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Kabala CABBALA, Kabala Origin — The Cabbala (from the Hindoo Kapila, the inventor of the philosophy of numbers) is the summary of the labors of the sects of Judaism, and is occupied in the mystical interpretation of the Scriptures, and in metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity and the worlds visible and invisible. The Jews say that it was communicated to Moses by God Himself. Now, although it is not at all improbable that the writer, to whom history has given the name of Moses, did leave to his successors some secret doctrines, yet the fantastic doctrines of the Cabbala concerning angels and demons are purely Chaldean; at Babylon the Jews ingrafted on Monotheism the doctrine of the two Principles. Daniel, the pontiff of the Magi and prophet of the Jews, may be considered as the chief founder of the Cabbala, which was conceived at Babylon, and received as the forbidden fruit of the strange woman. The ancient Jews had some idea of angels, but did not ascribe to them any particular functions, though to each patriarch they assigned a special familiar spirit. The Alexandrian School made many additions to that foreign importation; Philo supplemented Daniel. The speculative portion of the Cabbala, whose foundation consists in the doctrine of Emanation, was developed in that School; the philosophical systems of Pythagoras and Plato were combined with Oriental philosophy, and from these proceeded Gnosticism and Neoplatonism. Date of Cabbala . Temple Worship — Like every other great religion that of the Jews was originally hierurgic, i.e. they had a priesthood and a more or less complicated ritual. However unlike most peoples, they had a highly centralized cult, for the full enactment of the aforesaid ritual could only be carried out in a single place of worship. This, as we have seen, was at first the movable tabernacle, and later the fixed temple at Jerusalem, which was thrice erected and thrice destroyed, under the vicissitudes of history. This does not rule out smaller places of worship, such as were present in early times either on hills or under trees,’ more especially in early times. Like other great religions the Jewish involved a belief in spirits of various kinds, some of which were angels. The holy men of the Old Testament had to engage in encounters with evil magicians. Moses and Aaron had to engage in contests with the magicians of the pharaoh, during which the rod of Aaron turned into a serpent, which eventually swallowed up those produced by the rivals. Under the command of the Lord they placed ten plagues on the Egyptians in a miraculous fashion. Elias (Elijah) contends in a successful manner with the priests of Baal, being able to set fire to a sacrifice in a supernatural manner, whilst they cannot. Balaam is a soothsayer; miraculous speech is given to his ass, and he himself prophesies the Messiah, saying a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel. The raising of the spirit of Samuel by the witch of Endor, on being consulted by Saul, is another example of magic in the Old Testament. Finally the most remarkable feat of all was the act of Josue (Joshua) in making the sun stand still, the meaning of which has been variously interpreted by commentators. The first of the ten commandments includes a prohibition of idolatry. This was so strongly condemned among the Jews and Moslems that there was a strong tendency, especially among the latter, to forbid even the making of images. However, we know that images were sometimes used by the Jews in the worship of God, as for instance the two cherubim on either side of the mercy-seat, over the tabernacle and temple, where the presence of God was believed to dwell, (2 Ex., xxv, 22) and the cherubim carved all round the walls of Solomon’s temple. (3 III Kings, vi, 29.) However, such images were frequently looked upon with distrust. The brazen serpent, set up by Moses at the command of God, ( 4 Numbers, xxi, 8,) which healed the Israelites bitten by serpents, was afterwards destroyed, as it had become an object of idolatry. The teraphim first mentioned as belonging to Terah, the father of Abraham, and frequently later, were consulted as oracles. (IV Kings , XVIII, 4) . There is little doubt that images then, became associated with foretelling the future, (Zach.,X, 2).not to mention other abominable practices hinted at in various places in the Old Testament, that the sin of idolatry, in fact, had associations with black magic. Secret Knowledge — The Jews distinguish between the external, or exoteric features of their belief, and the internal, occult, or esoteric aspects. In fact they marked out three grades of knowledge, (i) the law, expounded in the Old Testament, and particularly in the first five books, the Pentateuch, ascribed to Moses, which was supposed to be learnt by all Jews; (ii) the Talmud, which was studied by all priests and learned rabbis; and (iii) the Kabalah or Kabbalah (QBLH) which was secret knowledge, imparted to highly learned initiates only, and which has only partly been revealed in writing, and that only in relatively modern times. In addition to the Talmud, we may mention the Midrashim, which continued the theological discussions of the Jews from the 2nd to the 13 century A.D. The Kabalah is the great repository of Jewish occult knowledge, and this in mediaeval times had a tremendous influence on both theologians and magicians, Jewish, Christian and Moslem. It is still taught and revered in arcane schools surviving to this day. The Kabalah or Qabalah (variously spelt) is a complete system of symbolism, angelology, demonology and magic. It discusses reincarnation and messianism, and in view of the latter, has become a bone of bitter contention between Jews and Christians, it having been alleged, by the latter, that it contains the whole of Christian theology, whilst it is a fact that a few Jews have been converted to the Catholic religion by its means. It must also be recorded that some Jewish philosophers of note reject the Kabalah altogether, and call into question its fundamental assumptions. Amongst these are Moses Maimonides (A.D. 1139—1205) whose Guide to the Perplexed has often been reprinted in recent times, and H. Graetz (1817-91), the great Jewish historian. The Kabalah is an unwritten tradition, and should be learnt from one who is not only a profound Hebrew scholar, but who possesses a flair for occult symbology. This particularly applies to the use of the kabalistic law of correspondences. The kabalists believe that every word, every letter and every point in the Old Testament script has a meaning and therefore the text cannot be altered. The writer once heard a learned kabalist quote Jesus, from the New Testament, regarding Him as a learned rabbi: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matt. v, 18) Now the kabalists believe there are many correspondences between words and sentences, between letters and numbers and between letters and other letters. If you are interested in learning Kabala, contact me at the e-mail address below or call (561) 588-9282.
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