Should You Learn (and Practice) Kabbala?

I suppose it might be useful to have an opinion about whether or not the Zohar is an authentic Torah source or whether or not the Ari’s innovations conflict with traditional Torah literature. But even if you prefer to give those debates a miss, we all have to ask ourselves whether engaging with modern kabbala is a good idea.

Sure, there’s no shortage of contemporary rabbis who "hold of" the Zohar and I personally know plenty of yeshiva/kollel leaders who invest significant time learning kabbala. But does mainstream Torah literature support such activities, or is there some (mostly harmless) “antinomianism” going on?

We can begin with the Mishna (Chagiga 11b), where individuals who are not considered “wise and intuitively understanding” (חָכָם וּמֵבִין מִדַּעְתּוֹ) are restricted from studying either מעשה בראשית or מעשה מרכבה under any circumstances. In addition, it would have been better (רתוי) that one who even “stares” (מסתכל) at “what’s above, what’s below, what’s inside, and what’s behind” had never been born.

Granted, there’s plenty of ambiguity surrounding nearly every word of that Mishna. But I’m confident concluding that, at the very least, modern kabbalists believe their pivotal principles (including צימצום) are technically included in the restrictions. The simple reading of the Mishna would seem to discourage open minded Jews from pursuing such studies.

How did the early Lurianic kabbalists approach the problem? For the most part, they appeared to assume that the rules applied differently to their new wisdom and their historical context. Nevertheless, they did seem to make their arguments conditional on assumptions about the imminent arrival of the messianic age (which, with the hindsight of 500 years, were clearly mistaken), and on a direct face-to-face relationship with a living teacher (which, given the Rema’s claim in his תורת העולה that there were no such opportunities by his time, is clearly impossible).

Given the ambiguity of those sources, it would be difficult to claim that kabbalistic study is halachically forbidden. But there’s little doubt about what the Tanaim prefer.

In fact, the Ari and his followers went much further. There’s a fascinating teshuva in the halacha sefer (רב פעלים חלק א' נ"ו) of the kabbalist, the Ben Ish Chai (the Chacham Yosef Chaim from Baghdad). He quotes Rabbi Chaim Vital that the Ari himself, while on his deathbed, instructed his student Rabbi Yitzchak Hakohen to no longer engage in this study because he can't fully understand it and will¹ come to heresy. From then on, the Ari instructed, only Rabbi Vital may learn it, and only in silence.

The Ben Ish Chai himself, referring specifically to Arabic translations of the Idra, wrote:

If any Jew will learn (Idra) in Arabic or any other language it is impossible that his mind won't briefly imagine that these physical descriptions of the higher spheres are actually as they're written - even if this is just a brief thought. (Reading it this way) is a full prohibition. [Note: loose translation]

He further writes:

The words of Idra and Zohar have no simple meaning at all...and there are places where the simple meaning is literally heretical (חירוף וגידוף).

Perhaps you’ll argue that it’s safe to rely on trusted teachers. But who should you trust? The hundreds of kabbala books available through Orthodox publishers and distributors? Online video or audio shiurim? Something you once heard from your brother-in-law’s rosh hayeshiva? I somehow doubt that those would meet the Rema’s threshold - or the Ari’s threshold for that matter.

Even if you somehow manage to properly understand what you’re reading, you’ll still need to pass the “is it worth my time” test:

On that, the Maharsha (חידושי אגדות חגיגה יג. דה"מ תא אגמרך) takes a dim view:

מכאן תשובה לאותן אנשים שבדור הזה שמבלים כל ימיהם בחכמת הקבלה גם בילדותם ואם החכמה ההיא חכמת הקבלה אינו נוגע במעשה מרכבה לא ידענא למה לא הוזכרה זו החכמה בשום מקום לא במשנה ולא בתלמוד ובתוספתא ובמכילתא ובספרא ובספרי ולפי הנראה שחכמה זו נוגעת בלמעלה ממעשה מרכבה ויותר ראוי להסתירה ולא לגלותה

“From here is an answer to those people in this generation who waste all their days in the wisdom of kabbala, even in their youth. And if this wisdom - the wisdom of kabbala - isn’t relevant to מעשה מרכבה I don’t know why it wasn’t mentioned anywhere in Mishna, Talmud, Tosefta, Mechilta, Sifra, or Sifri. And, as it seems, this wisdom is relevant to (topics higher than) מעשה מרכבה, it’s even more appropriate to hide it and not to reveal it.”

Suppose you think, “what else am I going to spend my time on, watching movies? Would reading Zohar be any worse?” Well there’s still the long-term impact on your intellectual and theological framework to consider. As Rabbi S.R. Hirsch wrote in his Nineteen Letters:

“What if, in addition, one aspect of Judaism, the actual repository of its spirit, was studied in such an uncomprehending way as to reduce its spirit to physical terms, and man’s inner and outer endeavors came to be interpreted as a mere mechanical, magical, dynamic building of cosmic worlds – thereby often reducing all those activities that were meant to train and give vitality to the spirit to mere preoccupation with amulets?” (Letter Ten)

To put it in different terms, I wonder how many serious talmiday chochomim - regardless of their personal feelings on the background issues - would advise a ben Torah to add a seder in kabbala to his learning schedule?

Of course, I may be misjudging contemporary rabbis. But I definitely feel that it’s always worth measuring options against big-picture considerations and consequences.

1. Not “might” come to heresy; “will” come to heresy.

Photo by Ian Kuik on Unsplash