Chapter 10

Living One Week at a Time

In This Chapter

Grasping the Kabbalistic significance of the Sabbath

Preparing for the Sabbath all week long

Demystifying Sabbath rituals and activities

There’s an old saying that “More than the Jews keep the Sabbath, the Sabbath keeps the Jews.” This saying is surely true for Kabbalists. The Jewish Sabbath isn’t only the focus of the week for Kabbalists, but its tranquility is said to be “a taste of the world to come.”

The Sabbath, which starts Friday at sundown and ends Saturday at sundown, isn’t simply a day that a Kabbalist just runs into. Rather, Kabbalists prepare for the Sabbath all week long. And when it comes, they savor every detail.

In this chapter, I take a close look at how Kabbalists prepare for the Sabbath, how it’s observed and celebrated, and the supplies that one needs for full participation. I also briefly explore the other days of the week and how those days lead up to the holy day of the Sabbath.

The End of the Week Is also the Beginning

For Kabbalists, the week has six days, not seven. The seventh day, Shabbat (shah-bot; Sabbath), isn’t really a day at all. According to Kabbalists, the Sabbath is a special entity totally unlike the six days of the week. They view it both as the launching pad for the week as well as the week’s culmination. Kabbalists derive energy for the new week from the special qualities of Shabbat, and Shabbat is also the result of the week’s effort, a time to enjoy and reap the benefits of six days of hard work.

Kabbalists learn about Shabbat from the first chapters of the Bible. The text tells that God created the world in six days and that on the seventh “day,” God rested. According to Kabbalistic tradition, God’s rest isn’t like human rest because God constantly creates and sustains the world. Nonetheless, Shabbat is often referred to as “a day of rest,” and, as I discuss in the section “Being busy doing nothing” later in this chapter, the notion of rest has a very special and particular meaning in Kabbalistic tradition.

The Kabbalistic view of time is different than the usual notion of linear time that flows in one direction. In Kabbalah, time isn’t linear; rather, it goes in a spiral. In this way, Kabbalists return each day, week, and year to a time and place that are similar to the last round, but hopefully, because people progress spiritually, at a higher level.

The sense of nonlinear time is reflected in the fact that neither of the two most important spiritual texts studied by Kabbalists, the Torah and the Talmud, has a beginning or an end. When Kabbalists read a portion of the Torah each week and come to the end, what appears to be the end is merely a prelude to a new beginning, where the new round begins again. Similarly, the Talmud has no beginning or end, which is one of the reasons the Talmud is referred to as a “sea.” Students of Talmud study in a certain sequence, and when they reach the place that looks like an end, the next moment is merely a new beginning of the same cycle.

Keeping Your Eye on the Sabbath

Kabbalists always have Shabbat in mind regardless of the day of the week. In fact, for Kabbalists the days of the week don’t have their own names, like Sunday, Monday, and so on. Rather, the names of the individual days of the week relate to Shabbat. In Hebrew, Sunday is Yom Rishon (yohm ree-shown; the first day), Monday is Yom Sheni (yohm shay-nee; the second day), and the rest of the days follow this pattern.

The consciousness and the kavanah (kah-vah-nah; inner intention) of the Kabbalist is that every day of the week brings one closer to Shabbat. During the week, Kabbalists experience heightened anticipation as the special period of Shabbat approaches. The work that the Kabbalist does during the week is intended to repair the world as well as to earn a livelihood, but in its depth, the work of the six days of the week is all part of the preparation for Shabbat.

In fact, it’s been said that many Kabbalists throughout history never worried or planned for any day other than the next Shabbat. Some saintly individuals have gone so far as to believe and act as though one need not make any more money than what’s necessary to bring oneself and one’s family through the week in order to celebrate Shabbat.

When Shabbat is over, the round of the week is renewed, and the Kabbalist again has his eye on the next Shabbat. As the days of the week roll on, Kabbalists feel a tangible ascent to the period of time known as the holy Shabbat.

One of my Kabbalah teachers often says, “If you think you’ve arrived, you are lost.” In other words, a Kabbalist is always striving for a better future. The idea of living in the present as much as possible is certainly wise, but during each week, the Kabbalist also longs for a return of Shabbat just as during his life, the Kabbalist yearns for the coming of the Messiah.

Preparing to Receive the Gift of the Sabbath

Kabbalists see Shabbat as a gift from above. When one understands how to appropriately participate in the Kabbalistic celebration of Shabbat, one truly anticipates this special time as though it’s a gift to be received. In this section, I share with you what it takes to prepare to receive the gift of Shabbat.

Countless people who begin to explore the life of the traditional Kabbalist run in the other direction when they confront the tremendous number of requirements that Kabbalistic tradition asks of the Kabbalist, especially the requirements related to preparing for and observing the Sabbath. Kabbalah isn’t some New Age hobby through which one can receive a quick fix or an inspirational poem for the soul. Kabbalah is hard work. The great masters of Kabbalah participated in an almost ceaseless effort to follow the divine commandments as passed down through tradition, to understand those commandments in detail, and to ultimately align their wills with the will of God.

Don’t forget that “Kabbalah” means “to receive”

Etymologically, the word “Kabbalah” comes from the Hebrew root which means “to receive.” A story from Buddhist tradition captures the very idea of Kabbalah as a receiving.

