Kabbalah and the Art of Being

The Smithsonian Lectures

Shimon Shokek

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781317797388
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia antica

This new approach introduces Kabbalah as a spiritual Jewish way of living, a practical wisdom for living, creativity and well being, and not merely a religious phenomenon or esoteric theology. Professor Shokek suggests that the Kabbalistic theme of Creation is the central ingredient in the spiritual teachings of Jewish mysticism. He skilfully reveals the core questions that emerge from the wisdom of the Jewish sages, opening up a lively avenue of debate in this increasingly popular area of study.

1
The Mystery of Creation

The "stem cell" called creation

This book looks at the treasures of the doctrine of Jewish mysticism of the last millennium, known as Kabbalah, from existential and psychological points of view. It examines some of the major and profound components of Kabbalah as they emerge from the complex descriptions of the classic texts of the Jewish mystics, the Kabbalists, who created and crafted a new religious and spiritual force in the Jewish faith. This study does not reject the accepted scholarly assumption that divides the major trends in Kabbalah into the theosophical–theurgical and the ecstatic, but it is not based on this scholarly assumption. For the goal of this book is not to present a Kabbalistic historical or conceptual survey of the major schools of Jewish mysticism. Nor is it to divide Kabbalah into theoretical mysticism as opposed to experiential mysticism, and thus separate the unifying elements that tie together the various ingredients of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. Instead, this book aims at looking into the teachings of Kabbalah as a religious phenomenon and a way of life; it aims to explore Kabbalah as the exemplary teaching of the mystical Jewish wisdom that has shaped the spirit of the Jewish people for centuries; that taught the Jew how to survive in strenuous times, how to become an actualized and fulfilled human being, and how to flourish and live a complete and healthy life. Thus, this work asks the following questions: What is that "thing" which is depicted in the spirit of the Jewish mystics and Kabbalists that enraptures the hearts and the minds of the Jewish people? How and why have the ideas of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah been integrated into the lives of the Jewish people and shaped their identity and spirituality? What is the secret behind the fascination of Kabbalah that has caused it to become the major force of Jewish spirituality, and, what is the nature of the truth behind its reality? Can we understand Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, which is after all the creation of the human spirit, in light of contemporary psychological theories? And finally, can Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah be considered as an art of being, a practical wisdom of the sages that has opened a new path of spiritual and psychological life for the Jewish people?

These questions lead eventually to an individual search, for, when a student of Kabbalah enters into the mystery of the pardes, the domain of the spirit, there necessarily emerges a personal relationship between the subject and the object; between the person and God, who are separate in the beginning of their relationship but can be inseparable as one reveals himself to another.

The reader who studies this book will discover that the end of this book is already in its beginning, since according to Kabbalah every reality is composed of a dialectical ontology comprising an entity and its opposite simultaneously. I will return to this point in its own chapter below. Here and now I am determined to present a primary Kabbalistic point of departure that, I believe, can serve as the existential and psychological foundation for the core teachings of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah; I call it the Kabbalistic creation myth.

If all the mystical, scholarly, and scientific knowledge were to be shattered and destroyed and only one sentence passed on to the succeeding generations of humanity, what statement would contain the most significant information from the world of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah? I believe it is the Jewish creation myth, that all things come from the One, depend on the One, wish to imitate the One, and yearn to return to the One. The Neoplatonic quality of this statement embraces the "stem cell" of the major teachings of Kabbalah; for in Kabbalah everything stems from this belief, whether physical or metaphysical, concrete or abstract. Most importantly, the Kabbalistic creation myth determines in Jewish spirituality the character of the two major "partners" in the "partnership" of existence: God and Man. And thus, every aspect of the creation myth should be studied, for it is the key to the understanding of the true essence of Kabbalah.

Since "all comes from the One and all returns to the One," all Jewish mystics and Kabbalists agree that the center point of Kabbalah, which is cleaving to God, knowing Him, and uniting with Him, must be contemplated through the study of the relationship between God and the creation.¹I therefore wish to begin with a few remarks that may shed some light on the relationship between God and creation in Jewish mysticism and other religions. This will illuminate the crucial assumption that the pneuma of the Kabbalistic teachings is rooted in the distinctive meeting point of the Divine and the universe.

