CORNERSTONE UNIVERSITY

KABBALAH SECRETS OF THE JEWISH MYSTICISM CULT

WRITTEN FOR REL-441 APOLOGETICS PROFESSOR DON PERINI

BY BRIAN TICE / BOX 3594 20 MARCH 2008

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Kabbalah1 has been called a celebrity religion due to the conversion of Madonna, Rosanne, Liz Taylor, and Barbra Streisand to its ranks. The name, which means received doctrine, derives from the Aramaic verb qabal, to receive.2 The foundation of the Chassidic sect of Judaism,3 Kabbalah is described by its followers as the study of the inner dimensions of G-ds holy Torah,4 and as such, is not traditionally made available for study to anyone under age forty. It is reasoned that they would not have a thorough enough understanding of Torah and Talmud to understand the depths of Kabbalah. Outside of Chasidut, Kabbalah is not very highly regarded. This is, in part, due to the secretive nature of Kabbalah, as evidenced by Cordoveros statement: Those who know do not tell and those who tell do not know.5 Saul Lieberman (a non-kabbalistic Talmud professor at Jewish Theological Seminary) is reported to have said in response to a students inquiry as to why the seminary offered no courses in Kabbalah, At a university, it is forbidden to have a course in nonsense even if its Jewish nonsense.6 Kabbalistic Scripture Since Kabbalah is, at its roots, Jewish, the Hebrew canon is regarded as holy Scripture, but mekubbalim (followers of Kabbalah) also addother books of scripture to their study. Among these are the Talmud, the Zohar (Book of Splendor), and the

Kabbalah can also be spelled Kabbala, Qabala, Cabala, etc. For the purposes of this paper, and for the sake of consistency, it will be spelled Kabbalah throughout. 2 Francis Brown, et. al., BrownDriverBriggs Hebrew-English Lexicon (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004), 1110. 3 Chasidut, or Chassidic Judaism, is defined by kabbalaonline.org as the pietistic, mystical movement within Judaism founded by Rabbi Baal Shem Tov in the early part of the 18th Century. 4 www.kabbalaonline.org 5 Moshe Cordovero, quoted in Menachem Posner, Where is Reincarnation in G-ds Word as opposed to Mans Word? www.chabad.org. 6 Saul Lieberman, quoted at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/kabbalah.html.
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Shemoneh Shearim (an 8-volume commentary on the Zohar).7 According to kabbalistic tradition, the Zohar, a 23-volume collection of commentaries on the Torah,8 records and preserves the deep secrets of Torah revealed to Simeon Bar Yochai and his son Elazar by supernatural revelation from the Prophet Elijah.9 When the Romans killed the last sages of the Anshei Knesset HaGdulah (Great Assembly) in the Bar Kokhba Rebellion (second century CE), Bar Yochai and his son Elazar escaped and hid in a cave for ten years where, they claimed, the spirit of Elijah guided their study of Torah.10 Ariel describes the Zohar as a guide to how to overcome the barriers of time and place that separate us from the immediacy of G-d.11 To most mekubbalim, the sentiment regarding the Zohar is, Its in the Zohar. Is that not the same as if it was (sic.) in the Torah itself?12 Scholem discovered in the 1930s, however, that there is sufficient evidence to doubt that the written Zohar dates that far back.13 He noted that the dialect of Aramaic used for its composition was an artificial one, littered with Spanish idioms. Wieder observes, To read the original is to be confounded. Even to be introduced, the Zohar must be coaxed from its linguistic cave.14 The fact that such a cryptic dialect was invented to compose it is itself an indicator that the Zohar is a cultic work. The scholarly consensus is that the likely author was not Bar Yochai, but Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon, a late thirteenth-century mekubbal who resided in southern Spain. Time Magazine postulates the theory, The Zohar was far too radical to be
Shemoneh Shearimwas written by kabbalistic Rabbi Chaim Vital, recording the teachings of his mentor, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (the Arizal). When Vital died in 1620, all of his works were buried with him. The Shemoneh Shearim was disinterred from his grave in the 1650s and published in 1660 (cf. Moshe Miller, Works of Rabbi Chaim Vital, www.kabbaonline.org). 8 Laurence Wieder, The Book of Splendor, First Things 167 (Nov 2006): 45. 9 Sol Scharfstein, Jewish History and You (Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Publications, 2004), 24. 10 Wieder, 44. 11 David S. Ariel, Zohar, the Literaru Masterpiece of the Kabbalah, Tikkun 21 (My/Je 2006): 69. 12 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/kabbalah.html 13 Found in Translation, Time 163 (19 Apr 2004): 64. 14 Wieder, 44.
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Tice accepted without a fabricated imprimatur as a possible explanation for what is almost

