kabbala

[hannoon]

what is kabbala?

[Quizmonster]

It is a secret, mystic, Jewish tradition which reads hidden, occult messages into the Old Testament of the Bible. If you do a Google search on the word, you will find lots of websites about it.

[Clanad]

To add only a little flesh to the skeleton Q has provided... Kabblah (the many and varied spellings are part of the inherent mysticism) is not a religion, and was never intended to be so. It is, however, an outgrowth of earlier Jewish esoteric-occult traditions. Kabbalah is thought to have arisen in the 11th century A.D. It depends on a wide variety of intrepretations of Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). Two source books are the written basis for this largely occult belief system; Sepher Yetzirah (Creation) and Zohar (Enlightenment). As practised today, it has more in common with New Age foldorol than any reasonable interpretation of Scripture, in my opinion. Numerical sequences derived from numbers attributed to each Hebrew alphabet letter are key to its practise. It's significant to me that many Othodox Jews are very suspicious if not hostile to Kabbalah in its present practise among the celebrities ...

[Clanad]

By the way, Q, I sincerely hope you had the Merriest of Christmases and here's wishing you and yours all the best in the New Year... Shalom!

[Quizmonster]

"Wa alaykum as-salaam!" to you, too, C. A prosperous and joyful 2006 to you.

[sunnyside]

I'd say it was a religion. Here is one definition of religion: A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.