Danger, Kabbalah!
This is a fabulous miraculous story written by the Mekubal Rav Menachem Menashe, zs'l, author of the sefer "Ahavat Chaim", about 2 young adult boys whom were learning Torah by Rabenu HaKadosh HaRav Avraham Molcho, zs'l.
They were best friends and very loyal to one another. One's name was Yaakov and the other was Yosef. Once Yaakov told Yosef that his wish was to learn secrets of the Torah from his father but because he was an orphan, it was not possible. He revealed to Yosef that he wanted to learn the Kabbalah (secrets of the Torah) so he can have a lot of money and respect. Yosef told his best freind that it's better to know the pshat (simple) Torah and it's the best way to know HaShem, in innocence.
Yosef understood that Yaakov wanted to learn kabbalah for self-gain thru the usage of Kabbalah Maasit even though Yaakov denied it. Yosef loved Yaakov so much and cried to Yaakov to erase this want, because it is extremely dangereous. Yaakov paid no heed and went to Rav HaKadosh Rabenu Avraham Molcho and asked him to teach him the secrets of the Torah. Rabenu ignored him but Yaakov was determined and every day would come to him and insist from Rabenu to teach him the secret Torah. Rabenu saw that Yaakov is determined and after many weeks told Yaakov, "My son, you will not be able to withstand the tests. To learn the secrets of the Torah one must fast and accept many bodily and spiritual pain". Yaakov said that he's willing to do whatever needs to be done.
Rabenu gave him a list of difficult tasks and Yaakov happily agreed and obliged. The final day arrived and the actual learning of Kabbalah would begin. Rabenu called Yaakov and brought him to a secret room and took from the closet different mixtures and placed it in a big cup. He poured boiling water on the secret formula, stirred it, and gave it to Yaakov to drink. Yaakov happily drank till the last drop and 2 seconds later, felt like a newborn.
Less than 2 years later, Yaakov learned the Kabbalah. Yaakov learned holy names and the names of the impure. Rabenu made Yaakov swear on a holy sefer that he will never use the Kabbalah for self gain, and never use the holy Kabbalah to contact and use the Sheidim (demons). Yaakov agreed and swore on the holy sefer.
One day, he called the name and a demon appeared to him. The demon told him that he is in charge of thousands of demons and bowed down to Yaakov. Yaakov demanded that he be taken faraway and that second, disappeared. While the demon was with Yaakov in a faraway place, Yaakov demanded the head-demon to place him at any king whom has many enemies, and the demon should dress him in royal clothing with horses and chariots, with servants, and place him and the servants inside the chariot with expensive gifts. The demon did as told and placed Yaakov in Germany, at the king's palace. When servants of the king saw him, they announced to the king that a very special person came to visit him. The king allowed the special visitor entrance.
At the same time, Yosef entered the Yeshiva room to visit his best friend Yaakov but could not find him. Yosef was crying "Yaakov, my brother, where are you? My life is meaningless without you".
Yaakov entered the king's palace and bowed down to the king. He handed him a letter and in the letter was written, "I, King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia, sent you my beloved warrior son, Bliyard, to serve the King in the time of peace and in the time of war. I ask that Bliyard, my son, will remain in Germany since he does not get along with his older brother, the firstborn. Therefore, King of Germany, I ask you to accept all the gifts".
The king's servants brought in the gifts, a warrior protection made of pure gold, a precious stone necklace for the queen, and for the princess, a precious stone bottle of exquisite-smelling perfume. The gifts were accepted and that night, the king made a special dinner party for their new friend. Bliyard ate and drank and thought to himself, 'this is the real life. What is my friend Yosef so afraid of? What was he blabbering about? We learned for years Gemara, eating a dry moldy piece of bread, if that much. We killed ourselves learning and never experienced genuine happiness'... He went to sleep that night feeling content and happy, and extememy pleased.
