Chapter 14
Hitting the Books — and Kissing Them: Studying Like a Kabbalist
In This Chapter
Recognizing the power of daily study
Studying Kabbalah in different languages
Working with spiritual teachers and study partners
Grasping the true nature of Torah and Talmud study
Even though you can take an introductory class in Kabbalah anywhere in the world these days, taking a class doesn’t make you a Kabbalist. Being a Kabbalist means making a lifelong commitment to learning and practicing. Kabbalists study — every day. Not almost every day or once in a while, but every day — including weekends and holidays. Kabbalists don’t have free time because any moment that’s “free” is filled up with study. That’s why Kabbalists almost always have at least one book of Kabbalah with them at all times. Waiting for a bus? Study. Sitting on the train? Study.
But by “studying,” I don’t mean that Kabbalists have to be reading every moment. They may be contemplating the things they’ve been learning lately; they may be thinking about God; or they may be thinking about how to apply their learning to life. But one way or another, a Kabbalist is always trying to connect with texts, teachings, and tradition.
In this chapter, you explore the importance of study and how to go about doing it. You also find out what makes a good Kabbalah teacher and how to find one. Finally, you look at the unique ways a Kabbalist studies the Bible and other Kabbalistic texts.
When Kabbalists Hit the Books, They Really Hit Them!
I’ll never forget the first time I saw Kabbalists learning. I was in a yeshiva (yeh-she -vah; school of Torah study) in the Old City of Jerusalem, and I walked into a study hall full of long, narrow tables. Students were sitting on both sides of the tables, some by themselves in front of open books, some in pairs, and some in groups of three or four.
The remarkable thing was the way in which they learned. Their holy books were in front of them, and physically they related to these books in two ways:
They kissed them.
They hit them.
Many times throughout the study session, I witnessed students gently lifting their books to their mouths as they kissed them with affection and gratitude. It isn’t unusual for a student of Kabbalah to encounter a dazzling piece of wisdom on the page that prompts him or her to lift the book and kiss it with gratitude for the enlightenment the text has offered.
But I also saw the opposite, or the apparent opposite. Students of Torah often hit pages of their books with their hands. Why? Sometimes a student gets involved in a discussion or a debate recorded in a sacred text and ends up objecting to a point of view reported in the text. At times such as these, it’s not only acceptable but actually even encouraged to get so emotionally involved in the discussion or debate on the page that you hit the page as if to say, “I disagree!”
In Kabbalistic tradition, hitting a page of text shows no disrespect for the sacred book or tradition. On the contrary, one is required to get emotionally involved with what one studies. For the Kabbalist, studying and learning aren’t passive activities in which one simply opens one’s brain and has information poured into it. Rather, dialogue, questions, objections, and sometimes deep emotion are what make a student entangled (in the best sense of the word) in what he or she is learning.
Understanding the Importance of Study in Kabbalah
To think that Kabbalah is a body of knowledge that you can master is a huge mistake. Kabbalah requires constant and ongoing study, and mastering Kabbalah just isn’t possible. In this section, I share with you just how and why study is such an essential part of the life of a Kabbalist.
Receiving an ongoing benefit
Studying is like going to the gym. Just like short, regular visits to the gym are more effective than going once a week for a long session, studying briefly but regularly is better than studying for one long session and then not getting back to it for a while.
As well, just as exercise is only beneficial if you keep doing it, studying only works if you keep at it. You can exercise and get into tiptop shape, trimming away the fat and building up muscle definition, but as soon as you stop exercising, the fruits of your labor begin to deteriorate immediately. The same holds true for studying Kabbalah. One needs to review and understand the principles of Kabbalah on a regular basis. For the Kabbalist, study isn’t a matter of learning a curriculum and then feeling that “I’ve done it, and I’ve learned it.”
Fighting the tendency to forget
An interesting aspect of Kabbalah study has to do with the tendency people have to forget much of what they learn. This kind of forgetfulness is common when you’re dealing with technical information, but it’s even more common with general wisdom. Kabbalists are required to study every day to meet the need for constant reminders and review. For the Kabbalist, study is as routine and essential as the most basic bodily functions. One eats every day, one sleeps every day, and one studies every day.
