Spirituality Information

By Bnei Baruch

Authentic Kabbalah was thoroughly concealed for millennia, until the modern times. But if it was concealed during all this time, how did so many Kabbalistic books appear and become available to the public? And why did this wisdom start becoming revealed to people precisely in our times?

In fact, the revelation of Kabbalah does not amount to how many genuine books are available and how clearly those books are written for the layman. Even when Kabbalistic books abound, they can only be properly understood by a person who seeks the books’ true content - spirituality. Kabbalistic books are intended for one thing only: to raise the reader to a level of infinite, boundless joy, which comes from a connection to the Creator. But they can be read this way only by one in whom “a point in heart” has awakened, a desire to reveal the Creator.

Others, who seek different benefits from the books, will receive nothing from them. They will think that the books are confusing, non-consequential, and lacking in any substantial content. At best, they may find a temporary peace of mind by reading them, but not the infinite joy that they are really meant to endow.

In our times, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed to all, since humanity as a whole has become receptive to the true Kabbalistic notions. With every passing year people are more prepared to hear about Kabbalah. Even modern science and the new information it discovers about our reality, help us comprehend the Kabbalistic terms and notions.

The great Kabbalists Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag), Rabash (Rabbi Baruch Shalom Ashlag), and others wrote many texts explaining the importance of spreading this knowledge in our generation without any restriction.

However, despite Kabbalah’s outward revelation, an inpidual’s ability to grasp it depends on his inner desire to feel the Creator. In other words, a person will be able to study the wisdom of Kabbalah and benefit from it, only if he has the true desire to apply this knowledge correctly.

Without a ripe desire, one can spend years studying authentic Kabbalah books, and might even imagine that he receives all kinds of benefits, but all this will be to no avail – he will not feel the Creator, the only result to be had from studying Kabbalah.

Kabbalah becomes practical when one’s desire to know the Creator begins to truly burn within one’s heart, as Baal HaSulam describes it: “...that he will fall passionately in love with the Creator, as one falls passionately for a corporeal love, until the object of passion remains before one’s eyes all day long and all night long...” (“Introduction to The Book of Zohar”)

If a person has this kind of aspiration, then when studying Kabbalah he really learns its wisdom and reveals the spiritual world. But until that happens, his studies amount to nothing more than abstract knowledge, which is not really Kabbalah.

This comes down to how the student attunes himself during the study: one must make sure that he studies the Kabbalistic books precisely through the desire to feel the Creator. Then, instead of intricacies and worldly wisdom, one will really study Kabbalah. Instead of trying to understand the text intellectually, the way he is used to reading other texts, he will use it to increase his desire; and through this desire he will perceive what the text is really talking about – his connection to the Creator.