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1. What is the Zohar?

The Zohar, literally meaning "splendor," written in Aramaic in the form of a commentary on the Five Books of Moses, is the fundamental work of the mystic teachings of Judaism. The Zohar's mystic interpretation of the Torah is based on the principle that the biblical narratives contain deeper and more vital truths than they literally express.

Regarding the origin of the Zohar, there are divergent opinions. There are those who defend the antiquity of certain sections, while others believe that Rabbi Moses de Leon compiled the Zohar from heterogeneous sources, adding his own contributions. Still others champion the early authorship of the entire work.

The Zohar became known about the middle of the 13th century as the work of the Tanna Simeon ben Yochai, who had lived in the 2nd century for 13 years in hiding from the Roman persecutors after the unsuccessful Bar Kochba revolt. Hidden in a cave, Rabbi Simeon and his son Elazar are said to have been visited on frequent occasions by Elijah, who instructed them in the esoteric teachings of the Torah, which form a large proportion of the subject matter of the Zohar.

According to the Zohar, everything in the Torah has three-fold significance: the outward, the inner, and the innermost, which is the most important and the most to be desired. The highest goal of the religious person is to penetrate into the inmost purpose of the precepts and practices. The Zohar also stresses that every human act has its effect upon the universal course. The spiritual forces above depend for their activity upon the emerging influences from below.

2. I once heard that it is dangerous for an inexperienced person to study kabbalah. Is that true?

The rabbis of the Talmud did regard the mystical study of God as important yet very dangerous. The concern was that a student well steeped in Jewish tradition might be led to wrong conclusions. A famous talmudic story tells of four rabbis, Azzai, Ben Zoma, Elisha ben Abuyah, and Akiva, who would meet together and engage in mystical studies. Azzai, the Talmud records, "looked and went mad and Ben Zoma died. Elisha ben Abuyah became a heretic and left Judaism. Rabbi Akiva alone "entered in peace and left in peace". It was this episode, the later experiences of individuals who became mentally unbalanced while engaging in mystical activities, and the disaster of the false Messiah Shabbetai Zevi that caused 17th-century rabbis to legislate that kabbalah should be studied only by married men over 40 who were also scholars of Torah and Talmud. The medieval rabbis wanted the study of kabbalah limited to people of mature years and character.

3. What is the kabbalistic custom that relates to putting on a prayer shawl?

The tallit or prayer shawl is traditionally worn at morning services by males, and in more liberal settings by females as well. There is an interesting kabbalistic custom of first holding the tallit above one's head with both hands while saying the blessing, and then placing it over the head. One then takes the four corners of the tallit in one's hand (some take only the two corners on the right side), places them over the left shoulder and stands wrapped this way for a while.

During this time Psalm 36:8-11 is recited: Bestow Your faithful care on those devoted to You And Your beneficence on upright men. Let not the foot of the arrogant tread on me, Or the hand of the wicked drive me away. There lie the evildoers, fallen, Thrust down, unable to rise.

These verses express the feeling that wrapping oneself in a tallit is like entering God's wings. The delight is in a sense of closeness, created by wearing the garment that corresponds to God's raiment of light and from which God's loving-kindness flows.

Rabbi Ron Isaacs is the spiritual leader of Temple Sholom, a Conservative congregation in Bridgewater. He has recently published biographies of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Judah Touro (Torah Aura Productions). Contact him at www.rabbiron.com or "Ask the Rabbi," c/o Rabbi Ron Isaacs, Temple Sholom, P.O. Box 6007, Bridgewater, N.J. 08807.