Ten generations after Noah, Abraham was born to his father Terach in Mesopotamia. Terach was an idolater who lived in a kingdom ruled by King Nimrod. At three years of age, Abraham instinctively felt that it was illogical to worship statues of wood and stone. His mind began to wonder and explore, and over the course of time he ultimately became convinced of the notion of monotheism, one G‑d, a Superbeing who is omnipotent.
From the very beginning, Abraham struggled against the prevalent current—an attribute inherited by his descendents.
He was dubbed the Ivri (lit. “the other side”), for the whole world was on one side and he was on the other. Nimrod cast him into a fiery furnace for his “heretical” beliefs, yet he miraculously emerged unscathed, and began proclaiming his beliefs in public. Abraham was a great philosopher and astrologer. The Talmud teaches that, “Abraham held great astrology in his heart, and all the kings of the east and west arose early at his door.” He moved to Haran where at the age of seventy five, G‑d spoke to him in person for the first time and instructed him to leave his homeland and enter the Holy Land. When G‑d revealed Himself to Abraham, one of the first things that He told him was that his fate, and that of his descendants, transcended the influence of the constellations.
Therefore, Abraham should not be concerned with astrological predictions.
It is in the Holy Land where he met Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, who was a priest to G‑d, the Most High (Genesis 14:18). Our Sages identify Malki Tzedek as Shem the son of Noah. There is evidence that the mystical tradition was taught to Abraham by Shem. According to some authorities Abraham authored Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), one of the fundamental works of Kabbalah.
The Talmud states that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all studied in the academies of Shem and Eber. The Talmud further proclaims that the Patriarchs kept the entire Torah before it was given. How was this possible? The Kabbalists explain that they kept the Torah in its spiritual form, for it was only subsequently through Moses that the Torah instruction became manifest in the physical observance of Mitzvot. The Patriarchs, however, were well aware of the spiritual flow affected by Mitzvah performance. The Zohar parallels the biblical episode of Jacob with the sticks, troughs, and striped sheep with the Mitzvah of putting on tefillin. Both elicited a similar Divine emanation, however after Sinai, it was the Divine will that this spiritual flow came to be through laying a physical pair of tefillin.
Abraham was also fully aware of the magical and idolatrous uses that could be developed from these mysteries, and the Talmud states that Abraham had a tract dealing with idolatry that consisted of 400 chapters. There is also a Talmudic teaching that Abraham taught the mysteries involving “unclean names” to the children of his concubines. This is based on the verse, “to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away…to the lands of the East” (Genesis 25:6). These gifts consisted of occult mysteries, which then spread in eastern Asia. It is no wonder that in many of the eastern religions we find parallels to Kabbalistic teachings. One of the most simple and striking examples of the transmition of the occult is that every child knows a magician uses the phrase “Abracadabra.” This magical expression is none other than an Aramaic extension of the Hebrew abra— I will create, k’adabra—as I will speak—the knowledge of creation using letters and names as documented in Sefer Yetzirah.
From the very beginning, Abraham struggled against the prevalent current—an attribute inherited by his descendents.
He was dubbed the Ivri (lit. “the other side”), for the whole world was on one side and he was on the other. Nimrod cast him into a fiery furnace for his “heretical” beliefs, yet he miraculously emerged unscathed, and began proclaiming his beliefs in public. Abraham was a great philosopher and astrologer. The Talmud teaches that, “Abraham held great astrology in his heart, and all the kings of the east and west arose early at his door.” He moved to Haran where at the age of seventy five, G‑d spoke to him in person for the first time and instructed him to leave his homeland and enter the Holy Land. When G‑d revealed Himself to Abraham, one of the first things that He told him was that his fate, and that of his descendants, transcended the influence of the constellations.
Therefore, Abraham should not be concerned with astrological predictions.
It is in the Holy Land where he met Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, who was a priest to G‑d, the Most High (Genesis 14:18). Our Sages identify Malki Tzedek as Shem the son of Noah. There is evidence that the mystical tradition was taught to Abraham by Shem. According to some authorities Abraham authored Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), one of the fundamental works of Kabbalah.
