The Other Side of the Kabbalist's Garden

Persons who seek to enter the heady perfume of the Kabbalist’s garden and wish to survive should be aware of the dangers therein. The danger consists in the fact that every movement away from the ordered surfaces of life entails risking an encounter with chaos. Flight from the plain meaning of words and facts, a hunger for a deeper experience than that offered by everyday reality, and dissatisfaction with the plain meaning of laws can become an invitation to anarchy. The personality structure of a sensitive individual can easily be fractured by an untutored exposure to the fire of intense psychic experience.

This is why in the beginnings of its history the knowledge of the Kabbalah was literally hidden, passed from the lips of a teacher to the ear of a disciple, its existence never suspected by the majority of law-abiding Temple-goers or even by many of their Rabbis. The discipline of secrecy was strict.

The Talmud relates a story;

“Our Rabbis taught: Four men entered the Garden [pardes in Hebrew, used as a synonym for paradise], namely Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Acher [the Hebrew means “other” and refers to Elisha ben Abuyah] and Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Akiba said to them: “When we arrive at the stone of pure marble, do not say, ‘Water, water …’” Ben Azzai looked [though he saw water], and died. Of him, Scripture says, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” [Ps. 116:15] … Ben Zoma looked and became demented. Of him Scripture says: “Have you found honey? Eat so much as is sufficient for you, lest you be filled and vomit it” [Prov. 25:16]. Acher uprooted the shoots. Akiba departed unhurt.”

However, Rabbi Kook states the following: “Whoever feels within himself [herself], after many trials, that his [her] inner being can find peace only in pursuing the secret teachings of the Torah must know with certainty that it is for this path he [she] was created. Let him [her] not be troubled by any impediments in the world whether physical or spiritual, from hastening after what is the essence of his [her] life and his [her] true perfection.”

Abigail Sarah Bagraim, Email info@abigailsarah.co.za

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