by Shlomo Mallin

Shlomo Mallin

After receiving

the "Yakir Yerushalaim Award" (for 1990)

Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz said:

Yeshayahu Leibowitz

…. Prof. Leibowitz is widely known for his frequent radical and upsetting remarks. However, perhaps the most controversial and important among these are his outspoken opinions about the Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism). Today Kabbalah has spread throughout a large part of the orthodox Jewish world, and it is unquestionably thought by many to be a purely Jewish phenomenon. However, Leibowitz, in the name of truth, fearlessly desecrates the 'sanctity' of the Kabbalah. Leibowitz maintains:

…. Prof. Leibowitz has also published numerous articles in popular newspapers, such as Yediot Aharonot, under provocative and offensive titles such as "All Kabbalistic literature is pagan."

…. I met with Prof. Leibowitz on the third day of Hanukah, to find out more about his view points and see whether they could stand up to critical scrutiny.

Question: Professor, as a very orthodox Jew, you know that all editions of today's standard orthodox Jewish Prayer Books contain chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis, the Akeidath Yizhaq, (the Binding of Isaac). Many editions, (including those circulated at the Kotel) introduce this section with the following words:

Answer: You have the right to recite the entire Bible every day as part of your prayer. But this is not integral to the mizvah (the religious requirement) of prayer. This is simply an intellectual sport. If you are a Jew who observes Torah, you should pray in accordance with halakhic requirement (that is, follow the Shulhan Arukh, the Code of Jewish Law written by Yosef Karo over four hundred years ago in Safad/Zefat). What do you care about those stupid fools who tamper with the original texts of the Prayer Books and add all sorts of things. Halakhicly there is one, and only one, Prayer Book in common to all Israel.

Question: But sir, this misleads innocent people to follow the teachings of the Zohar and the Kabbalists, which you consider pagan?

Answer: But you know that the orthodox Prayer Book currently in print does not comply with the Shulhan Arukh. The Akeidath Yizhaq does not appear in the laws of prayer in the Shulhan Arukh. Now any prayer that does not comply with the code is superfluous. A printer might print today’s daily newspaper in the Prayer Book. Will this make the paper a part of the required prayer?! Furthermore, in fact, contrary to what you say, very few people recite the Akeidath Yizhaq. In the synagogue where I pray every single day, it is never recited in the prayer.

Question: Very well sir, but is the poem Lekha Dodi not recited in the Friday night service of your synagogue? This poem, as you know, was composed and circulated by Kabbalists!

Answer: Yes, of course. I know that this poem was composed by the Kabbalist Shlomo Alkebitz about four hundred years ago. My synagogue recites this poem, as do all orthodox synagogues. In fact it has been universally accepted. But this poem is not taken from a Kabbalistic literary source. And there is not even a hint of Kabbalistic imagery in it. The fact that a Kabbalist composed it is mere coincidence.

Question: But what about the prayer Brikh Shemai (recited when a Torah Scroll is taken out of the Ark)? This prayer is taken directly out of the Zohar, word for word. It is printed in all orthodox Prayer Books, and all orthodox Jews recite it. Yet, you maintain that the Zohar is a pagan work?!

Answer: Yes, you are right. This prayer is taken directly out of the Zohar, and the Zohar is definitely a pagan work. There are indeed halakhic sources that prohibit the recital of this prayer, and it is not included in the standard Yemenite Prayer Book. But you must admit that there is not a single Kabbalistic concept in this prayer. This is interesting! People introduced this prayer because they found it pleasing, and then it spread widely. But it is interesting to note that this particular passage from the Zohar has absolutely no Kabbalistic content, and all those unsuspecting Jews, who innocently recite it, have no idea that it comes from the Zohar. You know this and I know this, but they do not know this.

Question: Sir, you yourself, who know the truth, do you recite Brikh Shemai?

Answer: Do you want me to exclude myself from the community? If the entire community recites it, you expect me not to recite it? What’s with you?!

