Mysteries and Truth 
    
by Rabbeinu Yaakov Abuchatzeira
  

Translated by M. Steinberger and E. Linas

We must listen to the Kabbala as if we have seen it ourselves 

As we have heard, so we have seen. (Psalms 48:9)

As we have explained elsewhere, this verse means that words of the kabbalistic mysteries of the  Torah are celestial matters which no eye has seen besides
that of G-d. They are wondrous things.

" Without the reasons provided by  Kabbala, a great number of mitzvot cannot be ascribed to any root..." 
 

This is because the secrets of Torah teach us about the Essence of G-d and the aspects of that essence which He bestowed in the upper worlds - things which astonish and frighten those that hear of them. There things depend only on pure faith, not on reason - i.e. only on the pure faith that a person holds that these are words of truth.

Thus, the secret aspect of Torah is called "the way of truth" for two reasons: First, it is intrinsically true, for it is the truth of the Torah. Also, it is the reason behind the mitzvot, so that without the reasons provided by Kabbala, a great number of mitzvot cannot be ascribed to any root or reason. Thus, through the way of Kabbala, a person finds satisfaction with all of the Torah and its mitzvot.

About the essence of the Kabbala, it says at the beginning of Pirkei Avot, "Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it to Joshua." In other words, it was transmitted as a tradition orally from one generation to another. In this regard, the holy  Zohar always calls Moses "the faithful shepherd". [Faithfulness, here,] has two aspects: One, as we have written, is that Kabbala is the truth of the Torah and its mitzvot; the second is that a person must believe in his heart that the matter is pure truth, as if he saw it with his own eyes without any distortion.

One who does not believe this with complete faith should not attempt to study it nor interest himself in it in any way, as the kabbalists have warned. And so King David said: "As we have heard so we have seen", meaning that we have perfect faith in the receiving of the Way of Truth which is in our hands. That which we have heard and received through our ears is as if we had seen it with our eyes; there is no distinction here between hearing and seeing.

[From Sha'arei Aruchah 40, as anthologized in Peninei Avir Ya'akov, p. 213]

Rabbeinu Yaakov Abuchatzeira (1807-1880) is the most famous of all the Moroccan kabbalists. He authored twelve books of or touching upon Kabbala. The inestimable "Baba Sali" of our century was his grandson.

Reprinted with permission from KabbalaOnline.org. To learn more about Kabbala, please visit www.KabbalaOnline.org.