Jewish Mysticism: Unearthing the Spiritual in a Physical World

by Ellen Solomon

Life is full of pleasurable experiences: an early morning at the seashore, a favorite piece of music artfully performed, a strong connection with another person. Often, we seek out experiences for the feelings and states they create in us, from the high energy and confidence achieved while climbing a mountain to the inner peace found amidst a gardening project. Whether we pursue solitude or time with others, an international experience or an activity in our own neighborhood, we frequently emerge from these encounters uplifted and rejuvenated.

Jewish literature abounds with positive references to man's experiences in this world. The great medieval commentator Rabbi Moses Maimonides writes about drawing inspiration from daily life: the intensity of "being in love" teaches us about the yearning and love for God; witnessing the beauty of nature develops greater awe of God. The Talmud states that after death we will be asked whether we enjoyed the pleasures of this world during our lifetime and will have to justify ourselves if we did not. In addition, Jewish mystical literature also encourages us to interact with this world, telling us about the holiness, or divine energy, that permeates the physical universe.

The Creation Process

Before Creation, the only thing that existed was God. His essence filled the entire universe, leaving no "space" available for any further creation. Therefore, when it came to the mind of God to create our universe, the Kabbalists (Jewish scholars of mysticism) say He constricted Himself to make room so this world could be created. This act is referred to by the Kabbalists as "tzimtzum."

The tzimtzum was not actually the creation of one universe but of many. God formed a progression of concentric universes, each containing a measure of His infinite light, although in diminished concentration, so the universes could exist outside His essence. Each universe received a lesser concentration of divine light than the one created before it. Because of their high spiritual content, each universe was created in the spiritual realm, until the turn came for our universe to be created. This world received an infusion of divine energy with a low enough intensity that it could be represented in a physical form.

Finding the Infinite Light

In our universe, God's essence takes the form of divine sparks. As Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains in Jewish Meditation, these sparks are the manifestation of God's will that this physical world and everything in it should exist, and therefore these sparks reside in every object and every action. Perhaps the existence of these divine sparks can explain why some schools of meditation use the concentration on a simple phrase or object to achieve a spiritual experience.

Not only can we find mystical experiences within this world, but Jewish mysticism also teaches us that we can sense the light of God beyond this world. In his book Innerspace, Rabbi Kaplan says that by meditating on some of the other universes one can experience their spiritual essence. It is possible through prayer or other meditation to perceive the divine energy pouring into this world by way of the worlds beyond.

Man Is Spiritually Active

The Kabbalists teach us that man's role is not one of passive appreciation. Rather, a major element of man's existence is spiritual searching, uncovering the divine energy concealed in the physical world.

The divine sparks in this world lie dormant, and with each constructive action we perform, sparks are released from the physical entities that contained them. Although God's infinite light is mostly hidden in this world, when sparks are released, the divine light permeating our universe takes on a greater intensity. Likewise, destructive actions cause the spiritual light in this world to dim.

The unleashing of sparks in this universe affects the other universes. When divine sparks are set free in this world, it experiences a slight increase in divine light; the quality of light in the world will more closely resemble the original infinite light before the tzimtzum. In response to the heightened spiritual level in this universe, the next universe similarly undergoes an increase in spiritual light, causing the next universe to do the same, and so on.

Ultimately, the "message" of our one good deed, transformed by its travels through the spiritual worlds into a highly spiritual communication, reaches God. This is the first half of what Rabbi Kaplan calls a giant "feedback loop," through which God personally responds to our actions. Our universe, as well as the adjacent spiritual universes, does not run on automatic pilot. God, while independent of these universes, remains involved in our lives, responding to our actions with the transmission of infinite light, transformed via the spiritual worlds so that it reaches our universe in the form of additional sparks.

Like all sparks in this universe, these new sparks are concealed in entities around us, waiting for their release to further permeate our environment with spiritual energy. Perhaps this spiritual feedback makes up a part of the pleasure we often feel when performing good deeds and otherwise interacting positively with the world around us.

The Commandments as Tools of Spiritual Communication

Often we have a sense of what is right and wrong, what defines positive or negative action. But sometimes, due to the hidden nature of the divine energy in our universe, we are unaware of many other actions that might be considered good deeds in the spiritual realm.

Fortunately, God did not leave us to figure out the spiritual realm by ourselves. Over three thousand years ago, our ancestors received the divine message called the Torah. The Torah, Hebrew for "teaching," contains stories showing how some Jewish role models lived their lives, as well as the commandments, or mitzvot.

At some point in our lives, many of us have had discussions regarding the relevance of the mitzvot:

"We don't need to keep the commandments; some of them are very outdated. People don't get trichinosis from pork anymore."

"At my house on Passover, each kid got to choose food from their favorite fast-food restaurant. I mean, we still ate matzah to know what it felt like to be a slave."

"Mezuzahs are so nice, reminding us that God is inside the house and all. But why should it have to be a parchment? Any symbol that has meaning should be okay."

Certainly mitzvot encourage people to live healthy and constructive lives. Mitzvot also inspire many of us through their symbolism. But to say that a mitzvah has a single, easily understandable purpose denies its essence.

It is impossible to ascribe only one purpose to a mitzvah. A mitzvah can manifest any number of meanings, depending on the practitioner and his circumstances. Furthermore, each mitzvah has a spiritual impact which we can sense but cannot truly understand. This mystical, unknowable meaning is the true value of a commandment.

Conclusion

Our world is filled with opportunities for spiritual experience. The opportunities are everywhere: close to nature, in a crowd of people, even in the mundane surroundings of our everyday lives. Each of us holds the keys to unlock the divine sparks around us. Through the positive actions of mitzvot, we can fulfill one of human-kind's primary roles: to reveal and enjoy the spiritual elements in the physical world around us.

Ellen Solomon works as a computer programmer in New York City. With a master's in Jewish education, she teaches the laws and ethics of Jewish speech on the Web site www.torah.org.

Buy Jewish Matters at a special online price at www.targum.com