The Gift of Kabbalah

Tamar Frankiel

Description

The first comprehensive, down-to-earth introduction to explain the primary message of Kabbalah—that we are to become like God.

Unlike the faddish books that just discuss Kabbalah as a magical system, or those that treat it as if it were separable from Judaism, this inspiring book makes accessible the mysteries of Kabbalah with thorough scholarship and depth of spiritual insight. It traces the evolution of Kabbalah in Judaism and sets forth its most important gift: a way of revealing the connection that exists between our "everyday" life and the spiritual oneness of the universe. Including hands-on "personal Kabbalah" exercises that help bring the teachings into your life, The Gift of Kabbalahexplores:

• Healing from the Source
• Holiness in the Ordinary
• Contemplating Your Place in History
• Building a Positive Structure for Life
• The Soul's Contract with God
• ... and much more.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Cábala
• Mysticism
• Jewish history
• Kabbalah
• Judaism
• Religion
• Kabbale

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 07 juin 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781580236447
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU IF
You ve been curious about Jewish mysticism and what it has to offer.
You have read other books on Kabbalah and found them confusing.
You are interested in how the teachings of Kabbalah relate to other religious teachings.
You want to develop an overall framework for Jewish spiritual practice.
You would like to find new ways of thinking about God and the Divine in the world today.
Other Jewish Lights Books by Tamar Frankiel, Ph.D.
Entering the Temple of Dreams: Jewish Prayers, Movements, and Meditations for the End of the Day (with Judy Greenfeld)
Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians
Minding the Temple of the Soul: Balancing Body, Mind, and Spirit through Traditional Jewish Prayer, Movement, and Meditation (with Judy Greenfeld)
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on the History of Kabbalah
PART I: SEEKING A NEW VISION
Chapter 1: Opening the World of Kabbalah
From Concealment to Revelation
Remembering Who We Are
Is Kabbalah Only for Jews?
How Kabbalah Can Help You
Chapter 2: Kabbalah and the Image of God
Where Is the Real World?
The Turkey Prince
Revealing Divine Light
Mapping the Divine Energies
PART II: THE UNFOLDING OF CREATION
Chapter 3: Divine Mind
The Divine Sea of Consciousness
The Beginnings of Desire: Keter -Crown
Wisdom and Wildness: Chochmah -Wisdom
Pattern and Imagination: Binah -Understanding
Unification and Intellect: Da at -Knowledge
Chapter 4: Divine Energies
A World of Multiplicity
Dynamics of Duality
Love Is the Source: Chesed -Expansiveness
Separation and the Reality of Pain: Gevurah -Restraint
A Personal God
Vision and Higher Purpose: Tiferet -Splendor
The Heart Connection
Chapter 5: Divine Actualization
Harnessing Life Force: Netzach -Perseverance and Hod -Surrender
Lineage, History, Karma: Yesod -Foundation
Rewriting the Past
Bringing Energy into Form: Malkhut -Manifestation
Following the Rule
PART III: THE PATH OF REMEMBERING
Chapter 6: Clearing the Path
Examining Our Personal History
Ego and Naming
The Past and Its Presence
Choosing Companions
Transforming Emotional Ties
Collective Demons and Their Victims
Chapter 7: Realizing Your Intent
Spiritual Awakening
Creating a Practice
Being Wholehearted
The Soul s Mission
Chapter 8: Revealing Your Soul
The Light Radiates from Within
A Chorus of Angels
Life s Challenges
Achieving Equanimity
Running and Returning
The Spiral of Loving Consciousness
The Gift of the Soul
PART IV: PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF KABBALAH
Techniques for Spiritual Growth
Affirmations
Deepening Your Prayer
Meditative Visualizations
The House of the Worlds
Breath Is the Signature of Spirit
Contemplating Your Place in History
Releasing Your Past
Meditation on Lovingkindness
Sefirot in the Jewish Calendar: Sefirat Ha-Omer (Counting the Omer)
The Weeks
The Days
Your Personal Tree of Life
Notes
Glossary
Recommended Readings
About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About Jewish Lights
Acknowledgments
My own personal discovery of Kabbalah was not planned in any way. As I look back, I see that strange quality of a spiritual journey-one does not make decisions about it, not really. One finds oneself pulled, drawn forward, as if by an ineffable force. Perhaps there is no better example of causation from the future. In a person s life, of course, the future is not yet defined. The actual future depends on one s actions. But the fact that something is there, pulling one forward, is not to be doubted. So it was with my journey into Jewish spirituality, which involved descending (as the mystics say) into mysticism and the intricate world of Kabbalah.
I am very grateful to God for the direction my life has taken. And I also want to thank those whom God provided along the way to bestow gifts and offer the gentle pushes I needed to move forward.
My professors in graduate studies at Miami University and the University of Chicago gave me skills in research and critical thinking that have supported me throughout the years, even though many of them would be surprised at the kinds of treasures I chose to mine with those skills. My rabbinic teachers, largely from Chabad-Lubavitch and Breslov, have been the best guides I could imagine through the concepts of Jewish mysticism because they were willing to teach and re-teach basics. They are too many to mention, but I must thank Rabbi Chaim Dalfin, who first taught me Tanya , Rabbi Chaim Citron, who modeled a meaningful approach to textual analysis, and Rabbi Avrohom Czapnik, who inspired me with his way of bringing out practical implications of each mystical insight. I am fortunate also to have been able to work with Rabbi Aaron Parry on other projects; some of what I learned from him has been incorporated here.