In the morning, the king told Bliyard that the army has rebelled against him and he is in great danger of losing the kingdom. Bliyard told him that he is not afraid and as soon as he finishes breakfast, he will personally wipe out all the king's enemies. He called upon the demons to war against the king's enemies and of course, won the war and saved the king. After this war, the kings of Sweden, Italy, and Romania declared war on Germany and for a month, Bliyard fought all of them and won. The king was so appreciative, he gave his only daughter to marry Bliyard. Everyone by now heard about the tremendeous strength of the king's son, Bliyard from Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia.
On the day of the wedding, the king ordered 2 great chariots to go thru the city. In the first chariot was the king and his queen and in the second chariot, Bliyard and his new wife, the princess. As the chariots were going thru the streets, everyone waved flags and bowed down to the royal family and the new prince, Bliyard. All of a sudden, a voice was heard calling, "Yaakov, Yaakov", and although Yaakov saw Yosef, he totally ignored him, as if he didn't see or hear. The king gave an order to have this 'intruder' arrested immediately. Bliyard was so busy waving to his beloved nation, he didn't see his previous best friend being arrested.
When the party ended, the king called for the intruder to be brought immediately to him. He asked Yosef, "Whom were you calling Yaakov and who is this Yaakov?". Yosef told the king the truth, that him and the person sitting in the second chariot is Yaakov and they used to learn Torah as youngsters in the city of Saloniki with Rabenu Avraham Molcho. Yosef told the king that there is no King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia, and Yaakov is no prince, and no son of a king". The king wanted to know how Bliyard was able to win all the wars and where he got the gifts from, and Yosef told him that Yaakov learned Kabbalah and knew names and knew how to control the ruler of all demons, to do his wishes.
Upon hearing this, the king called Bliyard/Yaakov. When Yaakov saw Yosef, his face changed colors and saw that he was trapped into telling the truth, there was no escaping the truth. He told the king they used to learn together and admitted that he tricked the king, but only because he wanted to save the king's life and his loyalty lies only the king, Long Live the King. He told the king that although his life was in great danger, he was not afraid and killed all the king's enemies, single handedly.
The king told Yaakov that since he saved his life, he should immediately leave the country becuz he dislikes Jews and warned him never to show up in this country ever again. He told Yosef to also leave the country and the decree to hang him is cancelled, if he leaves right away. Yosef left right away but Yaakov refused.
Meanwhile, the news that the new son-in-law is a Jew and a sorcerer reached the countrymen. The news even reached the newlywed princess and the queen. The princess was mad, was there not enough good xtian men to marry?. The priests also took advantage of the situation and demanded the immediate execution of Yaakov. The ministers also unanimously voted "death to the Jew". The Bishop, together with his priests, and the ministers approached the king and demanded that the Jewish sorcerer must face court. They right away chained Yaakov and placed him in prison and the court decided, "death by hanging".
Yaakov, seeing that his only way out was to call to the ruler of the demons. He ordered the ruler of the demon to unchain and rescue him. The ruler of the demons, together with thousands of demons, laughed in Yaakov's face, "You traitor, you fool, you no longer have control over us. You rebelled against HaShem. You were only able to control us as a Jew but you gave it up when you married". The demons disappeared and Yaakov was left in the cold and lonely cell, crying. He called out to his best friend, Yosef, "Yosef, I didn't listen to you and transgressed our holy Torah. I impurified myself with a non-Jew woman who was unclean".
Chained to the wall, Yaakov said Viduy, maybe salvation will still arrive. "HKB'H, may my death be atonement for my sins". He accepted the decree with love and waited for them to hang him, promising himself that he will die as a Jew, with the last words from his lips, SHEMA ISRAEL HASHEM ELOKENU, HASHEM ECHAD.
