How to Learn Authentic Kabbalah - The Shomer Emunim
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- One question I often get is how to study the Kabbalah as authentically and as historically traditional as possible.
My answer is edition of the R. Yosef Ergas' 1720 Shomer Emunim - amzn.to/4dep4wi - in the edition and translation of Avinoam Fraenkel. Take a look at this episode to see why.
Pick up the Shomer Emunim here - amzn.to/4dep4wi
Also check out my episode - Study Kabbalah like a Kabbalist - The Ramak's Introduction to Kabbalah - Or Ne'erav - אור נערב - • Study Kabbalah like a ...
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Have you ever looked at the body of Adam and wondered if it's actually Eve?
Justin, what are your thoughts 💭 on Humanistic Judaism?
How lucky we are to live now in a time when good-hearted scholars are making authentic books and videos for us to learn a world's worth of spiritual paths.
"Break out your Shomer Eunim Boys, tonight we're imminantizing the Eschaton"
I also relate strongly to the description "not academic, but scholarly" lmao.
I have studied your knowledge for a year or so. I really appreciate you Explaining/teaching for free.
I struggle to find authentic esoteric texts that cut close to the 'spirit' of a subject. Doubly so when I'm unfortunately ignorant of the language (maybe someday - Hebrew is neat!).
Thank you so much for all the work you and your collegues do to make esoteric works and knowledge more accessibe.
Also your judicious use and delivery of humor is top notch!
"But is it easy? Well... No, it's the Kabbalah."
I'm gonna be honest. I just want to support you because while I don't understand, well pretty much anything about true Kabbalah (as spelt by my google dictionary), I feel you do a lot to bring light to destroy a dark damp mould of pseudo-intellectuality that tends to start with our spiritual in laws...
Keep up the work. The videos I DO at least comprehend, I really appreciate.
To which I MUST get the t shirt collection going!
Thank you so much for this recommendation, Doc!
As someone who told his wife “i think im gonna have to learn Hebrew” in my journey to learn more about Kabbalah and hoobity woobity stuff (to say the least) this is a great nice little “here ya go buddy” from the youtube heavens!
Pick up the Shomer Emunim here - amzn.to/4dep4wi
Also check out my episode - Study Kabbalah like a Kabbalist - The Ramak's Introduction to Kabbalah - Or Ne'erav - אור נערב - ruclips.net/video/WdDp2IZ_oQU/видео.html
Yes Doc
Lol, it’s temp out of stock already. You have a community..!
@TheEsotericaChannel It's no longer in stock. I was disappointed.
Book came in the mail yesterday and just from skimming through the introductions and the first dialogue I know could spend the rest of my life pouring through these pages, that I’ll probably do that.
Oh so you want to study cabalah, well here you go...know what you are getting into. Brilliant guidance Justin.
@@donovan665 letsgooooooo🤣😂
Just found Rabbi Simon Jacobson's channel.
He doesn't seem to delve into esotericism. Nonetheless, seems to express the wisdom of Kabbalah; for any interested in getting a taste as a lived tradition.
@matth4278 his channel is more practical. Applied kabbalah. I don't know this channel so well but Kabbalah is inherently Jewish in the Orthodox sense. Any attempt to disconnect the two takes both out of context.
Kabbalah has always been such an interesting subject to me yet the same time remains utterly enigmatic..this channel has definitely helped atleast chart a road to comprehension but its so overwhelming 😅
@@pedroarroyo345 yes, I feel the very same way 🙂
@@pedroarroyo345 do you know any reliable source of Kabbalah in spanish?
Just ordered a shirt from your merch store the other day and I'm eagerly looking forward to getting to wear it! Been watching you for over a year now and really appreciate the work you do here.
_love_ your channel. tremendously grateful to you for pointing me at egas' shomer emunim. excellent!
Enough of chicken kabbalah, then: here's the beef kabbalah! For all one's future kabbalistic beefs, accept no substitutes. ;)
Please note that you can not mix beef kabbalah with dairy kabbalah. Otherwise, have fun.
