A Prerequisite to Meditation [Equanimity]
By Rabbi Chaim Vital; translated and adapted by Zechariah Goldman

Behold, after a person is worthy of the secret of deveikut [bonding with G-d] one may become worthy of the secret of hishtavut [equanimity]. If a person is worthy of attaining equanimity, one may become worthy of attaining hitbodidut [meditation]. After a person is worthy of reaching the level of meditation, one may become worthy of Divine inspiration, and then one may become worthy of prophecy….

Of two persons – one of them honors you and the second insults you – are they equal in your eyes?

In explanation of the secret of equanimity, Rabbi Avner told me the following: A rabbi once came to one of the meditative Kabbalists and requested of him to be accepted as an initiate. The Master said to him, “Blessed are you my son to G-d, for your intention is a good one. However, tell me whether you have attained equanimity or not?” The rabbi said to him, “Master, explain your words.” The Master replied, “If there are two persons – one of them honors you and the second insults you – are they equal in your eyes or not?” The rabbi said to the Master, “No my master. For I feel pleasure and satisfaction from the person who honors me, and pain from the one who insults me. But I do not take revenge nor bear a grudge.”

The Master said to the rabbi, “My son, go in peace. For until such time that you have attained equanimity, until your soul does not feel the honor of the one who honors you and the embarrassment of the one who insults you, your consciousness is not ready to be attached to the supernal realm, which is a prerequisite to meditation. So go and surrender your heart even more, a true surrendering, until you have attained equanimity. Then you will be able to meditate.”

And equanimity comes by attaching one’s consciousness to G-d, i.e., deveikut (bonding). For it is the attachment of a person’s consciousness to G-d that enables a person to ignore the honor or the insults…

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380555/jewish/Equanimity.htm

Mystical Kabbalah

By Perets Auerbach

There has been a remarkable interest in the subject of Kabbalah of late. Indeed, a New York Times study indicates that mysticism and especially Kabbalah is the number two category of book purchase made at present. Kabbalah centers are springing up all over North America and Europe. Many of those Jews studying Kabbalah are unfamiliar with other basic Jewish ideas…

Some see this phenomenon as a passing fad, others as a golden opportunity. It is undoubtedly true that many of those Jews studying Kabbalah are unfamiliar with other basic Jewish ideas or requirements. Nevertheless, they have for the first time in their lives chosen to positively identify with overtly Jewish teachings.

What exactly are they learning and what choices are there?

There are a number of groups teaching Kabbalah. Some offer a Judeo-Christian version of Kabbalah, some offer pagan or new-age experiences, others offer an instant fix, self-help type of program. One of the main study texts is the Zohar, even though most participants don’t know the alef-bet, let alone the vocabulary. It seems that many groups encourage the gazing at the Aramaic as a mystical psycho-spiritual curative! The beauty of Jewish experience is the harmonious fusion of the spiritual buds above with the physical flowerings below…

Some of these programs are costly to attend, and you must have all the books on the recommended reading list. The vast majority of available texts are written by people detached from Jewish observance, and show a shameful lack of understanding of genuine kabbalistic literature.

If people had access to accurate and honest translations of the source texts and clear commentaries, it would break the stereotype that observant Judaism in all its facets is not, as many would have us think, a close-minded shtetl/ghetto existence with countless restrictions and punishments and no time for enjoyment, enlightenment or free expression. On the contrary, the beauty of Jewish experience is the harmonious fusion of the spiritual buds above with the physical flowerings below. And that to be a mitzvah-Jew is of immense significance in the Supernal plan. This message can be strongly brought out in the particular style of commentary and the way it speaks to the reader.

At Kabbalaonline, we draw from writers and translators with a wide variety of backgrounds. Some are chasidim, some are scientists, some are rabbis, some are poets. All the sources we draw from understand Kabbalah within the greater context of Awe of G-d and Jewish Law.