Using study to talk to God
Kabbalah teaches that when the Children of Israel stood at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah, a divine transmission occurred: God did the teaching, and the Children of Israel did the receiving. The result in its written form is the Torah, the Five Books of Moses.
Torah study for the Kabbalist is really a conversation between God and humans. It’s a partnership whereby God and humankind join forces in order to solve the riddle of existence.
Where and When Do I Begin?
These guidelines aren’t hard and fast rules, however. Some children have the capacity to begin Torah study earlier than age 5, and there are so many levels of study that one 5-year-old can begin to learn the stories in the Bible while another child pierces deeper. But the following curriculum from Rabbi Judah ben Teima makes a lot of sense and continues to be a good guide:
1. At age 5, begin with the Holy Scriptures (Tanakh: the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings; see Chapter 13).
The Holy Scriptures is the foundation of all Kabbalah learning and is absolutely essential for serious Kabbalists.
2. At age 10, study the Mishnah, which is the written record of the ancient oral tradition, as old as the Torah itself (see Chapter 13).
3. At age 13, proceed to study the commandments, Jewish law.
The age of 13 is advised for this study because it’s the age of the bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah, when a young person becomes responsible for his or her own actions (see Chapter 12).
4. At age 15, study Talmud (see Chapter 13).
It’s important to understand that the actual document called the Talmud didn’t exist when Rabbi Judah ben Teima offered this curriculum advice. The term “Talmud” means “learning” but specifically means the learning of the abstract ideas at the heart of the study of Torah. This includes Kabbalah, which is the ultimate body of spiritual ideas and concepts in Jewish tradition.
Mastering or completing any of these stages is impossible; Kabbalists study them all over and over again throughout their entire lives. And one can certainly switch back and forth among these texts and ideas. But these four areas of Torah study form a structure, like a building, from the ground floor up. It’s practically impossible to study the Mishnah or the commandments without being familiar with the Holy Scriptures, and the study of Kabbalah is similarly almost impossible without a solid grounding in the Holy Scriptures, the Mishnah, and the commandments.
Studying the Torah in one year
The Five Books of Moses is divided up into weekly portions that make it possible to spend one complete year studying the whole thing from beginning to end. The cycle begins and ends on the holy day of Simchat Torah (see Chapter 11).
In every synagogue throughout the world, the same portion of the Torah is read aloud on the Sabbath. Each of the portions has a name, as listed here. The list also tells you where the portions can be found in the Torah:
1. Bereshit (buh-ray-sheet; book of Genesis)
1. Bereshit Genesis 1–6:8
2. Noach Genesis 6:9–11:32
3. Lech Lecha Genesis 12–17:27
4. Vayyera Genesis 18–22
5. Chayye Sarah Genesis 23–25:18
6. Toledot Genesis 25:19–28:9
7. Vayyetze Genesis 28:10–32:3
8. Vayyishlach Genesis 32:4–36
9. Vayyeshev Genesis 37–40
10. Mikketz Genesis 41–44:17
11. Vayyiggash Genesis 44:18–47:27
12. Vayyechi Genesis 47:28–50:26
2. Shemot (sheh-mote; book of Exodus)
1. Shemot Exodus 1–6:1
2. Va-ayra Exodus 6:2–9
3. Bo Exodus 10–13:16
4. Beshallach Exodus 13:17–17
5. Yithro Exodus 18–20
6. Mishpatim Exodus 21–24
7. Terumah Exodus 25–27:19
8. Tezaveh Exodus 27:20–30:10
9. Ki Thissa Exodus 30:11–34
10. Vayyakhel Exodus 35–38:20
11. Pekudey Exodus 38:21–40
3. Vayikra (vah-yih-krah; book of Leviticus)
1. Vayikra Leviticus 1–5
2. Tzav Leviticus 6–8
3. Shemini Leviticus 9–11
4. Thazria Leviticus 12–13
5. Metzora Leviticus 14–15
6. Acharey Mot Leviticus 16–18
7. Kedoshim Leviticus 19–20
8. Emor Leviticus 21–24
9. Behar Leviticus 25–26:2
10. Bechukotai Leviticus 26:3–27
4. Bamidbar (bah-mid-bar; book of Numbers)
1. Bamidbar Numbers 1–4:20
2. Naso Numbers 4:21–7
3. Behaalotecha Numbers 8–12
4. Shelach Numbers 13–15
