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Yehuda Ashlag

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Yehuda Ashlag (1884—1954) or Rabbi Yehuda Leib Ha-Levi Ashlag רַבּי יְהוּדָה לֵיבּ הַלֵּוִי אַשְׁלַג is also known as Baal Ha-Sulam בַּעַל הַסּוּלָם, meaning "Owner of the Sulam" for his [Sulam commentary on The Zohar]. He is the great Kabbalist who lived in Jerusalem from 1922 until his death in 1954. He advanced while writing the commentaries, and published his primary work, [Talmud Eser Sefirot] ([The Study of the Ten Sefirot]), which is considered the predominant Kabbalistic study text for our generation. He worked as an Orthodox rabbi, and was born in Warsaw, Poland, to a family of scholars connected to the Chassidic courts of Prosov and Belz.





Contents





Biography


Poland

Yehuda Leib Halevi Ashlag was born on the fifth day of the month Tishrey, in 1884, in Warsaw, Poland. 


Ashlag reputedly studied Kabbalah from the age of seven, hiding pages from the ARI’s book Etz Chaim (The Tree of Life) in the Talmudic tractate he was meant to be learning. From an early age he devoted himself to a search for truth, displayed by his ceaseless studying and in his way of questioning outside the norm.


One profound experience Ashlag had while still in Poland was his meeting with an unidentified Warsaw merchant, who revealed himself to Ashlag as a Kabbalist. Ashlag studied with this particular teacher every night for three months “until my arrogance separated between us” (sic) and the teacher disappeared. A few months later, Ashlag re-met the teacher, and after pleading with him, convinced him to reveal an important Kabbalistic secret. The next day, the teacher died.Odenheimer, M. "Latter-Day Luminary," in Ha'aretz. Available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/pressa/haaretz/haaretz_20041222_original.htm


At the age of twelve, he independently studied the Talmud. By nineteen, Ashlag’s wide knowledge of the open Torah received him the title of Rav from the Rabbis of Warsaw. During this period, he worked as a judge in the court of the Warsaw Rabbis and he also gained experience as a teacher for training judges. Ashlag also studied German while in Warsaw, and read original texts of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.Odenheimer, M. "Latter-Day Luminary," in Ha'aretz. Available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/pressa/haaretz/haaretz_20041222_original.htm 


Ashlag systematically reinterpreted Kabbalah. He is the only Kabbalist of the past century who composed commentaries to two major Kabbalistic works, Etz Chaim (The Tree of Life) by the ARI, and The Zohar. Today, adherents to Ashlag’s teachings are at the forefront of the movement spreading Kabbalah to the masses.



Israel

In 1921, at the age of 39, Ashlag moved to the British Mandate of Palestine, and worked as a common laborer until his identity as a well known teacher and judge of Warsaw was revealed. He was appointed Rabbi of Givat Shaul, Jerusalem in 1924. 


Ashlag was friendly with the Kabbalist and Chief Rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine, Rabbi Abraham Kook, who early on recognized Ashlag as a great follower of the ARI. Ashlag had high hopes of meeting great Kabbalists in Jerusalem; the Sephardi followers of the great 18th century Kabbalist Sar Shalom Sharabi. However, he was profoundly disappointed by his encounter with them. Their views about Kabbalah ran contrary to Ashlag’s experience with the teaching—as a systematic methodology for achieving spiritual attainment.Odenheimer, M. "Latter-Day Luminary," in Ha'aretz. Available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/pressa/haaretz/haaretz_20041222_original.htm 


In 1926 Ashlag left for London, and it was there that he wrote his commentary on the Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria’s (The ARI) book Etz Chaim (The Tree of Life). This work is entitled Panim Meirot Umasbirot. It took him one and a half years to complete this work. It was published in 1927, and in 1928 Ashlag returned to the British Mandate of Palestine. 


In 1932 Ashlag and his family moved to Jaffa. In 1933, his book Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah, also known as The Revelation of Godliness) was published. Matan Torah contained the first articles with which Ashlag intended to disseminate Kabbalah to the masses. Some of these included, "[The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah]," "[The Freedom]," "[The Peace]," and the article "[Matan Torah]" itself. During this period, Ashlag also began his main work, [Talmud Eser Sefirot] ([The Study of the Ten Sefirot])—a commentary on all the writings of the ARI. In this undertaking, he developed a comprehensive explanation of the sequence of the creation of all of the upper worlds (Olamot Elyonim), starting with the source of emanation (Ma'atzil) and finishing with our world (Olam HaZeh). The work is divided into six volumes, containing sixteen parts and over two thousand pages. Some today consider it as the core of the entire teaching of Kabbalah.


