What is Kabbalah? - Tree of Life
Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, who lived in the 16th Century, stated that from his time and onward it is not only permissible but a mitzvah to spread the wisdom of Kabbalah. Furthermore, he states, those individuals who are capable of studying Kabbalah and fail to do so delay the arrival of Moshiach (Messiah) and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
There are two main reasons why Kabbalah is being made accessible to the masses in more recent times:
1) In our current period, mockery of religion, materialism, false religions, and skepticism are rampant. We are thus encouraged to study any area of Torah that will connect us with our souls and inspire us to serve G-d - including the Torah secrets.
This is in accordance with the mystical principle that as the world grows increasingly darker, we must access increasingly brighter light to overcome the darkness. In a time of spiritual darkness as dense as ours, it is specifically through the study and practice of Jewish mysticism that we draw the strength to vanquish the darkness.
The following Chassidic analogy highlights this truth in simple yet vivid terms:
'A king owned a splendid treasure so precious to him that he only allowed his most trustworthy and beloved subjects to view it. However, during a war with a bitter enemy, when the King realized that he may lose the battle, he exhausted the entire treasure in order to secure a victory.'
Kabbalah, the deepest and most precious teachings of Torah, revealed only to the most enlightened in the past, is now made accessible to everyone, so that it is used to overcome the formidable form of spiritual adversity that we are currently confronted by.
2) It is specifically by studying Kabbalah that we speed up the entry into the Messianic era.
The pre-messianic era is characterized by the 'Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil'. This means that everything in the world consists of a 'mixture' of good and evil. For instance, a knife can be used to heal or to injure, food can be eaten for energy to serve G-d or indulgently, human emotion consists of love as well as cruelty, kindness as well as greed, etc. By studying and applying the legal teachings of the Torah, one sifts the good from the evil, or rejects the evil directly, thereby clarifying and refining this 'Tree'.
The Messianic era, in contrast, is characterized by the 'Tree of Life', where only goodness resides, and where G-d's presence is felt to permeate all of existence. In this state, our divine service will no longer be to refine the world but to increasingly perceive G-dliness. The level of Torah associated with this state is Kabbalah.