certainly a pseudepigraphical work.15 Even if the claim is valid, this does not undermine the authority of the Zohar for followers of Kabbalah, who answer the charge with the premise that de Leon merely recorded the oral teachings that had been passed down from their traditional originator, Simeon Bar Yochai, or even further back than that to the mystic secrets of the Torah taught by Moses to the elders in the wilderness and transmitted through Joshua and the judges to the prophets and down to the sages of the great assembly (Ezras Anshei Knesset HaGdulah).16 Beliefs on the Relationship between G-d and Man As with the Christian concept of G-d, the mekubbimperceive G-d as a composite unity. In Kabbalah, however, the G-dhead is comprised of ten interacting emanations, one of which is a female aspect of G-d named Shekinah. She is tied to the male aspect of the G-dhead in a comic marriage which is constantly under demonic attack. The perpetuity of their union is bound to the prayers and deeds of G-ds people.17 This concept is reflected in the kabbalistic explanation of the Tetragrammaton, in which the yod (y) is described as a phallic symbol, the male side of the G-dhead, while the heis a yoni symbol, the female side of the G-dhead. The open bottom of the he (h) is the womb from which the waw (w) springs forth as the Son of the union of the male and female of the G-dhead, and the final he is the bride of the Son. 18 This teaching leads some (though not most) mekubbalim to a belief in Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah, who see the waw as Christ and the second heas His bride, the Church. Kabbalah teaches that the meaning of Let Us make man in Our image (Genesis 1:26) is that the name of G-d yod-he-waw-he is reflected in the face of the human.
Found in Translation, 64. Wieder, 44. 17 Ibid. 18 Gershom Scholem, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (New York: Schocken Books, 1976).
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Zohar 26a explains that Mans two eyes are in the shape of the Hebrew letter yod and the nose is in the shape of the letter waw. A major issue with this interpretation is that the Creation of Adam considerably predates the creation of the Hebrew alphabet upon which this teaching depends. Kabbalah also teaches that the image of G-d manifests itself in Man asthe three intellectual attributes of Man: chochma (wisdom), binah (understanding), and daat (knowledge), which are collectively called chabad (taking the initial consonants from each of the three words). Chochma is the creative capacity of Man, binah is the developmental capacity of Man, and daat is the conclusive capacity.19 It is not impossible that this is a facet of what it means that Man is made in G-ds image; it is, however, an incomplete understanding of the concept. This doctrinal stance is but a faint shadow of the primary feature of Imago Dei, which perceives Man as being the image of G-d in the same way that idols are the images of false deities. Humans (of all ethnicities) are placed throughout Adonais domain to show the boundless expanse of His sovereignty. Kabbalah, however, claims that man in Genesis 1 means Israel,20 understanding Israel alone (to the exclusion of Gentiles) to bears G-ds likeness and image. Beliefs on the Reincarnation (Afterlife) The tenet of Kabbalah which goes the furthest in distancing it from the orthodox Judeo-Christian understanding of the Scriptures and their message is the doctrine of gilgul neshemot (reincarnation). Though the author of Hebrews declares, Man is appointed but once to die, and after this the judgment (9:27), Kabbalah (generally using only the Hebrew Scriptures), argues for the transmigration of the soul into four separate
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Zalmon Posner, Kabbalah 101 www.jewish-holiday.com/kabbalasecrets. Moses ben Shem Tov de leon, Zohar (1280), 26a.