Question: Don’t you think there should be some supervision over what is being printed in the standard orthodox Prayer Book? Perhaps the chief Rabbis should exercise some control over this?

Answer: What does this have to do with the Rabbis?! This applies to me!! And I am more important than all these Rabbis in everything pertaining to the observance of Torah and Mizvot and to matters of faith. I don’t want to hear such words "What must the Rabbis do?" ask what I must do!! (Note: This interview was held a short time after Haim Pardess, a practicing Rabbi and Court Father of the Rabbinic Court of Tel Aviv, was convicted of sexual offences. I assume that this is what motivated the Professor to reply so harshly.)

Question: Okay Professor. Excuse me. Let me ask you personally, how do you arrange your Seder Plate on the eve of Pesah (Passover)?

Answer: You want to know if I arrange my Seder Plate according to the Kabbalistic Lurianic order which began to dominate European Jewry over 200 years ago.

Reply: Yes sir.

Answer: According to the Lurianic order, the Seder Plate is rearranged so as to symbolically depict the Kabbalistic Sepherot as appears in one of the later commentaries to the Shulhan Arukh (Laws of Pesah, Law 473). And you know that I am in full agreement with Yizhaq bar Sheshet (Rivash) who wrote about 600 years ago concerning the ten Kabbalistic Sepherot:

Kabbalistic Sepherot

Reply: That is right sir.

Answer: Well first of all I want to tell you that all the so-called Lurianic writings (known as the writings of the Arizal) were in fact not written by Luria but by a certain Haim Vital. Luria wrote nothing except a few short poems.

The Grave of Luria in Safad, Israel

[Click on picture for biographical information.]

Reply: Yes, I am well aware of the history of the Ari. In 1570 he migrated from Egypt to Safad when he was in his thirties. He lived in Safad for about a year and ten months. During this time he had unsuccessfully attempted to found a mystic commune in Safad. He then became melancholic and began predicting the deaths of his immediate family (including his small children), and of his close friends. These ‘prophesies’ came to pass (some authorities assume that Luria in fact may have poisoned them to verify his prophesies). Then he predicted his own death (in July 1572) which also came to pass (some assume he poisoned himself).

…. During the short time he was in Safad, he asked Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulhan Arukh a legal question. Karo answered with a published responsa (Afkat Rokhel 136) where he mentions that Luria’s opinion was based on a misinterpretation of a passage in the code of the Rambam. Furthermore, the very fabric of his arguments was illogical and internally inconsistent. "I must wonder about the condition of your mind (Hosheshani meTohar Sikhlekha)" wrote Karo to Luria.

…. Haim Vital became acquainted with Luria sometime during the one year and ten months that he was in Safad, exactly when cannot be determined with certainty. And it was Haim Vital who created the image of the Ari as well as the writings of the Ari, many years after the Ari’s death. It was these writings that were later spread throughout orthodox European Jewry.

Answer: Yes, that is correct, and it is true that these writings of Vital contain a great many alterations of Jewish customs and prayers, and there is no substance to these things. They have nothing to do with true halakha.

Question: But Professor, you haven’t answered my question. Do you display the pagan Gnostic cult symbols on your Pesah table or not?

Answer: Well, well, ah, well….

Reply: Professor, you either do or you don’t, Aristotle’s Law of the Excluded Middle applies here!

Answer: Well, I don’t know. I don’t arrange the Seder Plate. My wife arranges the Seder Plate. I don’t pay attention to how she arranges it, and I don’t really care. I know that there are halakhic authorities that object to the Lurianic order, but there is disagreement here. And since some do it this way and some that way we are no longer obligated, according to halakha to follow one custom in particular. I don’t understand why you make a major issue out of this triviality.

Question: But sir, is it not important to you that practices based on pagan traditions are circulating within the orthodox Jewish world?

Answer: You are surprised that idol-worship has penetrated into the Jewish faith?! How naïve you are? Was it not Israel that worshipped the Golden Calf? And did Yeroboam not set up the Golden Calves?! Now, Ahiyah the Shiloni tried to stop this, but he wasn’t successful. It’s still here! Today too, this rubbish is here…. Even the Shehina (God’s Presence), who descended upon Mount Sinai, He too did not succeed in stopping this idol-worship. I’m talking facts! He said, "You will not have other gods…" But within a short time Israel made the Golden Calf!