5. Korach Numbers 16–18
6. Chukkat Numbers 19–22:1
7. Balak Numbers 22:2–25:9
8. Pinchas Numbers 25:10–30:1
9. Mattot Numbers 30:2–32
10. Massey Numbers 33–36
5. Devarim (deh-vah-reem; book of Deuteronomy)
1. Devarim Deuteronomy 1–3:22
2. Va-ethchanan Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11
3. Ekev Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25
4. Re’eh Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17
5. Shofetim Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9
6. Ki Thetze Deuteronomy 21:10–25
7. Ki Thavo Deuteronomy 26–29:8
8. Itzavim Deuteronomy 29:9–30
9. Vayyelech Deuteronomy 31
10. Haazinu Deuteronomy 32
11. Vesoth Ha-Berachah Deuteronomy 33–34
Studying the Mishnah in one year
A system has been devised to get students through the six sections of the Mishnah in a year by studying two paragraphs each day. This study plan is called Mishnah Yomi (mish -nah yo -mee; daily Mishnah). Studying the Mishnah in one year doesn’t mean mastering it; you can go deeper and deeper, but Mishnah Yomi is a good start.
Most people who study the Mishnah go at their own pace, but using the daily system can be useful. Type “Mishnah Yomi” into your favorite Internet search engine to find instructions for studying the Mishnah in Hebrew (the original language), English, and many other languages. And any good Jewish bookstore is bound to sell various commentaries on the Mishnah in English.
Studying the Talmud in 7 1/2 years
The Talmud is huge; it has 63 sections, some of which are as long as many books. The system Daf Yomi (dahf yo -mee; a page a day) helps Kabbalah students tackle the Talmud by guiding them through it one page each day for about 7 1/2 years. Daf Yomi is used worldwide by thousands of students and even offers phone numbers that students can call to hear a summary recording of the day’s page.
Not everyone who studies the Talmud goes through a page a day. For some, even one page (they’re big pages) per day is a lot, but for others, a page a day is an easy feat. Each person who studies the Talmud goes at his or her own pace. As with every other sacred text, there’s no end to the depths to which a student can go.
Studying Kabbalah: Where and when do you begin?
A popular misconception about the study of Kabbalah claims that one must be 40 years old in order to study it (see Chapter 17). That isn’t a rule, but just as you wouldn’t study calculus before arithmetic, you really can’t study Kabbalah until you have a lot of basic Torah, Mishnah, and Talmud study under your belt.
My three children (two girls and a boy) attended tradition Jewish schools and often came home with Kabbalistic ideas on their lips, eager to share them with me. In fact, since my children and I are all direct descendants of one of the most illustrious Kabbalists in history, Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (see Chapter 18), they were always excited and eager to share when one of their teachers taught them some wisdom from one of his holy books of Kabbalah.
Can I Study Kabbalah in English? (You Already Are!)
Many people hold the point of view that unless you study a holy text in its original language, you’re not really studying it. I advise you to steer clear of such a view; take it from me, it isn’t true. Misunderstanding a holy text because it’s in its original language is a valid risk; one can reap a far greater understanding of a text after it’s translated. As my teacher once pointed out, every translation is a commentary, but a commentary isn’t a crutch or a barrier to understanding; it’s a common aid to understanding that every Kabbalist is involved with whenever he or she studies.
Great experts and practitioners of Kabbalistic tradition have written many books in many languages. One example is Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz of Jerusalem, who’s a master of Talmud and Kabbalah and highly revered among rabbis. His works have been translated into English, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Hebrew. One of his mottos is “Let my people know,” and he’s devoted much of his life to creating English-language tools and translations for serious students. His books are widely available.