Tice reincarnations between the first life and the resurrection of the dead.21 Because

Kabbalah teaches that the resurrection of the dead is dependent upon completion of all of the 248 positive mitzvot, reincarnation is seen as G-ds loving way of giving man a second (and third and fourth) chance at finishing up the list. It also gives an opportunity to make amends for any transgressed prohibitive mitzvot (which number 365).22 The kabbalistic case for reincarnation is complex, drawing from strict readings of poetic Scriptures and from figurative readings of literal Scriptures. Consider the lengths of life spansbefore the flood. Kabbalah interprets references to people living several centuries as evidence that their souls have lived several lives or incarnations, i.e. the soul of Methuselah living through several incarnations in order to make up the 969 years accounted to him, thus theirinterpretation is figurative here. The Sumerian King List, however, records much longer life spans for people who lived before the flood as opposed to after, seeming to support not the idea of reincarnation, but of the biblical shortening of life spans for generations which came after the Flood. Furthermore, if these longer life spans are evidence supporting reincarnation, there is only evidence for it before the Flood, not after, when the Bible reports much shorter life spans. Job 1:21, however, is held to a very wooden and literal reading in Kabbalah: Naked I came from my mothers womb and naked I will return there. Rather than reading the second womb as figurative language for the grave, mekubbalim read it as a literal expression for Jobs expectation that he would, upon his death from his present life,reenter the womb and be born into a second incarnation (or third or fourth, depending on which life he was currently in). Since Kabbalah holds that every Jew to ever live and
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Chaim Vital, Shemoneh Shearim (1660) Shaar HaGilgulim, Chaim Vital, Shemoneh Shearim (1660) Shaar HaMitzvot 1A

Tice who ever will stood at Mount Sinai when the Jews received the Covenant from G-d,23 yet Job is believed to have lived before Moses, they would argue that Jobwould have to

reincarnate in order to stand alongside Moses. As Job unfolds, however, we read, Man that is born of woman is a few days, and, full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and withers away, flees like a shadow, does not last (Job 14:1-2). There is nothing written there about the few days of a mans life being followed by subsequent sets of few days after the withering away of the first set. It seems that Kabbalah employs a backwards hermeneutic. Job is obviously very a poetic book, but is read by mekubbalimas woodenly literal. On the other hand, the teledot (tables of generations) would be expected to be read more literally and are read as figurative language in order to read reincarnation into them. Job, however, also records, Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with you, you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass (14:5). It would seem that reincarnation would be a means of crossing these uncrossable bounds, violating Scripture. It is also taught in Kabbalah that the reason Scripture requires a man to marry the childless widow of his deceased brother and name their first son together after the deceased brother is that the soul of the deceased transmigrates into the son the widow has with her brother-in-law, making their baby his gilgul (reincarnational host body).24 The actual reason, according to mainstream rabbinical scholars, is to keep the dead brothers name alive (not his soul), a practice initiated by Jacobs son Judah25 Yibum(the Hebrew word for this practice) was only entered into if both parties agreed. If they did not, they could honorably dispose of the obligation by performing chalitzah (Deut. 25:5-10). In
Nissan Dovid Dubov, An Overview of Techiyas Hameisim Based on the Teachings of Chabad Chassidism (1995). 24 Joyce Eisenberg & Ellen Scolnic, Dictionary of Jewish Words (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006), 52. 25 Positive Mitzvot # 216 (cf. Knowledge Base Library, http://www.askmoses.com/article/111,176/What-isyibum.html).
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Tice that case, how does the soul reincarnate? Also, Mosaic Law forbids yibum if there are

