The Wisdom of Kabbalah

This talk is the first in a series of lectures about the Wisdom of Kabbalah. So where should we start? Let us begin with man’s state. Over the course of thousands of years of his development, certain questions ripen in man. These are questions about the meaning of life. As we all know, even people many centuries ago were preoccupied with these questions in the same way this occurs to each one of us today...

During our last conversation we talked about man and his perception of the world; how he evolves through his incarnations into a state where a question arises in him, namely: “What is the meaning of my life”? “For what sake do I live”? It is a question about the essence of life...

During previous lessons, we discussed the material of creation, which is the desire to receive. The Creator created it Yesh mi Ain (lit. existence from absence). However, we do not discuss this from the Creator’s point of view, but rather from man’s position...

We have learnt and talked about the fact that the whole substance of creation is a will to receive, and Baal HaSulam writes about it in the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, that on the whole, there is Light and there is a vessel (Kli). The Light comes first and creates the will to receive as a vessel for it, and then the will to receive is developed by the Light...

Today we will discuss the structure of Adam ha Rishon (The First Man). We all hear, and supposedly know that there is such a thing as The First Man. It is written about, we talk about it, but who is Adam? When we talk about something, we always refer to it from the point of view of the created being...

When we talk about the Wisdom of Kabbalah, the first question that comes up is—where did this wisdom come from, and why do we need it? There are many people in this world who specialize in different fields such as physics, biology, zoology, botany, and so on. They want to know about nature and so they study it. After doing their research they have knowledge and experience, they have learned the laws of nature, and they know how we can better utilize nature to our advantage...

The Science of Kabbalah did not come about as some product of human thought, detached from genuine reality. Rather, man investigated the surrounding reality as a whole and achieved a state when he revealed reality beyond the level of perception of his five senses. The science that studies this Upper reality is called Kabbalah...