What Do Kabbalah Books Teach?

Kabbalah books teach the structure of the spiritual worlds, and how each of us can get there. A Kabbalah book is like a tour guide. If you want to travel to a new city, you’d probably want to use a tour guide to tell which are the best places to go see, the best coffee shops and clubs, and where you don’t want to go because you won’t like what you will find.

Similarly, Kabbalah books tell you how the spiritual worlds are built, which “places” are more fun, and which are not. Of course, these are not physical places, but spiritual states that any Kabbalist experiences.

Another thing that Kabbalah books tell you is how to find the spiritual reality. If you want to go somewhere in this world, you need a map to that place, and a tour guide for studying the place itself. In spirituality, the Kabbalah books will do it all for you-“show” you where the spiritual world is, “drive” you there, and show you around.

Who Can Study Kabbalah?

When Rav Kook-the great 20th century Kabbalist and the first Chief Rabbi of Israel-was asked who could study Kabbalah, his answer was unequivocal: “Anyone who wants to.” In the last one hundred years, all the Kabbalists without exception clearly stated, and on many occasions, that today Kabbalah is open to all. Moreover, they said that it is a necessary tool in resolving the global crisis that they predicted would come, and which we are facing today.

According to all Kabbalists, Kabbalah’s hiding days are over. The wisdom of Kabbalah was previously hidden because Kabbalists feared that it would be misused, and misunderstood. And indeed, the little that did seep out evoked numerous misconceptions about it. Because Kabbalists state that our generation is ready to understand the real meaning of Kabbalah, and to clear up the past misconceptions, this science is now being opened to all who wish to learn.

What Is Kabbalah?

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a scientific tool for studying the spiritual world. To explore our world, we use natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology. But natural sciences study only the physical world we perceive with our five senses. To fully understand the world we live in, we need a research tool that can explore the hidden realm, that which our senses cannot perceive. This tool is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, reality consists of two forces, or qualities: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, to give. Since the desire to bestow wants to give, it creates a desire to receive, hence its more commonly used name “the Creator.” Therefore, the whole of creation, including us, are manifestations of that desire to receive.

Using Kabbalah, we can work with the fundamental forces of reality-reception and bestowal-to our benefit. It doesn’t only teach us the design of creation, but how we can become designers, as omnipotent and as omniscient as the original Designer of reality.