All of a sudden, the cell door opens and in comes the king and his daughter, begging him to accept xtianity and that's the only way he can be saved. They promised him that if he converts from Judaism, he will take him back to the palace and he will be prince of all Germany and the princess will be his loving wife. But Yaakov answered, "I'm a Jew and want to die as a Jew". His loving wife, with hot tears streaming down her faced begged her husband, "Bliyard, my love, Bliyard, come home". Yaakov answered, "My name is Yaakov and I am a Jew. I regret impurifying myself with a xtian woman and transgressed our holy Torah that we received in Har Sinai. I want to die as a Jew". Weeping hysterically, the king and his daughter left Yaakov's cell, seeing they cannot convince him to convert to xianty.
The following morning, Yaakov was placed with the hanging noose over his neck. At the last seconds of his life, the hanger told Bliyard, "This is your last moment, you are hanging between life and death. If you convert to xianity and return to your wife, I'll release you right now". Yaakov yelled, "Yosef, Yosef, I am going to die sanctifying God's name (al Kiddush HaShem). Tell Rabenu that I regret transgressing the oath I took, promising never to use demon's names".
He felt the noose getting tight around his neck and yelled as loud as possible, "SHEMA ISRAEL HASHEM ELOKENU, HASHEM ECHAD", and woke up.
He saw himself sitting in the same secret room with Rabenu. He saw the cup that he drank from. Yaakov was certain he was resurrected from the dead.
Rabenu told Yaakov, "I sent you as Bliyard, the son of King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia". When Yaakov heard this, he fainted and fell to the floor.
Rabenu revived him and told him, "the drink I gave you to drink was able to remove your want to learn the secrets of the Torah and thereby, save you". Yaakov quickly got up and kissed Rabenu's hand. Rabenu told him, "the dream needs a big tikun to cancel any future wants of misuse of the Kabbalah. But the real tikun is answering AMEN YEHE SHEME RABA, with all strength. And don't ever mention learning Kabbalah again and you should be zoche to learn the Torah Pshat".
-------------------------------------------------------------
How to find an authentic God-Fearing Mekubal? You can't judge on appearances, or the length of someone's beard.
To protect people from the inherent dangers of mystical practices, the Rabbis ordained that one must be at least 40 years old, married, and employed (that is, must possess emotional maturity and solid roots in this world) to enter into Kabbalah.
Due to the recent popularity of Kabbalah, there is an increasing number of shysters who've read two or three books and pretend to know something about Kabbalah. Let the seeker beware. It might be useful to ask questions like;
How much money is this person making?
Does this person's family/personal life seem healthy?
Does the Mekubal talk about demons?
What motives does this person seem to have?
Do they charge money or ask for favors?
Beware of false mekubalim who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves
-------------------------------------------------------------
Beware of the Hypocrites
Am Israel will live but how long and how many will survive and those who will survive, in what condition? It's not going to be easy. HaShem will kill the Sitra Achra together with the Jewish hearts and homes that permitted him entrance, unless he is removed beforehand. You must continue to fight.
The Sitra Achra also wears traditional garb...and causes pain to the Shechinah.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Four Sages entered the PaRDesS (the orchard), PaRDesS - pshat, remez, Derash and sod.
They were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher (Elisha ben Avuya, called Acher: the other one) and Rabbi Akiva, zs'l.
Rabbi Akiva said to them prior to their ascension: "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' for it is said, 'He who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes' (Psalms 101:7)."
Ben Azzai gazed at the Divine Presence and died.
Ben Zoma gazed and was harmed (lost his sanity).
Acher cut down the plantings and became a heretic.
Rabbi Akiva entered in peace and left in peace.
Rabbi Akiva was the only one who departed unharmed because he alone "entered in peace." He was not merely seeking mystical experiences. He did not enter the Pardes in order to satisfy a yearning to cleave to G-d, but in order to achieve a heightened spiritual awareness with which he could enhance his total service of G-d. His colleagues, by contrast, sought personal mystical experiences. They wanted to "come close to G-d," but did not understand how to relate that experience to the full scope of their lives.
The pshat within sod was revealed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, zs'l.
The remez within sod was revealed by the Arizal, zs'l.
The drash within sod was revealed by the Baal Shem Tov, zs'l.