In the 1930s Ashlag, now in his fifties, gathered around him a group of disciples who studied Kabbalah every night, often from shortly after midnight until dawn. He also composed many articles and letters at this time that openly promoted the study of Kabbalah on a mass scale. Ashlag went to great lengths to publish Kabbalistic material, in mediums suitable for disseminating the knowledge he had acquired across the entire Israeli nation. He began an independent Kabbalistic newsletter publication, “HaUma” (“The Nation”), which only survived one issue.Ashlag, Y. 1940. "Ha'Uma." Jerusalem: Independent publication—newsletter 5/6/1940 Its contents present Ashlag's analytical depths of using knowledge he had attained in Kabbalah to illuminate the cause of political and social problems in human egoism; giving reasons why communism was destined to fail, and offering solutions for correcting the property of human egoism through his teaching method of Kabbalah.


Ashlag differs fundamentally from all Kabbalists of the past, who studied and taught Kabbalah in a concealed manner, in that he felt a great need to reveal and clarify the teaching of Kabbalah to the masses.Ashlag, Y. 2002. "Time to Act." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/matan_torah/time.htm. Published in original Hebrew as "Et Laasot" in Kabbalah LaMatchil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 10—11 This was because he saw that the evil inclination in people (human egoism) would rise to an altogether new height in this era of humanity, causing an altogether new era of internal suffering felt as a meaningless and confused existence.Ashlag, Y. 2002. "Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalahmedia.info/~texteditor/texts/Medubalim/Baal_Hasulam/Sefer_ha-Akdamot/1_Akdama_le_Talmud_eser_ha-sfirot/eng_Introduction_to_Talmud_Eser_Sefirot.doc. Published in original Hebrew as "Hakdama LeTalmud Eser HaSefirot" in Kabbalah LaMatchil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 159—198

Foreseeing the onset of terrible pains and a common human need to answer fundamental questions about our existence (Ashlag cited the exact year, 1995, from The Zohar as the beginning of a mass awakening to these questions), Ashlag developed his method of Kabbalah to disseminate among the masses, as a means to achieve spiritual revelation through methodological inner research and self-transformation.Ashlag, Y. "Introduction to the Book of Zohar." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalahmedia.info/~texteditor/texts/Mekubalim/Baal_Hasulam/Sefer-ha-Akdamot/2_Akdama_le_sefer_ha-Zohar/eng_Introduction_to_the_Book_of_Zohar.doc. Published in original Hebrew as Hakdama LeSefer HaZohar in Kabbalah LaMathil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 37—63.


In 1943, Ashlag moved to Tel Aviv, and there began working on his book, HaSulam (The Ladder), a collection of commentaries on The Zohar. During this period, he wrote for eighteen hours a day, and due to a lack of money he was not able to afford a sufficient amount of paper and ink to write more precise explanations. He later said that if it was within his capabilities, he would write a full commentary on The Zohar in two-hundred volumes, but he was unable to begin the work only because of a lack of means.Ashlag, Y. "Speech in Celebration for the Conclusion of the Zohar." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/matan_torah/completion_of_zohar.htm. Published in original Hebrew as Maamar LeSium HaZohar in Kabbalah LaMathil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 28—36. 


He completed this work in 1953, and later added three more volumes. In honor of the completion of the entire work, his students organized a big feast in Meron, where Ashlag gave the speech that is today printed under the title “Maamar LeSium HaZohar” (“An Article for the Completion of the Zohar,” also known as “[Speech in Celebration for the Conclusion of the Zohar]”). Yehuda Ashlag died on the day of Yom Kippur in 1956.



Books

Ashlag wrote and published two major works. [Talmud Eser Sefirot] ([The Study of the Ten Sefirot]) is a complete re-editing and commentary to the seminal works of 16th century great Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (the ARI). This is a comprehensive exposition of the system of the upper worlds, Partzufim and Sefirot, in the scientific language of Kabbalah which was developed by the ARI. 


As a core Kabbalistic text, it is especially unique in its utmost precision to detail to the structural organization and processes occurring in the upper worlds. It is set out as a comprehensive textbook, complete with commentaries, a section in each chapter dedicated to further reflection upon the commentaries, definitions of terms, tables of questions and answers, an [introduction] clarifying how to study Kabbalah in the correct manner, and also a summarized preface of the entire text, [Pticha] ([Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah]). 


His other masterwork was his [Sulam commentary on The Zohar], which earned him the name “Baal HaSulam” (lit. “The Master of the Ladder”). This phenomenal work took him ten years to complete, written between the years 1943 and 1953. It includes a translation of The Zohar from Aramaic to Hebrew as well as an extensive interpretation.


Another publication is the notebook of Yehuda Ashlag’s son and disciple, Baruch Ashlag. His notebook, entitled [Shamati] ([I Heard]), contains over two hundred articles which were copied down from lessons and talks of Yehuda Ashlag. Baruch Ashlag kept this notebook with him in secret, until he was on his deathbed, in 1991, and then gave it to his disciple Michael Laitman. It was later published in Hebrew, and has been translated into many different languages. The articles in [Shamati] form a unique Kabbalistic work in their emotional depth of capturing the inner processes that a Kabbalist goes through on his or her path of spiritual attainment.



