/r/JewishKabbalah

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r/JewishKabbalah is a community dedicated to discuss Jewish Kabbalah

Welcome to /r/JewishKabbalah! The goal of this subreddit is to be a place to discuss kabbalistic texts and their meanings.

Rules:

  1. Be respectful of other users.
  2. If you're making a claim about anything concrete (history, science, etc.), please try to cite a source whenever possible.
  3. Please try to put some effort in your post title, post content and comments. Use descriptive titles, try to spell properly and use proper punctuation.
  4. Don't link to your own blog unless it's all about Jewish Kabbalah.
  5. Don't engage in a flame war with another user. If you think someone is behaving inappropriately, report and move on.
  6. Questions are encouraged. If we start getting the same questions over and over again, I'll see about creating a FAQ.
  7. This is a community about Jewish Kabbalah. Keep it Jewish!
  8. No proselytism.
  9. No advertisement of groups/societies without approval of the mods.

/r/JewishKabbalah

3,386 Subscribers

8

Atniq Galil is an important formula in practical kabbalah. It's found in Sefer Raziel, and an older source is a ritual to obtain divine power from the Cairo Genizah (Bodleian Library, ms. Heb. c. 20, fol. 41r-v). This is a translation of that rite; the formula is on the right (Raziel)

1 Comment
2024/12/09
17:29 UTC

3

lost in what/where I should seek help to this dream, help please?

I kindly ask for the help of anyone on this matter

I'm a current student of the jewish kabbalah with a side of the parashiot weekly and been looking to full conversion to judaism lately (getting used to the customs but respectfully and looking into ancestry, the land my mom is from had received lots of jewish families during the inquisition, so doubts on being jewish by blood too) I fell asleep listening to some jewish songs but the thing that caught me was the dream i had while the songs were playing, I remember vividly to V'zakeinu being sang while I visited this jewish family home with a couple and two children, (first dream that was "jewish-oriented", never dreamt about anything like this before), they were super receptive, specially the father had a hint of full-on joy and up spirit, welcoming and all, and the mother was caring and had care in her eyes, the children were about 13-19 I guess, they didn't done much, but I had a wonderful feeling overall being inserted into the place, for some reason the family washed themselves in oil, I guess it's anointing oil, the father and mother bathed their children and then invited me to have one too, I bent my head down, the oil had a wonderful smell and it was poured on my head by the man, right after both of the father and mother did to themselves, and the song i told earlier was by the apex, the next thing I remember is us changing clothes like a normal thing, there was no malice we changed and went to check ourselves (me, the mother and father) on the mirror, there was joy, something so good and happy about it, we smiled, the father was caring and happy, looking proud of me and excited and the mother looked to me with something as good as a mother's care in her eyes, on my finger there was this huge ring with a hollow maguen david and in the spaces were deep green stones, I took one of my fingers (indicator or the thumb I guess) and took it to my mouth, there was something on it (the oil I had my head washed i guess) but it was sweet as honey, we were all smiling and a good thing was in the air. I woke up, checked the exact song and searched for the meaning, discovered it is a prayer to rise children who are righteous (didn't know either about the song nor the meaning behind). Now I'm way too lost on the meaning about everything, the dream, the song, it just all felt good and warming, I felt in family.

3 Comments
2024/12/04
23:32 UTC

6

Yesod circumcision Zohar

I currently don't have my Zohar set anymore but I remember reading a verse about circumcision and "throwing the foreskin to the dust" what does this actually mean in spiritual sense and not a physical sense ?

I also read on Laitmans website about the yesod and malchut restriction and he mentions yesod is covered with a foreskin, so in this situation what is meant by foreskin, does it mean like a veil or covering ?

1 Comment
2024/12/01
10:27 UTC

3

Criticism about De Pauly's Zohar

Hi! I'm aware Zohar should be read only in the original aramaic. But i heard that De Pauly's french version of Zohar has been criticized and accused of having been manipulated. How did he manipulated it? Which parts he have changed? And why also Soncino's version is criticized?

2 Comments
2024/11/29
12:37 UTC

7

Is the Laitman version of the Zohar authentic and/or complete?

I'm not here to talk about Laitman the person or Bnei Baruch as an organization. I have a Laitman translation of the Zohar, which I obtained before I knew that the Zohar was normally a multivolume work. So, I wanted to ask, is the Laitman version of the Zohar complete? What else do I need to get if not?