@@Bbenja4 Indeed--that's what they don't tell you in the chicken kabbalah, which is why the Messiah hasn't come yet: all those people eating chicken with chicken milk cheese on it are doing something hateful in the eyes of G-d.
It's probably right up there with not properly making offerings to the ancient Irish potato goddess before boiling or mashing one's potatoes...I wish I was kidding about that, but I'm not...someone actually printed something about that in a book, and the publisher/editor didn't point out that potatoes weren't introduced to Ireland until the 16th century at the earliest...and while that was still, technically, "medieval Ireland" by many reckonings, that's not ancient and pre-Christian by any stretch of the imagination!
What passes for esoteric knowledge often shouldn't pass by a decent copy editor, much less someone who actually knows about any given subject. :(
I don't eat red meat, so it has so be chicken kabbalah for me. Can I mix chicken kabbalah and egg kabbalah? (And which came first?!)
@@therongjr Interesting you should raise that question, because I think--though the Mosaic Law never imagined something like this happening, but that never stopped the American sense of gluttony from suggesting it--that would be the exact thing that the kosher practices of not mixing meat and dairy is intended to avoid, i.e. "not boiling a calf in its mother's milk," so having a chicken sandwich with a fried egg on it (or something similar) would be doing close-to-likewise, and essentially killing one being and having its offspring adorn it for extra flavor. (And I am sure vegans are horrified by this entire discussion!) But, I don't know...I'm not a rabbi, so I couldn't tell you. ;)
Mutton!
I really appreciate you talking about the Kabbalistic tradition as someone who isn't interested in studying it, but is interested in understanding people who do. I both want to understand why people in history made the decisions they made, and also represent people's beliefs accurately in stories. I don't really want to know secret stuff, but I appreciate knowing what isn't authentic and what the tradition is actually like in general. So thank you very much.
Thanks for this. I now have my own copy, and I'm really looking forward to getting in to it.
Keep up the great work Dr Sledge 👏⚒️
I don’t understand a lot of the words you use, but I still close my eyes and keep my mind gaped open so the words you say will still be in there. As I learn and research some of the words it’ll all make sense. Simply, I just like hearing you talk lol.
Man I love this channel, even though there’s other experts on topics like say Daniel Matt for Kabbalah nobody covers such a wide range so eloquently.
Grateful for everything you do Justin!
Thank you very much. I knew i needed this, but had no idea where to start!
My introduction was Gershem Sholem (sp?) years ago, yet I am still interested. Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm glad to see you making this video, unfortunately with all the fluff out there people miss the real stuff. The Shomer Emuneim is the go to book. Thanks for setting the record straight! Regarding the antiquity of the Zohar however, the correct book for that is "קדמות ספר הזוהר" unfortunately I don't know of any English translation.
There isn't one, though I'm very doubtful of the arguments I've seen there and elsewhere.
Regarding the antiquity of the Zohar Why don't you make a video on it , going thru the main point of the above mentioned work. and we can discuss the point further?
I'll eventually do an episode on the Zohar and will cover the dating / authorship question but I'm with Scholem and Liebes. I also think it doesn't matter because it's a work of total genius regardless of who / when it was comprised.
Thank you, this is excellent information. I always learn so much from your channel. ✌🏼
Thanks a lot for the recommendation!!!
Excellent - thank you!
thank you for the recommendation, i purchased a copy right away
Hey Justin. I went into college for biblical languages cause I loved the old testament via the bible project. I dropped out a couple years ago I've since deconstructed and thabks to your channel broadened my appreciation for all jewish literature. I've been trying to read a bit of talmud and have bounced off the zohar several times though i know no online translations are recommended.
You said once that you should take 3 semesters of biblical hebrew before trying to learn aramaic. I took 2 and got a C second semester thanks to slacking on vocab. Do you have any recommendations for picking that back up that dont involve spending thousands at an evangelical college i still live near but now despise?
Meandering mysticism!!! 😂 brilliant. Yet another wonderful presentation. Thank you for you all you bring.
Another fantastic mind jam! Love it
Shalom , thank uou !!!!! 🙏🏼💗🙏🏼
Thanks Dr Sledge! It arrives Monday.
