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The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion 03:26
Kabbalah is not religion. Revelation of the spiritual world (in Kabbalah) and belief in a spiritual world (in religion) are two separate issues. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD discusses the difference between Kabbalah and religion in this interview with European MTV host Eden Harel.

Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV

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We wish to thank everyone who sent their entries for the “Misconceptions of Kabbalah” competition. All the entries made it clear that everyone’s spiritual path is equally unique, and no entry could be decided to be more or less unique than another.

We will continue featuring various entries in the daily Kabbalah Blog posts (Click here to receive them in your e-mail) and in the newsletter (subscribe on the right of this screen).

The following entry, sent by David D. Garcia of New York, was chosen to receive the free copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah because it most closely fits the Jewish themes of this week’s newsletter and the new issue of Kabbalah Today.

WINNING COMPETITION ENTRY: As a Jew, my biggest misconception of Kabbalah before encountering Bnei Baruch was that I had to be fully ‘Torah Observant’ before being able study Kabbalah. I was always taught that one must have an extensive background in Torah and Talmud before even contemplating Kabbalah. I always accepted this because I had always assumed Kabbalah was ‘only for Jews’, and further, only for ‘observant’ Jews.

Once I learned through Bnei Baruch that it is essential for all people to study Kabbalah, this discovery made me begin to question my preconceived ideas of prerequisites to Kabbalah study. And it was through Bnei Baruch that I came to understand that Torah, and perhaps to a ‘lesser’ extent, Talmud, can only be properly understood through a Kabbalistic lens. This allowed me to dispel all my previously held ideas and begin to Kabbalah study in earnest. Thank you!

Myth: Kabbalah Is a Religion

FROM THE BOOK: This is a common misunderstanding, and one worth addressing from the start. The wisdom of Kabbalah is related to no other religion or belief. It does not deal with meditations, prophecies, questions of religion, or even one’s mental state. Religions, however, are combinations of rituals designed by humans to support them in their earthly existence. While religions such as Judaism and Christianity have similar concepts of the Upper World (heaven, the afterlife, etc.), much of religion teaches how humans should exist in this temporal world.

Kabbalah, however, is better thought of as a science, not a religion. As such, Kabbalah studies and provides a way of understanding of the essential core of humanity, the Higher World, the entire universe, and the Creator. The outcome of that study is the discovery that humankind wishes to become like the Creator. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the science of the system of creation and its management.

pp. 53/54 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah, by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD and Collin Canright.

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Part 1 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah explains the general phenomenon and its popularity, and gives an overview of what exists today in the world regarding the word Kabbalah. It also discusses what Kabbalah is and what it isn’t, and gives some background on how it got started.

We have been receiving many responses to the competition showing the many misconceptions we all have about Kabbalah prior to encountering the authentic study through Bnei Baruch. We will post some of these coupled with explanations about these misconceptions from Part 1 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah in coming newsletters and blog posts.

Next Thursday we will publish the winning entry. You still have until Monday, June 3, 2007 to enter! Send all entries to english@kabbalah.info

Click here to pre-order your copy today!

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Meditation and Kabbalah
The Meditation Misconception

COMPETITION ENTRY FROM PAULA: Prior to coming to Bnei Baruch to learn what the wisdom of Kabbalah really is, I spent 12 years intensely studying Judaism and so-called “Kabbalah.”

My biggest stumbling block was meditation and so-called “Kabbalistic meditation.” I fully expected to attain the upper worlds by sitting in stillness with my eyes closed and chanting various permutations of names of G-d. All my closest “divine” connections came from my meditation practice and that was my ultimate pleasure, that sweet “divine connection.”

Imagine my surprise and shock to learn that meditation was actually reducing me to the level of a stone! Sure I could feel the divine, but in the same way a stone does 🙂 It was like settling for the teeny-tiniest fragment of the upper light. Now I wrestle to become a fully speaking human in this world, thanks to Bnei Baruch.

FROM THE BOOK: Meditation is considered by many as part of the spiritual work or practices of a Kabbalist. But not all Kabbalists have practiced meditation, and even those who did meditate did not practice it in the sense we do today.

Today meditation is associated with Eastern teachings, something that Kabbalists in the past did not know. Generally, Eastern meditation is used for relaxation and for uniting with higher levels of existence by “removing” the ego. In Kabbalah, the ego is not removed, but elevated to a higher level of practice. It connects with the divine instead of canceling itself. This embrace of ego and Creator is called Yihud (unification).

pp. 10/11 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah, by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD and Collin Canright.

Click here to view a related video: “Can a Kabbalist also be a Buddhist?”

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TORONTO (Sunday, 13 May): In a lecture aimed at the students of the ARI Online Education Center course, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD lectured on the essence and the purpose of Kabbalah, its role in human evolution and specifically in the world today (aired live on Kabbalah TV’s Live Stream).

As Rav Laitman motioned to open the lecture with the first sentences of Baal HaSulam’s article The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, he quickly detoured, stating in a lot simpler words “What is it?” then proceeding to give his modern version of Baal HaSulam’s definition in the article:

Definition of Kabbalah:
“The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of nature’s laws that are systematically arranged before us so as to bring us to the recognition of the Creator.” —Rav Laitman (from the lecture)

Rav Laitman continued the lecture with a discussion of how nature arranges life on the still, vegetative, animate and speaking degrees of nature, how a person living in this world perceives evolution through this arrangement, and how we develop through these degrees in order to achieve blissful, eternal life, perfectly balanced with nature.

The following quote by Rav Laitman (from the lecture) defines Kabbalah’s approach to the state we are being led to, and the ultimatum that Kabbalah states nature is placing before humanity in our era:

Kabbalah on Balance with Nature:
“Balance with nature is expressed in the wisdom of Kabbalah by the words ‘equivalence of form.’ In other words, nature’s form is in giving everything, and man wants to receive everything, and thus our nature is opposite from nature in general. We therefore have to bring man to the degree of the Giver, to equalize with it. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the degree of the Giver is called ‘equivalence of form’ or Dvekut (adhesion).

This is how, in the wisdom of Kabbalah, we define the final goal that we should reach. If we achieve it, we will have an eternal, perfect and tranquil life, as is nature itself. If we do not achieve it, nature will constantly pressure us until we completely improve and correct ourselves.”

The rest of the lecture was a Q&A session between Rav Laitman and the ARI Online Education Center students, questions dealing with how we should relate to violence, the role of religion in humanity’s evolution, how we should relate to Kabbalistic books, as well as many other questions.

Follow the links for the full lecture:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” Lecture presented at the Toronto Bnei Baruch Education Center (13 May, 2007):
wmv video | mp3 audio (86 min)

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This new article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD aims to present an introductory Kabbalistic understanding of human nature and the Nature of our world. By achieving comprehensive understanding of human nature and the Nature of our world, we will be able to provide a single, comprehensive resolution to all negative phenomena we experience.
Click here to read the article

From the article:
“If we acquire a better understanding of human nature and the Nature of our world, with all their rules and facets, we will be able to see where we are erring. Thus, we will also be able to first end the predicaments in our lives, and subsequently advance toward a much brighter future.”
Click here to read the article

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