children born to the original union (Lev. 18:16), as this would constitute ervah(one of the 21 forbidden relationships). If, however, yibum is engaged, where is the soul during the time between the husbands death and the conceptionof his nephew? The kabbalistic explanation is thus problematic at best, stranding a soul without a gilgul for at least as long as it takes to conceive a male child. A plethora of passages from the Tanakh speak directly in opposition to the doctrine of reincarnation. Among these is 2 Samuel 14:14, which reads, For we all die someday; we will be like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again; and G-d makes no exception for anyone. Reincarnation would constitute a regathering up of spilled water, which Scripture here declares impossible. Also in Samuel, we read, But now that hes dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me (2 Samuel 12:23). Daniel, likewise, refutes the concept of reincarnation, writing, Many of those sleeping in the dust will awaken, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and abhorrence (12:2). The qualifier everlasting connotes that Daniel speaks of eternal life versus eternal torment heaven and hell, not transmigration of souls to subsequent temporary hosts (gilgulim). As difficult as it is for this doctrine to stand up against Hebrew Scripture, if a mikubbal(follower of Kabbalah) brings the Greek Scriptures into it, as they are sometimes wont to do, the doctrine of reincarnation is even more easily deconstructed. When the Greek Scriptures are invoked, it is most frequently Malachi 4:5 (3:23 in the Jewish versification) and its fulfillment in Matt. 11:13-14 to which they turn. Malachi prophesies, Behold, I will send to you Elijahthe prophet before the coming of the great and terrible Day of YHWH. Mikubbalim will sometimes tie this to Matthews Gospel,

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in which it is written, For all the prophets and the Torah prophesied until John; indeed, if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, whose coming was foretold (11:13-14). This cannot be reincarnation for several reasons. The first and most obvious is that reincarnation involves death of the first body, and Elijahnever died; he was raptured. Furthermore, Elijah makes an appearance at the Mount of Transfiguration,where he is recognized by the disciples not as John the Baptist, but as himself (Matthew 17:3). Green explains the Matthean passage as indicating that John the Baptist is the last of the preMessianic prophets, thus he came in the spirit of Elijah.26 Once the mikubbalinvokes one verse form the Greek Scriptures to make his or her case, all of them are validated. This opens the door for one to bring into the discussion verses like Hebrew 9:27, which reads, It is appointed to man to die once, then comes the judgment. In the case of reincarnation, the man would die at least twice, contradicting the author/Author of Hebrews. Paul, likewise, refutes the doctrine of reincarnation, writing, We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from G-d, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven. For we must all appear before the Messiahs court of judgment, where we receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body (2 Cor. 5:1, 10). Both tent and body are in the singular. Kabbalah deviates enough from the standard doctrines of Judaism to qualify as a cult in the estimation of mainstream Judaism. Stukin observes, [R]abbis object that its teachings are a quick-fix bastardization of a sacred Jewish tradition.27 The amount of non-biblical material which is regarded as Scriptural by mekubbalim and the claims of a source for the Zohar which is neither on earth nor in the G-dhead (Elijah) make the practice at least unorthodox, if not a cult.
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H. Benedict Green, The Gospel According to Matthew (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), 116-7. Stacie Stukin, Stars of David, Los Angeles 43 (December 1998): 94.

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Tice Works Cited

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Ariel, David S. Zohar, the Literary Masterpiece of the Kabbalah, Tikkun 21 (May/Jun 2006): 69. Brown, Francis et. al. BrownDriverBriggs Hebrew-English Lexicon. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004. Cordovero, Moshe. Where is Reincarnation in G-ds Word as opposed to Mans Word? www.chabad.org. De Leon, Moses ben Shem Tov. Zohar. Castille, Spain, 1280. Dubov, Nissan Dovid. An Overview of the Techiyas Hameisim on the Teachings of Chabad Chassidism. 1995. Eisenberg, Joyce and Ellen Scolnic. Dictionary of Jewish Words. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006. Green, H. Benedict. The Gospel According to Matthew. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Jewish Virtual Library. www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Knowledge Base Library. Ask Moses. www.askmoses.com/article/111,176/What-isyibum.html. Miller, Moshe. Kabbala Online. www.kabbalaonline.org. Posner, Zalmon. Kabbalah 101. www.jewish-holiday.com/kabbalasecrets. Scharfstein, Sol. Jewish History and You. Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Publications, 2004. Scholem, Gershom. On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead. New York: Schocken Books, 1976. Stukin, Stacie. Stars of David, Los Angeles 43 (December 1998): 94+. Vital, Chaim. Shemoneh Shearim. Castille, Spain, 1660.

Tice Wieder, Laurence. The Book of Splendor, First Things 167 (Nov 2006):45.

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