A story is told about three men who were imprisoned in a dark dungeon. Two of them were intelligent but the third was not very smart. When their food was daily lowered into the dark the third fellow would fumble the utensils, break the plate and cut himself with the knife. One of the clever fellows would help him by rehearsing with him a routine to deal with the dark, but the food was presented in a different way each day and always confused him. The other prisoner then said, "Help me carve a hole in he wall and let a ray of light in, and then he will be able to see and eat without help."
What is Kabbalah? Historically Kabbalah is the mystical interpretation of Torah which is the source of Jewish teachings. Some of the Kabbalah's secrets date back to as early as Adam and Eve. The Kabbalah is all about light. Its main message to us is that we have the power to increase the spiritual light in the world or decrease it. All our actions, words and thoughts control the dimmer switch that turns the light up or down. What is the power of light? When you turn the light on in your room it lets you see what is there. Otherwise you are groping in the dark, knocking things over, banging your knee, walking into walls. This is also true with spirtual light, without it your spiritual world is dark. Without spiritual light you can't see love even when it is right in front of you. You knock over people who love you. You step on souls. You walk right past meaningful moments. And you have no sense of direction.
According to the Kabbalah a person who only has access to physical light lives in the World of Shells or Peels Olam Hakipot. Such a person only sees physical things, that which is external and superficial. The shell or the peel is only the outside of things, that which is external and superficial. The shell or the peel is only the outside of the fruit and secondary to the fruit. People who can only see the shell or peel, confuse the werapping with the true ontents, they are impressed with the packaging and miss the true gift inside.
The term Kabbalah is a Hebrew word that literally means to receive. The Kabbalah is realy the art of receptivity. Kabbalah teaches us the secrets of how to access the spiritual light that lets us see what's inside. Because what you see is what you get, if you want to receive the eternal spiritual gift wrapped in this world then you need to increase the spiritual light to see and get inside. This physical world is only the packaging but what is the gift inside?
What is the greatest gift you could ever give or get? Presence. Not presents but Presence. When I think of my childhood my most precious memory is of my mother sitting by my bed and reading to me Winnie the Pooh. Now what is so great about that? My parents gave me lots of gifts. I got a terriffic train set and lots of other toys. But they didn't last and they mean very little to me today. What I still treasure and continueto enjoy are those precious moments when I new my mother was there for me. She wasn't interested in Pooh bear or Piglet. She never read those stories at any time for herself. My mother concentrated her entire being into those moments and was completely there for me. She gave me the greatest gift you could ask for-- her Presence.
What is Presence? Presence is like chocolate cake. I can't tell you what chocolate cake tastes like, only if you'll taste it you will know how delicious it is. I can tell you the ingredients, but even the ingredients you don't really know until you hve tasted them. And of course the taste of the cake is greater than the some of its parts.
Presence is like the color green. I can't tell you what it looks like, but when you will see it you will know. I can tell you that is a combination of blue and yellow but even they are colors that you can only know experientially. And of course even after you see blue and yellow, green is greater than the sum of the parts. So I can't tell you what presence is. I can tell you that its ingredients is love, care, respect, honesty, meaning, beauty, kindness, wisdom and much more. To know Presence you have to experience it.
According to the Kabbalah, God created you and me and put us into this world to give us the greatest gift imaginable. Divine presence. Kabbalah calls this "Shechina". Divine presence or the "Shechina" fills everything. But how do we turn the light on that lets our eyes of our soul see it? How do we become recptive to the ultimate gift of presence? It is by giving our presence to each other that we become vessels to receive the Divine Presence. And the more you give the more you receive.
The Kabbalah is the light that shows us how the Torah and all its instructions for living is actually a book of recipes. In the light of Kabbalah the Torah teaches us how to turn our everyday life into a feast of presence. Bon Appetitte.

Rabbi David Aaron is the author of Endless Light: The Ancient Path of the Kabbalah to Love, Spiritual Growth, and Personal Power (November, 98, Berkley). He is the founder and Dean of the Isralight Institute in Jerusalem which ovfers seminars that enlighten and educate on Jewish spiritual life. He is currently working on opening an Institute in Manhattan. Rabbi Aaron has been a student of Kabbalah for more than 22 years. He can be reached by email at