Kabbalah for Today Installment 1
Hi I am Gail Ginsburg and this is Installment 1 of Kabbalah for Today, a practical introduction to traditional Jewish mysticism designed to help you along your personal spiritual journey. My own path has led me from the Lutheran Christian tradition in which I was raised, educated, ordained and in which I served as a Minister to a 4000 member congregation. After years of study, prayer, meditation, and spiritual restlessness, I was lead to convert to the Conservative Judaism which I practice today. It is especially through the traditions of Kabbalah that I have learned to connect with my deeper self and as I do for the many individuals like counsel and guide, I would like to share those teaching with you.
The term cabala from a Hebrew route meaning that which is received encompasses all aspects of Jewish traditional mysticism and has a rich history going back thousands of years. It is important to note that mysticism is not magic spiritualism or sorcery. These are attempts to control reality trough various practices such as amulets, incantations, etcetera. Mysticism on the other hand is the sum of practices and in teachings intended to connect an individual with God or what ever name you choose to apply to the ultimate reality.
In Jewish mysticism, God known as in self literally meaning with out end is seen as ultimately unknowable yet accessible trough a variety of practices. Mystical practice is the means to spiritually connect the individual with God. Mystical practices include prayer, meditation, study, holy, and ethical living, including kindness to all creatures absolute honesty, non greed, humility, simplicity, physical health, mental purity, gratitude, study of nature, and solitude.
These practices are undertaken not as ends in them selves as in being a good person but as a means toward personal and cosmic tycoon or healing. Even though some of the greatest legal scholars in Jewish history were Kabbalist, Kabbalah is not primarily focused on study or learning. It is a way of life, a way of seeing the world, specific means to connect with god.
Life is seen as God centered, meaningful, and purposeful. The purpose of life is to grow in relation to God. Seeing gods presence in all that is and in increase understanding of the holiness and interconnectedness of everything that exist all, of Gods good, and beautiful creation.
Kabbalah is always undertaken in the context of Jewish living. Well non-Jewish can study this ancient Jewish teaching and benefit thereby. At the end of the day it is Jewish mysticism. Some of the traditional rabbis have thought that Kabbalah can only be studied by males ,or over 40 years of age, married, of good character, and to our advanced tourist Tallis scholars scholars.
Well there motives for these exclusionary restrictions may have been valid in the distant past, today we can feel free to respectfully explore and learn all we can from this ancient spiritual tradition. In future installments of this series which will also be made into it ---
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