Translations to consider
I advise people interested in Kabbalah to seriously investigate various translations of traditional texts. For example, any number of translations of the prayers that Kabbalists have recited and studied for centuries are available. When tracking down the classical texts, it’s important to be aware of the following:
Torah texts: Any number of translations of the Five Books of Moses are available. I prefer The Living Torah by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (Moznaim), a renowned teacher of Kabbalah and Jewish meditation, but there are lots of others.
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Kabbalists consider some English translations of the Torah useless, and I tend to agree. For example, you can find translations and commentaries on the Torah written and produced by people who don’t believe in divine revelation. If you also don’t believe in divine revelation, don’t be fooled into thinking that your best bet for study is to focus on the work of others who take the same point of view. Right or wrong, if you want to study Kabbalah, it’s imperative that you study translated texts done by individuals who are believers in the tradition and therefore write from the inside.
The Talmud: The place to start without a doubt is The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition (Random House). Now out-of-print, volumes can be found in synagogue libraries, public libraries, university libraries, and elsewhere. Used copies are also available on popular Web sites that sell used books. Also, the English Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud (Artscroll), which has extensive commentaries, is highly recommended, especially for the advanced student.
The Zohar: There two translations of the Zohar in existence. One is a British translation by Maurice Simon (Soncino) that has been around for decades; it has no commentary and is of very limited value to the beginning student. The other, a clearly written and more accessible Zohar translation project underway as of this writing, is The Zohar: Pritzker Edition by Daniel Matt (Stanford University Press). Three volumes have appeared as of this writing, and the translator projects that there will be ten to twelve volumes in all — and that it will take him another decade to finish. The general consensus seems to be that this translation, while both monumental and groundbreaking, isn’t useful for the beginner. Daniel Matt has also written The Essential Kabbalah (HarperCollins), a far more accessible book that I recommend.
Sefer Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah: These two early Kabbalistic texts are translated with commentary by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (Weiser Books). The late Rabbi Kaplan was an extraordinary scholar and teacher, and these two books are major contributions to the small but growing collection of books in English of interest to students of Kabbalah.
I explore a number of other Kabbalistic texts of importance in Chapter 13.
Don’t rule out learning Hebrew
Although studying holy books in a language that one understands is both permissible and obviously advantageous, a Kabbalist would never disregard the ultimate value of studying the Torah and other classic texts in their original language of Hebrew. When it comes to the Torah, not only are the literal meanings of the Hebrew words of the Torah of interest, but also Kabbalists are interested in
The shapes of the letters
The numerical value of the letters and words
The linguistic roots from which the words are derived
Words that have similar sounds
Words that have similar spellings
The spaces between the letters and words
The size of the letters as written in the Torah scroll
The words that are apparent misspellings
The original text of the Torah has many levels of meaning, and the serious student explores them all. The original language carries so much meaning that, from experience, students of Kabbalah understand that the more one grasps in the original Hebrew, the more profound the lessons are.
Here’s just one small example of how a careful look at Hebrew words can be delightful and enlightening. The Hebrew word for “community” is tzibor (tzee -boor), which is spelled with three consonants and one vowel. The three Hebrew consonants are tzadi (tzah -dee), bet (bate), and resh (raysh). Kabbalistic tradition teaches that there are three types of people who make up a community: the saint, the sinner, and the intermediate person who struggles with his or her good and evil urges. The Hebrew word for “saint” is tzaddik (tzah -deek), the Hebrew word for “sinner” is rasha (rah -shah), and the Hebrew word for the intermediate person is benoni (bay-no-nee ). The first three letters of each of these words make up the word “community.” Countless other examples like this one reflect the amazing nature of Hebrew and the depth of study that a knowledge of Hebrew allows.
