The Mysterious Origins of Kabbalah 

My pleasure Patrick. We got a whole lot more to come 😉

You've come to the right place

Thanks for Tracy. It’s a pleasure to be sharing.

Welcome brother. Glad to have you.

I did, also. 🧝‍♀️💜 glad I did.

I'm glad you came.

Thanks bro, happy birthday 😘

Thanks so much Daniel. Unfortunately not, we haven't gotten up to there yet in our historical sketch of Kabbalah. We did do videos on Avraham Abulafia, the Zohar and some other. Glad you enjoyed. 😊

We should continue it tho.

Thank you Daniel.

You are most welcome

Thank you Frank. I think it's fair to call it alien, relative to those other sources. Although by that time it had already been worked through Jewish sources such as Ibn Gabirol and, to some extent, Maimonides. I would recommend Neoplatonism and Jewish Thought by Lenn Goodman (ed.), particularly Moshe Idel's article on Neoplatonism and Kabbalah.

@@SeekersofUnity Wonderful. Thank you. I am really quite amazed at how keenly and succinctly you can summarize complex elements of Kabbalah and other mystic subjects. I have read a few books and listened to many different teachers on the topic and they "over-simplify," sensationalize ("Madonna stuff), skim over the surface, and/or take it out of its clearly Jewish/Rabbinic context. You cram more into your 1 hour videos than most of the books I have read on it, and seem to touch its heart. Are you planning on becoming a professor somewhere? Thanks again for the teaching and the book recommendation!

Thank you Frank. That's very kind of you. I'm glad i can be of service. I don't really have much plans other than continuing to learn, serve and teach, G-d willing. You're most welcome. Thank you for the kindness.

Hey Josh. Thanks for your kind words. It’s hard to advise without knowing a person intimately. I’m a fan of people seriously exploring their own mystical traditions first, before trying others. Happy to speak one on one. Drop me an email. Love, Zevi

My opinion: "Cultural appropriation" is a modern, 'woke' absurd limitation. You are Christian? You believe the Bible? Isaiah 56:7 KJV - Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."

Hehe thank you Miron. No need to feel stupid, learning is an endless process. Thank you for opening your mind.

Ah, I see your addressing that.

Best of luck my friend. Enjoy the seeking 😉

Thank you Zevi, sometimes it feels like cornucopia ,and can be overwhelming sometimes but also a beautiful endlessness! A lott in my life has been in reverse, so it feels anyway, experiences that were and are looking for words, I think iam at that place in time for now!

The source and authority of this claim is to be found in Sefer Yetzira. A source which long predates the 12th century and which was taken as authoritative by all Kabbalists by that point.

@@SeekersofUnity I hope this helps in some way. Ezekil is mentioned twice in the quran in two seperaite verses without any detail only that he is a pious prophet...but here's the interesting thing he is mentioned as the third in both verses oncr preceded by ishmael and idris and the other by ishmael and elijha...which I find kind peculiar because all these prophets in our kabbalah have the theme of "TIME" surrounding them.

Depending on who you ask, Kabbalah, as we know it, either predates the Babylonian exile by a few hundred years or post-dates it by another few hundred.

My apologies, you're right. Infinity was the wrong word here. I meant to say eternity.

Hey Alicia. Great question. I think you’re in the right place to explore those questions. Check out this latest conversation where we address some of these questions: Naming the Sacred | Shammai Siskind on Jewish Theology, Subjectivity and Directionality ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VfHE5TSlVwE.html

@@SeekersofUnity Thanks, Zevi. Funny you would post a full in-depth video on the topic the day before I had the question...watching the videos in random order finally works out for me :)

@Gabe Ullman oh crap... don’t let me regret this...

Not that I can recall.

Explain?

Yes. Good observation. And Islamic mysticism as well.

@@SeekersofUnity I was turned on to your channel by a Jewish member of an online community I belong to. Loving it so far. My channel deals with enchantment, anthroposophy, and Sophiology. I had pitched him on a conversation on the overlap between Kabbalah and Sophiology and he suggested your channel and said this is the guy you need to talk to. I am listening to you content while I am working. Excellent work you are doing.

Thank you friend. Glad you found us and are appreciating the work. Looking forward to checking out your work too.

Thank the good Lord, there are many paths to the One.

Thank you. Sorry if I can't always respond, just busy with a few things here. Re. Sources, usually my material that's more spontaneous, less prepared, or more original, whatever that means, is harder to provide exact sources for. I can recommend reading material or share where I've gathered information more generally. Alternatively, if you ask about something specific i can try pin down a source. When i do remember to be a little bit more helpful, transparent and meticulous i do include a list of sources and further reading in the video description. Be strong,

@@SeekersofUnity be strong?

Joshua 1:9

and 6 and 7

Thank you 😊

Glad we could help :)

@@SeekersofUnity It is chaver. שלום ותודה רבה

@@SeekersofUnity I need help. I'would like to know about a philosophic tractate like Rambam work on Guide for the Perplexed, BUT from the Neoplatonic worldview. I want to get exposure to both view.

