"Hevruta" - following Lesson 6. The development of the wisdom of Kabbalah over the generations
How did the wisdom of Kabbalah develop throughout history, How is the wisdom of Kabbalah transmitted from generation to generation?
Hevruta - following Lesson 6 - The great Kabbalists
Everything we learn in Kabbalah, all the books and all the writings are all based on transmition from Teacher to students - so it was from generation to generation.
This was so from generation to generation as we can see from the writing of the Kabbalist in various places are placing great care in who did they learn from because this is a key for attainement.
Everything they wrote is in their books - which - as a reminder from last week are written in 4 languages but all speak about the same thing - meaning the upper reality.
This week we come back on the authors of these books - and how was the wisdom of Kabbalah passed down from generation to generation.
Let's start with a few quotes from the sources
Adam HaRishon (litteraly - the First Man - to attain spirituality) was the first to receive a sequence of knowledge sufficient to understand, succeed, and make full use of everything he saw and attained with his own perception. This understanding is called the Wisdom of Truth. This knowledge is transmitted only from mouth to mouth. It also follows a process of development, whereby each person can add to what their predecessor attained.
— Baal HaSulam, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”
The first book that we have in this wisdom is Sefer Yetsira, which is attributed to Abraham and so it is written on its cover. (...)
After the ruin of the Temple they feared that the Torah would be forgotten...the disciples of Rabbi Akiva began to write... Each of them took upon himself a special faction. Rabbi Meir redacted the Mishnah, Rabbi Yehuda redacted the Tosaftot, and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai redacted the wisdom of Kabbalah in which they were proficient, and composed The Book of Zohar and the Tikkunim.
Thus, as the Mishnah is a compilation and assembly of laws and innovations of all the generations leading to the generation of Rabbi Meir, The Zohar is a compilation and assembly of the wisdom of Kabbalah from all the first ones who preceded Rashbi and were only written in Rashbi’s name because he redacted them. Of course, he also added his own attainements."
Baal HaSulam - The History of the Wisdom of Kabbalah
The learning for one who yearns for it, the most successful way is to look for a sage, a true kabbalist, and follow him with whatever he tells him until he is rewarded with understanding the wisdom with his own mind, meaning the first discernment.
Rabash - The Order of transmision the Wisdom
The great Kabbalists
Isaac Luria (the Ari)
Rabbi Isaac ben Shlomo Luria (1534 - 1572, known as the Ari
In the year 1570, he arrived in Safed with his wife and his two daughters, and lived there for two years. In his first year in Safed, the Ari became known to several of the sages of Safed and transmitted to them from his revelations in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Afterward, he met Chaim Vital, established him as the greatest of his disciples and as the continuer of his method. These matters later served as the foundation for the writings of the Ari, which were written and arranged by Chaim Vital.
Rabbi Chaim Vital wrote about him:
There was no one who attained this wisdom in its true attainment as he did. For he was versed in Mishnah and Talmud, and in Aggadot and Midrashim, and in every matter many discernments in Pardes, and in Ma‘aseh Bereshit and Ma‘aseh Merkavah.
He also knew the wisdom of Partzuf ... He would teach the explanation of the root of the soul... He knew how many errors had entered the books. He knew all that the companions had studied. He was filled with chasidut, derech eretz, humility, fear of the Creator and love of the Creator, fear of sin, and all good qualities and good deeds were in him.
All this he knew at every time, hour, and moment. All these wisdoms were constantly present with him. My eyes saw it, and not another. And all this he attained after engaging for many days in ancient books and also newer ones in this wisdom.
Yehuda Ashlag - The Baal HaSulam
Yehuda Ashlag (1885–1954) is known as Baal HaSulam, after his commentary The Sulam (Ladder), which he wrote on The Book of Zohar.
Baal HaSulam was born in the city of Łuków, Poland. At the age of nineteen, he was ordained as a rabbi by leading rabbis of his time, and for sixteen years he served as a dayan (rabbinical judge) and teacher in Warsaw. In 1921, Baal HaSulam immigrated to the Land of Israel, and his name began to spread by word of mouth. Before long, his reputation preceded him, and he became known as one possessing great knowledge in the wisdom of Kabbalah.
His two principal works, the result of many years of labor, are Talmud Eser Sefirot, which is based on the writings of the Ari, and The Sulam Commentary on The Book of Zohar, which is the most complete and comprehensive commentary written on The Zohar to date. Alongside these commentaries, Baal HaSulam published essay a series of articles titled Matan Torah, which later became a bearing that name.
What is “mouth to mouth” (Peh el Peh)?
Transmission mouth to mouth is the highest degree: a spiritual action called nishukin (embrace), when two people acquire a shared screen (masach).
This has no connection to the physical body, to our mouth or to physical kisses. These terms are used because in the spiritual world there are no words; therefore, we borrow all the words from our corporeal world.
If we attain between us such a union (zivug), where our two screens connect and work precisely, in full coordination at the degree of the upper part of our common Partzuf, of our common soul (HaBaD), then we are in a connection called “mutual kissing.”
“Mouth to mouth” means the transmission of spiritual attainment through a shared screen between teacher and student, when both are at the same degree, connected to one another.
It is like an adult and a child in our world: the adult can descend to the child’s degree in order to teach him, and the child is able to receive from the adult in this way, because both are in the same world and at the same degree.
So it is in the spiritual world as well: we can establish a connection with the teacher, who descends to a lower spiritual degree, to which the student must rise—and then they attain a connection called “mouth to mouth”: a connection through a shared screen, between the Partzuf of the Upper and the Partzuf of the Lower.
The screen of the Partzuf is located in the mouth, and therefore this mutual connection is called “mouth to mouth.”