A student went to a Buddhist master and asked if he would accept him as a student. The teacher consented and then said, “First let’s have some tea.” The Master prepared the tea and began pouring tea from the kettle into a cup. The cup slowly but surely filled to the brim, and the master continued to pour. The student, noticing the tea overflowing from the rim of the cup, exclaimed, “Master, Master! The cup is full and overflowing.” The Master put down the tea kettle, smiled, and said, “You have now received your first lesson; unless you come empty, with room within you to receive, you will never make any progress as my student.”

Similarly, a student of Kabbalah should be open and filled with a desire to receive the tradition. This ability to receive certainly pertains to the arrival of the Sabbath. A Kabbalist who knows that he or she is about to receive a gift must make room for that gift. Without carving out room in one’s heart and soul to be a true recipient of the Sabbath, one can’t feel its sanctity or experience its holiness. To be a Kabbalist is to always be prepared to receive gifts from above.

Getting in the right frame of mind

According to Kabbalistic tradition, the quality of Shabbat is the direct result of one’s preparation for it. If you travel through the week with little consciousness, anticipation, or preparation for Shabbat, the result is a rather bland Shabbat. On the other hand, if you truly experience the ascent of the week towards Shabbat and truly feel that the week is an opportunity to climb to the spiritual height that Shabbat provides, the result should be a sublime Shabbat filled with joy, pleasure, and sanctity.

When the sun goes down on Saturday night, Kabbalists don’t merely begin a new week. Rather, they begin their ascent to the next holy Sabbath. Although Sunday and Monday may begin slowly and without much anticipation of the Sabbath, by Tuesday and Wednesday, Kabbalists can truly feel the coming arrival of the Sabbath.

A Kabbalah teacher taught me that one of the most important preparations for the Sabbath is to cultivate a willingness to receive it and taste it. A passage from the Torah reveals an aspect of this attitude. The Torah says that when the Children of Israel accepted the Torah from above, they responded with an unusual phrase, Na’aseh V’nishmah (nah-ah-seh vah-nish-mah; We will do and we will hear or We will do and we will understand [Exodus 24:7]).

This phrase reflects the opposite of what people usually do in life, which is say that they want to understand something before they do it. Essentially, they stand with their arms folded and say, “First prove it to me, and then I’ll consider tasting it or doing it.” The Kabbalist, however, says, “First I’ll do it, and then I’ll understand it.” Understanding, represented by the second sefirah of Binah, leads to knowledge, which is the third sefirah of Da’at (see Chapter 4). According to Kabbalah, true knowing comes from the experience itself.

Visiting and using a 500-year-old mikvah

The mystical city of Tzfat, Israel, is where Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the greatest Kabbalist who ever lived, resided. (On maps, it is often spelled “Safed,” but “Tzfat” is closer to its correct pronunciation.) Tzfat has a mikvah that’s believed to have been used by Rabbi Isaac Luria himself. This mikvah, which is located in a cave, has attracted countless people over the centuries. When I visited Israel recently, I tracked down an old friend of mine who used to be a devoted Grateful Dead fan and who now lives in Tzfat with his wife and children and leads the life of a Kabbalist. The very first thing we did was walk to the mikvah of Rabbi Isaac Luria and submerge ourselves in that ritual bath. The water was icy, but the experience was sublime. Knowing that countless Kabbalists (including Rabbi Isaac Luria) and others throughout the ages had used the mikvah made the experience deeply meaningful.

It’s what’s inside that counts

A Kabbalist related to his teacher that his little town had two bakeries. He explained that because his town was small and both bakers struggled to make a living, he felt that it was important to do business with both bakers and to buy his challah from both.

One baker wove beautifully braided challah, but his recipe wasn’t that great. The other baker seemed unable to create beautifully braided challah, but his recipe was quite exceptional and delicious.

The Kabbalist asked his teacher, “For the honor of Shabbat, would it be more appropriate to use the beautifully braided challah whose recipe is mediocre or the delicious challah whose shape is unattractive?” The teacher responded that the student should use the unattractive challah with a delicious taste because the inner beauty of something — not its superficial external beauty — is of greatest importance.

Dipping in a ritual bath

Since time immemorial, Kabbalists have submerged themselves in a ritual bath known as a mikvah (mik -vah). It’s generally known among Jews that women who observe the Jewish laws of family purity visit a mikvah each month. What’s not generally known is the Kabbalistic tradition of submerging oneself in a mikvah every day of the year or, if that frequency is impractical, at least once a week (either before the Sabbath on Friday afternoon or on the morning of the Sabbath). Countless Hasidim throughout the world observe this Kabbalistic practice.

Similar to a baptism, submersion in a mikvah isn’t a physical cleansing (no scrubbing behind the ears) but rather is a spiritual cleansing. One enters and submerges in a mikvah completely naked. Even rings are removed so that the water touches every part of the body without any barrier.

Most communities that are home to a significant number of traditional Jews have mikvahs. Specifications must be met for the construction of an acceptable traditional mikvah. It must be built in the ground or as a part of a building. Therefore, a portable receptacle, like a bathtub or Jacuzzi, can never function as a mikvah. A mikvah must contain a minimum of 200 gallons of rainwater gathered into the mikvah in accordance with a specific set of traditional regulations. Where the acquisition of rainwater isn’t possible, ice or snow originating from a natural source may be used to fill the mikvah.

Checking off Sabbath essentials

In the same way that a hunter must gather his supplies for a hunting trip, a baseball player must gather his equipment in preparation for a game, and a chef must gather his tools and utensils for the kitchen, a Kabbalist needs to make some specific preparations in order to be well-equipped and prepared for the arrival of Shabbat. The following items are required:

Fresh clean clothes: Kabbalists anticipate the Sabbath each week by designating the fine clothing that they’ll wear both to greet Shabbat on Friday night and to live through the Shabbat day. It’s not unusual for a Kabbalist to select his or her finest clothes and make sure that they’re sparkling clean as a way of preparing for the Sabbath. After purchasing new clothing, many Kabbalists wait until Shabbat to wear them for the first time in honor of the holy Sabbath.