Start with this my friend: plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic/

@@SeekersofUnity Thank you!

Plutarch: "It is not, therefore, out of keeping that they have a legend that the soul of Osiris is everlasting and imperishable, but that his body Typhon oftentimes dismembers and causes to disappear, and that Isis wanders hither and yon in her search for it, and fits it together again;[1] for that which really is and is perceptible and good is superior to destruction and change. The images from it with which the sensible and corporeal is impressed, and the relations, forms, and likenesses which this take upon itself, like impressions of seals in wax, are not permanently lasting, but disorder and disturbance overtakes them, being driven hither from the upper reaches, and fighting against Horus,[2] whom Isis brings forth, beholden of all, as the image of the perceptible world."

Oh, I beg to differ. See Afterman: Bernard McGinn and Moshe Idel, argue for the importance of mystical union in Philo's thought, along with its serving as a likely influence on (and possible origin of) the articulated discussions of unio mystica in Plotinus,5 and thus on Platonism and the entire Western mystical tradition.6 5 See: Bernard McGinn, The Foundations of Mysticism, Vol. 1, (New York: Rossroad, 1992), 38-40; Idel, Ben, 6a7; Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives, 39, 28g note 13: Idel, Enchanted Chains, 18-19, 22 6 See for example the discussion in Enn. 6.7-34 and 6.9.9, and McGinn, The Foundation of Mysticism, 53-55: And: The close reading of Philo's discussions of unio mystica, derived from his commentary on some of the biblical verses on cleaving, offers a rare opportunity to re-evaluate the trajectories of influence concerning mystical union in the history of religious traditions. We can safely claim that mystical union emerged from Philo's original Platonic-Jewish interpretation of the Septuagint. Philo was the first to interpret (in writing) the Deuteronomic injunction as referring to spiritual, mystical cleaving to God, rather than to mediating entities, institutions, or people. Philo converted the Deuteronomic, covenantal cleaving into a unique synthesis of a mystical union with the One and religious emotions of love of and intimacy with the God of Israel. Mystical union for Philo is the most intimate experience of God, a religious experience of coming close to God and cleaving to Him in love and friendship. The Septuagint, with its commandment to love and cleave to God, provided Philo, the middle Platonist philosopher, with the idea that it is possible not only to ascend in contemplation and mentally view the transcendent God, but even to cleave to and unite with Him, an idea never before articulated in either Platonic or Jewish traditions. Philo's discussions of the commandment and specifically his discussion of the henosis with God in his commentary on Deuteronomy 30:20, signifies a major innovation, one which must be taken into account as an important precedent and backdrop for the later developments of the idea of henosis in the Neoplatonic tradition and its later synthesis with Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Philo's allegorical interpretation of Genesis 2:24, Deuteronomy 10:20, and Deuteronomy 30:20 allowed him to articulate a spiritual understanding of the biblical commandment and consequently to create the category of mystical henosis. …Two of the main elements that constitute mystical intimacy in the Philonic commentaries analyzed above - contemplative vision and mystical union - became predominant in the Neoplatonic mystical tradition,81 and consequently in medieval Jewish theology and Kabbalah.82 …Regarding other, likely more direct influences (closer to his own time), one of Philo's discussions of mystical union and henosis - derived from his longer discussion of the men of God, who "stand" by cleaving to the "standing God - was developed later by Numenius and Plotinus, and suggests that Philo might have played a role in the later developments of the idea of mystical henösis.83 The two commentaries on Deuteronomy 30:20, the descriptions of the great souls that transcend the created universe and then unite with the One, are very interesting precedents and even possible sources for the Neoplatonic scheme of elevation and henösis with the One. 81. See: Enneads, IV, 8, 1; VI, 9, 9- 8o 81 u; v 317; V 3 34-37; V 5 10; Winston, Logos and Mystical Theology, 44, suggests the possibility that Philo's theory of mystical vision of God might have influenced Plotinus, who describes at the highest level of spiritual ascension a vision of the light of the One; see: Pierre Hadot, Plotinus: Or The Simplicity of Vision, trans. Michael Chase (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1993),61-72. 82. See: Wolfson, Through a Speculum and Afterman, Devequt. 83. See the careful discussion in Runia, Philo and the Church Fathers, 199-200. Source: “And They Shall Be One Flesh”: On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism, Adam Afterman, 2016, pp. 25-28, 45-47.

Proud of you :) Keep learning, keep seeking.

@@SeekersofUnity 👍

What? Why?

@@SeekersofUnity I sent you a comprehensive reply. Good grief. I’ll have to work it through all over again. I’ll send this one as a test. Aha! I responded to a comment a couple of months ago from a woman, who liked my comment to you and since then ALL my comments on RU-vid get stuck in a loop. I received a message saying the problem was resolved.

Where’s your ‘unlikely’ reply that demanded I puzzle out a response?

Have you received my iMessages? It’s a Kindar Zohar. Whoever? claims to be you. I could try to duplicate what I wrote from memory if you want to read it.

This site is fake