Kabbalah
literally means "receiving", in the sense of a "received tradition",
and is sometimes transliterated as Cabala, Kabbala, Qabalah, or other
permutation. Kabbalah esoterically interprets the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
and classical Jewish texts (halakha and aggadah) and practices
(mitzvot), as expressing a mystical doctrine concerning God's
simultaneous immanence and transcendence, an attempted resolution to the
ancient paradox of how the ultimate Being-"that which is not
conceivable by thinking" (Isaac the Blind)-nevertheless comes to be
known and experienced by the created world.
Because of the
interpretive liberties taken by kabbalistic thinkers, and the possible
heresies to which they may easily lead, study of Kabbalah was
traditionally restricted to a select few Rabbis and Torah scholars. As
Joseph Albo puts it in his Sefer Ha-Ikkarim (II:28, 15th century,
trans:Husik), "This is why the science treating of these things is
called Kabbalah (lit. tradition), because tradition must be followed in
the study and the practice of it, else one is liable to commit an error
and to worship as God some one other than the Lord."
The term
Kabbalah was originally used in Talmudic texts, among the Geonim (early
medieval rabbis) and by Rishonim (later medieval rabbis) as a reference
to the full body of the oral tradition of Jewish teaching, which was
publicly available. Even the works of the Tanakh's prophets were
referred to as Kabbalah, before they were canonized as part of the
written tradition. In this sense Kabbalah was used in referring to all
of Judaism's oral law. Over time, much of the oral law was recorded, but
the esoteric teachings remained an oral tradition. Now, even though the
esoteric teachings of the Torah are recorded, it is still known as
Kabbalah.
Thus, this term became connected with doctrines of
esoteric knowledge concerning God, the human being and the relationship
between them. Ontology, cosmogony, and cosmology are the main components
of this esoteric lore. The reasons for the commandments in the Torah
and the ways by which God administers the existence of the universe are
also a part of the Kabbalah.
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