SEPARATING THE MYSTICAL FROM THE OCCULT IN JUDAISM
As the חלופים on the letter ע the value 70 below teach us: The secret is turning the occult Babylonian confusion around to flowering of the heart.
סוד = 70 = סובב = בלבול = לבלוב
Someone sent this to me as part of a message:
"i am sorry to disappoint you but the Talmud is filled with occult matters. it was Rambam who claimed that these were daas yochid etc..he wasn't accepted as the aggadetos are extensive and written as if factual and well known.if you shun the mystical then you should only learn Rambam etc...not Kaballah"
The equivocation of occult and mystical in the passage above is both telling and deeply disturbing.
Occult is closely related to the word occlude.
To understand the difference between healthy, and necessary!, mysticism and the poisonous occult, we can benefit from the analogy of neurotransmitters and neurotoxic chemicals.
Neuro-receptors are chemicals in the brain that are not complete molecules. Some of the valences are left open. This makes them "need" other chemicals in order to complete the valences and make them stable.
The chemicals that they should bind with are the naturally-occurring neurotransmitters. In this case the brain and body are working as they should.
But there are chemicals and drugs that resemble the chemical composition of neuro-transmitters. They too provide the electrons that the neuro-receptors are "looking for". So, when they come in contact with the neuro-receptors, they are accepted as though they are a neuro-transmitter. An *occlusive* chemical bond is formed and the healthy neuro-transmitter cannot bond with the neuro-receptor. A state of toxicity is caused in the brain and the entire body. The subjective experience is one of reduced vitality and fogging, or even outright distortion, of the cognitive functions.
Mysticism and the occult are very similar at first blush. If the occult is allowed to enter the consciousness, it will form an occlusive bond with the psyche that will block healthy mysticism out.
To make matters worse, the occult is very seductive, because it not only resembles true mysticism at first; it also does not make the exacting moral demands upon us that true mystical revelation of HaShem, which, we learn from Yeshayahu HaNavi 58:8, *only* comes as a result of dealing with people justly, makes upon us. The occult is seductive because it works on our ego and makes us think that we must be very clever indeed to have been made privy to arcane matters. And the occult is addictive. It is just like heroin instead of the healthy neuro-transmitters.
Unfortunately, the Jewish People have not totally purged themselves of the influence of Mitzrayam. Additionally, twice we were exposed to the tum'ah of Bavel, Rachmana litzlan!, and both of those times were when we were traumatized when we arrived in Bavel, which made us all the more susceptible to the occult because we were in desperate need of reassuring teachings.
The very same need arose in us, in full force, after the Expulsions from Spain and Portugal and the Vatican made full use of our vulnerability.
Yes, there is both real mysticism and the occult in the Talmud. It is essential that we Jews are honest enough to admit that that is indeed the case and that we learn to distinguish between the pure and the impure. That this situation exists, is summed up succinctly here: "Hai Gaon, the enlightened head of the Pumbedita Academy, wrote (about 1000), "Sorcery and amulets sprang from the Sura Academy, because that lies near to Babylonia and to the house of Nebuchadnezzar.""
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1445&letter=A
I am in full agreement with Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, of Teiman's, position on Jewish mysticism: "Furthermore, Dor Daim accept that in Talmudic times there was a secret mystical tradition in Judaism, known as Maaseh Bereshith (the work of creation) and Maaseh Merkavah (the work of the chariot); ... They simply reject the notion that this tradition is represented by the ideas popularly referred to as Kabbalah in our days."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dor_Daim#Attitude_to_Kabbalah
I have taken out the part concerning the RaMB"aM. I simply cannot accept his Aristotelianism. We don't need Aristotle to understand Torah! Aristotle's methodical study of what he called PHYSICS is a sound basis for the study of science. But his METAPHYSICS is no closer to the understanding of Torah than that of any other Goi. HaShem did not make us wait for this Gentile philosopher to come along, genius though he was, to learn Torah.
The names of the months that some! of the Jews adopted (they do not appear in Megilot Yam HaMelech), tell us that we came under the influence of Babylonian occult. It is not enough to be reminded by those names that HaShem took us physically out of Bavel, we have to purge ourselves of those influences.
As the חלופים on the letter ע the value 70 below teach us: The secret is turning the occult Babylonian confusion around to flowering of the heart.
סוד = 70 = סובב = בלבול = לבלוב
Someone sent this to me as part of a message:
"i am sorry to disappoint you but the Talmud is filled with occult matters. it was Rambam who claimed that these were daas yochid etc..he wasn't accepted as the aggadetos are extensive and written as if factual and well known.if you shun the mystical then you should only learn Rambam etc...not Kaballah"
The equivocation of occult and mystical in the passage above is both telling and deeply disturbing.
Occult is closely related to the word occlude.
To understand the difference between healthy, and necessary!, mysticism and the poisonous occult, we can benefit from the analogy of neurotransmitters and neurotoxic chemicals.
Neuro-receptors are chemicals in the brain that are not complete molecules. Some of the valences are left open. This makes them "need" other chemicals in order to complete the valences and make them stable.
The chemicals that they should bind with are the naturally-occurring neurotransmitters. In this case the brain and body are working as they should.
But there are chemicals and drugs that resemble the chemical composition of neuro-transmitters. They too provide the electrons that the neuro-receptors are "looking for". So, when they come in contact with the neuro-receptors, they are accepted as though they are a neuro-transmitter. An *occlusive* chemical bond is formed and the healthy neuro-transmitter cannot bond with the neuro-receptor. A state of toxicity is caused in the brain and the entire body. The subjective experience is one of reduced vitality and fogging, or even outright distortion, of the cognitive functions.
