Quotes of Great Kabbalists

The wisdom of truth teaches us the global unity, the equal side in the whole of existence, to the highest elevation—the similarity of form with its Creator—and how to walk by its Light without failing.

--The Rav Kook, Orot Kodesh (Sacred Lights)

We must chase with our hearts and souls and might after the wisdom of faith, which is the wisdom of the path of Kabbalah, which is the path of truth.

--The Baal Shem Tov

The sublime, spiritual questions, which were previously known only to the greatest and the highest, must now be known, to various degrees, to the whole nation. Sublime matters must be brought down from their high tower to the lowest and most common level.

This requires great wealth of spirit and constant engagement, as only then will the mind expand and the language be made clear enough to express the most profound matters in an easy and popular manner, to revive thirsty souls.

--The Rav Kook, Ikvey HaTzon (The Footsteps of the Flock)

Concerning Adam Kadmon, I was startled to see how a physical form was ascribed to the Kabbalistic concept of Adam Kadmon, which is a purely metaphysical concept… We must not allow ourselves to materialize such sacred concepts, even in the course of studying.

--The Rav Kook, Igrot (Letters)

“The ability to interpret the divine and human secrets… is called Kabbalah.”

--Paulus Ricius (~1470-1541), personal physician and consultant to Ferdinand I—King of Bohemia and Hungary.

All of Israel must study this book of Torah by Rashbi (Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai): "a Gaon (genius), a great Rav, a sage, a commoner, and a young.”

--Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, Tikkunei Zohar (Zohar Corrections)

There is a strict condition during the engagement in this wisdom, to not materialize the matters with imaginary and corporeal issues. That is because by that they breach, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness.”

--Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”