Kabbalah Is Not Just a Hollywood Fad
October 8th, 2007In recent years Kabbalah has been a very popular religion in Hollywood. It seems everyone has taken to Kabbalah as the latest and greatest Hollywood fad. Kabbalah, though, is a very serious religion that has roots in the Jewish religion.
Kabbalah is a mystical part of Judaism. The ideas include the belief that mastering the Kabbalah will bring a person closer to God and enable them to prophecy and, possibly, to even control nature.
Today, Kabbalah is mostly an open religion; however, in Orthodox Judaism there are specific rules as to when a person can begin to study it. Under Orthodox rule a person must be 40 years old or older and married.
It is believed that the Kabbalah was passed down by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was later translated into secret scrolls. The texts of the Kabbalah are varied. It starts with basic Jewish religious thought and progresses to how to make it to heaven, cosmic charts, Kabbalah basic concepts, answers to frequent questions and mysticism in areas such as prayer, paranormal activity and divination.
The Kabbalistic tree is an important part of this religion. It is the explanation of good and evil. The Kabbalah tree of life contains ten Sephiroth. The right side is the male side and the left side is the female side. The female side is thought to be more evil than the male side.
The understanding of God through Kabbalah is that God is not spirit or matter. God is creation. God is unknowable, yet interacts with man.
The human soul as understood in Kabbalah is that it has three parts or elements. The human soul has a physical and psychological nature called nefesh which is present at birth. It has a higher soul which is related to intellect and allows for the knowledge of God. The third part is developed by learning the teachings and is the intuitive side of the soul.
Kabbalah also teaches about dualism in reference to God. It suggests that there is God and then a counterpart to God. The basic idea is that of the Christian viewpoint of God and the devil.
Kabbalah is not some fly by night religion. It is quite complex and very deeply rooted. Just because some Hollywood celebrities may have brought it to the forefront of pop culture does not mean it is not a true and real religion. Those who practice Kabbalah are as serious about it as anyone else is about their religion.