Kabbalists recite a special blessing when wearing new clothing for the first time: Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, who clothes the naked.

Candles: Candles are important for the celebration of Shabbat. On Friday night, just as the Sabbath arrives, Kabbalistic households light at least two candles as a symbolic gesture of bringing the light of the Sabbath into their lives. At the close of Shabbat, Kabbalists use candles during the ceremony known as havdalah (hav-dah-lah), in which they bid the Sabbath goodbye and hope that the light of the Sabbath will remain and illuminate the days of the week to come.

Sabbath candles are readily available in many large supermarkets. Candles used in the havdalah ritual are commonly available in Jewish bookstores and can be ordered from many Web sites. Havdalah candle makers pride themselves on designing havdalah candles that are colorful and woven together in a particularly ornate fashion.

The fruit of the vine: An important item for celebrating Shabbat is either grape juice or wine, which are interchangeable when a Kabbalistic ritual calls for “the fruit of the vine.” Other than on the holy day of Purim (see Chapter 11), which traditionally encourages the drinking of wine or other alcoholic beverages (and when it’s okay to get a little tipsy), the wine the Kabbalist drinks on Shabbat isn’t meant to be consumed excessively. A Kabbalist should surely avoid getting drunk on Shabbat.

A cup: Kabbalists use a special cup at least three times during the Sabbath:

• They fill the cup with grape juice or wine at the beginning of the Sabbath on Friday evening.

• They drink grape juice or wine from the cup during lunch on the Sabbath.

• They drink grape juice or wine from the cup during the goodbye ceremony (havdalah) at the end of the Sabbath.

Cups used during the Sabbath are often ornate or decorative. Most Kabbalists who can afford it use one cup exclusively for Shabbat and other holy days.

Kabbalists are known to use beautiful cups in the Kiddush (kih-doosh) ritual, but a cup used for Kiddush isn’t a sacred object — it’s merely a cup (see Figure 10-1). Nevertheless, Kabbalists have a time-honored tradition known as hidur mitzvah (hih-dur mitz-vah; beautification of the mitzvah). This tradition calls for an effort to make all the items used for sacred purposes as beautiful as possible. Therefore, Kabbalists try to find particularly attractive cups. Throughout Jewish history, there have been a number of efforts to encourage sumptuary laws when it comes to spending, or rather overspending, on ritual objects as well as general objects and events. For example, rabbis have criticized the excessiveness of lavish wedding parties for centuries. Nonetheless, an effort to beautify ritual objects is always appropriate and encouraged.

Two loaves of bread: A careful reading of the Torah results in a number of ritual actions. One such ritual is the presence of two loaves of bread to complete the Shabbat dinner table. Ordinarily, a table may or may not have a loaf of bread as part of the meal. But on the Sabbath, Kabbalists make sure to have two loaves of bread on their tables as a reminder that, when the children of Israel fled Egypt and wandered in the desert, one of the miracles they experienced was the manna (food) that they gathered each day and ate. The Torah explains that on Friday, in order to prevent the need to gather manna on the Sabbath, the children of Israel gathered two portions for themselves.

Figure 10-1: Kiddush cups come in many styles; some are quite ornate. This one is simple and quite popular.

Loaves of challah (khah-lah; egg bread; see Figure 10-2) used on Shabbat are often quite beautiful. Often, they’re made from two or three strands of dough that are braided. Although this design isn’t essential, the braided loaves have become customary among Kabbalists. Kabbalists display the challah on the Sabbath dinner table underneath a cloth covering referred to as a challah cover. The challah cover represents the layer of dew that, the Torah states, the children of Israel found each day on the manna.

The Sabbath table is considered an altar. In fact, it’s a substitute location for the Temple that once stood in Jerusalem. The home of the Kabbalist is an intimate temple, and the challah and its braids may be viewed as the braiding together of the souls present in holy dialogue in the sacred center of the Kabbalist’s life, the home.

A white tablecloth: It’s traditional among Kabbalists to cover the Shabbat dinner table with a white tablecloth. The combination of the white tablecloth and the lit candles help to transform the weekday household into a sanctuary and a holy space. The white color of the tablecloth conveys purity to the space; in Judaism, white is the color of transformation, as worn by a bride.

Sweet-smelling spices: Kabbalists need to have cloves or some other sweet fragrant spices on hand to be used during the havdalah ceremony at the end of the Sabbath. It’s customary for the Kabbalist to obtain a beautiful spice box that holds the spices for the havdalah ceremony. Judaica stores, of which there are dozens throughout the United States and online, sell extremely attractive havdalah sets consisting of a decorative cup, an equally decorative holder for the havdalah candle, and a beautiful spice box.

Figure 10-2: Loaves of braided bread are an essential part of the Shabbat table.

Greeting the Sabbath the Kabbalistic Way

Friday afternoon is filled with great anticipation and busy preparation to welcome the arrival of Shabbat. For instance, Kabbalists make sure to bathe or shower before putting on their fresh and fancy clothing (see the preceding section), and they finish up the preparation of the festive meals (because Kabbalists don’t cook food on the Sabbath). As well, Kabbalists make sure that proper and practical lighting is already set before sundown on the Sabbath so that one doesn’t have to turn lights and lamps on or off during the holy time (lighting fires or turning on and off lights in prohibited on the Sabbath), and some even have an extra supply of hot water available in order to avoid having to heat water, which is considered work and is therefore prohibited on the Sabbath. Modern Kabbalists even have special urns that keep water hot so that it’s available if and when needed during the holy time of Shabbat.