I am grateful also for all those who are working so diligently to translate and interpret materials that have been inaccessible for so many decades and centuries. The number of books on Jewish mysticism available in English to the average reader today would simply astound our ancestors. Especially, I want to mention Rabbis Chaim Kramer, Avraham Greenbaum, and the Breslov Research Institute, whose work in disseminating Rabbi Nachman s teachings is a model of excellence, combining thoroughness with a passion for spiritual truth. My anchor through all these studies has been the wisdom of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Paulist Press published an edition of selections of his writings more than twenty years ago, which my husband and I received as a wedding present-now the most-thumbed book in our library. A few more selections have become available in English since then, and I have also been fortunate to study pieces of his original Hebrew writings. When more of his work is translated, surely he will be regarded as one of the great visionaries of our time.
Some of these currents began to flow more surely together a few years ago. In 1996, I met Connie Kaplan and became an avid student of her teachings about dreams and soul contracts. I became more and more certain that the information she was transmitting supported and enhanced my work in Jewish mysticism. When she began her work in Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox and his colleagues in 1998, she spoke to me about the exciting work of mathematical cosmologist Brian Swimme and biologist Rupert Sheldrake. A while later, my colleague and friend at Claremont School of Theology, Ann Taves, introduced me to David Griffin, whose work on parapsychology and philosophy fascinated and encouraged me. Later, it turned out that Swimme and Sheldrake had contributed to one of Griffin s books on postmodern thought-my circles were connecting! I had the opportunity to teach courses on theology and Jewish mysticism at the University of California, Riverside, which helped more pieces of the puzzle come together.
In the meantime, working on two books on prayer with Judy Greenfeld deepened my studies in the practical aspects of mysticism. She, along with Randi Rose, Toba August, and Joyce Kirsch, listened patiently to my early attempts to expound on the Kabbalah s teachings about the sefirot as I was struggling to understand and integrate them into my life. Other students in seminars I taught with Judy and Connie gave me valuable feedback on my work. I am deeply indebted to all these people. I am painfully aware of not being able to footnote many of the insights I have gained from the oral teachings of Connie Kaplan, but I encourage readers to seek out her work, more of which will be published in coming years.
A few more thanks are due: to my Kabbalah class in the summer of 2000, who helped me fine-tune the presentation-especially to Dena Glaser, Sara Lansill, and Leah Schnall; to Randi, Sara, and Ann Brener, who read early versions of the manuscript; to my editor, Donna Zerner; and to Stuart Matlins, Sandra Korinchak, Emily Wichland, and all the staff at Jewish Lights, who helped bring this work into final production.
One caveat: I do not pretend to be an authority on Kabbalah, only an explorer with a few talents to contribute. I can say that I have thought deeply about Jewish mystical teachings and brought to bear the knowledge that is available to me at present, without attempting to make it acceptable to any particular party or denomination. Of course, I take full responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation.
I hope this book will enable its readers to see God, the universe, and each of us participating in the unfolding of creation. My great desire is that we all can live from a vision of unbroken wholeness, to use physicist David Bohm s phrase-the ultimate vision of the universe. In that way, we can perhaps hope to fulfill what the rabbinic tradition identified as the human task: to make a dwelling-place for God; or, as the Hasidic masters say, to infuse the entire world with Godliness.
A Note on the History of Kabbalah
Kabbalah, the popular term for Jewish mysticism, comes from a Hebrew root that means to receive ; thus Kabbalah is the received tradition. It originated, probably several centuries B.C.E., in the study of esoteric aspects of the written Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the contemplation of prophetic visions like those of Ezekiel and Isaiah, and apocalyptic traditions. Specific rabbis were known to be teaching mystical theology and practice in the first centuries C.E. Some leading scholars think that the Gnostics of the early Christian era (ca. 100-200 C.E.) developed their ideas from a core Jewish mystical tradition that existed by the first century. We have Jewish mystical texts that date back probably to the second or third century C.E., but we know very little about the transmission and interpretation of these texts. From the fascinating teachings that have come down to us, it is highly likely that the mystics limited their teachings to small circles because they were concerned