When the Student is Ready: Finding a Good Teacher
In the Kabbalistic tradition, a spiritual teacher, in many ways, has a higher status in a person’s life than a parent. Despite the fact that one of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shall honor thy father and thy mother,” the traditional understanding of what honoring one’s father and mother means is quite limited, and one’s spiritual teacher has elevated and exalted status in one’s life. The sages say that natural parents only bring a person into this world; spiritual teachers bring that person into the world to come.
If you want to study Kabbalah, it goes without saying that finding a good teacher when you’re ready is essential. You can’t get far on your journey if you try to go it alone. It’s never too early to look for a teacher, and there’s actually a law recorded in the Mishnah that everyone is required to find a teacher.
Following is some advice regarding the search for a teacher:
Not all teachers are for everybody. In fact, there’s a Kabbalistic belief that various souls in the world are connected to other souls at their roots, meaning that two people resonate with each other because their souls have a root in common. However, people with the same personalities or the same looks don’t necessarily have souls that share a common root; the matter is deeper than that.
For example, a student can find a teacher who’s quite different in temperament in personality than the student is, and yet the student can resonate profoundly with the teacher and derive tremendous benefit from their relationship. If you attend a lecture and quickly decide that you don’t like a certain teacher, I suggest that you not be hasty in looking for another teacher. With time, the student-teacher relationship can grow in profound ways. However, if you don’t ultimately love the teacher, then he or she may not be the right one for you. A Kabbalah teacher who truly nourishes you is one whom you come to love.
Don’t think that you have to understand everything in a teacher’s classes in order for it to be a worthwhile experience. In my opinion, people too often treat classes like films or theater and want to be entertained from beginning to end. If a teacher comes highly recommended, I suggest that you give him or her a chance — or more. You may sit in a class for two hours and find most of it boring except for the one sentence that strikes a chord and that just may change your life.
For a few years, I attended a Kabbalist’s lectures once a week for two hours, during which this great man taught 12 of us sitting in his apartment. One advanced student in the class seemed to be able to grasp and record every word that the teacher said. I, on the other hand, was a beginner, and some weeks that went by when I only “got” one idea in the whole two-hour meeting. I sometimes felt like I was in the wrong class. However, looking back 20 years, I realize that I learned more from those classes than I thought, and some of the ideas that I picked up along the way are among the most important and profound of all my studies.
Don’t be impressed by titles. A person may have three PhDs, ordination, and be the author of a dozen books and yet have very little to teach. But a more modest individual with no official credentials can offer profound insight into a subject. Too often, teachers are criticized for having “the wrong institutional affiliation.” My advice is to look beyond these superficial designations. Usually, when you find your teacher, you know it, and the other stuff doesn’t matter.
Avoid teachers who think that they know everything. A teacher who says, “I don’t know” has at least one very attractive attribute: humility. In my experience, the modest teacher is usually the finer teacher.
Pairing with a Study Buddy
A chevrusa (khehv-roo -sah; study partner) is highly recommended for Kabbalah students. The study partner relationship is a very close, intimate, and important one. I remember when I was studying in Jerusalem in a traditional yeshiva, and my class was exploring some of the basic ideas of Kabbalah in a small classroom in the Old City. After one particular class, the other students left, but I stayed behind and chatted with the teacher. A few minutes into our conversation, his own study partner, with whom he’d studied Kabbalah for years, came into the classroom. Both of their faces shone as they looked at each other with the great enthusiasm that came from meeting each day in the sublime realms of Torah study.
It’s too easy for a student to fool herself into thinking that she understands what she’s studying. A study partner can prevent that self-deception from occurring. In addition, study partners often challenge each other and evoke further consideration and discussion; as the sages described, “When two people study together, they sharpen each other’s blades.”
Another advantage to having a study partner is that he or she is an added support for regular study. A student may try to study every night for half an hour, but if she has a partner who’s relying on her, she’s more likely to stick to a regular study rhythm and schedule.
Finding a study partner can be as easy as meeting someone in a class or in passing who shares an interest in exploring the profound ideas of Kabbalistic tradition. Establishing a study partnership often takes no more than a simple inquiry. When two people agree to be study partners, all that’s left to do is obtain two copies of a book, set a regular time, and start reading it together.