7 Comments
2024/11/22
03:36 UTC

8

Bibliography and next reading steps

Hi all,

I have been studying kabbalah for some years and my journey has basically been going from book to book - I'm not jewish and never encountered a community to study together, a master or anything like that. Because of this, I lack a bit of order in the direction I go with my studies, so would love it if you guys can help me out with what to read next. I'm pasting below a list of the works I read and some that I took notes to maybe read next. Any favorites?

Also, please feel free to make comments on the ones already read. I also thought it would be quite cool for other people as well to see this list as a guide if you're going from beginner to more intermediate studies, so maybe it's helpful to get more opinions.

Read:

Garden of pomegranates - Israel Regardie

The mystical qabalah - Dion Fortune

The qabalah - Papus

Practical kabbalah - Rabbi Laibl Wolf

The thirteen petalled rose - Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Kabbalah and astrology - Z’ev Ben Shimon Halevi

Secrets of the Zohar - Michael Berg

Yet to read:

Sepher yetzirah - Aryeh Kaplan

Bahir - Aryeh Kaplan

Meditation and kabbalah - Aryeh Kaplan

Origins of the kabbalah - Eliphas Levi

In the Shadow of the Ladder: Introductions to Kabbalah - Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag

Shaar HaGilgulim - Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, Isaac Luria

18 Comments
2024/11/20
01:25 UTC

14

Is "metatrons" cube pattern legitimately brought down in Jewish Kabbalah, or is it a Western Occultic appropriation?

So title. Also the interpretation I've heard of Merkaba is 2 interlocking tetrahedrons, one pointing up, one down. Rotating opposite each other. So like title, is this western weirdness that I picked up, or is this a legit understanding? And if it is Kabbalah, what would be the source text for this, if any?

edit: tetrahedrons, 2 together opposite orientation make a "star tetrahedron"

https://preview.redd.it/pjxt5lzhdj1e1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=015451909637455de465f1af7d207a06de23af13

6 Comments
2024/11/17
22:15 UTC

14

Kabbalah

4 Comments
2024/11/16
19:57 UTC

7

The Legacy of Jewish Werewolves

0 Comments
2024/11/13
19:57 UTC

11

Is reincarnation a concept in Kabbalah ?

Is it? If Yes then-

Can Kabbalists be born again as non-Kabbalists?

Can non-Kabbalists be reincarnated as Kabbalists?

There are also other questions as well!

6 Comments
2024/11/12
18:16 UTC

11

What position does Judaism traditionally have on self-torture to test faith? Specifically something as directly harmful as self-flagellation?

Since a post I read pretty much sums up the details of my question and is why I'm asking this, I'm quoting it.

I am curious of the Calvinist and Reformed Christianity on mortification of the flesh through painful physical torture such as fasting, self-flagellation, tatooing, cutting one's wrist, waterboarding oneself in blessed water, and carrying very heavy objects such as cross replication for miles with no rest or water? And other methods of self-harm so common among Catholic fundamentalists done to test their faith and give devotion to Jesus?

As someone baptised Roman Catholic, I know people who flagellate themselves and go through months have fasting with no food along with a day or two without drinking water. So I am wondering what is Judaism's position on corporal mortification acts especially like cutting yourself with a knife and fasting?

6 Comments
2024/11/07
22:02 UTC

8

Some archangels with their virtues and powers, from the Sefer Berit Menucha

10 Comments
2024/11/01
05:08 UTC

2

Pillar Polarities Clarification Needed

I would love to hear your thoughts on the interesting contrast within the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, where the three planets associated with the Pillar of Severity (a feminine polarity) are often perceived as masculine. Saturn, for instance, is frequently linked with the father figure; Mars symbolizes masculinity; and Mercury, representing intellect and the conscious mind, is also traditionally seen as masculine (as opposed to the subconscious, which aligns more with feminine aspects). Conversely, the Pillar of Mercy aligns with Venus, a distinctly feminine symbol, and Neptune, god of the sea (subconscious). The names themselves seem counterintuitive to me: mercy feels like a motherly quality, while severity seems more characteristic of the father.

7 Comments
2024/10/31
22:59 UTC

3

Have You No Blessing For Me? Rectifications Of The Esau Soul-Root

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G5u-Mef4j2s34OjGHRB53JY2aj93NByp/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116231706330887841569&rtpof=true&sd=true

This Dvar Torah sees (1) Rectifying the sin of Adam; (2) Rescuing the fallen Sparks/Souls of the World of Chaos (the Cain/Esau soul-root); and (3) Reuniting the rectified and perfected Cain/Esau soul-root with the rectified and perfected Abel soul-root of the World of Tikkun (which culminates in the arrival of messiah, the son of Joseph, and messiah, the son of David), as the “back-story” of the entire Torah.

