CU5-10

** Goal ** Students will learn about the development of the Kabbalah in the 12th centrury and its subsequent influence. **1. Gain the attention of the learner** Write a biblical passage on the blackboard. Ask the students what they think it means. Then show them that by using a complicated letter counting method, the sentence “Folkshul is great” can be derived. Ask them if that is the true meaning of the passage. ** 2. Relevant past learning ** Remind the students of the great efforts of the Diaspora Jews to understand the rules for right conduct. Focus on the rational dimension of Talmudic study and the work of scholars like Maimonides. ** 3. Introduce new material ** Summarize the material in “A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People,” pp. 144-145. According to “The New Jewish Encyclopedia,” pp. 258-259, Kabbalah comprised five major principles: “(1) God did not create the world directly, since He is above all existence; He is the Eternal, the //En Sof// (the “Endless”); the world and all higher and lower forms of life and conduct are emanations proceeding from God and then from one another, from the more spiritual to the less. The //Ten Spheres// (Sefirot) emanated in the following descending order, each succeeding one from the preceding one: Crown, Wisdom, Beauty, Firmness, Splendor, Foundation, and Kingdom. The last Sphere, ‘Kingdom,’ created the physical world. Through these Spheres God rules the world, and through them are explained all His activities. (2) Everything that exists is a part of the Deity, and man can achieve union with God through his acts of piety and moral conduct. Through the observance of the commandments every Jew can influence the Spheres which, in turn, can influence God in behalf of mankind. The Jewish people were chosen to preserve the world by strict observance of the Law. (3) Man is judged by his soul, which is the most important part of his being. All souls were created at the same time during Creation, and the soul which remains pure after its contact with the body becomes after death a part of the world ruled by the Ten Spheres. The impure or contaminated souls must, after death, reinhabit another body, and continue to migrate from body to body, until they have been purified. (4) Evil does not exist in itself but is the negation of good, and can be overcome by prayer, repentance, self-affliction and strict observance of the Law. (5) The text of the Bible is filled with hidden meanings. Although written in the language of man, its words contain divine and mysterious concepts that man should strive to uncover. The Kabbalists, therefore, employed different techniqus by which they tried to discover the hidden and divine meanings of Biblical terms.” ** 4. Provide guided practice ** The Jewish tradition before and after the development of Kabbalah places much emphasis on the use of reason to understand the world and how we should behave. Kabbalists, however, saw the world as basically a mystery. Why might people give up on reason as the tool for coping with the world? (Connect this discussion with the increasing instability and danger in the lives of Medieval Jews.) ** 5. Provide independent practice ** The Kabbalistic Jews thought of God as a mystery and like an onion; with every layer you peel, there is another layer beneath to probe and get to know. When you get to know people, are they easy to understand? The question for debate: Can we truly and completely know another human being? Break the students up into two even groups and have one group build a case for why humans are a mystery. Then set up in a debate format (two facing tables) with you as the arbitrator/facilitator. **6. Close the lesson** After the debate, have students discuss what they think and actually believe.
 * 5:10 ** **Kabbalah**