Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism

One of the most influential people in Israel in the 20th century was Rabbi Kook, known by the nickname "hare'ayah"-הראי"ה, an abbreviation of his full name, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen. He was born in 1865 in Latvia to a very religious family. As a child he was curious about all things Jewish -the study of the Torah, Hebrew language, Jewish and general philosophy and mysticism.

Rabbi Meir Baal HaNes (Hebrew : רבי מאיר בעל הנס) , meaning Rabbi Meir the miracle maker, is one of the most known Jewish sages. He belonged to the third generation of Tannaim . He lived at the time of the second Rabbi Simeon Ben Gamliel, about 1,800 years ago.

Rabbi Simeo Ben Gamliel gathered the teachings of all the Sages and arranged them in 6 volumes, known as the Mishnah.

The term Divine Providence (Hebrew: השגחה פרטית) is one of the main ideas in Judaism which means that G-d watches over his creations all the time .The literal meaning of Divine Providence  is individual watching.According the the Jewish faith there are two types of providence :

1. Hashgahah kelalit, "general providence," G- d's care for the world in generaland for species in general.

Tzimtzum (Hebrew:צמצום) , meaning contraction, is a Kabbalistic principle used to describe  G- d,  the process of creation by "contracting" his infinite light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a finite and seemingly independent world could exist. In the Kabbalah, G-d is referred to as the Ein Sof (has no end). In the act of creation, G-d made something very finite out of the infinite.

What is the Image Of G-d? The Rambam claims that the image of G-d is actually the common sense of man. The Ramban says that the soul of the man is actually the image of G-d .

According to Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk because G-d gave man free will, he can choose his ways and he can also do things against G-d's will. The man is not controlled by nature and he can choose between evil and good.

" And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."

"  וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ:  זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם."
(Genesis 1:27)

Last week we discussed the 3 levels of Atziluth , Beriah and Yetzirah. Today we will learn about the forth level: Assiah.

The Four Worlds (Hebrew:ארבעת העולמות ) is an ancient concept of the Kabbalah , which describes the categories of spiritual realms in Kabbalah in the descending chain of existence.

Last week we learned about the meaning of  PASHAT and REMEZ.

The term Pardes (Hebrew: פרדס) refers to  the interpretation of text in Torah study. Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text.

Pardes is an acronym formed from the name initials of the following four approaches: