often Kabbalah A body of mystical teachings of rabbinical origin, often based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. A secret doctrine resembling these teachings

G'day Anjana, Thank you for your question. Kabbalah is a form of Jewish mysticism based on the study of God as shown in the Hebrew bible and classical texts. It has traditionally been confined to selected rabbis and Torah scholars as it is likely to lead people less experienced in the texts into heresy. However, some Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna have professed to study it despite a lack of background knowledge. I have attached sources for your reference. Regards Wikipedia Kabbalah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah#Classical_Kabbalah_personalities Hebrew University of Jerusalem http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=450&rsid=478 Judaism 101 FAQ http://www.jewfaq.org/kabbalah.htm Jewish Encyclopedia http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1&letter=C

Everything that exists has a body and soul. Torah-the fundamental teachings of Judaism is the same. Jewish Law is the body of Torah and Kabbalah is its soul. Kabbalah dates back to the times of Abraham and has been an integral part of Jewish teaching ever since. It explores the story behind the story: The secrets of life, Creation, souls and angels, the mystical secrets locked in the Bible and the spiritual meaning behind Jewish tradition. Kabbalah contains sensitive information and is not for amateurs. To keep it for the well-initiated, the Kabbalists wrote their works in metaphors and riddles. If you had to read Kabbalah texts without adequate expertise, you would find it poetic, or disjointed. You probably wouldn't even realize that you're not getting the real story. Like a good diamond, you need to have a trained eye (and mind) to really understand what you're reading there. Unfortunately, people now use the name "Kabbalah" to sell quick-fix spiritual psycho-babble. By and large what they teach has little, if anything, to do with genuine Kabbalah. They borrow Kabbalah terms, mix pop-psychology and, voila! - celebrities become Kabbalists. It's a money-making game and insulting to the true spiritual wealth that Kabbalah offers.

Kabbalah - A body of Mystical Teachings

Although its origins are rooted in deep antiquity, from the time of ancient Babylon, the science of Kabbalah has remained virtually hidden from humanity since it appeared more than four thousand years ago. This very concealment has sustained Kabbalah’s undying allure. Renowned scientists and philosophers of many countries, such as Newton, Leibniz, and Pico della Mirandola, have investigated and tried to understand the science of Kabbalah. However, to this very day only a few know what Kabbalah really is. The science of Kabbalah does not speak about our world, and therefore its essence escapes people. It is impossible to comprehend the invisible, the imperceptible, and that which has not been experienced. For thousands of years, humanity was offered a wide variety of things under the name “Kabbalah”: spells, curses, and even miracles, all except for the science of Kabbalah itself. For over four thousand years, common understanding of the science of Kabbalah has been cluttered with misconceptions and misinterpretations. Therefore, first and foremost, the science of Kabbalah needs to be made clear. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag defines Kabbalah in the following manner in his article The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and effect, in fixed, determined rules, weaving into a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.” Scientific definitions may be complicated and cumbersome. Let’s try to examine what is being said here. There exists the upper force or the Creator, and governing forces descend from this upper force into our world. We do not know how many forces there are, but this is actually unimportant. We exist here in our world. We are created by some upper force that we call “the Creator.” We are familiar with various forces in our world, such as gravity, electromagnetism and the power of thought. However, there are forces of a higher order that act while remaining hidden from us. We call the ultimate, comprehensive force—“the Creator.” The Creator is the sum of all of the world’s forces and the highest level in the line of the governing forces. The science of Kabbalah does not study our world and humans in it, as traditional sciences do. Kabbalah investigates everything that exists beyond the Machsom. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag says that “this wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and effect, in fixed, determined rules...” There is nothing other than forces descending from above in accordance with precise laws. Moreover, these laws, as Ashlag writes, are fixed, absolute and omnipresent. Ultimately, they are all directed so that one can reveal the ultimate governing force of nature while being in our world. Until a person fully reveals this force, until one knows all the worlds one has to climb, obeying the same laws as the descending forces, and until one reaches the world of Infinity, such a person will not leave this world. What does “will not leave” mean? This person will continuously be reborn into our world, evolving from one life to the next until reaching the state where the desire to attain the higher force emerges. http://tinyurl.com/yuamhu