However, I invite the reader to look not only at the creation itself, but also at the Godly intent that led to the creation. The classic descriptions that reveal the notion of creation in Kabbalah do not concentrate on the cosmology only but rather on the cosmogony and theogony. Cosmology, cosmogony, and theogony ought to have an in-depth discussion, but I will limit my explanation of these terms and say here only the following: cosmology describes the acts that occur at the time of the creation, cosmogony describes the processes that led to the creation, and theogony describes the rise of awareness in God's mind even before the rise of the processes that led to the creation. Thus, theogony is the birth of God's consciousness: it is the genesis of genesis and the initiation of His intent in creation that pre-existed the genesis of the creation of the world.

Indeed, exploring the processes that led to the creation and the intent of God before the creation of the world is a task involving risk. Our Rabbis warned us in the Mishnah not to speculate about anything regarding what preceded the creation of the world: "Whoever speculates upon four things, a pity for him! He is as though he had not come into the world: What is above? What is beneath? What is before? What is after?"² The Jewish mystics and Kabbalists did enter, however, into a long path of investigation in this obscure area: what is before the creation has become one of the most sensitive issues among the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah. Thus, the mystery of creation has become the central theme in the texts of the medieval classic Kabbalists of Provence, Gerona, Safed, and even among the masters of Hasidism of the last three centuries. These Kabbalists and Hasidic masters arrived at some fascinating and startling conclusions: a small part of their heritage is what I wish to share with the reader of this book.

The existential element in the Kabbalistic creation myth

I opened with the emphasis that the treasures of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah, some of whose premises I intend to examine in this book, should be looked upon from existential and psychological points of view. But why is this point of departure so central in the teachings of the Jewish mystics and Kabbalists? And what is the denotation of the terms existential and psychological in the context of the Kabbalistic creation myth? These are essential questions for this book.

I shall answer them as follows: first, the creation myth of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah is by my definition existential, for the Godly act of the creation is defined by the Jewish mystics as the performance of God in the world –existentiating it! according to the Kabbalah, within the Godly act of the creation, four worlds are created simultaneously; they are known in Hebrew as the worlds of Atzilut, Be'riah, Ye'tztrah, and Assiyab ("Emanation," "Creation," "Formation," and "Making"). God emanates from His own existence to these four worlds, and thus they are considered as the four Godly hierarchies that establish the chain of being between Heaven and Earth. But the act that sparks the relationship between God and the four worlds does not existentiate the four worlds alone, it also existentiates God Himself; that is, through the creation of the worlds God reveals both His own Persona and the persona of the worlds, existentiating both Himself and the worlds. Hence, within the process of the creation all aspects of existence are disclosed, above and below: the Creator is created, and the worlds are created with Him.

The Godly act of creation is understood in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah as the one and only "thing" that the Creator could not not do, since the name "Creator" cannot be applied to Him unless there is something that He has created, and since creativity is inherent in His Divine "Nature." Therefore the Kabbalistic creation myth involves both the manifestation of the creation of God as the Creator of the worlds and the King of the universe, and the manifestation of the composition of the worlds below. Hence, the Kabbalistic Godly act of creation is twofold; it is the esoteric creation of God Himself, who desires to create the world but is first faced with the manifestation of Himself; and it is the exoteric creation of the worlds which are created by God while He manifests Himself

Furthermore, according to the teachings of the Jewish mystics and Kabbalists, the cosmogonial tools that are used by God in order to create the worlds –language and speech – and even more so the theogonial tools that serve Him in the process that lead to the creation - Divine Thought and Will – determine the Personae of both the Creator and the created worlds. Although God Himself is a singular Oneness, while the created worlds are composed of many parts, both the Creator and the creation share the birth of existence within the framework of their linguistic act of creation, for everything is created by thought, language, and speech. This is a central component in the Jewish Kabbalistic creation myth that I will discuss at length below.³

Here I would like to sharpen and deepen what I mean by the existential element in the Kabbalistic creation myth: It is the element that reflects both the Godly nature and the human need for partnership and for an existence-related search; It is both the Godly and the human yearning for the self-transcendent self as the basic element of life. And, therefore, the existential element in the Kabbalistic creation myth deals with both God's and man's inner search for authenticity and self-actualization.