Found 'Kabbalah for the student' (2008) Michael Laitman (student of Ashlag)few days ago in the library.
856 pages...OMG 😅
Have you sent a link to Madonna?
Edit: I would _love_ to see what kind of garbled mishmash would emerge from Google translate and Kabbalistic literature. It would be beyond hilarious.
The Bay City Rebbe doesn't need any links, she is the link. ;) and yes, much more garble than translate.
Thank you for the recommendation. Please, let us know if you ever find a good introduction to Ramak Kabbalah as well.
Oh this one is going to make me think of my dad, may Gd bless his name
ז"ל
Omg I love this
I can honestly see myself reading it, as someone who really dosent read (dyslexia)
Man, you're a powerhouse !
Authenticity is extremely important in these days of social media and influencers who know nothing! 😂🎉
Bahir is my favourite kabbalahistic text
Thanks 🙏🏻🥰
.
Thank you
Thanks!
Thank you.
After many years of abscence , I'd like to return to dig deeper into Kabbalah. So the Shomer Emunim is a must buy for me.
Question: what are the shell and aleph arrays called? Where to find more about these two and the many other configurations?
You are awesome 😊🎉
At first I thought the book was only ~100 pages or so but then the prof tilted it and I nearly had a heart attack from the thickness. Damn my mole rat tunnel vision eyes
I do like hearing of this, and looks like a prime piece to get on my reading list. I would be curious what opinion he may have on the more modern works by a particular Aryeh Kaplan. He did a similar work in overall structure for the Sepher Yetzirah. and Bahir, but perhaps more as scholarly works, if I understand the difference properly. because of my own studies I have been gradually building a readability to general Hebrew, tho at this point, it is just about phonetic read, and some rudimentary grammar pieces for some of the most commonly found forms. I know I have a while to go, especially as I get a sense there is metaphoric layers of the Yetzirah are sitting like curtains around the content, which not being understood are only obscuring what I am reading I think, just as an example.
Really wish you had tank tops for sale! Same prints but tank tops long so can tuck in pants
Only 39 copies of this edition of Shomer Emunim available on amazon, better hurry.
I have a question; human knowledge can pretty much be divided into 3 categories which represent the active/passive Principles and its 3rd state in between, which translated would be what we call in general terms religion, science and sacred/traditional science/Knowledge.
The renaissance was the pivotal point that took us to the dead end we face today; after 1500 years of religion, or active principle domination, humanity got tired and went the other direction, passive principle or materialism, that ended up in the Age of Enlightenment or point of no return of reductionism of Reality, but some humans saw that mistake and tried to compensate in what became the illuminism movement..
So my question is, if you had to put the different schools of kabbalah into these 3 categories how would it look like?
Which school represents the active principle, which one represents the passive or modernism like Descartes, Galilei, Bacon, Locke, Kant, Einstein, quantum mechanics or ecology and which one represents the 3rd state or sacred Science/Traditions and those whom tried, better or worse, to back it, like Pythagoras, Plato, Hermetics, Alchemists, Paracelsus, Da Vinci and traditionalism in general?
Thanks
I would like to share how I found your channel, also I have a question that follows.
Ive been more of an "imperical" and "reductionist" most of my life. I suppose this statement is to give context and maybe make my experience seem more grounded and less "woo woo" lol
Anyways. About a year ago, I was intrigued by the concept of Shadow work by Carl Jung. I dove into ALL of his work and I decided I wanted to "Individuate". Afterwards I started having some very big dreams. Really vivid and intense. I wont share the entire dream to save on time, but in my first dream after I started individuating had a part with a giant female eye in the night sky. She spoke to me through a cell phone I had in my hand. She told me "Once you begin, you cannot go back. You have until the eclipse to decide" by that time the only eclipse left for the year of 2023 was a lunar eclipse some time in October. The other part of the night sky, to the right of the eye was broken, glitchy, and was in weird shapes. My reality had been fractured. Since I couldnt remember exactly which shapes, I decided to research sacred geometry, because thats what popped up while trying to google geometric shapes lol. So I found the tree of life as a scared geometric shape. This was what most ressembled what I had seen in my dream. I looked up Kabbalah after finding the origins of the shape. Eventually, I found your channel on youtube while falling down the esoteric rabbit hole. For those who know about Kabbalah, I found the concept of Tikkun Olam very interesting and synchronistic. Hopefully that statement makes sense. So here I am 10 months later, forever learning from you.