Mysticism and the occult are very similar at first blush. If the occult is allowed to enter the consciousness, it will form an occlusive bond with the psyche that will block healthy mysticism out.
To make matters worse, the occult is very seductive, because it not only resembles true mysticism at first; it also does not make the exacting moral demands upon us that true mystical revelation of HaShem, which, we learn from Yeshayahu HaNavi 58:8, *only* comes as a result of dealing with people justly, makes upon us. The occult is seductive because it works on our ego and makes us think that we must be very clever indeed to have been made privy to arcane matters. And the occult is addictive. It is just like heroin instead of the healthy neuro-transmitters.
Unfortunately, the Jewish People have not totally purged themselves of the influence of Mitzrayam. Additionally, twice we were exposed to the tum'ah of Bavel, Rachmana litzlan!, and both of those times were when we were traumatized when we arrived in Bavel, which made us all the more susceptible to the occult because we were in desperate need of reassuring teachings.
The very same need arose in us, in full force, after the Expulsions from Spain and Portugal and the Vatican made full use of our vulnerability.
Yes, there is both real mysticism and the occult in the Talmud. It is essential that we Jews are honest enough to admit that that is indeed the case and that we learn to distinguish between the pure and the impure. That this situation exists, is summed up succinctly here: "Hai Gaon, the enlightened head of the Pumbedita Academy, wrote (about 1000), "Sorcery and amulets sprang from the Sura Academy, because that lies near to Babylonia and to the house of Nebuchadnezzar.""
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1445&letter=A
I am in full agreement with Rabbi Yihhyah Qafahh, of Teiman's, position on Jewish mysticism: "Furthermore, Dor Daim accept that in Talmudic times there was a secret mystical tradition in Judaism, known as Maaseh Bereshith (the work of creation) and Maaseh Merkavah (the work of the chariot); ... They simply reject the notion that this tradition is represented by the ideas popularly referred to as Kabbalah in our days."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dor_Daim#Attitude_to_Kabbalah
I have taken out the part concerning the RaMB"aM. I simply cannot accept his Aristotelianism. We don't need Aristotle to understand Torah! Aristotle's methodical study of what he called PHYSICS is a sound basis for the study of science. But his METAPHYSICS is no closer to the understanding of Torah than that of any other Goi. HaShem did not make us wait for this Gentile philosopher to come along, genius though he was, to learn Torah.
The names of the months that some! of the Jews adopted (they do not appear in Megilot Yam HaMelech), tell us that we came under the influence of Babylonian occult. It is not enough to be reminded by those names that HaShem took us physically out of Bavel, we have to purge ourselves of those influences.
Just as our computers are vulnerable to virus attacks through the ports, which are essential openings because that is where the software also sends and receives signals, so Judaism is susceptible to occult viral attack through the back door. We too must come in contact with the Goi'im, but there is the problem of the eruv rav, there are conversions that aren't really conversions, there are the mischlings, there is ongoing infiltration of the Vatican into Judaism and, let it be said honestly, the fact that the Rabbinut in Israel is a government body and they receive a salary from the Israeli government, which comes from American money, is not a healthy situation. No one can be more moral than they person who pays their salary.
In closing please allow me to show a few חלופים that will demonstrate how essential the matter of learning Torah in utmost purity is and to make it clear why we must clear away the morass of the occult that has infiltrated Judaism and get to the root of Torah.
ספר מלכים = שמ + ן = 340+700 = 1040 = 41 = שמן = מ"א = מקץ = קמץ
קמץ, of course, is the name of a punctuation mark.
The שמן is the שמן משיחה.
משיח = ספר חי
גוי = 19 = חוה = הוגה
When we learn Torah (הוגה), we bring the Goyim into existence and as we read, so they are. The matter of how גוי is related to חוה is far too deep and involved to say in a few words, but you understand. If our reading of Torah is pure, the Goyim that we create from the אותיות and from the נקודות and the טעמים, which are the רוח הקדש that we breath into the letters will be pure.
רוח = 214 = דקדוק
And the letters ד and ק (which are אתב"שים) are in the word קדש as well.
If the Jews learning of Torah are not pure, are occluded by the occult, the Goyim we create will be, well, as we witness them.
Notice that one of the חלופים for שמן is קמץ.
ספר מלכים is all about the secrets of the נקודות and the טעמים. And these are the secrets of how the letters, which give the form to existence, are enlivened and become living beings.
Look at the word טעם please. You can see that it is composed of the letter ט and the word עם.
One of the חלופים for the letter ט is the word קבוץ, which equals 100+2+6+900 = 1008 = א+ ח = ט.
So, the word טעם can be read as קבוץ עם. A טעם is the collective of all of the history, physicality, emotions, thoughts, actions, religious learning…of each עם.
טעמים, then, would be קבוץ עמים. This is the sum total of all of the history, physicality, emotions, thoughts, actions, religious learning…of *all* of Humanity.
דוד is the secret of the תגים.
תגים = 400+3+10+600 = 1013 = 14 = יד = אוהב = דוד
***We must learn these things in purity if we wish to live in a world of pure Goyim who are capable of the ultimate Humanity.***
We, the Jewish People, must purify ourselves of the occult that has crept into our midst because it does not allow us to perceive clearly or learn Torah in purity. When we look into Torah, which is called aspaklaria by the Sages all we can see is a reflection of our own Souls. If that Soul is murky with the occult, we will not see to the depths of Torah and the HaGoyim (the same letters can also pronounced higuim) that we create will be impure beings.
It is therefore of the utmost necessity that עם ישראל separate itself from all occult practices and thinking, this for the sake of the world we create.
בברכה,
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
