II. Before there Was Time. 12. Becoming a Kabbalah Student

The study of Kabbalah has changed dramatically over the years, and not just in the opening up of the once mysterious and secretive wisdom to the masses. Kabbalists are connected in the most technologically advanced and media-savvy ways. As a result, the books, teachers, and groups required to get the most out of Kabbalah study are easy to find today...

From the early Kabbalists, Adam and Abraham, through the writing of The Zohar and up to the Middle Ages, Kabbalah was primarily passed through word of mouth. Kabbalists primarily shared their spiritual experiences with each other as they discovered the Upper Worlds. At the same time, Kabbalists prohibited the study of Kabbalah from people who had not been prepared for it. They treated their students cautiously, to ensure that they studied in the proper manner, and they intentionally limited the number of students. Although we have made the point that Kabbalah study is open to all, we have not related how important the study of Kabbalah is today. To Kabbalists, in fact, wide dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is a must. That, as much as anything else, accounts for the tremendous interest in Kabbalah today...

Correction does not happen without study. For this reason, the Creator sent us the Trinity of Kabbalah: books, teachers, and groups of study companions. The rest of this chapter describes each of those tools of Kabbalah study—books, teachers, and groups—and you should work with them...

Experiencing the Creator requires a teacher. The teacher guides the student as the student rises to the spiritual level of the teacher and bonds with the teacher’s wisdom and thoughts. In fact, today, a single individual cannot enter the spiritual world. This would be like one individual beginning to develop the whole of physics or chemistry and then developing the technology to apply them. It would be similar to living like a Neanderthal without using all that humanity has achieved so far. In other words, it would be senseless...

All of the great Kabbalists studied in groups. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai held a group of students, and so did the Ari. A group is vital in order to progress. It is the primary tool of Kabbalah, and everyone is measured by his contribution to the group. A person who studies alone can use only one’s own vessel to receive the Light of the Creator. Those who study in a group create a spiritual vessel that consists of all the participants, and everyone enjoys its illumination...

Kabbalists are standing by … it’s almost like a call center these days. The general public cannot have a teacher standing next to each of them, but teachers are available to anyone, anywhere. Advanced communications connect groups with teachers. Everything develops according to what is needed for the final correction; this is why communication has developed in the way it has. Social networks, e-learning, cheap and fast Internet, all those make Kabbalah study accessible to everyone...

Kabbalah is not only open for everyone today, but disseminating it is the call of the hour...