In the religious–existential nucleus of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah there is a mutual yearning between God and man for partnership and relationship. Man explores his existential solitude in this earthly world of corporeality, and gradually reveals the endless symbolic dimensions of spirituality that lie beyond the surface of the world. He recognizes the one basic alternative to the temporal frustrations of his life; during his growth and development he discovers that as a finite entity he can cleave to the Infinite and become one with Him. And God who appears in the Bible as the ultimate Being, who introduces Himself with the Name "I Am that I Am," reveals the Infinite-Being of Himself by His yearning to unite and become the Creator of man. Thus, in the history of the Jewish people a shared relationship is established between God and His people. This relationship is a mirror-image of the intimacy between the Creator and His creation. It is a shared principle that constitutes that man is in search of God since by his nature he looks above to unite with the concealed God who grants him life, while God is in search of man since by His "Nature" He looks below to unite with the revealed man who had received life from Him.

The existence of God as the Creator of man begins, therefore, with the existence of man who is created by God. This is the most fundamental principle that determines the Kabbalistic co-existence of God and man who share the same destiny. They are "united together" in the peak events of their mutual history: in the covenant between God and Abraham; when Moses hands down the Torah to the people of Israel in Sinai; when the Kingdom of the people of Israel is established by David; and when the Temple is built by Solomon. However, they are also "separated together." Thus, when the people of Israel are rooted out of their homeland and go to exile, God exiles with them. The ancient Midrash teaches us that "to every place where the Jewish people were exiled, the Shekhinah [the Divine presence), exiled [herself] with them."⁴ From here we learn that the covenant of God and His people dictates a co-existential and co-independent form of life; it is their symbiotic union, for their existence lives "together," in symbiosis, as in the existential relationship between a mother and the fetus; who are two and yet they are one. Within this symbiosis, as much as the mother feeds and protects the fetus, her own life is enhanced by the fetus. She becomes a "mother" only because of her fetus; and her fetus will become a "human being" only because of its mother. These are core beliefs in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah regarding the existential relationship between God and His people.

But the nature of existence itself is complex and dialectical. It may be compared to the state of atoms. An eminent contemporary physicist describes atoms as small particles that move around in an endless motion; on one hand they attract each other when they are a little distance apart, but on the other hand they reject each other when they are squeezed into one another.⁵ The relationship between God and man as reflected in Kabbalah functions in a fashion similar to the motion of the atoms – similar but not identical. For it permits God and man to move around each other in perpetual motion, to attract each other and to cleave to one another. But the question is, once God and man seek one another, do they necessarily repel and reject and renounce each other to the extent that there is always some distance between them? Is there a complete unity or an incomplete unity between God and man according to Kabbalah? Is it existentially necessary that God and man keep "a little distance apart" as in the case of atoms, or is it built into the nature of both that they unite without boundaries? I suggest an answer to this primary, existential question below when discussing the concept of communion with God, known in Hebrew as Devekut. But first I would like to present in this brief introduction a few remarks on the psychological element in Kabbalah.

The psychological element in the Kabbalistic creation myth

Complementing the e...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Original Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Epigraph
• 1 The mystery of creation
• 2 A note on creation in philosophy, mythology and Gnosis
• 3 Kabbalah on God's intent and language in creation
• 4 Creation and imitatio dei: Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidism
• 5 Kabbalah and God's individuation
• 6 Kabbalah and the art of being
• 7 Waiting for Godot and the Jewish art of waiting
• 8 Teshuvah: the conclusive return to God
• Notes
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Index