With all these activities taking place, one senses a hustle and bustle among Sabbath observers, sometimes at a frenzied pace, filled with enthusiasm and anticipation. When Shabbat arrives, however, the frenzied pace quickly turns to an aura of tranquility.

In this section, I clue you in on two activities — lighting candles and singing songs — that kick off Shabbat the right way.

Lighting the Sabbath candles

To inaugurate the Sabbath, signifying that the sun has gone down Friday afternoon and that the week is over, a Kabbalist lights two candles and recites the following blessing: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights. The phrase “who has sanctified us by His commandments” appears in many blessings that refer to specific ritual acts; it acknowledges that the commandment from God is a gift offered from above. God sanctifies people by giving this commandment. Kabbalists don’t experience commandments as a bunch of rules. Rather, a Kabbalist sees every commandment as a gift of sanctification given by God to those ready to receive it.

Kabbalists report that the act of lighting candles to inaugurate the Sabbath and the presence of those candles in the home lends an aura of sanctity to the space. As one Kabbalist said, “When candles are lit on the eve of the Sabbath, one can see how a plain room can be transformed into a spiritual sanctuary.”

Lighting candles during a ritual is an act of particularly special significance because one of the strongest images among Kabbalists comes from the book of Proverbs: “The soul of man is a candle of God” (Proverbs 20:27).

The candle is both a popular and serious object of Kabbalistic meditation. Many Kabbalists have written books over the centuries addressing the significance of light and, in particular, the light that rises from the wick of a candle. The various colors of the flame, the upward reach of the flame, and the candle as a vessel that contains the light (a parallel to the vessel of the body that contains the soul) are just a few examples of the symbolic significance of candles.

Kabbalists go to a synagogue to participate in a special Kabbalistic prayer service welcoming the Sabbath. When they come home from the synagogue, they return to a new space lit by the Sabbath candles, signaling that the divine gift of the Sabbath has been given and is being received.

The candles that are lit to inaugurate the Sabbath don’t serve any utilitarian purpose — they aren’t intended to light a room, create a romantic mood, or make it possible to read in a dark room. They have a spiritual and symbolic nature; ultimately, they serve as a reminder of the primary goal of all Kabbalists, which is to bring God’s divine light into the world. Always paramount for the Kabbalist is this idea that God’s light is hidden in the world and the Kabbalist’s job is to help to reveal it.

Singing special songs

Throughout the centuries, Kabbalists have followed the practice of singing a number of songs week after week. One such song, which is usually sung in the synagogue service that welcomes the Sabbath, is called “L’cha Dodi” (leh-chah doe-dee ). It was written by a rabbi named Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz. Here are the lyrics:

“Keep” and “Remember,” a single word the Only God caused us to hear. The Lord is One, and his Name is One, in renown and glory and praise.

Come, let us go to meet Shabbat, for she is the fountain of blessing, poured from the beginning, from of old, the last deed, [but] first in intention.

Royal sanctuary, kingly city, arise, leave the ruins. Long enough have you sat in a valley of tears — for with compassion He will pity you.

Shake yourself free! Rise from the dust! O my people, be clothed in garments of splendor! Nearby, the son of Jesse, the Bethlehem-ite, my soul’s redemption, has approached her.

Awake, awake, for your light has come! Arise and shine, rise, awake, sing; the glory of the Lord has revealed itself over you.

Be not ashamed; feel no disgrace. Why are you cast down? Why do you groan? In you the afflicted of my people will seek refuge. The city will be [re]built on its mound of ruins.

Your plunderers will be plundered, and those who devoured you will be gone; your God will rejoice over you, as a bridegroom exults over a bride.

You will overflow north and south, and you will fear the Lord. Nearby, the promised one! Let us rejoice and exult!

Enter in peace, O crown of your husband, with gladness and rejoicing, among the faithful of [God’s] treasured people! Draw near, O bride; approach, O bride!

The metaphor of the Sabbath as a bride is fitting in that the special inner attitude that the Kabbalist must cultivate in preparation for receiving the Sabbath is comparable to the excitement and anticipation a husband has for his new bride. The Kabbalist renews his Sabbath anticipation and excitement each week, and songs like “L’cha Dodi” inspire such an inner attitude, or kavanah.

Transforming the Shabbat Dinner Table into a Holy Altar

For the Kabbalist, eating is a holy act connected to God, the source of all holiness. A salt shaker sits on the dining table of every Kabbalist and accompanies every full meal. The presence of the salt shaker is directly connected to the holy altar located within the holy Temple in Jerusalem, which always included a source of salt. Keeping a source of salt on the dining table is the Kabbalist’s way of transforming the table into a holy altar. With salt on a table, the mundane surface takes on a higher purpose.

Whereas a salt shaker is always present at the Kabbalist’s table, other items and activities are special to Shabbat celebrations. This section covers some of the most important ones.

Blessing the children

Kabbalists firmly believe in the power of blessings. They believe that the conscious transfer of blessing from one person to another, although intangible, is real, perhaps even more so than physical reality.

It has been a custom among Kabbalists for many centuries to raise one’s hands over the heads of one’s children and to bless them at the dinner table at the beginning of the Sabbath. The text of the blessing is: The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24–26).

