Kheper

Lurianic Kabbalah

the emanation of worlds Rabbi Isaac Luria Luria’s Cosmology The Tzimtzum Creation, Fall and Redemption Luria’s Theory of the soul Practical Kabbalah The Tree of Life according to Isaac Luria

Short essay on Lurianic KabbalahYakov Leib HaKohainIsaac Luria (1534-1572) — also known as the “Ari Zaal,” or “Divine Rabbi Isaac,” — was, and remains to this day, unarguably the greatest Kabbalist in world history. His doctrines, based entirely on the Old Testament and Zohar, anticipated virtually world-for-word — or at the very least, concept for concept — the theory of the “Big Bang” origins of the universe in astrophysics. Thus, the cosmogony of a 16th century Jewish Kabbalist was literally validated by modern science four hundred years later.The details of Luria’s Kabbalah are far too complicated to be discussed here. Suffice it to say that his doctrine of SheviretHaKelim, or “Shattering of the Vessels,” was at their core and profoundly influenced all subsequent Kabbalistic theosophy.Put simply, the doctrine of Sheviret HaKelim states (as does also the 20th century Big-Bang theory) that the Universe (i.e.,the Unity of  God) was shattered at the moment of mundane creation.  From this cataclysm, “Holy Sparks” flew off in all directions, some returning to their Source, others falling into the world of “things” and “beings.”  Thus, as the Baal Shem Tov states, “In all that is in the world dwell Holy Sparks, no things is empty of them; in the actions of men also, indeed even in the sins he does, dwell Holy Sparks of God.”Thus, the Kabbalistic notion of Tikkun Olam, or “Repair of the World,” is based on the principle that all things and actions in the world, no matter how seemingly trivial, are saturated with Holy Sparks,  yearning to return to the state of premundane unity from which they fell at the creation of the world. Again, modern Chaos Theory in physics states much the same principle when it proposes that all disturbed systems seek to return to their pre-existent state of “quasi-stationary equilibrium.”
Sabbatean KabbalahOne hundred years after Luria, in 1665-66, the Jewish Messiah and avatar, Sabbatai Zevi, began completing the Tikkun Olam through various “strange gestures,” including his conversion to Islam. Thousands of his millions of followers followed him into this “Holy Apostasy,” as did the followers of Yakov Leib Frank into Christianity another hundred years after that. Today, the DONMEH forum is attempting to complete the great task initiated by Sabbatai Zevi through the powerful medium of the internet.

Some lines of Orthodox Judaism deriving from the Lurianic TraditionRabbi Moshe Chaim LuzzattoThe Baal Shem TovRabbi Schnuer ZalmanLurianic Kabbalah today – the school of Rabbi Ashlag Antinomian Judaism Stemming from the Lurianic TraditionNathan of GazaSabbataian ZeviJacob Frank MiscellaniaSecular and Gentile KabbalahDefinition of TikkunJewish MysticismKavanot and YichudimKashmir Shaivism and Lurianic Kabbalah – Parallels

Some Lurianic Links

Kabbalah Home Page of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah. On-line lessons on the Lurianic Kabbalah, by the students of the early 20th century Lurianic teacher Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag.  A very large site, there is heaps of material here

Gershom Scholem’s article “The Messianic Idea in Kabbalism” and “The Crisis of Tradition in Jewish Messianism” commentary by Karen Armstrong.  Although these materials also contain some critical elements, these informative scholaristic essays include interesting and useful information.

Lone Star Kabbalah by Dr. C. Benton. An overview of all the main Kabbalaistic themes.  Follows the Lurianic paradigm.

Lurianic Reading List

Ten Luminous Emanations by Yehuda Ashlag – Paperback Vol 001 (June 1970) Kabbalah Learning Center

Ten Luminous Emanations by Yehuda Ashlag – Paperback Vol 002 (June 1973) Kabbalah Learning Center

Safed Spirituality by Lawrence Fine. Paulist Press, 1984

Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan

The Light of Redemption by Levi Krakovsky

 General Principles of Kabbalah by Moses Luzzatto

Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershom Scholem

Kabbalah by Gershom Scholem

The Thirteen Petalled Rose by Adin Steinsaltz, transl. by Yehuda Hanegbi

Lessons in Tanya : The Tanya of R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi edited Yosef Vaynberg, transl. by Sholom Wineberg and Levi Wineberg