The Basis of Kabbalah: some views

kwaw

10 sefiroth as primal man

Ten steps to be made in praise of a man according to Hernogenes [Progymnasmata]:

01 Marvellous events at his birth

02 His nurture

03 His training and education

04 Nature of his soul
a. Justice
b. Self-control
c. Wisdom
d. Manliness

05 Nature of his body
a. Beauty
b. Stature
c. Agility
d. Might

06 His pursuits and deeds

07 External resources
a. Kin and friends
b. Possessions
c. Household
d. Fortune

08 How long he lived

09 The manner of his death

10 Events after his death

Medieval rhetoric and poetics by Charles Baldwin (New York 1928)

Kwaw
 

venicebard

jmd said:
Of course, once one begins to work with these, some 'foundational' texts also become part of the 'basis' - such as, importantly, the Sefer Yetzirah (and the Bahir and the Zohar).
These three sources especially, but also much else that was said by Kabbalists near its inception that has filtered up to us 'non-specialists' through the writings of Scholem and others. I simply ask the question, what do you (JMD, or anyone else for that matter) think occasioned the arising of Kabbalah precisely when it arose (12th-century Provence-Languedoc, spreading then to Catalonia and Castile, which were closely linked culturally and linguistically)? My theory is well-known: that it had to do with the meeting of two kindred traditions, Judaic and insular Keltic, two branches of the same ancient trunk of alphabet-generation, and that since each had decayed by a different route they were able to 'fill each other's holes'. I would be interested in hearing other theories, though.
Where Venicebard has not convinced me is why I should even begin to adopt his correlations that do not seem intrinsically reflected in tarot - a view with which he will undoubtedly disagree.
Batons are spokes, Swords the sweeps of the spokes, Cups the angles carved out by said sweeps, and Coins or rounds the physical cycles representing these in material reality (the present). Letter-to-trump correlations that fit well, not in a forced manner, and distribution of the letters of the Name such that it consists of three on the male or inner (spinal) side of the round and one on the female or outer ('wombal') side, explaining more clearly than I have seen elsewhere just why there are 3 male and 1 female in each court. If they do not seem intrinsically reflected in tarot to you, I would suggest it is because you have not looked carefully enough, but I would be disappointed indeed in anyone who proved to be an 'easy sell'.
 

Umbrae

What about the Torah?

The foundation of Kabbalah...

and the Zohar?

Kabbalah ain't all letters and Ets Chaim...
 

kwaw

Umbrae said:
What about the Torah?


As I said, the written and oral word.

Umbrae said:
Kabbalah ain't all letters and Ets Chaim...

They are secondary tools of what is primarily an exegetical method for interpreting the holy word of G-d.

Kwaw
 

kwaw

kwaw said:
As I said, the written and oral word.

By 'oral' torah what is generally meant is the written down collection of rabbinic sayings or Mishna expounding, interpreting or commenting on biblical verses.

quote:
"The Gemara (also known as the Talmud or Oral Torah ), an explanation of the Written Torah, was given to Moshe at Sinai. Without the Talmud the Written Torah can't be understood. There are a lot of critical facts and points that are only hinted at or not even mentioned in the Written Torah that were explained in the Talmud. The Gemara was not allowed to be formally written down; It was only memorized and transmitted from teacher to student through out the generations. With time the generations started to forget the laws of the Gemara. The sages realized that if the Oral Torah would not be written down, it would be lost. Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi, the head of the generation, gathered the rabbis of that generation and the Mishna was written. The Mishna contains a brief listing of the Jewish Laws. With time people failed to understand the meaning of the Mishna, so that the Gemara was written. The Gemara and the Mishna together are called the Talmud. The Gemara debates, dissects, and defines the principles of the Mishna so that the halacha could be understood. The Alter Rebbe in the Tanya states that the Talmud is a manifestation of G-d's will, which is even higher than the level of Chochma, wisdom. By studying the Talmud and delving into the debates and complex issues discussed, a person's mind becomes one with G-d's will in a perfect unity, making the person's mind G-dly."

End quote from:
http://www.beverlyhillschabad.com/gemara.htm


kwaw said:
They are secondary tools of what is primarily an exegetical method for interpreting the holy word of G-d.

Kwaw

More substantially of course it is a body of beliefs (on the nature of the soul, the godhead, the uniqueness of Israel and the Israelites and G-ds special relationship and plans for such, etc], and the traditions and methods of biblical interpretation in support of this corpus that 'may' be said to be secondary to such. It is not the interpretive method that is unique to Judaism of course, but (some aspects of) the corpus of beliefs.

Kwaw
 

kwaw

kwaw said:
More substantially of course it is a body of beliefs (on the nature of the soul, the godhead, the uniqueness of Israel and the Israelites and G-ds special relationship and plans for such, etc],

Kwaw

One of the best and most comprehensive introductions to such in English remains, despite its verbose style, The Holy Kabbalah by A. E. Waite.

