Cabal

see also: Etymology of Cabal

The Kabbale ( Qabalah - קבלה in Hebrew) is a tradition Jewish Mystique , presented like the “oral and secret Law” data by YHWH to Moïse on the Mont the Sinai, at the same time as the “written and public Law” (the Torah).

Baal Hasoulam (Yéhouda Ashlag), eminent kabbalist, gives the following definition of it: “This wisdom is neither more nor less than the order of the roots, going down to the manner of a cause and its consequence, according to fixed and given rules, being linked in the name of a single and exalté goal, described by the name " revelation of Its Divinity to Her Creatures in this monde" ”. The kabbalist Georges Lahy defines the cabal as “the internal dimension of the Torah, corresponding to the sod (secret knowledge) of the four levels of the interior of the Torah (known under the name of Pardès)”.

According to its members, comprehension intimates and the control of the Cabal spiritually bring closer the man to God, which confers on the man a greater understanding on the work of the Création by God. In addition to Messianic prophecies , the Cabal can be thus defined as a whole of speculations Métaphysique S on God, the man and the Univers, fascinating root in the traditions esoteric S of the Judaïsme. However, this academic definition does not give well an account of the universality of the Cabal and the richness of the topics which it approaches.

In Morals And Dogma , Albert Pike declares that the Franc-maçonnerie is a product of the cabal. The topic of the kabbalism moreover was taken again per number of Nouveaux religious movements, of which the Center of the Cabal who currently knows a certain notoriety near the personalities of the show business but which is denounced like imposture by the traditional initiates.

Etymology

The word “cabal” ( Qabalah in Hebrew) means “reception” and thus by extension “tradition”. Kabbaliste is thus that which received ( Qibel ) the tradition.

General description

The Cabal wants to be a tool of assistance to the comprehension of the world in the sense that it encourages to modify our perception of the world (what we call “reality” in spite of the Subjectivité of our perception). With this intention, the Cabal places at the disposal of its followers a synthetic diagram: the Tree of the Life or the Sephiroth, and other keys of reading for multiple works, as well as an expansion of concepts (degrees of significance, contraction, etc).

She proposes her answers to the crucial questions relating to the origin of the universe, the role of the man and its to become. She wants to be at the same time work tools on oneself and a means of apprehending other systems of thought.

The Cabal, as a phenomenon, is often included/understood like the mystic of the Merkabah; thus Scholem begins it its stating of the Cabal in the Large Currents of the Jewish Mystic with Hénoch and its cycle, by the mystic who develops around the vision of Ézéchiel named “literature of the Palates” or hekhalot , the “mystic of the merkabah”. This mystic is presented in the form of an access, on an upward and interior journey, in the middle same of divine, with the garden of the science of the Book, the sod, fourth term of the Pardès. One associates all to him that is apocalyptic literature - the apocalyptic Jewish one of course.

For more details, to consult

History

Origins

At the origin, one thinks that kabbalistic knowledge belonged to the oral Loi of the Judaism (see Aggadah), given by God to Moïse on the Mont the Sinai to XIIIe century AEC, although, according to some, the Cabal started with Adam.

When Israëlites arrived in Promised land and settled with Canaan (canaanite: כנען, in Hebrew: כְּנַעַן), esoteric knowledge was known during a few centuries by its practical aspects - meditation ( Hitbodedut , in Hebrew: התבודדות) (see Jewish Meditation), translated by “being alone” or “is insulated”, or by a different term describing the real objective, wished practice - prophécie ( NeVu' has , in Hebrew: נבואה).

During Ve century AEC, when the writings of the Tanakh were published and gathered in the form of gun, and that secret knowledge was transcribed in the various writings and manuscripts ( MeGilot ), knowledge was known under the name of Ma' aseh Merkavah (Hebrew: מעשהמרכבה) and Ma' aseh B' reshit (Hebrew: מעשהבראשית), respectively “the act of the Carriage” and “the act of Creation”. The mysticism of Merkavah refers to the knowledge written in the book of the prophet Ezékiel who describes the vision of the “Divine Carriage”. The mysticism of B' reshit refers to the first chapter Genesis (Hebrew: בראשית ) in the Torah which contains, says one, the secrecies of the creation of the universe and the forces of nature. These terms are also mentioned in the second chapter of the Talmudic tractate Haggigah .

Talmudic era

At that time, one of the largest disciples of the Cabal was the rabbi Shimon Bar Yochaï at the 2nd century.

the Middle Ages

Several important books are written during this time.

The first, in particular the Bahir (or “clearness Delivers”), are diffused since the great rabbinical accadémies of the Languedoc (Lunel, Posquières) by scholars of reputation like Rabad de Posquières and Isaac the Blind man.

The Cabal made great great strides after the publication of the Zohar (or “splendor Delivers”) by Moïse of Leon in 1286, Master delivers who pays, in the form of a compilation of texts in Araméen, the teaching of Bar Yochaï hitherto transmitted by oral tradition.

Periods modern and contemporary

The cabal made great strides as from the 16th century, with the Rabbi Ytshak Luria, known under the name of the Ari (“the Lion”). It offers in its book Etz Haim ( the Tree of Life ) an in-depth explanation of the ten Sefirot, as of the explanations on the book of Zohar (in particular Idra Rabba ).

As from this period, many kabbalists encouraged the study of the Cabal, as we brings it back Rabbi Azulai, in its work Orh HaShemesh , “the interdict thrown on the training of the Cabal was one limited time, until 1490. Since 1540, it is necessary to encourage everyone to be interested in the book of Zohar, because it is only by the study of the Zohar that humanity will arrive at the spiritual redemption and the arrival of the Messiah, and consequently, it is formally interdict studied the Cabal. ”

Thus also expresses itself the Rabbi Yehuda Levi Ashlag, kabbalist of the beginning of the 20th century: “There is not an other means, for the population in general, to reach some spiritual rise and redemption, that the training of the Cabal. It is the most accessible method simplest and, which is not always the case, while following other parts of the Torah, where only some rare individuals can arrive at the goal. ”

Random links: