Mark Zimmerman's Blog
Posted by Mark Zimmerman
Kabbalists name the first man who wrote a book on the wisdom of Kabbalah, 5,000 years ago, Adam ha Rishon (Hebrew for "The First Man"). The book he wrote is called Raziel HaMelech (The Angel Raziel).
The nature of our world is juxtaposed with the nature of the higher world, both of which are sensed simultaneously by Kabbalists who reveal their properties to us. From his writings, we see that Adam was not a savage, but indeed a great Kabbalist with enormous insight into the nature of the higher world. He spoke of the souls which would follow from his soul, the paths they would take through the worlds to come, and their eventual ascent back to their roots. Watch the Video [03:15]
Posted by Mark Zimmerman
Evolution, both for humanity as a whole and for the life of a single person, is determined at the level of desires. Throughout history, and throughout our life, we have evolved through basic physical desires for food, sex, family and shelter, and then as our desires grow, we demand social attention in the form of money, honor, pride, power and knowledge. When our desires evolve to their greatest extent, and none of the aforementioned fulfillments can satisfy us, we begin to desire spirituality-a need to associate with something beyond everything that can fulfill us in this world. Watch the Video [05:44]
Posted by Mark Zimmerman
Many who associate themselves with Kabbalah these days offer fortune-telling, numerology, charms and blessings and relate their approach to Kabbalah to how it can help a person in this world. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD aims to debunk such approaches as misconceptions about what Kabbalah really is, in order to pave the way for a definition of Kabbalah: as a method of self-correction, and nothing other than this. Watch the Video [03:20]
Posted by Mark Zimmerman
What is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other spiritual approaches which appear in times of pain and inner turbulence? Rav Michael Laitman, PhD explains that Kabbalah is the only method that addresses all problems directly at their source: human nature.
Laitman continues by explaining that it is impossible to convince a person that this is true, because before a person comes to acknowledge their own nature as the source of every problem they perceive, they must first arrive at the question about the source of their pain by themselves. The only requirement to investigate this proposal is one's desire to know whether their life has a purpose or not. Moreover, this question "What is the purpose of my life?" can only be raised after one has suffered sufficiently for it to warrant their interest. Watch the Video on Kabbalah TV (04:20)
Posted by Mark Zimmerman
Great Kabbalists throughout History overviews the Kabbalistic lineage and literature from the time of Abraham to our era. The first Kabbalistic book, Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation), written by Abraham, described his spiritual revelations. This was the primary source of the wisdom of Kabbalah until the time of the second great disclosure by Moses in the form of the Torah, a book of spiritual revelations written in a language distinct from its predecessor - that of "branches," or material consequences. Following the Torah came The Zohar (The Book of Radiance), written in the language of Midrash (Legends).
Contemporary Kabbalah began with the revelations of the Ari (Isaac Luria) in his book Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) during the middle ages. This continued until the Baal HaSulam (Yehuda Ashlag) in the 20th century who wrote Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), a modern textbook commentary on previous works. Watch the Video on Kabbalah TV (05:41)
