I have a friend who says he is a kabbalist?

Question

I know it has something to do with being a branch of the jewish religion, and that they read the zohar instead of the bible, but what is it all about? what is the zohar all about as well?

I really am a no-nothing when it comes to this. I am not sure what kabala is either? Also, my friend if it is for the reason I think you are suggesting that he would not have introduced himself as such, he most likely would have, as well, I guess this is one of those, you have to know him things.

Answer 1

Um, they don't use the Zohar instead of the Tanakh. I don't know where you heard that one - but it is incorrect. They go hand in hand. And if there is ever a contridiction between the two, the Tanakh takes precedence over the Zohar. Period. The Tanakh is the covenant that G-d made with the Jewish people - and it is everlasting. There is no putting it on the back burner.

Kabalists are the mystics of the Jewish religion. That is probably the simplest explaination I can come up with. Details about both Kabalah and the Zohar require a very long explaination that I neither have room or time to give. Essentially it is the effort to obtain a union with the everlasting and eternal G-d - Ein Sof. Ein Sof is eternal and to us unknownable. So through the Kabalah, one is able to interact and become infused with Divine light of Ein Sof. The Zohar is the key to doing this - and studying the Zohar takes a lifetime.

I don't know if your friend is following Kabalah in the Jewish sense, or in the pop culture sense. The above explains how a Jew would approach the Kabalah. It is a very serious study, and one that is to be taken up with reverence.

The pop culture sense has turned the Kabalah into something completely different - and taken it out of it's true Divine sense. People want to get the so called benefits of Kabalah - seeing the future, prophecy, healing, without the Divine interaction or work. You'll see that in a lot of books that teach how to use the Kabalah to obtain these things without the mention of the true G-d.

By The Way: Depsite the strange notions of the people above, Orthodox Judaism is the one branch that supports Kabalah and recognizes the Zohar as a Divinely inspired book. It is not a forbiddened practice. Look at Hasidics. Nor is it occultism as we understand now.

Answer 2

Hmm- simply put, the Kaballah is Jewish mysticism. Essentially, when we study the Tanach (made up of the Torah, the five books of Moses), Nevi'im (Prophets) and Ketuvim (Writings)) there is more than one way to understand it. There is the p'shat (plain) meaning which is the literal meaning of the words and then there is the remesh (alluded to meanings). Remesh is far more difficult to understand and study, but it contains many things that need to be studied. Within remesh there is another level sod (secret)- this alludes to teachings that since they could easily be misconstrued or lead to heresy, are not openly taught.

The Zohar is a commentary on the Tanach that is in the realm of Sod. As such, you do not find genuine students of the Kaballah going around stating that they are students of the Kaballah or teaching others what they have learned. A genuince student studies in an one on one session with his teacher- Sod is never taught to groups as it is too easy for someone to misunderstand and to be led astray by discussign it with his classmates and thu coming to incorrect conclusions when the teacher is not present.

What has become popular are various forms of Kaballah that are merely pop culture versions made up by people for the purposes of making money. The biggest of these is the Kabbalah centre, run by David Berg who claims to be a Rabbi (but has not received ordination), claims to have a PHD (but it is basically a meaningless mail order PHD) and so on. If someone tells you that you can achieve spiritual enlightment merely by scanning a page of the Zohar, without being able to read or understand it, they are talking bunk and just trying to get money out of you! The same goes for those selling little red strings which are supposed to protect you, or blessed water or any of the other junk they claim to have Kaballistic significance!

Answer 3

The Zohar is a commentary on the Jewish Bible, and Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism.
For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
Where Madonna studies:
http://www.kabbalah.com/kabbalah/?cid=quigo

Answer 4

It's further religious knowledge in the Jewish faith. Its about understanding that aspects of God and how we relate to it and how we can grow closer. Its about deeper meanings in other texts, such as the torah., by finding messages within messages. Hebrew is a complex language. Each letter is also a number, for example, and each letter has its own meaning as well.

Answer 5

The Kabal is a book on Jewish mysticism. Kaballists practice mysticism even though it is forbidden in mainstream Judaism. The Zohar is the central text of the Kabala

Answer 6

He's kidding himself. No one who has become a student of this will announce himself in that way.

This is not true of every tradition of spirituality, but it is a long-standing tradition amongst those practitioners of this system that it is a very private thing.

Answer 7

Orthodox Judaism, the oldest branch of the Jewish faith, rejects the Kaballa. Orthodox Judaism. There have been many Rabbi's who have rejected the occult doctrines of the Cabala books.

http://usminc.org/cabala.html