The Kabbalah has been embraced by many well-known celebrities, which generated massive interest towards its main ideas and development.

A definition of the Kabbalah varies depending on its form of manifestation – either as the religious form of Judaism, or the more occultist New Age version displayed nowadays. Essentially, the Kabbalah is a set of teachings aiming to explain the existing relationship between the En Sof – the eternal, and the rather mortal universe which is the Creation. While some consider it a religion in itself, in fact the Kabbalah comprises a series of principles which have laid the foundation of a mystical religious interpretation of the world. Thus, it is safe to say that the Kabbalah contains in itself a series of definitions on the nature of the universe, the human being, one’s existence, etc. It also contains a set of guidelines on how to interpret such definitions and by interpreting them to achieve spiritual accomplishment.

The word ”Kabbalah” has a Hebrew origin and means essentially ”receiving tradition”, while referring to Jewish mysticism in all its forms of manifestation. The concept we know today was crystallized in the 13^th century, in Spain and France, around the ”Sefer ha-Zohar” or the Book of Splendor and is responsible for the mysticism which characterized later movements within Judaism.

Historical tradition claims that Kabbalah goes back to Eden, when it manifested in the form of a revelation aiming to help elect the Tzadikim (or the most righteous people) and it was destined to be preserved just by a few people. The Talmud records such facts, as well as the manner in which the Kabbalah functioned and spread its wisdom.

It is a fact that there are various schools of Jewish mysticism related to various periods of history, reflecting both the historical evolution, as well as the intellectual and cultural values of the respective time.

Another historical version of its origins states that Kabbalah knowledge was considered to be a part of the Oral Torah which had been given to Moses on Mount Sinai, around the 13^th century BC.

Later on, after the Israelites settled in Canaan, the esoteric knowledge of the Kabbalah was known as the Hitbonenut meditation. In the 5^th century BC, after the Tanakh works had been edited and the religious knowledge of the past centuries was saved on scrolls, the initial Kabbalah was referred to as Ma'aseh Merkavah, which means ”the act of the chariot” and Ma'aseh B'reshit, meaning ”the act of Creation”, alluding thus to the vision described by prophet Ezekiel of the ”Divine Chariot” and respectively to the first chapter of the Genesis which is credited with harboring the truth about the creation of the Universe.

The Spanish Kabbalah, dating back to the Middle Ages, focuses very much on the available esoteric knowledge on the nature of the world and the Creation. This is owed to the influence that the Neoplatonism and the Gnosticism had on its development. Such a development has been recorded in the Zohar, which had been written between 1280 and 1286 by Moses de Leon, but had been attributed to a 2^nd century rabbi – Shimon bar Yohai. According to the Zohar, God is considered in the form of a flow of energy which can be found in everything surrounding us. God is also presented in the Zohar as the unknown and immutable En Sof (meaning “Infinite”). There are ten realms (Sefirot) which emanate from the En Sof, which have been involved in the creation and configuration of the Cosmos. The theosophy analyzing the Zohar focuses on the understanding of the manner in which these Sefirot interact as such an understanding would help one better apprehend the evolution of the cosmos as one knows it. Thus, it can be stated that the Zohar provides one with a cosmic view and interpretation of Judaism, Israeli history, the Torah, the Ten Commandments, Israeli exile, the meaning of God in the Israeli culture, etc.

The Zohar has been thoroughly developed in the 16^th century by the Lurianic Kabbalah (bearing thus the name of its initiator –Isaac ben Solomon Luria), which is a reply to the uprooting experience of the Jews being exiled from Iberia in the 1490s, projecting this experience onto the divine. In order to contribute to such an action, the En Sof has to withdraw into its own shell (known as the Tzimtzum – a concept which shall be presented later) and allow the world to manifest independently. Such manifestation may also attract the evil. The presence of the evil leads to the fracturing of the divine light and this engenders a cosmic catastrophe. It is here that people may play an essential role through prayer and respect for the ten commandments; through this, they help bring redemption upon the world. Based on this, the Kabbalah became a messianic movement standing at the foundation of the Sabbatian Messianism and the 18^th century Polish Hasidism.

Main texts of the Kabbalah

At the beginning, the Kabbalah circulated in the form of oral tradition. Eventually, throughout the centuries it was written down in order to be better kept.

References to the Kabbalah can be found in the following sources: the descriptions of Sefer Yetirah, the Heichalot mysticism, the Bahir, Sfere Raziel HaMalakh, Pardes Rimonim, Maharal and Etz Chayim. The Lurianic Kabbalah has been interpreted by Shalom Sharabi, Nefesh Hachaim and Sulam (in more recent times).

Contemporary evolutions of the Kabbalah

Despite its role in explaining the mystical evolution of the world, the Kabbalah has not always enjoyed appreciation in all branches of Judaism. For instance, the Conservative and Reform branches rejected it, and, since it was not acknowledged as a discipline for study, only parts of it have been keep in the liturgy – the Kabbalat Shabbat Service and the Yedid Nefesh prayer. It took a long time until the Jewish Theological Seminary of America introduced a lecture on the Kabbalah. However, at the time - in the 1960s, the study of the Kabbalah was considered worthy of a scholarship endeavor, but not worthy enough to be considered a religious truth.

The end of the 20^th century and the beginning of the 21^st century have witnessed a revived interest in the Kabbalah from all branches of Judaism. Several elements have been restored to their rightful position within the Kabbalistic way of interpreting life: the Anim Zemirot prayer dating back to the 12^th century has been re-adopted by the Conservative Sim Shalom siddur, as well as the B’rikh Shmeh fragment of the Zohar, the mystical poem Lekhah Dodi and the Ushpizin service which was used in order to welcome the spirits to the Sukkah.

In all Rabbinical Seminaries Kabbalah courses have been taught lately. For instance, full-time instructors teach Kabbalah elements at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, the Hebrew Union College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, etc.

In order for the Kabbalah teachings to be able to reach as many people as possible, several Kabbalah organizations have been established. However, each of these organizations refers to a certain element of the Kabbalah, an element each has been chosen as core for its own development. Thus, the Kabbalah Society, run by Warren Kenton is founded on the pre-Lurianic Medieval Kabbalah combined with its New Age version. On the other hand, the New Kabbalah, a website run by Sanford L. Drob, attempts to explore the Lurianic Kabbalah through the prism of modern and postmodern philosophical and psychological influences.