WEDNESDAY PRAYER: BINAH-MAIN READING FOR THIS WEEK – FOR MITZVOT – Introduction

READING: SUNSET TUESDAY

Main Reading for KABBALISTIC PRAYER this week, today with THE READING FOR MITZVOT.

ARVUT OF: Sheridan Moreton-Judd.

Introduction

-Rabbi Michael Laitman, PhD

Science and religion are two parallel paths, which humanity followed while researching this world, when trying to understand the place and possibilities of Homo sapiens and to determine the purpose and meaning of its existence.

These attempts have continued, for many thousands of years, without yielding any definite result. In order to get such a result, humanity had to go through a long and difficult period of development. During this time, a fundamental science about the structure of the entire universe, about man’s unique place and purpose in it, and about the properties and structure of a human soul was being created and passed from generation to generation.

This science is called Kabbalah. Ancient philosophers, medieval theologians, and contemporary physicists tried to delve into its secrets. Today, when the period of humanity’s material development is coming to an end, Kabbalah is becoming accessible to everyone who wants to receive answers to “the final questions” – accessible to such an extent that there is an opportunity to offer everyone a chance to familiarize themselves with its basic principles, and to understand in which direction humanity will develop in the future.

As a historical phenomenon, Kabbalah is rather multifaceted. At the beginning stages of its development it was an oral tradition, the knowledge of which did not leave the confines of a closed circle of the initiated. But with the emergence of printed publications, although Kabbalah was still expressed through allusions in a symbolic and metaphorical form, Kabbalah has always created an opportunity for various interpretations. And those interpretations have constantly accompanied Kabbalah throughout its history. This is exactly why, retrospectively, this teaching has different schools, directions, and trends. In spite of this, its profound philosophical essence has not changed cardinally.

Kabbalah is neither mysticism, nor philosophy, nor science in a sense that it cannot be fully equated to these spiritual phenomena. But it certainly contains mystical, religious, philosophical and, undoubtedly, scientific meanings. In this respect, Kabbalah can be seen as a unique spiritual formation, a special form of irrational consciousness, which, at the same time, contains in itself a strictly rational dimension.

Quite often people talk about Kabbalah as a secret teaching. Precisely because Kabbalah was concealed, numerous legends, falsifications, fiction, and non-scientific claims and explanations emerged around it. Only at the end of the last century did Kabbalah start spreading around the entire world. The most profound knowledge about the fundamental principles of creation, its laws, special methodology of world consciousness has been accumulated by Kabbalah over hundreds of years, waiting for the time, when humanity develops to a level at which it will be able to accept the Kabbalistic knowledge, and to use such knowledge properly.

Humanity is constantly looking for the logical substantiation of its existence; man has been researching the laws of nature for many thousands of years. Contemporary scientists are discovering that the more they advance in their research, the more vague and confusing the picture of the world becomes, and answers to the questions about the purpose of existence of this world and of humanity have not been found so far.

Kabbalah as a science offers its own method of researching the world. It develops in a human being an ability to sense a hidden part of the universe. The word “Kabbalah” (“reception” in Hebrew) expresses a human desire to receive the Upper Knowledge, to sense a true picture of the world. Kabbalists tell us about the possibilities, the technique of reception based on their own personal experience. In their books they expound the method of researching the universe and receiving answer to the question about the purpose of life.

Thus, the purpose of Kabbalah is to answer the eternal questions about the essence and the meaning of existence of the universe and man, which has a certain philosophical concept about the creation and, at the same time, is a living system of special spiritual development.