…. This has continued throughout history, to the time of the Kabbalists and even to this very day… And this is not unique to the People of Israel --- the entire world is involved in this… It is true that Judaism has attempted to stamp out idol-worship. Nevertheless it has not succeeded, and idol-worship is still within us. This is the power of pagan superstition, it is a universal phenomenon and the Torah is unable to stop it. It continues to spread all the time!

Rambam

…. There was no greater hero who fought against pagan cult worship than the Rambam (the Philosopher/Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, who published the code of Jewish law Mishna Torah about 800 years ago). The Rambam wrote in one of his responses about a certain unacceptable pagan custom, and he says, "Look, the Torah is battling against this thing for 2500 years, and it has still not succeeded in extracting it from within us." The Rambam of course knew that pagan superstition is common to all mankind. But among us Jews, it should not exist seeing that the Torah prohibits it!

Reply: But sir, if you were alive then, I am sure that you would have been on the side of Ahiyah the Shiloni. You would surely have attempted to uproot pagan superstition, idol-worship and ignorance!

Ultra-orthodox Jews performing Kapparot

Answer: Yes, there are certain practices in circulation which undoubtedly oppose the halakha, such as the custom of kapparot (waiving a white hen above the head seven times on Yom Kippur eve, and then slaughtering the hen). Should it come to my attention that someone is about to perform this pagan ceremony, I tell him, "Beware you are about to perform a pagan ceremony!" The code of the Shulhan Arukh clearly states in the Laws of Yom Kippur (Law 605): "The custom of kapparot on Yom Kippur eve, to slaughter a hen… should be prevented." Commentaries explain that the prohibition involved in this custom is witchcraft.

Question: You are aware of the fact that there is considerable controversy over this custom. Moshe Isserless, in his note on the Shulhan Arukh, permits it.

Answer: Yes, but in my opinion it should be clear to every intelligent being that slaughtering a white hen is a pagan superstition. The Mishna in Tractate Avoda Zara chapter one (13b) explicitly prohibits selling a white hen to a pagan since it will probably be used in a pagan ritual.

…. Furthermore, although Moshe Isserless mentions in the above note, "It is also customary to visit cemeteries on erev Yom Kippur, and all such customs are appropriate…" I disagree with this and follow the opinion of the Rambam, who maintains that visiting cemeteries is strictly forbidden. A few weeks before Rosh HaShanna of this year a neighbor of mine mentioned that he was about to visit Russia, so that he could prostrate himself on the grave of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav. I said to him:

…. Take a look at this. (The Professor showed me a printed page which invited the reader to rent the ‘Holy Tunic’ for a modest sum, claiming that any one who wears it will immediately be cured of any disease, his fortune (mazal) will be improved, and he will be relieved of poverty.) I found this in my mailbox. Not just in my mailbox, but the mailboxes of the whole neighborhood. This is an example of the paralysis of which orthodox Judaism is suffering. The content of this advertisement is completely pagan! Pagan witchcraft!!!

Question: Professor, it still isn’t clear to me how you differentiate between the Holy Tunic and the Kabbalistic Seder Plate; or between Yeroboam and the Kabbalists?

Alternating pictures of Shabtai Zvi and Yaqov Frank

[Zvi picture is an engraving from 1669

Credit: Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem]

Answer: Although Kabbalah is connected with idol-worship, still there is an important difference between the Kabbalists and Yeroboam. This lies in the fact that the Kabbalists observe Torah and Mizvoth. There were of course many Kabbalists who stopped observing Torah and Mizvoth, such as the followers of Shabtai Zvi in the middle seventeenth century, but they converted to Islam. So too the Kabbalistic Frankist sect in the eighteenth century converted to Christianity. However, the Kabbalists who did not convert, observed Torah and Mizvoth. It is true that many of their practices are extremely controversial, even prohibited according to many opinions. However, they nevertheless still observe Torah and Mizvoth.

