Question: Who called the wisdom we are studying “Kabbalah”? Does this name refer to the time of the writing of The Book of Zohar?

Answer: The word “Kabbalah” first appeared in the book of Abraham. It means “receiving,” because the most important quality of the created matter is reception. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah means a special quality of receiving the revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does it mean that such terms as “the science of Kabbalah” or “the wisdom of Kabbalah” were already known in the time of the First Temple?

Answer: Long before that, about 1,500 years before the construction of the First Temple. And whether before that, I cannot say.

In addition, a lot of books from Adam to Abraham were lost. We just do not need them and so they gradually disappeared. We do not know the books written by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob except The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzirah) of Abraham. Rambam mentions that Abraham wrote many books; however, we do not know where they are.

Question: Is Kabbalah a method or a book?

Answer: Kabbalah is the method of the revelation of the Creator. The Torah (from the word “Ohr – Light)” is the knowledge about the upper Light. And the rest: the Mishnah, the Talmud, and other holy writings are an addition to it, commentaries and so on. The Book of Zohar is also a commentary on the Torah.

All of it together is called the Torah, that is, the instruction for revealing the upper Light.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/4/17

Related Material:
What Came First, The Torah Or The Wisdom Of Kabbalah?
The Great Kabbalists And Their Works
When We Open The Torah

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