Episode 24: The Spread of the Study of Kabbalah

00:01 We’re coming to an interesting section. We’ll continue the story of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the young prodigy from Shrei[?], who married Devorah Leah. We’ll also get to know the writings Devorah Leah produced about her family’s history and the history of the Jewish people in those times, particularly the study of Kabbalah. So let’s see. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, the young prodigy from Shrei[?], did not leave Vitebsk, because he had found his match there: Devorah Leah, an orphan. He stayed not only until their wedding, but afterward as well. Between his arrival in connection with the shidduch and his marriage, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak studied Kabbalah and the ways of Chassidus with his guide, Malkiel, following the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov. At Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s request, Malkiel took an unusual step: he began giving regular lessons in Chassidus to Devorah Leah, his bride-to-be. Devorah Leah had already been influenced by the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings, but she was not yet well versed in them. Malkiel kept Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak informed of her progress. He spoke highly of her brilliant abilities, saying that in this respect she resembled her mother, Rachel, a"h. Naturally, this brought Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak great joy. One day Malkiel came to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak and excitedly told him about a spiritual treasure he had found among Devorah Leah’s writings. It turned out that these writings, based on stories she had heard from her mother, contained a precise account of earlier generations of the family lines to which Devorah Leah’s family belonged, as well as the family line from which the future founder of Chabad Chassidus would come. Most of it had been written by Devorah Leah from what her mother had told her, with additions of her own from everything she had heard from reliable sources. The writings also contained information that could not be found in books. Rabbi

03:00 Yosef Yitzchak was very curious to learn what the writings contained. When Malkiel brought them to him, he was deeply impressed. They were arranged beautifully and written in exceptionally clear language. These original writings made it certain to Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak that, for generations, there had been a division among the Jewish people between those who followed the teachings of Kabbalah and those who opposed them. Devorah Leah’s writings explained not only the differences between the two approaches, but also what had caused their differences of opinion and practice. In this way, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak learned everything he wanted to know about what had led to the founding and spread of the teachings of Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, whose path he himself already followed. Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak revised and organized the writings and added details concerning Kabbalah, producing a complete work: a precise, detailed explanation not only of the history of Kabbalah, but also of its content and essence. It is well known that there is an Oral Torah in addition to the Written Torah that Moshe Rabbeinu received at Sinai. He also received the Oral Torah from Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Oral Torah was passed from generation to generation from the earliest generations of the Jewish people. One part of it became known as nigleh—the revealed teachings, which may be taught to everyone—while another part remained hidden for many more generations. That is Kabbalah. We know today that Kabbalah began to be passed from generation to generation as far back as the time of Adam Harishon. Sefer Yetzirah, which contains the foundations of Kabbalah, passed from Adam Harishon to Avraham Avinu, and from then on from generation to generation, down to our own. Kabbalah itself has a practical branch and a contemplative branch. Kabbalah explains the secrets of creation and the secrets of Maaseh Bereishis and Maaseh Merkavah, the secrets of Hakadosh Boruch Hu Himself. Through Kabbalah,

06:00 a person can delve into the secrets of the world’s existence and understand how something came into being from nothing: how the power of creation is revealed not only in the world’s initial existence, but also in its ongoing existence and development. Practical Kabbalah puts knowledge of the Divine power with which the world was created into effect. That Divine power is contained in the letters and their various combinations, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: “The world was created with ten utterances.” By using the powers of different combinations of letters, it is possible to bring something into being or nullify its existence. That is practical Kabbalah. Contemplative Kabbalah teaches how one can understand G-dliness and the philosophy of creation. It represents the highest level of inquiry and the greatest ascent of the human intellect. Kabbalah was passed from generation to generation: from the Elders to the Prophets, from the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly, from them to the Tannaim, from the Tannaim to the Amoraim, from the Amoraim to the Geonim, and from them to select individuals in each succeeding generation. This was done secretly and discreetly, in keeping with the rule, “It is revealed only to the discreet.” The sages Rabbeinu Bachya and the Ramban included explanations based on Kabbalah in their commentaries on the Torah. These great sages shared their knowledge of Kabbalah with their many students, who in turn expressed those teachings in accessible forms of learning and understanding, so that anyone who wanted to understand could do so. In this way, Kabbalah became the possession of many Torah scholars. Practical Kabbalah, by contrast, remained sealed and concealed, the province of a select few. Torah scholars in Spain and Portugal studied mainly the conceptual, contemplative side of Kabbalah. Many books on contemplative Kabbalah were written in those countries. The greatest of the Kabbalists of Spain and Portugal was a Jew named Rabbi Meir ben Gabbai. He wrote Tolaas Yaakov, a commentary on the prayers; Derech Emunah, on the ten sefiros; and a book called Avodas Hakodesh. These books spread far and wide and captured the hearts of scholarly circles.