…. Gershom Scholem couldn’t understand this. He would say to me, "How is it that the Kabbalists are so strongly attracted to idol-worship and yet did not rebel against God?" But the answer is clear! Take the first Lubavitcher Rabbi, the Baal HaTanya as an example. He was a Kabbalist, and he wrote the Tanya, which is a Kabbalistic work packed with prohibited things. However, he did not write only the Tanya, he also wrote a Shulhan Arukh, (based on the Shulhan Arukh of Karo).

Question: Perhaps the Kabbalists practice the Mizvoth (e.g. the Seder Plate on Pesah) in the same spirit that they practice the Holy Tunic, which in your opinion is witchcraft? Perhaps Mizvoth are just witchcraft for the Kabbalists?!

Answer: No! No! No! There is a distinction here! The Holy Tunic is applied Kabbalah (Kabbalah Maasit), while the Kabbalistic Seder Plate is theoretical Kabbalah (Kabbalah Eyounit). The Kabbalists eat kosher, just like you do. They wear Tefillin, just like you do. Their theoretical Kabbalistic interpretations remain in the domain of their hearts. And this is a matter for God, not for man. However, Kabbalist who performs witchcraft and Kabbalah Maasit, is committing a serious sin. Theoretical Kabbalah, however, has nothing to do with Kabbalah Maasit. Kabbalah Maasit is exactly the same as witchcraft that is being practiced all over the world. There is nothing specifically Jewish about Kabbalah Maasit. Superstitions of this type are to be found everywhere!

Question: But the Kabbalists make prohibitive changes in the Mizvoth. For example they add an additional bitter herb to the Seder Plate and change its order. They add additional prayers to the services etc. etc.?

Answer: In your opinion these things are prohibited, but in their opinion they are not prohibited! Since there is controversy here, there is no definite halakhic verdict. About such situations it has been said, You follow your tradition and they follow their tradition. These Kabbalistic additions and alterations have nothing to do with the halakha and don’t even as much as touch the halakha. Although in my eyes Kabbalistic customs are rubbish.

Yihya Kafah

Question: If so, you disagree with Rabbi Kafah who wrote:

Answer: Yes, of course I disagree with Rabbi Kafah. Kafah published his book over 70 years ago. I was a young boy then. The book caused a great deal of commotion. Rabbi Kook, the first chief Rabbi of Israel gathered together a great many Rabbis, and they threatened to excommunicate Rabbi Kafah, if he did not retract his book.

Avraham Kook

…. However, Kafah’s book, as well as the controversy between him and Kook, had nothing to do with scholarship and ideology. This conflict arose out of personal animosity… Today you will find the same thing --- the followers on one Hasidic Rabbi disqualifying the ritual slaughter of a competitive Hasidic Rabbi, although they know that both Hassidic groups perform the ritual slaughter in exactly the same way, according to the same laws of the Shulhan Arukh. But since this group hates that group, they prohibit the ritual slaughter. In truth there is no halakhic prohibition involved, although these Rabbis present matters as if there is a halakhic prohibition.

…. However, although I disagree with this aspect of Kafah’s opinion, I fully agree with this statement that the Zohar is a pagan work. He is absolutely right about that!

Question: Did you ever talk personally with Rabbi Kook about his conflict with Rabbi Kafah?

Answer: No, I never spoke to him about Rabbi Kafah, but I did once have a very long talk with him concerning the Zohar and the Kabbalah. Incidentally, I am not only fully acquainted with the teachings of Rabbi Kook, but I am also one of the remaining few who actually spoke with him personally. I still remember this conversation very clearly. It was on the intermediate days of the Succoth festival, in the year 1929, sixty-two years ago. I was then in my mid-twenties. We talked in his Succah, which stood on that same street in Jerusalem, which today bears his name.

