130 A G uide
to the H idden
W isdom
of
K abbalah
that lifestyle; they were persecuted or forbidden to engage in Kabbalah. The Ari, for instance, was a rich merchant when he arrived as a Kabbalist in Safed. Kings David and Solomon also were neither poor nor hermits, as we all know, but they were great Kabbalists. Rav Ashlag, for instance, believed in manual labor. When he came to Israel from Poland, he brought with him machines for processing leather. He wanted to start a leather factory, work during the day, and study at night. He also brought up his children in this manner. When his eldest son, Baruch Ashlag— who succeeded him—turned 18, Rav Ashlag sent him to work as a construction worker. He, too, would work during the day and study at night. Yet there is a contradiction that anyone who follows Kabbalah faces. On one hand, earthly life is meaningless, and a serious Kabbalist ascribes no importance to it. On the other hand, it is a Kabbalah imperative to live within the flesh and feel it. Many teachings and religions in the world talk Why is Kabbalah traditionally studabout abstinence. The ied before dawn, in the wee hours? When people sleep, the local “thought-field” more one diminishes one’s is quieter, and there are fewer disturbances corporal pleasures and the resulting from people’s thoughts. Kabbalists more one secludes oneself, also study in these hours because they have the better it is for one’s to work in the morning, just like everybody else. A true Kabbalist is forbidden to retire spiritual ascent. Kabbalfrom worldly life. ah suggests the opposite: leave mundane and earthly things as they are, stop messing with your body and its habits, and deal only with the point in the heart. Rather than working to diminish your desires, Kabbalah suggests that you leave them alone, because restraining physical desires will not correct your soul.
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