Reading: from Kabbalah for Beginners by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, pp 15-29

Kabbalah is an accurate method to investigate and define man’s position in the universe. The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us the reason why man exists, why he is born, why he lives what the purpose of his life is, where he comes from and where he is going after he completes his life in this world.

Kabbalah is a method of reaching the spiritual world. [By studying this method] we develop another sense, [the sixth sense]. With the help of this sense we can be in touch with the upper worlds….

All experimentation is conducted on himself, within himself. That is why Kabbalah is called “The Hidden Wisdom.” Through Kabbalah a person undergoes internal changes that only he feels and knows are taking place….

The word Kabbalah comes from the Hebrew word lekabbel, to receive. Kabbalah describes the motives of actions as “the desire to receive.”…. p.15-16.

When a person is exposed to Kabbalistic materials….very gradually….light enters the heart [and if the person is ready, he or she begins to climb the ladder of the wisdom of the Kabbalah and begins to do his or her inner work. Gradually, the person begins to receive and give not only for himself alone but for others as well.] p.17-29

[The purpose of studying Kabbalah is] to turn [self interest characteristics] to altruistic ones. The purpose of the creation is to achieve communion with the Creator, because only in such a state can man achieve fulfillment, endless tranquility and happiness. (p. 56)

Sermon

In the reading for this sermon, it said that everyone remembers a spiritual or transcendent experience. I asked myself whether this was true me. My mind went immediately back to a starry night one summer evening when I was standing at the top of our street with my best friend. We must have been 17 or 18 years old. We were talking about whether there was anything “out there,” beyond us. We concluded that there was. If our religious education teachers or the vicar from our Church of England would have overhead this conversation, they would have been horrified that we hadn’t referred to our religious upbringing and the doctrine that had been subtly transmitted all those years. But here we were feeling free to ponder for ourselves. Do you remember a spiritual, or magical, mystical experience in your life?

I think I was always Unitarian Universalist, free in my spirituality regardless of what I was taught. My sermon today is guided by our fourth principle that calls us to a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Our UU Principles are printed in your Order of Service. But on the announcement sheet, we have also printed the sources from which we draw our inspiration. You might like to look at them. Notice the third one: Wisdom from the world’s religions… and the fourth, Jewish and Christian teachings…I call all these sources: our scripture.

The Kabbalah is a mystical and little-known book from the Jewish scripture. It is almost impossible to understand without extensive training. It has an interesting history. Here is a very brief history of it.

Legend says that the Kabbalah transmission began with Abraham thousands of years ago and it was so powerful that it could only be communicated orally by those who were able to receive its wisdom. Moses also received further transmissions beyond what was written down by him following his encounter with God on Mount Sinai. This information, too, was orally passed on. Once the temple was established in Jerusalem in 586 BCE, Kabbalah texts were written down. They were expanded in 515 BCE when the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon. Small groups of Jewish men over 40 years studied the Kabbalah for generations. In year 70 of this Common Era, when the Jerusalem temple was almost totally destroyed, the Kabbalah disappeared but reappeared three times in the last almost 2,000 years. The first was in 150 CE when Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (student of the saintly Rabbi Akiva, 40-135 CE), wrote a book of commentaries on the Kabbalah called The Zohar (which means the Book of Splendor). The wisdom of the Zohar is written in the form of parables in the Aramaic language. Again, the book was hidden in a cave and reappeared in the 13th century in a fish market when a rabbi discovered that his fish was wrapped in it. Legend says that when the students are ready, the teachings will appear. Small groups began to study the Zohar in Spain. In the 1500’s, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, the great Ari, proclaimed the start of everyone being able to study Kabbalah. This happened until the Twentieth century mostly in Poland, Russia, Morocco, Iraq, Yemen, and other countries but it was still essentially restricted to married men over 40 years. But in the 20th century, interest waned again. A Polish rabbi, Yehuda Ashlag (known as Baal HaSulam for his translation of the Sulam—the ladder, or method for studying the Kabbalah), once again stimulated interest in it. He is the recognized spiritual leader for our generation who updated the writings for our time. His son continued the teaching.

From the reading this morning, you could discern that the Kabbalah or its commentaries, the Zohar, has a method for us to progress spiritually; it has a “ladder” for us to climb to be attuned to the Creator, or Light, or the Infinite. But before we learn about this, there is one foundational piece that you may not have heard before: the Kaballah believes firmly in reincarnation, or the living of many lives to learn the lessons in order to become like and one with the Creator. Our first task is to understand that we are here to learn how to be a spiritual person. All challenges or suffering in our lives are actually opportunities to learn a lesson, ask for help from the Creator, in learning it, and moving on to the next lesson, hopefully in joy rather than sorrow. We hope to evolve a bit more each lifetime. We leave this life when we have progressed enough or when we cannot spiritually progress any more in our current circumstances. Death then is simply the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Wh ile we are alive, sharing with others openheartedly for their benefit will help us grow spiritually and help them as well.

