Ten's Course - Lesson 18. "The Historical and Conceptual Origins of Opposition to the Wisdom of Kabbalah"
Lesson Objective: To examine the underlying causes of both internal and external resistance to the study of Kabbalah, and to demonstrate how such resistance can be consciously transformed into a mechanism for spiritual progression.
Description of the Phenomenon and Its Underlying Causes
External Resistance
External resistance refers to opposition expressed in the social, cultural, and intellectual spheres. Historically, this has manifested through public condemnation, suppression of texts, and institutional prohibitions. In contemporary contexts, such resistance is more commonly expressed through ideological critique, academic skepticism, or the mischaracterization of Kabbalah as mystical speculation or esoteric superstition.
Primary External Cause
A central contributing factor to such resistance is a fundamental misunderstanding of the language of branches — the symbolic and allegorical linguistic system unique to authentic Kabbalistic literature.
Internal Resistance
Internal resistance constitutes the more significant challenge for the individual practitioner. Students often begin their studies with enthusiasm and a strong sense of affinity; however, after a period of engagement — typically months or years — a phase of internal opposition frequently arises, marked by doubt, aversion, or a sense of inner conflict.
Root of Internal Resistance
This internal struggle is considered an inherent and natural stage in the process of spiritual development. It originates from the intrinsic tension between human nature — defined in Kabbalah as the egoistic desire to receive — and the aim of Kabbalistic practice, which is the attainment of the altruistic quality of bestowal.
Ten's Course - Lesson 18
Topic: The Historical and Conceptual Origins of Opposition to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
Selected excerpts from the sources
1. Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Orot HaKodesh I, p. 101
“The depths of the divine secrets cannot be understood clearly by human intellect, but only through Kabbalah, from wondrous individuals into whose souls the divine light has penetrated.”
2. Ramak, Know the God of Your Father, chapter 14:
“The secrets of the Torah are clothed in parables and riddles within the Torah, due to the spreading of the Torah and its descent from the highest levels down to this physical world.”
3. Rabash, Article No. 29 (1987) "What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”?"
"Man is born inside the will to receive for himself. Suddenly, he comes to the body and says, “Listen, until now you worked in thought, speech, and action for your own sake. From now on, I want you to work only for the sake of the Creator...When the body hears these words, it resists with all its might, both in mind and in heart.”
4. Rabash, Article No. 29 (1987) "What Is “According to the Sorrow, So Is the Reward”?"
"According to one’s prevailing, to that extent he reveals its resistance through all kinds of arguments, such as the arguments of the spies. <...> Indeed, concerning the argument of the spies that comes into his mind at that time, he sees that they are right in everything they say. This causes him to doubt the beginning".
5. Baal HaSulam, Shamati 181. Honor
"Honor is something that stops the body, and to that extent it harms the soul. Hence, all the righteous who became famous and respected, it was a punishment. But the great righteous, when the Creator does not want them to lose by being famous as righteous, the Creator guards them from being honored, so as not to harm their souls.
Hence, to the extent that they are honored on one hand, on the other hand, they are faced with dissenters who degrade them with all kinds of degradations. To the extent that creates an equal weight to the honor given to a righteous, to that very extent the other side gives disgrace".