If this blessing sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because the very same blessing that Kabbalists have offered to their children over the centuries has been recited at the inauguration of American presidents from time to time. During one inauguration, the Reverend Billy Graham was invited to offer a blessing, and he chose this one. It’s also the priestly blessing recited by the priesthood in the holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Singing a Kabbalistic love song to your partner

Kabbalists recite the very last chapter from the book of Proverbs at the Shabbat dinner table. On its surface, the text of this chapter appears to be a tribute to the wife, the woman of the household, the beautiful, capable, and a holy marriage partner. Indeed, husbands often recite this chapter to their wives on the eve of the Sabbath. Even when there are no women present at a Shabbat table, these verses are sung in honor of Jewish women everywhere.

A worthy woman who can find? For her price is far above rubies.

The heart of her husband safely trusts in her, and he shall have no lack of gain.

She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands.

She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from far away.

She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

She considers a field, and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.

She girds her loins with strength, and makes her arms strong.

She perceives that her merchandise is good; her candle does not go out by night.

She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

She stretches out her hand to the poor; she reaches forth her hands to the needy.

She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

She makes herself coverlets; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Her husband is known in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

She makes linen garments, and sells them; and delivers girdles to the merchant.

Strength and dignity are her clothing; and she shall rejoice at the time to come.

She opens her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the Torah of lovingkindness.

She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Her children rise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.

Many daughters have done virtuously, but you excel them all.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own deeds praise her in the gates.

Reciting the 23rd Psalm

At the Sabbath table on Friday night, Kabbalists read from the book of Psalms, specifically the 23rd Psalm, popularly known as “The Lord is my Shepherd.” As moving and as beautiful a poem as King David ever wrote, the 23rd Psalm reflects the steadfast and unwavering faith that the Kabbalist has in God.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God is the Shepherd of the Kabbalist, as the very first words of the Psalm indicate. The next statement acknowledges God as an eternally wise provider who knows just what a person needs and provides for those needs. When reciting the 23rd Psalm, the Kabbalist acknowledges God’s generosity and the great bounty that God offers.

Perhaps the most famous line from this Psalm is “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me.” This statement dramatically reflects the Kabbalistic attitude toward both death and God: Death shouldn’t be feared but rather acknowledged as God’s will, and God didn’t create the world and leave it alone but rather is always with his people.

With the startling words “your rod and your staff comfort me,” the Kabbalist expresses the belief that whatever God allows to happen is actually known in God’s wisdom to be for the best — even to the point that a rod and a staff are sources of comfort.

The 23rd Psalm is a deep and exquisitely beautiful poem, and by reciting it week after week, year after year, the Kabbalist etches these words and their meaning indelibly into his or her heart, mind, and soul.

Getting wet up to the wrists

It’s an ancient Kabbalistic belief that a person’s hands are particularly susceptible to spiritual impurity. So it should come as no surprise to find out that Kabbalists practice a very specific symbolic ritual when they wash their hands at the beginning of a meal.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes your hands get wet but the water simply rolls off and doesn’t seem to have an impact on the skin? The skin may retain no evidence of outside moisture because of body oils that prevent the water from actually touching the skin. For this reason, when Kabbalists pour water over their hands before eating, they pour water over each hand at least twice and sometimes three times. The first time is merely to get the hands a little wet so that the second pouring can hopefully contact the hands in their entirety. Also, Kabbalists are careful to make sure that the entire hand, from the wrist to the tips of the fingernails, gets wet. They also always remove finger rings to guarantee that the water touches the hands in their entirety. In many households, a traditional cup with two handles is used to make it easier to pour water over each hand one at a time (see Figure 10-3).

Figure 10-3: Each hand needs to be completely wet; the two handles allow you to easily wet one hand at a time.

The washing of the hands also includes a lifting of the hands — the hands are raised up after they’re washed and dried. In fact, the blessing recited upon washing one’s hands refers not to washing them but lifting them. Symbolically, it may be seen as a lifting up of one’s intentions.

What is this hand-washing all about? Simply put, preparing one’s hands and symbolically cleansing them of spiritual impurity enhances the spiritual nature of the meal. Kabbalists don’t wash their hands with soap and water and then dig in. Rather, they immerse their hands symbolically in an act of spiritual purification and then return to the table for a meal that’s far more than physical nourishment. The ritual transforms a mundane dinner table into a holy altar. At the altar in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the priests washed their hands in this manner, so performing the ritual in one’s home on the Sabbath connects the home with the Holy Temple.

Knowing the choreography of the Sabbath evening meal

At the Kabbalist’s Sabbath table (see Figure 10-4), after blessing the children and reciting the 23rd Psalm and the last chapter of the book of Proverbs, the meal officially begins with a recitation of the Kiddush (kih-doosh ).

Every detail of the Kiddush ritual, which involves a blessing over the fruit of the vine (grape juice or wine), has Kabbalistic significance: the color of the wine, the specific number of words in the blessing, the cup filled to the brim, and the way in which the cup is held in one’s hands. The ritual is rich with symbolism; each detail reflects ideas and images from Kabbalistic tradition.

For example, the cup of wine, which is filled to the very top, reflects back to the line in the 23rd Psalm, “My cup runs over.” On the Sabbath eve, with the tranquility of the Sabbath present and the rewards of the workday week manifesting in a delicious meal, the almost-overflowing cup of wine reflects the bounty that God bestows upon his people and prompts gratitude.

