Thanks to Madonna and other celebrities seeking to understand themselves and their place in the world, Kabbalah has become almost a household word, but what is the Kabbalah and how can it help us?
The Kabbalah may be viewed as an esoteric sector of the Jewish faith dealing mostly with exploration of the nature of divinity, creation, the origin and fate of the soul, and the role of human beings in this realm. It makes wide use of meditative, devotional, mystical and magical practices to this end.
Traditionally, the Kabbalah was taught only to a select group and it is still somewhat shrouded in mystery though it has been studied and practiced by people outside of the Jewish faith for several hundred years, these practices are usually called the Hermetic Kabbalah.
Kabbalah means "to receive or to accept" but is usually taken to mean ‘tradition’ and relates to certain traditional practices relative to a personal relationship with God and creation.
The Torah or first five books of the Old Testament are believed to have been created before the world and advised God on the creation of human kind. At the time that Moses received these laws it is accepted that he also received the oral laws which were subsequently passed down to future generations - so Kabbalah is also known as ‘the oral tradition’.
The crux of Kabbalah is that it is seen as an explanation of the Torah that was sent to demystify it and its power. It is believed that by studying the Torah it is possible to unlock the truth behind creation.
The Kabbalah is also viewed as a tool containing the methods needed to approach God personally and it is believed that this is indeed possible (if somewhat frightening).
To simplify - it is the two concepts discussed above that form the basis of traditional practices of Kabbalah.