Dr. Sledge I deeply appreciate your wisdom and dedication. What I wanted to ask is personal, but I hope your willing to share on youtube, what "mystical" experiences have you had? Or maybe if you would feel more comfortable sharing why and how you believe what you do and is this your motivation for sharing your hard earned scholarly research freely on the internet?
Thank you,
Mia
If I were to read this source, what are (maybe just a few of) the questions I should bear in mind about the author's claims on xyz or about the author's biases? You mentioned he makes some "dubious" claims about something I'm not yet familiar with (I'm a baby when it comes to my understanding/research into the Kabbalah). What was so "dubious"? I would just like to know more of what some of the criticisms of the work/the author might be if a few general points came to mind, off hand. I still want to study it.
The big issue is that it's a text by a kabbalist for kabbalists - so it just assumes the truth of Judaism, that the kabbalah comes from G-d at Mount Sinai, etc. It's just a fully religious text and that's both a bug and a feature in that respect
I dont know how to edit my comment lol, but please read it below!
Appreciate this reference. Curious but afraid to ask your opinion of the Salomo Baal-Shem book Qabalistic Magic. Have you, or would you ever, make a statement on that? I’d be so interested to hear your take on it.
I was advised to avoid sources that spell Kabbalah with a Q-but at least this one uses ‘magic’ with a C? 😛
2:50
"Is just...wwwrrrrrrrrrrr-*unreliable.*"
I appreciate this so much hahahahaha.
When discussing topics, you generally want to avoid harshly labeling arguments as "wrong" (in order to prevent defensiveness/tension, courage meaningful dialogue, and acknowledge important nuances, the like...) regardless of the source.
As a human however, I might initially react with "That's stupid!"...And then I'll remind myself to be rational and kind before adjusting my language to be more welcoming and constructive...
I could feel the "wrong" almost escaping his lips but he caught it well.
Hey brother, the book is not available on Amazon, any alternatives?
Look at that intro 👀 moving on up Dr. Sledge
Are you also a rabbi, Dr? Thank you for your meticulous works
His wife is a Rabbi.
@@TobiasC-mg4zk I didn’t know y’all had those.
Hello again! And good
Wishes.
Wonderful work, I do have a question for you, how did you get started on your transmutative journey?
Peace profound
I don't think I'm on a transmutive journey
Got the Shomer Eunim and looked for a discussion of the atiot but nothing really. Which would be the best. So far I like Suares. Thanks
Atiot? Like אותיות?
@@TheEsotericaChannel the 22 letter numbers . I think I misnamed them.
The text definitely deals with the olam hanikiddot
@@TheEsotericaChannel Thank you.
Ahhh man you just got to talk about a big book with a bunch of cool stuff inside . Hello Amazon yes I want that big book thank you yes sir on the way lol
What is the value of a text remaining esoteric?
If it has the power to stop cruise missle strikes I could see it. If not then idk
Historicaly, esoteric mystery schools keep such things hidden from the profane because they are not prepared to receive the knowledge. They tend to become violent when you shake the foundation of their whole paradigm.
Something about casting pearls before swine 😂
A book to both perplex and smite your enemies. TBH I wish I knew enough even to know what the heck you’re talking about…
Are there Yiddish Textes about it?
I am curious. What are your thoughts on Israel Regardie's (lets call them) contributions to the Kabalah and its incorporation within the GD system?
I don't really know anything about them
@@TheEsotericaChannel He was the first to publish a 'complete' (in so much as it is) work of the Golden Dawn system of magick, which is centered on the use of the kabalah and the Tree of Life. I believe it is based on the sepher yetzirah, although I'm not certain if he had clearly stated that as fact.
