Question:
A
while ago, I read a feature article in Time Magazine about the growing popularity
of Jewish Mysticism. Recently, classes in Kabbalah have started in our
community. While I am curious to see what it is all about, the rabbi of our
shul says that Kabbalah should only be studied after someone has first learned
the Chumash, Mishna, and Talmud. Since I have only been a baal t'shuva for a
little more than a year, I am still pretty much a beginner. What is your
opinion?
Answer:
First,
it is important to understand the growing interest in the study of Kabbalah.
 Sign for one of many Kabbalah classes
According
to reports in the media, Hollywood personalities, stockbrokers on Wall Street,
and students in college are flocking to Kabbalah classes. While the efficacy of
this learning is questionable so long as the would-be mystics remain ensconced
in their usual, unholy lifestyles, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook teaches
that the reason behind this spiritual quest stems from a deep, common source:
"In
the last generations, in which the darkness of lust has so greatly increased,
and the strength of the body has weakened, until it has become impossible to
stand firm against this material onslaught, it is imperative to illuminate the
darkness with the mystical secrets of Torah, which know no boundaries, and
which elevate seekers on wings of lofty freedom to the highest ascents, and
which spread the transcendental joy of the beauty of holiness to depressed and
spiritually darkened souls" (Orot HaKodesh, Part 1, Pg. 92.)
Living
in a capitalistic, consumer-oriented society, we are bombarded by material
messages. An obsession with the material world can block out spiritual light
completely. Only an intense inner purification, and a connection to
transcendental realms, can free people from the physical lusts which block the
connection to G-d. It is precisely the secrets of Torah which can lighten the
path of t'shuva needed to return to our original pristine source (See, "The Art
of T'shuva," by Rabbi David Samson and Tzvi Fishman, Chapter 18.)
Long
ago, the Sages of the Talmud warned that as the time of Mashiach approached, a
great darkness would envelope the world and the traditional learning of Judaism
would be scorned (Sotah 49B.) Today, the
world is ready to embrace a universal vision of unity, where all particulars
are recognized as part of the whole. The great popularity of the Internet,
which connects every household with the global, cyberspace village, is a sign
of this quest for universality. In contrast, the normative study of Torah is
seen as something specifically Jewish, bounded on all sides with restrictive
laws which sever its practitioners from the wide world and its infinite
horizons. However, to an experienced "surfer" in the great sea of Torah, what expanses of unity and
endless cosmic horizons can be discovered by delving into the secrets of Torah!
Nonetheless,
it is true that before G-d allows a person to understand the secrets of Torah,
a student must first be well-grounded in the foundations of Torah study,
including the study of Talmud and the Halachic codes.
 Kabbalist Elder Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi
The
Kabbalist Elder Rabbi Eliahu Leon Levi of Bnei Brak adds that a person should
be 35 years old, married and with children before delving into the secrets of
the Torah.
Furthermore, in order to enter the secret chambers of
Jewish learning, a person must concurrently undergo a great spiritual
purification. He must strive to put his life in line with the great moral light
of the Torah. This involves the difficult work of refining character traits and
abandoning sin. A person who seeks to get closer to G-d must embrace the
commandments of the Torah with all of his heart and might. And one must make a
supreme, constant effort to sanctify one's sexual life.
Kabbalah
and a commitment to the laws and moral teachings of the Torah go hand-in-hand. To the extent that a person
purifies himself through repentance and self-sanctification, his study of the
secrets of Torah will be blessed. Without this, his "study of kabbalah" is mere
self-deluding nonsense and another passing fad.
With the blessing that you find a true,
Divinely-inspired teacher to guide you into the unsurpassed beauty of Torah, as
it says, "With joy you shall welcome a new learning from the elite Tzaddikim."
(Isaiah, 12:3, Targum.)
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