Study partners may read a book sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph and then try to express and share what the text means before moving on to the next sentence or paragraph. Sharing understanding, insights, and free associations enriches both individuals. On the physical plane of existence, two individuals can join together and give birth to a new baby. In much the same way, two ideas can join together and “give birth” to a new idea. That new idea may never have occurred to either of the study partners individually, but their shared ideas can attach themselves to or get entangled with each other and ultimately produce a new and even deeper idea.
Studying Ancient Scripture: The Torah
Kabbalists believe that there was a time in history when Moses ascended Mount Sinai and received the Torah from God. They also believe that the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai is an eternal event that takes place constantly; Kabbalists believe that one can place oneself at Mount Sinai and listen to the giving of the Torah at any given moment.
By studying classical Kabbalistic texts, all of which ultimately connect with the primary transmission of the Torah at Mount Sinai, one is, in a way, standing at Mount Sinai. The ancient texts are portals into a timeless realm where the ancient texts come alive and the student resides in the eternal present.
In order to study the holy texts properly, Kabbalists need to be familiar with the details in the Bible, including the basic stories and their main characters. There comes a point, as reported by all Kabbalists, when the serious student experiences these biblical characters as alive, real, and in the present.
The Torah is the most important text for every Kabbalist and any student who wants to walk the Kabbalistic path. The Torah is embedded with all of life’s wisdom — sometimes explicit and sometimes hidden and just waiting to be revealed.
Kabbalists consider the Torah to be the blueprint of the world. In fact, they’ve long pondered a statement claiming that God looked into the Torah and created the world. This belief implies that that the Torah is the basic root structure of everything. (For further explanation of the Torah, see Chapter 13.)
Every week, Kabbalists intensely study a portion of the Torah along with commentaries on those portions. The following sections walk you through elements of the Torah study process.
The secrets hidden in the story of creation
Kabbalists study the words that describe the creation of the world in great detail in order to glimpse the secrets of the workings of creation. Looking closely at this first book of the Torah has been a common one among Kabbalists. The effort to examine the book of Bereyshit (ber-ray-sheet; Genesis), particularly the creation story at the beginning, is referred to as ma’aseh B’reyshit (mah-ah-seh ber-ray-sheet; the work of creation). The lines in the story of creation that are of particular interest in ma’aseh B’reyshit are the following:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And a wind from God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
What makes these lines so intriguing for Kabbalists? Here are a few explorations that help explain the interest:
The Torah describes the universe before God said “Let there be light” as tohu b’vohu (toe-hoo beh-vo-who; without form and empty [Genesis 1:1]). Kabbalists see these words as technical Kabbalistic terms that allude to something that’s sometimes referred to as divine nothingness. The process of going from formless to form is a deep concept in Kabbalah.
The phrase “darkness was on the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:2) intrigues the Kabbalist because it’s rich with meaning. These words are used in the same way that cosmologists attempt to find words to describe the origins of the universe.
The use of the word “light” in the phrase “Let there be light” has profound meaning as well. According to the biblical story, the sun and stars weren’t yet created when God said “Let there be light,” so Kabbalists don’t understand what’s meant by the text.
There must be 70 ways to understand the Torah
The number 70 is a significant number in Kabbalah. The Torah itself speaks of the 70 nations of the world, a basic unit of 70 parts that together constitute the whole; also, the Torah contains 70 different facets, or rays of divine light that are reflected in the text.
The Torah is unlike any other document in that it has multitudes of meanings. After all, Kabbalists conceive of God as infinite and understand that the Torah is a transmission of divine wisdom from above. Therefore, the Torah, too, is a reflection of the infinite. There’s no one proper interpretation of any given text, word, phrase, sentence, or story in the Torah. The Torah text has many layers, and each layer can be peeled back to reveal dazzling images and ideas hidden within the holy text.
Finding one’s private gate in the Torah
Some Kabbalists teach that there aren’t 70 aspects to the Torah (see the preceding section) but rather a whopping 600,000 aspects that correspond to the 600,000 primary souls said to have stood at Mount Sinai for the original revelation. Some Kabbalists interpret this as referring to the idea that there are many gates to use to enter into the world of Torah and that each of person, as one of his or her important tasks in life, is to find his or her “private gate.”
