Since Kabbalah and Chasidut are the soul of the Torah, without them, the Torah is, in a sense, like a body without a soul. Someone who studies only the revealed part of the Torah might, over time, feel empty and unsatisfied, sensing a void within that their study does not fill. Indeed, there is basis to the claim that this experience is one of the main reasons for the great distancing from Judaism in the modern era: After failing to find the fountain of living waters they longed for in the Torah, countless Jews of the Enlightenment—the forefathers of secularism—sought alternatives from other sources.
The way out of this crisis lies in disseminating Kabbalah and Chasidut and in making them a living and breathing part of the fabric of Judaism. Revealing the inner dimension of the Torah sheds new, more profound light on all its other, more familiar parts, and does so in a manner that touches our hearts and souls.
It is explained in Chasidut that the hidden dimension of the Torah is so innovative, that discovering it is a bit like receiving “a new Torah.” This concept is taken from the sages’ interpretation of the verse, “Torah shall go forth from Me,” explained as “A new Torah shall go forth from Me.” According to Chasidut, this refers to the revelation of the inner dimension of the Torah, which, by emerging from the revealed Torah, is experienced like the giving of a new Torah.
Another reason for the term “new Torah” is that the complete revelation of the inner dimensions of the Torah add to the Torah of Israel all the points of truth and beauty in the wisdoms of the other nations of the world, thereby renewing and expanding the Torah.
The language and imagery of the inner dimension of the Torah are so unique, that Kabbalah could sometimes seem a separate and independent wisdom from the Torah, a “religion” of its own called “Kabbalah.” Unfortunately, this is exactly how it is marketed today to many people around the world. However, one must understand that just as a soulless body (the revealed Torah without its inner aspect) is lifeless, so too is a bodiless soul (the hidden Torah without its external aspect). It floats in mid-air, uprooted, like a picture that was torn from an album and was blown away by the wind.
The revealed layer of the Torah provides the framework that gives context and application to Kabbalah and Chasidut. In Kabbalah’s own terminology, the external aspect of the Torah provides the “vessels” through which the “lights” of its inner dimensions can be contained.