Question: Rabbi Kook was a great promoter of the Kabbalah and the Zohar. I remember seeing in his published letters that anyone who doubts the authenticity of the Zohar is a heretic and does not have a share in the world to come. Your discussion with him must have been heated?!

Answer: No! No! No! You can’t be right! Rabbi Kook did not believe that the Zohar was ancient or that it was written by the Tannaic sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai.

Question: How do you know this?

Answer: I inferred it from our discussion (that is, the discussion between Leibowitz and Kook). Among other things, I showed him one of the well-known sections of the Zohar that is a replica of a section of Rambam’s Guide for the Perplexed. Now, if the Zohar was in fact written 2,000 years ago, how could it have included a section of a book written in the thirteenth century? In fact, you of course know that the Zohar was written about a half century after the Guide for the Perplexed.

Reply: Yes sir.

Answer: Anyway, Rabbi Kook didn’t answer by saying, "What are you talking about, how could a Tannaic work contain a passage from the Rambam’s Guide?" Instead he said, "Two authors can independently arrive at the same truth, and this does not necessarily mean that one author was influenced by the other author." Since he compares the author of Zohar to the Rambam, as though they are in the same class, we can infer that he himself knew that the Zohar in fact first appeared at about the same time the Rambam’s writings appeared --- in the thirteenth century. And this is in fact the truth.

…. However, his conflict with Kafah had nothing to do with ideology. Look at the current conflict between Rabbi Shach and the Lubavitcher. You don’t have to introduce any religious content into this conflict, although they present the conflict to the public as though it was about matters of faith and religion. However, the simple fact is that this person despises that other person.

Question: Professor, it is widely known that you are an extremely orthodox and pious person, and that you strictly follow the Shulhan Arukh to the letter of the law. How do you reconcile this with the fact that the author of the Shulhan Arukh, Yosef Karo, lived in Safad, and was steeped in the Kabbalistic tradition?!

Answer: Even though the author of the Shulhan Arukh was completely submerged in the world of Kabbalah, as we know from his other writings. Nevertheless, in the Shulhan Arukh there is not even a trace of this! One who reads the Shulhan Arukh and studies the Shulhan Arukh would not even be aware that there was ever the phenomenon of Kabbalah in the world of Judaism.

Vilna Gaon

…. The same thing applies to Lithuanian Jewry 200 years later. The spiritual world of the Vilna Gaon, the head of Lithuanian Jewry, was totally submerged in the world of Kabbalah. Nevertheless, there is not even a hint of Kabbalah in the Lithuanian halakha.

…. This is the answer to your question [which attempts to associate the Shulhan Arukh with the Kabbalah]. No such association exits!!! Except for a few superstitions which crept in here and there. Halakha is a closed system, which follows absolute Halakhic principles and thus cannot be influenced by anything external, such as Kabbalah. Although it is true that the everyday lives of many men of halakha was mystical/spiritual. They nevertheless knew that the world of halakha is closed into itself, and that one is totally refrained from taking into account extra-halakhic considerations when dealing with the halakha. This indeed is the position of Rabbinic Halakhic Judaism: When dealing with the halakha, one deals with halakha and only halakha!

Question: Sir, perhaps these facts can be explained differently. Perhaps Karo led a dual existence. In secret, he and his Kabbalist friends in Safad practiced Kabbalah Maasit, evoking spirits of the dead, and all kinds of abominable and mischievous witchcraft, which you so despise, as his secret Kabbalistic writings indicate. However, publicly, he portrayed himself as a righteous codifier of Jewish law, and was careful not to let his second identity leak out to the public. We know that even today this type of behavior is not rare among certain orthodox Jews. Even the ultra-orthodox religious party Shas has been accused of maintaining two sets of books!?

Answer: Woe onto me!! I can not believe what my ears are hearing! How can you make such accusations against Yosef Karo?! This is blaspheming! Don’t you know that the Shulhan Arukh is the crowning perfection of the Rabbinic world of halakha?! Orthodox Judaism has been standing upon the Shulhan Arukh now for over 400 years! I thought you were an intelligent person, but now I see you know nothing! The Shulhan Arukh brought the tradition of the Rambam to perfection, and even the Rabbis of the Talmud cannot match up to the standards of the Rambam.