A Kabbalist would never eat a meal with someone else without “talking Torah.” That is, Kabbalists are taught to elevate the activity of eating in many ways, one of which is by bringing God’s teachings into the conversation. Particularly during the Sabbath meal, the conversation shouldn’t focus on the latest headlines or recent films in the local theater. Rather, conversation during the Sabbath meal should focus on the holy, whether it be teachings from sacred texts or the retelling of stories with eternal, spiritual messages. Additionally, every Shabbat table is surrounded by people with sacred songs on their lips. The traditional Jewish prayer book (as well as other books published for the occasion) contains songs that are particularly popular for singing on Shabbat.

Figure 10-4: A family welcoming Shabbat with candles, wine, and two loaves of challah. The father puts his hands on the children’s heads while blessing them, and the mother covers her eyes.

Every meal that a Kabbalist eats, which traditionally includes a fish appetizer followed by a meat or chicken dish, concludes with grace after meals, known as Birchat Hamazon (beer-khaht hah-mah-zone; see Chapter 15). The Kabbalistic grace after meals is a series of four blessings plus an expression of gratitude by the recipients of the food to its creator for the bounty that God has provided.

Observing and Enjoying the Sabbath

Kabbalists refer to the Sabbath with two terms: shamor (shah-more; guarding) and zachor (zah-khor; remembering). Guarding the Sabbath and remembering the Sabbath are two distinct activities. The terms go back to the first books of the Torah, where the Children of Israel are commanded to guard the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:12) and remember the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8). Despite the distinctions, both activities connect with the general injunction to receive the Sabbath from God as a gift.

Kabbalists throughout the centuries have taken the tradition of guarding and remembering the Sabbath quite seriously, even to the extent of being careful to observe a great number of laws pertaining to Sabbath observance. For example, the Kabbalist doesn’t light two candles to inaugurate the Sabbath and then go to a Las Vegas hotel for the evening to gamble at the blackjack table. Even if gambling is the most restful and relaxing activity a person can think of, it isn’t in the spirit of the Sabbath and isn’t permissible according to the Jewish laws that Kabbalists have observed for many centuries.

In this section, I explain a few of the most importance ways Kabbalists observe the Sabbath and how these observances bring peace and joy to a Kabbalist’s life.

Being busy doing nothing

People often mistakenly think that the biblical prohibition against doing work on the Sabbath only pertains to physical labor and that it’s permissible and appropriate to work on one’s self, one’s inner life, and one’s character traits. On Shabbat, no work is done — neither on the physical world nor on one’s self.

One of my Kabbalah teachers points out that it’s such a pity to see the number of people in the world who are eager for peace of mind. Some people take classes to attain peace of mind, some take drugs, and some try meditation and other techniques, all of which are a waste of time if the goal is to attain peace of mind. As my teacher points out, a fundamental principle of Kabbalah is that peace of mind is actually quite unattainable during one’s life because the human soul has two aspects:

Yetzer hatov (yay-tzer hah-tov; the good urge)

Yetzer harah (yay-tzer hah-rah; the evil urge)

These two aspects of the human soul are in constant battle with each other. However, the evil urge, the yetzer harah, isn’t really evil in and of itself. The great sages tell the story (as it appears in the Talmud) that when some people decided to capture the yetzer harah and lock it up in prison, the result was that houses weren’t built and babies weren’t born. This metaphorical story implies that the yetzer harah isn’t actually evil but rather is an impulse that may be used for constructive or destructive purposes.

There’s no way to stop the battle between the yetzer hatov and yetzer harah, nor would one want to. According to Kabbalistic tradition, a goal of life is to use the battle between the two urges as a source of creativity. The tension between these two urges and hopefully the ultimate victory of one over the other (the good over the evil) results in the repairing and the building of the world. As my teacher points out, the goal of life isn’t to end that battle but rather to raise that battle to the highest level possible, where the strife that the soul experiences results in purification, ethical living, acts of lovingkindness, and profound connection to God.

During the week, the soul has no peace thanks to both the hard work that one does and the creative tension between the yetzer harah and yetzer hatov. But then comes Shabbat, when physical work is put on hold and, although one doesn’t turn off the mind, striving to reach goals isn’t the order of the day.

The primary directive: The Sabbath is grounded in stillness

During the week, most people, including Kabbalists, are busy working in the world, at jobs away from home or in the home. Some people travel far and wide commuting to work or traveling for one reason or another. But on Shabbat, Kabbalists always stay close to home.

For the Kabbalist, the spirit of Shabbat is to do little, if any, tampering with the world. The Kabbalist is busy repairing the world during the six days of the week because the world is unfinished or even broken (see the section “Keeping Your Eye on the Sabbath” earlier in this chapter). But as the sages teach, Shabbat is a taste of the world to come: a world without strife or great toil.

Dance steps, not dos and don’ts

Many people who have attempted to take on the myriad commandments and restrictions incumbent upon the Kabbalist have found the task to be daunting and perhaps nearly impossible. One of the difficulties for the practitioner is the list of thousands upon thousands of teachings about every human activity, each of which has its own set of commandments and prohibitions. To outsiders, the tens of thousands of commandments incumbent upon the Kabbalist seem like a vast collection of unrelated tasks.

My Kabbalah teacher points out that if you get up close to a tree and look at the intricate details of the leaves, branches, bark, and root system, you very easily can get lost in the great number of individual parts. But when you step back, the details of the tree all come together into a wondrous whole.

