation and Proof on Behalf of the Despised Religion, also known as the Book of the Khazar, is one of the most famous works of the medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher, physician, and poet Judah Halevi, completed in the Hebrew year 4900 (1139-40CE).
The Kabbalah Centre International is a non-profit organization located in Los Angeles, California that provides courses on the Zohar and Kabbalistic teachings online as well as through its regional and city-based centers and study groups worldwide. The Kabbalah Centre's presentation of Kabbalah was developed by its director, Philip Berg, along with his wife, Karen Berg.
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.
Bikram Choudhury is an Indian-American yoga guru, and the founder of Bikram Yoga, a form of hot yoga consisting of a fixed series of 26 postures practised in a hot environment of 40 °C (104 °F). The business became a success in the United States and then across the Western world, with a variety of celebrity pupils. His former wife Rajashree Choudhury assisted him in the yoga business.
Sefirot, meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut. The term is alternatively transliterated into English as sephirot/sephiroth, singular sefira/sephirah.
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.
Chokmah is the Biblical Hebrew word rendered as "wisdom" in English Bible versions. It is the second of the ten sefirot in Kabbalah, and represents the first power of conscious intellect and subtle manifestation, emerging from Keter's pure potentiality. It embodies wisdom coming from nothingness, as highlighted in the Book of Job and the Bahir. Chokmah is the primordial point of divine wisdom that becomes comprehensible through Binah.
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.
Jewish meditation includes practices of settling the mind, introspection, visualization, emotional insight, contemplation of divine names, or concentration on philosophical, ethical or mystical ideas. Meditation may accompany unstructured, personal Jewish prayer, may be part of structured Jewish services, or may be separate from prayer practices. Jewish mystics have viewed meditation as leading to devekut. Hebrew terms for meditation include hitbodedut or hitbonenut/hisbonenus ("contemplation").
Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court establishing the standard of First Amendment protection against defamation claims brought by private individuals.
The Beit El Kabbalist yeshiva is a center of kabbalistic study in Jerusalem. It consists of two buildings, one in the Ruhama neighbourhood of West Jerusalem, built in 1948, and another in Old City’s Jewish Quarter, built in 1974.
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.
Elizabeth Jean Carroll is an American journalist, author, and advice columnist. Her "Ask E. Jean" column appeared in Elle magazine from 1993 through 2019, becoming one of the longest-running advice columns in American publishing. In her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, Carroll accused CBS CEO Les Moonves and Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s. Both Moonves and Trump denied the allegations.
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.
Daniel Greer is a disbarred attorney and Orthodox rabbi and the founder of the Yeshiva of New Haven and a one time candidate for the Democratic nomination for a New York State Assembly District who in 2017 was found liable of sexually abusing and raping one of his male students while the latter was a teenager in Greer's yeshiva. In 2019 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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.