The sod within sod will be revealed by Moshiach, b'h.
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They were best friends and very loyal to one another. One's name was Yaakov and the other was Yosef. Once Yaakov told Yosef that his wish was to learn secrets of the Torah from his father but because he was an orphan, it was not possible. He revealed to Yosef that he wanted to learn the Kabbalah (secrets of the Torah) so he can have a lot of money and respect. Yosef told his best freind that it's better to know the pshat (simple) Torah and it's the best way to know HaShem, in innocence.
Yosef understood that Yaakov wanted to learn kabbalah for self-gain thru the usage of Kabbalah Maasit even though Yaakov denied it. Yosef loved Yaakov so much and cried to Yaakov to erase this want, because it is extremely dangereous. Yaakov paid no heed and went to Rav HaKadosh Rabenu Avraham Molcho and asked him to teach him the secrets of the Torah. Rabenu ignored him but Yaakov was determined and every day would come to him and insist from Rabenu to teach him the secret Torah. Rabenu saw that Yaakov is determined and after many weeks told Yaakov, "My son, you will not be able to withstand the tests. To learn the secrets of the Torah one must fast and accept many bodily and spiritual pain". Yaakov said that he's willing to do whatever needs to be done.
Rabenu gave him a list of difficult tasks and Yaakov happily agreed and obliged. The final day arrived and the actual learning of Kabbalah would begin. Rabenu called Yaakov and brought him to a secret room and took from the closet different mixtures and placed it in a big cup. He poured boiling water on the secret formula, stirred it, and gave it to Yaakov to drink. Yaakov happily drank till the last drop and 2 seconds later, felt like a newborn.
Less than 2 years later, Yaakov learned the Kabbalah. Yaakov learned holy names and the names of the impure. Rabenu made Yaakov swear on a holy sefer that he will never use the Kabbalah for self gain, and never use the holy Kabbalah to contact and use the Sheidim (demons). Yaakov agreed and swore on the holy sefer.
One day, he called the name and a demon appeared to him. The demon told him that he is in charge of thousands of demons and bowed down to Yaakov. Yaakov demanded that he be taken faraway and that second, disappeared. While the demon was with Yaakov in a faraway place, Yaakov demanded the head-demon to place him at any king whom has many enemies, and the demon should dress him in royal clothing with horses and chariots, with servants, and place him and the servants inside the chariot with expensive gifts. The demon did as told and placed Yaakov in Germany, at the king's palace. When servants of the king saw him, they announced to the king that a very special person came to visit him. The king allowed the special visitor entrance.
At the same time, Yosef entered the Yeshiva room to visit his best friend Yaakov but could not find him. Yosef was crying "Yaakov, my brother, where are you? My life is meaningless without you".
Yaakov entered the king's palace and bowed down to the king. He handed him a letter and in the letter was written, "I, King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia, sent you my beloved warrior son, Bliyard, to serve the King in the time of peace and in the time of war. I ask that Bliyard, my son, will remain in Germany since he does not get along with his older brother, the firstborn. Therefore, King of Germany, I ask you to accept all the gifts".
The king's servants brought in the gifts, a warrior protection made of pure gold, a precious stone necklace for the queen, and for the princess, a precious stone bottle of exquisite-smelling perfume. The gifts were accepted and that night, the king made a special dinner party for their new friend. Bliyard ate and drank and thought to himself, 'this is the real life. What is my friend Yosef so afraid of? What was he blabbering about? We learned for years Gemara, eating a dry moldy piece of bread, if that much. We killed ourselves learning and never experienced genuine happiness'... He went to sleep that night feeling content and happy, and extememy pleased.
In the morning, the king told Bliyard that the army has rebelled against him and he is in great danger of losing the kingdom. Bliyard told him that he is not afraid and as soon as he finishes breakfast, he will personally wipe out all the king's enemies. He called upon the demons to war against the king's enemies and of course, won the war and saved the king. After this war, the kings of Sweden, Italy, and Romania declared war on Germany and for a month, Bliyard fought all of them and won. The king was so appreciative, he gave his only daughter to marry Bliyard. Everyone by now heard about the tremendeous strength of the king's son, Bliyard from Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia.