The Talmud states that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all studied in the academies of Shem and Eber. The Talmud further proclaims that the Patriarchs kept the entire Torah before it was given. How was this possible? The Kabbalists explain that they kept the Torah in its spiritual form, for it was only subsequently through Moses that the Torah instruction became manifest in the physical observance of Mitzvot. The Patriarchs, however, were well aware of the spiritual flow affected by Mitzvah performance. The Zohar parallels the biblical episode of Jacob with the sticks, troughs, and striped sheep with the Mitzvah of putting on tefillin. Both elicited a similar Divine emanation, however after Sinai, it was the Divine will that this spiritual flow came to be through laying a physical pair of tefillin.
Abraham was also fully aware of the magical and idolatrous uses that could be developed from these mysteries, and the Talmud states that Abraham had a tract dealing with idolatry that consisted of 400 chapters. There is also a Talmudic teaching that Abraham taught the mysteries involving “unclean names” to the children of his concubines. This is based on the verse, “to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away…to the lands of the East” (Genesis 25:6). These gifts consisted of occult mysteries, which then spread in eastern Asia. It is no wonder that in many of the eastern religions we find parallels to Kabbalistic teachings. One of the most simple and striking examples of the transmition of the occult is that every child knows a magician uses the phrase “Abracadabra.” This magical expression is none other than an Aramaic extension of the Hebrew abra— I will create, k’adabra—as I will speak—the knowledge of creation using letters and names as documented in Sefer Yetzirah.
Ten generations after Noah, Abraham was born to his father Terach in Mesopotamia. Terach was an idolater who lived in a kingdom ruled by King Nimrod. At three years of age, Abraham instinctively felt that it was illogical to worship statues of wood and stone. His mind began to wonder and explore, and over the course of time he ultimately became convinced of the notion of monotheism, one G‑d, a Superbeing who is omnipotent.
From the very beginning, Abraham struggled against the prevalent current—an attribute inherited by his descendents.
He was dubbed the Ivri (lit. “the other side”), for the whole world was on one side and he was on the other. Nimrod cast him into a fiery furnace for his “heretical” beliefs, yet he miraculously emerged unscathed, and began proclaiming his beliefs in public. Abraham was a great philosopher and astrologer. The Talmud teaches that, “Abraham held great astrology in his heart, and all the kings of the east and west arose early at his door.” He moved to Haran where at the age of seventy five, G‑d spoke to him in person for the first time and instructed him to leave his homeland and enter the Holy Land. When G‑d revealed Himself to Abraham, one of the first things that He told him was that his fate, and that of his descendants, transcended the influence of the constellations.
Therefore, Abraham should not be concerned with astrological predictions.
It is in the Holy Land where he met Malki Tzedek, King of Shalem, who was a priest to G‑d, the Most High (Genesis 14:18). Our Sages identify Malki Tzedek as Shem the son of Noah. There is evidence that the mystical tradition was taught to Abraham by Shem. According to some authorities Abraham authored Sefer Yetzirah (the Book of Formation), one of the fundamental works of Kabbalah.
The Talmud states that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all studied in the academies of Shem and Eber. The Talmud further proclaims that the Patriarchs kept the entire Torah before it was given. How was this possible? The Kabbalists explain that they kept the Torah in its spiritual form, for it was only subsequently through Moses that the Torah instruction became manifest in the physical observance of Mitzvot. The Patriarchs, however, were well aware of the spiritual flow affected by Mitzvah performance. The Zohar parallels the biblical episode of Jacob with the sticks, troughs, and striped sheep with the Mitzvah of putting on tefillin. Both elicited a similar Divine emanation, however after Sinai, it was the Divine will that this spiritual flow came to be through laying a physical pair of tefillin.
Abraham was also fully aware of the magical and idolatrous uses that could be developed from these mysteries, and the Talmud states that Abraham had a tract dealing with idolatry that consisted of 400 chapters. There is also a Talmudic teaching that Abraham taught the mysteries involving “unclean names” to the children of his concubines. This is based on the verse, “to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and he sent them away…to the lands of the East” (Genesis 25:6). These gifts consisted of occult mysteries, which then spread in eastern Asia. It is no wonder that in many of the eastern religions we find parallels to Kabbalistic teachings. One of the most simple and striking examples of the transmition of the occult is that every child knows a magician uses the phrase “Abracadabra.” This magical expression is none other than an Aramaic extension of the Hebrew abra— I will create, k’adabra—as I will speak—the knowledge of creation using letters and names as documented in Sefer Yetzirah.
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