History of Kabbalah: Adam and Abraham

History of Kabbalah: Adam

5768 years ago, one man felt what no other human being had ever felt before - a desire to discover what lies beyond this world. In those days, people’s major interests were securing shelter, family and food, but this was far from being enough for that man -he had to know why he existed and what makes the world go round.

His name was Adam, and 5768 years ago he became the first man to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah, a method enabling one to feel the part of the universe that is hidden to our five senses. The name "Adam" might be associated with the Biblical Adam, described as the first human being ever created. However, we are speaking about a different person - someone who, of all people living on earth for thousands of years, became the first to feel the Upper Force.

Adam began to sense the laws and forces that govern everything in our world, and his perception penetrated through matter, into the hidden part of reality. There, he felt a net of forces governing everything in perfect harmony, and joining into a single, all inclusive Upper Force.

In Hebrew, Adam comes from the word Domeh (similar), referring to his similarity to the Upper Force. Kabbalah explains that the Upper Force is perceived through a principle called "equivalence of form." This means that one perceives the Upper Force as soon as his qualities become similar to those of the Upper Force.

Adam was the first person to apply this principle: he found the way to gain new, spiritual qualities that are similar to the Upper Force’s qualities, and thus attained the Upper Force. But why him and not others who lived before him? It’s because he was the first human being to feel an aspiration toward the Upper Force. Before, no one had such a desire. He was able to reveal the Upper Force because he was internally ripe for it.

Adam is considered the author of the first Kabbalistic book, called Raziel HaMalach (The Angel Raziel). This short book contains descriptions of a general force called "angel," which governs the universe and consists of particular, lower-level forces called "sub-angels."

Even though the book is ancient, it shows a scientific approach that is characteristic of the wisdom of Kabbalah. When reading it, we can see that Adam was a true scientist of the Upper World: His book outlines the structure of the higher forces, their interactions, and how they influence our world. It even includes a few drawings and tables.

Yet, since Adam wrote this book 5768 years ago, it’s written in an archaic language that is hard for us, modern people, to understand. It uses many allegories and metaphors, but nevertheless, it is clearly the first written Kabbalistic source. In fact, it is deemed to be humanity's first literary work. Until Adam’s book, people had created some texts and images on rocks, but Raziel HaMalach could be truly called a book.

Thus, 5768 years ago, the evolution of desires within humanity had come to a new level, when a new, spiritual desire first appeared in a human being. The emergence of Adam marked humanity’s first awakening toward the Upper Force. Since then, Kabbalah has gone through a long evolution, as more and more people started to feel the same aspiration as Adam had felt. And in our time, millions of people are asking the same question that Adam once did, "Why do I exist and what makes the world go round?" This is exactly why the wisdom of Kabbalah is coming out publicly: to help anyone who feels ready to answer this deep question.

History of Kabbalah: Abraham

Abraham was one of the very first Kabbalists, some 3800 years ago. As the ancient Midrash (writings that examine the Hebrew Bible in light of the oral tradition) tells us, Abraham lived in Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur of the Chaldees, and as all inhabitants of Mesopotamia, he worshiped the sun, the moon, the stones, and the trees. But one day he began wondering: "How was the world created? Why does everything ‘spin’ around us? What generates the flow of life?"

As he investigated these questions, he realized that there is a pattern to life’s flow, that everything has a beginning and an end, and a sequence of cause and effect. Eventually, he discovered that there is one Upper Force that sets everything in motion, an inclusive force of Nature that governs everything and brings about everything that exists, "the Creator."

Throughout his investigations of the Upper Force, Abraham was guided by a Kabbalistic book written by his predecessor. Long before Abraham, a man named Adam had also discovered the Upper Force and had written a book about it called Raziel HaMalach (The Angel Raziel). This book was passed down from Adam to subsequent generations, and 20 generations later it reached Abraham. Based on Adam’s work, Abraham advanced the wisdom of Kabbalah, added his own observations to it, and wrote a considerably advanced book called Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation). Here is an excerpt:

"The Divine force established its rule, might, eternity and unity through thirty-two secret paths of the descending Upper Light and concealed itself in three categories: The book, the story-teller and the story."
Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation),
18th century B.C.E., the abridged version, Part 1, 1.

This book was written in the technical Kabbalistic language, complete with drawings and charts that graph the interaction between the main force of the universe, the Upper Force, and its parts. It also describes how all these parts interconnect. It uses a simple set of interactions, in a systemized way, explaining the system of the higher forces, their hierarchy, and the way they give rise to our world. This is why Abraham called this book "The Book of Creation."

Abraham's School of Kabbalists

Ancient sources narrate that Abraham did not stop with personal attainment, but decided to organize a school. Why? Because he felt that there were many other people who also wanted to discover the Upper Force.

The ancient Midrash tells of how Abraham sat by his tent, inviting in the Bedouins who passed by. He served them food and taught them the methodology he revealed, the system he called "Kabbalah." He showed them this wisdom’s possibilities and what it gives to a human being. Eventually, the students he taught formed a group of Kabbalists—people who perceive and attain the Upper Force.

According to its aspiration toward the Upper Force, this group was later called Israel (pronounced Yisra-el) - a combination of two words: Yashar (straight) and El (Creator), namely, "straight to the Creator."

Over centuries, this group grew to the size of a nation, although "nation" is not really the right word to use here. These people were not a real nation, but descendants of different Mesopotamian tribes that lived about four thousand years ago. What united them wasn’t a common origin, but their common attainment of the Upper Force.