What books are you currently reading?

[Nau7ik]

Right now I am reading Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan. It’s mostly a historical survey of the Hebraic mystical systems starting from ancient times (the times of the prophets) to modern day Kabbalah. He includes translated excerpts from many old, hard to find Kabbalistic texts. I’m reading about the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), and he was remarkable! I read a little from one of his books and this guy is the real deal, no doubt whatsoever in my mind. He recognized that there are positive and negative commandments and that man should keep the positive ones. He taught reincarnation.

Very interesting is that the Ari did not make any use of the Practical Kabbalah (magick). He advised against it.

None of this was attained through the Practical Kabbalah, heaven forbid. There is a strong prohibition against using these arts.

Instead, it came automatically, as a result of his piety and asceticism, after many years of study in both the ancient and newer Kabbalistic texts. He then increased his piety, asceticism, purity and holiness until he reached a level where Elijah would constantly reveal himself to him, speaking to him “mouth to mouth,” and teaching him these mysteries.

This is the same thing that had happened to the Raavad, as Recanti states. Even though true prophecy no longer exists, Ruach HaKodesh is still here, manifest through Elijah. It is as the prophet Elijah taught his disciples, commenting on the verse, “Deborah was a prophetess” (Judges 4:4): “I call heaven and earth to bear witness, that any individual, man or woman, Jew or Gentile, freeman or slave, can have Ruach HaKodesh bestowed upon him. It all depends on his deeds.”