He and Crowley knew each other and were both members of the GD together. I know its a contemporary system and you are more versed in antiquity (which I love btw). Maybe a colab with Dr. Angela to explore the kabalistic and western esoteric traditions it helped to foster? (I'm begging, btw 🤣😂)
The "etz chayim" doesn't appear in Sefer Yetzirah
@@TheEsotericaChannel ok. I didnt realize that. Although I have made a few attempts at digesting the sefer, I've never gotten completely through it. Very technical imho.
@@grumpyoldman3812 GD uses what they call hermetic qabalah(kaballah). although it does take much influence from traditional Kabbalistic sources, it is also very syncrenistic and uses the tree of life as a kind of organization system with which to place correspondences. It includes Egyptian and Greek, Chaldean influences as well. The Golden Dawn tree of life model I believe was taken from Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit Priest. The Golden Dawn, at its core, is a bit of a Rosicrucian Organization. The basic magick is taught in the outer order. The inner order is where more Rosicrucian influence comes in, and that makes sense because Rosicrucianism in its many forms, also very syncronistic. Another thing about the GD, is it was started by 3 Freemasons who also were members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, a Rosicrucian Order that requires members to be Masons I believe. The structure of GD rituals was heavily influenced by masonry, which even in itself has influences from all over. I recently became a Master Mason, and have studied GD style Magick for a few years on and off, but am not initiated in an order. I'd say a huge emphasis to be made here is that Justin is specifically addressing TRADITIONAL Kabbalah, in which case GD definitely is not a subscriber, and neither is most of the Occult world, as he mentioned. However, I personally believe a lot of this is due to Magicians being more concerned with the practicality of Kabbalah, than whether it is the "true" authentic teaching. For all its errors and ungenuineness, the Kabbalah as used in modern occultism has been a great success and has its own legitimacy, and doesn't usually claim to be the original. I enjoy studying traditional and non. Pardon my rant.
Dr. Sledge, I want to say once again thank you for this, and also as a bonus, because of the material you cover, I've been able to hone the algorithm because it keeps pushing right wing "anti-woke" content that I then am able to block and hope it recommends better videos, like yours.
And I probably just exhausted my grasp of Hebrew on the tile alone - "Guardian of the Faith"? Or maybe "Guardian of the Beliefs"? "Guardian of Our Beliefs"?
The "-im" ending of "Emunim" is a plural ending, but the alef-mem-nun root of the word usually gets translated into English as "faith", and I can't see observant Jews using "faith" in a plural here, so.....I dunno?
I was very recently told that I was doing cultural appropriation for talking about Kabbalah.
What do you think about Gershom Scholem
Goat, z"l
Completely sold out now!
What books do you recommend for learning Hebrew?
@garretpray9103 I'm not driven enough to learn it right now but I found a lot of free resources on yt
🌞
Bahir, Sepehr Yetzirah, Zohar.
The stuff you talk about is SO complicated.
The title to this thumbnail was shortened and so I sped with a degree of morbid fascination as to your advice on 'How to lear' or should that be 'leer' damn you English, why must you always mock and embarrass me like this, will I never leern.
There is a lot of interest because you keep telling me i can't get it.
Peak
i got a question for you, im jewish and i want to know, after all those videos about the origins of yahweh, youre still jewish? what do you believe in now?
Judaism
I had also come to the conclusion that most of the books someone can find on Kabbalah in the religious section of mainstream bookstores, is absolute nonsense and unrelated to Kabbalah. I have had several acquaintances say to me that they, "Have read Kabbalah." And of course just saying it in that way is a huge red flag; and then they show me their book or books, and I instantly know that they contain no kabbalistic texts, and I flipped through them, and it's all a bunch of new age stuff that has nothing to do with Kabbalah.
yes
5:55 does this mean forcing god to bring about the apocalypse?