Torah study isn’t a free-for-all in which one can go in any direction one likes. Nonetheless, a great emphasis is placed on individuality. In fact, a special category of Torah interpretation called chidush (khih -doosh) implies a novel, new, unique perspective expressed by an individual who has been privileged to reveal still another dazzling part of the Torah. No two individuals understand the Torah in precisely the same way — nor do they have to. A basic assumption of Torah explication is that there can many simultaneous yet different interpretations of the Torah, and all can be “right.” The Torah has, by definition, many levels.
The four levels of Torah study
Kabbalists relate entering the world of Torah study to entering a garden or orchard: The Kabbalist enters into the orchard of Torah study and discovers its various levels of meaning. The Hebrew word for “orchard” is pardes (par-days ). In Hebrew, this word consists of four letters, and each of the four letters stands for one of the four basic Kabbalistic approaches to Torah study. The pardes becomes an acronym that reminds Kabbalists of these four approaches:
The literal meaning: The first letter word of the word “pardes” is the Hebrew letter pey, which stands for the Hebrew word p’shat (puh-shot). P’shat indicates the literal meaning of the text. In other words, the Bible openly reveals a basic storyline at the clearest of levels.
The word “p’shat” is used in modern conversation to refer to the literal nature of understanding. For example, two Kabbalists meet on the street, and one says to the other, “Did you go to the gathering last night?” The other person says, “Yes,” and the questioner asks for a description of what happened at the gathering. The person in attendance begins to give all kinds of details, opinions, observations, and perspectives about the gathering when all the questioner really wants is a basic outline of what happened at the gathering. He says, “I don’t want all of your extra observations. Just give me the p’shat.”
The hint: The second level of Torah analysis and explication is known as remez (reh-mez). This term indicates not what a verse says but what it implies or hints at.
The moral: The third level of Torah explication is drash (drahsh). It focuses on neither what the verse says nor what the verse hints at but rather what lesson one can learn from the text.
The secret: The last of the four general levels of Torah analysis is sod (sowd). The sod level is the deepest, most esoteric understanding of the Torah. This level is the most abstract level, when the details of the Torah are highly symbolic. For example, when the Torah speaks of Abraham and Isaac, the sod level can see Abraham as the personification of the sefirah of Chesed and Isaac as the personification of the sefirah of Gevurah (see Chapter 4 for explanations of these two important Kabbalistic terms). People often mistakenly think that sod is the Kabbalistic level of Torah analysis, but a Kabbalist is interested in all four levels and their relationship to each other. The personalities of sacred texts (the Bible, the Five Books of Moses, the Prophets, and the Writings) become archetypes for Kabbalists, representing far more than historical characters.
Discussing Life’s Issues with the Sages: The Talmud
For the last few thousand years, Kabbalists have been involved in an ongoing discussion that began many centuries ago among the great sages of Jewish history. This ongoing discussion began with the compiling and editing of the Talmud, which is a written recording of various explorations on a wide range of topics by the sages. (For more on the Talmud, check out Chapter 15.)
Talmud study isn’t a passive activity in which the student opens himself up and receives wisdom or information. Rather, the study of Talmud engages the student’s mind and emotions. Talmud study requires the student to probe, ask questions, object to ideas, and to generally get entangled with the text. It’s been said that the act of studying the Talmud is actually God and man joining forces as they both continue to create the world.
Kabbalistic ideas appear regularly throughout the 63 volumes of the Talmud, but they usually are never explicitly stated. The student of Talmud must make an effort to understand the text and then break it open to find the eternal ideas embedded within the text. A simple parable can actually contain profound and life-changing notions. When read simply as a story, the lesson may not present itself, but when one knows that the great sages communicated some of their most profound ideas through stories, parables, and even laws, then the study of Talmud is transformed into an inquiry into the most meaningful ideas, concepts, and principles of life.