09:21 Then, through the Jews expelled from Spain, these books reached Italy, France, Bohemia, Poland, and other countries with Jewish communities. These books of Kabbalah were received with great interest. The number of people studying Kabbalah grew, and learned Jews everywhere devoted themselves to these books and studied them in depth. Yet while people in European countries devoted themselves to contemplative Kabbalah—the intellectual, conceptual side of these teachings—it was mainly practical Kabbalah that spread in countries to the east, such as Eretz Yisroel, Turkey, Egypt, and Yemen. Many books on this branch of Kabbalah appeared, both in manuscript and in print. Some dealt with palm reading, reading facial features, adjurations using holy names, incantations, combinations of letters, interpreting dreams, and expelling evil spirits. These books reached Europe and were the main cause of the opposition among scholarly circles—not only to the books themselves, but to the study of Kabbalah in general. Even earlier, in the time of the Rashba, the scholarly world had split into two camps. One held that people should devote themselves primarily to the revealed parts of Torah, the Gemara and its commentaries, rather than to hidden teachings. Some of these scholars even thought that Aggadah and Midrash should not be studied. The other camp, however, held that one should study the Torah’s secrets. Of course, they continued to study the revealed Torah—the Gemara and its commentaries—and studied and explained Aggadah and Midrash according to Kabbalah. At that time, the first camp’s opposition did not grow strong enough to cause conflict and division in Jewish communal life. Things continued this way for several generations, until the books on practical Kabbalah mentioned earlier arrived. These books aroused the scholars’ anger. They saw a grave danger in them and feared they would lead to widespread involvement in practical Kabbalah, including by people unfit to engage in it. To stop and prevent the study of practical Kabbalah, several leading European sages issued a prohibition against studying Kabbalah altogether, including contemplative Kabbalah. About twenty years after

12:15 As the Kabbalah books of Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai spread through Europe, two fundamental approaches to Kabbalah emerged: that of the Arizal, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, and that of the Ramak, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero. Each approach had yeshivos where Kabbalah was studied according to its teachings. In this way, Kabbalah gained a firm foothold in the world of Torah scholarship: both the Arizal’s yeshivos and the Ramak’s produced great students in the revealed and hidden dimensions of Torah, and those students spread the teachings of Kabbalah according to the approach of the yeshivos where they had studied. The great Kabbalist, the holy Arizal, initially lived in Egypt and then moved to Tzfas. Tzfas was then a major center of Torah, both its revealed and hidden dimensions. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, the Ramak, was also there, with his own approach to Kabbalah. He had been there for many years before the Arizal arrived. Rabbi Moshe Cordovero was renowned for his greatness in Kabbalah and had many students and admirers. Although the Arizal and the Ramak had different approaches to Kabbalah, they had a common language, and during the time they were both in Tzfas, they found common ground on many matters. The Arizal’s student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, known as the Rachav, expounded and explained the teachings of the Arizal. He was also the one who made Kabbalah more accessible to human understanding. After him came the great scholar Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms. He was a man of extraordinary intellect who absorbed the teachings of Kabbalah while still a young bar mitzvah boy, becoming thoroughly at home in this vast body of Torah. Because he had a singularly logical mind and was gifted with the ability to explain things clearly, the Baal Shem of Worms succeeded in spreading the teachings of Kabbalah widely. Thanks to this, many yeshivos of that period began studying Kabbalah—after, of course, acquiring extensive knowledge of the revealed dimension of Torah. To spread the teachings and ways of Kabbalah throughout the Jewish communities of the diaspora,

15:10 Rabbi Eliyahu convened a special gathering of students and admirers. At this gathering, it was decided to establish a group of hidden tzaddikim who would go into exile, traveling from city to city and village to village. On these journeys they were to carry out a twofold mission. First, they were to live among ordinary people and inspire them to serve the Creator and do good deeds. Second, they were to form close ties with Torah scholars and encourage them to study Kabbalah. By then, the study of Kabbalah had already entered major yeshivos in places such as Worms, Prague, Lublin, Chelm, and Pinsk. These hidden tzaddikim immediately began their travels. Wherever they went, they took up simple work, such as chopping wood and drawing water. In this way, they grew close to ordinary Jews and taught them fear of Heaven and good character traits. In the study of Kabbalah, the hidden tzaddikim taught and spread the books of Rabbi Meir ibn Gabbai, which had been published in print. Over twenty years, they accomplished wonders, and thousands began studying Kabbalah. Around that time, the Ramak’s Pardes appeared and became another source for the hidden tzaddikim and their followers to study Kabbalah. The group of hidden tzaddikim began to spread and branch out, first under the leadership of the great scholar and tzaddik Rabbi Eliyahu Baal Shem of Worms. Later, it was led by his student Rabbi Yoel Baal Shem of Zamosc. From him, the leadership passed to Rabbi Adam Baal Shem of Ropshitz. Then Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov, the founder and disseminator of Chassidus, became the leader of the hidden tzaddikim after Rabbi Adam Baal Shem.