How does a human force a God to do anything? (o,o)
God is quite famous for being forced by humans to do things against his will, so yeah, probably
@@bobSeigar so since the apocalypse described in the abrahamic religions have some conditions as to when it will happen , in islam for example these includes things like the rise of atheism. These conditions are basically prophecies about what the world will be like when we are close to judgement day. By manipulating masses into fulfilling these conditions is how you force god to bring the judgement day, at least thats what some muslim mystics say about the goals of esoteric hasidic cults like the Chabad. That their goal is to force god to bring judgement day.
So thats why i was entertained to hear this from my favorite rabbi mr esoterica
i think all humans do every moment is to force god to forget that he is god and make him think that he is human
and then that pseudo-human is convinced that he is forced by his objectivised pseudo-god that he is powerless and must do things
snake eating tail, fish looking for water, knocking a door from the inside out :)
but why has my comment explaining the judgement day prophecies were deleted ? does anyone see it like the one about Chabat and the islamic prophecies
I’m trying to find a PDF online l. Do you plan perhaps a live session if other subs do the same? It will help keep the comments low, maybe, asking nicely let’s meet up in a month at a live stream. . Do you think it’s possible to read and understand? Like you could give grades or make it challenging . Meet in discord live where we can eat popcorn and act like we’re in the balcony of a live play attentive to those who don’t speak. Fun stuff, stuff that makes one more rounded, also fun stuff to take the minds of people like me sick and tired about news around the world at its present tempest . Just a though. Like we could make it challenging . Cameras on to check for cheaters and like 3 months from now you offer a free copy (hardcover for me) to one or grade us and 4.0 or higher gets one. I dunno. Shall we do a poll?
I just bought it. It's 50 bucks on Amazon in hard cover. It's cheap! It's 1000 pages and would be useless in Pdf
I've already searched it but in vain. Found only a Hebrew version, but I don't understand this language THAT good.
And yes, 50$ is a significant part of someone's salary. My for example. I'll just continue searching and someday probably I'll find it!
@@Egi-g8c tell you go bootleg but that could land me in trouble and usually like 8-10 times they’re prints with errors so don’t do the bootleg one. I remember when it came to books that were several 100s we would share a print with money put together but that’s another story and involved other methods of ready like some of us would take the time to convert them into audio type books using a text to speech means and just listen to the whole thing broken up into several 2-5 minute audio clips one could listed while driving or on a train or even while working. Pretty effecting study tools everywhere.
@@Athanatos250 in English translation? And do you have a Yiddish or Hebrew to English dictionary handy? Either way Kewl beans.
Or like reading Infinite Jest, just by picking up that shite book
Shouldn't be too hard to get an LLM to translate it.
Train an AI in Aramaic
"You have to read it."
I watch your videos just so I don't have to do precisely that... If I had the time and resources to obtain and read a 1000+ page book that's just a mere introduction, I wouldn't be looking for summaries on RUclips.
Another question: Why even bother with alternative versions of the Sefirot arrangements that look unintuitive and more complicated? Some things are not worth studying because they are less efficient than other similar systems. In these cases, it makes much more sense to forget the old and the little-known, because they are just artifacts of failed attempts from the past.
Not all information or data is worth keeping. Make it simple, not more complicated.
You're in the wrong place
I mean, I have a long life ahead of me, I could learn these languages and translate them. Why dont more people do that? Devote the time to translate these old texts of esotericism to english. Even if you can only complete one in your life that is one more text of wisdom that the world now has because of you.
one cannot just translate that complex books that are about the oldest traditions and full of metaphors into a language that is not related while expecting that it will be understood just like that.
Just think of the bible. Christian priests and theologians around the world still learn greek and latin just so they understand it better even though there are a lot of translations available for hundreds of years. On top of that you need to consider that Kabbalah is still an esoteric (not well known) matter with very few people interested in it. But of those interested in it, many speak Hebrew or are happy with Christian Cabbalah.
( Btw im not speaking as an expert or anything on the matter)
@@niclasromanski7920 that's fair. I just want more people to have access to these old texts. I am learning hebrew and eventually Aramaic for exactly the purpose, though I know I am no expert. I would like to translate one work by the end of my life just so the future generations of seekers have it.
I am young and have a long life, so I believe I will be able to get there with a lot of time and attention to detail.