Yehuda Ashlag

L’article a pour sujet la personnalité extraordinaire du kabbaliste le Rabbin Levi Isaac Krakovsky (1891–1966), un des étudiants oubliés du Rabbin Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1885–1955). Krakovsky diffusait l’enseignement de son maître en Amérique en anglais, écrivait des douzaines de livres et essayait d’établir des yeshivot de Kabbalistes. Contrairement à son maître, il présentait un enseignement exotérique et une vision de diffusion de la Kabbale dans le monde entier. Son influence était minime, mais un de ses élèves était Shraga Philip Berg qui continuait son chemin et le complétait de plusieurs points de vue. L’article se base sur de riches matières archivales, parmi lesquelles de longues essays de l’auteur en manuscrit qui sont décrits ici pour la premiere fois. D’une telle façon, nous décrivons le dévelopment de la Kabbale en Amérique du début du vingtième siècle jusqu’ aujourd’hui.

L’article a pour sujet la personnalité extraordinaire du kabbaliste le Rabbin Levi Isaac Krakovsky (1891–1966), un des étudiants oubliés du Rabbin Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1885–1955). Krakovsky diffusait l’enseignement de son maître en Amérique en anglais, écrivait des douzaines de livres et essayait d’établir des yeshivot de Kabbalistes. Contrairement à son maître, il présentait un enseignement exotérique et une vision de diffusion de la Kabbale dans le monde entier. Son influence était minime, mais un de ses élèves était Shraga Philip Berg qui continuait son chemin et le complétait de plusieurs points de vue. L’article se base sur de riches matières archivales, parmi lesquelles de longues essays de l’auteur en manuscrit qui sont décrits ici pour la premiere fois. D’une telle façon, nous décrivons le dévelopment de la Kabbale en Amérique du début du vingtième siècle jusqu’ aujourd’hui.

The lectures offer a comprehensive presentation of the development of the kabbalistic movement originating in the writings and personality of R. Yehuda Leib Ashlag (1884–1954), among the prominent kabbalistic currents of our day. We will present a detailed historic picture of the peregrinations of Ashlag and his teachings between Poland, Palestine, and the United States, and discuss the different groups established by the various generations of his students. Unknown documents and manuscripts will be presented in the lectures that yield an entirely new image of modern Kabbalah; in doing so we will draw attention to the complex dynamic between concealment and revelation that characterizes much of twentieth-century Kabbalah.

First Lecture:
Yearnings of Jewish Mysticism in Poland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXuMHXSkthY

Second Lecture:
The Tribulations of the Lone Kabbalist in Palestine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtROM0qVKf0

Third Lecture:
Kabbalah for the New World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqFj8Sd1i6I

The present paper is a follow-up to our article ‘The Maternus Code: The Gospel of the Stargazers’, published in ISAR International Journal, Vol. 48, N3, December, 2019, pp. 22-36. The starting point of our investigation is the hypothesis regarding the Nativity date encrypted in the Mathesis, tractate written by the 4th century Roman astrologer Julius Firmicus Maternus. The significant issue discussed in the present article is mutually corresponding theological, astrological and kabbalistic symbolism in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Masters Thesis for JTS (in-progress).

Yehudah Ashlag was one of the most innovative and radical expositors of Kabbalah in the modern period. This paper attempts to show how his mystical reinterpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was influence by, in integrated the ideas of, Marxism and religious socialism.

published without the knowledge of the author - . not proofread by the author. an updated and corrected version of the article will appear in my book - Wrestling with the Esoteric (2017)

הדברים נדפסו שלא בידיעתי וללא הגהה מצידי. אין אחריות המחבר על טיב התרגום ודיוקו. נוסח מעודכן, עם תיקונים רבים, יראה אור בספרי  - נפתולי סוד, 2017

published without the knowledge of the author - . not proofread by the author. an updated and corrected version of the article will appear in my book - Wrestling with the Esoteric (2017)

הדברים נדפסו שלא בידיעתי וללא הגהה מצידי. אין אחריות המחבר על טיב התרגום ודיוקו. נוסח מעודכן, עם תיקונים רבים, יראה אור בספרי  - נפתולי סוד, 2017


Йо н а т а н Ме и р
Михаэль Лайтман и группа «Бней-Барух»
(фрагмент статьи «О последователях рабби
Й.-Л. Ашлага, полемике с ними и о распространении
еврейской каббалистической литературы»)

This is an excerpt from a much bigger article devoted to
several followers of Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag’s agenda who
are trying to disseminate Kabbalistic ideas and practices
outside of the borders of Judaism. This very excerpt analyzes
teachings of Michael Laitman, a Russian-speaking student of
Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, and his movement “Bnei Baruch”,which
try to present Kabbalah as science and lead it out of Orthodox
Judaism. Author considers Laitman’s methodology, his ideas
on correction of the world and salvation from anti-Semitism
through Kabbalah studies, his social ideal. In this excerpt one
can also find analysis of the social context of the movement,
Laitman’s competition with another representative of New Age
Kabbalah Shraga Feivel (Philip) Berg, strategies of gaining
popularity and complicated relations with Jewish Orthodoxy.

