[Avodah] Kabbala Fact or Fancy?

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Fri, Aug 26, 2016 at 11:20:50AM -0400, Cantor Wolberg wrote:
: I find the following fascinating. It is by Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim, an
: orthodox rabbi who puts out a publication called Mesora. He actually says
: that Kabala is alien to Judaism and that Judaism contains no mysticism.
: Any thoughts?

First, he goes by something else in real life; I am in general suspicious
of people who don't stand by their opinion.

But....

...
: Let's learn from God's actions to determine the truth here. God granted
: man senses. His will is clear: accept what your senses tell you is
: real, which by definition means God desires we reject what we don't
: perceive...

So, no miracles, no prophecy. Got it.
`
...
: Reward and Punishment is a primary Torah fundamental. If we follow God's
: Torah, it is antithetical to His system of justice that we are harmed
: by such innocuous actions of donning 2 garments at once.

The point as stands doesn't work. After all, it is no more antithetical to
His system of justice than the fact that we are harmed by such innocuous
actions as letting go of a rock when one's foot is underneath.

I have repeatedly asked here the next question: But then, what's the
function? Physics has an obvious function -- free will is meaningless
if we cannot forecast the results of our actions. But when the system
of causality is itself mysterious and requiring faith?

However, many schools of Qabbalah (eg the Ramchal) understand all of the
Ari's mystical language to be a symbolic system rather than a discussion
of real ontologies.

: "Jewish" Mysticism
: Mysticism refers to 1) the notion of causal relationships, or 2) the
: imagined existence of things, when in either case, there is no support-
: ing evidence, nor does reason comply with the claim...

Actually, "mysticism" refers to finding meaning in the fact that we
cannot understand everything. The rationalist finds meaning in the
aspects of how G-d runs the world that we can understand; the mystic --
from knowing how much is greater than our comprehension.

:                                                      Thus, Judaism -- a
: religion synonymous with reason and proof, and not founded on belief or
: faith like all others -- truly contains no mysticism. Whatever today is
: called "Jewish mysticism" is in fact alien cultural influence adopted by
: "Jews," but in no way is mysticism part of "Judaism" -- it is not found
: in the Bible, Prophets or Writings, or Talmud, our fundamen- tals sources.

So, his gemara has no mention of ayin hara, astrology or sheidim?

>From Berakhos 55b:
    If a man on going into a town is afraid of the ayin hara, let him
    take the thumb of his right hand in his left hand and the thumb of
    his left hand in his right hand, and say: I, so-and-so, am of the
    descendents of Yoseif over which the ayin hara has no power, as it
    says: "Yoseif is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain."

Look, I am not comfortable with these ideas either, and tend to explain
them away. But again, we're the ones who carry the burden of proof. This
claim that he is making here is just denying what's really there.

: If you search Mesora.org (www.mesora.org/search) you can locate
: explanations of such Biblical stories, like Bilam and the donkey that
: spoke, Saul and the witch, Rava creating a man, and other metaphors that
: the Rabbis scripted as riddles and subtle lessons.

Ah, so it /is/ mentioned after all, you just have exaplanations...

I have a severe problem with his denying the validity of other approache
to the gemara. If I have to choose between the Bahir, the Ramban, etc...
or the author of Mesora.org, I know which I would pick.

Gut Voch!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow
micha at aishdas.org        man's soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries
http://www.aishdas.org   about his own soul and his fellow man's stomach.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter