1. What is the Kabbalah?
The Kabbalah is the system of wisdom that teaches the truth about the One God, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
The Kabbalah teaches about God's relationship to this world, and provides ways that seekers of the truth can discover and connect with God in this world through actions, words and thoughts.
The Kabbalah contains the secrets of creation and prophecy as handed down by the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by Moses, lord of the prophets, and by the later elders, true prophets, righteous tzaddikim (saints) and sages of Israel.
The innermost wisdom of the Torah was a closely guarded secret until the time of the 2nd-century C.E. sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, whose teachings were written in The Zohar ("Brilliant Light"). The pursuit of the Kabbalah remained restricted to closed circles until the latter part of the 13th century C.E., when it began to spread increasingly widely, especially since the time of the outstanding latter-day Kabbalistic giant, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, known as the ARI ("the Lion" 1534-72.
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