The same is true for the system of Jewish law incumbent upon the Kabbalist. Individually, the laws seem cumbersome and overly demanding. But when you enter the system, you stop seeing the commandments and laws as annoyances from the outside and instead see them as dance steps of an exquisite cosmic, spiritual choreography.

In addition, most teachers instruct that it isn’t necessary to take on the entire tradition at once. Not only is that next to impossible, but it’s almost surely not healthy. A slow and steady progress is much more reliable when building a spiritual practice. Ultimately, the practice isn’t a matter of how much one does but rather one’s inner attitude and connection to God.

Many people find this Kabbalistic practice to be quite difficult and challenging because radically changing the pace of one’s life every seven days isn’t exactly easy. But people who take on this spiritual practice after having not been Sabbath observers often look back and wonder how they did without it. The Sabbath is nourishing for the body and, more profoundly, the soul.

39 different ways not to work on the Sabbath

For Kabbalists, the traditional prohibition against work on the Sabbath isn’t a simple matter because this prohibition doesn’t merely imply that one takes a holiday or a weekend without going to work. Special prohibitions define what work is for the Kabbalist and therefore define what’s prohibited on Shabbat. Here’s a list of the 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath:

Sowing

Plowing

Reaping

Binding sheaves

Threshing

Winnowing

Sorting

Grinding

Sifting

Kneading

Baking

Shearing wool

Washing wool

Beating wool

Dyeing wool

Spinning

Weaving

Making two loops

Weaving two threads

Separating two threads

Tying

Untying

Sewing two stitches

Tearing

Trapping

Slaughtering

Flaying

Salting meat

Curing hide

Scraping hide

Cutting up hide

Writing two letters

Erasing two letters

Building

Tearing a building down

Extinguishing a fire

Kindling a fire

Hitting with a hammer

Taking an object from the private domain to the public, or transporting an object in the public domain

As you may have guessed, these 39 activities have more than a superficial meaning — they actually reflect abstract ideas that the Kabbalist can apply to many situations. Take the category called threshing as an example. According to tradition, one is forbidden to participate in the activity of threshing on Shabbat. A modern Kabbalist may think that this is an easy one to avoid because threshing isn’t something the average person does on a regular basis (or at all!). Farmers tend to handle the job. However, according to Kabbalistic tradition, the prohibition against threshing on Shabbat doesn’t really apply to the specific and narrow activity of threshing as it would occur on a farm; rather, threshing reflects the abstract idea of separating one thing from another or extracting one thing that’s useful from what’s left behind and isn’t useful. In modern terms, the notion of threshing extends, for example, to the activity of squeezing the juice from a lemon. The person squeezing the lemon extracts what he or she wants (the lemon juice) and leaves behind what’s unwanted (the rind).

This abstract description still applies to the concrete and specific activity of threshing, though, because it’s an activity whereby one separates a stalk of wheat, taking its fruit and leaving behind the rest. So, although at first glance squeezing the lemon and threshing seemed to be distinctly different activities, they’re essentially the same.

The study of the 39 prohibited activities is a deep and complex one that has been quite familiar to serious Kabbalists throughout the centuries.

Reading from the Holy Scrolls

Kabbalists almost always participate in one particularly special Shabbat activity: listening to the public reading of a portion from the Torah scroll, the Five Books of Moses. The central book for Kabbalist, without question, is the Torah, and that special status is reflected in this custom.

Enjoying the oneg Shabbat

In many synagogues throughout the world, a time for refreshments follows the Friday night prayer service welcoming the Sabbath. Many synagogues call this refreshment time the oneg or oneg Shabbat. And many who don’t know any better surely have come to the conclusion that “oneg Shabbat” means coffee and cake (or perhaps bagels and herring!). In fact, “oneg Shabbat” means the “delight of Shabbat,” and although tasting and enjoying good food is certainly a delight, an oneg Shabbat for a Kabbalist is simply an extension of the great delight of receiving the Sabbath.

The Five Books of Moses are divided up so that the entire thing can be read in one year’s annual cycle. Each week, a small portion is read. This public reading has continued in the same cycle year after year for centuries, and every Jewish community throughout the world is always focusing on the same Torah portion. Kabbalists make every effort either to attend a synagogue to hear the public reading or, if that isn’t possible, to read the portion along with the commentaries in private each week.

Making sure you experience delight

According to Kabbalistic tradition, an essential component of the experience of the Sabbath is oneg (oh -neg; delight). On the chart of the ten sefirot (seh- fear -oat; divine channels), the first sefirah, Keter (crown), is said to be both the source of “will” and “delight.” You can see the idea behind this dual significance of Keter by looking at the notion of will. When somebody wants something and uses her will to achieve it, the goal is always the same: delight. When a person desires something, she desires it because of the ultimate pleasure it will provide. This is the connection between will and delight. She wills something because it brings her what she want, and what she wants, at its root, is always enjoyment or pleasure, or as Kabbalists say, oneg. (For more on the sefirot, check out Chapter 4.)

Just as people do things for pleasure, God created the universe to bring Himself pleasure. For the Kabbalist, nothing’s more meaningful than the idea that God created the world because He wanted to. But, in fact, Kabbalistic tradition goes one step farther and combines the two notions of will and delight: God created the world because He wanted to, but the source of that wanting was pleasure.

According to Kabbalah, this pleasure has duality: Not only is creation God’s pleasure, but more significantly for humans, God created the world and humans in particular so that humans could receive. And what is it that God wants humans to receive? Pleasure! Therefore, the Sabbath as a gift from the Divine is the pinnacle of all God’s giving. God wills it that humans should experience pleasure, and by receiving the Sabbath, Kabbalists receive a divine gift that brings delight.