0 Comments
2024/10/29
19:15 UTC

21

Curious if this particular Magen David pendant has other symbolic significance

I was gifted this pendant a few years ago by a stranger, and I'm curious if there's any other significance or symbolism attached to this that someone might help me understand, or if it's just extra flaire to pretty it up. I personally haven't seen a design quite like it, and I've searched quite a bit. Apologies if this isn't the place to ask, though I appreciate any insight.

10 Comments
2024/10/25
22:04 UTC

7

Abra Kadabra Open Sesame is a key..?

Secrets to life are hidden right under your nose, in children's stories?
I really don't know where else to say this. I'm not into occult things. Was just a little into harry potter growing up, more into D&D. Was raised to hide I was Jewish growing up, so didn't care about learning anything about religion... til the age of 23 and Abraham & Noah come to me in a dream, and I didn't even know who Abraham was. I cared more about star trek, quantum physics & sustainability for the planet more than religion or magic. I did believe in reincarnation a little bit... but thats it.
Fast forward to a year ago, Oct 7th was Simchat Torah, a holocaust event for Israel.

I get a thought in my mind I need to become more religious.. so I start to read the Jewish prayer book, the siddur..,a few months go by, I'm learning more Hebrew as mine was pretty crappy, and find a part of it called 'BeMa Madlikim' translated as "with what oils you can you light" for shabbat candles. I all of a sudden see the word for sesame in hebrew has the word sun in it, and a thought comes to my mind of King Solomon's most famous phrase "there's nothing new under the sun" so I think to myself, where's there something new? and the next thought comes to my mind "open sesame" There's nothing new above the sun, or the sides, but inside the sun. I keep reading the siddur, and it talks about using an egg shell to drip oil inside an earthen vessel is forbidden, so I think to myself, what if this is a riddle, and you're supposed to use the egg shell itself. I do this.

The next morning I dream I find the staff of Moses, it is a small burnt black wand, I feel it's weight and age is immeasurable. I cast a small purple flame from it, the same size as the sesame oil I lit the night before. I then put this staff/wand on my hand as a 6th finger.
I then realize the hebrew word for oil = Shemen, the same letters as how you spell Shaman, a magic user from most ancient religions..who are responsible for doing rites for the dead...
The next week I get the inspiration that the sun & moon are like God's eyes, as the moon waxes & wanes, God blinks at us. And perhaps the sun & moon are doorways to infinity, and using this oil inside an eggshell is how we open up heavens doorway on Earth. The Zohar & judaism in general loves using the metaphor as your soul being a candle.
Fast forward 7 or so months later, Simchat Torah again, 1 year after that horrible massacre, all of a sudden start thinking more about "open sesame" isn't enough of this equation. There's also abra cadabra too, which I'm sure 99% of people in the world only translate it as "create as you speak" but then all of a sudden the idea of Abraham comes to my mind again, and his name comes from the word Avar, Ivri, meaning comes from the other side, and I think other side of where, Cadabra sounds like cadaver, dead body, come from the other side,...

I then put the 2 together, open sesame, + abra kadabra and it makes perfect sense, that we are the 'gate keepers' to the next world... Alladin is the combination of the arabic word for God, and din = judgement.

Just now I decided to read the story of Ali Baba, and its funny the original story, Ali Baba's brother is name is Kassim, translates to magic in Hebrew.
Earlier this week I thought 'why in an egg shell?' I hear someone say "in the exiting of Egypt" in hebrew, and it makes the word Egg in there. and that's part of what this does, like its perhaps a way to beat this simulation we're living in, like the matrix, this is the red pill.. Then the idea of how an electron can be both wave/particle at the same time, and how the only true randomizer in the world is a lava lamp, I think, perhaps this oil in an egg shell is kind of like a quantum randomizer, since no 2 eggs broken by your hands will ever be the same, perhaps this is a spell that will protect you in the upcoming battle of good vs evil, as well as transfer souls to the next world.

And the funniest thing, messiah in Hebrew is Moshiach, meaning annointed, with oil. What are the chances God hid the key to infinity right under every single religious Jew's nose, in plain sight, who've been praying and reading the same sentances in their prayer book every friday evening for thousands of years... is it a treasure hunt? Or what are the chances I'm living life like the movie Memento... slowly remembering.... Eh I've already got the thought that life is more like inception + matrix combined, we are quantum organic computers and can create a whole universe every time we dream, science has proven this too, just check out popular mechanics most recent story about quantum consciousness..
Row row row your boat, gently down the stream of time, merrily merrily life is but a dream, within a dream.
Light your shabbat candles with sesame oil inside an egg shell yo!
So many times in the Torah its written "fragrant smells" for all the korbanot... if you have kids, you can light a candle for each of them, use a different oil, it'll make a rainbow of pleasing aroma for God. Perhaps this is the rainbow road from mario cart/leprachauns pot o gold, to the wizard of Oz....