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/380561/jewish/Kabbalah-on-the-World-Wide-Web.htm

The Land of Israel is intimately tied to the quality of humility.

from Shnei Luchot HaBrit by Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz

Abraham was seventy years old when He received G-d’s first assurance that his descendants would possess the Holy Land. An allusion to this is found in the verse “He establishes the boundaries of the nations” (Deut. 32:8). In that verse Israel is contrasted with the other seventy nations. It is no accident that when Abraham’s descendants moved to Egypt they numbered seventy, i.e. a counterweight to the seventy nations of the world. There they became refined through their bondage to the Egyptians. Abraham expressed the fear that his slave Eliezer would inherit from him…

When G‑d took them out of there they had been prepared to exchange bondage to the Egyptians for becoming servants of the Lord, as G‑d says: “For they are My servants”.(Lev. 25:42) G‑d instilled in the Israelites the feeling that they were slaves so as to make the transition to becoming G‑d’s servants easier for them. This is also what G‑d had in mind in the first of the Ten Commandments which states: “I am the Lord your G‑d who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage”, i.e. in order to become “My servants”.

Abraham expressed the fear that his slave Eliezer would inherit from him (Gen. 15:2). G‑d told him: “Not this one will inherit you, but someone who is your very own issue will inherit you”(Ibid.15:3). The message was that a different servant, i.e. Israel “My servant” will inherit you. When the people rejected their status as servants of G‑d, they became slaves of the nations instead…

The reason that in the Torah the Holy Land is referred to as the “Land of Canaan” quite often even after the Jewish people took possession of it, is that Canaan was the first “slave” (see Gen. 9:25). The word “Canaan” also is derived from the Hebrew word “hachna’a”,meaning “submission”. The message to Israel in all this is that as long as they submit to the will of G‑d, the Land remains theirs. When the people rejected their status as servants of G‑d, they became slaves of the nations instead.

Our sages tell us that there are three gifts that can be obtained only through [submission to] afflictions, and one of these three is the Land of Israel. As a nation, we have experienced closeness to G‑d when we first took over the Holy Land [i.e. received that gift]. Subsequently, G‑d expects more of us; when we disappoint His expectations we are dealt with as severely as a father deals with his son, since he has the son’s rehabilitation at heart. Being punished for transgressions immediately after one has committed them is the greatest sign that one is beloved of G‑d. In such a situation it is an error to expect G‑d to employ His attribute of “bearing iniquity”, suspending punishment for a while.… Anyone who resides in the Land of Israel is devoid of sins…

When someone who resides in the Land of Israel experiences afflictions this is an expression of G‑d’s love, seeing G‑d wishes him to be cleansed of his sins immediately and not to accumulate more sins by deeming himself in G‑d’s good graces when there is no cause for this.

This is precisely what Rabbi Eleazar tells us in Talmud Ketubot 111 when he states that anyone who resides in the Land of Israel is devoid of sins. Anyone who is privileged to live in the Holy Land must constantly bear in mind that he is in the “Land of Canaan”; this will remind him of the need for servitude and submission.

When Noah said of his grandson Canaan “Canaan is cursed. He will be the slave of slaves to his brothers”(Gen. 9:25), we must ask ourselves why Noah did not simply say “Canaan will be cursed, etc.”. Although a simple explanation would be that Canaan had already been cursed, i.e. he was polluted by the original serpent to whom G‑d had said “you are cursed”, we prefer to believe that Noah had something else in mind. In the future, the name “Canaan” will be associated with those who submit to the will of G‑d. This particular “Canaan” is distinguished by not being G‑d’s servant, but by being a servant of others who are themselves only servants. The servants Noah had in mind are the Jewish people. Canaan is destined to become a slave of the Jewish people.

What we learn from all this is how careful we must be when we reside in a land that enjoys G‑d’s daily personal supervision. We must conduct ourselves submissively vis a vis G‑d. King David expressed this sentiment when he said “I am merely a stranger in the Land (of Israel)”(Psalms 119:19); David considered himself as, at most, possessing the status of a stranger in that land

http://www.kabbalaonline.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/379734/jewish/Holy-Inheritance.htm