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Valke2
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Valke2;3685309:
Well, practical kabalah relies only on the power of God, so I wouldn’t say it is “occult”. Kabalah is a very general term and covers all aspects of Jewish mysticism. Think of practical kabalah like nuclear power. You can use it but you better know what you’re doing.So the origins of practical or practiced kaballah are considered
not kosher, for lack of a beeter word, or maybe of the occult? Today there are students as opposed to practitioners who study some other thng than what Kaballah once was or offered Jews.
It is a way to contemplate the mystery of God and the Ineffable.What is the objective of the modern version? What are the benefits that are supposed to be derived from the study?
There are many books you can purchase that would explain it. You can try Steinsaltz’ “Opening Tanya” or “13 Petal Rose” You can pick up a copy of the Zohar, one of the main texts studied by Kabalahists.If the centers are not teaching real Kaballah, what is real Kaballah? Who is the person or what group define the real thing? By the way I think orthodox Christianity would regard any spiritual practice done for the purposes of material gain, sexual thrills, and other hedonist gain as witchcraft, calling on the powers of darkness. That is not to say that Christians do not do this, and some without realizing it.
Kabalah is the delving into the mysteries of the Jewish scriptures and looking at the same from a completely different but completely compatiable perspective. As such, it is like relearing the complete Tanach. So to define it is very difficult.
I think the answer is that many Jews find value and a deeper understanding of their faith through studying kabalah.At any rate it would be interesting to know what those who practice the more modern sanitized version of Kaballah hope to gain from it. Also the question comes to mind, if I were a Jew, why not simply go to the temple or synagogue and pray or read the Torah, keep the traditional sabath practices, etc., if I want to live as God wills? Why play around with some practice with wierd origins?