Jewish meditation
Jewish meditation includes practices of settling the mind, introspection, visualization, emotional insight, contemplation of divine names, or concentration on philosophical, ethical or mystical ideas.
In his book Meditation and Kabbalah, Rav Aryeh Kaplan suggests that meditation is a practice that is meant to bring spiritual liberation through various methods that can loosen the bond of the physical, allowing the practitioner to reach the transcendental, spiritual realm and attain Ruach HaKodesh (Holy spirit), which he associates with enlightenment.
He therefore suggests meditation should be defined as "A voluntary act aiming to generate an alteration in the individuals consciousness, which they perceive as therapeutic or redemptive".
"[9] Moses Maimonides, often considered the greatest Jewish philosopher of his time,[10][11][12] suggests in The Guide for the Perplexed (3.32), that intellectual meditation is a higher form of worship than either sacrifice or prayer.
Abulafia opposed interpreting the sephirot as theosophical-theurgical hypostases, seeing them in Maimonidean negative theology psychological terms, while viewing his meditation mysticism as a superior Kabbalah.
Ecstatic traditions were at a disadvantage for normative Judaism, as they made classic meditation their central preoccupation; as with Moses Maimonides the mitzvot (Jewish observances) were a means to the end purpose of mystical or philosophical cleaving to God (or the Active intellect).
In contrast, Theosophical traditions centred around the theurgic power and cosmic centrality importance of normative Jewish worship and Halakha observance, especially when carried out with elite Kavanot (mystical intentions).
They reinterpreted standard Jewish liturgy by reading it as esoteric mystical meditations and the ascent of the soul for elite practitioners.
[citation needed] To pray to a Divine attribute introduces the cardinal idolatrous sin of division and plurality among the sephirot, separating them from their dependence and nullification in the Absolute Ein Sof Unity.
The corresponding Names of God (Eheye, Yah, Havayah, etc) relate to the inner Divine Unity dimension of each sephira, expressing the forms the unified Infinite light takes as it illuminates within each vessel; prayer to traditional liturgy Divine Names is prayer to God's Essence, expressed through particular sephirot supernal channels on high.
[citation needed] Abulafia's work was surrounded in controversy because of the edict against him by Shlomo ben Aderet, a contemporary leading scholar.
However, according to Aryeh Kaplan, the Abulafian system of meditations forms an important part of the work of Hayim Vital, and in turn his master Isaac Luria.
One of Isaac's most important teachings involves developing hishtavut, which Aryeh Kaplan describes as equanimity, stoicism, and a total indifference to outside influences.
Rabbi Isaac sees hishtavut as a prerequisite for meditation:You should constantly keep the letters of the Unique Name in your mind as if they were in front of you, written in a book with Torah (Ashurit) script.
When you depict the letters of the Unique Name (י-ה-ו-ה) in this manner, your mind's eye should gaze on them, and at the same time, your heart should be directed toward the Infinite Being (Ain Sof).
Luria prescribed Yichudim as Kavanot for the prayer liturgy, later practiced communally by Shalom Sharabi and the Beit El circle, for Jewish observances, and for secluded attainment of Ruach Hakodesh.
His Shaarei Kedusha (Gates of Holiness) was the only guidebook to Meditative Kabbalah traditionally printed, though its most esoteric fourth part remained unpublished until recently.
(Samuel II 23:2)[35] The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidic Judaism, took the Talmudic phrase that "God desires the heart" and made it central to his love of the sincerity of the common folk.
Advocating joy in the omnipresent divine immanence, he encouraged emotional devekut (fervour), especially through attachment to the Hasidic figure of the Tzaddik.
He also encouraged his close disciples to find devekut through seclusion (hisbodedus) from others and by meditating on select kabbalistic unifications (yichudim) of Yitzchak Luria.
[37] This downplaying of the theurgic role of Theosophical Kabbalah, the psychologisation of Kabbalistic symbolism, and emphasis on Divine Omnipresence, began with the Baal Shem Tov.
In a parable he related that knowing each of the detailed Kabbalistic Kavanot in prayer unlocked individual gates in Heaven, but tears break through all barriers to reach the King Himself.
Chabad philosophy explains that while Daat is a necessary component of cognition, it is like an empty vessel without the learning and analysis and study that comes through the faculty of Binah.
Chabad accepts and endorses the writings of Kabbalists such as Moses Cordovero and Haim Vital and their works are quoted at length in the Hasidic texts.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov used the term hisbodedus (alternatively transliterated as hitbodedut, from the root "boded" meaning "self-seclusion") to refer to an unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of prayer and meditation.
The Musar (ethics) movement, founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the middle of the 19th century, encouraged meditative practices of introspection and visualization that could help to improve moral character.
[40] According to Geoffrey Claussen of Elon University, some forms of Musar meditation are visualization techniques which "seek to make impressions upon one's character—often a matter of taking insights of which we are conscious and bringing them into our unconscious."
A number of contemporary rabbis have advocated such practices, including "taking time each day to sit in silence and simply noticing the way that one's mind wanders.
"[42]: 270 Recent Orthodox Judaism teachers of Jewish mystical meditation methods include Aryeh Kaplan and Yitzchak Ginsburgh.
Kaplan especially, published scholarly and popular books that reinterpreted and revived historic Jewish mystical contemplation techniques in terms of the late 20th century zeitgeist for meditation.
