The Torah’s inner dimension has a name. It is called Kabbalah. The above descriptions of Kabbalah as a book within a book, or as white fire/parchment around the black letters, are of course only metaphors. In reality, Kabbalah exists in the form of books, a vast selection of books dedicated to interpreting the Torah in a mystical manner. Kabbalistic literature is as rich and extensive as it is ancient. It is rooted in the earliest days of Judaism, and it continues to grow and evolve to this day. It deals with explaining the deep structures of the world, of humankind, and even of God Himself, aiming to help people draw closer to their Creator and live by His light.
On the face of it, Kabbalah is but one of the branches of the Torah, no more and no less important than its other branches. But the reason it is described as “the Torah’s inner dimension” is because it is more than that: It embodies a hidden system of understanding that interprets the Torah as a whole. Applying this system allows us to reveal the Torah’s interior, the myriad teachings hidden behind each of the Torah’s parts and details, endowing them with an overall unity that is otherwise difficult to discern.
It is customary to divide the layers of the Torah into four, according to the acronym PaRDeS (meaning “orchard” but which in English has become known as “paradise”):
- Peshat (literal or plain interpretation)
- Remez (interpretation based on hints and allusions)
- Derash (homiletic interpretation)
- Sod (interpretation based on the secret, mystical dimension)
The four levels create a ladder leading from the outside in. That means that peshat is the most revealed layer and sod the most hidden layer. Sod is also the layer of Kabbalah, making it not only an integral part of the Torah, but its deepest level.
Kabbalah’s integral role in the Torah orchard is felt when one removes the S from PRDS, turning it into PRD (פרד). This three-letter combination is the root of the word meaning “detachment” (פרוד) and can also be read as the word for “mule” (פרד) the symbol of infertility. Without Kabbalah, the Torah may appear as a galaxy of disparate commandments, interpretations, stories, homiletic readings, and legal rulings, which do not necessarily coalesce into a unified whole. The Hebrew letter samech, the equivalent of the letter S in PRDS, which stands for the Torah’s secret dimension, transforms the pered, the barren “mule,” into a fruitful and flourishing pardes, “orchard.” The samech’s round shape (it is shaped as a circle) also suggests that it gathers all the disparate pieces of the Torah and seats them at the “round table” that unites them.
Another metaphor for Kabbalah’s relationship to the rest of the Torah is its designation as “the soul of the Torah” (נשמתא דאורייתא, pronounced: nishmeta de’oraita). The Torah is likened to a living entity, with a body and a soul. Most of the corpus of Torah—the Mishnah, the Talmud, the Medieval commentaries, the responsa literature, etc.—focus on Torah’s revealed dimension, i.e., the “body” of Torah (the main laws are even called in the Mishnah “bodies of the Torah”), but Kabbalah reveals the Torah’s concealed dimension, the Torah’s “soul.”
The revealed and the hidden dimensions of the Torah also address the corresponding layers within we human beings. The revealed Torah is mostly dedicated to rectifying the revealed aspects of our life—our actions, and the more conscious and accessible aspects of our soul. In contrast, Kabbalah is dedicated to rectifying our hidden aspects—the deeper and more concealed layers of the soul, related to our spirit and its purpose in the world. By exposing and explaining the deep structures and dynamics of the world and the soul, Kabbalah allows us to connect with these layers and cultivate them.