New Age Religion + a pinch of modern Orthodox Judaism = Kabbalah

Like many other things in Judaism, you need to consider the Hebrew word for a start. Kabbalah literally means Tradition. Specifically, Kabbalah refers to the Jewish mystical tradition that has been taught through the ages. We believe that the mystical secrets of the universe were originally trasnmitted to Adam, then Abraham and his descendants. When Moses received the Torah at Mount Sinai, the mystical teachings were included in that package. For most of history, Kabbalah has been reserved for only the most learned Jewish scholars. To enter a Kabbalah school, you had to first be proficient in all other areas of Jewish knowledge. Kabbalah explores the secrets of souls, angels, the nature of G-d and the meaning of life. It is taught in metaphors and parables, which would leave the average person thinking they had understood something deep and spiritual, while in actual fact the "inspiring" message is merely a smoke screen to hide the true meaning. After all, secrets of the universe should be decoded only by those qualified to hold them. In recent years, there's been an increased interest in Kabbalah. Unfortunately, many people have taken advantage of this and formed "Kabbalah" societies, which take very basic Kabbalah concepts, and build a philosophy around them. To access true Kabbalah is more challenging. It requires a good knowledge of basic Jewish philosophy, Hebrew and Aramaic. Take a look here: http://tinyurl.com/23nbe9 www.inner.org www.kabbalaonline.org www.chabad.org for some genuine, accessible Kabbalah teachings.

Kabbalah="traditional" Jewish mysticism."practical kabbalah" is a form of magic.

Kabbalah is the power in the book called the Zohar. It has been translated into English. Kabbalah is studying daily from this book, meditating, loving the world and sharing. Kabbalah's traditions have been broken. Now woman and children can know this wisdom. It's time has come. The power of the Zohar belongs to the many not the few. Thanks to the Kabbalah Center and the Bergs.

Witchcraft. My 2 cents.

It is an ancient mystical and esoteric teaching filled with rites and symbols.

It's the capital of Afghanistan.

Judaism witchcraft. My 2 cents.

Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism. It is part and parcel of Judaism, though it offers insight into many universal issues. Kabbalah has been around for millenia (one of the fundamental Kabbalah manuscripts is attributed to Abraham, another manuscript to Adam), but was always studied only by the greatest scholars and in secret. In recent years, Kabbalah has been popularized by celebrities and teachers who have taken basic Kabbalah ideas and marketed them as a path of self-improvement. Real Kabbalah is cryptic, encoded in metaphors and parables and loads of Hebrew or Aramaic world-play. To undertand the ancient texts, you would need to be fluent in both those languages and familiar with the Talmudic style of logic that Kabbalah uses. Kabbalah is the study of the source-code of Creation. Techies know the binary behind Windows, I just point and click. Kabbalists learn the technology behind life, we live it on the surface. Kabbalah explores the nature of G-d (a paradoxical journey of explaining the unexplainable), the universes (physical and spiritual) and the soul. Kabbalah makes demands on its adherents, because it teaches that studying mysticism is not something you do only with your brain, but with your whole being. Kabbalah expects its students to control their impulsive side, focus their minds, achieve a strong moral basis in their lives, become tolerant and benevolent and to submit to the Divine authority. It's not for the faint-hearted. People tend to confuse Kabbalah with magic or sorcery. While Kabbalah does offer some practical reality-altering skills, these are a very minor part of the study. Genuine Kabbalists steer their students clear of those areas of Kabbalah, because they tend to distract people from what Kabbalah is really all about. You can find great information on Kabbalah at: www.kabbalaonline.org www.inner.org and for a good introduction www.chabad.org

It is an ancient Jewish meditation form started by people who wanted to experience what Ezekiel did - peering through the sky and seeing God sitting on his throne. However, the rituals and teaching these individuals follow explicate the prophetic religion the Bible warns is actually Satanism. Sounds extreme but its the truth. The rituals in kabbalah reflect rituals found in ancient Egypt. The Bible warns against rituals -period- in both the Old and New Testament- as they are what pagan socities practiced. The teachings are a dead giveaway - Kabbalah is an esoteric religion - meaning the people who know about it are "enlightend" and these people believe they have the ability to CONTROL THE ACTIONS OF GOD by their works - be them good or bad. The Bible is clear in saying we are SUBJECT to GOD we cannot control him! He blesses or punishes through his love for us - not because he is some mindless robot who can be controlled by humans ! Isaiah 1: v6 But the *Lord no longer wants his special people. This is because they gladly accept foreigners from the east who practise magic like the *Philistines. v7 The people in Israel own masses of silver and gold. Nobody can count the number of horses and carriages for war. v8 Everywhere there are images of false gods. People have made them with their own hands. But then they persuade themselves that their images are their gods! v9 The people in Israel are so proud of themselves. Their *Lord can never forgive such an attitude. Dont join the "synagogue of satan" ( Rev 2:9)