Q&A: Kabbalah. Is it serious? Real? Or just made up?
Kabbalah. Is it serious? Real? Or just made up?
Question
A Torah scholar friend who studied quite a few books of Kabbalah claimed that it’s all just made up, and anyone can divide the world into whatever number of sefirot they feel like and then spin analyses about it, and that it’s just something invented and not serious at all.
Is he right?
Answer
One thing I can say: the question is not serious. This is a statement, not a question. If you have a concrete question, please go ahead and raise it.
Discussion on Answer
Good thing you don’t have that question about the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). I would recommend that instead of wasting time on the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), you spend a bit of time on mystical literature. My impression is that there are interesting mystical intuitions there. I don’t see it as an invention, but as insights into other ways of looking at reality. Still, I’m not sure it’s worth investing time in the details.
More power to you.
Is there an accessible book on it?
I’m not an expert, and certainly not in introductory books. There are masses of them. Shomer Emunim HaKadmon by Rabbi Joseph Ergas is the oldest and best known among them. But there are many contemporary books. Of course, each one has its own approach, but as I said, you shouldn’t be troubled by the question of who is right, but by the question of who offers insights that speak to me and interest me.
Is this something real and authoritative, and worth investing time in?
(For example, like the Babylonian Talmud or Jerusalem Talmud or the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or books of Jewish law)
or is it just made-up stuff like books of sorcerers, with no truth in it?