Kabbalah Versus (?) Intellect and Reason

The following is an excerpt from a Schmooze by the Rabbi at Central:

“Then, in Abram’s 75th year, he heard and responded to the divine call, Lech lecha me’artzecha, me’moladetecha, ume’beit avicha, el haaretz asher areka…(In English): “Go, you, from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.”

G-d also said (as per the Kabbalistic interpretation): “Go to your innermost self: move away from your will, from your feelings, and from your intellect*, to the desire that I will reveal to you.  A Jew is a journeyer. To be a Jew is to be constantly moving from what you are to what you can be, and from what you have made of yourself to yet a deeper truth of what you are. To be a Jew is to be engaged in a perpetual quest to improve yourself and improve G-d’s world; to transcend the world and transcend your self; to transcend even as you improve and to improve even as you transcend.

Thus Abram became Abraham, the first Jew and with that, gave each one of us what it takes to live life like a real Jew.”

*Emphasis added.

Something doesn’t sit right (not directly related to the schmooze above but it flashed in my mind).

All well and logical to say that G-d created reason and rationality. Makes sense. And that G-d also exists/sits beyond the boundaries of reason as well as within. It follows that if G-d Himself commands something that is (or prima facie appears to be) beyond reason, it should nonetheless be observed (and the argument is that simple, by the way).

And this is precisely what Abraham does in Lech Lecha, our Torah portion this week.

But, by contrast, can we limited humans be expected to act in accordance with innovations which do not exist within reason, that do not clearly stem from tradition, if instructed by similarly handicapped, fallible beings?

Only G-d can demand of us actions which we do not or cannot understand. We have a tradition and chain for these things. However there is an argument to say that relatively new Kabbalistic impositions are problematic. We don’t have clear indications that such came directly from G-d (in written nor in oral transmission). We don’t have the Kuzari argument either, when discussing Kabbalah, because by definition it’s not for the masses.

So I have a problem when required to perform a supra-rational activity by a fallible human being, a deed not rooted in Torah. Doing these could be bitul zman (waste of precious minutes or hours).

In Conclusion…

Often the mystical tradition encourages us to focus very much on our intentions as we perform a mitzvah. This I understand: There’s thrusting flowers in the face of your beloved with one hand, while holding a mobile phone to your ear with the other. Then there’s giving flowers with a big, warm smile, and saying something nice to accompany the flowers. This makes sense. There are better ways to perform a mitzvah. Kapparot with chickens, though…