There are 12 Steps or Spiritual Laws to help us progress. Here they are, paraphrased from the book The Way by Michael Berg:

1. Remember that every day is an opportunity for transformation.

2. Listen for the still small voice of guidance.

3. We are a mirror for the world. An angry stranger is an opportunity for us to respond in a kind way rather than to mirror the anger, which is the usual thing—anger begets more anger.

4. Open up to help from above and trust that it will be given.

5. Ask for help.

6. Understand that we are always being tested as a way for us to progress. Responding with sharing, kindness, charity, or true regret will help us along spiritually and make the world a better place.

7. Be willing to deeply regret wrong doings and try to make amends.

8. Don’t be complacent. Work hard. Study and Reflect.

9. Persevere with difficult situations and stick with spiritual studies.

10. Use this life well and remember that death, whether by illness or seeming accident, will come either because we have learned what we came to do or we’re stymied and can’t progress spiritually so we might as well take off and try again.

11. Learn to deal with the pain and suffering and actively search for the lesson.

12. Don’t judge others. Listen to others as a way of honoring where they are in their lives and lend assistance by listening carefully and non-judgmentally. However, pay attention to what you need to fix in yourself. Cultivate self-awareness to become more conscious, sympathetic, and share what is needed.

Other things we must do are to cultivate a spiritual life and do meditation and/or prayer. Recognize that there are many different kinds of meditation. There is singing meditation that will help to open our heart. Our enjoyment of the music and words of hymns in church can be a kind of meditation. There is music meditation—either playing yourself or listening to others. There is silent, inward breathing meditation. There is contemplation meditation—reading a passage of scripture or inspirational text. There is moving meditation—exercising or dancing wholeheartedly.

Aspects of life to beware of are: anger, envy, fear, loneliness; we must learn to transform these. Recognize that you are never alone; connecting with the Light is a great benefit. Practice charity that is difficult to do. Keep it quiet. Actively sharing and doing things to help others will make us conscious of the growing light within. Pray and/or meditate to ensure connection with the upper worlds.

Finally, love your neighbor as yourself. All great rabbis say that this is the foundational teaching, the sum of all teachings. When we truly love our neighbor by sharing and helping him as an individual, as a community, or across the world, the time of the Messiah will have come. The time of the Messiah is not when a person comes but when the world has evolved to the point where most of our neighbors are indeed being loved. (This is a very liberal Jewish interpretation.)

Not all Jews are happy that these teachings are being given to the world. Many still believe they should be secret. Not all the teachings have been translated into English. And many orthodox Jews would be in strong disagreement with the translation.

There is nothing new in these teachings in other world religions. Can you progress and let the light in with other religious teachings. The Kabbalists, of course, say no because their teaching is the unique one. That is not my own observation. These teachings are in all the world’s religions, especially at the mystical level and especially in Hinduism and Buddhism.

If you want to study the Kabbalah, it might be best to study with Rav Michael Laitman and his non-profit Bnai Baruch organization. Although, I found their online lessons confusing because a deep knowledge of Judaism seems necessary, take heart, for the Zohar has a classic story for us (from Michael Berg’s book Becoming Like God, pp 145-146:

The Baal Shem Tov was one of the great giants of history who completed his own journey to becoming like God. When a negative decree would come down, and evil was descending on his people, the Baal Shem Tov would go to a particular place in the forest, light a fire, and say a special prayer. Then, a miracle would occur and the misfortune would be removed.

A generation later, when his disciple the Magid of Mezritch had to intervene with the heavens, he would go the same place in the forest and say, “Master of the universe, hear me. I don’t know how to pray like my master, but still I light the fire.” And the miracle was performed yet again.

In the following generation, when the Magid’s disciple, Rav Moses Lev had to intervene with the heavens, he also went into the forest and said, “I don’t know how to light the fire, I don’t know the prayer, but I remember the place, and I believe that is enough.” And it was enough.

In the following generation, the student put his head in his hands and addressed God: “Master of the universe, hear me. I no longer know how to light the fire, I don’t know the prayer, and I can’t even find the place in the forest. All I know is how to tell the story; and I believe that is enough.” And it was enough.

It is our intent that matters not the exact form or words. It will be enough.

The essence of this teaching is radical sharing of what you are able, the assurance that God does indeed help by lending you “light” or energy or presence or whatever you need, and death does not exist because you’ll keep coming back until you get it right and you’ll rejoin the creator when you do get it right. (This is a fundamental Hindu and Buddhist teaching.) The Kabbalists, like the Hindus and Buddhists, do say that God is a mystery at the highest level. May the Mystery be a source of strength for us in our lives.

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Berg, Michael. The Way: Using the Wisdom of Kabbalah for Spiritual Transformation and Fulfillment, Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2001.

Berg, Michael. Becoming Life God: Kabbalah and Our Ultimate Destiny, New York: The Kabbalah Centre, 2004. Website: www.kabbalah.com. (This is the organization that Madonna belongs to. You can get these books used from Amazon.com. But I will make my copies part of our church library for borrowing.)

Laitman, Rav` Michael, Ph.D. Kabbalah for Beginners, Ontario, Canada: Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. Website: www.kabbalah.info (This is a non profit organization dedicated to spreading the word of the Kabbalah. It’s a good place to start.)