Ciao

0 Comments
2024/10/24
21:05 UTC

3

Sode Razaya: Laws of the Throne translation (Eleazar of Worms)

The first translation of the Laws of the Throne, a Hasidei-Ashkenaz kabbalistic exposition on the Throne of God, by Eleazar of Worms. It is a chapter from the Sode Razaya, Eleazar's greatest work https://www.scribd.com/document/783667733/Sode-Razaya-Laws-of-the-Throne

0 Comments
2024/10/24
14:10 UTC

8

User flairs

Hello community,

I have enabled user flairs, there are provided for Jews, non-Jews and Noahides. You can customise your flair to share your personal identity or belief if you’d like.

1 Comment
2024/10/22
21:56 UTC

5

Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva translation

This is a complete translation of the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva, an esoteric commentary on the Hebrew letters https://www.scribd.com/document/783064308/The-Alphabet-of-Rabbi-Akiva

0 Comments
2024/10/22
18:12 UTC

6

Why am I only moved by hebrew?

When reading Tehillim I just find absolutely no truth or connection to the English translation but only the Hebrew. Baring in mind that I don't really understand biblical hebrew but somehow just feel moved by it. Sorry if this is the wrong thread!

12 Comments
2024/10/21
20:36 UTC

6

Are all pagan gods (particularly religions Judaism never had contact with in the Tanakh esp during the Torah) shedim? For example would Shinto spirits and Hindu deities be considered unclean false gods in opposition to Yahweh?

One of the predominating thoughts in fundamentalist Christianity is that pagan gods of the Old Testament were demons in disguise. Its gotten to the point that any time discussion about religion gets involved with cultures that Moses and his descendant Prophets heck the Jews never got into contact with during the Biblical period such as say the Chinese, there is immediate accusation that these cultures' deities are demons posing as humanoid divine beings.

I cannot tell you how many blogs there are out there by Christian fundamentalists accusing Shiva and the Hindu gods as demonic entities or videos on Youtube proclaiming Buddha is a servant of Satan (under the wrong assumption that Siddartha Guatma is worshipped as the God of Buddhism), etc with frequent citation of Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37 as proof.

With that said I am curious on the Jewish pov? Is Shedim correctly translated as demons like most English translations of the bible state the verses?

Or is there so much misunderstanding on shedim and "demonology" of Judaism by Christians? If shedim is correctly translated as demons, do they apply to all other Gods including Amaterasu, Mithras, Ganesh, Zeus, the Trinity of Christianity, and Allah (even if Muslims and Christian believe they are the same as Yahweh)? Or are they only region-specific around Israel and the border countries around her today?

12 Comments
2024/10/21
03:18 UTC

3

“Ktvaim Chadashim - New writings”

Any practitioners here who have a copy of the work Ktvaim Chadashim by providence university? I have been looking for this work as well as Shimmush Tehilim to help my practice. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

2 Comments
2024/10/20
20:42 UTC

13

So happy to have found this community. One yet to meet a someone in person that knows what Kabbalah is.

Very interested in anyone’s perspective on Tikkun Olam and Olam Haba. This is my first post in the community please bear with me if I am not correctly posting

4 Comments
2024/10/19
03:28 UTC

5

Looking for a certain passage on the symbolism of the name of King David

I just heard - and I am looking for the exact reference of this in Kabbalah - that the name of King David (דוד) is represented by two dalets (ד ד) literaly two doors for example signifying heaven and earth. Also the letter vav (ו) in between plays the role of a mediator.

0 Comments
2024/10/18
16:08 UTC

3

Cahethel Angel

How do you pronounce the angel Cahethel/Cahetel? Is it KA-he-Tel or KA-he-tah?

7 Comments
2024/10/13
08:22 UTC

0

In need of a personal guide

I'm seeking genuine guidance.

About 3 months ago I was shown a vision while I was speaking to my wife. It played on repeat for about 7 minutes. My mind has been on fire ever since. I have been devouring information to make sense of what I saw. Today I saw a picture of what looks like a stylized menorah tattoo on a man's head. This image is very similar to the main object I saw in my vision. I am seriously asking to speak with a someone experienced who may be able to give me direction/instruction.

14 Comments
2024/10/09
12:38 UTC

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