Teachings

Ashlag’s commentary offered a systematic interpretation of the legacy of the ARI. This was the first since the 18th century when the Baal Shem Tov, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (Ramchal), the Vilna Gaon and Sar Shalom Sharabi (the Rashash) offered their interpretation of the ARI's teaching. Ashlag’s system focused on the transformation of human consciousness from a state of desiring to receive, to desiring to give. This path of transformation is described in Lurianic Kabbalah (the Kabbalah of the ARI).


Ashlag stated that the purpose of studying Kabbalah is equal to the purpose of why human beings were created, and that through its study, a person is capable to reveal the entirety of processes and structures that have taken place in the creation of the universe.Ashlag, Y. "The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/matan_torah/essence_of_kabbalah.htm. Published in original Hebrew as Mahut Hochmat HaKabbalah in Matan Torah. 1995. Israel: Ohr HaGanuz Publications, pp. 61—74. According to Ashlag, achieving the goal of Kabbalah is the same as achieving "equivalence of form" or "adhesion" with the source of creation.Ashlag, Y. "Introduction to the Book of Zohar." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalahmedia.info/~texteditor/texts/Mekubalim/Baal_Hasulam/Sefer-ha-Akdamot/2_Akdama_le_sefer_ha-Zohar/eng_ Introduction_to_the_Book_of_Zohar.doc. Published in original Hebrew as Hakdama LeSefer HaZohar in Kabbalah LaMathil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 37—63.


"Equivalence of form" with this source means having the same attributes or qualities as it, and Ashlag defines the qualities of this source as being altruistic, namely the desire to give, or in Ashlag's words, the "will to bestow" (Ratzon LeHashpia).Ashlag, Y. "The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/matan_torah/revelation.htm. Published in original Hebrew as "Matan Torah" in Kabbalah LaMatchil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 111—118. Ashlag defines the attributes or qualities of humans as totally opposite (i.e. egoistic) to the qualities of this source (i.e. altruistic), and that it is the goal of the human being to work on his or her qualities in order to reach the final state of "equivalence of form with the Creator." 

Through intensive study of Kabbalah, a person's desire to give to others is developed in relation to this goal. Ashlag believed that the coming of the Messiah meant that humans would attain this quality which would allow them to give up their selfishness and devote themselves to loving each other for the sake of life's purpose, as stated in the commandment "love thy neighbor as thyself."Ashlag, Y. "The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)." Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute. Trans., C. Ratz, available at http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/matan_torah/revelation.htm. Published in original Hebrew as "Matan Torah" in Kabbalah LaMatchil. 2002. Israel: Bnei Baruch, pp. 111—118. Ashlag had strong political opinions, believing in a voluntary faith-based communism. Ashlag was anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, though he also opposed communism instituted by force.Ashlag, Y. 1940. "Ha'Uma." Jerusalem: Independent publication—newsletter 5/6/1940 Ashlag tried to convince Ben-Gurion to adopt socialism in Israel. 


Ashlag saw himself as fulfilling a quasi-messianic role in bringing Kabbalah to the world. His main disciples included his sons, Baruch Shalom, Shlomo Benyamin, and Rabbi Yehuda Brandwein. Rabbi Baruch (d.1990), and Rabbi Brandwein, (d.1969) both left dynamic students who are involved in spreading Ashlagian Kabbalah. Brandwein’s son-in-law, Rabbi Mordechai Sheinberger, founded a commune in Israel called Ohr HaGanuz ("The Hidden Light"), which combines Ashlag’s communal ideals with devotion to the spreading of Kabbalah.



Music

Yehuda Ashlag also wrote songs and composed melodies as expressions of his spiritual attainments. His music is said to be written directly from the spiritual worlds, and has a deep emotional connection with the rises and falls a Kabbalist experiences in his coming in contact with the upper worlds. Many of his melodies are composed to Kabbalistic text fragments, such as Bnei Heichala (words by the ARI), Ki Hilatzta Nafshi (words by King David), Tzadik Ke Tamar Ifrach, Hasal Seder Pesach, Leagid Ba Boker Hasdecha, and Kel Mistater.


Ashlag wanted his disciples to sing Kabbalistic melodies, rather than the melodies that the people were used to singing. He thus took some melodies from his teacher, Rav Admor from Pursov, and also created such melodies himself and taught them to his disciples. 


Ashlag attempted to create impression and inspiration for far greater ascents than the regular songs sung by people in the yeshivas of the 1920’s and onwards. This is why Ashlag made a special effort and created new melodies. Some of these include, Hamol Al Maasecha, Hinei Ke Homer, Be Yad a Yocher, which are sung at Yom Kippur.



Ashlag's sons






Ashlag's books



Ashlag's articles



Ashlag's followers today



Notes





External links














 




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