Anon asked Staff ago To Daat Emet:
I noticed that you do not “deal” with and you criticize the teachings of Kabbalah.
My question is why? Is it too great a challenge for you?
What do you think the teachings of Kabbalah are, and what is it that so attracts people all over the world (Madonna, etc.).
Who are the modern Kabbalistic masters?
Maybe the light within it will return you to your old selves.
Michelle
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Dear Michelle,
The teachings of the Kabbalah, secrets and the hidden, are the escape of religious people who wish to do as they please. Before they know the revealed, clear, and plain Torah they look to the hidden, check the stars above and fall into the hole beneath themselves.
The reason is clear. Teachings of secrets and the hidden are not open to reasonable criticism, and that is why we do not deal with the teachings of the Kabbalah. Our dealings with various “Kabbalistic masters” have had to do with their errors in science and reality [the Zohar thought that the sun sheds no light of its own, it is but a mirror] or in morality [the treatment of one who is not a Jew is degrading] which does not suit the values of the new era.
As for Madonna and the other celebrities, see what we wrote in answer to the question How do you relate to the level of sod?.
Sincerely,
Daat Emet
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
The answer to your question (I admit it took me some time to understand it):
Why did G-d…
“Therefore I will hide My face…”
“The glory of G-d is hidden…”
“Were Your Torah not my plaything…”
Revealer of the Deep
jsadmin Staff answered 22 years ago
Dear Michelle,
The Kabbalah is escapism for the masses not because they learn it and know it, but because it serves as a leaning post for the masses who naturally wish to escape from the simple and clear and rely upon “those in the know,” those who seemingly have behind-the-scenes knowledge and know just what G-d wants. There is no greater laziness and recklessness amongst the masses than their dependence upon nonsense which cannot be refuted or critiqued.
It does not matter the definition of the teachings of Kabbalah; it is a firm principle that all explanations which are not reasonable when looked at through the lens of academic interpretation has nothing to do. Ibn Ezra already yelled about this defective custom: “For how is it possible in a human language that one would say a word, intending another word? Anyone who says it is so should be considered a madman…It would be best were he to say ‘I do not know’ rather than overturn the words of the living G-d” (Daniel 1:1).
Thus did the philosopher Benedict Spinoza write about Maimonides’ method of interpretation: ” I think I have now set forth the true method of Scriptural interpretation (according to which Scriptures are to be understood only from within themselves)…
The opinion of Maimonides was widely different. He asserted that each passage in Scripture admits of various, nay, contrary, meanings; but that we could never be certain of any particular one till we knew that the passage clashed with reason… If the literal meaning clashes with reason, though the passage seems in itself perfectly clear, it must be interpreted in some metaphorical sense… Further, he supposes that the sense of Scripture cannot be made plain from Scripture itself…therefore, according to Maimonides, the true sense of Scripture cannot be made plain from itself, and must not be there sought… Therefore, the method of Maimonides is clearly useless” (Theological Political Treatise, chapter 7).
N.B. Let me ask you: Why does G-d hide His words and even write the opposite of what He means?
Sincerely,
Daat Emet