On the day of the wedding, the king ordered 2 great chariots to go thru the city. In the first chariot was the king and his queen and in the second chariot, Bliyard and his new wife, the princess. As the chariots were going thru the streets, everyone waved flags and bowed down to the royal family and the new prince, Bliyard. All of a sudden, a voice was heard calling, "Yaakov, Yaakov", and although Yaakov saw Yosef, he totally ignored him, as if he didn't see or hear. The king gave an order to have this 'intruder' arrested immediately. Bliyard was so busy waving to his beloved nation, he didn't see his previous best friend being arrested.
When the party ended, the king called for the intruder to be brought immediately to him. He asked Yosef, "Whom were you calling Yaakov and who is this Yaakov?". Yosef told the king the truth, that him and the person sitting in the second chariot is Yaakov and they used to learn Torah as youngsters in the city of Saloniki with Rabenu Avraham Molcho. Yosef told the king that there is no King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia, and Yaakov is no prince, and no son of a king". The king wanted to know how Bliyard was able to win all the wars and where he got the gifts from, and Yosef told him that Yaakov learned Kabbalah and knew names and knew how to control the ruler of all demons, to do his wishes.
Upon hearing this, the king called Bliyard/Yaakov. When Yaakov saw Yosef, his face changed colors and saw that he was trapped into telling the truth, there was no escaping the truth. He told the king they used to learn together and admitted that he tricked the king, but only because he wanted to save the king's life and his loyalty lies only the king, Long Live the King. He told the king that although his life was in great danger, he was not afraid and killed all the king's enemies, single handedly.
The king told Yaakov that since he saved his life, he should immediately leave the country becuz he dislikes Jews and warned him never to show up in this country ever again. He told Yosef to also leave the country and the decree to hang him is cancelled, if he leaves right away. Yosef left right away but Yaakov refused.
Meanwhile, the news that the new son-in-law is a Jew and a sorcerer reached the countrymen. The news even reached the newlywed princess and the queen. The princess was mad, was there not enough good xtian men to marry?. The priests also took advantage of the situation and demanded the immediate execution of Yaakov. The ministers also unanimously voted "death to the Jew". The Bishop, together with his priests, and the ministers approached the king and demanded that the Jewish sorcerer must face court. They right away chained Yaakov and placed him in prison and the court decided, "death by hanging".
Yaakov, seeing that his only way out was to call to the ruler of the demons. He ordered the ruler of the demon to unchain and rescue him. The ruler of the demons, together with thousands of demons, laughed in Yaakov's face, "You traitor, you fool, you no longer have control over us. You rebelled against HaShem. You were only able to control us as a Jew but you gave it up when you married". The demons disappeared and Yaakov was left in the cold and lonely cell, crying. He called out to his best friend, Yosef, "Yosef, I didn't listen to you and transgressed our holy Torah. I impurified myself with a non-Jew woman who was unclean".
Chained to the wall, Yaakov said Viduy, maybe salvation will still arrive. "HKB'H, may my death be atonement for my sins". He accepted the decree with love and waited for them to hang him, promising himself that he will die as a Jew, with the last words from his lips, SHEMA ISRAEL HASHEM ELOKENU, HASHEM ECHAD.
All of a sudden, the cell door opens and in comes the king and his daughter, begging him to accept xtianity and that's the only way he can be saved. They promised him that if he converts from Judaism, he will take him back to the palace and he will be prince of all Germany and the princess will be his loving wife. But Yaakov answered, "I'm a Jew and want to die as a Jew". His loving wife, with hot tears streaming down her faced begged her husband, "Bliyard, my love, Bliyard, come home". Yaakov answered, "My name is Yaakov and I am a Jew. I regret impurifying myself with a xtian woman and transgressed our holy Torah that we received in Har Sinai. I want to die as a Jew". Weeping hysterically, the king and his daughter left Yaakov's cell, seeing they cannot convince him to convert to xianty.