Scholem strikes a note of caution in regards to Waite's treatment of the Shekinah, into which he considers some errors have crept in due to Waite's reliance on an error ridden french translation of the Zohar; in particular he seems to feel that Waite has overemphasised the sexual aspects of the Shekinah; other scholars such as Moshe Idel on the other have remarked that in this aspect Waite is more accurate than Scholem credits or is willing to acknowledge.

I'd also highly recommend Gershom Scholem's On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead and On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism.

Kwaw
 

Umbrae

Title of Thread:
The Basis of Kabbalah: some views
Umbrae said:
What about the Torah?

The foundation of Kabbalah...

and the Zohar?

Kabbalah ain't all letters and Ets Chaim...
kwaw said:
As I said, the written and oral word.

Indeed it is said that the Law that God gave to Moses was written in black fire on white fire.

There are the spoken aspects, and the written aspects of the Torah – without which, there is no Kabbalah. Or in the words of the Pirkei Avot, “Where there is no Torah, there is no flour.” Without the Spiritual (the Torah), we cannot sustain ourselves.

kwaw said:
By 'oral' torah what is generally meant is the written down collection of rabbinic sayings or Mishna expounding, interpreting or commenting on biblical verses.

More substantially of course it is a body of beliefs (on the nature of the soul, the godhead, the uniqueness of Israel and the Israelites and G-ds special relationship and plans for such, etc], and the traditions and methods of biblical interpretation in support of this corpus that 'may' be said to be secondary to such. It is not the interpretive method that is unique to Judaism of course, but (some aspects of) the corpus of beliefs.

Kabbalah is also a way of life. It’s not simply books and words.

The Mishnah is the ‘oral code of laws’. It helps us live in four worlds, even though we are only aware of one (Asiyyah).

Kabbalah helps us understand that everything we do think and say in Asiyyah, resonates in the other worlds – and that eventually – everything evens out.

Yishuv Olam (settling the world) is a concept that comes from Genesis 2:15 where we were ‘assigned’ “to till and tend” the world. We are directed that we should try to increase the quality of life of not only ourselves, but of our fellow man – without creating want, to create abundance without creating need. It is central to the concept of living the Kabbalah.

Wiate, wrote about Western Kabbalah. Waite did not write about Eastern or Jewish Kabbalah. They are very different.

Eastern Kabbalah is so much more than the ToL or the 22 letters.

Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets
Veha'arets hayetah tohu vavohu vechoshech al-peney tehom veruach Elohim merachefet al-peney hamayim...
 

kwaw

Umbrae said:

Wiate, wrote about Western Kabbalah. Waite did not write about Eastern or Jewish Kabbalah. They are very different.

Eastern Kabbalah is so much more than the ToL or the 22 letters.



As I read it The Holy Kabbalah by Waite is in greatest proportion about Jewish Kabbalah, and acknowledged scholars of the subject such as Scholem and Idel rate it as fairly accurate and comprehensive within the available resources of the time. There is in fact very little in it as regards the ToL or 22 letters [about 20 pages out of 630 are directly concerned with the sephiroth, four worlds and paths + about another 6 appendix pages on the sephiroth and 2 on the four worlds]. Book X reports on Christian development of kabbalah and XI of 'occult' or esoteric aspects. For anyone who can cope with his style of writing personally I would recommend it.

Kwaw
 

venicebard

Umbrae said:
What about the Torah?

The foundation of Kabbalah...
kwaw said:
I'd also highly recommend Gershom Scholem's On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead and On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism.
The second essay in this latter work (which I am only just commencing to read) addresses this question directly.
Umbrae said:
. . . and the Zohar?
In my opinion (having read only roughly a quarter of the Soncino Zohar, itself somewhat truncated), it is compiled of the views of several, but it occasionally reveals very important teachings, such as that quoted in Patai's The Jewish Alchemists (which I have not yet reached yet in the Zohar itself) that delegates fire to the north, air east, water south, and earth west: this is the primordial distribution of elements to quarters, that of astrology being derivative (result of interaction between the primordial and another brought about by the Fall, IMO). Fire for the (cold) north and water for the (arid) south is consistent with the tradition concerning the Star of David that has it fire points up and water down, since up for man is on average north.
 

kwaw

Eloquent Platitudes

Umbrae said:
Kabbalah is also a way of life. It’s not simply books and words.

'An eloquent symbol has a way of flattering our desire for depth ... Their oracle is a platitude in disguise.'
The Eloquence of Symbols by Edgar Wind

'Question, hypothesis, lamentation, and platitude dance their allotted round and fill the ordained space, while Ignorance masquerades in the garb of criticism, and Folly proffers her ancient epilogue of chastened hope. When all is said, nothing is said; and Montaigne’s Que sçais-je, besides being briefer and wittier, was infinitely more informing.

Style by Sir Walter Raleigh