The Light of Judaism

I remember watching the news reports of the tornadoes in Oklahoma and focusing intently on the tragedy of the many innocent children who were killed in an elementary school.  Questions began to arise in my mind as I pondered the subject of culpability and then the question that even King David struggled with in his life: "Why do the righteous suffer?" In this case the question was more: "Why do innocent children suffer?" It's a hard question to ponder and there is truly no good answer. I have long been inclined towards a Kabbalistic model of existence which perceives a world independent of a Deity-proper rather than a religious model that presents a Deity-centrist perspective.

The former is in my mind is taught by the esoteric side of Judaism whereas the latter is a product of the exoteric aspect of Judaism. The latter view I believe presents a deficient view of Creation as it implies indirectly that there is a God which is callous and cruel. For example, a philosophy which embraces the view that God is a close companion always hearing your prayer, intervening on your behalf and sticking by your side has a difficult time also explaining why such a close "buddy" would stand by and allow you to suffer terribly or why he would seemingly answer the prayers of one and not another. This would be a prejudiced and malevolent deity. A Deity who picks and chooses favorites or hand out injustices by awarding the unrighteous and slaughtering the innocent.

In the Kabbalah it is explained that their isn't a "proper" God. In fact nowhere in the whole of the Torah is the modern concept of God to be found. There are many Hebrew words which are various titles of differing forces in the Universe and unfortunately in the English Bibles these various terms are all generically translated as God.  The first term which is falsely translated as God is the Hebrew word- Elohim.  Elohim denoted severity and first appears in the context of the Creation narrative to emphasise the severity of the conditions which caused creation. However, Elohim is not God in a literal sense. In fact, the first verse of Genesis is poorly translated as: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." The Torah simply does not say this and this rendering is promulgated from one translation to the next because it is a popular rendition but it is not a faithful rendition.  The verse in Hebrew states: "B'reishit bara Elohim et hashamayim v'et ha-eretz."  The Zohar points out that Elohim is not the causality of the verse rather it is one of the objects of the verse. In other words, Elohim (God) in the Hebrew of the text is created- it is not the Creator. There are many other nuances of this verse but what I want to convey is that Elohim is not the Creator of the Universe as so many believe.

Elohim also has the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew term "HaTeva" which means "nature."

Aleph (1) + Lamed (30) + Heh (5) + Yud (10) + Mem (40) = 86.

Heh (5) + Tet (9) + Bet (2) + Ayin (70) = 86.

Nature is the garment or the skin of the Creative impulse (Consciousness). Thus Creation Itself is the expression of Consciousness or a primary Principle/Essence and everything in existence (nature) is an expression of its Source. If we are to use the term "God" then we may assert that all of existence is God as God is everything as everything is Gods thought and expression. We too are God as we are It's thought and expression. We are the image or in other words- God experiencing Itself.

This is why prayer doesnt work. Prayer is not petitioning a Deity in the cosmos to hear you. Even in a religious sense a perfect Deity would not need praises and thanksgiving as though it possessed an ego which required such things. No amount of pleading or begging will accomplish anything neither. Prayer in the Kabbalistic sense is to raise your consciousness and bring it into harmony and alignment with your Higher Self (Neshama). You are solely responsible for what happens in this life by the amount of attunement you acheive and subsequently the amount of Light you channel into the consciousness of humanity.

So where is the Source? It is nowhere and yet it is everywhere. It cannot be directly perceived, described or identified. It simply IS. We know the Divine by knowing ourselves as all truth is within not without. When we move away from the exoteric religions and embrace the esoteric path of the Kabbalists we then receive incredible insights into the whole of existence. This is the difference between religion and spirituality. Religion is the dependence upon anothers experience but spirituality is having a direct experience for yourself.