The following morning, Yaakov was placed with the hanging noose over his neck. At the last seconds of his life, the hanger told Bliyard, "This is your last moment, you are hanging between life and death. If you convert to xianity and return to your wife, I'll release you right now". Yaakov yelled, "Yosef, Yosef, I am going to die sanctifying God's name (al Kiddush HaShem). Tell Rabenu that I regret transgressing the oath I took, promising never to use demon's names".
He felt the noose getting tight around his neck and yelled as loud as possible, "SHEMA ISRAEL HASHEM ELOKENU, HASHEM ECHAD", and woke up.
He saw himself sitting in the same secret room with Rabenu. He saw the cup that he drank from. Yaakov was certain he was resurrected from the dead.
Rabenu told Yaakov, "I sent you as Bliyard, the son of King of Kashmita, ruler of all Tunbakutu in Asia". When Yaakov heard this, he fainted and fell to the floor.
Rabenu revived him and told him, "the drink I gave you to drink was able to remove your want to learn the secrets of the Torah and thereby, save you". Yaakov quickly got up and kissed Rabenu's hand. Rabenu told him, "the dream needs a big tikun to cancel any future wants of misuse of the Kabbalah. But the real tikun is answering AMEN YEHE SHEME RABA, with all strength. And don't ever mention learning Kabbalah again and you should be zoche to learn the Torah Pshat".
-------------------------------------------------------------
How to find an authentic God-Fearing Mekubal? You can't judge on appearances, or the length of someone's beard.
To protect people from the inherent dangers of mystical practices, the Rabbis ordained that one must be at least 40 years old, married, and employed (that is, must possess emotional maturity and solid roots in this world) to enter into Kabbalah.
Due to the recent popularity of Kabbalah, there is an increasing number of shysters who've read two or three books and pretend to know something about Kabbalah. Let the seeker beware. It might be useful to ask questions like;
How much money is this person making?
Does this person's family/personal life seem healthy?
Does the Mekubal talk about demons?
What motives does this person seem to have?
Do they charge money or ask for favors?
Beware of false mekubalim who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves
-------------------------------------------------------------
Beware of the Hypocrites
Am Israel will live but how long and how many will survive and those who will survive, in what condition? It's not going to be easy. HaShem will kill the Sitra Achra together with the Jewish hearts and homes that permitted him entrance, unless he is removed beforehand. You must continue to fight.
The Sitra Achra also wears traditional garb...and causes pain to the Shechinah.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Four Sages entered the PaRDesS (the orchard), PaRDesS - pshat, remez, Derash and sod.
They were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher (Elisha ben Avuya, called Acher: the other one) and Rabbi Akiva, zs'l.
Rabbi Akiva said to them prior to their ascension: "When you come to the place of pure marble stones, do not say, 'Water! Water!' for it is said, 'He who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes' (Psalms 101:7)."
Ben Azzai gazed at the Divine Presence and died.Ben Zoma gazed and was harmed (lost his sanity).
Acher cut down the plantings and became a heretic.
Rabbi Akiva entered in peace and left in peace.
Rabbi Akiva was the only one who departed unharmed because he alone "entered in peace." He was not merely seeking mystical experiences. He did not enter the Pardes in order to satisfy a yearning to cleave to G-d, but in order to achieve a heightened spiritual awareness with which he could enhance his total service of G-d. His colleagues, by contrast, sought personal mystical experiences. They wanted to "come close to G-d," but did not understand how to relate that experience to the full scope of their lives.
The pshat within sod was revealed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, zs'l.
The remez within sod was revealed by the Arizal, zs'l.
The drash within sod was revealed by the Baal Shem Tov, zs'l.
The sod within sod will be revealed by Moshiach, b'h.
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