Gershom Scholem in Deutschland
Zwischen Seelenverwandtschaft und Sprachlosigkeit
Hrsg. v. Gerold Necker, Elke Morlok u. Matthias Morgenstern

Die Biographie des in Berlin geborenen und ab 1923 in Jerusalem lebenden Kabbala-Forschers Gershom Gerhard Scholem ist von den Katastrophen und Umbrüchen des 20. Jahrhunderts geprägt. Im Horizont des für Scholem ambivalenten deutsch-jüdischen Verhältnisses nehmen die Autoren des Bandes seinen Werdegang im Kaiserreich und in der Weimarer Republik in den Blick sowie die Bedeutung, die er als israelischer Gesprächspartner für die Zeitgeschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland hatte. Die Beziehungen zu Walter Benjamin und Hannah Arendt, zu dem Theologen Otto Michel und dem Verleger Siegfried Unseld dokumentieren auf unterschiedlichen Ebenen Scholems Verbindung zu Deutschland, die ihn auch bei persönlicher Lyrik und sogar bei seiner wissenschaftlichen Prosa zur jüdischen Mystik begleitete.

In this double review, which appeared in "Tradition", I review two books based upon the works of R. Yehuda Lev Ashlag, the "Baal HaSulam". In retrospect I should have emphasized his close relations with many Gedolei Yisrael and the great respect they had for him, as can be seen from the approbations to the first edition of his "Sulam" commentary to the Zohar.

Jonatan Meir, 'Major Trends in 20th Century Kabbalah', trans. by Shinichi Yamamoto, Studies on Jewish Life and Culture 30 (2016), Japan Society for Jewish Studies, pp. 27-39.
ヨナタン・メイール、「20世紀におけるカバラーの主潮流」（山本伸一訳）、『ユダヤ・イスラエル研究」第30号、日本ユダヤ学会、27-39ページ。

לתולדות הקבלה באמריקה: ספריו הגנוזים של לוי יצחק קרקובסקי, קבלה: כתב עת לחקר כתבי המיסטיקה היהודית, כד (תשע"א), עמ' 208-171 - -

English version: ‘The Beginnings of Kabbalah in America: The Unpublished Manuscripts of R. Levi Isaac Krakovsky’, Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism 13, 2 (2013), pp. 237-268

Recently, my book "Giving" was reviewed in the journal Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. This was also a review of Yedidah Cohen"s "The Master of the Ladder". Here is a link to my response to the review in which I defended the legacy of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag (Baal Hasulam).
https://traditiononline.org/response-r-ashlags-legacy/
Link to "Giving":
http://www.urimpublications.com/giving-the-essential-teaching-of-the-kabbalah.html

The recent appearance in TRADITION of a review of two books by and about Rabbi Yehudah Leib Ashlag, the Baal HaSulam, is a welcome opportunity to bring his writing and teaching to the deserved attention of your readership. The first book, Giving: The Essential Teaching of the Kabbalah, is my translation of essays by R. Ashlag, together with selections from R. Avraham Mordechai Gottlieb's commentary. The second, The Master of the Ladder, is Yedidah Cohen's translation of R. Gottlieb's biography of R. Ashlag, together with some brief writings of R. Ashlag himself. I appreciate that these works were featured in TRADITION, and the recommendation that taken together these two books present the "perfect combination… to commence the study of Ashlagian Kabbalah." Nevertheless, I was disappointed and concerned that certain distortions in the presentation could unfairly taint the legacy of R. Ashlag. There were two misleading elements in the review. First, contrary to the statements of your reviewer, R. Dr. Zvi Leshem, neither R. Ashlag nor any of those I consider his authentic followers claim that his path is the "only legitimate one" in Jewish mysticism. Secondly, R. Ashlag was extremely well-appreciated by many great rabbinic figures despite a few specific disagreements and misunderstandings that Leshem recounts, which unfortunately have had an exaggerated influence on the way R. Ashlag is perceived in the eyes of many. R. Ashlag showed systematically how the Kabbalah teaches the inner meaning of Torah and mitzvot in order to reveal their connection to the refining of our souls. He did this by way of his voluminous writings, which included his translation and commentary on the Zohar, as well as his editing and commentary on the writings of the Arizal. These systematic commentaries explained word by word how the Kabbalah provides a guide to our inner refinement. This was the unique contribution of R. Ashlag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKA8_FxZNY&feature=youtu.be&t=1950

ר' יהודה ליב אשלג והקבלה בפולין

ההרצאה תתמקד בפעילותו המוקדמת של הרב יהודה ליב אשלג
בתוך ההקשר החסידי-קבלי בפולין בראשית המאה העשרים.
פן זה בדמותו של אשלג לא נחקר כלל והמחקר שם דגש על פעילותו המאוחרת יותר בארץ ישראל.
חשיפתם של כתבי יד חדשים והדפסתם של חומרים נוספים בשנים האחרונות
מעלה תמונה מורכבת ומסובכת של מקובל שאינו צומח בחלל ריק

בהרצאה נציג חלק מאותם טקסטים גנוזים  (בהם שירים רליגיוזים) ונאיר על פן עלום זה בהיסטוריה של הקבלה בעת החדשה

Any definition of meaning must include a reference to a background, or context, which endows the meaning. Intuitively, any background can be perceived as a foreground to a further background. As the context becomes more comprehensive, meaning constricts so that in the infinitely big picture, there is no meaning. Self-transcendence is a non-rational process which reveals meaning in the context of the ultimate purpose of creation that informs all experience. Each element of experience derives its meaning by its role within this process of self-transcendence. Thus, in the end, everything is meaningful as we originally experienced it within a narrow context, but the authenticity of the perceived meaning derives only from its relationship to ultimate meaning.

This course will focus on the exception figure of Hillel Zeitlin, as part of the Renaissance of the Jewish Mysticism in Poland at the beginnig of the twentieth Century. We will analyze central texts of Zeitlin, Shmuel Aba Horodezky, Haim Bunin, The Rabbi of Gur, The Zaddik from Piaseczna, Bratslav Hasidim and others.