Questions about Judaism by Rabbi Zelizer -- November 10, 2009

Frequent questions to the Rabbi about Judaism. His answers will be appearing as Cyberthoughts over time.

Q. What is Kabbalah and does it have any true value?

A. There are four ways to understand the Bible in Judaism. Peshat - the simple meaning; Midrash - the interpretation, the interpretive or practical application; Remez - the text as hinting of some other lesson; and lastly Sod - secret.

- The secret meaning of the text and mitzvot translates itself into Kabbalah. Kabbalah is a complicated and long understanding of Judaism - from approximately the third century up through modern times, with different forms whose central message is 'what you see is not what you get'. That is, the mitzvot and what is written in the Torah are only covers for a substrata of mystical meaning which is under the surface. e.g. - the purpose of putting on tefillin is not to adhere to God but to effect the repair of God.

For further reading on Kabbalah, see The Mystic Way, by David Ariel, in our library and for sale through Amazon or Barnes and Noble.