Question: What do you mean?

Answer: The Rabbis of the Talmud circulated many legends that are comparable to the Holy Tunic. What do you think? Superstitions penetrated into the Talmud also. All this existed among the general population. The Talmud, you realize, is not a systematic organized work. It absorbed all that was going on around it. This is why the Rambam had to write Mishna Torah, because he wanted to organize the knowledge scattered throughout the Talmud in a systematic way.

Reply: I see all this in a different light sir. In my opinion the Talmud operates according to a system of non-Greek logic which is not fully understood today, and it therefore seems disorganized. The Rambam, however, believed in Greek logic, and his aim was to alter Talmudic logic and thereby attempt to force it into a Greek rationalistic framework. To my mind, the Rambam is a corruption of the Talmud!

Answer: No! No! No! What you are saying is all wrong! Logic is a universal human characteristic. There are no different forms of logic. There is only one absolute logic.

Question: But aren’t you aware of the contemporary developments of modern logic which differ with Greek logic and disagree with it?!

Answer: That’s something else entirely!!! That has nothing to do with the Talmud! The Talmud is full of superstitions such as seeking out the dead. For example in Tractate Brakhot 18a, Tractate Taanit 16a, and the well-known story of the sage who gazed at the limousine of Rabbi Hiyah in the heavenly college and was blinded. He then went and prostrated himself on the grave of Rabbi Hiyah and said, "Sir, I need my eyes to study your writings," and he was healed (Tractate Baba Mezia 85b).

Question: Sir, I believe these Talmudic stories, which also have halakhic implications (i.e. not to wear Tallit and Tefillin in the cemetery so as not to mock the poor. I disagree with Rambam’s prohibition to visit cemeteries. There is a clear difference between visiting a cemetery and ‘seeking out the dead’ (that is, magically evoking the spirit of the dead) as implied in Tractate Sanhedrin 65b.

Aristotle

…. Furthermore, it is the Rambam who constantly associates himself with Aristotle and his completely erroneous teachings (e.g. there is not a single Aristotelian law of physics that actually works in the real world) and outmoded ideology (Greek Rationalism). In his Guide the Rambam explicitly refers to Aristotle dozens of times. He compares Aristotle to a Prophet and a Tannaic sage, yet what was Aristotle if not a lowly pagan idol-worshipper?!

Answer: No! No! No! Enough! Enough! Enough! I can’t take any more of this blaspheme. You talk stupidity! I can’t talk with you. You profane everything holy, everything of value.

Reply: Please Professor, be patient with me. I was only asking innocent questions. I didn’t mean to devalue things you cherish and to upset you.

Answer: Okay. But first let me make it clear that Aristotle did not worship idols. Concerning Socrates and Plato, this is truly a question that I am unable to answer. What did Socrates mean when he said, "My gods". I am sure that Socrates concept of god was completely unlike the concept of God that we know. However, concerning Aristotle there is no question. Aristotle did not believe in idols, and that is certain!

Question: But sir, Aristotle is always referring to idols in his writings, including his scientific writings. For example, in De Caelo (268a the Ross edition), Aristotle is concerned with proving that there are no more than three dimensions and there cannot be a fourth dimension. He writes:

Answer: Yes, that is according to the Oxford edition, but that is a corrupt reading!

Question: How do you know sir?

Answer: From Aristotle!!! I am acquainted with Aristotle!! What do you mean?! Aristotle is fully known to us --- that he did not worship idols. Socrates apparently did believe in idols, but not the Olympian gods. Most Greek intellectuals did not believe in the Olympian gods. I am prepared to admit that Aristotle might have been an atheist, but he did not believe in idols!

…. You understand nothing about Greek thought, and are far from understanding the Rambam. Rambam observed the Torah and Mizvoth because he understood that they are the Ultimate Truth. Let me teach you this most important concept "Rambam’s Ultimate Truth".