According to Kabbalistic tradition, the highest form of pleasure is knowledge of God. In fact, knowledge of God and connection to God is the heart’s desire and the reason that God created humans in the first place. Even beneath the disbelief of the nonbeliever is a profound and fundamental desire to approach God, to connect with God, and to experience the oneg that such knowledge and connection brings. The oneg experienced through true connection with the Infinite One is different from any earthly delight.

Saying Goodbye to the Sabbath: A Fond and Fragrant Farewell

When the sun goes down on Friday evening, Shabbat begins. And when the sun goes down on Saturday evening, Shabbat ends. Traditionally, the setting of the sun followed by the appearance of the first three stars in the sky marks the official end to Shabbat for the Kabbalist, but this is merely a guideline. Many Kabbalists, particularly in Hasidic communities, prefer that the Sabbath lingers; they’re in no rush to end the sweetness of the Sabbath and begin the busy work week. Who could blame them?

Just before the Sabbath ends, Kabbalists perform an ancient ritual known as havdalah (hahv -dah-lah ). The term implies separation, and the ritual is a separation between the seventh day and the work week that’s about to begin. The havdalah prayer that Kabbalists recite is as follows:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid: for God the Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Salvation belongs unto the Lord: thy blessing be upon thy people. The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. (Lord of Hosts, praised is the man who trusts in you. Lord save! May the King answer us on the day we call.) The Jews had light and joy and gladness and honor. So be it with us. I will lift the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.

Kabbalists also light an intertwined candle and make some special blessings appropriate to the moment. After all, the peace and tranquility of the Sabbath is about to end and the Kabbalist needs to jar himself or herself into another round of the week. Every standard Jewish prayer book contains the details of the havdalah ritual.

Gearing Up for the Sabbath All Over Again

Kabbalistic tradition teaches that the world is created through divine emanations known as sefirot (see Chapter 4). These fundamental building blocks of the universe and the human soul combine in a vast number of combinations and permutations to result in the diversity of the universe. The ten sefirot are often divided into the top three and the bottom seven. For Kabbalists, the bottom seven sefirot on the Kabbalistic chart correspond to the seven days of the week. This teaching implies that each of the days of the week has its own nature and its own tendencies.

The rhythm of the week

The Kabbalist views the week as a perpetual round that begins and ends on each Shabbat. When one Shabbat ends, the following six days become, in a sense, a ladder that the Kabbalist climbs day by day to arrive once again at the next holy Sabbath. The week has a Kabbalistic rhythm thanks to the seven sefirot, each of which corresponds to a day. Also contributing to the rhythm of the week is the inner attitude of the Kabbalist, who brings his or her understanding of the day to its experience with the hope and prayer that the two will resonate with each other.

Sunday, the Kabbalistic Day of Reaching Out: The sefirah for Sunday is that of Chesed (kheh-sed), which signifies lovingkindness. Chesed is an expansive thrust, an expansion outward. It naturally corresponds with the first day of the week, Sunday, when the Kabbalist bids goodbye to the stillness of the Sabbath and ventures outward into the new week.

Monday, the Kabbalistic Day of Discipline: Monday corresponds to the sefirah of Gevurah (geh-voo-rah), which signifies strength, judgment, and discipline. It stands to reason that Gevurah is the sefirah for Monday because, by Monday, the worker who sets out on Sunday is fully in the flow of the week and is beginning to flex his muscle to accomplish what he sets out to accomplish.

Tuesday, the Kabbalistic Day of Harmony: The sefirah of Tuesday is Tiferet (tih-feh-ret), which signifies beauty and harmony. It appears as the central sefirah on the chart of the sefirot, just as Tuesday ends the first half of the week and ushers in Wednesday, which begins the second half.

Wednesday, the Kabbalistic Day of Motivation: The sefirah of Wednesday is Netzach (neh-tzakh). Netzach implies in the urge to get things done. Wednesday, as the start of the second half of the week, is a day of motivation to complete the week successfully in anticipation of the arrival of the Sabbath.

Thursday, the Kabbalistic Day of Persistence: The sefirah for Thursday is Hod (hoed), which reflects the abstract notion of persistence, bearing down, and holding on. With Friday night and the welcoming of the Sabbath bride in sight, Thursday carries the need for a rededication to finish the tasks of the week by connecting into the spirit of Hod, mustering up one’s final energies in order for the week to be fulfilled. Thursday night is a time for an accounting of the soul; the Kabbalist looks at any issues of the week and works for resolution or makes a plan for them to be worked on after Shabbat so that the soul and relationships can be more free and open on Shabbat.

Friday, the Kabbalistic Day of Connection: Friday is the sefirah of Yesod (yeh-sowd), which reflects connecting and connection. The connection may be between teacher and student, parent and child, husband and wife, or lovers. It’s no surprise that, according to Kabbalah, a Friday evening is the recommended time of the week for a husband and wife to make love, manifesting the spirit of the sefirah of Yesod, which also connects to the human genitals.

The Sabbath: The ultimate receptacle

Finally, the sefirah of the Sabbath is that of Malchut (mal-khoot; the kingdom). The Sabbath is the culmination of the week and the time to reap the rewards of six hard days of work. On the Sabbath, the Kabbalist sits with his or her family like royalty — princes, kings, and queens. Thus, the Sabbath is more than a day; it’s an exalted and holy experience. And just as the kingdom is one whole entity, the Sabbath, as the culmination of the week, completes the wholeness of the round of days for the Kabbalist.