The Fundamentals of
Kosher Kabbalah:
A Guide to Basic Kabbalistic
Concepts and Terminology

 Including Original Diagrams and Charts Outlining the Order
of the Physical and Metaphysical Universes, the Levels of
Divine Manifestation & the Realms Of Time, Space And Mind.

By Rabbi Ariel Bar Tzadok
Copyright © 1995-2005 by Ariel Bar Tzadok.  All rights reserved.

Introduction

Like the Torah itself, Kabbalistic literature, which rightly includes all of the Bible, Mishna and Talmud, contains multiple layers of understanding.  At the very surface of these holy books are its most plain and simple meanings.  Yet, there are also meanings in the texts that, although not stated outright are clearly implied within the context. 

For example, “In the beginning G-d created the Heavens and the Earth” (Gen. 1:1).  This is a verse I am sure everyone is familiar with.  Its plain meaning is clear.  There is a G-d, and this G-d created the Heavens and the Earth.  However, which did he create first, the Heavens or the Earth?  The text does not say outright which came first.  Yet we can infer that since the Heavens are mentioned prior to the Earth that they were created first.  Thus we have two levels of understanding holy texts, the surface understanding and the implied understandings.  Both of these are easily accessible to one with intelligence and the discipline to study and to learn.

A third method of understanding texts is in a moralistic fashion.  Using Gen.1:1 again as an example, I can interpret Heaven moralistically and call it spirituality.  Earth I can interpret as physical.  Moralistically speaking I can thus interpret Gen. 1:1 as saying just as the Heavens are above the Earth, and came before them (the inferred meaning) so must one’s spirituality come before one’s physical concerns and needs.  Now, the text does not say this outright, however we can interpret it to be saying this, moralistically speaking.  This method, like the previous two mentioned are all accessible to one who cultivates his intelligence to study and learn.  All these levels require the use of rational intelligence.

Yet, not all thinking is rational.  There is that level of the human mind which is above rational.  It is “supra-rational” and thinks in a manner very foreign to standard rational, intellectual thought.  This “other mode” of thinking even has its own separate lobe within the brain, and is even tested separately from the other functions of thought in college entrance exams (S.A.T.’s). 

Torah and the other sacred writings can also be studied using this supra-rational method.  However, this requires using aspects of the mind that few people bother to cultivate.  I am referring to the latent powers of the psyche: intuition, inspiration and all forms of extra-sensory communication. 

In order for one to commune with G-d, one must be able to understand G-d’s language.  As we see from the Bible, when G-d speaks to a prophet He always shows that prophet a vision containing symbols and archetypes. If not for an angel within the vision interpreting the symbols, the message of the vision and thus the word of G-d would not be received.  This is the way G-d operates! 

One of the greatest stumbling blocks aspiring students experience along the road of Kabbalistic study is the never-ending array of symbolic terminology and representative vocabulary. 

The Kabbalists, like their predecessors the Biblical prophets, did not invent this series of mystical metaphors simply to confuse or mislead their students. 

Kabbalistic terminology and vocabulary is a necessary aspect of Kabbalistic study.  It allows for abstract metaphysical, spiritual realities to be comprehended by a human mind which is so overwhelmed by the physical senses of the concrete corporeal world around us. 

G-d operates in that manner which naturally allows Him to manifest His metaphysical reality.  It is we humans who have a hard time understanding what it is that G-d is saying.  Today many people philosophize G-d, making Him to be an intellectual concept instead of the living and real presence that He is. 

Those who philosophize G-d will never be able to understand anything about spiritual reality until they start to use their complete heads, i.e., their intuitive, psychic minds. This, of course, means that they have to stop philosophizing and start experiencing.

G-d in His infinite mercies has directed the Kabbalists to establish a system of terminologies so that the rational, philosophical mind would have some avenue of passage from the rational to the supra-rational thinking function. 

Kabbalistic terminology therefore plays this very crucial role in enabling the mind to be properly prepared to commune with G-d. 

It is therefore very necessary that these symbols and this vocabulary
be understood clearly and simply. 

I will thus proceed to outline and list the necessary basics of these symbols and terms, explaining to you their meanings, and enabling you to grasp a view of the greater reality of the physical-metaphysical universes.  As with all endeavors, the Kabbalists always start in the beginning....

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The above is the full introduction into this very easy-to-read and follow PDF book entitled: Basic Kabbalistic Concepts and Terminlogies.

The full text consists of 17 sections, each divided into subsections. 
The general sections are:

1. The Beginning of Creation

2. The Sefirot

3. Olamot - The Four Worlds

4. The Sheva Hekhalot - The Seven Palaces

5. Partzufim - The Sefirotic Faces

6. Mayim Nokbin & Mayim Dukhrin - Female and Male Waters

7. NaRaNHaY  - The Five Levels of Soul

8. The Mohin – Sefirotic Brains

9. The Mohin of Tzelem (the Divine Image)

10. Panim and Ahor - Sefirotic Face and Sefirotic Back

11. The Union of the Holy One - Blessed Be He, and His Shekhina

12. The L’shem Yihud Prayer

13. The Holy Name - Havaya (YHWH)

14. A’S’Ma’B - The Four Miluim of Havaya

15. The Miluim of Ehyeh

16. Ta’N’T’A - The Four Parts of the Hebrew Letter

17. The Primordial Worlds & the Creation of Evil

And now this additional material...

18. The Hebrew Letters and Vowels

19. Gematria: Hebrew Numerology

20. The Names of G-d & their Sefirot

21. The Semi-Sefirah Da’at

22. The Mohin of Z.A.

23. MaNTzaFaKh and the Shakh and Par Dinim

24. Light and the Multi-level Vessels

The full PDF format book
is available for you to online purchase…
CLICK HERE.