Different Modes of Learning

If secret knowledge is experiential knowledge, and therefore the only way to obtain it is in some form of direct transmission from a teacher or experiential practice, what are we to make of the academic study of Kabbalah? Is it, as some contemporary figures say, misguided?

As I have an academic background myself, clearly I don't think academic study is misguided. By applying the tools of critical theory and close reading to the Kabbalah, scholars have vastly enriched our understanding of its substance, its roots and historical development, and its textual makeup. There is no substitute for intellectual rigor, and there are brilliant academics of several generations upon whose shoulders we all sit.

Obviously what an academic approach leaves out are how the teachings of Kabbalah may apply to us today. In a sense, this question is a misleading one for academics, because if we project back our own concerns onto the Kabbalists, we obscure what they are trying to say themselves. To relate hesed and gevurah to a contemporary political situation is precisely, I think, what the Kabbalah wants us to do — but it is very bad scholarship to do so. The more we blend the Kabbalistic worldviews with our own, the less clearly we can see what the Kabbalah was about for those who created it.

To me, academic and non-academic study of Kabbalah are natural complements of one another (rather like the Kabbalah itself is always seeking balance between two extremes). But I find there are comparatively few teachers who combine actual spiritual practice — be it meditation, or traditional study, or Jewish ritual observance — with intellectual rigor and critical openness. Not none — but few. What I have found, and what you will find, is that to learn Kabbalah is to take on, temporarily, different modes of learning, and do a lot of the integration work yourself. Obviously, in my own classes and in those of some other teachers, attempts are made to bring together academic rigor with spiritual seriousness. But most of the time, it's either one or the other.

For example, learning Kabbalah with contemporary Kabbalists usually means entering a worldview in which Shimon bar Yochai wrote the Zohar — which scholarship has almost conclusively proven false — and in which the Torah is a Divine text in a way that no other document is. I do not find it difficult, any longer, to transport myself into that world, work within its assumptions, and then translate what I learn into my own weltanschauung. I can even learn text at the Kabbalah Centre, see through its commercialism and selective emphases of Kabbalistic themes, and understand what it is they're saying. But the beginning student of the Kabbalah should be mindful of these different approaches, and the different assumptions they conceal. Of course, discerning the concealed is one of the main purposes of Kabbalistic study anyway — so you're well on your way.

Two final questions which are often asked me by my students: language and religion.

Kabbalah depends on the Hebrew language. It is filled with word-play, it is rife with allusions and, as you know if you've read through this site, the Hebrew language is seen as nothing less than the building blocks of creation itself. Likewise, Kabbalah is not — despite what some people say today — its own religion, or a system of thought independent of religion. It is a Jewish phenomenon, steeped in the Jewish religious system, and until the last hundred years, its texts were written by and for religious Jews.

So what if you don't know Hebrew, and what if you're not Jewish? Well, I think we should recognize that, without certain choices, our learning will, indeed, be incomplete. If you don't learn Hebrew, if you don't understand the commandments experientially, if you don't master a number of sources — then, yes, you will not have as deep an understanding of the Zohar as you would have otherwise. But this is true for anything. Without reading Marlowe, you can't appreciate Shakespeare as much. Without knowing Cezanne, you can't fully know Picasso.

But, we make choices and learn anyway. It's important to remember that the choices have been made, and not to make judgments based on partial or incomplete knowledge — but it's also important not to be stuck because we think we don't have the necessary prerequisites. Learn what you can, if this material interests you. Partial knowledge is better than ignorance, and if you find curiosity in your mind, or heart, or spirit, don't let these barriers get in your way. Certainly, I don't think, in the twenty-first century, that we need to adhere to the specific strictures which would prohibit women, non-Jews, and people under forty from learning, even as I think we should be mindful of their inner purpose. I don't think there is any single prerequisite that every person must have before learning and living Kabbalah. We just need to be aware of our limitations, and aware of what we are receiving — and then be open.

Let's look, then, at how to find a teacher.